YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

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GENEALOGICAL

AND

PERSONAL MEMOIRS

RELATING TO THE FAMILIES OF THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

PREPARED UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF
WILLIAM RICHARD CUTTER, A. M.
Historian of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society; Librarian Emeritus of Woburn Public
Library; Author of "The Cutter Family," "History of Arlington," "Bibliography of Woburn," etc., etc.
ASSISTED BY
WILLIAM FREDERICK ADAMS,
President of Connecticut Valley Historical Society; Publisher of Pynchon Genealogy. "Picturesque
Hampden," "Picturesque Berkshire," etc., etc.

VOLUME I.

ILLUSTRATED.

NEW YORK
LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
.... 1910 ....

Copyright 1910.
Lewis Historical Publishing Company.

INTRODUCTORY.

THE present work, "Genealogical and Personal Memoirs," relating to the leading families
of Massachusetts, presents in the aggregate an amount and variety of genealogical and
personal information and portraiture unequalled by any kindred publication. Indeed,
no. similar work concerning this region has ever before been presented. It contains a vast
amount of ancestral history never before printed. The object, clearly defined and well
digested, is threefold :
First: To present in concise form the history of established families of the Common
wealth. Second : To preserve a record of their prominent present-day people.
Third : To present through personal sketches, linked with the genealogical narrative, the
relation of the prominent families of all times to the growth, singular prosperity and wide
spread influence of the historic old "Bay State."
There are numerous voluminous narrative histories of this section in one form or other,
making it unnecessary in this work to even outline its annals. What has been published, how
ever, principally relates to the people in the mass. The amplification necessary to complete
the picture of the region, old and nowaday, is what is
supplied in large degree by these Genealogical and Per
sonal Memoirs. In other words, while others have writ
ten of "the times," the province of this work is to be a
chronicle of the people who have made Massachusetts.
Than Massachusetts, no other State or region offers
so peculiarly interesting a field for such research. Its
sons — "native here, and to the manner born," and of
splendid ancestry — have attained distinction in every field
of human effort. An additional interest attaches to the
present undertaking in the fact that, while dealing
primarily with the history of native Massachusetts, this
work approaches the dignity of a national epitome of
genealogy and biography. Owing to the wide dispersion
throughout the country of the old families of the State,
the authentic account here presented of the constituent
elements of her social life, past and present, will be
of far more than merely local value. Tn its special
field it will be found, in an appreciable degree, a reflection
of the development of the country at large, since hence
went out representatives of the historical families, in
various generations, who in far remote places — beyond
the Mississippi and in the Far West — were with the
vanguard of civilization, building up communities,
creating new commonwealths, planting, wherever they
went, the church, the school house and the printing
press, leading into channels of thrift and enterprise all Bunker mil Monument.

INTRODUCTORY.

who gathered about them, and proving a power for ideal citizenship and good government.
Unique in conception and treatment, this work constitutes one of the most original and
permanently valuable contributions ever made to the social history of an American community
In it are arrayed in a lucid and dignified manner all the important facts regarding the ancestry.
personal career and matrimonial alliances of those who, in each succeeding generation, have
been accorded leading positions in the social, professional and business life of the State. Nor
has it been based upon, neither does it minister to, aristocratic prejudices and assumptions.
On the contrary, its fundamental ideas are thoroughly American and democratic. The work
everywhere conveys the lesson that distinction has been gained only by honorable public service.
or by usefulness in private station, and that the development and prosperity of the State of
which it treats has been dependent upon the character of its citizens, and the stimulus which
they have given to commerce, to industry, to the arts and sciences, to education and religion —
to all that is comprised in the highest civilization of the present day — through a continual pro
gressive development.
The inspiration underlying the work is a fervent appreciation of the truth so well expressed
by Sir Walter Scott, that "there is no heroic poem in the world, but is at the bottom the life
of a man." And with this goes a kindred truth, that to know a man, and rightly measure his
character, and weigh his achievements, we must know whence he came, from what forbears lie
sprang. Truly as heroic poems have been written in human lives in the paths of peace as in
the scarred roads of war. Such examples, in whatever line of endeavor, are of much worth
as an incentive to those who come afterward, and such were never so needful to be written of
as in the present day, when pessimism, forgetful of the splendid lessons of the past, withholds
its effort in the present, and views the future only with alarm.
And, further, the custodian of records concerning the useful men of preceding generations,
who has aided in placing his knowledge in preservable and accessible form, of the homes and
churches, schools, and other institutions, which
they founded, and of their descendants who have
lived honorable and useful lives, has performed a
public service in rendering honor to whom honor
is due, and in inculcating the most valuable les
sons of patriotism and good citizenship.
The vast influence exerted by the people of
this State is immeasurable. The story of the
Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies lies at
the foundation of the best there is in American
history, and the names of Brewster, Winslow,
Bradford, Standish. Alden, Warren, Howland
(all of whom came in the "Mayflower" and were
prominent in the Old Colony,) with Freeman,
Gorham and Sears — all these of Plymouth; and
Winthrop, Saltonstall, Dudley, Wilson, Brad-
street, and others, of the Massachusetts Bay Col
ony, have an undying fame, and these names are
prominent to-day in Massachusetts. These early
settlers erected an' original form of government,
pledging themselves to maintain and preserve all
their liberties and privileges, and in their vote stockbridge Monument.

INTRODUCTORY.

Isaiah Thomas,
Founder of "Massachusetts Spy."

and suffrage as their conscience might them move, as to best
conduce and tend to the public weal of the body, without
respect of persons or favor of any man. Their heroism was
exhibited in their conflicts with savages. In statesmanship
they builded better than they knew. Their code of laws known
as the "Body of Liberties" has been termed an almost declara
tion of independence, opening with the pronouncement that
neither life, liberty, honor nor estate were to be invaded unless
under express laws enacted by the local authorities, and when
this bold declaration led to the demand of the English govern
ment that the colonial charter should be surrendered, the colo
nists resisted to a successful issue. In later days Faneuil Hall
became the cradle of American Liberty, and from its platform
were proclaimed the doctrines which bore fruit in resistance to
the Stamp Act, in the Boston Massacre, and the engagements
of contesting armed forces at Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill.
At a later day, when came the momentous question whether a free and liberal govern
ment "of the people, by the people and for the people" was to perish from the earth, the
sons of their illustrious sires were not found wanting in patriotism and devotion, but freely
sacrificed comforts, property and life, for the vindi
cation of the principles inherited from the fathers.
Here, too, were developed in highest degree the
arts of peace. Religion, education, science, inven
tion, labor along all the lines of mechanical and
industrial progress, here made their beginnings, and
while their ramifications extended throughout the
length and breadth of the land, the parent home and
the parent stock held their pre-eminence, as they do
to the present day.
The descendants of those early settlers arc
especially proud of their ancestry ; for, whatever the
part allotted them, even the. most trivial service
rendered should command respect and admiration,
and those now residents of Massachusetts should
esteem it a precious privilege to have their names
associated with such an illustrious group of fami-
ilies. Such an honorable ancestry is a noble heritage,
and the story of its achievements is a sacred trust
committed to its descendants, upon whom devolves
the perpetuation of the record.
Tt was the consensus of opinion of gentlemen
well informed and loyal to the memories of the past
and the needs of the present and future, that the
editorial supervision of William Richard Cutter, A.
M., ensured the best results attainable in the prepara-
statue of capt. Parker, Lexington. tion of material for the proposed work. For more

King's Chapel, Boston.

Old State House, Boston.

Old South Church, Boston.

INTRODUCTORY.

Governor Levi Lincoln.

than a generation past he has given his leisure to historical
and genealogical research and authorship. He was the
author, with his father, of "History of the Cutter Family of
New England," 1871-1875 ; and "History of Arlington,
Massachusetts," 1880; and edited Lieutenant Samuel Thomp
son's "Diary While Serving in the French and Indian War,
1758," 1896. He also prepared a monograph entitled "Jour
nal of a Forton Prisoner, England," sketches of Arlington
and Woburn, Massachusetts, and many articles on subjects
connected with local historical and genealogical matters, for
periodical literature. He prepared a "Bibliography of
Woburn," which was published, and he has been engaged as
editor of various historical works outside of his own city.
His narrative on "Early Families," which introduces Volume
1. of this work, and the leading fifty pages of biography in
Volume II., are of peculiar value.
Others to whom the publishers desire to make grateful
acknowledgment for services rendered in various ways — as
writers, or in an advisory way, in pointing to channels of valuable information, are : William
Frederick Adams, a first authority, publisher of "The Pynchon Genealogy," "Picturesque
Hampden," "Picturesque Berkshire," etc.; Edward Henry Clement, for many years editor
of the Boston Transcript; John Howard Brown, editor of Lamb's "Biographical Dictionary
of the United States;" and Ezra Scolly Stearns, the well-known New Hampshire historian
and antiquarian. This work comprises a carefully prepared genealogical history of several hundred rep
resentative families of Massachusetts. The editor and publishers desire to state that they
have adopted a different method for collecting and compiling data than has heretofore been
pursued in this country. Time and expense were not spared in making the publication a
valuable work for reference. The value of family history and genealogy depends upon
accuracy, and the thoroughness of research in public and private records ; also, upon the use
of old and unpublished manuscripts, supplemented by a careful gleaning and compiling of
information to be found in the various
printed works in public and private
libraries. It was the aim of editor and
publishers to utilize all such material,
connecting the same with the American
progenitor, where possible, and present
in a narrative form the family line
down to and including the present gen
eration, weaving in the military and
civic services of the subject treated. In
order to insure greatest possible accu
racy, all matter for this work was sub
mitted in typewritten manuscript to per
sons most interested, for revision and
Correction. Bancroft House, Worcester.

INTRODUCTORY.
In the comparatively few instances
where a sketch is faulty, the shortcoming
is in the main ascribable to the paucity of
data obtainable, some families being with
out exact records in their family line; in
other cases, representatives of a given
family are at disagreement as to names,
dates, etc.
It is believed that the present work,
in spite of the occasional fault which
attaches to such undertakings, will prove
a real addition to the mass of annals con
cerning the historic families of Massa- Plymouth Rock.
chusetts, and that, without it, much valuable information would remain inaccessible or
irretrievably lost, owing to the passing away of custodians of family records, and the
ronsequent disappearance of material in their possession.
THE PUBLISHERS.

HISTORIC SPOT IN SPRINGFIELD.

EARLY FAMILIES.

SUFFOLK COUNTY.
The late William H. Whitmore, city regis
trar of Boston, has treated the history of the
prominent families of Boston in the seven
teenth and eighteenth centuries in a cursory
manner in two chapters at the end of the first
and second volumes of Winsor's "Memorial
History of Boston." There has never been,
according to his statement, any general or
complete attempt to write their genealogy, as
a whole, and probably never will be, owing to
the want of proper material, and the magni
tude of the undertaking. The greater part of
the early settlers came from the middle class
of England. Their ideas of society were the
same as the English, and they were devoid of
the element of the very poor, as well as of the
higher class of the nobility. Until the Revolu
tion of 1775 they were in effect and in practice
a British province.
Mr. Whitmore gives a list of forty promi
nent families of the seventeenth century in
which he names the following:

1. Winthrop.
2. Bellingham.
3. Endicott.
4. Leverett.
5. Bradstreet.
6. Hough.
7. Hibbens.
8. Gibbons.
9. Davie.
10. Richards.
11. Savage.
12. Cooke.
13. Hutchinson.
14. Oliver.
15. Hull.
16. Brattle.
17. Tyng.
18. Alford.
19. Scarlett.
20. Joyliffe.

21. Gerrish.
22. Payne.
23. Middlecott.
24. Usher.
25. Jeffries.
26. Lidgett.
ij. Saffin.
28. Ruck.
29. Whittingham.
30. Shrimpton.
31. Stoddard.
32. Sergeant.
33. Sheaffe.
34. Gibbs.
35. Lynde.
36. Lyde.
-7fj. Clarke.
-38. Cotton.
39. Allen.
^40. Mather.

Of the above, Winthrop, Endicott, Leverett,
Bradstreet, Savage, Hutchinson, Oliver, Brat
tle, Tyng, Usher, Jeffries, Shrimpton, Stod
dard, Lynde, Clarke, Cotton and Mather, are

about all the names that are familiar to the
present generation. Taken up seriatim :
1. The ancestor of the Winthrop family left
two sons who left male descendants in New
London, Connecticut, and Cambridge, Massa
chusetts. One son, whose only son died with
out issue, is represented at present by descend
ants in the female line in Chelsea and Win
throp, Massachusetts.
2. Bellingham: Name extinct in the second
generation. 3. Endicott: Descendants in Essex county,
through one son. The other son died without
issue. . 4. Leverett: Ancestor an. alderman in Old
Boston before removal here; one son and
several married daughters in the second gener
ation. 5. Bradstreet: Numerous descendants.
6. Hough: Alderman of Old Boston before
coming here ; one son in the second generation,
one son in the third; two sons in the fourth
generation died before middle age.
7. Hibbens : No issue after first generation.
8. Gibbons : Extinct soon.
9. Davy: Ancestor was son of a baronet;
one son returned to England and inherited
estate and title of his grandfather ; two sons
by a second wife.
10. Richards: No children in one case;
another Richards had an only son and also
daughters ; a third of the name died without
issue. 11. Savage: By two wives, six children and
eleven children. "The family has maintained
its position in Boston till the present genera
tion." 12. Cooke: One son of the second genera
tion. This son had an only daughter whose
descendants of another name still represent
the family in Boston.
13. Hutchinson: The later generation belongs
to the record of the eighteenth century.
14. Oliver: Appear to have well sustained
their number and influence.
15. Hull: In the second generation, an only
child, a daughter, whose descendants were
numerous. 16. Brattle : Male line extinct in the third:
generation.

0)

11.

MASSACHUSETTS.

17. Tyng: Male members, descendants of
two brothers, not numerous; line continued in
female branches.
18. Alford : Does not appear after the third
generation. 19. Scarlett : No male descendants.
20. Joyliffe : In the second generation, an
only child, a daughter, died unmarried.
21. Gerrish (later Essex county) ; a grand
son returned to Boston and left descendants.
22. Payne: One child (a son). "The family
became extinct here in 1834."
23. Middlecott : Four children, three daugh
ters and one son ; the son settled in England.
24. Usher: Two sons and two daughters '•of
the second generation ; one son married and
had no children ; one son married and had one
daughter, and by a second marriage had other
issue "still represented in Rhode Island."
25. Jeffries : Two sons of the second gener
ation. "The family is still represented in
Boston, being one of the few which have con
tinued through all the changes of two centu
ries." 26. Lidgett : Represented by a son of the
second generation, who died at London in
1698. 27. Saffin : No issue of the first generation.
28. Ruck, or Rock : one son of second gen
eration, beyond whom the line is not traced.
29. Whittingham: Left issue after first gen
eration here.
30. Shrimpton: Left issue of a later distin
guished generation.
31. Stoddard: "The family still flourishes,
though not in Boston."
32. Sergeant : One generation, without issue.
33. Sheaffe: Two daughters of the second
generation, one of whom married a relative of
the same name. The name appears to have
ended in Boston in 1724.
t 34. Gibbs : "The name continued till recently
in Middlesex county."
35. Lynde: One son (second generation)
settled in Salem.
_ 36. Lyde : One child, a son, no further men
tion. 37. Clarke: One son, for one family; other
families of this name were more numerously
represented. 38. Cotton : Two sons of the second gener
ation and two daughters. "The family, how
ever, soon passed from Boston."
39. Allen: One son, who was treasurer of
the province.
40. Mather: The members of this family
appear to be numerous, especially in the female

branches. "The name, however, was soon lost
to Boston, though descendants in Connecticut
still bear it."
Mr. Whitmore, for the eighteenth century,
continues his list of the most prominent fami
lies of Boston (or Suffolk county) until he
has included one hundred numbers for the two
centuries which his list was designed to cover;
more especially for the eighteenth century, the
provincial period from 1692 to 1775. He also
observes that with few exceptions the names
of the colonial (or first period) disappear early
in the eighteenth century. In his list for the
eighteenth century he includes such names as
follows :

41. Phips.
42. Tailer.
43. Dummer.
44. Shirley.
45. Hutchinson.
46. Oliver.
47. Hobby.
48. Temple.
49. Nelson.
^-50. Sewall.
51. Addington.
52. Davenport.
53. Savage.
54. Phillips.
55. Wendell.
56. Lloyd.
57. Borland.
-58. ' Vassall.
59.. Lindall.
60. Brinley.
61. Pitts.
62. Apthorp.
63. Salisbury.
64. Marion.
65. Bridge.
"56. Quincy.
67. Fitch.
68. Clark.
69. Bromfield.
70. Payne.

71. Taylor.
72. Eliot.
73. Belcher.
74. Williams.
75. Winslow. '
76. Willard.
TJ. Walley.
78. Ballentine.
79. Valentine.
80. Cushing.
81. Bowdoin.
82. Faneuil.
83. Johonnot.
84. Olivier.
85. Sigourney.
86. Brimmer.
87. Mascarene.
88. Bethune.
89. Cunningham.
90. Boylston.
91. Trail.
92. Mount fort.
93. Greenwood.
94. Charnock.
95. Martyn.
96. Cooper.
97. Lynde.
98. Gardiner.
99. Amory.
100. Waldo.

The Eighteenth Century, taken up seriatim :
41. Phips: No children of the first ancestor,
but a wife's nephew became his heir and
adopted the name; this nephew had an only
surviving son, whose family consisted of three
sons and three daughters.
42. Tailer: The founder married twice; no
issue reported after first generation.
43. Dummer: Three sons of this name, of
which one died unmarried, another married

MASSACH USETTS.

in.

left an only daughter, and the third left no
children. "The family has been continued in
Boston, though not in the name."
44. Shirley (family of the English Gover
nor) : Four sons and five daughters. "Only
one son survived him, whose only son died
without issvte in 181 5."
45. Hutchinson (also of the seventeenth
century) : Family consisting of two sons, both
married, whose descendants were most notable ;
the first had Thomas (the famous lieutenant-
governor of the province) and Foster Hutch
inson; the second left a son Edward and two
daughters. Foster had a son and daughter,
and Governor Thomas had three children. As
the members became refugees, they are not
found here after the Revolution.
46. Oliver : In the second generation was
one son, whose son was the father of a branch
of the family which remained here. By a
second marriage the first ancestor had a family
of fourteen children. Another branch of the
early Oliver family had two sons who were
married. Another branch of the second gen
eration was a member who had four sons, the
descendants of whom have been numerous.
There was still another branch of these Bos
ton Olivers, one of whose members had two
wives, and by them many children, most of
whom died young. A son of this last group
was a graduate of Harvard College in 1719,
one of whose daughters married Benjamin
Preseott, and was "the ancestress of famous
men." 47. Hobby: The particular member was
knighted — "one .of our few titled natives ;" he
left a widow, but no children.
48. Temple: One son of this family had
three daughters, and sons, whose descendants
are numerous. One of the sons of the emi
grant inherited the baronetcy belonging to this
family. 49. Nelson: Two sons represented this
family in the second generation; also daugh
ters. 50. Sewall : One son of the second genera
tion was married, but "the line soon ceased in
the name ;" one son of the same generation was
married and had a family. "Descendants of
the name still reside in Boston and the vicin
ity." 51. Addington: The family ended in the
second generation with the death of a daughter
who died young.
52. Davenport : Third generation was repre
sented by two sons and two married daughters
in Boston. , ; .: ' 1

53. Savage: This family was numerously
represented in the eighteeth century in the
male line.
54. Phillips : Well represented in the male
line in Boston to a late generation.
55. Wendell : Well represented in the male
line. 56. Lloyd : Numerously represented in the
male line to about 1850.
57. Borland: An only son of the second
generation here had two sons and a daughter.
One. of the two sons had twelve children.
58. Vassall : Early rather numerous, and
cne of a later generation had seventeen chil
dren, and another member of the family had
sixteen children.
59. Lindall : The first generation was repre
sented by a person who had three wives and
seven children, but only one daughter lived to
marry. 60. Brinley: The representative of the first
generation left a daughter and a son ; the son
had five sons and two daughters. One of these
sons married his cousin and left no children ;
another left many descendants, the third mar
ried his cousin and left one married son.
61. Pitts: Here after 1731. The father
had three sons, the second of whom had five
sons and two daughters. The third left issue.
62. Apthorp: The first representative had
eighteen children, of whom fifteen survived
him, and eleven married. "The name is still
represented among us."
63. Salisbury : The first representative had
ten children, of whom two sons and six daugh
ters married. "Many descendants of this
worthy couple remain."
64. Marion : In the second generation fi\ e
sons and three daughters. Later members ot
this family are still numerous in this vicinity.
65. Bridge : Represented by several married
daughters. v
66. Quincy : Long identified with Boston.
The emigrant had an only son, whose progeny
are numerous. One of the male descendants
had nine children from whom are many de
scendants of the name and of other families.
Another line represented by an only son had
later very eminent representatives.
67. Fitch: In the male line soon extinct;
but through a daughter there are descendants.
68. Clark : Two children, two daughters, of
the second generation in one case, one son and
daughters only in the other. In the second
case the only son had two daughters who mar
ried. A sister of the only son died "a child
less widow;" her sister had four children.

IV.

MASSACHUSETTS.

Other lines of this family in Boston have been
distinguished for their number and influence.
69. Bromfield: One daughter and a son of
the second generation ; and several sons and
daughter of the third have carried the name
and family down to 1849.
70. Payne : An only son, who died in 1735,
left a large family.
71. Taylor : Of two sons of the second gen
eration, one died unmarried ; the other had
only two daughters.
•J2. Eliot : The descendants of the first
member are now mostly in Connecticut ; the
second member had only daughters ; the third
had the same ; and the fourth had two sons and
several daughters. Of three male members
of a later generation two died without issue.
Another noted family of this name, more prop
erly spelled Elliott, adopted at a later period
the shorter spelling.
73. Belcher : The father of the Boston
family of this name had daughters, and one
son who was governor of the province. The
governor had a daughter and two sons. Another
branch of the family early in Boston was less
distinguished. 74. Williams : One branch of this family is
descended from an early schoolmaster, 1703-
1734, well connected by marriage. "Many
other bearers of the name have lived here, but
most of them are probably descendants of
Robert Williams, of Roxbury."
75. Winslow : "Little can be found in print
about the Boston line." The family is de
scended from John, a brother of Governor
Edward. This John had daughters, and six
surviving sons. The male line in this family
was prominent, especially from 1740 to 1770.
Others were merchants in the city "within the
memory of the present generation." Other
branches also have been well represented.
76. Willard : Beginning with a pastor of
the Old South Church, having by two wives,
twenty-one children. The only descendants of
the name, however, are traced to a son, by
whose son was preserved the line to the present
generation. Another son of the first generation,
was twice married, but left no sons.
yy. Walley: Two sons of the second gen
eration ; one had daughters and a son. This
last married and had two sons ; one died with
out issue, and the other had daughters, besides
a son (who had twelve children) and a son,
who had a son, who was a "distinguished citi
zen of only a few years ago."
78. Ballentine: In the second generation

there were twelve children. "The name fre
quently occurs on our records."
79. Valentine: The founder died in 1724,
having had seven children. The eldest son
went to England. Other sons were of Hop
kinton and Fall River; "but many of the de
scendants of the name have returned to Bos
ton, and have been engaged in business here."
80. Cushing: The first representative in
Boston had several children. "The family has
been .especially famous for the number of
judges it has furnished," and many of the
name "have been citizens here."
81. Bowdoin (Huguenot element) : Two
sons in the second generation; one went to
Virginia, "where his descendants still live."
The other was thrice married, and had daugh
ters and sons who married. A grandson was
Governor of the State ; his only son left no
issue ; and two daughters were married into
distinguished names. A son of one of the two
daughters, last named, took the name of Bow
doin, as did his son, "but this line is extinct."
82. Faneuil : Three brothers of this name
were settled as early as 1691. One returned
to France, another acquired a large fortune,
and died in 1737-38, leaving a nephew, who
gave to Boston "Faneuil Hall." The remain
ing brother had two sons and several sisters;
one of these sons died in 1785, having had two
sons and a daughter ; one of the sons became
a refugee and died in England; the other after
a stay in Canada and the West Indies, returned
to Boston after the revolutionary war.
83. Johonnot: The first, a member of the
Huguenot church, died in 1748, leaving three
sons and a daughter. The descendants of later
generations have been numerous and "the
name still continues."
84. Oliver (Huguenot) : Fifteen children
of the progenitor were born between 1712 and
1731. The name in a few cases was changed
to Oliver, "but the family was represented here
in 1850."
85. Sigourney: The family ancestor died
here in 1727, aged 89 ; a son married and had
three daughters and three sons. One of the
latter had twelve children ; another had ten
children ; and another had five children. "The
name has been widely spread in this com
munity." 86. Brimmer: The founder was born in
Germany in 1697, and married here, and had
three daughters and a son, all married. A
son of the later generation was mayor of Bos
ton and died in 1847. The name still exists.

MASSACH USETTS.

87. Mascarene (distinguished Huguenot an
cestry) : The original representative here was
a soldier, but married and made Boston his
home. He had an only son and three married
daughters. The son died in 1778, leaving an
only son who died unmarried. In another line
were a few male representatives of a late gen
eration. 88. Bethune: Dates from about 1724. "By
the death of the senior representatives the heir
of this line now is the head of the family."
The representatives in the male line are not
numerous. 89. Cunningham: The family came here
about 1680. There were three sons of the
second generation. The line has been prolific
in comparison with some of the families previ
ously named. "This family has contributed
largely towards building up the town."
90. Boylston : The name has had numerous
influential male representatives in Boston and
vicinity since 1653. A member of the female
line had fourteen children, and one of her sons
taking the name of Boylston, became a wealthy
merchant in London, and left descendants of
this name.
91. Trail: Two brothers were residents
about 1750; and others of this name, possibly
their relatives, were here at the same date
and probably left descendants.
92. Mountfort : The family "spring from
three brothers" — all here about 1660.' One had
two sons. The male portion has been well
represented to very nearly the present time.
93. Greenwood : The founder died here in
1684; had two sons, and one of these had five
sons. "Several other branches of the family
resided here."
94. Charnock : First prominent in 1710,
there were two sons of the second generation,
also daughters. One son had three children,
who died unmarried.
95. Martyn: One member died here in 1700;
his cousin left will of 1717, in which is named
four sons and five daughters. The family has
been continued here and the name is often en
countered. 96. Cooper: The first to come here in 1678
was sent here to learn business. There were
two sons of the second generation. In the
male line this name has been prominent, and
the members numerous. Another branch of
this name beginning in 1755, became promi
nent in the South; one of them being adjutant-
general, U. S. A., and then resigned to join
the Confederate side, 1861-65.
97. Lynde : The first member of this family

was in Boston, 1650, was married, and had
three sons. The first and second sons had
each a married daughter. The second son had
a son, and both father and son were chief-
justices of the province (one from 1728 to
1746, and the other, who succeeded his father,
in 1746, from 1771 to 1772).
98. Gardiner : The first comer was a physi
cian and also a merchant ; became a refugee,
and returned after the war; had three wives,
and left issue, one son and four daughters.
The son had distinguished descendants. One
of the grandsons of the original member, being
in the female line, took name of Gardiner.
99. Amory : The first member settled about
1 72 1 in Boston; had three sons, and the male
line has been numerous.
100. Waldo : The first member was of Bos
ton in 1697. A second member, ancestor of
a branch, came about the same time. The male
line has been well represented.
No one is so foolish as to believe such a
list as the above is absolute. Mr. Whitmore,
its author, never made any such claim ; and
asserted that other families equally worthy
were entitled (presumably) to a place in the
list. However, as arranged, it is suggestive.
The basis is wealth and official distinction, as
existing in the colonies. It is also interesting
to notice the rise and fall of the families
through the medium of an increased or lessened
birth-rate, and also the effect upon them of
the influence of longevity.
In the second place, as it is natural that the
best ability should gravitate towards the metro
polis, such as Boston then was and is now,
men of that character and their family repre
sentatives would in the nature of the case be
fewer in their numerical importance as fami
lies, regardless of their "natural increase," or
birth-rate ; and so the selected number "one
hundred" is not absurb, but furnishes an idea
of the relative size of the "ruling influence"
in the capital, as well as in the colony at large ;
and, in. comparison, their numbers would not
be as great as those of their more numerous
compeers in the country districts, from whom
were drawn in the course of events recruits
to swell the urban population and occasionally
the upper classes.
In the lists which follow it is impossible to
confine the numbers to one hundred, for the
standard set embraces a much larger number
of the so-called common people; nor will the
length of the lists admit of the particular speci
fication of the former. The lists also do not
take into account the still much greater num-

MASSACHUSETTS.

ber of the first settlers who remained here
permanently, or those who after a short stay
returned to the mother country, and who were
never elected to any prominent office in this
community. In the seaports at that time was
a floating population of considerable propor
tions, composed of mariners and others, whose
stay in one place was short from the nature
of the circumstances. Armies composed of
regiments from abroad were occasionally sta
tioned in Boston, or on the islands near it, for
a period of several months at a time. The
names of such wanderers, and they are occa
sionally found in the local records, are a puzzle
to the genealogist.
It should be distinctly understood that the
great land company which settled Massachu
setts, first with headquarters located in Eng
land, and afterwards in this country, was a
close corporation, the English government re
garding it simply as an instrument for trading
in certain territory on this side of the ocean,
which it considered as a part of its realm.
The idea of the colonists to set up a govern
ment of their own, with laws not repugnant
to those of the mother country, is another
matter. It can be shown that a large degree
of prosperity attended the movement ; that by
1700 communities with many of the blessings
of agriculture and of the home country were
firmly established ; that good houses were com
mon; that the people generally were content
to abide under their own "vine and fig-tree."
That by 1736, a hundred years after the estab
lishment of their first college, according to the
testimony of an authority of that day, the pro
vince was distinguished among the British
colonies for its pleasant homes, its wholesome
laws, its privileges of education, its learned
men, its good government, the general knowl
edge of the common people, and in which good
land all were as happy as any on earth.
In 1770, after the unwise oppression of a
reasonably prosperous province by the British
government had begun, the condition of the
average inhabitant of the country town was
fairly well described in an election sermon of
that year, by a village minister living not re
mote from the metropolis. In passing the
reader will observe that the troubles about
climate are definitely alluded to. This author
ity says: "There is in the close of our short
summer the appearance of plenty in our dwell
ings ; but, from the length of our winters, our
plenty is consumed, and the one-half of our
necessary labor is spent in dispersing to our
flocks and herds the ingatherings of the fore

going season ; and it is known to every person
of common observation that few, very few,
except in the mercantile way, from one genera
tion to another, acquire more than a neces
sary subsistence, and sufficient to discharge
the expenses of government and the support
of the gospel, yet content and disposed to lead
peaceable lives."
Applying the principle of Mr. Whitmore's
plan to the selection of a list of prominent
families in other counties of Massachusetts
than Suffolk, we find that their number can
be greatly extended the period being still the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, or the
time covered by the colonial and provincial
periods of New England history. In the esti
mation of the people of old New England
(John Farmer, "Genealogical Register of the
First Settlers," 1829) the official society of the
community consisted of the governors, deputy
governors, assistants (or councillors), the
ministers of the gospel, representatives of the
general courts, graduates of Harvard College,
the members of the Ancient and Honorable
Artillery Company, and the freeman (or
voters) of the colony, especially those of the
period (when church membership was a quali
fication) from 1630 to 1662, in Massachusetts.
Mellen Chamberlain, a good legal authority,
in his "History of Chelsea," in passim, claims
that the original Massachusetts Bay Company
was a close corporation, "to which no one was
admitted unless a member of the church estab
lished within its limits ; but when communities
had gathered remote from the seat of govern
ment, there were local duties and rights, not
specified by general laws, in which it was de
sirable that some, not freeman, should share;
and in 1647 tne general court authorized the
freemen in towns to choose inhabitants, not
freemen, to vote in specified affairs under cer
tain conditions. By the charter of 1692, Mass
achusetts became more clearly a local body
politic with enlarged powers, instead of a
great land company located in England, and
in 1693 the General Court determined who
should be freeholders, and inhabitants with
their qualifications as voters in town meetings ;
but these matters were practically determined
by the selectmen, who, sharing the popular
feeling, seldom used their power of exclusion
or of challenge in town-meeting of any person,
voting by a show of hands, especially in poli
tical affairs.
"The nature of the First Charter, and the
powers granted by it, have been the subject
of controversv. The English government re-

MASSACHUSETTS.

vii.

garded it as a corporation in the kingdom for
trading in the territory described in the instru
ment, with the power of making rules for that
purpose, according to the course of other cor
porations in the realm; while the colonists
claimed the power to set up a government
proper, and make laws not repugnant to those
of Great Britain."
Again, while giving a history of the Eng
lish claim, under the subject of "Allotments
of Land," Judge Chamberlain states: "Th'e
history of the Charter is interesting 
Probably the King intended to grant only such
powers as would enable the Company in Eng
land to carry on its business in Massachusetts
with a local government." But for various
reasons, "in the opinion of some good English
lawyers, it could be legally transferred to Mass
achusetts .... And this latter seems to have
been the opinion of Winthrop and his asso
ciates, for no sooner were they set down in
Boston Bay than they acted on that view of
their powers. This explains many things
which seem very extraordinary to some in our
day." On the other hand, Farmer ("Genealogical
Register")* representing the opinion current
among the greater number of the orthodox
New Englanders when he wrote (1829) lays
greater stress on the ecclesiasticism of the
situation, and quotes' on his title-page two
authorities, one of the Puritans, and the other
of a later and more advanced member of the
clerical profession.
"Multitudes of pious, peaceable Protestants
were driven to leave their native country, and
seek a refuge for their lives and liberties, with
freedom for the worship of God, in a wilder
ness, in the ends of the earth." — Dr. John
Owen. "Our ancestors, though not perfect and in-
;Note. — The monumental dictionary of James
Savage is an enlargement of Parmer's work, and
on the same lines. In his preface Savage says the
five classes of persons prominent, such as gover
nors, deputy-governors, assistants, ministers in all
the colonies, representatives in that of Massachu
setts to 1692, and graduates of Harvard College to
1662, members of the Ancient and Honorable Artil
lery Company, and freemen in Massachusetts alone,
are features of Farmer's book. Savage agrees on
1692 as fixing an absolute limit. He states that
nineteen-twentieths of the people of New England
colonies in 1775 were descendants of those found
here in 1692, and probably seven-eighths of them
were offspring of the settlers before 1642. At the
time when Savage wrote (1860) he considered that
more than four-fifths of our people still counted
their progenitors among the ante-revolutionary
colonists. It was Savage's opinion after twenty years work
on the subject, that the record of the first three
generations of the first settlers bordered upon "uni
versal genealogy," and thus the difficulties perti
nent to the next century of their descendants are
made evident.

fallible in all respects, were a religious, brave,
and virtuous set of men, whose love of liberty,
civil and religious, brought them from their
native land into the American desert." — Dr.
Jonathan Mayhew.
PROMINENT FAMILIES.
The following list of prominent families in
Massachusetts in the seventeenth century is
based on the rule established by the celebrated
John Farmer, in 1829:
ESSEX COUNTY.

1. Abbot.
2. Adams.
3. Ailing.
4. Andrews.
5. Appleton.
6. Avery.
7. Axey.
8. Ayers.
9. Baker.
10. Ballard.
11. Barker.
12. Barnard.
13. Barney.
14. Bartholomew.
15. Bartlett.
16. Batchelor.
17. Batt.
18. Batter.
19. Belcher.
20. Belknap.
21. Bishop.
22. Blackleach.
23. Blowers.
24. Boreman.
-25. Boynton.
26. Bradbury.
27. Bradford.
28. Bradstreet.
29. Bridges.
30. Brown.
31. Bruen.
32. Burge.
33. Burrill.
34. Bu swell.
35. Capen.
36. Carleton.
37. Caulkins.
38. Chalice.
39. Cheever.
'40. Clark.
41. Clement.
42. Cobbett.
43. Colby.

44. Coldam.
45. Conant.
46. Cowdry.
47. Cross.
48. Curwin.
49. Cushing.
50. Dane.
-51. Davenport.
52. Davis.
'53. Davison.
54. Denison.
55. Dillingham.
56. Dodge.
57. Downing.
58. Dresser.
59. Dummer.
60. Eastman.
61. Easton.
62. Eastow.
63. Eliot.
64. Ellery.
65. Emerson.
66. Emery.
67. Endicott.
68. English.
69. Epes.
70. Eveleth.
71. Fairfield.
72. Feake.
73."" Fiske.
74. Fitch.
75- Fogg.
76. Foote.
yy. Foster.
78. Fowler.
79. Fereman.
80. French.
81. Friend.
82. Fuller.
83. Gardner.
84. Gedney.
85. Gerrish.
86. Giddings.

Vlll.

MASSACHUSETTS.

87. Gilbert.
88. Goodhue.
89. Gott.
90. Gould.
- 91. Green.
92. Greenleaf.
93. Hale.
94. Hall.
95. Halsall.
96. Harris.
97. Harrison.
98. Harvey.
99. Haskell.
100. Hathorne.
101. Haven.
102. Hendrick.
103. Higginson.
104. Hirst.
-,105. Hobart.
106. Hobson.
107. Holgrave.
108. Holliman.
109. Holmes.
no. Holyoke.
in. Howe.
112. Hubbard.
113. Humfrey.
114. Hussey.
115. Hutchins.
116. Ingalls.
117. Ingersoll.
118. Jaffrey.
119. Jennings.
120. Jewett.
121. Johnson.
~*I22. Ketcham.
123. Kilham.
124. Kinsman.
125. Kirman.
126. Knight.
127. Ladd.
128. Laighton.
129. Lay.
130. Lindall.
131. Lord.
132. Lothrop.
133. Lumpkin.
134. Macy.
135. Mansfield.
136. Marston.
137. Mawry.
138. Meade.
139. Metcalf.
140. Moody.
141. Moulton.
142. Nelson.
143. Newman.

144. Nicholet.
145. Norcross.
146. Norden.
147. Norris.
148. Northend.
149. Norton.
150. Noyes.
151. Olney.
152. Osgood.
153. Otley.
154. Page.
155. Paine..
156. Palfrey.
157. Palmer.
158. Paris.
159. Parker.
-t6o. Parrott.
161. Patch.
162. Payson.
163. Peabody.
164. Pearson.
165. Pease.
166. Perkins.
167. Per ley.
168. Peters.
169. Phillips.
170. Pickard.
171. Picket.
172. Pierce.
173. Pike.
174. Pingry.
175. Platt.
176. Plummer.
177. Price.
178. Pritchard.
179. Putnam.
180. Rawson.
181. Raymond.
182. Rayner.
183. Read.
184. Redington.
185. Revell.
186. Richardson.
187. Rogers.
188. Ruck.
189. Rust.
190. Saltonstall.
tqi. Sargent.
192. Scruggs.
— 193. Shepard.
194. Sibley.
195. Skelton.
196. Smith.
"197. Spencer.
198. Stanley.
199- Stevens.
200. Stickney.

201.
^202. 203. 204.
-•205. 206.207.208. 209.2J0. 211.212. 213.214.215-216.217. 218.
219.220.221. 222.
223.

IO.II. 12.
13- 14- IS-
16. 17- 18.
19.
20.21.
^22. 23- 24.
25-26. 27.28.
29. 30-
31- 32.

Stileman.Swan.Symmes. Symonds.Tenney.
Tewksbury. Thacher.Thompson. Thorndike.
Titcomb.Tomlyns. Townsend.Tracy.Trask. True.
Tupper. Turner.Tuttle.
Venner.Vincent. Wade.
Wainwright.Walker.

224. Waller.
225. Wallis.
226. Walton.
227. Ward.
228. Weare.
229. Welles.
230. Wensley.
231. West.
232. Weston.
233. Whipple.
234. Whiting.
235. Whittingham.
236. Wickham.
237. Wigglesworth.
238. Willis.
239. Winthrop.
240. Wise.
241. Wood.
242. Woodbidge.
243. Woodbury.
244. Woodman.
245. Worcester.
246. Wright.

MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

Allen.
Ames.
Aspinwall.
Bailey. Barrett.
Beecher. Beers.Belcher.Blakeman. Blodget.Blood.Bond.Bradshaw.Brattle. Bridge.Brigham.Bright.
Brimsmead. Brock. Brooks.Brown.Bulkley.
Bunker. Butler.
Cakebread. Call.
Carrington. Carter.
Case. Chadwick.Champney.Chandler.

33. Chaplin.
34. Chesholme.
35- Child.
36. Church.
-27- Clark.
38. Collins.
39. Converse.
-40. Cook.
41. Cooledge.
42. Coytemore.
43. Crosby.
44. Crow.
45. Cutler.
46. Cutter.
47. Daggett.
48. Danforth.
49. Davis.
50. Davison.
51. Denison.
52. Dow.
53. Drury.
54. Dunster.
55. Eames.
q6. Eliot.
57- Ely.
58. Estabrook.
59. Evered.
60. Eyre.
61. Fairfield.
62. Fay.
63. Feake.
64. Fiske.

MASSACH USETTS.

;x.

65-
-,66. 67.68. 69. 70.7i- 72.73- 74-75-76.77-
-78. 79-
80. 81.
-82. 83- 84.
85- 86.
87. 88.89.90.91.02.93-
-94- 95- 96.
-97-
-98.
-99. 100.
101. 102.103.
104.105. 106.
-c*07. 108.109.
no.in.112.
-"3-
—114. "5-116.
117.118. 119.
120.121.

Fitch.
Flint.Foote.Foster. Fox.French. Garfield.Gibbons.Gibbs. Glover.Goddard.Goffe.Goodenow. Goodwin.Gookin. Gould. Graves.Green.Greenwood.Griffin.
Hall.Hammond.
Harlakenden. Hart.
Harvard. Hastings. Hayman.Haynes.Hayward.Henchman.Hill.Hoar.Hobart.Hooker.Hosmer.Hough.Howard.Howe. Isaac.
Jackson.James.
Jennison.Johnson. Tones.
Judd. Kelsey.
King. Kingsbury.Knowles.Lane.
Larkin. Latham.
Lewis.Long.Looker.Lord.Loring.

122. Lynde.

179.

Stebbins.

*^200.

Ward.

123. Manning.

_ 180.

Steele.

201.

Warren.

124. Marion.

181.

Stetson.

202.

Webb.

125. Marshall.

182.

Stone.

203.

Weld.

126. Mason.

183.

Straight.

204.

Westwood.

127. Matthews.

184.

Swain.

205.

Wheeler.

128. Maverick.

185.

Symmes.

206.

White.

129. Mayhew.

186.

Tabor.

—^207.

Whiting.

130. Meriam.

187.

Talcott.

208.

Wigglesworth

131. Minor.

188.

Thacher.

209.

Wilcocks.

_ 132. Mitchell.

189.

Thompson.

210.

Willard.

133. Mitchelson.

190.

Todd.

211.

Williams.

134. Morrill.

191.

Trowbridge.

212.

Willoughby.

135. Morse.

192.

Tufts.

213.

Wincoll.

136. Morton.

-193-

Tyng.

214.

Winds.

137. Mousall.

194.

Usher.

215-

Winship.

138. Mygate.

195-

Wade.

^16.

Wolcott.

139. Nowell.

196.

Wadsworth.

217.

Woodbridge.

140. Noyes.

197.

Waite.

218.

Wooddy.

I41. Oakes.

198.

Waldo.

219.

Woodhouse.

—142. Oliver.

199.

Walker.

220.

Wright.

143- Page.
144. Palmer.

NORFOLK COUNTY.

145. Parish.

y-

Adams.

-35-

Cook.

146. Parke.

2.

Alcock.

36.

Cornwell.

147. Pearson.

3-

Allen.

37-

Crafts.

148. Pelham.

4-

Astwood.

38.

Crosby.

149. Pendleton.

5-

Atherton.

39-

Curtis.

150. Phillips.

6.

Avery.

40.

Dalton.

151. Phips.

7-

Baker.

4i-

Danforth.

152. Pierce.

8.

Barber.

42.

Davis.

153. Piermont.

9-

Bass.

43-

Denison.

— 154. Poole.

10.

Bates.

44-

Dewing.

155. Pratt.

11.

Bicknell.

45-

Dimmock.

156. Prentice.

12.

Birchard.

46.

Dudley.

157. Preseott.

L3-

Blake.

47-

Duncan.

158. Prout.

14.

Bowker.

48.

Dwight.

159. Rayner.

IS-

Bowles.

49-

Dyer.

160. Rice.

16.

Boyes.

50.

Eliot.

161. Richards.

17-

Brackett.

Si-

Farnum.

162. Richardson.

18.

Brewer.

52.

Faxon.

163. Russell.

19.

Bridgham.

53-

Fenn.

164. Saltonstall.

20.

Bull.

54-

Filer.

165. Saunders.

21.

Bumstead.

55-

Fisher.

166. Sedgwick.

22.

Burr.

56.

Fiske.

167. Shapleigh.

23-

Burrows.

-57-

Flint.

~i68. Shaw.

24.

Bursley.

58-

Ford.

-M69. Shepard.

25-

Butler.

59-

Foster.

170. Sherman.

26.

Capen.

60.

French.

171. Smedley.

27.

Carder.

61.

Fuller.

172. Smith.

28.

Carpenter.

62.

Gardner.

173. Sparhawk.

29.

Chapin.

63-

Gaylord.

174. Spaulding.

30.

Chickering.

64.

Geary.

175. Spencer.

3i-

Clap.

65-

Gilbert.

176. Sprague.

^32-

Clark.

66.

Glover.

177. Spring.

33-

Coggeshall.

67.

Gore.

178. Squire.

34-

Collicott.

68.

Halsall.

MASSACHUSETTS.

69. Harding.
70. Haeyden.
71. Heath.
72. Hewes.
73- Hill.
74. Hinsdale.
75. Hobart.
76. Holbrook.
yy. Hollister.
78. Holman.
79. Holmes.
80. Hoskins.
81. Houchin.
82. Howard.
83. Hull.
84. Hunt.
85. Jenner.
86. Jewett.
87. Johnson.
88. Jones.
89. Kibby.
90. Kingman.
91. Kingsley.
92. Leavitt.
93. Lenthall.
94. Lusher.
95. Lyon.
-"96. Makepeace.
97. Mann.
98. Marsh.
99. Marshall.
100. Mason.
101. Mather.
102. Maudsley.
103. Maverick.
—504. Mayo.
io**. Meakins.
106. Metcalf.
-T07. Mighill.
108. Miller.
109. Minot.
no. Moore.
in. Morgan.
112. Morrill.
113. Morris.
114. Morse.
---115. Nash.
116. Newberry.
117. Paine.
118. Park.
119. Parker.
"^120. Peck.
121. Perkins.
122. Phelps.
123. Phillips.
124. Pierce.
125. Plumbe.

-126. 127.128. 129.
-1-30. 131- 132.
133-134- 135-
136. 137- 138.
139- 140. 141.142.143- 144.145-146.
-f-47. 148. 149.
150. 151-152-153-154-155- 156.
157-158. LS9-
160. 161.162.
-163. 164.
165.166.167.168. 169.170.
171,172.173- 174.
175-176.177. 178.
^179. 180.
181.

Poole.Porter. Purchase.Pynchon.Ouincy.Read. Richards.Riggs.Robinson. Rogers.Rosseter.Ruggles. Sams.Sherman.Short. Smith. Spun*.Stacy.Stearns.Stoughton.Stow. Strong.
Sumner.Tappan.Thacher.Thompson.Thornton.Thurston.Tilestone.Titus.Torrey.Trowbridge.Tucker.Wakeman.Walter. Waltham.Walton. Ward.Ware.Warham.Waterhouse.
Way.Webb. Weld.West.
Wheelock.Wheelwright.White.Wilson.Wilton.Winchester.Wiswall. Withington.Wolcott.
Woodward.Woolridge.

PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

1. Alden.
2. Allen.
3. Allerton.
4. Andrews.
_5. Annable.
6. Arnold.
7. Atwood.
8. Baker.
—9. Bangs.
10. Barlow.
11. Barstow.
12. Bartlett.
13. Bassett.
14. Beal.
15. Besbedge.
16. Blackwood.
17. Bourne.
18. Bradford.
19. Brett.
__20. Brewster.
21. Bryant.
22. Buck.
23. Burgess.
24. Carver.
25. Chandler.
26. Chauncy.
27. Chittenden.
28. Clap.
—29. Clark.
—30. Cole.
31. Collier.
—32. Cook.
33. Cooper.
34. Cotton.
35. Crow.
36. Cudworth.
37. Cushing.
38. Cushman.
--39. Damon.
--40. Doane.
41. Dunham.
42. Eames.
43. Edenden.
44. Eells.
45. Finney.
46. Fogg.
47. Folsom.
48. Foster.
49. Fuller.
50. Gilson.
51. Gray.
52. Harvey.
53. Hatch.
54. Hatherly.
55. Hersey.

56. Hicks.
57. Higgins.
58. Hilton.
-59. Hobart.
60. Holmes.
t-6i. Hopkins.
62. Howland.
63. Hull.
64. Jacob.
65. Jenkins.
66. Jenny.
67. Jones.
68. Keith.
69. Kempton.
70. Kenrick.
71. Lawson.
72. Loring.
y^. Lothrop.
74. Ludkin.
75. Lyford.
"76. Mighill.
yy. Morton.
-78. Nash.
79. Norton.
80. Oldham.
81. Paddy.
82. Palmer.
83. Parker. .
84. Partridge.
85. Peabody.
86. Peck.
87. Phippen.
-88. Prence.
89. Prince.
90. Rayner.
91. Robinson.
92. Saffin
93. Saxton.
94. Silvester.
95. Smith.
96. Snow.
97. Soule.
98. Southworth.
-99. Sparrow.
100. Sprague.
101. Standish.
102. Stetson.
103. Thaxter.
104. Thomas.
105. Thompson.
106. Tisdale.
107. Tracy.
108. Turner.
109. Underwood.
no. Vassall.

MASSACHUSETTS.

in. Wadsworth.
112. Warren.
113. Waterman.
114. Wetherell.
115. White.

116. Whitman.
117. Willet.
118. Willis.
119. Winslow.
120. Wiswall.

BRISTOL COUNTY.

1. Andrews.
2. Angier.
3. Bowen.
4. Brenton.
S- Chesebrough.
—6. Cole.
7. Danforth.
8. Dean.
9. Delano.
10. Doughty.
11. Earle.
12. Emerson.
13. Gilbert.
14. Greenwood.
15. Hooke.
16. Hunt.
17. Lane.
18. Leonard.
19. Luther.
20. Macy.

21. My les.
22. Newman.
23. Paine.
-24. Peck.
25. Perry.
26. Read.
27. Russell.
28. Sabin.
29. Seward.
30. Shove.
31. Smith.
32. Street.
33. Tabor.
34. Tripp.
35. Walker.
36. Wetherell.
37. Williams.
38. Winslow.
39. Wyatt.

Ar 5-
6.
-7-

BARNSTABLE COUNTY.
1. Allen. 24. Lothrop.
.-2. Allyn. ^25. Mayo.
3. Arnold. 26. Miller.
Bacon. 27. Newland.
Bourne. 28. Otis.
Chipman. 29. Paine.
Cobb. 30. Rider.
8. Crocker. 31. Robinson.
9. Dimmock. 32. Rowley.
10. Dunham. 33. Russell.
11. Eldridge. t-34- Sears.
12. Falland. 35. Skiff.
13. Fessenden. 36. Smith.
14. Freeman. 37. Snow.
15. Gendall. >--38. Sparrow.
16. Hathaway. 39. Stone.
17. Hawes. 40. Swift.
18. Hinckley. 41. Thacher.
19. Hoar. 42. Thornton.
_20. Howes. 43. Treat.
21. Huckins. 44. Tupper.
22. Hull. 45. Walley.
23. Leverich.
NANTUCKET COUNTY.
1. Folger. 3. Mayhew.
2. Gayer.

DUKE'S COUNTY.
1. Athearn. 2. Mayhew.
CENTRAL AND WESTERN M/ SSACHU-

SETTS.

1. Atherton.
2. Bondet.
3. Brewer.
4. Chapin.
5. Chauncy.
-6. Clark.
7. Colton.
_8. Cook.
9. Frary.
10. Glover.
11. Hawley.
12. Holyoke.
13. Houghton.
14. Hovey.
15. Hunt.
16. James.
17. Manfield.
18. Marsh.
19. Marshfield.
20. Mather.
21. Montague.

22. Moore.
23. Moxon.
24. Parsons.
25. Partridge.
26. Pomeroy.
—27. Porter.
28. Pynchon.
29. Rawson.
30. Rowlandson.
31. Sheldon.
32. Stillman.
33. Stoddard.
34. Taylor.
35. Welles.
36. West.
<37- Whiting.
38. Williams.
39. Wilson.
40. Woodrop.
41. Younglove.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
The first three generations of the first set
tlers having disappeared the next important
list existing to give an idea of the names of
the prominent families in the early part of the
eighteenth century was a subscription list to
a book. Even lists of subscribers to literary
works were then uncommon in this community,
and this list has discrepancies regarding the
address of a large number which cannot be
explained. Leaving out the part relating to
Suffolk county (which included Boston), the
much smaller list for the other counties is here
included. The book referred to is Prince's
"Chronology."* Prince, who was one of the most learned
men in the Province, speaking of the pros
perity of New England in 1736, in the dedica
tion of his work to the governor, lieutenant-
governor, the councillors and representatives
of the Massachusetts Bay government — men
mostly, if not wholly, descendants of the
founders of this commonwealth — and speak
ing also from the standpoint of an ecclesiast,
as most clergymen of this period did, says :
"It is to these (the founders) we firstly owe
our pleasant houses, our fruitful fields, our
•"Chronological History of New England In the
Form of Annals," by Thomas Prince, M. A. (Boston,
1736).

MASSACHUSETTS.

growing towns and churches, our wholesome
laws, our precious privileges, our grammar
schools and colleges, our pious and learned
ministers and magistrates, our good govern
ment and order, the public restraints of vices,
the general knoweldge of our common people,
the strict observation of the christian sabbath ;
with those remains of public modesty, sobriety,
social virtues and religion ; for which this
country is distinguished among the British col
onies, and in which we are as happy as any on
earth." The following list of Prince's subscribers
outside of Suffolk county illustrate the high
standing in the community of certain families
in 1736.
MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

1. Abbot.
2. Allen.
3. Appleton.
4. Austin.
5. Badger.
6. Barret.
7. Bean.
8. Blanchard.
9. Bradstreet.
10. Brattle.
11. Breed.
12. Brigden.
13. Burr.
14. Call.
15. Cary.
16. Cheever.
17. Codman.
18. Collings.
19. Converse.
-20. Cooke.
21. Coolidge.
22. Cotton.
23. Danforth.
24. Dummer.
25. Durant.
26. Edes.
27. Emerson.
28. Fessenden.
29. Fiske.
30. Flegg.
-31. Fletcher.
^32. Flint.
33. Flucker.
-34. Flynt.
35. Foster.
36. Foxcroft.
37. Frost.
38. Frothingham.
39. Fuller.

40. Gibbs.
41. Goddard.
42. Greaves.
43. Greenwood.
44. Hall.
45. Haven.
46. Hays.
47. Hemmingway.
48. Hendly.
49. Hide.
.^50. Hopkins.
51. Hovey.
52. Hunt.
53. Hurd.
_54. Jenner.
55. Johnson.
56. Jones.
57. Kenrick.
58. Kent.
59. Kettle.
60. Lemmon.
61. Livermore.
62. Loring.
63. Lovett.
64. Mason.
65. Miller.
66. Paige.
67. Parker.
68. Peabody.
69. Phillips.'
70. Prescot.
71. Remington.
72. Rice.
73. Russell,
74. Sartle.
75. Sheaf.
76. Skinner.
yy. Spring.
78. Stone.

79. Storer.

86.

Webb.

80. Sutton.

87.

Wells.

81. Sweetser.

88.

Whitney.

82. Symmes.

89.

Wigglesworth

83. Trumbal.

90.

Williams.

84. Vinton.

-91.

Woods.

-85. Ward.

92.

Wyer.

ESSEX COUNTY.

1. Allen.

-23.

Henchman.

2. Balch.

24.

Jenison.

3. Barnard.

25-

Kimbal.

4. Beck.

26.

Little.

5. Berry.

27.

Lynde.

6. Bixby.

28.

Majory.

7. Brown.

29.

March.

8. Browne.

30-

Parsons.

9. Burril.

3i-

Payson.

10. Capen.

32-

Phillips.

11. Cheever.

33-

Pickering.

12. Chipman.

34-

Prince.

13. Choate.

35-

Rogers.

14. Coffin.

36.

Russell.

15. Cushing.

37-

Stacey.

16. Dana.

38.

Thorold.

17. Emerson.

39-

Tufts.

18. Fiske.

40.

Wainwright.

19. Fitch.

^"41.

Ward.

20. Gerrish.

42.

White.

21. Hale.

43-

Wigglesworth.

^22. Hazen.

NORFOLK COUNTY.

1. Adams.

21.

Loring.

2. Ames.

22.

Marshall.

3. Balch.

23-

Messenger.

4. Baxter.

24.

Metcalf.

5. Blake.

25-

Morse.

6. Bosson.

26.

Phillips.

7. Bowles.

27.

Quincy.

8. Clap.

28.

Smith. j

9. Dexter.

29.

Taylor.

10. Dudley.

30-

Thayer.

11. Dunbar.

31-

Tilestone.

12. Dwight.

32-

Tompson.

13. Gardner.

33-

Torrey.

14. Gay.

34-

Townsend.

15. Heath.

35-

Vose.

16. Higgins.

36.

Walter.

--17. Hobart.

37-

Ware.

18. Humphrey.

38.

Whitmarsh.

19. Kingsbury.

39-

Whitney.

20. Lincoln.

40.

Wilson.

PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

1. Arnold.

3-

Beal.

2. Bass.

4-

Bourn.

MASSACHUSETTS.

xiu.

5. Carpenter.
-n 6. Clark.
7. Cushing.
8. Gardner.
9. Hovey.
10. Howard.
11. Leavitt.
12. LeBaron.
13. Leonard.
14. Lewis.
15. Loring.

16. Marsh.
17. Palmer.
18. Parker.
19. Perkins.
20. Pratt.
21. Robinson.
22. Stevens.
23. Thacher.
24. Thaxter.
25. Weston.
26. Winslow.

BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

1. Avery."
2. Bourn.
3. Dennis.
4. Fessenden.
—5. Green.
6. Lewis.
7. Lombard.

8. Mayhew.
^"9. Oakes.
10. Rotch.
11. Spear.
12. Stone.
13. Sturgis.
14. Webb.

BRISTOL COUNTY.
1. Bowen. 5. Crosman.
2. Church. 6. Greenwood.
3. Clap. 7. Leonard.
4. Cotton. 8. Williams.
CENTRAL AND WESTERN MASSACHU
SETTS.

*-i. Bull.
2. Chandler.
3. Cheney.
4. Cushing.
5. Doolittle.
6. Dwight.
7. Flegg.
8. Frink.
9. Huggins.
10. Lee.
n. Lorkin.

12. Marshfield.
13. Mead.
14. Parkman.
15. Prentice.
16. Pynchon.
17. Stebbins.
18. White.
19. Wilder.
20. Williams.
21. Wright.

Cf. "New England Historical and Genealog
ical Register," vol. vi., p. 189, etc.
The tax lists of the several towns contain the
names of citizens at successive periods. But
previously to the revolutionary war there is very
little else upon which to build a complete record.
The first important census was taken in 1764,
and this, as preserved, is not a record of names,
but only a list of figures. The number of houses
and persons of each sex was kept up in this
way at occasional intervals until 1800. Thus
the value of such a list as that of 1736, as above
presented, may well be appreciated, even though
it may contain the names of many students and
clergymen of that period.
When the United States direct tax of 1798

was assessed in Massachusetts, a list was pre
pared which contains a description of real estate
in the hands of private persons, and the list is
now valuable for its account of farms and their
boundaries, and of outlahds, and for the de
scription which it gives of dwelling houses,
barns, outbuildings, etc.
Following is a list of family names most
numerously represented in the original eight
towns of Middlesex county, Massachusetts,
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Counties were first made in 1643, f°r ex"
ample: Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk and Nor
folk (old Norfolk) were incorporated in that
year.
MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
Charlestown. — Principal authority, Wy-
man's "Charlestown." The familiesmost numer
ously represented in this work are Adams (78),
Austin (42), Brown (83), Cutter (60), Froth-
ingham (49), Green or Greene (78), Hall (46),
Harris (47), Johnson (81), Newell (45),
Parker (58), Phillips (46), Pierce (54), Rand
(75), Reed (43), Richardson (68), Russell
(51), Smith (123), Sprague (45), Tufts (84),
and Whittemore (56). The numbers in paren
theses represent the number of Wyman's family
groups. He places before the name of Kettell
one of those peculiar indexes with which he
introduces a family of large numbers, but there
are several families equally as large as that one
covered by the matter in his book.
Cambridge. — Authority : Paige's "History of
Cambridge." The families most numerously
represented in this work are Bordman (15),
Bowman (11), Bradish (11), Champney (20),
Cook (20), Cooper (11), Cutler (11), Cutter
(52), Dana (32), Dickson (15), Fessenden
(15), Fillebrown (16),^ Frost (35), Goddard
(n),vGookin (15), Green (17), Hall (15),
Hancock (12), Hastings (29), Hill (29),
Holden (16), Hovey (14), Kidder (14), Man
ning (16), Mason (21), Moore (13), Munroe
(16), Oliver (11), Parker ( 1 1 ), Prentice (48),
Reed (14), Robbins (25), Russell (41), Smith
(16), Sparhawk (16), Stone (18), Swan (14),
Watson (17), Wellington (15), Whitmore
(il), Whittemore (36), Winship (36), and
Wyeth (26). For the Arlington part of Cam
bridge. Authorities : Cutter's "History of
Arlington," and the printed v-jtal records. Adams
(23), Butterfield (14), Cook and Cooke (13),
Cutter {yy), Dickson (14), Fillebrown (14),
Frost (40), Hall (13), Hill (22), Locke (38),
Peirce (12), Prentice (16), Robbins (13),
Russell (38), Swan (2y), Wellington (12),
Whittemore (24), and Winship (30). For

MASSACHUSETTS.

the Newton part of Cambridge. Authorities:
Jackson's "History of Newton.'^and the printed
vital records. Bartlett (24), Cooke (22), Clark
(23), Fuller (71), Greenwood (21), Hall (22),
Hammond (38), Hyde (81), Jackson (93),
Mur dock (22), Park (28), Parker (51), Pren
tice (23), Richards (21), Stone (28, Trow
bridge (29), Ward (40), Williams (21), Wis-
wall (24), Woodward (22). The numbers in
parentheses represent the number of family
groups. Watertown. — Many families of Watertown
which fill much space in Bond's work are ex
tended greatly into the limits of other towns ;
but after careful consideration the following
list is submitted for what it is worth. Author
ity: Bond's "History of Watertown." Allen,
Bemis, Bigelow, Bond, Bowman, Bright, Brooks,
Brown, Coolidge, Fiske, Flagg, Fuller, God
dard, Hammond, Harrington, Hastings, Jenni-
son, Jones, Lawrence, Livermore, Mason,
Pierce, Phillips, Saltonstall, Sanderson, Smith,
Spring, Stearns, Stone, Stratton, Warren, Well
ington, White, Whitney,, and Woodward.
Sudbury. — Authority : The printed vital rec-
onds. The family names most numerously
represented in this town are those of Brown,
Goodenow, Haynes, Hunt, Maynard, Moore,
Parmenter, Rice, Smith and Willis.
Concord. — The names of families most
numerously represented in Concord, according
to the vital records and Shattuck's "History of
Concord," are Adams (11), Ball (11), Barrett
(25), Blood (15), Brooks (33), Brown (39),
Buttrick (14), Dakin (10), Davis (2ty),Farrar
(14), Fletcher (11), Hoar (io),Hosmer (24),
Hubbard (12), Hunt (13), Melvin (16), Mer-
iam (14), Miles (12), Taylor (12), Wheeler
(51), Wood (15). The figures in parentheses
represent the number of heads of families.
Woburn. — Authority : Johnson's printed vital
record. The following statement is based upon
the birth rate in that work. Th.e family names
most numerously represented are Brooks, Car
ter, Converse, Fowle, Johnson, Kendall, Pierce,
Reed, Richardson, Simonds, Thompson, and
Wyman. The three most numerous families
are those of Johrison, Richardson, and Wyman,
and the name of Richardson is represented in
the birth list (to 1873) by nearly 900 entries.
Medford. — The printed vital records to 1850
give as the most numerously represented names,
those of Brooks, Hall and Tufts. The genea
logical records in Brooks's "History of Med
ford" add to these those of Blanchard, Francis,
Reeves, Wade, Whitmore and Willis.
Reading. — The vital records of this munici

pality are not printed. From Eaton's "History
of Reading" a very general estimate is made,
which includes among the most numerous
family names those of Bancroft, Boutwell,
Browne, Bryant, Cowdry, Damon, Eaton, Em
erson, Evans, Fitch, Flint, Gre*en, Hartshorne,
Nichols, Parker, Poole, Pratt, Smith, Stimpson,
Swain, Temple, Wakefield, Walton, Weston
and Wiley.
ESSEX COUNTY.
The original eight towns of Essex county in
1643 were Salem, Lynn, Wenham, Ipswich,
Rowley, Newbury, Gloucester and Andover.
Salem. — Salem, like its companion seaport,
Boston, is an interesting place to genealogists.
But it is doubtful if in spite of earnest en
deavors in that direction, on the part of a num
ber that the work is nearer accomplishment gen
erally than that of Boston, as described by
Whitmore in the first part of this article. In
a place so genealogically important as Salem,
the vital records have been collected from vari
ous sources, and in relation to the entire subject
are doubtless only fragmentary. The eighteenth
century baptisms in Salem, as published by
Emmerton, show for the most numerously
represented families in that century the names
of Andrew and Andrews, Archer, Ashby, Ash-
ton, Babbidge, Barr, Bickford, Bowditch, Bray,
Brookhouse, Brown and Browne, Bullock, Bur
rill, Chapman, Ckeever, Ciark, Clough, Clout-
man, Collins, Cook, Cox, Dampney, Daniel or
Daniels, Derby, Dodge, Driver, Emmerton, Felt,
Fisher, Forrester, Foster, Fowler, Frye, Gale,
Gardner, Gavitt, Gerrish, Giles, Glover, Goodale,
Goodhue, Gould, Grafton, Grant, Gray, Hall,
Hathorne, Flenderson, Hill, Hodges, Holman,
Horton, Howard, Hunt, Ingalls, Ingersoll, Jef
frey, Josephs, King, Lamb, Lambert, Lander,
Lane, Loring, Lawrence, Leach, Lee, Lefavor,
Liscomb and Luscomb, Mackintire, Manning,
Mansfield, Marston, Mason, Massey, Masury,
Mayberry, Millett, Morgan, Morong, Moses,
Motey, Neal, Needham, Njchols, Oliver, Ornej
Osgood, Palfrey, Palmer, Parker, Patterson,
Peale, Pease, Peirce and Pierce, Phelps, Phippen,
Pickering, Pickman, Pitrrfan, Prince, Proctor,
Punchard, Putnam, Richardson, Ropes, Rowell,
Rust, Sage, Sanders and Saunders, Saunder-
son, Savage, Silsbee, Skerry, Smith, Smithers,
Southard, Stone, Swasey, Simonds and Sy-
monds, Teague, Townsend, Trask, Tucker,
Valpy, Very, Ward, Waters, Webb, Wellman,
West, White, Williams, Woodbridge, Wood
bury and Yell, and many others who are possi
bly entitled to a place in the list. In the pub-

MASSACHUSETTS.

xv.

lished records of the parish list of deaths, kept
by William Bentley, pastor of the East Church,
Salem, covering the period between 1785 and
1819, the following family names are most
numerous: Allen, Archer, Babbidge, Becket,
Brown and Browne, Cheever, Collins, and
Crowninshield, Dean, Derby, Fairfield, Hodges,
King, Lambert, Larie, Manning, Masury, Millet,
Murray, Palfrey, Patterson, Peele, Perkins,
Phippen, Richardson, Ropes, Silsbee, Smith,
Swasey, Townsend, Ward, Waters, Webb, Well-
man, White, Whittemore and Williams. In
dividuals having large families are very inter
esting genealogically, and important sociologi
cally and physiologically; and next in interest
to these facts are those of longevity; closely
akin to which subject is that of fatalities, in
which accidents, war and pestilence or epidem
ical disease, bear an important part, events
which are more likely to affect a seaport like
Salem, with a large floating element in its popu
lation, than the more inland country districts.
Lynn. — Authority : The printed vital records.
The most numerous families to 1850 are those
bearing the names of Alley, Bachellor, Breed,
Brown, Burrill, Chase, Collins, Fuller, Hawkes,
Ingalls, Johnson, Lewis, Mansfield, Mudge,
Newhall, Oliver, Pa¥rott, Phillips, Ramsdell,
Rhodes, Smith and Tarbox. Of these Breed
and Newhall are by far the most numerous.
Wenham. — Authority : The printed vital rec
ords. The most numerous families to 1850 are
those bearing the names of Bacheller, Dodge,
Fairfield, Fiske, Kimball, Perkins and Porter.
Of these Dodge and Kimball are the most
numerous. Ipswich. — Authority : Felt, "History of Ips
wich." Andrews, Appleton, Baker, Brown,
Burnham, Choate, Cogswell, Dodge, Emerson,
Farley, Foster, Giddings, Goodhue, How, Hub
bard, Killam, Kimball, Knowlton, Lord, Low,
Manning, Norton, Perkins, Potter, Rogers, Rust,
Smith, Stamford, Story, Symonds, Tread well,
Wade, Wainwright, Ward, Warner, Whipple,
Whittingham, Wigglesworth, Wise. A late
authority on the subject of the most numerously
represented names, of which the above are a
number in this ancient town is Waters's "His
tory of Ipswich."
Rowley.— Authority : Blodgette, "Early Set
tlers of Rowley," in this work the family names
most numerously represented are Bailey, Boyn-
ton, Burpee, Cla*rke, Dickinson, Dresser, Ells
worth, Harriman, Harris, Flidden, Hobson,
Hopkinson, Jackson, Jewett (numerously so),
Johnson, Kilbourne, Mighill, Nelson, Palmer,

Pearson, Pickard, Platts, Scott, Tenney, Todd
and Wood.
NewbUry. — Newbury, better known from
the city part as Newburyport, is a very old
settlement, and the list of the most numerous
family names, as interpreted from Coffin's
"Newbury," from 1635 to 1700, contains those
of Ayer, Badger, Bailey, Bartlett, Brown, Chase,
Cheney, Clark, Coffin, Davis, Dole, Dummer,
Emery, Goodridge, Greenleaf , Hale, Ilsley,
Kelley, Knight, Kent, Lowell, Lunt, March,
Merrill, Moody, Morse, Noyes, Ordway, Pet-
tingell, Pike, Pillsbury, Poore, Plummer, Rolfe,
Somerby, Swett, Titcomb, Toppan, Wheeler
and Woodman. Whether these names were con
tinued in the same proportion in the eighteenth
century is a matter of doubt, in the absence of
printed vital records. Poore's "Merrimac Val
ley Researches" may furnish sufficient names
to form a partial substitute.
Gloucester. — Authority : Babson's "History
of Gloucester." Numerous family names in
Gloucester have been those of Andrews, Bab-
son, Bennett, Bray, Brown, Chandler, Collins,
Davis, Day, Ellery, Elwell, Eveleth, Gard
ner, Giddings, Harraden, Haskell, Ingersoll,
Lane, Low, Lufkin, Millet, Norwood, Parsons,
Pool, Riggs, Robinson, Sargent, Sawyer, Smith,
Somes, Stanwood, Stevens, Tarr, White, Wit-
ham, Woodbury, York.
Andover. — This historic old town, originally
embracing the present towns T>i Andover and
North Andover, and the south portion of the
city of Lawrence, was first settled in the north
erly part, now North Andover, where the first
meeting-house of the town was built near the
old burying ground there ; and here the larger
number of the inhabitants dwelt for several
years after the first settlement of the town as a
whole. By 1707, however, it was found that
the bulk of the population had changed to the
southerly part, and so a new meeting-house,
then needed, was planned to be built in that
part. The agitation resulted in two parishes
being formed, one being the North and the
other the South Precinct of the town, and two
meeting places for the religious societies of
that clay were built. Thus the town of Cochi-
chewick, its name when it became a part of the
county of Essex in 1643, became eventually to
be known as Andover, the southerly part espe
cially being noted as an intellectual centre the
world over. In this parish there were between
the years 171 1 and 1809 the number of 3592
baptisms, or eighty-ninetieths infant baptisms.
From the "Historical Manual of the South

MASSACHUSETTS.

Church in Andover," published in 1859, which
appears to be the principal authority on the
subject of the size of families in general, are
taken the following names, which appear to be
those most numerously represented in the town
itself : Abbot, Blanchard, Chandler, Dane, Fos
ter, Holt, Johnson, Lovejoy, Osgood, Phelps,
Russell, Stevens and Wardwell. In 1859 the
name of Abbot preponderates. The publica
tion of the vital records of Andover was begun
in the newspapers several years ago.
SUFFOLK COUNTY.
The original eight towns of Suffolk county
in 1643 were Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester,
Dedham, Braintree, Weymouth, Hingham, Hull.
Omitting Boston, Roxbury and Dorchester, all
now parts of the one city of Boston, we have
left Dedham, Braintree, Weymouth, now parts
of the new county of Norfolk, and Hingham
and Hull, now parts of the present county of
Plymouth.
PRESENT PLYMOUTH COUNTY.
Hingham. — The family names most numer
ously represented in Hingham, according to the
printed history of that town, are first those of
Cushing (123 family groups), Hersey (11 1),
and Lincoln (178) ; followed closely in number
by Beal (89), Gardner (84), Sprague (74),
Stodder (92), and Whiton (80). Next to these
in number by Barnes (35), Bates (47), Burr
(33), Dunbar (36), /Fearing (45), French
(25), Gill (22), Hobart (53), Humphrey (31),
Jacob (28), Jones (30), Lane (43), Leavitt
(39), Lewis (26), Loring (46), Marsh (26),
Nichols (22), Ripley (25), Souther (21), Sto-
well (28), Thaxter (30), Tower (55), and
Wilder (63).
Hull. — In 1740 the Loring family was prom
inent in Hull, which territorily and numerically
has been one of the smallest, towns in the State.
PRESENT NORFOLK COUNTY.
Dedham.— Authority: Vital records of the
town of Dedham, as printed under the super
vision of Don Gleason Hill, town clerk. The
most numerously represented nanles on these
records are Allen (Allin, Alleyne), Bacon,
Baker, Battle, Bullard.Chickering, Clapp, Clarfc,
Colburn, Dean, Draper, Eaton, Ellis, Ever
ett, Fairbanks, Fales (and Vales), Farrington,
Fisher, Fuller, Gay, Guild, Hawes, Herring,
Holmes, Kjngsbury, Lewis, Mason, Metcalf,
Morse, NeVell, Onion, Pond, Rhoads, Rich
ards, Smith (and Smyth), Sumner, Weather-
bee, White, Whiting and Wight.

Braintree. — The vital records of this town
have been published through the efforts of a
citizen. Authority : "Records of the Town of
Braintree, 1640 to 1793," edited by Samuel A.
Bates. The families most numerously repre
sented in the index to the vital records of births
as printed in this work are Adams, Allen, Bas,s,
Belcher, Copeland, Faxon, French, Hayden,
Hayward, Niles, Spear, Thayer, Veazie, Wales
and Webb.
Weymouth. — Authority : Nash, "Historical
Sketch of the Town of Weymouth." The in
crease in population in the town of Weymouth
was small for its first century — about 1000
being the estimate for 1643. About 1675 an
official estimate sets the number of houses in
round numbers at 250; which allowing five per
sons to a house would give a population of
1250. In 1750 the estimate was 1200. A
census of 1765 showed 1258; 1776, indicated
1471 ; and in 1790 a declension to 1469. In
1800 it had gained, the total being 1803. The
more numerously represented names in Mr.
Nashs's lists are Bates, Bayley, Beals, Bicknell,
Blanchard, Burrell, Cushing, French, Holbrook,
Humphrey, Hunt, Loud, Lovell, Nash, Porter,
Pratt, Reed, Richards, Shaw, Smith, Thacher,
Thayer, Thomas, Tirrell, Torrey, Tufts, Vin-
ing, White, Whitrnarsh-
OLD NORFOLK COUNTY.
In 1643 the county called Norfolk embraced
six towns, four of which afterwards became a
part of New Hampshire, and two remained a
part of present Essex county. These two were
Salisbury and Haverhill.
Salisbury. — Authority: Hoyt, "Old Fami
lies of Salisbury and Amesbury." The names
noticed to the greatest extent in this book may
show with accuracy those families most numer
ously represented, certainly be fore 1700. Among
these are the names of Allen, Ayer or Ayers,
Bailey or Bayley, Barnard, Bartlett, Blaisdell,
Bradbury, Brown, Buswell, Carr, Chase, Clem
ent, Colby, Currier, Davis, Dow, Eastman,
Eaton, Fowler, French, Greenleaf, Hoyt, Kelly,
Kimball, Merrill, Morrill, Morse, Osgood, Page,
Pike, Rolfe, Rowell, Stevens, True, Webster,
Weed and Wells.
Haverhill. — In this city the names of Ayer,
Chase, Emerson, Johnson, Marsh, Page, Sar
gent or Sargeant, Webster and Whittier appear
to be among those most numerously represent
ed. Badger, Bartlett, Bradley, Brickett, Brown,
Chase, Cogswell, Corliss, Duncan, Emerson,
How, Johnson, Marsh, Saltonstall and White
are among the more prominent names.

MASSACH USETTS.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Of the civil officers in the provincial period
the justices of the peace were elected more
generally perhaps than any other from the mass
. of the common people. As a class they repre
sent the more active and intelligent members
of the country districts. There were very few
regular lawyers then, and their places were
taken in cases of necessity by average citizens.
Between 1692 and 1774, therefore, the honor
attached to this office was far greater than that
attached to it now. In the single instance cited
the county of Essex is selected, and the names
are taken from Whitmore's "Civil List." As
presented, the year preceding the surname
shows the first time that name was mentioned.
ESSEX COUNTY.
Period from 1692 to 1774.
1692 : Brown ; Woodbridge ; Appleton ; Epps
or Epes ; Pierce ; Higginson ; Bradstreet ; Wade ;
Wainwright. 1700: Noyes; Legg; Norden.
1701 : BurrihV. 1702: Saltonstall; Pike; Hirst;
Hale ; Wolcott. 1704: Sewall. 1706: Newman.
1707 : Jewett. 1714 : Dummer. 1715 : Hathorne ;
Corwin ; Turner ; White ; Brattle ; Cawley. 1717 :
Rogers. 1719 : Bradbury ; Kent ; Stevens ; Gale.
1720: Lindall; Sargeant. 1722: Currier; Ged-
ney. 1723: Berry. 1726: Price; Oulton. 1727:
Whipple; Bagley. 1728: Minot; Orne; Ger
rish; Rolfe. 1729: Lynde; Atkins. 1733
Barton ; Bayley ; Plaisted ; Lambert ; Howard
Blaney; Fairfax; Barnard; March; Cogswell
Baker. 1734: Choate; Lee; Osgood; Wise
Kimball. 1736: Burleigh; Allen; Wood. 1737
Kitchen ; Hobson ; Marston ; Greenleaf . 1738
Moody; Skinner. 1739: Frost. 1741 : Rowell
1744: Aiansfield. 1745 : Swett; Cushing. 1746
Pickman; Collins. i747:Tasker. 1748: Hooper
Fowle. 1749: Moseley; Bowditch; Peaslee
Norton. 1752 : Gibbs ; Farnham ; Phillips. 1753
Pool. 1755 : Jones ; Stevens ; Davis ; Saunders
Leach. 1756: Lechmere ; Curwin; Nutting
Bourn; Dalton ; Morrill or Merrill; McHard
1758: Gardner. 1759: Newhall. 1761 : Ropes
Oliver ; Whitham ; Preseott ; Coffin ; Potter
Gage ; Mulliken ; Henchman ; Holyoke ; Chip-
man ; Pynchon; Athearn ; Fairfield. 1762:
Bowers ; Gilbert ; Bowen ; Vans. 1763 : Plum-
mer; Cockle. 1764: Geary. 1765 : Frye; Emery ;
Putnam. 1766 : Gallison. 1768: Dowse; Story ;
Cabot. 1769: Cotnam; Lowell. 1770: Roby.
1 77 1 : Derby; Calef. 1772: Harris; Carter;
Sawyer ; Jewett ; Barker ; Cheever.
A few of the above named were judges:
Samuel Appleton, one of the earliest appointed,

was born in England and resided in Ipswich,
and held office till his death in 1696. He was
a military man of considerable note, and com
manded one of the companies engaged in 1675
in the desperate Narragansett fight. Bartho
lomew Gedney, of Salem, was a physician, born
in 1640 and died in 1699. John Hathorne, of
Salem, was born in 1641 ; he continued in office
until his resignation in 17 12, and died in 17 17.
He was appointed to the superior court. Jona
than Corwin, or Curwin, of Salem, was born
in 164O, and died in office, 1718. He was
appointed to the superior court 171 5. William
Browne died while in office 1716. He was suc
ceeded by his son Samuel Brown, who con
tinued until his death in 1731. Daniel Peirce,
or Pierce, appointed in 1698, held his position
until his death, 1704. A man of greater note
than most of the preceding was Nathaniel Sal
tonstall, of Haverhill, who was graduated at
Harvard, 1659. He resigned from the position
of judge in 1692, because of his distaste for
the witchcraft trials. "He was not bred to the
law, but he was a man of strong mind and
sound sense" — not influenced by bigotry and
fanaticism. He died in 1707, aged about 68.
He was appointed judge of the inferior court
of common pleas for Essex in 1702, and held
the office till his death about five years after
ward. (For a full notice of his life, see Sibley,
Harv. Gard., vol. ii.).
John Appleton, appointed 1704, was also
judge of probate after 1732, which office he
held until his death in 1739. He was a nephew
of Samuel Appleton. Thomas Noyes, appoint
ed 1707, died, when very old, in 1730. John
Higginson, appointed 1708, was a merchant.
He held office until his death in 1720. John
Burrill, of Lynn, for ten years speaker of the
house of representatives, was appointed in 1720,
but died in 1721. Josiah Wolcott, appointed in
1722, was a Salem merchant, and died in office,
1729. Timothy Lindall, appointed in 1729, was
a graduate of Harvard College in 1695, and at
one time speaker of the house of representa
tives (1720). He held his seat as "judge until
1754, and died in 1760. John Wainwright,
appointed 1729, graduate at Harvard 1709,
was a merchant of Ipswich, and died in office,
1739. Theophilus Burrill (a nephew of John
Burrill) was appointed in 1733, and died in
office 1737. Thomas Berry, appointed 1733,
was a graduate of Harvard 1712, and died in
office 1756. He was a native of Boston, and a
physician of Ipswich. He was also judge of
probate for Essex county, 1739- 1756. Ben
jamin Marston, appointed 1739, was a graduate

MASSACHUSETTS.

of Harvard 1715, and also sheriff; he was a
resident of Salem and afterwards of Man
chester. He died while holding the office of a
judge, in 1754, aged 57.
Benjamin Lynde, Jr., appointed 1739, was a
graduate of Harvard in 1718; son of Judge
Benjamin Lynde. Fie was not a lawyer when
appointed. He was appointed to the bench of
the superior court. He resigned in 1772 and
became judge of probate, which office he held
when he died in 1781. His father was a grad
uate of Harvard in 1686, and studied law in
London, and was the first regularly educated
lawyer appointed to the bench in Massachu
setts ; the father died in 1745, aged 78. He
married his wife in Salem, where he had re
moved from Boston. He was a barrister or
advocate and judge of the superior court 1712,
and chief-justice from 1728 till his death. (Sib
ley, Harv. Grad. iii. 356).
John Choate, appointed 1746, was of Ips
wich, became chief- justice, and died while in
office, 1766. Henry Gibbs, appointed 1754, died
in office, 1759. He was a graduate of Harvard
in 1726, and a Salem merchant. John Tasker,
appointed 1754, was of Marblehead ; and died
in office in 1761. Benjamin Pickman, appoint
ed 1756, held office till 1761. He was a Salem
merchant, and died in 1774. Caleb Cushing,
appointed 1759, became chief-justice after the
Revolution. He was of Salisbury. Stephen
Higginson, appointed 1761, died 1761, aged
45. Nathaniel Ropes, appointed 1761, was a
graduate of Harvard in 1745, and judge of
probate; died 1774. Andrew Oliver, appoint
ed 1761, graduated at Harvard 1749. He held
office until the Revolution and died in 1799.
William Bourn, of Marblehead, appointed 1766,
was a graduate of Harvard 1743, and died
1770, aged 47. William Browne, appointed
1770; died in England, 1802. He was a grad
uate of Harvard, 1755. He was a Loyalist and
was made governor of Bermuda, 1781. Peter
Frye, of Andover, appointed 1772, graduate of
Harvard, 1744, held office till 1775, and died in
England, 1820.
Essex county also claims among the judges
of the Superior Court of Judicature, from 1602
to 1774, the following: Samuel Sewall, John
Hathorne, Jonathan Corwin, Benjamin Lynde
(ist), Benjamin Lynde (2d), Nathaniel Ropes
and William Browne. Stephen Sewall, of
Salem, graduate at Harvard, 1721 ; was ap
pointed in 1739, was chief justice, and died
1760. Samuel White, of Haverhill, graduated
at Harvard, 1731, was a special justice, 1758,
relative to will of Governor Bellingham. Rich

ard Saltonstall, of Haverhill, graduated at Har
vard, 1722, was appointed judge in 1736, and
held his seat until his death in 1756. Before
the Revolutionary War very few of the incum
bents of this effice were educated in the law,
and to that time only four judges in the higher
court were lawyers. These were Benjamin
Lynde, the first of the two Lyndes, Paul Dud
ley, Edmund Trowbridge and William Cush
ing. Few regular practitioners found their way
here from across the sea. There was a preju
dice against lawyers at that time among the
New England people. The laws of the colony
and province were based on the model made
abroad by skilful English lawyers, and of them
selves were well enough ; but in unskilled hands
here were often improperly administrated.
Among later judges of the higher court were
Samuel Sewall, of Marblehead, a graduate of
Harvard, 1776, member of congress, 1797-1800;
later a chief-justice, 1813, who died in the
following year at Wiscasset, Maine, 1814;
Theophilus Bradbury, of Newbury, a graduate
of Harvard, 1757, member of congress, died
1803, whose fame belongs mostly to the Dis
trict of Maine.
There were five barristers or advocates in
the province in 1768, viz. : Daniel Farnham,
graduate at Harvard College in 1739, studied
law with Edmund Trowbridge, began practice
in Newburyport, became eminent ; held military
office, was a loyalist, and died in 1776. William
Pynchon, of Salem, graduated Harvard Col
lege in 1743, was a native of Springfield, be
came a lawyer and a judge, and died 1789.
John Chipman, graduated at Harvard in 1738,
and died in 1768. Nathaniel Peaslee Sargeant
graduated at Harvard in 1750, practiced law in
Haverhill. In 1776 was appointed judge, and
in 1789 chief justice, holding the place until his
death, 1791. John Lowell graduated at Har
vard, 1760, was afterwards of Boston, member
of congress, judge of Court of Admiralty, etc.,
died 1802.
Another distinguished lawyer of this period
was Tristram Dalton, who graduated at Har
vard, 1755, studied law in Salem, was repre
sentative from Newburyport, speaker of the
house and member of the state senate ; United
States senator, 1789-91, the first congress after
the adoption of the constitution. He died in
Boston, 1817.
RUFUS CHOATE.
In a county composed of many great men
there is probably no man among them all of
greater intellectual reputation than the great

MASSACH USETTS.

XIX.

lawyer, Rufus Choate. He was born on Flog
Island, in the town of Essex, October i, 1799,
and died at Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 13,
1859. He began his studies with several clergy
men in succession, and was afterwards at
Hampton Academy and at Dartmouth College,
where he was graduated in 18 19. He then
studied law in the office of William Wirt, at
Washington, and at the Dane Law School at
Cambridge, and was admitted to the Essex bar
at Salem in 1823. He began practice in Dan-
vers, where he remained and in Salem, until ,
1834. He was state representative in 1825,
state senator in 1827; and member of congress
from 1832 to 1834, in which year he removed
to Boston. In 1841 he succeeded Daniel Web
ster in the United States Senate. In 1853 he
succeeded John H. Clifford as attorney-general
of Massachusetts. In 1858, in consequence of
ill health, he gave up professional labor, and in
1859 sailed for Europe. At that time the
steamer on which he sailed touched at Halifax.
On reaching that port he was too feeble to pro
ceed, and landing there, his death occurred in
that city.
After the death of Mr. Webster in 1852 he
was universally regarded as the head of the
bar in Massachusetts. As in legislative fields
he seemed out of his element, so, in the domin
ion of the law, he was supreme. An orator of •
the first class, his greatest forensic efforts were
before juries, and nothing ever exceeded in
interest the exhibitions of logic and eloquence
which he exhibited before a jury. Boys would
play truant from school to go hear him. The
traditions of his power to sway a jury were
permanent in the memory of many who had
heard him. He was a man of large frame,
broad shoulders, and upright figure, surround
ed by a head and face which it is as impossible
to describe, as one has said, as "the flash of the
lightning in the cloud or the aurora in the sky."
He was in his procedure all activity, alert
ness, swiftness and grace. He was much be
loved by his fellow members of the bar. He
had an office and residence in Salem from 1828
to 1834. He could trace his ancestry to one
John Choate, an immigrant from England, who
settled in a part of Ipswich, afterwards a sepa
rate town bv the name of Essex, and whose
son Thomas settled on Hog Island, a part of
Essex, whose son, known as Colonel John, born
in 1697, died in 1766. This Colonel John was
at one time elected speaker of the general court,
and his brother Francis, born in 170 1, and died
in 1777, was the father of William, the father
of David Choate, born upon Hog Island, who

was the father of Rufus. David Choate had
no children by a first wife, but by a second
wife, Miriam, daughter of Captain Aaron Fos
ter, he had two daughters and four sons, one
of whom was Rufus. One of the brothers of
Rufus Choate was Washington Choate, born
1803, died 1822, while a member of the junior
class in Dartmouth College. Rufus spent his
boyhood by the sea, and his most brilliant and
beautiful lecture, "The Romance of the Sea" —
in which he had incorporated much that he had
seen and thought of about the ocean, its won
ders and its mysteries — was lost or stolen after
its delivery in New York, and never reappeared.
His father died when Rufus was only eight
years old, and his mother died in 1853, at the
age of eighty-one. His early surroundings
were pleasant and wholesome, and many pass
ages in his orations were descriptive of the
scenery of Ipswich and its vicinity, with which
his youth was familiar. He early disclosed an
absorbing devotion to reading, and the mature
character of what he read in the few solid
books then at his command, would now be con
sidered remarkable. Before he was ten, he had
pretty nearly exhausted the heavy histories of
the village library.
When in college, afterwards, he would read
a chapter of the Bible just before retiring, and
on waking in the morning could repeat it cor
rectly. At the age of ten he commenced the
study of Latin, and he graduated from college
when not quite twenty. Before him, after that
"stretched away forty years of intense study,
struggle, forensic agony and triumph."
It is not our intention here to present more
than the salient features of Mr. Choate's life,
with the object of calling his eminence to the
attention of the present generation. He was
married, March 29, 1825, to Helen Olcott, by
whom he had seven children. She was the
daughter of Mills Olcott, Esq., a lawyer of
Hanover, New Hampshire. Her death occurred
December 8, 1864.
One of his biographers says: "He threw
himself with as much enthusiasm into a trial
before a country justice in a shoemaker's shop
as if it were before the Supreme Court. He
magnified every litigation, and each litigant,
magistrate and juryman. He never hesitated
to pour out all his wealth of imagery, the pro
fusion of his classical allusions, and all the ex
uberance of his rhetoric upon trival occasions
and before an illiterate audience. . . . Cer
tain it is that, as the years went on, the appear
ance of Choate in any cause, under any circum
stances, was the signal for thronged court

MASSACHUSETTS.

rooms by audiences lifted high and still higher
upon the lofty and ever renewed flights of
winged eloquence. . . . It is not necessary
to go farther with details. Such as Mr. Choate's
life had been, it continued till, as was inevitable,
his health broke down finally in the early sum
mer of 1859. Determining to pass the season
in England, he sailed from Boston, June 29,
1859 ; but, becoming worse, he left the ship at
Halifax,' where he died July 13, not yet sixty
years old, worn out."
Authorities: For authorities on the life
and career of Rufus Choate consult "The Life
of Rufus Choate," by Professor Samuel Gil-
man Brown. Edward G. Parker published a
volume of "Reminiscences." Edwin P. Whipple
wrote much and discriminatelyof Choate. James
T. Fields and others have done likewise in
either essays or lectures. A comprehensive
sketch of his life, by the Hon. John B. D. Cogs
well, was published in the "Memorial Bio
graphies" of the New England Historic Gene
alogical Society, vol. iii, pp. 383-436.
Ancestry. — John Choate (1), baptized at
Groton, Bedford, Colchester, England, June 6,
1624, died at Chebacco, Ipswich, Massachu
setts, December 4, 1695, son of Robert and
Sarah Choate. His wife Anne died at Che
bacco, February 16, 1727. Children: 1. John,
born June 15, 1661, died July 17, 1733, married
first, July 7, 1684, Elizabeth Graves; married
second, May 19, 1690, Mrs. Elizabeth Giddings ;
married third, July 27, 1723, Mrs. Sarah Per
kins, who died November 19, 1728; and mar
ried fourth, Mrs. Prudence Marshall, who died
June 9, 1732. 2. Margaret, died February 28,
1692, married Abraham Fitts. 3. Samuel, died
about 17 1 3, married Mary Williams, of Rox
bury, Massachusetts; she married second, 1716,
Samuel Story, of Ipswich. 4. Mary, born Au
gust 16, 1666; died prior to 1691. 5. Thomas,
see forward. 6. Sarah, married, April 13, 1693,
John Burnham, of Ipswich. 7. Joseph, married.
Rebecca. 8. Benjamin, died November 26,
1753; married, June 12, 1707, Abigail Burn
ham. (H. C, 1703).
(II) Thomas Choate, son of John Choate
(1), born at Chebacco, Ipswich, Massachusetts,
1671, died March 3, 1745; married first, 1690,
Mary Varney, daughter of Thomas and Abi
gail (Proctor) Varney, of Ipswich, who died
November 19, 1733; married second, Septem
ber 24, 1734, Mrs. Mary Calef, widow of Doc
tor Joseph Calef; married third, November 9,
1743, Mrs. Hannah Burnham, who died Octo
ber 2, 1782. He was representative to the
General Court 1 723-'24-25-'27. Children: 1.

Anne, born May 22, 1691, died August 15, 1759;
married October 21, 1710, John Burnham. 2.
Thomas, born June 7, 1693, died August 22,
1774; married first, Elizabeth Burnham; mar
ried second, October 31, 1738, Mrs. Sarah Mar
shall ; married third, Mrs. Rachel (Riggs) Luf-
kin. 3. Mary, born March 18, 1695, died
March 6, 1767; married, December, 1716, Par
ker Dodge, of Ipswich. 4. John, born July 25,
1697, died December 17, 1765; married, March
3, 1717, Meriam Pool. 5. Abigail, born Octo
ber 20, 1699 ; married (published November
27, 1720) John Boardman, of Ipswich. 6.
Francis, born September 13, 1701 ; see forward.
7. Rachel, born November 18, 1703, died March
15, 1783; married first, January 16, 1724,
Joseph Rust, who died February 3, 1734; man
ned second, March 2, 1737, Isaac Martin. 8.
Ebenezer, born March 10, 1706; married, Sep
tember 3, 1730, Elizabeth Greenleaf. 9. Sarah,
born July 24, 1708 ; married Reverend Amos
Cheever. (Ill) Francis Choate, son of Thomas Choate
(2), born at Chebacco, Ipswich, Massachusetts,.
September 13, 1701, died there October 15,
1777; married, April 13, 1727, Hannah Per
kins, born at Boston, Massachusetts, April 4,,
1708, died October 2, 1778, daughter of Isaac
and Mary (Pike) Perkins; Blacksmith ; Ruling-
Elder, and Esquire. Children: 1. Francis,.
born February 27, i727-87rlied 1740. 2. Will
iam, born September 5, 1730; see forward. 3.
Abraham, born March 24, 1731-2, died April
23, 1800; married Sarah Potter. 4. Isaac, born
January 31, 1734, died May 30, 1813; married
Elizabeth Low. 5. Jacob, baptized August 17,
:73S» died young. 6. John, born March 13,.
1737, died July 7, 1791 ; married first, Novem
ber 14, 1760, Mary Eveleth, who died August.
8, 1788; married second, April 16, 1789, Mrs..
Sarah (Johnson) Newman, who married third,
October 24, 1792, Bradstreet Parker. 7. Han
nah, born April 1, 1739, died April 18, 1785;.
married, November 10, 1757, Rufus Lathrop.
8. Francis, born September 18, 1743, died
young. (IV) William Choate, son of Francis Choate
(3), born at Chebacco, Ipswich, Massachusetts,.
September 5, 1730, died there, April 23, 1785;
married, January 16, 1756, Mary Giddings,
born March 27, 1732, died November 1, 1810,.
daughter of Job and Margaret (Low) Gid
dings; sea captain; schoolmaster. Children:
1. William, born October 18, 1756, died No
vember, 1756. 2. David, born November 29,
1757; see forward. 3. William, born August
10, 1759, died January, 1835 ; married, Au-

MASSACHUSETTS.

xxi.

gust 19, 1784, Susannah Choate, daughter of
Humphrey and Ruth (Lufkin) Choate. 4.
George, born February 24, 1762, died February
8, 1826; married, January 1, 1789, Susanna
Choate, daughter of Stephen and Mary (Low)
Choate. 5. Margaret, born March 18, 1764;
married, May 25, 1786, John Crocker, Junior.
6. Job, born March 1, 1766, died December,
1813 ; married first, April, 1797, Lydia Christo
phers ; married second Margaret Adams. 7.
Mary, born November 17, 1767, died January,
1852 ; married, October 6, 1791, Thomas Baker.
8. Hannah, born November 20, 1770, died
March 5, 1810; married, January 10, 1793,
Samuel Smith. 9. Sarah, born September 26,
1772, died December 26, 1801. 10. Lydia,
born September 24, 1774, died December 14,
1839; married, February 19, 1801, John Per
kins. (V) David Choate, son of William Choate
(4), born at Chebacco, Ipswich, Massachusetts,
November 29, 1757, died March 26, 1808; mar
ried first, June 24, 1784, Mary Cogswell, born
December 19, 1760, died August 21, 1784,
daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Appleton)
Cogswell; married second, October 15, 1791,
Miriam Foster, born November 28, 1771, died
January 14, 1853, daughter of Captain Aaron
and Ruth (Low) Foster, of Ipswich; school
teacher. He served in the revolutionary war,
went to sea, to Havana and Cadiz. Children :
1. Polly, born October 3, 1792, died March 29,
1855; married, November 28, 1813, Doctor
Thomas Sewall. 2. Hannah, born August 12,
1794, died February 9, 1837; married, Septem
ber 2, 1822, Reverend Robert Crowell. 3.
David, born November 29, 1796, died Decem
ber 17, 1872; married, January 14, 1828, Eliza
beth Wade. 4. Hon. Rufus, born October 1,
1799; see forward. 5. Washington, born Jan
uary 17, 1803, died February 27, 1822. 6. Job,
born December 25, 1806, died March 10, 1808.
(VI) Honorable Rufus Choate, son of David
Choate (5), born at Chebacco, Ipswich, now
Essex, Essex county, Massachusetts, October
1. 1799, died at Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 13,
1859; married, at Hanover, New Hampshire,
March 29, 1825, Helen Olcott, born at Han
over, New Hampshire. March 29, 1804, died at
Dorchester, Massachusetts, December 8, 1864,
daughter of Mills and Sarah (Porter) Olcott.*
Children: 1. Catherine Bell, born May 26,

""'The Porter Genealogy," p. 285, calls Mills Olcott
"Honorable." Sarah Porter, wife of Mills Olcott,
was a daughter of Asa Porter, by his wife Mehit-
able (Crocker). Asa Porter was a loyalist. (See
Sabine, p. 198). H. C. 1762. The line of Asa is John
(1), Samuel (2), John (3). Benjamin (4), Moses (5),
Asa (6).

1826, died May 24, 1830. 2. Infant, born Octo
ber 25, 1828, died same day. 3. Helen Olcott,
born May 2, 1830; married, June 2, 1852,
Joseph Mills Bell, of Boston, Massachusetts.
4. Sarah Blake, born December 15, 1831, died
March 11, 1875. 5. Rufus, born May 14, 1834,
died January 15, 1866. 6. Miriam Foster, born
October 2, 1835 ; married, September 23, 1856,
Edward Ellerton Pratt, of Boston, Massachu
setts. 7. Caroline, born September 15, 1837,
died December 12, 1840.
TIMOTHY PICKERING.
Many local characters in Essex county have
been famous in their day and generation, and
perhaps none more so at the time of the Amer
ican revolution than Hon. Timothy Pickering.
He was born in Salem, July 17, 1745, and died
in his native city, January 29, 1829. He was
graduated from Harvard College in 1763, was
admitted to the bar in 1768, received a degree
from New Jersey College in 1798 ; commanded
a militia regiment at the beginning of the revo
lution, held the office of adjutant-general of
the army in 1777, and that of quartermaster-
general in 1780. After the revolutionary war
he settled in Pennsylvania, and between 1791
and 1800 was postmaster-general of the United
States, and secretary of war and secretary of
state. He returned to Salem, in 1801, and was
afterwards chief justice of the Essex county
court of common pleas, United States senator
from 1803 to 181 1, and a representative in
congress from 1815 to 1817. His portrait by
Stuart, at the age of sixty-three, shows a man
of a strong face, indicative of a firm will. He
was the father of the famous scholar, John
Pickering (1777-1846), author of the Greek
and English Lexicon bearing his name. This
was the first Greek lexicon with definitions in
English, and not Latin.
Timothy Pickering was conspicuous for the
force and dignity of his character. From 1774
when the first colonial legislature assembled in
Salem, Pickering politically was at the centre
of events that preceded and included the revo
lution. Eminent as he was in public life, he
was. but one in a group of professional and
business men of rare ability and great attain
ments. He was associated in his native city
with educated men who were not only familiar
with affairs in their own country, but also were
at home in foreign lands, having much of the
culture gained by travel after the usual course
of education was finished. They were not
provincial in the narrow sense.
It is remembered of Timothy Pickering that

XXII.

MASSACHUSETTS.

he was near-sighted and wore glasses at a
period in the history of the country when such
articles were uncommon, and near-sighted peo
ple having no glasses were relegated to the
limbo of old age and to the realms of prema
ture uselessness. At home he was president of
the county agricultural society and one of the
school committee. About 1770 he published
a manual of military tactics which he used in
drill before the breaking out of the following
war and which he applied later in a critical
way to the instruction of officers superior to
him in rank as the war progressed. He pub
lished an exhaustive letter on the "Conduct of
the American Government towards Great Brit
ain and France," and a "Review of the Corre
spondence between President John Adams and
W. Cunningham," besides other papers con
nected with his varied official service. The
late George Bailey Loring says of him: "Col
onel Pickering was not only governed by a
high sense of duty throughout his long career,
and by strong convictions, but he also expressed
himself in a nervous, vigorous style, and in
controversial correspondence was a most for
midable foe. To no man is this country more
indebted for its independent nationality and
the strength of its institutions. He performed
his service with such fearlessness and honesty
that he was at times placed on the defensive ;
but he now stands in the front rank of the
great and pure men of the revolutionary and
constitutional period in our history. In a liter
ary point of view, he has left for the imitation
of those statesmen who come after him a clear
and impressive style and great power of state
ment." He is sometimes criticized for his marching
from Salem, with his regiment of three hun
dred men, on April 19, 1775, in pursuit of the
British troops retreating from Lexington, and
failing to come up with them near Charles
town, from which he threatened to cut off their
retreat. An observer on Prospect Hill, in pres
ent Somerville, saw Colonel Pickering's regi
ment on the top of Winter Hill, nearby, and
the enemy being very near in Charlestown road.
And Washington wrote: "For they (the Brit
ish J had not arrived in Charlestown, under
cover of their ships, half an hour, before a
powerful body of men from Marblehead and
Salem was at their heels, and must, if they had
happened to be up one hour sooner, inevitably
have intercepted their retreat to Charlestown."*
Ancestry. — John Pickering (1), born in
England, about 1615, died in Salem, Massa
chusetts, 1657, married, about 1636, Elizabeth

 ; she married second, December 25,
1657, John Deacon, and died August 8, 1662.
According to the Aspinwall Notarial Records,
under date of 1650, John Pickering of Salem
owned a house near the Newgate in Coventry,
county Warwick, England, which leads to the
belief that he came from there or near there.
Children: 1. John, see forward. 2. Jonathan, ¦
died 1729; married, March 19, 1665, Jane
Cromwell. 3. Elizabeth, baptized March 3,
1644, died young. 4. Elizabeth, baptized Au
gust 31, 1645, died young.
(II) John Pickering, son of John Pickering
(1), born at Salem, Massachusetts, 1637, died
May 5, 1694, married Alice (Flint) Bullock,
widow of Henry Bullock, Junior, and daughter
of William and Alice Flint. He was a lieuten
ant in Captain Samuel Appleton's company in
1675-6, and under Captain Moseley went to
the rescue of Captain Lathrop's company at
Bloody Brook, 1675. Children: 1. John, born
1658; see forward. 2. Jonathan, born Sep
tember 27, 1660, died young. 3. Joseph, born
September 9, 1663, died young. 4. Benjamin,
born January 15, 1665-6, died 1718; married,
April 27, 1693, Jane Hobby. 5. Sarah, born
September 7, 1668, died before 1692; married
John Buttolph. 6. Edward, birth unrecorded.
7. William, born January 11, 1670-1 ; married,
June 19, 1695, Hannah Browne. 8. Elizabeth,
born September 7, 1674; married first, before
1696, Samuel Nichols; married second, Febru
ary 22, 1698-9, James Browne. 9. Hannah,
born July 2, 1677, died before July 29, 1714;
married first, Daniel King; married second,
1701, Nathaniel Beadle; married third, Octo
ber 29, 1706, Richard Palmer.
(Ill) John Pickering, son of John Picker-
*On February 13, 1775, he was elected colonel of
the First Regiment of Essex county militia, and
received his commission from the royal go'vern-
ment. He held this office sometime after he had
joined the army of the United States in 1777. It is
generally understood that he was present at the
North Bridge when Colonel Leslie attempted to
capture the cannon that were stored on the North
Field, Salem; and the accounts of the affair printed
in the "Essex Gazette" have been attributed to him.
April 19, 1775, he led his regiment to assist the
colonists on that eventful day, but arrived too late.
The affray at Lexington had already taken place,
and the British were on their return to Boston,
when Colonel Pickering and his men reached Med-
ford. Colonel Pickering's behavior on this occasion
has been the subject of adverse criticism; but a.
careful inquiry into the facts shows clearly that his
conduct was all that could be desired from a brave
and careful officer. December 5, 1776, he collected a
regiment of seven hundred men, who marched under
his command, and went through the campaign in
New York and New Jersey. The campaign ended
April 1, 1777.
Colonel Pickering's reputation and his frequent
visits at headquarters made so favorable impres
sion on General Washington that he wrote him an
urgent letter dated March 30. 1777, offering him the
post of adjutant-general, which he declined at first,
but afterwards accepted.

MASSACHUSETTS.

mg (2), born at Salem, Massachusetts, Sep
tember io, 1658, died there June 19, 1722 ; mar
ried, June 14, 1683, Sarah Burrell, born May
16, 1661, died December 27, 1747, daughter of
John and Lois (Ivory) Burrell, of Lynn, Mass
achusetts. Children: Lois, born May 1, 1684;
died February 12, 1754; married, April 17,
1709, Timothy Orne. 2. Sarah, bora July 25,
1686, died December 20, 1744; married, July
J7> I7°7> Joseph Hardy. 3. John, born Octo
ber 28, 1688, died September 10, 1712. 4.
Mary, born May 11, 1691, died July 8, 1702.
5. Ruth, born October 10, 1693, died July 27,
1702. 6. Joseph, born November 29, 1695,
died July 22, 1702. 7. Lydia, born March 17,
1698, died October 10, 1702. 8. Theophilus,
born September 28, 1700, died October 7, 1747.
9. Timothy, born February 10, 1702-3; see for
ward. 10. Eunice, born October 3, 1705, died
October 8, 1783; married first, December 10,
1724, Joseph Neal; married second, April 6,
1738, William Pickering.
(IV) Timothy Pickering, son of John Pick
ering (3), born at Salem, Massachusetts, bap
tized February 14, 1702-3, died there, June 7,
1778, married, November 21, 1728, Mary Win-
gate, born at Hampton, New Hampshire, June
14, 1708, died at Salem, Massachusetts, Decem
ber 12, 1784, daughter of Colonel Joshua and
Mary (Lunt) Wingate. Children: 1. Sarah,
born January 28, 1730, died November 21,
1826 ; married John Clarke. 2. Mary, born
March 29, 1733, died January 30, 1805. 3.
Lydia, born February 27, 1736, died October
21, 1824.; married, March 15, 1758, George
Williams. 4. Elizabeth, born November 12,
1737, died October 12, 1823; married, Novem
ber 7, 1757, John Gardner. 5. John, born
March 2, 1740, died August 20, 181 1. 6. Lois,
born April 19, 1742, died February 4, 181 5;
married, 1772, John Gooll. 7. Eunice, born
April 19, 1742, died January 14, 1843, m ner
one hundred and first year: married, May 23,
1765, her cousin, Paine Wingate, who died in
his one hundredth year. 8. Timothy, born July
6, 1745 : see forward, g. Lucia, born Novem
ber 12, 1747, died October 31, 1822; married,
June 17. 1776. Israel Dodsre.
(V) Colonel Timothy Pickering, son of Tim
othy Pickering (4), born at Salem, Massachu
setts, July 6, 1745, died there January 29, 1829 ;
married, April 8, 1776, Rebecca White, born at
Bristol, England, July 18, 1754, died at Salem,
Massachusetts, August 14, 1828, daughter of
Benjamin and Elizabeth (Miller) White. Chil
dren : 1. John, born February 2, 1777, died
May 5, 1846; married, March 3, 1805, Sarah

White. 2. Timothy, born October 1, 1779,
died May 14, 1807 ; married, December 29,
1804, Lurena Cole. 3. Henry, born October 8,
1781, died May 8, 1838. 4. Charles, born May
25, 1784, died May 12, 1796. . 5. William, born
February 16, 1786, died June 16, 1814. 6. Ed
ward, born September 12, 1787, died October
10, 1793. 7. George, born August 7, 1789, died
April 23, 1826. 8. Octavius, born September 2,
1791, died October 29, 1868; married, Decem
ber 29, 1836, Jane Pratt. 9. Mary, born No
vember 21, 1793, died March 22, 1863; mar
ried, April 12, 1813, Benjamin Ropes Nichols.
10. Elizabeth, born November 21, 1793, died
August 11, 1819; married, August 12, 1816,
Hammond Dorsey.
NATHANIEL BOWDITCH.
Nathaniel Bowditch was born in Salem, March
26, 1773, an<i died in Boston, March 16, 1838.
He began life in the forecastle of an East
Indiaman, and a recent writer has said of him :
"Nathaniel Bowditch everybody has heard of
who ever smelled salt water. He was farnous
both on sea and shore. His fame was so ex
tensive and stable that even his contemporaries
who used his "Navigator," and worked out
their problems by use of his tables, often
thought of him as being as ancient and famous
as Sir Isaac Newton. After his marine experi
ence was over he lived as a quiet business man
in Salem, not especially conspicuous in a place
and at a time when firstrate attainments and
achievements were expected of many men in
many modes of action." In Salem he was
president of the Essex Fire and Marine Insur
ance Company. Therefore in an intellectual
point of view his career is one of the most re
markable and admirable records in history.
The present writer holds in his hand a bound
volume of pamphlets, entitled by its former
owner "Bowditch's Eulogies." The volume was
formerly the property of Eliza S. Quincy, a
daughter of an eminent president of Harvard
University, and contains her autograph. Their
titles are "A Discourse on the Life and Char
acter" of Dr. Bowditch, by Alexander Young
(Boston, 1838), 114 pp. A "Eulogy," by John
Pickering (Boston, 1838), 101 pp. ; and another
"Eulogy" by Daniel Appleton White (Salem,
1838), -72 pp.
His parents were Habakkuk and Mary In
gersoll Bowditch. His ancestors for three gen
erations were shipmasters, and his father on
retiring from that mode of hard industry, car
ried on the trade of a cooper, by which he
gained a precarious subsistence for a family of

MASSACHUSETTS.

seven children, of which Nathaniel was the
fourth. He sailed on his first voyage, at the
age of twenty-two, on January n, 1795, in the
capacity of captain's clerk, and was absent a
year. In 1800, at the age of twenty-three, he
issued the first edition of his "New American
Practical Navigator," a work which has been
of immense service to the nautical and com
mercial interests of this country. By this
single Set, without doing anything more, he
would have conferred a lasting obligation upon
his native land. "The Practical Navigator," to
the time of his death, was never superseded
He learned the French and Spanish languages
without any instructor. Subsequently in life
he acquired the German and the Italian. In
1790 he began to study Latin in order to read
mathemetical works in that language. Having
quitted the sea in 1840 he became the president
of the marine insurance company in Salem,
which we have already mentioned, and retained
that office until 1823, when he was elected to a
high position in another insurance company,
and removed to Boston at the age of fifty, and
spent in that city the last fifteen years of his
life. He was eminently a self-taught and self-
made man. He became one of the greatest
scientific men of his age. He was a contempla
tive, recluse student, and, at the same time, an
active public man. At the same time he was
one of the most skilful of financiers. He trans
lated and commented on LaPlace "Mecanique
Celeste :" the first volume in 1829, the second
volume in 1832, and the third volume in 1834;
of about one thousand pages each, quarto ; the
fourth and last was incomplete at his decease.
On October 28, 1800, he married his cousin,
Mary Ingersoll, as his second wife, daughter of
Jonathan and Mary Hodges Ingersoll ; she was
born December 4, 1781, and died in Boston,
April 17, 1834. By his second marriage he had
eight children, six of whom (four sons and
two daughters) survived him. His first wife
was Elizabeth Boardman, daughter of Francis
Boardman, married, March 25, 1798; she died
while he was absent on a voyage, at the age
of eighteen years.
Nine years of his life were spent in five voy
ages upon the sea (four of them to the East
Indies). He was the author of many scientific
articles described by John Pickering, who ven
tures the remark that the mere mechanical bulk
of Dr. Bowditch's work exhibits an amount of
actual labor "that astonishes us."
Daniel Appleton White (in 1838) speaking
to the inhabitants of Salem, states, that "some
of you remember him at school, as an active,

bright boy, and uncommonly fond of the study
of arithmetic . . . . his genius for the mathe
matics then began to manifest itself." 
and this before the age of ten, when he quitted
the school, because of the obligation to go to
work. At the age of fifteen he made a manu
script almanac for the year 1790, complete in
all its parts; and so onward."
The names of Dr. Bowditch's brothers and
sisters were Mary (who married), Habakkuk,
Elizabeth, William (who died in 1799, aged
23), Samuel and Lois (the last named was un
married, and died about 1808). Five of this
number died before the age of twenty-three,
and the eldest of them died in 1808, at the age
of forty-two. The mother of Dr. Bowditch
was a daughter of Nathaniel Ingersoll, and his
ancestors were all inhabitants of Salem, where
the first was William Bowditch, who, with his
wife Sarah, came from England among the
early settlers. Their son William was collector
of the port of Salem for the colonial govern
ment. He died suddenly in 1681, leaving a
widow named Sarah, and an only son named
William, who was married to Mary, a daughter
of Thomas Gardner. This third William was
a respectable merchant, and for many years a
representative to the general court. He had
been a shipmaster. Among his children was
Joseph, who was a man of note in his day, and
Ebenezer, the grandfather of Dr. Bowditch,
who in 1723 married Mary, daughter of John
Turner, an opulent merchant, long a member of
the Province Council. Dr. Nathaniel Bow
ditch's father and grandfather were both re
spectable shipmasters. (D. A. White).
Ancestry. — William Bowditch (1), was ad
mitted an inhabitant of Salem, Massachusetts,
November 20, 1639. His wife Sarah joined
the church at Salem, May 10, 1640. Mr. Bow
ditch had a grant of ten acres of land, January
23, 1642, and had another grant of thirty acres,
on October 13, 1649. Mr. Bowditch is said to
have come to Salem from Devonshire, Eng
land. Children: 1. William, born about 1640;
see forward. 2. Nathaniel, baptized February
12, 1642-3. Nathaniel Bowditch, of Newport,
Rhode Island, sold land in Salem, in 1674.
( II) William Bowditch, son of William Bow
ditch ( 1 ) , born at Salem, Massachusetts, about
1640, died before November 12, 1681 : was a
merchant at Salem, and collector of customs at
the port of Salem ; married Sarah  ; she
was living in 1703. Child: 1. William, see
forward. (Ill) Captain William Bowditch, son of
William Bowditch (2), born at Salem, Massa-

MASSACH USETTS.

chusetts, September, 1663, died May 28, 1728,
married, August 30, 1688, Mary Gardner, born
February 14, 1669-70, died 1724, daughter of
Lieutenant Thomas and Mary (Porter) Gard
ner, of Salem. He was a sea captain and a
merchant, a selectman, deputy to the general
court, 1712-13, and held other offices of trust,
and was a prominent citizen of Salem. He and
his wife are both buried in the Charter street
burying ground. Children: 1. Mary, born
August 2, 1689, died October 2, 1689. 2. Will
iam, born October 31, 1690, died October 12,
1706. 3. Mary, born December 18, 1693, died
February, 1724; married first, September 8,
1715, James Butler, of Boston, Massachusetts;
second, December 26, 1723, Captain Samuel
Barton, of Salem. 4. Sarah, born January 10,
1696, died March, 1761 ; married, June 30,
1715, Joseph Hathorn, of Salem, who died
June 3, 1760. . 5. Thomas, born June 5, 1698,
died November 30, 1702. 6. Joseph, born Au
gust 21, 1700, died October 6, 1780; married,
July 25, 1725, Elizabeth Hunt, who died May
7, 1743, in her thirty-ninth year. 7. Ebenezer,
born April 26, 1703; see forward. 8. Eunice,
born June 8, 1705, died July 2, 1705. 9. Eunice,
born March 22, 1707; married, December 12,
1728, William Hunt, of Salem. 10. Daniel,
born June 19, 1709, died about 1730. 11. Will
iam, born February 1, 1713, died November 1,
1715. (IV) Captain Ebenezer Bowditch, son of
Captain William Bowditch (3), born at Salem,
Massachusetts, April 26, 1703, died February
2, 1768, aged sixty- four; married, August 15,
1728, Mary Turner, born November. 1, 1706,
died May 1, 1785, daughter of Colonel John
and Mary (Kitchen) Turner, of Salem. Chil
dren : 1. Ebenezer, born September 28, 1729,
died August 3, 1771 ; married, July 17, 1755,
Elizabeth Gilman, of Ipswich, Massachusetts,
who died February 11, 1824, aged ninety-two
years. 2. John, born April 3, 1732; married,
Tuly 12, 1759, Mary Carlton, of Salem. 3.
Thomas, born about 1734, died July 29, 1808,
aged seventy-four years; married, April 21,
1760, Sarah Bancroft, of Lynn, Massachusetts,
who died February 26, 1808, aged sixty-six
years. 4. William, died December 29, 1752,
aged eighteen years. 5. Habakkuk, baptized
March 5, 1737-8; see forward. 6. Mary, died
April 22, 1757, aged fifteen years.
(V) Captain Habakkuk Bowditch, son of
Captain Ebenezer Bowditch (4), born at Salem,
Massachusetts, baptized March 5, I737"8, died
July 28, 1798; married, July 23, 1765, Mary
Ingersoll. daughter of Captain Nathaniel and

Bethia (Gardner) Ingersoll, of Salem. Chil
dren: 1. Mary, baptized March 30, 1766, died
1808; married Captain David Martin. 2. Ha
bakkuk, baptized May 15, 1768. 3. Elizabeth,
baptized May 19, 1771. 4. Nathaniel, born
March 26, 1773; see forward. 5. Samuel In
gersoll, baptized September 12, 1779. 6. Will
iam, baptized September 12, 1779, died 1799.
7. Lois, baptized April 1, 1781 ; married Cap
tain Joseph Bowditch.
(VI) Nathaniel Bowditch, son of Captain
Habakkuk Bowditch (5), born at Salem, Mass
achusetts, March 26, 1773, died at Boston,
Massachusetts, March 16, 1838; married first,
March 25, 1798, Elizabeth Boardman, daughter
of Captain Francis and Mary (Flodges) Board-
man, who died October 18, 1798, aged nineteen
years ; married second, October 28, 1800, his
cousin, Mary Ingersoll, born December 4, 1781,
died April 17, 1834, daughter of Jonathan and
Mary (Hodges) Ingersoll, of Windsor, Ver
mont. Children by second wife : 1. Nathaniel
Ingersoll, born at Salem, January 17, 1*805,
died in Brookline, Massachusetts, April 16,
1861. (H. C. 1822). Married, April 23, 1835,
Elizabeth B. Francis. 2. Jonathan Ingersoll,
married Lucy Orne Nichols. 3. Henry Inger
soll, born at Salem, August 9, 1808, died Janu
ary 14, 1892. (H. C, 1828). 4. Charles Inger
soll, died February 21, 1820. 5. Son, died
young. 6. Mary Ingersoll. 7. William Inger
soll. (H. C, 1838). 8. Elizabeth Boardman

Ingersoll.

NATHAN DANE.

Nathan Dane -was born at Ipswich, in the
parish of that town called the Hamlet, now the
separate town of Hamilton, December 29, 1752.
His ancestor John Dane came from England
before 1641 and from him Nathan was de
scended by John (2), John (3), Daniel (4),
Daniel (5), the last of whom married Abigail
Burnham, the mother of Nathan.
He worked on a farm until he was twenty-
one, when he prepared himself for college, and
entered Harvard, and was graduated there in
1778. He then taught school and studied law,
and began practice in Beverly, where he resided
until his death, February 15, 1835. He was a
representative to the general court of Massa
chusetts, 1782-85; member of Congress, 1785-
87 ; and of the Massachusetts senate five years
between 1790 and 1798. He held other honors,
including an appointment as justice of the
court of common pleas, but resigned the place
very soon. In 1814 he was a member of the
Hartford convention. He was a member of

MASSACHUSETTS.

several historical societies. In 1829 he founded
the Dane law professorship in Harvard Col
lege. He was the author of "A General Abridg
ment and Digest of American Law," a work
which gave him a permanent fame. But he is
still better known for the connection of his
name with the Ordinance of 1787, drafted by
him for the government of the Northwest
Territory of Ohio. In this document the spread
and power of the institution of slavery was
checked. Daniel Webster in his famous "Reply to
Hayne" eulogized him thus : "I paid a passing
tribute of respect to a very worthy man, Mr.
Dane, of Massachusetts. It so happens that he
drew the ordinance of 1787 for the govern
ment of the northwest territory. A man of so
much ability and so little pretence, of so great
a capacity to do good and so unmixed a disposi
tion to do it for its own sake, a gentleman who
had acted an important part forty years ago, in
a measure the influence of which is still deeply
felt, should be remembered." Webster further
said: "It fixed forever the character of the
population in the vast regions northwest of the
Ohio, by excluding from them involuntary
servitude. It impressed upon the soil itself,
while it was yet a wilderness, an incapacity to
bear up any other than freeman. It laid the
interdict against personal servitude, in original
compact, not only deeper than all local law, but
deeper, also, than all local constitution."
He was notable above all his professional
brethren of that time. He acquired in his
youth a physical stamina by work on the farm
which supported him through the unremitted
labors of a long life, during sixty of which he
pursued his studies.
A notice by a contemporary, Rev. Christo
pher T. Ayer, is printed in Stone's "History of
Beverly," from which are made these extracts:
"His father was a worthy and substantial
farmer, and his parents respectable and excel
lent persons, of whom he always spoke with
veneration and affection. They had a numer
ous family — six sons and six daughters — of
whom two daughters were living (1843) one in
her io2d year. He was remarkable for his
power of long continued application to study.
His advantages of education before he was
twenty-one were very small. He prepared
himself for college in the short space of eight
months. He studied law under the well known
Judge Wetmore.* His practice from the first
was extensive and profitable. Through grow-
?William Wetmore, of Salem, Harvard 1770, was
admitted to the bar 1780. He died 1830, and his
daughter was the wife of Judge Joseph Story.

ing deafness he was induced gradually, and at
length wholly to retire from it. He was ap
pointed on a committee to revise the laws of
the State in 1795, and again to a smiliar duty
in 181 1 and 1812. He was an elector of presi
dent of the United States in 1812, and chosen
in 1820 a member of the convention for revis
ing the State constitution, but on account of
deafness did not take his seat. He was dis
tinguished by his ability in debate, knowledge
of public business and capacity for discharging
it." "We are accustomed," said Mr. Webster
(in 1830), "to praise the lawgivers of antiq
uity; we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon
and Lycurgus ; but I doubt whether one single
law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has
produced effects of a more distinct and marked
and lasting character than the ordinance of '87.
That instrument was drawn by Nathan Dane,
then and now a citizen of Massachusetts. It
was adopted, as I think I have understood,
without the slightest alteration ; and certainly
it has happened to few men, to be the author
of a political measure of more large and endur
ing consequence."
He bestowed in his lifetime the sum of $15,-
ooo to the Law College of Harvard University.
He was also a donor to the Dane Law Library
of Ohio. His "General Abridgement and Digest
of American Law, with Occasional Notes and
Comments," is in nine volumes. It was pub
lished in 1823 and 1829, and is regarded a
monument of immense industry and learning.
He completed another of nearly equal extent
in manuscript, entitled, "A Moral and Political
Survey of America." He could study and
write as least twelve hours a day and neither,
as he said himself, the care of children, nor the
cares or want of property have interfered with
his studies. At the time when he commenced
this and his law works (in 1782) there were
only fragments in the country on either sub
ject. His writings are marked with a neglect
of style, his object, when composing, being to
pursue the thought before him, and simply to
make his views intelligible to others. He had
no graces of style, either native or borrowed;
neither did he seek for such. To instruct and
convince was his aim.
He was rigidly simple in his habits and man
ners, and in all that he did. His eloquence was
that of fact and argument. His life through
out was one of constant and wonderful dili
gence. He was never before his last illness
confined to his house by sickness more than
two days at a time, and that very rarely. He
took regular rather than a great deal of exer-

MASSACH USETTS.

xxvu.

cise, and that was walking chiefly. The quali
ties of his intellect were altogether of the solid
kind. He had little acquaintance with the
lighter branches of literature. His judgment
was singularly discriminating and well balanced.
Few ever lived who were less biased by passion
or prejudice. In the management of public
affairs he was cautious, firm, sagacious and
able, and he was correspondingly skilful in con
ducting his private business. Although he was
long in the practice of loaning money to many
different individuals, he never incurred pecuni
ary loss in this way. He was remarkably free
from the indulgence of resentful or vindictive
feelings. To the excellent partner of his life
he was united for fifty-five years, and she sur
vived him. Without children of his own, he
was as a father to many. He assisted several
of his relatives to a liberal education, and others
he aided to establish in life. If a prudent
economy reigned in his family, so did also a
ready hospitality. Few laymen have spent so
much tme in the study of theology. Rarely
has there been one that had proposed to him
self so much, who lived to see his objects so
fully accomplished.
His widow died April 14, 1840, aged ninety
years. Ancestry. — John Dane (1), of Berkham-
sted, Bishop's Stortford, Herts, England, and
of Ipswich and Roxbury, Massachusetts, died
at Roxbury, September 14, 1658, married first,
 ; married second, July 2, 1643, Agnes
Chandler, widow of William Chandler, of Rox
bury: she married third, August 9, 1660, John
Parminter, of Sudbury, Massachusetts. Chil
dren : 1. John, see forward. 2. Elizabeth,
died at Ipswich, Massachusetts, January 21,
1693 ; married James How, who died at Ips
wich, May 17, 1702. 3. Francis, minister at
Andover, Massachusetts, died there February
17, 1696-7; married first, Elizabeth Ingalls,
who died at Andover, June 9, 1676; married
second, September 21, 1677, Mrs. Mary Thomas
who died February 18, 1688-9; married third,
1690, Mrs. Hannah (Chandler) Abbot, who
died June 2, 171 1.
(II) John Dane, son of John Dane (1),
died at Ipswich, Massachusetts, September 29,
1684; married first, Eleanor Clark; married
second, Alice  , who after his decease
married Jeremiah Meacham, of Salem, Massa
chusetts, and died before May 4, 1704. Chil
dren : 1. Mary, born about 1636, died May
10, 1679; married, August 24, 1658, William
Chandler, of Andover, Massachusetts. 2. John,
born at Ipswich about 1644; see forward. 3.

Sarah, born about 1645, died December 28,
1702; married, September 23, 1668, Daniel
Warner, Jr., of Ipswich, Massachusetts, who
died November 24, 1696. 4. Philemon, born
about 1646, died October 18, 1716; married
first, October 7, 1685, Mary Thompson ; mar
ried second, December 25, 1690, Ruth Con
verse, of Woburn, Massachusetts, who died
January 12, 1735-6. 5. Rebecca, married James
Hovey. 6. Elizabeth, married Reginald Foster,
J'"- (III) John Dane, son of John Dane (2),
died December 23, 1707, "in ye 65th year of
his age." (Gravestone at Hamilton). Married,
December 27, 1671, Abigail Warner, daughter
of Daniel and Elizabeth (Denne) Warner, of
Ipswich, Massachusetts. Children: 1. John,
born November 29, 1681. 2. Daniel, born about
1689 ; see forward. 3. Susannah, born March
6, 1685-6, buried March 24, 1687. 4. Na
thaniel, born June 27, 1691, died June, 1760;
married first, 1712, Elizabeth Potter; married
second, March, 1716-17, Anna Low, who died
February, 1730-1 ; married third, December 23,
1732, Esther Kimball, of Wenham, Massachu
setts. 5. Abigail, born December 15, 1673;
married, March 27, 1705, Joseph Crackbone,
of Cambridge. 6. Rebecca, born September
18, 1676. 7. Elizabeth, born March 6, 1678-9.
(IV) Daniel Dane, son of John Dane (3),
born at Ipswich, Massachusetts, about 1689,
died there January 22, 1 730-1 ; married first,
March 16, 1714, Lydia Day, born October 27,
1694 ; married second, Mary Annable, widow
of Matthew Annable, of Ipswich. Children: 1.
Daniel, born about 1716; see forward. 2. John,
born about 1719, died at Gloucester, Massachu
setts, July 21, 1793, in the 74th year of his age.
3. Mary, born about 1721. 4. Lydia, born
about 1725. 5. Nathan, born about 1727.
(V) Daniel Dane, son of Daniel Dane (4),
born at Ipswich, Massachusetts, about 1716,
died October 15, 1768; married (published
January 5, 1739-40) Abigail Burnham, born
August 31, 1717, died September 3, 1799,
daughter of David and Elizabeth (Perkins)
Burnham, of Ipswich. His will dated October
5, 1728, proved November 28, 1768, names
wife Abigail, six sons and six daughters, whose
names appear in the list of his children here
given. Children: 1. Daniel, married (pub
lished January 12, 1771) Sarah Goodhue. 2.
Nathan, born December 27, 1752; see forward.
3. Samuel, married Hannah Ellingwood. 4.
John, died at Beverly, Massachusetts, March 5,
1829, aged eighty years ; married (published
January 2, 1773) Jemima Fellows, who died at

MASSACHUSETTS.

Beverly, April 28, 1827. 5. Benjamin. 6.
Joseph. 7. Abigail. 8. Lydia, died August 23,
1845, aSed one hundred years eight months
five days; married, October 19, 1773, Thomas
Appleton, of Beverly, Massachusetts, who died
September 14, 1830, aged ninety years. 9. Eliz
abeth. 10. Sarah, married (published January
26, 1771) Ebenezer Ellingwood, of Beverly,
Massachusetts. 11. Lucy. 12. Molly, married
(published June 15, 1776) William Ellingwood,
of Beverly, Massachusetts.
(VI) Nathan Dane, son of Daniel Dane
(5), born at Ipswich, Massachusetts, December
27, 1752, died at Beverly, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 15, 1835; married, November 14, 1799,
Polly Brown, who died April 14, or April 24,
1840, aged ninety years. The will of Hon.
Nathan Dane, of Beverly, dated August 17,
1830, probated April 7, 1835, names his wife
Polly, and mentions bequests to a large number
of relatives, viz. : Nathan Dane, of Kennebunk,
Maine; Nathan D. Appleton, Alfred, Maine *•
nephew Joseph Patch and his sister Leafe
Patch ; nephew Daniel Appleton and his sister
Lydia Lamson, with proviso regarding their
aged mother ; nephew Samuel Dane and his
brother John G. Dane, and their nephew Na
than Dane ; besides bequests to the four sisters
of said Samuel and John, daughters of "my
brother Daniel Dane, deceased ;" and to the
children of his daughter Sally, deceased ; niece
Elizabeth Dodge and her son Nathan D. Dodge,
she being the widow of Andrew Dodge — her
sons Samuel and Nathan ; niece Harriet Tuck ;
Ezra Cleaves, Jr., and his two sisters, Nancy
Sargent and Sally Glidden ; grandnephew N. D.
Ellingwood ; Samuel W. Cox ; Sarah W. Cox
and Lucy W. Cox, "daughters of my niece
Nabby Cox," their sister Deborah Cox, their
brother Ebenezer Cox ; his nephew William
Whipple, to whom he gave a farm in Dunbar-
ton, New Hampshire, said Whipple supporting
his mother; and he gave legacies to her five
daughters, and to the children of her daughter
Sally, deceased ; niece Esther Stanly ; Sally
Clarke ; nephew Joseph Dane, of Kennebunk,
Maine, to be residuary legatee. After the death
of his wife a certain sum was devised to Har
vard College.
JOSEPH STORY.
Joseph Story, son of Dr. Elisha Story, was
born in Marblehead, September 18, 1779, and
died in Cambridge, September 10, 1845.
It is said of him that he made "no delays in
his youth;" and he was graduated at Harvard
in I798,received degrees of LL.D. from Brown,

1815; Flarvard, 1821 ; and Dartmouth, 1824.
His education before entering college was re
ceived under the direction of William Harris,
afterwards president of Columbia College. He
studied law with Chief Justice Samuel Sewall,
in Marblehead, and later with Judge Samuel
Putnam, and was admitted to the bar in 1801.
In politics he was a Democrat, and as such was
almost alone among the lawyers of his county.
He was a member of the house of representa
tives in Massachusetts in 1805, 1806 and 1807;
a member of congress in 1808 ; again a member
of the legislature from 1809 to 1812, and was
speaker of the house in 181 1. In 181 1 he was
appointed associate justice of the supreme court
of the United States. He was then only thirty-
two years old. He was appointed Dane pro
fessor of law at Harvard University in 1829,
and in the same year removed from Salem to
Cambridge. Here he resided until his death.
He was learned in the law, and had a wonder
ful fluency in the use of language, both spoken
and written, and nothing distinguished him
more than his industry.
Among his law publications were "Selection
of Pleadings in Civil Actions, with Annota
tions," 1805 ; "The Public and General Statutes
passed by Congress from 1789 to 1827," and in
1836 and 1845, supplements to these, were
edited by him ; "Commentaries on the Law of
Bailments, with Illustrations from the Civil and
Foreign Law," 1832; "Commentaries on the.
Constitution," 1833 ; "Commentaries on the Con
flict of Laws, Foreign and Domestic, in regard
to Contracts, Rights and Remedies, and espe
cially in Regard to Marriages, Divorces, Wills,
Successions and Judgments," 1834; "Commen
taries on Equity Jurisprudence as Administered .
in England and America," 1835 and 1836;
"Commentaries on Equity Pleadings and the
Incidents Thereto, according to the Practice of
the Courts of Equity in England and America,"
1838; "Commentaries on the Law of Agency
as a Branch of Commercial and Maritime Juris
prudence, with Occasional Illustrations from
the Civil and Foreign Law," 1839 ; also in 1841,
1843 and 1845, "Commentaries on the Law of
Partnership," on the "Law of Bills of Ex
change," on the "Law of Promissory Notes."
Judge Story, amid vast and constant labor as
a lawyer, professor, jurist and author, found
time for a long and interesting number of pro
ductions from his pen of a purely literary char
acter. He delivered in Salem a eulogy of
George Washington, 1800; a eulogy on Cap
tain James Lawrence and Lieutenant A. C.
Ludlow, 1813: a sketch of the life of Samuel

MASSACH USETTS.

Dexter, 1816; a charge to the grand juries of
the circuit courts at Boston and Providence,
1819 ; a charge to the grand jury of the circuit
court of Portland, 1829; an address before the
members of the Suffolk bar, 1821 ; another
before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Har
vard, 1826 ; another before the Essex Historical
Society, 1828; another on his inauguration as
Dane Professor of Law at Harvard University,
1829; another on the dedication of the ceme
tery at Mount Auburn, 1831 ; on the funeral
obsequies of John Hooker Ashmun, 1833; on
the life, character and services of John Mar
shall, LL. D., 1835 ; lectures on the science of
government, 1838; and a discourse before the
alumni of Harvard College, 1842 ; a charge to
the grand jury of Rhode Island on treason,
1845 > and many other occasional speeches and
pamphlets. George Bailey Loring, in his estimate of the
character of Joseph Story, from which the
above items are taken, says, "America has pro
duced but few men equal in all respect to Judge
Story. Asa student he combined patience, dili
gence, comprehension and enthusiasm to a most
extraordinary degree. He turned his atten
tion in his early life to the hardest of all
sciences, in which dispassionate judgment and
cold deliberation are essentially required. And
yet he filled the temple of the law with a genial
warmth and a radiant glow which could not be
surpassed by any work of taste and imagina
tion, and has rarely been equalled in those
spheres which are dedicated to fervor and de
votion. . . His mind, with its vast grasp
and broad understanding, worked on with the
rapidity of light. . . He was a great lawyer,
a great author, a great citizen."
His decisions, 1812-15, are in "Gallison's Re
ports ;" 1816-30, in "Mason's Reports;" 1830-
39, in "Sumner's Reports ;" and 1839-45, in
"Story's Reports." Three imprinted manu
script volumes were finished just before his
death, and were deposited in the Harvard Col
lege Library. These volumes were entitled
"'Digest of Law Supplementary to Comyns."
The mere recapitulation of his published
literary labor is alone enough to appall an ordi
nary mind. The judgments delivered by him
on his circuit comprehend thirteen volumes.
The Reports of the Supreme Court during his
judicial life occupy thirty-five volumes, of
which he wrote a full share. His various
treatises on legal subjects cover thirteen vol
umes, besides a volume of Pleadings. He edited
and annotated three different treatises, with
copious notes,and published a volume of Poems.

The above, and much else, is mentioned in an
enumeration by his son and biographer.
Dr. Francis Lieber, in a letter dated 1857,
writes, "His name will forever grace the list of
leading men in a period of our country which
we fear was greater than that in which we
live." Eminent contemporaries, such as Chan
cellor Kent and Lord Brougham, pronounced
judgments upon him, in effect, that he was "the
first jurist living."
Ancestry.- — Elisha Story (1), of Boston,
Massachusetts, died there September 20, 1725,
aged forty-two years ; married first, October 17,
1706, Lydia Emmons, born 1685, died July 27,
1713, daughter of Benjamin and Mary Em
mons, of Boston; married second, October 1,
1713, Mrs. Sarah (Stock^r) Renouf, of Bos
ton, who died June 28, 1741, aged fifty-eight
years. Mr. Story was a cordwainer by occupa
tion, and his homestead was on the spot where
the Revere House now stands. The will of
Elisha Story, dated January 6, 1723, probated
September 30, 1725, mentions wife Sarah, and
her two children, Clement Renouf and Rebecca
Renouf, whom she had by her former husband,
to whom were given lands in Nottingham, New
Hampshire ; and his only son, William Story,
and his only daughter, Lydia Box, were given
his real estate in Boston. He was admitted a
member of the Old South Church, Boston,
April 18, 1705. Child by first wife: 1. Elisha,
born July 19, 1713, died young. Children by
second wife : 2. Sarah, born September 8,
1714, died young. 3. Elisha, born March 3,
1717-18, died young. 4. Lydia, born March 26,
1718-19; married John Box. 5. William, see
forward. (II) William Story, son of Elisha Story
(1), born at Boston, Massachusetts, April 25,
1720, died at Marblehead, Massachusetts, No
vember 24, 1799, aged eighty years; married
first, August 13, 1741, Elizabeth Marion, born
September 22, 1721, daughter of Joseph and
Elinor (Bridge) Marion, of Boston; married
second, April 11, 1747, Joanna Appleton, bap
tized November 17, 1717, died July 16, 1775,
daughter of Major Isaac and Priscilla (Baker)
Appleton, of Ipswich, Massachusetts ; married
third, February 29, 1776, Abigail Marshall.
William Story was deputy-register of the court
of vice-admiralty at Boston. Children by first
wife: 1. Ellen, born May 8, 1742. 2. Elisha,
born December 3, 1743 ; see forward. 3. Eliz
abeth, born September 9, 1745. Children by
second wife: 4. William, born March 17,
1747-8. 5. Isaac, born September 9, 1749, died
at Marblehead, October 23, 1816, aged sixty-

MASSACHUSETTS.

seven years; married, December 19, 1771, Re
becca Bradstreet, of Marblehead; he was pas
tor of the Unitarian church in Marblehead, and
his father-in-law was his predecessor. 6. John,
born August 6, 1754. 7. Sarah, born July 28,
1756. 8. Ebenezer, born August 7, 1757. 9.
Daniel, died at Marietta, Ohio, December 30,
1804, pastor of church there ; graduate of Dart
mouth College.
(Ill) Doctor Elisha Story, son of William
Story (2), born at Boston, Massachusetts, De
cember 3, 1743, died at Marblehead, Massachu
setts, August 27, 1805, aged sixty-two years;
married first (published at Boston, May 14,
1767), Ruth Ruddock, born at Boston, March
5, 1745-6, died at Marblehead, March 21, 1778,
aged thirty-two years, daughter of John and
Tabitha (Drinker) Ruddock, of Boston; mar
ried second, November 29, 1778, Mehitable
Pedrick, baptized June 4, 1758, died at Boston,
1847, daughter of John and Mehitable (Stacy)
Pedrick, of Marblehead. He was a pupil of
John Lovell at the Boston Latin School, and
later studied medicine. In 1774 he removed to
Maiden, Massachusetts, with his family, and
took an active part in the affairs of the town,
and was a member of the committee of corre
spondence there in 1775-1776, and later re
moved with his family to Marblehead. He was
a surgeon in Colonel Little's regiment in the
Revolutionary War. .He was present at the
battle of Lexington and at Bunker Hill, was in
the campaign around New York and at battles
of White Plains and Trenton. Early in his life
he had joined the Sons of Liberty, and was one
of the members of the Boston Tea Party. He
is notable as the father of eighteen children,
seven by his first wife, of whom we only find
the names of five, and eleven by second wife.
Children by first wife: 1. John. 2. Tabitha,
married November 4, 1792, Nathaniel King
Devereux, of Marblehead. 3. Abiel, died De
cember 12, 1829; married, February 2, 1799
Huldah Clough, of Marblehead. 4. Elisha. 5
William, married, August 6, 1797, Betsey Pat
ten, of Marblehead. Children by second wife
6. Joseph, born September 18, 1779; see for
ward. 7. Isaac, baptized March 2, 1783. 8
Betsey, baptized December 5, 1784; married.
January 19, 1808, Captain Joseph White, of
Salem. 9. Charlotte, baptized October 19, 1788
married, October 25, 1810, John Forrester, of
Salem. 10. Caroline, baptized October 31, 1790
11. Hoace Cullen, baptized November 4, 1792
died at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1823. 12.
Franklin Howard, baptized March 22, 1795
13. Frederick Washington Chatham, baptized

April 5, 1797. 14. Eloisa Adaline, baptized
October 20, 1799; married, February 20, 1820,
John Tucker Mansfield, of Salem. 15. Hitty,
married, June 17, 1804, Captain William Fetty-
place, of Marblehead. 16. Harriet, married,
August 9, 1808, Captain Stephen White, of
Salem. (IV) Judge Joseph Story, son of Dr. Elisha
Story ( 3 ) , born at Marblehead, Massachusetts,
September 18, 1779, died at Cambridge, Massa
chusetts, September 10, 1845 ; married first,.
December 9, 1804, Mary Lynde Oliver, born at
Marblehead, December 20, 1781, died at Salem,
June 22, 1805, daughter of Rev. Thomas Fitch
and Sarah (Pynchon) Oliver, of Marblehead;
married second, at Boston, August 28, 1808,
Sarah Wetmore, born at Salem, Massachusetts,
May 24, 1784, died at Boston, Massachusetts,
August 22, 1855, daughter of William and
Sarah (Waldo) Wetmore. Children, all by
second wife: 1. Caroline, born June, 1810,
died February 28, 181 1. 2. Joseph, born June,
1811, died October 19, 1815. 3. Caroline Wet
more, born April 4, 1813, died April 1, 1819.
4. Mary, born April 9, 1814, died March 28,
181 5. 5. Mary Oliver, born March 10, 1817,
died April 28, 1848. 6. William Wetmore,
born February 19', 1819, died at Vallambrosa,
Italy, October 7, 1895 ; married, October 31,
1843, Emelyn Eldridge, of Boston. 7. Louisa,
born May, 1821, died May 10, 1831.
EDWARD AUGUSTUS HOLYOKE.
Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke, a physician
of Salem, was born in Marblehead, August 1,
(old style, eighteenth century; new style, Au
gust 12), 1728, and died in Salem, March 31,
1829, in his one hundred and first year. His
funeral took place April 4 following, at the
North Church, and the Rev. John Brazier de
livered an appropriate and interesting discourse.
He was noted for his various excellencies,
as well as for his longevity. His father was a
president of Harvard College, and the son was
a graduate of that college in 1746. He was a
diarist, and preserved in handwriting many
interesting things regarding the customs and
peculiarities of a very early generation. His
record is also valuable as an account of the
weather. He recorded the fact that in 1732
"very broad-brimmed hats were worn;" his
father had a beaver whose brims were at least
seven inches ; they were all cocked triangularly.
Pulling them off, by way of salutation, was
the invariable fashion of all who had any
breeding. In 1748 he notes the fact of a deep
snow. In 1738, "square-toed shoes were going

MASSACHUSETTS.

XXXI.

out of fashion." He began practice in 1749.
In 1755 he gives an account of the notable
earthquake of November 18. In 1757, he
records the event of "very cold weather." ' He
had a case of "spotted fever" in his .charge.
1761. In 1768 he records, "Points out up;""
referring to early lightning rods. In 1783 he
was elected a ruling elder of the North Church.
In 1788 he received information from Dr.
Priestly about the manufacture of saleratus.
He remembered a temporary monument to
Lady Arbella Johnson, who deceased in 1630,
which once stood in a later neglected cemetery
in Salem. In 1801 he was interested in the
new enterprise of building a turnpike. In 1827
President Adams (ex-President John Q.
Adams) visited him. In 1828 the centennial of
the event of his birth was observed in Salem,
on August 13, by about fifty physicians, who
had a public dinner in his honor, of which one
has said : "Though one hundred years old he
appeared among them with a firm step and a"
cheerful look;" and "the compliment (so
intended for him) was richly deserved."
In conclusion it may be remarked that he
was the son of President Edward Holyoke, of
Harvard College. He was the first person on
whom the degree of doctor of medicine was
conferred by that eollege, and he afterwards
received the degree of doctor of laws. He
was the first president of the Massachusetts
Medical Society, ameng the original members
of the American Academy of Arts and Sci
ences, and at one time its president. He was
at the time of his death the president of the
Salem Athenaeum, the Essex Historical Soci
ety, of the Salem Savings Bank, and of the
Salem Dispensary.
He was still so vigorous on his one hundredth
birthday that when the morning came he rose,
dressed, shaved himself without assistance,
and walked to the Essex House, where the
dinner was given. He published many medical
articles in the reviews of his profession, and
scientific papers in the "Memoirs of the Amer
ican Academy of Arts and Sciences." "He
possessed great repose of body and spirit, and
that balance of powers which usually attends
longevity." — (G. B. Loring.)
Ancestry.- — Edward Holyoke (1), formerly
of Tamworth, Warwickshire, England, died at
Rumney Marsh, Boston, Massachusetts, May
4, 1660; married June 18, 1612, Prudence
Stockton, daughter of Rev. John Stockton,
rector of Kinkolt, in Leicestershire, England.
Children: 1. Elizabeth, married George Kezar,
of Salem, Massachusetts. 2. Anne, married

October 17, 1643, Thomas Putnam, of Salem,
Massachusetts. 3. John, died in England,
March 5, 1635-6, unmarried. 4. Elizur; see
forward. 5. Sarah, married Andres, of Salem,
Massachusetts. 6. Mary, married February
10, 1646, John Tuttle, of Rumney. Marsh, Bos
ton, Massachusetts. 7. Susanna, married
 Martyn. 8; Edward, died in England,
December 20, 163 1, aged thirteen years.
(II) Captain Elizur Holyoke, son of Ed
ward Holyoke (1), born at Tamworth, War
wickshire, England, died at Springfield, Mass
achusetts, February 6, 1676; married first, No
vember 20, 1640, Mary Pynchon, died October
20, 1657, daughter of William Pynchon, of
Roxbury and Springfield, Massachusetts ; mar
ried second, 1658, Mrs. Editha (Stebbins-
Day) Maynard, of Hartford, Connecticut. He
was one of the most distinguished inhabitants
of Springfield, whence he removed from Lynn ;
recorder of all the courts of the new county of
Hampshire, captain of the military company,
member of the general court, and the one from
whom Mount Holyoke, on the north of
Springfield, was named. Children: 1. John,
born August 27, 1641, died October 8, 1641. 2.
John, born September 5, 1642, died February
6, 1711-12, unmarried. 3. Hannah, born June
9, 1644, died February 1, 1677; married Sam
uel Talcott, of Weathersfield, Connecticut. 4.
Child, born May 21, 1646, died same day. 5.
Samuel, born June 9, 1647, died October 31,
1676. 6. Edward, born August 8, 1649, died
June 16, 1708. 7. Elizur, born October 13,
165 1 ; see forward. 8. Mary, born November
14, 1656, died January 14, 1678; married Feb
ruary 5, 1676-7, James Russell, Esq., of
Charlestown, Massachusetts.
(Ill) Elizur Holyoke, son of Captain Elizur
Holyoke (2), born at Springfield, Massachu
setts, October 13, 1651, died August 11, 1711;
married January 2, 1677, Mary Eliot, born
October 6, 1655, daughter of Jacob and Mary
(Powell- Wilcox) Eliot, of Boston, Massachu
setts. Fie went to Boston, became a brazier ;
was a man of influence and wealth, and was
one of the founders of the old South Church.
Children: 1. Elizur, born March 28, 1679,
died February, 1701. .2. Edward, born Sep
tember 30, 1680, died November 30, 1680. 3.
Mary, born September 1, 1681, married Sep
tember 17, 1713, William Arnold, of Boston,
Massachusetts. 4. John, born February 10,
1683, married January 9, 1727, Mrs. Joanna
(Green) Walker. 5. Hannah, born October
12, 1685, died September 4, 1686. 6. Hannah,
born February 15, 1686-7; married first, Jan-,

MASSACHUSETTS.

uary 27, 1720, Captain John Charnock, of Bos
ton, Massachusetts ; married second, intention
dated November 9, 1727, Theophilus Burril, of
Lynn, Massachusetts. 7. Edward, born June
25, 1689; see forward. 8. Samuel, born June
25, 1689, drowned March, 1692. 9. Samuel,
born March 21, 1693, died March 16, 1768;
married January 14, 1724, Elizabeth Brigham,
of Boston, Massachusetts. 10. Sarah, born
February 2, 1695, died September 6, 1755;
married April 3, 1723, John Eliot, of Boston,
Massachusetts. 11. Jacob, born November 6,
1697, died September 19, 1768; married
August 13, 1730, Susanna Martin, of Boston,
Massachusetts. (IV) Reverend Edward Holyoke, son of
Elizur Holyoke (3), born at Boston, Massa
chusetts, June 25, 1689, died June 1, 1769;
married first, August 8, 1717, Elizabeth
Browne, baptized February 21, 1691-2, died
August 15, 1719, daughter of Captain John
and Elizabeth (Legg) Browne, of Marblehead,
Massachusetts ; married second, August 16,
1725, Margaret Appleton, born March 19,
1 701, died June 25, 1740, daughter of John and
Elizabeth (Rogers) Appleton, of Ipswich,
Massachusetts; married third, March 17, 1742,
Mrs. Mary (  ) Epes, widow of Samuel
Epes, of Ipswich, Massachusetts; she died
March 23, 1790, ae. 92 years. He was presi
dent of Harvard College, 1737, until his death.
Ordained minister at Marblehead, April 25,
1716. Children by first wife: 1. Elizabeth,
born June 22, 1718, died July 5, 1718. 2. Eliz
abeth, born May 20, 1719, died January 2,
1720. Children by second wife: 3. Margaret,
born September 22, 1726, died December 21,
1792; married, intention May 28, 1750, John
Mascarene. 4. Edward Augustus, born August
1, 1728; see forward. 5. Mary, born April 30,
1730, died October 1, 1741. 6. Elizabeth, born
April 25, 1732, died September 15, 1821 ; mar
ried William Kneeland. 7. John, born Febru
ary 18, .1734, died December 30, 1753. H. C.
1 75 1. 8. Anna, born November 26, 1735, died
March 28, 1812; married 1762, Samuel Cutts,
of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 9. William,
born 1737, died June 25, 1740. 10. Priscilla,
born July 29, 1739, died March 29, 1782 ; mar
ried Rev. Eliphalet Pearson, D. D. Child by
third wife: 11. Mary, born December 12,
1742, died November 13, 1753.
(V) Edward Augustus Holyoke, son of
Reverend Edward Holyoke (4), born at Bos
ton, Massachusetts, August 1, 1728, died at
Salem, Massachusetts, March 31, 1829. He
married first, June 1, 1755, Judith Pickman,

died November 19, 1756, daughter of Ben
jamin Pickman; married second, November
22, 1759, Mary Vial, born December 19, 1737,
died April 15, 1802, daughter of Nathaniel and
Mary (Simpson) Vial, of Boston. Child by
first wife: 1. Judith, born October, died
November, 1756. Children by second wife: 2.
Mary, born September 14, 1760, died January
13, 1764. 3. Margaret, born March 4, 1763,
died January 25, 1825. 4. Mary, born January
9, 1765, died October 31, 1765. 5. Edward
Augustus, born August 12, 1765, died Novem
ber 3, 1766. 6. Mary, born September 5, 1767,
died September 9, 1767. 7. Anna, born Octo
ber 12, 1768, died October 31, 1768. 8. Son,
born May 17, 1770, died May 21, 1770. 9.
Elizabeth, born September 11, 1771, died
March 26, 1789. 10. Judith, born January 20,
1774, died February 5, 1841 ; married, inten
tion dated, October 13, 1795, William Turner.
11. Henrietta, born December 5, 1776, died
December 27, 1776. 12. Susanna, born April
21, 1779, died February 5, i860; married
August 7, 1799, Joshua Ward, of Salem. 13.
Edward Augustus, born March 8, 1782, died
October, 1782.
CALEB CUSHING.
Caleb Cushing, of Newburyport, was born
in Salisbury, Massachusetts, January 17, 1800,
and died in Newburyport, January 2, 1879.
Mr. Cushing graduated in 1817 at Harvard
College, where he was a tutor 1820-21. He
was admitted to the bar in 1822. He began the
practice of the law in Newburyport; was a
representative in the Massachusetts legislature
in i825,-'26,-'33,-'34,-'5o,-'58,-'59; and a rep
resentative in congress from 1835 to 1843.
From 1843 to 1845 he was United States min
ister to China, where he negotiated the famous
treaty with the nation; from 1852 to 1853 he
was judge of the supreme judicial court of
Massachusetts; and from 1853 t0 ^57 att0,i-
ney-general of the United States. In 1873 he
was counsel for the United States before the
Geneva arbitration. From 1874-1877 he was
Minister to Spain. On the 15th day of Jan
uary, 1847, ne was commissioned colonel of
the Massachusetts regiment, and led it to Mex
ico. While serving there, April 14, 1847, 'ie
was made brigadier-general, and held the office
through the war till July 20, 1848. He was
the first mayor of Newburyport, 1851-52.
He was the author of "History of Newbury
port," 1826; "Principles of Political Econ
omy," 1826; "Reminiscences of Spain," 1833;
"Review of the Late Revolution in France,"

MASSACHUSETTS.

xxxiu.

1833; "Life of William H. Harrison," 1840;
"The Treaty of Washington," 1873 ; and num
erous orations and speeches and other works.
His wife, Caroline W. Cushing, was author of
"Letters on Public Monuments, Manners, etc.,
in France and Spain," two volumes, 1832.
Mr. Cushing married, November 23, 1824,
Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon.
Samuel S. Wilde, judge of the supreme court
of Massachusetts. She was born April 26,
1802, and died without issue, August 28, 1832.
In his death his native state and the nation
lost a man who for more than half a century
was distinguished for his learning and elo
quence. As legislator and diplomatist and man
of letters, he contributed largely to the liter
ature of his time. He was noted for his con
versational powers and forensic talents ; and
the knowledge of modern languages ; and
probably "no other man in this country, with
the exception of John Quincy Adams, ever
brought so much real knowledge to the trans
action of business, while his versatility and
readiness were equal to his attainments."
. Another estimate of his character by a local
biographical writer will be read with interest in
connection with the above notice, since in it a
very pertinent account is given of the peculiar
nature of his attainments. He was one, it
says, who in his varied acquirements and
duties made himself easily the leader in this
respect in the place of his birth and residence,
which from the first was a town, whose sons,
daughters and citizens were eminent in letters
and active life as statesmen, orators, poets,
jurists, clergymen, inventors, and merchants.
It was one of the least of Massachusetts cities
in territory and population, and Cushing's
career from its beginning to its close presented
so many sides and angles, so many lights and
shadows, so much skill and genius, that it has
been compared to the geometrical figure called
a polygon ; and he in deeds and words through
a long life and under varied circumstances
verified the adage, not always true as a general
rule, that he was great in everything — a scholar
of lofty attainments ; an author and an orator
equally expert with pen or voice; a lawyer,
profound on the bench, attractive at the bar,
and celebrated as a minister of justice; as
attorney-general for the country uttering opin
ions which nations were bound to respect ; the
contemporary of Webster, John Quincy
Adams and Charles Sumner, and by many
regarded as their compeer; a diplomatist of
high rank — before the Geneva tribunal to arbi
trate the Alabama claims, no matter where he
j— 3

was placed, or what he was to do, he was equal
to the occasion.
We must omit here the account of his early
life; must say only, in passing, that he sur
prised the King of Spain by his facility in
speaking the Spanish language ; that he spent
months in the practice of the pronunciation of
foreign tongues, in order that he might be per
fect ; that he entered the army actively engaged
in the war with Mexico, under a wave of un
popularity on the part of his Northern fellow-
citizens, but this he lived down ; that he
believed in the extension of the natural bound
ary of the United States to the Pacific Ocean,
at a time when that idea was new. He has
been called a living encyclopedia ; travel and
intercourse had made him familiar with facts
of a very extensive range. It is also said of
him that he astonished foreigners by his
knowledge of their language. His knowledge
of books and their contents was extraordinary.
He read Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
through when it first appeared, marked the
errors and mistakes, and this as a labor of
love. He read, on one occasion to inform him
self, fifty-seven volumes of Massachusetts
Law Reports ; and this he finished in nineteen
consecutive days. These statements illustrate
to some extent the amount of labor of which
he was capable, and his energy in fitting him
self for his duties, legal or secular.
Ancestry. — Matthew Cushing (1), son of
Peter and Susan (Howes) Cushing, baptized
at Hardingham, county Norfolk, England,
March 2, 1589, died at Hingham, Massachu
setts, September 30, 1660, married August 5,
161 3, Nazareth Pitcher, baptized October 30,
1586, died at Hingham, Massachusetts, Janu
ary 6, 1682, daughter of Henry Pitcher. For
the first fifty years of his life his home was at
Hardingham and Hingham, county Norfolk,
England, and in 1638 he emigrated with his
family to New England and settled at Hing
ham, where he was prominently engaged in the
public affairs of the town and a deacon in the
church. The regular Cushing genealogy traces
the family back to the fourteenth century, and
mentions it as an armorial family. Children,
all born in England : 1. Daniel, baptized April
20, 1619, died at Hingham, December 3, 1700,
married first, January 19, 1645, Lydia Gilman,
who died March 12, 1689; married second,
Mrs. Elizabeth (Jacob) Thaxter, who died
November 24, 1725. 2. Jeremiah, baptized
July, 1621, lost at sea, sea captain, married
March 11, 1662, Mrs. Elizabeth Wilkie. 3.
Matthew, baptized April 5, 1623, died January

xxxiv.

MASSACHUSETTS.

9, 1701, married February 25, 1653, Sarah
Jacob of Hingham. 4. Deborah, baptized Feb
ruary 17, 1625, died September 25, 1700, mar
ried May 9, 1648, Matthias Briggs, of Hing
ham. 5. John, born 1627, see forward.
(II) Honorable John Cushing, son of Mat
thew Cushing ( 1), born in England, 1627, died
at Scituate, Massachusetts, March 31, 1708,
married at Hingham, Massachusetts, January
20, 1658, Sarah Hawke, baptized at Hingham,
Massachusetts, August 1, 1641, died at Scitu
ate, Massachusetts, March 9, 1679, daughter of
Matthew and Margaret Hawke. He was a
selectman ; county magistrate ; an assistant in
the Old Colony of Plymouth, 1689 to 1691 ;
representative to the general court at Boston,
1692, and for several following years ; member
of the council, 1706-1707 ; and colonel of the
Plymouth County regiment. Children, except
first, born at Scituate: 1. John, born at Hing
ham, April 28, 1662, died at Scituate, January
19, 1737, married first, May 20, 1668, Deborah
Loring, of Hull, who died June 8, 1713, mar
ried second, March 18, 1714, Mrs. Sarah
(Thaxter) Holmes. 2. Thomas, born Decem
ber 26, 1663, died at Boston, Massachusetts,
October 3, 1740, married first Deborah Thax
ter, of Hingham, who died February 16, 1712,
married second, December 18, 1712, Mrs.
Mercy (Wensley) Brigham, who died April,
1746. 3. Matthew, born February, 1665, died
May 18, 1715; married, at Hingham, De
cember 27, 1694, Deborah Jacob, who married
second, September 13, 1726, Benjamin Loring,
of Hull, Massachusetts, and died November
3°> 1755- 4- Jeremiah, born July 13, 1666,
died May 30, 1710, married April 12, 1693,
Judith Parmenter. 5. James, born January 27,
1668, married first, January 18, 171 1, Sarah
House, who died May 2, 1712, married second,
December 10, 1713, Mary Barrell. 6. Joshua,
born August 27, 1670, died at Pembroke,
Massachusetts, May 26, 1750, married May 31,
1699, Mary Bacon, of Marshfield, Massachu
setts. 7. Sarah, born August 26, 1671, died
August 8, 1701, married at Scituate, Decem
ber, 1689, David Jacob, who died February 10,
1748. 8. Caleb, born January, 1673, see for
ward. 9. Deborah, born 1674, baptized Octo
ber 4, 1675, died October 18, 1770, married
first, April 19, . 1699, Lieutenant Thomas
Loring, who died at Duxbury, Massachusetts,
December 5, 1717, and married second, Feb
ruary 18, 1727, Sylvester Richmond, Esquire,
of Little Compton, Massachusetts, now Rhode
Island. 10. Mary, born August 30, 1676, died
March, 1698, unmarried. 11. Joseph, born

September 23, 1677, married January 1, 171 1,
Mary C. Pickels, who died November 30, 171 1.
12. Benjamin, born February 4, 1679, of Bar
badoes, 1702.
(Ill) Rev. Caleb Cushing, son of Hon.
John Cushing (2), born at Scituate, Massa
chusetts, January, 1673, baptized May 11,
1673, died at Salisbury, Massachusetts, Janu
ary 25, 1752, married March 14, 1698, Mrs.
Elizabeth (Cotton) Ailing, daughter of Rev.
John and Joanna (Rossiter) Cotton, of Ply
mouth, Massachusetts, and widow of Rev.
James Ailing, of Salisbury, Massachusetts.
He was the fourth pastor of the first Salisbury
church, ordained November 9, 1698. (H. C.
1692.) Children: 1. Caleb, born October 10,
1703, see forward. 2. Rev. James, (H. C.
1725) born November 25, 1705, died May 13,
1764, married October 16, 1730, Anna Wain
wright, who died February 12, 1810, 99 years.
Resided at Plaistow, New Hampshire. 3. Rev.
John (H. C. 1729), born April 10, 1709, died
at Boxford, Massachusetts, January 25, 1772,
married April 8, 1734, Elizabeth Martin, of
Boston, Massachusetts, who died at Durham,
Maine, October 18, 1789. Resided at Boxford,
Massachusetts. (IV) Honorable Caleb Cushing, son of
Rev. Caleb Cushing (3), born at Salisbury,
Massachusetts, October 10, 1703, married No
vember 12, 1730, Mary Newmarch, daughter
of Rev. John and Mary (  ) (Hunking)
Newmarch, of Kittery, Maine, He was a
magistrate in Salisbury for upwards of fifty
years ; for a long time judge for the county of
Essex ; and for twenty-seven years represen
tative to the general court. He was also a
deacon of the church, colonel of Essex county
regiment, from which in 1756 men were
enlisted for the expedition against the French
at Crown Point. Fie was a member of the
Governor's council, 1771-1774; chief justice of
the court of common pleas, delegate in 1778 to
the constitutional convention, and served in the
provincial congress. Children born in Salis
bury: 1. Benjamin, born January 20, 1739,
see forward. 2. Caleb, baptized September 23,
1750, died unmarried.
(V) Benjamin Cushing, son of Hon. Caleb
Cushing (4), born at Salisbury, Massachu
setts, baptized there, January 20, 1739, married
December 17, 1767, Hannah Haseltine, born at
Haverhill, Massachusetts, December 12, 1732,
daughter of Nathaniel and Abigail (Tenney)
Haseltine. He resided at Salisbury and later
removed to Newburyport. Children, all except
first, born at Salisbury: 1. Hannah, born at

MASSACHUSETTS.

XXXV.

Haverhill, New Hampshire, March 30, 1769,
died young. 2. Caleb, born May 21, 1770, died
at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 4,
1820, married December 14, 1793, Margaret
Hoover, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who
died July 18, 1847. 3. Mary, born May 11,
1772, died young. 4. Benjamin, born June 21,
1776, died young. 5. John Newmarch, born
May 18, 1779, see forward. 6. Nathaniel, born
July 29, 1782, died at sea. 7. Mary, born
March 22, 1789, died June 13, 1836, married
Benjamin Bodily.
(VI») John Newmarch Cushing, son of Ben
jamin Cushing (5), born at Salisbury, Massa
chusetts, May 18, 1779, died at Newburyport,
Massachusetts, January 5, 1849, married first,
April 1, 1799, Lydia Dow, of Salisbury, died
November 6, 1810, married second, Elizabeth
Johnson, daughter of Nicholas Johnson, of
Newburyport, Massachusetts ; shipmaster,
shipowner, and merchant. Children by first
wife: 1. Caleb, born January 17, 1800, see
forward. 2. Lydia, born August 13, 1805, died
April 21, 1 85 1. Children by second wife: 3.
Mary Ann, born March 4, 1816, died August
31, 1 83 1. 4. Philip Johnson, born December
11, 1818, died September 29, 1846. 5. John
Newmarch, born October 21, 1820, married,
May 16, 1843, Mary Lawrence, who died
August 2, 1898. 6. William, born August 10,
1823, died October 16, 1875, married first,
September 23, 1847, Sarah Moody Stone, of
Newburyport, who died June 26, 1863; mar
ried second, May 29, 1866, Ellen M. Holbrook,
of Jamaica Plain. 7. Sarah Chickering, born
August 10, 1823, died May 9, 1826. 8. Eliza
beth, born July 23, 1826, died September 19,
1828. (VII) Honorable Caleb Cushing, son of
John Newmarch Cushing (6), born at Salis
bury, Massachusetts, January 17, 1800, died
January 2, 1879, married November 23, 1824,
Caroline Elizabeth Wilde, born April 26, 1802,
died August 28, 1832, daughter of Judge Sam
uel S. and Eunice (Cobb) Wilde. H. C.
1817.
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
Whatever charm the career of Nathaniel
Hawthorne may offer to the public as a master
of romance in the field of literary art almost
exclusively his own, it is conceded universally
that the facts of his life offer little opportunity
for the biographer. He was a native of the
old town of Salem, was born on Independence
Day, July 4, 1804, and died at Plymouth, New
Hampshire, May 18, 1864. One well known

biographer considers that his work is therefore
his record, and the procession of his ideas as
successfully formed in the pages of his books
are his only satisfactory and everlasting mon
ument. His character owes much to heredity.
His ancestors were of the established Puritan
stock in an ancient seaport town, and some of
them as a matter of course were seafaring
men. Flis early clays were particularly un
eventful. His education was obtained at his
birthplace and at Bowdoin College, Maine,
where in 1825 he was graduated^- Among his
early instructors and his classmates were sev
eral distinguished men : Dr. Joseph E. Wor
cester, the lexicographer, John S. C. Abbott,
George B. Cheever, Jonathan Cilley, Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, President Franklin
Pierce, Calvin Ellis Stowe, and others. In
early life he lived with his mother in the
woods of Raymond. Maine, for a period of
one year, but after he left college he returned
to Salem to live. For twelve years following he
was a recluse, and read or wrote by night or
day as suited his fancy. He published his first
story at his own expense, and only a few
hundred copies of this early production were
sold. He did considerable stated work for
various publications anonymously between
1830 and 1836, but in 1837 he collected the
first series of "Twice-Told Tales," followed in
1845 hy the second, both in 1851 being re
issued together. After 1850 his works and his
popularity increased. In 1850 his second
novel, "The Scarlet Letter," was issued, and
undoubtedly it is the best known and remark
able work of his wonderful genius. The anal
ysis of his writings and their titles is not the
object of this article. As a distinguished
writer has said, they all bear the mark in com
mon of being early products of the dry New
England air: incorporating myths and mys
teries of old Massachusetts, including chapters
of the fanciful, bathed in a misty moonshiny
light, completely neglecting the usual sources
of emotion. His most touching peculiarity
was his aloofness ; he was outside of every
thing, an alien everywhere — on the surface —
the surface of the soul and the edge of the
tragedy — he preferred to remain.
His life is very briefly written. In 1839 he
received through influential friends an appoint
ment to a small place in the Boston custom
house. In 1841 he spent a few months in
the Brook Farm community. He was married
in 1842, and lived at Concord till 1846, when
he obtained a position in the Salem custom
house, and returned there to live. He also

XXXVl.

MASSACHUSETTS.

j/yyuyti $~^t^ &y^

^

MASSACHUSETTS.

XXXVU.

resided for two years at Lenox, Massachu
setts. In 1853 he was appointed consul to
Liverpool, and he resided afterwards for about
seven years in England, France and Italy. He
returned to the United States in i860 and
resided again at Concord. Early in the year
1864 his health began rapidly to fail, and in
May, 1864, he went with ex-President Pierce
to the White Mountains, and when they
reached Plymouth, New Hampshire, May 18,
Hawthorne died in his sleep.
The impressions of his contemporaries in
Salem regarding him are interesting. He led
among them a quiet -and secluded life, charac
terized by shyness in school, and inconspicu-
ousness in college. His earliest literary work
was anonymous, and he was first supposed by
his readers to be a woman, who possessed
among other qualities, great delicacy of fancy.
The volume of "Twice-Told Tales" first
brought him a recognized position in the liter
ary world and an enthusiastic welcome. His
various official positions were conferred solely
for his merit as an author. The supernatural
element in his work he allowed nothing to
interfere with. His love for personal solitude
was his ruling passion. He had no fondness
for social pleasures, and never entered into
them. "These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision.
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces.
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a. rack behind."
Ancestry. — William Hathorne (1), of
Salem, Massachusetts, was a son of William
and Sara Hathorn of Binfield, Berkshire, Eng
land; he was born about 1607, died at Salem,
Massachusetts, 1681, in his seventy- fourth
year; wife Anne. He came to this country
with the Winthrop company in 1630, and set
tled first at Dorchester, where he appears
prominently until 1636, when he removed to
Salem. He was for many years a deputy, was
elected speaker a number of times, and elected
assistant from 1662 to 1679. He was one of
the most able, energetic, and widely influential
men in New England in his day ; was commis
sioned captain in 1646, and major before 1656.
His will dated February 17, 1679-80, probated
June 28, 1 68 1, mentions Ann as sole executrix ;
names William and Samuel and Abigail, chil
dren of his son Eleazer Hathorne, late deceas

ed ; his son John, of Salem ; his son William,
who was then lately deceased, to whom he con
firms a bequest to William's widow Sarah ; his
grandchild Jervice Helwyde, then in Europe ;
his daughter Sarah Coaker's two eldest sons
by her husband Coaker, the remainder of his
grandchildren ; his son-in-law, Israel Porter,
was also mentioned. Children: 1. A daughter,
married  Flelwise. 2. Sarah, born March
11, 1634-5, died February 8, 1688; married
April 13, 1665, Joseph Coker, of Newbury,
Massachusetts. 3. Eleazer, born August 1,
1637, married August 28, 1663, Abigail
Curwen. 4. Nathaniel, born August 11, 1639.
5. John, born August 5, 1641, see forward. 6.
Anna, born December 12, 1643, married Janu
ary 27, 1664-5, Joseph Porter, of Salem, who
died December 12, 1714. 7. William, born
April 1, 1643, died July 14, 1676; married
Sarah Ruck, who married second, Rev. George
Burroughs, of Salem. 8. Elizabeth, born July
. 3, 1649, married November 20, T672, Israel
Porter, of Salem, who died November, 1706.
(II) Colonel John Hathorn, son of Captain
William Hathorn (1), born at Salem, Massa
chusetts, August 5, 1641, died May 10, 1717,
aged seventy-six years ; married March 22,
1674-5, Ruth Gardner, baptized April 2, 1665,
daughter of Lieutenant George and Elizabeth
Gardner, of Salem. He was distinguished both
in civil and military affairs ; a captain in the
war with the eastern Indians, colonel of a reg
iment, and chief commander of a military
expedition in 1696; deputy, 1683; assistant,
with one brief exception, from 1684 to 171 1;
judge; etc. Children: 1. John, born January
10, 1675. 2. Nathaniel, born November 25,
1678, died before 1712, married Sarah  ;
he removed to Gosport, England. His widow
married second, Nathaniel Satall of Gosport,
England. 3. Ebenezer, of London, England,
1726. 4. Joseph, baptized June, 1691 ; see for
ward. 5. Ruth, baptized September, 1694,
married James Putnam; died at Danvers, Feb
ruary 20, 1769, in the 75th year of her age.
6. Benjamin.
.(Ill) Joseph Hathorne, son of John Flat-
horne (2), born at Salem, Massachusetts, bap
tized June, 1691, died 1762; married June 30,
1715, Sarah Bowditch, born January 10,
1695-6, died March, 1761, daughter of Captain
William and Mary (Gardner) Bowditch, of
Salem. Children: 1. William, born February
20, 1715-16, married March 29, 1741, Mary
Touzell. 2. Joseph, baptized May 4, 1718. 3.
John, baptized May 22, 1719, died February 6,
1750; married Susanna Tousell. 4. Sarah,

xxxvm.

MASSACHUSETTS.

baptized June 27, 1722, married Daniel
Cheever, of Salem. 5. Ebenezer, baptized De
cember 26, 1725. 6. Daniel, see forward. 7.
Ruth, died June, 1801, married September 30,
1762, Captain David Ropes, of Salem, who
died May 28, 1782.
(IV) Daniel Hathorne, son of Joseph Hat
horne (3), born at Salem, Massachusetts, died
1795; married October 21, 1756, Rachel
Phelps, born June 1, 1734, daughter of Jona
than and Judith (Cox) Phelps, of Beverly.
Children: 1. Rachel, born July 25, 1757, mar
ried Simon Forrester. 2. Daniel, born June
23, 1759, died March 13, 1763. 3. Sarah, born
May 11, 1763, married John Crowninshield. 4.
Eunice, born October 4, 1766, married Febru
ary 5, 1788, Aaron Porter, who died at Dan-
vers, Massachusetts, December 3, 1843. 5.
Daniel, born July 25, 1768, died at sea, 1805,
unmarried; 6. Judith, born April 17, 1770,
married March 2, 1792, George Archer. 7.
Nathaniel, born May 19, 1775, see forward. 8.
Ruth, born January 20, 1778.
(V) Captain Nathaniel Hathorne, son of
Daniel Hathorne (4), born at Salem, Massa
chusetts, May 19, 1775, died at Surinam, 1808;
married Elizabeth Clark Manning, born Sep
tember 6, 1780, died July 31, 1849, daughter of
Richard and Miriam (Lord) Manning, of
Ipswich. Children : 1. Elizabeth Manning, born
March 7, 1802. 2. Nathaniel, born July 4.
1804, see forward. 3. Maria Louisa, born Jan
uary 9, 1808, lost in steamer "Henry Clay,"
burned on the Hudson river, July 27, 1852.
(VI) Nathaniel FJawthorne, son of Captain
Nathaniel Hathorne (5), born at Salem, Mass
achusetts, July 4, 1804, died at Plymouth, New
Hampshire, May 19, 1864; married at Salem,
July 9, 1842, Sophia Amelia Peabody, born
September 21, 1809, died at London, England,
February 26, 1871, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel
and Elizabeth (Palmer) Peabody, of Salem
and Boston, Massachusetts. Children: 1.
Una, born at Concord, Massachusetts, March
3, 1844, died in England, 1887, unmarried. 2.
Julian, born at Boston, Massachusetts, June
22, 1846. 3. Rose, born at Lenox, Massachu
setts, May, 1850, married George Parsons
Lathrop.
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
John Greenleaf Whittier, of Amesbury,
Massachusetts, was born in Haverhill, Massa
chusetts, December 17, 1807, a"d died in
Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, September
7, 1892. He was descended from Thomas

Whittier (or Whittle) of Salisbury, Newbury,
and Haverhill, Massachusetts, through Joseph
2, Joseph 3, and John 4 Whittier, his father,
who married Abigail Hussey, daughter of
Joseph Hussey, of Somersworth, New Hamp
shire. He was a famous American poet. "A Quaker
in religion, he was remarkable for his consist
ency and the purity of his life; he was one of
the earliest and most influential Abolitionists,
several times mobbed for his opinions. He
was at different periods editor of several jour
nals, among them (1838-40) the Pennsylvania
Freeman, an Abolition publication, and the
leading contributor to the Washington National
Era, 1847-59. He was a member of the Mass
achusetts legislature, 1835-36, and one of the
secretaries of the American Anti-Slavery Soci
ety, 1836. He took great interest in politics.
His home, after 1840, was at Amesbury, Mass
achusetts. Among his best-known poems are: "Skip
per Ireson's Ride," i860; "My Playmate,"
i860; "Barbara Frietchie," 1863 ; "Laus Deo,"
1865; "My Birthday," "Snowbound," 1866;
"Mand Muller," 1866; "The Tent on the
Beach," 1867, and "The Eternal Goodness."
"Perhaps no other of our poets, not even
Longfellow, has so reached the popular heart."
(Library of the World's Best Literature.)
An estimate by a writer in the above work
states : His work depends for its appreciation
to an unusual degree on an understanding of
his life and character. Others of his contem
poraries need little explanation. Whittier was
born of simple farming folk ; his formal edu
cation was merely that of the district school
and country academy and he had no experi
ence of foreign travel. He sprang from the
soil of New England, and possessed to the full
the virtues and defects of his ancestry and
environment, and he represents, and with suc
cess, the most winning side of country life in
his native district. Until he was twenty his
educational advantages were very ordinary.
He attended for a short time the Haverhill
Academy. For a year he was employed in a
Boston printing house, and there edited a
paper. For another year he was editor of a
journal in Hartford. The papers with which
he was connected were not those of the gen
eral sort, but were special publications devoted
to such subjects as temperance and anti-slav
ery. With very few exceptions his days were
spent in Essex County, and his early life, as
well as his later, was free from affectation,

MASSACHUSETTS.

6k^^i)

xl.

MASSACHUSETTS.

and in the first of it full of effort and disci
pline, a life in which the outer world of cities
was unrealized.
The birthplace of Mr. Whittier is standing
in that part of Haverhill, which is near the
boundary line of the present town of Merri
mac. Its antiquity, aside from its connection
with the notable poet, is its principal attraction.
The front of the house remains as originally
built, with unimportant changes in the way of
repairs. The house was built about the year
1688, by Thomas Whittier, the ancestor who
left England in 1638, at the age of eighteen,
and settled in Salisbury about 1640, and
thence removed to Haverhill in 1648, first
living in a log hut which he built and occupied
until the erection of the house above men
tioned, which was about half a mile distant
from his former residence.
Ancestry. — Thomas Whittier (1), of Salis
bury and Haverhill, Massachusetts, born about
1620 or 1622, died at Haverhill, November 28,
1696; married Ruth Green (alias Rolfe?) who
died his widow, July, 1710. He was of Haver
hill in 1647. Among those who came with
him to this country were his uncles John and
Henry Rolfe, and a distant relative, Ruth
Green, whom he afterwards rriarried, and
whose name appears in every subsequent gen
eration. Children: 1. Mary, born October 9,
1647, died July 29, 1698; married September
21, 1666, Benjamin Page, of Haverhill. 2.
John, born December 23, 1649; married Jan
uary 14, 1685-6, Mary Hoyt, of Haverhill. 3.
Ruth, born November 6, 1651, died December
16, 1719; married April 20, 1675, Joseph True,
of Salisbury. 4. Thomas, born January 12,
1653-4, died October 17, 1728. 5. Susanna,
born March 27, 1656, died February 15,
1726-7; married July 15, 1674, Jacob Morrill,
of Salisbury. 6. 'Nathaniel, born August 11,
1658, died July 18, 1722 ; married first, August
26, 1685, Mrs. Mary Osgood, who died May
11, 1705; married second, June, 1710. widow
Mary Ring, who died July 19, 1742. 7. Han
nah, born September 10, 1760; married May
30, 1683, Edward Young. 8. Richard, born
June 27, 1663, died March 3, 1725-6. 9. Eliz
abeth, born November 21, 1666; married June
22, 1699, James Sanders, Jr., of Amesbury,
Massachusetts. 10. Joseph, born May 8, 1669,
see forward.
(II) Joseph Whittier, son of Thomas Whit
tier (1), born in Massachusetts, May 8, 1669,
died December 25, 1740 ; married May 24,
1694, Mary Peasley, born July 14, 1672,
daughter of Joseph and Ruth (Barnard)

Peasley. For four generations nearly all of
his descendants -retained their connection more
or less closely with the Society of Friends.
Children: 1. Elizabeth, born September 19,
1695 > marl"ied November 24, 1721, Abner
Chase. 2. Green, born March 13, 1696-7 ; mar
ried (published November 3, 1719) Hannah
Chase. 3. Joseph, born April 2, 1699, died
young. 4. Ruth, born July 31, 1701 ; married
January 1, 1722,3, Benjamin Greeley. 5. Rich
ard, born September 20, 1703. 6. Ebenezer,
born December 29; 1704; married June 23,
1730, Judith Willett. 7. Hannah, born June 2,
1707, married November 25, 1725, Stephen
Badger. 8. Susannah, born July 25, 1709;
presumably married, May 8, 1734, Joseph
Weed, Jr. 9. Joseph, born March 21, 1716-17,
see forward.
(Ill) Joseph Whittier, son of Joseph Whit
tier (2), born at Haverhill, Massachusetts,
March 21, 1716-17, died October 10, 1796;
married July 12, 1739, Sarah Greenleaf, born
March 5, 1716, died at Haverhill, Massachu
setts, March 17, 1807, daughter of Nathaniel
and Judith (Coffin) Greenleaf, of Newbury,
Massachusetts. He remained on the ancestral
farm of his ancestors, which passed to the son
John. Children: 1. Stephen, born April 6,
1740, died April 17, 1740. 2. Thomas, born
July 29, 1742, died August 13, 1742. 3. Ruth,
born December 26, 1743, died December 27,
1743. 4. Obadiah, born January 22, 1745, died
October 3, 1754. 5. Mary, born February 2,
1747, died September 5, 1802, unmarried. 6.
Joseph, born September 14, 1750, died Septem
ber 21, 1754. 7. Nathaniel, born July 13, 1753,
died at Hollis, Maine, January, 1839, unmar
ried. 8. Joseph, born September 20, 1755, died
February 20, 1833; married Mary Chas?., ot
Deering, New Hampshire, who married
second, 1835, Jonathan Taylor, of Biddefordj
Maine, and married third,  Hanson. 9.
Obadiah, born September 2, 1758, died at
Dover, New Hampshire, July 28, 1814; mar
ried December 17, 1786, Sarah Austin, of
Dover, New Hampshire. 10. John, born No
vember 22, 1760; see forward. 11. Moses,
born December 20, 1762, died January 23,
1824, unmarried.
(IV) John Whittier, son of Joseph Whit
tier (3), born at Haverhill, November 22,
1760, died June 11, 1830; married October 3,
1804, Abigail Hussey, born September 3, 1779,
died December 27. 1857, daughter of Samuel
and Mercy (Evans) Flussey, of Somersworth,
now Rollinsford, New Hampshire. He was
several times elected a selectman of the town

Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University.

The Wayside. Hawthorne's Home, Concord.

>
in
w>
ncenMHH
co

House of Seven Gables, Salem.

"Oak Knoll," Home of John G. Whittier, Danvers.

xiii.

MASSACHUSETTS.

of Haverhill. This point is of interest in
reference to the male line of the ancestry of
the Poet. Thomas (i) Whittier was 49 years
old when his son Joseph was born, and he lived
to be seventy-six. Joseph (2) was forty-seven
years old when his son Joseph (3), was born,
and he died at the age of seventy. The second
Joseph or Joseph (3) was forty-five years old
when John (4) was born, and he lived to be
eighty. John (4) was in his forty-eighth year
when John Greenleaf (5) the Poet, was born,
and he lived to be nearly seventy. Although
each Whittier in this list lived to a good old
age, they passed away without having seen
their grandsons in this particular line. Chil
dren : 1. Mary, born September 3, 1806, died
January 17, i860; married Jacob Caldwell. 2.
John Greenleaf, born December 17, 1807, died
at Hampton, New Hampshire, September 7,
1892. 3. Matthew Franklin, born July 4, 1812,
died January 7, 1883 ; married first, August 4,
1836, Abigail R. Poyen, who died at Portland,
Maine, March 27, 1841 ; children : i. Joseph
Poyen, died August 15, 1838. ii. Sarah, died
March 13, 1841. Married second, Jane E.
Vaughan, of St. John, New Brunswick, born
April 27, 1819; children: iii. Charles Frank
lin, born December 8, 1843. iv. Elizabeth Hus
sey, born August 10, 1845 ! married Samuel T.
Pickard. v. Alice Greenleaf, born February
19, 1848; married Wilbur Berry. 4. Elizabeth
Hussey, born December 7, 1815, died at Ames
bury, September 3, 1864.
ANNE BRADSTREET.
Anne Bradstreet, distinguished as the earliest
poet of her sex in America, though a native of
England, was a person who by reputation and
residence conferred honor upon the New
England county of Essex, and is worthy of a
brief notice in these pages. She was the
daughter of Governor Thomas Dudley and the
wife of Governor Simon Bradstreet. She was
born in the year 1612-13, probably at North
ampton, England. Of her youth but little is
known, and from what is left in her own
writing leads to the belief that she was relig
iously brought up according to the Puritan
standards of that time. When she was about
sixteen she had the small pox. She was mar
ried at about that age, and came to this coun
try. Her husband was the son of a minister of
the nonconformist order in the old country.
In 1635 she became a resident of Ipswich, but
there are no particulars of importance regard
ing her stay in that town, and the exact year

when she removed to Andover is not known,
but it is presumable that the latter removal was
before the year 1644. The portion of the town
where she settled was that now called by the
name of North Andover. Her husband's
house there was burned to the ground in July,
1666; and it is supposed to have been fol
lowed by a second, in which she died in .Sep
tember, 1672. This house, which was the
residence of her son, Dudley Bradstreet, is
still standing.
Her poems were first published in London,
in 1650, under the title of "The Tenth Muse
Lately Sprung Up in America." She appears
to have had from her birth a very delicate
constitution, and was troubled at one time with
lameness and subject to frequent attacks of
sickness, to fevers, and fits of fainting. She
was the mother of eight children, four sons
and four daughters, all but one of whom sur
vived her. Of her opinions, she regarded
health as the reward of virtue, and her various
maladies as tokens of the divine displeasure.
She says her religious belief was at times
shaken ; but she believed that her doubts and
fears were exaggerated by her tender con
science. Her children were constantly in her
mind ; and for them she committed to writing
many of her thoughts and experiences, espec
ially religious. Her poetic similes refer much
to domestic life and the bringing up of chil
dren, and among her own offspring she notes
the most diverse traits of character ; some of
them were obedient and easily governed, while
others were unruly and headstrong. She
derived satisfaction from the virtues of some,
and deplored the failings of others. Her mar
ried life was happy, but she continuously dwelt
in her thoughts on the great ills to which
humanity is subject. By the burning of her
house at Andover, in July, 1666, her papers,
books, and other things of great value, were
destroyed. Her son wrote that his father's
loss by this fire was over eight hundred books,
including those of the son and many of the
son's clothes, in his case to at least the value
of fifty or sixty pounds.
Thus from what is derived from Mrs. Brad-
street's works, one can see that the world of
1666 was not much different from that of 19°^
in its experience of domestic trials. The fact
of her being able to compose anything of a lit
erary order, was in her day a wonder com
pared with such things now. She was, how
ever, living in a new country, scarcely yet set
tled, and that she even was exposed to criti-

MASSACH. USETTS.

din.

cism on the part of her neighbors for studying
and writing so much, is evident from these
lines of hers :
"I am obnoxious to each carping tongue
Who says my hand a needle better fits."
She died of a consumption, and a statement
of her sad condition in the last stages of the
disease is preserved in the handwriting of her
son. It is supposed, as her burial place is not
known at Andover, that she may have been
buried in her father's tomb at Roxbury.
In 1678, after her death, a second edition of
her "Poems" was brought out in Boston. Her
descendants have been very numerous, "and
many of them have more than made up by the
excellence of their writings for whatever
beauty or spirit hers may have lacked." Among
these were Dr. William E. Channing; Rev.
Joseph Buckminster, of Portsmouth ; his son,
Rev. J. S. Buckminster; and his daughter,
Mrs. Eliza B. Lee; Richard H. Dana, the
poet, and his son R. H. Dana, Jr. ; Dr. Oliver
Wendell Holmes ; Wendell Phillips ; and Mrs.
Eliza G. Thornton, of Saco, Maine, whose
verses were once esteemed. Her husband mar
ried a second wife, and his death occurred at
Salem, March 27, 1697, at the age of ninety-
four. An example of Mrs. Bradstreet's style in
her lighter mood is given in some lines upon
the burning of her house, July 10, 1666.
"When by the Ruines oft I past,
My sorrowing eyes aside did cast,
And here and there the places spye
Where oft I sate, and long did lye.
"Here stood that Trunk, and there that chest;
There lay that store I counted best:
My pleasant things in ashes lye,
And them behold no more shall I.
Under thy roof no guest shall sitt,
Nor at Thy Table eat a bitt.
"No pleasant tale shall 'ere be told
Nor things recounted done of old.
No Candle 'ere shall shine in Thee,
Nor bridegroom's voice ere heard shall be.
In silence ever shalt thou lye;
Adieu, Adieu; All's vanity."
Authority. — "The Works of Anne Brad
street in Prose and Verse," edited by John
Harvard Ellis. Charlestown : Abram E. Cut
ter. 1867.
Ancestry. — Thomas Dudley (1), Governor
of Massachusetts, was born at Northampton,
in England in 1576 or 1577 (the only son of
Captain Roger Dudley, who was killed in bat
tle about 1586). He was thus early in life an
orphan, having a sister, concerning whom, as

well as his mother, nothing is known. His
mother was probably of a religious family and
he became a noted Puritan. He was sent to
school by a charitable lady, and while still
young became a page in the family of William
Lord Compton, afterwards Earl of Northamp
ton. The further career of Governor Thomas
Dudley is a matter of general history. Chil
dren : 1. Samuel, born in Northamptonshire,
England, about 1610, died February 10, 1683.
He was married three times, became the settled
minister at Exeter, New Hampshire, and had
in all eighteen children. He married first
Mary, daughter of Governor John Winthrop ;
second, Mary Byley, sister, of Henry Byley;
and third, Elizabeth  . 2. Anne, mar
ried Governor Bradstreet ; see forward. 3.
Patience; died February 8, 1690; married
Major-General Daniel Denison ; and had two
children. 4. Sarah, baptized July 23, 1620, at
Sempringham, England; died November 3,
1659; married before June 9, 1639, Benjamin
Keayne, of Boston (son of Captain Robert
Keayne) from whom she was divorced in
1647, and had a daughter named Anna, the
wife of Edward Lane, and later of Nicholas
Paige. The mother afterwards married
Thomas Pacy. 5. Mercy, born September 27,
1 62 1, died July 1, 1691 ; married Rev. John
Woodbridge and had twelve children. 6.
Dorothy ; died February 27, 1643. His first
wife Dorothy, a gentlewoman of good family
and estate, died December 27, 1643, and was
buried in the family tomb at Roxbury. Her
family name and pedigree have not been pre
served. She was sixty-one years old, and had
had five children, one son and four daughters,
all of whom married and had children before
her decease. It is remarkable that so little
should be definitely known concerning a family
so distinguished.
By his second wife Governor Dudley had:
7. Deborah, born February 27, 1644-5 ; died
unmarried, November 1, 1683. 8. Joseph, born
September 23, 1647; died April 2, 1720. He
married Rebecca, daughter of Edward Tyng,
became Governor of Massachusetts, Lieuten
ant-Governor of the Isle of Wight, and first
chief-justice of New York. He had thirteen
children, one of whom, Paul, was attorney-
general, and afterwards chief-justice of Mass
achusetts, fellow of the Royal Society, and
founder of the Dudleian Lectures at Harvard
College. 9. Paul, born September 8, 1650, died
December 1, 1681 ; married Mary, daughter of
Governor John Leverett, and had three chil
dren.

xliv.

MASSACHUSETTS.

(II) Anne (Dudley) Bradstreet, the popu
lar poetess of her time, daughter of Thomas
Dudley (i), was born 1612-13; was married
when about sixteen to Simon Bradstreet, and
died September 16, 1672. Eight children: 1.
Samuel, (H. C. 1653), and died August, 1682.
He was in England, 1657-1661, a physician in
Boston ; and removed afterwards to the island
of Jamaica, where he died. He was twice mar
ried ; first to Mercy, daughter of William Tyng
by whom he had five children, only one of
whom survived him, and second to a wife,
whose name is unknown. Her three children
were living with their grandfather Governor
Bradstreet, at the time of the latter's death. 2.
Dorothy, died February 26, 1672 ; married,
June 25, 1654, Rev. Seaborn Cotton (son of
Rev. John Cotton, of Boston) and had nine
children. Her husband was pastor of the
church at Hampton, New Hampshire. 3. Sarah,
married first Richard Hubbard, of Ipswich, by
whom she had five children, and second Major
Samuel Ward, of Marblehead. 4. Simon, born
at Ipswich, September 28, 1640 (H. C, 1660),
died 1683. Went to New London, Connecti
cut, in 1666, and was ordained pastor of the
church there October 5, 1670 ; married, at New
bury, October 2, 1667, Lucy (his cousin),
daughter of Rev. John Woodbridge, and had
five children. 5. Hannah, died 1707; married,
June 14, 1659, Andrew Wiggin, of Exeter,
New Hampshire, and had five sons and five
daughters. 6. Mercy, died October 5, 1715
(68th year) ; married October 31, 1672, Major
Nathaniel Wade, of Medford, and had eight
children. 7. Dudley, born  , 1648, died
November 13, 1702 ; married, November 12,
1673, Ann Wood, widow of Theodore Price.
He was a prominent man in Andover, and had
three children. 8. John, born July 22, 1652,
died January 11, 1718; married, June 11, 1677,
Sarah, daughter of Rev. William Perkins. He
was a resident of Topsfield, and had five chil
dren.
MANASSEH CUTLER.
Manasseh Cutler, third child and elder son
of Hezekiah Cutler, a farmer of Killingly, Con
necticut, and grandson of John and Flannah
(Snow) Cutler, of Lexington, Massachusetts,
and Killingly, was born in what is now Thomp
son, on May 28, 1742, and baptized on May 30
at the Thompson church. His mother was
Susanna, daughter of Deacon Hanniel Clark,
of Killingly. He was prepared for college by
the Rev. Aaron Brown, of North Killingly.
During the winter after graduating he taught

school in Dedham, Massachusetts, where he
became engaged to Mary, eldest daughter of
the Rev. Thomas Balch, of that town, and of
Mary (Sumner) Balch. He then accepted a
proposal from an aunt of Miss Balch's who had
been recently left a widow, to go to Edgartown,
on Martha's Vineyard, and take charge of a
business which she owned there.
On September 7, 1766, he was married, and
at once "removed to Edgartown, and continued
as a merchant for three years. In the mean
time he was admitted to the bar, 1767, but sub
sequently he began the study of theology by
himself, and in November, 1769, he removed
with his family to Dedham, to continue his
studies under his father-in-law's direction. In
May, 1770, he was called to settle in Douglas,
in Worcester county, where he had been preach
ing for some time, but this call he declined. In
February, 1771, he began to preach in the
Third Parish of Ipswich, Massachusetts, called
Ipswich Mamlet, and in May he was invited to
settle as their pastor. He accepted the call on
June 9, and was ordained on September 11,
Mr. Balch preaching the sermon.
During the revolution his work was twice
interrupted by invitations to serve in the army
as chaplain ; and he was thus absent for four
months in 1775, and for one month in 1778.
In the latter part of 1778 he undertook the
study of medicine with Dr. Elisha Whitney,
one of his parishioners, and was able thereby to
add somewhat to a scanty income. As early as his
college clays he had begun to take a deep interest
in natural science, and about 1780 he applied
himself especially to the study of botany, in
which he became a proficient. From the time of
his settlement in Ipswich he had had occasional
pupils in his house, and in 1782 he opened a
broading-school which was continued (except
during temporary absences) with success for
thirty-five years.
Owing to the difficulties of providing for his
family, in the disturbed state of things after
the revolution, he had serious thoughts of re
moving to the West; and it thus came about
that in March, 1786, he united with other
Massachusetts citizens in the formation of the
Ohio Company, to promote a settlement in the
Western territory. He threw himself with such
ardor into the business of securing subscrip
tions, that he was appointed at the annual meet
ing in March, 1787, one of three directors who
were instructed to apply- to Congress for the
purchase of lands. His success in inducing
Congress to pass the memorable ordinance
under which the Northwest Territory was set-

MASSACHUSETTS.

xiv.

tied is a part of the history of the nation. For
the next five or six years he was much engross
ed in promoting the development of the Ohio
Company. In 1793 he was the chairman of a
committee which obtained from the State gov
ernment the incorporation of Ipswich Hamlet
as the town of Hamilton. He was an ardent
Federalist, and as such was sent as a repre
sentative to the general court of Massachusetts
in the spring of 1800. In November, 1800, he
was elected a representative in the United
States congress. He held this office for four
years, and then declined a second re-election on
account of long-continued and increasing ill-
health. After his retirement he devoted him
self exclusively to his ministerial duties which
he retained until his death.
In person he was tall and portly, and in
manners courtly and dignified. His portrait,
painted by Frothingham in 1820, is engraved in
his published life. The honorary degree of
Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by Yale
College in 1791. After twenty-four years of
suffering from asthma, which finally terminated
in consumption, he died in Hamilton, on July
28, 1823, in his eighty-second year. The dis
course delivered at his funeral by the Rev. Dr.
Benjamin Wadsworth, of Danvers, was pub
lished . His wife died suddenly in Hamilton on
November 2, 181 5, in her seventy-fifth year.
They had five sons (one of whom died in
infancy) and three daughters. The third son
was graduated at Harvard College in 1793.
The Rev. Rufus P. Cutler was a grandson.
One has said of him that his mind was alto
gether of the practical cast, and that in matters
of mere theory and speculation he took but little
interest. He himself published a number of
works and his life, journals, and correspond
ence have been published in two volumes by
his grandchildren, William Parker Cutler and
Julia Perkins Cutler, at Cincinnati, 1888.*
Ancestry. — James Cutler (1), of Water-
town, and Cambridge Farms, now Lexington,
Massachusetts, died at the latter place July 17,
1694, aged eighty-eight years; married first
Anna  , who was buried September 30,
1644; married second, March 9, 1645, Mrs.
Mary King, widow of Thomas King, of Water-
town, who died December 7, 1654; and mar
ried third, about 1662, Phebe Page, daughter
of John Page, of Watertown. Children: 1.
James, born at Watertown, November 6, 1635 ;
see forward. 2. Hannah, born at Watertown,
July 26, 1638 ; married John Winter, who died
*The above sketch is abridged from Dexter's
"Yale Biographies," vol. iii. pp. 112-117.

at Cambridge Farms, December 15, 1690. 3.
Elizabeth, born at Watertown, January 11,
1640, died December 30, 1644. 4. Mary, born
at Watertown, April 29, 1644, married John
Collar. 5. Elizabeth, born at Watertown, July
20, 1646; married John Parmenter, third, of
Sudbury, Massachusetts. 6. Thomas, born about
1648, died at Lexington, July 13, 1722; mar
ried Abigail  . 7. Sarah, died at Weston,
Massachusetts, January 17, 1744, aged eighty-
nine years. Married, 1673, Thomas Waite, of
Cambridge Farms. 8. Joanna, born  ,
died November 26, 1703; married, June 19,
1680, Philip Russell, of Cambridge Farms. 9.
John, born at Cambridge Farms, March 19,
1663, died September 21, 1714; married, Janu
ary 1, 1694, Mary Stearns, who died February
24, 1733-4. 10. Samuel, born at Cambridge
Farms, November 8, 1664. 11. Jemima, died
March 15, 1744; married, September 22, 1697,
Zerubbabel Snow, of Woburn, Massachusetts.
12. Phebe.
(II) James Cutler, son of James Cutler (1),
born at Watertown, Massachusetts, November
6, 1635, died at Cambridge Farms, now Lex
ington, Massachusetts, July 31, 1685; married,
June 15, 1665, Mrs. Lydia (Moore) Wright,
born June 24, 1643, died at Sudbury, Massa
chusetts, November 23, 1723, daughter of John
and Elizabeth Moore, and widow of Samuel
Wright, of Sudbury, Massachusetts. Children :
1. James, born July 12, 1666, died February 1,
1690-1. 2. Ann, born April 20, 1669; married,
September 26, 1688, Richard Bloss, of Water-
town. 3. Joseph, born May 2, 1672, died at
Waltham, Massachusetts, 1715 ; married Han
nah  , who married second, Joseph Smith ;
she died at Waltham, February 26, 1735. 4-
Samuel, born May 2, 1672, was living in 1727.
5. John, born April 14, 1675 ; see forward. 6.
Thomas, born December 15, 1677, died at
Western, now Warren, Massachusetts, Decem
ber 23, 1759, aged eighty-two, years, married
first, Sarah Stone, of Lexington, who died Jan
uary 10, 1750, aged sixty-nine, and married
second, April 10, 1751, Mrs. Lydia (Bowman)
Simonds, of Lexington. 7. Elizabeth, born
March 14, 1681. 8. Isaac, born 1684, died at
Killingly, Connecticut, June 18, 1758, aged
seventy- four years, gravestone ; married, Sarah
¦  , who died June, 1763, aged seventy-five
years. (Ill) John Cutler, son of James Cutler (2),
born at Cambridge Farms, now Lexington,
Massachusetts, April 14, 1675, died at Killingly,
Connecticut, after 1727; married, February 6,
1700, Hannah Snow, born at Woburn, Massa-

xlvi.

MASSACHUSETTS.

chusetts, June 6, 1677, daughter of John and
Hannah (Green) Snow; she presumably mar
ried second, November 2, 1736, Eleazer Bate
man, of Killingly, Connecticut. Children: 1.
Hannah, baptized at Lexington, November,
1701 ; married Doctor Holmes, of Woodstock,
Connecticut. 2. Mary, baptized at Lexington,
July 4, 1703; married, October 29, 1730, Joseph
Bacon, Jr., of Woodstock, Connecticut. 3.
Seth, baptized at Lexington, July 7, 1705, died
at Windham, Connecticut, February 9, 1751 ;
married, October 22, 1734, Elizabeth Babcock.
4. Timothy, baptized at Lexington, July 7, 1705,
died at Windham, Connecticut, about 1736;
married, March 17, 1733, Elizabeth Leavens,
of Killingly, Connecticut. 5. Hezekiah, bap
tized at Lexington, April 20, 1707 ; see forward.
6. Dinah, baptized at Lexington, September 4,
1709. 7. Jemima, baptized at Lexington, May
27, 171 1 ; married, April 19, 1731, Benjamin
Corbin, of Woodstock, Connecticut. 8. Uriah,
baptized at Lexington, March 29, 1713, died at
Morristown, New Jersey, 1793; married first,
Miss Caulfield; married second, about 1772,
Mrs. Whitehead. 9. Abigail, baptized at Kill
ingly, July 22, 1716. 10. Sarah, baptized at
Killingly, July 22, 1716. 11. Hannah, baptized
at Killingly, July 22, 1716. 12. Patience, bap
tized at Killingly, September 1, 1717. 13.
Keziah, baptized at Killingly, July 19, 1719.
(IV) Hezekiah Cutler, son of John Cutler
(3), born at Lexington, Massachusetts, bap
tized there, April 20, 1707, died at Killingly,
Connecticut, October 4, 1792; married, De
cember 5, 1734, Susanna Clark, who died April
8, 1774, in her sixty-second year; married sec
ond, Mrs. Abigail Robbins, who was buried at
Killingly, Connecticut, 1791, aged seventy-two
years. Children, born at Killingly, Connecti
cut, were: 1. Mehitable, born April 1, 1737;
married, October 10, 1758, Simeon Lee. 2.
Hannah, baptized December 24, 1738, died
young. 3. Manasseh, born May 3, 1742; see
forward. 4. Ephraim, born November 13, 1744,
died May 21, 1766; unmarried. 5. Hannah,
born December 5, 1747, died December 25,
I7S3- (V) Reverend Manasseh Cutler, son of Heze
kiah Cutler (4), born at Killingly, Connecticut,
May 13, 1742, died at Hamilton, Massachu
setts, July 28, 1823; married, October 8, 1766,
Mary Balch, who died at Hamilton, November
3, 181 5, aged seventy-three years, daughter of
Rev. Thomas and Mary (Sumner) Balch, of
Dedham, Massachusetts. Children: 1. Eph
raim, born at Edgartown, Massachusetts, April
13, 1767, died at Warren, Ohio, July 8, 1853;

married first, April 8, 1787, Leah Atwood, of
Killingly, Connecticut, who died November 4,
1807 ; and married second, April 13, 1808, Sally
Parker, a native of Newburyport, Massachu
setts, who died June 30, 1846. 2. Jervis, born
at Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Septem
ber 19, 1768, died at Evansville, Indiana, June
25, 1846; married first, March 22, 1794, Phila
delphia Cargill, of Pomfret, Connecticut, who
died October 6, 1820; married second, Mrs.
Elizabeth S. (Frazier) Chandler, of Evans
ville, Indiana. 3. Mary, born May 3, 1771,
died September, 1836; married, 1794, Doctor
Joseph Torrey. 4. Charles, born March 26,
1773, died in Ohio, September 17, 1805; un
married, (H. C, 1793). 5- Lavinia, born Au
gust 6, 1775, died March, 1823; married, Octo
ber 9, 1800, Captain Jacob Berry, who died
February 7, 1812; resided at Beverly, Massa
chusetts. 6. Temple, born April 10, 1778, died
same year. 7. Elizabeth, born July 4, 1779,
died April 22, 1854; married, June 13, 1802,
Fitch Poole, of Danvers, Massachusetts, who
died January 28, 1838. 8. Temple, born Feb
ruary 24, 1782, died at Hamilton, Massachu
setts, November 5, 1857; married first, Octo
ber 7, 1805, Sophia Brown, who died Septem
ber 4, 1822, and married second, 1823, Mrs.
Hannah (Appleton) Smith.
' GEORGE DOWNING.
Sir George Downing was the son of Eman
uel Downing, of Salem, Massachusetts, who
married, April 10, 1622, Lucy, sister of Gov
ernor John Winthrop. He was probably born
in London, England, in 1625. In 1636 he was
at school "at Maidstone in Kent." He arrived
in New England with his parents in 1638, prob
ably early in October. He pursued his studies
under the Rev. John Fiske, for many years an
instructor in Salem. He was also under the
influence of Hugh Peters, who married his
aunt, and to whose church in Salem his parents
belonged. Upham says he "spent his later
youth and opening manhood on Salem Farms."
He was the first graduate from Salem, after
which he engaged in teaching, and pursued the
study of divinity. In the summer of 1645, at
the age of twenty, he "went in a ship to the
West Indies to instruct the seamen." Probably
he took this method to pay the expense of his
voyage. He proceeded by way of "Newfound
land, and to Christophers, and Barbadoes, and
Nevis," and was requested to preach in all
these places, but continued to England, where
he was called to be a preacher in Colonel John
Okey's regiment, in the army of Sir Thomas

MASSACH USETTS.

xlvu.

Fairfax. When not more than twenty-five
years of age, Downing had risen so fast as to
have become a confidential member of Crom
well's staff, and one of the most important
correspondents and advisers of Parliament.
September 3, 1651, he was at the battle of Wor
cester. As early as April 13, 1652, he held the
important position of scoutmaster-general to
the army in Scotland. In 1655, being secretary
to Thurloe, who was Cromwell's secretary oi
state, he was sent to the Duke of Savoy to
remonstrate against the persecution of the Wal-
denses in Piedmont. He was chosen member of
Parliament in 1656 for the Protector's pur
poses. Besides engaging in all other important
business of the House, he took the lead in ques
tions of revenue and trade.
"A Narrative of the Late Parliament," pub
lished in 1657, records him as receiving £365
per annum as scoutmaster-general, £500 as one
of the tellers in the exchequer ; in all £865 per
annum. It is said he had the pay of a troop of
horse captain. In 1657 he was appointed by
Cromwell minister to Holland, with a salary
of £1,100. He was' elected burgess for Mor
peth, in Northumberland, to serve in the parlia
ment which convened at Westminster, May 8,
1 66 1. In the intervals of parliament he re
turned to his employments at the Hague. In
March, 1662, he procured the arrest of John
Okey, Miles Corbet, and John Barkstead, three
of the judges who had condemned Charles the
First. There are reasons for supposing him to
have been the authcjf of the policy developed
in the British Navigation Act, which was initi
ated October 9, 165 1, and advanced by another
act in 1660. This act made England the great
naval power of the world.
July 1, 1663, Downing was created a baronet
by the title of Sir George Downing of East
Hatley, Cambridgeshire, knight, where his estate
was called the. largest in the county. In 1667,
he was chosen secretary of the new commis
sioners of the treasury. He labored indus
triously to increase the revenue and enlarge the
resources of the country. In 1671 he went to
Holland, to take the place of Sir William
Temple. He returned from Holland, where he
was sent as ambassador, before his time, and
accordingly was sent to the Tower; but was
soon released and restored to royal favor. He
was one of the three commissioners of the cus
toms in London, who, under date of July
9, 1678, prepared the rigid instructions for
"Edward Randolph, Collector, Surveyor, and
Searcher, of his Majestie's Customs in New
England." He died in 1684.

Downing married in 1654, Frances Howard,
who was descended from the fourth Duke of
Norfolk, who was beheaded by Queen Eliza
beth for tenderness to Mary Queen of Scots.
She died July 10, 1683. Their eldest son, George,
was teller in the Exchequer in 1680.
Downing Street, Whitehall, was named after
Sir George Downing, secretary of the treasury,
when the office of lord treasurer was put in
commission (May, 1667), on the death of Lord
Southampton. Sir George Downing was a member of the
class of 1642, the first class which was grad
uated from Harvard College. Flis grandson,
who died in 1749, a little more than a hundred
years after this time, bequeathed a large estate,
first to relatives, and afterwards, if they died
without lawful issue, for the building of a col
lege at Cambridge. After a half century's
opposition and litigation, it was chartered Sep
tember 22, 1800, and the magnificent Downing
College was erected with funds which were
said to amount to one hundred and fifty thous
and pounds.*
ELBRIDGE GERRY.
Elbridge Gerry, who was governor of Mass
achusetts from May 1810, to May, 1812, and
vice-president of the United States from Alarch
4, 1813, until November 23, 1814, when he
suddenly expired, as he was about to enter the
senate chamber at Washington for the perform
ance of his official duties, was a native of
Marblehead, where his birth is recorded as
occurring on the 17th of July, 1744, son of
Thomas and Elizabeth. The son, Elbridge Gerry,
was graduated at Harvard College in 1762, and
later was a signer of the Declaration of Inde
pendence. For many years he was a resident of the
town of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he
was respected as one of the most eminent citi
zens, in spite of differences of political opinion
between himself and the majority of his fellow
citizens. The embargo of 1809, followed by an
open declaration of war against Great Britian
in June 1812, caused Cambridge to suffer dur
ing the next two or three years its full propor
tion in the general stagnation of business ; as a
new port it did not recover from the blight
which had fallen upon it — the name of Cam-
bridgeport (now anything but a port) coming
as a relic of this period. Hence grass grew in
the streets of the seaports, and ships rotted at
the wharves. A very decided majority of the

•The above notice is abridged from Sibley's "Har
vard Graduates," vol. i. pp. 28-51.

xlviii.

MASSACHUSETTS.

voters of Cambridge (if not elsewhere in New
England) were politically opposed to the war
and smarted under the losses and inconven
iences resulting from it, but notwithstanding
the lack of enthusiasm for its support, com
panies when called into service for the defence
of the state responded punctually to the call.
Thus, in the case of Air. Gerry, it is said, that
neither their affection for the man, nor their
regard for his high political position, could
overcome their detastation of the war, of which
he was an advocate and defender, nor induce
them to volunteer their persons or their prop
erty in its behalf. (See Paige's "History of
Cambri ge," pp. 192-193).
Flis earliest revolutionary experience with
Cambridge appears to have been on the nigln
of the eighteenth of April, 1775, when as a
member of the different committees of safety
and supplies in session at Wetherby's tavern,
in what was later West Cambridge or now is
Arlington, he. with two others of the members,
Orne and Lee, remained to pass the night. As
the British in perfect stillness, passed the tavern
where he was lodging, on their midnight march
to Concord, Gerry, Orne and Lee rose from
their beds to gaze on the unwonted spectacle;
the three were discovered by the British, and
when a party of the latter was detached to sur
round the tavern, and make prisoners of the
distinguished inmates, the three members of
the committee of safety hastily escaped to an
adjoining field.
As early as 1775 Gerry was actively interest
ed in fitting out a provincial naval armament
and by November 13 a law was passed by the
assembly of Massachusetts — and draughted by
Gerry — which authorized the employment of
privateers and established a court for the trial
and condemnation of prizes. He was then a
resident of Marblehead, and was emphatically
at the bottom of this movement.
He was a great political organizer. It was
he who after the New England colonies had
borne the contest for several months, almost
alone, sought to reconcile the conflicting jeal
ousies of the north and the south, and to aid
Washington to supplant local jealousy by a
union of spirit. His letters show this. In one
of them he says (under date of October 9,
l775), "Let it be remembered that the first
attack was made on this colony ; that we had to
keep a regular force without the advantage of
a regular government ; that we had to support
in the field from 12,000 to 14,000 men, when
the whole forces voted by the other New Eng
land governments amounted to 8,500 only."

In political ability Gerry was classed with
such men as Washington, Hamilton, Franklin,
Morris, and others, and he was a delegate
from Massachusetts, with others, in 1787, to
the convention at Philadelphia on the adoption
of the Federal constitution. By the adoption
of the constitution of the United States, the
citizens of Massachusetts, as well as of the rest
of the Union were divided into two parties
known at that time as federalists and anti-
federalist. The former were the friends of the
new constitution, and Gerry's sympathies were
with the latter. The federalists were inclined
to the establishment of a privileged order, while
the anti- federalists were more republican in
their tendencies ; or in other words, more dem
ocratic, or nearer to the lower class of the
people. He was a commissioner to the court of
France in 1797. He was appointed by Presi
dent Adams, a federalist, contrary to the opin
ion of a portion of his cabinet, because Gerry
was a gentleman distinguished throughout the
country for his intellectual ability, even though
he was attached to the opposition, or, as it was
then called, the republican party. His associates
on this mission were Charles Cotesworth Pinck-
ney, the head of the federal party, and John
Marshall, of Virginia, the later biographer of
Washington. In May, 1800, he was the candidate of the
republican party for governor of Massachu
setts, and the people had confidence in his in
tegrity, and gave him a«.large vote, but not
enough to elect him. In May, 1810, he was
elected, and the democratic party was tri
umphant in the state. It was considered a
critical period. In public Government Gerry
approved the course of the national adminis
tration, which was republican or democratic,
and confined his favors to such as were its sup
porters. For this he received several threats
of assassination from anonymous correspond
ents. He was reflected upon severely in the
federal press, and he made an attempt to de
clare them libellous. In the midst of this ex
citement a new election occurred and Caleb
Strong was elected governor. Both parties
were active, but his friends could not overcome
the prejudices against Gerry. It is said that
his conduct in districting the State for the elec
tion of senators had some influence in defeat
ing him. From the peculiar manner in which
he did this, was acquired the term "Gerry
mandering;" a term now familiar to all who
have dealings with that particular way of
engineering elections to the advantage of the

MASSACH USETTS.

xlix.

party in power. A defence of his policy in
this respect was published at the time, to the
effect that the constitution did not restrict to
county lines in forming districts. His last
districting was conformable to the rule of
taxes. Previous legislatures had districted the
State regardless of counties, as Gerry had done,
etc. A convention was called at this time
which approved of the governor's course. Fin
ally, he was elected to the vice-presidency, as
the candidate of his party.
As an example of his style of writing, the
following extract is given from one of Mr.
Gerry's letters. The subject is the British
evacuation of Boston in March, 1776. He
writes on March 26. "What an occurrence is
this to be known in Europe ! How are parlia
mentary pretensions to be reconciled ? Eight
or ten thousand British troops, it has been said,
are sufficient to overun America; and yet that
number of their veterans, posted in Boston (a
penisula fortified by nature, defended by works
the product of two years' industry, surrounded
by navigable waters, supported by ships of
war, and commanded by their best generals),
are driven off by about one-thirtieth of the
power of America. Surely the invincible vet
erans labored under some great disadvantage
from want of provisions or military stores,
which the Americans were amply provided with.
Directly the reverse. They had provisions
enough ; ammunition, muskets and accoutre
ments, for every man, and a piece of ordnance
for every fifteen; while the Americans were
almost destitute of all these, and after twelve
months' collection had only a sufficiency of
powder to tune their cannon for six or eight
days. I am at a loss to know how Great Brit-
ian will reconcile all this to her military glory."
As thus ably predicted by this keen observer,
the news did excite great astonishment in Eng
land, and the reigning ministry were deeply
mortified. Ancestry. — Captain Thomas Gerry (1), of
Newton Bushel, Great Britian, born at New
ton Abbot, Devonshire, England, March 15,
1702, died at Marblehead, Massachusetts, July
13, 1774, aged seventy-two years four months;
married first, December 16, 1734, Elizabeth
Greenleaf, born at Marblehead, June 1. 1716,
died there, September 2, 1771, aged fifty-five
years, daughter of Enoch and Rebecca (Rus
sell) Greenleaf; married second, May 6, 1773,
Mrs. Elizabeth Lemmon, presumably widow
of Dr. Joseph Lemmon, of Marblehead, who
died in 1772. Thomas Gerry came to America
in 1730 as captain of a trading vessel from

London. After marriage he relinquished the
sea and became a merchant at Marblehead. His
father was Daniel Gerry, of Newton Abbot, De
vonshire, England, who married a wjfe named
Lydia, by whom he had three children — Daniel
and John who remained in England, and the
above Thomas, who emigrated to America.
Children: 1. Thomas, born September 19,
1735; married, September 27, 1759, Tabitha
Skinner. 2. Samuel, born July 3, 1737, died
August 26, 1738. 3. Elizabeth, born May 24,
1740, died September 3, 1740. 4. John, born
October 8, 1741, buried January 12, 1786 ; mar
ried, November 8, 1763, Sarah Wendell, who
married second, June 18, 1786, John Fisk, Esq.,
of Salem. 5. Elbridge, born July 17, 1744; see
forward. 6. Samuel, born May 30, 1746, died
May 14, 1750. 7. Elizabeth, born May 17,
1748 ; married, April 22, 1775, Burrell Dev-
ereux. 8. Samuel Russell, born July 27, 1750,
died February 1, or 22, 1807, aged fifty-six
years; married first, July 22, 1773, Hannah
Glover, who died May 30, 1785 ; married sec
ond, July 31, 1783, Sarah Thompson, who died
his widow, July 22, 1830, aged seventy years.
9. Daniel, born February 4, 1754, died May 29,
1754. 10. Daniel, born June 22, 1758, died
May 17, 1759.
(II) Hon. Elbridge Gerry, son of Captain
Thomas Gerry ( 1 ) , born at Marblehead, Mass
achusetts, July 17, 1744, died at Washington,
District of Columbia, November 23, 1814 ; mar
ried Ann Thompson, daughter of James Thomp
son, of New York, who died his widow, at
New Haven, Connecticut, March 17, 1849, aged
eighty-five years. He was survived, besides
his widow, by three sons and six daughters.
One daughter, Catherine, married, October 2,
1806, James Trecothick Austin, Esq., of Cam
bridge ; her husband was a graduate of Har
vard College, 1802, received the degree of LL.
D., and was attorney-general of Massachusetts.
The eldest son, Elbridge Gerry (H. C, 1813)
died in New York, May 18, 1867; he was at
one period surveyor of the port of Boston.
Thomas Russell Gerry, another son, (H. C,
1814) born in Cambridge, December 8, 1794,
died at New Rocheile, New York, October 6,
1845; midshipman in United States Navy, ap
pointed December 6, 1814, and resigned August
27, 1833. James T. Gerry, another son, was
appointed midshipman, U. S. N.. December 20,
1815; lieutenant, April 28, 1826; commander,
April 17, 1842, and was lost on the "Albany,"
September 28, 1854.
The name of Elbridge Gerry was obtained
from a relative in this way. His great-grand-

MASSACHUSETTS.

mother, Elizabeth Elbridge, married Samuel
Russell, who was born in 1645, she being born
June 19, 1653. This Rebecca Russell married
Enoch Greenleaf, and their daughter Elizabeth
married Thomas Gerry. The Elbridge family
belonged in Bristol, England, where an uncle,

John Elbridge, a merchant of that place, died
and left them a large property, and in memory
of this family Elbridge Gerry derived his name.
(See N. E. H. & G. Register, vol. 12, p. 112,
further).

WHITNEY COAT-OF-ARMS.

MASSACHUSETTS.

The surname Whitney was
WHITNEY originally a place name. The
parish from which the family
takes its name is located in county Hereford,
England, upon the extreme western border,
adjoining Wales and is traversed by the lovely
Wye river. The name of the place doubtless
comes from the appearance of the river, mean
ing in Saxon, white water, from htvit, white,
and ey, water. The coat-of-arms of the Whit
ney family of Whitney is : Azure, a cross
chequy or and gules. Crest: A bull's head
couped sable, armed argent, the points gules.
The English ancestry of John Whitney, the
immigrant who settled at Watertown, Massa
chusetts, has been established by Henry Mel
ville and presented in an exquisitely printed
and illustrated volume. Very few American
families have their English genealogy in such
well authenticated and satisfactory form. An
abstract of the English ancestry is given below.
(I) Turstin, "the Fleming," otherwise
known as Turstin de Wigmore, probably also
as Turstin, son of Rolf, and Turstin "the
White," was a follower of William the Con
queror. He was mentioned in the Domesday
book as an extensive land holder in Hereford
shire and the Marches of Wales. He married
Agnes, daughter of Alured de Merleberge, a
Norman baron of Ewias Castle, in the Marches
of Wales.
(II) Eustace, son of Turstin, was a bene
factor of the monastery of St. Peter in Glou
cester. He or one of his immediate descend
ants took the surname De Whitney from
Whitney of the Wye, in the Marches of
Wales, where his principal castle was located.
The estate comprised over two thousand acres,
and remained in the family until 1893, when
it was sold, there being no member of the
family to hold it. The castle has entirely dis
appeared, but it is believed to be in ruins under
the Wye, which has in the course of years
changed its path. The castle was probably
built on an artificial mound, surrounded by a
moat fed by the river, which gradually under
mined the castle, which was at last disinte
grated. (Ill) Sir Robert de Whitney, a direct de

scendant of Eustace, was livng in 1242 and
was mentioned in the "Testa de Nevill."
Three or four intervening generations cannot
be stated with certainty.
(IV) Sir Eustace de Whitney, son of Sir
Robert, gave deed to the monastery of St.
Peter in 1280, referring to and confirming the
deed of his ancestors above mentioned. He
was Lord of Pencombe, Little Cowarn and
Whitney in 1281 ; was granted free warren
by Edward I in 1284; summoned to wars
beyond the seas in 1 297; tenant of part of the
manor of Huntington in 1299; in Scotch war
in 1301. He was possibly grandson instead
of son of Sir Robert.
(V) Sir Eustace de Whitney, son of Sir
Eustace, was knighted by Edward I in 1306,
and was a member of parliament for Here
fordshire in 1313 and 1352.
(VI) Sir Robert de Whitney, son of Sir
Eustace, was one of two hundred gentle
men who went to Milan in the retinue of the
Duke of Clarence on the occasion of the lat
ter's marriage in 1368. He was a member of
parliament for Herefordshire in 1377, 1379
and 1380 and sheriff in 1377.
(VII) Sir Robert Whitney, son of Sir Rob
ert, was sent abroad to negotiate treaty with
the Count of Flanders in 1388; member
of parliament for Herefordshire in 1391. He
was sent to France to deliver the castle and
town of Cherbourg to the King of Navarre
in 1393; was knight marshal in the court, of
Richard II; sent on King's business to Ire
land in 1394. He was killed, together with his
brother and most of his relatives, at the battle
of Pilleth, 1402.
(VIII) Sir Robert Whitney, son of Sir
Robert, was granted the castle of Clif
ford and lordships of Clifford and Glas-
bury by Henry IV in 1404, on account
of the services of his father. He was
sheriff of Herefordshire in 1413-28-33-37;
member of parliament, 1416-22. He fought
in the French war under Henry V, and was
captain of the castle and town of Vire in 1420.
He was named as one of the five knights in
Herefordshire in 1433, and died March 12,
1 441.

(I)

MASSACHUSETTS.

(IX) Sir Eustace de Whitney, son of Sir
Robert, was born in 141 1. He was head
of a commission sent to Wales by Henry VI
in 1455 and was a member of parliament for
Herefordshire in 1468. He married Jenett
Russell ; second, Jane Clifford.
(X) Robert Whitney, son of Sir Eustace
(9), was probably a knight and was an active
participant in the War of the Roses, and was
attainted as a Yorkist in 1459. He was prob
ably at the battle of Mortimer's Cross in 1461.
He was the subject of a poem by Lewis Glyn
Cothi, on the occasion of his marriage to Alice,
the great-granddaughter of Sir David Gam.
He married first, Alice, daughter of Thomas
Vaughan; second, Constance Touchett, who
was the mother of his sons. She was descended
from William the Conqueror, through the
second wife of Edward I, King of England.
(XI) James Whitney, son of Robert, was
appointed receiver of Newport, part of the
estate of the Duke of Buckingham, con
fiscated by Henry VII in 1522. He married
Blanche, daughter and an heir of Simon Mil-
bourne. (XII) Robert Whitney, son of James
Whitney, was of Icomb, and in charge of
other confiscated estates. He was sheriff
of Gloucestershire* 1527-28-29-30. He was
nominated Knight of the Bath by Henry VIII
at the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1531 ;
was granted part of income of monastery of
Brewern in 1535; furnished forty men to put
down rebellion in 1536. He was named to
attend upon the king's person. He died in
1 541, and his will was proved June 11, 1541.
He married Margaret Wye.
(XIII) Sir Robert Whitney, son of Robert,
was knighted the day after Queen Mary's
coronation in October, 1553. He was sum
moned before the privy council in 1555 and
1559. He was member of parliament for
Herefordshire -in 1559, and died August 5,
1567. He married Sybil Baskerville, a de
scendant of William the Conqueror through
the first wife of Edward I.
(XIV) Robert Whitney, son of Sir Robert,
was mentioned in the will of his father,
and also in an inquisition taken after the lat
ter's death. He married Elizabeth, daughter
of Morgan Guillims, or Duglim.
(XV) Thomas Whitney, son of Robert,
was of Westminster, Gentleman. He was
buried at St. Margaret's, April 14, 1637.
He married Mary, daughter of John Bray, of
Westminster ; she was buried at St. Margaret's,
September 25, 1629. Children: 1. John, the

American emigrant, settled at Watertown,
Massachusetts. 2. Nicholas. 3. William. 4.
Richard. 5. Margaret. 6. Anne".
(The Baskerville Line).
(I) William I, Duke of Normandy, com
monly called William the Conqueror, married
Matilda, daughter of Baldwin, Earl of Fland
ers, and granddaughter of Robert, King of
France. (II) Henry I, son of William the Con
queror, was King of England 1100-1135.
He was born 1069, died 1135; married Ma
tilda, daughter of Malcolm III, King of Scot
land, granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, the
last of the West Saxon Kings.
(Ill) Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl of An-
jou, was son of Henry I. He married Ma
tilda  .
(IV) Henry II, son of Geoffrey, was born
1 133, died 1189. He was King of Eng
land 1154-89; married Eleanor, daughter and
heir of William, Duke of Aquitaine, and
divorced wife of Louis VII, King of France.
(V) John, son of Henry II, was born
1 167, died 1216; King of England, 1169-1216.
He married Isabella, daughter of Aymer,
Count of Angouleme.
(VI) Henry III, son of John, was born
1207, died 1272; King of England 1216-
y2 ; married Eleanor, daughter of the Count
of Provence.
(VII) Edward I, son of Henry III, was
born 1239, died 1307; King of England
1272-1307; married first, Eleanor, daughter of
Ferdinand III, King of Castile ; second, Mar
garet, daughter of Philip III, King of France.
(VIII) Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I,
and Eleanor, married Humphrey de Bohun,
Earl of Hereford and Essex, Lord High
Constable. He was killed at the battle of
Boroughbridge, March 16, 1321.
(IX) Agnes, daughter of Humphrey and
Elizabeth, married Robert de Ferrers, sec
ond Baron Ferrers, of Chartley. He was
son of John, first Baron, and grandson of
Robert, eighth Earl of Derby. He was sum
moned to parliament February 25, 1342, and
was at the battle of Crecy, 1346. He died
1347. (X) John de Ferrers, son of Robert, was
third Baron of Chartley. He was in the
wars of Gascony in 1350, and died April 2,
1367. He married Elizabeth, daughter of
Rolf, first Earl of Stafford, who had a prin
cipal command in the van at Crecy.
(XI) Robert de Ferrers, son of John,

MASSACHUSETTS.

was fourth Baron of Chartley. He died
March 13, 1413. He married Margaret,
daughter of Edward, Lord de Despenser.
(XII) Edmund de Ferrers, son of Rob
ert, was fifth Baron of Chartley, and a
participant in most of the great victories of
Henry V. He died 1436. He married
Eleanor, daughter and co-heir of Thomas,
Lord Roche.
(XIII) William de Ferrers, son of Edmund,
was sixth Baron of Chartley, died 1450.
He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Hamon
Belknap, Knight.
(XIV) Anne, daughter and only child of
William, married Sir Walter Devereaux,
Knight. He was Baron Ferrers in the right
of his wife, and was killed at Bosworth Field,
August 22, 1485.
(XV) Katherine, daughter of Walter, mar
ried Sir James Baskerville, of Eardisley,
Knight. He was several times sheriff of Here
fordshire. He was Knight Banneret on the
battlefield of Stoke, 1487, and Knight of the
Bath at the coronation of Henry VII.
(XVI) Sir Walter Baskerville, son of Sir
James, was of Eardisley, Knight. He was
sheriff of Herefordshire, and Knight of the
Bath in 1501. He married Anne, daugh
ter of Morgan ap Jenkyn ap Philipp of Pen-
coy d.
(XVII) Sir James Baskerville, son of Sir
Walter, was of Eardisley, Knight. He mar
ried Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of John
Breynton and Sybil, daughter and co-heir of
Simon Milbourne.
(XVIII) Sybil, daughter of Sir James
Baskerville, married Sir Robert Whitney
(XIII) mentioned above.
(The American Line).
(I) John Whitney, immigrant ancestor,
was born in England in 1589, son of Thomas
and grandson of Robert Whitney. He re
ceived for his day a good education in the
Westminster school, now St. Peter's College.
He was apprenticed at the age of fourteen by
his father to William Pring, of the Old Bailey,
London, a freeman of the Merchant Tailors'
Company, then the most famous and pros
perous of all the great trade guilds, number
ing in its membership distinguished men of
all professions," many of the nobility and the
Prince of Wales. At the age of twenty-one,
John Whitney became a full-fledged member
and his apprenticeship expired. He made his
home in Isleworth-on-Thames, eight miles
from Westminster, and there three of his chil

dren were born. There, too, his father ap
prenticed to him his younger brother, Robert,
who also served his seven years. Soon after
ward John Whitney left Isleworth and doubt
less returned to London and lived in Bow
Lane, near Bow Church, where his son
Thomas was born. In September, 1631, he
placed his eldest son, John Jr., in the Merchant
Tailors' School, where according to the regis
ter, he remained as long as the family was in
England. Early in April, 1635, John Whit
ney registered with his wife Eleanor and sons
John, Richard, Nathaniel, Thomas and Jona
than, as passengers of the ship "Elizabeth and
Ann," Roger Cooper, master, landing a few
weeks later in New England. He settled in
Watertown in June and bought the sixteen
acre homestall of John Strickland at what is
now Belmont and East Common streets. This
homestead descended to his son Joshua Whit
ney of Groton, who sold it October 29, 1697,
to Nathan Fiske. Whitney was admitted a
freeman March 3, 1635-36, and was appointed
constable June 1, 1641 ; was selectman 1638 to
1655, inclusive, and town clerk in 1655. He
was one of the foremost citizens for many
years. He was grantee of eight lots in Water-
town. He died June I, 1673. He married
(first) in England, Elinor  , born 1599,
died in Watertown, May 11,1659; (second) in
Watertown, September 29, 1659, Judith Clem
ent, who died before her husband. His will
was dated April 3, 1673. Children: 1. Mary,
baptized in England, May 23, 1619; died
young. 2. John; see forward. 3. Richard,
baptized in Isleworth, January 6, 1623-24;
married Martha Coldam. 4. Nathaniel, bap
tized 1627. 5. Thomas, born in England,
1629; married Mary Kettell. 6. Jonathan,
born in England, 1634; married Lydia Jones.
7. Joshua, born in Watertown, July 5, 1635 ;
married thrice. 8. Caleb, born in Watertown,
July 12, 1640; died 1640. 9. Benjamin, born
in Watertown, June 6, 1643.
(II) John (2), son of John (1) Whit
ney, was born in England, and baptized at
Isleworth, September 14, 1621. He came
with his parents to New England and settled
in Watertown. He married, 1642, Ruth
Reynolds, daughter of Robert Reynolds, of
Wethersfield, Watertown and Boston. He
lived on a three-acre lot on the east side of
Lexington street, on land granted to E. How,
next the homestead of the Phillips family.
He was admitted a freeman, May 26, 1647,
at the age of twenty-three; was selectman
from 1673 to 1680, inclusive; was a soldier in

MASSACHUSETTS.

1673 m King Philip's war. He died October
12, 1692. Children: 1. John, born Septem
ber 12, 1643; married Elizabeth Harris. 2.
Ruth, born April 15, 1645; married June 20,
1664, John Shattuck. 3. Nathaniel, born Feb
ruary 1, 1646; married Sarah Hagar. 4.
Samuel, born July 26, 1648; married Mary
Bemis. 5. Mary, born April 29, 1650; died
unmarried, and after 1693. 6. Joseph, born
January 15, 1651; married Martha Beach. 7.
Sarah, born March 17, 1653; married Octo
ber 18, 168 1, Daniel Harrington; died June
8, 1720. 8. Elizabeth, born June 9, 1656;
married December 19, 1678, Daniel Warren.
9. Hannah. 10. Benjamin, mentioned below.
(Ill) Benjamin, son of John (2) Whit
ney, was born in Watertown, June 28, 1660.
He married March 30, 1687, Abigail, daugh
ter of William and Mary (Bemis) Hagar;
(second) Elizabeth  . He died in
1736. Children: 1. Abigail, born March 3,
1688; married March 18, 1717, Richard Saw-
tel. 2. Benjamin, baptized July 10, 1698;
married Rebecca  . 3. Ruth, baptized
July 10, 1698; married July 7, 1715, John
Bond. 4. John, born June 15, 1694; men
tioned below. 5. David, born June 16, 1697.
6. Daniel, born July 17, 1700; married Dor
othy Tainter.
(IV) John (3), son of Benjamin Whitney,
was born in Watertown, June 15, 1694, and
died in 1776. He resided in Watertown.
He married (first) Susan  ; (second)
October 6, 1737, Bethia Cutter, born July 9,
1714; (third) November 28, 1754, Mrs.
Beriah (Bemis) Child, widow of Joseph
Pierce, and formerly widow of Daniel Child,
and daughter of John Bemis. She was born
June 23, 1681, and died in Weston, in 1768.
Children of first wife: 1. Susanna, baptized
May 31, 1730; married John Dean. 2. John,
baptized March 17, 1731 ; married Mary Ben
jamin. 3. Jonathan, baptized April 30, 1732.
4. Amos, baptized November 10, 1734. 5.
Abraham, born December' 7, 1735; married
Elizabeth Whitney. Children of second wife:
6. Moses, baptized September 3, 1738. 7.
Ezekiel, mentioned below. 8. Stephen, born
April 23, 1743; married Relief Stearns. 9.
Aaron, baptized April 12, 1746. 10. Ruth,
baptized July 6, 1748; died April 5, 1751.
(V) Ezekiel, son of John (3) Whitney,
was baptized April 12, 1741, and died in
1 80 1. He resided in Watertown, and was
a cordwainer by trade. He served in the
revolution, in Captain Barnard's Watertown
company. He became one of the grantees of

land at Paris, Maine, in the right of his uncle,
Ensign David Whitney. He married (first)
December 6, 1763, Catherine Draper, of Rox
bury; (second) May 19, 1769, Catherine An
son. Child of first wife : 1. Ezekiel, born April
13, 1768, mentioned below. Children of sec
ond wife : 2. Francis, born September 23,
1771. 3. Amasa, born May 4, 1774. 4. Cath
erine, born March 4, 1777; married February
17, 1803, Francis S. Hooker, of Rutland. 5.
Aaron, born June 20, 1780.
(VI) Ezekiel (2), son of Ezekiel (1)
Whitney, was born April 13, 1768, and died
in December, 1830. He resided at Roxbury
and at Watertown, where he entered into the
manufacture of paper. He married (first)
Lydia  ; (second)  . Children: 1.
Frank, baptized June 2, 1793; he became an
ancestor of Minetta Josephine (Osgood)
Whitney. 2. Leonard, mentioned below. 3.
Abigail, baptized September 14, 1794. 4.
Otis, baptized August 12, 1798. 5. George
W., born August 26, 1812; married Elizabeth
Cook. 6. Cromwell. 7. Alvares. 8. Jeremiah.
9. James. 10. Nahum P. 11. Lydia, mar
ried  Hyde. 12. Walter H., born 1819;
married Lydia E. Doyle.
(VII) Leonard, son of Ezekiel (2) Whit
ney, was born in Watertown, March 3,
1793, and baptized June 2, 1793. He in
herited from his father the small paper mills
situated on the Charles river, at Watertown.
He was the first manufacturer of paper bags
in the United States and was the inventor of
machines for making paper bags. He was an
officer in the war of 1812 and a prominent
Mason. He married, August 30, 1817, Ruth
Richards Larrabee, born June 5, 1797, at
Charlestown, who founded St. John's Metho
dist Episcopal Church at Watertown, Massa
chusetts. Children: 1. Ruth Ann, born Sep
tember 5, 1822 ; married  Learned. 2.
Thomas Francis, born September 1, 1823. 3.
Abigail H., January 13, 1825; died young. 4.
Solomon Weeks, September 4, 1825. 5.
Hiram, February 1, 1828. 6. Abigail H., Oc
tober 29, 1829. 7. Leonard Jr., mentioned
below. (VIII) Leonard (2), son of Leonard (1)
Whitney, was born at Sudbury, June 15,
1819, and died at Watertown, July 5, 1881.
He removed when a young man to Watertown,
where he later purchased the old, historical
Whitney mansion, built in 1710, known as
"The Elms," which is still held in the family.
Like his father and grandfather he was a
manufacturer of paper, and founded the well-

LEONARD WTTITJSTEYT SR.

MASSACHUSETTS.

known Hollingsworth & Whitney Company.
He was a prominent director in many banks
and railroads, and was one of the original
directors of Boston University. He was a
prominent Mason. He married, April 2,
1843, Caroline Isabel Russell, born at Wes
ton, January 12, 1826, died May 30, 1889.
Children: 1. Emily, born May 4, 1848, died
August 12, 1849. 2. Charles Elmore, born
December 27, 1850, at Watertown; married
Alice G. Noah; children: i. Emily Frances,
born September 3, 1888; ii. Helen Cole, born
August 30, 1890. 3. Emily Frances, born at
Watertown, August 19, 1852, died January
26, 1885 ; married Andrew S. Brownell, and
had Arge W. Brownell. 4. Arthur Herbert,
born October 12, 1859; mentioned below. 5.
Frederick Adelbert, born December 22, 1861,
unmarried ; he was educated in Chauncey Hall
School, and afterwards at the University of
Berlin, Leipzig and Munich, Germany.
(IX) Arthur Herbert, son of Leonard
(2) Whitney, was born at Watertown, Octo
ber 12, 1859. He spent his youth in the
old family mansion, "The Elms," at Water-
town, where he now lives. He was educated
at Chauncey Hall School, Boston, at the
Swedenborgian School at Waltham, and at
Wilbraham Academy. For a time he was en
gaged in the furniture business with his
brother-in-law, Charles E. Osgood, but after
a few years he withdrew from business to
devote his time to the management of his
property interests. He is a Republican in
politics, and has served three years on the
board of selectmen of the town of Watertown,
being chairman of the board the third year.
He married October 12, 1880, Minetta Jose
phine Osgood, born December 13, 1861, daugh
ter of Freeman David and Hannah Faxon
(Perry) Osgood. Children, born at Water-
town: 1. Isabel Minetta, born July 22, 1882;
died May 17, 1906. 2. Harold Osgood, born
April 9, 1893.

(For ancestry see preceding sketch).
(II) Richard, son of John
WHITNEY Whitney, was born in Eng
land, and baptized at Isle
worth-on-Thames, January 6, 1623-24. He was
admitted a freeman May 7, 1651, and was a pro
prietor of Stow, June 3, 1680. He probably
removed there when it was a part of Concord.
He married, March 19, 1650, Martha Coldam.
On April 7, 1697, he was released from mili
tary training, being over seventy years old.
Children, born at Watertown: 1. Sarah,

March 17, 1652. 2. Moses, August 1, 1655;
see forward. 3. Johannah, January 16, 1656.
4. Deborah, October 12, 1658. 5. Rebecca,
December 15, 1659; died February, 1660. 6.
Richard, January 13, 1660. 7. Elisha, August
26, 1662. 8. Ebenezer, June 30, 1672 ; mar
ried Anna  .
(Ill) Moses, son of Richard Whitney, was
born in Concord, Massachusetts, August 1,
1655. He served as a soldier in King Philip's
war in 1676. He had land granted to him at
Stow in 1681 and June 4, 1708, he bought
thirty acres more in Stow. He owned land
in Sudbury which he sold in 1692. He resided
in Stow and Sudbury. He married, Septem
ber 30, 1686, Sarah Knight, of Stow, who
died March 23, 1755. Children: 1. Sarah,
born July 2, 1687. 2. Moses, 1690, men
tioned below. 3. Abraham, May 29, 1692,
married (first) Mary Stone; (second)
Elizabeth  . 4. John, married Rebecca
Whitney. 5. Ephraim, died May 4, 1723. 6.
Jonas, born February 1, 1699, married (first)
Dorcas Wood; (second) Margaret Stratton.
7. Jason, born 1704, married Arabella  .
8. Lemuel, born August 1, 1714, married
Sybil  .
(IV) Moses (2), son of Moses (1) Whit
ney, was born in 1690, and died in May, 1778.
He resided at Littleton and Lunenburg. His
will was dated July 12, 1774, proved June 3,
1778. He married (first) Elizabeth  ;
(second) November 20, 1766, Sarah Cary.
Children : i. Salmon, born January 8, 1712,
married Sarah  . 2. Aaron, March 14,
1714, mentioned below. 3. Sarah, September
29, 1716, married, June 11, 1734, Jonathan
Wood. 4. Barnabas, January 22, 1721, died
young. 5. Epriraim, March 1, 1723, married
Jane Bancroft. 6. Bazaleel, November 29,
1726. 7. Lydia, Lancaster, married Deacon
Samuel Taylor. 8. Mary, Lancaster, married
February 22, 1753, John White.
(V) Rev. Aaron, son of Moses (2) Whit
ney, was born March 14, 1714, in Littleton,
Massachusetts, died September 8, 1779. He
was ordained the first minister of the Peter
sham church in December, 1738. From the
first he was an uncompromising Tory, and
popular indignation rose to such a pitch that
in 1774 he was dismissed from his parish.
He refused, however, to accept his papers, and
by vote of the town, Peter Gore, a half-breed
Indian, was stationed at the meeting house
door with a musket to keep the Tory preacher
from entering. He afterwards preached at
his own house regularly to those who sympa-

MASSACHUSETTS.

thized with the royal cause, and claimed to be
the minister of the town up to the time of his
death in 1779. His will was dated July 15,
1779, and the estate was settled by agreement
of heirs, November 12,1779. He married (first)
July 12, 1739, Alice Baker, of Phillipston,
born 1718, died August 26, 1767. He mar
ried (second) November 6, 1768, Mrs. Ruth
(Hubbard) Stearns, born 1716, died Novem
ber 1, 1788, daughter of Jonathan Hubbard,
of Lunenburg, and widow of Rev. David
Stearns. Children: 1. Abel, born at Little
ton, July 7, 1740, died March 15, 1756, while
attending Harvard College, and was buried in
Cambridge, where his stone with a Latin in
scription still stands. 2. Charles, May 14,
1742. 3. Peter, September 6, 1744, men
tioned below. 4. Aaron, September 5, 1746,
married (first) Hannah Stearns; (second)
Hannah Willard. 5. Alice, September 23,
1748, married, August 19, 1773, Ensign Mann.
6. Lucy, April 9, 1751, married Rev. Dr.
Samuel Kendall. 7. Paul, March 23, 1753,
married Charlotte Clapp. 8. Abel, March 15,
1756, married Clarissa Dwight. 9. Richard,
February 23, 1757.
(VI) Rev. Peter, son of Rev. Aaron Whit
ney, was born in Petersham, September 6,
1744, died February 19, 1816. After attend
ing the schools of his native town, he entered
Harvard College and graduated in 1762. He
was settled as minister first in Fitchburg in
1764, preaching in the tavern of Thomas
Cowdin for a year. He was ordained minis
ter at Northborough, November 4, 1767, where
he remained until his death. He was the
author of an excellent history of Worcester
county (1793), and of sermons and papers
in the Memoirs of the American Academy.
He was a very methodical man, always walk
ing with his wife to meeting, followed by his
ten children, always in the exact order of
their age. A family in his parish invited Dr.
Puffer, of Berlin, to attend a funeral of one
of the family, whereupon Rev. Mr. Whitney,
minister of the town, wrote that unless the
matter was satisfactorily explained, all min
isterial intercourse must cease. Dr. Puffer
was able and willing to explain, and their
amicable relations continued. The correspond
ence in the case is a fine specimen of precise,
dignified and courteous composition. The
History of Northborough says of him: "Dis
tinguished for the urbanity of his manners,
easy and familiar in his intercourse with his
people ; hospitable to strangers, and always
ready to give a hearty welcome to his numer

ous friends; punctual to his engagements;
observing an exact method in the distribution
of his time; having a time for everything, and
doing everything in its time without hurry or •
confusion ; conscientious in the discharge of
his duties as a Christian minister; catholic in
his principles and in his conduct; always tak
ing an interest in whatever concerned the
prosperity of the town and the interests of
religion — he was for many years the happy
minister of a kind and affectionate people."
His will was proved September 28, 1813. He
married, March 11, 1768, Julia Lambert, born
April 9, 1742, daughter of William Lambert,
of Reading. Children: 1. Thomas L., born
December 10, 1768, married Mary Lincoln;
died June, 1812. 2. Peter, January 19, 1770,
married, Jane Lambert Lincoln. 3. Julia,
August 25, 1772, married, 1799, Captain Anti-
pas Brigham; died November 29, 1800. 4.
Margaret, February 12, 1774, died February
3, 1849; married Dr. Josiah Adams. 5. Eliza
beth, September 6, 1775, died September 26,
1856; married Ebenezer Adams. 6. William,
December 14, 1776, married Zilpah Eager. 7.
Aaron, August 17, 1778, went west. 8. Julia,
died young. 9. Abel, November 3, 1781, men
tioned below. 10. Sally (twin), November 3,
1781, married, January 6, 1806, Lemuel
Brackett; died May 3, 1864.
(VII) Deacon Abel, son of Rev. Peter
Whitney, was born at Northborough; Novem
ber 3, 1781, died at Cambridge, February 22,
1853. He was educated in the district school,
and learned his trade in Boston of Stephen
Bass, cabinetmaker. After his marriage he
went to live on the estate inherited by his
wife at Porter square on North avenue (now
Massachusetts avenue) adjoining Arlington
street and the Fitchburg railroad. He fol
lowed his trade in Cambridge, having his shop
at what is now the corner of Massachusetts
avenue and Mount Vernon street. He made
cases for Aaron Willard, the celebrated clock-
maker, and furniture for many of the best
families of the vicinity. In later years his
three sons, William L., Augustus A. and Ben
jamin W. Whitney, learned their trade in his
shop and were associated with him in the busi
ness. He retired from active labor a few
years before his death. He was a Whig in
politics and was selectman of the town of
Cambridge in 1838-39 and chairman of the
board. He held other offices of trust and
honor. In the First Unitarian Church at
Harvard Square, of which he was a faithful
member for many years, he was deacon for a

MASSACHUSETTS.

period of eighteen years, during the pastor
ate of Rev. Mr. Holmes, father of Dr. Oliver
Wendell Holmes. He was highly respected
and honored by his townsmen. He was of
kindly nature, sympathetic and helpful in his
relations to others, and charitable in speech
and gifts to the unfortunate. He married,
December 21, 1809, at Brookline, Susannah
White, died December 14, 1867, daughter of
Benjamin and Thankful (White) White.
Children: 1. William Lambert, born March
11, 181 1, mentioned below. 2. Augustus A.,
December 4, 1812, deacon of the First Church,
Cambridge, from 1853 until his death, July
29, 1891 ; had no children. 3. Benjamin W.,
August 9, 1815, died December 19, 1879;
graduate of Harvard College in 1838 and a
lawyer. 4. Susan E., February 20, 1817,
married, January 31, 1856, James Brackett;
had no children. 5 Abigail W., April 10,
1827, lived at Cambridge, married Moses G.
Howe. (VIII) William Lambert, son of Deacon
Abel Whitney, was born at Cambridge, March
11, 181 1, died there May 29, 1900. He was
educated in the public schools of Cambridge
and at Bradford Academy, Massachusetts.
He learned the trade of cabinetmaker in his
father's shop. In 1833 he entered into part
nership with James Brackett, his brother-in-
law, and under the firm name of Whitney &
Brackett, engaged in the furniture business.
Afterward his brother, Augustus A. Whitney,
was admitted to the firm, the name of which
then became Whitney, Brackett & Company.
In 1850 Mr. Whitney sold his interests to Mr.
Brackett and the name of Whitney & Brackett
was resumed. This firm sold the business
finally to Worcester Brothers, who are still in
active business in Cambridge. In 1850 Mr.
Whitney established his insurance business,
opening an office in the building in which the
furniture store was located. His brother
Benjamin W. had a law office in the same
building. In 1857 he became treasurer of the
Cambridge Savings Bank, which occupied his
office originally. He filled this responsible
office faithfully and creditably until 1866,
when he resigned and retired from active
business. He was one of the prime movers
in the building of the Harvard branch rail
road in 1849 and a director of the company.
The road did not pay and in 1855 was aban
doned and the land sold. His residence was
at 31 Hawthorne street, near Brattle square,
Cambridge. He was a member of the First
Church of Cambridge (Unitarian), and was

a director of the American Unitarian Associa
tion for ten years, resigning in October, 1888,
on account of impaired hearing. He was
originally a Whig in politics, but voted the
first Republican ticket, and was a leading and
influential Republican for many years. He
was a member of the first common council of
the city of Cambridge, and in 1846-47 he was
elected to the board of aldermen for 1848-71-
72-74-75, and took a lively interest in muni
cipal affairs. He was chairman and clerk of
the board of assessors in 1850-51-52. When a
young man he belonged to the Cambridge City
Guards, and in 1837 was a member of the
Friends Fire Society. "He was an intense
lover of his country and a diligent student of
its early history and he cherished the recol
lection of the early struggles of its founders
in their endeavors to make secure the blessings
of civil and religious freedom. In his inter
course with friends and neighbors he bore him
self with a dignity of manner gentle and win
ning and he upheld a stately courtesy towards
all with whom he came in contact, thus ever
unconsciously vindicating his title to the grand
old name of gentleman. Though in the latter
portion of his life his physical activity had
greatly lessened, he nevertheless maintained
his interest in general affairs and his devotion
to a high ideal of right was undiminished."
He married (first) October 18, 1836, Lucy
Ann Jones, born June 9, 1812, died August 10,
1838. He married (second) at Quincy, Mas
sachusetts, July 28, 1840, Rebecca Richardson
Brackett, born March 26, 1809, died December
8, 1881, daughter of Lemuel and Sally (Whit
ney) Brackett. Her father was president of
the Quincy Granite Bank. Children, born at
Cambridge: 1. Lucy Ann, August 14,1841.
2. William Lambert, February 1, 1844, men
tioned below. 3. Julia Ann, August 1, 1847,
married, October 4, 1876, Rev. James Edward
Wright, born July 9, 1839; children: i,
Chester Wright, born May 27, 1879, graduate
of Harvard College in 1901, teacher in the
University of Chicago; ii. Rebecca Whitney
Wright, July 11, 1880, graduate of Radcliffe
College in 1903; iii. Sibyl Wright, August 12,
1883. (IX) William Lambert (2), son of William
Lambert ( 1 ) Whitney, was born at Cambridge,
February 1, 1844. He attended the public
schools of his native town and fitted for col
lege at the private school of E. S. Dixwell,
Boston. He was clerk in the Cambridge Sav
ings Bank, of which his father was treasurer,
until he enlisted in August, 1862, in the civil

MASSACHUSETTS.

war for nine months in Company E, Forty-
fourth Massachusetts Regiment, Captain
Spencer W. Richardson, Colonel Francis Lee.
The regiment left Camp Meigs at Readville,
October 15, was reviewed by Governor An
drew in Boston, and sailed on the transport
"Merrimac" to Morehead City, North Caro
lina, near Beaufort, landing October 26, pro
ceeding thence to Newbern, North Carolina,
on platform cars in a terrific rainstorm. They
went into camp with part of the brigade under
Colonel Thomas G. Stevenson of the Eigh
teenth Army Corps. Under General Foster
they sailed on the transport down the Neuse
river to Pamlico Sound and thence up the Tar
river to Washington, North Carolina, whence
they marched on November 2 to the north
ward twenty miles and engaged the Rebels at
Rawle's Mills, near Williamston. The follow
ing day they marched by way of Hamilton
towards Tarboro. On the fifth they retraced
their steps towards Hamilton, marched to
Plymouth and took transports back to New
bern, where they remained until December 11.
Four brigades including his regiment left
Newbern at that time and fought in an en
gagement, December 14, at Kinston, two days
later at Whitehall and one day later at Golds-
boro, returning to camp at Newbern, Decem
ber 20. The regiment marched to Plymouth,
February 1, 1863, and was engaged in for
aging in that section until March 10, 1863.
Five days later, the regiment reinforced the
garrison at Washington, North Carolina, on
the Tar and Pamlico rivers and on the thir
tieth were besieged by the Confederates.
Numerous engagements were fought between
April 1 and 15 and the enemy finally had to
retire. The regiment did service as provost
guard at Newbern from April 23 to June 6,
then went by rail to Morehead City, embarking
on the steamers "Guide" and "George Pea
body" for Boston, reaching port June 10, 1863,
after a rough passage and was mustered out
at Readville, June 19. Mr. Whitney spent the
next thirteen months as clerk in the dry goods
store of Houghton, Sawyer & Company, 28
Pearl street, Boston. He was then commis
sioned second lieutenant by Governor An
drew and assigned to Company G, Fifty-
fourth Massachusetts Regiment, December 3,
1864, then at Devaux Neck,' South Carolina,
under Colonel Edward N. Hallowell. He took
part in engagements about Pocotaligo and later
occupied Charleston and Savannah. In April,
1865, he took part in Potter's raid and was
acting adjutant at that time. He took

part in the engagement at Eppes' Bridge,
April 7, at Dingle Mill, April 9, at Boykins
Mills, April 18, at Big Rafting Creek, April
19, and at Statesburg, April 19. He was
ordered to Fort Johnson in command of Com
pany K to dismount guns on James Island
and was thus employed until August. The
regiment was stationed at Mount Pleasant
where it was mustered out August 20, 1865.
He then ranked as first lieutenant. This regi
ment was the historic command of Colonel
Robert Gould Shaw, of Boston, who was
killed at Fort Wagner at the head of his
regiment. The memorial to Shaw and the
negro regiment he raised — the Fifty-fourth —
stands on Boston Common opposite the state
house. Lieutenant Whitney returned to Bos
ton on board the steamer "C. F. Thomas" with
the regiment and remained on Gallop's Island
until September 2, 1865. He has in his pos
session carefully preserved and framed a piece
of the old regimental flag. The history of
this regiment entitled "A Brave Black Regi
ment" was written by one of the captains.
Mr. Whitney entered partnership, after the
war, with Charles E. Tucker and Thomas L.
Appleton, under the firm name of Tucker,
Appleton & Whitney, in the retail hardware
business at the corner of Union and Friend
streets, Boston, but two years later he sold his
interests to his partners and removed to Coun
cil Bluffs, Iowa, to engage in the china, glass
ware and house furnishing trade. He entered
partnership in February, 1868, with Elijah
C. Lawrence under the firm name of Lawrence
& Whitney in a store at 409 Broadway, Coun
cil Bluffs, Iowa. Mr. Lawrence retired from
the firm in August, 1871, and Mr. Whitney
continued until 1881, when owing to the ill
health of his mother he disposed of his busi
ness and returned to Cambridge. In Septem
ber, 1 88 1, he purchased the Jewett homestead
at 74 Waban Park, Newton, where he has
since resided. After five years of retirement,
Mr. Whitney entered the employ of the Bos
ton Safe Deposit & Trust Company, Milk
street, in a clerical capacity. He was con
nected with this institution for twenty-one
years, filling various positions of trust and
responsibility. He had charge of the trust
department for a number of years, and in 1900
became assistant treasurer. He resigned in
1907 and since then has been living a quiet
and retired life at his home in Waban Park.
He is a Republican in politics and a Unitarian
in religion. He joined the Massachusetts
Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal

MASSACHUSETTS.

Legion, May i, 1889, and was a member of
John A. Andrew Post, No. 15, Grand Army
of the Republic. He married, at Montpelier,
Vermont, November 12, 1872, Alpa Matilda
Nutt, born at Montpelier, July 27, 1848,
daughter of Henry and Asenath (Wheeler)
Nutt. (See Nutt). Children: Lambert
Nutt, born November 15, 1873, graduate of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
electrical engineer formerly with the American
Telephone & Telegraph Company, now divi
sion superintendent of the Central Union Tele
graph Company at Indianapolis, Indiana. 2.
George Brackett, May 12, 1875, mechanical
engineer in the employ of the General Electric
Company at Lynn, Massachusetts; married,
March 21, 1902, Ethelyn M. Morris, of Ra
cine, Wisconsin. 3. William Richardson, May
1, 1877, died February 16, 1878. 4. Philip
Richardson, December 31, 1878, married, April
17, 1906, Helen Reed Jones, of Brookline;
children: Reed, born April 11, 1907; Alpa,
January 10, 1909. (The Nutt Line)
William Nutt, immigrant ancestor, was born
in or near Londonderry, Ireland. He came to
this country when a young man with the first
body of Scotch-Irish who settled at Nutfield,
later Londonderry, New Hampshire. His
family seems to have been in Ireland among
the Scotch Presbyterians but a short time.
The name is English, of Danish origin, dating
back 'to the days of King Canute or Knut
(meaning knot in English), as the name was
spelled originally. The name of this branch
of the family has been spelled Nutt since about
1500 and the principal home of the family
was Kent, England. William Nutt was mayor
of Canterbury in 1533 and it is likely that the
family in Ireland belongs to the Kent family,
for in the present generation a branch of the
family lived across the Irish Sea in Barn
staple, Devonshire, and the writer has knowl
edge of the English origin of one other Pro
testant family of this name in Ireland.
William Nutt was a fuller by trade, and was
in the employ of Captain David Cargill, who
established the first fulling mill in London
derry. Nutt's homestead lot was drawn Sep
tember 26, 1720, sixty acres, east of Exeliel
Pond. He married, at Bradford, Massa
chusetts,, where his former pastor, Rev.
Thomas Symmes, was located, Jean Colbath
(Colbreath or Galbraith), May 29, 1723, the
marriage being recorded at Londonderry. She
was sister of the progenitor of Vice-President

Henry Wilson, whose name was originally
John Jeremiah Colbath. William Nutt worked
for Cargill until the latter's death, when he
bought the mill, August 15, 1733. In 1739
he sold out his mill and farm in Londonderry
and became one of the first settlers of the ad
joining town of Chester. About 1740 he and
his son, John Nutt, built their saw mill at
Chester. William Nutt died intestate Octo
ber 26, 1 75 1. His widow Jean was adminis
tratrix. She died at St. Georges, Eastward
(near Thomaston, Maine), in 1771. She
probably lived there with her son, Colonel
David Nutt. Her son William, of Derryfield,
New Hampshire, was administrator. Children :
1. John, born 1724, died 1757; soldier in the
French war. 2. Samuel, mentioned below.
3. Colonel David, 1728; in French war and
revolution. 4. William, 1730. 5. Robert. 6.
Nathaniel. 7. Benjamin. 8. Jean. 9. Mary,
died young. 10. James, died young.
(II) Samuel, son of William Nutt, was
born in Londonderry, New Hampshire. He
was a carpenter by trade, and worked with
his father in the saw mill at Chester. He
bought the interests of the other heirs after
his father's death. He bought a farm in
Weare, New Hampshire, July 6, 1763, lived
there a few years, and was a town officer in
1765. He moved a few miles to what is now
Francestown, adjoining New Boston, in 1767,
and was the seventh settler of Francestown,
one of its incorporators, and its first town
clerk. He was constable, tythingman, and on
various town committees. He served in 1774
on the committee of safety, and was for a
short time in the revolution. In 1780 he was'
called ensign on the records. He was on the
committee for Francestown to consider the
state constitution in 1788. His house on the
old road from Francestown to New Boston
now constitutes the ell part of a brick farm
house. His farm is known as the Pettee place
and is marked by magnificent elms which he
is said to have planted. Samuel Nutt sold his
farm in 1797 and removed to Topsham, Ver
mont, where his sons and sons-in-law also
located. He married (first)  Gordon,
who died without issue. He married (second)
in 1759, Elizabeth Dickey, daughter of Adam
and Elizabeth (MacPherson) Dickey, all of
Londonderry, and all Scotch pioneers there.
His wife died September 13, 1801, aged sixty-
one years, and is buried at Newport, New
Hampshire. He died July 5, 1808, aged sev
enty-nine, probably at Topsham. Children:
1. William, born March 14, 1760, married

10

MASSACHUSETTS.

Mary Brewster. 2. Elizabeth, September 3,
1761, married Alexander Thompson; died
May 27, 1818. 3. Eleanor, July 3, 1763,
died September 23, 1843. 4. James, March
29, 1764, died 1765. 5. Samuel, June 4, 1766,
died 1782. 6. John, February 29, 1768, men
tioned below. 7. Joseph, November 13, 1769,
died 1813. 8. Benjamin, July 10, 1771, died
1792. 9. Adam, December 13, 1772. 10.
Jenny, September 23, 1774, died 1792. 11.
Ann Wilson, February 14, 1776, died 1862;
married John Brewster. 12. Jean, September
3, 1777, died 1793. 13. David, July 6, 1779,
died August 10, 1845. 14. Margaret, April
24, 1781, died August 9, 1864; married Joseph
Towner. 15. Infant, June 16, 1783, died same
day. 16. Samuel, December 16, 1784, black
smith by trade; became minister of Christian
church and a famous evangelist ; died 1872.
17. James Dickey, September 14, 1788, died
1833, settled in New York.
(Ill) John, son of Samuel Nutt, was born
February 29, 1768. He settled in West Top
sham, Vermont, in 1801, where some of his
descendants are still living. He was one of
the first settlers of that place. He married
(first) Sarah Bagley, and (second) Elizabeth
Rogers, who died August 10, 1847. Children:
1. Samuel, born December 23, 1791. 2. Anna
Willson, February 15, 1793, died 1793. 3.
John, July 23, 1794, died at St. Helena, 1816,
4. Sally, September 16, 1795, died same day.
5. David Burnett, March 24, 1797. 6. Ira,
May 29, 1798. 7. Mehitable, September 2,
1799. 8. Elizabeth, -January 19, 1801. 9.
Hiram, May 19, 1802. 10. Levi, January 12,
1804. 11. Thomas Rogers, June 20, 1805.
12. Henry, May 26, 1807, mentioned below.
13. Ora, October 29, 1808. 14. Esther, Oc
tober 18, 1810, died January 13, 1833. 15.
Sarah, June 20, 1812, married, January 14,
1836, Stephen Ives. 16. Daniel, September
13, 1814. 17. Nancy, June 13, 1816, married
 Elliott. 18. Mary, October 11, 1818,
died October 20, 1828.
(IV) Henry, son of John Nutt, was born
May 26, 1807, died at Montpelier, Vermont,
November 30, 1890. He was a most respected
citizen and a pillar of the Methodist church.
He married, May 28, 1828, Asenath Wheeler,
born at Montpelier, July 4, 1807, died there
May 18, 1882. Children: 1. Edwin Delorme,
born April 4, 1829, died July 1, 1834. 2.
Sophia Wheeler, June 24, 1831, died July 5,
1832. 3. Henry Clay, June 28, 1833, died
August 15, 1892. 4. Wheeler, August 11,
1834, died November 18, 1834. 5. Fannie

Wheeler, March 2, 1836, died November 8,
1864. 6. Hulda French, May 29, 1837, died
August 18, 1868. 7. Asenath Maria, June 30,
1839, died August 31, 1864. 8. John, Decem
ber 28, 1840, died October 28, 1841. 9. Jo
seph (twin), December 28, 1840, died January
1, 1841. 10. Mary Lucinda, November 11,
1842. 11. David Wing, August 30, 1845, died
September 6, 1845. 12. Alpa Matilda, July
27, 1848, married W. L. Whitney. (See
Whitney). 13. Edwin Alonzo, March 17, 185 1.
(For first generation see John Whitney i).
(II) Thomas, son of John
WHITNEY and Elinor Whitney, was
born in England, 1629, came
to New England with his father in 1635, was
made freeman in Watertown in 1690, died
September 20, 1719 He lived in Watertown
and Stow. He married, January 11, 1654-55,
Mary, daughter of Thomas Kettell, who had
six pieces of common land granted to him in
1642. Children: 1. Thomas, born August
24, 1656; married Elizabeth Lawrence. 2.
John, born May 9, 1659, died May 16, 1659.
3. John, born August 22, 1660, died August
26, 1660. 4. Eleazer, born September 2,1662.
5. Elnathan, twin with Eleazer, died March
8, 1727. 6. Mary, born December 22, 1663,
died young. 7. Bezaleel, born September 16,
1665. 8. Sarah, born March 23, 1667, mar
ried Charles Chadwick. 9. Mary, born
August 6, 1668, died September 6, 1669. 10.
Isaiah, born September 16, 1671, married
Sarah (Woodward) Eddy. 11. Martha, born
January 30, 1673.
(Ill) Eleazer, son of Thomas and Mary
(Kettell) Whitney, was born in Watertown,
September 2, 1662. He was a wheelwright by
trade, and probably spent the greater part of
his life in Sudbury, where he was living in
1693. He married, April 11, 1687, Dorothy,
daughter of James Ross, of Sudbury. She
died June 22, 1731. Children, all baptized in
Second Church in Watertown : 1. Sarah, born
in Sudbury, May 29, 1688, married — : 
Ball. 2. Eleazer, born March 5, 1690,
died young. 3. James, born February 12,
1697, died November 20, 1697. 4. Mary, born
November 20, 1697, baptized January 28, 1699 ;
married Abraham Chamberlain, of Roxbury.
5. Thomas, baptized January 28, 1699. 6.
James, baptized January 28, 1699, died young.
7. Dorothy, born April 24, 1700. 8. Eleazer,
born April 15, 1702. 9. Elnathan, born May
5, 1705. 10. James, baptized June I, 1708.
11. Jonas, born 1709.

MASSACHUSETTS.

ii

(IV) Jonas, youngest son and child of
Eleazer and Dorothy (Ross) Whitney, was
born in 1709, baptized July 14, 1723, and lived
in Roxbury. Little else is known of him
except that he married, in Roxbury, May 8,
1735, Sarah Perry. Children, all born in Rox
bury: 1. Isaac, April 11, 1736, died January
4, 1777. 2. Jacob, July 24, 1737, see forward.
3. Jonas, November 28, 1739. 4. Sarah, Feb
ruary 26, 1741, died September 28, 1824; mar
ried, 1775, Nehemiah Ward. 5. Abner, No
vember 17, 1744. 6. Desire, October 31, 1749,
died June 23, 1778; married, 1769, Edward
Ward. (V) Sergeant Jacob, son of Jonas and Sarah
(Perry) Whitney, was born in Roxbury, July
24, 1737, and died in West Roxbury, January
14, 1803. He was with the British troops at
the capture of Louisburg, Canada. He was a
soldier of the revolution, serving as orderly
sergeant in Captain Corey's company of Rox
bury men. He married, November 15, 1759,
Rachel Whiting. Children, all born in Spring
street, West Roxbury: 1. Prudence, July 25,
1760; married Lewis Jones. 2. Reuben, No
vember 6, 1762; served three years during the
revolutionary war in First Massachusetts artil
lery company, with General Knox. 3. Lemuel,
April 29, 1765. 4. Jabez, November 30, 1767.
5. Hannah, April 8, 1772, died July 14, 1789.
6. Moses, January 20, 1775.
(VI) General Moses, youngest son and
child of Sergeant Jacob and Rachel (Whiting)
Whitney, was born in West Roxbury, January
20, 1775, and died in Milton, Massachusetts,
December 24, 1859. In 1787 he went to Blue
Hill, Milton, and there served an apprentice
ship with Joseph Billings to the trade of tanner,
currier and leather dresser. For a time after
ward he worked at the bench, but in 1796
established himself in business in Milton, re
moving thence to Dorchester in 1797, but re
turning to Milton in 1805. In the following
year he purchased what was called the "Rising
Sun" estate, and in 1809 'acquired the Nancy
Paine estate, thus becoming owner of a large
property in lands extending from the old
Plymouth road to Neponset river. He extended
the wharf, and in 1810 built a large tan house.
General Whitney was one of the foremost men
of Milton in his time and carried on extensive
operations, having engaged in the leather busi
ness for a period of sixty-three years, exclu
sive of the time served as an apprentice. In
1819 he built the Whitney mansion on Milton
Hill, and about the same time bought Swift's
wharf, which he enlarged, and for the follow

ing twenty years dealt extensively in lumber
and wool in addition to his leather business.
He was appointed postmaster of Milton, De
cember 19, 1805, succeeding Dr. Samuel R.
Glover, and served until 1816. He was com
missioned captain of militia in 1816, colonel
in 1 82 1, and afterward was made brigadier-
general of the first brigade, first division,
Massachusetts militia. General Whitney mar
ried (first) April 14, 1797, Rebecca Dunbar,
of Cohasset, Massachusetts, who died Febru
ary 4, 1824; (second) at Andover, Massachu
setts, Mary P., widow of Dr. Thomas Kittredge,
of Gloucester. She survived him and died in
Milton in 1865. Children, all born of his first
marriage: 1. Hannah, November 19, 1797,
died 1832; married  Holbrook, of Bill-
ingham, Massachusetts. 2. Moses, October 7,
1802, married Elizabeth G. Sanderson. 3.
Mary, April 17, 1805 ; married George Bat-
son Jones, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; died
in 1890. 4. Seth Dunbar, September 13, 1807.
5. Warren Jacob, 181 1, died 1891.
(VII) Seth Dunbar, son of General Moses
and Rebecca (Dunbar) Whitney, was born in
Milton, Massachusetts, September 13, 1807,
and died there October 4, 1890. He received
his early education in the public schools of
his native town and the academy at Bridge-
water, and after leaving school at once began
his business career in association with his
father, as wool dealer and manufacturer of
morocco leather. In 1839, with a partner, he
purchased the long lease of a wharf adjoining
the Whitney property, and for several years
carried on the lumber business which had
previously been established by his father. In
1843 he again became interested in the wool
business with his father, continued it about
ten years, and then became senior partner
of the Boston firm of Whitney, Kendall &
Company, wholesale dealers in hides and
leather. However, upon the death of his father
in 1859, Mr. Whitney retired from active busi
ness connections of all kinds. His comfort
able residence on Milton Hill was erected soon
after his marriage, on lands formerly of the
Russell estate and on the corner opposite to
that on which in 18 19 his father built the Whit
ney house, and there he continued to live until
1861, when he purchased the old Vose mansion
house at Elm Corner, Milton Centre, moved
it to a new site on lands across the street which
he inherited from his father, and there made
his home so long as he lived, although he left
it in intervals of travel and temporary resi
dence elsewhere. Besides Whitney homestead

12

MASSACHUSETTS.

on the old estate, Mrs. Whitney built a resi
dence for her own occupancy, but nearly all of
her literary work was done at the "Elm
Corner." Mr. Whitney was a very capable and active
business man, of strong character, conserva
tive habits, quiet in his social life, and de
votedly loyal in his domestic attachments. Dur
ing the earlier part of his business career he
took an earnest part in public affairs, and was
strongly allied to the principles of the old Whig
party, although he did not at any time become
ambitious of public office. About the time of
the disintegration of the Whig party and the
organization of the Republican party which
grew out of it, he had become partially deaf,
and this affliction was the chief cause of his
withdrawal from all outside affairs. In speak
ing of this period and the later years of his
own life and that of his wife, Mrs. Whitney
said: "We were both for a long time occu
pied with our family — our children's marriages
and our frequent adaptation of our plans to
theirs, in the temporary absence I have men
tioned, and the last years were spent in a very
unbroken quiet at the home in Milton."
At Dorchester, Massachusetts, November 7,
1843, Mr. Whitney married Adeline Dutton
Train, born in Boston, September 15, 1824,
daughter of Enoch Train, founder of a line
of packet ships between Boston and Liverpool,
cousin of George Francis Train, author, trav
eller and political economist, a brilliant man,
of splendid mind and worldwide celebrity.
Enoch Train, born about 1800, was son of
Enoch Train, born February 10, 1763, married
(published) May 5, 1791, Hannah Ewing,
whose father was a Scotchman and chaplain in
the British army. Enoch Train was son of
Samuel Train, of Weston, Massachusetts, born
December 22, 171 1, died 1806; married (first)
April, 1738, Mary Holding, of Concord; (sec
ond) December 31, 1741, Rachel Allen.
Samuel Train was son of John Train, of
Watertown, born October 31, 1662; married,
May 5, 1705, Lydia Jennison. John Train was
son of John Train, of Watertown, born May
25, 1651, died February 19, 1717-18; married,
March 24, 1674-75, Mary Stubbs. John Train,
last mentioned, was son of John Traine, or
Trayne, who came over in the "Susan and
Ellen" in 1635, being then twenty-five years
old. In the same ship came Margaret Dix,
whom he married, probably after their arrival
in New England. She died December 18,
1660, aged forty-four years, and he married
(second) October 12, 1675, Abigail Bent, who

died August 17, 1691. John Traine took the
oath of fidelity in 1662, and died January 29,
1680-81, leaving an estate of the value of two
hundred and sixty-eight pounds. He was an
early settler at Watertown farms, now Weston,
Massachusetts. Mrs. Adeline Dutton (Train) Whitney was
a woman of rare culture and literary genius.
She was educated chiefly in Boston, and was
nineteen years old at the time of her marriage
with Seth Dunbar Whitney. Her writings
always have been of the most useful character,
designed especially to instruct young persons
and at the same time to afford such interest to
persons of maturer years. Her famous "Alpha
bet Blocks" are patented, and readily found
their way into general use. Besides her many
contributions to current literature in our
domestic magazines, she is author of the poem,
"Footsteps on the Seas," Boston, 1857;
"Mother Goose for Grown Folks," New York,
i860, second editions, Boston, 1870 and 1882;
"Boys at Chequassett," Boston, 1862; "Faith
Cartney's Girlhood," Boston, 1863 ; "The Gay-
worthys," 1865 ; "A Summer in Leslie Gold-
thwaite's Life," 1866; "Patience Strong's Out
ings," 1868; "Hitherto," 1869; "We Girls,"
1870; "Real Folks," 1871 ; "Pansies" (poem),
1872; "The Other Girls," 1873; "Sights and
Insights," 1876; "Just How. A Keynote to
the Cook Books," 1878; "Odd or Even," 1880;
"Bonnyborough," 1885 ; "Homespun Yarns,"
"Holy Tides," 1886 ; "Daffodils," Bird Talk,"
1887. The last three are volumes of verse.
"Ascutney Street," 1890; "Golden Gossip,"
1892 ; "Friendly Letters to Girl Friends," 1896 ;
"The Open Mystery," 1897; "Biddy's Epi
sodes," 1904.
Children of Seth Dunbar and Adeline Dut
ton (Train) Whitney: 1. Mary Adeline, born
September 27, 1844, died at St. Paul, Minne
sota, December 16, 1867; married, February
17, 1867, Colonel Charles Russell Suter, United
States Engineers, and had Charles Russell Jr.,
died December, 1867. 2. Theodore Train, born
April 26, 1846. 3. Maria Caroline, born Au
gust 25, 1848, died in infancy. 4. Caroline
Leslie, born November 10, 1853, married,
October 13, 1875, James A. Field, of Beloit,
Wisconsin, born August 8, 1847, died January
17. 1884. Mr. Field was born in Beloit, and
was educated first at an academy in New
Jersey, later in the Boston (Massachusetts)
Institute of Technology, and still later at the
University of Munich, Bavaria, Germany. He
was a mechanical engineer, and after marriage
went with his wife to Beloit, where he had

MASSACHUSETTS.

13

interests in iron works. Subsequently they
made their home in New Jersey. Their chil
dren : William Lusk Webster, born July 17,
1876; James Alfred, May 26, 1880; Douglas
Grahame, October 1, 1882.
(VIII) Theodore Train, only son of Seth
Dunbar and Adeline Dutton (Train) Whitney,
was born in Milton, Massachusetts, April 26,
1846. He married (first) in Framingham,
Massachusetts, October 6, 1880, Annie Caro
line Mann ; children: 1. Theodore Train, born
in Carondelet, Missouri, July 22, 1881. 2.
Seth Dunbar, born Lakewood, New Jersey,
March 17, 1883, died March 30, 1885. 3.
Mary Adeline, born April 13, 1885. 4. Annie
Leslie, born July 9, 1887. 5. Elinor, born
December 27, 1889. The mother of these chil
dren died January 30, 1893. Mr. Whitney
married (second) April 17, 1895, Minnie S.
Kerr, of St. Joseph, Missouri, born January 4,
1868, daughter of Andrew L. and Mary W.
(Inslee) Kerr.

(For ancestry see preceding Whitney sketches).
(Ill) Nathaniel, son of John
WHITNEY (2) Whitney, was born Feb
ruary 1, 1646, died in Weston,
January 7, 1732. He owned a farm in Weston
and built the first Whitney house, which stood
for many generations. He married, March 12,
1673, Sarah Hagar, born September 3, 1651,
died May 7, 1746. Children: 1. Nathaniel,
born March 5, 1675, married Mercy Robinson.
2. Sarah, February 12, 1678, married, January
5, 1709, Jonathan Ball. 3. William, May 6,
1683, mentioned below. 4. Samuel, baptized
July 17, 1687, married Ann Laboree. 5. Han
nah, baptized March, 1688, married 
Billings. 6. Elizabeth, born December 15, 1692.
7. Grace, born 1700, died March 23, 1719. 8.
Mercy, married  Greaves.
(IV) William, son of Nathaniel Whitney,
was born in Weston, May 6, 1683, died Janu
ary 24, 1720. He lived at Weston and mar
ried, May 17, 1706, Martha Pierce, born De
cember 24, 168 1. Children: 1. William, born
January 11, 1707, married (first) Hannah
Harrington; (second) Mrs. Mary Pierce;
(third) Margaret Spring; (fourth) Mrs.
Sarah Davis. 2. Judith, November 15, 1712.
3. Amity, October 6, 1714. 4. Martha, April
4, 1716, married, February 26, 1734, Timothy
Mossman. 5. Samuel, May 23, 1719, men
tioned below.
(V) Lieutenant Samuel, son of William
Whitney, was born in Weston, May 23, 1719,
died January 1, 1782. He was a leading man

in the settlement of Westminster, whither he
went soon after his marriage, probably in 1742.
His farm there was in 1859 owned by Mr.
Hartwell, and the old cellar was at last accounts
still visible. His lot was No. 51, near the
north common. He was frequently selectman,
and served a£ surveyor of highways arid
assessor, and on the standing committee of
the town. He was on the committee to build
the schoolhouse and to lay out the highways
of the town. In 1759 he was one of the largest
owners of real estate and one of the twelve
large taxpayers. He served in the revolution
in Captain Noah Miles' company of minute-
men, Colonel John Whitcomb's regiment, and
marched on the alarm at Lexington, April 19,
1775. He held a commission as lieutenant in
the militia. He gave to each of his sons land
for a farm, either before or at his death. He
married, October 20, 1741, Abigail Fletcher.
Children: 1. Abigail, born August 27, 1742.
2. Mary, May 29, 1744, married (first) Elijah
Gibson; (second) Edward Scott. 3. Samuel,
February 11, 1746, married Thankful Wilder.
4. Abner, May 18, 1748, married (first) Eliz
abeth Glazier; (second) Levina (Glazier)
Ward. 5. Achsah, September 30, 1750, died
May 14, 1772. 6. Silas, October 20, 1752, mar
ried Sarah Withington. 7. Martha, November
26, 1755, died young. 8. Elisha, July 2, 1757,
married Eunice Seaver. 9. Alpheus, February
25> !759» married Esther Hartwell. 10.
Phinehas, January 16, 1761, married Elizabeth
Rand. 11. Hananiah, December 18, 1762, men
tioned below. 12. Martha, September 18,
1764, married (first) Benjamin Seaver; (sec
ond) Isaac Seaver. 13. Susannah, February
9, 1767, died young.
(VI) Hananiah, son of Lieutenant Samuel
Whitney, was born at Westminster, December
18, 1762, died in 1835. He lived first at West
minster and removed to Winchendon, where
he served as tythingman. His farm was in
that part of Winchendon known as Royalston
Leg, on the road to Rindge. He was select
man of Winchendon in 1803-04-05, and
assessor in 1804-06. He was in the revolution
in Captain Timothy Boutelle's company, Col
onel John Rand's regiment, in 1780, to rein
force the Continental army at the north. In
1814 he was ensign of his company in the fifth
regiment, second brigade. He married, at
Ashburnham, October 10, 1787, AzubahKeyes,
born June 5, 1767, in Westminster, died in
Winchendon, daughter of Eli and Hannah
(Howe) Keyes, of Westminster. Her father
was a farmer, a soldier in the French and

14

MASSACHUSETTS.

Indian war and in the revolution, dying in the
service. Children: i. Moses, born November
28, 1789, married Sophia Cutler. 2. Hananiah,
May 29, 1792, married Mary L. Beals and
Sarah Beaman. 3. Alpheus B., March 8, 1794.
4. Azubah B., August 25, 1796, married Henry
Rand; resided in Winchendon and Madison,
Wisconsin. 5. Artemas B., September 5, 1798.
6. Stacy. 7. Berina, February 4, 1801. 8.
Esther B.June 13, 1803. 9. Silas Stacy, June
27, 1805, married Mary B. Cate. 10. Levi P.,
August 19, 1807. 11. Samuel A., November
jo, 1809. 12. Abby Fletcher, December 27,
1812. (VII) Captain Hananiah (2), son of Han
aniah (1) Whitney, was born in Winchendon,
May 29, 1792. He was educated in the public
schools of Winchendon, helped his father on
the farm in his youth, and afterward followed
farming in his native town until 1830, when he
went to Lowell, Massachusetts, where he engag
ed in business as a dealer in trunks, leather bags
and leather goods. Subsequently he had a
retail boot and shoe store there, and in his
later years was in the wholesale fruit commis
sion business. He bought produce of the
farmers in the vicinity of Lowell and shipped
it to the New York market for about ten years.
He was well known and highly respected in
business circles, and one of the leading citizens
of the town. He made a fortune and lost it,
but always paid his debts in full, scorning to
compromise. His credit was always good and
his losses were largely due to his lending his
endorsement to help friends in business. When
a young man he was lieutenant in the Fifth
Massachusetts Regiment, commissioned in
1816. In 1818 he was commissioned captain
by Governor Hancock. He was always popu
lar and had many friends. On one occasion
when drilling his command he was annoyed by
the mischievous interference of spectators who
wished to confuse the troops. The captain
quickly stopped the disorder by forming a
hollow square and charging the crowd with
fixed bayonets. He was a Republican in his
later years. He died at Lowell in March, 1867.
He bought a theatre in Lowell and organized
a free church on Lowell street. He was a
member of the Kirk Street Congregational
Church, later of the High Street Church and
of John Street Church and was deacon to the
time of his death. He married (first) Novem
ber 26, 1816, Mary Leavitt Beals, born Sep
tember 4, 1796, died July 10, 1819, daughter
of Stowers and Mary (Leavitt) Beals. He
married (second) October 19, 1820, Sarah

Turner Beaman, born September 29, 1802,
died May 18, 1891, at Lowell, daughter of
David and Polly (Carter) Beaman. Child of
first wife: 1. George Leavitt, born December
16, 1.817, married Harriet Mears; children:
Clara, George. Children of second wife : 2. Mary
Beaman, July 17, 1821, died December, 1892;
married, September, 1850, Gordon Reed, who
died September 16, 1872; children: i. Lizzie
Jane Reed, born August 11, 1851, died October
5, 1 85 1 ; ii. Frank Sumner Reed, born July 30,
1853 ; iii. Josephine Frances Reed, born May
26, i860, married, December 19, 1883, Fred
erick Conant, and have daughter, Maud
Conant. 3. Martha, November 8, 1822, died
February, 1899; married, May 21, 1851,
Joseph White ; children : i. Joseph Frederick
White, born June 18, 1854, died May 12, 1857;
ii. Luther White, born December 30, 1856,
married, February, 1886, Mamie S. Files; iii.
Anna Bertha White, born January 28, 1859,
married, June 1, 1882, Frank A. Libby. 4.
John Milton, September 21, 1824, mentioned
below. 5. William Meelus, May 15, 1826. 6.
Henry Martyn, August 21, 1828, died Decem
ber 2, 1903 ; married (first) April 25, 1854,
Harriet Bagley, born August 24, 1829, died
July 4, 1876; (second) January 30, 1879,
Mary Wheatland Bemis. 7. Charles N., June
14, 1 83 1, died June 12, 1832. 8. Sarah Ann,
May 15, 1833, married (first) February 24,
1859, Cornelius Daniel Smith; (second) No
vember 18, 1869, William Henry Flagg; child
by her first husband, Frederick Smith, born
December 8, 1859, died December, 1859; chil
dren of her second husband : ii. Edith Naomi
Flagg, born December 5, 1870, died May 8,
1886; iii. William Edson Flagg, born March
11, 1873, married Harriet W. Parker; iv.
ITowland Whitney Flagg, born July 14, 1875.
9. Elizabeth J., December 15, 1836, married
(first) July 11, i860, Joseph A. Bailey, born
December 1, 1826, died March 18, 1873 ; (sec
ond) April 18, 1874, Captain Spooner Jenkins,
born September 11, 1829. 10. Harriet Ann,
September 13, 1838. 11. Abby Amelia, Au
gust 20, 1843. i2- Charles Edwards, May 15,
1846. '
(VIII) John Milton, son of Hananiah (2)
Whitney, was born in Winchendon, September
21, 1824. He began his schooling in his native
town, and after 1830, when his parents moved
to Lowell, he attended the public schools
there. He served an apprenticeship in the
shops of the Lowell Machine Company and
worked in Lowell as a journeyman for a time.
Then he went to Springfield, Massachusetts,

MASSACHUSETTS.

15

to work in the machine shops of the Boston
& Albany railroad. He was promoted from
time to time and became a passenger con
ductor, a position he filled for many years. In
later life he was a stockholder of the railroad
company. He died December 3, 1882, at
Mount Dora, Florida, whither he had gone
on account of ill health. Mr. Whitney was a
Republican in politics, and an active member
of the Congregational church. He was a per
fect gentleman in manner and thought, of
genial disposition, of tender heart and full of
sympathy towards those in trouble, of exem
plary christian character. Though largely
self-educated he possessed unusual intellectual
attainments and his reading covered a wide
range of subjects and was both thorough and
extensive. He married, January 3, 1849, Mary
Leavitt Beals, born 'November 21, 1827, died
May 14, 1883, daughter of George Leavitt and
Nancy (Norcross) Beals. Children: 1. John,
died in infancy. 2. Charles Leavitt Beals,
born October 21, 1850, mentioned below.
(IX) Charles Leavitt Beals, son of John
Milton Whitney, was born at Springfield, Octo
ber 21, 1850, died at Brookline, Massachusetts,
September 14, 1892. He attended the public
schools of his native city, graduating from the
Springfield high school in the class of 1867.
He entered Harvard College from which he
was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of
Arts in the class of 1871. He took high rank
in scholarship and was appointed to a resident
fellowship and in 1873 received his doctor's
degree from Harvard. He studied six months
at the university of Leipsic, Germany, and
returning, entered Harvard Law School, from
which he was graduated in 1876. He was
clerk for a time in the law office of Jewell, Field
& Shepard and acquired valuable experience
both in the preparation and trial of cases and
in the work of the city solicitor of Boston and
of the United States district attorney. He
was admitted to the Suffolk bar May 11, 1877.
His liberal education and scholarship, long
training and natural aptitude for the law
secured for him a position of importance in
his profession from the outset. He became
the law partner of Governor William Gaston,
September 25, 1879, when he resumed practice
after the close of his term as governor, under
the name of Gaston & Whitney. In Septem
ber, 1883, his partner's son, William Alex
ander Gaston, was admitted to the firm, the
name remaining the same. The firm took rank
among the first in the Commonwealth. Mr.
Whitney continued in active practice until

July 1, 1890, when on account of ill health he
.retired. He was a Republican in politics,
though decidedly independent in his views and
voting in later years. He was a lifelong stud
ent and scholar, of profound learning and
wisdom. His min'd was analytical and logical
and he was a clear, forcible and convincing
speaker. He was as graceful in expression as
he was accurate in statement. He was a very
successful advocate. He possessed high ideals
and absolute integrity. He was a member of
Harvard Congregational Church of Brookline,
Massachusetts. He married, October 18, 1882,
Lottie Jane Byam, born at Charlestown, Massa
chusetts, September 19, 1854, daughter of
Ezekiel George and Lydia Jane (Woodbridge)
Byam, of Charlestown. .Her father was a
manufacturer of friction matches, the head of
the Diamond Match Company of Boston. Mrs.
Whitney resides at 186 Gardner Road, Brook
line. Children, born at Brookline: 1. Charles
Beals, July 9, 1883, graduate of Harvard Col
lege in 1907 ; associated with the banking firm
of Estabrook & Company, Boston. 2. Mary
Leavitt, June 13, 1885. 3. Byam, March 15,
1887, student at Harvard University, class of
1910. (For early generations see John Whitney i).
(IV) Ensign David, son of
WHITNEY Benjamin Whitney, was born
in Watertown, June 16, 1697,
died in 1745. He was one of the original pro-
prieors of land at Paris, Maine, but never
lived there. He lived at Watertown and Wal
tham. He married, in 1720, Rebecca Fille
brown, born in Cambridge, November 6, 1695,
died 1749. Children: 1. Rebecca, born No
vember 2, 1721, married, July 18, 1745.
Thomas Stowell. 2. David, September 25,
1723, married Mary Merriam. 3. Anna,
August 8, 1725, married, June 4, 1752, Samuel
Merriam. 4. Nathan, March 12, 1726, mar
ried Tabitha Merriam. 5. Ruth, February
23, 1728, died April 23, 1757. 6. Josiah, No
vember 22, 1730, mentioned below. 7. Jonas,
June 25, 1733, married Sarah Whittemore. 8.
Jonathan, February 10, 1735, died April 9,
1757- (V) Josiah, son of Ensign David Whitney,
was born November 22, 1730, died December
3, 1800, at Ashby. He removed to Ashby in
1797 from Acton and bought land there, hav
ing sold his Acton farm two years previous.
He died intestate and his widow administered
the estate. He served in the French and
Indian war, enlisting at Boston, February 4,

i6

MASSACHUSETTS.

1757, in Captain Timothy Houghton's com
pany, and was in the Crown Point expedition.
The year before, in 1756, he was in the same
company under Colonel Jonathan Bagley at
Fort William Henry, having been transferred
from Colonel Brattle's regiment. He served also
in the revolution in Captain Abraham Pierce's
Waltham company, Colonel Thomas Gardner's
regiment, and answered the Lexington alarm,
April 19, 1775, doing guard duty around Con
cord after the fight there; also in Captain
Abraham Pierce's company, Colonel Samuel
Thatcher's regiment in 1776, and marched to
Dorchester Heights on command of General
Washington. He married, June 15, 1762,
Sarah Laurence, born July 21, 1737, died Sep
tember 14, 1794. .Children: 1. Sarah, born
April 18, 1763. 2. Josiah, June 23, 1765, men
tioned below. 3. Rhoda, August 22, 1768,
married, May 8, 1794, Amos Smith; died Feb
ruary 25, 1817. 4. Jonathan, May 8, 1772,
married Sarah Child. 5. Anna, baptized
April 2, 1775. 6. Lucy, baptized July 28,
1776. 7. Nancy.
(VI) Josiah (2), son of Josiah (1) Whit
ney, was born at Waltham, June 23, 1765,
died at Ashby, December 24, 1842. He set
tled first in Watertown, where the first four
children were born, and about 1799 removed
to Ashby, where he lived the remainder of his
life. He was a prosperous farmer, highly re
spected in the community. He and his wife
were dismissed from the Watertown to the
Ashby church, November 24, 1799. By his
father's will he received one-half his wearing
apparel and ten dollars. He married (inten
tions dated January 10, 1790) Mary Barrett,
born 1768, died August 23, 1841. Children:
1. Josiah, born March 20, 1791, mentioned
below. 2. Sally, March 19, 1792, married,
December 16, 1814, Oliver Kendall; died No
vember 23, 1889. 3. Jonas Preseott, Septem
ber 22, 1793, married (first) Rebecca Piper;
(second) Louisa Wheeler. 4. Mary, Septem
ber 14, 1796, died July 5, 1888; married, July
17, 1817, Oliver L. Wheeler. 5. William, July
20, 1798, married Fanny Lincoln. 6. John B.,
April 7, 1801, married Harriet Cushing. 7.
Nancy, March 29, 1803, married, February 8,
1825, Asa Holt; died May 20, 1851. 8. Alice,
December 17, 1806, died September 19, 1858;
married, 1837, Calvin J. Tyler.
(VII) Josiah (3), son of Josiah (2) Whit
ney, was born at Watertown, March 20, 1791.
died at Ashby, September 4, 1818. He was a
farmer, and resided at Ashby. His farm con
sisted of eighty acres with buildings. He died

intestate, and as his wife declined to adminis
ter the estate Amos Wellington was appointed
administrator. On March 19, 1833, Luke
Wellington was appointed guardian of the two
children. He married, January 1, 1816, Re
becca Rice, born at Ashby, December, 1793,
died there in December, 1859, daughter of
John Rice, of Ashby. Children: 1. Lucy
Ann, born September, 1816, died June 13,
1844. 2. John Milton, March 1, 1818, men
tioned below. ,
(VIII) John Milton, son of Josiah (3)
Whitney, was born at Ashby, March 1, 1818,
died at Boston, June 3, 1886. His father died
when he was an infant, and his boyhood was
spent in Ashby working for different farmers
and getting his education as opportunity
offered during the winter. He served an ap
prenticeship at the carp'enter's trade which
he followed at Ashby, and about 1840 he re
moved to Groton. Here he built a home and
worked at his trade, but later removed to
Fitchburg and was employed as an expert
cabinetmaker in the Page piano-case factory.
After a number of years he removed to Bos
ton and entered the employ of his cousin, Milo
Whitney, a piano-case maker, remaining in
his employ until his health failed, compelling
him to give up work. In politics he was a
Republican, and in religion an Orthodox Con-
gregationalist. A man of quiet tastes and
habits he was devoted to his family. His
ability as a fine workman was due largely to
his fondness for mechanics. He married, at
Ashby, March 24, 1840, Emma Augusta Wil
lard, born October 15, 1814, died November
23, 1881, daughter of Alexander and Tyler
(Oakes) Willard, of Ashby. Children: 1.
George Frederick, born November 20, 1841,
mentioned below. 2. Sarah Jane, July 18,
1844, married, March 26, 1864, Lyman Law
rence (see Lawrence). 3. Charles Henry,
June 28, 1848, died September 23, 1872. 4.
Frank Herbert, December 24, 1851.
(IX) George Frederick, son of John Mil
ton Whitney, was born at Ashby, November
20, 1 841, died at Arlington, December 23,
1899. At an early age he removed with his
parents to Groton, and later to Fitchburg. He
was educated in the public schools, supple
menting his high school course by a course in
the Bryant & Stratton Commercial School at
Troy, New York. He entered the employ of
the Heywood Chair Company at Fitchburg,
and later did their ornamental decoration. In
1864 he went to East Boston and became clerk
and bookkeeper for the Eastern railroad, and

MASSACHUSETTS.

17

was paymaster for over seven hundred men.
He made his home on the corner of Webster
and Maverick streets. After a time he started
in the manufacture of a harness soap, estab
lishing the business in Lexington. The soap
was known as Neatsfoot Harness Soap, and
met with a ready sale in and about Boston.
It proved the nucleus of his future success.
About 1870 he took as a partner H. S. Mer
rill, the firm being George F. Whitney & Com
pany, at 59 Milk street, Boston, and in 1875
the business removed to 2028 Washington
street, while Mr. Whitney removed his family
from Lexington to Newtonville. The business
was carried on most successfully until 1883
when it was removed again to 20 Norfolk ave
nue, continuing until 1890, when he began the
manufacture of soap products, including wax
and later starch, at 59 Long wharf. He
lived for a time at 20 Forest street, but
soon removed to Arlington, where he died.
Mr. Whitney inherited his father's taste for
mechanics and was resourceful and energetic.
Although remarkably successful, he never
wished to display his wealth. He was fond of
music, and a good violinist. His high ideals
made him respected and his pleasing person
ality won him many friends. He loved the
beauties of nature, being very fond of flowers.
In politics he was Republican, and in religion
a Congregationalist. He married, at Newton
ville, June 18, 1874, Josephine Isabella Bry
ant, daughter of Nathaniel and  (Had
ley) Bryant. Children: 1. Ellery Waldo,
born August 12, 1876, mentioned below. 2.
Erving Bryant, April 14, 1879, died August
24, 1882.
(X) Ellery Waldo, son of George Fred
erick Whitney, was born at Newtonville,
August 12, 1876. At the age of six months he
removed with his parents to Boston. He at
tended first the private school of Miss Maud
Hunneman and afterward the Dearborn pub
lic school. When he was thirteen his parents
removed to Arlington and he went to the
Russell and Cotting high school. After a
course in Burdett's Business College he en
tered the employ of his father on Long wharf
to learn the soap-making business. After the
death of his father in 1899 the business was
incorporated with James B. Williams as presi
dent, Mr. Whitney as vice-president and Ches
ter J. Williams as treasurer. The firm makes
a specialty of mill soaps and harness soap,
soap for tanneries, automobile oils and mill
supplies. Mr. Whitney is superintendent of
the works at 59 Long wharf and devotes his

whole time and energy to the business. He is
a man of engaging personality. He is a Re
publican in politics, and a Congregationalist
in religion. He is unmarried.

(For preceding generations see John Whitney i).
(V) Abraham, son of John
WHITNEY Whitney, was born December
7, 1735, at Watertown, and
resided there until after his marriage when he
made his home in Weston, the town adjoin
ing. He was a farmer. With his brothers he
served in the company of Captain Samuel
Barnard of Watertown in Colonel Thomas
Gardner's regiment and marched to Lexing
ton on the alarm of April 19, 1775. Paul
Revere was ably assisted in spreading the
alarm by Abraham Whitney. The night before
the battle Abraham started for Lynn on horse
back with panniers filled with shoes which his
brother desired to have delivered in the morn
ing, and when he reached Charlestown he was
startled by a voice asking him stealthily "if
he knew the regulars were landing." He re
plied that he did not and was told the particu
lars. Relieving the horse of the load of shoes
he galloped him back to Watertown and gave
the alarm agreed upon in case of the expected
invasion. By sunrise the company was ready
to march from the rendezvous on the village
green in front of the old meeting house.
Abraham Whitney was also in the company of
Captain Phinenhas Stearns which marched
from Watertown by order of General Wash
ington and took part in the fortification of
Dorchester Heights in March, 1776. He en
listed July 2, 1778, for six months and served
guard duty over the powder magazine and
again in 1779 under command of Jonathan
Brown Esq. He removed to Westford and
later to Concord, Massachusetts. He married
(first) July 10, 1766, Elizabeth Whitney, bap
tized November 23, 1746, died July 10, 1770,
daughter of Joseph and Mary Whitney. He
married (second) at Watertown, December 3,
1772, Mary Mead, born May 1, 1753, died
August 29, 1820. Children of first wife : 1.
Abraham, died .before 1813. 2. Elizabeth
married, October 20, 1793, Isaac Taylor, of
Acton. 3. Lois, died at Concord, September
14, 1794. 4. Joshua, died young. Children of
second wife: 5. Mary Ann, died before 1813.
6. Moses, born 1774, died June 15, 1827; mar
ried, September 11, 1796, Jane Polly. 7. Lucy,
born 1775, died November 25, 1848. 8.
Esther, born February 4, 1779, died June 1,
1861 ; married, October 9, 1806, Zaccheus

i8

MASSACHUSETTS.

Pond. 9. Elisha, died before 1813. 10.
Lydia, born 1782, died January 27, 1844. 11.
Susanna, born 1783, died July 4, 1849; mar
ried Jeremiah Knowlton. 12. Maria, married,
March, 1807, Joel Smith. 13. Amos, born
1786, mentioned below. 14. Mary, born Jan
uary 21, 1792, died July 26, 1828; married,
July 2, 181 5, Adam Goodnow.
(VI) Amos, son of Abraham Whitney, was
born at Waltham in 1786, died there June 10,
1824. He and John Kimball bought the mill
privilege and land at Weston of Thomas and
William Parker in 1813 for $3,000. He en
gaged in the manufacture of paper in partner
ship with Kimball until 1817. His home was
on Main street, Waltham. He married, Jan
uary 17, 181 1, Martha Priest, baptized July
4, 1784, died i860, daughter of James and
Abigail (Lawrence) Priest. Children: 1.
Charles, born February 11, 1812, mentioned
below. 2. Amos, January 30, 1814, died
March, 1884; married Sophia Waterman Pot
ter ; children : i. Amos Priest, married Mary
Thurston ; ii. Walter H., married S. Ella
Brown; iii. Mary Robbins. 3. James, April
9, 1816, died August 23, 1881 ; married, Feb
ruary 10, 1857, Mary Frances Parker; chil
dren: i. Henry Patrick, died April, 1896; ii.
James F. 4. Walter, December 2, 1818, died
November 12, 1893, foreman of the cloth
room in the R. M. F. Co. mill at Waltham.
(VII) Charles, son of Amos Whitney, was
born at Waltham, February 11, 1812, died at
Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 29, 1850. He
attended the winter terms of the district school
and worked during the summer in his boyhood.
He learned the trade of blacksmith in his
native town, serving his apprenticeship under
Mr. Emerson, who made and repaired wagons
and carried on a general blacksmith business.
Afterward Mr. Whitney entered partnership
with Charles Davenport, of Cambridge, under
the firm name of Davenport & Whitney, mak
ing the iron work for railway cars. Mr. Dav
enport was a partner in the firm of Davenport
& Bridge, Main street, Cambridge, manufac
turers of railway cars. The failure of the firm
of Davenport & Bridge involved the other
firm and caused its failure also. The business
of these two firms, however, forms an inter
esting chapter in the early history of the rail
way industry of the country. Mr. Whitney
died July 29, 1850. He was a member of the
Baptist church at Cambridge and active in the
work of the church. He was devoted to his
family, of strict integrity and honor in all his
dealings, progressive and enterprising in busi

ness. In politics he was a Whig. He mar
ried, January 26, 1839, Caroline Fuller Stimp-
son, born at Needham, Massachusetts, August
20, 1816, died at Cambridge, April 24, 1872,
daughter of Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Fuller)
Stimpson, of Weston. Children: 1. Charles
Edward, born January 5, 1840, drowned April
5, i860, in the Charles river in sight of his
home ; was bookkeeper for the New England
Glass Company, Boston. 2. William Henry,
January 3, 1843, mentioned below. 3. Clara
Maria, January 4, 1845, died September 29,
1847. 4- Ella Caroline, March 15, 1847, died
January 17, 1907; graduate of the Art School
of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; teacher
in the Rindge Manual Training School, Cam
bridge. 5. Frank Erving, October 28, 1850,'
mentioned below.
(VIII) William Henry, son of Charles
Whitney, was born in Cambridge, January 3,
1843, died May 4, 1909. He graduated from
the Cambridge high school and took a course
in the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard
University. He enlisted at Cambridge, July
14, 1862, and served three years in the civil
war. He was commissioned captain of his
company and promoted to the rank of major
of his regiment. He was wounded once. He
was a prominent civil engineer in Boston after
the war, retiring from active business a few
years ago. He was a Republican in politics
and served the city of Cambridge in the board
of alderman and on the board of health. He
was an active member and for many years
deacon of the Cambridge Baptist church. He
was a member of the Watertown Historical
Society and of the New England Historic
Genealogical Society. He married, February
18, 1868, Emma Sargent Barber, daughter of
John Barber. Children, born at Cambridge:
1. Clara Mabel, February 22, 1871, married,
June 8, 1898, Arthur S. Pevear, of Cambridge,
and had Dorothy Whitney Pevear, born July
22, 1902. 2. Chester, June 29, 1874, died July
31, 1874. 3. Charles Fuller, January 22, 1879,
married, June 10, 1903, Ethel Putnam Sar
gent, born May 12, 1881, died December 31,
1905 ; child, Horace Sargent, born June 29,
1905, died October 12, 1905. 4. Alice Emma,
August 4, 1880, died August 13, 1880.
(VIII) Frank Erving, son of Charles
Whitney, was born at Cambridge, October
28, 1850, in his father's home on Auburn
street. He attended the Webster grammar
school and graduated from the Cambridge
high school in the class of 1868 with honors.
He learned the carpenter's trade in the employ

MASSACHUSETTS.

19

of John & Joseph Kelley of Cambridge, and
afterward served an apprenticeship of three
years in the machinist's trade under Moore &
Wyman, 76 Sudbury street, Boston. He
worked for this firm also as journeyman for
five years and then embarked in business on
his own account at 13 Bowker street, Boston.
After seven years at that location he removed
to his present place of business, 65 Sudbury
street, Boston. He manufacutres water mo
tors, ice cream freezers, etc. He builds water
motors for export and also deals extensively
in gas and gasoline engines. Mr. Whitney
attends the First Baptist Church of Maiden.
While living at Melrose he was for eighteen
years the collector of the Baptist church, mem
ber of the music committee, the finance com
mittee and the standing committee and an effi
cient worker in the Sunday school of the same.
In politics he is a Republican. He is a mem
ber of the Wyoming Lodge of Free Masons;
of the Waver ly Chapter of Royal Arch
Masons and is treasurer of same ; and of Mel
rose Council, Royal and Select Masters, of
Maiden, and trustee of the permanent fund of
the body. He is associate prelate of Hugh De
Payens Commandery, Knights Templar, of
Melrose; member of Bethlehem Council,
Royal Arcanum ; and a charter member of the
Amphion Club, a musical organization estab
lished in 1892. He is gifted musically and
has been bass soloist in the Melrose Baptist
church choir. He married, October 7, 1880,
Isabel Esther Billman, born in Boston, daugh
ter of John and Mary (Hurd) Billman. Her
father was a traveling salesman. Their only
child, Caroline Gertrude, is a student in Rad-
cliffe College, class of 1909.

(For early generations see John Whitney i).
(VII) George Washington,
WHITNEY son of Ezekiel Whitney, was
born at Watertown, August
26, 1812, died at Brighton, Massachusetts,
March 17, 1863. He attended the public
schools of his native town. During his youth
he was employed as coachman for the Stearns
family in Boston. Even then he was an ex
cellent judge of horses and skillful in hand
ling them. Soon after the Boston & Worcester
railroad was built he began to work for the
railroad company, and was soon placed in the
position of section master by Superintendent
Twitchell, who knew Mr. Whitney's ability
and judgment through personal acquaintance.
His section was that from Boston to Allston
and his success in this position brought him

promotion to the position of superintendent of
the road from Boston to Worcester. The
reputation of the Boston & Worcester rail
road, later known as the Boston & Albany,
was in no small part due to his good judg
ment, industry and faithfulness to duty. He
took high rank among the pioneers in railroad
construction and maintenance. He always
kept abreast of the times. He resided in Bos
ton and Brighton. Though kindly and cheer
ful in his nature, he believed in discipline in
business and expected from his men the same
indefatigable industry that he himself gave
to his daily work, and he was not disap
pointed. No superintendent was ever served
more faithfully and none had the confidence
and esteem of his men to a greater degree. He
believed in total abstinence and did much for
the cause of temperance. He took great pleas
ure in driving and owned many fine horses
and belonged to the best sporting clubs of
Brighton. He was witty himself and fond of
a joke and his good humor attracted many
friends to him. To his family he was greatly
endeared. He attended the Baptist church of
Brighton, of which his wife was a member.
He was a member of the Boston Lancers,
which for many years has been the pet cav
alry organization of Massachusetts. In poli
tics he was a Democrat. He married, No
vember 28, 1833, Elizabeth Cook, born No
vember 10, 181 5, died November 1, i860.
Children: 1. George Bradford, born Janu
ary 13, 1835, died September, 1907; was chief
of police at Bayonne, New Jersey, superin
tendent of the Ninth Avenue Elevated Rail
road of New York City; married Eliezer
Jones, of Sudbury, Massachusetts; children:
George, Edward, Abbie. 2. Elizabeth, mar
ried Charles Griggs ; children : i. Ella Griggs,
married Theodore Gordon, of Acton; ii. Ger
trude Griggs; iii. Charles Griggs, died young.
3. Delphine, married  Gilpatrick. 4.
Anna Amelia, died young. 5. Arabella, died
at Dedham ; married  Brockett and had
Gertrude Brockett. 6. William Ezekiel, died
_ August 2, 1908; married, March 18, 1862,
"Margaret Kinder, born December 12, 1842;
children: i. Nellie L., born February 14,
1864, married, August 6, 1884, John E. Felch
(Children: Marguerita May Felch, born May
20, 1889; Gladys Felch, February 28, 1898;
Emma Whitney Felch, December 6, 1901) ;
ii. Bella Lurena, born February 25, 1872, died
November 25, 1872. 7. Frank Nahum, born
March 28, 1844, died August, 1907 ; married
Sarah Adams. 8. Alonzo Driscoll, born 1847,

20

MASSACHUSETTS.

died April 6, 1876; married, May 18, 1870,
Zelaphine Juliette Gilliheon ; children : i.
George Washington, born June 12, 1871, mar
ried, July 11, 1894, Mary J. Garside (Chil
dren : Walter Theodore, born May 25, 1895 ;
Arthur Harrison, June 4, 1897; Mildred, July
23, 1902, died February 9, 1906; Ernest Win-
field, January 24, 1904) ; ii. Zelia Jenette,
born January 29, 1874, died January 17, 1877.
9. Edward, born 1850, mentioned below.
(VIII) Edward, son of George Washington
Whitney, was born at Brighton, now part of
Boston, Massachusetts, in 1850, died at Cam
bridge, July 22, 1879. He was educated in the
public schools. When a young man he was
employed for a number of years by H. D.
Smith, who owned a livery stable at the cor
ner of Second and Gore streets, Cambridge.
During the last ten years of his life he was a
faithful and trusted assistant of Charles E.
Daley in the livery stable business, Cambridge
street. His gentle nature, courtesy and faith
fulness won the confidence and esteem of both
employer and customers. He was a most
valued and valuable man for Mr. Daley. At
the time of his death, one of his employers
said of him: "He was a man out of place in
life, worthy of a large share of the world's
goods." He was handicapped by lameness
caused early in life by an attack of rheumatic
fever. He died of typhoid fever when but
twenty-nine yars of age. In religion he was a
Methodist; in politics a Republican. He was
a member of the Order of Foresters. He mar
ried, at Cambridge, Elizabeth Healy, born
1848, daughter of John and Ellen (Dwyer)
Healy, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Chil
dren: 1. George Edward, born July 1, 1870,
married, November 27, 1896, Margaret
Theresa Ford, of Cambridge. 2. Ellen Ger
trude, January 1, 1872, married, May 14, 1891,
Charles A. Chapman; children: i. William
John Chapman, born June 24, 1892; ii.
Charleys Chapman, October 30, 1893; iii. Ed
ward Chapman, September 30, 1895; >v.
Alice Chapman, March 29, 1897; v. John
Chapman, December 14, 1898, died December
15, 1898. 3. John William, January 1, 1875,
mentioned below. 4. Katherine, married
Charles Messer; children: i. Elizabeth Mes-
ser, born June 6, 1900 ; ii. Helen Messer, July
31, 1902. 5. Mary Elizabeth, February 4,
1877, married Ralph Reardon.
(IX) John William, son of Edward Whit
ney, was born at Cambridge, January 1, 1875.
He attended the public schools, but his father
died when he was but six years old and he was

obliged to contribute as much as possible from
early boyhood to support the family. At the
age of thirteen he found employment in the
laboratory of Henry Thayer, a manufacturing
chemist, of Cambridge. After six years in
this position he was employed by North's
Packing Company as a teamster for eight
years. He started in business in 1902 at 9
Chestnut street, East Somerville, in the man
ufacture of barrels. He had but little capital,
the modest savings of many years of hard
work, but he displayed a natural aptitude for
business and a skill in his special line of re
pairing and making all kinds of barrels. His
business flourished from the start. In three
years he had to find larger quarters, and he
bought a large building with stable, etc., at the
rear at 113 Linwood street. His best custom
ers are the large packing houses in Cambridge
and Somerville and the wholesale merchants
in Boston. Mr. Whitney is reckoned among
the most successful of the younger manufac
turers of Somerville. He resides at 64 Wash
ington street, Somerville. He and his family
attend St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church
in that city. He is a Republican in politics.
He is a member of Cambridge Council, No.
74, Knights of Columbus, of Cambridge, and
of Somerville Lodge, No. 917, Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks. He married,
January 5, 1898, at Cambridge, Mary Mag
dalen Carroll, daughter of John and Nora
(McLaughlin) Carroll, of Somerville. Chil
dren: 1. John Edward, born November 22,
1898. 2. Francis, August 5, 1900. 3. Naomi,
January 1, 1903. 4. Estelle Margaret, Janu
ary 1, 1906. 5. Edward Carroll, April 25,
1908. (For preceding generations see Richard Whitney II).
(Ill) Richard, son of Rich-
WHITNEY ard Whitney, was. born at
Watertown, January 13,
1660, and died December 15, 1723. He
resided at Stow, where he had a grant
of land October 24, 1682. His will was
dated December 22, 1723. He married Eliza
beth Sawtell, widow, daughter of Jonathan
Sawtell, of Groton. She was born February
3, 1668, died November 24, 1723, and married
(first) 1691, Joseph Morse; (second) Benja
min Nurse; (third) Richard Whitney. Chil
dren of Richard and Elizabeth: 1. Richard,
mentioned below. 2. Jonathan, born February
26, 1699; married Alice Willard. 3. Joshua,
born 1706; married Zerviah  . 4. Han
nah, married Samuel Farr. 5. Elizabeth, mar-

MASSACHUSETTS.

21

ried, December 29, 1722, John Wetherby. 6.
Sarah, born 1703; married, 1723, Captain
Hezekiah Hapgood. 7. Ruhamah, born 1705.
8. Hepzibah, born 1710; married, October 12,
1732, Seth Sawyer.
(IV) Richard, son of Richard Whitney,
was born in Stow, in 1694, and died April 27,
1775. He resided in Stow. He married (first)
Hannah Whitcomb, born 1693, died November
I7> *743, daughter of Josiah Whitcomb, of
Lancaster; (second) intentions dated Octo
ber 26, 1745, Hannah Ayres, widow, born
1704, died September 27, 1775. Children: 1.
Mary, born November 24, 171 5; married
.  Gates. 2. Dorothy, born April 13,
1718; married  Taylor. 3. Daniel,
born February 13, 1720; see forward. 4.
Hannah, born May 29, 1723; married 
Wetherbee. 5. Richard, born July 31, 1725;
married Mary Berry. 6. Elizabeth, born July
23, 1728; married, 1748, Joseph Wetherbee.
7. Josiah, born October 12, 173 1. 8. Sarah,
married December 23, 1769, Captain Heze
kiah Whitcomb.
(V) Sergeant Daniel, eldest son of Rich
ard Whitney, was born in Stow, Massachu
setts, February 13, 1720, died in 1782. He
served in the revolution as sergeant in Cap
tain Jonathan Rice's company, Colonel Samuel
Bu Hard's regiment, in 1777 to reinforce the
army at the north. His will was dated Janu
ary 23, 1782, and the inventory was made
March 4, 1783. All his children except Eph
raim were mentioned in the will. He married
(intentions dated November 9, 1744), Dor
othy Goss, of Lancaster, who died October
11,1813. Children: 1. Hannah, born in Har
vard, April 29, 1746, married  Weth
erbee. 2. John, November 24, 1747, married
Mary Farnsworth. 3. Daniel, December 11,
1749, married Sarah Durant. 4. Dorothy, De
cember 12, 175 1, married, 1774, Nathan Put
nam. 5. Silas, January, 13, 1754, died May
25, 1756. 6. Ephraim, September, 29, 1755,
married Sarah Burgess. 7. Silas, February
26, 1758, mentioned below. 8. Elizabeth,
August 4, 1760, married, April 10, 1782,
Ebenezer Parks. 9. Katherine, April 12,
1763, married, April 23, 1783, Lemuel
Wheeler. 10. Susannah, October 11, 1766,
married, March 31, 1784, Stephen Weston.
11. Mary, February 9, 1769, married, March
20, 1787, Peter Chapin.
(VI) Silas, son of Daniel Whitney, was
born February 26, 1758, in Stow, died at
Charlestown in 1838. He was a blacksmith
and farmer and was noted for his strength.

He lived for a time at Ashby, and later re
moved to Boston, where he made his home
with his son, Captain Silas Whitney. He was
in the revolution in Captain Amasa Cranston's
company, Colonel Eleazer Brooks' regiment,
and was in the battle of White Plains. He
married Patience Goodnow, of Stow, who died
in Charlestown in February, 1842. Children :
1. Silas, born January 26, 1781, mentioned
below. 2. John, November 22, 1782, married
Susannah Vilas. 3. James. 4. Samuel. 5.
Ephraim; married Eunice  . 6. Susan,
July 1, 1792, married Joseph Whitney and
died 1884, aged ninety-two. 7. Betsey, mar
ried  Bates. 8. Polly, married 
Gault. 9. Dolly, April 1, 1797, married No
vember 20, 1814, William Beals.
(VII) Captain Silas, son of Silas Whitney,
was born January 26, 1781, at Stow, died at
Charlestown, January 20, 1824. He was edu
cated in the public schools and when a young
man went to Boston. A few years later he
and his brothers, John and Ephraim Whitney,
entered partnership as general contractors.
The first permanent railway in America was
constructed at Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1827,
but the Whitney firm built and operated a
gravity railroad on Beacon Hill several years
earlier to facilitate the work of cutting down
Beacon Hill and grading Charles street, for
which the firm had the contract. A train
loaded with gravel at the top would by its
weight in descending pull an empty train to
the top, thus saving the use of horses alto
gether in the work. This labor-saving de
vice is still used in mining operations and con
struction work when possible. The Whitney
firm had the contract to build Central Wharf
and many other important railroad and con
struction contracts. Later in life Silas Whit
ney was proprietor of the Middlesex Hotel,
then situated between Warren avenue and the
old bridge road in Charlestown. The hotel
was destroyed by fire in 1836. He was cap
tain of a Boston company of the state militia.
At one time Captain Whitney owned the brick
dwelling house at 34 Charles street and a
three-story house on Morton street. He mar
ried, at Waltham, in 1800, Abigail M. Shedd,
who died September 21, 1854. Children: 1.
Silas Gore, born August 9, 1800, mentioned
below. 2. Mary, October 8, 1801, died April
3, 1803. 3. Mary, September 28, 1803, died
July 7, 1837. 4. Charles, September 15, 1805.
5. Abigail, May 21, 1808, died January 4,
1870; married Thomas R. Speare, and had
Henrietta Speare, who died aged two. 6.

22

MASSACHUSETTS.

Eliza A., April 15, 1809, died June 6, 1894;
married (first)  Hinckley; (second)
David O'Brien. 7. Ephraim, August, 1816,
married (first) Johanna A. Hook; (second)
 ; children: i. William H., born March
11, 1846, married Clara E. Snowdill; ii. Eph
raim, died young; iii. Ophelia V, born
1850, married William I. Hatch. 8. William
Henry, June 2, 1818, lost at sea 1830. 9,
John Francis, February 27, 1819, married
(first) January 18, 1844, Julia Ann Andrews;
(second) July 7, 1846, Maria Hook, children:
i. Julia F., born 1848, married W. W. Palmer;
ii. John Preseott, November 2, 1849, married
Annie M. Williams; iii. Josiah O., July 10,
1853, died May 31, 1878; iv. Silas Gore,
March 26, 1855; v. Alice G, July 3, 1857,
married John W. Munce ; vi. Everett C, July
4, 1859; vii. Theodore H., February 17, 1861 ;
viii. George A., December 15, 1868, died April
11, 1888; ix. Helen Maria.
(VIII) Silas Gore, son of Silas Whitney,
was born in Boston, August 9, 1800, died
there July 15, 1854. He attended the public
schools and was associated with his father
until the latter's death in 1824. He then went
by sailing vessel to Venezuela, and settled at
Puerto Cabelo where he entered the commis
sion house of Franklin Litchfield, then one of
the largest mercantile houses in the vicinity.
By his energy, probity and strict attention to
business in all its details, he gained for himself
such favor with his employer that he was pro
moted to positions of greater responsibility
and was looked upon as a factor in the busi
ness. His command of the Spanish language
made him invaluable to his employer and he
soon became a partner of this large concern.
The firm was known as Litchfield & Whitney,
and all business of exchange, banking, etc.,
was also done through them. In the height
of his success, he returned to Boston and
married Sarah Susan Penniman, daughter of
Amasa and Eunice (Soper) Penniman, of
Braintree. He returned to Venezuela with his
bride, and their first two children were born
there. His business duties became more
arduous, the correspondence of the firm de
volving upon him. Through the efforts of
Mr. Litchfield he was appointed United States
vice consul of the port, which position he
held while there. Upon the death of Mr.
Litchfield, and owing to his own impaired
health, he closed up the affairs of the firm and
in 1842 returned with his family to Boston.
Here he became associated with Timothy W.
Hoxsie at 25 Commercial Wharf, under the

firm name of T. W. Hoxsie & Co., dealers in
lime, cement and builders' supplies. The busi
ness was later moved to 46 Long Wharf. He
lived first at 5 Kingston street, removing in
1846 to 36 Porter street. The firm became
one of the largest of its kind in Boston. About
1848 he was appointed United States consul
of Venezuela for the port of Boston, which
office he held in conection with his business
until his death. From 1848 to 1852 he re
sided on Ash street, and from then until
his death at 12 Dover street, then one of the
select residence streets of Boston. He was a
man of strict integrity, and discharged with
signal ability all the duties of citizenship, of.
business, and of his offices of trust. He was
of high moral character and of gentle and
kindly nature. He attended while in Boston
the Church of the Messiah (Episcopal), but
was broad-minded, and often attended
Theodore Parker's (Unitarian) church. He
was a great admirer of Theodore Parker. In
politics he was a Whig. Children : 1. Mary
Litchfield, born at Puerto Cabelo, May 9,
1837, married, June 10, 1855, James Morse
Williams, of Newburyport; children: i.
Anna Waldron Williams, born May 8, 1856;
ii. Mary Louise Williams, March 3, 185 — . 2.
Henry Franklin, November 1, 1838, men
tioned below. 3. Sarah Virginia, July, 1841,
died December 4, 1899; married (first) 1859,
Abraham Holland, of Boston; (second) Sep
tember 14, 1875, Forest G. Hawes, of Bos
ton; had Sarah Eddy Holland, born July 17,
1862, married, October 30, 1879, Charles
Henry West. 4. Jose Antonio Paez, 1842,
married, 1861, Emma D. Bills; children: i.
Linwood Gore, born 1869; ii. Florence W.,
1877. 5. Georgianna, died young.
(IX) Henry Franklin, son of Silas Gore
Whitney, was born at Puerto Cabelo,
Venezuela, November 1, 1838. He came
to Boston when six years old with his
parents and attended the Quincy school
in that city. After this school was de
stroyed by fire he attended the Brimmer
school. At the age of fifteen he became a
clerk in the employ of Russell & Tilton, fish
dealers on Long Wharf, Boston. After two
years in this position he became clerk in the
office of I. F. Dobson, insurance broker at
40 State street, Boston, remaining there until
he enlisted in October, 1862, at Cambridge, in
Company G. Forty-fourth Regiment, Massa
chusetts Volunteer Militia, Colonel Francis L.
Lee, of Newton, commanding. His regiment
left Camp Meigs, Readville, Massachusetts,

MASSACHUSETTS.

23

October 15, and after being reviewed by Gov
ernor Andrew, sailed on the transport "Mer
rimac" to Morehead City, North Carolina,
whence it proceeded on platform cars during
a terrific thunder storm to Newbern, North
Carolina, and encamped north of the city, with
part of the brigade under Colonel Thomas G.
Stevenson in the Eighteenth Army Corps.
Under General Foster they sailed October 30
down the Neuse river into Pamlico sound, up
the Tar river to Washington, North Carolina,
debarking, and on November 2 marched north
ward twenty miles and engaged the Confed
erate forces at Rawle's Mills, near Williams-
ton. On the following morning they marched
by way of Hamilton towards Tarboro, return
ing to Plymouth and thence by transports to
Newbern. They took part in an engagement
at Kingston, December 14, at Whitehall, De
cember 16, and in the battle of Goldsboro, De
cember 18, 1862, returning to Newbern, De
cember 20. The regiment encamped for the
winter there and on February 1, 1863, marched
to Plymouth foraging in the vicinity until
March 10. They reinforced the garrison at
Washington, North Carolina, March 15. The
fort was besieged March 30 and numerous
engagements followed until April 14, when the
Rebels were forced to retire. The command
was sent to Newbern April 23, as provost
guard, until June 6, when the regiment em
barked in the steamers "Guide" and "George
Peabody" at Morehead City and after a rough
passage reached Boston, June 10, being mus
tered out June 19 at Readville. Mr. Whitney
resumed his position in the insurance office.
A year later his employer failed and he became
clerk in the insurance office of Burge & Lane
and continued there for ten years. He then
became special agent for the People's Fire
Insurance Company of New Hampshire for
eight years with offices at 55 Kilby street. He
was in the insurance business for a year at
New Orleans, Mississippi, and at Galveston,
Texas, but the business was not satisfactory
and he returned to Boston, becoming a special
agent of the Farmers' Insurance Company,
with offices at 44 Kilby street. Since 1901 he
has been employed as an independent fire in
surance adjuster for all the companies having
agencies in Boston on losses in all parts of
New England. He is the oldest insurance man
on Kilby street, the center of the fire insur
ance business of New England, and has been in
the business longer than any other man there.
He has resided since 1888, in the house which
he owns Et 16 Meacham road, Cambridge. In

religion he is an Episcopalian ; in politics a
Democrat. He is a member of Charity Lodge
of Free Masons, of Cambridge ; of Cambridge
Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; of Mount Sinai
Lodge, No. 169, Odd Fellows, of North Cam
bridge, cl which he has been noble grand. He
was formerly a member of Charles River
Encampment of Odd Fellows, and of the
Newtowne Club of Cambridge. He is a mem
ber of Francis Gould Post, No. 36, Grand Army
of the Republic. When a young man he was
in the Fourth Battalion, Massachusetts Volun
teer Militia, before the war. He is a member
of the Boston Insurance Exchange. He mar
ried, April 1, 1858, Sarah Henrietta Holland,
born September 6, 1842, daughter of Thomas
H. Holland. Children: 1. Cora Virginia,
born August 20, 1859, married Augustus L.
Smith ; child, Carleton Whitney Smith. 2.
Emma Henrietta, August 11, 1861, married,
August 10, 1880, Harry Elwood Mason, of
Cambridge. 3. Harrie Holland, March 15,
1868, married, October 1, 1895, Mabel Louise
Wheeler, of Boston, born March 15, 1873,
daughter of Charles Louis and Maria Frances
(Smith) Wheeler, of Boston; children: Ruth
Marietta, born August 14, 1897; Harrie Hol
land, May 3, 1900. 4. Kittie Ivaloe, April 29,
1869, married, January 9, 1889, Nat. Frank
Dadmun, of Boston ; children : Henrietta
Whitney Dadmun, born July 27, 1892; Harrie
Holland Dadmun, June 25, 1894. 5. Chester
Winfield, December 14, 1880.

(For ancestry see preceding sketches).
(VIII) Charles Whitney,
WHITNEY son of Silas Whitney, was
born at Boston, September
15, 1805, died at Melrose, Massachusetts, De
cember 27, 1884. He was educated in the
public schools of that city and was associated
in business with his father in the old Middle
sex Hotel to the time of his marriage. After
ward he was a hotel keeper on his own ac
count. In 1843-44 he kept the Boston Hotel
and later the Whitney Hotel on Lincoln street,
near Beach, Boston, from 1845 to 1858. He
was employed for a time in a store at the cor
ner of Devonshire and Summer streets, and in
1860-61 was bookkeeper for a concern at the
corner of Portland street and Sudbury street.
In 1856 and for a number of years afterward
he resided in Auburndale, Massachusetts, and
afterward at Melrose. He was one of the
most popular hotel proprietors of his day in
Boston. His courtesy and sunny- disposition
attracted many friends. He married, at Con-

24

MASSACHUSETTS.

cord, New Hampshire, June 6, 1826, Lydia
Maria Emery, born at Concord, February 24,
1808, died at Medford, Massachusetts, De
cember 12, 1884. They lived to celebrate the
fifty-eighth anniversary of their marriage. A
newspaper account of the wedding published
at the time of Mr. Whitney's death follows:
"Mr. Whitney started from Charlestown,
Massachusetts, June 5, 1826, at sunrise and
arrived at Chichester, New Hampshire, at
sundown in a chaise — a distance of about
seventy miles. The following morning he was
united in marriage to Lydia Maria Emery,
having seen her but twice, their courtship
being done mostly by proxy. That they lived
together as long and happily proved that long
courtships are not always necessary. Mr.
Charles Whitney, a gentleman highly es
teemed by all who knew him, died at his home
in Melrose Highlands aged seventy-nine years.
It was only sixteen days after the death of his
wife, with whom he had been wedded nearly
fifty-nine years. It seemed a beautiful mercy
of the Almighty that death should not long
divide them and although their departure left
the mourners bereft, yet they were sheaves
fully ripe and God has garnered them." Chil
dren: 1. Louisa M., born September 16,
1827, married Benjamin F. Peakes. 2.
Augusta G., August 20, 1829, died April 22,
i860. 3. Mary Eliza, November 5, 1830, died
April 23, 1874; married Edgar B. Fox; chil
dren: i. Edgar Augustus Fox, born June 7,
1852, married Bertha Sweet; ii. Harold Sum
ner Fox, June 6, 1856, married Addie Easton;
iii. George Julian Fox, May 4, 1858, married
Emma Seelye ; iv. Fannie Louise Fox, Febru
ary 14, 1864, married Frank C. Roberts; v.
Annie Alice Lydia Fox, September 7, 1868,
married A. Adelbert Doty ; vi. Edgar Bernard
Fox, December 9, 1872. 4. Helen S., April
2, 1834, died 1843. 5- Fannie E., May 14,
1837, married Henry G. Washburn. 6.
Charles Joseph, January 15, 1839, died Febru
ary, 1839. 7. Charles Joseph, January 11,
1840, died 1842. 8. Charles Joseph, May 15,
1843, mentioned below. 9. Helen S., July 18,
1849, resides in Dorchester.
(IX) Charles Joseph, son of Charles
Whitney, was born at Boston, May 15, 1843,
died there June 22, 1893. He was educated in
the public schools of that city, and began life
as a clerk in various Boston stores. In 1859-
60 he lived in Auburndale, but worked at 104
Court street, Boston. He enlisted for one
hundred days, July 4, 1864, and was mustered

into the Union service, July 14, 1864, in Cap
tain Philip J. Cooley's company (F) in the
Fifth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded
by Colonel George H. Peirson. From the
camp in Readville, Massachusetts, the regi
ment proceeded to Baltimore, halting for a
short time at Soldiers' Rest, Philadelphia, and
marching by night to Baltimore, where they
went into camp, four miles north of the city
at Mankin's Woods. Thence they went to
Fort McHenry and Company F, with other
companies under Lieutenant Colonel Worces
ter proceeded to Federal Hill. After two
weeks of garrison duty and escorting recruits
to the front, Company F was detailed to guard
the polls at election. Though the company
was never in battle it performed difficult and
hazardous duty faithfully and maintained the
reputation of the regiment. They were mus
tered out at Readville, November 16, 1864.
Mr. Whitney entered the employ of the Metro
politan Horse Railroad Company in Boston
as a conductor and driver and was thus em
ployed from 1864 until 1871. From 1871 to
1873 ne worked at the trade of baker at 1146
Shawmut avenue and then returned to work
for the horse railroad. From 1886 to 1888 he
was clerk in the postoffice, Boston. He re
turned to the bakery business and was for a
time foreman for the Aerated Bread Company.
He was in business as baker on his own ac
count for a time. Later he became foreman
for the Fleischman Yeast Company at 40
Beach street, Boston, and continued with this
concern the remainder of his life. In his later
years he lived at Hotel Waterford, Boston.
He was of a pleasing and attractive disposition,
making friends readily, loving the society of
cheerful friends, of which he had many, and
very popular in business as well as social life.
He was active, enterprising and energetic,
highly respected for his uprightness and
ability. He attended the Harvard Baptist
Church, Harrison avenue, Boston. In politics
he was a Republican. He was a member of
Post 26, Grand Army of the Republic, Rox
bury. He married (first) 1865, Mary Eliza
beth Dunbar, born April 10, 1843, at Roxbury,
Massachusetts, died October 17, 1874, daugh
ter of Calvin Copeland Dunbar, born at North
Easton, Massachusetts, May 10, 181 1, died in
Roxbury, June 10, 1890; he was engaged in
the milk business; he married Adeline Alice
Lunt at Roxbury; she was born in Newbury
port, Massachusetts, 1813, died at Roxbury in
December, 1863. He married (second) Sep-

MASSACHUSETTS.

25

tember 12, 1885, Helen E. Fuller, born Octo
ber 7, 1858. Children of first wife : 1. Charles
Henry, born December 1, 1866, mentioned
below. 2. Edith Lillian, March 3, 1871, mar
ried (first) October 12, 1898, John Dale, born
January 14, 1845, died May 3, 1904; (second)
June 6; 1906, John Christopher Dorey, of Old
Town, Maine, son of William and Mary Eliza
beth (Ellis) Dorey. 3. Alice C, January 5,
1874, died April 4, 1874.
(X) Charles Henry, son of Charles Joseph
Whitney, was born in Boston, December 1,
1866. At the age of six he removed to Rox
bury with his parents and attended the public
schools there, graduating from the Lewis
grammar school in 1882. He entered the em
ploy of the wholesale dry goods commission
firm of Brown, Wood & Kingman, 31 Bedford
street, as clerk and was promoted from time
to time to positions of responsibility. The
firm retired from business January 1, 1888,
and he became confidential clerk and private
secretary of Lyman Nichols, capitalist and real
estate owner, and remained in this position
until 1900, when he accepted a position as
-. clerk and bookkeeper in the office of the Con
tinental Mills at 31 Bedford street, Boston,
manufacturer of cotton goods, with mills at
Lewiston, Maine. In 1905 Mr. Whitney be
came selling agent for this corporation, hav
ing entire charge of selling the output of the
mills, dividing his time between Boston and
New York. The company operates one hun
dred thousand spindles and takes rank among
the larger mills of New England. Twelve
hundred hands are employed. Mr. Whitney
resides at 32 Prospect avenue, Winthrqp,
Massachusetts. He and his wife attend the
Union Congregational Church at Winthrop.
In politics he is a Republican and he was a
member of the Republican town committee of
Winthrop in 1904. He is a member of the
Winthrop Lodge of Free Masons; of Win
throp Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; of Win
throp Camp, Sons of Veterans; of the Win
throp Yacht Club; the Framingham Country
Club, the Woodland Golf Club of Auburndale ;
the Arkwright Club of New York City and of
the Winthrop Improvement Association. He
married, at Boston, June 3, 1895, Harriet Ann
Booth, born at Holbeck (Leeds), Yorkshire,
England, daughter of Joseph and Harriet
(Stansfield) Booth. Mrs. Whitney is a mem
ber of Colonial Chapter, No. 96, Order of the
Eastern Star of Winthrop. Their only child
was Retta Dunbar, born January, 1897, died
January, 1897.

(For ancestry see preceding sketches).
(VIII) William Meelus, son
WHITNEY of Captain Hananiah Whit
ney, was born at Winchen
don, May 15, 1826, died at Needham, Massa
chusetts, August 7, 1904. He was four years
old when his parents went to Lowell and he
was educated in the public schools of that
town. He was apprenticed to the trade of
machinist in the Lowell Machine Company
shops and for several years followed his trade.
Soon after 1840 he entered the employ of the
Cheshire railroad, then recently built, and in
a few years became a locomotive engineer on
that road. He removed to Keene, New Hamp
shire, in 1848, and in 1854 to Bellows Falls,
Vermont, to Manchester, New Hampshire,
two years later, and to Fitchburg, Massa
chusetts, in 1857, where he was employed as
machinist in the railroad shops, having re
signed his position as engineer. In 1863 he
became master mechanic for the New Eng
land railroad and made his home at Needham,
Massachusetts, having charge of the small re
pair shops at Needham and the large shops
in Boston. Afterward he was for eleven years
a passenger conductor on the New England
railroad. In 1878 he accepted a position as
passenger conductor on the Atchinson, Topeka
& Sante Fe railroad having a three hundred
mile run between Trinidad and Santa Fe. He
made his home at Sante Fe. After five years
he resigned to engage in the fruit and produce
business on his own account. His store was at
Santa Fe and his stock came largely from Cali
fornia. In 1888 he returned to Needham,
Massachusetts, having retired from active busi
ness. For several years he was custodian of the
high school building at Needham. He was seri
ously injured before 1850 in an accident. While
working in the railroad machine shops he was
caught between a locomotive and a post and
crushed badly. He was incapacitated for service
in the civil war though eager to do his part. He
was a Unitarian in religion, a Republican in
politics. He was a life member' of Aurora
Lodge of Free Masons of Fitchburg, and was
an honorary member of Norfolk Lodge of
Needham. Mr. Whitney was an earnest, honor
able and upright citizen of sound judgment
and sterling common sense. He was quiet and
domestic in his habits, but fond of social life
and enjoying the friendship of many. He mar
ried, September 12, 1850, Emeline Cole, of
Westmoreland, New Hampshire, born there
September 1, 1830, died at Needham, February
10, 1903, daughter of Heber and Prudence

26

MASSACHUSETTS..

(Walker) Cole, of Westmoreland. Her father
was a leading and representative citizen, was
successful as a farmer, and at the time of his
death left an ample competence to his family.
Children: i. Willie Henry, born September
30, 1854, died January 27, 1878. 2. Frank
Cole, September 25, 1856, mentioned below.
(IX) Frank Cole, son of William Meelus
Whitney, was born in Manchester, New Hamp
shire, September 25, 1856. His parents
removed to Fitchburg when he was a year old
and he was educated there in the public schools.
In 1865 he and his mother removed to Need
ham where his father was living. He attended
the Needham grammar school and the English
high school in Boston. In 1875 he became clerk
in the store of E. Allen & Company, wholesale
dealers in woolens, 50 Franklin street, Boston.
A year later he became timekeeper and pay
master of the South Boston Iron Company,
which made heavy ordnance for the United
States government. In 1880 he went west and
engaged in mining for a short time. For five
years he was manager of the Santa Fe
National Bank at Sante Fe, New Mexico. In
1885 he returned east to become teller of the
Lincoln National Bank of Boston. This bank
and the Central National Bank were consoli
dated in 1896 and he remained with the con
cern until its failure in 1903. He has since
been bookkeeper of the Faneuil Hall National
Bank of Boston. He resides in Needham. He
is a member of the First Unitarian Church of
Needham, of which he was treasurer for ten
years, serving from time to time on church
committees. He is a Republican and has been
town auditor. He is a member of the Boston
Bank Officers' Association. He married, at
Needham, June 9, 1896, Susie Gay Mackin
tosh, born at Needham, February 14, 1875,
daughter of Curtis and Mary (Mason) Mack
intosh. Her father was a farmer at Needham ;
was town assessor. Children, born at Need
ham: 1. Helen, December 18, 1897. 2. Mar-
jorie, April 15, 1905, died April 22, 1905. 3.
Mason, February 25, 1907, died March 2,
1907. 3. Ruth, May 3, 1908.

The Cary family in England is one
CARY 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 (Cary) was lord of the
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
Cary was opposed to him; the king assaulted
and took the castle. In 11 53 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, was born
about 1200; married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir
Richard Stapleton, Knight.
(Ill) William de Kary or Karry, son of Sir
John, was born about 1230; married Alice,
daughter of Sir William Beaumont, Knight.
(IV) John de Karry, of Castle Karry, son
of William, was born about 1270; married
Phillippa, daughter of Sir Warren Archdeacon,
Knight. Sometimes the "de" was used, some
times not.
(V) Sir John Cary, son of John, was born
about 1300; married Margaret Boxon, of
Bozume of Clovelly in Devon.
(VI) Sir John Cary, Knight, son of Sir
John, was born about 1325; married Agnes,
daughter 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 Sir
John, was born in 1350 at Holway, in north
west Devon; married Margaret Holway; was
very noted, chief baron of the exchequer,
judge. After King Richard II was put to
death by Henry IV, Sir John was banished
and all his goods and lands confiscated to the
crown. He died at Waterford, Ireland, four
years later, 1404.
(VIII) Sir Robert Cary, son of Sir John,
was born about 1375. He married Elizabeth,
daughter of Philip Courtenay, Knight. He
married (second) Jane, daughter of Sir Will
iam Hanchford, Knight. He defeated in single
combat a Knight of Arragon, for which Henry
V restored to him a good part of his father's
land, 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,
was born about 1400. He married Christian
Orchard and died 1437.
(X) Sir William Cary, Knight, son of Sir
Philip, was born 1437. He married Elizabeth
Paulett. He was known as the knight of
Cockington. He took part in the war of the

MASSACHUSETTS.

27

Roses on the Lancaster side. His side suffered
defeat at the battle of Tewksbury, May 4,
147 1, 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 pardon and two days later were beheaded.
His property was confiscated, but Henry VII
restored it to his son later. William left two
sons: 1. Robert, born 1460, mentioned below.
2. Thomas, born 1466.
(XI) Robert Cary, son of Sir William, 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. He mar
ried (second) Agnes, daughter of Sir William
Hody, and they had one son, William, born
about 1500, mentioned below. He married
(third) Margaret Fulkeram, and had a son
Robert, born about 15 10. He died in 1540,
and has a monument in Clovelly church.
(XII) William Cary, son of Robert, was
born about 1500. He was sheriff of Somerset
shire 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, was born in Bristol, in 1525, and died
in 1670.
(XIV) William Cary, eldest son of Robert
Cary, was born October 3, 1560. He was
sheriff of Bristol in 1599 and mayor in 1611.
He had eight sons, three of whom came to
America in 1634-35-40 respectively.
(XV) James Cary, son of William Cary,
born in Bristol, Somersetshire, England, came
to America with two brothers, of whom Miles
settled in Virginia and John in Bridgewater,
Massachusetts. James settled in Charlestown,
Massachusetts, where he was admitted to the
church, May 3, 1647. He was a draper and
merchant, clerk of the writs in 1650. His
wife Eleanor was admitted to the Charlestown
church, November 30, 1642, and died Novem
ber 9, 1697, aged eighty years. James Cary
died November 2, 1681, aged eighty-one. His
will was proved April 4, 1682, bequeathing to
wife and five children. Children: 1. Mehitable,
married William Welstead. 2. John, born
July 29, 1642. 3. James, born and died in
1644. 4. Nathaniel, born IVIarch 7, 1645. 5.
Jonathan, born January 15, 1646. 6. Elizabeth,
born September 23, 1648. 7. Joanna, married
a Mr. Wyman.
From these three brothers John, James and

Miles have descended a large family which are
located all over the United States and their
genealogical records will be found in the Cary
Memorials by General Samuel F. Cary, Cin
cinnati, 1874; American Family Antiquity by
Albert Wells, New York, 1880; and in "The
Cary Family in America" by Rev. Seth Cooley
Cary, Dorchester, Boston, 1907, but the narra
tive from this point will treat of Jonathan
Cary Ye Third, and his descendants.
Jonathan Cary, shipwright, of Charlestown,
Massachusetts, was born in England about
A. D. 1700. He is called "Tertius" in the
records. (I) Jonathan Cary and James, his brother,
were undoubtedly nearly related to John Cary,
of Plymouth, and James Cary, of Charlestown,
who came to Massachusetts eighty odd years
before ; but as the exact connection cannot be
traced authentically in this country, and as no
relationship has ever been claimed, their
descendants prefer that they should be con
sidered as the head of a separate and distinct
family in America. The connecting link can
be found only in the mother country, and will
be an interesting study for some of their
descendants. We know they all came from
Bristol, England, or its immediate vicinity. It
has always been the tradition in that branch of
the Cary family of which Jonathan Cary "ye
third" was the progenitor, that he, with his
brother James, came from the West of Eng
land (where the best of broadcloth was made)
aged about twenty-five years. The two brothers
landed at Charlestown, Massachusetts, prob
ably about the years 1722-23. The first records
we find of them are in the minutes of the Old
First Church, Rev. Simeon Bradstreet, pastor,
where we find that Jonathan and his brother
James were baptized adults, February 7,
1724-25. Jonathan was entered as "Jonathan
Tertius" (third), probably to distinguish him
from the Carys of the same given name then
living in Charlestown. The Carys have firmly
stood by the country of their adoption, having
assisted in its welfare in various ways to the
extent of their means and abilities. In those
dark days of the war of the revolution, we find
John Cary, son of Jonathan Cary, "ye third"
after having been burned out at Charlestown,
and having removed his family to a place of
safety, building boats for Washington's army
at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The war of
1812 finds Jonathan Cary (grandson of Jona
than "ye 3rd") enrolled in Boston to defend
that city against English invasion. The great
rebellion of 1861-65 finds descendants of all

28

MASSACHUSETTS.

branches of the family at the front in the
interest of freedom and the Union. The
knowledge of the fact that the early Carys
both in England and America were a worthy
people should be and is a matter of pride to
their descendants.
In 1739 Jonathan Cary bought land of
Henry Pownall at Charlestown for one hun
dred and ten pounds and part of this land he
conveyed later to his son John in 1772. When
Charlestown was burned by the British in
1775 he and his aged wife found refuge in
Reading and their names are on the list of
refugees to whom aid was given. His last
years were doubtless spent with his children.
His brother James married, in 1729, Rebecca
French, of Concord, Massachusetts, and their
only son died young. Jonathan married (first)
at Charlestown, October 30, 1724, Sarah Ray,
born 1699, baptized August 5, 1700, daughter
of David and Hannah Ray. Her father owned
the covenant in the Charlestown church, Sep
tember 26, 1696. He was born at Forfarshire,
Scotland, and baptized there. Jonathan married
(second) August 15, 1733, Sarah Edmunds,
born January 10, 1699-1700, daughter of John
Edmunds of an old Charlestown family. Chil
dren: 1. Jonathan, born July 6, 1725, died
young. 2. Hannah, April 17, 1728, married
Timothy Pike, of Bedford. 3. Samuel, Charles
town, July 26, 1730, died unmarried, October
23, 1815. 4. Sarah, 1731, died unmarried 1784.
Children of the second wife : 5. Thomas,
November 22, 1734, died April 28, 1748. 6.
John, May 29, 1736, mentioned below. 7.
James, May 21, 1739, died unmarried 1764. 8.
Nathaniel, March 10, 1741, died unmarried at
Charlestown. (II) John, son of Jonathan Cary, was born
at Charlestown, May 29, 1736, died May 12,
1790. He was a shipwright by trade and a
mast and spar maker in Charlestown. When
the British burned Charlestown he lost his
house on Maudlin street and removed tem
porarily to the malt house near the river,
thence to Reading, Massachusetts, where he
occupied half a house with a Bowman family.
He was employed by the government to built
boats at Cambridge. Later he returned to
Charlestown and lived in the old fort that the
British evacuated. He built a new house on
Maudlin street of timber hauled from Lexing
ton. His family Bible, printed in 1759, by
Thomas Basket, of Oxford, England, is in the
possession of his descendants. He married,
September 27, 1759, at Charlestown, Hannah
Edmunds, who died May 15, 1821, aged eighty-

six, daughter of David and Hannah Edmunds,
of Charlestown. John Cary and his wife were
both buried in Charlestown. Children, born in
Charlestown: 1. Hannah, October 14, 1760,
married Benjamin West. 2. John, March 27,
1763, died July 2, 1763. 3. Sarah, June 9,
1764, married Jacob Farnsworth. 4. Mary,
October 17, 1766, married Elias Farnsworth.
5. Jonathan, November 3, 1768, mentioned
below. 6. Elizabeth, October 4, 1771, died
May 26, 1853. 7. Rebecca, October 14, 1773,
married Samuel Burdett. 8. Nancy, Reading,
February 8, 1776, died at Boston, October 30,
181 1. 9. John, November 6, 1778, died May
8, 1828.
(Ill) Jonathan (2), son of John Cary, was
born in Charlestown, November 3, 1768, died
April 17, 1855, at Lexington, Massachusetts.
He was apprenticed in his youth to Samuel
Harris, spar-maker, who afterward admitted
him to partnership. He bought a lot of land
on Henchman's lane and built his house, work
ing with his own hand and making use of spars
and ship timber in the frame. Later he was
in partnership with Samuel Browne, owning a
mast-yard at Wheeler's Wharf, North Square.
He was enrolled in the war of 1812 for the
defence of Boston and the musket he carried
is preserved by his descendants. In 1827 he
bought a small farm at Lexington. He mar
ried (first) November 25, 1791, Jemima Green,
of Groton, who died February 27, 1797, aged
thirty-three. He married (second) December
31, 1797, Mary Harris, daughter of Samuel
and Lydia (Thornton) Harris. He married
(third) December 9, 1821, Abigail Hastings,
daughter of Isaac and Mary Hastings. His
widow died July 25, 1877, aged eighty-nine.
Children, born in Boston : 1. John, born Janu
ary 14, 1793, died May 11, 181 1, aged nine
teen. 2. Maria, born July 13, 1794, died March
4, 1808. 3. Sally, born 1795, died 1797. 4.
William Harris, born in the house on Hench
man's lane, December 23, 1798, engaged in
business as partner of his brother Isaac Harris
in Boston and later took charge of the New
York branch of the firm's business ; when the
business was divided he took the New York
store ; the firm of W. H. Cary & Company was
established at 243-5 Pearl street; in 1857 the
firm of Cary, Howard, Sanger & Company
built the Cary Building at 105 and 107 Cham
bers street, one of the first iron front buildings
in New York ; the business became one of the
largest among importers of fancy goods in the
country; Mr. Cary resided in Brooklyn; Was
a director of the Nassau Bank, the Nassau

6tC

Lewvs Historvca.1 Pul.Co

MASSACHUSETTS.

29

Fire Insurance Company, the Montauk Fire
Insurance Company, the Firemens' Trust
Company, the Home Life Insurance Company,
the Brooklyn City Railroad Company; he
bought the old Hastings homestead at Lexing
ton and remodeled the house for a summer
home. He married, March 4, 1828, Maria
Hastings, daughter of Isaac and Mary Hast
ings. 5. Samuel Harris, born July 22, 1800,
was a student in Munroe's law office, State
street, Boston, when he was killed by a fall
from his horse, December 3, 1814. 6. Nathaniel
Harris, born February 22, 1802, married (first)
1826, Sarah B. Floyd, who died October 3,
1835; (second) November 16, 1836, Ann Eliza
Wilson, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who
died August, 1840; (third) Mercy L. Bolton,
of Dover, Maine, July 2, 1844; child of first
wife: i. Maria, born July 13, 1827, married
David S. T. Hardy; she died December 15,
1871 ; children of third wife : ii. Isaac Harris,
born May 27, 1845 > m- Jonathan George, born
December 3, 1846, died October 4, 1869. 7.
Isaac Harris, born November 3, 1803, men
tioned below. 8. George Singleton, born Sep
tember 15, 1807, was associated with his brother
William FL in business and member of the
firm for many years, having charge of the
custom house department; resided in Brook
lyn and Babylon, Long Island ; married, Octo
ber 29, 1840, Mary Wellington, daughter of
Deacon David and Rebecca Wellington; chil
dren : i. William Harris, born September 5,
1841, died March 9, 1859; n- Mary Adelia,
born March 22, 1846, married, October 14,
1869, Nelson G. Carman, of Brooklyn. 9.
Mary Maria, born March 4, 1810, married,
August 28, 1862, John Hastings, of Lexington ;
she died August 22, 1887.
(IV) Isaac Harris, son of Jonathan (2)
Cary, was born in the old homestead on Hench
man's Lane, North End, Boston, November 3,
1803. He received his education in the public
schools. When a youth he was "bound out"
as an apprentice, but before he came of age
he bought his time, and started in business for
himself as a dealer in horn and ivory, Wash
ington street, Boston. He worked energetically
and tirelessly in his business, often starting as
early as one o'clock in the morning for Salem
where he bought goods of the importers in the
East Indian and African trade. A few years
later, in 1824, he and his brother, William H.
Cary, formed a partnership and engaged in the
dry and fancy goods business at 50 Washing
ton street, Boston. As their business increased
and prospered they built a granite front build

ing on Washington street for the store. In
1827 a branch of the business was established
at the corner of Wall and Pearl streets, New
York City, and this branch was the nucleus of
the great business developed by his brother
who took charge of it from the beginning.
Isaac was interested in the New York business
for several years, devoting his time exclusively
to the Boston concern. He finally sold his
business, and for several years conducted a
similar store in New Orleans, but disliking the
climate and other conditions there, he returned
to Boston and devoted his time and capital to
real estate. He bought large tracts of land
in the West Roxbury or Jamaica Plain district
of Boston, and developed the property, build
ing houses and selling building lots. His home
in Jamaica Plain was an extensive estate
among the famous pudding stone rocks of that
section and he derived much pleasure in laying
out and cultivating his place. He had many
drives built through the spacious estate and
took pleasure in naming them and even the
prominent ledges he designated by names such
as Sunset, Jerusalem and Philippines. His
house was on Forest Hill street, attractive in
architecture and beautiful in its appointments.
The improvement and landscape work in
Franklin Park, near his home, was due in large
measure to his efforts and influence.
He was a typical self-made man, starting
without means and building up a large fortune ;
having a common school education and becom
ing a man of great learning and intellectual ,
attainments. He was upright as well as ener
getic, of sterling character and extraordinary
capacity for work, of strong will, sound judg
ment and pleasing manners. He was a natural
leader of men and his advice was sought by
all classes and conditions of men, especially
in his later years of ripened wisdom and
lengthened experience. He was a useful and
influential citizen, especially interested in the
affairs of his own section of the city. In early
life he was a Whig in politics, but became a
Republican when the party was organized and
continued one until his death. He was a promi
nent member of the Unitarian church and his
home was often the place of meeting for min
isters and prominent laymen of this faith. He
was an intimate friend of the pastor, Rev.
Robert Waterson, and a liberal contributor to
the support and work of the society.
He married, February 22, 1831, Phebe P.
Pratt, born August 15, 1803, daughter of Will
iam and Mary (Wyman) Pratt, of Roxbury.
Her father was. a currier. Mrs. Cary survived

3"

MASSACHUSETTS.

her husband a number of years, dying in her
ninetieth year at the homestead in Jamaica
Plain. She was sympathetic and generous by
nature, and throughout her life active and
liberal in benevolence. She was a friend of all
the poor and needy in the vicinity. She was a
prominent member of the Unitarian church.
Children, born in Boston: i. Susanna Eliza
beth, born July 28, 1832, was educated in
public and private schools in Boston ; now
owns and occupies the homestead in Jamaica
Plain where she is well known and highly
respected ; an active member of the Unitarian
church ; a zealous promoter of the New Eng
land Women's and Children's Hospital, of
which she is a director and member of the
executive committees ; interested in various
other charities and charitable organizations. 2.
Eliza Prentiss, born August 15, 1834, married,
September 22, 1882, Dr. Horace P. Farnham,
of New York City, a noted specialist in diseases
of the throat and lungs; now deceased; his
widow now resides in the city of New York,
and is well known in society there ; she has no
children. 3. William George, born August 3,
1836, died August 22, 1837. Later descend
ants of the Cary family reside in Brooklyn.

Captain Edward Johnson,
JOHNSON immigrant ancestor, was born
in Canterbury, county Kent,
England, and baptized there September 16 or
17, 1598, he was son of William Johnson. He
came to Charlestown with the first immigrants,
but soon returned to England, and about 1635
or 1637 brought his wife, seven children and
three servants, to New England. He was a
man of influence in the colony, and resided in
Woburn, where he held many important offices.
At the first meeting of the commissioners for
the settlement of the new town, he presented
a plan of the territory to be included within
the limits, and was appointed the first recorder
or town clerk. He was active in founding the
first church, and commanded the first military
company in Woburn. He was the author of
some unique lines at the beginning of the first
volume of the Woburn town records, and also
of "Wonderworking Providences of Sion's
Savior in New England." first printed in Lon
don in 1653. He was famous as a surveyor
and early explorer, and was appointed in 1665
by the general court to make a map of the
colony, in conjunction with William Stevens.
In 1672, after his death, the general court
passed an order regarding the chronicle of the
early history of the colony, which reads as

follows: "The court considering how many
ways the providences of God hath mercifully
appeared in behalf of his people in these parts,
since their coming into this wilderness, and us
of the colony in particular, do judge it our
duty to endeavor that a register or Chronicle
may be made of the several passages of God's
providence, protecting of and saving from
many eminent dangers, as well in transporta
tion, as in our abode here making provision
beyond what could, in reason, have been
expected, and preventing our fears many a
time ; so that our posterity and the generation
that shall survive, taking view of the kindness
of God to their fathers, it may remain as an
obligation upon them to serve the Lord their
God with all their hearts and souls." The
court, therefore, appointed a committee "to
make diligent inquiry in the several parts of
the jurisdiction concerning anything of moment
that has passed, and in particular of what has
been collected by Mr. John Winthrop Sen.,
Mr. Thomas Dudley, Mr. John Wilson Sen.,
Captain Edward Johnson, or any other; that
so, matter being prepared, some meet person
may be appointed by this court to put the
same into form; that so, after perusal of the
same, it may be put to press." No fuller
account of the origin and settlement of a town
of equal age in New England has been given
than that by Captain Johnson in his "Wonder
working Providence." He died in Woburn,
April 23, 1672. His will was dated May 15,
1671, and the inventory, returned May 11,
1673, gives the account of the estate as seven
hundred and five pounds, five shillings and six
pence. Of this amount about half was for
property in England. He married Susan or
Susanna  , who died March 7, 1689-90.
Her will was dated December 14, 1689, and
proved March 2, 1690-91. Her son John, with
whom she dwelt after her husband died, was
the sole beneficiary. Children: 1. Edward,
baptized November 7, 1619, married, February
10, 1649-50, Katherine Baker. 2. George, bap
tized April 3, 1625, married Katherine  .
3. Susan, baptized April 1, 1627, married
James Prentice. 4. William, baptized March
22, 1628-29, mentioned below. 5. Martha,
baptized May 1, 1631, married, March 18,
1649-50, John Ames. 6. Matthew, baptized
March 30, 1633, married (first) November 12,
1656, Hannah Palfrey; (second) October 23,
1662, Rebecca Wiswall. 7. John, baptized
May 10, 1635, married, April 26, 1657, Bethia
Reed. j
(II) William, son of Captain Edward John-

MASSACHUSETTS.

3i

son, was baptized in Canterbury, county Kent,
England, March 22, 1628-29, and came with
his parents to New England. He was a promi
nent citizen of Woburn, and was the second
recorder, succeeding his father. He attained
to high civic office and was assistant of the
colony. He was a military officer of several
ranks, from ensign to major. He was one of
those who resisted the policies of Governor
Andros. At one time he was in active service
in command against the Indians. He died
May 22, 1704. His will was dated May 10,
1695, and proved September 11, 1704. He
married, May 16, 1655, Esther Wiswall, who
died December 27, 1707, daughter of Elder
Thomas Wiswall, of Dorchester and Newton.
Children, born in Woburn: 1. William, Feb
ruary 26, 1656. 2. Edward, March 19, 1658,
mentioned below. 3. Ebenezer, March 29,
1660. 4. Esther, April 13, 1662, married,
December 17, 1685, Lieutenant Seth Wyman;
died March 31, 1742. 5. Joseph, June 14,
1664. 6. Benjamin, October 15, 1666. 7.
Josiah, January 15, 1669. 8. Susanna, June
29, 1671, married, June 6, 1704, Daniel Reed.
9. Abigail, October 4, 1674, married June 14,
1705, Samuel Pierce.
(Ill) Captain Edward (2), son of William
Johnson, was born in Woburn, March 19, 1658,
died there August 7, 1725. He was deacon of
the church. He was ensign, lieutenant and
captain of the Woburn military company from
1693 to 1724. He was in active service against
the Indians in the winter of 1704 and com
manded the company. His will was dated
August 5, 1725, and proved September 3, 1725.
He married (first) January 12, 1687, Sarah
Walker, died May 31, 1704, daughter of
Samuel and Sarah (Reed) Walker. He mar
ried (second) Abigail (Gardner) Thompson,
widow of James Thompson, and daughter of
Richard and Anna (Blanchard) Gardner.
Children of first wife : 1. Edward, born Octo
ber 12, 1687, died January 3, 1688. 2. Edward,
May 4, 1689, mentioned below. 3. Sarah, mar
ried (first) John Simonds; (second) Samuel
Richardson. 4. Esther, January 26, 1694, mar
ried, 1716, John Stearns. 5. Samuel, Febru
ary 21, 1696. 6. Abigail, married, December
11, 1717, Timothy Richardson. 7. Susanna,
January 14, 1701, married, May 23, 1722,
Samuel Jones. 8. Ichabod, April 22, 1703,
killed May 8, 1725, in Lovewell's fight. Chil
dren of second wife : 9. Elizabeth, November
6, 1705, married, January 1, 1723, Joseph
Winn. 10. Joseph, June 22, 1708.
(IV) Deacon Edward (3), son of Captain

Edward (2) Johnson, was born in Woburn,
May 4, 1689, died October 5, 1774. He was
corporal in 1715; ensign from 1716 to 1732;
lieutenant from 1733 to 1740. He was deacon
of the Woburn second parish church from
1741 to 1774, when he died. He married
(first) Rebecca Reed, daughter of Captain
William and Abigail (Kendall) Reed, of Lex
ington. He married (second) December 13,
1750, Esther (Mason) Coolidge, widow of Cap
tain Joseph Coolidge, and daughter of Joseph
and Mary (Fisk) Mason, of Watertown. He
married (third) February 19, 1755, Sarah
(Simonds) Wilson, widow of Samuel Wilson,
and daughter of James and Susanna (Blogget)
Simonds, of Woburn. She died March 12,
1775, aged eighty years. Children, all by first
wife: 1. Rebecca, born April 22, 1712, mar
ried, February 24, 1736, Ebenezer Wyman. 2.
Mary, October 26, 1713, married, June 3, 1735,
Enoch Richardson. 3. Edward, September 28,
1715. 4. Joshua, February 16, 1717. 5.
Eleazer, February 27, 1719. 6. Jonathan, June
13, 1720, mentioned below. 7. Nathan, Novem
ber 11, 1 72 1, married, 1749, Abigail Walker.
8. Abigail, July 15, 1723, married (first) June
5, 1744, Samuel Wilson; (second) November
10, 1761, Simeon Spaulding. 9. Ichabod,
December 23, 1724, died about 1758. 10. Lucy,
January 3, 1726. 11. Jonas, January 17, 1728,
died in the army at Lake George, 1755. 12.
Asa, February 16, 1729, married, February
22, 1753, Tamar Whitcomb. 13. Susanna,
October 23, 1730, married, May 2, 1753,
Joshua Kendall.
(V) Jonathan, son of Deacon Edward (3)
Johnson, was born June 13, 1720, died Novem
ber 30, 1793. He resided in Leominster at the
time of his marriage. In 1759 he was a soldier
in the French war. He was one of the alarm
list in Walker's company and went to Lexing
ton on the alarm, April 19, 1775. He married
(intention dated September 12, 1748) Sarah
Wilson, who died in Burlington, Massachu
setts, October 20, 1805, aged eighty-three years,
daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Simonds)
Wilson, of Woburn. Children: 1. Jonathan,
born February 1, 1751. 2. Jotham, November
28, 1753, mentioned below. 3. Sarah, baptized
August 8, 1756. 4. Sarah, born May 24, 1759.
5. Lucy, November 4, 1761, married, January
22, 1784, General John Walker. 6. Ichabod,
September 6, 1764.
(VI) Jotham, son of Jonathan Johnson,
was born November 28, 1753, died about 1827.
He resided in Burlington, Massachusetts,
removing there from the south school district

32

MASSACHUSETTS.

of the second parish of Woburn, where he was
living as late as 1798. He was in the revolu
tion in Walker's company, and answered the
Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775, and was a
member of the third foot company in Woburn
under Captain Timothy Winn in May, 1775-
He was a fifer in the militia from 1780 to
1782. He served five months in the expedition
to Canada in 1776. He married, February 23,
1775, Eunice Reed, daughter of Deacon Samuel
and Eunice (Stone) Reed, of Woburn. Chil
dren: 1. Eunice, born September 29, 1775
married, May 8, 1796, Samuel Caldwell. 2
Jotham, May 6, 1778, mentioned below. 3
Surviah, July 2, 1780 (baptized Sophia), mar
ried, January 7, 1810, Thomas Conn. 4,
Alpheus, Januaiy 1, 1783, died unmarried. 5
Lucy, March 8, 1785, married, April 10, 1808
Samuel Kent. 6. Susanna, August 9, 1787
married, January 11, 1810, James Reed Jr. 7
Lucy, March 6, 1790, married, April 15, 1818
Moses Hastings. 8. Edward, July 12, 1794
married, October 14, 1824, Hannah Gibson.
9. Elbridge, baptized May 7, 1797. died Novem
ber 7, 1799. 10. Elbridge, baptized June 29,
1800, died unmarried.
(VII) Jotham (2), son of Jotham (1)
Johnson, was born May 6, 1778, and resided in
Charlestown. He married, October 14, 1802,
Susan Tufts, daughter of Samuel and Mar
tha (Adams) Tufts, of Medford and Charles
town. Children, born in Charlestown: 1.
Charles Berkeley, April 12, 1805, married,
April 10, 1831, Elizabeth M. Jones. 2.
George, February 6, 1807, married Hepzibah
Frothingham. 3. Jotham, July 25, 1809. 4.
Martha Tufts, September 22, 1811. 5. Samuel
Tufts, February 1, 1814. 6. Henry, Novem
ber 27, 181 5, died 1817. 7. Henry A., March
18, 1818, mentioned below. 8. William,
March 20, 1820. 9. John Barrett, April 2,
1822. (VIII) Henry Augustus, son of Jotham
(2) Johnson, was born at Charlestown, March
18, 1818, died at his Glen Road home in
Jamaica Plain, Boston, in 1895. He was edu
cated in the public schools. He engaged in
business as a produce dealer and was very
successful. He was a Republican in politics
and took a prominent part in public affairs.
While living in Charlestown he was town clerk
and held other positions of trust and responsi
bility. In 1878-79 he represented his district
in the general court and demonstrated unusual
ability as a legislator, serving on important
committees and attending zealously to the
interests of his constituents. He was a promi

nent member of the Unitarian church for
many years. He made his home in his later
years in Jamaica Plain, Boston. Of strict
integrity and sterling character he won the
respect and esteem of all who knew him. He
married, June 5, 1851, Caroline Weld Dudley,
bora July 25, 1830, daughter of David and
Hannah (Davis) Dudley. (See Dudley XVI).
Children: 1. David Dudley, born in Jamaica
Plain, April 8, 1852, died unmarried March 8,
1902. 2. Caroline Louise, March 24, 1857, in
Newton, married Elbridge Gerry Dudley, a
distant relative, now a dry goods commission
merchant in New York City, residing at
Orange, New Jersey ; children : i. Davis
Thomas, born July 18, 1892, at Jamaica Plain;
ii. Elbridge Gerry Jr. ; iii. Caroline Weld. 3.
Mary Leslie, August 22, 1861, in Newton,
resides with her mother in the home at Ja
maica Plain. 4. Alice Maud, August 29, 1863,
died May 12, 1877. 5. Henry Weld, Decem
ber 25, 1867, mentioned below.
(IX) Henry Weld, son of Henry Augustus
Johnson, was born in Jamaica Plain, Boston,
December 25, 1867. He was educated in the
public schools. He was for a number of years
clerk in a mercantile house in Boston. At
present he is in charge of a large farm owned
by his mother in Townsend, Massachusetts,
devoting his time to the care of this and other
property of his mother. In politics he is a
Democrat, and in religion a Unitarian. His
only child, Edith Leslie, born January 1, 1898,
resides with her aunt at the homestead in
Jamaica Plain. (The Dudley Line).
Hugh de Sutton, progenitor of the Barons
of Dudley was a native of Nottinghamshire,
England. He married Elizabeth, daughter and
heir of William Patrick, Lord of the moiety
of the Barony of Malpas, county Chester.
(II) Richard de Sutton, son of Hugh de
Sutton, married Isabel, only daughter and
heir of Rotherick the son of Griffin.
(Ill) Sir Johri de Sutton, Knight, son of
Richard de Sutton, was the first , Baron of
Dudley. He married Margaretta De Somerie,
sister and co-heir of John De Somerie; Lord
Dudley probably lived and died in the town of
Dudley, England.
(IV) John de Sutton, son of Sir John de
Sutton, was the second Baron of Dudlev. He
married Isabel, daughter of John de Charlton,
Lord Powis. He died at Dudley in 1376.
(V) John de Sutton, son of John de Sut
ton, was the third Baron of Dudley. He mar-

MASSACHUSETTS.

33

ried Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Stafford.
He died at Dudley in 1406.
(VI) John de Sutton, son of John de
Sutton, was the fourth Baron of Dudley and
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was born in
1401 and died in the early part of the reign
of Henry VI.
(VII) John de Sutton, son of John de Sut
ton, was the fifth Baron of Dudley and Knight
of the most noble Order of the Garter, and
treasurer of the King's household. He mar
ried Elizabeth Berkley, widow of Sir Edward
Charlton, and daughter of Sir John Berkley,
of Beverston. county Gloucester.
(VIII) Sir Edmund Sutton, Lord Dudley,
son of John de Sutton, married (first) Joice
Tiploft, sister and co-heir of John Tiploft,
Earl of Worcester.
(IX) Thomas Dudley, son of Sir Edmund
Sutton, married the daughter and co-heir of
Launcelot Threkeld, Esq., of Tornorth.
(X) Captain Roger, believed to be son of
Thomas Dudley, was killed in the wars in
early life, about 1586. He left two children,
Thomas, mentioned below, and a daughter
who doubtless died in England.
(XI) Thomas, son of Captain Roger Dud
ley, was born at Northampton, England. He
was a clerk to his mother's kinsman, Judge
Nichols, and a captain in the low countries.
He was a steward to the Earl of Lincoln
and for some time resided in Boston, England.
He was one of the projectors, and later, De
cember 1, 1629, an undertaker of the Massa
chusetts Bay Colony. He was assistant March
18, 1629, deputy governor March 23, 1629-30,
at the last court held in England. He came in
the ship "Arabella" to Salem, Massachusetts,
and then in company with Governor Winthrop
to Charlestown. He was governor, deputy
governor or assistant every year of his life
afterwards. He died July 31, 1653, aged
seventy-six. He married (first) in England,
Dorothy  , who died December 27, 1643,
at Roxbury, aged sixty-one years. He married
(second) Katherine (Deighton) Hagborn,
widow of Samuel Hagborn. She had two sons
and two daughters by her first husband, and
two sons and a daughter by her second. She
married (third) Rev. John Allen, of Dedham,
and died August 29, 1671. Governor Dudley
made his will April 23, 1652, with- additions
April 13, May 28 and July 8, 1653. It ex
presses his desire to be buried in the grave of
his first wife; bequeathing to all his children
by both wives and to grandchildren, Thomas
and John Dudley, whom he had brought up.

Children of first wife: 1. Rev. Samuel, born
1610, in England, married Mary Winthrop.
2. Ann, about 1612, in England, married Gov
ernor Simon Bradstreet. 3. Patience, Eng
land, died February 8, 1689-90, at Ipswich;
married Major Daniel Denison, at Cambridge.
4. Sarah, baptized July 23, 1620, at Sempring-
ham, England, died 1659 at Roxbury ; married
Major Benjamin Keane; (second) Thomas
Macy, of Boston. 5. Mercy, born September
27, 1621, in England, died July 1, 1691, at
Newbury, Massachusetts; married Rev. John
Woodbridge. Children of second wife : 6.
Deborah, born February 27, 1645, died No
vember 1, 1683; married Jonathan Wade, of
Medford. 7. Joseph, September 23, 1647,
mentioned below. 8. Paul, September 8, 1650,
died December 1, 1681, married Mary Lev
erett, daughter of Governor John Leverett.
(XII) Governor Joseph, son of Governor
Thomas Dudley, was born at Roxbury, Sep
tember 23, 1647, when his father was seventy-
two years old. When he was about five years
old his father died, and he removed at the age
of six with his mother and step-father to Ded
ham. He attended the school of Master Corlet
at Cambridge, and at the age of thirteen en
tered Harvard College graduating in 1665.
He was admitted a freeman in 1672 and was
deputy to the general court in 1673-74-75, and
assistant in 1676 and each year but one until
1685. In 1675 he was one of the commis
sioners who treated with the Indians in King
Philip's war, and was present at the battle
with the Narragansetts in December, 1675.
In 1677 he became a member of the Ancient
and Honorable Artillery Company, and the
same year was chosen commissioner for the
United Colonies, and served until 1681, when
he was elected as agent to the Court of St.
James. In 1677 he was assistant and held
court in New Hampshire. Soon after he went
to England on political business. In 1685 he
was appointed governor or president of the
new government instituted by James II, serv
ing until Governor Andros took control in
December, 1686. In 1687 he was appointed
justice. He suffered with Andros at the
overthrow of his administration, and was con
fined in prison several months, being finally
removed to his house, and guarded there under
heavy bonds. Three hours later a mob seized
him at midnight and carried him to the jail
where the keeper 'refused to receive him, and
he was carried to the house of a niece, which
the crowd forcibly entered. At the request
of Governor Bradstreet, he returned to prison

34

MASSACHUSETTS.

to allay the fury of the mob. He was sent to
England for trial in 1690, returning later in
the year, having conciliated the king, and was
appointed chief justice of New York, being
removed from office on account of being a
non-resident. He went to England again and
stayed from 1693 till 1702, where he was
deputy governor of the Isle of Wight. He was
very popular in England. In 1702 he was ap
pointed governor of the provinces of Massa
chusetts and New Hampshire, and came to
New England to assume his office. He died
April 2, 1720, at Roxbury. He married Re
becca Tyng, who died September 21, 1722,
daughter of Judge Edward Tyng. Children :
1. Thomas, born February 26, 1670, gradu
ated at Harvard, 1685; died unmarried. 2.
Edward, September 4, 1671, died young. 3.
Joseph, November 8, 1673, died young. 4.
Paul, September 3, 1675, married Lucy Wain
wright; died 1 75 1. 5. Samuel, September 7,
1677, died young. 6. John, February, 1679,
died young. 7. Rebecca, May 16, 1681, mar
ried Samuel Sewall Jr. 8. Catharine, January
7, 1683, died young. 9. Ann, August 27,
1684, married (first) John Winthrop; (sec
ond) Jeremiah Miller; died 1776. 10. Will
iam, October 20, 1686, mentioned below. 11.
Daniel, February 4, 1689, died young. 12.
Catherine, January 5, 1690, married Lieuten
ant Governor William Wainwright. 13. Mary,
November 2, 1692, married (first) Francis
Wainwright; (second) Captain Joseph At
kins ; died November 19, 1774.
(XIII) Hon. William, son of Governor
Joseph Dudley, was born October 20, 1686,
died in 1740. He married Elizabeth Daven
port, daughter of Judge Addington Davenport.
Children: 1. Elizabeth, born May 16, 1724,
married (first) Dr. Joseph Richards, March
24, 1749; (second) June 27, 1765, Samuel
Scarborough; died November 1, 1805. 2.
Rebecca, May 28, 1726, married (first) Benja
min Gerrish; (second) October 14, 1775, John
Burbige, died January 30, 1809. 3. Lucy,
February 15, 1728, married, February 23,
1749, Dr. Simon Tufts; died November 18,
1768. 4. Catherine, December 2y, 1729, mar
ried Peter Johonnot; died June 28, 1769. 5.
Thomas, September 9, 1731, mentioned below.
6. Joseph, 1732, married Lucy  . 7.
Mary, August 10, 1736, married John Cotton;
died February 6, 1796. 8. Ann, married John
Lovell; died April, 1775.
(XIV) Thomas (2), son of William Dud
ley, was born September 9, 1731, died at Rox
bury, November 9, 1769. He married, April

26, 1753, Hannah Whiting. She married (sec
ond) in 1770, Colonel Joseph Williams. Chil
dren, born at Roxbury: 1. William, Decem
ber 25, 1753, married, February 2, 1774,. Sarah
Williams; died October 4, 1786. 2. Lieuten
ant Thomas, October 27, 1755, mentioned
below. 3. Paul, July 29, 1757, married, April
27, 1779, Martha Foster; died February 22,
1847. 4. Lucy, April 27, 1759, married, Sep
tember 11, 1783, Seth T. Whiting. 5. Cath
arine, March 20, 1761, married, December 27,
1779, Nehemiah Davis. 6. Rebecca, June 10,
1763, married, June 1, 1788, Major Nathaniel
Parker; died September 10, 1834. 7. Joseph,
April 29, 1765, died unmarried.
(XV) Lieutenant Thomas (3), son of
Thomas (2) Dudley, was born at Roxbury,
October 27, 1755, died there. He married,
May 14, 1778, Abigail Weld. Children, born
at Roxbury: 1. Hannah, April 11, 1781. 2.
Thomas, March 5, 1783, married Mary Bur
rill ; died February 23, 1826. 3. Abigail
(twin), March 11, 1785, died young. 4.
Samuel C, March 11, 1785, died at sea. 5.
David, August 23, 1787, mentioned below.
(XVI) David, son of Lieutenant Thomas
(3) Dudley, was born at Roxbury, August
23, 1787, died there April 1,1841. He was
president of the Traders' Bank at Boston.
He married, in 1814, Hannah Davis, died Feb
ruary 26, 1886, daughter of Moses Davis, of
Roxbury. Children, born at Roxbury: 1.
Rebecca D., April 27, 181 5, died October 26,
181 5. 2. Sarah W., November 19, 1816, died
January 12, 1817. 3. Abigail W., October 28,
1818, died young. 4. Mary A. D., August 9,
1821, married, October 13, 1841, William G.
Lewis. 5. Charles D., October 2, 1822, died
July 15, 1840. 6. Abigail W., November 27,
1824. 7. Julia M., February 2, 1827, died
March 16, 1827. 8. Caroline Weld, July 25,
1830, married, June 5, 1851, Henry A. John
son. (See Johnson VIII). 9. Hannah M.,
September 5, 1832. 10. George F., January
H, 1835-  James Johnson, immigrant
JOHNSON ancestor, born in England,
was an early settler in Bos
ton, where land was allotted him November
30, 1635. He was admitted a freeman of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, May 25, 1636.
He was a leather dresser or glover by trade.
He was a member of the Ancient and Honor
able Artillery Company in 1638; was chosen
third sergeant in 1644, lieutenant in 1658, cap
tain in train band in 1656. He was admitted

MASSACHUSETTS.

35

to the church, April io, 1636, and was chosen
deacon in 1655. He was found November 20,
1637, among the followers of Wheelwright
and Ann Hutchinson, for which he and others
were disarmed. He received the thanks of
the general court for his past services when
he resigned his commission as captain on ac
count of physical weakness. He was approved
to sell coffee and chocolate April 24, 167 1, and
in 1674 was given an additional privilege of
selling cider at his public house. He was
entrusted with the settlement of many estates
as administrator and was one of the execu
tors of the will of Major Robert Keayne. He
was a member of the committee of the militia
in 1664. He died about 1674. His house lot,
where he first lived, was at the corner of Court
and Sudbury streets, Boston. He had a garden
lot on the Common, which then went to the
line of the present Mason "street, between Tre-
mont and Washington streets. It was in the
rear of the houses facing Washington street,
on that part later known as Newbury street.
On this lot he built his second house in which
he lived during the latter part of his life. He
had on the lot also a barn and a slaughter
house in which he carried on his business as
glover. The lot was. situated between West
and Winter streets and was famous during the
early part of the nineteenth century as the
site of the Washington Gardens. Johnson had
a third lot, pasture land on the north side of
Beacon Hill, situated at or near the junction
of West Cedar and Cambridge streets. He had
another lot of land near the mill cove, and in
the rear of Middle or Hanover street, and later
a part of the estate on which stood the Green
Dragon tavern. On January 3, 1637-38, he
received a grant of eight acres of land at
Muddy River (Brookline), agreeable to the
consent at a general meeting for allotments
December 14, 1735 ; February 23, 1656, he
.was leased waste lands of the town on the
south side of the creek, paying four pounds
ten shillings per annum to the school as rent.
He took a mortgage July 23, 1654, on an acre
and a half of land on which now stands the
Adams House, and also on three acres at the
east end of Spectacle Island, in Boston Har
bor. In May, 1659, the general court granted
him a tract of land on the north side of the
Merrimac river at Naumkeag, and he ex
changed it in 1664 for a warehouse at Oliver's
Dock. His first wife Margaret died in Bos
ton, in March, 1643, and soon afterward he
married (second) Abigail, daughter of
Thomas Oliver. Children, all by second wife :

1. Joseph, born September 27, 1644, died Sep
tember 30, 1644. 2. Abigail, November 25,
1645, died young. 3. Abigail, February 12,
1646. 4. Elizabeth, April 21, 1649, died No
vember 11, 1653. 5. Samuel, baptized March
16, 1651, mentioned below. 6. James, twin,
born March 7, 1653. 7. John, twin, March 7,
1653. 8. Elizabeth, April 12, 1655, died Jan
uary 23, 1663-64. *9. Mary, March 27, 1657.
10. Hannah, November 23, 1659, died August
3, 1660. 11. Hannah, June 12, 1661.
(II) Samuel, son of James Johnson, was
baptized March 16, 165 1, died November 18,
1697. He learned his father's trade as glover,
and settled in Boston, later in Lynn. He mar
ried Phebe Burton, baptized at Hingham, May
12, 1644, daughter of Edward Burton, of
Hingham. In his will he mentions children:
Samuel, Edward, Jonathan and Elizabeth, and
his wife, who was executrix and principal
legatee. In a deed lib. 25, Suffolk county,
mention is made of Edward Johnson, mariner ;
Jonathan Johnson, chairmaker ; Richard Rich
ardson, of Lynn, shipwright, and the only
surviving sons and daughters of Samuel and
Phebe Johnson, of Boston. Children: 1.
Phebe, born August 31, 1670, died young. 2.
Sarah, June 10, 1672, died young. 3. Samuel,
December 15, 1676. 4. Edward, August 1,
1679. 5. Jonathan, August 1, 1683, men
tioned below. 6. Elizabeth, married Richard
Richardson. (Ill) Jonathan, son of Samuel Johnson,
was born in Boston, August 1, 1683. He was
mentioned in the will of his aunt, Hannah
Handley, who also speaks of her sister, Phebe
Johnson. His sister Elizabeth married Rich
ard Richardson, of Boston, shipwright, son of
Richard Richardson, of Lynn, and they re
moved to Lynn probably after their marriage.
Jonathan Johnson also settled in Lynn, prob
ably from the fact that his sister lived there.
About 1718 Richardson went to Falmouth,
now Portland, Maine, but returned to Boston
in 1723. Jonathan Johnsdn married, May 30,
1710, at Lynn, Sarah Mansfield, born Novem
ber 6, 1676, daughter of Samuel and Sarah
(Bar sham) Mansfield; (second) Susannah
 , who survived him. He died May 8,
1741, in his fifty-eighth year, and his grave
is marked with a stone. His will was proved
June 14, 1741. Children: 1. Mary, born De
cember 12, 1712. 2. Phebe, December 15,
1714. 3. Sarah, January 26, 1718-19. 4. Ed
ward, August 16, 1721, mentioned below. 5.
Jonathan, December 3, 1725. 6. Elizabeth,
September 14, 1726.

36

MASSACHUSETTS.

(IV) Edward, son of Jonathan Johnson,
was born in Lynn, August 16, 1721. He mar
ried, October 3, 1744, Bethia, daughter of
Joseph and Elizabeth (Potter) Newhall, of
Lynn. He resided in Lynn all his life. His
will was proved March 26, 1799. He was a
member of the Massachusetts provincial con
gress in 1755 and served on, several important
committees; was deputy to the general court,
1776-77. Children: 1. Elizabeth, born Aug
ust 6, 1745, married  Talbot. 2. Sarah,
March 1, 1746-47, married  Burrill. 3.
Martha, July 23, 1749. 4- Edward, August
7, I75I- 5- Joseph, January 8, 1753. 6.
William, October 13, 1754, mentioned below.
7. Bethia, November 15, 1756. 8. Jedediah,
October 14, 1758. 9. Micajah, February 1,
1761, died young. 10. Micajah, January 24,
1764. (V) William, son of Edward Johnson, was
born in Lynn, October 13, 1754. He married,
October 4, 1781, Mary Fuller, born in Lynn,
December 3, 1758, daughter of Nathaniel and
Hannah (Mansfield) Fuller. He settled in
Salem, where he died in 1800. He was a sol
dier in the revolution, in Captain Enoch Put
nam's company, Colonel John Mansfield's
regiment, during the siege of Boston, and was
on the list of those entitled to "bounty coats"
October 27, 1775. (Mass. Rev. Rolls.) Chil
dren: Hannah, Lydia, Samuel, menti9ned
below, Nathaniel.
(VI) Samuel (2), son of William Johnson,
was born in Salem, March 12, 1792, died
August 22, 1869, at Brookfield. He married,
June 30, 1825, Charlotte Abigail, daughter of
William and Abigail (Crosby) Howe, of
Brookfield. (See Howe VII). The following
sketch of Mr. Johnson is from the Boston
Advertiser the day following his death:
"He was a resident of Boston for sixty
years. Many of our older citizens will re
member him as a partner of Mr. Thomas
Brewer half a century ago, and subsesquently
of the firm of Johnson & Mayo, Johnson &
Curtis, J. C. Howe & Company. He was dis
tinguished by a singular union of shrewd judg
ment and methodical habits in business, with
the energy of an impulsive temperament. His
career was marked by the success which com
monly attends such qualities, when combined
as in his case with that scrupulous integrity
which springs from a keen sense of duties as
of rights. He was a man of rare tuitions. He
saw the expedient, the right and true, and
acted upon them while many other men were
deliberating. Results seldom disproved his

conclusions. The mercantile history of Bos
ton has furnished few if any more worthy
specimens of the honorable, liberal, Christian
merchant. Mr. Johnson retired from busi
ness with an ample fortune twenty-five years
ago. Since that time he has been largely en
gaged in the works of charity. The extent of
his benevolence can never fully be known. The
benevolent institutions of Boston — the col
leges and seminaries of New England and the
West; the large circle of religious organiza
tions supported by the Congregational churches
of the country, all found in him a constant and
liberal friend. But probably the largest ex
penditure in the aggregate was in the personal
care of a multitude of persons whose wants he
sought out and relieved — not only dependant
relatives, but young men beginning in life,
widows who had seen better days, reformed
inebriates struggling back to manhood, and
multitudes of those whom Dickens describes
as the 'quiet poor,' received his unostenta
tious and often secret bounty. His last illness
was long and depressing, and withdrew him
from his accustomed routine of activity for
two years. Its chastening influence was very
obvious in maturing his character and deep
ening his interest in the work of charity which
had been so large a part of his life. He was
for fifty years an habitual attendant at the
services of the Old South Church, Boston, and
a firm believer in the faith there preached."
Children: 1. Samuel, mentioned below. 2.
Charlotte A., twin, March 20, 1826, married,
June 6, 1849, Rev. James Howard Means, of
Boston. 3. George William, mentioned below.
4. Mary A., December 8, 1829, married, June
10, 1858, Professor Austin Phelps, D. D., of
Andover Theological- Seminary, author of
"The Still Hour;" graduate of the University
of Pennsylvania and of Yale Theological
Seminary; professor of Sacred Rhetoric at
Andover. 5. Dr. Amos Howe, mentioned
below. 6. Rev. Francis H., mentioned below.
7. Edward Crosby, mentioned below.
(VII) Samuel (3), son of Samuel (2)
Johnson, was born in Boston, March 20, 1826,
died August 13, 1899. He was a prominent
merchant of Boston. The Boston Evening
Transcript of Monday, August 14, 1899, said
of him: "Samuel Johnson, of the firm of C.
F. Hovey & Company, died suddenly at his
home at Nahant, Sunday morning, aged
seventy-three. While Mr. Johnson was for
some time unable to be at business, his death
yesterday came as a great surprise even to his
most intimate friends. Mr. Johnson had just

MASSACHUSETTS.

37

returned from a visit to his sister, Mrs. Austin
Phelps, at Bar Harbor. He met his end peace
fully and without pain, due to weakness of the
heart." Samuel Johnson received his education at
the Chauncey Hall School, and at the age of
sixteen entered the store of Messrs. Hovey,
Williams & Company, dealers in dry goods, in
Water street, and having admitted John
Chandler and Richard C. Greenleaf as part
ners, established there the retail business which
still continues. The firm name changed in
1848 to C. F. Hovey & Company. In 1850
Mr. Johnson wag admitted as a partner with
Henry Woods and William Endicott Jr. This
connection has been unbroken for half a cen
tury. Always giving strictest attention to
business, he gave twenty years of his time and
attention to engagements of fiduciary and
semi-public character. He was one of the trus
tees of several of the largest estates in the
city, and administered these important func
tions with conscientious fidelity. He justly con
sidered the most successful feat of his life to
be his financing of the great Payson estate,
valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars,
and which seemed doomed to entire dissipation.
Mr. Johnson, as receiver and trustee, success
fully managed its affairs, bringing order out
of chaos, paid to the creditors every dollar
due, and saved to the widow a handsome re
mainder. He also had charge of numerous
smaller trusts, and by excellent judgment and
absolute integrity lifted burdens from many
who were unable to care for themselves.
Among the public duties confided to him may
be named the many years of the chairmanship
of the standing committee of the Old South
Church, and subsequently its treasurership for
twelve years. In the former capacity he con
ducted the transference of the old property
to the new location, under decision of the
supreme court, which provides that all monies
accruing from the sale of the Old South
Church be transferred for the erection of the
new Old South Church. So devoted was his
service to his church and society that its mem
bers with one accord will surely say that to
no one among their number is the society more
indebted than to Mr. Johnson for its present
prominent and creditable position among the
churches of Boston. He was long a trustee
of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance
Company, the Provident Institution of Sav
ings, the Boston Young Men's Christian Asso
ciation, Mount Auburn Cemetery, and Whea
ton Seminary. He was a director of the

Webster National Bank, member of the cor
poration of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, president of the Massachusetts
Congregational Charitable Society, and of the
Boston Dispensary, and vice-president of the
Home for Aged Women. To all his various
duties he was faithful, devoting the energies
of a warm heart and a well balanced mind to
affairs always important, and often compli
cated, with the same attention he would give
to his private interests.
He married, March 29, 1859, Mary A. Stod
dard, who died in 1891, daughter of Deacon
Charles Stoddard. Mr. Johnson's funeral was
held in Old South Church, the house of wor
ship he loved so well, and a great congregation
assisted in paying a last tribute to one they
loved. President William J. Tucker, of Dart
mouth College, conducted the services, in the
absence of the pastor of the church. He was
buried in Mount Auburn cemetery, in the fam
ily-lot. All the large dry goods houses of Bos
ton were closed during the funeral out of re
spect to his memory, and the services were
attended by representatives from all the many
societies with which he was connected, as well
as by hundreds of friends and neighbors.
Children: 1: Wolcott Howe, mentioned
below. 2. Arthur Stoddard, mentioned below.
(VIII) Wolcott Howe, son of Samuel (3)
Johnson, was born April 9, i860. He attended
Noble's school, Boston, where he fitted for
college, and graduated from Williams Col
lege in the class of 1883 with the degree of A.
B. After several months spent in travel, he
started in business, October 29, 1883, working
up from office boy to partner in the firm of
C. F. Hovey & Company, having been admit
ted a member of the firm on August 1, 1899.
He is a director and one of the managers of
the Boston Dispensary. He is a member of
the Old South Congregational Church, and a
member of the standing committee of the Old
South Society, and a Republican in politics.
He holds membership in the University Club
of New York; University Club of Boston;
Country Club of Brookline; New Boston
Riding Club ; Kappa Alpha fraternity, the old
est Greek letter society in America. He mar
ried Fanny J. Betts, born January 29, 1867,
daughter of George Frederic and- Ellen (Por
ter) Betts (see Betts VII). Children:
Samuel, born December 7, 1896; George F.,
July 9, 1898; Rosamond, May 16, 1900;
Beatrice, July 5, 1903.
(VIII) Arthur Stoddard, son of Samuel
(3) Johnson, was born in Boston, June 4,

38

MASSACHUSETTS.

1863. He attended the Noble school on Win
ter street, Boston, and fitted for college there.
He entered Harvard in 1881, and graduated
in the class of 1885 with the degree of A. B.
He traveled extensively during the next two
years. He has been occupied in the manage
ment of his father's estate and other trusts.
In 1887 he was elected director of the Boston
Young Men's Christian Association, was after
ward treasurer for two years, and since 1897
has been president. He has served on the
board of management of the Home for Little
Wanderers since 1887; as member of the
board of management of the Home for Aged
Women ; vice-president of the City Mission
ary Society. He is a member of the University
Club and the Boston Art Club, and trustee of
the General Theological Library. He is an
officer of the Old South Congregational
Church of Boston. In politics he is a Repub
lican. He married, April 26, 1895, Jennie
Maria Blake, born April 29, 1869, graduate' of
Radcliffe College, A. B., class of 1891, daugh
ter of George F. and Martha Jane Blake.
(See Blake VII). Her father was a native
of Farmington, Maine ; her mother of Med-
ford, Massachusetts. Children: 1. Mary
Stoddard, born March 3, 1896. 2. Arthur
Stoddard Jr., May 11, 1899. 3. Alice Blake,
February 23, 1901, died February 27, 1901. 4.
George Blake, June 18, 1902.
(VII) Hon. George William, son of
Samuel (2) Johnson, was born in Boston,
December 27, 1827. He was educated in the
famous old Chauncy Hall school and at the
Boston Latin school. In his seventeenth year
he entered the importing and jobbing house
of Deane & Davis, Boston, and upon attaining
his majority became a partner in the firm, the
name becoming Deane, Davis & Company,
and later Davis, Johnson & Company. In 1850
this partnership was dissolved, Mr. Johnson
having accepted a proposition to engage in the
Mediterranean trade; and soon afterward he
sailed for Smyrna and other parts of the
Levant. Upon his return eight months later
he found the firm with which he was con
nected had become insolvent, and he was
obliged to change his plans. During the next
five years he was abroad the greater part of
the time, partly for pleasure, partly for busi
ness, visiting England, China and South
America. In April, 1856, he went to Brook
field, the home of his maternal ancestors, to
which he was much attached, for a temporary
residence ; and the following year, after his
marriage, he decided to make his permanent

home there. In i860 he decided to study law
and for that purpose entered the law office of
J. Evarts Greene, of North Brookfield, late
the editor of the Worcester Spy, and at the
time of his death postmaster at Worcester.
Mr. Johnson completed his studies in the office
of that distinguished Boston lawyer, Peleg W.
Chandler, was admitted to the Suffolk bar in
1863, and immediately opened his office in
Brookfield. To his law business he added
that of negotiating loans for eastern capitalists
on real estate in Chicago. For a time the two
branches of his business were conducted to
gether comfortably, but in course of time his
frequent absence from home to attend to Chi
cago matters interfered with his law practice,
and in 1868 he closed his Brookfield law office
and devoted all his attention to financial oper
ations. In 1870 he entered the manufacturing
field, engaging in the manufacturing of shoes
and boots in Brookfield, in partnership with
Levi Davis, under the firm name of Johnson
& Davis. Two years later the firm name was
changed to Johnson, Davis & Forbes. The
business was continued until 1878, when the
factory having been destroyed by fire and the
shoe trade depressed, the firm was dissolved
and its affairs wound up. Mr. Johnson re
sumed his law practice and the Chicago loan
business. A few years later he retired from
professional work, and has since then lived in
the enjoyment of a well earned ease. In the
local affairs of Brookfield Mr. Johnson has
always taken an active part, and was for many
years prominent in state affairs. He was
chairman of the board of selectmen of Brook
field and of the school committee for a long
period. He has been one of the trustees of
the Merrick Library since its foundation. In
1868 he was a delegate to the Republican Na
tional convention in Chicago and twelve years
later was an alternate to the convention which
nominated Garfield. He has served in both
branches of the state legislature, beginning
as a senator for the third Worcester district
in 1870, and was member of the house in 1877
and 1880. In the senate he was a member of
the committees ori probate and chancery, on
the library, on woman suffrage; and was
especially active in opposing the state grant
to the old Hartford & Erie railroad, later the
New York & New England, now operated by
the New York, New Haven & Hartford com
pany. In the house during his first term he
served on the committee on finance, and in his
second term on finance, and also on rules and
orders, and as house chairman of the commit-

MASSACFI USETTS.

39

tee on fisheries. In 1877, by appointment of
Governor Rice, he became one of the inspect
ors of the state primary school at Monson,
and under the act of 1879, organizing the
board of state charities,, he was appointed a
trustee of the state primary and reform
schools, and served several years as chairman
of the board. In 1887 he was a member of the
executive council, and was twice re-elected
(for 1888 and 1889), and served the entire
length of Governor Ames's term in the govern
orship, taking a leading hand in a number of
important matters. He was on the committee
on pardons and on the special committee for
the purchase of land and making plans and
estimates for the state house extension, since
carried into effect. On the latter committee
his services were especially efficient. Owing
to the illness of the governor, who was on the
committee, and the early retirement of the
third member, the entire work of carrying
through a number of delicate business trans
actions fell upon him ; and all interested bore
testimony to his satisfactory conduct of them.
Every purchase made without the intervention
of brokers, thus saving to the state the cost
of commissions. In 1889 he was a leading
candidate in the Republican state convention
for the nomination for lieutenant governor,
with the endorsement of a strong list of sup
porters, and on the first ballot received three
hundred and thirty-seven votes, a good por
tion of them coming from Boston delegates,
but the choice of the convention finally fell
on another candidate, and in the campaign
following he gave his successful competitor
the heartiest support. In December, 1889, he
was appointed to the state board of lunacy
and charity, on which he has served faithfully
for many years, occupying the position of
chairman since 1892, which he resigned on
account of sickness. In the presidential elec
tion of 1892 he was chosen one of the presi
dential electors, and as a member of the elec
toral college cast his vote for Benjamin Har
rison. Mr. Johnson married, February 24, 1857,
Mary Ellen, daughter of E. C. and Mary
(Abbott) Stowell, of Chicago, Illinois. Chil
dren: 1. Clara S., born June 7, i860, edu
cated at home, in high school of Brookfield and
Abbott Academy; married, June 7, 1882,
Loammi C. Thompson, of Springfield; chil
dren: i. Philip S., born September 14, 1883,
died August following; ii. Abbot Howe, born
July 5, 1885, attended Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, and is now connected with F.

B. Holmes's shoe factory in Chelsea; iii.
George William, born December 6, 1886, died
January 21, 1906. 2. Mary, born October 22,
1862, died August 1, 1864. 3. George H.,
born September 15, 1864, see forward. 4.
Alice R., born March 9, 1867, attended Brook
field high school, Mrs. Quincy Shaw's school,
Boston, and Smith College, from which she
was graduated with the class of 1899; studied
in Berlin, Germany; married, September 30,
1897, William A. Clark, of Northampton,
Massachusetts ; children : i. Alan R., born Feb
ruary 16, 1900 ; ii. Marion, March 25, 1903.
5. Ethel, born March 14, 1869, educated at
home and attended Brookfield high school two
years; Mrs. Quincy Shaw's school, Boston,
three years ; went abroad and studied lan
guages in Berlin. 6. Harold A., born Septem
ber 15, 1873, see forward. 7. Marion P., born
August 26, 1875, attended Brookfield high
school and Miss Capen's school at North
ampton for two years ; entered Smith College,
leaving it in his senior year on account of ill
health, and spent the winter months in Florida
and Colorado ; died at Brookfield, June 22,
1899. (VIII) George H., son of Hon. George
William Johnson, was born in Brookfield,
September 15, 1864, died of typhoid fever in
Columbia, Mississippi, December 6, 1903. He
attended the public and high schools of his
native town, and Phillips Academy at An
dover for three years He then entered the
employ of his uncle, John Roper, of Chicago,
wholesale dealer in groceries After about
three years he engaged in the lumber business
in Arkansas. He remained there and in Louis
iana several years, going to McHenry, Mis
sissippi, as general manager for the Fullerton
Brothers, remaining about four years, then one
year in Columbia, Mississippi, where he died.
In these several places he was general man
ager of the saw mills connected with the lum
ber business of the Chicago Lumber and Coal
Company. He married Mrs. Eliza Amsden
Fletcher, widow of William Fletcher, daugh
ter of Francis and Elizabeth Cotton Amsden,
of Mansfield, Louisiana. She had three chil
dren by her first and three daughters by her
second marriage, namely: 1. Mary Ellen,
born April 14, 1899. 2. Clara S., August 17,
1900. 3. Ethel, November 8, 1902.
(VIII) Dr. Harold A., son of Hon. George
William Johnson, was born in Brookfield,
Massachusetts, September 15, 1873. He at
tended the public and high schools of that
town, fitted for college in Phillips Exeter

40

MASSACHUSETTS.

Academy, and entered Williams College, from
which he graduated in the class of 1895 with
the degree of A. B. He then took up the study
of medicine in Harvard Medical School, and
was graduated in 1899 with the degree of M.
D. Fle volunteered during the Spanish-
American war and was made assistant sur
geon of the United States navy. He has made
a specialty of surgery and was surgical house
officer at Massachusetts General Hospital. He
was resident surgeon at the Lakeside Hospital,
Cleveland, Ohio, one year, and then took up
the practice of his profession in San Francisco,
California, removing after two years to Lynn,
where he has his office at 70 Broad street. He
is a successful practitioner. He married Cora
V. Meyerstein. They have one child, Harold
Stowell, born January 21, 1905.
(VII) Dr. Amos Howe, son of Samuel (2)
Johnson, was born August 4, 1831. He re
ceived his education at the Chauncy Hall
school, in Boston, and at Phillips Academy at
Andover from 1847 to 1849. He graduated
at Harvard College in 1853, and from the An
dover Theological Seminary in 1856. He was
five years pastor of the Congregational church
at Middleton, Massachusetts, and then studied
medicine at the Harvard Medical School from
1862 to 1865. He settled in Salem as a medical
practitioner, and studied at Berlin and Vienna
in 1869-70. He was secretary many years and
president two years of the Essex South District
Medical Society. He has written many medical
papers for the learned societies, and was
orator of the Massachusetts Medical Society
for its anniversary in June, 1883, and was
president of the society for two years. He
served two years in the general court, and
three years on the Salem school board. He
was secretary of the Essex Institute, deacon
of the Congregational church, and former
president of the Essex Congregational Club.
He was vice-president of the Harvard Alumni
Association in 1892-93. He married, Septem
ber 22, 1859, Frances Seymour, daughter of
Nathan, of Williamstown, and Mary A.
(Wheeler) Benjamin, of New York, mission
aries to Athens, Greece and Constantinople.
Children: 1. Samuel, born July 16, i860, see
forward. 2. Meta Benjamin, May 7, 1862,
married Francis H. Bergen, of Staten Island,
New York. 3. Amy H., July 23, 1865. 4.
Captain Charles A., July 13, 1868, resides in
Denver; member of National. Guard; real
estate and rental broker. 5. Philip S., Febru
ary 26, 1872, see forward. 6. Ralph S., May
16, 1878, died September 1898, in Spanish-

American war ; enlisted in Denver City Troop,
which later became Troop B, Second United
States Volunteer Cavalry, and attached to
"Torrey's Rough Riders."
(VIII) Samuel, eldest child of Dr. Amos
Howe Johnson, was born July 16, i860. He
was a student in the Salem grammar and high
schools, and took a three years' course at Will
iams College. He entered the employ of C.
F. Hovey & Company, in the capacity of clerk,
and in 1899 became a member of the firm.
He married Josephine, daughter of Edward
W. Forbush (see Forbush VII).
(VIII) Philip Seymour, son of Dr. Amos
Howe Johnson, was born February 26, 1872.
He graduated from the Salem high school
with the class of 1890, entered Harvard Col
lege with the class of 1894, leaving in 1895 to
go into business with the Francis A. Foster
Company, with whom he remained nine years
as traveling and local salesman, and was with
the same company in Chicago for a year and
a half, afterward with C. W. Whittier &
Brother, Boston, and now (1908) with Sar
gent & Fairfield. He is a Republican in poli
tics. He married, February 19, 1905, Edith,
daughter of George E. Atherton, of Brook
line. (VII) Rev. Francis Howe, clergyman and
author, son of Samuel (2) Johnson, was
born in Boston, January 15, 1835. He
was graduated from Phillips Andover Acad
emy in 1852, from Harvard in 1856, and
from Andover Theological Seminary in i860.
After a somewhat brief pastorate in Hamilton,
Massachusetts, he spent a year abroad, travel
ing in Europe and the East; and in 1867 went
to live at Andover, which he made his hpme.
From that time on he devoted himself to the
interests of country life, interspersed with
study, and occasional preaching and writing,
mainly on philosophical subjects. In 1882-83
he contributed to Bibliotheca Sacra a series
of articles entitled "Positivism as a Working
System," and from 1883 to i89i"he was on the
editorial staff of the Andover Review, to which
he contributed eighteen articles. In 1891 he
published a volume (Houghton & Mifflin, pp-
510) entitled "What is Reality — An Inquiry
as to the Reasonableness of Natural Religion,
and the Naturalness of Revealed Religion."
Since 1880 his summer home has been Bar
Harbor, Maine, and during the last ten years
he has spent many of his winters in Rome.
He married, June 6, 1867, Mary A. Dove,
daughter of John and Helen (McLaggan)
Dove, of Andover. He has two sons:

MASSACHUSETTS.

4i

Grahame Dove Johnson, and Reginald Mans
field Johnson. His second marriage was Oc
tober 24, 1894, to Mary Beach, daughter of
Hunn Carrington and Mary C. de Koven
Beach, of New York.
(VIII) Grahame Dove, eldest son of Rev.
Francis Howe Johnson, was born in Leaming
ton, England, October 8, 1870. He was gradu
ated from Phillips Andover Academy in 1888 ;
was with the 1892 class of Harvard till the
senior year, when he entered the Harvard
Medical School, from which he graduated with
the degree of M. D. After practicing a short
time in New York, he went with his wife to
Europe, where he spent some five years, study
ing some of that time in Berlin and Vienna.
In 1907 he returned and established himself in
Andover, Massachusetts, where he became
much interested in farming. He married, June
28, 1894, Julia Keim, daughter of Murray (M.
D.) and Mary (Keim) Weidman, of Reading,
Pennsylvania. (VIII) Reginald Mansfield, son of Rev.
Francis Howe Johnson, was born February 5,
1876, in Andover, Massachusetts. He gradu
ated at Phillips Andover Academy in 1894;
from Harvard College, 1898, A. B., and Har
vard Law School, LL. B. in 1891. He spent
one year after graduation in the law office of
Messrs. Ropes, Gray & Gorham, Boston, and
there, October, 1902, formed a partnership
with Theodore Hogue (Hogue & Johnson), 60
State street, Boston. This continued till" July
1, 1908, when he took an office, in the same
"building, on his own account. He married,
July 2, 1902, Julia Pierrepont, daughter of J.
Pierrepont and Antoinette Livingston (Water
bury) Edwards, of New York. His children
are: Helen Pierrepont, born April 13, 1903;
Elsie Livingston, October 23, 1904; Reginald
Francis, April 5, 1907. Since his marriage his
residence has been Milton, Massachusetts.
(VII) Edward Crosby, son of Samuel (2)
Johnson, was born November 1, 1839. He
attended the Boston Latin school, graduating
in 1856, and from Harvard College in i860
with the degree of A. B. He entered the store
of C. F. Hovey & Company as clerk in Sep
tember, i860, and about 1869 was admitted
to the firm, of which he has been a member
since. He enlisted in the civil war as first
lieutenant in Company H, Forty-fourth Mas
sachusetts Volunteer Militia, in August, 1862,
served full time with his regiment, and was
promoted to the rank of adjutant in May,
1863. For fifteen years he was trustee of the
Suffolk Savings Bank, resigning in 1905. He

is director of the Home for Aged Men, and
the Home for Intemperate Women. For a
number of years he has been treasurer of the
Old South Society, of which he is a zealous
member. He married, October 14, 1864, Alice
T. Robbins, born April 29, 1842, died Febru
ary 3, 1891, daughter of Rev. Chandler, D. D.,
and Mary Eliza (Frothingham) Robbins.
Children: 1. Charlotte Flowe, married Gov
ernor Curtis Guild Jr. 2. Alice Cornelia,
married John Lavalle, two children : John ;
Alice, died aged one year ten months. 3.
Mary Frothingham, married Vittorio Or-
landini, child, Edward, born August, 1907.

Thomas Faxon, immigrant ances-
FAXON tor, was born in England about
1601. He came to New England
with his wife Jeane and three children, before
1647. His name first appears at Dedham, when
his daughter Joanna was married to Anthony
Fisher Jr., September 7, 1647. He settled at
Braintree, Massachusetts, and was a prominent
citizen there. He was selectman in 1670-72
and deputy to the general court from Brain
tree in 1669. He married (second) September
5, 1670, Sarah Savill, widow of William Savill,
of Braintree. He died November 23, 1680.
Children : 1. Joanna, born about 1626 in Eng
land, married, September 7, 1647, Anthony
Fisher Jr. 2. Thomas, born about 1628-29 m
England, married, April 11, 1653, Deborah
Thayer, daughter of Richard Thayer. 3. Rich
ard, mentioned below.
(II) Richard, son of Thomas Faxon, was
born in England about 1630. He came with
his parents to New England and married Eliza
beth  . He died December 20, 1674.
Children: 1. Elizabeth, born March 26, 1655,
died April 3, 1673. 2. Mary, September 7,
1656, died September 14, 1657. 3. Mary,
December 19, 1657. 4. Sarah, March 13, 1659.
5. Josiah, September 8, 1660. 6. Thomas,
August 2, 1662, mentioned below. 7. Lydia,
September 1, 1663, died 1663. 8. Hannah,
September 1, 1663 (twin). 9. Ebenezer, De
cember 15, 1664, died March 27, 1665. 10.
Richard, June 21, 1666. 11. John, April, 1667,
died April 12, 1668. 12. Joseph, August 26,
1669. 13. Abigail, September 18, 1670.
(Ill) Sergeant Thomas (2), son of Richard
Faxon, was born in Braintree, August 2, 1662,
died in 1690, and was buried at Weymouth.
He was a farmer and inherited part of the
estate of his grandfather. He was a member
of the Phipps expedition to Canada, and was
a victim of small pox, which broke out before

42

MASSACHUSETTS.

the expedition sailed. His will was dated
August 4, 1690, and bequeaths to his two minor
children all his property; but if they die before
they come of age, he bequeaths "to my Honored
Mother Elizabeth Hubbard" and to "my hon
ored mother Basse — Mrs. Susanna Basse ;" to
sisters Mary, Abigail and Hannah Faxon; to
"Benjamin Hubbard, my loving brother" and
to others. He married Mary Blanchard, born
December 1, 1662, daughter of Nathaniel and
Susanna (Bates) Blanchard. She must have
died before 1690, as she is not mentioned in
the will. Children, born in Braintree: 1.
Richard, September 4, 1686, mentioned below.
2. Mary, 1689, married, May 7, 1707, Joseph
Deane. (IV) Richard (2), son of Sergeant Thomas
(2) Faxon, was born in Braintree, September
4, 1686, died May 5, 1768. He was chosen
town clerk of Braintree March 7, 1736, and
held the office seventeen years. He was cap
tain in the militia, town treasurer, justice of
the peace. He and his wife were members of
of the Middle Precinct Church, and he was
called "Gentleman" in the records. He and
his wife are buried in the graveyard near the
church. He married, December 29, 1709, Anna
Brackett, born July 18, 1687, died October 16,
1769, daughter of James and Sarah Brackett.
Children, born in Braintree: 1. Thomas, Octo
ber 29, 1710, married (first) September 22,
1746, Elizabeth Hobart; (second) September
14, 1753, Mrs. Anna (Porter) Clark; (third)
December 26, 1756, Phebe Hayden. 2. Mary,
March 8, 1712, married, April 3, 1735,
Nathaniel Thayer. 3. Abigail, July 26, 1715,
married, February 20, 1746, Caleb Thayer. 4.
Richard, November 2, 1718. 5. James, Novem
ber 7, 1720, mentioned below. 6. Sarah, April
12, 1724, died unmarried November 2, 1748.
7. Anna, June 3, 1726, died unmarried Novem
ber 2, 1748. 8. Azariah, March 23, 1731, mar
ried, November 1, 1753, Dorcas Penniman.
(V) James, son of Richard (2) Faxon, was
born in Braintree, November 7, 1720, died
June 21, 1797. He was a captain in the militia,
a man of influence, high social position, and
independent character. He was refused admis
sion to the Middle Precinct Church at a time
when there was trouble in the parish, on
account of some difference with a neignbor.
The following sentiment on his gravestone
expresses his feelings regarding the slight :
"Blest in the promised Seed, supremely blest,
His ransomed soul hath entered into rest;
Now insolence of pride, and priestly spite,
Shall strive in vain to rob him of his right."

He married (first) March 15, 1744, Relief
Thayer, Som March 11, 1723, died 1774,
daughter of Nathaniel and Relief (Hyde)
Thayer. He married (second) August 19,
1775, Mary Denton, widow, who died April 3,
1805, aged seventy-three. She was a school
teacher and taught school in Braintree after
her marriage, in 1765-72-75-77. Children, born
in Braintree: 1. James, October 6, 1744, men
tioned below. 2. Richard, November 10, 1746,
married, September 3, 1771, Susanna Spear.
3. Nathaniel, February, 1750, married, Decem
ber 31, 1770, Mary Vose. 4. Relief, January,
1752, married, July 9, 1784, Caleb French. 5.
Eleb, January 9, 1756, married, November 28,
1782, Ruth Ann Hathaway. 6. Caleb, October
6, 1758, married, January 14, 1794, Lydia
Hathaway. 7. Mary, August 29, 1760, died
unmarried 1827. 8. Elizabeth, July 26, 1763,
married, February 3, 1791, Caleb Hobart. 9.
Eunice, June 19, 1765, married, March 25,
1792, James Gridley.
(VI) James (2), son of James (1) Faxon,
was born in Braintree, October 6, 1744, died
October 5, 1829. He was in the revolution in
Captain Moses French's company, Colonel Pal
mer's regiment, in 1776, and in the company
of Hon. Thomas Cushing for the defense of
the Castle and Governor's islands from July
26, 1783, to January 24, 1784, and probably
saw other service. He was a shoemaker by
trade. He married (intentions dated May 20,
1775) Mary Field, born 1754, died Maj* 6,
1839, daughter of Joseph and Abigail (New
comb) Field. Children, born in Braintree : 1.
Nathaniel, February 17, 1777, mentioned below.
2. Joseph, January 21, 1779, married, April 9,
1806, Hepsy Adams. 3. Job, September 5,
1780, married, October 25, 1812, Judith B.
Hardwick. 4. Charles, March 1, 1783, married,
1805, Rhoda Morrill. 5. William, February
22, 1784, married, February 18, 181 1, Martha
Adams. 6. Mary, March 27, 1787, unmarried.
7. James, 1788, died October 14, 1807, by
falling from a tree. 8. John, January 17, 1791,
married, April 13, 1822, Lucy Hardwick. 9.
George, September 15, 1796, married, June
5, 1820, Abigail Baxter.
(VII) Nathaniel, son of James (2) Faxon,
was born in Braintree, February 17, 1777, died
August 17, 1 86 1. He went to Boston in 1800
and engaged in the boot and shoe trade which
he continued until 1836, and then resigned to
his eldest son. The sign of the "big boot"
was a prominent object over the door of his
store at the corner of Merchant's Row and
Market Square, and afterwards at 53 North

MASSACHUSETTS.

43

Market street. He acquired wealth but was
always modest and unassuming, esteemed for
his high character and blameless life. He mar
ried, October 15, 1801, Eunice Bass, baptized
November 3, 1782, died January 26, 1855,
daughter of Seth and Mary (Jones) Bass, of
Quincy. Children: 1. George N., born No
vember 8, 1803, married, October 18, 1855,
Cornelia T. Cutter. 2. Francis E., October 5,
1807, married, December 20, 1837, Lois M.
Knox. 3. Eunice Maria, February 11, 1810,
mentioned below. 4. James O., August 3,
1812, married, October 17, 1837, Harriet Fair
field. (VIII) Eunice Maria, daughter of Nathaniel
Faxon, was born February 11, 1810, in Boston.
She married (first) October 5,, 1827, Dr. Will
iam Grigg, born May 30, 1805, died 1836, son
of John and Maria (Pell) Grigg. She mar
ried (second) May 31, 1838, William A. Weeks,
born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, January
30, 1812, died June 20, 1854, son of William
and Abigail (Hubbard) Weeks. She married
(third) June 25, 1856, James H. Weeks.born
in Portsmouth, May 5, 1810, brother of her
second husband. Children, born in Boston:
1. Mary Pell Grigg, born May 31, 1834, adopted
by her grandfather, Nathaniel Faxon, and her
name changed to Mary Josephine Faxon ; mar
ried Edward W. Forbush. (See Forbush and
Johnson). 2. Eunice Maria Weeks, born July
28, 1839, married Horace H. Coolidge; chil
dren : William W. Coolidge, married 
Mills ; Lulie, married Alfred Hurd ; two chil
dren : Mar jorie, graduate of Radcliffe College,
and John, now at Harvard College; Alice,
unmarried; Charles H, deceased.
(The Forbush Line).
Daniel Forbush, immigrant ancestor, is be
lieved to have come from Kinellar, Scotland,
the son of Daniel Forbush, who died there in
1624. He was born about 1620 and was prob
ably one of the Scotch soldiers defeated by
Cromwell at the battle of Dunbar, and .sent by
him to the American colonies, where he escaped
with his brother William to Maine. The first
record of Daniel Forbush (Forbes or Farra-
bus) in this country is found in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, when he married, March 26,
1660, Rebecca Perriman, who is supposed to
have been a sister of Thomas Perriman, of
Weymouth, an apprentice in 1652 of Mrs.
Dorothy Hunt, and of Frances Perriman, who
married, June 8, 1654, Isaac Andrew, of Cam
bridge. On February 27, 1664, and March 17,
1665, Daniel Forbush was granted land at

Cambridge which he sold March 19, 1671, and
removed to Marlborough. His name is spelled
"Farrabus" in the deed. He could not write
and probably could not spell better than many
of his neighbors. The early records give a
multitude of variations in the spelling of the
name, which in later generations has been
spelled generally Forbush or Forbes.
Daniel Forbush settled in Marlborough not
far from 1681. His wife died May 3, 1677,
and he married (second) May 23, 1679, Deb
orah Rediat, of Concord, daughter of John
and Ann Rediat, of Sudbury. He died Octo
ber, 1687, at Marlborough, and his widow mar
ried (second) May 22, 1688, Alexander
Stewart. Children of first wife, born at Cam
bridge: 1. Daniel, March 20, 1664, married
Dorothy Pray. 2. Thomas, March 6, 1667,
mentioned below. 3. Elizabeth, March 16,
1669. 4. Rebecca, Concord, February 15,
1672, married Joseph Byles ; died January 28,
1768. 5. Samuel, 1674. Children of second
wife: 6. John, 1681, married Martha Bowker.
7. Isaac, October 30, 1682. 8. Jonathan, March
12, 1684, married Hannah Holloway; died
March 24, 1768.
(II) Deacon Thomas, son of Daniel For
bush, was born in Cambridge, March 6, 1667,
died in May, 1738. He removed to Marl
borough and resided probably in that part of
the town which was later set off as West-
borough. He was one of the founders of the
Westborough church, chosen deacon October
28, 1724, and signed the covenant next after
Ebenezer Parkman, the minister. His wife
was dismissed from the Marlborough to the
Westborough church, July 25, 1725. His will
was dated July 17, 1733, and allowed May 11,
1738. He was elected one of the first selectman
of Westborough in 1718, was moderator of
the town meeting; in 1721 was town treasurer;
in 1729 was one of the trustees to receive
paper money for the colony and to loan it to
the citizens. He married Dorcas Rice, born
January 29, 1664, died March 24, 1753, daugh
ter of Edward and Anna Rice, and grand
daughter of Edmund Rice, the immigrant.
Children: 1. Aaron, born April 3, 1693, mar
ried Susanna Morse. 2. Thomas, October 14,
1695, mentioned below. 3. Tabitha, April 6,
1699, married, February 2, 1727, Samuel
Hardy. 4. Rebecca, February 25, 1701, mar
ried, January 29, 1720, Simeon Howard. 5.
Eunice, February 13, 1705, married, August
22, 1727, Cornelius Cook.
(Ill) Deacon Thomas (2), son of Deacon
Thomas (1) Forbush, was born in Marl-

44

MASSACHUSETTS.

borough, October 14, 1695, and resided in
Westborough. He died intestate before 1783,
when the heirs agreed to a division of the
estate. He was a leading man of the town,
selectman many years, and town clerk several
years. He was admitted to the church De
cember 11, 1726, and his wife December 21,
1727. He married, January 6, 1719, Hannah
Bellows. Children : 1. Samuel, born October
30, 1719, married Margaret  . 2. David,
June 20, 1720, died young. 3. David, October
20, 1 72 1, mentioned below. 4. James. 5.
Hannah, August 4, 1723, married, June 19,
1746, Jonas Warren. 6. Thomas, April 23,
1725, died December 5, 1726. 7. Dorcas, Feb
ruary 28, 1727, married, December 18, 1749,
Oliver Whitney. 8. Thomas, March 27, 1729,
died February 22, 1731. 9. Ebenezer, April
27, 1731, married Lucy Bowker. 10. Hepzibah,
June 5, 1733, died July 15, 1734. 11. Eliza
beth, June 4, 1735, died August 1, 1736. 12.
John, May 2, 1737, died November 24, 1743.
13. Abigail, July 27, 1739, died October 2, 1740.
(IV) David, son of Deacon Thomas (2)
Forbush, was born October 20, 1721, died in
September, 1787. He was brought up on his
father's farm in Westborough, and soon after
his marriage settled in Grafton where he
bought the Ebenezer Flagg house on George
Hill. In 1784 he erected a new house. During
the revolution he was a member of the com
mittee of safety. He was in the train band in
1757, and April 19, 1775, was in Captain
Aaron Kimball's company, Colonel Artemas
Ward's regiment, which marched to Lexington
on the alarm. His will was proved March 4,
1788. He married in Westborough, May 4,
1749, Anna Whitney, baptized March 29, 1730,
died January 4, 1785, daughter of Nathaniel
and Mary Whitney, and sister of Eli Whitney,
the inventor of the cotton-gin. Children: 1.
Annah, born July 7, 1750, married, October 28,
J779> John Warren. 2. John, Upton, Decem
ber 20, 1751, died September 7, 1757. 3. David,
April 18, 1754, married Deliverance Goodell.
4. Jacob, February 20, 1756, died March 3,
1756. 5. Abigail, May 2, 1757, married Leon
ard Brigham. 6. Lois, September 27, 1759,
married  Wright. 7. Jonathan, Febru
ary 22, 1762, married Betsey Hayden. 8.
Jemima, May 21, 1764, married, May 5, 1791,
Sylvanus Morse. 9. Silas, May 19, 1766, men
tioned below. 10. Joel, July 29, 1768, died
September 20, 1776. 11. Ruth, November 15,
1770, died young. 12. Beulah, married, April
25» I799> Silas Hardy. 13. Mary, born Sep
tember 2, 1776, married Daniel Leland.

(V) Silas, son of David Forbush, was born
in Upton, May 19, 1766, died July 5, 1840.
He resided on George Hill, Grafton. In 1804-
05 he was a member of Captain Joseph Merri-
man's company of foot of the second regi
ment. He married, May 14, 1788, Rhoda Fisk,
born 1767, died September 26, 1825, daughter
of William and Jemima (Adams) Fisk. Chil
dren: 1. Prudence, born October 26, 1789,
died unmarried April 13, 1865. 2. Joel, Octo
ber 29, 1 79 1, married Ruth Eames. 3. Rhoda,
October 20, 1793, married, May 31, 1819, Jud-
son Southland. 4. Silas, November 17, 1795,
married Clarissa Eames. 5. Nancy, Novem
ber 15, 1798, married, February 3, 1824,
Nathaniel Smith. 6. Jonathan, March 10,
1802, mentioned below. 7. Calvin W., Sep
tember 8, 1805, married Elizabeth Fisk. 8.
Mary Ann, July 8, 1810, married, September
21, 1832, Leland Bacheller.
(VI) Jonathan, son of Silas Forbush, was
born in Grafton, March 10, 1802, died July
11, 1882. He was brought up on the farm and
attended the district school. Before the age
of twenty he went south and was for some
years engaged in business at Charleston, South
Carolina. In 1828 he was engaged in the shoe
and leather trade in Boston at 12 North Market
street. He remained in Boston in this business
for more than twenty years, being located in
turn at 1 Vernon street, 2 Blackstone street,
and residing at 23 Bowdoin street. He was
one of the original directors and managers of
the Shoe and Leather Dealers' Bank which
was formed in 1836. He was an active mem
ber of the Bowdoin Street Congregational
Church. In 1848 he purchased a large estate
at Bolton from S. V. S. Wilder, and carried
on this estate the remainder of his life. He
was a man honored in the community for his
high principles and strict integrity. He mar
ried (first) September 7, 1829, Louisa Wood,
who died May 11, 1837. He married (second)
June 13, 1855, Carrie Waters, born January
17, 1826, died August 7, 1886. Children: 1.
Theodore Henry, born October 15, 1831, died
October 5, 1886. 2. Edward W., October 6,
1833, mentioned below. 3. Walter J., June 8,
1856, died June 16, i860. 4. Caroline Louise,
October 31, i860. 5. Harriet W., June 10,
1865. (VII) Edward W., son of Jonathan For
bush, was born October 6, 1833, died Decem
ber 18, 1880. He resided in Boston. He
graduated at Harvard in 1854 and subsequently
engaged in business until 1872. He was some
what of a journalist, and his contributions to

MASSACHUSETTS.

45

several newspapers were scholarly productions.
He married, November 8, 1858, Mary Jose
phine Faxon. (See Faxon VIII). Children:
1. Ada, born August 28, 1859. 2- Josephine,
March 3, 1864, married Samuel Johnsqn (see
Johnson VIII). 3. Katherine, November 23,
1865, died November 2, 1866. 4. Maria, Octo
ber 7, 1867. Samuel Stowell, immigrant
STOWELL ancestor, was born in Eng
land about 1620. He was
mentioned in the famous Hobart Diary as liv
ing in Hingham, Massachusetts, as early as
1649, and was then a proprietor of that town.
He married, October 25, 1649, at Flingham,
Mary Farrow, daughter of John and Frances
Farrow. He died November 9, 1683, and she
married (second) October 10, 1689, Joshua
Beal. Samuel Stowell's will was dated Octo
ber 27, 1683, and proved June 30, 1684. The
inventory showed property valued at one hun
dred and eighty-five pounds. His home was
on Fort Hill street. Children: 1. Mary, born
October 16, 1653, married, February 25, 1682-
83, John Garnet. 2. Samuel, July 8, 1655,
resided at Hingham. 3. John, March 15, 1657-
58, resided in Hingham. 4. David, April 8,
1660, mentioned below. 5. Remember, April
22, 1662, married, March 16, 1687-88, Thomas
Remington. 6. Child, September 5, 1664, died
September 21 following. 7. William, Janu
ary 23, 1665-66. 8: Israel, April 27,*l668, died
November 15, 1669. 9. Israel, August 10,
1670, settled in Newton; died 1725; weaver.
10. Elizabeth, June 7, 1673, married, December
14, 1699, George Lane. 11. Benjamin, June
3 or 8, 1676, resided in Hingham.
(II) David, son of Samuel Stowell, was
born in Hingham, April 8, 1660. He married
there December 4, 1684,  , and removed
to Cambridge. He married (second) at Cam
bridge, April 7, 1695, Mary Stedman, who
died September 27, 1724. He afterwards set
tled in Newton, where he was known as "Old
Stowell," and where he died. Children: 1.
David, married (first) Elizabeth  ; (sec
ond) Patience  ; died at Newton, Octo
ber 1 or 21, 1724. 2. Benjamin, died at New
ton, November 29, 1729, unmarried. 3. Samuel,
clothier; resided at Watertown; died 1748. 4.
Ruth, married  Osborne. 5. John, men
tioned below. 6. Mary, married  King.
(Ill) John, son of David Stowell, was born
probably in Watertown, where his father lived,
about 1690. He married, November 1, 1722,
Sarah Ford, of Weymouth. He settled at

Watertown and was a constable there in 1737.
Fle lived at Newton earlier and bought land on
the . Boston road at Newton of Obadiah
Coolidge, March 5, 1718-19, removing to
Watertown after 1723. Apparently he hesi
tated between Sturbridge and Worchester,
about 1740. John Stowell, of Watertown, sold
land at Sturbridge, December 2, 1742, to Amos
Shumway; also to John Rion (Ryan) of Stur
bridge, October 26, 1742. In 1744 he was of
Worcester and sold more land at Sturbridge
to his son-in-law, David Curtis, of Sturbridge,
November 26, 1744. He bought his first-land in
Worcester in 1743 of Abisha Rice, who inherit
ed it from Thomas Rice. He mortgaged land
to Elizabeth Dudley, widow of William Dud
ley, January 28, 1746, part of his Worcester
property. He mortgaged land to John Chand
ler, April 13, 1754, at Worcester. Another
deed or mortgage to John Chandler is dated at
Worcester, July 23, 1757. The homestead at
Worcester was deeded to his son Benjamin,
who contracted to support and care for his
father the remainder of his life for the prop
erty, July 18, 1759. John Stowell and Thomas
Rice joined in a deed of ninety acres of land
which they bought of John Barber, November
28, 1752. The land was in Worcester and was
sold to Francis Cutting, of Shrewsbury. John
Stowell was of Worcester when he died in
1762 and his eldest son, John, of Petersham,
was administrator of the estate. The inventory
was made by Nathaniel Moore, Cornelius
Stowell and Nathan Perry, December 3, 1762.
As he had given away most of his property,
the estate was small. Children, born at Water-
town, except the eldest: 1. Sarah, born at
Newton, August 14, 1723, married, at Stur
bridge, 1744, David Curtis. 2. John (not given
by Bond), 1726, settled in Petersham; mar
ried Sarah  . 3. James, born and died at
Watertown, July, 1728. 4. Benjamin, May 4,
1730, married, at Worcester, October 23, 1755,
Elizabeth Parker. 5. Hezekiah, December 25,
1732, mentioned below. 6. Jerusha, February
1, 1734-35. 7- Jemima, baptized March 6,
1736-37. 8. David, baptized April 6, 1740.
(IV) Hezekiah, son of John Stowell, was
born at Watertown, December 25, 1732. He
married Per sis Rice. Children : 1. Levi, born
at Worcester, January 8, 1759. 2. Elijah,
Petersham, February 2, 1764. 3. Persis,
Petersham, April 2, 1766. 4. Luther (perhaps
at Brookfield), mentioned below.
(V) Luther, son of Hezekiah Stowell, was
living in Woodstock, Connecticut, at the time
of his marriage. A branch of the Stowell

46

MASSACHUSETTS.

family lived for several generations at Pom-
fret, but Luther probably lived near the Stur
bridge line. He bought of Joseph Hyde, Jan
uary 12, 1801, a farm located partly in Stur
bridge, partly in the adjoining town of Brook
field. He was called of Brookfield, April 3,
1809, when he bought land of Amos Rice, of
Brookfield, and May 9, 1809, when he bought
of Daniel Hathaway, of Sutton, (mortgage)
land on the west side of South pond. Luther
Stowell deeded his farm to his son Luther Jr.
in 1823 and 1839. He built the house on the
homestead which is still owned by the family
and the house kept in good repair. He was a
farmer, and a leading citizen of the town. He
died in 1854. His will was dated May 28, and
allowed June 6, 1854. He married, March 12,
1796, Lucy Richardson, at Sturbridge. Chil
dren: 1. O'Shea, born at Sturbridge, Febru
ary 19, 1797. 2. Luther Jr., born December
22, 1798, at Sturbridge, died at Brookfield,
August 5, 1865; a prosperous farmer; repre
sentative to the general court in 1840 and i860
and selectman of the town; married, May 11,
1827, Sophia Barret, of Brookfield; he left no
children and his large estate went to his
brothers and sisters. 3. Ephraim Childs, born
June 17, 1802, mentioned below. 4. Edward
T., born in Brookfield. 5. Lucy A., born in
Brookfield, married John Jennings. 6. Harriet
N., born in Brookfield, married William Mason.
(VI) Ephraim Childs, son of Luther Stowells
was born on the homestead at Brookfield, June'
17, 1802. He was educated there in the public
schools, and followed farming during his youth
and early manhood. He removed to Chicago
in 1839, and was one of the pioneers in that
city. He bought a tract of land a few years
later in what was then considered as the south
ern limit of the town, located on a canal con
necting with the Chicago river and upon this
stream he built a saw mill and conducted an
extensive lumber business. He bought real
estate in other sections of the city and the
increase in its value as the city grew made him
wealthy. His business was prosperous also,
and he continued until 1854, when failing
health compelled his retirement. He then
returned to Brookfield where he died March 1,
1855. He was a very active and prominent
member of the First Presbyterian Church of
Chicago, of which he was one of the founders
and to which he gave generously until the time
of the anti-slavery agitation when the pastor,
Rev. Dr. Curtiss, declared his pro-slavery
views in a sermon which caused a great sensa
tion among his parishioners, and caused a

large section of those holding anti-slavery
views to leave the church and form a new
society. This new society — Plymouth Church
— was the first Congregational church of Chi
cago, and Mr. Stowell was one of the prime
movers* in its organization. He was foremost
in the controversy that followed the pro-slavery
sermon and he published a reply to Dr. Curtiss.
The effect of this movement, which resulted
in the establishment of Plymouth Church, was
far-reaching in its effects upon public senti
ment. It helped greatly to crystallize the
views of anti-slavery men. Mr. Stowell was
equally prominent- in the great temperance
movement that swept over the country in the
middle of the nineteenth century. He was
zealous but never offensive in the support of
his principles. He was respected by all who
knew him, and especially by those associated
in business with him. Of sterling integrity,
upright character, sound judgment, attractive
personality, he was an eminently capable and
useful citizen. And in the family he was
honored and loved as a kind, indulgent father.
This is the heritage he left to his children, and
they cherish his memory.
He married, May 29, 1828, at Brookfield,
Mary Abbott, daughter of Captain Lewis and
Polly (Nichols) Abbott. Children, born at
Brookfield: 1. Charles Abbott, born March
15, 1830, died in Shasta, California, January 1,
1855. 2. Jane, born in Worcester, March 13,
1832, married, October 4, 1854, Dr. Samuel
Rush Haven, surgeon in the civil war, of Chi
cago. 3. Mary Ellen, bom October 4, 1834,
died June, 1838. 4. Mary Ellen, born at
Maiden, August 23, 1838, married Hon. George
W. Johnson, of Brookfield (see Johnson VII).
5. Clara, born in Chicago, March 13, 1844,
died October 29, 1880 ; married S. G. W.
Benjamin, an artist and writer, som of Rev.
Nathan and Mary (Wheeler) Benjamin, first
minister appointed to Persia by the United
States ; one child, Edith, born in Salem, Mass
achusetts, October 20, 1869. 6. Edward Le
Roy, born March 29, 1846, mentioned below.
7. Adelyn, born- December 12, 1848, married
John Roper, of Chicago; children: i. John
Jr., coffee grower in Orizaba, Mexico; ii.
Eleanor, librarian at College Point, New York ;
catalogurer in Crerar Library, .Chicago, many
years ; iii. Julia Avery, an artist in New York
City ; iv. Thomas Avery, student in Massachu
setts Institute of Technology, class of 1910.
8. Frederick B., born June 27, 1850, married
Nellie Collar ; six children, two of whom sur
vive, namely : i. William, married Marguerite

MASSACHUSETTS.

47

White; one child, Jane Haven, born 1905; ii.
Helen, married A. Bertram Garcelon; one
child, Glenda Gay, born January 8, 1909;
resides at North Lovell, Maine.
(VII) Edward Le Roy, son of Ephraim
Childs Stowell, was born March 29, 1846,
died July 18, 1899. He attended the schools
of Andover, Wilbraham and Westfield, Massa
chusetts. He was with his uncle, Hanson
Abbott, in Milwaukee when the civil war broke
out and he enlisted at Madison, Wisconsin,
September 8, 1864, in Company A, Thirty-
eighth Regiment of Wisconsin, as a private
soldier. He married, March 31, 1870, Jennie
Cook, of Brookfield. They sailed almost
immediately for Germany and lived in Tiibinzen
nearly three years, during which time he
studied medicine, biit never practiced it. He
was also a writer of some ability. Previous
to this he had traveled some in Switzerland,
Germany and England. Susequently Mr.
Stowell purchased an orange grove in Anona,
Florida, and cultivated it with great success;
his death occurred there, and shortly after
ward his widow, three daughters and youngest
son, removed to Tampa, where they now
(1909) reside. Children: 1. Faith Haven,
born in Tubingen, Germany. 2. Hanson^
Abbott, born in Tubingen, Germany, is an
Episcopal clergyman and is settled at Bates-
ville, Arkansas. 3. Jennie, born in London,
England. 4. Mary, born in Philadelphia, Penn
sylvania, May 6, 1874, married Asa Lowe and
they reside in Tarpon Springs, Florida; chil
dren: Earl and Marion Lowe. 5. Edward,
born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, September
25, 1875, died the following July. 6. Charles
Edward, born at Maywood, Illinois, October
14, 1882, where his parents resided for five
years, removing to Florida in January, 1883. 7.
Katharine, born in Florida, December 26, 1887.

John How Esq., of Warwickshire,
HOWE England, was the ancestor of this
branch of the Howe family in
America. According to Hudson, the Marl
borough historian, the English ancestor was
descended from  How, of Hodinhall,
England, .and related to Sir Charles How, of
Lancaster, Lancashire, England, of the days
of Charles I. The family name is certainly
English, and the family itself very numerous
and distinguished in the old country.
(II) John (2), son of John (1) How, was
the immigrant ancestor and settled in Sudbury,
Massachusetts, as early as 1639.. For several
generations the name was spelled without the

final "e," but the common spelling now is
Howe. John How was selectman of Sudbury
in 1642 and in 1655 was appointed by the
minister and selectmen of that town "to see
to the restraining of the youth on the Lord's
Day." He lived in Sudbury nearly twenty
years. He was one of the petitioners for the
grant which constituted Marlborough, in 1755,
and sent there to live in 1657, the first white
man to make his home within the present
city limits of Marlborough. His cabin
was near the Indian Plantation, and as
a neighbor he became well acquainted with
the natives. Hudson states that he used to
serve as arbitrator for them in cases of dis
agreement and dispute. He opened the first
public house in Marlborough in 1670. He
died there in 1687 and in his will bequeathed
to his son Thomas among other items, "the
horse he troops on." His dwelling house was
situated a hundred rods from the Spring Hill
meeting house, a little east of the present road
from Spring Hill to Feltonville. His wife
Mary died about 1687. Children: 1. John,
born about 1640, married, January 22, 1662,
Elizabeth  ; killed by Indians in King
Philip's war. 2. Samuel, October 20, 1642,
married, June 5, 1663, Martha Bent. 3. Sarah,
September 25, 1644, married, June, 1667,
Samuel Ward. 4. Mary, June 18, 1646, died
young. 5. Isaac, August 8, 1648, married,
June 17, 1671, Frances Wood. 6. Josiah, 1650,
mentioned below. 7. Mary, June 18, 1651,
married, September 18, 1672, John Witherby.
8. Thomas, June 12, 1656, married (first)
Sarah Hosmer; (second) Mrs. Mary Barron.
9. Daniel, June 3, 1658, died 1661. 10. Alex
ander, December 29, 1661, died January fol
lowing. 11. Captain Eleazer, January 18,
1662, in Marlborough.
(Ill) Josiah Howe, son of John (2) How,
born in 1650 in Sudbury, Massachusetts, and
died in 171 1. His estate was administered by
his widow. He was a soldier in King Philip's
war, and was one of those who rallied in the
defense of the town when attacked by the
Indians. He married, March 18, 1672, Mary
Haynes, daughter of Deacon John Haynes.
She married (second) John Preseott. Chil
dren: 1. Mary, born 1672, died young. 2.
Mary, May 4, 1674, died young. 3. Josiah,
1678, mentioned below. 4. Daniel, May 5,
1681. 5. Ruth, January 6, 1684, married
 Bowker.
(IV) Josiah (2), son of Josiah (1) Howe,
was born in 1678 in Marlborough and settled
there. He married (first) June 14, 1706,

48

MASSACHUSETTS.

Sarah Bigelow. He married (second) No
vember 22, 1713, Mary Marble. Children of
first wife: 1. Phineas, born December 4,
1707. 2. Abraham, April 6, 1709, mentioned
below. 3. Rachel, November 30, 1710. Chil
dren of second wife : 4. Sarah, December 24,
1714. 5. Mary, May 22, 1716. 6. Josiah, De
cember 22, 1720, married Mary Goodale. 7.
Jacob, November 25, 1724, married Ruth
Swinerton. (V) Abraham, son of Josiah (2) Howe,
was born in Marlborough, April 6, 1709,
died May 12, 1790. He settled in Brook
field. He married Martha Potter, born
at Marlborough, 171 1, died at Brookfield,
December 20, 1791. Children, born at Brook
field: 1. Ephraim, November 23, 1733,
mentioned below. 2. Abraham, January
4, 1735, died January 20, 1756. 3. Abner,
June 28, 1736. 4. Sarah, October 24, 1738.
5. Rachel, March 19, 1741. 6. Martha, May
15, 1744. 7. Persis, July 23, 1749, died Febru
ary 7, 1760. 8. Eli, March 18, 1752. 9. Abra
ham, March 4, 1758, died October 19, 1779.
(VI) Ephraim, son of Abraham Howe, was
born at Brookfield, November 23, 1733. He
married, September, 1757, Sarah Gilbert, of
Brookfield. Children, born at Brookfield: 1.
William, November 15, 1759, mentioned below.
2. Molly, August 13, 1761. 3. Rachel, Octo
ber 6, 1763. 4. Sarah, January 11, 1766, mar
ried Simon Crosby. 5. Martha, February 15,
1768. 6. Lucy, September 24, 1769, married
Flavel Crosby. 7. Josiah, January 25, 1774,
died in Maine.
(VII) William, son of Ephraim Howe, was
born in Brookfield, November 15, 1759, died
there December 15, 1843. He was a trader.
His house was burned in January, 1798. He
married, November 2, 1780, Abigail Crosby,
born 1764, died February 14, 1816, daughter
of Jabez and Mary Crosby, of Brookfield.
Children, born at Brookfield : 1. Sally, August
3, 1782. 2. Nancy, November 5, 1784. 3.
Jabez C, February 5, 1787, married Lucretia
Pope ; died September 7, 1869. 4. Otis, Octo
ber 27, 1788, died young. 5. Otis, January 10,
1790. 6. William, November 20, 1792. 7.
George, April 9, 1795. 8. Amos, April 27,
1797, married Nancy Pope; died November
23, 1828. 9. Francis, March 14, 1799. 10.
Oliver, August 22, 1801, died November 3,
1872, unmarried. 11. Charlotte Abigail, Sep
tember 27, 1804, died September 16, 1805. 12.
Charlotte Abigail, January 19, 1807, married,
June 30, 1825, Samuel Johnson. (See John
son VI).

William Blake, immigrant ances-
BLAKE tor, was baptized at Pitminster,
England, July 10, 1594, son of
William Blake of that place. He married
there, September 23, 1617, Agnes Band, widow.
It is thought that she may have been widow of
Richard Band and daughter of Hugh Thorne,
of Pitminster, baptized January 12, 1594. In
the same parish in England four of the chil
dren of William Blake were baptized, but from
1624 to 1636 his place of residence is unknown.
He is believed to have come to America in the
fall of 1635 or early in 1636, and remained
at Dorchester or Roxbury, making the
acquaintance there of William Pynchon and
others who were considering*a plan of settle
ment in the Connecticut valley. At any rate
he was with Pynchon and his associates on
May 14 to 16, 1636, when they drew up and
signed the articles of the association at Aga
wam, now Springfield, and he was one of five
to assign the lots and manage the affairs of
the colony. He drew land there, but apparently
decided to return to Dorchester and settle.
He drew land in South Boston in March,
1637-38, and was admitted a freeman, March
14, 1638-39. He was a man of integrity and
ability. He was constable in 1641, selectman
in 1645-47, and in 1651 was 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. These offices he
held until within six weeks of his death, Octo
ber 25, 1663. He was also 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 Dor
chester. William Blake's estate was appraised
at two hundred and twenty- four pounds. Chil
dren:- 1. John, baptized at Pitminster, Eng
land, September 6, 1620, died at Boston, Jan
uary 25, 1688-89. 2. Anne, baptized at Pit
minster, August 30, 1618, died at Boston, July
12, 1681. 3. William, baptized at PitminsteV,
September 6, 1620, died at Milton, Massachu
setts, September 3, 1703. 4. James, baptized
April 27, 1624, mentioned below. 5. Edward,
supposed to be the youngest child; died at
Milton, September 3, 1692.
(II) James, son of William Blake, was
born in England and baptized at Pitminster,
April 27, 1624. He came to New England
with his father and married (first) about 165 1,
Elizabeth Clap, daughter of Deacon Edward
and Prudence (Clap) Clap. He married (sec-

MASSACHUSETTS.

49

ond) in Rehoboth, September 17, 1695, Eliza
beth (Smith) Hunt, widow of Peter Hunt and
daughter of Henry and Judith Smith, from
county Norfolk, England. James Blake lived
in the north part of Dorchester. His house,
built about 1650, was of such substantial char
acter that the town voted to model the par
sonage 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 purposes. 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
selectman thirteen years, later constable, deputy
to the general court, clerk of the writs, recorder,
sergeant of the militia. He was deacon of the
Dorchester church for fourteen years, and
ruling elder the same length of time. He
was often called upon as administrator and to
settle estates. He died June 28, 1700, leaving
a will dated two days before his death. His
estate was valued at four hundred and sev
enty-three pounds. He and his wife are
buried in the old graveyard at Dorchester,
and the stones that mark their graves are in
excellent condition. Children: 1. James, born
August 15, 1652, mentioned below. 2. John,
March 16, 1656-57. 3. Elizabeth, October 3,
1658. 4. Jonathan, July 12, 1660, died No
vember 10, 1660. 5. Sarah, February 28, 1665,
died May 22, 1666. Joseph, August 27, 1667.
(Ill) James (2), son of James (1) Blake,
was born at Dorchester, August 15, 1652, died
October 22, 1732. He married (first) Febru
ary 6, 1681, Hannah Macey, who died June 1,
1683, aged twenty-three years, daughter of
George and Susannah Macey, of Taunton. He
married (second) July 8, 1684, Ruth Bachellor,
born in Hampton, New Hampshire, May 9,
1662, died in Dorchester, January 11, 1752,
daughter of Nathaniel and Deborah (Smith)
Bachellor. There has long been a tradition
in the family that the first house upon Dor
chester Neck (now South Boston) was erected
by James Blake. An investigation made a few
years ago brought to light evidence that Cap
tain 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 Dor
chester 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
i— 4

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. Children: 1. Hannah, born Septem
ber 16, 1685, died October 2, 1686. 2. James,
April 29, 1688, married Wait Simpson ; died
December 4, 1750 ; author of "Blake's Annals,"
the original of which is in posession of the
New England Historic Genealogical Society.
3. Increase, June 8, 1699, mentioned below.
(IV) Increase, son of James (2) Blake,
was born at Dorchester, June 8, 1699. He
married, in Boston, July 23, 1724, Anne Gray,
born March 16, 1704-05, died June 20, 1751,
daughter of Edward and Susanna (Harrison)
Gray. He 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 chil
dren 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 was
an innholder on Merchant's Row in 1740.
From 1734 to 1748 he was sealer of weights
and measures. In 1737 he leased of the town
of Boston one of the shops on the town dock
at an annual rental of thirty pounds, and in
1744 requested a renewal. He died probably
in 1770. It is stated that he was buried in the
Gray and Blake tomb, No. 74, at the Granary
burying grounds. Children: 1. Ann, born
May 8, 1725, married Thomas Andrews; died
June 2, 1752 (Granary burying ground
inscription). 2. Increase, October 28, 1726,
mentioned below. 3. Edward, July 9, 1728,
married Rebecca Hallowell. 4. James, March
20, 1730. 5. Harrison, September 10, 1731.
6. William, September 14, 1732, married
Dorcas Ward. 7. Hannah, September 9, 1733,
married Colonel Thomas Dawes. 8. Susannah,
October 14, 1734, married Captain Caleb
Prince. 9. John, June 22, 1736, married Anne
Clarage. 10. Thomas, January 14, 1737-38.
11. Benjamin, May 9, 1739, married Elizabeth
Harris. 12. Joseph, July 5, 1740, married
Sarah Dawes. 13. Nathaniel, September 28,
1741, died October 15, 1741. 14. Ellis Gray,
September 9, 1743, married Jane Cook. 15.
Mary, August 17, 1745, married Simon Whip
ple. 16. Sarah, August 18, 1746, married
Joseph Bachelder.
(V) Increase (2), son of Increase (1)
Blake, was born in Boston, October 28, 1726,
and married there, April 18, 1754, Anne Crafts,

50

MASSACHUSETTS.

born January io, 1734, died March 21, 1762,
daughter of Thomas and Anne (White)
Crafts. A few years ago a gravestone with
her name and date of death was found on
Boston Common. He married (second) De
cember 7, 1762, Elizabeth Bridge, born 1731,
perhaps daughter of- Ebenezer and Mary
Bridge, of Boston. She died of small pox in
Worcester, November 22, 1792, aged sixty-
one years, and was buried in a pasture 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 living Christian." Mr. Blake was a
tin plate worker in Boston, having a shop on
King street, now State street, near the old
State Flouse. He is said to have supplied the
Provincial troops with canteens, cartridge
boxes and the like, but on refusing to make
them for the British troops was driven from
town. His wife was equally patriotic. Her
Bible, which is owned by Mrs. E. A. Knowl
ton, of Rochester, Minnesota, 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 which
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 undoubtedly 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 Lincoln Square and worked at
his trade. In 1780 and for a number of years
he was jailer. He died in Worcester, Febru
ary 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
pence — $1.92 — to be divided. Twelve of his
children were born in Boston, the thirteenth
at Worcester. Children of first wife: 1. Anne,
born August 9, 1755, died December 6, 1760.
2. Thomas, December 20, 1756, died young.
3. William, March 12, 1758, died September 7,
1759. 4. Elizabeth, died March 7, 1760. 5.
James, died January 22, 1762. 6. James, born
January 29, 1762, married, July 14, 1784,
Rebecca Cunningham. Children of second

wife : 7. Mary, November 5, 1763, married,
September 15, 1797, Andrew Tufts. 8. Persis,
March 31, 1765, married, December 8, 1790,
Samuel Case. 9. Thomas Dawes, October 23,
1768, mentioned below. 10. Ebenezer, May
31, 1 77 1, supposed to have been lost at sea.
11. Sarah, November 25, 1772. 12. Susanna,
April 4, 1774, married, August 3, 1800, George
Anson Howes. 13. Dorothy, June 15, 1781.
(VI) Dr. Thomas Dawes, son of Increase
(2) Blake, was born in Boston, October 23,
1768, died in Farmington, Maine, November
20, 1849. He spent his early days in Wor-.
cester and attended Dr. Payson's celebrated
school from which he graduated with the high
est honors of his class. He practiced for a
short time as a physician at Petersham, Mass
achusetts, but in 1799 settled in Farmington
Falls, Maine. He was a ripe scholar, and to
quote the history of Farmington, "possessed
of those strong virtues acquired during the
troublous times in which his early life was
spent." He married, January 3, 1802, Martha
Norton, born May 1, 1786, died September 30,
1873, daughter of Cornelius and Lydia (Clag-
horn) Norton, of Vineyard Haven, Massachu
setts. Children, all born in Farmington: 1.
Cordelia, April 19, 1804, died May 24, 1808.
2. Adeline, September 16, 1806, married, April
9, 1835, John F. W. Gould. 3. Martha, No
vember 12, 1808, married, April 27, 1828,
David C. Morrill. 4. Thomas Dawes, Febru
ary 4, 181 1, married, May 13, 1841, Hannah
D. Norton. 5. Increase, December 8, 1812,
married, September 26, 1844, Sarah Farns
worth. 6. Cornelius N., February 8, 1815, died
August 29, 1827. 7. Ebenezer Norton, July
30, 18 1 7, married, February 16, 1843, Harriet
Cummings. 8. George Fordyce, May 20, 1819,
mentioned below. 9. Jotham Sewall, February
6, 1821, died March 5, 1881. 10. Freeman
Norton, June 1, 1822, married Helen S. Baker.
(VII) George Fordyce, son of Dr. Thomas
D. Blake, was born May 20, 1819, at Farming-
ton, Maine, died in Boston, July 22, 1905. He
began his business career at an early age, and
before he was thirty held a responsible posi
tion 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 prominence. His greatest achieve
ment, however, was the Blake steam pump,
which he devised originally for use in his own
business. This pump was so successful that
he devoted most of his time and energies to its
manufacture and improvement. He must be

MASSACHUSETTS.

5i

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 manu
factured 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. He
married (first) at Lynnfield, Massachusetts,
January 1, 1845, Sarah Silver Skinner, born
in Lynnfield, June 18, 1821, died in Boston,
October 14, 1856, daughter of William and
Lucy (Aborn) Skinner. He married (second)
at North Sandwich, December 24, 1857, Mar
tha J. Skinner, born June 24, 1835, died June
2, 1897, a sister of his first wife. Children of first
wife: 1. Thomas Dawes, born at Cambridge
October 25, 1847, married, May 18, 1870, Susan
P. Symounds. 2. Sara Augusta, Cambridge,
December 6, 1853, married, October 21, 1885,
Roland H. Boutwell; died February 27, 1891.
Children of second wife: 3. George Fordyce,
Medford, February 9, 1859, married, April
29, 1885, Carrie H. Turner. 4. Grace Bertha,
Medford, August 30, 1863, died there Feb
ruary 29, 1868.. 5. Jennie Maria, Medford,
April 29, 1869, married Arthur Stoddard John
son. (See Johnson VIII). 6. Alice Norton,
Belmont, July 6, 1872, married James M.
Newell, June 6, 1901.

The Atherton family of
ATHERTON England had its seat in
Lancashire, and in their
manorial estate the town of Atherton lies ten
miles northwest of Manchester. Their lands
included rich coal mines and quarries, iron
works, and is the wealthiest cotton manufac
turing district in the world. The family had
immense possessions, and was one of the
wealthiest of the commoners of England. The
coat-of-arms of the family were : Gules, three
sparrow-hawks, argent. Crest : a swan argent.
Another crest : on a perch a hawk billed proper.
These arms hang in the private chapel of the
Athertons in Leigh, in the family vault.
(I) Robert de Atherton lived from 1199 to
1216, and was high sheriff of the county under
King John. He held the manor of Atherton
of the Barons of Warrington.
(II) William de Atherton held the manors
of Atherton and Pennington in 1251. By inter
marriage with the Derby family the title is now
vested in that line.
(Ill) William Atherton of Atherton in
1 3 12, married Agnes  .

(IV) Henry Atherton of Atherton from
1316 to 1330, married, in 1387, Agnes  .
(V) Sir William Atherton, knight, married
(first) Jane, daughter of William and sister of
Sir Ralphe, Woberly, knight; (second) Mar-
gerie, a widow, in 1396.
(VI) Sir William Atherton, knight, born
1381, died 1416, married Agnes, only daugh
ter and heiress of Ralphe Vernon, Baron of
Shipbroke. (VII) Sir William Atherton married (first)
Elizabeth, daughter of John Pilkinton, knight.
(VIII) Sir William Atherton married Mar
garet, daughter of Sir John Byron, knight,
and died 1441.
(IX) John Atherton had a son George,
mentioned below.
(X) George Atherton was born 1487, and
married Anne Ashton.
(XI) Sir John Atherton, knight, was born
1541, and married (first) Elizabeth, daughter
of Sir Alexander Ratcliffe, knight. The mar
riage was recorded in the visitation of 1533,
where the arms were also entered. He mar
ried (second) Margaret, daughter of Thomas
Caterall. He was high sheriff under three
sovereigns, in 1551, 1555, and 1561, and com
mander of the Military. Hundred in 1553.
(XII) John Atherton Esq. was born 1556.
He was high sheriff in 1583, and married
(first) Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Byron,
knight; (second) Katherine, daughter and
co-heiress of John, Lord Convers, of Hornby
Castle. (XIII) John Atherton was son of John and
Elizabeth Atherton. He had a half brother
John, daughter of Katherine.
(XIV) John Atherton, son of John the
elder, died 1646. He married Eleanor, daugh
ter of Sir Thomas Ireland, of Beansey, knight.
(I) General Humphrey Atherton, son of
Edmund Atherton, was undoubtedly of the
ancient English family whose pedigree is given
above. He is the first in the American line.
He was born about 1607-8, and lived in Win-
wick, Lancashire, England. He came to New
England in 1635 in the ship "James," with his
wife and three children, and settled in Dor
chester. He signed the covenant of the Dor
chester church in 1636, and was admitted a
freeman May 2, 1638. He was deputy to the
general court that year, also from 1639 to
1641, and in 1653 from Springfield, when he
was chosen speaker. The next year he was
chosen assistant, and soon after major-general.
He was much employed in negotiations with

52

MASSACHUSETTS.

the Indians, and made use of his influence
with them in a great purchase in Rhode Island.
He was thrown from his horse, by riding over
a cow, and died the next day, at Boston, Sep
tember 17, 1661. The manner of his death is
made a matter of comment by Hubbard as one
of the judgments of God. fle was captain of
the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company
in 1650. He married Mary, sister of Nathaniel
Wales, and probably daughter of John Wales,
of Idle, England. She died in 1672. He is
buried in the old Dorchester cemetery. His
epitaph reads :
"Here lies our Captain & Major of Suffolk was withal;
A godly magistrate was he, and Major General;
Two troop horse with him here comes, such worth his love
did crave
Ten companies of foot also mourning march to his grave,
Let all that read be sure to keep the faith as he has done
With Christ he lives now around his name was Humphrey
Atherton."
Children: 1. Elizabeth, baptized at Win-
wick, England, September 28, 1628; married,
1650, Timothy Mather. 2. John, baptized at
Winwick, December 26, 1629. 3. Isabel, bap
tized at Winwick, January 23, 1630 ; married
Nathaniel Wales Jr. 4. Jonathan, soldier in
King Philip's war. 5. Consider, mentioned
below. 6. Mary, born about 1647, married,
April 9, 1667, Joseph Weeks. 7. Margaret,
married, December 30, 1659, James Trow
bridge. 8. Rest, baptized, May 26,' 1639 ; mar
ried, March 15, 1661, Obadiah Swift. 9. In
crease, born January 2, 1641-2 ; lost at sea
about 1675. 10. Thankful, born April 29,
1644; married, February 2, 1665, Thomas
Bird, of Dorchester. 11. Hope, baptized Au
gust 30, 1646; graduated at Harvard 1665;
maTried Sarari Hollister. 12. Watching, bap
tized August 24, 1651 ; married, January 23,
1677, Elizabeth Rigby. 13. Patience, born
April 2, 1654; married July 7, 1685, Isaac
Humphreys. (II) Consider, son of Humphrey Atherton,
was born in Dorchester, and married there,
December 19, 1671, Ann Annable; (second)
Flannah  , who died April 26, 1687.
Children, born at Dorchester: 1. Humphrey,
born January 26, 1672 ; mentioned below. 2.
John, born May 5, 1677; died June 22, 1679.
3. Anna, born February 17, 1679. 4. Sarah,
born May 8, 1683.
(Ill) Humphrey, son of Consider Ather
ton, was born January 26, 1672, and died at
Stoughton, February 2, 1748. He married
Elizabeth  , who died at her son's house
in Dorchester, December 24, 1765, in her nine

tieth year. Children, born at Dorchester: 1.
Elizabeth, April 14, 1701. 2. Captain Humph
rey, June 5, 1707; died November 17, 1786.
3. Anna, May 3, 1710. 4. John, May 13, 1714,
mentioned below. 5. Consider, February 9,
1716-17. (IV) Deacon John, son of Humphrey Ather
ton, was born May 13, 1714. He married, Jan
uary 26, 1741, (intentions dated October 10,
1740), Rachel Wentworth, of Stoughton, born
March 13, 1714-5, died August 11, 1798. He
died at Stoughton, October 4, 1785. Chil
dren: 1. Elizabeth, born May 20, 1744; mar
ried  Tucker, of Milton. 2. John, born
July 21, 1747; mentioned below. 3. William.
4. Samuel.
(V) Deacon John (2), son of Deacon John
(1) Atherton, was born at Stoughton, July 21,
1747, and died there July 3, 1825. fle mar
ried there, July 27, 1768, Mary Adams, born
February 21, 1751, died June 26, 1843, daugh
ter of Rev. Jedediah Adams, and second cousin
to President John Adams. He was a soldier
in the revolution, sergeant in Captain Peter
Talbot's company, Colonel Lemuel Robinson's
regiment, answered the alarm at Lexington,
April 19, 1775 ; also corporal in Captain Robert
Swan's company, Colonel Benjamin Gill's
regiment, in 1777, on duty at Squantum when
the British fleet left Boston harbor. Children:
1. John, born December 2, 1769; married Feb
ruary 9, 1797, Sally Bird; died at Savannah,
Georgia, September 21, 1824. 2. Jedediah,
born March 3, 1772; married Hannah Drake.
3. Flumphrey, born January 20, 1774; died
August 31, 1778. 4. Mary, born March 21,
1776; died August 20, 1778. 5. Rachel, born
May 3, 1778; married Abraham Capen. 6.
Elijah, born July 25, 1780; married April 19,
1803, Ruth Tisdale; (second) Harriet Crane;
(third) Laura Gilmore. 7. Samuel, born Sep
tember 19, 1784; mentioned below. 8. Mary,
bora December 1, 1786; married May 29, 1810,
Abiezer Packard; died June 17, 1840. 9.
Nathan, born October 25, 1788; married July
6, 1823, Amity Morton; died 1858.
(VI) Samuel, son of Deacon John (2)
Atherton, was born September 19, 1784, and
lived on the homestead at Stoughton. He
married, February 28; 181 1, Abigail Pope, born
December 5, 1785, died March 19, i868,daugh-
ter of Ralph and Abigail (Soran) Pope, of
Stoughton. He was of an energetic tempera
ment, cheerful disposition, and a good con
versationalist when impediment in his speech
permitted, being afflicted with stammering, and
as he had a good voice and ear for music,

MASSACHUSETTS.

53

often sang what he wished to say, when he
found himself unable to talk well. He took
an active part in politics, and was selectman
of the town. He voted at every election from
1805 until* 1876, when his last vote was for
the Hayes electoral ticket. He was a success
ful farmer, and at one time owned the largest
amount of land in the town. He and his'
brother Nathan were among the founders of
the Stoughton Musical Society. Children: 1.
Mary, married William Balcher. 2. Vashti,
married James Swan. 3. Samuel, born Janu
ary 26, 181 5; mentioned below. 4. Abigail,
married Joseph Swan. 5. James, born May 6,
1819 ; mentioned below. 6. William.
(VII) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1)
Atherton, was born in Stoughton, January 26,
181 5, and was educated in the common schools.
Until twenty years of age he remained on the
homestead, and in 1835 went to Boston as
clerk for William Capen, shoe and leather
dealer. Two years later he took a position as
bookkeeper with Prouty & Company, Com
mercial street, wholesale hardware, for one
year. He then established himself in business
as a retail dealer in boots and shoes on Wash
ington street, in company with Edwin Battles,
under the firm name of Battles & Atherton.
The firm was dissolved the next year and Mr.
Atherton was employed by Caleb Stetson,
wholesale shoe and leather dealer, corner of
Broad and Central streets. On January 1,
1842, he was admitted into partnership, the
new firm being C. Stetson & Company. Three
years later Mr. Stetson retired from the firm,
still being a special partner, however, and the
business was conducted under the name of
Samuel Atherton. Three years later Mr. Stet
son again took an active interest, the name
being S. Atherton & Company, and two years
later, Atherton, Stetson & Company. In 1852
James and William Atherton were admitted
as partners, and continued the Stoughton man-
ufactury as their part of the work. In 1861
Samuel and James Atherton withdrew from
the firm, and soon afterward George E. Ather
ton, son of Samuel, was taken into the firm.
The business was one of the most successful
in its line in Boston. Mr. Atherton married
(first) September 16, 1841, Temperance Hol-
brook, who died February 24, 1849, daughter
of Colonel Joseph and Mary (Rich) Holbrook,
of Boston. He married (second) July 3, 1856,
Susan Baker, died May 18, 1858, daughter
of Captain Richard and Jerusha (Rich) Baker.
He married (third) October 6, 1869, Mrs.
Susan M. Holton, daughter of Joseph and

Margaret (Richardson) Bassett. He resided
a part of his married life in Charlestown, and
removed to Dorchester, where he occupied a
beautiful residence. Fle was director in the
New England Bank, Preseott Insurance Com
pany, Massachusetts Loan and Trust Com
pany, president of the Dorchester Gas-Light
Company, and connected with various other
corporations. In politics he was a Republican,
and a member of the legislature of the state
in 1867-70-77. In religion he was a Unitarian.
He was a man of eminently social qualities,
and had many warm friends. By his enter
prise and business sagacity he won a high
place in the financial circles of Boston. Chil
dren of first wife: 1. Thomas H. 2. George
Edward, born May 2, 1845 ; mentioned below.
3. Charles Francis, born May 2, 1847. 4.
Sarah Ann, born November 6, 1848; married
George P. Sewall, of Boston, and had Ather
ton and Mabel A. Sewall. Children of sec
ond wife: 5. Helen L., married Edward H.
Hawes, of Boston. 6. Susan H, married W.
Morton Robinson, of Lynn.
(VIII) George Edward, son of Samuel (2)
Atherton, was born May 2, 1845 ar,d died
October 29, 1905. He was a member of the
firm with his uncles and father. He married
(first) Emma Coffin; (second) Isabelle
(King) Ray. Children of first wife: 1.
George Edward Jr., married Corinne Mack;
resided in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 2.
Edith, married, February 19, 1906, Philip S.
Johnson (see Johnson). 3. Emma, married
John S. Lawrence, nephew of Bishop Lawrence,
and had Eloise Lawrence.
(VII) James, son of Samuel Atherton, was
born at Stoughton, May 6, 1819. He had a
common school and academic education, and
remained with his father until he was of age,
teaching several winter terms in the village
school. Soon after marriage he began the manu
facture of boots and shoes with his brother
William, under the firm name of J. & W.
Atherton. This firm was finally merged with
the firm of Atherton, Stetson & Company, the
Athertons being the brothers James, William
and Samuel. On account of failing health he
retired from active business in 1867, his con
nection with the company ceasing in 1861.
Although his health was never robust, he was
a man of energy, and devoted his time to his
business with zeal. He was a quick and ready
speaker, and in early life took great interest
in debating societies. He was a great reader,
and kept abreast of the times. In politics he
was a Whig and later a Republican. He

54

MASSACHUSETTS.

attended the Universalist church. His business
was conducted with system, and order, and all
his dealings were characterized by honesty and
justice. He married (first) May 5, 1853, Phebe
Reed, born February 9, 1831, died March 11,
1868, daughter of John and Phebe Reed, of
Boston. Her father was a civil engineer of
Boston for many years. He married (-second)
June 1, 1869, Mary B. Marshall, of Boston,
who died February 5, 1880. Children, all by
first wife: 1. James, born July 26, 1854; edu
cated at public schools and Dean Academy. 2.
William, born April 30, 1859; educated in
public schools and commercial college. 3.
Walter, born March 18; 1863; educated in
public schools and Phillips Andover Academy;
graduated at Harvard 1885; took degree of
C. E. in Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
1886; then special course in architecture;
worked as draughtsman five years, then studied
architecture in Europe two years ; started to
practice his profession in 1895 ; is a Republi
can in politics and Unitarian in religion.
(VII) William, son of Samuel (1) Ather
ton, married Mary Edwaids Dwight. She
resides at 144 Commonwealth avenue, Boston.
Children: 1. Mary Louise, died June, 1908. 2.
Frederick William, graduated at Andover,
1882; Harvard, 1886; resides in New York. 3.
Edward Dwight, resides at Pottstown, Penn
sylvania ; musician ; studied theory and compo
sition in Munich and Berlin, Germany, three
years, and published many vocal and instru
mental selections. 4. Percy Lee, graduate of
Boston Latin School, Phillips Andover (1899)
and Harvard (1903).

Thomas Betts, immigrant ances-
BETTS tor, was born in England in 1618,
and came to New England as
early as 1639. He was one of the founders of
Guilford, Connecticut. He was given a home
lot of an acre and a half, in the first division
of land in 1640, one of the most desirable lots
in the town, being situated next that of the
minister, Mr, Whitfield, on a rising ground,
before which the plain stretched as far as the
sound. He had also seven other tracts of land
containing about fifty acres. He took the
freeman's oath, August 14, 1645. He married
Mary  . Opinions differ as to whether
he came to Guilford from Milford or Wethers
field, Connecticut. On November 17, 1657,
he sold his "out lands" to Henry Kingsnorth,
and three days later he sold his home lot to
George Highland. He removed to Milford,
Connecticut, where he lived until 1660. In

that year he purchased the home lots of
Nathaniel Eli and Ralph Keeler, in Norwalk,
on the east side of the Norwalk river, later
selling half of it. He is called a planter. He
was admitted a freeman, October 13, 1664,
and received a grant of land in Norwalk. In
February, 1672, he appears in the census as
\ having the largest family in the town. His
name is prominent in certain church contro
versies in 1678. Appealing to the general
court to decide for them on the location of
the new meeting house, they being unable to
settle the matter, the court recommended that
they "solemnly commit the decision of this con
troversy to the wise dispose of the Most High,
by a lott." He was one of the petitioners
for the town of Wilton, in 1672, but may have
never lived there. He occupied the "Round
seat" in the meeting house. He died in 1688,
aged seventy years. His will was dated May
4, 1688. Among his possessions were "four
boxes of books." Children, born in Guilford :
1. Thomas, 1644, died 1717. 2. Mary, 1646.
3. John, June 20, 1650, married Sarah  ;
died about 1730. 4. Hannah, November 22,
1652. 5. Stephen, May 10, 1655. 67 Daniel,
October 4, 1657, mentioned below. Born in
Milford : 7. Samuel, April 4, 1660. 8. James,
born in Norwalk early in 1663, died July 6,
1753, "aged ninety years and some months."
11. Sarah, married, March 5, 1695-96, Joseph
St. John.
(II) Daniel, son of Thomas Betts, was born
in Guilford, Connecticut, October 4, 1657, died
at Wilton, Connecticut, February 8, 1758. He
received a part of his father's estate by will,
and purchased, January 11, 1685, the home
lot and house of John Hoyt. He made other
purchases later in Wilton. He was one of a
committee in 1726 to choose the minister, and
occupied the "forelong seat" in the meeting
house. He married, December, 1692, Deborah
Taylor, born June i,si67i, died about 1751,
daughter of Thomas and Rebecca (Ketcham)
Taylor. Children: 1. Deborah, born October
24, 1693. 2. Rebecca, August 4, 1696, married,
January 10, 1721-22, Samuel Crumman. 3.
Daniel, May 2, 1699, mentioned below.
(Ill) Daniel (2), son of Daniel (1) Betts,
was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, May 2,
1699, died in Wilton, July 10, 1783. A stone
marks his grave in the Wilton cemetery. He
lived in the south part of the "Kent farm"
which had been bought by his father, and con
veyed to the son by deed April 7, 1748. He
married Sarah Comstock, born March 25,
1707, died January 18, 1781, daughter of Cap-

MASSACHUSETTS.

55

tain Samuel Comstock, and granddaughter of
Hon. Christopher Comstock, and also of Rev.
Thomas Hanford, the first clergyman of Nor
walk. She and her husband were admitted to
the church February 13, 1732. He served on
the school committee in 1762, and was ^also
moderator of town meeting in 1777. During
the march of the British forces upon Danbury
in 1777 he was taken prisoner, but was soon
released. Children: 1. Josiah, born March 8,
1726. 2. Sarah, March 8, 1726 (twin), mar
ried Josiah Burchard. 3. Daniel, June 28,
1728, died October 8,- 1820. 4. Hannah, May
12, 1730, married, November 20, 1750, Ezra
Gregory. 5. Samuel Comstock, March 2, 1732,
mentioned below. 6. Elizabeth, married, Jan
uary 25, 1764, Zachariah Mead; died March,
1818. 7. Jesse, born December, 1734, died
October 6, 1742. 8. Ruth, February, 1737,
died October 2, 1742. 9. Abijah, baptized July
13, 1740, married Mary Betts; died December
30, 1817. 10. Timothy, baptized May 8, 1743.
11. Lydia, baptized June 29, 1745, died 1746.
12. Deborah, baptized June 5, 1748, died April
15, 1774, unmarried. 13. Reuben, baptized
July 1, 1753. 14. Elijah.
(IV) Samuel Comstock, son of Daniel Betts,
was born at Norwalk, March 2, 1732, died in
Richmond, Massachusetts, May 16, 1823. He
lived in Wilton until he was thirty-five years
old, and he and his wife were admitted to the
church there March 9, 1755. He generally
signed his name Comstock Betts. He was a
member of the second company of the ninth
regiment of foot companies, in September,
1767. In October, 1767, he removed to Rich
mond, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, arriv
ing there November 2. He owned a large
amount of land in that town. It is related of
him that even in his latter years it was his
custom to ride about his farms on horseback,
overseeing the work, still wearing the costume
of revolutionary period. He was of command
ing figure, over six feet tall. He was ninety-
two years old when he died. His will was
dated March 8, 1823. His son, Comstock, was
excluded from the will on account of his be
coming a Quaker. He married (first) June 5,
1754, Mary Taylor, born December 3, 1731,
died September 11, 1807, daughter of Reuben
Taylor. He married (second) her sister, Adah,
widow of Elijah Betts. She died February
9, 1831, aged eighty-four. Children, all by
first wife: 1. Mary, bora May 1, 1755, died
December 11, 183 1 ; married (first) 
Watrous; (second) Asa Parmelee. 2. Joel,
May 4, 1756, died April 5, 1790, unmarried.

3. Aaron, September 16, 1757, died April 3,
1833. 4. Preserved, August 12, 1759, married,
January 16, 1791, Elizabeth Eliot; died Febru
ary 1, 1818. 5. Uriah, February 25, 1761,
mentioned below. 6. Comstock, November 19,
1762, died December 18, 1845, unmarried. 7.
Zebulon, August 12, 1764, died November 27,
1828. 8. Lydia, August 2, 1766, died Novem
ber 22, 1861. 9. Enoch, May 4, 1768, died
June 6, 1822. 10. Amos, September 25, 1770,
died unmarried October, 1793. 11. Daniel,
August 22, 1772, died March 8, 1792, unmar
ried. (V) Uriah, son of Samuel Comstock Betts,
was born February 25, 1761, died August 10,
1841. He was in the revolution, serving in
nearly the whole of the war. He was in Cap
tain Nathan. Gilbert's company, Colonel John
Mead's regiment, in 1777; also a member of
Colonel Samuel Whaley's regiment. Four of
his brothers were in the revolution also. A
portrait of Uriah Betts from ah oil painting
by Catlin, the Indian painter, is in the posses
sion of his descendants. About 1840 he re
moved to Newburgh, New York, where he
died. He married (first) October 14, 1783,
Sarah Rosseter, born August 28, 1763, died
June 11, 1796, daughter of Hon. Nathan
Rosseter, of Richmond, and granddaughter of
Hon. Josiah Rosseter, of Guilford, Connecti
cut. He married (second) September 22,
1796, Rebecca Rosseter, born June 29, 1774,
sister of his first wife. He married (third)
at Wilton, April 21, 1833, Lucy Betts, born
October 22, 1787, died July, 1882, daughter of
Elijah Betts. Children of first wife : 1. Juliana
(twin), born September 5, 1784. 2. Julia
(twin), September 5, 1784. 3. Samuel Rosseter,
June 8, 1786, mentioned below. 4. Son, born
and died December 7, 1790. 4. Sarah Maria,
March 29, 1796. Children of second wife:
5. Amanda E., February 5, 1799, died October
17, 1857. 6. Frederic J., July 2, 1803. 7.
Nathan Comstock, November 18, 1809, died
July, 1882.
(VI) Judge Samuel Rosseter, son of Uriah
Betts, was born June 8, 1786, died November
3, 1868. He attended the public schools and
prepared for college at Lenox Academy, Lenox,
Massachusetts, and he was the first graduate of
this academy to graduate from college. He en
tered Williams College in 1802 and graduated in
1806. In 1830 he received the honorary degree
of LL. D. from his ahna mater. Soon after
graduating from college he was admitted to
the bar and began to practice law at Monti-
cello, Sullivan county, New York. He took a

56

MASSACHUSETTS.

leading place among the lawyers of that county
and was prominent in public life. In 1815 he
was elected to congress and served one term.
Afterward he removed to Newburgh, Orange
county, New York. In 1823 he was appointed
circuit judge of the supreme court of New
York and held that office until 1827 when he
was appointed by President John Quincy
Adams, judge of the UJnited States district
court for the southern district of New York,
and continued in that office until 1867, when
being nearly eighty-three years of age he re
signed, removing to New Haven, Connecticut,
where he died November 3, 1868. Through
out his long term of service on the bench he
presided with such dignity, courtesy, pro
fundity of legal knowledge and patience of
investigation that he came to be regarded as
almost infallible in his decisions. To him be
longs the high honor of having in a great
degree formulated and codified the maritime
laws of the United States. The complicated
rules of salvage, general arrearages, wages of
seamen, freighting contracts, charts, insur
ance, and prizes, owe their present well-
ordered system to Judge Betts. During the
first twenty years of his connection with the
district court there was never an appeal from
his decisions, and his opinions in his own court
on maritime questions and in the circuit court
on patents, have been uniformly upheld. In
1838 he published a standard work on "Ad
miralty Practice."
The following tribute to Judge Betts was
paid in court November 5, 1868, by Hon. E. C.
Benedict : "He came to this city from the
country, where he had been eminent at the
bar, and for some years Circuit Judge. He
came, therefore, with great familiarity with
the legal questions which occupied courts of
common law, but with little acquaintance with
those which an Admiralty Court must feel.
When he came here there was almost no busi
ness in the court. It did not then sit a week,
where it now sits a month. Thus he had leisure
to familiarize himself with the law of Ad
miralty, and he soon became one of the most
learned judges of that branch of the law. As
time went on the business of the court in
creased, and his business in Admiralty became
far more extended than that of any other judge
that ever sat on the bench. He, more than
any other man, formed the admiralty system
of the United States. .When he came to the
bench the British view of jurisdiction of the
Admiralty prevailed. He devoted himself to
that branch of the law in the spirit which be

longed to it of old, and which has since been
adopted by the jurists and courts of this coun
try, and his views have prevailed everywhere,
though at first they were a novelty. His deci
sions were always characterized by acuteness,
learning and research. If they had been care
fully reported they would have built up for
him a reputation which would have been like
that which the Chancery decisions gave to
Lord Stowell. But in those days the news
papers were not as they are now volumes of
report, and Judge Betts always seemed not
entirely satisfied with the form of his deci
sions, and was reluctant to publish them until
he had given them a more perfect finish, and
after I was appointed reporter of the Court,
many years ago, I did not succeed in getting
him to prepare them, before his greatly in
creased labors by the bankrupt Act of 1840
prevented his giving any attention to it, and
the idea was abandoned, until its importance
was destroyed by reports of other Courts.
Judge Betts was a man of urbanity and kind
ness to all who practiced before him. All who
practiced in his Court, young or old, always
felt that they had had full opportunity to be
heard, and that they had been treated with
uniform kindness and courtesy — an excellent
quality in a judge. We can hardly realize in
these days, when changes of judges are so
frequent, what it was to have a judge upon
the bench forty years, as he was. He reached
great age and gave to us all of the results of
a quiet and uniformly industrious life, of
moral and domestic virtue."
He married, November 4, 181 6, Caroline A.
Dewey, daughter of Hon. Daniel Dewey, of
Northampton. Children: 1. Maria Caroline,
born August 15, 1818, married, July 12, 1842,
James W. Metcalf. 2. Charles Dewey, July
6, 1820, died unmarried January 16, 1845. 3.
Frances Julia, November 28, 1822, married
William Hillhouse. 4. George Frederic, June
14, 1827, mentioned below. 5. Emily, October
7, 1830.
(VII) George Frederic, son of Judge
Samuel R. Betts, was born June 14, 1827. He
graduated from Williams College in 1844 and
studied at the Harvard Law School the next
two years. He entered upon the practice of
his profession in Newburgh, New York, in
1850. He was appointed clerk of the United
States district court in 1855 and held that
office until 1873. Fle was lieutenant colonel of
Hawkin's Zouaves in the civil war, and was
with that regiment at the capture of Roanoke
Island, February 8, 1862. He married, No-

MASSACHUSETTS.

57

vember 19, 1851, Ellen Porter, step-daughter
of Hon. Charles Stoddard, of Boston. Chil
dren: 1. Mary, born March 23, 1853, died
July 7, 1855. 2. Samuel Rosseter, November
5, 1854, member of the firm of Betts, Sheffield
Bentley & Betts, patent lawyers, 120 Broad
way, New York City. 3. Amy Ellen, Septem
ber 6, 1858, married, December 22, 1883, John
Addison Porter ; three children : Constance
Elaine Porter, born August 25, 1885 ; Agnes ;
Josephine Earl. 4. Fanny Johnson, January
29, 1867, married Wolcott Howe Johnson (see
Johnson VIII). 5. Georgiana, November 13,
1868.

This name has been spelled Ex-
DEXTER cester, Dexcestre, Dexetier,
Dectier, deExon, deExonia, de
Exter. In England it was a family of great
antiquity and of the peerage. It was a Devon
shire family, its chief seat being at Carrick-
dexter. Richard de Excester was governor
general and chief justice of Ireland in 1269.
The heraldic bearings were : Or a tree, pend
ant therefrom two weights. The leading Dex-
ters in America have been Samuel Dexter, the
colonial statesman ; Franklin B. Dexter, edu
cator and author ; Rev. Dr. Henry M. Dexter ;
Henry Dexter, the sculptor.
(I) The Rev. Gregory Dexter was born at
Olney, Northamptonshire, in 1610, learned
the printer's trade in London and with a
printer by the name of Coleman kept a sta
tioner's store. He was a Baptist preacher and
the first transatlantic correspondent of Roger
Williams of the Providence plantations. Greg
ory printed the first edition of "Roger's Dic
tionary of the Indian Language" in 1643, a
report of which is in the first volume of the
Rhode Island Historical Societies reports. On
Roger William's second visit to America Greg
ory Dexter came with him. He was one of
the parties named in the charter and an assist
ant under authority granted in the charter.
He was town clerk. He was the fourth pastor
of the Baptist church and was very successful
in this field of labor. He did not receive any
salary for his services, but earned his living
by the cultivation of land and the sweat of his
brow as the Bible eri joins. He was the best
printer in New England though he did not
regularly persue this calling; he nevertheless
assisted Mr. Samuel Greene in Boston about
some printing at the young college at Cam
bridge, Harvard. Mr. Dexter printed with
his own hands the first almanac for Rhode
Island. He was a very devout man, connected

every day events with an over ruling Provi
dence. He was never known to laugh and
rarely smiled. Fle was a good penman, had a
fair knowledge of Latin and his services were
much in demand in the young colony where
mediocrity prevailed and few could write their
own name. His advice was frequently sought
in the stormy period of the struggling planta
tion. He attempted nothing in which he did
not succeed. His first house was built of logs
and was destroyed by the Indians, and the
second one was near where William Rea after
wards lived. He died in 1700 and was interred
a short distance from the junction of North
Main and Benefit streets on Constitution Hill.
The name of his wife was Abigail. Their chil
dren were : Stephen, born 1647, James, 1650,
John (mentioned below), Abigail, 1655; Peleg,
1658. (II) John, third son of Rev. Gregory and
Abigail Dexter, was born in Providence, 1652.
He settled on land owned by his father on
what is now the Pawtucket turnpike, a little
north of Hampton lane. It was owned by his
descendants up to fifty years ago. He was the
mainstay of his father in his old age of depend
ence and feebleness. He filled many public
stations and always acceptably. He was elected
twenty-one times to the general assembly and
held some military commissions. After his
death his widow married Governor Joseph
Jencks. The name of his wife was Alice and
they had the following children : Stephen, born
1689; James (mentioned below) ; John, 1692;
Mary, 1694 ; Abigail, 1696 ; Sarah, 1698 ; Phebe,
1700; Anna, 1702; Alice, 1705.
(Ill) James, the second son of John and
Alice Dexter, was born in Providence, 1691.
He was a farmer and resided on the east side
of Scott's pond now Smithfield. He was a
man of good abilities and considerable influ
ence. He was in the general assembly in 171 1-
13-17, and was the youngest member ever
elected thereto. He married Mary Whipple,
born in Providence, 1692, and she was the
mother of John, born 1718; James (men
tioned below); David, 1722; Anna, 1723;
Mary, 1725; Hopestill, 1727.
(IV) James (2), second son of James (1)
and Mary (Whipple) Dexter, was born in
Cumberland, Rhode Island, 1720. He was a
farmer. He married Althea, daughter of T.
Walker, of Seekonk, Massachusetts. Chil
dren by this union: Hope, born 1747; James,
1749; Huldah, 1750; Olive, 1752; Marcy,
1754; Simeon, 1756; Eseck, 1758; Benjamin
G, 1760; Nancy, 1761 ; Althea, 1764; Lucina,

58

MASSACHUSETTS.

1766; Timothy W., who is the subject of the
next paragraph.
(V) Timothy W., youngest son of James
(2) and Althea (Walker) Dexter, was bora
in Cumberland, 1768. He was a farmer. He
married Sarah Messenger, of Wrentham,
Massachusetts, born in 1770. Their children
were: James M., born 1804; Benjamin G,
1805; Eseck (referred to in the next para
graph) ; Sarah Ann, 1814.
(VI) Eseck, third son of Timothy W. and
Sarah (Messenger) Dexter, was born in Cum
berland, 1807, died in Fond du Lac, Wiscon
sin. He lived in Boston and Brookfield, Mass
achusetts, Troy, New Hampshire, and at Fond
du Lac. He married Elizabeth F. Hammond,
of Seekonk. Their children were : Francis
and Ferdinand A.
(VII) Ferdinand A., son of Eseck and
Elizabeth F. (Hammond) Dexter, was born
in Boston, and went to Fond du Lac with his
parents when a mere child. After the death
of his father he came east and lived in Brook
field. He was a painter by trade. He served
in the civil, war and was killed at the battle of
Ball's Bluff. The grand army post of Brook
field was named after him. He married Ros-
etta Sophronia Kendall. Their children were :
Albert Ferdinand, who lives in Madison, Wis
consin; Luzerne Halburg, who lives at Sun
Prarie, Wisconsin; Jenness K, who is the sub
ject of further notice.
(VIII) Colonel Jenness Kendall, youngest
son of Ferdinand A. and Rosetta S. (Ken
dall) Dexter, was born in North Brookfield.
He lived at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and at
Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was educated at
a Philadelphia military school and the Naval
Academy at Annapolis to which he was
appointed by President Grant. He came to
Springfield, Massachusetts, and became a mem
ber of the firm of Dexter & Bowles, who deal
in paper makers supplies. He is a Republican
and served on Governor Bates military staff
with the rank of lieutenant colonel, after
wards colonel. He served in the navy during
the Spanish- American war, having been ¦ one
of the first to enter the service, having been
called by the government with three others, all
naval graduates, to go to Philadelphia to
inspect some vessels, among which was the old
"Monitor," desired for use in. the approaching
war. This was in the beginning of April, 1898 ;
he served until October following, being one
of the last to retire from the service. He is
one of the governor's trustees of the Hospital
Cottage for Children at Baldwinsville, Massa

chusetts. He was the founder and for twelve
years the commander of Company H, Massa
chusetts Naval Brigade. He is president of
the Republican Club, vice-president of Nayas-
set Club, having been the prime mover in the
erection of its present beautiful home, and
member of the Board of Trade. He is a mem
ber of the South Congregational Church, and
masonically related. He" is one of the most
enterprising citizens of Springfield, always
ready to promote anything for the welfare of
the city. He married Henrietta Bailey, daugh
ter of Philip Wilcox, whose ancestry is traced
herein. Children: 1. Ernest Jenness, born in
Holyoke, August 21, 1876, a graduate of the
high school, now general agent for western
Massachusetts of the Fidelity and Casualty
Insurance Company of New York ; he married,
June 17, 1908, Margery Augusta, daughter of
Dexter Cooley, of Wets Warren, Massachu
setts. 2. Philip Wilcox, born August 6, 1880,
died in infancy. 3. Courtland W.', born No
vember 6, 1883, died March 3, 1902.
(The Wilcox Line).
Here is a family that has always exerted a
large influence in public affairs in the nation,
state and municipality. It runs to politicians,
statesmen and jurists. The motherland of the
Wilcox family is around Berlin, Meriden,
Middletown and Farmington in the state of
Connecticut, and about every Wilcox in the
United States traces his line back to that spot
of earth which to them is a mecca. The grave
yards there are dotted thick with Wilcox head
stones. Among those of distinction may be
mentioned Lloyd Wheaton Bowers, solicitor
general of the United States under President
Taft. Others of note were the Hon. Leonard
Wilcox, chief justice of New Hampshire, and
the Hon. Preston B. Plumb, United States
senator from Kansas.
(I) Daniel Wilcox' came from England in
1632 and settled first at Middletown, Connecti
cut, moving thence to Berlin, that state.
(II) Daniel (2), son of Daniel (1) Wilcox,
lived at Berlin. He had nineteen children and
at his death left two hundred and eighty-two
children, grandchildren and great-grandchil
dren. He died a nonagenarian and on his
tombstone is this inscription.
"I gave this ground, I am laid here first,
Soon my remains will turn to dust;
A stranger pause as you pass by
As I am now soon you must be."
(IV) Stephen, grandson of Daniel (2) Wil
cox, gave each of his sons a farm and built a

MASSACHUSETTS.

59

house on each. These farms are now in pos
session of his descendants. He was in the
revolution. '
(V) Stephen (2), son of Stephen (1) Wil
cox, married Lucy Plumb; child, Philip.
(VI) Philip, son of Stephen (2) and Lucy
(Plumb) Wilcox, was born in East Berlin,
Connecticut, September 21, 1800, died in
Springfield in 1842. He came to Springfield
in 1823 and started a tinware store on State
street. The Wilcoxs were the first to manu
facture stoves in Springfield. Mr. Wilcox was
very much interested in the construction of
the Boston and Albany railroad. He was
interested in all enterprises tending to build
up and beautify Springfield. He was a mem
ber of the Hampden Mechanics' Association,
and of the South Congregational Church of
which he was one of the original trustees and
to which he gave liberally for the erection of
the church edifice and to other eleemosynary
work. In his death in middle life Springfield
lost one of its enterprising and esteemed citi
zens, a man of the strictest integrity in all his
business relations and uniformly respected by
all who knew him. He married Eliza, daugh
ter of Bani Parmalee, of Middletown, Con
necticut. Her grandmother was Esther Burr
whose line is taken up in this work. Children :
1. William L., married Emily Collins. 2. Eliza
P., married Charles M. Lee. 3. John P., mar
ried (first) Hattie Russell; (second) Nettie
Willis. 4. Henrietta Bailey, married Jenness
K. Dexter. (The Burr Line).
Pride of lineage is most commendatory. It
is old as the race itself. The genesical record
is full of filial references. Mohammed and
Confucius inculcate the principle repeatedly of
respecting ones forebears. One of the most
solemn oaths taken in the East is that sworn
to by the tombs of ancestors. A Scotch loves
to boast that his fathers fed their "flocks on
the grampian hills." It is from such feelings
of reverence for the past that genealogy has
become an applied science. Names imprisoned
in Domesday Book, known only to the monkish
antiquary, or names relegated to the cobwebbed
sanctums of the vital statician, are now circu
lated as popular literature. It is said that
there is not a village in Normandy that has
not surnamed a family in England. To the
village of Beur in the Netherlands the family
of Burr owes its name. It is an important and
honored family and has played a conspicious
part in the political, ecclesiastical and educa
tional affairs of the nation.

(I) With Winthrop's fleet early in 1630
came to the New World Jehue Burr and he
was the first of his race in this country. He
settled first at Roxbury, Massachusetts, and
was admitted a freeman in 1632. In 1635 he
and his wife were made members of the church
in Roxbury and in the same year he was
appointed overseer of roads and bridges be
tween Boston and Roxbury. The same year
he was appointed one of a committee to make
a cart-bridge over Muddy river and over Stony
river. The settlers had often heard from their
friends, the Indians, of the rich valley lands
of the Connecticut, several days journey, and
early in the spring of 1636 William Pynchon,
Jehue Burr and others with their families and
effects set out on a journey through the wilder
ness to this land of promise. The women and
children performed the journey on horseback
and the men on foot. They followed a blazed
path through the forests until at last they
issued forth upon the banks of the welcome
Connecticut. Here they built their village
which they called Agawam and which in our
day has expanded into the flourishing city of
Springfield, and of this city Jehue Burr was a
founder. On June 15, 1636, the Indian deed
of the land signed by the chiefs was given to
Pynchon, Burr and Smith, and to this instru
ment Burr's name is affixed and the same may
be seen at the city records. Burr was a lead
ing spirit in the community and was probably
the first tax gatherer in the Connecticut valley.
In 1644 he removed to Fairfield, Connecticut,
and the next year was elected to represent
that town in the general court and again in
1646. In 1643 he was appointed a commis
sioner to collect funds in Fairfield for poor
scholars at Cambridge College. In 1660 he
was grand juror. No record of his marriage
or death has been found. He left four sons:
Jehue, John, Daniel and Nathaniel.
(II) Jehue (2), eldest son of Jehue (1)
Burr, was born in England about 1625, died
in Fairfield in 1692. His first important ven
ture was the purchase of Weantenock, an ex
tensive tract of land lying on both sides of the
Housatonic river and comprising the present
township of New Milford. In 1670 he was
returned as deputy from Fairfield to the gen
eral court and again in 1673. Early in the
summer of this year occurred the seizure of
New York and adjacent territory by the Dutch
and their threatened demonstration on Con
necticut. The Connecticuters stoutly prepared
to defend themselves from this invasion and
Jehue Burr was commissioned lieutenant in

6o

MASSACHUSETTS.

the Fairfield train band raised for this purpose.
In 1691 he was deputy from Fairfield. He
was appointed commissioner for Fairfield in
1678-79-80-81-82-83-84-85-86-87-89. At the
general court in 1691 he introduced a bill
which shows him to have been a patron of
learning and keenly alive to the importance
of schooling. He was really the originator of
the present school system in Connecticut. He
married (first) Mary, daughter of Andrew
Ward, of Fairfield, and they have two chil
dren: Daniel (mentioned hereafter) and
Esther. He married (second) Esther, widow
of Joseph Boosey, of West Chester, Connec
ticut. Their children were : Peter, Samuel,
Elizabeth, Sarah, Joanna, Abigail and Mary.
(Ill) Daniel, son of Jehue (2) and Mary
(Ward) Burr, was born in Fairfield, Connecti
cut; died there in 1722. The name of his wife
is unknown. Children: Jehue, Stephen
(mentioned hereafter), Peter, Elizabeth, Han
nah, Jane, Mary, David, Moses, Aaron, who
was the founder of Princeton University and
the father of Vice-President Aaron Burr.
(IV) Stephen, second son of Daniel Burr,
was born in Fairfield, and baptized October
3, 1698. He early settled in Redding, Con
necticut. At a society meeting held there
October 11, 1730, he was elected one of the
committee for that year and chosen deacon in
1733. In 1749 he was made lieutenant of the
military company, and in 1751 appointed by
the general court on a committee to repair to
New Milford on the memorial of Isaac Bar
num and others asking for parish privileges.
He married Elizabeth Hull, June 8, 1721. Chil
dren: 1. Grace, born December 12, 1724. 2.
Elizabeth, January 17, 1728. 3. Hezekiah,
September 1, 1730. 4. Sarah, November 9,
1732. 5. Martha, March 24, 1735. 6. Reuben,
November 2, 1739. 7. Esther, February 5,
1743. 8. Rebecca. Esther, the seventh child,
married Anthony Angevine. Their daughter,
Charity Angevine, married Deacon Bani Par
melee, and their daughter, Eliza Parmelee,
married Philip Wilcox and became the mother
of Henrietta Bailey Wilcox, now Mrs. Jen
ness K. Dexter.

John Frink, immigrant ancestor,
FRINK was born in England and was an
early settler in Ipswich, Massa
chusetts. He was doubtless a mariner and we
know but little of him. He died early, leaving a
will in which he made bequests to his two sons,
George and John, and wife Mary. Children,

probably born in England : 1. John, mentioned
below. 2. George.
(II) John (2), son of John (1) Frink, was
born about 1635, probably in England, and as'
early as 1666 settled at Stonington, Connecti
cut, and bought a tract of land at Taubwonk
in Stonington and erected a dwelling house
for himself and family. He was a soldier in
King Philip's war. He married, in Taunton,
1657, Grace Stevens, and presumably lived
there for a time. He had three daughters when
he came to Stonington. Children: 1. Grace,
born 1658, married, June, 1677, James Willet.
2. Hannah, 1661, married, December 30, 1684,
William Park. 3. Deborah, 1665, married,
1686, Gershom Lambert. Born at Stonington :
4. Samuel, February 14, 1668-69, married
Hannah Miner. 5. John, May 18, 1671, men
tioned below. 6. Thomas, May 25, 1674, mar
ried Sarah Noyes. 7. Judith, baptized April
15, 1680.
(Ill) John (3), son of John (2) Frink,
was born in Stonington, May 18, 1671, died
there March 2, 1718. He married, February
15, 1694, Hannah Prentice. Children, born at
Stonington: 1. John, October 7, 1694. 2.
Nicholas, December 17, 1696, married Deborah
Pendleton. 3. Thomas, January 15, 1700. 4.
Hannah, November 27, 1701. 5. Zachariah,
November, 1702, married Elizabeth Gallup. 6.
Mary, 1705, baptized April 19, 1705. 7. Joseph,
baptized June 6, 1708, married, June 12, 1732,
Judith Palmer. 8. Benjamin, born January
25, 17 10, mentioned below. 9. William, bap
tized March 10, 1714. 10. Thankful, baptized
February 8, 1716. 11. Esther, baptized Janu
ary 23, 1717.
(IV) Benjamin, son of John (3) Frink,
was born in Stonington, January 25, 1710. He
married, January 12, 1732, Tacy Burdick, of
Westerly, Rhode Island. Children, born at
Stonington: 1. John, October 26, 1732, men
tioned below. 2. Samuel, October 24, 1734,
married, July 27, 1756, Prudence Wilcox. 3.
Amos, January 1, 1737, married Mary Fitch.
4. Joseph, June 20, 1739. 5. Prentice, July
31, 1741, married Desire Frink. 6. Prudence,
March 18, 1744. 7. Tacy or Tracy (twin),
September 22, 1748. 8. Ann (twin), Sep
tember 22, 1748. 9. Oliver, September 4,
1751- (V) John (4), son of Benjamin Frink, was
born at Stonington, October 26, 1732. He mar
ried, November 22, 1750, Anna Pendleton. Chil
dren, born at Stonington: 1. John, Septem
ber 12, 1 75 1, mentioned below. 2. Giles, May

isi^<7 y (y ry^i^sT'

MASSACHUSETTS.

61

12, 1753, was of Springfield according to the
census of 1790 and had four sons under six
teen and three females in his family. 3. Sarah,
December 9, 1755. 4. Thomas, lived in Spring
field in 1790. Perhaps other children. John
Frink, presumably John (5), was of West
Springfield in 1790 and had two males over
sixteen and two females in his family.
(VI) John (5), son of John (4) Frink, was
born at Stonington, September 12, 1751. He
was a soldier in the revolution in Captain
Robert Oliver's company, Colonel Greaton's
(First Hampshire County) regiment in 1777-
80. He was in the Major's company in 1780.
In 1790 the census gives him one son under
sixteen and five females in his family.
(VII) Luther, son or nephew of John (5)
Frink, was born about 1772. He was living
jit West Springfield when he married (inten
tion dated February 21, 1794) Phebe Morgan,
April 9, 1794. He was a prominent citizen of
West Springfield, now Holyoke, and for
several terms served in the general court. He
represented his district in state legislature. He
was a farmer and his dwelling house on the
old homestead was on the present site of the
Parsons Paper Mill, now Holyoke, Massachu
setts. Children: 1. Orra, born October 5,
1795. 2. Cyrus, mentioned below. 3. Sarah.
4. Mary. 5. James. 6. Henry.
(VIII) Cyrus, son of Luther Frink, was
born in West Springfield, August 14, 1802.
He succeeded to the farm of his father in his
native town. He organized the first stock
company to erect and operate paper mills at
Holyoke, and was also very prominent in
public affairs. He married Louisa Ely, born
in West Springfield, now Holyoke. Children :
Orra L. and Cyrus L. Orra L. married Carlos
Bardwell, lived in South Hadley Falls, and had
three children : Hattie Louisa, Alonzo F.,
Mabel E.
(IX) Cyrus Luther, son of Cyrus Frink,
was born in West Springfield, on the home
stead, October 26, 1838, and died in Holyoke,
September 2, 1900. He received his early edu
cation in the public schools of his native town
and at Suffield, Connecticut. After leaving
school, he learned the business of manufac
turing paper in the mills of the Parsons Paper
Company at Holyoke. He began the manufac
ture of envelopes on his own account and
established an excellent business. He received
an attractive offer and sold this business, then
began the manufacture of tissue paper in the
old Mount Tom mill, but after a time he dis
covered the opportunities for profit rather

limited and sold his business. He was made
selling agent for a number of chemicals and
other materials connected with the paper mills
and he found this employment both agreeable
and profitable, continuing in it until his final
retirement from active business. He was a
Republican in politics, and a member of the
Baptist church, in which he exhibited the same
energy and interest that he displayed in busi
ness, serving in the capacity of trustee, treas
urer and clerk at various times, and for many
years superintendent of the Sunday school and
leader of the choir. He took active interest in
all matters of public welfare, and was an influ
ential citizen in every sense of the word, and
no man was more highly respected than he.
He was generous and charitable, contributing
of his substance to those in need and distress,
and his memory will be held in grateful remem
brance by many whom he assisted in a sub
stantial manner. He married, June 4, 1862,
Emily Parks, born December 18, 1839, daugh
ter of Nathan and Helen J. (Hadley) Parks.
She survives her husband.
(The Morgan Line).
The genealogy of the Morgan family has been
traced recently by George T. Clark, antiquary,
from remote Welsh ancestors. He gives six
teen generations of Morgan ancestors of Miles
Morgan, of Springfield, the immigrant. It is
so seldom that English and American genea
logies can be so successfully united, that Amer
ican Morgans may well take pride in their
Welsh ancestry.
(I) Cadivor-Fawr married Elen, daughter
and heir to Llwch Llawen.
(II) Bleddri, third son, witnessed a Berk-
erolles grant of Bassalleg to Glastonbury and
was probably a land owner in those parts. He
bore arms : Argent three bull's heads cabossed
sable. The ordinary coat-of-arms of the Mor
gans has long been : Or, a griffin sergeant
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
sergeant sable ; the sinister, Bleddri. The
Llantarnam Morgans bore the griffin on a field
argent. The descendants of Ivor Howel used
Bleddri but inserted a chevron between the
bull's heads. The Lewises of St. Pierre used
the Dadivor lion, and the griffin for a crest.
Bleddri is said to have married Clydwen,
daughter of Griffith ap Cydrich ap Gwaeth-
foed-fawr. (Ill) Ivor, who married Nest, daughter of

62

MASSACHUSETTS.

Caradoc ap Modoc ap Idnerth ap Cadwganap
Elystan Gloddrydd.
(IV) Llewelyn, married Lleici, daughter of
Griffith ap Beli.
(V) Ivor, married Tanglwsy, daughter of
Homel Sais ap Arglwydd.
(VI) Llewelyn Lleia, married Susan, daugh
ter of Howel Sais, a first cousin.
(VII) Ivor.
(VIII) Llewelyn ap Ivor, of Tredegar,
Lord of St. Clear, married Angharad, daugh
ter of Sir Morgan ap Meredith, from the
Welsh lords of Carleon ap Griffith ap Mere
dith ap Rhys, who bore arms : Argent, a lion
rampant sable. Sir Morgan died 1332, when
Angharad was aged thirty-two years. Chil
dren: I.Morgan. 2. Ivor Hael, whence Mor
gan of Gwern-y-Cleppa. 3. Philip, whence
Lewis of St. Pierre.
(IX) Morgan, of Tredegar and St. Clear,
married Maud, daughter of Rhun ap Grono ap
Llwarch, Lord of Cibwr. He died before 1384.
Children: 1. Llewelyn. 2. Philip, whence
Morgan of Langstone. 3. John, father of
Gwenllian, who married David Goch ap David.
4. Christian, married Jevan ap Jenkins Kemeys.
5. Ann, married David Gwilim David, of Rhiw-
perra. 6. Margaret, married Traherne ap
Meyric, of Merthyr. 7. Daughter, married
Thomas ap Gwillim, of Carnllwyd. 8. 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 Rhy-
dodyn, 1384-87. Children: 1. Jevan. 2.
Christy, married Madic ap Jevan, of Gelligaer.
3. Daughter, married Roger ap Adam, of St.
Mellon's. 4. Daughter, married Madoc, of
Bassalleg. 5. Daughter, married Thomas
Llewelyn. 6. Ann, married John ap Jenkin.
7.  married  , of Raglan. 8.

married

Bulith.

(XI) Jevan Morgan, 1415-48, married
Denise or Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas ap
Llewelyn-vychan, of Llan gattog-on-Usk. Chil
dren: I.John. 2. David, 1442-48. 3. Jenkin,
1454- (XII) Sir John Morgan, Knight of the
Sepulchre, 1448, Stewart of Gwentlloog, mar
ried Jenet, daughter and co-heir of John ap
David Mathew, of Llandaff. Children: 1.
Mcrgan. 2. Thomas, whence Morgan of
Machen and Tredegar. 3. John, whence a
branch. 4. Lewis, 1491. 5. William Morgan,
ooroner, 1501, father of John of New
port, died 1541, father of William, 1541-1559.
6. Philip, 1491. 7. Elizabeth, married John

Fiennes, Lord Clinton and Say. 8. Jane, mar
ried Thomas Llewelyn-vychan, of Rhiwperra.
10. Isabella, married James Kemeys' of Began,
died 1591.
(XIII) Th°mas Morgan, second son, was
of Machen ; esquire of the body to Henry VII ;
living 1538; married Elizabeth, daughter of
Roger Vaughan, of Borthaml. Children: 1.
Rowland Reymold, whence Morgan of Llan-
vedw. 2. John, whence Morgan of Bassalleg.
3. Edmond, whence Morgan of Penllwyn-
Sarth. 4. Margaret, married John Kemeys
and William Edmunds. 5. Barbara, married
Sir Henry Seymour. ' 6. Maud, married John
ap Rosser. 7. Jane, married William Gunter,
Richard ap Jenkins, and William Vaughan, of
Magor. 8. Constance, married William Jones,
of Treoen. 9. Mary, married Edward Will
iams and Richard Herbert. 10. Elizabeth,
married Edward James.
(XIV) Rowland Morgan, of Machen, 1517-
yy, married Blanch, daughter of John Thomas,
of Llanarth. Settlement, November 11, 15 17;
sheriff, 1557. Children: 1. Thomas. 2. Henry,
whence Morgan of St. Mellons. 3. Catherine,
married Thomas Mathew and Miles Morgan
and Henry Jones. 4. Ann, married Philip
Morgan, of Gwern-y-Cleppa. 5. Mary, mar
ried Thomas Lewis, of Rhiwperra. 6. Eliza
beth, married Edward Kemeys, of Cefn Mably.
(XV) Thomas Morgan, of Machen and
Tredegar and of the Middle Temple, 1567-77;
sheriff, 1581; M. P. for county in 1589; will,
1663 ; married Elizabeth Bodenham, daughter
of Roger. Children: 1. Sir William. 2. Ed
ward, 1586, married Elizabeth Thomas. 3.
Sir John, died before 16 10; married Florence
Morgan, daughter and eventual heir of Will
iam Morgan, of the Friars. 4. David Morgan,
whence a branch. 5. Blanch, married Edward
Lewis, of Van. 6. Catherine, married William
Herbert, of Coldbrook. 7. Elizabeth, married
William Jones, of Abergavenny. 8. Jane, mar
ried Rowland Morgan, of Bassalleg. 9. Eliz
abeth, married William Blethyn, of Dynham.
10. Margaret, married 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 Mor
gan, of Heyford, county Northampton, widow
of Anthony Morgan, of Llanvihangel Crucor-

MASSACHUSETTS.

63

ney. Children of first wife: 1. Thomas. '2.
Edward, of Kilfengan, will proved February,
1661 ; married Elizabeth James. 3. William,
whence Morgan of Rhymy. 4. Rowland of
Risca, will proved February, 1661 ; married
Honora  and had Colonel William Mor
gan ; buried at Bassalleg, October 27, 1679. 5.
John of the Temple, 1652. 6. Mary, married
George Lewis, of St. Pierre. 7. Blanch, mar
ried John Carne, of Ewenny. 8. Frances, mar
ried Charles Williams, of Llangibby. 9. Mary,
single; will 1687. 10. Elizabeth, married Will
iam Morgan, and died 1638. By the second
wife: 11. Sir Anthony, of Kilfengan, died
s. p. 12. Mary, married  — Farmer, of
London. (XVII) "Elizabeth Morgan, daughter of Sir
William Morgan, of Tredegar, married Will
iam Morgan, merchant of Diveru; went to
Bristol, England, in 1616. She died 1638 and
her husband in 1648. Both are buried in
Bristol. Child: Miles, born 1616; mentioned
below. (XVIII) Miles Morgan, the immigrant an
cestor, was born probably in Llandorff, Gla
morgan county, Wales, in 1616. He was named
perhaps after Miles Morgan, captain of Brit
ish army who perished with Sir Humphrey
Gilbert, half brother of Sir Walter Raleigh.
He removed to Bristol, England, a few years
before he came to America. He came to Bos
ton, Massachusetts, in April, 1636, with his
two brothers. The eldest, James, settled in
New London, Connecticut; John went to Vir
ginia and Miles joined the colonists and became
one of the founders of Springfield, Massachu
setts. Next to Colonel Pynchon, he was the
most important and useful man in the Spring
field colony. He. was made second in com
mand though he was the youngest of the com
pany. He was the only pioneer, in fact, who
was less than twenty-one years of age when
admitted. He drew land for his home lot on
the south side of the Ferry lane. At present
the site of the original Morgan dwelling house
is occupied by the repair shop of the Connecti
cut River railroad. He was a brave and
intrepid Indian fighter in the frequent conflicts
on the frontiers. In 1675, in King Philip's
war, the Morgan house was attacked by the
Indians, but so bravely was it defended by
Miles Morgan and his sons, that the Indians
retired after an unsuccessful siege. Peletiah
Morgan, one of these sons, was killed the
following year at what is now Chicopee. In
civil life Colonel Pynchon was the grocer and
Miles Morgan the butcher. He was a wise

counsellor and a sturdy tiljer of the soil. A
handsome monument was erected at Spring
field in 1879 m testimony of the services of
Miles Morgan in settling the town, govern
ing the colony, fighting the Indians in 1675
when Springfield was sacked and burned and
many of the little colony killed. He died May
28, 1699, aged eighty-four. He married, about
1643, Prudence Gilbert, who died November
14, 1660. He married (second) February 15,
1669, Elizabeth Bliss. Children: 1. Mary,
born December 14, 1644. 2. Jonathan, Sep
tember 16, 1646. 3. David, July 23, 1648. 4.
Peletiah, May 17, 1650, killed 1675 ; unmar
ried. 5. Isaac, March 12, 1652. 6. Lydia,
February 8, 1654. 7. Hannah, February 11,
1656. 8. Mercy, May 18, 1658. Child of
second wife: 9. Nathaniel, June 14, 1671,
mentioned below.
(XIX) Nathaniel Morgan, son of Miles
Morgan, was born June 14, 1671, in Spring
field. At the age of nineteen he married, Jan
uary 19, 1691, Hannah Bond, who died June
7, 1751. He lived on the west side of the
river, in West Springfield, on what is now
Chicopee street. The lot is at present owned
by N. Loomis, on the east side of the street.
He died August 30, 1752, aged eighty-one
years. Children: 1. Nathaniel, born Febru
ary 16, 1692. 2. Samuel, 1694, died December,
1699. 3. Ebenezer, 1696. 4. Hannah, 1698.
5. Miles, 1700. 6. Joseph, December 3, 1702,
mentioned below. 7. James, 1705. 8. Isaac,
1708, died November 7, 1796. 9. Elizabeth,
1710. (XX) Joseph Morgan, son of Nathaniel
Morgan, was born at Springfield, December
3, 1702, died November 7, 1773. In 1751 he
removed to West Springfield, when there were
but seven or eight families there, and cleared
land for a farm. He married, in May, 1735,
Mary Stebbins, born July 6, 1712, died De
cember 7, 1798, daughter of Benjamin Steb
bins. Children : 1. Joseph, born February 19,
1736, married Experience Smith, ancestor of
James Pierpont Morgan through Captain
Joseph, Joseph, Junius Spencer, J. Pierpont.
2. Titus, died young. 3. Titus, July 19, 1740,
married Sarah Morgan. 4. Lucas, February
26, 1743, mentioned below. 5. Elizabeth, De
cember 23, 1745, married Thomas White. 6.
Judah (twin), March 22, 1749, married Eliz
abeth Sliway. 7. Jesse (twin), March 22,
1749, married Mercy Stebbins. 8. Hannah,
November 29, 1751, married John Legg.
(XXI) Lucas Morgan, son of Joseph Mor
gan, was born February 26, 1743, and married

64

MASSACHUSETTS.

(first) Tryphena .Smith; (second) Betsey
 . Children of first wife: i. Electa,
born January 30, 1770, married, January, 1793,
Titus Wells Tuttle; (second) November, 1800,
Lemuel Fairfield. 2. Roswell, November 15,
1771. 3. Phebe, July 27, 1774, married, April
9, 1794, Luther Frink (see Frink family). 4.
Theodore, November 19, 1778, married Abi
gail Manning, of Salem. 5. Alexander, Au
gust 21, 1780. 6. Sophia, June 1, 1784, died
February 25, 1787. 7. Luther, July 23, 1786,
died January 29, 1808. 8. Mary Theodosia,
September 15, 1790, died September 6, 1804.
Children of second wife : 9. Betsey, Septem
ber 24, 1795. 10. Lucas, August 3, 1798.

John L. Hobbs was born at Sulli-
HOBBS yan's Island, South Carolina, of
English parentage, soon after his
father and mother came to this country. He
lived in South Carolina in his youth, but
removed to East Cambridge, Massachusetts,
when a young man. He was by occupation a
glass manufacturer and in 1845 established a
glass factory at Wheeling, West Virginia. He
married Mary Paige, of Cambridge. Chil
dren: 1. John Henry, born at East Cambridge,
October 17, 1827, mentioned below. 2. Mary,
1829, married Dr. Robert Hazlett ; children :
Howard, Robert, Samuel, Edward, Katherine
Hazlett. 3. Catherine, East Cambridge, 183 1,
married on the same day as her sister Mary
a cousin of Dr. Hazlett, Dr. James Cummings;
she died soon after the birth of her only child,
who also died. 4. Eliza, East Cambridge, 1833,
married John Rinehart ; children : Walter,
Frank, Etta, married Jasper Baum; Louisa,
married  Hinckley. 5. John, killed by
accidental discharge of a gun while at target
practice. (II) John Henry, son of John L. Hobbs,
was born at East Cambridge, October 17, 1827.
He was educated in the public schools of his
native town. At the age of seventeen he went
to Wheeling, West Virginia, with his father
to engage in the manufacture of glass. The
business was successful and has continued to
the present time under the firm name of Hobbs,
Brockunier & Company. The concern manu
factured fancy glass of all kinds and took out
some twenty valuable patents, mainly on
designs. Mr. Hobbs himself patented various
chandelier designs etc. The plant consists of
four large buildings containing the various de
partments of the business. The glass house
was a hundred by a hundred and fifty feet in
dimensions. Another building was the

machinery department where the- iron moulds
were made, forty by fifty feet. The cutting
shop where the glass was worked into shape
was fifty by one hundred, two stories high. The
office building is three stories in height. The
plant is alongside the Baltimore & Ohio rail
road, and has a practically inexhaustible supply
of bituminous coal on the premises. Indeed,
the location was originally chosen because of
the coal deposits within thirty feet of the
factory. The goods manufactured in this
factory were shipped to all parts of the world
and for many years the house had the largest
business in its line in the country, and was
known to the trade throughout the world.
This concern won diplomas and medals at the
exposition at Sydney, Australia, and later at
Melbourne, in competition with the whole
world. The firm also won premiums at the
Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. The
firm always enjoyed the highest reputation for
the quality of their goods and for fair deal
ing and integrity. Mr. Hobbs retired from the
business in 1895, after fifty years of active
and industrious application to business. Since
1895 he has resided in Dorchester, Massachu
setts. In politics he is a Democrat ; in religion
a Universalist. He married, July 14, 1851,
Mary A. Leech, born at Baltimore, Maryland,
February 17, 1831, daughter of John and
Jennie (Thompson) Leech. Children, born at
Wheeling: 1. Helen F., April 14, 1852, mar
ried Theodore Phinney, son of Major Syl
vanus B. Phinney (see Phinney family here
with). 2. John Henry Jr., March 24, 1863,
married Annie Moore ; educated at the Lindsey
Institute ; now in the hardware business at
Louisville, Kentucky, where he resides. 3.
Charles L., November, 1864, graduate of the
Lindsey Institute, Wheeling; engaged in the
glass business at Wheeling; married Bessie
Hamilton ; child, John Hamilton, born July
10, 1889. (The Phinney Line).
John Phinney, immigrant ancestor, was born
in England. He came to Plymouth in New
England in 1638. In the early records his
name is spelled Finney, Fenney, Fennye and
Phinney. He was one of the proprietors of
the town of Plymouth, December 2, 1639, and
was admitted a freeman, August 20, 1644. He
removed to Barnstable, where his descendants
have been prominent to the present time. His
wife Christian died September 9, 1649, and ne
married (second) at Barnstable, July 9 or
June 10, 1650, Abigail Coggin (or Cogan),
widow of Henry Coggin. She was buried May

MASSACHUSETTS.

65

7, 1653. He received a letter, dated at Burd-
port (Bridport), England, April 10, 1654, from
his father-in-law, Thomas Bishop, asking him
to send to him Abigail Coggin, his grandchild,
to Weymouth to his daughter Mrs. Sarah
Lydds in Milcomb and requesting him to care
for the other grandchildren, Thomas and
Henry Coggin. Henry Coggin was a wealthy
merchant and "adventurer" (promoter). Mr.
Phinney married (third) June 26, 1654, Eliza
beth Bayley, of Branstable. He was constable
at Barnstable. He became interested in that
fertile region about Mount Hope and thither
he removed in his later years. 'Mother
Phinney," doubtless his mother, died at
Plymouth, April 22, 1650, aged upwards of
eighty. His brother Robert settled also at
Plymouth, where he was a town officer and
deacon; married, September 1, 1641, Phebe
Ripley; died January 7, 1687-88, aged eighty,
and in his will bequeathed to the children of
his brother John and others, having no sur
viving children. Child of first wife : I.John,
born at Plymouth, December 24, 1638, men
tioned below. Children of third wife : 2.
Jonathan, August 14, 1655. 3. Robert, August
13, 1656, lost his life in Governor Phipps expe
dition in 1690. 4. Hannah, September 2, 1657,
married Ephraim Morton. 5. Elizabeth, March
15, 1659. 6. Josiah, January 11, 1661, mar
ried, January 19, 1688, Elizabeth Warren. 7.
Jeremiah, August 15, 1662. 8. Joshua, Decem
ber, 1665.
(II) John (2), son of John (1) Phinney,
was born in Plymouth, December 24, 1638,
and was baptized in Barnstable, July 31, 1653.
He married, at Barnstable, August 10, 1664,
Mary Rogers. Children, born at Barnstable:
1. John, May 5, 1665. 2. Melatiahr October,
1666, died 1667. 3. Joseph, January 28, 1668.
4. Thomas, January, 1672. 5. Ebenezer, Feb
ruary 8, 1674. 6. Samuel, November 4, 1676.
7. Mary, September 3, 1678. 8. Mercy, July
10, 1679. 9. Reliance, August 27, 1681. 10.
Benjamin, June 18, 1682, mentioned below.
11. Jonathan, July 30, 1684. 12. Hannah,
March 28, 1687, died young. 13. Elizabeth,
baptized May 10, 1691.
(Ill) Benjamin, son of John (2) Phinney,
was born at Barnstable, June 18, 1682. He
married Martha Crocker. Children, born at
Barnstable: 1. Temperance, born 1710. 2.
Melatiah, 1712. 3. Barnabas, 1715. 4. Silas,
1718. 5. Zaccheus, 1720, mentioned below.
6. Seth, 1723.
(IV) Zaccheus, son of Benjamin Phinney,
was born at Barnstable in 1720. He married
i— 5

Susanna Davis. Children, born at Barnstable :
1. Benjamin, 1744, died 1843; father of Dr.
Elias Phinney who settled in Lexington, Mass
achusetts, noted agriculturist and author, clerk
of courts in Middlesex county. 2. Timothy,
1746, mentioned below. 3. Barnabas, 1748.
(V) Deacon Timothy, son of Zaccheus
Phinney, was born in Barnstable in 1746. Dur
ing his long life, extending beyond fourscore
years and ten, Deacon Phinney was prominent
in civil and church affairs. He held for a
time the office of high sheriff of Barnstable
county and was deputy sheriff many years. He
was state senator in 181 1. He built the house
lately owned by the heirs of Ebenezer Bacon.
George Phinney, his grandson, wrote : "His
grave and dignified bearing is still among the
recollections of some now living, whose
memories yet retain the picture of the high
pulpit with its sounding board, the church
official seated below facing the audience, and
the square pews, while they still hear in imagi
nation the bang of the hinge-swinging wooden
seats, raised for the convenience of a standing
position during prayer. To him was given
length of days and, the respect of his towns
men, which he held to the close of life." He
married Temperance Hinckley, a descendant
of Thomas Hinckley, of Barnstable, for years
governor of Plymouth colony and subsequently
elevated to the same office after the annexation
of Plymouth to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
He was a soldier in the revolution, first lieu
tenant in Captain Ebenezer Lothrop's com
pany, commissioned April 21, 1776, later under
Colonel Nathaniel Freeman. This was an
artillery company (Matrosses). Children,
born at Barnstable: 1. Timothy, June 13,
1784, mentioned below. 2. Nancy, married
Deacon John Munroe; she died in 1881 in her
eighty-eighth year.
(VI) Timothy (2), son of Deacon Timo
thy ( 1 ) Phinney, was born at Barnstable, June
13, 1784, died September 28, 1883, lacking but
a few months of a century. He was buried in
the burying ground just west of the church
on Meeting-house hill in his native town. He
lived in Barnstable all his life, a farmer. He
married Olive Gorham Bourne, of Barnstable,
daughter of Melatiah and Olive (Gorham)
Bourne, granddaughter of Melatiah and Mary
(Bayard) Bourne. The family has preserved
a certificate signed by John Hancock and six
other selectmen of Boston testifying that
Melatiah Bourne Sr. "is a gentleman of char
acter and has lived in this town from his
youth and is esteemed for his attachment to

66

MASSACHUSETTS.

the civil and religious liberties of his country."
The town of Bourne is named for a prominent
member of the Bourne family. Children of
Timothy and Olive Gorham (Bourne) Phin
ney: I. Sylvanus B., born October 27, 1808,
mentioned below. 2. Mary Bourne, married
Josiah Walcott, of Roxbury, Massachusetts.
3. George, editor of the Waltham Free-Press,
Waltham, Massachusetts. 4. T. Warren, set
tled in Bolinas, California.
(VII) Major Sylvanus Bourne, son of
Timothy (2) Phinney, was born in Barnstable,
October 27, 1808, in the building later occu
pied by the Sturgis library. He died at the
age of ninety-two. Before the close of the
war of 1812 he was a passenger with his father
on board a packet sloop commanded by Cap
tain Howes, plying between Barnstable and
Boston in 1814, when the packet was fired
upon by the British frigate "Nymph" in Mass
achusetts Bay, captured and burned with all
the cargo. He was taken prisoner with the
others and confined for some time. He re
ceived his education in the common schools of
his native town, and at an early age served an
apprenticeship in the printing office of Hon.
Nathan Hale, publishers of the Boston Adver
tiser. Rev. Dr. Edward Everett Hale, son of
Nathan, wrote an interesting letter for publi
cation in a brief biography of Major Phinney
published on the occasion of his eightieth
birthday. In this letter he has the kindest
words to say of his father's apprentice who
had continued his life-long friend. "Indeed"
he says "my first association with a world
larger than the nursery is connected with "Syl
vanus," as we used to call you in those days ;
and from that hour to this, the name Sylvanus,
and, strange to say, the name Sylvester, has
always been a pleasant name. I owe it to you,
that I have always tried to make out the popes
of the name of Sylvester a better series of
popes than the general series which surrounded
them. If any of them take any comfort from
my good opinion, they owe it to you. * *
In after-days, our home associations with
Barnstable were all connected with yourself.
I dare say you have forgotten, but I have not,
that you and Mrs. Phinney interested your
selves in the ladies' movement for the com
pletion of Bunker Hill Monument, which
began, I think, about the year 1835. But,
indeed, my dear Major Phinney, you know
perfectly well, though you will be too modest
to say so, that you have interested yQurself in
every good thing which has been done in the

Old Colony from the time when the English
took you prisoner down to this present day."
On completion of his apprenticeships Major
Phinney took charge of the Barnstable Journal,
the first number of which was published by
N. S. Simpkins, October 10, 1828, and con
tinued in this position until June, 1830, when
he established the Barnstable Patriot. While
foreman of the Journal printing office he
printed from stereotype plates two large edi
tions of the English Reader. The first num
ber of the Patriot was dated June 26, 1830,
and he continued its editor and proprietor for
nearly forty years. His valedictory was pub
lished January 26, 1869. The history of that
forty years was written in the Barnstable
Patriot. He planned an independent newspaper
devoted to the interests of Cape Cod and open
for the free discussion of religion, politics and
other public questions. "Though obliged to
contend against weighty and angry odds, we
made steady headway from the first; and
increasing confidence in ourself was warranted
by the public good-will which gathered to our
aid, and cheered us on to what years ago, we
counted as absolute success. But the vicissi
tudes of such a career ! How great and how
varied ! How gratifying and joyous, how
sad — oh, sometimes how sad — even amidst suc
cess, is the forty years' life of an editor and
publisher in its current passing! How inde
scribable the retrospect from its close! But
the friendships we have made and enjoyed
through our regular calling, they have been
and remain a host, thank God! The oppo
nents political, with whom we have exchanged
the common, and sometimes uncommon severi
ties of our profession, we believe, with very
few, and those insignificant, exceptions, have
left nothing rankling to disturb their good-will
towards us. * * "The second-hand press
and old font of type with which we published
the first Patriot, loaned us by our old master,
the Hon. Nathan Hale of blessed memory,
were brought to us by packet from Boston;
and our paper to print upon, the first winter,
was transported therefrom upon stagecoach
top. * * And may we not claim that in the
enlightenment of the public sentiment, the
diffusion of liberal ideas, the softening of
religious asperities, and the inculcation of
Democratic principles in the county, the
Patriot has been pre-eminently a pioneer and
co-worker? In the cause of our country, in
contest with her foreign foe or later,- in that
for her own unity and integrity, the Patriot

MASSACHUSETTS.

67

was ever true to its name and its professions.
And to the Democratic principles of govern
ment it has given constant support with all the
efficiency it could command." Even to the
present time the Patriot has continued the
leading newspaper of Cape Cod and one of
the best weeklies of the state.
Major Phinney began his military career
early in life, and when he was but twenty-two
years old was commissioned major of the
First Regiment of Massachusetts militia. He
took part in the regimental reviews of 1832
and 1833. During the civil war he supported
the government heartily. He was appointed
by Governor John A. Andrew a member of the
committee of One Hundred and presented the
Sandwich Guards, Company D, Third Regi
ment, Massachusetts Battalion, with, a costly
flag upon which was inscribed : "Our flag floats
to-day not for party but for country." On
visiting that regiment at Fortress Monroe in
March, 1862, Major Phinney was present at
the memorable battle between the "Monitor"
and "Merrimac." He cast his first vote for
Andrew Jackson and remained a Democrat
throughout his long life. He represented the
town of Chatham in the constitutional conven
tion of 1853 > was Democratic candidate for
congress and councillor of the first district.
He represented the first district in the Demo
cratic National conventions of 1844-53-57. He
was elected councillor by the state senate to
fill a vacancy. When he was candidate for
councillor in 1882 he polled 9,922 votes, the
largest Democratic vote ever before cast in
that district. He was appointed collector of
customs for the Barnstable district by Presi
dent Polk and held office through the adminis
trations of Polk, Pierce, Buchanan and John
son. During that time he disbursed for the
government hundreds of thousands of dollars
to the fishermen of Cape Cod under the Cod
Fishing Bounty act of 1819 and was instru
mental in procuring from Congress an appro
priation of $30,000 for building the custom
house and postoffice at Barnstable. He raised
by subscription a sufficient amount of money
for purchasing the grounds and building the
Agricultural Hall, while president of the Barn
stable County Agricultural Society, in which
he was always greatly interested. He repre
sented the society for twelve years in the state
board of agriculture. For many years he held
the office of vice-president of the New Eng
land Society. He was a pioneer in cranberry
culture, the leading agricultural product of the
Cape to-day. And he began the planting of

pine trees to make use of the sandy and uncul
tivated, lands of that section, furnishing an
example that has been followed by many enter
prising farmers and land-owners.
He was for seventeen years president and
for twenty-five years a director of the Hyannis
National and Yarmouth banks. He was secre
tary for many years of the Barnstable Savings
Institution in the days of its prosperity, and in
1870 was elected president of the Hyannis
Savings Bank. Fle was prominent in the
Unitarian church and for more than a score
of years president of the Cape Cod Unitarian
Conference. He was active in charity arid
good works to the extent of his means. In
1883 he was appointed by Governor Benja
min F. Butler on the state board of health,
lunacy and charity. He was in 1875 elected
a trustee of Humboldt College (Iowa). The
esteem in which he was held by those closely
associated with him in office and business is
shown by. the presentation of a valuable silver
service in 1861 when he retired as collector,
and the occasion was taken by the speakers
and afterward by the press to commend his
able, efficient and satisfactory administration
of his office. He was clerk of the Cape Cod
Central railroad from its organization to the
time of its consolidation with the Old Colony
railroad in 1872, when he presided at a notable
meeting of directors and leading citizens at
Masonic Hall, Hyannis, at which a testimonial
was presented to the retiring superintendent,
Ephraim N. Winslow. Again, upon the re
tirement of Hon. Nymphas Marston as judge
of probate, Major Phinney presided at a pre
sentation of a similar testimonial. In 1862 he
was chosen at a citizens' meeting of the town
of Provincetown to represent its interests at
a hearing in Washington on the fishery treaty
then under consideration.
Major Sylvanus B. Phinney married (first)
in 1832, Eliza Cordelia Hildreth, daughter of
Colonel Jonathan Hildreth, of Concord, Mass
achusetts. She died July, 1865, and he mar
ried (second) in October, 1866, Lucia Green,
of Barnstable, youngest daughter of Hon.
Isaiah L. Green, of Barnstable, who repre
sented the Barnstable district in congress and
voted for the war of 1812. Children of first
wife, born at Barnstable: 1. Theodore, men
tioned below. 2. Robert, married Sarah Clough.
3. Gorham, married Ellen Jane Oakes Pratt,
whose father was the largest iron manufac
turer iri Boston ; they reside at Allston in Bos
ton; children: Harry, Leslie, Nellie, married
Dr. Taylor and has two children. 4. Cordelia.

68

MASSACHUSETTS.

(VIII) Theodore, son of Major Sylvanus
Bourne Phinney, was born in Barnstable. He
was educated in the public schools of Barn
stable ; was engaged with his father on the
Patriot from i860 to 1868; then went to
Chicago where for one year he was engaged in
the auction and commission business ; then went
to Wheeling and was engaged in the iron
manufacturing business until 1892; then went
to Boston and was engaged in the brokerage
business until 1906; now (1909) a traveling
salesman. He is a member of Barnstable
Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, a Uni
tarian in religion and a Republican in politics.
He married, June, 1873, Helen F. Hobbs, born
at Wheeling, West Virginia, April 14, 1852,
daughter of John Henry and Mary A. (Leech)
Hobbs (see Hobbs family). Mrs. Phin
ney is a graduate of Alt. De Chantal Con
vent, Wheeling, class of 1870. They reside at
79 Maple street, Maiden. They have one
child, Mary, born at Wheeling, May 30, 1881,
educated in private schools ; married J. Elliot
Knowlton, born at Maiden, graduate of Maiden
high school, class of 1893 '> ™ September, 1893,
entered First National Bank at Maiden, and
in February, 1908, was advanced to receiving
teller, having served from 1898 to 1908 as
bookkeeper ; he served as treasurer of Trin
itarian Congregational Society, which society
is over two hundred and sixty years old, and
is serving on several important committees in
the church ; he is a member of the Amphion
Musical Club of Melrose and of the Kern-
wood Club. During his spare moments he
studied law, was admitted to the bar, August
21, 1898, and is now practicing law. Mr. and
Mrs. Knowlton has one child, Warren Put
nam, born at Maiden, May 4, ic

The early records of the New
WELLS England colonies contain men
tion of many persons of this
name, who were settled at Boston, Lynn, Hat
field, Haddam, Ipswich, New London and
Hartford. From the early progenitors
descended a manly race who made records in
the revolution. Nine who spelled their names
Welles were patriot soldiers in the revolution
in Massachusetts regiments, and one hundred
and sixty whose name is spelled Wells. In the
Connecticut organizations were five of the
Welles branch and forty-seven of the Wells
branch of the family. Other spelling of the
name in revolutionary records are: Wailles,
Wails, Wealls, Weels, Well, Walles, Wels,
Wills and Wolle. Prominent among the men

of this name (Welles) was Governor Thomas
of this sketch, Gideon, once secretary of the
navy, and Edward R., an American bishop.
Among those who use the simpler spelling of
the name (Wells) are Henry T., a painter;
H. G, a novelist ; and Sir Thomas A., Baronet,
a surgeon of note, all of England. In Amer
ica Horace and John D., men of rank in med
icine. (I) Governor Thomas Welles. Of this
prominent colonist of Connecticut, Savage
says : "It is quite uncertain when he came
from England, though satisfactorily known
that he brought three sons and three daugh
ters; equally certain is the name of his wife,
though we can hardly doubt whether he
brought one ; and, stranger still, is the uncer
tainty of his prior residence in Massachusetts.
He had good proportion of the patents from
Swampscott and Dover, which he sold, August,
1648, to Christopher Lawson. We may then
safely conclude that a person of his education
and good estate had not come over the water
before 1636, and that he staid so short a time
at Boston, or Cambridge, as to leave no trace
of himself at either, and he was established
at Hartford before Governor Haynes left Cam
bridge. There is, indeed, a very precise tradi
tion of his coming with his father Nathaniel,
in the fleet with Higginson, 1629, to Salem;
but that is merely ridiculous." He is said to
have been born at Essex, England, 1598. "He
came to Boston, or vicinity, probably about
1636 ; then, perhaps to Saybrook, Connecticut,
thence 1637 or earlier to Hartford, thence
1643 to Wethersfield," says Henry R. Stiles,
in his excellent "History of Ancient Wethers
field, Connecticut," upon whom we have relied
for much that is found in this sketch. Con
tinuing he says: "His name first appears in
the Connecticut Colonial Records, as a mem
ber of that Court of Magistrates held at Hart
ford 28 March, 1636-7, which declared war
against the Pequots ; and he was a magistrate
from that time till his death. He was a mem
ber of the Court which issued the Funda
mental Orders, or Constitution, of 1639, the
copy of which in the original manuscript
volume of the Colonial Records, is in his
handwriting. He was an original proprietor
at Hartford — where his houselot was on the
east side of the street now known as Governor
street ; he was appointed treasurer of the col
ony 11 April, 1639, held the office two years
and was re-appointed 17 May, 1649, and held
it three years; from 1646 to 1649 he was
secretary of the colony ; deputy governor 1654-

MASSACHUSETTS.

69

6-7-9, acting governor in 1654, during Gov
ernor Plopkins' and also during Governor
Winthrop's abesences in England; and gov
ernor in 1655 and 1658. He was frequently
associated on important committees and in
public affairs with Haynes, Ludlow, Mason
and the other foremost men of the colony;
rendered conspicuous services also, as a com
missioner 1 649- 1 659, of the United Colonies,
in effecting the union of the Connecticut and
New Haven colonies, in 1643, 'for mutual pro
tection and benefit." At the last meeting of
this body, at Hartford, 1659, Mr. Welles was
requested "For the encouragement of the
Indians at Wethersfield that attend Mr. Pier
son and refrain from Pawauging (pow-wow-
ing) and from labor on the Lord's day. Mr.
Usher was ordered to deliver to Mr. Welles,
Deputy Governor of Connecticut, six yards of
trading cloth to be distributed to the principal
Indians amongst them." In every detail of
his public service he was distinguished for his
uniform attention to his duties and the public
interest. On the Hartford town records his
name early appears ; in 1639-40, among the
inhabitants who had rights in the undivided
lands, was frequently on town committees for
the division of lands and determining the pro
portions and bounds of the same; the settle
ment by boundary differences, and the division
among the Hartford people of the lands east
of the Great river. About 1643 or 1645 he
removed to Wethersfield and bought Mr. John
Plum's eighteen acre homestead. Later he
bought the Swayne homestead (latterly occu
pied by General L. R. Welles) and which he
gave to his grandson, Captain Robert Welles.
He also bought, 1655, from Robert Foote, the
James Boosey homestead ; but he resided on
the Plum homestead. Thomas Welles died
January 14, 1660. Governor Winthrop refers
in a letter to Mr. Welles as "being very well
at supper and dead before midnight." His
remains now rest at Hartford. His will dated
November 7, 1659, was probated April 11,
1660. The inventory amounted to £1069 and
two pence, and included books, English and
Latin. Governor Welles married (first) in
England, but nothing is known of the wife.
Fle married (second) about 1646, Elizabeth
Deming, widow of Nathaniel Foote, also first
settler of Wethersfield. She died July 28,
1683, aged about eighty-eight years. The
children, all by first marriage were: Anne,
John, Robert, Thomas, Samuel, Sarah, Mary
and Joseph.
(II) John, eldest son of Governor Thomas

Welles, was born about 1621, died at Strat
ford, Connecticut, August 7, 1659. He re
moved to Stratford in 1647, where he was
admitted a freeman at the general court 'of
elections, April 10, 1645 (O. S.). He was a
deputy to the general court, May 15, 1656, and
the court of October 2, 1656 ; also at those held
May 21, and October 1, 1657. At court of
March 11, 1658, he was among those nomi
nated "to be prepounded at the next General
Court for choice to be magistrates in this juris
diction," and at the said court he was so
elected, his father at the same time being
chosen governor. In October, 1658, he was
one of those persons appointed by the court to
assist in the work 'of the probate court of Fair
field. He was also a magistrate in the general
court of March 9, 1659, and was re-elected in
May, 1659. His will, dated August 7, 1659,
was proved October 19, 1659. He married, in
Stratford, 1647, Elizabeth Bourne, who mar
ried (second) March, 1663, John Wilcoxson,
of Stratford. The children of John and Eliz
abeth were : John, Thomas and Robert
(twins), Temperance, Samuel and Sarah.
(Ill) Captain Robert, son of John and Eliz
abeth (Bourne) Welles, was born in 1651 in
Stratford, died in Wethersfield, June 22, 1714.
He was taken by his grandfather, the governor,
to Wethersfield, when young, and there he was
educated and became the heir to his grand
father. He quarrelled with his step-grand
mother, and in 1676 it was ordered by the
court that whereas he "both dammyfied her
Barne, by parting with the other part of the
Barne that did adjoin to itt," he should repair
it, and "Make up yhe annuity of £12 per
annum," which by his grandfather's will he
was to pay her. He was made a freeman
October, 1681 ; was chosen captain of the
train band, September, 1689; was deputy for
Wethersfield to the general court, 1690-
9 1 -92-93-94-97-98-99- 1 700-0 1 -04-05. He was
appointed commissioner for Wethersfield 1692-
93-94; appointed justice of the peace, May,
1702-04-05-06; served as member of the coun
cil, 1697-98; was deputy to the general court,
1708 to 1714, inclusive; was appointed justice
of the peace and of the quorum, 1707 to 171 1,
and 1714; was one of the patentees to whom
the patent of Wethersfield was granted Feb
ruary 17, 1686; and when, in June, 1704, in
consequence of threatened Indian hostilities,
six houses were ordered to be fortified in
Wethersfield, his residence was one of the
number. Captain Robert Welles was a man
of large estate and much prominence. The

70

iMASSACHUSETTS.

inventory of his property mentions among
other things a negro slave Phibe, a silver
tankard, silver spoons, valued at £4 6s. 02d. ;
a silver beaker valued at £4 is. 4d. ; a silver
tankard, valued £8. 6s. 3d., a great looking
glass, valued at £4. His clothing likewise
listed was rich and valuable; and all goes to
show that he was a man whose house was
finely furnished, and whose apparel was con
spicuous for its quality. His inventory footed
£3,667 13s. 3d. His sons Joseph, Robert and
Gideon, and his grandson Robert were given
houses as well as lands. Captain Welles mar
ried (first) June 9, 1675, Elizabeth, daughter
of Ensign William and Sarah (Marvin) Good
rich, of Wethersfield. She died February 17,
1698. He married (second) in Boston, Octo
ber 13, 1698, Mary Stoddard, who survived
him. The children, all by first marriage, were :
Thomas, John, Joseph, Prudence, Robert and
Gideon. (IV) Joseph, son of Captain Robert and
Elizabeth (Goodrich) Welles, was bora Septem
ber, 1680, settled at Wethersfield, and died in
1744. He was a lister in 171 2 and collector
in 1 71 5, but never was as prominent a man as
his father. He married, January 6, 1709, Han
nah, daughter of Captain Joshua Robbins, of
Wethersfield. Their children were : John,
Prudence, Esther, Hannah, Joseph, Eunice
and Christopher.
(V) Joshua, son of Joseph and Hannah
(Robbins) Welles, was born September, 1726.
He married, in 1757, Experience Dickinson,
who died June 27, 1773. Their children were:
Experience, Hannah, Joshua, Levi, Gideon,
Prudence, Pamelia, Abigail and Daniel.
(VI) Gideon, son of Joshua and Experi
ence (Dickinson) Welles, was born July 15,
1764, died March 19, 1810. He married, Feb
ruary 28, 1790, Emily Hart, by whom he had
nine children, as follows : Shuman, William
Hart, Emily, Sally, Romanta, Dudley, Mary,
Pamela and Prudence.
(VII) Romanta, son of Gideon and Emily
(Hart) Welles, was baptized July 22, 1798.
He was a resident of Wethersfield, Connecti
cut. He married, September 25, 1830, Mari
anne Morgan, and they were the parents of
Stephen, Emily, Gideon, Dudley and Romanta.
(VIII) Judge Gideon, son of Romanta and
Marianne (Morgan) Wells, was born in
Wethersfield, Connecticut, August 16, 1835,
died in Springfield, Massachusetts, March 26,
1898. His boyhood life was that of the farm.
He was fitted for college at the East Windsor
Hill school and at Williston Seminary in East-

hampton, and then entered Yale, where he
was graduated in 1858. Among the best
known of his classmates were Dr. William T.
Harris, national commissioner of education;
Judge George P. Andrews, of the New York
supreme court; and Bishop E. T. Thomas, of
Kansas. Gideon Wells went to Springfield on
leaving college, and read law in the office of
Chapman & Chamberlain, the late T. M. Brown,
who had graduated at Williams the same year,
being a fellow student in the office. Mr. Wells
was admitted to the Hampden county bar in
i860 and at once became associated in practice
with the late Nehemiah A. Leonard, with
George Ashmun at the head of the firm. When
the Forty-fifth Regiment went out for its nine
months' service soon after the war began,
Gideon Wells was a member of Company A
of Springfield. He served as first lieutenant
under Captain L. A. Tifft, and also in the
same capacity in the Eighth Regiment. He
was always loyal to the association of this
period of his life and the festivities of Com
pany A never failed to appeal to him. Memory
of the strong and long maintained firm of
Leonard & Wells is yet fresh in the public
mind. In it were always preserved the most
honorable traditions of the Hampden Society
bar ; it took high rank and kept it ; it became
distinguished for ability and high principles
and the non-litigious character of its advice,
which tended to the reasonable settlement of
the inflaming of them. This characterization
will be recognized by lawyers as a just one.
The firm rendered valuable public service in
training young lawyers. While Leonard &
Wells had much and important court practice,
they built up a greater reputation as advisers
in business affairs. From 1869 to 1876 Mr.
Wells served as register in bankruptcy. His
readiness of apprehension gave him speedy
mastery of this position and it was not easy
for fraudulent operations to escape his notice.
In 1876 Gideon Wells succeeded Judge Mor
ton at the head of the local police court, which
position he held until 1890. During this period
the outside duties of Judge Wells had steadily
multiplied to an extent which led to his resig
nation and the appointment of Judge Bos-
worth to the vacancy. This released Judge
Wells from duties which had grown irksome
to enter more absorbingly into the business
relationships his professional work had brought
him. After Mr. Leonard took the presidency
of the Connecticut River railroad the weight
of the legal business of Leonard & Wells had
fallen on Judge Wells. To his duties as attor-

MASSACHUSETTS.

7i

ney for the Massachusetts Mutual Life In
surance Company and for the Springfield
Street Railway Company was then added the
presidency of the Holyoke Water Power Com
pany. This was an important place, carrying
with it a large salary, and more and more the
insurance company came to rely upon Judge
Wells in its large transactions and interests
widely scattered over the country. He was
hither and yon in its service, the one man
seemingly indispensable because of his legal
knowledge and business ability. The years
more nearly preceding the death of Judge
Wells his time had been given to these inter
ests and to the service of individuals and com
panies that insisted upon having his advice.
Most large enterprises in Springfield felt his
shaping hand. He was the attorney for the
First, Second and Third National Banks of
that city. He was a director of the Massa
chusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, of
the Third and John Hancock National Banks,
and in a variety of enterprises in which local
interests wanted his oversight. Judge Wells
delighted in that form of recreation which took
him farthest from the toil of his profession.
In the earlier years of his professional career
he greatly enjoyed a horseback ride before
breakfast, and to assume the care of the
animal himself, to exploit his choice of garden
roses, as more recently he gloried in raising
the best melons of the region on his Agawam
estate. The Springfield Republican, from which the
part of this article referring to Judge Wells is
chiefly taken, further says of him: "The
keen intuitive quality of his mind was joined
to sound native sense, and he had a knack of
doing things, of seizing the essentials in any
given situation and producing results. He had
a most retentive memory, and knew where to
go for his fine points of law. That is some
times better than profound closest knowledge
of the law. He seemed to lack interest in cer
tain directions, and yet the end of his under
takings usually justified his way of doing a
thing. Back of brusque manner, and cynicism
which Judge Wells loved to affect, lay the
kindest of hearts and a wealth of neighborli-
ness and friendliness that bound people to him
by the strongest ties. He was respected in
every relation for his strength and force.
Scores of people leaned on him in this enter
prise or that one. Then there was the social
side of the man — and very delightful and
entertaining and informing he was, whether
in the casual chat, in the gatherings of the

literary club, the game of whist or the social
call. He always gave richly and was ready
in the thrust and parry of social interchange.
His fund of stories was varied and seemingly
inexhaustible. No man in our profession and
circles was nearer to the homely life of New
England or caught its humor or flavor more
accurately or with fuller appreciation. There
never was a more genuine New Englander.
It was the dream of his life to have a farm,
to grow fruits, vegetables and flowers, not to
sell but to joy in and dower his friends with —
and the satisfaction which he got out of his
fine Agawam farm during those recent years
was immense. He was hospitable, in a myriad
of ways, a caretaker for others, and the void
which his going leaves in the life of this com
munity will be keenly felt today." The mem
bers of the Hampden County Bar Association
assembled at a special sitting of the supreme
court, June 6, 1898, to do honor to the mem
ory of Mr. Wells and passed resolutions prais
ing him as a lawyer and a citizen, which are
omitted here to give room for portions of the
remarks of some of the lawyers present which
illustrate the qualities of the man whom they
mourned. Edward H. Lathrop said : "Among the large
accomplishments of his later life, few men
with whom he came in contact felt the warmth
and the richness of his real life and self.
Brother Wells was not a man who opened the
sunshine of his heart to every casual acquaint-
ence or to the ordinary man of business. He
kept the seclusions of the real sweetness of
his nature perhaps somewhat too rigidly. In
the pathways of daily life he took and gave
his full measure of the attritions of experience
and of performance. His habit was that of
isolation, and not to criticise, but to review him,
he has too much of isolation and of seclusion.
He had forgotten in the later years how to
play. The grind of business was upon him,
and unconsciously to himself he was a prisoner
to implicable and inescapable demands. The
humor of his nature had little opportunity to
play the relieving interludes that I believe
would have saved him for many more and
larger years. Grim and abrupt of speech he
sometimes was to his best friends, but he was
unconscious of it. He had his affections, and
we all recognized and enjoyed them and I
think he did. He used, to say startling things
sometimes on sober and sedate occasions, not,
perhaps, because he believed them, but possibly
on occasion to relieve the dullness of conver
sational respectability and at other times be-

72

MASSACHUSETTS.

cause he enjoyed the effect. He had no rever
ence for the platitudes of place, or the affected
profundity that sometimes goes with all our
professions, and he hated the Uriah Heeps of
society and of business. He was always a
cool breeze in a stifling conventional atmos
phere. Fle had few intimacies but many
friends. He had friends whom he never knew,
because he was unconscious of or had for
gotten the occasions that made them friends.
Behind all his brusqueness of manner and
speech lay the largeness and sweetness of a
most kindly character. Bold in speech and
criticism of men and measures, he never
obtruded his opinion and never sought occa
sion to say an unkind thing of any one. His
word was always as good as his bond, and his
bond was as good as gold. We all felt safe in
resting upon an agreement made with "Gid"
Wells, fle had a rare philosophy in life. He
never fretted at matters going wrong, but with
redoubled reserve and a more fixed purpose
set his face to the accomplishment of his
clients' interests. If disturbed he concealed
his fear; if unhorsed, he climbed into the
saddle again without pause. His courage and
his calmness, his philosophy and his imper-
turbality in meeting life's eventualities, were
all illustrated in the serenity with which he
met at the end an ultimate and visibly approach
ing fate."
On the same occasion Charles C. Spellman
spoke in part as follows: "Upon the death
of Judge Morton, Judge Wells received the
appointment as justice of the police courts, and
during the first six years of his administration
as judge, I was clerk of that court. This
brought us into daily intercourse with each
other and established a friendship between us
which continued until his death. During the
six years I was so closely associated with him
I had many opportunities to witness exhibi
tions of his character. No single instance of
difference, no impatient work or hasty action,
severed for one moment our friendship. He
had a generous sympathetic heart, always
ready to relieve the necessities of others, and
many a friend in financial and other trouble,
to my knowledge, has not in vain appealed to
him for aid. I have seen him amid the per
plexing and embarrassing questions which con
tinually arise upon the criminal side of that
court, the persistent and almost annoying de
mands which could not even be considered, in
which the patience of the most indulgent man
would be put to the severest test. If he erred
at all, it was in not always courteously listen

ing. He had an impulsive nature. He was
affected with indignation — which feeling he
could hardly repress — when he witnessed any
act which was mean and sordid. He could
not tolerate the witness which he believed was
giving false testimony before his court, and
very often would give a hasty expression to his
own feelings if he felt that all was not as it
should be. He decided all cases upon evidence
as it seemed to him, without fear or favor.
The wishes of the prosecuting officer, the argu
ments of attorneys, the prominence or position
of the parties interested, or the comments of
the daily press, had no effect on his decision.
He held the attorneys strictly to the required
evidence, and any failure in essential testi
mony was fatal, fle was faithful and punctual
in the performance of his duties, and believed
that no one should undertake what he could
not do and that he should do what he had
undertaken. He resigned the judgeship to
assume other duties more to his liking. Those
best acquainted with the manner in which he
performed all his public duties will bear wit
ness to the integrity and moral soundness of
his life. His business ability can best be meas
ured by his successful management of large
corporate interests which from time to time
was reposed in him."
Gideon Wells married, October 13, 1875,
Marietta Gilbert, of Norwich, Connecticut,
who survives him. She was born at Norwich,
daughter of Merit S. and Esther (Jones) Gil
bert. They had one child, Gilbert, born May
7- i877- 
This surname was evidently a
STREET place name, doubtless derived
from the military roads or
streets which were built by the Romans in
England. As early as 1300 the name of Alice
le Strete is found in the Domesday Book. The
coat-of-arms of the family contains three
horses on a shield divided by a bar. The crest
is a man's arm upraised holding a bell in his
hand. Motto : Non nobis solum nati.
(I) Richard Street was of Stogumber, Som
ersetshire, England, and was a clothier. His
will is dated September 10, 1591, and .proved
September 30, 1592. Children: Michael, died
1597; Robert, Thomas, John, Nicholas, men
tioned below.
(II) Nicholas, son of Richard Street, left
a will which was proved May 3, 1610. He
married Mary  , who was living in 1609
and who left a will. Children: Nicholas,
mentioned below. 2. Mary, baptized at Taun-

MASSACHUSETTS.

73

ton, England, March 22, 1 578 ; married, Janu
ary 17, 1602, Josn Gilberd. 3. Thomas, bap
tized at Taunton, March 28, 1593; of Stogum-
ber and Bawdrip, by gift of his father. 4.
Jane, baptized June 22, 1593 ; buried at Bridge-
water, England.
(Ill) Nicholas (2), gentleman, son of
Nicholas (1) Street, was of Bridgewater,
Somersetshire, England. His will was dated
November 1, 1616, and proved February 13,
1617. He married, at Bridgewater, January
16, 1602, Susanna Gilberd, who was buried
February 22, 1603. He married (second)
Mary  , whose will was dated July 16,
1625, and proved February 6, 1626. Child
of first wife: 1. Nicholas, baptized January
29, 1603, mentioned below. Children of sec
ond wife : 2. Edward, baptized at Bridgewater
May 1, 1607, buried November 23, 1616. 3.
John. 4. Matthew. 5. William. 6. Francis.
7. Mary, baptized June 10, 1614, buried May
8, 1615. 8. Philip, baptized June 23, 1616,
buried November 23, 1616.
(IV) Rev. Nicholas (3), son of Nicholas
(2) Street, was baptized at Bridgewater, Eng
land, January 29, 1603. His father died when
Nicholas was thirteen years old, leaving his
"antient estate of Rowberton neare Taunton,
and also my lease of Huntesbell in the Marsh."
The estate of Rowberton belonged to the
Manor of Canon Street Priory of Taunton.
He matriculated at Oxford, November 2, 1621,
at the age of eighteen, and received his degree
February 21, 1624-25. The first record of
him in New England is his ordination as assist
ant of Rev. Mr. Hooke, as teacher of the
church at Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1637-38.
Seven years later Mr. Hooke went to New
Haven, and Mr. Street continued as sole pas
tor fifteen years. He followed Mr. Hooke to
New Haven and took his place as colleague
of Rev. John Davenport, September 26, 1659.
From 1667 until his death, April 22, 1674, he
was pastor of the First Church. He lived on
what is now College street, on the spot where
College Street Church now stands. He mar
ried (first)  , and (second) Mrs. Mary
Newman, widow of" Governor Francis New
man, of New Haven. She married (third)
Governor Leete, and died December 13, 1683.
Children: 1. Samuel, born 1635, mentioned
below. 2. Susanna, married  Mason.
3. Sarah, married James Heaton. 4. Abiah,
married Daniel Sherman.
(V) Rev. Samuel, son of Rev. Nicholas (3)
Street, was born in 1635. He graduated at
Harvard College in 1664, one of a class of

seven, all of whom he outlived by six years.
He lived in New Haven and taught in the
school Rev. Mr. Davenport had founded, and
in which his father also taught. After teach
ing here with his father for ten years, he was
installed April 22, 1674, the first settled clergy
man at Wallingford, Connecticut, and re
mained there pastor forty-five years. In 1681
he was granted two hundred acres of land, and
in 1686 a house lot of six acres, later other
grants. He was one of the original signers
of the Plantation Covenant of Wallingford in
1710. He died January 16, 1717, aged eighty-
two. He married, November 3, 1664, in New
Haven, Anna Miles, who died in Wallingford,
April 11, 1687, aged ninety-five, daughter of
Richard and Katherine (Constable) Miles.
Children: 1. Anna, born in New Haven, Au
gust 17, 1665. 2. Samuel, July 27, 1667, men
tioned below. 3. Mary, September 6, 1670.
4. Susanna, Wallingford, June 15, 1675, mar
ried Deacon John Peck. 5. Nicholas, July 14,
1677, married Jerusha Morgan. 6. Katherine,
November 19, 1679. 7. Sarah, January 15,
1681, married Theophilus Yale.
(VI) Lieutenant Samuel (2), son of Rev.
Samuel (1) Street, was born in New Haven,
July 27, 1667. He was made lieutenant of the
train band, May 10, 1716, in Wallingford. His
estate was administered February 18, 1719-20.
He married (first) July 14, 1690, Hannah
Glover, born October 10, 1672, died July 8,
1715, daughter of John Glover, of New Haven.
Fle married (second) December 20, 1716, Mrs.
Elizabeth (Brown) Todd, daughter of Eleazer
and Sarah (Bulkley) Brown, and widow of
Michael Todd. She married (third) Captain
John Merriman. Children: 1. Eleanor, born
December 3, 1691. 2. Nathaniel, January 19,
1693, married Mary Raymond. 3. Elnathan,
September 2, 1695, married Damaris Hull. 4.
Mary, April 16, 1698, married John Hall. 5.
Mehitable, February 15, 1699, married Abra
ham Bassett. 6. John, October 25, 1703, mar
ried Hannah Hall. 7. Samuel, May 10, 1707,
mentioned below.
(VII) Samuel (3), son of Lieutenant Sam
uel (2) Street, was born May 10, 1707, died
in Wallingford, October 15, 1792. He mar
ried (first) November 12, 1734, Keziah Mun-
son, daughter of Caleb and Elizabeth (Her-
mon) Munson. He married (second) Sarah
Atwater, born November 28, 1727, died Octo
ber 1, 1795, daughter of Caleb and Mehitable
(Mix) Atwater. Child of first wife: 1.
Glover, born May 28, 1735, mentioned below.
Children of second wife: 2. Titus, June 4,

74

MASSACHUSETTS.

1758, married Lydia Allen. 3. Caleb, Octo
ber 26, 1763.
(VIII) Glover, son of Samuel (3) Street,
was born May 28, 1735, died November 28,
1826. He was taken prisoner by the French
during the French and Indian war, while sail
ing in a merchant ship frofh New Haven to
the West Indies, carried to Guadaloupe a pris
oner and confined there a number of months.
lie married, in 1755, Lydia Allen, of North
Haven, who died February 13, 1817, aged
eighty. Children: 1. Esther, born February
24, 1757. 2. Hannah, October 18, 1758, mar
ried Jehiel Todd. 3. Keziah, March 7, 1761,
died young. 4. Samuel, October 2, 1762, men
tioned below. 5. Glover, May 7, 1764, mar
ried Deborah Bradley. 6. Caleb Munson, July
13, 1766, married Bathsheba Chapin. 7. Keziah,
July 23, 1768, married Zenas Hastings. 8.
George, January 2, 1771, died September 23,
1836; married, October 17, 1808, Miriam
Munson. 9. Joshua, November 24, 1772. 10.
Elizabeth, July 30, 1775, married Elijah Mor
gan. 11. John, May 29, 1778, married Sally
Williams. (IX) Samuel (4), son of Glover Street,
was born October 2, 1762, died February 20,
1818. He removed in 1800 to West Spring
field, and thence to Holyoke, Massachusetts.
He married, May 10, 1785, Anna Munson,
born June 28, 1760, died 1829. Children: 1.
Orren, born August 25, 1786, married Rox-
anna Bassett. 2. Eunecia, August 28, 1790,
married Ichabod Howe. 3. Manly, 1792, men
tioned below. 4. Lydia, 1797, married Will
iam Ardway. 5. Anna, 1800, died June 9,
1 82 1. 6. Atwater, West Springfield, April 7,
1803. (X) Manly, son of Samuel (4) Street, was
born at Wallingford, Connecticut, 1792, died
February 14, 1856. He married, in 1818, Sus
anna Clark, of Easthampton, who died April
28, 1854, aged fifty-nine. It is a singular fact
that all his children except Uriel were born
on Saturday. Children: 1. Sydenham, born
1820 died 1870; married Sarah Waterman. 2.
Samuel J., 1822, married, 1856, Elizabeth E.
Lanckton. 3. Austin Dwight, July 15, 1825,
mentioned below. 4. Uriel, May, 1827, died
June 2, 1852, unmarried. 5. Edwin, August
6, 1828, died November 4, 1889. 6. Ann, 1832,
unmarried. 7. William, 1838, unmarried.
(XI) Austin Dwight, son of Manly Street,
was born at West Springfield, July 15, 1825,
died December 25, 1896. He was a farmer in
Holyoke, a quiet, honest, upright citizen. He
married, October 15, 1856, Sophia Dickinson

(see Dickinson family). He resided at
Holyoke. Children: 1. Austin Dickinson,
born June 14, 1862. 2. Franklin Manly, April
9, 1869, married Jennie E. Sears, and they
have one child, Florence Street, borr*. March
4, 1897. (The Dickinson Une).
Eleven centuries ago a soldier of fortune
made his appearance at the court of Halfdan
Huilbein, 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 be
came a favorite at the Norwegian court. The
King made him general of his army and in
725 gave him his daughter Eurithea in mar
riage. He was called Prince of the 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, over
ran Norway 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 England at the time of the Con
quest. To this nobleman the line of Dickinsons
descended from the first American pioneer,
Nathaniel, may be traced.
(I) Walter de Caen, later de Kenson, tak
ing the name from his manor in Yorkshire.
(II) Johnne.Dykonson, freeholder of Kings
ton upon Hull, Yorkshire ; married, 1260, Mar
garet Lambert and 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, Catherine De La Pole
and died 1396.
(VI) Richard Dickerson, freeholder as
above, married, 1399, Margaret Cooper and
died 1441.
(VII) Thomas Dickinson, freeholder as
above, married, 1470, Margaret Lambert;
alderman of Hull, 1443-44; mayor 1444-45;
died 1475.
(VIII) Hugh Dickinson, freeholder as
above, married, 145 1, Agnes Swillington; re
moved 1475 to Kenson manor, Yorkshire;
died 1509.
(IX) William Dickinson, freeholder of
Kenson Manor, died 1546; married, I475>
Isabel Langton.
(X) John Dickinson settled in Leeds, York-

MASSACHUSETTS.

75

shire ; married, 1499, Elizabeth Danby ; alder
man 1525-54; died 1554.
(XI) William Dickinson settled at Brindley
Hall, Staffordshire; married, 1520, Rachel
Kinge ; died 1 580.
(XII) Richard Dickinson, of Bradley Hall,
married, 1540, Elizabeth Bagnall; died 1605.
(XIII) Thomas Dickinson, clerk in the
Portsmouth navy yard, 1567 to 1587; removed
to Cambridge, 1587; married, 1567, Judith
Carey; died 1590.
(XIV) William Dickinson settled in Ely,
Cambridge, and married, 1594, Sarah Stacey,
of Ely ; died 1628.
(XV) Nathaniel, son of William Dickinson,
was born in Ely, Cambridge, in 1600. He
married, in January, 1630, at East Bergolat,
county Suffolk, Anna Gull, widow of William
Gull. They came to Wethersfield, Connecti
cut, in 1636 or 1637. He was one of the
leaders of the colony. He was town clerk in
1645, deputy to the general court in 1646-47.
He removed to Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1659,
and was admitted a freeman there in 1661.
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 of Hopkins Academy.
He resided a few years at Hatfield. He died
at Hadley, June 16, 1676. He married (sec
ond) Anne  , when he went to Hadley.
Children of first wife: 1. John, born 1630,
killed in King Philip's war. 2. Joseph, 1632,
mentioned below. 3. Thomas, 1634, married
Hannah Crow. 4. Anna' 1636, married (first)
John Clary; (second) Enos Kingsley. 5.
Samuel, July, 1638. 6. Obadiah, April 15,
1641. 7. Nathaniel, August, 1643. 8. Nehe
miah, about 1644. 9. Hezekiah, February,
1645-46. 10. Azariah, October 4, 1648, killed
in Swamp fightj-August 25, 1675.
(XVI) Joseph, son of Nathaniel Dickinson,
was born in 1632. He lived in Northampton
from 1664 to 1674 and then removed to North-
field. He was slain with Captain Beers, Sep
tember 4, 1675, in King Philip's war. fle
married Phebe Bracy, daughter of Mrs. Mar
tin. Children: 1. Samuel, born May 24, 1666,
died in Hatfield, 1690-91. 2. Joseph, April 27,
1668. 3. Nathaniel, May 20, 1670, mentioned
below. 4. John, May 2, 1672. 5. Azariah,
May 15, 1674, settled in Haddam, Connecticut.
(XVII) Deacon Nathaniel, son of Joseph
Dickinson, was born May 20, 1670, died in
1745. He resided in Hatfield, and married
Hannah White, daughter of Daniel White, of

that town. Children : 1. Jonathan, born No
vember 7, 1699, mentioned below. 2. Martha,
December 25, 1701, married, March 2, 1727,
Elnathan Graves. 3. Obadiah, July 28, 1704.
4. Nathan, April, 1707, died May 10, 1707. 5.
Joshua, February 7, 1709. 6. Elijah, Febru
ary 24, 1712, died June 8, 1714. 7. Elijah,
September 20, 1714, died May 28, 1715. 8.
Joel, March 23, 1716. 9. Lucy, September 9,
1718, died December 24, 1718.
(XVIII) Jonathan, son of Deacon Nathaniel
Dickinson, was born in Hatfield, November 7,
1699, and settled first in Hadley on School
Meadows. About 1748 he removed to Am
herst, where he died December 11, 1787. He
married, April 2, 1724, Mary Smith, who died
April 13, 1763, daughter of Nathaniel Smith,
of Hatfield. Children: 1. Simeon, born about
1726. 2. Noah, about 1729, mentioned below.
3. Jonathan. 4. Mary, married, April 16, 1752,
Hezekiah Belding. 5. Martha, married Joseph
Dickinson, of Amherst, and died August 12,
1779. (XIX) Noah, son of Jonathan Dickinson,
was born about 1729 and died March 28, 1815.
He served in the revolution as first lieutenant
in Captain Reuben Dickinson's company,
Fourth Amherst, Fourth Hampshire county
regiment, in 1776; as lieutenant in Captain
John Thompson's company, Colonel Leonard's
regiment in 1777, with the army of the north
for two months ; also as lieutenant in command
of a company in Colonel Elisha Porter's regi
ment in August, 1777; in Captain Reuben
Dickinson's company, Colonel Porter's regi
ment at the Stillwater alarm in September and
October, 1777, and in the same company in
1778. fle resigned April 18, 1780. fle mar
ried (first) April 28, 1757, Mary Dickinson,
who died June 1, 1791, aged fifty- four, daugh
ter of Deacon Ebenezer Dickinson. He mar
ried (second) March 22, 1792, Susan Ward.
Children: Mary, born about 1758, married,
July 7, 1779, Hon. Ebenezer Mattoon, of Am
herst; died July 30, 1835. Son by second
wife: Jonathan, baptized June 7, 1795, men
tioned below.
(XX) Jonathan, son of Noah Dickinson,
was baptized June 7, 1795, died October 2,
1840. He married, September 19, 1816, Amy
Stoughton Dickinson, daughter of John and
Lydia (Eastman) Dickinson. Her father was
born in Shutsbury, Massachusetts, in 1757, son
of Nehemiah and Annie E. Dickinson, and was
a soldier at Bunker Hill. Children, all born
in Amherst: 1. John. 2. Noah. 3. Charles.
4. Martin. 5. Rebecca. 6. Susan. 7. Sophia,

76

MASSACHUSETTS.

born February 5, 1832, graduate from Ripley
College at Poultney, Vermont, at the age of
twenty-one, and taught school at Amherst,
Holyoke and Springfield, Massachusetts ; mar
ried, October 15, 1856, Austin Dwight Street.
(See Street family).

Tradition says that three
SAWYER brothers emigrated to America
from Lincolnshire, England,
sailing in a ship commanded by Captain Parker,
and that their names were William, Edmund and
Thomas. They arrived 1636, although Savage
does not find William and Thomas until 1643.
The fact that the Rowley records show Edward
instead of Edmund, as shown that a tract of
land was set off to Thomas Sawyer and
another to Edward Sawyer in 1643, one of
the boundaries of each lot being upon the
ocean side, thus showing that the three
brothers were William, Edward and Thomas,
and that they came early in 1643 or just previ
ous. Edmund came over seven years earlier
and whether he was a brother of the others
cannot be ascertained, but all agree that
Thomas Sawyer was in Lancaster a few years
after living at Rowley, and has descendants
multiplied by the thousands.
Thomas Sawyer was among the first emi
grants to Lancaster. Richard Linton, Law
rence Waters and Thomas Bell had gifts of land
in what was afterward Lancaster as an induce
ment to settle there, Thomas Sawyer coming
later. He was one of the nine persons in 1653
who organized the town, and gave it the name
of Lancaster. He was a blacksmith and tiller
of the soil, and one of the most conspicuous
of the citizens. His farm was in the present
grounds of the Seventh Day Adventists, be
tween North Lancaster and Clinton. His house
was just behind the house now or lately owned
by John A. Rice, of Lancaster. There is a
stone to mark his grave in the old graveyard
at Lancaster. This house was in the most
central part of the Indian raid. He seems to
have escaped with all his numerous family,
with the exception of his son Ephraim, who
was killed at or near the house of his grand
father, John Preseott. Thomas Sawyer's
garrison proved a safe defense against the
French and Indians. There was among their
numbers a high French officer who it is said
was mortally wounded while in the fight which
much exasperated them. Lancaster remained
desolate for some three years, and where the
family of Sawyer resided during that time
is not evident but it is certain that they soon

reappeared and helped rebuild the town, and
he took a prominent part in its growth and
prosperity during the next thirty years. It is
now believed that John Sawyer, of Lanca
shire, England, was the father of these three
brothers who came to America.
(I) Thomas Sawyer took the oath of allegi
ance in 1647, and was on the list of proprietors
in Lancaster in 1648. He was one of the first
six settlers and one of the prudential managers
of the town in 1647. He was admitted a free
man in 1654. He was a blacksmith by trade,
and his house was on the east side of what is
now Main street, South Lancaster, next south
of the home of his father-in-law, John Pres
eott. He was one of the leading men of the
town all his life. He had command of one
of the garrisons at the time of King Philip's
war. There were only five full-fledged free
men in the town of Lancaster in 1654 — Ed
ward Breck, Richard Smith, William Kerley,
John Whitcomb and Thomas Sawyer. He
died September 12, 1706, aged about ninety
years. His will was dated March 6, 1705-06,
and proved April 12, 1720. He bequeathed
to wife Mary, sons Thomas, Joshua, James,
Caleb and Nathaniel, and daughter Mary
Wilder. The latter testified that she had her
father and mother during eight or nine months
while her brother Thomas was in captivity.
Her name and that of her mother was gen
erally spelled Marie. Thomas Sawyer mar
ried Mary, daughter of John Preseott, a black
smith, who came from Sowerby in the parish
of Halifax, England, West Riding of York
shire, where he married Mary Blatts, a York
shire girl. He was born in Lancashire, and
came to Lancaster, Massachusetts, in 1645-46,
for the purpose of building up the town, fle
took the oath of allegiance in 1652. His family
escaped the massacre and returned to the town
in 1682. Children: 1. Thomas, born July 2,
1649, mentioned below. 2. Ephraim, January
16, 1650-51, died February 10, 1676, killed by
Indians at Preseott garrison. 3. Mary, No
vember 4, 1652-53, married, 1673, Nathaniel
Wilder ; children, born at Sudbury : i. Nathaniel,
born 1675; ii. Ephraim, 1677; iii. Mary, 1679;
iv. Elizabeth, 1681 ; v. Dorothy, 1686; vi.
Nathaniel, 1688; vii. Eunice, 1690; viii. Oliver,
1694. 4. Elizabeth, January, 1654, died young.
5. Joshua, March 13, 1655, died July 14, 1738;
married, January 2, 1677-78, Sarah Potter;
children : i. Abigail, born 1679 ; ii. Joshua, 1684 ;
iii. Sarah, 1687; iv. Hannah, 1689; v. Martha,
1692 ; vi. Elizabeth, 1698. 6. James, Janu
ary 22, 1657, married (first) February 4, 1677,

MASSACHUSETTS.

77

Mary Marble; (second) Mary Preseott, of
Pomfret, Connecticut; children: i. Ephraim,
born December, 1678; ii. James, July 12, 1686;
iii. Mary, September 17, 1696; iv. Benjamin,
February 11, 1697-98. 7. Caleb, February 20,
1659, mentioned below. 8. John, April, 1661,
married, January 16, 1686, Mary Bull, of
Worcester; children: i. Edward, born 1687;
ii. Jacob; iii. Joseph; iv. Moses, 1722, died
1729; v. Oliver; vi. Mercy. 9. Elizabeth, bap
tized January 5, 1663-64, married James Hos-
mer, of Marlboro. 10. Deborah, born 1666,
died young. 11. Nathaniel, born October 24,
1670, married (first) Mary  ; (second)
1695, Elizabeth  ; children : i. Amos,
born June 20, 1693 ; ii. Samuel, 1698, died
1784; iii. John, 1700, died October 2, 1731 ;
iv. Ezra, 1702, died 1765 ; v. Nathaniel ; vi.
Thomas, 171 1, died 1727; vii. Phinehas; viii.
Mary; ix. Ephraim.
(II) Thomas (2), son of Thomas (1)
Sawyer, was born July 2, 1649, died Septem
ber 5, 1736, at Lancaster. His will bequeathed
to four sons and two daughters, and twelve
pounds to purchase a communion vessel for
the Lancaster church. He was the first white
child born in Lancaster. His capture by the
Indians forms one of the most familiar stories
of the colonial period in Massachusetts. At
the time of his capture he was living in the
garrison with his father's family. Queen
Anne's war was making the lives of the col
onists unsafe, especially on the frontier. Indians
made frequent attacks and massacred men,
women and children. On October 16, 1695,
Thomas Sawyer Jr., his son Elias, and John
Bigelow, of Marlboro, were at work in his
saw mill where they were surprised and cap
tured by the Indians. They were taken to
Canada and Bigelow and young Sawyer were
turned over to the French to ransom but they
kept Thomas Sawyer to put to death by tor
ture. Sawyer proposed to the French gov
ernor 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 ruse 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 un
lock, that they gave up their victim. Indians
fear the unseen more than the real dangers
and doubtless the friar took care not to specify
what he would do in case the auto-de-fe was
carried out. Sawyer built the mill successfully,
the first in Canada it is said, lie and Bigelow
came home after seven or eight months of
captivity to their delighted people. Elias Saw
yer was kept a year longer to run the mill and
teach the others to run it. The captives were
treated well after the French found them use
ful to them. Thomas Sawyer married (first)
1670, Sarah  — ; (second) 1672, Hannah
-; (third) 1 7 18, Mary White. Children:

1. Mary, born December, 1671, married
Joshua Rice, of Marlboro. 2. Hannah, 1675,
married Jonathan Moore, of Marlboro. 3.
William, 1679, died in Bolton, 1740; married
Mary  . 4. Joseph, 1682, died July 10,
1737; married (first) Sarah  , who died
March 17, 1717; married (second) March 10,
171 8, Abigail Wilder. 5. Bazaleel, born May
23, 1685, died April 5, 1760; married Judith
 , who died March 24, 1774. 6. Elias,
see forward.
(Ill) Elias, son of Thomas (2) Sawyer,
was born in 1690 in Lancaster. He was taken
prisoner by the Indians with his father, as
related above, and taken to Canada. After
remaining in Canada a year, teaching the
French to run the saw mill that his father
built as the price of their ransom, he returned
to his home in Lancaster. He and his wife
Beatrix owned the covenant in the First
Church of Lancaster, March 24, 1716-17, and
at that time their two eldest children were bap
tized. By deed dated December 2, 1735 (Wor
cester deeds Book 27, page 510), he received
from his father Thomas Sawyer, of Lancaster,
land on the east side of the Still river in the
"Intervale Hollera" and elsewhere in Lan
caster. This deed refers to land given to his
brother Bezaleel by their father. Before his
death he deeded his property in large part if
not wholly to his children. Elias Sawyer, of
Bolton, deeded to Elijah Sawyer, of Bolton,
the west part of the homestead where he was
then living May 31, 1749, for two hundred and
seventy-six pounds or equivalent ; he deeded
to Elijah, May 31, 1749, half his dwelling
house in Bolton on Still river adjoining land of
Ephraim Houghton on the Still river road;
land at Halloway Ontervale, "Intervale Hol
lera" mentioned above, and on Kerley's plain
etc. ; also half his town right. On the same
day Elias gave a farm of two hundred and

78

MASSACHUSETTS.

nineteen acres to son Elisha in Lancaster. He
died in Bolton, November 20, 1752, aged sixty-
three years, or according to his gravestone in
the old Lancaster burial ground in his sixty-
third year. His widow Beatrix ("Batrice" in
this paper) was appointed administratrix, Jan
uary 29, 1753, her sons Elijah and Elisha being
the sureties on her bond, Elijah then of Bolton
as well as his mother, while Elisha was of
Lancaster. Children baptized in the First
Church of Lancaster: 1. Elijah, baptized
March 24, 1716-17, mentioned below. 2.
Thankful, baptized March 24, 1716-17. 3.
Elisha, born August 17, 17 18, married Ruth
 ; had Jotham, born April 27, 1745;
Thankful, August 1, 1747 (twin) ; Elias, Au
gust 1, 1747 (twin). 4. Betty, baptized Feb
ruary 25, 1721-22. 5. Prudence, September
26, 1726, baptized December 18, 1726.
(IV) Elijah, son of Elias Sawyer, was born
in Bolton about 1715, baptized in the First
Lancaster Church, March 24, 1716-17. He
and his brother Elisha, Nathaniel Carter, of
Leominster, and Thomas Carter, of Lunen
burg, deeded land to Nathaniel Wyman, of
Lancaster, December 30, 1753. Elijah himself
deeded land to this Nathaniel Carter (perhaps
his brother-in-law), and Thomas Carter, of
Lunenburg, June 2, 1753. He had the home
stead, as told in the sketch of his father, and
lived in Bolton all his life. He deeded prop
erty valued at six thousand pounds to his son
Elias, a blacksmith of Bolton, April 8, 1784.
He had previously deeded to his son Calvin
property valued at the same sum in Bolton. He
married (first) July 18, 1740, Ruth White.
He married (second) Ldyia  , who died,
his widow, May 5, 1799, aged seventy-two
years, six months and one day. She was buried
on the Old Common and her gravestone still
stands. He died intestate at Bolton before
1799. Children: Calvin, born 1750; Elias;
Luther ; probably several daughters.
(V) Calvin, son of Elijah Sawyer, was
born in Bolton in 1750. He was educated
there in the public schools. He received half
of his father's homestead, as stated. Abijah
Phelps deeded land in Lancaster of the late
Edward Phelps to Calvin Sawyer, December
10, 1784. John Barnard deeded a parcel of
land near Van's Hill, Bolton, to Calvin Sawyer,
October 23, 1786. Calvin bought fifty acres
of Daniel Gage, of Hubbardston, in that town
in 1798. This transfer may belong to Calvin
Jr., however. Calvin died in 1802 intestate.
His wife Abigail was born August 19, 1753,
died November 1, 1839. Children, born in

Bolton (records from family) : 1. Elijah,
January 25, 1773, blacksmith. 2. Calvin, Octo
ber 25, 1775, owned land in Hubbardston and
lived there for a time; deeded fifty acres in
Hubbardston to brother, Luther Sawyer, of
Bolton, January 2, 1800. 3. Luther, February
1, 1777, died May 28, 1826; lived at Bolton;
deeded to brothers, Elijah and Calvin, land in
Hubbardston, April 11, 1801 ; married Keziah
 . 4. Nathan, November 4, 1779, died
January 18, 1817. 5. Daniel, November 1,
1782, mentioned below. 6. Oliver, February
4, 1784, died March 24, 1836. 7. Abigail, Au
gust 12, 1787. 8. Catharine, October 27, 1789,
died February 6, 1808. 9. Elias, August 19,
1791, died February, 1849. IO- Silas, Novem
ber 26, 1793, died March 24, 1856. Guardians
of Elias and Silas appointed in 1811.
(VI) Daniel, son of Calvin Sawyer, was
born in Bolton, November 1, 1782, died
November 4, 1847. He lived in Bolton
where he was deacon of the church many
years. He was known for his mechanical
ability, being a wheelwright of the old school,
as was his brother, Major Oliver Sawyer. They
were of the family of the ^famous mechanical
Sawyers spoken of in many of the town his
tories. Deacon Sawyer, being a wood worker,
made all the coffins used in the town for many
years. He lived on a great stage route, and
became well known for his fine pick handles
and general wheelwright work. In those days
all commodities were teamed over the road,
heavy loaded wagons constantly passing his
door on their way to or from Boston, many
going to Brattleboro, A^ermont, or beyond. As
he had the opportunity to get the very best .
hickory timber grown in Massachusetts, his
name spread among the teamsters from Ver
mont where such timber did not grow, and he
had a large business with these people. He
married (first) Rachel Jewett, born in Bolton,
February 21, 1783, died November 12, 1843.
He married (second) Mary  , who sur
vived him. Edwin A. Whitcomb was appoint
ed administrator of his estate by request of
the heirs. Fle was a well-to-do farmer. Chil
dren, born in Bolton, by first wife: 1. Ca'th-
arine, August 29, 1810, died October 7, 1862;
married, June 7, 1838, Jonathan Whitcomb,
born at Stow, March 11, 1793, died May 7,
1856; children: i. Emily A. Whitcomb, born
April 2, 1839, died December 12, 1867, mar
ried, May 8, 1867, Edmond Stow, of Stow;
ii. Mary E. Whitcomb, born August 8, 1841,
married, May 19, 1862, Francis Gates, of Stow
(children: Elliott W. Gates, born February

MASSACHUSETTS.

79

25, 1863, married, November 24, 1891, Eliza
beth Burkill, of Hudson, Massachusetts ; Ervin
F. Gates, born April 25, 1864, married, No
vember 27, 1894, Sarah Clark, of Hudson;
Sarah C. Gates, born September 10, 1865, mar
ried E. W. Van Deusen, of New York; iv.
Florence E. Gates, born March 28, 1878, mar
ried, October 5, 1895, Walter H. White, of
Hudson) ; iii. Ellen C. Whitcomb, born Au
gust 13, 1846; iv. Henry S. Whitcomb, born
November 13, 1848, married, May 1, 1878,
Hattie Wadhaus, of Ypsilanti, Michigan, and
had Ada Frances, born in Chicago, May 31,
1879. 2. Alfred, January 27, 1812, died De
cember 27, 1897 ; married, May 17, 1837, Mar
garet Hendry, of Peacham, Vermont ; chil
dren: Amory, Laura, Lucien, all residing in
the west. 3. Emily, June 26, 181 5, died De
cember 15, 1874; married, April 28, 1841,
Reuben Newton. 4. Edwin, July 20, 1817,
mentioned below. Child of second wife: 5.
Margaret H. (mentioned as heir in settlement
of estate).
(VII) Edwin, son of Daniel Sawyer, was
born at Bolton, Massachusetts, July 20, 1817,
died at Watertown, Massachusetts, July 20,
1885. He received his educational training in
the schools of his native town, and upon tak
ing up the practical duties of life learned the
wheelwright trade, which line he pursued
throughout the active years of his life. He
removed to Watertown in 1856 and here also
became known as a skillful and reliable wagon
maker; he was scrupulously just and con
scientious in all his affairs, and was regarded
as a useful and good citizen. He married, at
Stow, Massachusetts, March 3, 1850, Sarah
B. Wright, of Boxboro, Massachusetts, daugh
ter of Joel and Dolly (Reid) Wright, she died
at Watertown, February 8, 1902. Of this mar
riage was born one child, Herbert H, born
July 6, 1857, mentioned below.
(VIII) Herbert H, son of Edwin Sawyer,
was born in Watertown, July 6, 1857. He
was educated in the public schools of his native
town. After leaving school he at once engaged
in a commercial life, eventually becoming a
proprietor and owner of the largest manu
facturing industry of its kind in New England.
He was a prominent citizen, holding many
offices of responsibility and trust of both public
and private nature. He married, June 18,
1883, Alice Jane Tourtellotte, born April 22,
1855, daughter of William H. and Mercy Jane
(Comstock) Tourtellotte. They have one
child, Minnie T., born October 26, 1884. (See

sketches of Tourtellotte and Comstock fami
lies). 'The Tourtellotte Line).
(I) Abraham Tourtellotte, (name also
spelled Turtelotte, Turtellot, Turtelott, Tour-
tellott) immigrant ancestor, was a native of
Bordeaux, France, and was a merchant and
mariner. He arrived in Boston in the ship,
"Friendship," John Ware, master, from Lon
don in 1687. In 1688 he was appointed admin
istrator of the estate of his brother Benjamin,
who died September 25, 1687, on the voyage
from London. He settled first in Roxbury,
Massachusetts, and removed in 1697 to New
port, Rhode Island. He sold his mansion house
at Roxbury, and two and one half acres of
land, to Prudence Thompson, June 1, 1699.
Both he and his son Gabriel were lost at sea
while on the way to Newport on a vessel of
which he was master. His widow died at the
home of her son, Abraham, in Gloucester,
Rhode Island. He married, in Roxbury, 1692-
93, Marie Bernon, daughter of Gabriel and
Esther (LeRoy) Bernon. Gabriel Bernon was
of noble descent according to the French stand
ards of nobility. The family claimed affilia
tion with the house of the Dukes of Burgundy,
and it seems very probable that that claim was
well founded, but by documentary evidence
they were descendants of Raoul de Bernon,
who fought in the Crusades and who had a
coat-of-arms which he was entitled to trans
mit to his descendants, of whom Gabriel was
certainly one. Two mayors of Rocheile in
successive generations were elected from this
family and this under French law and the
charter of the city ennobled them and their
descendants. He may have made an earlier
marriage and had children by his first wife,
but if so, they did not come to America. He
was a Huguenot in religion. Children: 1.
Gabriel, born September 24, 1694, in Roxbury,
lost at sea ; unmarried. 2. Esther, June 12,
1696, married, January 19, 1716, Israel Hard
ing, son of John Harding. 3. Abraham, about
1698, mentioned below.
(II) Abraham (2), son of Abraham (i)'Tour-
tellotte, was born in September or October,
1698, probably in Newport, Rhode Island,
(some family authorities say Roxbury, Massa
chusetts) died November 23, 1762. He was
a joiner by trade. He was admitted a freeman
in 1722 and that year bought of Joseph Hop
kins sixty-seven acres of land with house, in
Providence. On January 29, 1724, he bought
of Samuel Inman a house and twenty acres

8o

MASSACHUSETTS.

for sixty pounds, and the same date sold to
William Bates for forty pounds twenty acres
"where Samuel Inman dwelleth, with house
etc." He removed to Gloucester, Rhode Island,
and March 14, 1743, was granted a license to
keep a tavern in the house where he dwelt.
On September 8 following his wife, Hannah,
brought in an account of her first husband's
estate, being Jeremiah Corpe, innholder, who
was drowned by falling from a sloop April
22, 1 741. The inn kept by Abraham Tour
tellotte may have been and probably was the
same kept by Jeremiah Corpe. Abraham was
deputy to the general court in 1747. His will
was dated November 19, 1757, proved April
13, 1763, and bequeathed to wife and children,
and was quite complicated. There was a dis
pute as to its validity on account of the condi
tion of mind of the maker, and his sons Abra
ham and Benjamin appealed to the governor
and council. The executors named refusing to
take administration, it was granted to his son
Abraham. The inventory amounted to one
thousand three hundred and eighty-five pounds,
eighteen shillings, and included a large amount
of household goods. Abraham married (first)
Lydia Ballard, bora March 29, 1700, daugh
ter of Isaac and Dorothy (Hearnden) Ballard.
He married (second) January 29, 1743, Han
nah Corpe, born November 6, 1713, widow of
Jeremiah Corpe, and daughter of William and
Elizabeth (Stafford) Case. He married
(third) Welthian Williams, daughter of Nehe
miah and Rachel (Mann) Sheldon. She mar
ried (third) May 27, 1770, Samuel Thurber.
Children of first wife: 1. Mary, born March
20, 1 72 1. 2. Lydia, January 24, 1723. 3.
Esther, January 24, 1723 (twin). 4. Abra
ham, February 27, 1725. 5. Jonathan, Sep
tember 15, 1728. 6. Benjamin, November 30,
1730. 7. Sarah, April 22, 1735. Children of
second wife: 8. Stephen. 9. William. 10.
Jesse, mentioned below. 11. Daniel. 12. Anne.
(Ill) Jesse, son of Abraham Tourtellotte,
was born about 1740. He settled in Mendon,
Massachusetts, and was a soldier in the revo
lution from that town, a private in Captain
Peter Penniman's company, Lieutenant Col
onel Nathan Tyler's regiment from Decem
ber 8, 1776, to January 2, 1777, at Providence,
Rhode Island; also in Captain B. Read's com
pany, Colonel Nathan Tyler's regiment in 1780.
(See p. 200; Vol. XVI Mass. Soldiers and
Sailors). His will is in the Worcester records,
dated August 29, 1837, and proved April 26,
1841. He bequeathed to wife Lydia and to
children mentioned below. Children: 1.

Levina, married  Benson. 2. Lydia,
married ¦  Warfield. 3. Betsey, married
Albee. 4. Stephen. 5. John. 6. Ethan.

7. Jesse. 8. Daniel, born 1771 (probably not
the youngest, however), mentioned below.
(IV) Daniel, son of Jesse Tourtellotte, was
born at Mendon, Massachusetts, 1771, died at
Sutton, August 17, 1844. Some of his descend
ants have not used the final vowel in the sur
name. He settled in Sutton, Massachusetts,
where he bought his homestead of Colonel
Jason Waters. It was originally a wheel
wright shop owned by Reuben Chase and
Origen Harback and in the present generation
was owned by the late George C. Earle. Daniel
was a very prominent man in his day in Sut
ton, deputy sheriff several years and justice
of the peace. He married Freelove Angell,
born in Smithfield, Rhode Island, February
28, 1779, died at Millbury, Massachusetts, No
vember 16, 1869. Children, born at Sutton:
1. Paris, May 14, 1797. 2. George Angell, Au
gust 30, 1800, died at Worcester, February
16, 1847, buried at Sutton. 3. Daniel Comar,
August 25, 1804, mentioned below. 4. Samuel,
August 5, 1806. 5. Charles Angell, March 21,
1810. 6. Maria, August 5, 1812, married John
Gleason, of Worcester. (See New England
Register, July, 1908). 7. Stephen Decatur,
October 1, 181 5. 8. Ruth Angell, June 16,
1821, died November 25, 1839.
(V) Colonel Daniel Comar, son of Daniel
Tourtellotte, was born August 25, 1804, at
Sutton. He was educated in the common
schools of his native town. He was colonel
of his militia regiment, and one of the leading
citizens. He bought a house, the Parley
Waters House, as it has been called in late
years. His brothers, Paris and George A.
Tourtellotte, succeeded Colonel George C.
Earle as proprietors of the tavern at Sutton.
Charles A. Tourtellotte succeeded George A.
as owner of the old hotel stand and George
A. kept a hotel afterward at Templeton where
he died. Charles A. Tourtellotte kept a hotel
at Millbury, still known by the older citzens
by his name. Daniel C. Tourtellotte learned
the trade of blacksmith and wheelwright and
had a shop a little north of the tavern equipped
with water power and he did an extensive
wheelwright business for many years. About
1845 he removed to Worcester. He married
(first) (intention dated October 6, 1827)
Sarah Sibley, born 1807, died December 28,
1843, daughter of Moses and Sarah Sibley.
He married (second) Huldah Sarepta Stock-
well, born July 1, 1818, died August 13, 1846,

^/Yante/ ^Domtw y cur-tel/al/e

MASSACHUSETTS.

daughter of Peter and Huldah Stockwell. He
married (third) Elizabeth Lyons. Children
of first wife, born at Sutton : i. Helen Maria,
born January 15, 1829, married (first) 
Burden; (second) Dexter Sanders; children,
Herbert and Clarence. 2. William Henry,
November 15, 1831, mentioned below. 3.
Daniel H., October 23, 1833. 4. Ruth Angell,
December 15, 18*35. 5. Sarah Sibley, Decem
ber 18, 1837. 6. John, December 10, 1839. 7.
Frances Cornelia, October 29, 1841, married
 Kirby. Child of second wife : 8.
Sarepta, born and died April 13, 1846, at
Worcester. Children of third wife, born in
Worcester: 9. Edward, married Belle Kins
ley. 10. Louisa. 11. Sarepta, unmarried.
(VI) William Henry, son of Colonel Daniel
Comar Tourtellotte, was born in Sutton, No
vember 15, 1831. He was educated in the
public schools of Worcester. He married
Mercy Jane Comstock, born March 22, 1834,
daughter of John and Sabra (Needham) Com
stock. (See Comstock family). Children: 1.
Alice Jane, born April 22, 1855, married Her
bert H. Sawyer, born July 6, 1857, (see Saw
yer family). 2. Minnie £>., August 13, 1857,
died June 15, 1872. (The Comstock Line).
The name Komstock is frequently found in
Germany, but the name is there uniformly
spelled with a K. In the Muniment Office at
Frankfort-on-the-Main in Germany is a pedi
gree of the family of Comstock which gives
nine generations previous to 1 547 when Charles
Von Komstohk, a baron of the Roman Empire,
was implicated in Von Benedict treason, and
escaped into England with several noblemen of
Austria and Silesia. The arms are or (gold)
two bears rampant sable (black) muzzled, gules
(red) in chief; and in base a sword issuing
from Crescent, the point downward; all the
last gules (red). Upon the arms a Baronial
helmet of the German Empire mantled or and
gules (gold and red) surmounted by a Baron's
Coronet jewelled proper, issuing therefrom an
Elephant proper and rampant. The Bears
imply Courage. The sword issuing from the
Crescent shows that the family had fought
against the Turks. The Elephant rampant in
the Crest was given as an indication of per
sonal prowess and sagacity.
(I) William Comstock, immigrant ancestor,
came from England with his wife Elizabeth
and settled first in Wethersfield, Connecticut.
He subsequently removed to New London.
Children: 1. Samuel, mentioned below. 2.
i— 6

William Jr. 3. Daniel, died in New London
in 1683, aged about fifty-three. 4. Probably
Christopher, of Fairfield in 1661.
(II) Samuel, son of William Comstock, was
born probably in England, and died about 1660.
Fle married Ann  , who married (sec
ond) John Smith, a stone mason, and died
after 1661. The name of Samuel Comstock
appears frequently on the court records both
as plaintiff and defendant. He removed to
Providence, Rhode Island, and March 1, 1654,
bought of John Smith, who afterwards became
Ann Comstock's second husband, his house
and lot, comprising four acres of land, in the
north part of Providence. Children: 1.
Samuel, mentioned below. 2. Daniel, born in
May, 1665.
(Ill) Captain Samuel (2), son of Samuel
(1) Comstock, was born in 1654, died May
27, 1727. He resided in Providence, Rhode
Island. He was deputy to the general assembly
in 1 699-1 702-07-08-1 1. He was appointed
May 6, 1702, on a committee by the assembly
to audit the general treasurer's accounts and
other colony debts. He deposed March 22,
1717, that he was sixty-three years old. His
will dated December 21, 1726, proved Septem
ber 18, 1727, bequeathed to wife Elizabeth his
negro woman Effie and all the rest of movable
estate for life, at her death to be given to the
children. He married, November 22, 1678,
Elizabeth Arnold, who died October 20, 1747,
daughter of Thomas and Phebe (Parkhurst)
Arnold. Children: 1. Samuel, born April 16,
1680, died April 1, 1727 ; married Anne Inman.
2. Hazadiah, April 16, 1682, died February
21, 1764; married (first) Catherine Pray;
(second) August 10, 1730, Martha Balcom.
3. Thomas, November 7, 1684, died 1761 ; mar
ried, July 9, 1713, Mercy Jenckes. 4. Daniel,
July 9, 1686, died December 22, 1768; married
(first)  ; (second) August 2, 1750, Eliz
abeth Buffutn. 5. Elizabeth, December 18,
1690, married, December 1, 1717, John Sayles.
6. John, March 26, 1693, mentioned below. 7.
Ichabod, June 9, 1696, died January 26, 1775 ;
married (first) September 13, 1722, Zibiah
Wilkinson; (second) March 26, 1747, Eliza
beth Boyce.- 8. Job, April 4, 1699, married
(first) Phebe Jenckes; (second) November
22, 1735, Phebe Balcom.
(IV) John, son of Captain Samuel (2)
Comstock, was born March 26, 1693, died Jan
uary 12, 1750. He resided in Providence, was
a blacksmith, and a very wealthy man for his
day. He deeded much of his property to his
sons before he died. To his son Samuel thirty

82

MASSACHUSETTS.

acres, dwelling house and barn ; to son Joseph
seventeen acres and dwelling house; to son
Jeremiah one hundred and fifty acres; to son
John, a quarter of forge adjoining to corn mill
etc; to sons John, Jonathan, James, Nathan
and Ichabod "my homestead farm and dwell
ing house in which I now dwell, about 170
acres, and also land in the neck I bought of
Sam, an Indian, and other lots." Adminis
tration of his estate was granted to his sons
Samuel and John, February 12, 1750, and the
inventory was one thousand nine hundred and
sixty-eight pounds, two shillings. He was
buried in the North Burial ground. He mar
ried (first) Esther Jenckes, daughter of Will
iam and Patience (Sprague) Jenckes. He
married (second) Sarah Dexter, born June
27, 1698, died 1773, daughter of John and
Alice (Smith) Dexter. Children: 1. Samuel,
born 1715, died January 16, 1755; married,
January 1, 1738, Anne Brown. 2. Joseph,
married, June 7, 1747, Anne Comstock: died
March 2, 1800. 3. Jeremiah, mentioned below.
4. John, died 1813; married, April 4, 1751,
Mary Ballou. 5. Jonathan, married, April 9,
1750, Sarah Comstock. 6. James, born De
cember 12, 1733, married Esther Comstock;
died March 7, 1791. 7. Nathan, born Decem
ber 5, 1735, died 1816; married, March 29,
1764, Mary Staples. 8. Ichabod, died De
cember 19, 1800; married, April 11, 1760,
Sarah Jenckes.
(V) Jeremiah, son of John Comstock, mar
ried, October 25, 1749, Phebe Arnold, born
November 18, 1729. Children: 1. Esek, men
tioned below. 2. David, born at Gloucester,
Rhode Island; married, 1780, Rachel Harring
ton, and removed to Danby, Connecticut. 3.
Lavina, married, March 19, 1780, Amos Brown.
(VI) Esek, son of Jeremiah Comstock,
married, March 22, 1770, Hannah Carey,
daughter of Benjamin Carey, of Uxbridge,
Massachusetts. She died August 30, 1839,
aged ninety-seven years. He lived in Glou
cester and Burrillville, Rhode Island. Chil
dren: 1. John, born October 10, 1786, men
tioned below. 2. Jesse, born at Burrillville,
married, September 25, 1810, Rachel  ,
and removed to Michigan in 1822. 3. Caleb,
died 1849; married, September 13, 1844,
Waity Whipple. 4. David, died about 1851;
married Mary Lasure. 5. Ruth. 6. Rhoda.
7. Europa. 8. Deborah.
(VII) John, son of Esek Comstock, was
born October 10, 1786, died September 25,
1834. Fle resided in Burrillville. He married,
in 1816, Sabra Needham, of Charlton, Massa

chusetts, who died August 21, 1868. Chil
dren: 1. Jesse, born May 10, 1818, died Octo
ber 3, 1893 ; married, August 26, 1840, Hannah
Bushnell. 2. William, July 14, 1820, married
Elizabeth Talbot. 3. Clarissa,' October 17,
1822, married Otis Lamb. 4. John, Septem
ber 7, 1824, married Dorcas Ward. 5. Ruth,
November 13, 1826. 6. Hiram, January 1,
1829, married (first) August 15, 1854, Sarah
Talbot; (second) December 20, 1856, Ellen
Talbot; (third) September 23, 1864, Mary
M. Wood. 7. Susan Emeline, July 25, 1831.
8. Mercy Jane, March 22, 1834, married Will
iam Henry Tourtellotte (see sketch of Tour
tellotte family).

( For first generation see Thomas Sawyer i).
(II) Caleb, son of Thomas
SAWYER ( 1 ) Sawyer, was born in Lan
caster, February 20, 1659, died
February 13, 1755. He had a grant of thirty
acres on the east side of Bare Hill, now Har
vard. He probably built his house soon after
the massacre of 1697, and he was in the Bare
Hill garrison in 1704. Near his home was the
famous "rendezvous tree" often "mentioned in
the old records. Sawyer outlived all the other
pioneer settlers of Harvard. His old house,
now or lately owned by James Ford, is still
known as the Washington Warner place.
Before his death Caleb Sawyer divided his
farm between his sons Seth and Jonathan.
Seth lived in the old house with his father;
Jonathan built a new house to the northward.
Caleb Sawyer was selectman in 1737. He
married, December 28, 1687, Sarah Houghton,
whose brother James went to Harvard to settle
with him, and is ancestor of the Houghtons
of Harvard. Children : 1. Jonathan, born
1690, mentioned below. 2. Seth, 1705, died
May 29, 1768; married (first) January nv
1726, Dinah Farrar, who died October 25,
1727; (second) October 12, 1732, Hepsibah
Whitney, of flarvard; children: i. Betsey,
born November 15, 1741 ; ii. John; iii. Caleb;
iv. Phinehas, July 25, 1746; v. Dinah, April
25, 1749. 3. Abigail, 1706, died August 6,
1760; married, November 18, 1729, Thomas
Wright; children: i. Thomas, born May 18,
1730; ii. Abel, 1749. 4. Hepsibah, 1708, mar
ried, February 25, 1724, William Whitcomb;
children: i. Mary, born 1730; ii. Abigail, 1731 ;
iii. Thankful, 1734; iv. Relief, 1735; v. flan-
nah, 1738; vi. Hepsibah,' 1740. 5. John.
(Ill) Captain Jonathan, son of Caleb Saw
yer, was born at Lancaster, 1690, died Sep
tember 30, 1746. He removed with his par-

MASSACHUSETTS.

83

ents to Harvard when a lad and lived there
all his life. He was selectman in 1734, and on
the building committee of the church in 1732.
He was in the Lancaster troop, and in 1737
succeeded Captain Thomas Carter as captain
under Colonel Samuel Willard. He married
Elizabeth Wheelock, born 1699, died Novem
ber 14, 1791. Children: 1. Jonathan, born
1716, married, September 30, 1740, Betty
Whiting; child, Luke. 2. Elizabeth, 1717. 3.
Caleb, June 19, 1720, married  Reed;
children : i. Abigail ; ii. Caleb, born March 2,
1754; iii. Ephraim; iv. Manassah, born March
2, 1759, a revolutionary soldier; v. Jonathan.
4. Olive, 1726. 5. Sarah, June, 1727. 6.
Manasseh, baptized April 10, 1729, mentioned
below. 7. Lois, baptized March 8, 1732.
(IV) Manasseh, son of Captain Jonathan
Sawyer, was born in Harvard, Massachusetts,
and baptized in the First Church at Lancaster,
April 10, 1729. He had half his father's home
stead, upon which he built his house. He be
queathed his home to his son Luther, who in
turn left it to his son Arad, and all three gen
erations spent their lives on this farm. He
had the third seat in the meeting house in
1775. He marched to Cambridge on the alarm,
April 19, 1775, under Captain Joseph Fair
banks, doubtless his brother-in-law, Colonel
Asa Whitcomb's regiment. Left place of
rendezvous April 20, 1775, service two days.
He was too old to enter the Continental army,
being above the age limit, but on the Rhode
Island alarm, July 22, 1777, served again under
Captain Hezekiah Whitney, Colonel Josiah
Whitney's regiment, service two days. He
married, at Harvard, February 18, 1756, Lydia
Fairbanks, bora August 16, 1731, daughter of
Joseph and Mary (Brown) Fairbanks, descend
ant of Jonathan Fairbanks, of Dedham. Chil
dren, born at Harvard: 1. Jonathan, born
March 9, 1758, killed in the revolution. 2.
Jabez, December 24, 1759, mentioned ,below.
3. Lydia, November 30, 1761. 4. Rhoda,
March 30, 1764. 5. Abijah, August 12, 1766.
6. Manasseh Jr., September 6, 1768, married
Mercy Mead ; children : i. Jonathan, July 26,
1789; ii. Manasseh, July 28, 1791 ; iii. Rebecca,
March 14, 1793; iv. Nathaniel, December 10,
1795 ; v. Mercy, December 26, 1798; vi. Josiah,
December 9, 1802. 7. Joseph, April 4, 1771,
died young. 8. Luther, April 8, 1773, died
April 2, 1824, married, December 30, 1797,
Achsa Burnham ; children : i. Luke, born De
cember 7, 1798; ii. Luther, January 18, 1802;
iii. Sophia, December -zy, 1803; iv. Nahum,
January 1, 1805; v. Mary, June 13, 1806; vi.

Arad, July 15, 1808; vii. Cephas, March 16,
1810 ; viii. Lydia, December 4, 1811 ; ix. Abner,
October 9, 1813; x. Jabez, January 4, 1819;
xi. Achsa.
(V) Jabez, son of Manasseh Sawyer, was
born at Harvard, Massachusetts, December 24,
1759, died at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, De
cember 21, 1841. He was brought up on his
father's farm, acquiring the usual common
school education of a farmer's son at that
period. He remained on the farm until after
the war of the revolution, and after that up
to the time of his marriage. He served as a pri
vate in Captain Samuel Hill's company, Colonel,
Josiah Whitney's regiment, and marched from
Harvard, October 2, 1777, under Lieutenant-
Colonel Ephraim Sawyer on a thirty days ex
pedition with the northern army under General
Gates ; service to October 26, 1777, twenty-
four days. (Mass. Rolls, vol.xiii, p. 870). Previ
ous to his marriage in 1787 he removed to
West Fitchburg and bought a farm on the old
road to Ashburnham, near the Cowden farm.
On March 3, 1800, he was voted school com
mitteeman in District No. 6, also March 5>
1810, and February 14, 1816. He was chosen
highway surveyor, March, 1805, March 6, 1809,
March 4, 181 1. He was chosen fence viewer
March 6, 1815. He is buried in the old South
Street cemetery. He was a man of a kindly and
amiable disposition, beloved by all who knew
him. He married, 1787, (intentions dated Au
gust 18, 1787) Hannah Brooks, born May 17,
1766, died December 15, 1846, daughter of
John and Eunice (Darby) Brooks, of West
minster, who were married January 1, 1754.
Children: 1. Lydia, born August 16, 1788,
married, September 17, 1812, Ebenezer Thurs
ton, of Fitchburg. 2. Levi, August 2, 1790,
died August 5, 1790. 3. Jabez, born Septem
ber 10, 1792, died July 28, 1824; married, April
8, 1819, Susan O. Thurston ;. children : i.
Samuel Thurston, born December 22, 1819;
ii. Mary; iii. Jabez, October 5, 1824. 4. Asa,
October 22, 1794, died 1881 ; married (first)
Nancy Thurston; child, Nancy, born October
6, 1819, married J. B. Davis; married (sec
ond) Betsey Keyes; children: i. Joseph Henry,
born March 26, 1825 ; ii. Henry Edwin, Feb
ruary 19, 1827, married Mary E. Wilson; chil
dren : Franklin and George ; iii. Evelyn Eliz
abeth, November 3, 1828, married Titus C.
Waters ; iv. Lydia Elvira, August 14, 1830 ;
v. Ephraim, July 21, 1832, married Francis F.
Farrar ; vi. Charles K., July 14, 1835, married
Elizabeth L. Russell ; child, Fannie E. ; vii.
Alvin Manasseh, August 8, 1839, married

84

MASSACHUSETTS.

Sarah A. Collins. 5. Manasseh, December 26,
1796, mentioned below. 6. John, December 2,
1798, married Maria Lincoln. 7. Edward,
May 7, 1804, married, 1824, Mary Lincoln;
children: i. Charles; ii. Mary; iii. Henry; iv.
Laura. 8. Charles B., May 3, 1808, married
Elizabeth Haskell, of Fitchburg; children: i.
Charlotte; ii. Fannie, married Charles Dean;
iii. Anna.
(VI) Manasseh (2), son of Jabez Sawyer,
was born at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Decem
ber 26, 1796, died at Fitchburg, October 30,
1836. His educational training was limited to
the public schools. During his early manhood
years he was taught habits of industry and
economy. He early learned the trade of shoe
maker, and later with his brother, John Saw
yer, entered into partnership in the manufac
ture of shoes and occupied for a number of
years a shop in the main street. They dis
solved partnership in the latter part of the
twenties, and he became associated with affairs
of the town and continued .as a town officer up
to his death. He was elected hog reeve, March
3, 1823; highway surveyor and constable, Feb
ruary 18, 1826; assessor and selectman, March
3, 1828; collector, March 7, 1831 ; was on the
school committee and had the hiring of
teachers and general school business. He built
a house on Main street later owned by Walter
Haywood, and he and his brother John resided
at one time on Mechanic street. He was a
man of good judgment and a leader of affairs.
He was a proficient scholar and kept in touch
with the affairs of the world at large by con
stant reading. He; was strong in principles,
especially on the temperance question. He
married Dolly Lincoln, of Leominster, died at
Cambridge, daughter of Thomas and Abigail
(Gibbs) Lincoln. Children: 1. Abigail Laura,
born August 23, 1824, died August 22, 1825.
2. Thomas Lincoln, June 6, 1826, died 1847.
3. John Snow, September 6, 1831, mentioned
below. (VII) John Snow, son of Manasseh (2)
Sawyer, was born at Fitchburg, Massachusetts,
September 6, 1831. He was educated n the
public schools, at Stephen Holman's Academy
and at Lawrence Academy of Groton, Massa
chusetts. He stood at the head of his class in
the Fitchburg high school. At the age of
eighteen years he began work in the scythe
factory at West Fitchburg. After a year in
this trade he became clerk in the general store
of Crehore & Smith. He was in that position
one year, then clerk for a year in the Union

Store of Fitchburg, and for three years in the
grocery store of Abel Stevens. In 1852 he
was clerk in the store of John Gove, dealer in
furnishing goods, Merchants' Row, Boston,
later clerk in a commission house on India
wharf and for the American Powder Company
at the same location. He embarked in business
as a grocer in Syracuse. In 1859 he bought
a patent right for roofing and engaged in the
roofing and contracting business throughout
New England, with his place of business at
Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also established
a fire insurance agency with an office on Mass
achusetts avenue, Cambridge, and has built up
an extensive business, representing the Ger
mania Fire Insurance Company, National Fire
Insurance Company of Hartford, German
Alliance and the Middlesex Mutual Fire In
surance Company of Concord, Massachusetts,
of which he has been a director for many
years. Since 1890 Mr. Sawyer has manufac
tured cement under the firm name of W. F.
Webster Cement Company, at Cambridgeport,
the product of the concern finding a market
in all parts of the country. The United States
government uses large quantities of this cement
in the construction of fortifications, etc. In
the early part of the civil war he held the
rank of lieutenant of a local company of home
guards. In September, 1862, he raised a com
pany in the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment,
assigned later to the Sixth Regiment, and he
was commissioned captain September 6, 1862,
Colonel Follansbee, of Lowell, commanding
the regiment. They left for Virginia soon
afterward, going to Washington, thence to
Norfolk by steamer and twenty miles by rail
to Suffolk where they went into camp. The
regiment was assigned to the Seventh Corps,
under General Halleck's command, and while
not engaged in severe fighting took part in
many minor engagements. In politics Mr.
Sawyer is a Republican and he was a member
of the common council of Cambridge in 1866-
67. He was made a member of Mizpah Lodge,
Free and Accepted Masons, November 9,
1868, and was worshipful master in 1878-79.
He was director of the Cambridge Masonic
Hall Association for a time. He is charter
member of the Cambridge Trade Association.
Mr. Sawyer is fond of music and has an excel
lent bass voice. For many years he sang in
various choirs in Boston, and he is the oldest
living member of the famous Handel and
Haydn Society of Boston, a member of its
board of government. He is a member of the

<y^C^ -td^rfS-

*<&y<sy£ff

MASSACH USETTS.

85

New England Rating Exchange and of the
Boston Rating Exchange, two important fire
insurance organizations.
He married, December 29, 1857, Sarah, born
December 29, 1833, daughter of Captain Levi
and Emily (Fuller) Pratt. Her father was a
prominent business man in Fitchburg, owner
of saw and grist mills. Children: 1. Ralph
Hovey, born March 5, i860, mentioned below.
2. Emma Maria, June 21, 1865, married, April
2, 1896, George Edward McQuesten, of Bos
ton, born in Nashua, New Hampshire, May 1,
1868, son of George and Theodora Tilden
(Campbell) McQuesten; children: i. Bar
bara, born April 7, 1905 ; ii. George, December
21, 1906. 3. Harriet Lincoln, August 21, 1867,
married, June 1, 1892,, Wendell Francis Brown,
of Cambridge, born November 2, 1867, son of
Crawford and Mary Richmond (Babcock)
Brown, of Cambridge; child, Ralph Sawyer,
born October 30, 1899. 4. Anna Gertrude,
August 8, 1870, married, May 1, 1893, Ather
ton Loring, of Boston, born August 10, 1869,
son of flarrison and Margaret (Gardner)
Loring; children: i. Atherton Jr., born No
vember 6, 1900; ii. Anna, May 13, 1906.
(VIII) Ralph Hovey, son of John Snow
Sawyer, was born in Cambridge, March 5,
i860, died April 17, 1890. His elementary
education was gained in the public schools of
Cambridge ; he graduated from the high school
in 1878, and subsequently pursued a course in
a Boston business college. He then entered
the well known banking house of Richardson,
Hill & Company at Boston, starting as office
boy, and by his energy and strict attention to
business soon gained for himself such favor
with his employers that he was promoted to
a position of greater responsibility and remun
eration and was looked upon as a valuable and
promising factpr for the firm. A short time
prior to his unfortunate death he acquired an
interest in the business, and for two years he
was the firm's representative on the floor of
the stock exchange; a very responsible and
active position. He was an indefatigable
worker and was considered their most valuable
man, implicitly trusted, highly esteemed by his
firm and business associates. His thorough
unselfishness, so charmingly manifested in his
home circle, was a leading characteristic of
his business and social life and drew to him a
large circle of devoted friends. His christian
spirit was always manifest to those with
whom he came in contact, and in Cambridge
society he was first among his equals. He was
fond of his horse and a devotee to the saddle,

being an expert horseman, and it was while
riding with two of his most intimate friends
that the sad and unfortunate event of his
death happened, being thrown from his horse,
receiving injuries that were fatal in a few
hours. He was an attendant of the Unitarian
church of Cambridge, a Republican in politics,
and a member of Mizpah Lodge, Free and
Accepted Masons, of Cambridge.

The Evans family is of ancient
EVANS Welsh origin. The surname is
spelled Evan and Evins in early
records. Among the early settlers was Eliza
beth Evans, who lived in the family of Rev.
John Wheelwright, of Boston and Exeter. She
came from Bridgend, Glamorganshire, Wales.
David Evans was 1 merchant of Boston before
1650; Henry Ev^ns, also of Boston, as early
as 1643, was drowned* March, 1666-67. Rich
ard Evans came to Dorchester before 1640.
Thomas Evans died in Plymouth, January 27,
1634. There was one or more of the name
William Evans in Massachusetts before 1650.
Some of the settlers came from England and
were of English ancestry. Others were Welsh,
like the family of this sketch, and doubtless
related. A Benoni Evans, called Welsh on the
records, and either father or son of Nicholas
Evans (1), died at Windsor, Connecticut, May
7, 1689. Nothing further is known of him.
(I) Nicholas Evans, immigrant ancestor,
possibly son of Benoni Evans, was probably
born in Wales. He came to Windsor, Con
necticut, and settled in Simsbury, Connecticut.
He died August, 1689. The names of his chil
dren appear in the probate records in the
settlement of the estate and the ages of each
are given. He married Mary  , who
married (second) Robert Westland. Children,
recorded as born at Simsbury: 1. Mercy,
October 4, 1673. 2. Samuel, January 18, 1675-
76, mentioned below. 3. Nicholas, January 2,
1677. 4. Hannah, January 21, 1679. 5. Joseph,
November 22, 1681. 6. Thomas, June 6, 1684.
7. Abigail, December 8, 1686. 8. Benoni, Sep
tember 16, 1689 (posthumous).
(II) Samuel, son of Nicholas Evans, was
born at Simsbury, January 18, 1675-76, and
died probably at Windsor. Children, born at
Windsor: 1. Martha, 1699. 2. Samuel, De
cember 10, 1703, mentioned below. 3. Joseph,
July 19, 1706. 4. Thomas, January, 1708. 5.
Nicholas, July, 1710. 6. Thankful, March 31,
1712. 7. Ebenezer, July 17, 1714. 8. John,
September 26, 1716.
(Ill) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1) Evans,

MASSACHUSETTS.

was born in Windsor, December io, 1703. He
died at Hartford about 1754 and from deeds
of his children we have the names of several.
Isaac Sheldon bought the interests of Samuel,
Benoni, Deborah and Moses Evans in the
estate of their father Samuel, from Samuel,
February 5, 1754, from Benoni, April 20, 1760,
from Deborah, April 20, 1760, and from Moses,
February 5, 1754. Moses deeded land to
Alexander Keeney, January 21, 1754, in Hart
ford county. Moses, David, Benoni and
Samuel were grantees in a deed of distribution,
February 18, 1754, and the deeds mentioned
to Sheldon quitclaimed their shares. Children :
Samuel, Deborah, Benoni, Moses, mentioned
below ; David. Perhaps others died before the
father. (IV) Moses, son of Samuel (2) Evans,
was born at Hartford about 1730. He deeded
land at Hartford to Alexander Keeney, Janu
ary 21, 1754. He served in Captain John
Patterson's company at Havana, Cuba, in 1762.
Very few of the provincial soldiers who fought
against the Spaniards in Cuba lived to return
home. The date of his death has not been
found. (V) Moses (2), son of Moses (1) Evans,
was born in Hartford about 1755. fle was a
soldier in the revolution, a private in Captain
Charles Ellsworth's company, of East Wind
sor, from July 6 to December 18, 1775, under
Colonel Jedediah Huntington, of Norwich. He
was also in Captain Darrow's company, Col
onel Huntington's regiment (First Connecti
cut), enlisting February 15, 1777, for the war.
During the entire year of 1781 he was in Cap
tain Selah Benton's company of Stratford and
vicinity, Colonel Huntington's regiment. In
1790 he and David Evans were heads of
families at East Hartford, now Manchester,
Connecticut, and Moses had two sons under
sixteen and two females in his family. David
had a son over sixteen, two under that age and
two females in his family. They were prob
ably brothers. Moses quitclaimed real estate
to S. Talcott, November 8, 1792, Hartford
county. In 1888 he was a United States pen
sioner under the first pension law allowing
pensions to disabled veterans who had served
nine months or more in the revolution. His
application for a pension is still to be seen in
the files of the county clerk's office, Hartford.
In 1840, according to the federal census of
revolutionary pensioners, he was still living at
Manchester, Connecticut. Fle married and
among his children was John Carpenter, men
tioned below.

(VI) John Carpenter, son of Moses (2)
Evans, was born about 1775 in East Hartford,
now Manchester, Connecticut. He was a glass
blower by trade. After his marriage he re
moved to Peterborough and Smithfield, Dutch
ess county, New York, and he and his wife
died in Smithfield. He married Penelope
Wood, also a native of East Hartford, Con
necticut. He was active in the militia and on
the occasion of the visit of General Lafayette
to this country in 1824-25 he served for a time
in his body-guard. Children : Carolina, Emily,
William, mentioned below ; Pamelia, Horatio,
Sarah. (VII) William, son of John Carpenter
Evans, was born September 3, 181 1, in Smith-
field or Peterborough, New York, died in
Jamaica Plain, December 8, 1876. His four.
sisters all died in New York. He was edu
cated in the district schools of his native place,
but when still very young, he left home and
made his own way in the world. He learned
the carpenter's trade and entered the employ
of the Boston & Providence Railroad Com
pany, remaining for some time in various posi
tions requiring special mechanical ability. He
resided at Jamaica Plain. In later years he
was a very successful general contractor. He
built the Evans House and invested exten
sively in real estate. He was a man of wealth
and influence in the community, upright, in
dustrious and enterprising. In politics he was
a Republican, in religion a Unitarian. He
married, September 30, 1834, Hepzibah W.
Weld, born at Forest Hills, Boston, May 31,
181 2, and died at the old Evans homestead on
the corner of Lamartine and Green streets,
Jamaica Plain, December 28, 1905. She was
the daughter of Deacon Joseph and Lucy
Stratton (Richards) Weld. Her father was
a prominent citizen and extensive land-owner
at Forest Hills; was deacon for many years
in the Unitarian church while Dr. Gray was
the pastor ; died at the age of ninety-three
years. Her mother was born in Dedham and
lived to the age of seventy. Children 1. Lucy
P., born August 9, 1835, died in 1838. 2.
William Jonathan Richards, July 21, 1837,
mentioned below. 3. Francisco W., August
31, 1840, died April 25, 1867; married Caro
line Wadsworth Adams, now resident of
Jamaica Plain. 4. Eugene H, May 9, 1844,
died March 4, 1848. 5. Emma Wood, March
19, 1850, died August 27, 1874; unmarried. 6.
Thomas, August 13, 1852, died December 24,
1908, unmarried.
(VIII) William Jonathan Richards, son of

MASSACHUSETTS.

87

William Evans, was born in Forest Hills, Bos
ton, July 21, 1837, died April 2, 1895, at the
home on South street, Jamaica Plain. He was
educated in the public schools. For some years
he was clerk in a crockery store in Boston.
Then he became associated with his father as
a general contractor. They had contracts with
the city of Boston for filling a large section of
the marshes known as the South Back Bay,
now entirely filled, and the finest residential
and business section of Boston, almost entirely
built up. The large real estate interests of his
father required all his attention in later years.
They included the Evans House on Tremont
street, Boston ; Washington Market on Wash
ington street, Boston. During a long and active
life he was a prominent figure in the real estate
world. He resided on South street, Jamaica
Plain, and was one of the best known citizens
in that section of Boston. He was a member
of the Elliot Lodge of Free Masons and other
local societies. In politics he was a Repub
lican, in religion a Unitarian. He was a mem
ber of the First Congregational Society of
Jamaica Plain. He married, July 16, i860,
in Jamaica Plain, Ellen Seaver, born there
October 21, 1837, daughter of Robert and
Abigail (Patch) Seaver. Her father was born
in Jamaica Plain and her mother in Ashburn-
ham, Massachusetts. Mr. Seaver was a promi
nent grocer, conducting the old Seaver grocery
established before 1800 by his father, Joshua
Seaver. Joshua Seaver. married Ann Sumner,
a kinswoman of Senator Charles Sumner. They
were prominent in social life and in the Uni
tarian church of Jamaica Plain. (See Seaver
family). Mrs. Evans resides at 320 Lamartine
street, Jamaica Plain, and is active in church and
social life. She is a member of the Unitarian
church and of the Tuesday Club. Children : 1.
Francisco W., born August 20, 1861, died
April 21, 1875. 2. Eleanor S., February 10,
1864, married, October 28, 1889, Edward W.
Beemer, and they have five children : Doro
thy, Edward W., Madeline, William E. and
Eleanor. 3. Alice, February 5, 1867, died
May 11, 1867. 4. William E., April 4, 1869,
and is a mill engineer. He married Agness W.
Emerson, of Waterloo, New Brunswick, Sep
tember 23, 1903, and has two children: Eu
gene E., born September 4, 1904 ; Louise, born
March 10, 1907. (The Seaver Line). i
According to tradition the earliest member
of the Seaver family came in Cromwell's army
jnto Ireland. He settled in the Townland of

Trea, near Armagh, which he led under the
Primate of that See, and his name was Charles
Seaver. The coat-of-arms borne by the branch
of the family in Ireland is the only one known,
and is as follows : Argent a chevron gules
between three doves pecking sheaves of wheat,
proper. Crest: A hand and arm, holding a
sword erect, encircled by a laurel wreath, all
proper. Motto : Sume superbiam quaesitam
meritis. (I)' Robert Seaver, immigrant ancestor, was
born about 1608, probably in England. On
March 24, 1633-34, at the age of about twenty-
five, he took the oath of supremacy and allegi
ance to pass for New England in the ship
"Mary and John" of London, Robert Sayres,
master. In the same ship came William Bal
lard, and in 1633 also came Elizabeth Ballard;
"a maide servant she came in the year 1633
and soone after joyned to the church, she was
afterwards married to Robert Sever of- this
church, where she led a godly conversation"
(church records). She died June 6, 1657. He
settled in Roxbury .and was admitted a free
man April 18, 1637. His name was spelled
variously in the records Sever, Seavers, Civer,
Seaver. He married (second)  , who
was buried December 18, 1669. Pope says his
first wife was Elizabeth Allard, and his sec
ond wife Elizabeth Ballard, fle married a
third wife, who is mentioned in the will,
though not by name. His will was dated Janu
ary 16, 1681, and proved July 5, 1683. Accord
ing to the town records, he died May 13, 1683,
aged about seventy-five. The church records
say he was buried June 6, 1683. Children: 1.
Shubael, born January 31, 1639, died January
18, 1729-30. 2. Caleb, August 30, 1641, died
March 6, 1713. 3. Joshua (twin), August 30,
1641, mentioned below. 4. Elizabeth, Novem
ber 19, 1643, married Samuel Crafts, of Rox
bury, 1661. 5: Nathaniel, January 8, 1645,
killed by the Indians at Sudbury, April 21,
1676. 6. Hannah, February 14, 1647, died
June 3, 1647. 7. Hannah, October 13, 1650,
buried March 3, 1653.
(II) Joshua, son of Robert Seaver, was
born at Roxbury, August 30, 1641, and lived
at Roxbury. fle was admitted a freeman
March 22, 1689-90. His will was proved in
1730, and the inventory was filed August 25,
of that year. He married, February 28, 1677,
Mary Pepper, widow of Joseph Pepper. Chil
dren: 1. Joshua, born February 18, 1678,
died intestate 1739; married Mercy  .
2. Mary, March 29, 1683, died May 22, 1683.
3. Mary, August 15, 1684, married, May 30,

MASSACHUSETTS.

1728, Samuel Paine, and removed to Pomfret,
Connecticut. 4. Ebenezer, August 1, 1687,
mentioned below. 5. John, baptized August 7,
1687, probably a twin. 6. Sarah. 7. Jemima,
married, December 3, 1713, John Woods. 8.
Robert, born December 30, 1697, died young.
9. Robert, December 30, 1698. 10. Jonathan,
November 8, 1700.
(Ill) Ebenezer, son of Joshua Seaver, was
born in Roxbury, August 1, 1687, and died
May 8, 1773. He married, December 2, 1714,
Margaret Heath, who died November 30, 1765.
Children: 1. Hannah, born April 24, 1716,
married, November 23, 1732, Peter Seaver,
son of Shubael Seaver. 2. Sarah, August 13,
1718, married, October 15, 1741, John Newell,
of Brookline. 3. Ebenezer, April 26, 1721,
mentioned below. 4. Mary, February 11, 1725,
estate administered May 26, 1769. 5. Joshua,
September 11, 1728, died September 4, 1773.
6. Susannah, August 28, 1740, will proved
October 6, 1769.
(IV) Ebenezer (2), son of Ebenezer (1)
Seaver, was born at Roxbury, April 26, 1721.
His will was proved April'12, 1785. He mar
ried (first) November 5, 1755, Mary Weld,
who died May 8, 1766. He married (second)
Tabitha Davenport, born August 9, 1737, died
March 1, 1804, daughter of Ebenezer and Sub
mit Davenport, of Dorchester. Children of
first wife: 1. Mary, born September 1, 1756,
died November 19, 1763. 2. flannah, October
30, 1758, married, May 24, 1786, James Lewis,
of Roxbury. 3. Jonathan, May 19, 1761, died
March 6, 1763. 4. Ebenezer, July 5, 1763,
died March 1, 1844. Children by second wife :
5. Margaret, April 18, 1772, died February 20,
1776. 6. Joshua, September 30, 1774, died
October 11, 1774. 7. Margaret, October 24,
1775, married, December 11, 1804, Rufus Kel
ton; died February 25, 1816. 8. Joshua, Janu
ary 15, 1779, mentioned below.
(V) Joshua, son of Ebenezer (2) Seaver,
was born in Roxbury, January 15, 1779, died
September 11, 1833. He married, April 6,
1803, Nancy Sumner, who died October 23,
1837, aged fifty-seven years, six months. He
was a resident of Jamaica Plain, and promi
nent in the early history of that town. He
kept a grocery store there. He and his wife
were for many years members of the Uni
tarian church. Children: 1. Joshua, born No
vember 15, 1803. 2. Rufus Kelton, October
19, 1804, died October 5, 1805. 3. Ann Tabitha,
January 31, 1806. 4. Nathaniel, December 14,
1807, married, March 3, 1833, Ann Jane Cod-
man. 5. John Prince, September 11, 1809,

died December, 1864. 6. Robert, February 23,
1812, mentioned below. 7. Seth Sumner, July
10, 1816, died February 21, 1817. 8. William,
March 17, 1818. 9. Joseph, December 22,
1819, died March 8, 1821. 10. Joseph, Sep
tember 7, 1822.
(VI) Robert, son of Joshua Seaver, was
born at Jamaica Plain, February 23, 1812, died
July 18, 1882. He was a prominent citizen of
Jamaica Plain, and conducted the grocery store
which his father had established. He mar
ried, November 20, 1834, in Boston, Abigail
Fairbanks Patch, born in Phillipston, Massa
chusetts, March 14, 1813, died March 29, 1884.
For many years they were active members of
Dr. Gray's church. Children: 1. N. Augusta,
born January 28, 1836. 2. Ellen, October 21,
1837, married, July 16, i860, William J. R.
Evans (see Evans family). 3. Robert, July
11, 1840. 4. "Maria L., September 26, 1842,
died January 12, 1899. 5. Theodore, July 17,
1845. 6. Fred, July 27, 1848. 7. Florence,
November 4, 1851, died March 28, 1908. 8.
Robert, February 21, 1854.

The surname Lathrop or
LATHROP Lothrop is derived from the
parish Lowthorpe. Thorpe
means village, so the meaning of the word
literally is a low village. Lowthorpe is a small
parish in the wapentake of Dickering, East
Riding of Yorkshire, England, having only
about a hundred and fifty inhabitants. Walter
de Lowthorpe was elected high sheriff of York
shire in 1216 and the name has been common
in Yorkshire from that time. Robert and
Richard Lowthorp lived at Whepsted, Thingoe
Hundred, Suffolk, in 1287. A prominent
family of Lathropps lived in Staffordshire
before 1560. Arms: Sable, an eagle dis
played argent. Crest : A Cornish chough
proper. (I) John Lathrop or Lowthroppe, as the
name was then spelled, is the first of this
ancient family in England to whom the Amer
ican line can be definitely traced. Early in the
sixteenth century he was living in Cherry Bur
ton, a parish about four miles from Lowthorpe.
He was, though belonging to a junior branch
of the family, a gentleman of quite extensive
landed estates both in Cherry Burton and in
various other parts of the county. In 1545 his
name appears on a subsidy roll, assessed twice
as much as any other inhabitant of the parish.
Of his parentage and brothers and sisters
nothing has been discovered, the early parish
records having disappeared. He left a son

MASSACHUSETTS.

89

Robert, mentioned below, and three daughters
whose names are unknown, though their fami
lies are mentioned in their brother's will.
(II) Robert Lathrop, son of John Lathrop,
succeeded to his father's estates in Cherry Bur
ton and during his lifetime made considerable
additions to them. He died in 1553. His will
is dated at North Burton (Sheriburton), July
16, 1558, and proved at York, October 20,
1558. Fle was of course a good Roman Cath
olic, and left bequests to the church ; to various
friends and relatives ; to wife Ellen ; children
John, Thomas, Lawrence, Margaret. Children :
1. Thomas, mentioned below. 2. John, died
without issue. 3. Lawrence, died before 1572.
4. Margaret, married Robert Hodgeson.
(Ill) Thomas Lathrop, son of Robert
Lathrop, was born in Cherry Burton ; married
Elizabeth Clark, widow, who was buried at
Etton, July 29, 1574; married (second) Mary
 , who was buried in Etton, January 6,
1588; (third) Jane  , who married after

his death

Coppendale. He removed to

Etton about 1576 and died in 1606. His will
is dated October 5, 1600. Neither of the sons
who were educated were legatees in the will.
Children of first wife: 1. Robert, married,
January 27, 1607-08, Ann Pattison. 2. Cath
erine, married, June 12, 1607, William Akett,
of Leckonfield. 3. Audrey, married 
Wickham. 4. Elizabeth, married, February 19,
1587-88, Thomas Rowood. 5. Anne, baptized
at Etton, February 13, 1568-69, died young.
6. Isabel, baptized at Etton, July 3, 1570. 7.
Martin, baptized at Etton, October 21, 1572,
died same year. 8. Andrew, baptized at Etton,
April 23, 1574. Children of second wife: 9.
Anne, baptized at Etton, July 29, 1576. 10.
Mary. 11. Thomas, baptized at Etton, Octo
ber 14, 1582, graduate of Queen's College,
1604. 12. John, baptized December 20, 1584,
mentioned below. 13. William, baptized May
24, 1587. Children of third wife: 14. Mar
garet, baptized at Etton, February 12, 1590-91.
15. Isabel, baptized September 29, 1592. 16.
Lucy, baptized at Etton, January, 1593-94,
married, June 16, 1613, Ralph Cawnsley. 17.
Richard, baptized October 1, 1595, married
Dorothy Lowden and settled in Cherry Burton.
18. Mary, baptized in Etton, September 27,
1597, died in England. 19. Lawrence, baptized
August 29, 1599. 20. Jane, baptized March 14,
1600-01. 21. Joseph, baptized December 31,
1602. 22. Bartholomew, baptized March 1,
1604. All these parishes and other places are
in the same locality.
(IV) Rev. John Lathrop, a son of Thomas

Lathrop, was born at Etton, Yorkshire, Eng
land, and baptized there December 20, 1584.
He spelled his name Lothropp. He was edu
cated in Queen's College, Cambridge, graduat
ing in 1601 with the degree of B. A. and tak
ing his master's degree in 1609. He became
curate of the parish church in Egelton in the
Lower Half flundred of Calehill, Lathe of
Screy, county Kent. He was there as early
as 1614, probably in 161 1 and as late as the
fall of 1619, and it was doubtless his first and
only parish as minister of the Church of Eng
land. When he could no longer subscribe to
the creed of that church, he renounced his
orders in 1623 and allied himself with the
Puritans. In 1624 he was called to succeed
Rev. Henry Jacob, an independent minister of
the First Independent Church of London, who
had resigned to go to Virginia. The worship
of this church was illegal and their meetings
secret. The church was discovered by a spy
named Tomlinson and forty-two made pris
oners, eighteen being allowed to escape, April
22, 1632. The Puritan prisoners were con-
sighed to the old Clink prison in Newgate and
in the Gatehouse. In the spring of 1634 all
were released on bail except Mr. Lathrop. In
the quaint language of Nathaniel Morton in
the "New England Memorial" (1669) the
story of his further stay in England is briefly
told : "His wife fell sick, of which sickness
she died. He procured, liberty of the bishop
to visit his wife before her death, and com
mended her to God by prayer, who soon gave
up the ghost. At his return to prison his poor
children, being many, repaired to the bishop
at Lambeth, and made known unto him their
miserable condition, by reason of their good
father's being continued in close durance, who
commiserated their condition so far as to grant
him liberty who soon after came over into New
England." "He came to Boston with part of
his flock in the ship, "Griffin," and another
sailing in the fall of 1634 and arriving Sep
tember 18, proceeded to Scituate, where nine
pioneers had already located, and prepared the
way for others. He was formally chosen pas
tor January 19, 1634. He married again Anna
 , and was granted a farm near the First
Herring brook and had shares in the salt
marshes. He left his home in Scituate after
some disagreement in the church, and with
others from Scituate located at Barnstable on
Cape Cod, arriving October 11, 1639, bring
ing with them the crops they had raised in
Scituate. Mr. Lathrop fearlessly proclaimes
in old and New England the great truth that

90

MASSACHUSETTS.

man is not responsible to his fellowman in
matters of faith and conscience. Differences
of opinion he tolerated. During the fourteen
years that he was pastor of the Barnstable
church, such was his influence over the people,
that the power of a civil magistrate was not
needed to restrain crime. No pastor was ever
more beloved by his people, none ever had a
greater influence for good. * * * To
become a member of his church no applicant
was compelled to sign a creed or confession
of faith. He retained his freedom, he pro
fessed his faith in God, and promised that it
should be his constant endeavor to keep His
commandments, to live a pure life and to walk
in love with his brethren." He stood among
the Puritans, a Congregational of the Uni
tarian denomination, as we now class them.
Morton says : "He was a man of humble and
broken heart spirit, lively in Dispensation of
the Word of God, studious of peace, furnished
with godly contentment, willing to spend and
he spent for the cause of the Church of Christ."
Mr. Lathrop died at Barnstable, November 8,
1653. His will was dated August 10, and
proved December 6, 1653, bequeathing to son
Thomas, the eldest ; to son John, who was in
England; son Benjamin, daughters Jane and
Barbara; to each of the rest of his children,
both his and his wife's. Children: 1. Jane,
baptized at Egerton, England, September 29,
1614, married, April 9, 1635 (by Captain
Myles Standish), Samuel Fuller, son of Ed
ward who came on the "Mayflower." 2. Anne,
baptized in Egerton, May 12, 1616, buried
there April 30, 1617. 3. John, baptized in
Egerton, February 22, 1617-18, died young.
4. Barbara, baptized October 31, 1619, mar
ried John Emerson. 5. Thomas, born in Eng
land, prominent citizen at Barnstable. 6.
Samuel, mentioned below. 7. Joseph, born
1624, married, December, 1650, Mary Anell.
8. Benjamin, born in England, married Maria
 ; settled in Charlestown. 9. Barnabas,
baptized at Scituate, June 6, 1636; married
(first) December 1, 1658, Susanna Clark;
(second) Abigail Dodson, widow. 10. Child,
born and died July 30, 1638. 11. Abigail, bap
tized at Barnstable, November 2, 1639, mar
ried James Clark. 12. Bathsheba, baptized
February 27, 1641, married Alexander Marsh
and lived at Braintree. 13. John, born at
Barnstable, February 9, 1644, married, Janu
ary 3, 1671-72, Mary Cobb; (second) Decem
ber 9, 1695, Hannah Fuller, widow of Dr.
John. 14. Son, born and died same day, buried
January 25, 1649.

(V) Samuel Lathrop, son of Rev. John
Lathrop, was born in England and came with
his father to Scituate in 1634. He removed
to Barnstable, where he married, November
28, 1644, Elizabeth Scudder, who had been
dismissed from the church in Boston, Novem
ber 10, 1644, to the Barnstable church. They
settled in Barnstable, next the house of John
Scudder. Samuel was a house builder and
farmer. Fle was on the list of those able to
bear arms in 1643. His house lot was the
third in order from that of John Winthrop,
Esq., and his name is among the first eighteen
to whom were assigned lands on the east side
of the "great river of Pequot, January, 1648-
49. He was one of the judges of the local
court of Pequot, organized in May, 1649, and
served on important committees of the town.
He assisted in the defence against the Nara-
gansett Indians in the fort at the head of the
Nahantick. In 1679 he had the contract to
build the Second Church at New London. In
1651 he sold his town house to Rev. Gershom
Bulkley. It stood beyond the bridge over the
mill brook, on the east side of the highway
toward Nohegan." In 1668 he removed to
Norwich, Connecticut, where he was granted
a house lot originally granted to John Elderkin.
He built a house on the town street before
1670, where he spent the remainder of his
days. The house built by Dr. Daniel Lathrop,
his great-grandson, probably stands on the
same site. He was constable in 1673 and 1682,
and townsman in 1685. He married (second)
in 1690, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Abigail
Doane, born January 29, 1632, died 1734, aged
one hundred and two years, daughter of Dea
con John Doane, of Plymouth. "On her one
hundredth birth-day a large audience assembled
at her house, and a sermon was preached by
the pastor of the church." Samuel Lathrop
died February 29, 1700, leaving a nuncupative
will, proved in 1701. Children: 1. John, bap
tized in Boston, December 7, 1645, married,
December 15, 1669, Ruth Royce, daughter of
Robert Royce ; died August 25, 1688. 2. Eliz
abeth, March, 1648, married, December 16,
1669, Isaac Royce; (second) Joseph Thomp
son. 3. Samuel, March, 1650, married (first)
November, 1675, Hannah Adgate; (second)
December 30, 1697, Mary Edgerton, and set
tled in Norwich; died December 9, 1732. 4-
Sarah, October, 1655, married, April 21, 1681,
Nathaniel Royce, of Wallingford. 5. Martha,
January, 1657, married, 1677, John Moss. 6.
Israel, October, 1659, married, April 8, 1686,
Rebecca Bliss. 7. Joseph, October, 1661, men-

MASSACHUSETTS.

9i

tioned below. 8. Abigail, May 1665, married,
December 9, 1686, John Huntington. 9. Anna,
August, 1667, married Wlliam Hough ; died
November 19, 1745.
( VI ) Joseph Lathrop, son o f Samuel Lathrop,
was born October, 1661, and died in Norwich,
Connecticut, July 5, 1740. He was a member
of the First Church there. He married (first)
April 8, 1686, Mary Scudder, who died Sep
tember 18, 1695. fle married (second) Feb
ruary 2, 1696-7, Elizabeth Watrous, born
March 22, 1661, died November 29, 1726,
daughter of Isaac and Sarah Watrous. He
married (third) November 22, 1727, Mrs.
Martha Perkins, widow of Deacon Joseph
Perkins, of Newent, now Lisbon, then a part
of Norwich. Children: 1. Barnabas, born
February 4, 1687, died May 25, 1710; mar
ried, January 12, 1709-10, Abigail Abell. 2.
Joseph, September 18, 1688, mentioned below.
3. Abigail, September 16, 1693, married Jacob
flazen. 4. Mehitable, November 2, 1697, mar
ried (first) William Bushnell ; (second) Octo
ber 3, 1722, Captain Thomas Stoughton Jr.
5. Samuel, May 23, 1699. 6. Elizabeth, Janu
ary 17, 1700-01. 7. Sarah, October 18, 1702.
8. Temperance, October 6, 1704. 9. Solomon,
December 13, 1706, married, February 6,
1728-29, Mrs. Martha Todd. 10. Ruth, De
cember 11, 1709. 11. Esther, November 17,
1712. 12. Zerviah, April 9, 1718, married,
1739, William Bradford.
(VII) Joseph Lathrop, son of Joseph
Lathrop, was born in Norwich, September 18,
1688, married, April 13, 1735, Mary Harts
horn. She united with the church in Franklin,
then part of Norwich, in 1737. The inventory
of his estate "in Norwich and Waterbury" was
dated March 1, 1757. Children: 1.. Jonathan
John Scudder, "eldest son," married, July 27,
1763, Mrs. Priscilla Wood; died March '20,
1780. 2. Barnabas, April 19, 1738, mentioned
below. 3. Joseph, June 9, 1740, died young.
4. Zebediah, "youngest son," died 1783. 5.
Mary, "only daughter."
(VIII) Barnabas Lathrop, son of Joseph
Lathrop, was born in Norwich, April 19, 1738,
and married, July 7, 1757, Sarah Davis, fie
became a Baptist preacher, and after a some
what roving life died in New Milford, Con
necticut. Children: 1. Joseph, born Novem
ber 20, 1758. 2. Daniel, October 23, 1760, in
Norwich, died July 23, 1761. 3. Sarah, Octo
ber 20, 1762. 4. Daniel, mentioned below. 5-
Rufus, married Debby Ackly and died in South
Cairo, New. York. 6. Anne.
(IX) Daniel Lathrop, son of Barnabas

Lathrop, was born in Norwich, October 23,
1765, and died in New Milford in 1861. He
married (first) Grace Loveredge, who was
born in 1768; (second) Esther Taylor. Chil
dren: 1. Lydia, born in Colchester, Connec
ticut, November 12, 1787, married Andrew
Lamson. 2. Daniel, Colchester, February 1,
1790, married, August 15, 1812, Sarah Fisher.
3. Amasa, Colchester, September 30, 1792,
married Lucinda Clark; died 1872. 4. Henry,
Colchester, June 4, 1794, married Angeline
Owens. 5. Barnabas, New Milford, October
29, 1796, married Sarah Ann Driskill. 6. Sally,
New Milford, December 20, 1798, married
John Mann, of Becket, Massachusetts. 7.
Alanson, March 22, 1802, mentioned below.
8. John, April 23, 1804, married (first) Min
erva Beeman; (second) Joanna Cook; (third)
October 20, 1839, Anna Maria Way; died July
18, 1858. 9. Anna, June 2, 1806, married
James Stewart. 10. Laura, November 25,
1808, married Stephen Keeler. 11. Harriet,
October 13, 1812, married Wilsey Steward.
12. Abigail. 13. George, March 17, 1822.
(X) Alanson Lathrop, son of Daniel Lathrop,
was born March 22, 1802, and settled in Becket,
Massachusetts. He married, January 13, 1825,
Hannah Kingsley. They had nine children.
(XI) Lester Lathrop, son of Alvanson
Lathrop, was born in Becket, July 7, 1826.
He was educated in the public schools of his
native town. He learned the trade of tanner
and followed it many years. He was also
engaged in farming. In politics he was a
Republican. He attends the Baptist church.
He married, at Middlefield, Massachusetts,
November 30, 1848, Eliza Ann Crow, born
1825, daughter of William and Abigail Crow,
of Montgomery, Massachusetts. Children : 1.
Ada E. 2. Eva, born December 3, 1854, mar
ried Fred W. Cross. 3. Etta A., October 2,
1858, married Elmer D. Ballou. 4. William
Lester, mentioned below. 5. Alice U., June
3, 1866.
(XII) William Lester Lathrop, son of Les
ter Lathrop, was born in Middlefield, Massa
chusetts, September 15, i860, and was edu
cated in the public schools of Becket and in
Claflin Academy. He then learned the trade
of brass finisher and worked at it for some
three years. He came to Orange, Massachu
setts, in 1880, to work for the New Home
Sewing Machine Company, and he continued
in the employ of that concern for a period of
nineteen years, becoming foreman of a depart
ment in the works. He displayed unusual skill
as a mechanic and great executive ability as

g2

MASSACHUSETTS.

head of a department. He resigned upon
receiving his appointment as postmaster of
Orange in January, 1900, an office he has held
to the present time and filled with conspicuous
fidelity and efficiency. He is a member of
Orange Lodge of Free Masons; of Crescent
Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; of Orange Com
mandery, Knights Templar ; is a past noble
grand of Social Lodge, No. 132, Odd Fellows.
He also belongs to Fall Hill Encampment and
Asah Rebekah Lodge of Odd Fellows ; to
Athenian Lodge, No. 51, Knights of Pythias,
and has been captain of Canton Orange,
Patriarchs Militant. In politics he is a Re
publican, and he attends the Universalist
Society. He married, in 1892, Stella M. Gil
more, born in Orange, died July 31, 1904,
daughter of Daniel Gilmore. Children, born
in Orange: 1. Lester Gilmore, born January
30, 1893. 2. Maxwell James, July 17, 1895.
3. Victor William, May 25, 1897. 4. Doris
Marion, May 2, 1902.

The surname Welling-
WELLINGTON ton is identical with
Willington, the more
common spelling in the old country, though
both speliings were used interchangeably by
many families a few generations ago in both
England and America. The history of the family
extends back to the Norman conquest of Eng
land. The ancient baronial family of Willing-
ton was established at the time of William the
Conqueror. It is a place-name, like that of
many of the more important English surnames.
The family of Willington took the name of the
town. The Willington family at Umberleigh,
Devonshire; at Todenham, county Gloucester;
at Barchesterm Brailes and Hurley, county
Warwick, all trace their ancestry to Sir Ralph
de Willington, who married in the fourteenth
century a daughter of Sir William Champer-
nowne, of Umberleigh, inherited his estates
and assumed his coat-of-arms, omitting the
billets : Gules a saltire vair. Crest : A moun
tain pine vert, fructed or. John de Welling
ton (or Willington) of Derbyshire, lived at or
about the time of the conquest, and from him
descend' the baronial family above mentioned.
There are parishes of this name in county
Salop, county Somerset, Hereford and North
umberland. The coats-of-arms of the Well
ingtons are given by Burke : Ermine a chevron
sable ; also ermine a chevron sable a crescent
or. ¦ Crest : A demi-savage wreathed about the
head and middle with laurel leaves all proper.
Other Willington arms : Sable a bend engrailed

cotised argent ; also Ermine a chevron ermine
(another sable) ; also Per pale endented argent
and sable a chief or; also ermine three bends
azure ; also sable a bend engr. argent cotised
or ; also or a cross vair. The similarity of
arms such as may be noted in these cited is
the best proof of relationship in old English
families. (I) Roger Willington, immigrant ancestor,
planter, born 1609-10, died March 11, 1697-
98, sailed from England, and probably came
to Watertown at once on landing. The record
of him is the first entry of town records of
Watertown, showing an allotment of land
dated July 25, 1636, a grant of the great
dividend allotted to the freemen and to all the
townsmen then inhabiting, one hundred and
twenty in number. Roger Willington received
twenty acres, now a part of Mt. Auburn ceme
tery, on which he built the first Willington
homestead, where he lived until 1659. Other
references in town records are as follows :
April 9, 1657, account of men deputed by
towne to fee. To keeping of the order of
hogs (the 15th) Roger Willington is the entry
3 shillings. "Town meeting January 10, 1658,
chozen to looke after the law and for the
regulating of hogs and fences Roger Welling
ton and Thomas Straits; December 6, 1662,
fined 10 shillings for insufficient fence Dated
October 29, 1663." "Haveing given in an
account of to rates to great diffiaction both to
pastor and selectmen We have appointed Leife
Burns Willy and Bond to deal with him to
bring him to a more tollarable account or else
to send him to the grandiary." "Att a meet
ing of the selectmen 30th 8th Month 1662
agreed between the town & Corporall Willing
ton that a straight line from the corner from
his present fence att Eaton's house next the
highway and so to the line between him and
Samuel Hatchers land upon the north side of
the Swamps ; shall be the dividinge line be
tween him & the Towne consented unto by the
Corporall Willington owned before the select
men by setting to his hand Signed Roger Will
ington." "A town meeting November 2, 1674
chozen for surveyors Corporall Willington and
John Traine Senyear." "The  of Eaprill
79. Corporall Willington & Robt Herington
with the consent of the selectmen demanded
the (Cee) of the schoolhouse of Leftenant
Sherman but he refused to deliver it." It is
interesting to note that he was usually called
corporal. By deed dated April 4, 1657, Mid
dlesex county registry, he purchased twelve
acres of land containing dwelling house and

MASSACHUSETTS.

93

barn which became a part of the family estate
in Lexington and the home of all the Welling
ton ancestors. Lexington was then a part of
Watertown and later Cambridge. He was
admitted a freeman April 18, 1690. His will
is dated December 17, 1697, and was proved
April 11, 1698, "feeble by reason of age," be
queathing to sons John, Joseph, Benjamin,
Oliver and Palgrave; grandchild, John Mad-
docks, Roger Wellington and Mary Liver
more. He was selectman in 1678-79-81-82-83-
84-91. He married Mary, eldest daughter of
Dr. Richard Palgrave, of Charlestown, date of
marriage not known. Children : 1 . John, born
July 25, 1638, admitted freeman, 1677, farmer
of Cambridge. 2. Mary, February 10, 1641,
married (first) May 21, 1662, Henry Mad-
docks; (second) John Coolidge. 3. Joseph,
October 9, 1643, married (first) Sarah  ;
(second) Elizabeth Straight. 4. Benjamin,
mentioned below. 5. Oliver, November 23,
1648. 6. Palgrave, admitted freeman, April
. 18, 1690; followed the profession of his grand
father for whom he was named ; married Sarah
Bond. (II) Benjamin, fourth child of Roger Will
ington probably born 1646, died January 8,
1710. fle lived on the family estate in Lex
ington, and was called yeoman. December 7,
1671, he married Elizabeth Sweetman, of
Cambridge. Children: 1. Elizabeth, born
December 29, 1673, married John Fay, of
Marlborough. 2. Benjamin, June 21, 1676,
mentioned below. 3. John, July 26, 1678, died
November 30, 171 7. 4. Ebenezer, married,
January 28, 1704, Deliverance Bond, settled in
Lexington. 5. Ruhamah, married, November
15, 1699, Deacon Joseph Brown. 6. Mehitable,
baptized March 4, 1688, married, September
r3> 1715, William Sherman, of Newtown, and
was mother of Roger Sherman, who was
named after his great-grandfather, Roger
Willington. 7. Joseph, baptized January 4,
169 1. 8. Roger.
(Ill) Benjamin (2) Wellington, son of
Benjamin (1) Willington, born June 21, 1676,
died November 15, 1738, "At towne meeting
were chosen survayurs swine cattle & fences
Richard Child & Benjamin Wellington." He
was admitted a freeman in December, 1667.
The "History of Lexington" says of him : "He
was for many years one of the most popular
men of the town; was assessor sixteen years,
town clerk fifteen years, treasurer three years,
representative three years. He was admitted
to the church at Lexington, June 10, 1705. His
will, dated July 13, 1708, proved January 30

following, described him as "housewright and
carpenter." He married (first) January 16,
1698-99, Lydia Brown, and the same year built
himself a house on the family estate at Lexing
ton; his wife died May 13, 171 1. lie married
(second) December 25, 1712, Elizabeth, widow
of Samuel Phipps, and daughter of 
Stevens, of Charlestown; she died January 17,
1729-30, aged fifty-four. He married (third)
Mary Whitney. Children of first wife : 1. Benja
min, born May 21, 1702, died November 15,
1738. 2. Lydia, August 24, 1704, died August
10, 1 718. 3. Kezia, born March 28, 1707. 4.
John, born November 12, 1709, died Septem
ber 22, 1728. Children of second wife: 5.
Abigail, July 14, 1715, married, February 19,
1734, David Munroe. 6. Timothy, born July
27, 1719, mentioned below. Children of third
wife : 7. Mary, October 20, 1732. 8. Oliver,
April 14, 1735.
, (IV) Timothy, son of Benjamin (2) Well
ington, was born in Lexington, July 27, 1719,
date of death unknown; his will was probated
December 23, 1750. He was by trade a wheel
wright and made (family traditions says) the
wheels to the gun carriage of the Cambridge
cannon used in the revolution. He was also
a farmer, and resided on the homestead in
Lexington, which remained in the family until
1895, when it was sold. He married, Septem
ber 23, 1742, Rebecca Stone, born January 22,
1 72 1, daughter of Jonathan and Chary
(Adams) Stone, of Lexington, a descendant
of Deacon Gregory Stone, of Watertown. His
wife survived him, and February 14, 1754,
married John Dix, of Waltham. Children: 1.
Benjamin, born August 7, 1743, mentioned
below. 2. Chary, July 12, 1745. 3. Timothy,
April 15, 1747, died April 18, 1809; was father
of Dr. Timothy Wellington. 4. Abigail, March
14, 1750, married, December 29, 1768, Daniel
Colling, of Waltham. 5. Ruhamon, Septem
ber 4, i75i._
(V) Benjamin (3), son of Timothy Well
ington, born at Lexington, August 7, 1743,
died there September 14, 181 2. He attended
the district school, and early learned the trade
of wheelwright, which he followed many years.
His shop was across the road, just north of
the house. The first house of the Wellingtons
was of the old fashioned type, where the roof
^slants nearly to the ground in the rear. In
1803 he built a new house. He made many
of the gun carriages for the Continental army.
His farm was inherited by his two sons,* Peter
and Benjamin. The milk raised on the farm
was marketed in Boston, and it is said that

94

MASSACHUSETTS.

Benjamin Wellington was the first man to
carry milk such a distance. Wooden bottles
were used, and the Charles river was crossed
by a ferry. He was a member of the First
Congregational Church, and was beloved for
his kindly and charitable nature. In politics
he was a Democrat, and served as selectman
for many years. He was one of the gallant
company of minute-men who took part in the
battle of Lexington, and was the first armed
prisoner taken during the war. On the spot
where he was captured has been erected a red
granite tablet commemorating the event and
his gallantry. Elias Phinney, in the history of
the battle, describing the march of the British
towards Lexington common on the memorable
morn, says : "In order to secure persons trav
elling upon the road the British would send
two soldiers at a considerable distance in
advance of the main body with orders to
secrete themselves in each side of the road and
when any one approached they would -allow
him to pass them so as to get between them
and the troops and then rise and close, in. As
Benjamin Wellington was on his way to Lex
ington common that morning, having been
warned by the summons of Paul Revere, in
climbing over a high stone wall into the high
way at Lexington he found either side of him
a British soldier. He was taken prisoner and
disarmed. On being asked where he was going
he replied Hunting.' He promised to return
to his home, and as it was impossible for his
captors to manage a prisoner he was allowed
to go but his gun was not returned. Instead
of returning home he took another way to
the common and arrived before the British in
time to announce their approach and take part
in the fight. Thus he told a lie in order to
fight in the cause of freedom." His name is
given by Captain Parker in list of his company
in 1775, and following in Parker's account
refers to him in Twelfth campaign to the tak
ing of Burgoyne, Sergeant Benjamin Welling
ton four pounds. He was with Washington's
army at Cambridge. The following used to
be told by Hepzibah (Hastings) Wellington:
"When Benjamin Wellington was with Wash
ington's army there was a time for several
days that the army was practically without
food. During that time Benjamin Wellington
came home to find his family just ready for
their dinner, but the army had to be considered
so he took not only the family dinner but every
edible thing in the place, and harnessing the
hofses carried the provisions to the troops. For
two days the family had only mush and milk,

but such sacrifices were willingly made by
them." He was in Captain John Bridge's com
pany, Colonel Eleazer Brooks' regiment, on
duty at Roxbury. He was also sergeant in
Captain Samuel Farrar's company, Colonel
Reed's regiment, in 1777, to reinforce the army
under General Gates and was present at the
surrender of Burgoyne. He married, Decem
ber 4, 1766, Martha'Ball, of Waltham (South-
borough). Children: 1. Mary, born Septem
ber 22, 1767, married (first) December 31,
1789, Asa Baldwin Locke; (second) Abijah
flarrington; children: Oliver Locke, Bald
win Locke, Abigail Locke, Mary Locke. 2.
Abigail, baptized in Waltham, October 1, 1769.
3. Benjamin, baptized July 13, 1772. 4. Oliver,
baptized November 13, 1774. 5. Benjamin
Oliver, born August 23, 1778, died November
10, 1853; married, May 20, 1811, Polly Hast
ings ; children : i. Oliver flastings, born Feb
ruary 23, 1812, died March 1, 1813; ii. Oliver
Hastings, born August 19, 1813, married, Au
gust 29, 1838, Charlotte Augusta Kent, of Con
cord, New Hampshire, and had Mary C, Will
iam A., Arthur M., and Lucy M. D. ; iii. Mary
Jane, born July 15, 1815, married, April 17,
1845, James H. Danforth, of Boston; iv.
Albert, born June 1, 1817; v. Ambrose, born
April 11, 1819, married, May, 1845, Lucy J.
Kent; vi. Martha, born April 11, 1821, died
January, 1863; vii. Benjamin, born March 21,
1823 ; viii. Dorcas Ann, born April 20, 1825,
married Dr.' George H. Taylor; ix. Laura,
born December 30, 1827; x. Winslow, born
May 16, 1829; xi. Edward, born March 3,
1831, drowned in Fresh Pond, July 6, 1852,
while a member of the Lawrence Scientific
School. 6. Peter, born May 31, 1781. 7. Rich
ard, born July 14, 1783, died December 11,
1836. 8. James, twin with Patty, born Decem
ber 12, 1785, married, November 18, 1821,
Susannah Jacobs, of Littleton, Massachusetts,
born August 7, 1801 ; children: i. Edwin, born
1823 ; ii. Angelina, born May 20, 1824, mar
ried Darius Crosby, and had Linda, Carrie
May, James Wellington and Isaac Wellington
Crosby; iii. James Everett, born April 27,
1827, married, October 24, 1854, Frances Jane
Kilbourne, born June 21, 1829, and had Emma
Kilbourne, born August 7, 1856, died March
17, 1865, Maud Kilbourne, born November 29,
1858, and Everetta Kilbourne, born Septem
ber 22, 1872 ; iv. Adrianna, born May 27, 1829,
married James H. Kidder, of Watertown, and
had Osmer Wellington Kidder, Mary Welling;
ton Kidder (married Edwin Ii. Baker, and
had Madeline and Adrianna Baker). 9. Patty,

MASSACHUSETTS.

95

twin with James, born December 12, 1785,
married, June 28, 1821, Charles Reed, of Lex
ington, had Henry, not now living; she was
drowned, date unknown. 10. Isaac, born De
cember 5, 1787.
(VI) Isaac, youngest child of Benjamin
(3) Wellington, was born December 5, 1787.
fle married, November 18, 1824, Mary W.
Jacobs; children: Oliver, Francena, Mary
Ann, Isaac Baldwin and Luther Brooks.
(VII) Luther Brooks, youngest child of
Isaac Wellington, married Susan K. Blanchard,
of Medford, Massachusetts. He and his
brother Isaac Baldwin were connected together
in business in New York City.
(VIII) Arthur W., eldest child of Luther
Brooks and Susan Kidder (Blanchard) Well
ington, was born at Catskill, New York, Sep
tember 11, 1868. He has been connected with
the sole leather business in Boston since a
young man. He purchased the old Clark farm
of one hundred and six acres in the town of
Weston, where he resides. He has been con
nected with the musical world since the age of
sixteen years, being the possessor of a fine
bass voice. His political affiliations are with
the Republican party, and he is a member of
St. Botolf Club and Harvard Musical Asso
ciation. He was formerly a member of the
Puritan, Cecelia and Apollo clubs, singing in
all of them. He married, September 19, 1904,
Evelyn Jenks, born June 27, 1876, daughter of
Robert and Nancy (Jenks) Lawton, the for
mer a merchant of New Bedford.
(VIII) Louis Baldwin, brother of the pre
ceding, was born in Brooklyn, New York,
October 29, 1870. In 1888 he entered the
banking house of Kidder, Peabody & Company
in the capacity of clerk. He remained with
this concern for a period of three years, then
entered the employ of F. S. Moseley & Com
pany, as clerk, remaining with them until Jan
uary 1, 1902, when a new firm was formed and
Mr. Wellington was admitted to partnership.
Mr. Wellington is Republican in politics, a
member of the Tennis and Racquet Club of
Boston. He married, July 25, 1895, Louise
Lawton, a sister of the wife of his brother
Arthur W. Children: Margaret, born May
21, 1897; Virginia, September 23, 1899; and
Linda, March, 1901.

The Winchesters are an
WINCHESTER old English family and
for many generations
anterior to the seventeenth century were seat
ed in Kent, from whence it is supposed that

the American ancestor of the family here con
sidered came to New England. According to
well authenticated records the immigrant Win
chesters were two brothers, both young men,
who followed the tide of westward emigrants
.and took up their homes in the Plymouth col
ony on Cape Cod. One of the brothers, Alex
ander by name, is said not to have left male
issue, and of the other it is said that he was
the progenitor and ancestor of all who have
borne his surname in this country. It is with
this branch of the Winchester family that we
have particularly to deal in this narrative, and
while in some respects the records of his
descendants is settled with reasonable certainty,
there are others of them who are known to
be among his descendants, yet by reason of
imperfect records the line is difficult and in
some cases quite impossible to establish beyond
question of doubt.
(I) John Winchester, who is mentioned in
history as "one of the founders of New Eng
land," and who probably is entitled to the
distinction of having been the ancestor of all
who bear his surname on this side of the Atlan
tic ocean, sailed from the city of London in
the "Elizabeth," William Stagg, master, in
April, 1635, and .then was nineteen years old.
From what part of England he came is not
certain, but tradition says that he was of the
Winchesters of Kent. In 1636 he settled in
the plantation at Hingham, in the colony of
Plymouth, with his fellow voyagers, the Bates
family, and in July of that year was allotted
five acres of farm land. He joined the first
church in Boston in 1636, was made freeman
in 1637, and was admitted to membership of
the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company
in 1638. Soon after 1650 he left Hingham and
went to Muddy River, that part of Boston
which now is Brookline, where he was sur
veyor in 1664-69-70, constable in 1672-73, and
tythingman in 1680. He seems to have pros
pered at Muddy River, and at his death, April
25, 1694, left an estate which inventories as
of the value of three hundred and seven pounds
ten shillings, and which was inherited by his
sons John and Josiah. John Winchester, the
elder, married, October 15, 1638, Hannah
Sealis, daughter of Deacon Richard Sealis, of
Scituate. She died September 18, 1697, hav
ing borne her husband four children : 1. John,
baptized June 2, 1644. 2. Mary, March 26,
1648. 3. Jonathan, died Roxbury, January 8,
1679. 4. Josiah, born March 20, 1655, died
February 22, 1728.
(II) John (2), son of John (1) and Han-

96

MASSACHUSETTS.

nah (Sealis) Winchester, was baptized in 1644
and died in Brookline, February 1, 1718. He
was a prominent figure in the early history of
Brookline and by occupation was a mason
and farmer. He was one of the first signers
of the petition drawn by his neighbor, Samuel
Sewall, for the separation of Muddy River
from the parent town of Boston, which peti
tion was granted November, 1705, and from
that date Muddy River took the name of
Brookline. John Winchester Jr., was the first
representative from Brookline to the colonial
assembly of Massachusetts Bay, 1709-10, and
he also served as constable, commissioner,
selectman, and in 17 17 was one of the principal
founders of the Brookline church. During
King Philip's war he was a soldier and is men
tioned as having been stationed at the garri
son of Punkapauque (now Canton), April 24,
1676. He died in 1718, leaving an estate which
inventories at one thousand and six pounds,
nine shillings. He married (first) flannah
 , and after her death married Joanna
Stevens, born May 28, 1652, by whom he had
nine children: 1. Joanna, born September 6,
1674. 2. John, April 17, 1676. 3. Mary, bap
tized August 13, 1677. 4. Benjamin. 5. Ebe
nezer, died November 21, 1756. 6. Henry.
7. Stephen, born February 8, 1686, died 1751.
8. Mehitable. 9. Jonathan.
(Ill) Benjamin, son of John (2) and Han
nah Winchester, was born probably in Brook
line, Massachusetts, and is supposed to be identi
cal with the Benjamin Winchester who in 1727
bought lands in Framingham, where his brother
Ebenezer had preceded him by about ten
years; and he is also supposed to be the same
Benjamin Winchester who afterward lived
in Grafton, Massachusetts, and is mentioned
as one of the "alarm soldiers who remained in
the town on duty, or who could be called to
gether by Rev. Mr. Hutchinson, during the
French and Indian war." In the Grafton
records his name is written Wintchester, and
in the same list in which his name appears are
the names of Joseph and John Wintchester,
who doubtless were brothers of Benjamin,
although the Joseph mentioned in the list may
have been a son of Benjamin Winchester.
(IV) Joseph, probably a son of Benjamin
Winchester, lived in Grafton, Massachusetts,
until about 1772, when he removed with his
family to Marlboro, Vermont, and spent the
remainder of his days there. According to
one private record he had five sons and one
daughter, the former of whom were Luther,
Benjamin, Joseph, Asa and Joshua. The vital

records of Grafton show, however, that on
April 15, 1756, Joseph Winchester married
Lucy Harrington, born Grafton, May 13, 1730,
daughter of Isaac and Miriam Harrington, of
Grafton; and that their children born in that
town were as follows: 1. Anna, November
6, 1757. 2. Huldah, September 17, 1758. 3.
Benjamin, January 4, 1761. 4. Asa, March
24, 1763. 5. Joseph, October 27, 1765. 6.
Joshua, March 20, 1768. 7. Antipas, Febru
ary 9, 1771. 8. Luther, August 17, 1773. From
this it is evident that some of the children of
Joseph and Lucy must have been born after
the family removed to Vermont, and such is
known to have been the fact.
(V) Luther, son of Joseph and Lucy (Har
rington) Winchester, was born in Marlboro,
Vermont, August 17, 1773, and for many
years was one of the foremost men of that
town. He was a farmer, thrifty and energetic,
and through his own unaided efforts succeeded
in accumulating a fortune which is said to have
amounted to twenty thousand dollars. He
married, December 9 (or 19), 1793, Elizabeth
Warren, who died in Marlboro, October 10,
1853, aged seventy-four years. He died Jan
uary 30, 1853. Children, all born in Marl
boro: 1. Antipas, October 6, 1794. 2. Clark,
December 30, 1796, died January 11, 1861.
3. Betsey, May 26, 1799, died June 9, 1843;
married Willad Snow. 4. William Ward, Au
gust 16, 1801, died May 20, 1881. 5. Hannah,
October 24, 1803, died December 27, 1889. 6.
Luther, July 6, 1806, died July 25, 1874. 7.
Isaac Harrington, December 25, 1809, died
September 21, 1876. 8. John Quincy Adams,
181 7, died October 2, 1877.
(VI) Antipas, son of Joseph and Eliz
abeth (Warren) Winchester, was born in
Marlboro, Vermont, October 6, 1794, died
May 19, 1871. Like his father he was an
extensive and progressive farmer and a promi
nent man in the town. He, married, January
2, 1822, Lois Kelsey; children: 1. Williston,
born September 29, 1822, died February 23,
1902. 2. Eunice, November 26, 1823, married,
May 13, 1847, Dolphus P. Warren. 3. Reuben,
January 7, 1825. 4. Lois, March 5, 1826, died
February 5, 1899; married, March 21, 1850,
Perry Hall, died February 5, 1899 (they died
within half an hour of each other and neither
knew of the death of the other. 5. Betsey,
October 23, 1827, died November 30, 1900;
married, May 13, 1847, Ira Ingram. 6. Asa,
February 2, 1829, died August 27, 1902; mar
ried, May 5, 1853, Elizabeth Houghton. 7.
A daughter, March 8, 1830, died in extreme

MASSACHUSETTS.

97

infancy. 8. Anthony Seymour, May 31, 1831,
died September 20, 1850. 9. Clark, March
30, 1833, died September 6, 1835. 10. Polly
Ann, November 14, 1834, died June 4, 1897;
married, February 3, 1869, William B. Adams.
11. A daughter, October* 9, 1836, died soon.
12. Sarah A., November 15, 1837, married,
April 5, 1855, Rufus A. Houghton.
(VII) Reuben, son of Antipas and Lois
(Kelsey) Winchester, was born in Marlboro,
Vermont, January< 7, 1825, died in Holyoke,
Masachusetts, May 26, 1906. Until he attained
the age of twenty years Reuben Winchester
lived at home on his father's farm, and up to
that time had given all of his earnings to his
father, for he was an industrious and duti
ful son. The principles of honesty and per
sonal integrity were instilled in his mind when
he was a boy at his mother's knee, and he
never forgot them and always practiced them
to the last day of his life. When old enough
to start out in life for himself he began dealing
in cattle, buying and selling, later added pro
duce dealing to his business interests and soon
became one of the most extensive dealers in
that part of the state. At various times he
owned many yokes of cattle, and often said
that he had bought and sold more than five
hundred yokes of broken cattle, oxen and
steers. He is said to have been an intelligent
and progressive man in every sense of the
word, and his judgment on questions of local
and general interest was considered standard
authority. And Mr. Winchester was a man
of the highest integrity, a firm believer in what
in recent times has been called the "square
deal," doing always unto others as he would
have them do unto himself. Such was the
man, and such was his character. His busi
ness life was rewarded with substantial suc
cess and he richly deserved the full measure
thereof. In politics a strong Democrat, he
nevertheless enjoyed the confidence of the peo
ple of his town without distinction of party,
and he was elected to the state legislature with
Republican votes. About 1865 Mr. Winchester
removed from Marlboro to West Springfield,
Masachusetts, and purchased a farm in that
town, paying for the same in cash to the
amount of $6,800, every dollar of which he
had earned in business pursuits. At that time
the payment of so great a sum for farm land
was considered quite unusual, for then, just
at the close of the civil war, money was scarce
and gold at a premium. Mr. Winchester was
not a church member, but he was an upright
man and honest in his daily walk. He mar-
i— 7

ried, February 19, 1850, Hannah K. Brown,
of whose family mention is made in these annals.
Children: 1. Samuel B., October 2, 1852, died
March 26, 1906 ; married, July 22, 1875, Emily
A. Morse, and had Florence E., born June 21,
1876, died in infancy, and Florida M., born Feb
ruary 17, 1878. 2. Reuben Clark, November 10,
1857. 3. William L., October 23, 1865, died
July 14, 1903 ; married, June 6, 1895," Addie
E. Stockwell, and had Miriam Stockwell, born
March 31, 1896, and Reuben Stockwell, Feb
ruary 26, 1902.
(VIII) Reuben Clark, son of Reuben and
Hannah K. (Brown) Winchester, was born in
Marlboro, Vermont, November 10, 1857, and
was a boy of less than ten years when his
father removed from Vermont and settled in
West Springfield. He received his education
in the public schools of that town, Holyoke
high school, from which he graduated in 1875,
and Eastman's Business College. After leav
ing the latter institution he began his business
career as office boy in the service of the Hol
yoke Water Power Company and with the
exception of a period of about six months he
has been continuously in the employ of that
great corporation, in one capacity or another,
and constantly advancing until in January,
1903, he was elected to treasurer of the com
pany, which office he now holds. Mr. Wiii-
chester is a strict, careful business man, and
in many respects possesses the same character
istics as his father for honesty, integrity, and
square business dealing. He married, Decem
ber 22, 1880, Mary A., daughter of William
A. and Lucy A. (Lamb) Cole. Children: 1.
Faustina Hannan, September 12, 1881, died
November 10, 1883. 2. Una May, October 14,
1883, graduated from Smith College, class of
'04; married, October 11, 1905, Henry C. War-
nock, of Northampton, and has one child,
Eunice Winchester Warnock. 3. Ralph Cole,
July 15, 1886, died February, 1900.

(I) Jethro Brown is said to
BROWN have been progenitor of a num
erous family of Stonington,
Connecticut ; and more than that he served
with great credit to himself and his descend
ants as a soldier and sailor in service during
the French and Indian war in 1756. As a
soldier he frequently was on scout duty on the
frontier of white settlement, and as a sailor
his service is said to have been on board a
privateer. After his marriage he left Con
necticut and went to Keene, New Hampshire,
remained there a short time and then removed

98

MASSACHUSETTS.

to Putney, Vermont, and purchased fifty acres
of land in the Connecticut valley, but in the
course of a few years he felt the need of more
land and then went into the town of Marl
boro and bought "Right No. 48," in 1787,
improved it and spent the remainder of his
life in that town. He died February 26, 181 3,
aged eighty-six years. He married Molly
Haynes", of Groton, Connecticut, who died
March 10, 1817, aged eighty-four years. Chil
dren: 1. Harriet, married a Smead and lived
in Keene. 2. Molly, married John Irvine. 3.
Daniel, married Lucy Alexander. 4. John,
married widow Miner, of Putney. 5. Jere
miah. 6. Benjamin, married Abigail Wilson.
7. John, married Sally Wilson, sister of Abi
gail. 8. Lyman. 9. Charlotte. 10. Bathsheba.
(II) Lyman, son of Jethro and Molly
(Haynes) Brown, was born March 28, 1767,
died February 10, 1854. He married Miriam
Whitney, born June 10, 1776 (see Whitney).
Children: 1. Leafy, born May 25, 1792, mar
ried Oliver Halliday. 2. Daniel, January 22,
1794, died July 4, 1823; married Katherine
Arnold. 3. Samuel Whitney, November 29,
1795. 4. William, August 3, 1797, died Sep
tember 8, 1822. 5. Phebe, July 10, 1799, died
November 13, 1799. 6. Phebe H, September
2, 1800, died 183 1 ; married George Gilbert.
7. Lyman Jr., October 2, 1802, died Novem
ber 27, 1862. 8. Bathsheba, November 25,
1804, died March 19, 1848; married Luke
Whitney. 9. Lucy, March 16, 1806, died April
10, 1806. 10. Miriam W., June 7, 1808, died
June 13, 1888; married Joseph Rand. 11.
Hamilton, May 27, 181 1, died December 18,
1885; married (first) Adelia Spaulding, (sec-
and) Emily M. Walker. 12. Eliza P., Sep
tember 12, 1812, married Avery Holden. 13.
John F., January 28, 1815. 14. Diana, Sep
tember 7, 1818, died March 28, 1864; married
John Knight.
(Ill) Samuel Whitney, son of Lyman and
Miriam (Whitney) Brown, was born Novem
ber 29, 1795, died September 6, 1863. He
married Phila Mather, born June 23, 1797,
died June 1, 1871. They had five children:
1. Mary Ann, born November 15, 1819, died
December 7, 1845 > married Hearte H. Win
chester. 2. Timothy M., May 24, 1821, died
November 15, 1872; married, May 2, 1848,
Mary Ingram, and had George Albert, born
April 14, 1849; Alice J., January 22, 1851 ;
Addison M., June 23, 1852, died April 10,
1854, Ada M., October 23, 1854; William M.,
May 18, 1856; Milo A., December 18, 1858.
3. Phila Mather, August 16, 1823, married

P. S. White. 4. Lucy A., died November 17,
1870; married, March 9, 1846, Wilson M.
Winchester, and had Herbert C, born May
23, 1847, died June 19, 1881 ; Ella F., June
16, 1849; Cora A., April 3, 1852, died May 8,
1894; Hattie A., July 10, 1853 ; Lucy M., Octo
ber 12, 1854, died September 5, 1878. 5. Han
nah K, August 8, 1829, died April 14, 1878;
married, February 19, 1850, Reuben Win
chester (see Winchester). (The Whitney Line).
The surname Whitney, originally written de
Whitney, is said to have been derived from
the name of the parish where the castle stood.
Aluard, a Saxon, held the land before the
conquest, but at the time of "Doomsday Sur
vey," A. D., 1086, it was waste, without an
owner, save the king as lord paramount. A
grandson or great-grandson of Sir Turstin,
one of the conqueror's knights, known as
Turstin of Fleming, sometime between 1100
and 1200, engaging in the border wars, built
a stronghold and took up his abode at Whit
ney, on the banks of the Wye, and thus after
the custom of the period acquired the sur
names of de Whitney. The first mention of a
de Whitney in any extant record is that of
Robert de Wytteneye, in the "Testa de Nevil,"
A. D., 1242.
(I) Sir Robert Whitney was knighted by
Queen Mary in 1553 and represented Here
fordshire in the parliament.
(II) Thomas, son of Sir Robert Whitney,
was born in Herefordshire, and went to live
at Lambeth Marsh, near the Surrey end of
Westminster bridge. May 10, 1583, he secured
a license to marry Mary, daughter of John
Bray. In the license he is described as Thomas
Whytney, of Lambeth Marsh, gentleman, and
on May 12 the marriage ceremony was per
formed in St. Margaret's. Nine children were
born of this marriage, but only three of them
grew to maturity, John, Francis and Robert.
Of these Francis died in Westminster, 1643,
Robert in the parish of St. Peter's, Cornhill,
London, 1662, and John emigrated to New
England and settled down at Watertown in
the colony of Massachusetts Bay. It is of
him and one line of his descendants that we
have particularly to deal in this place.
(Ill) John, son of Thomas and Mary
(Bray.) Whitney, was born in 1589, receiving
a good education, probably in the famous
Westminster School (now St. Peter's Col
lege), and at the age of fourteen was appren?
ticed by his father to William Pring, of the

MASSACHUSETTS.

99

Old Bailey, London, a freeman of the Mer
chant Tailors' Company, the most prosper
ous of all of the trade guilds, including in its
membership men of all professions and many
of the nobility. March 13, 1614, being then
twenty-one years old, John Whitney became a
member of the company, soon afterward mar
ried, and in 16 19 went to live at Islesworth-
on-the-Thames, eight miles from Westminster,
remained there until 1624, then went probably
to London and lived in that city until he sailed
for America. Early in April, 1635, he reg
istered with his wife Elinor and five sons as
passengers in the "Elizabeth and Ann," and
sailed for New England. In June, 1635, he
settled in Watertown, was made freeman,
1636, selectman, 1637, and held the latter office
until 1655, when he was elected town clerk.
As early as 1641 he was appointed by the gen
eral court constable at Watertown, an office
of much dignity and the incumbent of which
then was regarded as a man of consequence
and influence. He was the grantee of eight
lots in Watertown, the purchaser of sixteen
other lots, and thus became possessed of a
large estate. His wife Elinor died in 1659
and in the same year he married Judith Clem
ent. John Whitney died in June, 1673. He
had nine children, all born of his first mar
riage. (IV) John (2), son of John (1) and Elinor
Whitney, was born in England in 1620, died
in Watertown, Massachusetts, October 12,
1692. He was made freeman in 1647, and
was a selectman in Watertown from 1673 to
1680. The name of John Whitney appears in
a list of names of twenty men of the town who
were impressed with provisions, arms and
ammunition for the defense of the colony in
1675, during King Philip's war. His will was
drawn by himself in 1685, signed it in 1690,
and died before October 26, 1692, when the
inventory of his property was- made. In 1642
he married Ruth, daughter of Robert Reynolds,
of Watertown, and by whom he had ten chil
dren. (V) Nathaniel, son of John (2) and Ruth
(Reynolds) Whitney, was born in Watertown,
Massachusetts, February 1, 1646, died in Wes
ton, Massachusetts, January 7, 1732. The
greater part of his life was spent in Weston,
where he was a farmer, and the farm on which
he lived was afterward in possession of his
descendants for five or more generations. He
married, March 12, 1673, Sarah Hagar, born
September 3, 1651, died May 7, 1746, having
borne her husband eight children.

(VI) Nathaniel (2), son of Nathaniel (1)
and Sarah (Hagar) Whitney, was born in
Weston, but did not spend his life in the town.
(VII) Samuel, son of Nathaniel (2) Whit
ney, was born in Weston about 171 1 and died
in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, August 2, 1788.
He went to Shrewsbury about 1743 and joined
the church there in 1761. After his death his
widow went to Marlboro, Vermont, to live
with her children, and she died there at the
home of her son, Deacon Jonas Whitney, Octo
ber 23, 1800, aged eighty-four years. Samuel
Whitney went to Marlboro in 1769, and in the
spring of the next year made a quantity of
maple sugar. Soon afterward he removed to
the west part of the town and settled on a
farm which later was in possession of Ira
Adams, and which farm is located on the
easterly slope of Hogback Mountain. He
enjoyed considerable local notoriety as a hunter
of large game, and on one occasion with the
aid of two of his sons killed a bear which
dressed at four hundred and sixty-six pounds,
said to have been the largest bear ever killed
in Vermont. Although well on in years Cap
tain Whitney (he was known by that title)
took a patriot's part in the revolutionary war,
and on the occasion of the alarm at Lexington
took his old musket and with Captain Warren
went forward and offered his services for the
common cause of the country. At the battle
of Bennington, August, 1777, he was present
and performed guard duty over the captured
British. On April 7, 1735, he married Eliza
beth Hastings, of Watertown; children:
Samuel, James, Elizabeth, Lucy, Lydia, Lacan-
nah, Nathaniel, Jane, Sarah, Eliphalet and
Hannah. (VIII) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1) and
Elizabeth (Hastings) Whitney, was born
about 1746, died February 1, 181 1. About ten
years after his marriage he removed to Marl
boro, Vermont, and spent his life on the farm
then owned by Mr. Adams, as is mentioned in
a preceding paragraph. He married, in 1762,
Phebe Harrington, of Grafton, Massachusetts ;
eleven children, five of whom were born in
Shrewsbury and six in Marlboro: 1. Cath
erine, May 5, 1763, married S. C. Pratt. 2.
Elizabeth, August 26, 1764, married Alson
Pratt. 3. Moses, October 21, 1765, died De
cember 14, 1765.- 4. Moses, January 26, 1767.
5. Gilford, January 2,- 1769. 6. Samuel C,
April 18, 1772. 7. Miriam, June 10, 1776,
married Lyman Brown (see Brown). 8.
Zenas, March 14, 1779.- 9. Simei, April 10,
1:781. 10. Phebe, January 7, 1786, married

IOO

MASSACHUSETTS.

Roswell Paddleford. n. Roswell, July 27,
1787, died May 3, 1790.

The antiquity of the
HUTCHINSON Hutchinson family is
very great. Its origin
has been assigned to one Uitchensis, said to
have been a Norwegian and to have come from
Normandy with William the Conqueror, but
there is no record of the family after the Con
quest until 1282, after which the history of the
family is definitely known. The coat-of-arms :
Per pale gules and azure semee of cross-cross-
lets or, a lion rampant argent. Crest : Out of
a ducal coronet or a cockatrice with wings en
dorsed azure, beaked combed and wattled gules.
(I) Bernard Hutchinson, of Cowlan, York
shire, England, was living in 1282. He bore
the coat-of-arms just described. His wife was
the daughter of John Boyvill, Esq., of one of
the best families of Yorkshire. Children : 1.
John, mentioned below. 2. Robert, married
 Newcomen, of Saltfleetlby, Lincoln
shire. 3. Mary, married William Sutton, of
Washingborough, Lincolnshire.
(II) John, son of Bernard Hutchinson, mar
ried Edith Wouldbie, of Wouldbie. Children :
I. James, mentioned below. 2. Barbara, mar
ried Lewis Ashton, of Spalding, Lincolnshire.
3. Julia, married Allyne Bruxbie, of Shobie.
4. Margaret, married William Champemowne,
of Devonshire.
(Ill) James, only son of John Hutchinson,
was of Cowlam, and married Ursula Gregory,
of Nafferton, Yorkshire. Children: 1. Will
iam, mentioned below. 2. John, married daugh
ter of John Conyers. 3. Barbara, married
John Hathorne, of Cransweke (Cranswick).
4. Daughter, married John Ocam, Esq. 5.
Eleanor, married Thomas Brown, Esq.
(IV) William, son of James Hutchinson,
married Anne Bennett, daughter of William
Bennett, of Thackley, in the West Riding of
Yorkshire, England. Children: 1. Anthony,
mentioned below. 2. Oliver, married daughter
of John Tindall. 3. Mary, married Jervas
Abtost. 4. Alice, married William English.
(V) Anthony, son of William Hutchinson,
married (first) Judith Crosland, daughter of
Thomas; (second) Isabel Harvie, daughter of
Robert. Children of second wife : 1. William.
2. Thomas, mentioned below. 3. John. 4.
Richard, supposed to have settled in Ireland.
5. Leonard. 6. Edmund. 7. Francis. 8.
Andrew. (VI) Thomas, son of Anthony Hutchinson,
bought the principal part of the township of

Owthorpe, Nottinghamshire, the remaining
portion afterwards coming into the family of
his descendants. He lived in the reign of
Henry VIII. He owned also an estate at
Colston Bassett, a few miles east of Owthorpe.
His actual residence was at Cropwell Butler.
He was living as late as October 9, 1550. Chil
dren : 1. William. 2. John. 3. Lawrence, men
tioned below.
(VII) Lawrence, son of Thomas Hutchin
son, resided at Tollertown, a town between
Owthorpe and Nottingham. He married Isa
bel  , who survived him. His will was
dated July 2, 1577, and proved at York Octo
ber 9 following. Children: 1. Robert. 2.
Thomas, mentioned below. 3. Agnes. 4.
Richard. 5. William.
(VIII) Thomas (2), son of Lawrence
Hutchinson, resided at Newark in Notting
hamshire, and died in 1598. His will was
proved May 11 of that year and dated March
1. Children: 1. William, died before his
father. 2. Thomas, mentioned below. 3. Joan.
(IX) Thomas (3), son of Thomas (2)
Hutchinson, inherited his father's estate at
Newark, but removed to Arnold, near Notting
ham, between 1601 and 1605. He married
Alice  , who survived him. He was
buried at Arnold, August 17, 1618, his will
being dated March 4, preceding. He bequeath
ed to all his children, most of whom were
doubtless born at Newark before his removal
to Arnold. Children : 1. John, married twice;
lived at Arnold. 2. Isabel, married Adam
Barker. 3. Humphrey, living in 1618. 4.
Elizabeth. 5. Robert, baptized at Newark,
September 6, 1601, lived at Arnold. 6. Rich
ard, mentioned below. 7. Thomas, baptized at
Arnold, June 16, 1605.
(X) Richard, son of Thomas (3) Hutchin
son, was born 1602-03. In 1660 he deposed
that his age was fifty-eight. He married, at
Cotgrave, county Nottingham, England, De
cember 7, 1627, Alice Bosworth, probably
daughter of Joseph Bosworth, of Southell,
otherwise known as the cathedral church of
Nottinghamshire. He was the immigrant an
cestor, and came to America in 1634 with his
wife Alice and four children, and settled in
Salem, Massachusetts. He had a grant of
land from Salem in 1636 and the next year a
grant of twenty acres more, "provided he will
set up a plough." It is said that at that time
there were but thirty-seven ploughs in the
entire colony. In 1664 he had another parcel
of land granted him and in 1660 still another.
This land was situated in the vicinity of

MASSACHUSETTS.

101

Hathorn's Hill, Beaver Dam brook, now called
Beaver brook, 'which runs through Middleton
into the Ipswich river. He and his wife were
members of the Salem church at early as 1636.
He bought a farm of a hundred and fifty acres
at Salem Village, now Danvers, of Elias Still
man in 1648, and that was his homestead after
wards, fle served on a committee of the
town to survey Jeffrey's creek, now Man
chester, and Mackerel cove. He married (sec
ond) in October, 1668, Sarah Standish, widow
of James Standish of whose estate Hutchin
son was appointed administrator, April 1, 1679.
His will was dated January 19, 1679, and
proved September 26, 1682. His widow mar
ried (third) Thomas Roots, of Manchester,
whom she also survived. Children of first
wife, the first five born in England: 1. Alice,
baptized at North Muskham, Nottinghamshire,
September 27, 1628, died there the same year.
2. Elizabeth, baptized at Arnold, August 30,
1629, married Deacon Nathaniel Putnam, of
Danvers. 3. Mary, baptized at North Musk
ham, December 28, 1630; married Thomas
Hale, of Newbury, Massachusetts. 4. Re
becca, born 1632, married James Hadlock, of
Salem. 5. Joseph, mentioned below. 6. Abi
gail, baptized at Salem, December 25, 1636,
married Anthony Ashby. 7. Hannah, baptized
June 20, 1639, married, April 12, 1662, Daniel
Boardman. 8. John, born May, 1643, married,
July, 1672, Sarah Putnam.
(XI) Joseph, son of Richard Hutchinson,
was born in England in 1633. He came to
America with his father and settled on part
of the homestead conveyed to him by deed of
gift March 16, 1666. fle also had a grant of
land in Salem. In 1673 he was one of the
committee to build a parsonage at Danvers,
and he gave the land, fle was one of the peti
tioners for the setting off of the town of Dan
vers, then called Salem Village. He conveyed
most of his real estate to his sons before his
death, and died intestate. He married (first)
Abigail Gedney, daughter of John Gedney.
He married (second) February 28, 1678, Lydia
(Buxton) Small, widow of Joseph Small. She
was admitted to the church at Danvers, April
27. 1690. Children of first wife, all baptized
at the First Church in Salem, September 26,
1666: 1. Abigail, died young. 2. Bethia, died
1690. 3. Joseph, died May, 175 1. 4. John,
died 1746; married, May 7, 1694, Mary Gould.
5. Benjamin, mentioned below. Children of
second wife : 6. Abigail, born June 14, 1679.
7. Richard, May 10, 1681, married, February
16, 1714, Rachel Bunce. 8. Samuel, October

9, 1682. 9. Ambrose, June 4, 1684, married
Ruth Leach. 10. Lydia, September 13, 1685,
married George Nourse. 11. Robert, Novem
ber 3, 1687, married Elizabeth Putnam.
(XII) Benjamin, son of Joseph Hutchin
son, was baptized September 26, 1666, died
intestate in 1733. While an infant he was
adopted into the family of Deacon Nathaniel
Ingersoll, whose only child had died, and
brought up by him as a son. He lived with
Mr. Ingersoll until he was twenty-one years
of age, at which time his foster father con
veyed to him by deed of gift ten acres of
upland and three of meadow. Deacon
Ingersoll, in his will made in 1719, bequeathed
to Benjamin Hutchinson "in consideration of
the great help he had been while living with
him, and after he had left," all the remaining
part of his whole estate, real and personal,
after making provision for the remainder of
his family. He was a farmer, and lived on a
part of the homestead which had been his
father's. He gave away most of his property
to members of his family before he died. He
and his wife were witnesses in certain witch
craft cases in Salem. He married (first)
Jane Phillips, who died 171 1, daughter of Wal
ter and Margaret Phillips. He was received
into the church May 7, 1699, and his wife the
May following. He married (second), Jan
uary 26, 1714-15, Abigail Foster. Children of
first wife: 1. Son, died young. 2. Benjamin,
born August 31, 1690, died September 18,
1690. 3. Hannah, May 7, 1692, married,
March 6, 1717-18, William Henfield. 4. Ben
jamin, January 27, 1693-94. 5. Bethiah, Janu
ary 5, 1695-96. 6. Nathaniel, May 3, 1698,
mentioned below. 7. Sarah, December 26,
1 701, married, November 17, 1725, Cornelius
Putnam. 8. Bartholomew, April 27, 1703. 9.
Jane, August 1, 1705, married, September 8,
1726, Jonathan Buxton. 10. Israel, baptized
October 5, 1708, died young. 11. John, died
before 1733. Child of second wife: 12. Jon
athan, born July 18, 1716.
(XIII) Nathaniel, son of Benjamin Hutch
inson, was born at Danvers, May 3, 1698, died
at Sutton. His will was dated May 5, 1756,
and proved October 24, 1757. In 1733 he
removed to Sutton and settled on the Joseph
Severy place in the northwestern part of the
town. He served in the French and Indian
war. He married (first) Mary  , and
with her united with the church at Danvers,
March 15, 1723-24. He married (second)
Joanna Conant, daughter of Lot and Elizabeth
Conant. She was baptized in the first church

102

MASSACHUSETTS.

at Beverly, November 27, 1709, and died in
1802. Children of first wife: 1. Mary, bap
tized March 15, 1723-24, married, November
27, 1745, Jonathan Fitts. 2. Susannah, bap
tized November 28, 1725, died January 12,
1797; married, May 14, 1752, Daniel Day. 3.
Bethia, baptized July 14, 1730, married Ebe
nezer Fitts. Children of second wife : 4.
Bartholomew, born June 28, 1734, mentioned
below. 5. Elizabeth, born November 1, 1736,
married, August 13, 1762, Israel Richardson.
6. Nathaniel, died 1755 in the French war. 7.
Lot, born August 1, 1741, died March 24,
1818; settled at Braintree, Vermont; married,
September 25, 1764, Hannah Morse. 8. Ben
jamin, born January 30, 1744, died January
7, 1840; married, July 11, 1825, Judith Lillie.
9. Jonathan, born September 2, 1746, died
September 1, 1807; married Ruth Underwood.
10. Sarah, born August, 1752, died June 9,
1834; married, October 19, 1813, Ensign
Samuel Rich.
(XIV) Lieutenant Bartholomew, son of
Nathaniel Hutchinson, was born at Sutton,
June 28, 1734, died there February 18, 1820.
He inherited his father's estate at Sutton, and
added to it by purchase, making it a two hun
dred acre farm. He sold it later to his son
Simon, who in turn conveyed it to his son,
Edwin H. Hutchinson, who owned it as late
as 1878. Bartholomew Hutchinson was a
lieutenant in the revolution in Captain Barthol
omew Woodbury's eighth company, fifth Wor
cester county regiment, in 1776; also in Cap
tain John Howard's company, Colonel Jona
than Holman's regiment, and marched from
Worcester to reinforce the army of the north
in the fall of 1777; also in the same company
under Colonel Jacob Davis, in 1780, at the
Rhode Island alarm. He was a member of the
first church of Sutton. He married (first)
August 4, 1763, Ruth Haven, born 1742, died
September 3, 1796, daughter of Deacon John
and Susannah Haven. He married (second)
(intentions dated January 26, 1799) Mrs.
Phebe Stockwell. fle married (third) (inten
tions dated July 14, 1799) Rebecca Munroe,
who died September 26, 1826. Children, all
by first wife: 1. Nathaniel, born April 13,
1764, died August 3, 1794; married, 1786,
Lucy Flint. 2. John, January 18, 1766, mar
ried, January 4, 1793, Lucy Kenney ; died May
29. 1845. 3- Asa, December 24, 1767, died
June 6, 1771. 4. Bartholomew, January 7,
1770, married (first) 1791, Lydia King; (sec
ond) January 23, 1797, Olive Kenney; died
February 14, 1855. 5. Lois, January 18, 1772,

died August 7, 1799; married, May 15, 1798,
Simon flolbrook. 6. Timothy Harden, July
3 1 , 1 774, mentioned below. 7. Ruth, June 7, 1 776,
married  Lee. 8. Simon, April 26, 1779,
died September 11, 1865; married (first) No
vember 28, 1806, Vandalinda Morse; chlidren:
i. Alaxa Ann, born September 7, 1807, mar
ried, November 1, 1830, Alanson A. Lumbard;
ii. Sylvander, born March 7, 1809, died June
15, 1838; iii. Dexter, born March 14, 181 1,
died July 24, 1813 ; iv. Lucy Morse, born Sep
tember 24, 1812 ; v. Charles Dexter ; vi. Horace ;
vii. Hannah Gibbs, born July 23, 1818, died
July 16, 1845 ' viii. Bartholomew A., born Sep
tember 3, 1820, died September, 1822; ix. Ed
win Flaven, born August 22, 1821, married,
December 12, 1844, Mary Ann F. Waters; x.
Emeline Bemis, born July 23, 1823, married,
August 30, 1853, Amos Brown; xi. Mary Lee,
born September 23, 1828, died July 28, 1844;
xii. Margaret, born October 12, 1830, died
June 3, 1831. 9. Betsey, April 22, 1781, mar
ried, October 7, 1804, Jonas Cummings. 10.
Lucy, April 24, 1784, married, November 28,
1808, Sylvester Morse.
(XV) Timothy Harden, son of Lieutenant
Bartholomew Hutchinson, was born at Sutton,
July 31, 1774, died at Albany, Maine, March
14, 1867. He received his education in the
public schools, and for twenty years taught
school a part of the year, farming the re
mainder of the year. He settled near the
centre of the town of Sutton, in the South
parish. Between 1808 and 1810 he removed
to Sangerville, Oxford county, Maine, and
about 1813 to Bucksfield, Maine, and in 1818
was a resident of Paris, Maine. He sold the
property in Sutton which was inherited by his
wife from her father, Ebenezer Rawson, and
also land which he inherited from John Haven.
He also sold his own property in Sutton to his
brother Simon. In 1818 he removed to Albany,
Maine, and bought a farm at Hunt's Corner,
of two hundred acres. He became a pros
perous farmer and a leading citizen of the
town, serving as justice of the peace and in
other positions of trust and honor. He was a
man of strict temperance principles, a leader
in reform movements, and of earnest piety.
He was a fervid supporter of the Methodist
church. In politics he was a Whig. He served
in the militia. He married, March 24, 1797,
Nizaula Rawson, born April 18, 1777, died
February 25, 1869, daughter of Ebenezer and
Sarah (Chase) Rawson, of Sutton. Children:
1. Lewis, born at Sutton, October 3, 1797, mar
ried (first) Abigail Merrill; (second) Febru-

MASSACHUSETTS.

103

ary 21, 1852, Caroline Packard; children: i.
Almond, born June 10, 1820; Ti. Angeline, born
May 19, 1825 ; iii. Freeland, born August 14,
1 83 1 ; iv. Arvilla, born November 24, 1833.
2. Galen, Sutton, January 8, 1799, married,
June 10, 1821, Olive Flint; children: i. Eliz
abeth, born December 31, 1822, died October
15, 1839; ii. Sullivan, born June 10; 1826, mar
ried, January 2, 1850, Elzina Eastman and had
Aurin, born February 13, 1851, and Olive,
born February 24, 1853; iii. Galen, born De
cember 31, 1829, died January 29, 1831 ; iv.
Timothy W., born November 21, 1832, mar
ried, March 13, 1862, Anna L. Canby and had
Bessie, born November 12, 1864, died Septem
ber 7, 1866, Richard C, born June 19, 1867,
and Parke S., born October 10, 1869. 3.
Nizaula, Sutton, February 13, 1801, died Sep
tember 2, 1855 ; married, 1822, Herman
Towne ; children : i. Arabella, born December
7 1824; ii. Clarissa D., born July 26, 1830. 4.
Marmaduke Rawson, Sutton, February 12,
1802, married, February 28, 1827, Sophia
Cummings ; children : i. Lyman, born January
4, 1828, married, May 6, 1855, Martha M.
Stone and had Fred R, born November 27,
1863, died October 9, 1865 ; ii. Charles, born
May 2, 1 83 1 ; iii. Daniel, born April 19, 1834,
died 1870; iv. Miranda, born September 24,
1837, married P. F. Wardwell; v. Rowena,
born September 9, 1845, married, November
28, 1869, Ellery Wheeler and had Lizzie
Sophia Wheeler, born September 5, 1871. 5.
James Sullivan, Sutton, November 22, 1804,
died November 8, 1806. 6. Charlotte, Sutton,
died young. 7. Liberty Haven, Sutton, No
vember 1, 1808, married, December 23, 1834,
Laurinda Kimball; children: i. Horace, born
July 22, 1837, married, December 3, 1863,
Harriet Proctor and had Ervin, born Septem
ber 28, 1864, Laura, born May 4, 1867, died
1869, Arthur and Archie (twins), born 1869;
ii. Frederick, born December 31, 1842; iii.
Austin, born November 29, 1846, married,
1872, Lucy J. Carter. 8. Timothy Harden,
March 5, 1810, married, December 22, 1856,
Eliza A. Hazeltine ; resided at Gorham, Maine,
and was an inventor of mill machinery. 9.
Arvilla, 1812, married, January 29, 1837, Will
iam Evans; children: i. Edwin F., born Janu
ary 29, 1838, married Cora Lumm and had
Wayne and Sadie Evans ; ii. Caroline, born
August 17, 1839, died October 2, 1850; iii.
Virgil, born October 28, 1841 ; iv. Rawson S.,
born August 2, 1845, married Nellie Seeley;
v. Sanford W., born June 27, 1847; vi. Osman
C, born March 21, 1850; vii. Clara Emily,

born August 18, 1854. 10. Clarissa, January
8, 181 3, married, June 20, 1833, William H.
Pingree ; children : i. Edwin F., born July 14,
1834; ii. Flarriet, born January 20, 1836; iii.
Rosanna, born February 25, 1838, married,
1858, Charles E. Dunn; iv. Mary E.,
born April 2, 1840, married Thomas
Smith; v. Rowena, born January 20, 1843;
vi. Caroline, born May 4, 1852. 11. Edwin
Freeman, November 16, 181 5, mentioned
below. 12. Freeman. 13. Mary, February,
1817, died February, 1843; married, Septem
ber 5, 1839, Dustin P. Ordway and had Sum
ner P. Ordway, born March 31, 1842. 14.
Diantha, October 12, 1819, died July 16, 1868;
married, June 8, 1841, Preseott Lovering; chil
dren: i. Mary Elizabeth, born May 6, 1842,
died November 12, 1842 ; ii. Sibra Rawson, born
February 8, 1845, married William Staples; iii.
Lewis FL, born April 18, 1848; iv. Francis
Hill, born January 17, 1850, married Abbie
Bennett and had Chester B. and Stanley Lover
ing; v. Dustin Ordway, born January 5, 1851,
died 1853; vi. Alma Adelaide, born March 15,
1859, married Frank A. Oxnard. 15. Ebe
nezer Sumner, Albany, Maine, December I,
1822, married, June 15, 1845, Betsey F. Pin
gree ; children : i. Mary Ursula, born Sep
tember 30, 1846, married, November 29, 1866,
John E. Saunders and had Mary Annette
Saunders, born December 7, 1867; ii. Orinda
D., born May 28, 1853; iii. Luella Angeline,
born June 22, 1857; iv. Ambrose Burnside,
born June 2, 1862.
(XVI) Edwin Freeman, son of Timothy
Harden Hutchinson, was born at Albany,
Maine, November 16, 1815, died 1884. He
went to live with his sister when he was eight
years old, helping on the farm in summer and
attending the district school in winter. At the
age of fourteen he returned home and learned
the trade of shoemaker, and after the custom
of the times followed his trade in winter and
farmed in summer. When he came of age he
engaged in the building and equipment of saw
mills and grist mills, in partnership with his
brother, Timothy Harden Hutchinson. They
built mills at Dixfield, Buckfield and Peru,
Maine, and at various places in New Hamp
shire, during the next six years. In 1840 he
removed to Milan, New Hampshire, buying a
farm of three hundred acres on Milan Hill,
about a mile from Milan Corners. He became
a prosperous farmer. In addition to farming he
carried on extensive lumbering operations, cut
ting and sawing the timber from wood-lots
that he bought in that section. He had one

104

MASSACHUSETTS.

tract of seven hundred acres of timber land at
Jericho, New Hampshire. He kept some
thirty-five head of cattle and fifty sheep. In
the last year of his life on the farm he raised
eight hundred bushels of potatoes. He was a
skillful mechanic with all kinds of tools. He
built his own house from timber that he cut
on his own land. About 1867 he removed to
Auburn, Maine, selling his farm and property
at Milan, buying a small place at Stevens Mills
and engaged in the building business. After
wards he lived for a time with his daughter
at Auburn. In 1878, at the time of his second
marriage, he removed to North Norway,
Maine, and settled on a fifty acre farm that
he owned, devoting himself to the culture of
fruit and having one of the best apple orchards
in that section. He was an active, energetic
man, much respected in the community in
which he lived. Early in life he became inter
ested in temperance reform and signed the
total abstinence pledge, which he always kept.
He was devoted to his family and much beloved
by his children. He was brought up in the
Methodist faith, but in later years became a
Universalist. In politics he was a Republican,
and was selectman of the town of Milan. He
also held other positions of trust. He mar
ried (first) July 23, 1843, Elizabeth Ann Flint,
born at Norway, Maine, April 6, 1821, died
April, 1873, daughter of Benjamin and Eliz
abeth (Merrill) Flint. Her father was a
farmer. He married (second) Mrs. Eliza
Hutchins. Children: 1. Liberty Haven, born
March 1, 1844, mentioned below. 2. Harlan,
November 21, 1845, died August 15, 1863. 3.
Freedom, August 6, 1847, mentioned below.
4. Luella, June 18, 1849, died December 10,
1854. 5. Melvin, August 27, 185 1, mentioned
below. 6. Arabella Libby, June 26, 1853, died
July 20, 1863. 7. Etta, March 26, 1855, mar
ried, April 13, 1887, George Dexter Bearce,
of Auburn, Maine, who died August 26, 1887;
children : i. Winfield Dexter, born August 16,
1880, graduated from University of Maine in
June, 1906, married, September 8, 1906, Mae
Lora Cook, son, Winfield Hutchinson Bearce,
born April 19, 1908; ii. Edwin Freeman, born
February 2, 1882, graduated from University
of Maine, June, 1905 ; iii. Clara Florence, born
January 19, 1884, died December 6, 1890; iv.
George Dunham, born December 14, 1887, he
is now student at University of Maine, class
of 191 1. 8. Lizzie Florence, June 20, 1859,
married (first) Frank Tarr and (second)
Millard F. Haskell, of Poland, Maine. 9. Ella
May, April 9, 1864.

(XVII) Liberty Haven, son of Edwin Free
man Hutchinson, was born at Milan, March 1,
1844, died at Lewiston, Maine, September 9,
1882. He attended the public schools of his
native town, fitted for college in the academy
at Lancaster, New Hampshire, and graduated
from Bates College in the class of 1871 with
the degree of A. B. He inherited strong intel
lectual powers and at a comparatively early age
displayed those sterling characteristics that
later won for him success and honor in his pro
fession. He began the study of law in 1871
in the office of M. T. Ludden and was admitted
to the bar the following year. He began to
practice in Lewiston and continued with con
stantly increasing success and distinction until
his death. During his later years he was a
law partner of Hon. Albert R. Savage, now
justice of the Maine supreme court, and his
esteem for his partner is shown by the fact
that he named his eldest son for him. During
his brief but brilliant career he had many
important cases. He was especially gifted as
a public speaker and effective in addressing
juries. Of good judgment, great learning,
keen intellect, upright in character and high
in ideals he made this influence widely felt and
attained a leading-* position in his profession
and in public life. For a number of years he
was a member of the Lewiston school board.
He represented his district three terms in the
state legislature and in 1881, his last year, was
speaker of the house of representatives, elected,
it should be said, by a unanimous vote. Just
before his death he was prominently mentioned
as Republican candidate for congress. He
was a member of the Lodge of Free Masons
of Lewiston. He was a member of the Uni
tarian church of Lewiston and for a time
superintendent of its Sunday school. He en
joyed to the fullest extent the respect and
esteem of his townsmen and the confidence of
the whole state. He married, November 20,
1869, Mary Wyatt Emery, of West Newbury,
Massachusetts, born April 7, 1850, daughter of
Nehemiah Follansbee and Mary Ann (Wyatt)
Emery, of West Newbury. Children, born at
Lewiston: 1. Annie Luella, August 12, 1870,
married, June 29, 1892, William Henry Green,
of Lynn, Massachusetts ; children : i. William
Albert, bom August 24, 1893 ; ii. Grace Kath
erine, born May 26, 1895 ; iii. Edwin Thomas,
born December 3, 1903. 2. Albert Savage,
October 27, 1871, mentioned below. 3. Edwin
Liberty, November 1, 1872, married, Septem
ber, 1899, Mary Elizabeth Mower, of Lynn;
child, Mary Eleanor, born July 21, 1900. 4.

MASSACHUSETTS.

105

Mary Elizabeth, November 16, 1874, died Jan
uary 17, 1899. 5. Grace Lyndon, April 19,
1879, died September 16, 1904.
(XVIII) Albert Savage, son of Liberty
Haven Hutchinson, was born at Lewiston,
October 27, 1871. He attended the public
schools of his native city, and graduated from
Bowdoin College in the class of 1893 and from
Harvard Law School in the class of 1899.
From 1893 t0 1896 he taught school at Pough-
keepsie, New York. He was admitted to the
bar in January, 1899, and has practiced since
then in Boston. He has an office in the Ames
Building and resides in Newton Highlands,
Newton, Massachusetts. He married, October
1, 1904, Virginia Walker Mellen, of Newton
Highlands, born at Worcester, Massachusetts,
May 15, 1878, daughter of George Henry and
Nora (Walker) Mellen. They have one child,
Virginia Walker, born February 10, 1908.
(XVII) Freedom, son of Edwin Freeman
Hutchinson, was born at Milan, New Hamp
shire, August 6, 1847. He attended the public
schools of his native town and the Nichols
Latin School of Lewiston, Maine, and entered
Bates College in that city. He took high rank
in scholarship and had the English oration at
Commencement in the class of 1873. During
the next two years he was principal of the
Topsham high school, Topsham, Maine. He
began to read law in the office of his brother's
firm, Hutchinson & Savage, of Lewiston, and
was admitted to the bar at Auburn, Maine,
in April, 1876. He came at once to Boston
where he was admitted to the bar of Suffolk
county, May 9, 1876, and where he has since
practiced his profession with uniform success.
His business has been of a general civil char
acter with a considerable specialty in corpora
tion matters. He has had .charge of the legal
interests of the Swift Brothers of Chicago and
Boston, now Swift and Company, meat packers,
during the past twenty-five years. He has
attended to the organizing and incorporation
of the numerous meat-packing, slaughtering,
rendering and transportation companies of this
concern, as its attorney.. He has represented
these clients also in court in many important
cases in Massachusetts and other states. He
has attained a distinguished rank as a lawyer
and is reckoned among the leaders of the
Boston bar. He resided in Boston from 1876
to the fall of 1892 when he removed to New
ton Highlands. He has lately removed from
Lincoln street to a handsome residence that
he built on Center street, Newton. In politics
he is a Republican. He was a member of the

common council of Newton in 1895-96. He
was made a Free Mason in Henry Price Lodge
of Charlestown, and is now a member of
Columbian Lodge of Boston. He belongs to
many clubs and social organizations of Boston
and Newton. Among them are the Middlesex
Club, the Hunnewell Club of Newton; the
Katahdin Club of Maine composed largely of
Newton men; the Civic Club of Newton; the
Braeburn Country Club of West Newton and
the Newton Golf Club. He is a member of
the Unitarian church of Newton Center and
for the past thirteen years has been chairman
of the executive committee and ex-officio presi
dent of the society. He married, February 15,
1886, Abbie Laighton Butler, born May 9,
1865, daughter of Dr. David Presbury and
Eleanor (Bisbee) Butler. Her father was a
prominent physician, a pioner in the develop
ment of systematic exercises for the health
and development of the body. Children: 1.
Eleanor Butler, born October 31, 1887, student
at Smith College. 2. Harlan Freedom, July
4, 1893, died June 24, 1894. 3. Sumner Free
dom, March 13, 1897.
(XVII) Melvin, son of Edwin Freeman
Hutchinson, was born in Milan, New Hamp
shire, August 27, 1 85 1. He attended the public
schools of his native town and of Auburn,
Maine, working on the farm during his boy
hood. He learned the carpenter's trade of his
father and worked with his father until he
was twenty years old, when he left home and
during the next seven years worked in the
shoe factory of Moses Crafts at Auburn. For
three years he was employed in the same busi
ness in the factory of Miller & Randall, also
of Auburn. He came to Lowell, Massachu
setts, in June, 1882, in the employ of a sewing
machine dealer. After a short time he re
moved to Providence, Rhode Island, and was
for seven years with the Davis Sewing
Machine Company. Then he was with the
Standard Sewing Machine Company at Bos
ton eight years and later with the Wheeler
& Wilson Sewing Machine Company. He
was engaged in the sewing machine busi
ness in various positions and departments
for a period of twenty years. In recent years
he has been in charge of the eyelet department
of the United Shoe Machinery Company of
Beverly. He is the company's expert in
machinery for eyeletting and has charge of
the repairs and setting up of this kind of
machinery in all parts of the country. His
headquarters are at the Boston office, 205 Lin
coln street. In religion Mr. Hutchinson is a

io6

MASSACHUSETTS.

Universalist ; in politics an independent Re
publican. He was a delegate to the state con
vention of the Greenback party in Maine, when
Governor Harris M. Plaisted was nominated.
He is a member of Abouben Adhem Lodge
of Odd Fellows, of Auburn, Maine, of Pejeb-
scot Encampment and of Patriarch Militant.
-He married, June 5, 1890, Anna Lydia Raw-
son, born at Oxford, Maine, November 15,
1856, daughter of Solon and Lydia Hackett
(Downing) Rawson, of Oxford. Her father
was a contracting painter and farmer ; also at
one time a grocer. They have no children.

The several attempts of genealog-
SEARS ists to trace the pre-American an
cestry of the Sears immigrant
have met with many discouraging obstacles
and few satisfactory results ; and while it
seems to be pretty well established that the
family is one of great antiquity there has
always existed a doubt regarding its origin,
and there are those who are disposed to place
it among the old Holland families and bring
forth Dutch intermarriages in support of their
reasoning. In these annals no attempt is made
to investigate the subject of the origin of the
family of the Sears immigrant, for it is not
known where or when he was born, and noth
ing of his parentage, although there are vari
ous traditions and vague conclusions regard
ing his forebears. The family in America is
full strong enough in every material respect to
stand forever without the warrant of distin
guished pre-American lineage. But in regard
to the apparent lack of earlier data the Sears
family is only one in the long list of our best
colonial families whose history back of the
immigrant is unknown, and the absence of
definite knowledge of his ancestors is not to
be taken as evidence of doubtful or obscure
origin ; for the simple truth is that it has been
found impossible to trace his lineage in the
mother country.
(I) Richard Sares appears in our New Eng
land colonial history with the mention of his
name in the records of the Plymouth colony
tax list in 1633, when he was one of forty-four
persons there assessed nine shillings in corn at
six shillings per bushel. From Plymouth he
soon crossed over to Marblehead, Massachu
setts, and was taxed there, as shown by the
Salem lists, in 1637-38. He also had a grant
of four acres of land "where he had formerly
planted," from which it appears that he may
have be^n in that plantation at some previous
time. In 1639 he joined the colonists under

Anthony Thacher and went to Cape Cod and
founded the town of Yarmouth. His first
house was built on Quivet Neck, and after
ward built another house a short distance to
the northwest of his first home there.. In 1643
the name of Richard Seeres appears in the
list of inhabitants of Yarmouth "liable to bear
arms." He was made freeman in 1652, took
the oath of allegiance and fidelity in 1653, was
constable in 1660, grand juror in 1652, and
representative to the court in Plymouth in
1662. In 1664 Richard Sares, husbandman,
purchased for twenty pounds from Aliis,
widow of Governor William Bradford, a tract
of land at Sesuit. He died in August, 1676,
and was buried on the 26th of that month. His
wife was Dorothy  , who was buried
March 19, 1678-79; but it is not certain that
she was his only wife, or the mother of all or
even any of his children. Indeed, there is a
presumption that he was previously married
and that his children may have been born of
his former wife. So far as known his chil
dren were as follows: 1. Paul, born 1637-38.
2. Silas, died Yarmouth, January 13, 1697-98.
3. Deborah, bora Yarmouth, September, 1639.
(II) Captain Paul Sears, son of Richard,
the immigrant, is supposed to have been born
in Marblehead, Massachusetts, sometime after
February 20, 1637-38, and died at Yarmouth,
February 20, 1707-08. He took the oath of
fidelity in 1657, held a commission as captain
of the militia, and made a claim for a horse
lost in the war with the Narragansett Indians;
but there is no further record of his military
services. He was one of the original pro
prietors of Harwich, Massachusetts, grand
juror there in 1667, and appears to have been
of considerable importance in the plantation.
His estate was appraised at the value of four
hundred and sixty-six pounds, hence he was
well possessed in lands and goods. He mar
ried, at Yarmouth, in 1658, Deborah Willard,
baptized Scituate, September 14, 1645, died
Yarmouth, May 13, 1721, daughter of George
Willard, of Scituate. They had ten children
all born in Yarmouth: 1. Mercy, July 3, 1659,
2. Bethia, January 3, 1661, died 1724.
Samuel, January, 1663-64. 4. A daughter.
October 24 1666. 5. Paul, June 15, 1669. 6
Mary, or Margery, October 24, 1672. 7. Ann
March 27, 1675, died November 14, 1745. 8
John, 1677-78, died April 9, 1738. 9. Richard
1680-81, died May 24, 1.7 18. 10. Daniel, 1682-
83, died August 10, 1756.
(Ill) Captain Samuel, eldest son of Cap
tain Paul and Deborah (Willard) Sears, was

MASSACHUSETTS.

107

born in Yarmouth "the last of January," 1663-
64, and died in Harwich, Massachusetts, Jan
uary 8, 1741-42. He was one of the first set
tlers in Harwich, and was constable there in
1702, lieutenant in 1706, and in 171 5, "Captain
Sears granted liberty to build a pew in the
meeting-house." He married Mercy Mayo,
born 1664, died January 20, 1748-49, daughter
of Deacon Samuel and Tamzin (Lumpkin)
Mayo, and granddaughter of Rev. John Mayo.
They had eleven children, all born in Harwich :
1. Hannah, July 1, 1685, married John Vin
cent. 2. Samuel, September 15, 1687. 3.
Nathaniel, September 23, 1689. 4. Tamsen,
November 13, 1691, died July 17, 1761. 5.
Jonathan, September 3, 1693. 6. Captain
Joseph, July 15, 1,695, died August 25, 1765.
7. Joshua, May 3, 1697. 8. Judah, October 29,
1699. 9. John, July 18, 1701. 10. Seth, May
27, 1703. 11. Benjamin, June 16, 1706.
(IV) Jonathan, son of Captain Samuel and
Mercy (Mayo) Sears, was born in Harwich,
September 3, 1693, died September 3, 1738.
He was a farmer and well-to-do man in every
respect, leaving an estate which after his death
inventoried at three hundred and seventy-four
pounds in personal and five hundred and sev
enty-five pounds in real property. He married,
in Yarmouth, June 29, 1721, Elizabeth Howes,
born November 7, 1697, admitted to the church
in Harwich in 1723, and died January 8, 1748-
49, daughter of Deacon Joseph Howes, of
Harwich. They had nine children, all born
in Harwich: 1. David, September 22, 1722,
died in infancy. 2. David, March 26, 1724,
died in infancy. 3. Jonathan, September 29,
1725. 4. Joseph, May, 1728, died March 14,
1758. 5. Mary, baptized July 12, 1730, died
young. 6. Sarah, born July 28, 1731, died
December 16, 1749. 7. Prince, baptized July
30, 1732, died October 31, 1732. 8. Nathan,
born September 25, 1733, died young. 9.
Prince, baptized April 13, 1735.
(V) Jonathan (2), son of Jonathan (1)
and Elizabeth (Howes) Sears, was born in
Harwich, September 29, 1725, died December
16, 1752. He was a mariner and made his will
March 28,1752, "being then very sick." The
inventory of his estate was filed February 6,
1753, and amounted to one hundred and
twenty-eight pounds, twelve shillings. He
married, June 29, 1749, Priscilla Sears, born
Harwich, December 31, 1730, died April 12,
1819, daughter of Seth and Priscilla (Ryder)
Sears. She married (second) April 11, 1754,
Deacon John Sears. Jonathan and Priscilla
(Sears) Sears had two children, both born in

Harwich: 1. Jonathan, May 7, 1750. 2. Eliz
abeth, January 4, 1752, married, 1773, Samuel
Hall, born March 7, 1752.
(VI) Sergeant Jonathan (3), only son of
Jonathan (2) and Priscilla (Sears) Sears, was
born in Harwich, May 7, 1750, died in Ash
field, Massachusetts, February 18, 1808. Dur
ing the early part of his life he went on whal
ing voyages and incidents of his hair-breadth
escapes are still narrated among his descend
ants. In 1785 he was wrecked off Harwich
and barely escaped with his life. He removed
to Ashfield about 1800, in which year he was
dismissed from the church in Harwich to that
in Ashfield. During the revolution he served
in Captain Thomas Hamilton's company and
was stationed in Barnstable county for six
months from July 10, 1775 ; was sergeant in
Captain Abijah Bangs' company of Colonel
Dike's regiment for three months to December
1, 1776; marched on the alarm of Falmouth
one hundred and seventy-four miles; on the
alarm of Falmouth and Bedford, in Captain
Benjamin Berry's company, September 7, 1778,
marching one hundred and twelve miles and
doing seven days' duty. His widow drew a
pension in 1840. He married, September 3,
1773, Abigail Hall, born November 2, 1754,
died November 18, 1842, daughter of Joseph
and Abigail (Clarke) Hall. They had eight
children, all born in Harwich: 1. Barnabas
Clark, August 3, 1774, died April 18, 1799. 2.
Jonathan, March 19, 1777. 3. Freeman, No
vember 28, 1779. 4. Hepzibah Swan, Octo
ber 16, 1783, died February 13, 1814. 5.
Azarelah, July 10, 1789. 6. Nabby, January
1, 1793, died February 24, 1881 ; married Dr.
Joseph Warren. 7. Clarinda, July 3, 1795,
died May 3, 1824; married, November 24,
1814, Dr. Enos Smith. 8. Priscilla, May 16,
1798, died September 7, 1798.
(VII) Jonathan (4), son of Sergeant Jon
athan (3) and Abigail (Hall) Sears, was born
in Harwich, March 19, 1777, died in Ashfield,
August 2, 1859. He went to Ashfield with
his father's family and settled on Cape street,
where he was a prosperous farmer and one of
the leading men of the town. During the early
years of his life he went with his brother
Barnabas on fishing voyages to the banks of
Newfoundland and the Magellan islands. Mr.
Sears was a consistent member of the Prot
estant Episcopal church, a man of character
and one who held the respect of all his fellow
townsmen. He was selectman of Ashfield
from 1820 to 1822, from 1824 to 1826 and
from 1829 to 1 83 1 ; representative to the gen-

io8

MASSACHUSETTS.

eral court in 1833 and again in 1836. He
married, February 3, 1803, Hannah Foster,
born Tisbury, Massachusetts, August 9, 1782,
died Ashfield, July 30, 1855. They had nine
children, all born in Ashfield: 1. Clark, Janu
ary 31, 1804, died West Hawley, Massachu
setts, November 29, 1879; married, Novem
ber 27, 1828, Emeline Kelly, born January 10,
1809; had eight children. 2. Olive, May 27,
1806, married Heman Cargill. 3. William,
March 28, 1808, died November 15, 1875;
married Olive Eldridge and had three chil
dren. 4. Freeman, August 30, 1810, married
(first) November 27, 1844, Eunice Parsons,
born March 18, 1813, died August 15, 1850;
married (second) May 28, 185 1, Mrs. Angeline
Corey; lived in Goshen, Massachusetts, and
had ten children. 5. Philena, September 3,
1812, died July 23, 1836; married Charles Car
gill. 6. Stillman, September 23, 181 5. 7. Jon
athan, October 27, 1818, married (first) March
20, 1845, Rhoda Parsons, died July 17, 1850;
married (second) May 28, 1851, Mary, daugh
ter of Benjamin and Rebecca (Eldridge)
Sears ; had four children. 8. Milton Foster,
February 29, 1821, died 1853; married Mercy
D. Williams, born November 28, 1824, daugh
ter of Apollas and Annis (Smith) Williams;
had two children. 9. Hannah, November 8,
1823, died 1856; married, February 10, 1846,
Henry Eldridge.
(VIII) Stillman, son of Jonathan (4) and
Hannah (Foster) Sears, was born in Ashfield,
Massachusetts, September 23, 181 5, died at
Shelburne, Massachusetts, October 10, 1854.
He early learned the importance of self-reli
ance and when only a boy earned the means
with which to secure his own education, work
ing out on a farm during the summer months
and attending school during the winter terms.
After leaving school he first took to farming,
but as his inclinations lay in other channels he
began contracting for excavation -work in
company with his brother-in-law, Henry Eld
ridge, at Shelburne Falls. Later on they were
subcontractors on the excavation work of the
famous Hoosic tunnel, near North Adams,
Massachusetts, and while his business gave
every promise of excellent success he was
taken off in the prime of manhood, when
thirty-nine years old. On September 27, 1842,
Mr. Sears married Abigail Eldridge, who died
November 20, 1854, having borne him two
children, Isabella and Henry G. Sears. Isa
bella married Henri N. Woods and has four
children. (IX) Henry G, only son of Stillman and

Abigail (Eldridge) Sears, was born in Shel
burne Falls, Massachusetts, April 4, 1853, and
was less than two years old when his father
died and his mother died soon after. After
their death the two children were taken to the
home of her father, Eli Eldridge, where Henry
G. spent his young life. At the age of twelve
he was hired out for two years to a farmer in
Conway, to work for his board, clothes, school
ing, and just a mere pittance of money; and
when his term was up he hired out to work for
another farmer for seven months and to re
ceive for his service the sum of fourteen
dollars per mouth and the privilege of attend
ing winter terms of school. He afterward
devoted another year to work under a similar
arrangement, but this time he received twenty
dollars per month for his work. He prudently
saved the greater part of his wages thus earned
and used it in educating himself at the Powers
Institute and the Northampton Academy,
which proved as good an investment as he
ever made, for it gave him a good education
and in respect to intelligence it placed him on
a footing equal to that of other boys of his
age and time. After leaving school he went
to Holyoke, Massachusetts, and for a few
weeks was employed by Lemuel Sears, a mer
chant of that city, but at the end of that short
period he went west, to Dwight, Illinois. This
trip was made at the suggestion of his uncle,
Henry Eldridge, who believed it would be best
for the young man to start out in life for him
self, and that in Illinois he could "grow up
with the country," but after a month the young
man returned to Holyoke and was again taken
into Mr. Sears' grocery store at a moderate
salary and his board, and remained there until
he was about twenty-three years old, when he
acquired a partnership interest in the business.
This was the actual beginning of his success
ful business career, and while the elder Sears
had for years been proprietor of a moderately
profitable retail establishment, the young part
ner took such an earnest and meaning interest
in building up and increasing the trade of the
store that in the course of time it became an
extensive wholesale and jobbing house with
a large retail branch, while he himself soon
came to be recognized as one of the most cap
able and straightforward business men in the
city; and such is his standing today in the
business life of Holyoke. And in addition to
his immediate interests in the mercantile busi-.
ness Mr. Sears is in many other ways promi
nently identified with the best institutions of
the city, a trustee and member of the invest-

MASSACHUSETTS.

109

ment committee of the Mechanics' Savings
Bank and treasurer of the Holyoke Ice Com
pany. He holds membership in the several
subordinate Masonic bodies, the lodge, chapter
and council, is a member of the Bay State,
Holyoke, Mt. Tom Golf and Holyoke Canoe
clubs, the Holyoke Young Men's Christian
Association, the Congregational church, and
in politics is a Republican. He married, June
18, 1884, Fannie E., daughter of Charles E.
and Jane R. (Hemenway) Ford, of Minnea
polis, Minnesota, granddaughter of Alvah and
Betsey (Barnes) Ford, and great-granddaugh
ter of Phineas Hemenway, of Herkimer, New
York, who ran away from his home when six
teen years old and entered the revolutionary
service as a drummer boy. Mr. and Mrs.
Sears have three children: Marion E., Mar
guerite, and Henry F., died in infancy.

(For earlier generations see Richard Sares.)
(Ill) Paul (2), second son of
SEARS Captain Paul (1) and Deborah
(Willard) Sears, was born in
Yarmouth, Massachusetts, June 15, 1669, died
February 14, 1739-40. He lived on Quivet
Neck and was prominent in the church of the
east parish of Yarmouth, to which he was
admitted member June 23, 1728; and his wife
was admitted there August 6, 1727. In 1724
he was one of the committee appointed to
inform Mr. Taylor of his call to the ministry
there; in 1725 was one of the committee to
lay out the meeting-house floor for the pews;
in 1726 was appointed to "receive Mr. Dennis'
answer," and in March, 1727, was one of the
committee on Mr. Dennis' ordination. He
married, in Harwich, 1693, Mercy Freeman,
born Harwich, October 30, 1674, died August
30, 1747, daughter of Deacon Thomas and "
Rebecca (Sparrow) Freeman, granddaughter
of Major John and Mercy (Prence) Freeman,
and great-granddaughter of Edmund Freeman,
"the proprietor." Her mother, Rebecca (Spar
row) Freeman, was a daughter of Jonathan
and Rebecca (Bangs) Sparrow, and her great-
grandmother, Mercy (Prence) Freeman, was
a daughter of Governor Thomas and Patience
(Brewster) Prence, and great-granddaughter
of Elder William Brewster. Paul and Mercy
(Freeman) Sears had twelve children, all born
in Yarmouth: 1. Ebenezer, August 15, 1694.
2. Paul, December 21, 1695. 3.cElizabeth, Au
gust 27, 1697, died February 28, 1728-29. 4.
Thomas, June 6, 1699. 5. Rebecca, April 2,
1701, died 1791. 6. Mercy, February 7, 1702-
03, married Joseph Blackmore. 7. Deborah,

March 11, 1705-06, married Thomas Howes.
8. Ann, December 27, 1706, married Ebenezer
Bangs. 9. Joshua, November 20, 1708. 10.
Daniel, July 16, 1710. 11. Edmund, August
6, 1712. 12. Hannah, March 6, 1714, married
Thomas Howes.
(IV) Daniel, son of Paul (2) and Mercy
(Freeman) Sears, was born in Yarmouth,
Massachusetts, July 16, 1710, died November
28, 1 77 1. He lived in the east parish of Yar
mouth, now East Dennis, and appears to have
been quite prominently identified with the his
tory of the town and church, having fulfilled
several important offices. In 1742 he and his
wife were admitted to membership in the
church in East Dennis, and in 1749 he was
selected as one of a committee "to keep the
boys in order on the Sabbath day." In 1760
he was one of the committee to locate a school
in the town, in 1762 was appointed "to procure
wood for Mr. Dennis," and in 1765 was
appointed "to see Mr. Dennis." He appears
to have possessed considerable means for after
his death his real estate was appraised at five
hundred and seventy-eight pounds, and his per
sonal property at one hundred and seventy-
nine pounds, thirteen shillings. He married,
in Eastham, Massachusetts, January 13, 1736-
yy, Mercy Snow, born September 16, 1713,
died May 8, 1790, daughter of Micajah Snow,
of Eastham. They had seven children, all born
in Yarmouth: 1. Micajah, April 25, 1738. 2.
Jerusha, January 28, 1740, married Robert
Homer. 3. Hannah, August 17, 1742. 4.
Daniel, June 17, 1744. 5. Phebe, March 31,
1747, married John Sears. 6. Paul, June 2,
1750. 7. Enos, June 11, 1752.
(V) Enos, youngest son and child of Daniel
and Mercy (Snow) Sears, was born in Yar
mouth, June 11, 1752, died July 11, 1822, hav
ing suffered with a mental derangement for
many years previous to his death. He was a
farmer and lived in Ashfield, Massachusetts,
where part of his children were born. He
married, in Yarmouth, February 11, 1777, Re
becca, daughter of Sylvanus Kelly, and by her
had six children: 1. Daniel, born October 6,
1779. 2. William, about 1785. 3. Hannah,
married Barnabas Eldridge. 4. Tamsen, mar
ried Joseph Hall. 5. Dinah, married 
Baldwin. 6. Mercy, died December 16, 1821.
(VI) William, son of Enos and Rebecca
(Kelly) Sears, was born in Ashfield, Massa
chusetts, about 1785, and died there in August,
1829. He was a thrifty farmer and spent his
whole life in the town. He married Tamsen
Eldridge, born Ashfield, 1786, died 1880,

no

MASSACHUSETTS.

daughter of Levi Eldridge, who was one of
the most energetic men of Ashfield, could turn
his hand to almost any kind of employment,
and whatever he did was well done. William
and Tamsen (Eldridge) Sears had five chil
dren, all born in Ashfield: I. Lomina, about
1810, married, about 1830, Ephraim Williams,
and lived in Ashfield. 2. Nathan, about 1813.
3. William, June 20, 1818, married in Albany,
New York, October 16, 1845, Judith Adams
and had three children; he died May 15, 1903.
4. Samuel, July 28, 1820, married, in Winfield,
New York, August 13, 1850, Amanda Dodge,
and removed to Grand Rapids, Michigan; he
died June 26, 1908. 5. Stephen, September
17, 1822, married, November 14, 1850, Min
erva Lilley, and had two children; he died in
1903. (VII) Nathan, son of William and Tamsen
(Eldridge) Sears, was born in Ashfield, Mass
achusetts, about 1813, died in Ashfield, to
which town he removed about twenty years
before his death. After the death of his father
the hard work of the farm fell upon him, but
he managed the old place to good advantage,
keeping at times as many as four hundred and
fifty sheep. He also dealt in wood and proved
a capable and fairly successful business man.
He was a member of the Congregational church
and in political preference was an.old line Whig.
He married Abigail Bates, and by her had
two children: 1. Lemuel, born February 17,
1835. 2. Eliza, March 2, 1839, married Duane
Lilly; she died March 23, 1901.
(VIII) Lemuel, only son of Nathan and
Abigail (Bates) Sears, was born in Ashfield,
Massachusetts, February 17, 1835, and for
almost half a century has been engaged in
mercantile pursuits in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
He lived at home on the farm in Ashfield until
he was about twenty years old, and while he
was brought up a farmer he appears to have
been a natural mechanic, having inherited his
grandfather's peculiar talent in that direction.
Several years before he was of full age he
rebuilt an old mill and built a new sugar house,
laying out the frames and doing the work him
self ; and when the new meeting house in Ash
field was finished and there yet remained the
horse sheds to be put up, he laid out the
frames for men far older than himself, and
much to the surprise of Captain Chapin who,
observing the young man's work, exclaimed
"Lemuel can do it as well as I." When he
was twenty years old Mr. Sears began dealing
in wool, buying and selling quite extensively,
and travelling over all the surrounding country

in prosecuting his business. When he was
thirty-one he went to Holyoke and bought a
small grocery and provision store, and while
he was without previous experience in that
line of trade the venture proved a success from
the beginning, and the large wholesale and
retail establishment of which he is the head is
the outgrowth. of the start he made just at the
close of the civil war. During the forty-three
years of his residence in Holyoke Mr. Sears
has been identified with the business life of the
city in many ways, although he never sought
political office, and frequently declined it. For
more than twenty years he has been a member
of the board of directors of the City Bank of
Holyoke, for the last ten years president of
the Mechanics' Savings Bank, and for twenty-
five years a member of the city sinking fund
commission. On November 27, i860, Mr.
Sears married Martha M., daughter of Dea
con Ephraim Ford, of Cummington, and by
whom he had two children : 1. Jennie E., mar
ried Franklin M. Street and have one daughter,
Florence Street, born March 4, 1897. 2.
Arthur L. died November 9, 1880.

The Shumways are a French
SHUMWAY family and doubtless of the
Protestant sect of Hugue
nots. Some writers have said that originally
the name was Chamois or Charmois. In the
ancient records of Essex county, Massachu
setts, the name is frequently found Written
Shamway. Dr. Baird is authority for the
statement that a "Protestant family named
Chamois is mentioned in a list of fugitives
from the neighborhood of St. Maixent in the
old province of Poitou, France, at the time of
the revocation of the edict of Nantes."
(I) Peter Shumway, the immigrant, was
settled in Topsfield, Massachusetts, as early
as the year 1660, and it is believed that he was
in this country at least ten years previous to
that time, or about the middle of the seven
teenth century. He was a soldier of King
Philip's war and is said to have been present
at the taking of the fort in the memorable
swamp fight of December 19, 1675, in the
country of the Narragansetts. On account of
his services in that war his son afterward peti
tioned for a grant of land. Peter Shumway
came into this country at the same time that
Peter Faneuil and other French Huguenots
came, and he lived for a time at Salem Village
(now Danvers), Massachusetts, previous to
his removal to Oxford, Massachusetts, where
a few years afterward his son was a settler.

MASSACHUSETTS.

in

The baptismal name of his wife was Frances,
and by her he had three children: i. Peter,
born at Topsfield (see post). 2. Dorcas, born
Topsfield, October 16, 1683, married Valentine
Butler. 3. Joseph, born Topsfield, October 13,
1686. (II) Peter (2), son of Peter (1) and Fran
ces Shumway, was born in Topsfield, June 6,
1678, settled in Oxford, not however with the
original settlers and proprietors of that town,
but on the land right of Joshua Chandler,
which he bought January 13, 1713. His home
lot in Oxford included that now or quite re*
cently owned by Josiah Russell. His family
has since been one of the best known and most
highly respected in that region. He married
(first) February n, 1701, Maria Smith, who
died January 17, 1739. It is said that her
father built the third house having a cellar in
the city of Boston. Peter Shumway married
(second) February 28, 1740, Mary Dana. He
had nine children, all born of his first mar
riage: 1. Oliver, Oxford, June 8, 1702. 2.
Jeremiah, baptized at Topsfield, March 21,
I7°3- 3- David, baptized December 23, 1705
(see post). 4. Mary, baptized Topsfield, May
9, 1708. 5. Samuel, born Oxford, March 6,
171 1. 6. John, born Oxford, June 26, 1713.
7. Jacob, born Oxford, March 10, 1717. 8.
Hepzibah, born April 1, 1720, married, No
vember 12, 1 741, Obadiah Walker. 9. Amos,
born January 31, 1722.
(Ill) David, son of Peter (2) and Maria
(Smith) Shumway, was baptized in Topsfield,
December 23, 1705, and lived for some time in
Oxford, Massachusetts. In December, 1733,
he bought one fiftieth part of the lands of
Sturbridge and was one of the pioneers of that
town as well as being one of the foremost men
of that region. He married (first) Esther
 , and (second) Alice  . She died
January 12, 1810, having survived her hus
band several years, he having died May 10,
1796. He had a large family of thirteen chil
dren, five by his first and eight by his second
wife: 1. Esther, born April 3, 1736. 2. Asa,
October 16, 1739. 3. Mary, June 25, 1741. 4.
David, May 12, 1743. 5. Solomon, April 1,
1745 (see post). 6. Cyril, May 4, 1752. 7.
Elijah, born July 24,, 1753. 8. Alice, Decem
ber 14, 1754. 9. Abigail, July 8, 1756. 10.
Lavinia, August 26, 1759. n. Chloe, Novem
ber 4, 1761. 12. Jemima, August 9, 1763. 13.
Danforth, July 18, 1768.
(IV) Solomon, son of David and Esther
Shumway, was born April 1, 1745. He re
moved early to Belchertown, Massachusetts,

and was progenitor of the numerous family of
his surname in that town and its vicinity. He
had a son, grandson and great-grandson named
Solomon, the latter of whom was a teacher at
Belchertown in 1885 and who was father of
Edgar L. Shumway, one of the faculty of
Rutgers College, New Brunswick, New Jersey,
in 1892. The records furnish only a meagre
account of Solomon Shumway and make no
mention of the names of any other of his chil
dren than Solomon, although it is more than
probable that he had others; and it may be
assumed that among them there was a son
Elihu. (V) Elihu, presumably a son of Solomon
Shumway, was for many years a resident of
Belchertown and may have been born there.
He married Charlotte Crittenden, and by her
had seven children: 1. Leonard C, born No
vember 21, 1815. 2. Samuel H, July 16, 1817.
3. Elizabeth R., October 23, 1821. 4. Lucretia,
September 23, 1824. 5. Cynthia, April 9, 1827.
6. Willard, October 16, 1829. 7. Austin L.,
September 13, 1832 (see post).
(VI) Austin L., youngest son and child of
Elihu and Charlotte (Crittenden) Shumway,
was born in Belchertown, September 13, 1832,
and while as a boy he was sent to the town
school it became necessary that he start out
early to make his own way in life. For several
years he worked as clerk in a store in Enfield,
Massachusetts, and after he had gained a fair
understanding of business methods and accum
ulated sufficient money to make a safe start
he opened a dry goods store in Holyoke, Mass
achusetts, and in the course of a few years
became one of the leading merchants and busi
ness men of that city. He continued in active
pursuits for full thirty-five years, and his
career was one of most gratifying success
from every point of view, fle was a Templar
Mason, a Republican in politics and a Congre
gationalist in religion. He died March 23,
1901. Mr. Shumway married, October 25,
1859, Louise F. Richards, bora April 21, 1838,
daughter of James and Priscilla C. (New
comb) Richards (see Richards). Mr. and Mrs.
Shumway had nine children: 1. Edward A.,
born July 22, 1861. 2. Arthur R., January 16,
1864, died 1872. 3. Mary L., August 28, 1865,
married George S. Parsons; one daughter,
Mary Louise, born July 25, 1900. 4. Char
lotte, March 24, 1867, died in 1868. 5. Sarah,
January 15, 1869, married A. K. Sibley, of
Warren, Massachusetts, and has one child,
Priscilla, born December 13, 1905. 6. William
R., April 20, 1873, married Mary Fraser. 7.

112

MASSACHUSETTS.

Charles, July 26, 1875, died 1875. 8. Robert,
August 16, 1876, married Adelina Ritter, and
has two children, Helen E., born April II,
1903, and Frank Ritter, born March 27, 1906.
9. Priscilla, June 24, 1881, graduated from Mt.
Holyoke College, class of 1905.
(The Richards Line).
This is one of the numerous prominent
names of Welsh origin which' are found largely
represented throughout the states of America,
and one which has been identified with pro
gress along the lines of human endeavor from
a very early period in the settlement of the
New England colonies. It is one of the names
which originated in the Welsh system of mak
ing possessive form of the father's name a
surname, and is equivalent to Richard's son.
The name as a christian name is very ancient
and is found in the early annals of the present
English nation, and so developed into a sur
name along with others in very common usage.
Books of heraldry give not less than seventeen
distinct coats-of-arms connected with the name
Richards, enough of which point back to Wales
to justify the general belief that here was the
original hive from which issued the founders
of illustrious families of that name in different
countries of England. At Caernwick, Mar-
ioneth county, Wales, is a manor inherited by
Sir Richard Richards, president of the house
of lords and lord chief baron of the exchequer,
and in the annals his ancestors, about 1550,
are spoken of as the ancient possessors. They
claim the privilege of bearing the identical
arms of Richard of East Bagborough, in the
county of Somerset. This was depicted on
the tablet of Hon. James Richards, of Hart
ford, who died in 1680, and may be seen in
an ancient manuscript in the New England
Historic-Genealogical Societies' Library halved
with the arms of Governor Winthrop, whose
daughter married a Richards in 1692. There
are at present many clergymen of the name in
England and Wales, and it has long been illus
trious in Europe.
(I) William Richards, immigrant, is first
mentioned March 25, 1633, when by the court
of Plymouth, comprising Governor Bradford,
Captain Myles Standish, John Alden and eight
others, he was rated nine shillings in corn at
six shillings per bushel, for public use, to be
brought in by the last day of November, or
the amount to be doubled if not then paid. In
January, 1636-37, he removed to Scituate and
forfeited his lot at Plymouth, whereupon the
court ordered that "six acres where William

Richards dwelt be granted to Nathaniel Low-
ther, to belong to his house at Plymouth."
This indicates that he perhaps had removed
to Scituate as early as 1635 or 1636. In 1635
a fresh recruit of planters with Rev. Mr. New
man arrived at Weymouth. These, like the
company previously settled there, were also
no doubt from Weymouth, eight miles from
Dorchester in Dorsetshire. In this company
William Richards, of Scituate, and Thomas
Richards, of Dorchester, are supposed to have
had friends who attracted them, for both
j'oined them, Thomas within a few months and
William within a few years, and there both
spent the remainder of their days.
William Richards appears to have inherited
the traditional traits of his ancestors, was
tenacious of his rights, enterprising, given to
change and trade. In 1640 he had a dispute
with John Turner, of Scituate, and it became
necessary for the general court to appoint a
commission to settle it. Yet there is nothing
which appears to invalidate evidence of piety
and the most strict uprightness, and he is pre
sumed to have been a member of the church
and a freeman, although no record of such
has been found. In 1645 he removed to Wey
mouth, where a vote of the townsmen exempted
him from a certain town order. In 1650 he
sold a farm in Scituate to Gowen White for
seventy-five pounds. In 1659 he was con
stable of Weymouth, and as one of the pro
prietors of that town received nineteen and
one-half acres of land, "bounded east by the
sea, and two acres of salt marsh in the neck;
and soon after four acres of upland on the
neck." He married Grace  , and in his
will, dated January 18, 1680, proved July 25,
1682, he gave her during her life, or widow
hood, the income and improvement of "all his
houseing and out houseing, Orchard, lands,
chattels and moveables in Weymouth or else
where, with power in case of need to sell any
part thereof for her comfortable subsistence."
William and Grace Richards had five children :
1. John, born probably at Plymouth or Scit
uate, died 1695. 2. Joseph (see post). 3.
James, born probably at Weymouth, died
March 8, 171 1. 4. William, born 2 4mo. 1658,
at Weymouth, died 1683. 5. Benjamin, born
May 19, 1060, died 1683.
(II) Joseph, son of William and Grace
Richards, was born probably in Plymouth or
Scituate, and died in 1695. In 1674 he be
came one of the proprietors of Worcester, but
settled in Weymouth ; took the freeman's oath
in 1681, was fence viewer in 1692-93, and made

MASSACHUSETTS.

"3

his will February 24, 1695-96. His estate was
inventoried March 9, 1695-96, at one hundred
and fifty-six pounds, thirty shillings. He mar
ried (first) Susan  , and (second) Sarah
-, who was executrix of his will and in

17 12- 13, on eight shares, drew one hundred
and thirty-five acres of the common lands in
Weymouth. His children: 1. Joseph, born
May 7, 1675, lived in Bridgewater, Massachu
setts. 2. Susanna, married, in 1720, John Bur
rell. 3. Sarah, married, in 1730, William
Davenport, of Bridgewater. 4. James, born
September 28, 1680. 5. Deborah, October 19,
1684. 6. Benjamin, April 7, 1686 (see post).
7. William, April 12, 1688, removed to Con
necticut. 8. Mary, March 6, 1689-90.
(Ill) Benjamin, son of Joseph and Sarah
Richards, was born in Weymouth, Massachu
setts, April 7, 1686, died April 12, 1741. He
settled in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts,
and spent his life there. He married (first)
in 171 1, Mehitable, daughter of Isaac Alden,
and a descendant of John Alden, the Pilgrim.
She died in 1720 and he married (second)
November 20, 1722, Lydia Faxon, who died
in 1788, aged ninety-two years. He had eleven
children: 1. Mehitable, born 1712, married
David Packard Jr. 2. Joseph, 1714, died April,
1793; married Mary flamlin. 3. Daniel, 1716,
died 1789; married Mary Packard. 4. James,
1718, died young. 5. Sarah, 1720, married,
1740, William Packard. 6. John, 1723 (see
post). 7. Deacon Josiah, 1724, died 181 5;
married Anne Robinson. 8. Seth, 1726, died
young. 9. Ezra, 1728, died 1786. 10. Lydia,
1732, died 1823; married, 1757, Deacon
Nathan Alden. n. Hannah, 1736, married
Philip Bryant, a physician.
(IV) John, son of Benjamin and Lydia
(Faxon) Richards, was born in West Bridge-
water, Massachusetts, in 1723, and spent his
life in that town and in the town of Bridge-
water. He was a farmer. He married, in
1 75 1, Keziah, daughter of Captain Israel
Bailey, of Scituate, and by her had sixteen
children: 1. John, a revolutionary soldier,
who died in' the service. 2. Sarah, born 1752,
married (first) 1795, Joseph Thayer Jr., of
Stonington, Connecticut, (second) Deacon
Zachariah Thayer, of Randolph. 3. Keziah,
1755, married, 1.778, James Ingalls. 4. Benja
min, 1758, died 1812; married, 1783, Polly
Bartlett. 5. Seth, 1763, died 1837; married,
1791, Mehitable Snow. 6. James, 1766 (see
post). 7. Ezra, 1768, married Martha Nash.
8. Tamazin, 1770, married, 1795, Joseph Snow.
9. Lydia, 1773. 10. Jennet, 1774. n. Daniel.

12. John. 13. Luther. 14. Rhoda. Besides
these there were two other children who died
in infancy.
(V) James, son of John and Keziah (Bailey)
Richards, was born in Bridgewater, Massachu
setts, in 1766. In 1796 he married Sarah,
daughter of Deacon Ebenezer Rich, a pros
perous mill owner of Enfield, Massachusetts,
and soon afterward removed to that town and
was a carpenter and builder there and also in
Greenwich. He built the Congregational
church in Greenwich and that ancient edifice
still stands as a monument of the substantial
character of the man and the work performed
by him. By wife Sarah he had eleven chil
dren: 1. Sidney, born 1797, lived on the home
stead in Enfield. 2. Joab R., 1799, was a
physician and a man of high repute ; married
(first) Sarah Peak, of Virginia, (second)
Eliza Kempton, (J-hird) Mrs. Ellen Simons.
Dr. Richards was a cotton planter near Yazoo,
Mississippi. 3. James, 1801 (see post). 4.
William, October 18, 1803, died 1833 ; A. M.,
Amherst; married Lydia, daughter of John
Gray, Esq., of Yarmouth, Mississippi. 5.
Luther, August 4, 1805, married Mary Pinny
and lived at Tariffville, Connecticut. 6. Ben
jamin, July 14, 1807, died February 4, 1857,
at Council Bluffs, Iowa. 7. Melinda, Decem
ber 31, 1808, died 1849 ; married Ichabod Pope.
8. Josiah, October 10, 1810, married Sarah
Jane Moore. 9. Seth, June 9, 1812, married
(first) Mary Turner Jones ; (second) Cornelia
Smith. 10. George Anson, July 14, 1814. n.
Sarah Ann, July 19, 1816, married Charles
Lane. (VI) James (2), son of James (1) and
Sarah (Rich) Richards, was born March 20,
1801, in Enfield, Massachusetts, died February
16, 1886. His young life was spent at home
on his father's farm in Enfield and he attended
the district school of that town. On attaining
his majority he purchased a farm and started
out to make his own way in business life, and
in this respect he was successful, for he was a
thrifty and industrious man and exercised con
siderable influence among his fellow towns
men. In politics he was a Whig and in relig
ious preference Universalist. On August 27,
1822, Mr. Richards married Priscilla C, daugh
ter of Elisha and Rachel (Collins) Newcomb.
Nine children were born of this marriage: 1.
Maria F., born March 1, 1823. 2. Charles, No
vember 18, 1824. 3. William, October 27,
1826. 4. George, January 27, 1829. 5. Jane,
May 25, 1831. 6. John, October 1, 1833. 7.
Mary, March 7, 1836. 8. Louise F., April 21,

ii4

MASSACHUSETTS.

1838, married, October 25, 1859, Austin L.
Shumway (see Shumway). 9. Marshall N.,
November 26, 1840.
Edmund Gustin, the progenitor
GUSTIN of this family, lived at St.
Ouens, Isle of Jersey. He mar
ried there, April 25, 1638, Esther le Rossignol.
The homestead at St. Ouens was sold by their
son in 1677 to John Brock, of Reading, Mass
achusetts. The family name is something of a
puzzle, however. The son, who will be known
in this sketch as John Gustin, was originally
designated Augustine Jean in the records.
Savage implies that the name should have been
Jean or John Augustine, and it certainly took
that form after its owner came to America.
In a few years it was shortened to Gustine,
and eventually most of the family dipt off the
terminal also, making it Gustin. Esther, the
mother of Jean, had a brother, M. Augustine
Rossignol, of St. Ouens, and it is presumed
that both Jean and Augustine were given
names. (II) John, son of Edmund and Esther (le
Rossignol) Gustin, was born in St. Ouens, Isle
of Jersey, January 9, 1647. He came to New
England in 1675 with Pierre Baudoin, Bot-
nineau, Bayer and le Breton, all of these
names showing the French origin. He was a
sergeant in Captain Turner's company during
King Philip's war, 1676. He made his home
in Reading, Massachusetts, and was living
there in 1677 when he sold his English patri
mony. In 1680 he received a grant of land at
Falmouth from President Danforth, the fourth
lot on what was Broad street, now India street,
Portland, Maine, with the privilege of con
ducting a brick yard. He purchased a small
lot in Falmouth from Widow Housing, on the
west side of the Presumpscot river, and with
other settlers was driven from his home by
the Indians, but returned in 1719. He was a
mariner a part of the time and was at one time
captain of a vessel. He bought land above the
falls on the Presumpscot in 1686 of Thomas
Cloice and made his home there until May 26,
1690, when the Indians destroyed Falmouth,
and all that Mr. Gustin saved of his household
effects was one chair. He married, at Water-
town, Massachusetts, January 10, 1678, Eliz
abeth, daughter of John and Esther (Make
peace) Brown, and was mentioned in the will
of his father-in-law. Some of his children did
not return to Maine, but went to Pennsylvania,
Connecticut and elsewhere. His descendants
have been traced in Virginia and Pennsylvania

among the well known families of Hamiltons,
Snowdons and Thompsons of Philadelphia;
Clews, Hunters and Greens of Virginia. He
left a widow and seven children: Samuel,
John Jr., Thomas, mentioned below, Ebenezer,
David, Sarah and Abigail.
(Ill) Thomas, son of John and Elizabeth
(Brown) Gustin, was born about 1690. He set
tled at Colchester, Connecticut, where June 7,
1722, he married Sarah, daughter of John and
Elizabeth (Gates) Holmes, of Colchester. The
birth of the eldest son is recorded there. Their
children were: Thomas Jr., see forward;
Samuel settled at Marlow, New Hampshire,
about 1765 ; John, resided in Lyme, Connecti
cut, and had a son, John Jr., born there Sep
tember 27, 1768; Josiah, born 1749, also settled
at Marlow.
(IV) Thomas (2), son of Thomas (1) and
Sarah (Holmes) Gustin, was born in Col
chester, Connecticut, July 19, 1725. About
1765 he and his brother Samuel settled among
the first seven in the grant of land at Marlow,
New Hampshire, made October 7, 1761, to
men of Lyme and Colchester. Samuel re
mained there and was chairman of the com
mittee for the towns of Marlow, Alstead and
Surrey, New Hampshire, representing the
signers of a petition relative to a representative
to the legislature, December n, 1776. Thomas
Gustin was an early settler at Claremont, New
Hampshire, where he was a farmer and raised
large numbers of cattle, sheep and swine. He
was a member of a committee to audit the
accounts of the selectmen in 1768-70; was
chosen town treasurer, March 13, 1770; mod
erator in 1772; selectman, 1771-72-74-75, and
on the committee of safety in 1775. He took
the first steps to form the church in 1771 and
the first minister, Rev. George Wheaton, was
settled in February, 1772. fle was a soldier
in the revolution in Captain Wetherbee's com
pany of militia from Claremont, Colonel Isaac
Wyman's regiment, roll dated at Mount Inde
pendence, November 5, 1776. He was also in
Colonel Benjamin Bellow's regiment, New
Hampshire, state militia, that went to reinforce
the northern continental army at Ticonderoga,
under General Gates, May 7, 1777, and was
discharged, June 14, 1777, the pay being five
pounds and fourteen shillings pec mouth in
cluding one hundred and three miles to travel.
His relatives, Joel, Amos and Walter Gustin,
were in Connecticut regiments during the revo
lution, Josiah and others in New Hampshire
regiments. The wife of Thomas Gustin died
in Rockingham, Vermont, where his son,

MASSACHUSETTS.

"5

Elisha, settled. Their children were : Edward,
see forward; Polly, married Seth Deming, of
Cornish, New Hampshire ; Elisha, removed to
Rockingham, Vermont, and was a soldier in
the revolutionary war ; Thomas Jr., also served
in Captain Wetherbee's company, Colonel Isaac
Wyman's regiment.
(V) Edward, son Thomas (2) Gustin, was
born probably in Colchester, Connecticut, in
1758, and died at an advanced age in Hinsdale,
New Hampshire. He made an application for
a pension, August 10, 1832, when he was sev
enty-four years of age, showing a service of
fourteen months as a private and eight months
as a sergeant in the New Hampshire troops.
He served a part of this time under Captain
Jones, Colonel Troop. He was a petitioner
from Claremont for a lottery to defray the
expenses of needed roads connecting with
Winchester and other towns, after the revolu
tion. Later he settled in Hinsdale. His chil
dren were: Edward Jr., born November 12,
1786-87, married, in 181 1, Fanny Field, and
resided in Winchester; Thomas, mentioned
below; John.
(VI) Thomas (3), son of Edward Gustin,
was born about 1790, probably in Claremont,
New Hampshire. He settled in Cornish, be
came a prosperous farmer, and was exten
sively engaged in raising sheep and cattle. He
married Alice, daughter of John Vinton, and
had children: Miranda, Elizabeth, Alice,
James Harvey and John.
(VII) James Harvey, son of Thomas (3)
and Alice (Vinton) Gustin, was born in Cor
nish, New Hampshire, May 19, 1815, and
died at Winchester, Massachusetts, September
3, 1897. He was educated in the common
schools of his native town, working between
school terms on the farm of his father until
he was eleven years of age, when his father-
died and he was "put out" to work until he
was twenty years old. He then came to Brook
line, Massachusetts, where he entered the em
ploy of his brother John, who was a market
gardener. Later he worked for a farmer
named Derby whose produce he used to sell in
Boston. It is said that he was the first pro
duce man to back up his wagon to the old
Quincy market. After a few years he went
Into business as the proprietor of a restaurant
in Boston but the venture proving unsuccess
ful' he abandoned it and went west. When
about twenty-eight years old he located in Fall
River, Massachusetts, and learned the trade
of mason, and worked on the construction of
many of the big cotton mills there. In 1853

he leased the Baldwin place, at Hyde Park,
Massachusetts, but subsequently became fore
man on the Cheever Newhall farm at Milton,
where he remained for three years. He then
leased the Clark farm at Waltham, Massachu
setts, and raised produce for the Boston
market. He had the Bright farm at Belmont
four years ; the Darling farm at Woburn five
years, selling the ten years' lease to go into
the meat and provision business in Joy street,
Boston. He worked afterward in Winchester
at the mason's trade, and at length bought the
Eaton farm in that town and lived there until
his death, September 3, 1897. He was a Bap
tist in religion, and a Republcan in politics.
He married, April 3, 1846, Susan Crane, born
November 3, 1826, died at Winchester, Decem
ber 16, 1888, daughter of Ephraim and Olive
(Eaton) French, of Berkley, Massachusetts,
where the former was a prominent citizen and
a representative to the general court. The
children of James Harvey and Susan Crane
(French) Gustin were: 1. William Henry,
born August 15, 1847, died October 30, 1848.
2. Mary Adley, June 7, 1849, married, June 1,
1879, Alvah B. Heald, of Woburn. They had
children: Alvah Frances, born October 1,
1880, died February 24, 1886 ; Florence War
ren, born June 17, 1883, died April 24, 1893 !
Bertha May, born August 31, 1884. 3. Her
bert Ervin, see forward. 4. Francis Edward,
see forward. 5. Clarence Harvey, born Au
gust 12, 1857, married Annie F. Sinclair, of
Florida; has had children: Myrtie, Harvey,
James, Eleanor, Jessie, Marion, Mary. 6.
Susan Amelia, born February 3, i860, mar
ried, November 27, 1889, George H. New
comb, of Woburn. 7. Charles Henry, Bel
mont, December 30, 1861, died December 28,
1862. 8. James Ernest, Woburn, December
2, 1865, married, November 4, 1893, Lena
Ellis Thayer, of Taunton, Massachusetts, and
has had children : Mildred, Ernest, Raymond,
Marjorie. 9. George Oliver, March 3, 1868,
married, February 6, 1890, Augusta Branch,
of Charlestown; has one child, Chester Orville,
born March 23, 1891.
(VIII) Herbert Ervin, second son of James
Harvey and Susan Crane (French) Gustin,
was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, July
25, 1852. While still an infant he removed
with his parents to Milton, from thence to
Waltham, and still later to Belmont, where
he attended the public schools for about five
lyears, after which the family removed to
Woburn, where he was a student at the west
side schools, and attended one course at the

n6

MASSACHUSETTS.

Warren Academy. He worked on his father's
farm and as a stone mason with his father
until about eighteen years old and then at the
latter trade for two years in Peabody for
Samuel Trask, a stone mason, contractor and
brick layer. He then came to Winchester and
entered the employ of Samuel Twombley as a
driver of the market team and seller in the
Boston market. In 1879 he accepted a posi
tion in the produce store of A. L. Andrews,
at No. 104 Clinton street, and conducted the
place for a period of seven years for Mr.
Andrews under his name H. E. Gustin. He
was then admitted to partnership in the busi
ness, the firm name remaining unchanged, and
at the expiration of three years purchased the
interest of Mr. Andrews, took Stedman W.
Fottler as partner, and changed the firm name
to H. E. Gustin & Company. At the end of
four years he sold out to Mr. Fottler and re
moved to No. 112 Clinton street, where he
was in business four years, also buying the
produce business at No. no Clinton street and
admitting to partnership his brother, George
Oliver, under the firm name of H. E. Gustin
& Company. After two years he sold the busi
ness at No. no to his brother George Oliver,
and has since conducted the one at No. 112
under his own name. He does a large and profit
able wholesale produce and commission trade
selling largely to the retail provision merchants
in Boston and within fifty miles of the city.
Mr. Gustin is the proprietor of a sixty-two acre
farm known as the E. S. Gray Scotland Hill
farm, and the greater amount of the products
of this place are sold from the Clinton street
store. He has about sixteen head of cattle,
mostly Jersey and Holstein breeds, and dur
ing the summer resides on the farm. He has
owned a city .residence at No. 27 Columbus
avenue, Somerville, since November 3, 1891.
He was educated in the Baptist denomination
but for many years has been a member of the
Prospect Hill Congregational Church. His
political affiliations are with the Republican
party. He is associated with the following
fraternal and other organizations : William
Parkman Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons,
of Winchester, since May 8, 1877; Somerville
Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, April 16, 1896;
Orient Council, Royal and Select, Masters, of
Somerville, June 10, 1896; De Molay Com
mandery, Knights Templar, of Boston, July
1, 1876; Aleppo Temple, Nobles of the Mystic
Shrine; Lafayette Lodge of Perfection, No.
140, Scottish Rite; Charles F. Yates Council,
Princes of Jerusalem, sixteenth degree ; Mount

Olivet Chapter of Rose Croix, eighteenth de
gree; Massachusetts Consistory, thirty-second
degree; the Boston Fruit and Produce Ex
change. Mr. Gustin married, at Charlestown,
Massachusetts, October 25, 1881, Julia Liv
ingston, born at Bangor, Maine, August 10,
1857, daughter of John and Nancy Ann
(Noyes) Carlisle, of Charlestown, the former
a cabinetmaker. Their children were : Her
bert Irving, see forward; Ernest Sumner, born
February 2, 1888, died June 15, 1889; Lester
Carlisle, March 29, 1890, now a student in the
Somerville English high school; Ralph Liv
ingston, November 2y, 1891.
(IX) Herbert Irving, eldest child of Her
bert Ervin and Julia Livingston (Carlisle)
Gustin, was born in Boston, Massachusetts,
August 15, 1882. He was an infant when his
parents removed to Somerville, and received
his education in the public schools of that
town, was eight months in the Somerville high
school, and this was supplemented by a course
in Burdett's Commerical College. In 1899 he
entered the employ of his father in the pro
duce business, with which he has since been
associated, having traveled extensively in the
interests of the business. He is a Republican
in politics and has served his party at conven
tions from his district. He is associated with
the following organizations: King Solomon
Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Som
erville; Somerville Chapter, Royal Arch
Masons ; Orient Council, Royal and Select Mas
ters, of Somerville; De Molay Commandery,
Knights Templar, of Boston, March 28, 1906;
Lafayette Lodge of Perfection, Scottish Rite;
Giles F. Yates Council, Princes of Jerusalem,
sixteenth degree ; Mount Olivet Chapter, Rose
Croix, eighteenth degree; Massachusetts Con
sistory, thirty-second degree; Aleppo Temple,
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Boston; Boston
Fruit and Produce Exchange ; Cape Cod Com
mercial Travelers. Mr. Gustin married, at Salis
bury, Massachusetts, October 12, 1904, Mildred
Louise, born in Salisbury, October 26, 1884,
daughter of John Quincy Adams and Mary
Evans (Merrill) Pettengill, the first mentioned
a former school master and an ex-representa
tive. They have one child, Bertram Petten
gill, born November 15, 1906.
(VIII) Francis Edward, third son and
fourth child of James Harvey and Susan
Crane (French) Gustin, was born in Milton,
Massachusetts, August 28, 1855. His parents
removed to Waltham when he was an infant
and he began his education there in the public
schools. When he was seven years old his

MASSACHUSETTS.

117

parents removed to Woburn, and he attended
the Woburn schools and the Warren Academy
and helped his father on the farm until he was
fourteen years old. He then learned the
mason's trade and worked at this mu-jl he was
seventeen years of age. His next employment
was for eighteen months on the farm of V. P.
Locke, of Winchester, then twenty months in
charge of the milk business of Henry Brick,
at Newton, and later he was engaged in market
gardening for eighteen months for Samuel
Twombley, at Winchester. He leased the
Jacob Pierce place at Winchester for a period
of eight years and later the Hanson place for
market gardening and greenhouses. In 1890
he purchased a farm at Leominster, Massa
chusetts, conducting it in addition to his other
business enterprises for four years, and also
owned and cultivated a farm in Maine for
eight years. In 1900 he bought his present
farm in Woburn, then known as the old Ellard
place, consisting of twenty acres, to which
he has added about sixteen acres by further
purchase. He has prospered in business and
found an excellent market for his produce in
Boston. He is a Baptist in religious faith, a
Republican in politics, but has held only one
public office, that of special police, fle is
affiliated with the following fraternal organi
zations : Mount Horeb Lodge, Free and
Accepted Masons, since May 17, 1882; Wo
burn Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Novem
ber n, 1892; Hugh de Payen's Commandery,
Knights Templar, June 24, 1894; Bethel
Lodge, No. 12, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, at Arlington, November 9, 1881. He
is also a member of the Market Gardeners'
Association of Boston. Mr. Gustin married,
April 8, 1883, Ellen Maria, born July 25, 1851,
daughter of James and Ellen (Dudley) Wal-
ley, of Dedham, Massachusetts, the former a
blacksmith by trade. Children : Francis Ed
ward Jr., born February 4, 1884; Susan Anna,
December 24, 1886; Charles Alfred, July 3,
if"

Robert Smith, immigrant ances-
SMITH tor of this family, was born in
England. He was among the
early settlers at Exeter, New Hampshire, and
signed the famous Exeter combination in 1639.
He removed to the adjacent town of Hamp
ton, New Hampshire, and was living there as
early as 1657. He was a tailor by trade. His
home was on the site of the residence of the
late Joseph Johnson, of Hampton. He died
August 30, 1706. Hs wife Susanna was killed

by lightning, June 12, 1680. Children: 1.
John, married, May 14, 1675, Rebecca Adams ;
(second) August 23, 1676, Rebecca Marston.
2. Meribah, married Francis Page. 3. Asahel.
4. Jonathan, mentioned below. 5. Joseph, col
onel; judge of the superior court, 1694-99;
judge of the probate court, 1703-08; provincial
treasurer ; selectman ; deputy to the general
court; married Dorothy Cotton; (second)
Mary Moore; (third) Elizabeth Marshall; he
died November 15, 1717. •
(II) Jonathan, son of Robert Smith, was
born 1645-50, probably at Exeter, New Plamp-
shire. He was a brickmaker by trade and lived
at Exeter. He married, January 15, 1670,
Mehitable Holdred. He was living in 1698.
Children, born at Exeter: 1. Israel, January
16, 1671. 2. Jacob, August 10, 1673. 3. Ithiel,
mentioned below. 4. Abigail, Hampton, June
22, 1678. 5. Joseph, February 7, 1680. 6.
Leah, April 7, 1683. 7. Mehitable, August 14,
1685. (Ill) Ithiel, son of Jonathan Smith, was
born during King Philip's war, probably at
Hampton, 1675-76. He died about 1732. He
lived at Exeter and Stratham, New Hamp
shire. He married Mary  . Children :
1. Ithiel, settled at Kingston, New Hampshire,
and had sons Ithiel and Peter. 2. Solomon,
mentioned below.
(IV) Solomon, son of Ithiel Smith, was
born 1700-10. He settled at Stratham. He
married Abigail  . Children, born at
Stratham: 1. Joseph, October 12, 1725. 2.
John, March 17, 1729. 3. Solomon, December
29, 1734. 4. Josiah, June 2, 1736. 5. Elipha-
let, March 5, 1739. 6. Joseph, April 25, 1742,
mentioned below. 7. Samuel, February 7,
1743-44- (V) Joseph, son of Solomon Smith, was
born at Stratham, April 25, 1742. He married
Esther Rundlett, daughter of Theophilus
Rundlett, granddaughter of James (2) and
great-granddaughter of Charles Runlett (Ran-
lett or Randlett). He resided at Stratham and
Epping, New Hampshire, and died January 21,
1816. Children: 1. Theophilus, born Febru
ary 26, 1765, mentioned below, and other
children. (VI) Captain Theophilus, son of Joseph
Smith, was born at Epping, New Hampshire,
February 26, 1765. According to the census
of 1790 a Theophilus Smith lived at Francis-
borough, Maine. He resided at Epping and
Newmarket, New Hampshire, and at Cornish,
Maine, and was a farmer. He was a farmer
and brick mason. He married, March 13, 1788,

u8

MASSACHUSETTS.

Sally Pike, daughter of John Pike, of Epping.
Children: i. Theophilus, mentioned below. 2.
Greenleaf, married, July 13, 1816, Polly
French, of Epping, New Hampshire. 3. Sarah.
4. Nancy.(VII) Theophilus (2), son of Theophilus
(1) Smith, was born about 1785. He married
Mary Lowell. He spent his youth in Cornish,
Maine, and later was a farmer and lumber
man in Denmark, Maine, where he died. He
was commissioned captain in the state militia.
He was a prominent citizen and held various
positions of trust and honor. In politics he
was a Whig. Children: 1. Lucy Ann, mar
ried Henry Warren. 2. Nancy, died aged
eight years. 3. Greenleaf E., born 1816, men
tioned below. 4. Amanda, married Daniel
Lowell, of Denmark.
(VIII) Greenleaf Edmund, son of Theo
philus (2) Smith, was born in Cornish, York
county, Maine, 1816. He was brought up on
his father's farm and early in life began to
work on the farm. He received a common
school education in the district schools. He
was engaged for a number of years as con
tractor in railroad construction. He was
thirty years old when he took up the study of
medicine under Dr. Richardson. He began
to practice in his native town, removing after
a time to Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he
enjoyed a large and successful practice. In
1882 he removed to Denver, Colorado, and
continued to reside there until his death in
1885. He was a Republican in politics and
faithful to his duty as a citizen. He never
sought public office, however. He was a Free
Mason. In religion he was a Baptist. Dr.
Smith was a physician of ability, and in many
respects a man of remarkable character.
Without the advantages of a liberal education,
he began his professional career at a time
when most physicians are already well estab
lished. He had been successful in business
and few men can turn to the life of a student
after once enjoying for a space of years the
success of an active business career. He had
to an exceptional degree the gift of concentra
tion of mind and self-control. He achieved
his ambition in the world of medicine and took
high rank as a physician. His personal char
acter was exemplary. He inspired confidence
in his patients and won their affection and
esteem. He married, in 1847, Almira Moul-
ton, one of the thirteen children of Cutting
and Mehitable (Lord) Moulton, of an old
Parsonsfield, Maine, family. Children: 1.
Sarah P., May 17, 1850, married (first) Oscar

E. Lowell, of Denmark, Maine; (second)
Frank A. Pendexter, of Mechanics Falls,
Maine. 2. George Pray, June 28, 1851, men
tioned below. 3. Lucy P., September 25, 1854,
married Frank Kincaide, of Madison, Maine.
4. Henry R., June, 1856, married Nellie Blais-
dell and resides in Denmark, Maine. 5. Susan
M., December 25, i860, died unmarried in
1876. (IX) George Pray, son of Greenleaf E.
Smith, was bora in Northumberland, New
Hampshire, June 28, 185 1. His father re
turned to Cornish, Maine, and the boy alter
nated work on his father's farm with attend
ance at the district school and academy. In
1867 he left home to study the art of engrav
ing, being possessed of an ambition to make
art his profession. He located in Worcester,
where he worked as an engraver up to 1875,
when the artistic fever was over, and he deter
mined to become a miner and ranchman in the
far west. He located in Nevada, where he
acquired large interests, and became the con
trolling owner of the Buck mountain gold
mine, one of the most profitable in the terri
tory, and in 1907 he was still in control of the
property as president and general manager of
the Buck Mountain Gold Mining Company.
He also acquired a large cattle ranch in New
Mexico, which he held as an investment, the
property including eighty thousand acres of
land, all of which he placed under fence, and
in 1907 there were several thousand growing
cattle on the ranch, the matured stock produc
ing a large annual income. Besides his west
ern interests, Mr. Smith, on locating in Mass
achusetts, became interested in eastern enter
prises, and he organized and became vice-
president, treasurer and general manager of
the Boston Fuel Company, with offices in the
Beacon building on Beacon street. He also
organized the Beacon Machinery Company,
which owns and controls the patented machin
ery used by the Boston Fuel Company in the
manufacture of peat into commercial fuel.
The universal deposit of peat throughout every
state in the United States gives to their cor
poration a vast field for works. Continuous
practical demonstrations are being made of the
value and utility of the properly prepared peat
for general heating purposes which has carried
the enterprise into the region of practicability,
and it only needs the introduction of specially
prepared stoves and furnaces to make its use
universal. Mr. Smith is one of the owners of
a well equipped stock farm near McCords-
ville, Indiana, and the pacers and trotters bred

MASSACHUSETTS.

119

upon this farm have become familiar and
favorite objects of admiration at every trotting
association in the country, for their peculiar
grace, beauty and wonderful intelligence.
Mr. Smith has behind him a genealogical
record that gives him reason for especial pride
in the blood that runs in his veins. His revo
lutionary ancestors were not rare in the annals
of that seven years effort to throw off the
yoke of England, and he is doing a duty to his
country and to the liberty loving in all the
world by doing his part in keeping alive the
spirit of liberty, through encouraging the work
done by the various patriotic societies of
America. He was instrumental in founding
the Sons of America, and as head of that
patriotic and philanthropic order, he placed
the organization in a commanding position
among the fraternal societies of the United
States, and the Mortuary Benefit Fund sug
gested by him has in the quarter century of
its existence distributed over $100,000 annu
ally to members in benefits. Mr. Smith be
came peculiarly prominent in this connection
at the convention of the order held at Wash
ington, D. C, where in his address to the con
vention he touched upon the murder of Dr.
Cronin, of Chicago, in a way that caused the
Associated Press to telegraph that portion of
his address verbatim to all parts of the Eng
lish speaking world. Mr. Smith married, June
22, 1880, Anna S. Chapman, born in Charles
town, Massachusetts. Children: 1. W. Win-
ford H, born in Scarboro, Maine, July, 1881,
graduate of Bowdoin College, Maine, Johns
Hopkins University of Baltimore, physician
and surgeon, now managing physician of Belle
vue Hospital, New York City. 2. Mildred F.,
born in Marion, Massachusetts, 1882, married
Thomas Oglesby. 3. Ross G., born in Scar
boro, Maine, 1885, general manager of the
Iris Gold Mining Company of Fay, Nevada;
married Lillian Blair, of Massachusetts. 4.
Ethel, born 1890. Mr. Smith has a beautiful
residence on Otis street, Newtonville, that
charming suburb of Boston, and here with
the fine roads and bridle paths of the neighbor
hood, he with his family enjoy to the fullest
the companionship of his intelligent and well
trained horses. Mr. Smith became known all
over the United States, and of him the New
York Herald said, "A man who wears his
heart upon his sleeve" and an author who dedi
cated a novel to him which became widely
read, described him as "a man who loves a
horse, whose heart pulsates in a royal setting,

whose fidelity never falters, and whose friend
ship never fails."

Although no complete genealogy
FOWLE of the Fowle family has ever
been compiled, sufficient data
has been discovered as the result of tracing
a number of lineages to make it appear almost
beyong doubt that all of the name in this
country have descended from George Fowle,
who settled in Concord, Massachusetts, a year
or two prior to 1638, when he was admitted
a freeman, and continued to reside in Con
cord until between 1646 and 1648, when he
removed to Charlestown, Massachusetts. He
was a tanner by trade and buying land and
buildings in Charlestown, he pursued his occu
pation there during the remainder of his life.
Tradition tells us that he came from the
Highlands of Scotland, where he had been
active in the Scottish clans and was obliged
to leave his native hills on account of political
troubles. It is not improbable, however, that
when he came to this country it was from
Kent county, England, for when he settled in
Concord several Kentish families were there
who had preceded him, among them the Mer
riam immigrants, who it has been discovered
came from Kent county, where the name of
Fowle has not been uncommon in its history.
(I) George Fowle brought with him his
wife Mary (maiden name unknown), his
daughter Hannah and his son John. While
in Concord four more children were born to
him, and after his removal to Charlestown five
more were added to the family, making eleven
in all, seven sons and four daughters. Nine
of these children lived to adult years, and six
of the sons and one daughter were married
and raised families, their descendants being
a numerous progeny who have become scat
tered over many parts of the country, although
the majority have remained near their ances
tral homes. George Fowle died in Charles
town, September 19, 1682, aged seventy-two
years (gravestone), showing that he was born
in 1610. His wife died there February 15,
1676-77, aged sixty-three years (gravestone
with husband). By his will dated March n,
1681-82, probated October 3, 1682, he devised
to his sons in minute detail all his property,
the real estate being inventoried at three hun
dred and twenty-one pounds. He was pos
sessed of a military spirit, and joining a train
band was chosen surveyor of arms. This
spirit was transmitted to many of his descend-

120

MASSACHUSETTS.

ants, particularly in the line of his son James,
who settled in Woburn, Massachusetts. Chil
dren: I. Hannah, married 10 (n) 1654-55,
Captain Samuel Ruggles, of Roxbury; died
October 2, 1669. 2. John (Captain), married
25 (n) 1658-59, Anna Carter, daughter of
Thomas and Anna Carter, of Charlestown ;
died at Charlestown, October 13, 171 1. 3.
Mary, born 24 (9) 1640, at Concord, Massa
chusetts ; died there in infancy. 4. Peter, born
2 (10) 1641, at Concord, died at Woburn, De
cember n, 1721 ; married Mary Carter, daugh
ter of Captain John and Elizabeth Carter, of
Woburn ; resided at Charlestown and Woburn.
5. James (Lieutenant), see forward. 6. Mary,
born 9 (12) 1644, at Concord, died at Charles
town, July 4, 1667, unmarried. 7. Abraham,
born at Charlestown; married, July 14, 1679,
Hannah Harris. 8. Zechariah, born at Charles
town, died there 7 (n) 1677-8; married 24
(10) 1675,  Paine, daughter of Stephen
and Elizabeth (Carrington) Paine, of Charles
town. 9. Isaac, born at Charlestown, died
there October 15, 1718, in his seventieth year
(gravestone) ; married, November 30, 1671,
Beriah Bright, daughter of Henry and Anne
(Goldstone) Bright, of Watertown, Massa
chusetts. Isaac and Beriah (Bright) Fowle
were, through their daughter Abigail, great-
grandparents of Abigail (Smith) Adams, wife
of President John Adams and mother of Presi
dent John Quincy Adams, second and sixth
presidents, respectively, of the- United States.
10. Jacob, born at Charlestown; died 1678, at
Boston, n. Elizabeth, born at Charlestown,
January 27, 1655-56; died there in infancy,
March 10, 1656-57.
(II) Lieutenant James, son of George
Fowle, born at Concord, Massachusetts, 12
(1) 1642, died at Woburn, Massachusetts, De
cember 17, 1690, in his forty-ninth year; mar
ried, about 1666, Abigail Carter, born at Wo
burn, April 21, 1648, daughter of Captain
John and Elizabeth Carter, of Woburn. She
married (second) April 18, 1692, Ensign
Samuel Walker, of Woburn, who was a dea
con of the First Church of Woburn from 1692
until his death, January1 18, 1703-04. She
married (third) Deacon Samuel Stone, of
Cambridge Farms, now Lexington, Massa
chusetts, and died, his widow, at Woburn,
May n, 1718, aged seventy-one years (grave
stone). Lieutenant James Fowle was the fifth
child of George Fowle and settled in Woburn
probably at the time he married Abigail Carter,
for their first child, a son, was born in Woburn,
March 4, 1667, and was named James for his

father. As shown by the records he appeared
first in Woburn in 1666, and in 1668 he had a
right in the common lands of the town. In
1672 he was a constable of Woburn. Being
imbued with the military spirit of his father,
he became a member of the train band, first
as a trooper, later, sometime between 1686
and 1689, appointed an ensign by Governor
Edmund Andros and afterwards elected a
lieutenant. As Governor Andros was unpopu
lar with the colonist, Mr. Fowle's appoint
ment met with considerable opposition, and
was the subject of a number of lengthy docu
ments, with the result, however, that the
appointment was allowed to stand. Lieuten
ant Fowle gave evidence of his patriotism by
enlisting in 1690 in the Phipps expedition to
Quebec, Canada, against the French. Owing
to bad management and the excessive cold
weather in Canada, this expedition proved
unsuccessful, and many of the soldiers from
New England died in Canada from colds and
distemper brought on by exposure. There is
little doubt that, while Mr. Fowle was able to
return home, he was afflicted by the prevailing
distemper, for he died December 19, that year.
Previous to this departure on the expedition,
he apparently thought it well to provide against
the possibility of his death while away, as on
July 30, 1690, he made his will, in which he
said: "Being by a call of God bound for
Canada in the expedition against the French
Enemy and not knowing whether I shall ever
return home alive," then disposed of his estate
to his wife and children.
Lieutenant Fowle was a cordwainer or shoe
maker by trade, and lived and had his shop near
where the present Central House stands. In 1678
he was allowed by the town to take in "a little
piece of land behind the Bell Hill," an eleva
tion adjoining his estate, and so called because
upon its summit was then located the bell
whose voice summoned the people to worship
in the church near its base. Upon the westerly
slope of this hill, the town laid out its first
buryng ground, which is still preserved and in
which rest the remains of Lieutenant James
Fowle, his son, Captain James Fowle, and a
number of their descendants, as well as the
ancestors of many other more distinguished
men who were given to the world by the early
sons and daughters of the historic old town
of Woburn. Here were buried Captain Ed
ward Johnson, the "Father of Woburn," Col
onel Loammi Baldwin, of revolutionary fame,
and Moses Cleveland, the emigrant ancestor
of President Grover Cleveland, also ancestor

MASSACHUSETTS.

121

of presidents, Franklin Pierce and William H.
Harrison. From the time when the town
erected one of the old time stone powder
houses, so common in the early clays, upon
this hill, it has been known as Powder House
hill. Lieutenant Fowle was the ancestor of
all the members of the well-known Fowle
family which has always been prominent and
distinguished in Woburn. He was evidently
a man of thrift during his life, as shown by
his holdings of land and buildings at the time
of his death, which comprised the present
Central House lot, and more to the northwest
and southeast on that side of Main street, then
the country road as well as on the opposite
side, his estate showing an appraisal of seven
hundred and fifteen pounds, quite a fortune
for that time. To these lands his descendants
in the succeeding three or four generations
gradually added until the Fowles came to be
among the largest land proprietors in Woburn,
their possessions comprising many acres of
valuable land, with buildings, right in the
heart of the town, land which is now thickly
settled with business blocks, stores, shops and
residences. Children, all born at Woburn: i. Captain
James, March 4, 1667, see forward. 2. Abi
gail, October 15, 1669, died at Woburn, Jan
uary 3, 1690; married, July 29, 1689, Cornet
Jonathan Wyman, son of Lieutenant John and
Sarah (Nutt) Wyman, of Woburn. 3. John
(Captain), March 12, 1671, died at Woburn,
June 13, 1744; married, July 1, 1696, Eliza
beth Preseott, born at Concord, November 27,
1678, daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth
(floar) Preseott, of Concord, Massachusetts.
4. Samuel, September 17, 1674, was a mariner
and died while on a voyage about 1699 or
1700; married Susanna Blaney, born June 13,
1673, at Charlestown, daughter of John and
Mary (Powell) Blaney. 5. Jacob, April 3,
1677, married, November 3, 1701, Mary
Broughton, at Woburn. 6. Elizabeth, Septem
ber 28, 1681, died at Medford, Massachusetts,
February 3, 1764, in her eighty- fourth year
(gravestone) ; married (first) March 2, 1699,
Timothy Walker, son of Deacon Samuel and
Sarah (Reed) Walker, of Woburn; married
(second) Lieutenant Stephen Hall, of Med
ford, born at Charlestown, son of John and
Elizabeth (Green) Hall. 7. Hannah, January
23, 1683-84, married, December 25, 1705,
Samuel Trumbull, son of John and Mary
(Jones) Trumbull, of Charlestown. 8. Mary,
July 18, 1687, no further record found.
(Ill) Captain James (2), son of Lieuten

ant James ( 1 ) Fowle, born at Woburn, March
4, 1667, died there March 19, 1714, aged forty-
seven years and fourteen days (gravestone) ;
married, October 2, 1688, Mary Richardson,
born March 22, 1669, at Woburn, daughter of
Joseph and Hannah (Green) Richardson. She
married (second) Deacon Samuel Walker, of
Woburn, and died his widow at Charlestown,
October 23, 1748, aged eighty years (grave
stone). He was the oldest child of Lieuten
ant James and Abigail (Carter) Fowle, and
the first native of Woburn of that surname.
His homestead was on the site of the present
Central House, on Main street, Woburn, and
it is probable that he built and kept the old
Fowle Tavern, which is supposed to have been
erected about 1691, soon after the death of his
father, and was for a century and a half one
of the most important public houses in Wo
burn and always kept by a Fowle. It was
demolished in 1840 to make way for the Cen
tral House, which was built in that year by
Joseph Rollins and has been Woburn's lead
ing hotel to the present day. The military
spirit was also inherited by this James Fowle,
and as a member of the Woburn Militia Com
pany he became a sergeant, which office he
held from 1693 to 1701, and was a captain
during the last years of his life. Further evi
dence of the soldierly temper possessed by
this family is shown in the fact that a brother
of Captain James (John) was also a captain
and he in turn had a son who bore the title
of Cornet John Fowle. Captain James also
had a son John who rose to the rank of major,
and the latter had three sons, a nephew and
three grandsons who served in the revolu
tionary war. Captain James Fowle was for
thirteen years town clerk of Woburn, from
1701 to 1714; also selectman for fourteen
years ; previous to and during the time he was
town clerk and was a commissioner in 1703
to aid in establishing the province tax accord
ing to act of general court, March, 1703. Cap
tain James and Mary (Richardson) Fowle
had twelve children, only three of whom were
boys and all were born in Woburn. Children :
1. Mary, born June 18, 1689, died March 9,
1762, at Woburn, in her seventy-fourth year
(gravestone) ; married, June 17, 1714, Lieu
tenant James Simonds, son of James and Sus
anna (Blodgett) Simonds, of Woburn. 2.
James, July 20, 1691, died October n, 1706,
(gravestone) at Cambridge, Massachusetts. 3.
Abigail, August 22, 1693, died at Medford,
Massachusetts, February 20, 1759 ; married Jon
athan Thompson, son of Jonathan and Frances

122

MASSACHUSETTS.

(Whitemore) Thompson, of Woburn. 4. John
( Maj or ) , November 1 1 , 1 695, mentioned below.
5. Hannah, September 13, 1697, died at Wil
mington, Massachusetts, May 13, 1788, in
her ninety-first year (gravestone) ; married
Samuel Walker, son of Deacon Samuel and
Judith (Howard) Walker, of Woburn. 6.
Elizabeth, August 9, 1699, died at Lynn, Mass
achusetts, January 28, 1760; married, Decem
ber 28, 1 72 1, Benjamin Newhall, son of Joseph
and Susanna (Farrar) Newhall, of Lynn. 7.
Ruth, April 6, 1701, died in childhood at
Woburn, March 3, 1713. 8. Sarah, July 29,
1703, married, September 24, 1728, James
Richardson, son of Captain James and Eliz
abeth (Arnold) Richardson, of Woburn. 9.
Samuel, June 10, 1705, died at Woburn, Au
gust 13, 1793; married, September 5, 1727,
Susanna Reed, born August 18, 1707, at Wo
burn, daughter of Lieutenant Joseph and
Phebe (Walker) Reed. 10. Esther, May 29,
1707, married, November 2, 1726, Nathan
Simonds, son of James and Susanna (Blod-
gett) Simonds, of Woburn, and brother of
Lieutenant James Simonds, who married
Mary, eldest sister of Esther, n. Martha,
March 12, 1709, died at Boston, September
5, 1794, and was buried in King's Chapel bury
ing ground ; married (first) August n, 1737,
Rev. Supply Clapp, son of Deacon Samuel
and Mary (Paul) Clapp, of Dorchester, Mass
achusetts. He was a member of the Second
Church, Woburn Precinct, now Burlington,
Massachusetts, organized in 1735. He died
at Woburn, December 28, 1747, and she mar
ried (second) Colonel Nathaniel Thwing, of
Boston. 12. Catherine, September 20, 171 1,
died at Charlestown, December 25, 1790; mar
ried, March 4, 1730, Josiah Whittemore, of
Charlestown. (IV) Major John, son of Captain James
(2) Fowle, born at Woburn, November n,
1695, died there September 28, 1775, in his
eightieth year ; married, December 25, 1718,
Mary Converse, born January 12, 1702, daugh
ter of Captain Josiah and Ruth (Marshall)
Converse, of Woburn. The home of Major
John Fowle and family was a large gambrel
roof house, a most imposing one for the period,
which he erected on the country road, now the
junction of Main, Salem and Broad streets,
in the business centre of Woburn. It was
built about one hundred and eighty years ago
but its original form and appearance have
been preserved in excellent condition, although
it is now occupied as a grocery store. In the
early part of the nineteenth century, a John

Flagg kept a tavern there and for that reason
it became known as the Flagg House. Major
John Fowle was captain of a Woburn military
company from 1738 to 1748, when he was
promoted to the rank of major and bore this
title until his death. He served as major in
Colonel Jonathan Tyng's regiment from Sep
tember 9, 1755, to January 3, 1756, during
the period of the French and Indian war.
There is in existence a bayonet roll at the
State House, Boston, of members of the com
pany in Woburn of which he was captain, the
East Company so called. He was a selectman
of Woburn in 1741, this appearing to be the
only civil office held by him. He was appar
ently a man of considerable energy and enter
prise and he seems to have made quite a for
tune by the sale of the province lands, gra,nted
to the soldiers of the various wars and their
descendants. The method of his dealings was to buy up
the shares of these lands from the soldiers or
their legal heirs and then dispose of them at
a profit through the founding of new towns.
He made investments in different parts of the
provinces and is known to have been one of
the four original proprietors of Peterborough,
New Hampshire, the three others being Jere
miah Gridley, John Hill and Peter Preseott.
Gridley was one of the most eminent men and
the greatest lawyer of his time, termed at his
death "the great lawyer of the province and
father of the bar of Boston, master and guide
of John Adams in his legal studies." He was
also a colonel of militia, and from 1755 until
his death in 1767 was grand master of all the
Masons of America. John Hill, a prominent
business man of Boston, who held many muni
cipal offices, was a member of the governor's
council for eight years and was also a colonel
in the militia. Besides Petersborough, he was
concerned either as grantee or proprietor in
the founding of a number of towns in New
Hampshire, among them Hillsborough which
was named for him. Lieutenant Peter Pres
eott, the fourth proprietor, was the son of
Major Jonathan Preseott, an eminent physi
cian of Concord, Massachusetts, and one of
the most distinguished men of that town. Peter
Preseott was from 1755 to 1762 engaged
mostly in military service, but before and
after this he was deeply immersed in land
speculation, being connected in the establish
ing of a number of New Hampshire towns.
Major John Fowle was a factor of importance
in some fifteen or more enterprises of this
nature, including towns in both New Hamp-

MASSACHUSETTS.

123

shire and Maine. In his native town of Wo
burn he had an honorable name and an un
blemished reputation for social and business
honor. Children, all born and died in Woburn :
1. James, June 13, 1720, died April 10, 1793;
married, November 28, 1744, Mary Reed, born
June 24, 1726, at Woburn, daughter of Lieu
tenant Israel and Hannah (Wyman) Reed.
2. John, February 1, 1726, died October. 15,
1786; married, December 28, 1759, Bridget
Burbeen, born July 17, 1742, at Woburn,
daughter of Joseph and Esther (Poole) Bur-
been. He was an eminent school teacher of
his time, a graduate of Harvard College and
was distinguished by the title of "Master
Fowle." 3. Josiah, July 14, 1731, see forward.
4. Mary, May 12, 1734, died November 27,
1796; married, April 24, 1760, Joshua Wyman
Jr., son of Joshua and Mary Wyman, of
Woburn. 5. Leonard, January 8, 1737, died
January 16, 1798. He was not married.
(V) Josiah, son of Major John Fowle,
born July 14, 1731, at Woburn, died there
February 28, 1805; married, March, 1752,
Margery Carter, born August 3, 1730, at Wo
burn, daughter of Captain Samuel and Mar
gery (Dickson) Carter. Captain Carter was'
a son of Captain John Carter, one of Woburn's
earliest and most distinguished men. Captain
Samuel Carter lived to the great age of ninety-
three years, and his daughter, Mrs. Fowle, to
the age of eighty-two years. Josiah Fowle
was an extensive farmer with large holdings
of land, comprising between one hundred and
two hundred acres, in one of the most valuable
and sightly portions of Woburn, extending
from the country road, now Main street, at
the business centre of the town, east of Ever
ett street, southerly to near the Winchester
line, west of the then so-called English hills
and along what is now known as Woburn
Highlands. His dwelling was beautifully sit
uated on a knoll, on the present fine estate of
Mr. James Skinner, a retired leather manufac
turer and one of Woburn's wealthiest citizens.
This is on Montvale avenue, which in the early
days was the Woburn end of the old Woburn
and Salem turnpike. On the morning of April
19, 1775, in response to the alarm which called
the minute-men and others to arms to oppose
the British soldiers who were on their way to
Concord, a military company from Danvers
stopped to rest on the farm of Josiah Fowle,
but being too late to proceed to Lexington
they continued on to Menotomy, now Arling
ton, to intercept the enemy there on their
return from Concord and Lexington. Here

they met the British but were subjected to
great slaughter and many of their bodies now
rest in the old Arlington burying ground.
Josiah Fowle was then a member of Captain
Jonathan Fox's company, the East Company
of Woburn, and at the time of the arrival of
the Danvers soldiers at his home he was in
Lexington harassing the British while on their
retreat through that town to Cambridge and
Charlestown. He continued in service thirty
days at that time, and is also credited with
considerable additional service before 1777,
including five months at Ticonderoga in the
company of Captain Jesse Wyman, who suc
ceeded Captain Fox, when the latter was made
a colonel, and five months at the lines ; also in
Captain Jonas Richardson's company, Colonel
James Frye's regiment; also in Captain
Abishai Browne's company, Colonel Josiah
Whitney's regiment. His record seems, how
ever, to be confused with that of his son
Josiah Jr., who also rendered long service in
the revolution. The farm of Josiah Fowle
was divided after his death, in accordance with
his will, between his sons, his son William
receiving the old homestead and about one
hundred acres of land to the south, and his
son John a portion of the farm to the north,
from the turnpike to the country road. Chil
dren, all born at Woburn: 1. Josiah, March
20, 1754, married, April 13, 1780, at Boston,
Abigail Belknap, born July 16, 1758, at Wo
burn, daughter of Captain Samuel and Abigail
(Lewis) Belknap. 2. John (Deacon), No
vember 10, 1755, see forward. 3. Mary, Octo
ber 9, 1761, died November 1, 1835, at Wo
burn; married (first) March 9, 1781, Sergeant
Luke Richardson, son of Ebenezer and Mary
Richardson, of Woburn; (second) May 12,
1785, Dr. Sylvanus Plympton, of Woburn. 4.
William, April 25, 1763, died July 17, 1850,
at Woburn, aged eighty-seven years ; married,
November 7, 1782, Sarah Richardson, born
January 29, 1767, at Woburn, daughter of
Jeduthan and Mary (Wright) Richardson. 5.
Margery, October 6, 1767, died August 8,
1799, at Woburn; married, May 26, 1791, at
Woburn, Colonel Loammi Baldwin, a distin
guished colonel at the battle of Lexington and
Concord, April 19, 1775, and served after
wards as lieutenant-colonel and colonel until
during the year 1777; when he resigned on
account of ill health. He took a prominent
part in the construction of the Middlesex
canal, completed in 1803, one of the earliest
enterprises of the sort in the United States.
He discovered the apple which has become

124

MASSACHUSETTS.

famous under the name of the Baldwin apple '
and cultivated and introduced it to public
notice*. He was a son of James and Ruth
(Richardson) Baldwin, of Woburn. Margery
Fowle was his second wife, he having first
married Mary Fowle, her cousin, daughter of
James and Mary (Reed) Fowle, and grand
daughter of Major John Fowle.
(VI) Deacon John (2), son of Josiah
Fowle, born November 10, 1755, at Woburn,
died there December 29, 1834; married, Octo
ber 18, 1780, Lois Richardson, born June 10,
1759, at Woburn, only child of Jesse and
Jemima (Brooks) Richardson. He was one
of the most prominent citizens of Woburn in
his time, a- man of the highest character, who
enjoyed great confidence and esteem for his
integrity and many virtues. A pillar of the
First Baptist Church, he was a deacon for
thirty-five years, from 1799 until his death,
and for a number of years its clerk and treas
urer. In civic affairs he was honored by being
chosen a selectman for the years 1802-03-05-
06, and town treasurer during the years 1826-
27-28-31. He was a cooper by trade and for
many years made and supplied stores and
families with tubs and water pails. During
the last years of his life he was a cripple,
caused primarily by rheumatism in his limbs,
contracted as the result of exposure while in
the revolutionary war. He was also a great
sufferer from eczema of the limbs, and was
obliged to use crutches for more than fifteen
years. He grew very stout, and for six years
he was unable to go up stairs to see his young
est son Eldridge, who was bedridden for years
and until his death in 1832 in a room on the
second floor, caused by a fall which seriously
injured his spine. If it be true that "whom
the Lord loveth he chaseneth," Deacon John
Fowle was surely one of His well beloved,
for even in his last hours he was a terrible
sufferer, his death being caused by stoppage of
the bowels. Deacon John Fowle lived for a
time in the westerly half of the house built
by his grandfather, Major John Fowle, and
one afternoon, while standing in his front
doorway during a thunder storm he narrowly
escaped death, being rendered unconscious by
a bolt of lightning which passed by him and
out of the back doorway, by way of the hall
way, both doors being open. It continued on
to his pen of swine in the rear of the house,
killing one of their number. About 1817 he
removed to a new dwelling which he had
caused to be erected a short distance down the
country road. Here he lived until his death

in 1834, and his widow until her death in
1840. This dwelling is now the rear portion
of the building owned by Thomas Moore, and
occupied by him for a grocery. Deacon John
Fowle as a soldier of the revolution is sup
posed to have served at Bunker Hill, Charles
town, for three months in 1778, in Captain
Wyman's company, Colonel Jacob Gerrish's
regiment of guards, this company being de
tached to guard General Burgoyne's army.
He is also said to have been a volunteer on
board a privateer and also served as a mem
ber of the pioneer corps of the army near
Ticonderoga, being brought home from there
on a litter, placed on a wagon and exposed to
constant rains without change of garments,
this bringing on the rheumatism from which
he suffered so much in after life.
Deacon John and Lois (Richardson) Fowle
had eleven children, nearly all of whom were
remarkable for longevity. Children: 1. Lydia
Richardson, born February 4, 1781, at Lynn,
died December 30, 1859, at Woburn; married,
January 26, 1 802, at Woburn, Ezra Kimball,
of Ipswich, Massachusetts. 2. Mary, October
28, 1782, at Charlestown, died March 13, 1854,
at Woburn; married, April 28, 1805, at Wo
burn, Jonathan Converse, of Woburn, son of
Josiah and Hepzibah (Brooks) Converse. 3.
John, June 27, 1784, at Lynn, died January
21, 1877, at Stoneham; married Eleanor John
son, of Boston, daughter of John and Eleanor
Johnson. 4. Jesse Richardson, June 24, 1786,
at Lynn, died November 10, 1859, at Woburn;
married (first) June 5, 1814, at Woburn, Mary
(Polly) Bruce, born February 19, 1788, at
Woburn, died there April 5, 1845, daughter of
John Jr. and Sarah (Johnson) Bruce. He
married (second) April 7, 1846, at Woburn,
Mary (Knight) Beers, born at Newburyport,
widow of Uri Beers, of Woburn. 5. Mar
gery, Woburn, June 7, 1788, died there Au
gust 28, 1847, aged fifty-nine years; married,
December 22, 1808, at Woburn, Jonathan
Thompson, of Woburn, son of Captain Jon
athan and Mary (Richardson) Thompson. 6.
Leonard, Woburn, November 21, 1790, see
forward] 7. Lois, Woburn, January 6, 1793,
died July 10, 1887; married George Cheney
Allen, of Sterling, Massachusetts, son of
Daniel and Mary (Polly) (Houghton) Allen.
8. Myra, Woburn, March 29, 1795, died March
10, 1873, at Woburn; married, June 28, 1821,
at Woburn, William Flagg, of Woburn, son
of John and Abigail (Thompson) Flagg. 9.
Josiah, Woburn, December 9, 1797, died there
January 15, 1870; married, August 12, 1827,



CU0ir^?Lscr£j^

MASSACHUSETTS.

125

at Woburn, Kezia Baldwin, born May 1, 1806,
at Nashua, New Hampshire, daughte'r of Dea
con James Baldwin, of Nashua. 10. Euseba
H, Woburn, December 21, 1800, died May,
1889, at Roxbury; married, November 20,
1825, at Woburn, John Vinton Jr., of Boston,
son of John and Rebecca (Cartw right) Vinton.
n. Elbridge, Woburn, March 25, 1803, died
there January 26, 1832, unmarried.
(VII) Deacon Leonard, son of Deacon
John (2) Fowle, born November 21, 1790,
died June 18, 1873, at Woburn; married, De
cember 27, 1818, at Woburn, Ruby Lucina
Adams, born at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, daugh
ter of Jonathan and Olive Adams. He learned
the trade of cooper from his father, and for a
number of years during his early manhood
made distillers' barrels, but after a time he
abandoned this, mastered the carpenter's trade
and became a prominent contractor and
builder. He owned land on the easterly side
of Main street, north and south of Green
street, and built a dozen or more houses there
for sale and to let, all of which are still stand
ing. He also built houses for others in other
sections of the town. When the Woburn
branch of the Boston and Lowell railroad was
built in, the road 'bed of the -company was laid
out through his land, in the rear of the houses
he had erected. He was a very upright and
honorable man in all his dealings and greatly
esteemed by his fellowmen. He was a most
influential member of the First Baptist Church,
but with other leading members he became
dissatisfied with certain policies and reforms
advocated by younger members who had united
with the church during a revival, and after a
protracted contention he led a body of forty-
five members in asking for a dismissal, which
was finally granted, and an independent society
was formed of which he was chosen a deacon.
In politics he was a staunch Democrat and a
believer in the rights of the states. He served
the town as a selectman in 1838-39, and in
1838 was also a deputy to the general court
of Massachusetts. Children: 1. James Leon
ard, born September 2, 1820, see forward. 2.
John Adams, January 12, 1823, at Woburn,
died there April 9, 1832. 3. Charles Adams,
February 26, 1825, at Woburn, died there
June 24, 1864; married, May 9, 1850, at Lynn,
Elizabeth Amanda Ingalls, born October 4,
1830, at Lynn, daughter of Ephraim and Eliz
abeth (Goon) Ingalls.
(VIII) James Leonard, son of Deacon
Leonard and Ruby Lucina (Adams) Fowle,
was born at Woburn, September 2, 1820, died

there August 30, 1892; married (first) March
27, 1845, Luthera Tay, daughter of Josiah
and Susanna (Johnson) Tay, of Woburn, and
a lineal descendant, through her mother's line,
of Captain Edward Johnson, one of the
founders of the town and called the "Father
of Woburn." She died at Woburn, February
10, 1869, and he married (second) August 31,
1876, Mrs. Christina Annie Scantlan, of Wo
burn. Early in life Mr. Fowle learned the
tailoring trade in Boston with Peter Fisk, and
followed that occupation the remainder of his
life or for more than half a century. In 1842,
at the age of twenty- two years, he formed a
partnership in the tailoring business in Woburn
with Gawin R. Gage, who had been employed
as a cutter by Tallman Seeley of that town.
The firm was Gage & Fowle, and they con
tinued in partnership until August, 1853, when
Mr. Fowle withdrew but remained in the em
ploy of Mr. Gage and his subsequent partner
and successor up to the time of his last sick
ness. Mr. Fowle's tastes and habits were
essentially domestic. He belonged to no clubs
or fraternal organizations, was wholly indif
ferent to official honors, and in consequence
never held public office. While exceptionally
modest and retiring, no man was better known
in the community or enjoyed a larger share
of the confidence and esteem of his fellowmen.
He possessed many admirable traits of char
acter, was always courteous, the soul of honor,
upright and honest, cheerful, kind and com
panionable, and his death was sincerely
lamented. Children by first wife, all born at
Woburn: 1. Isabella Lucina, December 30,
1845, died at Woburn, May 22, 1903; married,
June 15, 1871, Charles Frederick Patch, of
Lynn, Massachusetts, who died at Lynn, Jan
uary 24, 1873. He was then city treasurer,
and had been a member of the city council. 2.
Arthur Adams, December 3, 1847, see for
ward. 3. Frank Johnson, October 22, 1849,
died April 28, 1855, at Woburn. 4. Lena,
March 26, 1852, died June 15, 1854, at Wo
burn, 5. Charles Francis, January 23, 1858,
unmarried, living at Woburn. 6. Freddie,
October 19, 1863, died January 6, 1869, at
Woburn. (IX) Arthur Adams, son of James Leon
ard and Luthera (Tay) Fowle, born at Wo
burn, December 3, 1847, married, June 12,
1877, Kate Wallace Munn, born August 9,
1849, at Woburn, daughter of Charles and
Eliza Minerva (Kane) Munn. He is manag
ing editor of The Boston Globe, one of the
most influential daily and Sunday newspapers

126

MASSACHUSETTS.

in New England, which responsible position
he has held since 1884. Through his journal
istic training he has become self-educated and
self-mastered, and is in fact a self-made man
in the best sense the term implies. With a
singular definiteness of purpose he has de
voted himself exclusively to the work of assist
ing in the building up of the phenominally
successful newspaper which is his life's source
of satisfaction and pride, and has lived to see
it grow from an unprofitable enterprise to the
position of leadership in circulation and good
paying business in New England. Mr. Fowle's
early education was acquired in the public
schools of Woburn, after leaving which he
went to learn the trade of a currier, the tan
ning and currying of leather being in those
days, as now, a very important industry in
New England, praticularly north of Boston,
with Woburn a great centre of this industry.
But the trend of the young man's mind did not
lead towards a business career, and the currying
shop proving distasteful to him after six years
of experience, he turned, instinctively it would
seem, to newspaper work, beginning on the
lowest rung of the ladder, as utility man on
The Woburn Journal, a weekly publication in
his- native town. While engaged on this paper
he became local reporter for The Boston Globe,
and his talent in this line being soon recog
nized, he was given a position in Boston as
general reporter. His salary was only the
modest sum of eight dollars per week, although
he was then rising to twenty-six years of age,
but merit and faithfulness were not long in
bringing their reward, and once begun, his
promotions followed one another rapidly.
During the next ten years he occupied succes
sively the editorial chair as city editor, day-
news editor, night-news editor, sporting editor,
assistant managing editor, and finally the
highest position in the news department, that
of managing editor. One of the great achieve
ments while a reporter, and which stamped
him as being endowed with the true newspaper
instinct, was the obtaining for The Globe ex
clusively the confession from Thomas H.
Piper of his murder of little Mabel Young.
The sporting department of The Globe was
organized by Mr. Fowle, and he was credited
with having- been the most successful sporting
editor that Boston journalism had ever known,
although he was not a devotee of sports, and
was only interested in them in connection with
his newspaper duties.
Mr. Fowle is quiet and unassuming in his
manner, and always approachable, and is popu

lar with and highly respected by all his co
workers for his sterling character and the gen
eral friendliness of his relations with them.
This was sincerely demonstrated on December
2, 1897, on the eve of his fiftieth birthday
anniversary, when the editors and reporters
of The Globe and other employees tendered
him a banquet in the parlors of Young's Hotel,
Boston, on which occasion General Charles H.
Taylor, editor-in-chief and principal owner of
the paper, joined heartily with his subordinates
in paying a remarkable tribute to the worth
and exceptional success of Mr. Fowle in his
chosen vocation, while at the same time they
presented him with a substantial token of
their esteem in the form of a so-called "Klon
dike birthday cake," out of which, "when the
cake was opened," instead of "four and twenty
blackbirds," as from the pie set before the
King, there came fifty gilded half eagles incu
bated at the mint of Uncle Sam. For days
following this event congratulations in letters
and newspaper editorial expressions poured
in upon him from all over the country. Mr.
Fowle is partial to domestic life and has re
cently built a dwelling of attractive colonial
architecture in one of the best sections of
Woburn. Here he will pass the remainder of
his days in comfort and contentment, the re
ward of faithfulness to duty well performed.
He is still in the prime of life and in excellent
health, and is likely to be the presiding genius
over the newspaper department of The Globe
for many years to come. In religion Mr.
Fowle and family are Unitarians; he is a
Democrat in politics, although he has never
been active or held public office, and belongs
to no societies or clubs. In his young man
hood he was affiliated with the militia as a
member of the Woburn Mechanic Phalanx,
Company G, Fifth Regiment, Massachusetts
Volunteer Militia, from 1869 to 1875.
Children, born at Woburn: 1. Leonard
Munn, July 27, 1878, married, June 10, 1903,
at Boston, Grace Agnes Cummings, born De
cember 16, 1882, at Woburn, daughter of Wil
bur Eustace and Lizzie Katharine (Smith)
Cummings. He was educated in the Woburn
public schools, at the Holderness School,
Plymouth, New Hampshire, and at the Massa
chusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.
He is now yachting editor of The Boston
Globe. They have one child, Leonard Munn
Jr., born February 16, 1904, at Woburn. They
reside at Marblehead, Massachusetts. 2.
Donald Adams, May 24, 1889, at Woburn.
He attended the public schools of Woburn

MASSACHUSETTS.

127

for a number of years and is now a student
at the Rindge Manual Training School, at
Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Gage family is descended
GAGE from the Norman race. In 1066,
de Gaga, de Guaga or De Gage, as
the name is variously spelled, accompanied
William Duke of Normandy in his Conquest
of England, and was rewarded, according to
the records of the Domesday Book, by large
grants of land in the forest of Dean, county
Gloucester. He resided near that forest and
built a mansion there in Cirencester, called
Clerenwell or Clarewell, and his descendants
lived in that vicinity for centuries, including
many persons of wealth and some of title.
The pedigree of the American family is traced
as far back as John Gage, who was living in
1408. (II) John (2), son of John (1) Gage, mar
ried Eleanor St. Clere.
(Ill) John (3), son of John (2) Gage,
was knighted in 1454 and died September 30,
i486. (IV) William Esq., heir and son^of John
(3) Gage, was born 1456, married Agnes
Bolney. (V) Sir John (4), son of William Gage,
was born 1480, married Phillippa Guildeford,
and was knighted May 22, 1541. He died
April 28, 1557.
(VI) Sir Edward, eldest son of Sir John
(4) Gage, was knighted by Queen Mary ; was
a man of great wealth; father of fifteen chil
dren. (VII) Thomas, son of Sir Edward Gage,
had a son John.
(VIII) John (5), who inherited the estate
of his grandfather through his uncle, John
Gage, was made a baronet March 26, 1622;
married Penelope, widow of Sir George
Trenchard, and died October 3, 1633, leaving
nine children.
(IX) John. (6), son of John (5) Gage,
was the immigrant ancestor. It is generally
believed that he came from Stoneham, county
Suffolk, England, though one authority claims
that he was from Groton in the same county.
He came to America in one of Winthrop's
companies. According to his deposition made
in 1659, he was born in 1609, but according
to another made three years later, he was
born in 1604. He settled first in Boston, and
was a member of the church there as early
as 1630, among the first. He was admitted
a freeman, March 4, 1633-34. He was one of

the first settlers of Ipswich, April 1, 1633,
and was dismissed from the Boston church to
that of Ipswich, September 10, 1643. He was a
town officer and on the committee on allotments
of lands at Ipswich. He is called corporal on
the records of Ipswich in 1639, and sergeant
on those of Bradford in 1670. In 1664 he
removed to that part of Rowley which became
Bradford, and died there March 24, 1672-73.
His will was proved March 25, 1673, the day
after his death. He married (first) Anna
or Amee  , who died in June, 1658, at
Ipswich. He married (second) November,
1658, Sarah Keyes, widow of Robert Keyes.
She died in Newbury, July 7, 1681, and her
estate was divided among her three daughters,
wives of William Smith, John French and
Samuel Buswell, by order of the court. John
Gage deeded a lot of land to his grandson
John, son of his son, Benjamin Gage, Decem
ber 12, 1672, having promised his son Benja
min on his marriage to Prudence Leaver, a
certain gift of land. Children by first wife,
born in Ipswich: 1. Samuel, 1638, married,
June 16, 1674, Sarah Stickney. 2. Daniel,
1639, mentioned below. 3. Benjamin, married,
October n, 1671, Prudence Leaver. 4.
Nathaniel, born 1645. 5. Jonathan, married,
November 12, 1667, Hester Chandler. 6.
Josiah, born 1648, married, May 15, 1669,
Lydia Ladd.
(X) Daniel, son of John (6) Gage, was
born in 1639, according to his deposition made
March 29, 1669, that he was aged thirty years.
He died at Bradford, November 8, 1705. He
married, May 4, 1675, Sarah Kimball, born
about 1654, died September 15, 1692, daugh
ter of Henry and Mary (Wyatt) Kimball, of
Wenham. Children, born at Bradford: 1.
Daniel, March 12, 1676, mentioned below. 2.
John, January 1, 1677. 3. Sarah, April 29,
died August 24, 1679. 4. Samuel, May 9,
1680. 5. Mary, February 1, 1681-82, married
Samuel Griffin. 6. Mehitable, September 16,
died November 6, 1683. 7. Lydia, January
30, 1684-85, married Ebenezer Burbank. 8.
Sarah, January 4, 1686-87. 9. Abigail, Octo
ber 4, 1687, died October 2, 1723. 10. Han
nah, February 17, 1690.
(XI) Daniel (2), son of Daniel (1) Gage,
was born in Bradford, March 12, 1676, died
March 14, 1747-48 (gravestone at Bradford).
He was a member of the North Regiment in
Essex, under Captain Heseltine, of Bradford,
in 1710, the company which were appointed
to keep snowshoes and moccasins. He
lived in the northwest part of Bradford on

128

MASSACHUSETTS.

the banks of the Merrimac river, on what was
then the main road to Methuen. He owned a
ferfy which was known as Gage's or the Upper
Ferry. On the place where he lived stood, at
last accounts, the oldest house in the town,
known as the Gage house. He married (first)
March 9, 1697-98, Martha Burbank, born Feb
ruary 22, 1679-80, died September 8, 1741,
daughter of Caleb and Martha (Smith) Bur-
bank. He married (second) May 12, 1742,
Margaret, daughter of Jonathan Harriman,
and widow of Jonathan Boynton. She mar
ried (third) John Stewart. Children of first
wife, born in Bradford: 1. Mehitable, De
cember 20, 1698. 2. Josiah, December 3, 1701.
3. Martha, April 7, 1703-04, married James
Wilson. 4. Lydia, May 24, 1705. 5. Moses,
May 1, 1706. 6. Daniel, April 22, 1708. 7.
Sarah, February 19, 1709-10, married, May
16, 1731, Edmund Hardy. 8. Jemima, Decem
ber 2, 171 1, married (first) November 8,
1733, Richard Kimball Jr.; (second) John
YVebster. 9. Naomi, February 25, 1714-15,
married, September 22, 1737, David flail.
10. Esther, May 15, 1716, married Au
gust 1, 1739, Jonathan Currier, n. Amos,
July 28, 1 7 18, mentioned below. 12. Abigail,
December 22, 1720, died young. 13. Mary,
August 31, 1722, married, November 17, 1744,
Ebenezer Goodhue. 14. Abigail, March 13,
1724-25. (XII) Captain Amos, son of Daniel (2)
Gage, was born in Bradford, July 28, 1718,
died September 8, 1792. He was captain of
one of the five companies raised by New
Hampshire for reinforcing Fort Edward dur
ing the French and Indian war, and was sta
tioned at No. 4, now Charlestown, New Hamp
shire, by order of General Webb. He was also
captain of a company of volunteers which
marched from Pelham, New Hampshire, Sep
tember 29, 1777, and joined the Northern
army at Saratoga, during the revolution.
He married, December 18, 1740, Mehitable
Kimball, born November 27, 1721, died Feb
ruary 16, 1794, daughter of John and Mar
garet (Hutchins) Kimball. Children, born in
Pelham, New Hampshire: 1. Daniel, October
5, 1 741, died in the French and Indian war.
2. Elizabeth, December 22, 1743, married
(first) March 2, 1765, Benjamin Cole; (sec
ond) September 10, 1778, Samuel Kimball.
3. Asa, April 5, 1746. 4. Sarah, August 20,
1748, married, April 29, 1791, Daniel Barker.
5. Betsey, 1751, died December 28, 1754. 6.
Deborah, May 8, 1753, married, March 27,
1790, Peter Austin. 7. Abel, November 18,

1755, mentioned below. 8. Amos, August 9,
1758, in the revolution. 9. Daniel, September
28, 1 76 1, in the revolution.
(XIII) Abel, son of Captain Amos Gage,
was born in Pelham, New Hampshire, Novem
ber 18, 1755, the day of the great earthquake,
and died September 3, 1846. He served as a
soldier in the revolution in 1776, and received
a pension for the last twenty-eight years of
his life. He kept school several seasons in
different parts of the town, in private houses.
He was prominent in town affairs, an esteemed
citizen. He was elected selectman for more
than half the years between thirty and sixty
of his own age. He held the office of deacon
of the church for about forty-five years, until
the infirmities of age forced him to resign.
It is claimed that he was the first to attempt
stone quarrying in the country, and was re
markably successful, considering his primitive
methods. The centre meeting house in Dra-
cut, built about 1782, the present town house
in Pelham, as it was originally, afford speci
mens of his work. He married, January 13,
1780, Abigail Runnels (see Runnels family).
She died. August 2, 1825, aged seventy. Chil
dren, born in Pelham: 1. Sarah, January 20,
1781, married, May n, 1819, Henry March;
died September 8, 1827. 2. Billy Runnels,
February 20, 1783, mentioned below. 3. Me
hitable, January 30, 1785, died February 5,
1789. 4. Hannah, April 26, 1787. 5. Mehit
able, February 5, 1789, died July 31, 1861.
6. Amos, March 22, 1791, married Celinda
Hovey. 7. Stephen, August 4, 1792, married,
December 22, 1818, Olive Bradford; died May
9, 1834. 8. Deborah, November 21, 1795;
married (first) April 8, 1823, Joel Butler;
(second) Seth Cutter Jr., October 23, 1832;
died September 14, 1864. 9. Abel, November
23, 1798, married, December 6, 1826, Anna
Moody Johnson.
(XIV) Billy Runnels, son of Abel Gage,
was born in Pelham, New Hampshire, Febru
ary 20, 1783, died March 7, 1837. He resided
in Londonderry, New Hampshire. He mar
ried (first) July 23, 1805, Abigail Hall, of
Pelham, who died April 19, 1808, aged twenty-
three years, ten months, fie married (second)
November n, 1813, Rebecca Wilson, of Pel
ham, who died November 30, 18 16, aged
thirty- four. He married (third) Nancy Ander
son, of Londonderry, who died August 19,
1865, aged eighty-one years, ten months. He
and his three wives are buried in Londonderry
and gravestones mark their resting place.
Child of first wife: Caleb, born October 2,

MASSACHUSETTS.

129

1806, blacksmith of Manchester, New Hamp
shire; married Susan Claggett, of London
derry, June 25, 1830. By second wife: Charles,
born March 5, 181 5, carpenter of Bedford,
New Hampshire; married Mary Newton, of
Henniker. By third wife: 1. William Wash
ington, born December 30, 1818, dry goods
merchant of Boston; married, September 27,
1846, Sarah W. Griffin. 2. Leander, October
2, 1820, mentioned below. 3. Abigail, June
20, 1822, married, May, 1850, Charles Henry
Hall. 4. Aaron Hardy, November 13, 1824,
lived in Londonderry; married, May, 1850,
Hannah Humphrey; served in the civil war
and removed to California. 5. John Ander
son, June 25, 1827, boot and shoe maker of
Derry, New Hampshire ; married, May 6,
1 85 1, Martha Tenney.
(XV) Leander, son of Billy Runnels Gage,
was born October 2, 1820, in Londonderry,
New Hampshire, fle was a boot and shoe
worker of Braintree, Massachusetts. He mar
ried there, June 18, 1844, Mary Denton Allen,
of Braintree, born January 8, 1824, at East
Braintree, died April 19, 1903. Leander Gage
left Braintree about 1872 and was not after
ward heard from. Children: 1. William
Leander, born December 20, 1845, mentioned
below. 2. Richard Allen, April 2, 1848, died
January 30, 1851. 3. Charles Henry Hall,
June 28, 1850, died June 9, 1863. 4. Richard
Allen, July 16, 1852. 5. Elizabeth Denton,
July 16, 1854, died October 7, 1854. 6. Fred
erick Allen, August 15, 1855, died October 11,
1855. (XVI) William Leander, son of Leander
Gage, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts,
December 20, 1845. He received his edu
cation in the public schools of his native town.
He began his career as a shoe manufacturer
associated with his father. Later he was clerk
and superintendent for several large concerns
in Braintree. At present he is in the office ofthe
Fore River Ship-building Company, Quincy.
He enlisted for three months in the civil war,
serving in the Forty-second Massachusetts
Regiment in 1864. In politics he is a Repub
lican. In religion he is a Christian Scientist.
He is a member of Grand Army of the Re
public, Post No. 87, General Sylvanus Thayer.
He married, June 20, 1876, Mary Ella Burr,
bom April 15, 1852, daughter of Henry Dor
chester and Martha (Packard) Burr, of
Quincy (see Burr family). Children, born at
Braintree : 1. Bessie May, May 14, 1877, mar
ried Harry Warren Bond, engaged in the
First National Bank of Boston as discount
i-9

clerk; child, Marian Bond, bora March 14,
1902. 2. Charles H, July 21, 1878, assistant
manager of the Fisk rubber works of Chicopee
Falls, Massachusetts. 3. Nina Belle, January
18, 1880, married, June 30, 1908, H. Clifton
Woodsum, manager of the stock-room of the
Boston Gear Works of Norfolk Downs. 4.
Flenry Chester, February 8, 1883, an elec
trician in Hartford, Connecticut.
(The Burr Line).
Simon Burr, immigrant ancestor, was born
in England and settled in Hingham, Massa
chusetts. His wife Rose died June 24, 1647.
He married (second) November 28, 1648,
Hester  , who died February 3, 1692-93.
He died February 7, 1691-92, and his son
Simon was administrator. Children: 1. Esther,
died December 20, 1645. 2. Henry, died Feb
ruary 14, 1645. 3. Simon, baptized February
25, 1654-55. 4. Hannah, baptized February
25. 1654-55. 5. John, born January 6, 1659.
6. Jonathan, born June 13, 1665, died in the
Canadian Expedition of 1690.
(VI) Timothy, descendant of Simon Burr,
was born about 1780. He died at Haverhill,
Massachusetts, fle married Sarah Fairchild.
Children: 1. Samuel. 2. Henry Dorchester,
mentioned below. 3. Elizabeth. 4. Sarah. 5.
Charlotte. 6. Mary.
(VII) Henry Dorchester, son of Timothy
Burr, was born in Boston, April 27, 1810, died
March 7, 1893, at Quincy, Massachusetts. He
was educated in the public schools, was a
mariner until 1876, had charge of the road
work in Quincy for a time. He was a Meth
odist in religion and a Republican in politics.
He married Martha Packard, born May 30,
1818, at Milton, Maine, died July 4, 1880, at
Quincy. Children: 1. flenry Dorchester, born
September 24, 1837, married (first) Emily
Leo; (second) Mary S. McCarthy; child of
first wife: Herbert Willis; child of second
wife : Lillian ; he resides at Neponset, Massa
chusetts. 2. James, October 6, 1839, at Quincy,
married Elizabeth A. Clapp; died in 1893;
children: Elmer E., Fred L, George S.,
Mabel. 3. Child, died in infancy. 4. Martha
A., 1842. 5. Joseph A., 1847, married Jessie
A. Jollimore, of Brockton. 6. Mary Ella,
1852, married William Leander Gage (see
Gage family). 7. Ida A., August, 1858, mar
ried Walter Rogers, of Marshfield; child,
Lena Rogers. (The Runnels Line).
The name Runnels is of Scotch origin, from
Runnels, meaning a small brook. It has been

130

MASSACHUSETTS.

thought by some that the families of Runnels
or Runnells and Reynolds were the same, but
they were evidently distinct. Many branches
of the family have changed their name to
Reynolds, but there are none of the Runnels
name among the Reynolds families. The
Reynolds family, moreover, is of English origin.
The only coat-of-arms borne by the Runnels
family is : Argent masoned sable upon a chief
indented of the last, a plate charged with a rose
gules, barbed and seeded, between two fleur-
de-lis or. Crest: A fox passant or, holding
in his mouth a rose, as in the arms slipped and
leaved vert. Motto: Murus aheneus esto.
Underneath, Runnells.
(I) Sergeant Samuel Runnels was born,
according to family tradition, in 1671, near
Port Royal, Nova Scotia. The tradition says
that he and an elder brother escaped from an
attack of Indians or pirates on their father's
residence near Halifax, and came in an open
boat to New England. He resided in Brad
ford, Massachusetts, where he owned a farm.
He also owned land in Boxford, and erected a
house there, but probably never lived in it. He
was admitted in full communion in the Brad
ford church, November 27, 1709. His will
was dated March 6, 1744-45, and proved No
vember 25, 1745. He died October 27, 1745.
He married, about 1700, Abigail Middleton,
who died October 11, 1753. Children: 1.
Stephen, born May 14, 1703, mentioned below.
2. Samuel, December 17, 1706. 3. John, March
9, 1710, died young. 4. John, April 8, 171 1,
died July 6, 1713. 5. Job, June 18, 1712. 6.
Sarah, October 31, 1716. 7. Abigail, Novem
ber 11, 1722. 8. Ebenezer, November 20, 1726.
(II) Stephen, son of Samuel Runnels; was
born May 14, 1703, died March 10, 1753. He
was a cooper by trade and lived in Bradford
until January 14, 1735-36, when he bought of
Zachariah Hardy land in Boxford, and settled
there as a farmer. He married, in 1728, Esther
Hovey, of Rowley, who married (second)
Luke- Hovey, of Boxford. Stephen was ad
mitted to the Bradford church August 3, 1729.
Children: 1. Stephen, born 1729, mentioned
below. 2. Martha, 1732, probably died young.
3. Esther, 1734. 4. Asa, 1737, died young. 5.
William, January 28, 1740, in Boxford. 6.
Daniel, September 15, 1742.
(Ill) Stephen (2), son of Stephen (1)
Runnels, was born in Bradford in 1729, bap
tized October 19 of that year, and inherited
his father's farm in Boxford. Administration
of his estate was granted his widow Hannah,
September 23, 1771. He married, April 11,

1754, Hannah Pearl, of Boxford. Children,
born in Boxford: 1. Abigail, August 21, 1755,
married Abel Gage (see Gage family). 2.
Enos, February 20, 1757. 3. Hannah, Novem
ber 29, 1758, died young. 4. Eunice, January
6, 1761. 5. Billy, January 24, 1763, in the
revolution, taken prisoner and died, it is sup
posed, in a prison ship in New York in 1781,
aged eighteen. 6. Hannah, December 30, 1764.
7. Phebe, December 8, 1766. '8. Esther, Sep
tember, 1768, died March 2, 1789. 9. Sarah,
November, 1770, died August 1, 1789.

John Russell, immigrant an-
RUSSELL cestor, came to New England
and settled first at Cambridge,
where he was a proprietor in 1635. He was
admitted a freeman, March 3, 1635-36, and
was a town officer, and clerk of the writs. He
was a subscriber to the orders drawn up for
the town of Woburn, at Charlestown, in 1640,
and was one of the first settlers of Woburn.
He was a proprietor there in 1640. He was
selectman of Woburn several years, and in
1644 was appointed on a committee for dis
tribution of land. He was deacon of the
church, but afterwards became a Baptist, and
about 1669-70 was admitted to the Baptist
church of Boston, which at that time met for
worship at Noddle's Island. He was later
chosen elder of this church. For his change
of faith he was summoned before the court
at Charlestown in 1671 and sent to prison, but
was soon released, fle died June 1, 1676. His
will was dated May 2y, 1676. fle married
(first) Elizabeth  , who died December
16, 1644. He married (second) May 13, 1645,
Elizabeth Baker, who died January 17, 1689-
90. Children: 1. Samuel. 2. John, mentioned
below. 3. Mary, married, December 21, 1659,
Timothy Brooks.
(II) John (2), son of John (1) Russell,
was born about 1640 and died December 21,
1680. He settled first in Woburn and removed
to Boston, where he was ordained to> succeed
Elder Gould as minister of the Baptist church,
July 28, 1679. During the short period he
was in office, he wrote a treatise in answer to
some harsh reflections in a publication by Rev.
Dr. Increase Mather, asserting "The Divine
Right of Infant Baptism." The answer was
entitled "A Brief Narrative of some consider
able passages concerning the First Gathering
and Further Progress of a Church of Christ
in Gospel Order, in Boston, in New England,
Etc." It was dated in Boston, May 20, 1680,
and sent to London for publication. He mar-

MASSACHUSETTS.

131

ried, October 31, 1661, Sarah Champney,
daughter of John Champney, of Cambridge.
She died at Woburn, April 25, 1696. He is
buried in King's Chapel burying ground, Bos
ton. Children: 1. John, born August 1, 1662,
died July 26, 1717; married, December 21,
1682, Elizabeth Palmer. 2. Joseph, January
15, 1663-64, mentioned below. 3. Samuel,
February 3, 1667-68, died December 1, 1668.
4. Sarah, February 10, 1670-71. 5. Elizabeth,
February 19, 1672-73, died June 5, 1743 ; mar
ried  Pierce. 6. Jonathan, August 6,
1675, died June 20, 1708. 7. Thomas, January
5, 1677-78. 8. Ruth.
(Ill) Joseph, son of John (2) Russell, was
born at Woburn, January 15, 1663-64, died at
Boston, March 13, 1713-14. fle married Mary
 , who died March 28, 171 5. Both are
buried in King's Chapel burying ground in
Boston. Children: 1. Joseph, born December
12, 1687. 2. Mary. 3. Abigail. 4. Sarah,
married  Wakefield. 5. Elizabeth, mar
ried Joseph Hiller. 6. Mehitable. 7. Thomas,
born July 11, 1705, mentioned below. 8. Skin
ner, died in Boston, June, 1752. 9. Jonathan.
(IV) Thomas, son of Joseph Russell, was
born July 11, 1705, died September 1, 1760.
He married (first) Elizabeth Condy, daughter
of Jeremiah Condy, and sister of Rev. Jere
miah Condy. She was a well educated woman
and possessed many accomplishments of the
day. She constructed curious pictures of fili
gree work, also wax flowers and fruit of rare
beauty. Her embroidery attracted much atten
tion, as did also a white Holland bed-spread
that she made. While Boston was held by the
British in the war of the revolution, soldiers
were admitted to the house and ruined the
spread with bloodstains. They also carried
off her finest piece of embroidery, into which
she had wrought gold and silver threads. In
1878 a white silk apron embroidered by her,
1710-20, had a prominent place in a loan ex
hibition in aid of the Society of Decorative
Art in New York. A sampler of Miss Eliza
beth Russell, her only daughter, 1 775-1 776, is
still preserved. Thomas Russell married (sec
ond) Honor a Loud, who married (second)
Deacon Philip Freeman. He is buried in
King's Chapel burying ground. Children: 1.
Thomas, died 1752. 2. Joseph, born October
2, 1732, died May 18, 1792; married (first)
Mary Checkly; (second) Amey Hopkins;
(third) Ann Frances Lippitt. 3. Jeremiah
Condy, died August 30, 1759. 4- John, born
April 12, 1737, died July 8, 1813; married,
October 15, 1761, Martha Martin. 5. William,

born September 12, 1739, died unmarried Feb
ruary 10, 1825. 6. Jonathan, mentioned below.
Children of second wife: 7. Elizabeth, born
April 15, 1757, married, November 20, 1777,
Dr. Solomon Drowne. 8. Thomas, born Sep
tember 8, 1758, died February 19, 1801 ; mar
ried, November 29, 1783, Ann Flandy.
(V) Jonathan, son of Thomas Russell, was
born in 1741 and died February 17, 1788. He
was a merchant in Providence, engaged in the
importation of merchandise from London and
the West Indies. His advertisements appear
in the Providence Gazette of the period, his
place of business being on the west side of the
Great Bridge. During the revolution his busi
ness was broken up by the closing of the port.
He then removed- to Mendon, Massachusetts,
where he died. He married, January 5, 1769,
Abigail Russell, born November 24, 1737,
daughter of James and Abigail (Lovett) Rus
sell, of Holliston, Massachusetts. Children:
1. James, born October 31, 1769, died 1795;
married Hannah Sherman. 2. Jonathan, Feb
ruary 27, 1 77 1, mentioned below. 3. Abigail,
November 25, 1772, died August 12, 1854;
married Otis Ammidon, August 21, 1799. 4.
Joseph Warren, February 6, 1775, died young.
5. Mary, August 5, 1778, died January 8, 1832 ;
married, August 23, 1800, Liberty Bates. 6.
Henry, August 27, 1785, died May 21, 1863.
(VI) Hon. Jonathan (2), son of Jonathan
(1) Russell, was born in Providence, February
27, 1771, died at Milton, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 17, 1832. He graduated at Rhode Island
College, (now Brown University) in 1791
with the highest honors of his class, fle
studied for the law but embarked in com
mercial pursuits instead of practicing his pro
fession. He took great interest in politics and
in 1810 acted as Charge d' Affaires at Paris. The
following year he went to England in the same
capacity; was temporary minister when Mr.
John Quincy Adams went for a time to Amer
ica. The notification of the declaration of war
against Great Britain devolved upon him in
his official capacity. On January 18, 1814, he
was appointed one of the commissioners to
negotiate and conclude a treaty of peace with
Great Britain at Ghent. At this time he was
made minister plenipotentiary to Sweden, and
went to Stockholm where he remained until
October 16, 1818. Upon his return to America,
he settled at Mendon, Massachusetts, and was
soon afterward elected to congress, serving from
1821 to 1825. He was a member of the conven
tion to revise the laws of Massachusetts in 1820.
He was said to have been "a versatile, forcible,

132

MASSACHUSETTS.

elegant and facile writer, and when the sub
ject permitted, handled his pen with a caustic
severity seldom surpassed." He left no printed
evidence of his literary ability aside from his
foreign correspondence, except an oration de
livered in Providence of July 4, 1800; an elo
quent tribute to the memory of Nathan Hey-
wood, a classmate, and a few other addresses.
The oration mentioned has been used by gen
erations of American boys for school declama
tion, and has been printed within a few years
in the Providence Journal. He married (first)
April 3, 1794, Sylvia Amidon, who died July
10, 181 1. He married (second) at Boston,
April 2, 181 7, Lydia Smith, daughter of Bar
ney and Ann (Otis) Smith. She lived several
years with her brother abroad, and attended
Madame Campan's school at St. Germaine,
France. She was skilled in drawing and re
ceived a gold medal from Napoleon I in 1807
for the best copied drawings. The medal and
drawings are still in the possession of the
family. In London she painted under West,
who gave her his pallette of colors, and this,
with drawings given her by Horace Vernet,
are still preserved. She died at Milton, De
cember 20, 1859. Children of first wife: 1.
Amelia E., born January 3, 1798. 2. George
Robert, May 5, 1800, mentioned below. 3.
Caroline A., June 17, 1805, died April 8, 1879;
married (first) October 20, 1829, Jazariah
Ford; (second) June 24, 1842, Francis Taft.
4. Anna Matilda, January 21, 1808, died April
14, 1834; married, June 12, 1833, Philip Am-
midon. Children of second wife: 5. Ida, born
April 10, 1818, at Stockholm, Sweden, died in
Milton, February 20, 1855. 6. Geraldine I.,
Mendon, December 20, 1819, married (first)
October 8, 1839, George Rivers; (second)
June 22, 1858, George Bruce Upton. 7. Rosalie
G, Mendon, July 10, 1822, died February 2,
1897. 8. Jonathan, Mendon, September 10,
1825, died September 25, 1875, unmarried;
graduated at Harvard, 1845 ; was American
consul at Manila several years.
(VII) George Robert, son of Hon. Jona
than (2) Russell, was born May 5, 1800, died
at Manchester, Massachusetts, August 5, 1866.
He graduated at Brown University in 1821,
and studied law in Philadelphia, returning to
Providence to practice his profession which,
however, he soon abandoned. He went to
Lima, South America ; thence to China and
Manila, where he founded the house of Russell
& Sturgis, which soon became one of the great
est commercial houses in the east. Return
ing, he resided in West Roxbury, and after

wards removed to Jamaica Plain. He made a
trip to Europe on account of ill health, and
on his return resided in Boston. In 1849 he
delivered the oration before the Phi Beta
Kappa Society of Brown, his subject being
"Commerce." It was said of the oration
"Never have we listened to an oration which
was more faithful to its subject, and united
more manly sense and practical knowledge,
with accurate learning, pointed wit, and fin
ished composition." He delivered other ora
tions which made an equally good impression.
At the Commencement of Brown University
in 1849 he received the degree of LL. D. In
January, 1857, he was chosen a resident mem
ber of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
He married, December 1, 1835, Sarah Park-
man Shaw, daughter of Robert G. Shaw, of
Boston. Children: 1. Elizabeth, born at La
Boissiere, near Geneva, Switzerland, Novem
ber 2, 1836, married, November 28, 1856,
Theodore Lyman. 2. Henry Sturgis, June 21,
1838, mentioned below. 3. Anna, West Rox
bury, April 23, 1840, died December 22, 1873;
married, November 15, i860, Professor Alex
ander Agassiz. (See sketch of Agassiz
family). 4. Emily, January 26, 1843, married,
January 19, 1874, Charles Lawrence Peirson.
5. Marian, November 14, 1846. 6. Robert
Shaw, June 10, 1850, married Margaret P.
Curtis. 7. Sarah, September 22, 1851, mar
ried James Barr Ames, dean of flarvard Law
School. (VIII) General Henry Sturgis, son of Hon.
George Robert Russell, was born on Savin Hill,
Dorchester, June 21, 1838, died in Boston,
February 16, 1905. He attended several
schools during his youth, and later studied
several years at the private school of Mr. E. S.
Dixwell, whence in 1856 he went to Harvard
College and graduated in i860. In 1861 he
was in the office of William Perkins, a Boston
merchant. At the opening of the civil war he
joined the Fourth Battalion and went with it
to Fort Independence, in Boston harbor. There,
for a month, he was thoroughly drilled by
General Thomas G. Stevenson, fle went into
active service as first lieutenant in the Second
Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, May 28,
1 86 1. He was assigned a company December
31, 1 86 1, and his first serious engagement was
at Cedar Mountain. When the regiment was
ordered to retreat, he performed an act of
loyalty to his friend, Lieutenant Colonel Sav
age, which was afterwards thus narrated by
Governor Andrews : "I know of no incident
of more perfect, of more heroic gentility, be-

MASSACHUSETTS.

133

speaking a noble nature, than the act per
formed by one Captain. of the 2nd Massachu
setts, * * * who, standing by the side of
Lieutenant Colonel Savage * * * fatally
wounded, not believed by the enemy to be
worth the saving, refused to surrender until
he had wrung from the enemy the pledge that
they would, in capturing him, save also his
comrade and bear him back to the nearest
hospital; declaring that, if they did not, he,
single-handed and alone, would fight it out,
and sell his life at the dearest cost." Colonel
Savage died of his wounds a few days after
wards, and Russell was confined in Libby
Prison. He was liberated November 15, 1862,
and on January 22, 1863, was made lieutenant
colonel of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry.
On April 5, 1864, he was made colonel of the
Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry, a negro regi
ment. It was a position which was then not
very desirable, but he accepted it. Between
him and his cousin, Colonel Robert G. Shaw,
there had been a close friendship. Shaw's
death had just occurred at Fort Wagner lead
ing a charge at the head of his negro regiment,
and Colonel Russell said, in taking his new com
mand : "Bob would have liked to have me do
it." At the head of his regiment on June 15,
1864, before Petersburg, Colonel Russell re
ceived his first wound, a severe one ; he also
received special commendation from General
Grant, which led a year later to his brevet as
brigadier-general of volunteers "for distin
guished gallantry and good conduct."
In February, 1865, by reason of illness in
his family, he left the army, and entered the
firm of his father-in-law, where he remained
three years. Not having a taste for business
pursuits, he established at West Roxbury the
famous Home Farm, and two years later
he removed to his handsome estate, midway
between Milton Hill and the Blue Hills, where
he passed the remainder of life. He built fine
stables, and kept some of the most famous
trotting stallions in the country, notably among
whom were Fearnaught, Smuggler and Edge-
mark. Later he turned his attention to Jersey
cattle. In 1878 he was appointed chairman of the
Boston police commissioners. The board had
been managed by an aldermanic committee,
and had sunk into a pitiable condition. For
two years he toiled hard, and brought the force
into fine shape. Then he resigned and re
turned to his farm. On January 14 1895,
Mayor Curtis appointed him fire commissioner
of Boston. This was a single-headed com

mission, the commission having the privilege
of appointing two deputies and a secretary.
This Colonel Russell never did. It was a
long and arduous work to bring the depart
ment up to his ideal, but he left it undoubtedly
the best organized and the most efficient fire
department in the country. "At the beginning
the politicians came with their usual demands
for influence, but quickly learned that they
had absolutely none ! Shocked and angry at
so 'un-American' condition, they would fain
have ejected the colonel, but they found him
evenly indifferent to threats, gallantly backed
by the powerful insurance interests, and
attending to business as if politicians did not
exist. In time they appreciated the situation,
and ceased from troubling; and no mayor of
either party ever disturbed- the fire commis
sioner. With his subalterns he was popular ;
and even with the rank and file, for though
very rigid and a strict disciplinarian, he was
not a martinet. During his term, he made
short work of disquieting agitation concerning
hours and pay which meddlesome politicians
sought to stir; yet his men, proud of being
parts of so fine an organization as he had
created, did not audibly murmer. He was a
strong commander and he reaped the fruits
of it." He held the office up to the time of
his death. His funeral was, at his own request,
closely private, and the burial was in the
Milton cemetery. Colonel Russell held the
following offices also: Director of Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company;
president of Continental (Bell) Telephone
Company ; member of school committee, board
of assessors, park commission, selectman of
Milton, trustee of Westborough Insane
Asylum ; of Perkins Institute for the Blind ;
of the Massachusetts Flomeopathic Hospital;
president of Bay State Agricultural Company ;
trustee of Massachusetts Society for Promot
ing Agriculture; member of the Massachu
setts Republican State Committee; president
of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry Asso
ciation ; member of the Loyal Legion.
Colonel Russell's convictions were strong
and definite, and his judgment positive; he
gave the impression of reserved force. He
was modest, yet conscious of his power, con
sequently self-reliant. Fear of any sort was
utterly absent in his make-up; but he was
affectionate by nature, loyal and kindly. He
was domestic in his tastes, and loved his fire
side. Without being imperious, he was always
thoroughly the master of his soldiers, his
policemen, his firemen, and his employees.

134

MASSACHUSETTS.

He married, May 26, 1863, Mary Hathaway
Forbes, of Milton, daughter of Hon. John M.
Forbes. Children: 1. James Savage, born
March 8, 1864, mentioned below. 2. Ellen
Forbes, Milton, October 30, 1865, educated in
private schools in Milton and at Chestnut Hill,
Pennsylvania, and passed the entrance exami
nations to Radcliffe College ; married, Novem
ber 15, 1894, Edward Williams Atkinson ; chil
dren: i. Edward Atkinson, born October,
1897; ii. Henry Russell Atkinson, born De
cember 12, 1899; iii. Mary Forbes Atkinson.
3. Mary Forbes, April 28, 1870, educated in
private schools in Milton and Boston ; married,
in 1889, Copley Amory; children: i. Copley
Amory Jr., born November 2, 1890; ii. Henry
Russell Amory, born October 25, 1892; iii.
John Forbes Amory, born March 8, 1896;
iv. Walter Amory, born June 13, 1899; v.
Thomas Chaee Amory, born November 30,
1907 ; vi. Katherine Amory, born April 7, 1908.
4. Margaret, June 24, 1871, died in infancy.
5. Howland Shaw, January 27, 1873, men
tioned below. 6. Anna, August 29, 1875, edu
cated in private schools in Milton and Boston
and passed the exminations for Radcliffe Col
lege ; married, 1896, Harrison Otis Apthorp,
head master of Milton Academy ; children : i.
Harrison Otis Apthorp Jr., born October 1,
1897; ii. Sarah Forbes Apthorp, born May 10,
1900. (IX) James Savage, son of Henry Sturgis
Russell, was born in Milton, March 8, 1864.
He attended private schools in Milton . and
Boston, and entered Harvard College, from
which he was graduated in the class of 1887
with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was
a clerk for six years in the banking house of
Lee, Higginson & Company. Since then he
has been a real estate broker with offices in
Boston. In politics he is a Republican ; in
religion a Unitarian. He is a member of
Country Club of Brookline, Athletic, Ex
change and City of Boston and Milton clubs.
He married, May 21, 1902, Emily Tyson Perry,
daughter of Rev. James DeWolf and Eliza
beth (Tyson) Perry, of Germantown, Penn
sylvania. Children, born at Milton: 1. Eliza
beth Tyson, born January 3, 1904. 2. George
Robert, December 12, 1905.
(IX) Howland Shaw, son of Henry Sturgis
Russell, was born in Milton, January 27, 1873.
He attended private schools in Milton and
Boston and entered Harvard College in which
he was a student for two years. He is a broker
with offices in Boston. Since February, 1907,
he has resided in California on a ranch. In

politics he is a Republican; in religion a Uni
tarian. He is a member of Milton Club and
Eastern Yacht Club. He married, June 1,
1904, Catherine S. Thayer, born November 2,
1883, daughter of Eugene Van Rensselaer
and Susan (Spring) Thayer, of Lancaster
and Boston ; child, flenry Sturgis, born Feb
ruary 24, 1905.

William Stockwell, immi-
STOCKWELL grant ancestor, was born
in England, about 1650.
The family tradition has it that he was enticed
on board a ship when a young lad, and follow
ed the sea after serving his apprenticeship in
the old-fashioned way. He finally made his
home in Ipswich, but his seafaring life prob
ably explains the absence of records there. It
is said that he was born in Scotland, but the
name is unquestionably English, and there
was another family of Stockwells in Massa
chusetts before he came. William Stockwell
had a seat in the meeting house at Ipswich in
1700. He seems to have been in Sutton for
several years from 1720 to 1731 or later, but
where he died is unknown. His son William
used the "Junior" as late as 1731, when he
sold land to William Severy in Sutton. He
sold ten parcels of land, according to the rec
ords, between 1731 and 1769. The only two
deeds in Worcester county given by the immi
grant appear to be those dated October 19,
1720-1, but his wife's name was Mary Stock-
well, which was the name of his son William's
wife. This William Stockwell sold land seven
rods wide and one hundred and six rods long
to John Lilly, adjoining land of John Sibley,
Jonathan King, Ebenezer Stearns and Samuel
Bisco. He sold land also in March, 1722-3, to
John Sibley, of Sutton, one and a-quarter acres.
The first deed of William Stockwell Jr.,
according to Worcester records, was dated
April 5, 1727, acknowledged 1731, conveying
land on Crooked pond between land of Benja
min Marsh and land of William Stockwell to
William Severy. He deeded more land in
1729. William married, at Ipswich, April 14,
1685, Sarah Lambert. His children included
five sons, who all settled in Sutton, and he
probably with them. Children: 1. William,
born- about 1686, married Mary  ; set
tled in Sutton. 2. Captain John, born about
1687, married, 1717, Mary Lombard. 3. Jon
athan, married December 26, 1726; had Ste
phen, et al. 5. David, mentioned below.
(II) David, son of William Stockwell, was
born in New England, and married Marcy

MASSACHUSETTS.

135

 . His will was dated May 10 and
proved August 18, 1743. He lived in Sutton,
where seven of his children are recorded.
Children: 1. Jeremiah, baptized May 9, 1731 ;
married, November 27, 1751, Mary Cutler. 2.
Joseph (twin), baptized May 9, 1731. 3.
Ephraim, born October 16, 1733; mentioned
below. 4. Mary, baptized September 7, 1735*
5. John, baptized November 13, 1737. 6.
Mercy. 7. Martha. 8. Jemima. 9. Abigail.
10. Evens, baptized September 6, 1742. 11.
David, baptized May 14, 1750.
(Ill) Ephraim, son of David Stockwell,
was born at Sutton, Massachusetts, October
16, 1733. He removed from Sutton to Peters
ham, Worcester county, Massachusetts. He
bought a farm at Athol, June 26, 1760, of
Lydia Moore, widow of_ Increase Moore, of
Athol (Pequoige). He bought land later at
Athol of Silas Conant in 1792, and Daniel
Duncan Jr. in 1793. He was a soldier in the
revolution, lieutenant in Captain Ichabod Dex-
ter's company, Colonel Doolittle's regiment, on
the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775 ; also
first lieutenant in Captain John Oliver's com
pany, Colonel Nathan Sparhawk's regiment
(seventh) in 1776, commissioned April 5,
1776; also captain of Twelfth company, Col
onel Sparhawk's regiment (Seventh Wor
cester county), commissioned December 10,
1776; also captain in Colonel Job Cushing's
regiment in 1777, sent to reinforce General
Stark to the northward. He deeded part of
his land to his son Ziba. He died at Phillips
ton, Massachusetts, where he spent his last
years, July 13, 1802, aged sixty-eight years.
He married, at Petersham (intention dated
November 8, 1757) Sarah Grout, who died at
Phillipston, October 27, 1817, aged seventy-
nine years. His will, dated April 30, 1802,
filed August 3, 1802, bequeathed to wife Sarah
and children. Children, born at Athol: 1.
Jesse. 2. Ziba, died January 7, 1849, at
Phillipston, aged eighty-six years five months
six days. 3. Lois, married at Petersham (in
tention March 17, 1791) Joshua Sprague. 4.
Phebe, married, January 14, 1792, William
Howe. 5. Josiah, mentioned below.
(IV) Josiah, son of Ephraim Stockwell,
was born at Athol, October 14, 1775, and
died at Phillipston, in 1853. His father left
him fifty acres of land in Gerry (Phillipston)
bought of Silas Conant, with house and barn,
his then homestead, on condition that he pay
his mother $233.33. Josiah bought fifty acres
of land at Phillipston, December 22, 1812, of
John Parker, of Lexington. 'He had already

moved to that town, adjacent to Athol. He
also bought land November 8, 1821, on the
west side of the county road, of James Oliver
and Luther Smith. His will was dated Janu
ary 5, 1850, with a codicil dated April 15,
1850, and allowed October 4, 1853. fle mar
ried, at Phillipston '(first) Polly Moore, who
died December 24, 1818; (second) (intention
dated July 4, 1819), at Worcester, Isabella
Doty. Children, born at Phillipston (where
dates are given) : 1. Cyrus, September 16,
1797; mentioned below. 2. Hannah, Novem
ber 7, 1799; died before her father; married
-^  Bigelow. 3. Elvira, February 2, 1802.
4. Elmer, December 31, 1803, not mentioned in
will. 5. Leander, February 9, 1806. 6. Syl
vester, September 20, 1808. 7. Harriet, No
vember 1, 1810; married  Jones. 8.
Mary Roxana, October 5, 1812 ; married
 Skinner. 9. Sophia Angela, October
19, 1814; married  Clapp. Children of
second wife: 10. Isabella. 11. Josiah B. 12.
Orlando. (V) Cyrus, son of Josiah Stockwell, was
born in Phillipston, September 16, 1797, and
died October 13, 1845, before his father. When
a young man he lived in Hardwick, Worcester
county, and in May, 1818, established a line
of mail stages between Worcester and North
ampton, the first to pass through Hardwick
and various other towns along the route. He
kept a tavern in Hardwick in 1822-23, and
then moved to Worcester, where he was en
gaged in the same line of business until his
death. He kept a hotel in St. John, New
Brunswick, also for a few years. He married,
April 22, 1821, Elmira Nickerson, of Wor
cester, who died March 20, 1826, aged twenty-
five; (second) May 21, 1827, Maria Blair,
who died May 25, 1889. Children, born at
Worcester: 1. Adeline, March 17, 1822, died
December 23, 1875 ; married, at Worcester,
April 3, 1845, Alexander Bigelow. 2. Stephen
N., August 31, 1823; mentioned below. 3.
Elmira, March 12, 1826. Children of second
wife: 4. James C, born September 5, 1828.
5. Charles Blair, April 21, 1832. 6. Maria B.,
January 9, 1840. 7. Henrietta, August 1,
1844. (VI) Stephen Nickerson, son of Cyrus
Stockwell, was born in Hardwick, August 31,
1823, and died April 8, 1881, in Boston. When
only a few months old he removed with his
family to Worcester, and there spent his youth
with exception of a short stay at St. John,
New Brunswick. He- learned the trade of
printer in the office of the Worcester Spy, later

136

MASSACHUSETTS.

with the Boston Journal, and was connected
with that newspaper in various positions all
his active life. "His professional career,"
said The Journal editorially, "covered a term
of nearly forty years, and with the exception
of brief periods of rest he labored with great
zeal in the field which he had chosen. From
compositor in his youth to the editorial chair,
he has filled nearly every intermediate position
with rare ability and unsurpassed fidelity. He
may almost be said to have originated many
departments of a daily newspaper, for his
development of whatever task was assigned
to him was one of his prominent character
istics. His interest in public affairs was always
marked by an intelligent appreciation of pass
ing events. In the house of representatives
and state senate, in the common council, and
as one of the overseers of the state prison, and
in many other positions of religious and poli
tical trust, he performed his work so thoroughly
that he won the esteem of his associates. He
was one of the founders of the Highland
Church on Parker street, contributing gener
ously to build the edifice, and devoting a large
measure of time and energy to imparting
vitality to the young society. In the promo
tion of Sunday schools he gave of his
time and influence, while the aid given by him
to many educational institutions in the west
will be missed by the recipients of his bounty.
Nowhere, however, will our friend and asso
ciate be more severely missed than in his
family circle, which has lost a faithful and
tender husband and kind father. It was his
home which had the greatest attraction for
him and the welfare of those he loved was
nearest his heart. His whole life has been
one of duty and we who know him best bear
willing testimony to his conscientious dis
charge of every responsibility which devolved
upon him. So noble an attitude as his when
the hand of disease rested heavily upon him
and when the inevitable end approached was
only possible to one who had led an exemplary
and Christian life."
His usefulness and ceaseless labor in behalf
of The Journal induced the late Major Rogers
to make him one of the corporators when a spec
ial act for the incorporation of that paper was
secured. During the last two years of his life,
his health failed, but still he gave to his work
such measure of strength as he possessed until
February before he died. He then retired, as
he fondly hoped, and was confidently expected
by his associates to regain his health by much-
needed rest. But Fe failed rapidly and died

early in April, at his home in Hillside, Roxbury.
The Boston newspapers, on the following day,
published this expression of sentiment : "The
representatives of the press of Boston desire
to e'xpress their deep sense of bereavement in
the death of Stephen N. Stockwell, late one
of the editors of the Boston Journal, and to
place on record their appreciation of his hon
orable professional labors and their respect
for his blameless life. They recognize espec
ially the zeal and fidelity which he displayed
in all the varied branches of his calling, his
quick intelligence and great industry, his clear
ness of judgment, disinterestedness of prin
ciple in respect to all public interests. In the
larger relations of life, he avoided no respon
sibilities and shirked no labor. He fulfilled
every trust with consistent fidelity and was
thoughtful and generous in the performance
of every duty. The heartfelt sympathy of his
business associates and friends is heartily ex
tended to his afflicted family."
lie married, December 21, 1848, Anna B.
Merritt, born January 15, 1822, in Scituate,
Massachusetts, daughter of Nehemiah and
Anna (Brown) Merritt, died April 20, 1872.
He married (second) Martha E. Webb, born
March 26, 1840, in Newcastle, Maine, daugh
ter of Luther and Eliza (Montgomery) Webb.
His widow survives him, and is living in Bos
ton. Children of first wife : 1. Anna E., born
July 30, 1850; died August 12, 1895; married,
October, 1872, George W. Basford. 2. Elmira
N., born December 8, 1852; married (first)
May, 1873, William F. Duncan; (second)
December, 1891, John E. Jacobs; she died
April 28, 1908. 3. Amelia W., born Decem
ber 27, 1855 ; unmarried. 4. George S., born
October 11, 1858; lives in Boston; unmarried.
5. Adeline L., born September 23, 1861 ; mar
ried, September 29, 1882, Moses H. Day.
Children of second wife: 6. Marie L., born
June 7, 1875. 7. Alice W., February 2, 1881.

Richard Truesdell, the
TRUESDELL first of this family in
America, was born in
Boston, England, and came as a servant in
the employ of Rev. John Cotton, of Boston.
The name is spelled variously even at the pres
ent time. We find Truesdale, Trusdall, Trues-
dall, Trusdel, Trusdell, Trusedale, Trusedell
and other spellings of the same old English
surname, originally a place name. Truesdell
was admitted to the church at Boston, July 27,
1634, and a freeman, March 4, 1634-35. He
was a butcher by trade. He was a prominent

MASSACHUSETTS.

137

citizen and became deacon of the Boston
church. According to his own deposition
dated January 28, 1670, his age was then
sixty-four years. He was one of those who
revolted at the "disingenuous management by
which Davenport was brought from New
Haven to be the minister" and he was one
of the founders of the Third or Old South
Church. In 1639 he was a juror in the in
quest on the death of Peter Fitcher, a suicide ;
later on the jury that tried Hugh Bennett for
heresy. His will was dated September 9, 1669,
and orally amended before his death; proved
January, 1671-72. He bequeathed to his wife
Mary; to cousins (meaning nephews and
nieces as we now use the vvord) Samuel, Re
becca, Thomas and Richard Truesdell ; to kins
man William Gilbert; to Mr. Cotton's three
children: Seaborn, John and Maria Mather.
He had no surviving children. Flis widow in
her will proved November 26, 1674, bequeath
ed to the same persons and also Rebecca Gil
bert, wife of her cousin William Gilbert and
her son William Gilbert Jr. ; to cousin William
Emblin ; to brother John Hood's two children ;
to Mr. Thomas Thatcher and to the first and
third churches of Boston.
(II) Samuel, nephew of Deacon Richard
Truesdell, was born 1644-45, perhaps in Eng
land. He, his sister Rebecca, and brothers
Thomas and Richard Truesdell, seem to have
been in the care of their uncle and it is not
known that their father ever came to this
country. He received fifty pounds in his
uncle's will. He settled in Cambridge and was
admitted a freeman in 1685. His home was
on the south side of Charles river in what was
then Cambridge Village, now Newton, and he
was one of the active supporters of the move
ment for separation from Cambridge. He
was one of the signers of the secession from
the first church of Boston in 1678 and became
a member of the third church. He married
(first) Mary Jackson, daughter of John Jack
son Sr. ; (second) Elizabeth (Hammond)
Woodward, daughter of Thomas Hammond
Sr. and widow of George Woodward, of
Watertown. His will mentions a third wife
Mary, and children : Samuel, Thomas, Ebe
nezer, Mary, Mindwell, Rebecca and Experi
ence. His estate appraised at two hundred
and twenty-six pounds, six shillings, six pence ;
the homestead containing one hundred and
twenty acres. Children: 1. Richard, born
July 16, 1672, married, 1697, Mary Fairbank.
2. Mary, November 3, 1673, married 

Foote. 3. Samuel, October 13, 1675, married
Elizabeth Hammond, daughter of Nathaniel
Sr. 4. Mindwell, August 31, 1676. 5. Re
becca, March 25, 1678. 6. Experience. 7.
Thomas, April 27, 1682, married, 1739, Eliza
beth Segar.
(Ill) Ebenezer, son of Samuel Truesdell,
was born in Newton, Massachusetts, about
1685. He joined the stream of emigration
from Roxbury and his native town to New
Roxbury, Connecticut, then Massachusetts,
now a section of Windham county. After a
short residence at Quinebaug Valley, he bought
land and a house of Thomas Goodell in the
southwest part of the "Purchase," later Pom
fret, Connecticut, now in Abington, about
1710. He married, according to the Newton
church records, in January, 1710, but the name
of his wife has been lost or destroyed in the
records, and is not known. He signed a peti
tion of the Mashmuggett Purchase (Pomfret),
May 14, 1713, for incorporation, horse brand
and freedom from rates. The name Pomfret
was selected by the general court, a large
Gothic capital "P" for a horse brand. Trues
dell was on. a committee February 16, 1714,
to locate the meeting house, and October 26,
171 5, on the committee to provide dinner for
the ordination of the minister at Pomfret,
October 26, 1715. He was constable December,
1724. He is the ancestor of all the old Con
necticut families of this name. Among his
children were: 1. Ebenezer. 2. Ichabod, men
tioned below. 3. Joseph, a soldier in the
French and Indian war in 1757, Captain
Eleazer Fitch's company, of Windham county.
Perhaps others. A grandson, Ebenezer Trues
dell, was an ensign in the Sixth Company at
the siege of Boston ; grandsons Darius and
Jeduthan, of Woodstock, responded to the
Lexington alarm in 1775 ; one or both may
have been sons of Ebenezer instead of grand
sons, however. Jeduthan Truesdell lived at
Pomfret in 1790 and had three sons under
sixteen and one female in his family ; Ebe
nezer lived at Branford in 1790 and had no
children in his family. A Joel, probably a
grandson, was living at Bristol in 1790.
(IV) Ichabod, son of Ebenezer Truesdell,
according to family tradition was father of
Asa, Darius, Thomas and John. Asa was
living at Suffield in 1790. Darius was a soldier
in the revolution on the Lexington alarm and
later was wounded in the side, narrowly escap
ing death from a ball which struck a large,
old-fashioned pocketbook in his waistcoat

138

MASSACHUSETTS.

pocket; died a few years after the war from
the effects of this wound. John settled in
Woodstock. (V) Thomas, son of Ichabod Truesdell,
was born in Windham county, Connecticut, in
or near Pomfret, about 1740. He moved to
Monson, Massachusetts, before the revolution
and was a soldier from that town on the Lex
ington call in April, 1775. An Ebenezer Trues
dell came from Pomfret to Chesterfield and
his son Daniel was a soldier from Hampshire
county, Massachusetts, in the revolution, Cap
tain Benjamin Bonney's company, Colonel
Elisha Porter's regiment. Children of Thomas
Truesdell: 1. Perley, born 1771, mentioned
below. 2. Simeon, married (intention dated
September 1, 1805, at Monson) Sally Hitch
cock, of Weston. 3. Seavius, married, August
11, 1814, Lorinda Edgerton. 4. Ruth, mar
ried, April 3, 181 5, at Monson, Francis Curtis,
of Thompson, Connecticut. 5. Rhoda, mar
ried (intention dated August 6, 1819) Nathan
Warriner. Perhaps others.
(VI) Perley, son of Thomas Truesdell, was
born at Monson, Massachusetts, in 1771, died
there October 2, 1843. He was a farmer. He
married (first) Anna  ; (Second) No
vember 24, 1805, Polly Stimson, of Monson.
Children of first wife, born at Monson: 1.
Laura, August 12, 1798, died February 15,
1805. 2. Cyrus Stimson, July 13, 1800, died
February 9, 1805. 3. Serapta, June 23, 1802,
married, December 6, 182 1, Boystic Anderson.
4. Marcus, October 28, 1804, died young.
Children of second wife : 5. Perley, October
14, 1806, married (intention dated April 7,
1832) Samantha Stimson, of Palmer. 6.
Joseph, July 21, 1810, died March 3, 1827. 7.
Marcus, May 29, 1813, married (intention
dated August 14, 1838) Isabelle W. Smith, of
Ware. 8. Cyrus-, August 3, 1815, mentioned
below. 9. Lucius E., May 18, 1818, married
(intention dated September 27, 1840) Lucy
B. Perry. 10. William Harrison, April 21,
1820. 11. Austin, April 16, 1822. 12. Warren,
April 16, 1824. 13. Orren, December 26, 1826.
(VII) Cyrus, son of Perley Truesdell, was
born in Monson, August 3, 181 5. He was
educated in the public schools of his native
town, and was one of the most prominent and
properous farmers of that section. He was
an upright, earnest, conscientious man, a use
ful citizen, member of the Congregational
church of Monson. He married (first) (inten
tions dated April 14, 1841) Phebe W. Hast
ings, of Palmer, died November 5, 1855,
daughter of Rosal Hastings. He married

(second) Mary Webber, of Holland, Massa
chusetts. She died January 12, 1901. He
died December 4, 1885. Children of first
wife: 1. Erskine H, born February 21, 1848,
mentioned below. 2. Merrill, born March,
1846, died in 1869. 3. Estella, April, 1850.
Child of second wife: 4. Charles, died in
childhood. (VIII) Erskine Hastings, son of Cyrus
Truesdell, was born in Monson, February 21,
1848. He attended the public schools of his
native town and Monson Academy. At the
age of twenty-two he was employed in the
meat and provision trade at Springfield, Mass
achusetts, and continued until the winter of
1873 when he came to Palmer, working in the
same line of business. In 1889 he started in
business on his own account in Palmer and
has taken rank among the leading business
men of the town. He is a member of Palmer
Lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 190, and of the
Business Men's Social Club of Palmer. He
is independent in politics. In religion he is a
Unitarian. He married, in 1876^ Jennie M.
Angell, born at Ware, died May 12, 1901,
daughter of Benjamin and Maria Angell.

Five hundred years ago, more
STEARNS or less, when the population
of England had become suffi
ciently dense to make surnames necessary,
some Englishman assumed the name of Sterne.
He may have taken it from the sign of the
Sterne, or starling, (which is the symbol of
industry), which he displayed in front of his
place of business, or it may have been taken
from some event in which a starling was con
cerned ; but of this there is no means or record
knowing. In England the name was, as it seems still
is, spelled Sterne, two notable instances of
which are Richard Sterne, Lord Archbishop
of York, and Lawrence Sterne, the distin
guished novelist, author of "Tristain Shandy"
and other works ; but in America it is spelled
Stearns, Sternes, Sterns or Starns, and
Starnes, the last two forms being distinctly
southern. The changes probably commenced
in the pronounciation, and extended to the
writing of the name, which in Winthrop's
journal and in the early town and county
records of Massachusetts appears as Sterne.
In every instance where the lineage of this
family has been traced back, it has been to
one of the following: Isaac, Charles or
Nathaniel. What relationship existed between
the three is not known. Isaac in his will calls

MASSACHUSETTS.

139

Charles "My kinsman." It is noticeable, how
ever, that all three named their sons, Isaac,
Samuel and John, while the sons of Isaac
named their sons Nathaniel. The belief is
entertained by many of the Stearns descend
ants that three Sterne brothers, Isaac, Daniel
and Shubael, came to America together, that
Daniel died unmarried, or without issue ; that
Shubael and wife left two sons, Charles and
Nathaniel, to the care of their uncle, Isaac.
Research in England has thus far failed to
find parents, brothers or sisters of Isaac
Stearns, the emigrant from England.
In the genealogy of the Stearns family, pub
lished in 1901, over eleven thousand persons
were mentioned. Among these were two hun
dred and thirty-two graduates of colleges,
universities, etc ; eighty-three clergymen,
eighty physicians ; fifty-nine lawyers, twelve
principals of academies and high schools ;
twelve professors of colleges ; one chancellor
of a state university; one dean of a divinity
school ; three presidents of colleges ; one sup
erintendent of instruction (Argentine Re
public) ; eleven authors; five editors; one
bishop of Pennsylvania; one general manager
of railroads ; one president of railroads ; one
president of a telegraph company; twenty
farmers ; two governors ; three lieutenant-gov
ernors; two secretaries of state; eleven state
senators ; thirty-six colonial or state repre
sentatives ; two speakers of the house ; two
supreme court judges ; five mayors ; two gen
erals ; twenty-two colonels; eleven majors;
fifty-six captains ; and one hundred and eighty-
two private soldiers.
(I) Charles Stearns, the immigrant, was
admitted freeman May 6, 1646, at Salem.
On March 15, 1648, he bought of Edward
Lamb, of Watertown, a house and eight acres
of land, and three other lots. On the same
day he purchased of John Fiske six acres of
upland. Isaac Stearns, in his will dated June
14, 1661, mentions Charles Stearns as "my
kinsman," and bequeaths him ten pounds.
Samuel Hosier also bequeathed to him ten
pounds, but without stating any relationship.
January 6, 1681, he. was elected constable, or
tax gatherer of Watertown, but refused to
take the oath; and the same year he sold his
land in Watertown to his son, Samuel. It is
supposed that soon after this, Charles Stearns
with his son, Shubael, moved to that part of
Lynn called Lynn End, now the town of Lynn
field. Charles Stearns married Hannah, whose
surnames does not appear. She died in Water-
town, June 30, 1651, and was buried July 2,

1651. He married (second) June 22, 1654,
Rebecca Gibson, daughter of John and Re
becca Gibson, of Cambridge. The births of
the first two children of Charles and Re
becca are recorded in Cambridge, but she
was a member of the Watertown church,
February, 1689. The seven children of this
marriage were : Samuel, Shubael, John, Isaac,
Charles, Rebecca and Martha.
(II) Shubael, second son of Charles and
Rebecca (Gibson) Stearns, was born Septem
ber 20, 1655, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
He was a member of the Narragansett expedi
tion. After marriage he settled in Lynn, prob
ably near the border of Reading. No record
of his marriage has been discovered, but
"Mary Upton of Reading, Massachusetts,
married Shubael Stearns of Lynn," whether
this Shubael or a descendant is not known.
Samuel Trail, aged ninety-five and upwards,
testified that he remembered Shubael Stearns
of Lynn, who came from Watertown, and was
in the army. Shubael's will dated November
19, 1733, was proved September 2, 1734. He
had nine children : Shubael, Samuel, Hannah,
Mary, John, Ebenezer, Martha, Eleanor and
Rebecca. (Ill) Samuel, son of Shubael and Mary
(Upton) Stearns, was born September 12,
1685. He removed about 1715 to Sutton,
where his son Thomas was born, then he re
turned to Lynn, where he died suddenly De
cember 20, 1759, aged seventy-four years. He
married (first) (intentions of marriage pub
lished April 7, 171 1 ) Sarah Burnap, daughter
of a Scotch minister of Marblehead. She died
August 6, 1724, and he married (second)
April 14, 1725, Tabitha Bryant, of Reading,
who died December 13, 1758. Seven children
were born of the first wife : Timothy, Samuel,
Sarah, Thomas, Rebecca, Isaac and Benjamin.
(IV) Thomas, third son of Samuel and
Sarah (Burnap) Stearns, was born in Sutton,-
December 22, 171 7. His first and second chil
dren were born in Lynn, the next seven in
Lunenburg. Leaving the latter place, he re
sided in Fitchburg a short time, and then went
to Leominster where he died February 5, 181 1,
eminent for his christian virtues. He belonged
to Captain Samuel Hunt's company from Au
gust 13 to December 13, 1755. fle married,
November 4, 1740, Lydia Mansfield, daughter
of Daniel Mansfield. She died February 26,
1 79 1. They had eleven children: Thomas
(died young), Lydia (died young), Sarah,
Thomas, Daniel, Lydia, Charles, Sarah, Re
becca, Timothy and Anna.

140

MASSACHUSETTS.

(V) Rev. Charles (2), fourth son of
Thomas and Lydia (Mansfield) Stearns, was
born July 19, 1753, in Lunenburg. He grad
uated at Harvard College in 1773; received
the degree of D. D. from Harvard in 1810;
was a Fellow of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences ; was ordained pastor of the
Congregational church in Lincoln, November
7, 1 78 1, and died there July 26, 1826. He
¦ was also preceptor of the noted Liberal School
in Lincoln, "Dr. Charles Stearns was in the
University over forty-five years, preached his
last sermon the first Sunday in July, 1826, and
died on the twenty-sixth of the same month.
His monument was erected by the town which
was then one parish. He was a man of high
ability, deeply reverenced by his people ; a man
who refused to enter into the controversy be
tween Trinitarian and Unitarian Congrega-
tionalists, exchanging freely with those of both
opinions until his death. The following ex
tract from 'The Gambrel-roofed House,' by
Oliver Wendell Holmes, speaks for itself:
" 'The middle-aged and young men have
left comparatively faint impressions on my
memory, but how grandly the procession of
the old clergymen who filled our pulpit from
time to time and passed the day under our
roof, marches before my closed eyes! At
their head, the most venerable, David Osgood,
the majestic minister of Medford, with mas
sive front and shaggy, overshadowing eye
brows ; following in the train, mild-eyed John
Foster of Brighton, with the lambent aurora
of a smile above his pleasant mouth which not
even the "Sabbath" could subdue to the true
Levitical aspect; and bulky Charles Stearns
of Lincoln, author of "The Ladies' Philosophy
of Love." A Poem, 1797. (How I stared at
him, he was the first living person ever pointed
out to me as a poet!) ; and Thaddeus Mason
Harris of Dorchester.' " Mr. Stearns was a
scholar of high attainments, and was offered
the presidency of Harvard College, but de
clined it, regarding it as his duty to remain
with his parish in Lincoln, which was then
paying him a salary of four hundred dollars
a year. He married, January 7, 1782, Sus
anna Cowdry, of Reading, by whom he had
six sons and five daughters : Susannah, Charles,
Thomas, Julia, Sarah, Elizabeth Frances, Will
iam Lawrence, Daniel Mansfield, Rebecca,
Samuel and Edwin.
(VI) Rev. William Lawrence, third son of
Rev. Charles (2) and Susanna (Cowdry)
Stearns, was born October 30, 1793, at Lin
coln, and was a twin brother of Daniel Mans

field Stearns. He graduated from Harvard
University in 1820; studied divinity with his
father, and was licensed to preach in 1823;
ordained and installed in Stoughton, Novem
ber, 1827; dismissed from Stoughton in- 1831,
and installed at Rowe, January, 1833. fie
was also pastor of the Unitarian church at
Pembroke. After his health failed, he made
his home with his son George M. in Chicopee,
where he died May 28, 1857. George M.
Stearns described his father as a "fine scholar
and metaphysician. He was abstracted and
mild in his nature — a man living much more in
the world of his thoughts and studies than
that of the life close about him." He married,
June 5, 1828, Mary Monroe, born September
12, 1803, daughter of Isaac and Grace (Bige
low) Monroe, of Lincoln, and sister of his
twin brother's wife. She died March 23, 1900.
She was a very worthy woman and also passed
her declining years an honored and loved mem
ber of her son George's household, but died
at the residence of her son Albert B. at Cam
bridge, Massachusetts. Four children were
born of this marriage: William Henry,
George Monroe, Mary Monroe and Albert Bige
low. (VII) Hon. George Monroe, second son of
Rev. William L. and Mary (Monroe) Stearns,
was born April 18, 1831, at Stoughton, and
died in Brookline, December 31, 1894. While
he was yet an infant his father moved to
Rowe. fle was a wide-awake, active boy, full
of fun and mischief, the traditional minister's
son, the delight and torment of his parents.
He was always a student in spite of his
abounding spirits, for which his splendid
health was largely responsible, and soon ab
sorbed all that the schools of Rowe could
teach him. He attended the academy at Shel
burne Falls, Massachusetts, then attended
Harvard Law School and went from there
about 1849, while considerably under his
majority, to study law in the Chicopee office
of John Wells, a young lawyer only fairly
settled in practice, but afterward a justice of
the Massachusetts supreme court, and himself
from Rowe. In April, 1852, when past his
twenty-first birthday, Mr. Stearns was ad
mitted to the bar, and at once formed a part
nership with Judge Wells which lasted until
Judge Wells moved his office to Springfield
some years later. Mr. Stearns continued his
office in Chicopee several years, and then also
removed to Springfield, where he formed a
partnership with the late E. D. Beach, and
afterward was associated with Judge M. P.

-^-25-7'ee/

2*

?7<^^'^^rls>^

MASSACHUSETTS.

141

Knowlton for some years, and also with
Charles L. Long. The office in Springfield
was continued until 1878, when it was removed
back to Chicopee, where it remained until Mr.
Stearns transferred his home to Brookline, a
few months before his death. With regard
to Mr. Stearns characteristics as a lawyer, his
standing at the bar, his method of preparing
cases and presenting them to courts and jury,
his professional brethren and intimate asso
ciates will be quoted farther on. It is agreed
among them all that he was easily at the
head of the local bar, and that his methods
were as thorough as they were original. No
one could try a case as George Stearns could,
especially before a jury, and attempts to imi
tate him usually ended in absurd and disastrous
failures. He might have sat upon the bench
"of either of our higher courts had he chosen,
for he was offered a judgeship more than once.
Of the man himself, his home life in Chicopee,
and the place he filled in the affection and
regard of his friends and townsmen there is
a great deal that might be said. It is within
the truth to say that since his marriage, May
17, 1855, to Emily C. Goodnow, who was his
schoolmate at Shelburne Falls, in that year,
his home life was almost an ideal one. She
was born in Princeton, Massachusetts, March
4, 1833, daughter of Erasmus D. and Caroline
B. (Bullard) Goodnow, both natives of Massa
chusetts. Mr. Stearns' home was the most
attractive place in the world to him, and the
home side was the richest and best side of his
nature, and nothing else brought out the choicest
treasures of his mind and heart as freely as
contact with his family and intimate friends.
He was always kindly, loyal and affectionate,
and a courteous and considerate host. At
once after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs.
Stearns went to live in the house on Spring
field street in Chicopee, which was their home
for so many years. Two children were born
to them: Mary C, born December 9, 1855,
married, October 4, 1876, Frank E. Tuttle, of
Chicopee, and had one child, Emily Stearns
Tuttle, born July 19, 1878, an infant son de
ceased. Mary C. died January 20, 1883.
Emily S., the second daughter, died at the age
of twelve.
It was with the hope that a change of scene
and surroundings would restore his health,
or at least prolong his life and increase the
comfort of its added years, that Mr. Stearns
gave up his Chicopee house and removed to
Brookline. The event proved that hope to
be vain, for he steadily lost rather than gained

in strength, until the end came after months
of suffering, borne with patience and courage,
and enlivened by a hope that was never
dimmed. Mr. Stearns was no lover of society
in the fashionable sense, and as much as he
cared for his friends he preferred to have them
come to his home rather than to go himself to
theirs. His intimates came to respect this
preference of his, and as a consequence the
Stearns house became a centre to which they
were drawn by a strong attraction. These
informal gatherings were what Mr. Stearns
delighted in. With guests in his house or at
his table, he was at his best. Then how the
man would blossom out ! No matter if the
day in court had been a hard one, and the next
day promised to be still harder, no matter if
there were perplexing law questions unanswer
ed, or refractory witnesses unsubdued, his
guests never knew it, nor did he seem to
realize it. He gave himself to the enjoyment
of the hour, which meant making his friends
enjoy it. His wit would sparkle, his humor
flow, story would follow story, and once in a
while, when the company was suitable and
the mood was on him, he would move it to
tears or laughter by the paraphrase of a story
or novel he had been reading. He was an
omnivorous reader, but what he read was his
to call to mind and use in a case in court, to
point an argument before the supreme bench,
or to amuse and entertain his friends. His
well-known familiarity with the Bible was only
in part an inheritance, or a remembrance of
compulsory study in boyhood ; he never would
have had that marvelous command of bibical
lore had it not been for his delight in it as
literature. Withal there was an undercurrent
of reverence and religious sentiment in his
nature, rarely given expression to, and some
times covered by a cloud of agnosticism, but
never without its influence on his relations to
his fellowmen, and which accounts in part at
least, for his love for the Bible. Such a brief
sketch as there is room for in this book, would
not be complete without a word of allusion to
the ability Mr. Stearns always showed as a
business man, and his love for horses. As. a
business man he was cautious, far-sighted and
honest. He could grasp the commercial bear
ings of a case, see at once into the intricacies
of the management of a large manufacturing
concern and deal intelligently with the ordi
nary problems, and some of the more intri
cate ones, of financial institutions. With all
his caution, he had a liking for a bit of specula
tion now and then, but never risking more than

142

MASSACHUSETTS.

he could well afford to lose. This speculative
tendency made him the owner of all sorts of
things at various times in his life, as his love
of horses made him purchase animals of all
bloods and values. It is proverbial that Mr.
Stearns loved horses ; he made pets of them,
and happy was the trotter that met his favor.
It was a rare horse that was so lucky, for his
requirements were high, but now and then
one, like old "Calamity," or like the gray mare
"Maud" that he drove so long won a perma
nent place in his affections.
Mr. Stearns was always a public man,
although he held but few public offices, refus
ing over and again nominations to congress
which were almost equivalent to an election,
and several times declining to be his party's
candidate for governor. He was always a
Democrat and was elected by that party to
represent Chicopee in the house of representa
tives in 1859, and he was a member of the
committe which revised the public statutes of
i860. Ini879 he was a member of the Senate,
and the next year was chosen district attorney
for the western district but resigned at the end
of two years. The same year, 1872, he was a
delegate to the National Democratic conven
tion at Cincinnati, where he favored the nomi
nation of Horace Greeley, and he was repeat
edly a delegate to National conventions after
wards. He was appointed United States attor
ney at Boston in 1886, but resigned in about
two years. When John Quincy Adams was
nominated for governor, Mr. Stearns was
given the second place on the ticket, and later,
when the Democrats nominated Charles Sum
ner, was nominated lieutenant-governor with
him, also, but on Sumner's refusal, Mr.
Stearns followed his example. He was an
unflinching opponent of Butler, and refused
to aid in any way the ambitions of the latter
to become governor. It was a most unusual
thing for Mr. Stearns to do, to refuse to make
at least a single speech for the candidates of
his party in a campaign, but he felt that there
was a principle at stake in the Butler matter
that could be better vindicated by the apparent
defeat of his party than by its success, and so
he refused his help. He was a most welcome
and effective stump speaker, his wit, clearness •
of thought, and thorough grasp of his subject,
with the mastery of the weak points of his
opponent's record, made him an antagonist to
be respected and feared. His acquaintance
and friendship with public men were exten
sive, and his influence in the councils of his
party was large. His advice in political matters

was constantly sought and most highly valued
by party leaders and men of position and influ
ence, and it is well known that few men in the
country were more cordially welcomed at the
White House during the Cleveland adminis
tration than he. He was a shrewd observer, a
careful student and an accurate judge of men
and events. He had few axes to grind and
his advice on public matters, when given, was
given with the public good as its object, and
so was always valuable and influential. George
M. Stearns was a large minded, large hearted,
and lovable man. He was strong, positive and
aggressive, a man to make his personality felt
wherever he went and in whatever company
he found himself. He was a full man, with a
mastery over the lore and technique of
his profession, an intelligent grasp of a great
many subjects and a rich store of experiences
gathered from close contact with his fellow
men of all conditions and under a wide variety
of conditions. The public knew him as a man
of most original qualities, an intense, brilliant
and successful lawyer, a shrewd and astute
political leader ; his friends knew him as one
of the most congenial and choicest spirits, full
of wit and apt speech, and withal abounding in
a tenderness and fine feeling that in genuine
ness and grace was almost womanly.
At a meeting of the Hampden Bar Asso
ciation, held January 1, 1895, to take action
in regard to the death of Mr. Stearns, George
D. Robinson, William H. Brooks, Charles L.
Gardner, James B. Carroll, and William W.
McClench were appointed a committee to pre
pare resolutions to present to the court, and
to make necessary arrangements regarding a
memorial service. Memorial exercises in the
supreme judicial court at Springfield were held
April 15, 1895, Justice Knowlton presiding.
The resolutions prepared by the above com
mittee were presented to the court, and read
by Hon. George D. Robinson of the Bar Asso
ciation as follows :
"Whereas, by a decree of the all wise judges,
the Honorable George M. Stearns of Chicopee
has been called from his earthly labors we,
his associates of the Hampden County Bar,
desiring to place upon record our sense of the
great loss sustained by our association, do
hereby adopt the following resolutions :
Flis sudden death, following so soon after
his departure from our midst, brought deep
and sincere sorrow to us all. The place he
held in our regard and affection as the leader
of this bar was easily his, by reason of the
years of honorable service spent in the prac-

MASSACHUSETTS.

143

tice of his profession, by his high sense of his
relation to the court, by the ability and fidelity
with which he discharged his duties to his
clients, and by the genial, kindly, and helpful
spirit he ever manifested towards his asso
ciates. Not only was he esteemed by the
people of this community, for his fame as a
lawyer outran city and county and state limits ;
his legal opinions commanded wide respect,
and his services in the trial of jury causes
were frequently and eagerly sought by people
from afar.
In counsel wise and clear, in the preparation
of causes careful and diligent, and in the trial
of them earnest, ingenious and eloquent, he
early established an enviable reputation, in his
chosen profession which he ever afterwards
maintained with credit to himself, and honor
to our association.
In public life he was an honest and trusted
legislator, a just and fearless district attorney
of the State, and an able, faithful, and loyal
United States attorney.
The performance of the duties connected
with these honorable offices increased his repu
tation and enlarged his clientage, but his fame
will rest upon his ability and his character as
a lawyer, upon his profound knowledge of
human nature and upon his wit and his phil
osophy. To all his associates at the bar, his memory
will be an inspiration to industry, to faithful
ness, and to honorable professional conduct.
Our warmest sympathies go out towards
the cherished companions of his life, whose
comfort and happiness were always his first
concern, and for whom his heart beat with the
truest loyalty and the tenderest love.
In token of our regard for him, we desire
these resolutions placed upon our records, pre
sented to the Supreme Judicial Court, and
sent to Mrs. Stearns."
Among those who spoke on the occasion of
the presentation of these resolutions was Mr.
Wells, who spoke as follows : "When I came
to Springfield, nearly thirty-seven years ago,
Mr. Stearns had been admitted to the bar,
some seven years ; he had then been engaged
in many important trials and was fairly launch
ed upon the career of a jury lawyer in which
he achieved such distinguished success. From
my admission to the bar until he left it last
fall, we have been co-workers here, sometimes
together, much oftener on opposite sides, and
I esteem it a privilege to add my tribute of
love and admiration to that of other members
of this bar. We gratefully remember the kind

consideration and hearty friendliness with
which he treated his brethren in the profession
whether associated with or contending against
him. We love to recall those delightful hours
when, freed from the labors of the courtroom,
he entertained us with anecdote and reminis
cence, illuminated with his inimitable wit and
fancy. We also reflect thoughtfully on those
occasions when in soberer mood he discussed
with his shrewd philosophy and clear percep
tion those problems of life and destiny which
are so close to the thought of every thinking
man. It is, however, of his work in the pro
fession, that we would here speak. Liberally
endowed by nature with the keenest faculty of
observation, and a lively and most brilliant
imagination supplemented by a broad and
liberal culture, he was from the first spendidly
equipped for the work of an advocate, wherein
he won such an eminent and enviable position.
As a lawyer, however, Mr. Stearns was more
than a mere advocate. His faculty of close
observation and his wide experience gave to
him a wonderful insight into the characters
of men, and accurate knowledge of their mo
tives and probable course of action which
made him one of the wisest and safest advisers
in those numerous and perplexing affairs of
business which are brought so often to the
lawyer, when no question of the law is in
volved, but when so much depends upon a
wise conjecture and skillful forecast of the
conduct and activities of others. Without-
being a remarkable student of books and of
decided cases, his extensive and accurate
knowledge of the legal principles, with his
quick and ready faculty of applying them to
the facts as developed in any case in which he
was employed, enabled him always to seize
upon and present every law question involved,
which he stated and enforced with distinguish
ed power, clearness, and effectiveness both
before the trial judge and the court of last
resort. He never failed to find all the flaws
and weak points in an opponents case. He
would lose or omit nothing which could estab
lish or strengthen his own. It is, however, as
a trier of jury cases that he appeared at his
best, and by which he will be longest remem
bered. When it was known that he was going
to argue a case, the court room would be
crowded. It made little difference what the
case was. His abounding fancy, brilliant and
sparkling humor, biting sarcasm, quaint and
grotesque forms of statement, made listening
to him always pleasant and entertaining to
every one not on the opposite side. This

144

MASSACHUSETTS.

sparkling and wonderful brilliancy, however,
was only a part and the least important part
of the wise and carefully studied method which
he used in the trial cases. He tried cases to
win them and to this he subordinated every
other consideration, even himself. To this
single end, he shaped everything from the
opening to the closing argument; he studied
with the utmost care the effect upon the jury.
of every movement, word, and action of his
opponent as well as his own. Just how much
to say, just what had best be left unsaid, what
profitable turn could be given to an expression
or an omission of the other side, what sugges
tions would help what would harm ; he knew
when and what to magnify, when and what to
minimize. If at times he appeared less bril
liant than was his wont, those who understood
him and appreciated the situation could see
that there was a deep and wise method in his
seeming dullness. In the trial of a case he
managed his facts, his arguments, and his
illustrations with the care and skill with which
a great general manages and disposes his
forces. In the preparation of his cases, Mr.
Stearns was broad and general rather than
minute, not studious of small detail. While
at times his method of examining and cross-
examining witnesses appeared careless and in
different, it was really studied, methodical and
most carefully considered. It was, however,
his own way and adopted to his presentation
of the case. He relied much upon himself
and experience justified him in so doing, that
he cared to offer in testimony or draw out of
the other side only so much as he wanted to
use, and only in such connection as would best
serve his purpose. When so much was ob
tained the rest was of no importance and he
preferred that it should be left out, though to
another it might seem of great importance.
He could unfold or elaborate a chance word
or phrase, which a witness dropped, into a
most convincing statement. He could, how
ever, when the occasion seemed to call for it,
handle a witness with wonderful skill and
brilliancy. The abundance of his success
proved the wisdom of his methods and his
eminent ability in his profession. Fully con
scious of his powers in this respect, and it was
impossible that he should not be, he was
wholly without any trace of conceit or arro
gance, and in all things over-modest, rather
distrusting his own judgment, glad to defer
to others, inclined to make suggestions rather
than give an opinion. In all the relations of
life he was a man to be esteemed and loved;

as a lawyer, to be honored and admired. He
served his clients with a mind single to the
advancement of their best interests with no
thought for his own. To the cases committed
to his care, he gave the best fruit of all that
genius, study, and labor had brought him.
To us who were his contemporaries, he has
left the memory of a most genial, complacent,
kind, courteous, and friendly associate; to
those who are to follow him and take up the
burden which he has laid down, an example
of fruitful, sincere, hard and untiring labor,
rewarded with the largest honors which our
profession can give."

While the Crawford family
CRAWFORD was well established in
Scotland before 1200, we
are told that it is of Anglo-Norman origin
some two centuries earlier, and the Craw-
fords of Scotland trace their ancestry to a
Norman noble of the days of William the Con
queror. The name is spelled sometimes Craw-
futt in the early Scotch records, while Crau-
ford was the ordinary spelling until later date.
A list of the heads of important Scotch fami
lies in 1 29 1 has been preserved. It is known
to historians as the Ragman's Roll. On this
list are 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 Ayr
shire, before the year 1200. The titles held in
Scotland by this family were : The viscountcy
of Mount Crawford and Garnock; the earldom
of Crawford belonged to the Lindsey family.
A number of Crawfords were among the
Scotch who were given grants of land in the
province of Ulster, Ireland, in 1610, and later
by King James I. Some of the American
families trace their descent from the first set
tler in Tyrone, Ireland, George Crawford.
Nicholas Pynnar, who made a survey of the
Scotch Irish settlements in 1619, reported that
in the precinct of Mountjoy, county Tyrone,
George Crawford had transferred his thous
and acre grant to Alexander Sanderson. The
name is common in the Protestant districts
of Antrim, Down, Londonderry and Tyrone
at the present time.
(I) Deacon John Crawford, immigrant an
cestor, was born in Scotland, in 1717. He
was one of the settlers procured through the
efforts of General Waldo at the same time that
his son was in Germany seeking settlers for

MASSACHUSETTS.

H5

the extensive Waldo lands in Maine. A party
of settlers was formed from Stirling and Glas
gow, 'Scotland. Most of them were poor but
ambitious. Some agreed to work out their
passage money by four years of labor, while
most of them agreed to pay their passage
money after they had cleared their farms and
raised their first crops. They came in the
brig "Dolphin," Captain Cooters, embarking
at Greenock in the summer of 1753. After
touching at Piscataqua and remaining there a
week or more, they were landed on the west
side of the George's river, in the lower part
of what is now the town of Warren, Maine.
Dr. Robinson had contracted to build a house
to shelter them during the first season, and
had commenced work upon it before they
arrived, but it was unfinished and the Scotch
men had to find homes among the older set
tlers until they could build their own houses.
General Waldo provided provisions for his
settlers, .many of whom came from city life,
ignorant of the essential knowledge of pioneer
life. They were promised farms within two
miles of tidewater, being afraid of Indian
hostilities and of wild beasts in the forests of
the interior. Among the fellow-settlers of
Crawford were Archibald Anderson, a weaver ;
John Dickey, or Dicke, a maister ; Andrew
Malcolm, a weaver ; John Miller, delftware
maker; Thomas Johnston, John Mucklevee,
John Brison, Andrew Bird, John Kirkpatrick,
a cooper, John Hodgins, a book binder, John
Carswell, John Brown, Robert Kye, 
Greenlaw,  Wilke,  Beverage,
-Auchmuty, slate maker, and

Anderson. In 1754 Crawford and the others
took possession of their half-acre house lots
and built log huts in a continuous street be
tween the house lately occupied by Gilbert
Anderson and school-house No. 13, naming
the village Stirling, from the former home of
many of them. They had even to learn the
art of cutting down trees. Mrs. Dickey was
daughter of Laird and others had been deli
cately reared, suffering much from the rude
conditions they found in this country. Craw
ford was a shepherd in Scotland, a pious and
devout man. While tending his flocks he had
committed to memory the greater part of the
Bible, and was accustomed every Sunday to
recite portions of the Scriptures at the house
of one or another of the Scotch settlers, accom
panying his words with exposition, exhorta
tion and prayer. "Their spirits were cast
down with disappointment," their superstitious
fears were aroused by the new country, and

they "groaned under a load of bodily and
mental suffering. Strange sights and strange
sounds assailed them ; fireflies gleamed in the
woods, frogs croaked in the ponds, and loons
uttered their unearthly cries in the evening
twilight. They contended with hunger and
cold, witches and warlocks, till in the fall the
Indian war compelled them to enter the fort
for protection." But they became contented
and useful citizens in time, and their descend
ants have taken high rank in business and
professional life. Crawford was deacon of
the church. He died November 10, 1797, aged
eighty years. He married, in Scotland, Sarah
Fisher, who died March 22, 1800, aged eighty-
eight years, at Warren, Maine. Children: 1.
John, born in Scotland, 1751 ; married Doro
thy Parsons ; resided in Warren, at the French
and Mathews corner; died January 9, 1818;
had nine children. 2. Ann, born in Scotland;
married John Nelson ; removed to Reading,
Massachusetts. 3. Captain James, born 1758;
mentioned below. 4. Deacon Archibald, born
1760; died June 9, 1828; resided at Warren;
had his father's homestead; married Eleanor
Parsons ; had ten children. 5. Alexander, mar
ried —  Daggett; removed to Northport.
(II) Captain James, son of Deacon John
Crawford, was born in Warren, in 1758, and
died there August 16, 1825. He served in the
revolution, it appears from the records, in the
employ of the East Indian department, under
Colonel John Allen, from July, 1777, to March
15, 1778, at Machias, Maine; was taken pris
oner, but escaped- March 19, 1778; was also
landsman on the sloop "Providence," Captain
John Paul Jones, and received his share of
prize money in the ship "Alexander," cap
tured September 20, 1777. He lived at War
ren, on the old Mero place. He married Mar
garet Rivers. Children: 1. James, removed
to New Brunswick, thence to Little Rock,
Arkansas. 2. Joseph, died January 22, 1820.
3. Mary, born 1798; resided at Warren; died
July 30, 1838. 4. Charles, born May 6, 1800;
mentioned below. ' 5. Captain George, born
April 3, 1802 ; married November 3, 1833,
Mary B. Leeds; removed to Thomaston,
thence to Illinois, returned to Thomaston, and
had iron foundry there; died May 4, i860. 6.
John, born about 1804; married, November 28,
1830, Mahala Russell ; resided in North War
ren, and died there September 2, 1870.
(Ill) Charles, son of James Crawford, was
born in Warren, May 6, 1800. He settled in
Searsmont, Maine, and was a prominent citi
zen, holding various town offices and repre-

146

MASSACHUSETTS.

senting his district in the legislature in 1862.
He returned to Warren to live in 1876, and made
his home at Southwest Harbor. He married Me
hitable Cobb; (second) Jane T. Daggett of
Unity, Maine. Children: 1. Margaret, married
Dr. Ambrose Woodcock; they lived and died in
Levant, Maine. 2. Captain Rufus, mentioned
below. 3. Joseph, born December 16, 1823;
married, May 30, 1855, Amanda M. Frost;
he bought the D. & A. Andrews farm in War
ren, and lived there. 4. John, married Eliza
beth Cunningham; lived and died at Belmont,
Maine. 5. Miles S., married Celesta Vaughan,
of Unity ; lived and died in Boston. 6. Charles
A., only one now living; married Mary E.
Cushing, of Cohasset. Children of second
wife: 7. Edwin W., resided at Medford,
Massachusetts. 8. James Weston, lived at
Searsmont, Maine. 9. Arthur, lives at Natick,
Massachusetts: 10. Rev. William H., married
Emma Foy, of Wiscasset, Maine ; lives at
Tremont. 11. Horatio H, resided at Boston.
12. Mehitable S., lives in Maine.
(IV) Captain Rufus, son of Charles Craw
ford, was born at Searsmont, Maine, about 1821,
and was buried at sea when twenty-seven
years old. He was educated in his native
town in the public schools, and when a youth
began to follow the sea, rose to the command
of a ship, and was a master mariner of good
repute, fle married, August 7, 1849, Isabella
P Edgerton, born at Thomaston, died Sep
tember 2, 1892. Children: 1. Charles E.,
born April 29, 1850. 2. Alfred O., mentioned
below. (V) Alfred O., son of Captain Rufus Craw
ford, was born at Thomaston, Maine, June 6,
1853. He was educated in the public schools
of his native town. He became a clerk in a
drygoods store at Weymouth, Massachusetts,
when he was sixteen years old. He established
himself in the business of making paper boxes,
and was one of the pioneers in the box industry
of the country, of the very useful and popular
folding designs. The business has grown to
very large proportions and the printing busi
ness connected with it is also extensive. He
has a large factory at South Weymouth, em
ploying a large number of hands, and well
equipped for its purpose. The firm name is
the A. O. Crawford Company. He is highly
respected, not only by his associates and com
petitors in business, but by his employees, and
townsmen in general.
Mr. Crawford is interested in the welfare
and growth of Weymouth, and always lends
his aid to every project for the good of the

town. In politics he is a Republican. He is a
member of the Old South Church of Wey
mouth and of the Order of the Golden Star.
He married, September 22, 1875, Mary
Niles Wade, born at South Weymouth, Octo
ber 5, 1846, daughter of David Niles Wade
(see Wade). Children: 1. David Niles, born
April 20, 1877, m Holbrook, Massachusetts;
engaged in the printing business at Weymouth ;
married Louise Clifford Rockwood, of South
Weymouth ; child : Allen Francis, born May
23, 1908. 2. George Otis, born May 15, 1879;
associated in company with his father in man
ufacturing paper boxes; he is also an inventor,
invented several machines, one for the use of
strips of pasteboard formerly thrown away,
but now used in egg crates ; married, June,
1892, Mary Chubbuck, of North Weymouth;
child: Charles Niles. 3. Frank W., born No
vember 14, 1883; graduated from Tufts Col
lege Medical School, class of 1909.
(The Wade Line).
(I) Nicholas Wade, the immigrant ancestor,
was born in England, and settled early in
Scituate, Massachusetts. He took the oath of
fidelity and allegiance in 1638. His house was
on the west side of Brushy Hill, northeast of
the road where Shadrach Wade resided a gen
eration ago. In 1657 he was licensed to keep
an inn in Scituate. Jonathan and Richard
Wade, pioneers to Massachusetts, were prob
ably his brothers. He died in 1683 at an
advanced age. Children: 1. John. 2. Thomas,
settled in Bridgewater; married Elizabeth
Curtis. 3. Nathaniel. 4. Elizabeth, married
Marmaduke Stevens. 5. Joseph, killed in the
Rehoboth battle, in King Phillip's war. 6.
Hannah. 7. Nicholas, mentioned below. 8.
Jacob, lived in Scituate; left no family.
(II) Nicholas (2), son of Nicholas (1)
Wade, was born about 1690. He settled in
East Bridgewater, and married, in 1715, Anne
Latham, daughter of James. She died in
1770, aged seventy-seven years, his widow.
Children: 1. John, married, 1751, Hannah
Kingman; went to Penobscot, Maine. 2.
James, mentioned below. 3. Thomas, born
1721 ; married Susanna Latham; lived in
Bridgewater. 4. Amasa, went to Weymouth.
5. Samuel, settled in Hanson, and had Samuel,
Isaac, Levi, and other children. 6. Nicholas,
born 1731; married Betty Tomson, of Hali
fax, had John, Betty, James, Ruth, Betty and
Hannah ; died in 1780. 7. Elizabeth, mar
ried, 1739, Samuel Harden. 8. Mary, mar
ried, 1760, Seth Mitchell.

MASSACHUSETTS.

147

(III) James, son of Nicholas (2) Wade,
was born in East Bridgewater, about 1720-25.
He married, 1754, Ann Clark, of Plymouth.
He died in 1802, aged seventy-three years.
He was a soldier in the revolution, in Captain
James Keith's company in 1775, and Captain
James Ward's company in 1780. His age
was then given as forty-nine years; height
six feet. Children: 1. Abigail, born 1755,
died young. 2. Anne, born 1757 ; married
1783, Reuben Mitchell. 3. Hannah, born 1759;
married, 1784, Thomas Osborne. 4. James,
born 1761 ; mentioned below. 5. Abigail, born
1765; married, 1784, Spencer Forest. 6. Re
becca, born 1766; married, 1786, Israel Cow
ing, of Scituate.
(IV) James (2), son of James (1) Wade,
was born in Bridgewater, probably in 1761.
He settled in the adjacent town of Halifax,
and was a soldier from that town in the revo
lution, a private in Captain Samuel Nelson's
company, Colonel Aaron Willard's regiment,
and traveled to Skeensborough, New Hamp
shire, via Charlestown, in 1777. He was also
in the Continental army at West Point in 1780,
five months and fourteen days.
(V) James (3), son of James (2) Wade,
was born April 1, 1783, at Halifax, Massachu
setts. Melvin Wade, probably a brother, also
lived in Halifax. James Wade married, April
15, 1803, (intention dated May 3, 1802)
Sabrina Lyon, born March 28, 1785, at Hali
fax, daughter of Obadiah and Lydia Lyon.
He died at Halifax in 1866. Children, born
at Halifax: 1. Elvira C, December 27, 1805.
2. Sophia L., December 31, 1807. 3. Sabrina
L., December 21, 1810; married, February 1,
1836, Abel Cushing. 4. 'Cynthia, August 10,
1813. 5. James Jr., June 16, 1816. 6. David
Niles, July 2, 1819; mentioned below. 7.
Martha L., November 28, 1820. 8. Henry
Lyon, September 16, 1824. 9. Henrietta M.,
February 18, 1830.
(VI) David Niles, son of James (3) Wade,
was born in Halifax, July 2, 1819, and died
at South Weymouth, in 1907. He married
Mary E. Hudson (intention dated September
22, 1844 at Halifax), daughter of Isaac Hud
son, of Halifax. She was born in 1822, at South
Hanson, and died at South Weymouth in 1892.
He was a carpenter in South Weymouth. Chil
dren: 1. Isaac W., born 1845. 2.MaryNiles,born
1846; married Alfred O. Crawford (see Craw
ford). 3. David O., born 1849. 4- Charles
R, born 1858; married (first) Annie G. Hall;
(second) Sarah Macelveen; children: Doris
H., John W.

Christopher Wadsworth,
WADSWORTH immigrant ancestor, was
born in England and
from the records in a Bible which he brought
with him to New England, and which is now
owned by the Cowles family in Hartford, Con
necticut, he is believed to be the son of
Thomas Wadsworth. He is thought to have
come in the same ship with William Wads
worth, who may have been his brother. Will
iam came in the ship "Lion," which sailed
Sunday, September 16, 1832, with one hun
dred 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 at Boston. William settled
in Cambridge and in 1630 removed to Hart
ford, Connecticut. Christopher lived and died
at Duxbury, Massachusetts. He was a promi
nent 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, elected January 1,
1633-34, and serving again in 1638. He was
admitted a freeman in 1633. He served as
selectman, deputy to the general court many
years, and as highway surveyor at various
times. In 1638 he drew land at 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 for
merly known as Morton's Hole. The home
stead remained in the family until 1855, when
it was sold. His will, dated July 31, 1677,
was filed in September, 1678. His widow
Grace made a will dated January, 1687-88, in
old age and infirmities, which was proved
June 13, 1688. Children: 1. Mary, married
 Andrews. 2. Samuel, mentioned be
low. 3. Joseph, born 1636, died 1689; married,
1655, Abigail Wait; (second) Mary  .
4. John, born 1638, died 1700; married, 1667,
Abigail Andrews ; lived on the homestead and
was deacon of the Duxbury church many
years; eleven children.
(II) Captain Samuel, son of Christopher
Wadsworth, was born probably in 1630 in
England, the eldest son. He came to New
England with his father and settled in Bridge-
water, then Duxbury plantation, where he Was
a taxpayer from 1655 to 1665. He occupied
the land at Bridgewater owned by his father,
and had a sixty-fourth interest in the town
ship. His son Timothy succeeded his grand
father as owner in 1686. Captain Samuel and
his brother, Joseph Wadsworth, owned land at
Bridgewater longer than any other of the early

148

MASSACHUSETTS.

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 prop
erty is still owned by descendants, having been
in the family ever since the first settlement.
Captain Samuel was a man of means and influ
ence, active in church and state. His descend
ants of the name of Wadsworth are more
numerous than those of any of his brothers.
He was a soldier in King Philip's war in com
mand of the Milton company. In April, 1676,
he was ordered to Marlborough 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
borough he learned. that the Indians had attack
ed the settlement at Sudbury and burned the
houses on the 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 the night before. Captain Brocklebank
went with the company and some of the Marl
borough garrison. Captain Wadsworth and
his men were ambushed by about five hun
dred Indians, with the usual 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. Cap
tain Wadsworth, covered with wounds, it is
said, was one of the last to fall. Thirty men,
including Captain Brocklebank, Captain Wads
worth, 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 Pren
tice 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 reso
lute stout-hearted soldier, one worthy to live
in our history under the name of a good man."
The first monument to him and his comrades-
in-arms buried in the battle field at Sudbury
was erected by his son, President Wadsworth,
of Harvard College. On November 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. He mar
ried Abigail Lindall, of Marshfield. Children
of Captain Wadsworth: 1. Ebenezer, born
1660, died 1717; married Mary  . 2.
Christopher, 1661, died unmarried, 1687; his
grave is marked by the oldest stone in the
graveyard at Milton. 3. Timothy, 1662. 4.
Joseph, 1667, died 1750. 5. Rev. Benjamin,
1670, graduated* at Harvard College, 1690;
president of Harvard, 1725; died 1734; mar
ried Ruth Curwin. 6. Abigail, 1672, married
Andrew Boardman. 7. John, mentioned below.
The family met with a severe loss a few weeks
before the birth of Rev. Benjamin, before
mentioned. The dwelling house in which they
lived took fire in the night time, burning
to the ground. A few articles of household
furniture and clothing were saved, and, as a
temporary shelter while a new house was
being erected, the family resided in the barn,
and here the future college president was born.
(Ill) Deacon John, son of Captain Samuel
Wadsworth, was born in Milton in 1674, and
died in 1734, leaving a large estate, valued at
seven thousand and eighty-two pounds. Among
his effects was a negro slave, Caesar. Deacon
John Wadsworth was a prominent man in both
church and town affairs at Milton. He was
deputy to the general court in 1717-25-26-32-
33. He was associated with Manasseh Tucker,
Samuel Miller and Moses Belcher in the pur
chase of the Blue Hill lands, fifteen hundred
acres of which were annexed to Milton in
1712. He married Elizabeth Vose, who died
in 1756. Children: 1. Mary, born 1699, mar
ried, 1720, Robert Anderson. 2. Abigail, 1700,
married Benjamin Fenno. 3. Elizabeth, 1701,
married T. Tolman. 4. Rev. John, 1703, grad
uated at Harvard, 1723; died June 15, 1766.
5. Ruth, 1705, married  Parrot. 6.
Benjamin, 1707, mentioned below. 7. Joseph,
1 71 2. 8. Grace, 1713, married Thomas Dean,
of Dedham. 9. Margaret, 1714, married Ben
jamin Fuller. 10. Hannah, 1716. 11. Ebe
nezer, 1718, married Patience Swift. 12. Sam
uel, 1720.
(IV) Deacon Benjamin, son of Deacon
John Wadsworth, was born in Milton in 1707,
and died October 17, 1771. He built a house
on Wadsworth Hill, Milton, about the time of
his marriage. The house is still standing. He
was a prominent man and twenty-eight years
deacon of the church. He married, in 1735^
Esther Tucker. Children: 1. Elizabeth, born:

MASSACHUSETTS.

149

1736, died 1751. 2. Ruth, 1737, married Ralph
Houghton. 3. John, 1739, mentioned below.
4. Abigail, 1741. 5. Mary, 1743. 6. Ann, 1745,
died young. 7. Sarah, 1747, married Ebe
nezer Glover. 8. Benjamin, 1750. 9. Esther,
1752, married Nathan Vose. 10. Joseph, 1755,
died same year.
(V) John (2), son of Deacon Benjamin
Wadsworth, was born in Milton in 1739 and
died in 1775. He married, in 1760, Catherine
Bullard. He was a minute-man and started
with his company on the Lexington alarm, but
was obliged to give up owing to ill health, and
died the same year. His widow sent her team
to transport the cassivus for the fortifications
at Dorchester Heights. Children: 1. Rebecca,
born 1761, died young. 2. Joseph, 1763, died
1816. 3. Benjamin, 1765, mentioned below.
4. William, 1768, died 1824. 5. John, 1770,
died 1847.
(VI) Benjamin (2), son of John (2) Wads
worth, was born in Milton in 1765 and died
in 1829. He was a plowmaker and resided at
Milton. He married Mary Babcock. Chil
dren: 1. Rebecca, born and died 1790. 2.
Sarah, born and died 1791. 3. Isaac, bora
1792. 4. Jason, 1794, died 1870. 5. Mary,
1795, died 1879. 6. Catherine, 1797, married
Thomas Copeland. 7. Thomas Thatcher, 1799,
mentioned below. 8. Benjamin, born and died
1800. (VII) Thomas Thatcher, son of Benjamin
(2) Wadsworth, was born in Milton in 1799
and died there in 1882. He received his edu
cation in the public schools and at Milton
Academy, and learned the trade of cabinet
making. He worked at his trade at Milton
for more than twenty-five years. He made
birch tables which he sold in Boston, and also
made very beautiful mahogany furniture.
About 1862 he gave up cabinet making and
conducted his farm the remainder of his life.
He was a member of Union Lodge of Free
Masons, Dorchester, and later of Macedonian
Lodge at Milton, fle served as selectman of
the town for several years, and as chairman
of the board a part of the time, and also as a
member of the legislature two years. He
attended the Unitarian church, fle married,
in 1829, at Roxbury, Mary Bradlee, daughter
of Lemuel Bradlee. Child: Edwin Dexter,
born December 3, 1832, mentioned below.
(VIII) Captain Edwin Dexter, son of
Thomas Thatcher Wadsworth, was born in
Milton on the homestead, December 3, 1832,
died there February 21, 1901. He attended
the public schools of his native town and also

Milton Academy. On October 31, 1849, a
month before his seventeenth birthday, he
accompanied his father's cousin, William Bab
cock, to California, going by way of Cape
Florn, arrived at San Francisco April 6, 1850,
and spending less than two years in the gold
fields; returned on account of sickness. After
recovering his health he entered the merchant
marine service. He was engaged in foreign
trade and visited the principal ports of Europe
and South America, and the far East, fle
was the chief officer of the first American
merchantship that traded in a Japanese port,
the ship "Florence." Captain Wadsworth
was then -only twenty-five years old. During
the civil war he commanded a transport con
veying soldiers to different points along the
southern coast. Later he was in command of
steamships of the Cromwell and Black Star
lines, plying between New York and New
Orleans. In 1868 he gave up a seafaring life
and settled in Milton, where for five years he
engaged in the coal business.
In politics he was a Republican and was
active in town affairs. He served as select
man, and was on the school committee six
years, part of the time as chairman. He was
a member and chairman of the board of
assessors, and was trustee of the public library
for eighteen years, from its foundation. He
was a member of the board of water commis
sioners of Milton and did much to aid in the
establishment of an improved sewerage system
in the town. He was treasurer of the Boston
Marine Society for twelve years, up to his
death, and secretary of the Society of Cali
fornia Pioneers of New England from 1890
to 1895. He was for five years secretary of
the Society of Colonial Wars, and a member
of the Sons of the American Revolution. In
1896 he was elected a member of the county
commissioners of Norfolk county for a term
of three years, and re-elected for a second
term. To the exacting duties of this office
he brought a pleasing personality, ripe judg
ment, and zealous care and thought. He was
a charter member and Past Master of Mace
donian Lodge of Free Masons of Milton. As
a public, spirited citizen he was always ready
with his influence to aid in forwarding all
measures calculated to be of benefit to the
community. Always honest and upright, he
won the respect and confidence of his fellow
citizens, and gave them in return the best that
was in him in the execution of the duties of
the various offices which he was called upon
to fill. He married, November 5, 1862, Ellen

i.SO

MASSACHUSETTS.

Maria Emerson, born in Milton, March 24,
1840, daughter of Joshua and Ann Gulliver
(Babcock) Emerson, of Milton. Children:
1. Dexter Emerson, born March 7, 1866, en
gaged in the dry goods business in Quincy;
married, June 21, 1898, in Chicago, Illinois,
Kate Shumway Anderson. 2. Annie Mary,
September 20, 1868, died unmarried June 3,
1902. The Bush family is of ancient Eng-
BUSH lish origin. The first pioneer of
the family in this country was Ran
dolph or Reynold Bush, who was a proprietor
of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1641. He
mortgaged land there in 1644 and redeemed
it in 1657. Fle doubtless removed soon after
ward to Connecticut.
(I) Jonathan Bush, probably a son of Ran
dolph Bush, was born in 1650 and died in
1739. He was one of the early settlers of
Enfield, Connecticut, and his name appears
on the records as early as 1680. He owned
the fourth lot on the west side at the upper
end of the town and afterwards lived north
of Freshwater. He married Sarah  .
Children, born at Enfield: 1. Jonathan, men
tioned below. 2. John, November 22, 1685,
died young. 3. Sarah, married, in 1718, Ben
jamin Sittan and settled at Somers, Connec
ticut, formerly part of Enfield. 4. Daniel, born
November 13, 1689. 5. Ebenezer, August 19,
1692. 6. Caleb, December 27, 1697. 7. Sarah,
September 27, 1699.
(II) Jonathan (2), son of Jonathan (1)
Bush, was born about 1682, in Enfield, and
died February 28, 1746. His epitaph reads:
"He fineshed his Pessabel (peaceable) and
exemplary life Febry. ye 28th in the 65th year
of his age." He was a wheelwright by trade.
His children quitclaimed their rights in the
estate of their grandfather, Jonathan Bush.
He married Rachel Kibbe, of Enfield, who died
in 1786, aged ninety-eight years. Children,
born at Enfield: 1. Jonathan, May 2, 1710,
lived in Springfield, Massachusetts. 2. Joshua,
August 17, 1712, married Experience French.
3. Moses, 1714. 4. Aaron, August 18, 1717,
mentioned below. 5. Rachel, May 30, 1722,
married Job Larkham. 6. Caleb, August 7,
1725, married Martha, daughter of Ebenezer
Pease. 7. Elizabeth, January 12, 1727-28.
(Ill) Aaron, son of Jonathan (2) Bush,
was born August 18, 1717, died at Enfield in
1805. He was a prominent citizen and for
many years held offices of trust and honor in
his native town. He was highway surveyor

in 1753, collector of taxes in 1755, tything-
inan in 1767, on the school committee in 1770,
and held these offices and others at different
times. He married, September 21, 1743, Alice
French, born April 30, 1720, died December
2, 1778. Their home was on Terry Lane.
Children, born at Enfield: 1. Alice, Septem
ber 26, 1744. 2. Aaron, August 23, 1746. 3.
Moses, June 27, 1748. 4. Oliver, May 12,
1750. 5. Elizabeth, May 5, 1752. 6. Rufus,
July 16, 1754, mentioned below. 7. Abel. 8.
Sarah, November 14, 1756. 9. Mary, April
13, 1759. 10. John, September 25, 1763.
( IV) Rufus, son of Aaron Bush, was born
July 16, 1754. He was a soldier in the revolu
tion, 2 private in the tenth company, Captain
Hezekiah Parsons, of Enfield, at the siege of
Boston in 1775. He was also in Captain Abbe's
company in the Connecticut Line Regiment,
1777-81, and saw much active service. Late
in life he was a pensioner of the government
and he was living in 1840. In 1790 he appears
in the federal census as the head of a family at
Enfield, having two sons under sixteen and
four females in his family. He married (first)
March 30, 1780, Huldah Alden, of Enfield.
She died there October 2, 1817, aged sixty-
two years. He married (second) September
23, i8t8, Resine Redotha, of Enfield. Chil
dren of first wife, born at Enfield : 1. Huldah,
February 10, 1781. 2. Lydia, July 28, 1782.
3. Rufus, May 24, 1784, mentioned below. 4.
Porter, January 18, 1786.
(V) Rufus (2), son of Rufus (1) Bush,
was born at Enfield, May 24, 1784. He mar
ried, at Enfield, March 1, 1801, Sally Allen,
and the town records state that he was "six
teen the last of May, she fifteen in January."
He was a carpenter and builder and one of
the leading contractors of that section in his
day. He lived at Enfield during his active
life. In politics he was a Democrat.
(VI) David A., son of Rufus (2) Bush,
was born in Enfield, Connecticut, 1803, died
July 7, 1870. He was educated in the com
mon schools, and at the age of fifteen was
employed by Potter & King, plow manufac
turers, and remained with them until he went
to Chicopee Falls. Here he worked on the
construction of the first water wheels and
flumes in use there. While living in Chicopee
Falls he refused to pay the church tax, as he
did not believe in the doctrines taught, and
never attended their services. The church
authorities seized his coat to satisfy the tax.
He was a strong Universalist and assisted in
the erection of the first Universalist church of

MASSACHUSETTS.

151

Springfield. From Chicopee Falls he went to
Providence and later to Willimansett and in
1830 removed to Springfield, where he bought
the plow and wagon manufactory of Ebe
nezer Crane. In a comparatively short time
he succeeded in building up a very extensive
business. His factory was at the corner of
Main and Cross streets. He invested in real
estate and owned the line of houses on Cross
street, Bush block, and other property. He
married, April 30, 1827, Betsey Williams, of
Westfield, died February 22, 1879, at seventy-
three years, daughter of Naboth Williams, who
died in 1821. Children : 1. Elizabeth Page,
died young. 2. Austin B., mentioned below.
3. Elizabeth Page, married Dennis S. Goff,
of Springfield ; had one child, Jessie B., who
married Henry Safford, of Springfield, Mass
achusetts. 4. Melancthon Whitamore, died
young. (VII) Austin B., son of David A. Bush,
was born in Willimansett, December 21, 1829.
He received his early education in the public
schools and Clinton Institute in New York,
supplemented by a year at the Norwich Mili
tary Academy of Vermont, under Captain
Alden Partridge. He started to learn wagon
making in his father's factory, but gave it up
to go into the grocery business. Six years
later he took a position in the United States
armor}*, where he was engaged in the stock
ing department until the close of the civil war.
Since then he has put all his time into the care
of the large amount of real estate left him by
his father. In politics he is a Democrat and
has been clerk of the returning board of ward
three and has once received the nomination
for alderman in this Republican ward. For
some time he was a member of Cataract
Engine Company No. 2. He has been an ex
tensive traveller in his own country, and is
well-informed. He is a member of St. Paul's
Church and its treasurer, and for many years
teacher in the Sunday school. He married
(first) January 11, 1854, Susan P. Millard,
of Levant, Maine, born November 7, 1832,
died August 8, 1891, daughter of David and
R-becca Millard. He married (second) Feb
ruary 15, 1892, Mrs. Persis (Crawford) Pros-
ser. born October 13, 1844, daughter of Will
iam and Almira (Cheney) Crawford, of Oak
ham, Massachusetts, and widow of Charles M.
Pro:- ser. Her grandfather, Alexander Craw
ford, worked in the- United States armory and
finislied the first rifle ever made in the Spring
field armory. Children of first wife: 1. James,
died young. 2. Harry Dean, born April 2,

1857, graduated at the Springfield high school
and in 1879 from Worcester Institute of Tech
nology; has held many important positions on
the Pacific coast and has been superintendent
of the Dominion Bridge Company of Canada;
also with George Morrison, bridge builder of
New York, and on the water works of Port
land, Oregon; married Emma Wetherbee, of
Gardner, Massachusetts. She died December
7, 1907. He married (second) Mrs. Frances
Davis, January 21, 1909.
(The Crawford Line).
Aaron Crawford, immigrant ancestor, 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-grandfather. He came to New Eng
land with his family in 1713, some five years
before the 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, soon afterward. A- member of the
Crawford family was elected to town office
in Rutland at the first town-meeting in July,
1722, and it is believed that Aaron Crawford
was one of the first settlers of the town. He
married Agnes Wilson in the parish of Caly,
county Tyrone, Ireland. She was born 1678.
Three sons, Samuel, John and Alexander,
born in the parish of Caly, Ireland, were
brought over by the parents, also Martha.
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. Children: 1. Samuel, born
1705, died October 17, 1760; married Margaret
Montgomery and had no children. 2. Martha,
1706, died September 20, 1795, in Rutland ; mar
ried, May 24, 1733, James Bell. 3. John, born
in Ireland, settled in Palmer, died unmarried.
4. Alexander, 1713, mentioned below. 5. Isa
bella, died young. 6. Mary, Rutland, April
15, 1721, married, April 15, 1745, William
McCobb. 7. Moses, died unmarried in Rut
land. (II) Alexander, son of Aaron Crawford,
was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, early in
1713, and was but a few months old when
his parents came to America. He went to
Paitland with his family in 1719 and helped
his father clear the farm during his youth.
He settled in Rutland and followed the life
of a pioneer farmer until 1750, when he re
moved to West Wing, now Oakham, where he

152

MASSACHUSETTS.

died October II, 1793, in his eightieth year.
He married, February 5, 1735-36, Elizabeth
Crawford, who died April 27, 1774, aged
sixty-two. She was doubtless also born in
Ireland, in Londonderry county, emigrating
with several brothers and sisters from Mag-
herafelt of that county, and settling in New
Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. She was
perhaps a distant relative of her husband.
Children: 1. William, died young. 2. John,
born January 7, 1739, captain in the revolu
tion ; married, February 9, 1759, Rachel Hen
derson. 3. Child, died young. 4. Aaron, mar
ried, January 31, 1768, Giles Gill. 5. William,
born October 23, 1745, mentioned below.
(Ill) William, son of Alexander Crawford,
was born in Rutland, 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 com
mon schools. He learned the trade of clock-
making and became one of the most skillful
and famous mechanics in his line. His home
was in the eastern part of the town. He was
a soldier in the.revolution, sergeant in Captain
John Crawford's company, Colonel James Con
verse'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 to August 23, 1777. He was short
of stature and somewhat lame in consequence
of a fever sore. He became captain of his
company in the militia and was afterwards
always called Captain Crawford. He married
Mary Henderson, born July 30, 1748, died
November 26, 1838, of old age, daughter of
James and Sarah Henderson, of Rutland.
Children: 1. Elizabeth, born February 10,
1774, died February 3, 1838; married, 1815,
Jonathan King. 2. James, August 11, 1775,
married Mollie Butler. 3. Lucy, February 7,
1778. 4. William, February 25, 1780, died
March 30, 1781. 5. Sarah, January 30, 1782,
died February 1, 1798. 6. William, January
30, 1782 (twin), died February 1, 1798. 7.
William, October 5, 1784, representative to the
general court; graduate of Dartmouth; county
commissioner ; general in the state militia. 8.
Rufus, November 13, 1785, married, 1820,
Clarissa Cunningham. 9. Molly, October 6,
1787, married, June 27, 1812, Samuel Tenney.
10. Alexander, April 16, 1792, mentioned be
low. 11. Isabella, February 24, 1796, died
November 16, 1845.
(IV) Alexander (2), son of William Craw
ford, was born in Oakham, April 16, 1792.

He married, September 6, 1813, Mary Hender
son. Children, born at Oakham: 1. Emeline
Mariah, September 30, 1814. 2. Anson Alex
ander, January 17, 181 7. 3. William A., Octo
ber 7, 1820, mentioned below. 4. Harriet.
(V) William Amory, son of Alexander
(2) Crawford, was born at Oakham, Octo
ber 7, 1820, and resided there. He married
Almira E. Cheney. Children: 1. Persis C,
born at Oakham, October 13, 1844, who mar
ried (first) August 30, 1870, Charles M. Pros-
ser, of New Berlin, Chenango county, New
York; he died January 15, 1878. She married
(second) Austin B. Bush (see Bush family),
February 15, 1892; he died December 23,
1904. Mrs. Bush is a member of Mercy War
ren Chapter, Daughters of the American Revo
lution, of Springfield, Massachusetts. 2. Mary
L., born in Worcester, Massachusetts, July 4,
1846, married Lacell Jones ; one child, Lula
A., who married Edward Lee; now resides in
Worcester, Massachusetts.

This family is of ancient Eng-
FISHER lish origin and the surname,
Fisher, is taken from the occu
pation. Some of the familes in England bore
arms, one of which is as follows : Azure, a
dolphin embowed naiant or.
(I) Anthony Fisher, the first of this name
of whom there is definite record, lived in the
latter part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in
the parish of Syleham, county Suffolk, Eng
land, on the south bank of the Waveney river,
on a freehold estate called "Wignotte." He
married Mary Fiske, daughter of William and
Anne Fiske, of St. James, South Elmasham,
county Suffolk, England. The Fiske family
was an old Puritan family of that county,
which had suffered during the religious per
secutions of Queen Mary's reign. Anthony
Fisher was buried April 11, 1640. Children:
1. Joshua, baptized February 24, 1585, died
1674 in Medfield, Massachusetts ; married
(first)  ; (second) February 7, 1638,
at Syleham, England, Anne Luson, who came
to New England and settled at Dedham;
Joshua came to New England in 1639 and set
tled first at Dedham ; admitted a freeman May
13, 1640; blacksmith by trade; removed to
Medfield, 1650; was first deacon of the Med
field church ; selectman 1653-55. 2. Mary,
twin sister of Joshua, married W. Brigge, of
Deningham, county Suffolk, England. 3.
Anthony, baptized April 23, 1591, mentioned
below. 4. Amos, married Anne Morrise,
widow of Daniel Locke ; resided at Eastridge

MASSACHUSETTS.

153

Hall, parish ofWesley, county Essex, England.
5. Rev. Cornelius, baptized August 6, 1599,
married Elizabeth  ; had degree of M.
A. from Cambridge University and resided at
Brigholt, county Suffolk, England. 6. Martha,
married John Buckingham, of Syleham, Eng
land. (II) Anthony (2), son of Anthony (1)
Fisher, was baptized at Syleham, England,
April 23, 1591. He was the immigrant ances
tor, and came to New England probably in
the ship "Rose," arriving in Boston, June 26,
1637. He settled at Dedham, and subscribed
to the covenant there July 18, 1637. He was
admitted a freeman in May, 1645, and was
selectman of Dedham in 1646-47 ; elected
county commissioner September 3, 1660, and
deputy to the general court, May 2, 1649. He
was woodreeve in 1653-54-57-58-61-62. He
removed to Dorchester and was chosen select
man there December 5, 1664, and the two
years following ; was commissioner in 1666.
He died in Dorchester, April 18, 1671. His
first wife Mary was admitted to the church
at Dedham, March 27, 1642, and he on March
14, 1645. He married (second) November 14,
1663, Isabel Breck, widow of Edward Breck,
of Dorchester. Children, all by first wife : 1.
Anthony, mentioned below. 2. Cornelius,
married (first) February 23, 1653, at Dedham,
Leah Heaton, who died at Wrentham, January
12, 1664; married (second) July 25, 1665,
Sarah Everett ; he died at Wrentham, June 2,
1699. 3. Nathaniel, born, at Syleham, Eng
land, came to Dedham, 1637, and married there
December 26, 1649, Esther Hunting; died at
Dedham, May 23, 1676. 4. Daniel, born in
England, came to Dedham, 1637, admitted
freeman, May 13, 1640; called sergeant in the
records ; member of Ancient and Honorable
Artillery Company, 1642, and sergeant in 1655 ;
mentioned as ensign in 1658-59; appointed
captain of militia, October 15, 1673; about
1671 two of the .regicide judges of Charles I,
Colonel Goffe and Colonel Whalley, were
hidden by Captain Daniel Fisher in a little
wood back of his house on Lowder street,
near a pond ; Captain Daniel's daughter Lydia
supplied them with food; Goffe was sent dis
guised as a servingman on horseback to Had
ley, remaining a year in the care of friends of
Captain Daniel Fisher; Daniel married, No
vember 16, 1641, Abigail Mariott. 5. Lydia,
married Daniel Morse, of Sherbom. 6. John,
died in Dedham, September 5, 1637, the first
death recorded in Dedham.
(Ill) Anthony (3), son of Anthony (2)

Fisher, was born in England, came with his
parents to New England, and settled in Ded
ham in 1637. He was a member of the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in
1644. He was admitted a freeman, May 6,
1646, and joined the Dedham church, July 20,
1645. He was chosen surveyor of Dedham
in 1652-53-54. He removed to Dorchester
and was selectman there in 1666. He married,
in Dedham, September 7, 1647, Joanna Faxon,
only daughter of Thomas and Jane Faxon, of
Braintree. Children: 1. Mehitable, born June
27, 1648, probably died young. 2. Experience,
baptized August 11, 1650, probably died young.
3. Josiah, born May 1, 1654, mentioned below.
4. Abiah, baptized August 3, 1656, married,
March 5, 1685, Benjamin Colburn, of Ded
ham; died November 18, 1688. 5. Sarah,
October 29, 1658, married, May 22, 1677, John
Guild. 6. Deborah, baptized February 24,
1661, married, October 20, 1679, James Fales.
7. Judith, baptized July 5, 1663, married, Jan
uary 3, .1684, John Bullen. 8. Eleazer, born
September 18, 1669, married, October 13,
1698, Mary Avery.
(IV) Josiah, son of Anthony (3) Fisher,
was born in Dedham, May 1, 1654, died there
April 12, 1736. He was admitted a freeman,
February 13, and served as representative in
1699. He was selectman in 1697 and for four
succeeding years; coroner in 1716. His will
was dated May 27, 1735. He married (first)
January 27, 1680, Meletiah Bullen, born Sep
tember 15, 1655, died April 23, 1693, daugh
ter of Samuel and Mary (Morse) Bullen. He
married (second) September 1, 1693, Joanna
Morse, daughter of Ezra and Joanna (floare)
Morse. He married (third) February 15,
1697, Abigail Greenwood, of Newton, who
died at Dedham, September 6, 1708. He mar
ried (fourth) October 18, 1716, Mehitable
Veazie, born February 17, 1666, died May 18,
1741, daughter of William and Elinor (Tomp-
son) Veazie. Children: 1. Bethia, born De
cember 10, 1681, married (first) Benjamin
Everett, December 12, 171 2; (second) Octo
ber 18, 1726, Daniel Lawrence. 2. Josiah, No
vember 25, 1683, mentioned below. 3. Joanna,
September 13, 1686, married, May 17, 1716,
Nathaniel Dean. 4. Abigail, January 3, 1698,
married, October 13, 1723, Joseph Guild. 5.
Experience, April 14, 1700, married (first)
December 2, 1730, Captain Ebenezer Wood
ward; (second) April 16, 1747, Rev. Samuel
Dunbar. (V) Captain Josiah (2), son of Josiah (1)
Fisher, was born at Dedham, November 25,

154

MASSACHUSETTS.

1683, died intestate, February 24, 1763. He
resided in Springfield Parish (now Dover) in
1732. He was captain of militia and select
man of the town in 1736, and for seven years.
He married, at Dedham, September 25, 1707,
Elizabeth Avery, born May 16, 1684, died Au
gust 7, 1747, daughter of Deacon William and
Elizabeth (White) Avery. Children: 1.
Josiah, born August 15, 1708, died July 10,
1745. 2. Joseph, May 2, died June 15, 1710.
3. Joseph, January 14, 1712, mentioned below.
4. Jonathan, August 5, 1713, married, Decem
ber 21, 1737, Mary Richards. 5. Samuel, June
13, 1715. 6. Moses, died January 17, 1717.
7. Moses, born September 1, 1717. 8. Aaron,
May 6, 1720, married March 21, 1745. 9.
William, September 3, 1724, married, April
30, 1747, Mary Battelle.
(VI) Joseph, son of Captain Josiah Fisher,
was born January 14, 1712, died in Dedham,
July 5, 1759. His widow Mary was appointed
administratrix of the estate, and guardian of
the six youngest children. He married, May
11, 1738, Mary Metcalf, born February 16,
1716, daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (Gay)
Metcalf. Children: 1. Joseph, born May 17,
1739, mentioned below. 2. Ebenezer, April 4,
1741. 3. Mary, April 4, 1741, died same
month. 4. Mary, December 26, 1742, married,
April 3, 1764, William Hart. 5. Elizabeth,
August 31, 1745, married, 1764, Stephen Dra
per. 6. Ichabod, September 22, 1747, married
Sibyl Fisher, December 6, 1770. 7. Aaron,
August 19, 1749, died February 29, 1754. 8.
Experience, August 7, 1751, married, October
4, 1770, Moses Richardson. 9. Moses, July 8,
1754, died unmarried.
(VII) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (1)
Fisher, was born in Dedham, May 17, 1739.
In early life he went to Keene, New Hamp
shire, but returned, and was admitted to the
church of Dedham, recommended from the
church in Keene, March 26, 1758. He resided
in that part of Dedham now Dover, and at
Natick from about 1775, but returned to Dover
before 1790. He was in the revolution in
Captain Joseph Morse's company, Colonel
Samuel Bullard's regiment, on the Lexington
alarm, April 19, 1775, marching from Natick.
He died at Dover, December 2, 1790. He
married, at Dedham, March 8, 1764, Mary
Everett, of Dedham, who died at Concord,
October 21, 1822, aged eighty- three. Among
their children were: 1. Jesse, born February
2, 1765, mentioned below. 2. Joseph, baptized
July 5, 1767, died in Dover, December 26, 1790.
3. Chloe, born March 10, 1771, married Joseph

Richards; died December 19, 1825. 4. Ed
ward, born at Natick, February 18, 1781, mar
ried Mary Norcross.
(VIII) Jesse, son of Joseph (2) Fisher,
was born in Dover, February 2, 1765. He set
tled in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, and his
name appears on the tax list there from 1793
to 1.798. He lived on lot No. 8, range 11,
which he sold to Peter Preseott, and after
ward lived on lot 16, range 12, which he
bought of Silas Wheeler. About 1798 he re
moved to what is now the town of Baltimore,
Vermont. He died September 20, 1822, and
he and his wife are buried at North Spring
field, Vermont. He married, September 19,
1792, Jerusha Armsby, of Medfield, who died
June 11, 1821, in her fifty-seventh year. Chil
dren: 1. Joseph, born at Fitzwilliam, March
10, 1793, died September 25, 1866; married
three times. 2: Hermon, born at Fitzwilliam,
November 1, 1794, died unmarried November
18, 1822. 3. Ira, born April 12, 1797, men
tioned below. 4. Lyman, settled in Batavia,
New York. 5. Pitts, settled near Boston. 6.
Joanna, died young.
(IX) Ira, son of Jesse Fisher, was born at
Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, April 12, 1797.
He left home when a young man and went to
Massachusetts. He settled first in Concord,
later in Worcester, Massachusetts. He mar
ried (intentions dated at Concord March 23,
183 1 ) Emily Robbins,. of Littleton, born No
vember 25, 181 1, daughter of Seth and Relief
(Rice) Robbins. Her mother was daughter
of Samuel and Rispah (Wilson) Rice, of
Northborough and Grafton, Massachusetts.
Children: 1. Edward Everett, born at Wor
cester, October 12, 1848, mentioned below. 2.
William Henry, lives in West Springfield.
(X) Edward Everett, son of Ira Fisher,
was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, October
12, 1848. Fle received his education in the
public schools. He spent the greater part of
his life in Springfield and Chicopee, Massa
chusetts. For eighteen years he was a baker
in the employ of the J. S. Carr Company of
Springfield. The last twenty years of his life
were spent in Chicopee where he was pro
prietor of the Exchange street boarding house,
owned by the Dwight Manufacturing Com
pany, and one of the largest and best in the
city. It was for many years known as Fisher's
boarding house and largely patronized by the
employees of the Dwight Manufacturing Com
pany. Probably no man in the city who lived
quietly and unostentatiously as he did, became
better known or more highly esteemed by his

MASSACHUSETTS.

155

townsmen. He was a member of the Chico
pee Lodge of Free Masons, of the Amity
Lodge of Odd Fellows, and the Ancient Order
of United Workmen. He also belonged to
the Workingmen's Benefit Association of
Chicopee. He was also member of the Board
of Trade. He was a staunch and faithful Re
publican and at one time was clerk of the city
committee and influential in the management
of the party. He died at his home in Chicopee,
August 16, 1907. The interment was at Fair-
view cemetery. Fle married (first) Nellie
Cole, daughter of Elvira Cole. He married
(second) September 2, 1886, Nancy Agnes
Smith, born county Antrim, Ireland, October
15, 1855, daughter of Major Smith and Mar
garet (Knowles) Smith, granddaughter of
William and Elizabeth (Karl) Smith. Eliza
beth Karl's father was a surgeon in the Eng
lish army. Child of first wife : George Gar
field, born February 10, 1882, now living in
Westfield. Child of second wife: Ruth Eliz
abeth, born February 21, 1892, now a student
of the class of 1912, New England Conserva
tory of Music, Boston.

Richard Farwell, believed to
FARWELL be the ancestor of the Amer
ican immigrant, Henry Far-
well, one of the pioneers of Concord, Massa
chusetts, was born in England. He married,
about 1280, the daughter and heiress of Elias
de Rillestone, and brought that estate and
others into the family. These continued in
the family until about 1500, when they passed
on to the family of Radcliffe, although some
portion of the estate remains to this day in a
Farwell branch bearing the same arms and
claiming descent from Richard Farwell.
About the time the estates passed to the Rad-
cliffes, Simon Farwell migrated from York
shire to Somersetshire, and built at Bishop
Hall, near Taunton, the manor house on which
is carved the Farwell arms, quartered with de
Rillestone and others.
(I) Simon Farwell, mentioned above, of
Hill-Bishop, married Julia Clark and died in
1545- (II) Simon (2), son of Simon (1) Far-
well, was of Hill-Bishop, and married Doro
thy Dyer, heiress of Sir James Dyer, judge
and speaker of the house of commons. She
died 1580. Children: 1. Simon. 2. John, of
Holbrook. 3. George, born 1533, mentioned
below. 4. Richard. 5. Christopher, founder
of the Devonshire branch of the family. Four
daughters.

(Ill) George, son of Simon (2) Farwell,
was born in 1533, died in 1609, married Phil-
lippa Parker, who died 1620, daughter of John
Parker. They lived at Hill-Bishop. Children :
1. Sir George, knight of Hill-Bishop, men
tioned below. 2. Elizabeth. 3. Sir John. 4.
Arthur. (IV) Sir George (2), son of George (1)
Farwell, was a knight and lived at Hill-Bishop.
He died in 1647 ; married Lady Mary Sey
mour, daughter of Sir Edward Seymour, Duke
of Somerset, and brought into the family royal
Plantaganet blood. They had twenty children,
some of whom were : Thomas, John, men
tioned below ; George, Nathaniel, Edmund and
James. (V) John, son of Sir George (2) Farwell,
married Dorothy Routh, daughter of Sir John
Routh. Children: 1. Henry, mentioned below.
2. John. (VI) Henry, believed to be son of John
Farwell, of Hill-Bishop, England, was one of
the first settlers of Concord, Massachusetts,
and is ancestor of most of the surname in
America. In this connection it is interesting
to note that Thomas Farwell was in Taunton,
Massachusetts, in 1643, where he made a con
tract with his servant, James Bishop. (The
name Bishop may have been derived from the
place where the Farwells lived in England,
Hill-Bishop). Henry Farwell was admitted a
freeman, May 14, 1638-39. He served on im
portant committees for the proprietors and
the town. He removed to Chelmsford, Mass
achusetts, an adjoining town. His will was
made July 12, 1670, just before his death.
The inventory of his estate was filed August
5 following. He married Olive  . Chil
dren : 1. John, born at Concord about 1639,
married (first) Sarah Wheeler; (second)
Sarah Fisk. 2. Mary, December 26, 1640, mar
ried John Bates. 3. Joseph, February 20,
1642, mentioned below. 4. Olive, married,
October 30, 1668, at Chelmsford, Benjamin
Spaulding. 5. Elizabeth, married  ¦ Wil
kins. (VII) Ensign Joseph, son of Henry Far-
well, was born in Concord, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 20, 1642. He removed with his father
to Chelmsford. About 1609 he bought the
Waldo farm in Dunstable, Massachusetts, part
of which he deeded to his son, Henry Farwell,
in 1702. He settled there in 1699, and was
selectman in 170 1 -02-05- 10, and highway sur
veyor in 1706. His will was dated November
13, 171 1, and he died December 31, 1722. He
was deacon of the church. He married, De-

i56

MASSACHUSETTS.

cember 25, 1666, Hannah Learned, born in
Woburn, August 24, 1649, daughter of Isaac
and Mary (Stearns) Learned. Her father
was born in England, son of William and
Judith Learned, who came from England to
Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1632. Her
mother was daughter of Isaac and Mary
Stearns, who settled in Watertown in 1630.
Children: 1. Hannah, January 20, 1667-68.
2. Joseph, July 24, 1670, mentioned below. 3.
Elizabeth, June 9, 1672, married, January,
1693, John Richardson. 4. Henry, December
18, 1674, married Susannah Richardson. 5.
Isaac, born at Chelmsford, removed from Mil
ford to Mansfield, Connecticut. 6. Sarah,
September 2, 1683. 7. John, June 15, 1686.
8. William, January 21, 1688, settled in Gro
ton, Massachusetts. 9. Oliver, 1689, killed
by the Indians. 10. Olive, November, 1692.
(VIII) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (1) Far-
well, was born at Chelmsford, Massachusetts,
July 24, 1670. He removed to Groton, where
he died August 21, 1740. He' married, at
Chelmsford, Hannah Coburn. Children, born
at Chelmsford: 1. Joseph, August 5, 1696,
mentioned below. 2. Thomas, October 11,
1698, died December 16, 1731 ; married, De
cember 24, 1723, Elizabeth Pierce. Born at
Groton: 3. Hannah, May 6, 1701, died May
11, 176 — . 4. Elizabeth, December 31, 1703.
5. Edward, July 12, 1706. 6. Mary, February
5, 1709. 7. John, June 23, 171 1. 8. Samuel,
January 14, 1714. 9. Daniel, May 20, 1717,
married Mary  . 10. Sarah, February
26, 1721.
(IX) Joseph (3), son of Joseph (2) Far-
well, was born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts,
August 5, 1696. He married, December 14,
1719, Mary Gilson, born February 8, 1703,
daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Gilson. He
settled in Groton and was elected deacon of
the church there, June 20, 1750. He served
on important committees for the town in 1754
and 1784. He was a prominent and influential
citizen. Children, born at Groton: 1. Anna,
February 20, 1721, married, November 11,
1741, Josiah Brown. 2. Isaac, March 16, 1722,
died May 10, 1740. 3. Joseph, September 20,
1725, died August 27, 1758. 4. Jonathan, May
15, 1726, died at Charlestown, New Hamp
shire, November 29, 1761 ; married Eunice
—  • 5- Thomas, July 30, 1733, mentioned
below. 6. Oliver, June 24, 1735. 7. Mary,
September 4, 1738. 8. Susanna, August 8,
1742, married John Cheney, of Groton.
(X) Thomas, son of Joseph (3) Farwell,

was born at Groton, Massachusetts, July 30,
1733, died February 20, 1825, at Washington,
New Hampshire, fle served in the revolution
as sergeant of Captain John Sawtelle's com
pany, Colonel John Prescott's regiment, April
19, 1775. He was probably the Thomas Far-
well who was lieutenant in Captain Asa
Drury's company, Colonel Turner's regiment,
from July 1 to December 1, 1781, in Rhode
Island. He settled in Washington, New
Hampshire, and lived west of the village at
the centre of the town, not far from the house
later of Jabez Fisher. He was a good citizen
and an influential member of the church, in
which he held the office of deacon. He mar
ried Sarah Davis, who died February 28, 1813,
aged seventy years. Children, born in Gro
ton: 1. Ephraim, October 31, 1760, died Au
gust 15, 1825; married Annie  ;removed
to Washington and was prominent in town
affairs. 2. Thomas, January 26, 1763, died
May 27, 1829 ; married  — Waite and re
sided in Hopkinton, New Hampshire. 3.
Joseph, May 13, 1765, resided in Concord,
Massachusetts. 4. Sarah, January 9, 1768,
married William Lawrence and died in
Nashua, New Hampshire, August 8, 1850. 5.
Levi, November 7, 1770, married Sarah Smith;
died in Washington, September 14, 1858. 6.
William, March 26, 1780, mentioned below.
(XI) William, son of Thomas Farwell, was
born in Groton, Massachusetts, March 26,
1780, and came to Washington, New Hamp
shire, with his father. He settled in Washing
ton where James Tubbs afterward resided, but
later removed to Massachusetts. He removed
from Cambridge to Waltham, Massachusetts.
He was engaged in the manufacture of horse
collars. He lived at Milton and Cambridge
and was in business in Boston. He finally
returned to Washington, where he died De
cember 21, 1863. fle married, in 1803, Re
becca Smith, who died July 4, 1854, daughter
of Captain Abijah Smith, of New Ipswich,
New flampshire, and sister of Sarah Smith,
who married Levi Farwell, William's brother.
Children, born at Washington: 1. Juliet, June
10, 1805, married Rev. Cranmore Wallace and
settled in Charleston, South Carolina. 2. Re
becca, January 18, 1807, died in Waltham,
Massachusetts, January 12, 1872. 3. Emily Oc
tober 1, 1808, resides in Waltham. 4. William,
December 17, 1809, mentioned below. 5. Mary,
December 9, 181 1, married Deacon Daniel
Farrar and died in Waltham, Massachusetts,
August 3, 1874. 6. Sophronia, October 28,

MASSACHUSETTS.

157

1813, married John Weston, June 19, 1832.
7. Jane, December 28, 1814, died January 11,
1816. (XII) William (2), son of William (1)
Farwell, was born December 17, 1809, at Mil
ton, Massachusetts. He was educated in the
public schools of Washington, New Hamp
shire, for the most part. He operated for
many years a stage line between Concord &
Boston and between Nashua and Lowell.
When the railroad was built he was offered a
position as conductor of the first train, but he
refused. He sold his business to the railroad
company, but afterward bought it back, but
soon sold it again, and then operated a line
from Nashua to Lowell, which he sold. Then
he conducted a hack stable imLowell, Massa
chusetts. When he finally retired from busi
ness he made his home in Charlestown, re
moved thence to Somerville, later to Dor
chester, and finally in Chicopee Falls, Massa
chusetts, where he died at the advanced age
of eighty-seven years. He was a shrewd and
successful business man, industrious, enter
prising and capable. He was highly esteemed
for his hearty and genial disposition, his good
nature and integrity. When a young man he
served in the state militia in Concord, New
Hampshire. In politics he was a Republican
and in religion a Congregationalist. fle mar
ried Charlotte Clark, born about 1812, died at
seventy-nine years of age in Somerville, Mass
achusetts. Children: 1. Adelaide, deceased;
married Clark Smith, of Boston; she was
buried in Waltham, Massachusetts. 2. Charles
Frederick, born February 11, 1846, mentioned
below. (XIII) Charles Frederick, son of William
(2) Farwell, was born in Lowell, February 11,
1846, and educated there in the public and
high schools and the McKoy private school.
In 1861 he removed with his father to Charles
town, Boston. In 1863 he enlisted in the civil
war in the Second Massachusetts Heavy Artil
lery at the age of sixteen and served until the
end of the war. He engaged in the leather
business on Atlantic avenue, Boston, for a
number of years, then established himself in
his present business at Chicopee Falls, with the
firm of D. B. Griggs & Sons, dealers in all
kinds of lumber and box shooks. They make
a specialty of cloth boards and bicycle crates.
Mr. Farwell has been with this firm since 1893.
In politics he is a Republican. He belongs to
no clubs and is undenominational in religion.
He is unmarried.

The surname Crosby is of very
CROSBY ancient English origin. It is
derived from two English words
Cross and By (bury, burgh or borough), mean
ing the town of the cross. There are eight
old towns in England named Crosby. We
find the name used as a surname from the
very beginning of the use of surnames in Eng
land. In 1204 Ode de Crosseby was constable
of Tikehall, in Yorkshire, near the Notting
ham line, and as early as 1220 we find Simon
de Crosseby in Lancashire. The name Simon
has continued in frequent use among his de
scendants to the present day, and he is un
doubtedly the progenitor of the American
family. The Crosby coat-of-arms of ancient
but unknown history is : Per chevron a sable
and argent three goats pana, countercharged.
(I) Simon Crosby, immigrant ancestor, was
bora in England in 1608. He was a husband
man. He sailed from England in April, 1635,
in the ship "Susan & Ellen" with his wife
Anne, then aged twenty-five years, and young
son Thomas. He settled in Cambridge and
was a proprietor there as early as February 8,
1735-36. He was admitted a freeman in 1636
and was selectman of the town. He had sev
eral grants of land. His estate is what was
known later as the Brattle place, having passed
into the hands of Rev. William Brattle, and
on one of the lots was erected the famous old
Brattle House. He died September, 1639, aged
thirty-one years. The inventory of his estate
was taken November 15, 1645, by John Bridge
and Richard Jackson. Widow Anne yielded to
the three sons, Thomas, Simon and Joseph,
certain portions September 22, 1745, and she
married (second) Rev. William Thompson, of
Braintree. Children: 1. Thomas, born 1635.
2. Simon, August, 1637, mentioned below. 3.
Joseph, February, 1639-40.
(II) Simon (2), son of Simon (1) Crosby,
was born in August, 1637, in Cambridge, died
there January 22, 1725-26. He was admitted
a freeman in 1668 ; was deputy to the general
court in 1692-97-98. He settled in Billerica
near Bare Hill to the north and became a large
land owner and prosperous inn-keeper of that
town. He was for many years one of the
foremost citizens. His will was proved in
1725-26; sons Thomas and Josiah executors.
fle married, July 15, 1659, Rachel Brackett,
daughter of Deacon Richard Brackett, of
Braintree. Children, born in Billerica: 1.
Rachel, August 20, 1660, married, January 6,
1685, Stephen Kidder. 2. Simon, 1663, mar-

158

MASSACHUSETTS.

-; (second) March 16,

ried Hannah —
1702-03, Abigail Parker. 3. Thomas, March
10, 1665-66. 4. Joseph, July 5, 1669. 5. Han
nah, March 30,' 1672, married Samuel Dan
forth. 6. Nathan, February 9, 1674-75, men
tioned below. 7. Josiah, November 11, 1677.
8. Mary, November 23, 1680, married John
Blanchard. 9. Sarah, July 27, 1684, married,
October 26, 1706,  Rawson.
(Ill) Nathan, son of Simon (2) Crosby,
was born in Billerica, February 9, 1674-75,
died April 11, 1749. He married, September
28, 1706, Sarah Shed, who died March 8,
1746-47, daughter of John Shed, of Billerica.
Children, born at Billerica : 1. Nathan, April
5, 1708. 2. Rachel, March 30, 1710, married
Peter Hill. 3. Dorothy, April 9, 1712, mar
ried Benjamin Whiting. 4. Catherine, Febru
ary 18, 1713-14. 5. Oliver, January 21, 1716-
17, mentioned below. 6. Mary, May 17, 1722,
married John Parker.
(IV) Oliver, son of Nathan Crosby, was
born in Billerica, January 21, 1716-17, died
February 27, 1746-47. fle married Rebecca
 . Children, born at Billerica: 1. Re
becca, April 23, 1743, married, April 13, 1786,
Malachi Allen, of Carlisle. 2. Oliver, Sep
tember 17, 1744, mentioned below. 3. Josiah,
April 20, 1746.
(V) Lieutenant Oliver (2), son of Oliver
(1) Crosby, was born in Billerica, September
17, 1744, died there September 17, 1825. He
was a farmer and lived on the homestead on
the Boston road. In March, 1777, he was
one of a committee to recruit soldiers for the
continental army. He was town clerk four
teen years, from 1785 to 1796, and in 1803-04.
He was selectman fifteen years, 1786 to 1796,
1800-01-03-04; deputy to the general court
in 1799, 1801-04. He was a soldier in the
revolution, lieutenant of the third Billerica
company, Colonel Green's regiment, and
marched to Lexington on the alarm, April 19,
1775. He was at the fight in Concord and
afterwards was on duty at Cambridge. He
owned pew 41 in the church, for which he
paid $120.50, in December, 1797. He served
as deacon of the church. He married, March
17, 1768, Rachel Stickney, of Billerica, born
April 1, 1746, daughter of Daniel and Mary
(Hill) Stickney. Her father was captain dur
ing the Indians wars. Children: 1. Oliver,
born March 17, 1769, died July 29, 1851;
graduate of Harvard College, 1795 ; settled
in Dover, New Hampshire; married Harriet
Chase. 2. Michael, May 3, 1771, mentioned
below. 3. Josiah, February 8, 1777, died July

27, 1829; married, October 16, 1803, Betsey
Hartwell. 4. Rachel, December 25, 1779, died
November 12, 1795. 5. Elizabeth, July 30,
1782, married, June 5, 1810, John Wheeler.
(VI) Michael, son of Oliver (2) Crosby,
was born in Billerica, May 3, 1771, died at
Bedford, February 13, 1836. He received a
common school education and remained at
home until he was of age. He removed to
Andover soon after his marriage, and con
ducted a farm about six years, fle then re
moved to Littleton and purchased a farm in
the south part of the town, remaining about
five years, and thence going to Bedford in
1806. He bought a four hundred acre farm
in what was known as the Gookin grant in
the east part of th* town, the Shawsheen river
dividing it. It was formerly an Indian camp,
and relics were often found there. He became
prominent in town and church. He was- -elected
deacon of the orthodox church of Bedford,
July 15, 1817, serving up to the time of his
death. When the church controversy occurred"
he was among those who adhered to the Trini
tarian faith, and did all he could to aid the
new church. He purchased pews, three on
the main floor and one in the gallery, paying
nearly four hundred dollars. It is said that
when the controversy was at its height, one
faction confiscated the communion service one
Saturday night. Deacon Crosby went to the
village store and bought a pitcher and mugs,
from which communion was served the follow
ing morning. He was progressive and public-
spirited and held in high esteem by his towns
men. He married, March 27, 1792, Asenath
Blanchard, of Billerica, born March 17, 1768,
died April 23, 1812, daughter of Simon and
Rebecca (Sheldon) Blanchard, of Billerica.
He married (second) May 19, 1816, Lucy
Swain. Children, all by first wife: 1. Michael,
born April 29, 1793, married, April 29, 18 16,
Margaret (Tufts) Farmer. 2. Asenath, An
dover, June 6, 1794., died June 24, 1811. 3.
Frederick, Andover, September 2, 1795. 4.
Rachel, July 15, 1797, married, May 21, 1818,
Nathan Simonds. 5. Mary, July 19, 1799,
married, November 11, 1823, Luther Eaton.
6. Loammi, Littleton, October 2, 1801, mar
ried Rebecca Jackson, and had two daughters :
Rebecca, born 1833, married S. S. Stevens and
had a son, Holly Stevens, of Boston; Eliza,
married John White. 7. Louisa, June 18,
1803, married, September 29, 1822, John
Powers. 8. George, March 6, 1805, mentioned
below. 9. Artemas, Bedford, November 27,
1806, died May 27, 1814. 10. Franklin, Sep-

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MASSACHUSETTS.

159

tember 22, 1808, died December 12, 1819. it.
Asenath, April 23, 1812.
(VII) George, son of Michael Crosby, was
born at Littleton, March 6, 1805, died at Bos
ton, April 16, 1870, at the age of sixty-five
years, ten days, fle removed with his parents
to Bedford. He had a common school educa
tion, and on the death of his father purchased
the homestead of the other heirs. He con
ducted the farm and the raising of milk was
the chief industry. In 1837 he sold his farm
to his brother (Michael) and bought an ad
joining farm in Bedford; he later bought the
old Blodgett mill property on Shawsheen river ;
he sold the latter in 1845 and in 1846 bought
the Johnson farm in Burlington; he soon sold
this property to Rev. Frothingham, of Boston,
and the same year he bought the Crosby home
stead farm residing on the same for five years ;
when he removed to Charlestown and thence
to Boston, where he spent the latter years of
his life. In 1857 he purchased stall 60 in
Faneuil Hall Market, and sold beef and pork
with David Simonds as partner, under the
firm name of Crosby & Simonds. In i"86o Mr.
Simonds retired from the firm, and Mr.
Crosby bought his interests and admitted his
two sons, Frank M. and William Crosby, to
partnership. Two years later Frank M. was
succeeded by his brother William, and Fred
erick Crosby bought his father's interests. Two
years later Mr. Crosby retired from the busi
ness. He resided on Allen street, Boston,
until he died. He was a member of the Bed
ford Congregational Orthodox church, an
active worker and liberal supporter of its
benevolences. He was generous to those in
need aud he had many grateful friends among
the poor and unfortunate. He was upright
and honorable in all his dealings and never
allowed his personal gain or advantage to
deter him from the course he believed to be
right. He married, April 22, 1829, Abigail
Harriet Gleason, born January 22, 1808, died
October 3, 1884, daughter of William and
Sarah (Bacon) Gleason, of Billerica. Chil
dren: 1. Frank Michael, born January 9,
1833, mentioned below. 2. George, March 5,
[838, mentioned below. 3. William, July 6,
1840, died February 11, 1880; married, Feb
ruary 22, 1866, Florence Wyman, of Arling
ton; had William Wyman, born March 3,
1871, graduate of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. 4. Frederick, December 11, 1842,
mentioned below. 5. Mary Louise, August 5,
1848, married, January 1, 1880, Frank Sid
ney Adams, of Derry, New Hampshire. 6.

Laomi, March 1, 1851, died September 10,
1875- (VIII) Frank Michael, son of George
Crosby, was born at Bedford, January 9, 1833.
His education began in the little red school-
house some three miles from the homestead.
His home training was of the best. He began
early in life to work on the farm and acquired
habits of economy and industry that were
great factors in his later career. When he
came of age he engaged in the milk business.
for a year at Charlestown, Massachusetts, then
traveled in the west for a season. On his
return he entered the employ of H. L. Law
rence & Company, 48 Faneuil Hall Market,
dealers in game and poultry. In i860 he
entered partnership with his father and brother
William in the beef business at stall No. 60,
Faneuil Hall Market, Boston; retiring after
two years, selling his interests to his brother
Frederick. He then embarked in the butter
and cheese business at stalls 57 and 59 in the
same historic building in partnership with
George C. Nichols and Charles H. Gass under
the firm name of Nichols, Gass & Crosby. The
business was formerly owned by Howard
Emerson. After two years Mr. Nichols with-*
drew from the firm, selling out to his partners
and the firm, name became Gass & Crosby.
The name was again changed to Gass, Crosby
& Chapin when Edward D. Chapin was ad
mitted to partnership. In 1868 Messrs. Gass
and Chapin retired and the business was con
tinued by Mr. Crosby and his brother Fred
erick under the firm name of Crosby Brothers,
basement No. 11 being taken in addition to
the two stalls, and then enjoyed a long period
of great prosperity and success. When the
junior partner died in 1899 the business was
continued by Mr. Crosby alone. The business
was incorporated January 8, 1900, under the
laws of Massachusetts, with Frank M. Crosby
as president and Charles H. Farnsworth as
treasurer. The company is one of the most
extensive and flourishing concerns in this line
of trade in Faneuil Hall and has an* enviable
reputation for fair dealing and wise manage
ment. Mr. Crosby is a member of Park Street
Congregational Church, Boston. In politics
he is a staunch Republican. He is a member
of the Massachusetts Lodge of Free Masons;
of St. Andrews Chapter Royal Arch Masons ;
of De Molay Commandery, Knights Templar,
of Boston. He belongs to the Boston Athletic
Association, the Boston Art Club, the Metro
politan Driving Club of Boston, the Gentle
men's Driving Club of Readville, the Boston

i6o

MASSACHUSETTS.

Fruit and Produce Exchange and the Chamber
of Commerce. He is popular socially, and in
business of sterling character and attractive
personality. He married, October 17, 1866,
Celia B. Burnham, of Hudson, Massachusetts,
born July 29, 1842, died November 25, 1867.
They had one child, Harry Wallace, born
October 28, 1867, died February 7, 1877.
(VIII) George (2), son of George (1)
Crosby, was born at Bedford, March 5, 1838.
He was educated in the public schools of his
native town, and at Phillips Academy, An
dover, Massachusetts, and at Rev. William
Cushing's private school at Bedford. During
his boyhood he worked on his father's farm
and later entered the employ of Merriam Pear,
a grocer of Boston, as clerk. He returned to
his farm for a year and a half and then was
for two years clerk in the grocery store of
Seavey Brothers, Boston. Then for four years
he was receiver for the Suffolk Street railroad,
after which he spent a year in travel and six
months as clerk in a general store at DeWitt,
Iowa. On his return he was appointed re
ceiver of the Metropolitan Street Railroad
Company. A year later he went west again,
buying a farm at Oconee, Illinois, and con
ducting it for six years. He returned to Bos
ton in the spring of 1872 and was appointed
clerk in the Boston postoffice. A year later
he was appointed letter carrier in the Charles
town district, a position he still holds. He is
one of the oldest and most capable men in the
service. For the past eighteen years he has
resided in a house that he bought at 17 Madi
son street, Somerville. He and his family
attend the Broadway Congregational Church
of Somerville, of which he is an active mem
ber. His wife is a member of the Winter Hill
Baptist Church of Somerville. He has been
secretary of the Sunday school at Green Val
ley, Oconee, Illinois, and for several years a
teacher. In politics he is a Republican. He
is a member of Mount Tabor Lodge of Free
Masons, East Boston; of Warren Council,
Royal Arcanum ; of the Knights of Honor ;
the National Letter Carriers' Association and
the Boston Letter Carriers' Association. He
married (first) December 25, 1866, Mary
Susan Haynes, of Charlestown, born January
12, 1841, died May 2, 1876, daughter of Will
iam and Susan B. (Nelson) Haynes. Her
father was a carpenter. He married (second)
May 19, 1879, Clara Rosette Hall, born at
Rockland, Maine, July 21, 1854, daughter of
John and Cyrena (Piersons) Flail. Her father
was a lime burner by trade. Children of first

wife 1. Harriet Louise, born March 2, 1869,
died January 15, 1909. 2. Florence, February
12, 1 87 1, died September 19, 1884. 3. Georgina,
April 26, 1876. Children of second wife: 4.
Howard Hall, March 2, 1887, graduate of the
United States Naval Academy at Annapolis,
class of 1908. 5. Marion Wayland, January
28, 1889.
(VIII) Frederick, son of George (1)
Crosby, was born in Bedford, December 11,
1842, died November 15, 1899. He attended
the district schools of his native town, the
public schools of Charlestown after 1857 and
Comer's Commercial College, Boston, fle was
clerk for a time in a provision store on Bow
doin street, Boston. When his brother Frank
M. went west, he succeeded to his position in
the milk business and continued there until
1862, when he bought the interests of his
brother Frank M. in stall No. 60 and became
a member of the firm, engaged in the beef
trade. In 1868 he entered partnership with
his brother, Frank M. Crosby, in the produce
trade in stalls 57-59. The basement No. .11
was added to their store and the firm of Crosby
Brothers became one of the most successful
in the market. He was a member of King
Solomon Lodge of Free Masons, Charlestown ;
of St. Andrews Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ;
of De Molay Commandery, Knights Templar,
Boston ; of the Boston Chamber of Commerce,
the Boston Fruit and Produce Exchange, the
Boston Athletic Club, the Boston Art Club,
and was well known and highly esteemed in
all these organizations. He was absolutely
upright and square in all his dealings. He
was kindly, courteous and agreeable in his
manner. He possessed business ability and
good judgment. He married, May, 1868,
Georgina M. Chase, of Boston, stepdaughter
of G. H. Roberts, and daughter of his wife,
Georgina Chase, by her first husband. Their
only child was Bertha Eugenie, born March 2,
1872, married, June 5, 1895, Frank E. Derby
shire, of Concord, New Hampshire, born
March 5, 1850.

"This surname," says Mark
MORRIS Anthony Lower, "which is, and
has been variously written
Morriss, Morres, Morice, Morrice, Maurice,
Morys, Moris, Morrish, Morse, * * and
which is found associated with various pre
fixes, such as Fitz, Clan, Mount, De, &c, may
be traced to various sources." "©f the Eng
lish families of that name," observes Burke,
"there are two classes, those of native and

MASSACHUSETTS.

161

those of foreign extraction. The latter came
over with the Conqueror. Of the former the
most ancient are derived from Wales. One
section of the foreign class had a Moorish
origin, as indeed the name expresses, and
crossed over from Africa to Europe by way
of Spain. * * With respect to the second
class of foreign origin, their name is stated
to be a corruption from Mars or Moors, the
god of war." Morris is also the use of the
personal name for a surname, as is found in
various other names. It is also possible that
in some cases the English Morris may be a
corruption of the French Dumarais, Dumaresq,
latinized De Marisco. Jonathan Flynt Morris,
who compiled the Morris genealogy, does not
attempt to trace the name of the family of
which he writes to its origin ; neither does he
trace the origin of the American family far
back into England.
(I) Lieutenant Edward Morris, the settler,
is believed to have been the son of Thomas
and Grissie (Hewsone) Morris, of Waltham
Holy Cross Abbey, in the county of Sussex,
England, and was born in August, 1630, and
baptized on the eighth day of the same month,
in the Abbey church, by Rev. Joseph Hall,
rector, afterwards bishop of Norwich. No
account of his emigration to America or that
of his parents is to be found. It is probable
that he was brought over by them in his early
childhood, and that they settled in Roxbury,
Massachusetts, where they had relationship
with other families. The earliest account we
have of Edward Morris in America is found
in the records of Roxbury, February 23, 1652,
and is a record of the allotment to him by the
town of four acres of common land, which
grant he subsequently forfeited, not making
the improvements required. After his mar
riage Edward Morris had land in "the high
way from Elder Heath's pasture lot by Stony
river and Gamblin's end," now Armory and
School streets. This locality was on the south
eastern border of Jamaica Plain, and there he
was living in 1663, when he was ordered to
remove his fence to widen the highway. Jan
uary 27, 1661, he was made chairman of a
committee to act with selectmen of the_ town
in surveying "the common land belonging to
the town." January 19, 1662, the town voted
that "no more land'should be given away, but
be kept for the town's use, and Edward Morris
to have an eye that the common be not dammi-
field, and for his services in informing the
town of the bounds of their common they give
him fifteen shillings, and that he should have

half the pines for the year for his care of the
preservation of the common," — that is, Jamaica
Plain. Fle was chosen one of the constables of
the town, January 2, 1664. Afterward he
performed various duties, viewing fences, run
ning lines, &c. October 13, 1666, William
Iiubbard, of Ipswich, sold to Isaac Johnson
Senior, William Davis, and Edward Morris,
one hundred and eighteen acres of land in the
western part of Roxbury, described in the
deed as "the 13th lot of the second allotment
of lots in the last or second division of land."
This purchase was equally divided among the
purchasers. Edward Morris's part lay on
what is now "South Street," about four miles
from Roxbury meeting house. To that land
he removed, and upon it he lived until he went
to Woodstock in 1686. He was chosen select
man of the town at "a full town meeting," held
January 11, 1674, and was afterwards chosen
to that office as long as he lived in Roxbury — a
period of twelve years, with perhaps the ex
ception of the year 1680. fle had for his
associates four other leading men of the town ;
but no one of them during this period was so
long continued in office. In 1674 he also served
as juror to the court of assistants. In 1676
he was appointed one of three trustees for the
high school at Jamaica Plain, and in 1678 he
was chosen deputy from Roxbury to the gen
eral court, and was thereafter annually chosen
until the vacation of the colonial charter in
1686, a period of nine years. In 1686 Edward
Morris was one of the company which went
out from Roxbury into the "Wappaquassett
Country, westward of the Myankesit River,"
and formed the new settlement of New Rox
bury, now Woodstock. There Edward Morris
drew lot No. 37, containing thirty acres. The
same day there was granted Mr. Edward
Morris a twenty-acre lot. November 3 he
was one of three elders appointed "to treat
young Mr. John Wilson of Medfield to come
and preach to them with a view to settlement."
and April 29, 1687, he was one of three
appointed "to treat and agree for the building
of a corn-mill." In 1688 he was appointed
chairman of a committee of seven to lay out
such highways as might be considered then
necessary or needful in the future for the
good of the town. The committee reported
seventeen highways ; their report was accepted
and the highways laid out and constructed.
In 1689 Edward Morris was chosen select
man. Up to that time he had been mentioned
in the records as "Mr." Morris; but from that
time forward he was known as "Lieutenant."

1 62

MASSACHUSETTS.

In 1690 he was chairman of a committee
chosen to get a confirmation of the grant of
lands and to obtain a change of name of the
town, both of which were secured. He was
chosen to the office of selectman for the last
time May 26, 1690, and died in September of
the same year. The stone marking his grave
is still standing. He is believed to have been
the first of the Woodstock settlers to die and
his death is the first mentioned in the records.
He was the oldest of the settlers in the town,
and for many years a leading citizen. Edward
Morris was married to Grace Bett, November
20, 1655, by Richard Bellingham, deputy gov
ernor. She died in Roxbury, June 6, 1705.
Edward Morris was admitted to the church
in Roxbury, September 12, 1658. His wife
was admitted May 22, 1659. Their children
were: Isaac, Edward, Grace, Ebenezer, Eliz
abeth, Margaret, Samuel and Martha.
(II) Deacon Edward (2), second son of
Lieutenant Edward (1) and Grace (Bett)
Morris, was born March, 1659, and baptized
at Roxbury by Rev. John Eliot, March 13,
1659. He did not remove to Woodstock
until after the death of his father; but
soon after his settlement in the town he
seems to have taken his father's place in public
affairs. He was chosen selectman, November,
1691, and appears to have held that office most
of the time thereafter until 1722, having been
chosen twenty-four times. In 1707 he and
Benjamin Griggs were appointed on behalf of
the town of Woodstock to act with the sur
veyor in surveying and dividing into lots the
north half of the town of Woodstock which
until then had not been surveyed. After the
completion of the survey that part of the town
owned by Roxbury was divided into ranges
and lots, and the lots offered for sale. Ed
ward Morris was appointed by Roxbury to
receive the money paid for the sale of the
lots, and he was a purchaser of some of them.
In 1691 the town appointed Edward Morris,
Jonathan Peake, John Levens and John Chand
ler Jr. a committee to superintend the build
ing of a meeting house. Subsequently (1705)
he was appointed fourth deacon of the church.
He had joined the Roxbury church, May 1,
1691, about the time of his removal to Wood
stock. In 1723 Deacon Morris was appointed
"to look after the meeting house, to see that
it be swept, and to keep the key, and take
care of the cushing for twenty shillings a
year." lie was probably chosen for this pur
pose for the reason that his home was nearest
the meeting house, being a few rods south of

it. These duties were in those days held in no
little esteem or importance. Deacon Morris
died August 29, 1727, aged sixty-nine. A year
before his death he settled his estate by deed
and gift, with the exception of some of his
lands, fle married, May 24, 1683, Elizabeth,
daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Johnson)
Bowen, of Roxbury, a descendant of Griffith
Bowen or Ap Owen, who came to Boston
from Llanganydd in Glamorganshire, Wales,
and who was made a freeman in 1638. He
lived some years in Roxbury, but returned to
England and was living in London in 1670.
Elizabeth Johnson was daughter of Captain
Isaac Johnson, of Roxbury, who came with
his father to this country in 1630, and was
killed by the Indians at the head of his com
pany while storming their stronghold in the
great Narragansett fight. December 19, 1675,
Captain John Johnson, father of Isaac, came
over with Winthrop in July, 1630, with his
wife Margery. He was a man of estate and
distinction. He was a representative from
Roxbury to the first general court in 1634,
was a member of the Artillery Company in
1638, and surveyor general of arms and
ammunition. He died September 27, 1659.
Elizabeth Bowen was born in Roxbury, Janu
ary 26, 1 66 1, and baptized the next day. She
joined the church October 28, 1688. She sur
vived her husband sixteen years, and died No
vember 20, 1743, aged eighty-three. Their
children were: Elizabeth (died young), Eliz
abeth, Edward, Grace, Abigail, Susanna and
Prudence. (Ill) Lieutenant Edward (3), only son of
Deacon Edward (2) and Elizabeth (Bowen)
Morris, was born at Roxbury, November 9,
1688, and baptized by Rev. Nehemiah Walter.
He died in West Woodstock, Connecticut, Au
gust 12, 1769. He was chosen surveyor of
Woodstock in 171 8, constable in 1721, and
assessor for the years 1738 and 1739. In the
latter year he was chosen selectman, and
annually thereafter until 1748. He lived with
his father until the death of the latter in 1727,
and continued to occupy the old homestead
until February 22, 1732, when he sold the
place to Joseph Wright for the sum of £1300.
The homestead was the spot where his grand
father settled in the beginning of the settle
ment in 1686, and was originally of thirty
acres. It had now become one hundred acres
through additions made by his grandfather,
his father, and himself. Immediately after
his purchase Mr. Wright conveyed the prop
erty to John Chandler, but continued to occupy

MASSACHUSETTS.

163

it. The mansion house was burned a few
years afterward — March 16, 1737, at night —
with the furniture and provisions which it
contained, and Mrs. Wright, her son, and a
negro servant perished in it. The same day
on which Edward Morris sold the homestead
he bought for £1,100 a mansion house and
forty-nine acres of land adjoining on the east.
Here he lived until February 1, 1748, when
he sold the place with several other parcels
of land containing in all about one hundred
acres, and removed to West Woodstock, and
settled about one and one half miles west of
the village between Bungee brook and Still
river, where he had long been in possession of
land — some two hundred acres — half of which
had once been his father's. West Woodstock
had been made a distinct parish in 1743, under
the name of New Roxbury. After his re
moval there he became active in its affairs.
April 21, 1745, it was "voted, that Edward
Morris with his wife and family sit in the
pew which was his fathers." In November,
1739, he was appointed by the town on a com
mittee of three to act as agents for and in
behalf of the town to attend and wait upon
the commissioners appomted by the general
court of the province of Massachusetts Bay
and the colony of Connecticut to settle the
bounds of Woodstock. September 12, 1749,
the town voted to secede from Massachusetts
and to go under the jurisdiction of Connec
ticut. The freeman's oath was administered
to seventy-four persons, among whom was
Edward Morris. He died and was buried in
the cemetery on the west side of Bungee hill
in West Woodstock. His will dated May 26,
1669, was probated at Pomfret, May 1, 1770.
His son Jonathan was executor. Edward
Morris was married by John Chandler Esq.,
January 12, 17 15, to Bethiah Peake, daughter
of Jonathan Peake Jr., and Hannah (Leavens)
Peake, and great-granddaughter of Christo
pher Peake, who was made freeman at Rox
bury, March 4, 1635. She was born in Wood
stock, February 20, 1698. Her father was one
of the early settlers of Woodstock under the
grant of 1683. Hannah Leavens was daugh
ter of John and Hannah (Woods) Leavens,
of Roxbury. She was born October 17, 1666,
and died at Woodstock, October 10, 1756.
John Leavens was son of John and Elizabeth
Leavens, who came from England in 1632 in
the "William and Francis," and settled at
Roxbury. His wife died and was buried Octo
ber 10, 1638. He married (second) Rachel
Wright, "a goodly maid," says the church

record. He died November 15, 1646. John
Leavens Jr. was born April 27, 1640. He
married Hannah, daughter of John and Mary
Woods, of Sudbury, who probably came from
England in the "Iiopewell" in 1635. Edward
Morris's wife survived him, but how long, or
when or where she died is not known. Their
fourteen children were : Elizabeth, Hannah
(died young), Edward, Grace, Bethiah, Isaac,
Asa, Eunice, Martha, Mary, Jonathan, Pris
cilla, Dorothy and Hannah.
(IV) Isaac, second son of Lieutenant Ed
ward (3) and Bethiah (Peake) Morris, was
born on Woodstock hill, March 26, 1725, died
January 10, 1778. He was a farmer, and at
the time of his marriage he lived at New Rox
bury, afterwards West Woodstock, to which
parish his father had removed early in the
year 1748. March 8 of that year his father
gave him a deed to one hundred acres of land
in that parish, being a part of what was then
his homestead. The consideration was £400
old tenor, and was to be accounted as part of
his portion of his father's estate, fle had
other land also. The one hundred acres sub
sequently appear as part of his father's estate.
and was deeded to his brother Jonathan. He
probably reconveyed it to his father on his
removal from Woodstock, Massachusetts,
1 76 1. While in Woodstock, Isaac Morris took
considerable interest in public affairs and held
several parish offices. The locality to which
he removed was an unorganized district not
belonging to any town, and known as "Wales,"
which after the organization of Wilbraham
was annexed to that town. The. spot where
he settled was in the extreme southeastern
part of "Wales." The probable cause of his
settlement was that his wife might be near her
mother, then a widow, who with her husband,
Joseph Chaffee, had removed to this section
about 1754. Joseph Chaffee died in 1760.
Two deeds from Widow Hannah Chaffee and
Joseph Chaffee, administrators of the estate of
Joseph Chaffee, deceased, dated August 18,
1 761, convey to Isaac Morris ninety-two acres
of land. He subsequently bought other land.
The spot where he settled was a romantic one
at the base of Rattlesnake and Sheep moun
tains, overlooking the Scantic valley to Pine
Ball and South mountains on the west, at the
foot of which lay the farm of his father-in-
law. Isaac Morris was married in 1748, his
intention of marriage with Sarah Chaffee, of
Woodstock, being published October 18, of
that year. She was the only daughter of
Joseph and Hannah (May) Chaffee, formerly

i64

MASSACHUSETTS.

of Barrington, Massachusetts, and was born
there January 18, 1729. Joseph Chaffee was
born in Swansea, Massachusetts, January 17,
1705. He was a son of John and Sarah
(Hills) Chaffee, and grandson of Joseph and
Anne (Martin) Chaffee; Joseph Chaffee being
the son of Thomas Chaffee, who settled in
Hingham in 1637, and who removed to Swansea
in 1660. He was living in 1680. Joseph
Chaffee married Hannah May, daughter of
Ephraim May, of Rehoboth, son of John May,
of Roxbury, and grandson of John May, of
^Mayfield, county of Essex, England ; born in
1590, and came to New England in 1640, and
settled at Roxbury. In 1729 Joseph Chaffee
removed from Barrington to Woodstock, and
settled in the West Parish. While living there he
filled several parish offices. He was an extensive
landholder. Fle died of small pox, March 15,
1760. To him were born ten children. Flis
widow married (second) Ensign Joseph Sex
ton, and died May 26, 1784, in her eightieth
year. Sarah (Chaffee) Morris after a widow
hood of twenty-six years married (second)
September 10, 1804, Hon. John Bliss, whom
she survived, and died April 27, 1818, aged
eighty-nine. She was a tall, fine looking
woman, of dark complexion, hair and eyes,
probably the features of the Chaffee, and
perhaps of the May family. The descendants
of Isaac Morris of this complexion derive it
from her. She joined the West Woodstock
church, April 30, 1750. The children of Isaac
and Sarah were : Hannah, Darius, Isaac,
Joseph, Edward, Elizabeth (died young),
Sarah, Eunice, Chester, Ebenezer, Elizabeth
and Ephraim.
(V) Edward (4), fourth son of Isaac and
Sarah (Chaffee) Morris, was born in Wood
stock, Connecticut, December 12, 1756, died
in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, April 29, 1801.
He was a farmer and lived on the Bliss home
stead in South Wilbraham. He served in the
revolutionary war principally in the army of
Canada. He and his brother Joseph were in
the army on its retreat from Quebec under
General Thomas in 1776. For three days,
during the passage over the lake, the only food
which Edward Morris had was a bit of pork
as large as one of his fingers, which he found
in the bottom of a boat. Joseph was one of
the sick, and died at Fort George August 10.
The evening that Joseph died Edward left the
camp for the purpose of getting some milk for
his brother. Night had fallen before he re
turned. On his return to quarters he stumbled
over the body of a man lying on the ground ;

entering the tent, he found Joseph was not
there ; taking a light, he went in search of him,
and found that the body over which he had
stumbled was that of his brother, who was
dead. After his marriage Edward Morris
took up his residence with Colonel Bliss, his
father-in-law, who had no son living, and had
charge of his farm, Colonel Bliss being en
gaged in public business, and being away much
of the time. Mr. Morris held several offices
in Wilbraham, being constable, warden, high
way surveyor, and at the time of his death
coroner. He and his wife were members of
the Congregational church in South Wilbra
ham. He married, March 28, 1782, Lucy,
daughter of Hon. John Bliss, of Wilbraham,
a descendant of Thomas and Margaret Bliss,
of Hartford, Connecticut, 1639 (see Bliss
VII). She survived her husband thirty-five
years, and died April 15, 1836. Children:
Oliver Bliss, Edward, Isaac, John Bliss, Lucy,
Abby, Thirza, Richard Darius, Lydia and Ed
ward Alonzo.
(VI) Judge Oliver Bliss, eldest child of Ed
ward (4) and Lucy (Bliss) Morris, was born
at the Bliss-Morris homestead in South Wil
braham, September 22, 1782, died in Spring
field, April 9, 1871. He fitted for college under
Rev. Moses Warren, of South Wilbraham,
who had married Lydia Bliss, his mother's
sister. He entered Williams College in 1797,
at the age of fifteen, making his journey
thither on horseback. He graduated in 1801.
He studied law in Springfield with Hon. George
Bliss, and was admitted to the bar of Hamp
shire county in 1804. He entered upon the
practice of his profession in Springfield, which
became large and profitable. He was intensely
interested in the cause of his clients, and
labored for them with impulsive efforts. In
1812, after the formation of Hampden county
from Hampshire, he was appointed prosecut
ing attorney, and held that office again from
1821 to 1832. In 1813 he was appointed regis
ter of the court of probate, and held that office
until 1829, when on the death of Judge John
Hooker of that court, he was appointed his
successor. He held this office until 1858 —
twenty-nine years — when the court was re
organized, fle represented Springfield in the
legislature in 1809-10-11-13. In 1820 he was
a delegate in the convention called to revise the
constitution of the state. He was a Federalist
until the Federal party gave place to the Whig,
and thenceforward he was a Whig. In poli
tical matters he had very decided views. He
was naturally an anti-slavery man, although

MASSACHUSETTS.

165

not an abolitionist. When a boy he had wit
nessed a conflict between his father and the
pursuers of two runaway slaves from Con
necticut, who had sought refuge in his father's
house, and in which his father received a seri
ous injury. On the passage of the fugitive-
slave law in 1850, he did not hesitate to de
nounce it and openly declared his purpose of
protecting, with all his power and influence,
any slave who should appeal to him for aid.
He was an advocate of the benevolent causes
of his time ; especially those of the Bible and
missions. When the temperance reformation
took its rise, about 1826, under the lead of
Dr. Hewit and others, and spread rapidly
through Connecticut and Massachusetts,
awakening in its progress the consciences of
large numbers of people in regard to the pre
vailing social custom in the use of intoxicat
ing drinks, he at once threw himself into the
cause with the greatest possible zeal, publicly
advocating and speaking for it in Springfield
and the neighboring towns. His habits of
life were simple and democratic, and he ab
horred show and ostentation. He was ex
ceedingly social and fond of company, and
thoroughly enjoyed the society of a few
friends who were accustomed to assemble fre
quently at his house ; generally on Sunday
evenings ; keeping up, as he did, the time-
honored New England custom of observing
Saturday evening as holy time. He was fond
of historical study, especially that of local his
tory and genealogy. He delivered the address
on the occasion of the celebration of the two
hundredth anniversary of the settlement of
Springfield, May 24, 1836. He was a member
of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and
also of the New England Historic-Genealogi- _
cal Society. He had treasured in his memory
a vast number of historical facts relating to
family history. He often interested and
astonished people with his knowledge of their
ancestral lines. He was accustomed to say:
"In my youth I saw an aged man who remem
bered seeing persons who came over in the
Mayflower." He loved and revered the good
which had come down from the past. He
disliked innovation on many old customs, and
new ones had little control over him. It has
been written: "The qualifications of Judge
Morris as a public speaker are admitted by
all who ever heard him. He had a fine physi
que, a good voice, a nervous impetuosity of
expression when in his prime, and an unbend
ing pertinacity which carried an audience with
him. When distinguished men visited Spring

field the Judge was quite apt to be selected for
the speech of welcome, fle introduced John
Quincy Adams to the people in the First
church, and was also chosen to welcome Henry
Clay at the ovation given him at the old town
hall. Fle was a well read man, and in his age
was very fond of going over his Virgil and
repeating Greek. With all his solid study,
too, he had time to take in all the current fic
tion which he devoured with the greatest eager
ness. His taste for the classics, together with
an extensive vocabulary and ready diction,
contributed to the graces of his oratory, which
was so famous in those days." Oliver B.
Morris married, September 15, 1813, Caro
line, daughter of Hon. George and Hannah
(Clark) Bliss, of Springfield. (See Bliss
VII). She was born in Springfield, December
28, 1791, and died February 9, 1842. She was a
woman of most amiable and estimable character
and greatly beloved by all who knew her.
Children: Flenry, and George Bliss, next
mentioned. (VII) George Bliss, second son of Hon.
Oliver Bliss and Caroline (Bliss) Morris, was
born in Springfield, November 12, 1818, died
July 7, 1872. He was prepared for college in
Springfield and graduated from Amherst Col
lege in 1837. He afterward studied law with
his brother, graduated from the Cambridge
Law School, and was admitted to the bar in
1840. After that time he practiced law in
partnership with his brother or separately
until 1853, when he was appointed clerk of
the courts pro tempore on account of the ill
health of the clerk, Richard Bliss. On the
resignation of Mr. Bliss, a few months later,
Mr: Morris was appointed by the supreme
court to hold the office for lrfe. In 1856 the
office was made elective, and Mr. Morris was
chosen by popular election to fill it. He was
three times re-elected, and in 1871 was elected
for another term of five years. For a year
or two before his death his health was not
good, although he was able until the last
months before his demise to attend most of
the time to his official duties. About the be
ginning of 1872 he became a victim of quick
consumption, but so lately as Wednesday be
fore his death on Sunday he was able to re
turn from Branford, Connecticut, where he.
had spent a week in the hope of benefit from
the sea air. While eating breakfast he was
attacked by hemorrhage from the lungs, and
in five minutes he was dead. His courtesy
and efficiency in the transaction of the business
of the office made him popular alike with the

1 66

MASSACHUSETTS.

bar and the people, and his death was the
county's loss of a faithful officer. Mr. Morris
married, August 23, 1842, Elizabeth Lathrop,
born in South Hadley, Massachusetts, April
28, 1 82 1, died in Springfield, November 8,
1894, daughter of Wells and Catherine (Bon-
tecou) Lathrop (see Lathrop). Children:
George Bliss, Robert Oliver and Caroline.
George Bliss, born November 5, 1843, grad
uated at Harvard College in 1864, studied
law at Cambridge Law School, was admitted
to the Hampden bar in 1867, and very soon
after removed to New York City, where he
has since practised his profession. Caroline,
born September 18, 1848, married Thomas
W. Fitch and resides in Summit, New Jersey.
(VIII) Robert Oliver, second son of George
Bliss and Elizabeth (Lathrop) Morris, was
born in Springfield, October 18, 1846. He
received his early education in the public
schools of Springfield, and at the age of six
teen was sent to Wilbraham Academy. Dur
ing the second year of his course his health
became impaired, and after finishing the term
he withdrew from school life and his educa
tion was subsequently carried on at home
under a tutor. All through his early manhood
his health was delicate, but at the age of
twenty he had regained some of his former
vigor and went to Boston where he entered a
wholesale house as clerk. Here he remained
six months. He returned home and studied
law under his father's direction, with the
object of being admitted to the bar, continuing
until the death of his father, in 1872. During
his father's illness he acted as clerk of the
courts, pro tempore, and afterward he was
appointed to the vacant place by the supreme
court. He had been admitted to the Hamp
den county bar and at the next election he
was chosen to the office. Although Mr. Morris
is a Republican, he has never failed of nomi
nation by both Democratic and Republican
parties ever since he took the office, which he
has now (1909) held thirty-seven years con
secutively. Flis business qualifications have
caused him to be called to fill various positions
where a man of ability and principle was
needed. In 1877 he became a trustee of the
Five Cents Savings Bank, and still retains the
position ; in 1888 he was elected vice-president
and held that position nine years, until 1897,
when he was made president of the bank, a
position which he still holds. He is vice-presi
dent of the City Library Association, and
chairman of the Board of Sinking Fund Com
missioners of Springfield, and has served as

park commissioner. He is a member of Ros
well Lee Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons,
Morning Star Chapter, Royal Arch Masons,
and Springfield Commandery, Knights Temp
lar, the Nayasset and the Winthrop clubs, fle
is a man whose urbanity and perfect self-
command under all circumstances have made
him a large and ever-widening circle of friends.
He is a studious, cultured gentleman, an
enthusiastic ornithologist, and has a good
scientific library. He has written numerous
articles relating to ornithology. In 1901 he
published a volume entitled "The Birds of
Springfield and Vicinity." During his long
association with lawyers he has collected a
large quantity of biographical matter, which
he contemplates publishing in book form. He
is an enthusiastic sportsman and is as fond
of gardening as he is of hunting. Mr. Morris
enjoys travel and has visited South America,
the West Indies, and Newfoundland, and
made a trip on horseback through the Rocky
Mountains. While visiting the firstnamed
countries he was accompanied by Mrs. Morris.
Robert O. Morris married, November 27,
1872, Lizzie, daughter of George and Pamelia
(Ball) Cadwell, of Springfield.
(The Bontecou Line).
This name is of Dutch or Flemish origin,
and was first spelled Bontekoe (pronounced
Bon-te-koo), and is undoubtedly derived from
a symbolic representative of a brindled or
spotted cow, used by some remote ancestor as
his business or house sign. An instance of
this kind is found recorded in Rose's Bio
graphical Dictionary, which states that Cor
nelius Van Bontekoe, a physician, the son of
a burgber of Alcmaer, whose name was
(Johan) Gerard Decker, but who obtained the
name of Bontekoe from his having appended
to his house the sign of a cow of many colors.
The hamlet of Bontecou Mountain in Ulster
county, New York, derives its name from a
Dutch tavern of early times called Bontekau
(pronounced Bontecoo) from its sign, which
represented a brindled cow. The earliest
known member of the family is William
Isbrant Bontekoe, a Dutch navigator, who lived
in the early part of the sixteenth century, from
whose adventures Alexandre Dumas wrote a
tale entitled "Bontekoe," being the first in the
volume "Les Drames de la Mer." The family
in France, which doubtless originated in Hol
land, was Protestant, and endured the pri
vations and suffering imposed upon the
Huguenots by the Romish church both before

MASSACHUSETTS.

167

and subsequent to the revocation of the Edict
of Nantes.
(I) "Pierre Bontecou, merchant, his wife
(Marguerite Collinot), and five children,"
writes John E. Morris, compiler of The Bon
tecou Genealogy, "were in 1684 fugitives from
the Isle of Re to 'La Caroline,' as we are in
formed by the records in the Archives Nat
ionals in Paris. The Government of Louis
XIV, after placing all possible hindrances in
the way of his escaping subjects, and con
demning to the galleys those who were arrested
in their flight, still kept its eye upon those
whose efforts had terminated in success, and
their names and destinations became a matter
of national record, to which we are indebted
for this earliest knowledge of our fugitive an
cestor. Although his departure from France
was made from the Isle of Re, his previous
residence was in La Rocheile, hard by, a city
of large commercial importance, and a strong
hold of Protestantism. In this city his son
Daniel was born, and doubtless his other chil
dren. The flight of the family to 'La-Caroline'
(a general term used to designate the Conti
nent of North America) was by way of Eng
land, and it was not until 1689 that they
appeared in New York." Madame Bontecou
is said to have stated that she came to New
York during the time that Leisler had the gov
ernment, and that she and her family were
well received by him. But little is found of
record of the early Bontecous in New York.
Tradition says the family had a competence
in France, but the records of the French
church in New York City state that "Madame
Bondecoux" for several years accepted a pen
sion from that institution, which would indi
cate that for a time the family was. in poverty.
In the church records the names of members
of the family are found. Pierre Bontecou was
probably a man of some prominence among his
countrymen and in the church. No date of
the death of either Pierre or his wife has been
found. We only know that he was alive in
1724. One church yard of the old Huguenot
Church in Pine street — L'Eglise du Saint
Esprit — undoubtedly received their remains ;
and in 1831 they were removed with all others
buried there to the vault in St. Mark's church
yard, Stuyvesant place and Second avenue,
where they continue to repose. The children
of Pierre and Marguerite (Collinot) Bontecou
were: Marguerite, Peter, Sara, Daniel, Sus-
anne, Marie, Rachel, Timothy, next mentioned.
(II) Timothy, youngest child of Pierre and
Marguerite (Collinot) Bontecou, was born in

New York, June 17, 1693, and baptized in the
French church, July 2. When of suitable age
he went to France to learn the trade of silver
smith. "From the time of his leaving Amer
ica until the year 1735 (a period of probably
more than twenty years), we have no posi
tive knowledge of his history. It is quite
likely that he remained abroad long enough to
lay the foundation of, if not to have fully
acquired, the comfortable fortune which he
subsequently possessed. He probably, also,
married in France, for his wife Mary died in
New Haven, Connecticut, November 5, 1735,
at the age of thirty-three years. * * He
again married, September 29, 1736, Mary
Goodrich, daughter of Colonel David and Pru
dence (Churchill) Goodrich, of Wethersfield,
Connecticut. Colonel Goodrich was an officer
in the army during the French and Indian
war, a prominent citizen in his town, and a
justice of the peace, and in the latter capacity
performed the ceremony of his daughter's
marriage. She was born December 15, 1704,
and died about 1760. Timothy Bontecou was
a considerable owner of real estate, both in
New Haven and in New York. His religious
affiliations were with the Church of England,
and in the absence of a church of that denomi
nation in New Haven he became a member of
the one at Stratford, being registered there
October 12, 1735, and some years later, when
a new church was to be erected, he contributed
£15 toward the building of it and became the
owner of a pew. Undoubtedly he was a regu
lar occupant of his pew on the Sabbath; the
distance of fourteen miles to Stratford being
no great obstacle to the privilege of worship
ing in his own church. His wife Mary is
registered as a communicant there May 25,
1740. When Trinity (Episcopal) Church in-
New Haven was established he was one of the
founders, and its first recorded warden, in
1765. He was also a member of the committee
appointed to purchase a site for the church
edifice. He owned and occupied a large square
pew in church, prominently located. At the
time of the British invasion of New Haven,
in July, 1779, he was an old man eighty-six
years of age, a resident of the household of
his son Peter, on the corner of Olive and
Wooster streets. On this occasion he was the
victim of outrage by the British troops. A
mob of soldiers visited the house, and the old
gentleman was robbed of his silver knee and
shoe buckles, his daughter-in-law, the wife of
Captain Peter, being ordered to pull them off.
Personal violence was offered; and on an

i68

MASSACHUSETTS.

attempt by the soldiers to bayonet him she
interposed herself between them, and saved
his life. Infuriated at being baffled in their
murderous design, they were ripe for any de
gree of iniquity, and the daughter of Captain
Peter unfortunately presenting herself at this
juncture, she was seized by the soldiers, and
her abduction attempted ; but her mother with
great tact and courage interfered, and while
entertaining the soldiers with food and drink,
secretly sent for assistance, which speedily
arrived in the form of a guard of soldiers,
obtained through the efforts of an influential
royalist neighbor. This put a stop to their
outrageous conduct, but they had well nigh
succeeded in their designs upon old Timothy,
for he was 'found by the guard with a rope
around his neck, the other end thrown over a
beam of the house, and the mob evincing a
diabolical disposition to pull him up, which
was prevented by the officers in charge. The
once ample estate of Timothy Bontecou was
undoubtedly greatly depreciated and diminished
during the war, and what remained of it was
deeded by him to his son Peter in 1778, in
consideration of support during the remainder
of his life. He died in New Haven, February
14, 1784, aged ninety-one years, and was
buried beneath Trinity Church. He is known
to have been a prominent and useful citizen,
a zealous churchman, and a good man." The
children of Timothy and Mary (Goodrich)
Bontecou were : Peter, Daniel, David, James
and Mary.
(ill) Dr. Daniel, second son of Timothy
and Mary (Goodrich) Bontecou, was born in
New Haven, September 9, 1739, died August
20, 1778. He graduated from Yale College
in 1757; then went to France to pursue the
¦ study of medicine. About 1760 he was appoint
ed surgeon in the French army, and undoubt
edly served in that capacity a number of years.
He returned to New Haven and engaged in
the practice of his profession in 1771. He
was a prominent member of Trinity Church,
New flaven, a vestryman in 1774-75, and
1777-78, and for the latter period clerk of
the vestry. Like many others who died dur
ing the revolution, he left but little estate, the
principal item of value in the inventory being
a silver tankard valued at£n 10s; the next
being "one negro woman, Flora, value £10."
This woman he had rescued from a brutal
master by purchase. The Connecticut Journal
of September 2, 1778, contained an obituary
notice of Dr. Bontecou, in which he is spoken
of as "a gentleman of liberal education in his

profession to which he was regularly bred, he
was truly respectable, was prudent and judi
cious 'in his practice; possessed many good
and useful qualities, was modest and benevo
lent and just; a worthy citizen and an excel
lent Christian." He married, September 12,
1775, Mrs. Rebecca Rohde, widow of Dr. John
Rohde, and daughter of Joseph and Sarah
(Southmayd) Starr, of Middletown. She
was born June 8, 1733. After the death of
Dr. Bontecou she married, December 23, 1787,
Captain Ephraim Pease, of Enfield, whither
she removed with her children, and died there
April 6, 1802. Children: Rebecca, and Daniel,
next mentioned.
(IV) Daniel (2), only son of Dr. Daniel
(1) and Rebecca (Starr) (Rohde) Bontecou,
was born in New Haven, Connecticut, April
20, 1779, died in Springfield, Massachusetts,
November 24, 1857. He was not born until
after the death of his father. He was princi
pally brought up under the guardianship of his
step-father, Captain Ephraim Pease. When
a young man he engaged in mercantile business
in Enfield, where he continued until 1806,
when he removed to Springfield, Massachu
setts, and formed a partnership with Colonel
Solomon Warriner in the dry goods business.
In 1 817 this partnership was dissolved, and
after continuing alone for some years, Jona
than Hunt was admitted as a partner, and they
continued together until 1835, when Mr. Bon
tecou sold his interest and retired from busi
ness and employed his leisure moments in cul
tivating several pieces of land which he owned
in the outskirts of the town, and took great
pleasure in the occupation. While in Enfield
he was active in the militia and held the rank
of sergeant in the Thirty-first Regiment. He
represented Springfield in the Massachusetts
general court in 1820. He was elected dea
con in the First Congregational Church, March
5, 1833, continuing in that office until May 2,
1845, when he became a member of the South
Church, where he was shortly afterward
elected deacon, and held that office till his
death. In 181 5 he bought of Colonel War
riner a homestead on Main street, from which
he removed in 1846 to the corner of. Main and
Howard streets, where he passed the remainder
of his life. The Springfield Republican said of
him : "He has lived long, sensibly, and use
fully ; his name is associated with no-brilliant
deeds, but honor, integrity, and piety belong to
it. Useful and faithful to his day and genera
tion, he is called home ripe for its immortal
ity." He married (first) March 16, 1798,

MASSACHUSETTS.

169

Sybil, daughter of Rev. Elam and Sybil
(Pease) Potter, of Enfield, Connecticut, and
granddaughter of his step-father. She died
May 5, 1810, aged twenty-nine. He married
(second) November 13, 1816, Harriet Bliss,
daughter of Hon. Moses and Abigail (Met
calf) Bliss, of Springfield. She was born
March 23, 1782, and died November 10, 1853.
Children by wife Sybil: Catharine Rhodes,
a daughter, Daniel, Martha* Potter, Sybil
Pease, and Mary; by wife Flarriet : William
(died young), Harriet and William Ely.
(V) Catherine Rhodes, eldest child of
Daniel (2) and Sybil (Potter) Bontecou, was
born in Enfield, Connecticut, December 26,
1798, died December 24, 1832. She married,
November 12, 1819, Wells Lathrop, of
Springfield (see Lathrop X).
(The Lothrop or Lathrop Line. For preceding
generations see John Lowthroppe 1).
(VI) Joseph, fourth son of Samuel and
Elizabeth (Scudder) Lothrop, was born in
October, 1661, died in Norwich, July 5, 1740.
He was a member of the first church. He
married (first) April 8, 1686, Mary Scudder,
who died September 18, 1695. He married
(second) February 2, 1696, Elizabeth "Water-
house," daughter of Isaac and Sarah Watrous.
She was born March 22, 1661, died November
29, 1726. He married (third) November 22,
1727, Martha Perkins, widow of Deacon
Joseph Perkins, of Newent, now Lisbon, then
a part of Norwich. His children were : Barna
bas, Joseph, and Abigail, by wife Mary; Me
hitable, Samuel, Elizabeth, Sarah, Temper
ance, Solomon, Ruth, Esther and Zeruiah, by
wife Elizabeth.
(VII) Solomon, second son of Joseph and
Elizabeth (Watrous) Lothrop, was born in
Norwich, December 13, 1706, died May 10,
x733- He settled in Norwich. He seems to
have been a person of early eminent piety, of
good natural talents, and of more than a com
mon education of that day. He married, Feb
ruary 6, 1729, Martha, widow of Thomas
Todd, of Rowley, Massachusetts, and daugh
ter of Deacon Joseph and Martha (Morgan)
Perkins, of Lisbon, Connecticut, where she
was born August 28, 1705. After his death
she married (third) May 29, 1739, Matthew
Loomis, of Bolton, Connecticut. The chil
dren of Solomon and Martha were: Martha,
and Joseph, next mentioned.
(VIII) Rev. Dr. Joseph (2), only son of
Solomon and Martha (Perkins) (Todd) Loth
rop, was born in Norwich, October 20, 1731,

died in West Springfield, Massachusetts, De
cember 31, 1820. He was left to the eare of
his mother when only a year and a half old.
"At sixteen he had determined, at any cost
of his little patrimony, to obtain a collegiate
education, and he was prepared for college
by the Rev. Mr. White of Bolton. Though
his mind was already made up to enter the
Congregational ministry, after his graduation
he became a teacher at Springfield, Massachu
setts, meanwhile pursuing his theological
studies. In 1756 he applied for admission to
the ministry, and the same year was called to
the charge of the Congregational church in
West Springfield. He accepted the call and
entered at once upon his duties. He was found
admirably qualified for his duties as a minister,
and his parish grew and prospered under his
care. He was faithful and painstaking, a dili
gent preacher, his face was familiar in the
houses of his flock, and he was an illustration
of the truth that 'a house-going parson makes
a church-going people.' " His pastorate cov
ered the revolutionary period and the years
of financial depression and general stagnation
of business that followed; his salary was
irregularly and partially paid, and he shared
the general afflictions of the times. At times
he was reduced to great straits for want of
money, but he voluntarily forgave the arrears.
He did not think it misbecame him to eke out
his salary by personal labor upon his little
farm. He had taken his parish, as was com
mon in these clays, for better or for worse,
and he cheerfully shared their ill as well as
their good fortune. Tn their prosperity the
people had willingly offered themselves to him,
and when in need he was ready to endure for
them, and so while he followed the plough or
swung the scythe, he reaped lessons of spirit
ual husbandry. No honors, no offers of
emolument could tempt him away. His fame
extended far beyond the parochial bounds.
In 1791 Yale College conferred upon him the
honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity, as did
Harvard University in 181 1. In 1792 he was
elected Fellow of the American Academy of
Arts and Science, and in 1793 he was appoint
ed a professor in divinity in Yale College.
Yale was his alma mater ; the position was one
congenial to his tastes. Students in divinity
had come to him in his quiet parish, at least
a score, and among them Dr. Appleton, the late
president of Bowdoin College ; he would have
the advantages afforded by the companion
ship of scholars and by the college library ; his
salary would be doubled, and there would be

170

MASSACHUSETTS.

a hope that he might make some provision
against the infirmities of age. But none of
these things moved him. Great as the tempta
tion was, he resisted it, and said to his people,
"I shall not go; the Lord do so to me and
more also, if aught but death part me and
thee." He was an industrious man, and his
ministry continued through many years, and
his eye was not dim and his natural force was
not abated. At the age of eighty he preached
a sermon in review of his long ministry, as he
did five years later at the close of his sixtieth
year. This was in 1816. At eighty-eight he
was compelled to ask for a colleague and Rev.
William B. Sprague was given him. From
this time he did little, and on the last day of
1820, full of honors and of years he entered
into rest. Tradition states that he wrote about
five .thousand sermons in the course of his
ministry. Many of them were in pamphlet
form, and passed through several editions. Six
volumes of his sermons were issued during his
lifetime, and after his death a seventh volume
with an autobiography was published and sev
eral of these volumes came to a second edition.
He was also the author of a volume of mis
cellany, consisting of political, moral and enter
taining papers. It is not too much to say that
he was the central figure in the history of West
Springfield, and to his teachings it owes much
of its deserved fame. His influence in the
valley of the Connecticut was almost without
limit. He was ranked with the most distin
guished of the New England divines. "He
was a man of large intellect, a deep and orig
inal thinker, a ready writer, an impressive
preacher, a faithful pastor, with a heart full
of virtues, of manners devout and dignified,
and yet agreeable, a man who would have
made his mark in any age and in any country,
and in a family of the notable sons of the
Pioneers, it is easy to regard him as facile
prince ps!' He married, May 16, 1759, Eliz
abeth Dwight. Children : Solomon, Seth,
Joseph (died young), Joseph, Samuel (died
young), Samuel and Dwight.
(IX) Hon. Joseph (3), fourth son of Rev.
Joseph (2) and Elizabeth (Dwight) Lathrop,
was born in West Springfield, December 24,
1766, died in Wilbraham, December 11, 1831.
He settled in Wilbraham where he became a
prominent citizen, and represented the town
in the state legislature. He married, Septem
ber 9, 1790, Rowena, daughter of Colonel
Levi and Jerusha (Clark) Wells, of Col
chester, Connecticut. She survived her hus
band twelve years, and died September 28,

1843, at the home of Paoli Lathrop, of South
Hadley. Children: Joseph, Rowena (died
young), Wells, Paoli, Seth, Rowena, Ralph
(died young), and Ralph Dwight.
(X) Wells, second son of Joseph (3) and
Rowena (Wells) Lathrop, was born in Becket,
Massachusetts, February 25, 1795, died in
South Hadley Falls, April 12, 1871. He mar
ried, in Springfield, November 12, 1819, Cath
erine Rhodes Bontecou (see Bontecou V),
born in Enfield, Connecticut, December 26,
1798, daughter of Daniel and Sybil (Potter)
Bontecou. She died December 24, 1832. He
married (second) September 12, 1836, Lydia,
widow of Dr. Lewis Washburn, and daughter
of Benjamin and Relief (Dunbar) Ayer, of
Weymouth, where she was born July 30, 1806 ;
she died July 24, 1896. Children: Elizabeth,
James, Catherine Bontecou, Daniel Bontecou,
Wells and Mary.
(XI) Elizabeth, eldest child of Wells and
Catherine R. (Bontecou) Lathrop, was born
in Springfield, April 28, 1821, and married,
August 23, 1842, George Bliss Morris (see
Morris VII).
(The Bliss Line. For preceding generations see
Thomas Bliss 1).
(Ill) Nathaniel, second son of Thomas (2)
and Margaret Bliss, was born in England,
came to America with his father in 1635, and
removed to Springfield, Massachusetts, with
his mother in 1643, about seven years after
that place was purchased from the Indians by
William Pynchon. Three years later, when
they were well settled, he married, November
20, 1646, Catharine, daughter of Deacon Sam
uel Chapin (see Chapin I). Mr. Bliss died
November 8, 1654. Widow Bliss married (sec
ond) July 31, 1655, Thomas Gilbert, by whom
she had four children. He died June 5, 1662,
and she married (third) December 28, 1664,
Samuel Marshfield, by whom she had four chil
dren — twelve in all. She died February 4,
1712. The children of Nathaniel and Cath
arine (Chapin) Bliss were: Samuel, Mar
garet, Mary and Nathaniel.
(IV) Samuel, eldest child of Nathaniel and
Catharine (Chapin) Bliss, was born in Spring
field, November 7, 1647, and lived to the
remarkable age of one hundred and one and
a half years, and died June 19, 1749. He
married, January 2, 1672, Sarah, daughter of
Thomas and Hannah Stebbins, who was born
August 18, 1654, died November 6, 1721. He
left at his death, according to the Boston News
Letter, six children, thirty-eight grandchildren,

MASSACHUSETTS.

171

one hundred and fourteen great-grandchildren,
and ten great-great-grandchildren, making a
total of one hundred and sixty-eight. His
children were: Samuel (died young), Nathan
iel, Sarah, Margaret, Thomas, Hannah, John,
Samuel and Ebenezer.
(V) John, son of Samuel and Sarah (Steb
bins) Bliss, was born in Springfield, Novem
ber 4, 1690, died in Longmeadow, October 8,
1784. He married, April 18, 1724, Lydia
Field, of Sunderland, Massachusetts. She
was born in 1695, died February 29, 1760.
Children, John and Aaron.
(VI) Hon. John (2), son of John (1) and
Lydia (Field) Bliss, was born in Longmeadow,
February 1, 1727, died in Wilbraham, Novem
ber 3, 1809. He was a man of much natural
talent, self thought, and became a citizen of
great influence. He was an ardent patriot
during the revolution, and held numerous
offices of trust and responsibility. He was
representative from the town of Springfield
(which then included Wilbraham) in 1773,"
and continued a member of either the house
of representatives, senate or executive council
of Massachusetts, for thirty years — two years
being excepted. He was a member of each of
the three provincial congresses held in Massa
chusetts in the early part of the revolution ;
was for many years a judge of the court of
common pleas for the county of Hampshire ;
and was colonel of the First Regiment of
Hampshire Militia. In all these stations he
was an exemplary professor of the Christian
religion. He married (first) November 8,
1749, Abiah Pease, daughter of Josiah and
Margaret Colton, of Enfield, Connecticut. She
was born in 1718, and died in September, 1803.
He married (second) September 10, 1804,
Sarah, widow of Isaac Morris. His children,
all by first wife, were: Oliver, Lydia (died
young), Lydia, Abiah, Lucy (died young),
and Lucy see further.
(VII) Lucy, youngest child of Hon. John
(2) and Abiah Bliss, was born March 28,
1762, and married Edward Morris, of Wil
braham (see Morris V).
(The Bliss Line. For preceding generations see
Thomas Bliss 1).
(VI) Hon. Moses, eldest son of Jedediah
and Rachel (Sheldon) Bliss, was born in
Springfield, January 16, 1736, died July 4,
1814. He graduated from Yale in 1755, studied
divinity, preached for a time, and then aban
doned the ministry to read law, and became

an eminent barrister. For several of the later
years of his life he was judge of the court of
common pleas for the county of Hampshire.
A few years before his death he retired from
that office, greatly respected for his learning,
talents and piety. He was a deacon in the
Congregational church. He was an eccentric
man, and very patriotic withal, wore a pow
dered wig, knee breeches, low shoes, and shin
ing buckles. It is said that he had just brought
a load of hay across the river when he heard
that independence had been declared, and not
being able to elevate his continental heels and
cocked hat high enough to gratify his ex
uberant patriotism, he immediately set fire to
the hay, in the presence of a large concourse
of enthusiastic and delighted spectators, mak
ing it a veritable burnt offering upon the altar
of liberty. He married, July 20, 1763, Abigail,
daughter of William and Abigail (Edwards)
Metcalf, of Lebanon, Connecticut. She was
born April 2, 1739, died August 29, 1800.
Children: George, Lucy, Abigail, William
Metcalf, Frances, Moses, Edmond, Emily and
Harriet. (VII) Hon. George, eldest son of Hon.
Moses and Abigail (Metcalf) Bliss, was born
in Springfield, December 13, 1764, died March
8, 1830. He graduated at Yale College in
1784, and received the honorary degree of
LL. D. from Harvard University in 1823. He
was an eminent lawyer, and for many years
in succession was a member of the house of
representatives, senate or executive council of
Massachusetts, and was a member of the fam
ous "Hartford Convention." He was a dea
con of the First Congregational Church of
Springfield, and was an able theologian. He
married (first) May 22, 1789, Hannah, daugh
ter of Dr. John and jerusha (Huntington)
Clark, of Lebanon, Connecticut. She was
born May 19, 1764, died September 19, 1795.
He married (second) May 29, 1799, Mary,
daughter of John Lathrop, of New Haven,
Connecticut. She died without issue, May 1,
1803. He married (third) November 15,
1804, Abigail Rowland, of Windsor, Connec
ticut, who died January 21, 1832. Children by
wife Hannah;- Delia (died young), Caroline,
George, Hannah Clark. Children by wife
Abigail: Delia, Abigail, Mary and Richard.
(VIII) Caroline, second daughter of Hon.
George and Hannah (Clark) Bliss, was born
December 28, 1791, and married, December
15, 1813, Oliver Bliss Morris Esq. (see Morris
VI).

172

MASSACHUSETTS.

John Heald, immigrant ancestor,
HEALD was one of the earliest settlers
of Concord, Massachusetts. He
was from Berwick-on-Tweed, England, and is
said to have come to New England in 1635.
He was admitted a freeman June 2, 1641. He
lived for some time in Roxbury and Cam
bridge. He died in Concord, May 24, 1662.
His will was made by his own hand, dated
April 19, 1662, and proved June 16, 1662. He
bequeathed to his second wife, Dorothy; to
children John, Timothy and Hannah ; and to
five younger children, not mentioned by name.
Children: 1. John, born in England; men
tioned below. 2. Timothy. 3. Hannah, mar
ried, May 18, 1658, John Spaulding; died Au
gust 14, 1689. 4. Dorcas, born May 22, 1645 >
died May 1, 1650. 5. Gershom, born March
23, 1647; married, 1673, Anna Vinton; died
at Stow 1717. 6. Dorothy, born October 16,
1649. 7. Thomas, born January 19, 1650-1 ;
married November 18, 1675, Priscilla Mark
ham; (second) Sarah (Patch) Osborn; died
April 22, 1725. 8. Isaac, born 1656; married
Elizabeth  ; died 1717. 9. Israel, born
July 30, 1666; married Martha Wright; set
tled in Stow: died September 8, 1738. Some
authorities give also: 10. Amos. 11. Ebe
nezer. 12. Samuel. 13. Ephraim. 14. Ben
jamin. (II) Sergeant John (2), son of John (1)
Heald, was born in England, and came over
with his parents. He settled in Chelmsford,
and married, June 10, 1661, Sarah Dean, who
died July 22, 1689, daughter of Thomas and
Elizabeth Dean, of Concord. His name is
mentioned in a list of soldiers in 1675. He
died at Concord, June 22, 1689. Children,
born in Concord: 1. Elizabeth, born April 15,
1664. 2. John, born September 19, 1666; men
tioned below. 3. Gershom, born March 1,
1667-8; married February 19, 1689-90, Han
nah Parling; died 1717. 4. Sarah, born Decem
ber 18, 1670. 5. Eunice, born March 15, 1673.
6. Hannah, born October 10, 1676. 7. Doro
thy, born July 10, 1679; married Joshua
Fletcher of West ford ; died August 20, 1770.
(Ill) Lieutenant John (3), son of Ser
geant John (2) Heald, was born at Concord,
September 19, 1666, and died there November
25, 1 72 1, aged fifty-five years (gravestone).
Fle married, December 18, 1690, Mary Chand
ler, born March 3, 1672-3, died August 14,
1759, in her eighty-eighth year (gravestone).
She was daughter of Roger and Mary
(Simonds) Chandler. At the time of the
trouble with Governor Andros, Lieutenant

Heald marched to Boston at the head of his
company. Children, born in Concord: 1.
Mary, born August 18, 1691 ; married May
12, 1718, John Parling; died January 5, 1754.
2. John, born August 18, 1693 ; mentioned be
low. 3. Timothy, born June 7, 1696; married
Hannah  ; died March 28, 1736. 4.
Josiah, born February 28, 1698-9 ; died May
26, 1733- 5- Elizabeth, born December 12,
1701. 6. Samuel, born May 4, 1702; married
Rebecca Fletcher; died April 18, 1784. 7.
Amos, born May 23, 1708; married Elizabeth
Billings ; died January 4, 1775. 8. Ephraim,
born February 19, 1710-11; married Eleanor
 . 9. Dorcas, born August 22, 1713;
married January 28, 1734-5, William Fletcher.
10. Eunice, born 1717; married July 16, 1735,
Samuel Fellows.
(IV) Deacon John (4), son of Lieutenant
John (3) Heald, was born in Concord, August
18, 1693, and died May 16, 1775. fle lived
in that part of Concord set off as Acton. He
married (first) at Concord, Mary Heald, born
April 27, 1698, died September 1, 1758, daugh
ter of Israel and Martha (Wright) Heald (or
Hale) of Concord. He married (second)
(intentions dated November 10, 1759) Eliza
beth Wright, widow of Joseph Wright. She
survived him and lived with her daughter, the
wife of Deacon Reed, of Rutland, where she
died October 12, 1776. Children, born at
Concord, all by first wife: 1. Martha, born
April 4, 1718; married May 24, 1738, John
Barrett. 2. Mary, born June 14, 1719; married
May 24, 1738, Jonas Robbins; died April 6,
1794. 3. John, born February 14, 1720-1 ;
married July 18, 1745, Elizabeth Barrett; died
October 26, 1810. 4. Sarah, born November
2, 1722; married January 1, 1744-5, Jonas
Hildreth. 5. Joseph, born September 12, 1724;
killed by the Indians. 6. Lydia, born Novem
ber 12, 1726; married, 1749, Jacob Robbins.
7. Oliver, born July 24, 1729; died September
23- 1733- 8. Dorothy, born November 25,
1 73 1, married, 1753, Nehemiah Davis; died
December 11, 1805. 9. Oliver, born April 6,
1734; married December 2, 1760, Lydia
Spaulding; died January 21, 1790, at Temple,
New Hampshire. 10. Israel, born August 16,
1736; mentioned below. 11. Asa(?). 12.
Ruth, born March 1, 1740, married, 1759,
James Faulkner.
(V) Captain Israel, son of Deacon John
(4) Heald, was born in Concord, August 16,
1736, and died October 28, 1815. He lived
on the homestead in Acton. He served in the
revolution in 1776 as captain in Eleazer

MASSACHUSETTS.

173

Brooks' regiment, and was wounded in the
battle of White Plains. He married, Decem
ber 30, 1760, Susanna Robbins, born January
1, 1737-8, died January 8, 1822, daughter of
John and Susanna Robbins, of Chelmsford.
He died intestate, and Augustus Tower was
appointed administrator of the estate. Chil
dren: 1. Timothy, born August 7, 1762; mar
ried November 8, 1792, Hannah Wilkins; died
May 5, 181 3. 2. Benjamin, born January 25,
1764, mentioned below. 3. Sarah, born July
28, 1766; died unmarried June 21, 1847. 4-
Susannah, born September 7, 1768 ; married
July 14, 1789, David Hartwell, Jr. 5. Mary,
born September 22, 1770; married December
24, 1795, Deacon John Green ; died October
26, 1817. 6. Lucy, bora November 21, 1772;
died September 22, 1775. 7. Esther, born
1774; married, November 5, 1797, Asa Green;
died September 18, 1826. 8. Lucy, born Sep
tember 9, 1786; married, December 26, 1814,
Thomas Spaulding; died March 19, 1844.
(VI) Captain Benjamin, son of Captain
Isaac fleald, was born in Acton (now Carlisle)
January 25, 1763-4, and died October 12, 1841.
He settled in Sumner, Maine, in 1784, and
lived on Sumner Hill, near the present site
of the Heald barn. He may have been the
Benjamin Heald who was in Captain John
Hayward's company, Colonel Webb's regiment,
for three months in 1781, to reinforce the
Continental army. He married, in 1785-6, Re
becca Spaulding, born November 10, 1766, who
died June 10, 1858, daughter of Benjamin
(Leonard 4, Henry 3, Andrew 2, Edward 1),
and Patty (Barrett) Spaulding. Children, born
at Sumner, Maine: 1. Benjamin, born Sep
tember 13, 1786; married Achsah Hall. 2.
Susannah, born January 29, 1788 ; married
Joshua Carpenter. 3. Israel, born January 22,
1793; married Jane Standish. 4. Charlotte,
born March 10, 1795; died May 8, 1801. 5.
Hiram, born July 19, 1797; mentioned below.
6. Harriet, born January 14, 1800. 7. Wash
ington, born July 23, 1802 ; married Eliza A.
Allen. 8. Joseph W., born September 28,
1804. 9. Jefferson, born November 16, 1805 ;
married jane Hersey. 10. Charlotte, born
February 23, 1808 ; married January 27, 1829,
Charles A. Buck. 11. Columbus, born July
21, 1810; married, May 1, 1834, Nancy W.
Buck. (VII) Hiram, son of Captain Benjamin
Heald, was born at Sumner, Maine, July 19,
1797, and lived at Sumner. He married Soph-
ronia Hersey. Children: 1. Marcella, born
April 4, 1825. 2. Lysander, born December

20, 1826; mentioned below. 3. Hiram FL,
born November 12, 1828; married November
14, 1852, Frances Borne. 4. Albert H., born
December 9, 1830; married (first) Lottie
Cook; (second) Sarah Houghton. 5. Abel S.,
born February 13, 1833; married Mary C.
Anderson. 6. Stephen C, born June 12, 1835;
married, September 12, 1858, Abbie A. Rowe.
7. Emogene S., born April 18, 1837; married,
September 12, 1858, Jacob M. Willey. 8.
James Ii., born April 30, 1839; died in
the civil war, October 10, 1862, at Annapolis,
a member of the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts
Regiment. 9. Althea P., born October 2, 1841 ;
married Allen Weatherhead. 10. Benjamin
F., born June 23, 1843 > a member of the
Twentieth Maine Regiment in the civil war.
11. Oscar F., bprn October 12, 1846; married,
December 23, 1868, Almatia Richardson.
(VIII) Lysander, son of Fliram Heald,
was born in East Sumner, Maine, December
20, 1826. He came to Massachusetts in 1848,
eventually locating in Weymouth, where he
engaged in the shoe business. He was a
member of Company G of the Fourth Heavy
Artillery in the civil war. He married Mar
garet A. Vining, born October 22, 1837, at
South Weymouth, daughter of Adoniram and
Lydia Shaw Vining. He died May 28, 1904.
Children: 1. Arthur Clifton, born April 7,
1861 ; mentioned below. 2. Marion Vining,
born January 29, 1874; married Henry S.
Stowers, of South Weymouth.
(IX) Arthur Clifton, "son of Lysander
Heald, was born at South Weymouth, Massa
chusetts, April 7, 1 861. He was educated in
the public schools of South Weymouth. For
five years he was in the employ of H. B. Reed
& Company, and left this firm to organize and
become a member of the firm of E. H. Stetson
& Company. Since the incorporation of this
concern as the Stetson Shoe Company he has
been its treasurer. The factory of the Stetson
Shoe Company, one of the largest concerns
in the country manufacturing strictly high-
grade men's shoes, is located in South Wey
mouth, a town famous for the quality of its
workmanship. It has a weekly capacity of
7500 pairs and a regular force numbering 350.
He married, December 31, 1883, Charlotte
Bates Tower, born November 22, 1863, at
South Weymouth, daughter of Charles Carroll
and Clarissa L. (Pratt) Tower. (See Tower
family). Children, born at South Weymouth:
1. Charles Tower, born May 18, 1888; asso
ciated in business with his father. 2. Stanley,
born June 8, 1891. 3. Margaret, born Sep-

174

MASSACHUSETTS.

tember 13, 1892. 4. Darthea, born February
10, 1898.
(The Tower Line. For preceding generations see
Robert Tower 1).
(Ill) Ibrook, son of John Tower, was bap
tized February 7, 1643-4, and died in Cohasset,
November 22, 1732, aged eighty-eight years
nine months. He lived in Cohasset, on the
land which his father drew in the first division
in 1670. He was among the earliest settlers
of what was then the village. He was fre
quently in public office, and in 1699 was select
man. He was a farmer and a cooper. His
will was made in 1720, and it was proved De
cember 31, 1731. His homestead still remains
in possession of the family. He married (first)
April 24, 1668, Margaret Hardin, of Brain
tree, born 1647, died November 19, 1705,
daughter of John Hardin. He married (sec
ond) August 6, 1712, Patience, widow of
Daniel Hobart, and previously of Benjamin
Jones. She died December 22, 1747. Chil
dren, all by first wife, born in Hingham: 1.
Richard, July 20, 1669. 2. Daniel, June 15,
1671 ; died November, 1690. 3. John, born
-March 21, 1672-3. 4. Rachel, March 16,
1674-5. 5. Mary, August 16, 1677. 6. Patience,
March 21, 1678-9. 7. Hezekiah, baptized,
October 9, 1681. 8. Elizabeth, born June 9,
1682; married  Merritt. 9. Content,
born February 3, 1683-4. 10. Nehemiah, No
vember 4, 1685. 11. Lydia, November 25,
1687. 12. Daniel, mentioned below.
(IV) Daniel, son of Ibrook Tower, was
born in Hingham, and baptized July 24, 1692.
He inherited a part of his father's homestead,
and lived in Cohasset. His will was dated
August 1, 1771, and he died February 21, 1774,
aged eighty-one 'years seven months. He mar
ried (first) (intentions dated February 25,
1715-6). Sarah Lincoln, of Cohasset, born
July 14, 1694, died July 7, 1754, daughter of
Mordecai and Sarah (Jones) Lincoln. He
married (second) February 26, 1755, Persis
Curtis, born in Hanover, 1707, died there June
24, 1787, aged eighty. Children, born in Co
hasset: 1. Sarah, June 24, 1717. 2. Daniel,
June 23, 1720; mentioned below. 3. Abra
ham, January 31, 1722-3; died May 9, 1736.
4. Job, born September 8, 1726. 5. Mordecai,
August 6, 1729; died June 10, 1736. 6. Thank
ful, born September, 1732; died May 2, 1733.
7. Thankful, born October 2, 1734; died No
vember 18, 1743.
(V) Daniel (2), Tower, son of Daniel (1)
Tower, was born at Cohasset, June 23, 1720,

and died there January 28, 1800. His will was
dated October, 1799, and proved April 1, 1800.
He married, January 5, 1741-2, Bethiah
Nichols,- born May 12, 1724, died April 27,
1813, daughter of Roger and Bethiah (Wins
low) Nichols. Children, born in Cohasset:
1. Abraham, June, 1741 ; died March 4, 1741-2.
2. Sarah, May 30, 1743; married December 8,
1763, James Cushing, Jr. 3. Mordecai, May
24, 1745; drowned at. sea. 4. Bethiah, April
20, 1747; married John Pratt. 5. Daniel, Octo
ber 5, 1749; died young. 6. Abraham (twin),
April 18, 1752 ; mentioned below. 7. Isaac
(twin), April 18, 1752. 8. Samuel, April 30,
1754. 9. Levi, July 25, 1756. 10. Persis, Au
gust 1, 1759. 11. Mary, baptized June 21,
1 76 1 ; died young. 12. Mary, baptized May 27,
1764. 13. Bethiah, baptized January 24, 1768.
14. Daniel, born July 29, 1771.
(VI) Abraham, son of Daniel (2) Tower,
was born at Cohasset, April 18, 1752. He
inherited the homestead. He was a soldier in
the revolution, a corporal in Captain Job Cush-
ing's company, at the siege of Boston, in 1775.
Tradition says he was a member of the Bos
ton Tea Party in 1773. He applied for a
pension August 28, 1832, saying that he was
in the Continental army from about May 1,
1775, to January 1, 1776. He was a farmer
and a mariner. Flis will was proved October
27, 1832. He died in Cohasset, September 26,
1832, aged eighty. He married (first) August
30, 1789, Elizabeth Kent, baptized February
4, 1759, died December 26, 1797, daughter of
Abel and Hannah (Hobart) Kent; (second)
October 18, 1800, Hannah Kent, sister of his
first wife, baptized October 29, 1775, died
May 20, 1806, aged thirty years, six months.
Children: 1. Abraham Hobart, born October
20, 1801 ; mentioned below. 2. Elizabeth, born
October 10, 1803. 3. Hannah Kent, May 8,
1806. (VII) Abraham Hobart, son of Abraham
Tower, was born in Cohasset, October 20,
1801, and died there June 19, 1881. He in
herited the homestead, where he resided. He
married, April 30, 1826, Charlotte Bates, born
October 4, 1806, died June 11, 1869, daughter
of Newcomb and Lydia (Nichols) Bates. He
was a farmer, and also owned a number of
fishing boats. Children: 1. Mary Nash, born
August 25, 1827; died April 3, 1829. 2. Abra
ham H., born April 1, 1829. 3. Henry Clay,
April 16, 1831. 4. Charles Carroll, September
26, 1833; mentioned below. 5. Charlotte M.
B., February 28, 1836. 6. Newcomb B., Feb
ruary 20, 1840. 7. Daniel N., February 28, 1846.

MASSACHUSETTS.

175

(VIII) Dr. Gharles Carroll Tower, son of
Abraham H. Tower, was born September 26,
1833, and died May 29, 1893. He was edu
cated in the schools of Cohasset, was grad
uated from Harvard College in 1856, and
from the Harvard Medical School in 1859.
He settled in South Weymouth, where he
practiced his profession some thirty-three
years. He served on the school board, and in
politics was a Republican. He was a member
of the Old South Church. He married, No
vember 29, i860, Clarissa L. Pratt, born in
Boston, January 3, 1834, daughter of Charles
and Ruth Nichols (Pratt) Pratt. Children:
1. Daughter, born September 15, 1861 ; died
next day. 2. Carrie Appleton, born July 18,
1862; married Wilson Tirrell. 3. Charlotte
Bates, born November 22, 1863; married, De
cember 31, 1883, Arthur Clifton Heald. (See
Heald family). 4. Helen Merriel, born Au
gust 5, 1868; married Eaton V. Reed, of
Brooklyn, New York. 5. Ruth Nichols, born
November 15, 1873.

The immigrant ancestor of the
TABER Tabers and Tabors of New Eng
land was one Philip Taber, who
was born in England in 1605. He appeared
in Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in
1633-34, where he was the proprietor of five
lots of land which he sold to John Woolcot.
He married (first) Lydia, daughter of John
and Jane Masters, in 1639 or 1640, and she
became the mother of five children. He mar
ried (second) Jane, an elder sister of his de
ceased wife. John Masters was made a free
man of Watertown in 1631, and he was also a
proprietor of Cambridge (Newe Town), and
became a resident there. He died in Cam
bridge, December 21, 1639, and in his will be
queathed £10 sterling to his daughter "Lidya
Taber;" his widow Jane died December 26,
1639, five days after her husband. Philip Taber
was, under the laws governing the towns of
the Massachusetts Bay Colony, made a mem
ber of the First Church at Watertown by
virtue of his oath of fidelity on being accorded
the 'rights of a freeman, May 14, 1634. He
removed to the town of Yarmouth, Cape Cod,
Barnstable county, Colony of Plymouth, in
1639, and he became a prominent person in
arranging for the establishment of the town
January 7, 1639, out of the common land called
Mattachuset according to the annals of the
general court of the colony. As early as Jan
uary 7, 1639, his name appears with eight
others as a candidate for freedom in the new

town of Yarmouth, and on March 5 following
it was ordered by the general court of
Plymouth Colony that the name of Philip
Taber with three other residents of the town
of Yarmouth be added to an existing com
mittee of three to make an equal division of
the planting lands of the town. He was sent
as a deputy to the court at Plymouth in 1639
and 1640. Flis son John was baptized in the
church at Yarmouth, November 8, 1640, and
his sons Joseph, Philip and Thomas in Febru
ary, 1646. fle removed from Yarmouth to
Martha's Vineyard, and thence to New Lon
don, Connecticut, in 1650, where he was in
March, 1655-63, and he was made a freeman
of the town in 1656. He served as a com
missioner of the town in 1660-61-63. ^e
recorded himself as of Newport on January
31, 1664, and April 20, 1665, at both of which
dates he sold and conveyed land in Ports
mouth. On June 10, 1669, he was in Provi
dence and recorded himself as being at that
time sixty-four years of age. He was a resi
dent of Tiverton, Rhode Island, soon after,
and died there in 1672. His second wife,
Jane (Masters) Taber, born 1605, died 1669.
His five children were all by his first wife,
Lydia (Masters) Taber, and they were born
as follows: 1. John, baptized in Yarmouth,
November 8, 1640, died young. 2. Thomas.
3. Philip, Jr. 4. Joseph. These sons were
baptized in Yarmouth in February, 1646. 5.
Lydia, the youngest child, was the second wife
of Rev. Pardon Tillinghast (1622-1718), and
was married to that noted Baptist immigrant
preacher of Providence, Rhode Island, Febru
ary 16, 1665, and when he died, January 29,
1718, he was survived by his widow and nine
children. Philip, Jr., the third child, lived in
Dartmouth, and had eight children : Mary,
1670; Sarah, 1671 ; Lydia, 1673; Philip, 1676;
Abigail, 1678; Esther, 1681 ; John, 1684;
Bethia, 1689. Thomas, the second child, was
born in Yarmouth, in February, 1642 ; he was
a mason by trade, and lived in Dartmouth ;
married Esther, born August 16, 1650, died
1671, daughter of John and Sarah (Warren)
Cooke, and they had two children : Thomas,
October 21, 1668; and Esther, April 17, 1671,
the birth of the second child resulting in her
death. He married as his second wife, Mary,
daughter of John Thomson, and niece of Rev.
John Cooke, her mother being a sister of this
last survivor of the male passengers of the
"Mayflower." He had by her ten children as
follows : Lydia, August 8, 1673 ; Sarah, Jan
uary 28, 1675; Mary, March 18, 1677; Joseph,

176

MASSACHUSETTS.

March 7, 1678-79, married Elizabeth Spooner ;
John, February 22, 1680-81, married Phoebe
Spooner ; Jacob, July 26, 1683 ; Jonathan, Sep
tember 22, 1685; Bethia, September 3, 1687;
Philip, February 7, 1689, and Abigail, May 3,
1693. Thomas, the father of these children,
died in Dartmouth, November 11, 1730, and
his will was proved March 20, 1733, his sons
Joseph,- John, Jacob and Philip being the
executors. His widow, Mary (Thomson)
Taber, died May- 3, 1734. Thomas Taber
was surveyor of highways 1673; fence-viewer ;
town clerk, 1679; constable, 1679; was made
a freeman, 1684; selectman 1688-92-96-99
and 1700-02; rate-maker, 1686; captain of the
town militia, 1689; deputy to the general court
of Massachusetts, 1693. His first wife was
the daughter of Rev. John Cooke, of Dart
mouth, the last surviving male member of the
original "Mayflower" passengers, 1620, and
his wife, Sarah Warren. The early records
of the town of Tiverton, Rhode Island, are
in such an incomplete condition that it is im
possible to fix the direct line between Philip
the immigrant and Ebenezer, who married
Abigail, and had children born in Tiverton.
As the descendants of his sons Thomas and
Philip, Jr., are well defined and established in
the town and church records of Dartmouth,
it is reasonable to suppose, in the absence of
any record of his death, that the youngest
son, Joseph, went with his father to Tiverton,
Rhode Island, and that he was the father of
Ebenezer Taber, of Tiverton, which would
make the line of descent (I) Philip, born
1605 ; (II) Joseph, born in New London, Con
necticut, or Portsmouth, Rhode Island; (III)
Ebenezer, mentioned below.
(Ill) Ebenezer, probably son of Joseph
Taber and grandson of Philip Taber, the immi
grant, was born in Tiverton, Rhode Island,
about 1694. He married, in Tiverton, and his
wife's christian name was Abigail. They had
nine children, all born in Tiverton, as follows :
1. Paul, March 30, 1716. 2. Thomas (q. v.),
October 28, 1717. 3. Mary, August 24, 1719.
4. Joseph, September 21, 1721. 5. Hannah,
September 13, 1723. 6. Walton, September
4, 1725, died young. 7. Lydia, October 24,
1728. 8. Walton, October, 1731. 9. Jacob,
October 2, 1733.
(IV) Thomas, second child of Ebenezer
and Abigail Taber, was born in Tiverton,
Rhode Island, October 28, 1717. He learned
the trade of blacksmith and carried on the
business in Tiverton. He married and his
wife's christian name was Mary, but her sur

name is not on record. The 'date of her birth
is January 16, 1722. They had eight chil
dren born in Tiverton, as follows: 1. Job,
March 16, 1741. 2. Gideon, February 2, 1743.
3. Mary (q. v.), February 18, 1745. 4. Phebe,
February 22, 1747. 5. Elizabeth, March 12,
1749. 6. Philip, April 24, 1752. 7. Mercy,
July 13, 1756. 8. Ruth, March 3, 1762.
(V) Mary, eldest daughter and third child
of Thomas and Mary Taber, was born in
Tiverton, Rhode Island, February 18, 1745.
She maried her cousin Pardon, son of Paul
and Sarah Taber, and grandson of Ebenezer
and Abigail Taber. He was born July 16,
1739. The children of Pardon and Mary
(Taber) Taber were: 1. Edmond (q. v.),
November 18, 1767. 2. David, November 21,
1770. It is very probable there were other
children born of this marriage, but no record
can be obtained.
(VI) Edmond, eldest child of Pardon and
Mary Taber, was born in Tiverton, Rhode
Island, November 18, 1767. He married
Patience Manchester, born October 24, 1765,
and they had nine children, all born in Tiver
ton, as follows : 1. Anissa, June 5, 1789. 2.
David (q. v.), August 18, 1790. 3. Pardon,
November 8, 1792, died young. 4. Mercy,
January 13, 1795. 5. Charles, May 11, 1797.
6. Joseph, November 9, 1799. 7. Pardon,
May 13, 1802. 8. Rhoda, June 22, 1804. 9.
Abner, April 29, 1807. Edmund "Taber died
in Tiverton, Rhode Island, December 14, 1807,
and his widow June 11, 1851.
(VII) David, second child of Edmond and
Patience (Manchester) Taber, was born in
Tiverton, Rhode Island, August 18, 1790. He
was by trade and occupation a carpenter, and
after his marriage, October 26, 181 1, to Eliz
abeth Fitch, who was born at Bristol, Rhode
Island, July 18, 1790, and the birth of their
first child, Lydia, -in Bristol, Rhode Island,
August 3, 1813, he removed with his family
to Thompson, Connecticut, where he continued
the business of carpenter and house builder,
and where five children were born. The chil
dren born in Thompson, Connecticut were : 2.
David. October 29, 181 5. 3. Luther Anthony
(q. v.), September 15, 1817. 4. Eliza E.,
October 22, 1819. 5. Erastus Otis, December
5, 1821. 6. Joseph, April 12, 1824. He re
moved to Grafton, New Hampshire, after the
birth of his sixth child, and his wife, Eliza
beth (Fitch) Taber, died in that place October
19, 1826. On December 23, 1827, he married
(second) Harriet Chamberlain, of Grafton,
New Hampshire. She was born January 7,

c^=*Z-^ ot-s^^cA- i^t^y (2/ a-^y-^y_

MASSACHUSETTS.

177

1796, and by this union had eight children, all
born in Grafton, New Hampshire as follows:
7. Harriet C, December 14, 1828, died unmar
ried May 24, 1848. 8. Mary M., February 16,
1830. 9. Emily P., April 22, 1831. 10. Wil
lard G., September 18, 1832. 11. Frank W.,
August 22, 1834. 12. Martha A., May 14,
1836. 13. Charles W., March 29, 1839. 14.
Oren, October 22, 1840. Harriet (Chamber
lain) Taber died in Manchester, New Hamp
shire, to which place they had removed from
Grafton after the birth of their son Oren, the
date of her death being November 23, 1850.
Mr. Taber married (third) August 6, 1854,
Mary A. Ross, born in Sheldonville, Massa
chusetts, March 4, 1808, and died without
issue in that place January 29, 1883. David
Taber v died in Sheldonville, Massachusetts,
February 7, 1878.
(VIII) Luther Anthony, second son of
David and Elizabeth (Fitch) Taber, was born
in Thompson, Connecticut, September 15,
1 817, and was brought up and educated in
Grafton, New Hampshire, from his eighth
year. He worked on his father's farm and
assisted him in the carpenter shop when not
attending the district school and when of
apprentice age entered the family of Cyrus
Adams, in Grafton, and was taught the com
bined trades of harness making and watch
and jewelry making. On reaching his majority
he went to Boston, where he worked in a
watch maker's shop as a repairer of watches
and clocks. In 1840 he went to New York
City to fill a position in a branch of the United
States patent office. He married, October 22,
1844, Lydia Wheat, born June 20, 1823, daugh
ter of Hezekiah, Jr., and Mary (Martin) Bul
lock, of Grafton, New Hampshire (see Bul
lock forward), and built a house and a jewelry
and harness making shop on the main street
in Canaan, New Hampshire, where he worked
at both his trades and also cultivated a garden.
In 1847, when the great dam to furnish the
waterpower for the future manufacturing city
of Holyoke, Massachusetts, was in course of
construction in West Springfield, he visited
the work and criticised the workmanship of
the dam, as well as its plan of construction
and prophesied its inability, through these
faults, of withstanding the immense pressure
to which it would be subjected. This pro
phesy came true soon after the completion of
the dam. The opportunities for the growth
of a great city were apparent to Mr. Taber,
and when on March 14. 1850, the town of
Holyoke was set off from West Springfield

he had already been on the ground with his
family occupying the only brick block on High
street for two years. He had removed to the
place from Canaan, New Hampshire, in 1848,
thus anticipating the birth of the town in 1850,
and the city in 1873. He kept pace with the
progress of the town, removing his business
first to the Exchange Hall block, and then to
the Hutchings block, corner of High and
Hampden streets. Here the great fire of 1870
swept his business place away, and he rebuilt
the block now No. 181 and 183 High street.
His business increased with the growth of the
city, and when his oldest son Frank Luther
left school, he took him in first as an appren
tice and then as a partner in 1876, and the
firm continued up to 1882 when Mr. Taber
retired from business. He was a member
of the Royal Arch Masons, having joined the
Chapter in 1864, and in 1909 he was the second
oldest member of the chapter in years of ser
vice. He also affiliated with the Second Con
gregational Church of Holyoke as a member
of the church society organization although
not a member of the church itself. He was
elected a charter member of the board of
trustees of the Holyoke Savings Bank April
9, 1856, and in 1906 was the only surviving
member of the original board. His genial
disposition and great strength of character
endeared him to all, and his great love of
nature led him to the cultivation of fruits and
flowers, in which occupation he found recrea
tion and pleasure. He was not a politician,
and held himself free from party restraint so
as to be able to vote for the best men rather
than the accidental nominees of a party. The
children of Luther Anthony and Lydia Wheat
(Bullock) Taber were: 1. Frank Luther
(q. v.). 2. Cyrus Hezekiah (q. v.). Lydia
Wheat Bullock Taber died March 10, 1880,
and Mr. Taber married as his second wife,
on October 17, 1881, Susan (Kimball) Eaton,
of Concord, New Hampshire, and they had
no issue.
(IX) Frank Luther, eldest child of Luther
Anthony and Lydia Wheat (Bullock) Taber,
was born in the town of Holyoke, Massachu
setts, October 13, 1850. He was educated in
the public school and learned the trade of
watch maker with his father. He became his
partner in business in 1876, and in 1882 when
his father retired, he assumed the entire busi
ness and continued to conduct it on his own
account. He married (first) Sarah Jane
Paddelford, of Sherburne, New York, and
they had an only child, Pearl. He married

i78

MASSACHUSETTS.

(second) Fannie Maria Pratt, of Holyoke,
Massachusetts, October 15, 1879, and their
children were Raymond Frank and Earl Pratt.
(IX) Cyrus Flezekiah, second and youngest
child of Luther Anthony and Lydia Wheat
(Bullock) Taber, was born in Holyoke, Mass
achusetts, September 4, 1857. He was a pupil
in the public schools of Holyoke, and on leav
ing school engaged with his father in the
watch making business. He left this business,
however, after one and one-half years to en
gage in the printing business, which was more
congenial to his tastes and disposition. This
business he with J. N. Hubbard inaugurated
in 1877, the firm name being Hubbard &
Taber, and after eighteen years of prosperity
it had assumed such proportions as to warrant
its merging in 1895 with the American Pad &
Paper Company, and Mr. Taber was made
superintendent of their printing department,
and in 1904 president of the corporation. His
successful business career was the signal for
his services in other business and financial
institutions, and he became a trustee of the
People's Savings Bank of Holyoke, and also
an auditor of that institution. He held the
same responsible position with the Home
National Bank of Holyoke, and with other
local corporations. His political affiliation
was with the Republican party, and as he had
been brought up in the Congregational church
he affiliated as a member and officer in the
First Congregational Church of Holyoke. He
married, May 12, 1886, Annie A., daughter of
I. B. and Annie A. (Streeter) Lowell, and
granddaughter of Isaac Lowell, of Orange,
New Hampshire.^ Their children, born in
Holyoke, Massachusetts : 1. Elwyn Lowell, July
23, 1889. 2. Annie Justine, August 16, 1892. 3.
Paul Luther, February 4, 1894, died July 7,
1894. 4. Donald Robert, November 1, 1902.
(The Bullock Line).
This ancient name has been traced to a very
early period in England, three hundred years
before the general adoption of surnames in
that county. Its coat-of-arms is very ancient,
and is characterized by several bullocks amid
other figures and emblems. There is a family
tradition which seems rather mythical and is
now sustained by records, regarding the find
ing of a child in a bull's manger, as the origin
of the name. This name was very early identi
fied with the history of New Hampshire and
has been borne by numerous prominent citi
zens in other states. Among the distinguished

men of the name who are descended from the
common ancestor may be mentioned Alex
ander H. Bullock, of Worcester, one time
governor of Massachusetts; Stephen Bullock,
of Rehoboth, member of congress under
Jefferson's administration, and his son, Dr.
Samuel Bullock, a member of the Massachu
setts legislature; Richard Bullock, a merchant
of means and high standing in Providence;
Nathaniel Bullock, lieutenant-governor of
Rhode Island in 1842; Jonathan R. Bullock,
lieutenant-governor of Rhode Island in i860.
(I) Richard Bullock was born in 1622 in
Essex county, England, and died in Rehoboth,
Massachusetts, November 22, 1667. He was
accompanied in his migration to America by
two brothers, one of whom settled in Virginia.
He was in Rehoboth. as early as 1643, and left
the town soon after 1644. The Colonial rec
ords show that he was made a freeman in
May, 1646, but do not indicate his residence
at that time. In 1656 he removed to Newton,
Long Island, but soon went back to Rehoboth
and resided there till his death. He was one
of the fifty-eight landed proprietors of Reho
both. June 22, 1658, "At a town-meeting
lawfully warned, lots were drawn for the
meadows that lie on the north side of the
town, in order as foUoweth, according to per
son and estate." Richard Bullock drew No.
19, and he bought the governor's lot valued at
two hundred pounds. His name appears on
the records of the town in 1643, and he came
there it is said with Roger Williams. The town
record recites: "30th of the nth mo. (Janu
ary) 1650, quoted to agree with Richard Bul
lock to perform the office of Town Clerk; to
give him 16s. a year, and to be paid for births,
burials and marriages besides." He married,
August 4, 1647, Elizabeth, daughter of Rich
ard Ingraham, of Rehoboth, and their chil
dren were : Samuel, Elizabeth, Mary, Mehit
able, Abigail, Hopestill, Israel, Marcy, John
and Richard.
(II) Samuel, son of Richard and Elizabeth
(Ingraham) Bullock, was born at Rehoboth,
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 defence in King Philip's war in
1675. He married (first) Mary Thurber, No
vember 12, 1673. He married (second)
Thankful Rouse, May 26, 1675. Their chil
dren were: Mary, born October 4, 1674;
Ebenezer, February 22, 1676; Thankful, June

MASSACHUSETTS.

179

26, 1681 ; Samuel, November 7, 1683; Israel,
April 9, 1687; Daniel, 1689; Richard, July 1,
1692; Seth, September 26, 1693.
(Ill) Seth, youngest child of Samuel and
Thankful (Rouse) Bullock, was born in Reho
both, Massachusetts Bay Colony, September
26, 1693. He married, probably in 1718, Ex
perience (her surname is not recorded), and
they had children born in Rehoboth as fol
lows : 1. Cordelia, November 3, 1719. 2.
Hezekiah, June 13, 1722. 3. Benjamin (q. v.),
June 26, 1725. 4. Experience, June 18, 1728.
5. Hannah, January 4, 1730. 6. Seth, May
26, 1733. 7- Jonathan, February 17, 1735. 8.
Rebecca, July 7, 1739. 9. Ann, November 23,
1741. 10. Barack, December 9, 1744. n.
Shubel, February n, 1746. 12. Patience,
March 31, 1751.
(IV) Benjamin, second son of Seth and
Experience Bullock, was born in Rehoboth,
Massachusetts, June 26, 1725. He married
Jane Kelton, and they had twelve children
born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, as follows:
1. Sarah, February 25, 1752. 2. Preserved,
August 18, 1753. 3. Hezekiah (q. v.). 4.
Simeon, October 4, 1756. 5. Ruth, November
22, 1758. 6. Seth. 7. Ann (twins), March
14, 1 761. 8. Experience, July 23, 1764. 9.
Mary, March 3, 1767. 10. Benjamin, Febru
ary 22, 1769. n. Coomer, March 22, 1771.
12. Jane, April 26, 1773. The family removed
from Rehoboth, Massachusetts, to Grafton,
New Hampshire, in the fall of 1773 or 1774.
(V) Hezekiah, second son of Benjamin and
Jane (Kelton) Bullock, was born in Rehoboth,
Massachusetts, November 12, 1754. He re
moved with his father's family to Grafton,
New Hampshire, in 1773-74- He married
Abigail Aldrich, of Grafton, and they had
eight children, born in Grafton, as follows:
1. Simeon, November 21, 1780. 2. Mary, July,
1783. 3. Hezekiah (q. v.). 4- Nabby, No
vember, 1788. 5. Lydia, May, 1790. 6. Sally,
died 1792. 7. Peter, March 24, 1796. 8.
Jesse, December 23, 1802.
(VI) Hezekiah (2), second son of Heze
kiah (1) and Abigail (Aldrich) Bullock, was
born in Grafton, New Hampshire, November
22 1785 He married Mary Martin, and they
had seven children born in Grafton, New
Hampshire, as follows: 1. Elsie E, January
13, 1808. 2. Aniab Kendnck, April 21, 1809.
33Martinj August 15,1810. 4- J1^ a'^ch
ii 181 S. 5- Gilbert, April 25, 1816 6. Sabra
Ann December 24, 1819. 7- Lydia Wheat
(q. v.), June 20, 1823. married. October 22,

1844, Luther Anthony (q. v.), son of David
and Elizabeth (Fitch) Taber.

The Lee family is ancient in Eng-
LEE land. "Sir Walter at Lee of ye
Mannor of Lee of Lee Hall, there
in ye Parish of Wibenbury in ye County Pala
tine of Chester ye 36 of King Edward ye 3,
whose ancestors had been there seated for
ages." The name is spelled in many ways,
among them Lee, Lea, Leigh, Laigh, Ley,
Legh. Different branches of the family bore
arms and used different ways of spelling the
name. It is thought that Thomas Lee, the
immigrant mentioned below, may have been
related to the Cheshire family at Lee Manor.
(I) Thomas Lee, immigrant ancestor, sailed
for America in 1641 with his wife, and his
wife's father, and three young children. He
died on the voyage of small pox, and was
buried at sea. Sis wife, Phebe (Brown) Lee,
married (second) Greenfield Larabee, and
(third)  Cornish. The family settled
at Saybrook, Connecticut, afterwards Lyme.
Children: 1. Phebe, married, 1659, John
Large, of Long Island. 2. Jane, married
(first) 1659, Samuel Hyde; (second) John
Blanchard. 3. Thomas, mentioned below.
(II) Lieutenant Thomas (2), son of Thomas
(1) Lee, came with his parents to America
and inherited his father's property. He set
tled in that part of Saybrook which became
the town of Lyme, and was a large landowner.
At one time it was said he owned an eighth
part of the town. He was appointed in March,
1 70 1, ensign of the train band at Lyme, and
was afterwards lieutenant. He was repre
sentative in 1676. His will was dated June
9, 1703, and proved February 19, 1704. He
married (first) Sarah Kirtland, of Saybrook,
who died May 21, 1676. He married (second)
July 13, 1676, Mary DeWolf, who died Janu
ary 5, 1704-05, daughter of Balthazar DeWolf.
Children of first wife: 1. John, born Sep
tember 21, 1670, mentioned below. 2. Mary,
September 21, 1671, married, 1693, Thomas
Lord. 3. Thomas, December 10, 1672, mar
ried Elizabeth Graham. 4. Sarah, January
14, 1674-75, married Daniel Buckingham.
Children of second wife : 5. Phebe, August
14, 1677, married Captain Reinold Marvin.
6. Mary, April 23, 1679, married (first) Joseph
Beckwith; (second)  Sterling. 7. Eliz
abeth, October 20, 1681, married Samuel Peck.
8. William, April 7, 1684, married, November
1, 171 5, Marv Griffin. 0. Stephen, June 27,

i8o

MASSACHUSETTS.

1686, died young. 10. Joseph, May 14, 1688,
died January 19, 1704-05. n. Benjamin,
October 8, 1690, died young. 12. Benjamin,
December 22, 1692. 13. Hannah, February
25, 1694-95, married, June 23, 1713, Judge
John Griswold; died May 11, 1773. 14. Ste
phen, January 19, 1698-99, married (first)
December 24, 1719, Abigail Lord; (second)
January 25, 1742-43, Mary Pickett, widow. 15.
Lydia, February 18, 1701-02, died unmarried.
(Ill) John, son of Lieutenant Thomas (2)
Lee, was born September 21, 1670, died Jan
uary 17, 1716. He married, February 8, 1692,
Elizabeth Smith, of Lyme, who married (sec
ond) 1722, John Bates, of Groton, Connec
ticut. She died in 1761-62, aged about ninety
years. Children: 1. Sarah, born November
12, 1693, married John Lay. 2. Elizabeth,
April 30, 1695, died unmarried 1720. 3. Phebe,
March 2, 1696-97, married (first) James
Elderkin; (second) Samuel Southward. 4.
Lucy, June 20, 1699, married, January 17,
1716-17, Amos Tinker. 5. Jane, May 20,
1 70 1, married Thomas Way. 6. John, May 17,
1703, mentioned below. 7. Joseph, Novem
ber 24, 1705, married, August 21, 1727, Mary
Allen; died August 29, 1779. 8. Mary, Jan
uary 30, 1707-08, married John Comstock. 9.
Hepzibah, May 16, 1710, married, February
25, 1735-36, Elisha Lee; died 1783. 10. Ben
jamin, September 4, 1712, married, March 25,
1736, Mary Ely; died 1777. n. Joanna, April
28, 1715, married John Beckwith.
(IV) John (2), son of John (1) Lee, was
born May 17, 1703, died August 26, 1745.
He was a representative and king's attorney,
and was much employed in public business.
He was one who in 1743 withstood the vision
ary Rev. James Davenport, when under his
influence the people of New London made a
fire to burn their idols. John Lee said that
his idols were his wife and children, and that
he could not burn them — it would be con
trary to the law of God and man ; that it was
impossible to destroy idolatry without a change
of heart and of the affections. He married
(first) March 14, 1723-24, Lydia Allen, of
Montville, Connecticut; (second) February 17,
1731-32, his cousin, Eunice Lee; (third)
October 7, 1741, Abigail Tully, who married
(second) Deacon Caleb Chapman, and died
May 2, 1773. Children of first wife: 1. Eliz-
beth, born November 2, 1724, married, Au
gust 13, 1747, Captain Abner Lee; died No
vember 2, 1 76 1. 2. Lydia, August 13, 1727,
died unmarried. 3. Parthenia, October 15,
1730. Children of second wife: 4. Dr. John,

July 25, 1733, married Elizabeth Griswold.
5. Martin, July 26, 1735, died young. 6. Giles,
July 27, 1737, married (first) Delight Way;
(second)  Smith; (third) Martha
Crook; died 1790. 7. Ann, August, 1, 1739,
married, July 23, 1761, Ensign Zechariah
Marvin; died March 1, 1777. Children of
third wife: 8. Eunice, January 14, 1742-43,
married Samuel Hall. 9. Andrew, May 7,
1745, mentioned below.
(V) Rev. Andrew, son of John (2) Lee,
was born May 7, 1745, died August 24, 1832.
He graduated from Yale College in 1766 and
was settled as the first minister at Hanover,
the north society of Lisbon, Connecticut, Octo
ber 26, 1768. He was pastor of this church
for more than sixty years. He built his house
in 1770. In 1809 he received from Harvard
College the honorary degree of Doctor of
Sacred Theology. He was a fellow of Yale
College. He was a man of generous impulses
and candid and liberal in sentiment. He pub
lished a volume of sermons and various sep
arate discourses which display vigorous
thought and nice discrimination. He was,
however, deficient in pulpit oratory, his de
livery being heavy and monotonous. During
the revolution he served from January 1 to
October 15, 1777, in the Fourth Regiment
Connecticut Line, under Colonel John Durkee,
as chaplain in the army. He was a lover of
science and a good classic scholar of his day.
His theology was moderately Calvinistic. He
retired a few years before he died. Rev. Dr.
Samuel Nott preached his funeral sermon. He
married (first) December 15, 1768, Eunice
Hall, who died October 7, 1800. She was of
a fine complexion, small stature, remarkable
sprightliness and activity. He married (sec
ond) October 22, 1801, Abigail (Williams)
Smith, widow of Ebenezer Smith, of Roxbury,
Massachusetts ; she died May 23, 1831. Chil
dren, all by first wife: 1. Eunice, born Octo
ber 22, 1769, married, January 21, 1796, Rev.
Ezra Witter, of Wilbraham. 2. Mary, April
16, 1771, married, February 12, 1795, Hon.
William Perkins. 3. John, February 21, 1773,
married, September 30, 1798, Mary Griffin;
died July 29, 1814. 4. Dr. Tully, December
27, 1774, married, May 19, 1796, Lois Abell;
died May n, 1806. 5. Abigail, May 23, 1777,
married, December, 1799, Charles Lord; died
1817. 6. Andrew, June 2, 1779, married,
1807, Lemira Bushnell; died February 3, 1815.
7. Lucy, June 23, 1781, married, June 3, 1802,
Dr. Judah Bliss. 8. Hon. Martin, June 11,
1783, died April 17, 1868; .married Ann Wen-

MASSACHUSETTS.

181

dell. 9. William, August 15, 1785, mentioned
below. 10. Betsey, May 4, 1793, died young.
(VI) Deacon William, son of Rev. Andrew
Lee, was born in Hanover, Connecticut, Au
gust 15, 1785, died March 24, 1871. He lived
on the homestead in Hanover all his life and
was a farmer. For forty-one years he was
deacon of the church of which his father was
pastor. He was an earnest Christian and an
active temperance worker, and very much in
sympathy with the anti-slavery movement,
and a zealous worker in that cause. He mar
ried (first) April 9, 1812, Nancy Bingham,
of Lisbon, Connecticut. She died January 4,
1825, aged thirty-seven, and he married (sec
ond) Sarah Storrs, who died December 6,
1838. He married (third) May 27, 1840,
Thankful Ayer, who died December 4, 1880..
Children of first wife: 1. Eliza Williams,
born March 17, 1813, married Aaron Crary.
2. Eunice Hall, December 4, 1815, married
Levi P. Rowland. 3. Nancy, September 19,
1817, married Nathan P. Bishop. 4. Andrew,
January 25, 1820, married Eliza Hitchcock.
5. Talitha Bingham, July 10, 1822, married
Moses Gallup. 6. Lucy Perkins, January 4,
1825, married Roger A. Bishop. Children of
second wife : 7. William Storrs, December
15, 1827, resided on the homestead; learned
trade of tinsmith at Plainfield; removed to
Springfield and settled after marriage at
Sprague on a farm of one hundred and sixty
acres ; makes a specialty of peach raising ; mar
ried, April 4, i860, Frances Anna Calkins,
daughter of Elisha and Abby (Chapman)
Calkins, of East Lyme; children: i. Abbie
S., died May 1, 1896; graduate of Normal
school ; teacher of Workingmen's school ; mem
ber of Society of Ethical Culture, People's
singing classes and People's Choral Union ; ii.
William Storrs, Jr., who graduated at Storrs
Agricultural College ; married, March 28, 1894,
Hetty Chapman, of Sprague ; had three daugh
ters and one son. 8. Samuel Henry, mentioned
below. (VII) Rev. Samuel Henry, son of William
Lee, was born in Hanover, now, Sprague,
Connecticut, December 21, 1832. He received
his early education in the public schools of his
native town, and then attended the academy
at Plainfield for one winter, in 1847 entering
Worcester Academy at Worcester, Massachu
setts. In the winter of that year he taught
school at Hanover for ten dollars a month
and his board, when not seventeen years old.
In 1850, at the close of the harvest season,
he went to the State Normal school at New

Britain, and commencing in December of that
year taught in New Britain until the spring
of 185 1, continuing through the summer and
fall of the same year in the Normal school.
In the fall of 1852 he taught a boy's prepara
tory school in Farmington, Connecticut, teach
ing English and studying Latin. In the winter
of 1851-52 he was a teacher in the Greenwich
public school. He graduated from the Normal
school in the class of 1852 and from Williston
Seminary at Easthampton in 1854. He then
entered Yale College and was graduated in
1858 with the degree of A. B. He received
the degree of A. M. from his alma mater in
1904. He returned to the normal school as
teacher of mathematics for two years. He
took up the study of theology and in i860
entered Yale Divinity School, from which he
was graduated in 1862. He accepted a call
to the pastorate of the Porter Evangelical
Church (Congregational) of North Bridge-
water, now Brockton, Massachusetts, and was
ordained September 17, 1862. He was active
and earnest in supporting the Union both in
and out of the pulpit, fle resigned his pas
torate in February, 1866, and the year previ
ous (1865) entered the service of the Chris
tian commission and was in Sherman's army,
then in Washington, waiting to be mustered
out of service. He received a call to the
Hammond Street Church in Bangor, Maine,
but declined it and accepted the pastorate of
the Congregational church at Greenfield, Mass
achusetts, where he was installed in August,
1866. Here he succeeded in uniting a divided
church and in erecting a beautiful stone edifice.
In 1872 he became pastor of the First Con
gregational Church of Cleveland, Ohio, and
he enjoyed a very successful pastorate of seven
years. In 1878 he accepted the professorship
of political economy in Oberlin College, Ohio,
and during the five years that he filled this
chair he was active in raising funds for the
institution. During the next two years he
had temporary charge of the old parish in
Brattleborough, Vermont. In December, 1885,
he took up his residence in New Haven, Con
necticut, supplying pulpits in that city and
vicinity, particularly that- of the Ferry Con
gregational Church of New Haven and the
Congregational church of Georgetown, Con
necticut. In 1884 he attended a summer
school, conducted by Professor W. R. Harper,
at Worcester, Massachusetts, studying Hebrew.
He became a great admirer of Professor Har
per and at his instance Dr. Noah Porter, presi
dent of Yale, secured his appointment as pro-

1 82

MASSACHUSETTS.

fessor of Semitic Languages at Yale Univer
sity. But it was necessary to raise an endow
ment of $60,000 to support the chair. Mr.
Lee was instrumental in securing the professor
ship of Semitic languages at Yale for Dr.
Harper. In the spring o'f 1890 Mr., Lee
acepted the chair of history and political econ
omy in the French-American College at Spring
field, Massachusetts, and from the beginning
of his work there aided the institution, as he
had Oberlin and Yale by raising necessary
funds from time to time. Three years later,
July 12, 1893, upon the resignation of Rev.
C. E. Amaron, he became president of the
college. The college flourished under his
leadership, the standard of instruction was
raised, the number of students increased and
in 1906 the present name was adopted, the
American International College. In 1893 a
a new dormitory was built, called Gymnasium
Hall, and in 1898-99 the woman's hall was
erected. In July, 1908, President Lee resigned,
but as president emeritus still takes a keen
interest in the work and progress of the col
lege to which he has devoted so much energy
and labor. He resides at 106 Wilbraham
road, Springfield. He is a member of the
Congregational Club and Reality Club. In
politics he is a Republican.
He married, August 7, 1861, Emma C. Carter,
born January 31, 1835, daughter of Evits and
Emma (Taylor) Carter, of Pleasant Valley,
Connecticut. She is a member of the Society
of Mayflower Decendants. Children: 1.
Gerald Stanley, born October 4, 1862, men
tioned below. 2. Christabel, April 30, 1865,
graduate of Wellesley College in 1888; teacher
one year in the Ladies Seminary at Rochester,
New York; married, August 28, 1885, Philo
Perry Safford, son of Rev. John D. Safford ;
graduate of Oberlin College and of Columbia
Law School and now practicing law in New
York City ; children : Geoffrey Lee, Eliza
beth L., Meodore L. and Philip L. 3. Grace,
Greenfield, December 13, 1867, student three
years in Wellesley College ; teacher six months
in the American International College at
Springfield; member of the working force of
the Children's Aid Society of Boston three
years; secretary of the Children's Aid Society
at Baltimore in 1900 ; died December 28, 1900.
4. Rev. Theodore Storrs, Cleveland, Ohio,
May 23, 1873, educated at the New Haven
high school, the Williston Seminary, and the
American International College, but his health
failed and he did not take a degree ; after a
prolonged visit in the south he graduated

from Amherst College in 1900 and from the
Union Theological Seminary of New York in
1903; ordained pastor of the White Plains
Congregational Church, October 20, 1903;
now a missionary in Satara District, India;
married, October 1, 1903, Hannah Hume,
daughter of R. A. flume; child, Grace,
born in India.
(VIII) Rev. Gerald Stanley, son of Rev,
Samuel Henry Lee, was born at Brockton,
October 4, 1862. He attended the public
schools and entered Oberlin College, but com
pleted his course and took his degree at Mid-
dlebury College, Vermont, with the class of
1885. He was ordained in the Congregational
church and preached one year at Princeton,
Minnesota. For four years he was pastor of
the Congregational church at Sharon, Con
necticut. In 1895 he was installed as pastor
of the Park Congregational Church of West
Springfield, Massachusetts. He resigned his
pastorate in 1896 and since then has been
engaged in literary work, making his home in
Northampton. He married, June 25, 1896,
Jennette Barbour Perry, born November 10,
i860. They have one child, Geraldine, born
April 1, 1897. Mrs. Lee is a well-known
author. Among the books she has published
are: "Kate Wetherell," "Pillar of Salt,"
(1901), "The Son of a Fiddler" (1902),
"Uncle William" (1906), "The Ibsen Secret"
(1906), "Simeon Tetlow's Shadow" (1908).
Mrs. Lee is professor of English in Smith Col
lege, Northampton. Mr. Lee is one of the
prominent of the younger American authors
and magazine writers. He is the author of
the following books : "An Old New England
Church by a Young New England Parson,"
published by W. W. Knight Company in 1891 ;
"The Shadow Christ," published by the Cen
tury Company in 1896; "The Lost Art of
Reading," published by G. P. Putnam's Sons
in 1902; "The Voice of the Machines;" "In
spired Millionaires," published by Mount Tom
Press in 1908.

(For preceding generations see Thomas Lee 1).
(IV) Rev. Joseph Lee, son of John
LEE Lee, was born in Lyme, August 24,
[705, died August 29, 1779. He
married, August 21, 1727, Mary Allen, of
Montville. He was a lay preacher, was or
dained in the Presbyterian church and became
pastor of the church at Oyster Bay, Long
Island. When the revolution broke out he re
turned to Lyme and died there. He had ten
children. His sons: 1. Samuel, mentioned below.

MASSACHUSETTS.

i83

2. Dr. Joseph. 3. Rev. Jason, married, Janu
ary 21, 1762, Mrs. Abiah Brown. The other
children died before reaching maturity.
(V) Samuel, son of Rev. Joseph Lee, was
born in 1728, probably in Lyme, Connecticut.
He settled in Middletown, Connecticut, where
he died in 1793. He married Rhoda Lee.
(According to the Bliss Genealogy he married
her sister Lois, March 28, 1751. Lois was
born April 25, 1728). Rhoda Bliss was born
in 1731, daughter of Thomas and Lois (Cald
well) Bliss, of Middletown, Connecticut.
Thomas Bliss, a cooper by trade, was born
April 20, 1704, married, May 10, 1727, Lois
Caldwell, daughter of Thomas and flannah
(Butler) Caldwell, of Hartford. His widow,
born February 18, 1705, married (second)
January 31, 1754, Deacon Joseph White.
Thomas Bliss, father of Thomas, was born
February or March, 1668; married Hannah
Caldwell. Samuel Bliss, father of Thomas,
was born in England in 1624; married, No
vember 10, 1664-65, Mary Leonard, daughter
of John and Sarah (Heath) Leonard. She
was born September 14, 1647, and died in
1724; he died March 23, 1720. Samuel Bliss
was the son of Jonathan Bliss, of England,
and grandson of Thomas Bliss. Rhoda (Bliss)
Lee died in 1815. Children: 1. Margaret,
born November 16, 175 1. 2. Samuel, July 26,
1753, died young. 3. Maribel, July 28, 1755.
4. David, March 4, 1757. 5. Rhoda, November
3, 1760. 6. James Wilson, March 31, 1763.
7. J6hn, February 1, 1766. 8. Samuel, June
23, 1767, mentioned below. 9. Rachel, De
cember 11, 1768. 10. Bliss, May 4, 1770. 11.
Benjamin, August 23, 1772.
(VI) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1) Lee,
was born at Middletown, June 23, 1767, mar
ried Lucretia Curtis. Children, born in Mid
dletown: 1. Samuel Wilson, born September
14, 1792, mentioned below. 2. James Wilson.
3. Rhoda. Probably other- children.
(VII) Samuel Wilson, son of Samuel (2)
Lee, was born in Middletown, September 14,
1792, died at Northampton, Massachusetts,
July, 1875. He was educated in the public
schools. He learned the trade of tinsmith at
Berlin, Connecticut, and followed it at Green
field and Northampton, Massachusetts. He
lived also at Conway and Northampton, Mass
achusetts. He married, at Greenfield, Novem
ber 19, 1820, Electa Bacon, born at Conway,
November 25, 1797, died at Northampton,
April 1, 1857, daughter of William and Me
hitable (Warren) Bacon. Mehitable died in
1844; daughter of William and Mary (Dal

rymple) Warren. The Dalrymple family was
of Scotch-Irish ancestry. William Bacon was
born at Sutton, Massachusetts, December 27,
1756, son of William and Mary Bacon, of
Sutton. His Uncle Jonathan also lived in Sut
ton, in that part of the town set off to Upton.
William, Jr., was a soldier in the revolution in
the Sutton Company, Captain John Putnam,
Colonel Ebenezer Learned's regiment on the
Lexington alarm; also in Captain Isaac Bol
ster's company. He was at the battle of Ticon-
deroga and at Yorktown. Once a bullet from
a British gun cut the string from which his
powder horn hung about his neck. After the
revolution he moved to Conway. Samuel
Wilson Lee was a member of Jerusalem Lodge
of Free Masons and a past master. He mar
ried (second) November 26, 1857. Children
of Samuel Wilson Lee, the first three born in
Conway, the others in Northampton: r. Sam
uel Wilson, Jr., October 13, 1821, died March
17, 1825. 2. Electa Bacon, September 30,
1824, resides at 227 Locust street, Florence
station, Northampton, Massachusetts ; unmar
ried. 3. Cornelia Frances, December 7, 1826,
died January 18, 1908, married, January 8,
1848, 'Rev. William Bates; children: i. Will
iam Bates, Jr., born March 16, 1849; ii- Arthur
Lee Bates, born March 25, 1851 ; iii. Jane
Bates, born July 6, 1854; iv. Samuel Lee Bates,
born February 25, 1857; v. Katherine Lee
Bates, born August 12, 1859, professor in
Wellesley College. 4. Charles flenry, Janu
ary 1, 1830, died May 18, 1832. 5. Katherine
Elizabeth, December 11, 1832, died unmarried
at Grantville, May 2, 1874. 6. Samuel Will
iam, April 14, 1835, mentioned below.
(VIII) Samuel William, son of Samuel
Wilson Lee, was born in Northampton, April
14, 1835, died there April 22, 1901. He was
educated in the public schools, and early in
life learned the trade of tinsmith under his
father. He engaged in business later as a
tinsmith in Northampton. He became a part
ner in the firm of William H. Todd & Com
pany, hardware dealers, Northampton. He
was a Republican in politics and a Congrega
tionalist in religion. He was a member of
Jerusalem Lodge, Free Masons ; Northampton
Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; William Par
sons Council, Royal and Select . Masters ;
Northampton Commandery, Knights Templar.
He married Hepzibah Fisk Severance, born
July 9, 1833, daughter of Horace and Mary
(Fisk) Severance. (See Severance VI).
Children: 1. Samuel William, Jr., born Au
gust 10, 1857, mentioned below. 2. Grace

1 84

MASSACHUSETTS.

Angeline, February 2, 1859, died August 26,
1884; married John W. Robinson; child,
Arthur Lee Robinson, married, August 10,
1907, Mary Marsh, of Amherst. 3. Arthur
Bacon, September 23, 1861, died December 3,
1898; married Rose T. Torrey; they have no
children. 4. Philip Severance, July 6, 1867,
died August 11, 1869.
(IX) Samuel William (2), son of Samuel
William (1) Lee, was born August 10, 1857, in
Northampton. He received his education in
the common schools of his native town, and
at the age of sixteen became a clerk in the
insurance office of Peck & Pierce. After four
years in this position he became bookkeeper
for the Mill River Button Company at Leeds,
Massachusetts. Afterward he was bookkeeper
for the Nonotuck Silk Mills of Leeds and in
February, 1902, was elected a director of the
corporation, and manager of the mills of this
company at Florence. After the death of
George H. Ray, treasurer of the corporation,
November 30, 1903, Mr. Lee was elected to
succeed him and since that time has managed
the affairs of the company with ability and
success. This company has for many years
maintained a leading position in the industrial
world. It was established in 1838 and has
large mills at Florence, Leeds and Hayden-
ville, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connec
ticut, manufacturing the celebrated Corticelli
spool silk, Corticelli machine twist, Corticelli
sewing silk and buttonhole twist, Corticelli
wash embroidery silk, Corticelli crochet and
knitting silk, Corticelli purse twist, dental floss,
surgeons silk, darning silk, silk braids and
spun silk on cones and tubes for manufac
turers, worsted and mohair dress braids, trim
mings, braids and bindings. Mr. Lee is a
Republican and has taken an active part in
public affairs. He has been a member of the
common council of Northampton, and of
the school committee, of which he was chair
man during the last year of his term. He
was formerly secretary of the board of
trustees of the Forbes Library and is now a
trustee. He is a member of Jerusalem Lodge
of Free Masons; of Northampton Chapter,
Royal Arch ' Masons; of William Parsons
Council, Royal and Select Masters ; of North
ampton Commandery, Knights Templar, of
which he was commander three years; Melha
Temple, Order of the Mystic Shrine of Spring
field, Massachu setts. He resides at Leeds.
He married, April 20, 1881, Emma L. Dimock,
born in Hebron, Connecticut, daughter of
Lucius and Electa (Jones) Dimock. (See

Dimock VII). They have one child, Harold
Dimock, born March 29, 1882, educated at
Philips Academy, Andover, and graduated at
Yale College, class of 1907; now with his
father in the Nonotuck Mills.
(The Severance Line).
John Severance, immigrant ancestor; was a
resident of Boston, Massachusetts, as early as
1637. He was admitted a freeman that year
and in 1640 was a member of the Ancient and
Honorable Artillery Company. He removed
to Salisbury about 1639, where he had a grant
of land, fle was one of the prudential com
mittee in 1642, and in 1645 was appointed
highway surveyor. On December 21, 1647,
he sold his houses, the "new and old" to
Thomas Bradbury, and opened an ordinary.
He was afterwards known as a "victualler
and vinter." He was on a committee in 1652
to repair the meeting house. His will was
dated April 7, 1682, and proved May 9, 1682.
He married (first) in England, in 1635, Abi
gail Kimball, who died June 19, 1658. He
married (second) October 27, 1663, Mrs. Sus
anna Ambrose, of Boston, widow of Henry
Ambrose. He died April 9, 1682. Children:
I. Samuel, born September 19, 1637, died
young. 2. Ebenezer, March 7, 1639, died un
married, September, 1667. 3. Abigail, Janu
ary 7, 1641, died same day. 4. Abigail, May
25, 1643, married, November 29, 1664, John
Church. 5. Mary, August 5, 1645, married,
November 3, 1663, James Coffin. 6. John,
November 27, 1647, mentioned below. 7.
Joseph, February 15, 1650. 8. Elizabeth, April
8, 1652, died 1656. 9. Benjamin, January 13,
1654. 10. Ephraim, April 8, 1656. 11. Eliza
beth (twin), June 17, 1658, married, 1686,
Samuel Eastman. 12. Daughter (twin), June
17, 1658, died June 23, following.
(II) John (2), son of John (1) Severance,
was born November 27, 1647, in Salisbury.
He and his father kept the inn, and about 1672
he went to Boston, where he settled. In 1680
he removed to Suffield, Connecticut, and in
1689 to Deerfield, Massachusetts, where he
settled on Lot No. 1. He became a large land
owner in Deerfield. About 1703 he removed
again to Bedford, Westchester county, New
York, remaining there about twelve years,
returning to Deerfield about 1713, and living
the last years of his life with his son Joseph.
He married, August 15, 1672, Mary  .
Children, first four bora in Boston, the others
in Suffield: 1. Ebenezer, September 19, 1673.
2. Abigail, May 5, 1675, died January, 1691.

MASSACHUSETTS.

185

3. John, September 22, 1676. 4. Daniel, June
3, 1678, killed by the Indians, September 15,
1694. 5. Mary, July 14, 1681. 6. Joseph,
October 26, 1682, mentioned below.
(Ill) Joseph, son of John (2) Severance,
was born in Suffield, Connecticut, October 26,
1682, died April 10, 1766. He was a tailor
by trade, and resided first at Deerfield, where
he owned a house and home lot. He was in
the fight in the meadows in 1704 and was a
soldier in the service in 1713. He was wound
ed by the Indians and made a cripple, and was
compensated for this by the general court,
which granted him two hundred acres of land
east of Northfield on Mount Grace. His father
also gave him land in Deerfield. He lived also
at Northfield, and followed his trade there.
He was corporal in Captain Kellogg's com
pany in 1723 and orderly in 1747. He was
selectman in 1722. A few years before his
death he divided his real estate in Deerfield
among his children, and he and his wife went
to live with the youngest son, Moses, in Mon
tague, where they both died and were buried.
He married, November 17, 1712, Anna Kel
logg, born July 14, 1689, died March 13, 1781,
daughter of Martin Kellogg, of Hadley. Chil
dren, born in Deerfield: 1. Joseph, October
7, 1713. 2. Anna, December 25, 1715, mar
ried, October 21, 1737, Samuel Bordwell. 3.
Martin, September 10, 1718. 4. John, Decem
ber 15, 1720. 5. Experience, March 14, 1723,
married, July 23, 1749, Phineas Nevers. 6.
Jonathan, June 12, 1725, mentioned below. 7.
Rebecca, March 4, 1728, married, November
29, 1743, Samuel Smead. 8. Moses, March
23, 1730. 9. Abigail, November 16, 1732.
(IV) Jonathan, son of Joseph Severance,.
was born in Deerfield, June 12, 1725, died
April 2, 1822. He was a farmer and settled
in Greenfield, where he became a large land
owner. He was a soldier in the French and
Indian war and was a lieutenant. He built
the first grist mill in town, before the break
ing out of the revolution. He was selectman
nine years. He was tall, welFformed, with
keen, black eyes ; erect and somewhat stern in
his bearing, yet of pleasant speech. He lived
to the great age of ninety-six years, nine
months and twenty days. He married, Au
gust 30, 1749, Thankful Stebbins, born 1730,
died December 8, 1806, daughter of John
Stebbins, of Deerfield. Children: 1. Jona
than, born April 11, 1750. 2. Experience,
January 8, 1752, married, April 11, 1772, Reu
ben Wells. 3. Thirza, October 29, 1754, died

December 25, 1758. 4. Thankful, January 17,
1756, died December 24, 1829; married, Jan
uary 13, 1774, Ariel Hinsdale. 5. Dorothy,
October 8, 1758, died unmarried June 4, 1818.
6. Joseph, September 20, 1760, mentioned be
low. 7. Solomon, November 10, 1762. 8.
Thirza, November 15, 1764, died September
23, 1827; married, April 11, 1782, Elisha
Wells. 9. Elihu, September 5, 1766. 10. Abi
gail, December 4, 1768, married, October 14,
1785, Amos Comwell. 11. Rufus, March 28,
1770. 12. Cynthia, December 28, 1772, died
September 17, 1858, unmarried. 13. Martha,
February 13, 1774, died unmarried December
19, 1806.
(V) Joseph (2), sort of Jonathan Sever
ance, was born September 20, 1760, died No
vember 27, 1829. He married, September 28,
1778, Mercy Allen, who died August 3, 1801.
fle resided in Greenfield. Children : 1. Joseph,
born February 1, 1780. 2. Christina, March
9, 1781, married, July 5, 1800, Aaron White.
3. Pliny, May 27, 1782, died November 7 fol
lowing. 4. Rodney, November 7, 1783. 5.
Mercy, December 27, 1785, died May 8, 1848.
6. Jemima, April 2, 1788, married W. P.
Warner. 7. Susanna, July 17, 1791, married,
May 27, 181 1, Elisha Munn. 8. rforace, Sep
tember 24, 1793, mentioned below. 9. Pliny,
January 24, 1796. 10. Henry (twin), July 2y,
1798. 11. Lovina (twin), July 27, 1798, died
April 3, 1866, unmarried.
(VI)Horace, son of Joseph (2) Severance,
was born September 24, 1793, died Septem
ber 11, 1869. He married (first) August 31,
1819, Mary Fisk, born June 9, 1798, died May
9, 1848. fle married (second) April 9, 1853,
"Mary Ann McCarthy. He resided in Green
field. Children, all by first wife: 1. Sarah
(twin), born April 2, 1820, died young. 2.
Mary (twin), April 2, 1820, died young. 3.
Mary, January 17, 1821, died October 1, 1844.
4. Elizabeth, April 5, 1823, married John F.
Polmatier. 5. Seth Washburn, January 19,
1825, died January 16, 1853. 6. Catherine
Mercy, April 13, 1827, died June 11, 1861 ;
married Chester Marsh. 7. Horace Henry,
January 2, 1829, died July 19, 1848. 8. Joseph
Fisk, April 29, 1831. 9. Hepzibah Fisk, July
9, 1833, in Heath, Massachusetts, married
Samuel W. Lee, and died in November, 1890.
(See Lee, VIII). 10. Adaline Melissa (twin),
June 22, 1836. 11. Angeline Theresa (twin),
June 22, 1836, died June 1, 1856. 12. Lucy
Ward, March 24, 1839, married Ephraim
Clark.

1 86

MASSACHUSETTS.

(The Dimock Line).
Elder Thomas Dimock, immigrant ancestor,
was born in England. He settled first at Dor
chester, Massachusetts, in 1635, and was select
man of the town that year. He was admitted
a freeman, May 25, 1636. He removed to
Hingham where he was living in 1638 and to
Scituate in 1639, settling finally in Barnstable
on Cape Cod, of which he was one of the
grantees and founders, in May, 1639. He
was chosen ordaining elder of Mr. Lothrop's
church there August 7, 1650. He was deputy
to the general court and freeman of the
Plymouth, colony in 1639; magistrate in 1641
and 1644, and six times a deputy from 1639
to 1650; was lieutenant and drillmaster in
1643. He married Ann (Hammond?) who
survived him. He made a nuncupative will
which was proved June 4, 1658, leaving all
his estate to his wife, "for the children were
hers as well as his." Children: 1. Elizabeth,
married Knyvet Sears. 2. John (?). 3. Tim
othy, baptized January 12, 1639, buried June
17, 1640. 4. and 5. Twin sons, buried March
18, 1640-41. 6. Mehitable, baptized April 18,
1642. 7. Shubael, baptized September 15,
1644, mentioned below.
(II) Ensign and Deacon Shubael, son of
Elder Thomas Dimock, was baptized in Barn
stable, September 15, 1644. fle removed to
what is now Mansfield, Connecticut, among
the pioneers in 1693, but he had been a promi
nent citizen of Yarmouth on Cape Cod, and
selectman from Barnstable ; ensign and deputy
to the general court in 1685-86 and 1689. His
house at Mansfield is still in good repair and
occupied at last accounts. The house in which
Shubael lived at Barnstable was the fortifica
tion house that his father built; it was taken
down in 1800. It stood near the house now
or lately owned by Isaac Davis, of Barnstable ;
was two stories high, twenty feet square, the
first story of stone, the upper of wood. He
died October 29, 1732, at Mansfield, in his
ninety-first year, fle married, April, 1663,
Joanna Bursley, baptized March, 1645-46,
died at Mansfield, May 8, 1727, daughter of
John Bursley. Children: 1. Captain Thomas,
born in Barnstable, April, 1664, killed Sep
tember 9, 1697, by Indians and French; mar
ried Desire Sturgis. 2. John, June, 1666, re
moved to Falmouth ; married Elizabeth Lom
bard. 3. Timothy, March, 1668, mentioned
below. 4. Shubael, Jr., February, 1673, mar
ried Bethia Chipman; (second) Tabitha
Lothrop. 5. Joseph, September, 1675, mar
ried, May 12, 1699, Lydia Fuller. 6. Mehit

able, 1677. 7. Benjamin, 1680, resided at
Mansfield. 8. Joanna, 1682, married Josiah
Conant. 9. Thankful, November, 1684, mar
ried, June 28, 1706, Deacon Edmund Waldo.
(Ill) Timothy, son of Shubael Dimock,
was born in Barnstable, March, 1668, died in
1733. He removed to Mansfield and thence
to Ashford, Connecticut. He married Abigail
Doane, who died 1718. Children: 1. Timothy,
born June 2, 1703. 2. John, January 3, 1704-05.
3. Shubael, May, 1707, mentioned below. 4.
Daniel, January 28, 1709-10. 5. Israel, Decem
ber 22, 1712. 6. Ebenezer, November 22, 1715.
(IV) Shubael (2), son of Timothy Dimock,
was born in May, 1707, died June 26, 1788.
He married, January 25, 1739, Esther Pierce,
died March 10, 1805, in her ninetieth year,
daughter of Samuel Pierce. He resided in
Mansfield in 1727. Children: 1. Jonathan,
born December 13, 1739. 2. Esther, January
4, 1743. 3. Ephraim, March 2, 1744. 4. Icha
bod, March 13, 1746. 5. Edward, June 5,
1748. 6. Samuel, November 29, 1750. 7.
Eliphalet, March 12, 1753, died young. 8.
Abigail, March 12, 1755. 9. Shubael, October
4, 1757, mentioned below.
(V) Shubael (3), son of Shubael (2)
Dimock, was born in Mansfield, October 4,
1757, died March 8, 1828. He served in the
revolution and was sergeant in Captain Jona
than Birge Button's company, (No. 4) Col
onel Sage's regiment, third battalion of Gen
eral Wadsworth's brigade, raised to reinforce
Washington at New York. He served in
Long Island and Harlem and on the retreat,
September 15, 1776, suffered some loss. He
was in the battle of White Plains, and his
time of service expired December 25, 1776.
He is supposed to have been with the troops
at Valley Forge. He was sergeant in Captain
Paul Brigham's company, Colonel John Chand
ler's regiment, the eighth Connecticut line, to
March 5, 1778; and in the same company
under Colonel Giles Russell until October 28,
1779. He was at the battle of Germantown,
October 4, 1777, and then was assigned to
Varnum's brigade, October 16, a detachment
in defence of Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania. He
married, January 23, 1789, Elizabeth Wright,
born July 31, 1769, daughter of Eleazer and
Anna (Marsh) Wright. Children: 1. Ira,
bora December 31, 1789. 2. Otis, August 1,
1791, mentioned below. 3. Wealthy, March 15,
1793. 4- Betsey, January 29, 1795. 5. Marion,
February 1, 1798. 6. Shubael, October 4,
1801. 7. Orilla, December 8, 1803. 8. Rufus
M., December 14, 18 12.

MASSACHUSETTS.

187

(VI) Otis, son of Shubael (3) Dimock,
was born August 1, 1791, married Wealthy
Kinne, born August 5, 1790 (see Kinne V).
Children: 1. Marshall, married Jennie Camp
bell, and had several children. 2. Edwin, mar
ried Jennie Murphy. 3. Olivia, married 
Preston and had Frank Preston. 4. Lucius,
born August 2, 1825, mentioned below. 5.
Ira, married Lenna L. DeMott, and had Irving,
Edith, Stanley K, Arthur, Harold, Irene. 6.
Jane, married Goodrich Holland and had May
Iiolland. (VII) Lucius, son of Otis Dimock, was
born at Tolland, Connecticut, August 2, 1825,
died August 13, 1906. He married Electa
Jones, born March 28, 1823, died February
16, 1884, daughter of Eli and Eunice (Rogers)
Jones. Children: 1. Elizabeth, died young.
2. Emma L., married Samuel W. Lee. (See
Lee IX). 3. Kate, married George W. Clark.
(The Kinne Line).
Henry Kinne, immigrant ancestor, was born
in 1624, and came from Holland to Salem,
Massachusetts, where he settled on a farm in
165 1 or earlier. His father was probably Sir
Thomas Kine, who was knighted by the gov
ernment for services rendered. Henry Kinne
served in King Philip's war and was a pros
perous farmer, active in town and church
affairs. He married Anna  . Children :
1. John, born in Salem in January, 165 1. 2.
Thomas, born January, 1656, mentioned be
low. 3. Hannah, January 2, 1658. 4. Mary,
May, 1659. 5. Sarah, June 20, 1661. 6. Eliz
abeth, baptized December, 1662. 7. Lydia,
baptized April, 1666. 8. Henry, baptized May,
1669. (II) Thomas, son of Henry Kinne, was
born in Salem in January, 1656, and married,
May 22, 1677, Elizabeth Knight. Children:
1. Thomas, born July 27, 1678, mentioned
below. 2. Joseph, September 7, 1680. 3.
Daniel, July 23, 1683. 4. Jonathan, May 27,
1686. (Ill) Thomas (2), son of Thomas (1)
Kinne, was born July 27, 1678, died October
1, 1756. He was a resident of Preston, Con
necticut, and was one of the founders and the
first deacon of the Second Church of Christ
in Preston. He married Martha  . Chil
dren: 1. Jeremiah, born August 30, 1702. 2.
James, October 14, 1703. 3. Stephen, June 1,
1705. 4. Amos, September 3, 1708, mentioned
below. 5. Moses, May 8, 1710. 6. Martha,
June 20, 1712. 7. Lois, March 18, 1713. 8.
Keziah, December 31, 1714. 9. Thomas, May

11, 1717. 10. Huldah, February 1, 1719. 11.
Phebe, July 24, 1720. 12. Timothy (twin),
March 14, 1722. 13. Jerusha (twin), March
14, 1722. 14. Gideon, April 22, 1723. 15.
Nathan, March 20, 1727.
(IV) Lieutenant Amos, son of Thomas (2)
Kinne, was born September 3, 1708, died Sep
tember 19, 1795. fle married, November 15,
1732, in Preston, Sarah Palmer, born 1708.
Children: 1. Simeon, born October 8, 1733.
2. Elizabeth, September 15, 1735. 3. Roger,
baptized April 27, 1740. 4. Amos, baptized
July 11, 1742. 5. Anne, baptized September
29, 1747. 6. Nathan, baptized May 3, 1750,
mentioned below. 7. Freelove, baptized April
12, 1752.
(V) Nathan, son of Amos Kinne, was bap
tized May 3, 1750, and married, June 17, 1773,
at Pomfret, Connecticut, Deborah Knight.
Children: 1. Phebe, born October 29, 1773,
died October 14, 1775. 2. Elias, April 12,
1775, died October 15, 1775. 3. Elisha, Octo
ber 14, 1776. 4. Mary, December 7, 1778. 5.
Anne, March 6, 1781. 6. Oliver. 7. Betsey. 8.
Wealthy, August 5, 1790, married Otis Dimock.
(See Dimock VI).

The name Hunt is from the Saxon
HUNT word "hunti," a wolf. This word,
used in connection with the wolf,
came to mean the pursuit of all game. The
family probably took the name on account of
prowess in the hunting field. Other forms
of the. name are Hundt, Huntus, Hontus,
Hunding, Hundings, Hunte, Hunter etc. An
Adam le Hunt lived in Nottingham, England,
as early as 1295.
(I) Enoch Hunt, immigrant ancestor, was
from Titenden, in the parish of Lee, two miles
from Wendover, Buckshire, England. He was
an early settler in Rhode Island and was ad
mitted a freeman in Newport in 1638. He was
a blacksmith by trade. He removed to Wey
mouth, Massachusetts, where he was living in
1640. He was a town officer in 1641, and had
a case in court in 1641. He died before 1647,
when his wife's lands are mentioned in deeds
of abutting tracts. Administration was grant
ed to his son Ephraim, November 18, 1652.
The homestead consisted of twenty-two acres
in the Plain at Weymouth, bounded by lands
of Richard Sylvester, John Upham, Mr. Gouer,
and west and north by the highway and the
sea. He married (first) in England, name of
wife unknown. He married (second) Dorothy
Barker, widow, who survived him and married
(third) John King, of Weymouth, in 1652.

MASSACHUSETTS.

Her will was dated June 14, 1652, and proved
October 21, 1652. Children: 1. Ephraim,
mentioned below. 2. Peter, born in England,
settled at Rehoboth, Massachusetts; married
Elizabeth Smith. 3. Sarah, born at Weymouth,
July 4, 1640, married Matthew Pratt, of Wey
mouth; she and her husband were both deaf;
they had a large family of children.
(II) Ephraim, son of Enoch Hunt, was born
in England about 1610, came to Rhode Island
and later to Weymouth with his father. He
was a blacksmith by trade. He gave a letter
of attorney December 5, 1646, for the collec
tion of property in Beaconsfield, Buckshire,
England, formerly of John Hunt, of Winch-
more Hill, in Agmondsham parish. Perhaps
this John Hunt was his grandfather. Ephraim
settled at Weymouth, and' married Anna Rich
ards, daughter of Thomas and Welthea Rich
ards, of Ebbett Brinsmead, England. She was
sister of William Richards, of Weymouth. Her
will, dated April 23, 1708, and proved Sep
tember 9, 1712, mentions her son William, of
Martha's Vineyard; son Joseph, with whom
she lived for many years, and others. She
died September 9, 171 3. Edmund Soper Hunt,
in his "Reminiscences," says that Ephraim
Hunt was a knighted cavalier of Prince
Rupert's troops and that his real name was
Colonel Sir William Hunt. He was a refugee
from the disastrous field of Marston Moor,
and changed his name to avoid detection. He
received his knighthood after the siege of
York, in which he distinguished himself. He
died February 22, 1686-87 and is buried near
the Soldiers' monument in Weymouth, on
Burying Hill. Children: 1. John, born 1646,
died March 18, 1724. 2. Thomas, 1648, died
February 11, 1721-22. 3. Ephraim, 1650, men
tioned below. 4. William, 1655. 5. Enoch,
1658, died October 22, 1667. 6. Joseph, 1670,
died January 18, 1717-18.
(Ill) Colonel Ephraim (2), son of Eph
raim (1) Hunt, was born at Weymouth in
1650, died there about 1713. He was a soldier
in the luckless expedition against Canada in
1690, captain in the Weymouth company ,and
not until 1736 was land granted in payment of
the services of these soldiers. This land was
laid out at Huntstown, which was first settled
in 1745, incorporated 1765, and now called
Ashfield. He was colonel of the expedition
against the Indians at Groton in 1706 and 1707.
He was governor's assistant from 1703 to
171 3. He was a shipbuilder by trade and
built many ships at the mouth of Smelt brook,
between 1690 and 1700. He married Joanna

Alcock, daughter of Dr. Alcock, and grand
daughter of Richard Palgrave, of Charlestown.
She died March 20, 1746, and her grave at
Achushnet is marked as follows : "Here lieth
interred the body of Joan, wife of ye Hon.
Ephraim Hunt Esq. late of Weymouth, young
est daughter of Dr. John Alcock late of Rox
bury who died March ye 20, 1746, in ye eighty
seventh year of her age." Children: 1. John,
born December 11, 1678, died young. 2. Rev.
Samuel, February 8, 1681. 3. Joanna, about
1684, died young. 4. John, buried Septem
ber 4, 1761. 5. Peter, March 8, 1690, died
1757. 6. William, March 14, 1692, died April
19, 1766. 7. Ebenezer, April 6, 1694, men
tioned below. 8. Thomas, May 6, 1696. 9.
Elizabeth, 1697, married Lemuel Pope, of
Dartmouth. 10. Sarah, married, January 6,
1725-26, Deacon John flolbrook. 11. Mercy,
married, June 4, 1733, Rev. Richard Pierce.
12. Ephraim, died February 29, 1786; married
(first) Ruth Allen; (second) July 19, 1744,
Miriam Spear; (third) April 21, 1764, Mary
Crane. (IV) Ebenezer, son of Ephraim (2) Hunt,
was born at Weymouth, April 6, 1694. He
married (first) October 30, 1718, MaryLovell,
who died September 20, 1736. He married
(second) March or April 28, 1737, Bethiah
Adams, born June 13, 1702, daughter of Joseph
and Hannah (Bass) Adams. His will was
dated September 26 and proved October 30,
1761, and mentions five sons; daughters Hol-
brook. Bates, Bethiah Hunt, and grandson
Lowhamah Sylvester. He died October 1,
1761, and a broken gravestone marks his grave
at the foot of Burial Hill at Weymouth. Chil
dren of first wife, born at Weymouth: 1.
Mary, August 30, 1719. 2. Ebenezer, Febru
ary 2, 1721, died young. 3. Micajah, May 29,
1722, died March 30, 1795. 4. Enoch, No
vember 7, 1724, died September 7, 1791. 5.
Hannah, October 4, 1726. 6. Samuel, March
9, 1730, died December 7, 1804. 7. Kezia,
December 1, 1732. 8. Ebenezer, May 9, 1735,
mentioned below. Children of second wife:
9. Eber, October 8, 1738, died 1791. 10.
Ruth, January. 16, 1741, married  Bates.
11. Bethiah, November 30, 1744, married, Jan
uary 6, 1767, Christopher Thayer.
(V) Ebenezer (2), son of Ebenezer (1)
Hunt, was born at Weymouth, May 9, 1735,
died September 28, 1804. He was a soldier
in the revolution, private in Captain Thomas
Nash's company, Colonel Solomon Lovell's
regiment in March, 1776; also in Captain Silas
Wild's company, Colonel Brooks's regiment in

/J?rtm/~

MASSACHUSETTS.

189

1777-78, guarding the troops of the convention
at Cambridge ; also corporal in Captain Thomas
Newcomb's company, Colonel Ebenezer Thay
er's regiment for'three months in 1780 at West
Point, New Y6rk, and in Rhode Island. He
married (intentions dated April 9, 1757),
Rachel Kingman. Her will was the first on
the Norfolk county records, dated February
9, 1808, and proved February 11, 1817. Chil
dren, born at Weymouth: 1. Samuel, April
7, 1759, died May, 1813. 2. Ebenezer, 1760,
mentioned below. 3. Zachariah, December 26,
1 76 1, died 1 82 1. 4. Betsey, March 17, 1769,
married Frederick Cushing. 5. Rachel, July
15, 1771, married, May 10, 1792, Thomas
Cushing. 6. Hannah, August 25, 1778, mar
ried Josiah Richards. 7. Ziba, October 15,
1779, died August 7, 1802.
(VI) Deacon Ebenezer (3), son of Ebe
nezer (2) Hunt, was born at Weymouth in
1760, died November 3, 1832. fle was a
farmer and shoemaker. He was prominent
in organizing the Union Church, and was one
of the first deacons and first treasurer of the
choir. His will was dated August 22, 1832,
proved November 14, following. His inven
tory amounted to $12,955. He married (first)
(the intention dated October 12, 1782) Sus
annah Bowditch, who died March 2, 1806, aged
forty-six years, daughter of William and Sus
anna (Allen) Bowditch. Her father was son
of William and Mary (Bass) Bowditch, and
grandson of Deacon Samuel and Mary
(Adams) Bass. Deacon Samuel Bass was son
of John and Ruth (Alden) Bass, and grand
son of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden,
who came in the "Mayflower." Deacon Ebe
nezer Hunt married (second) January 30,
1808, Tirza Bates, mother of Joshua Bates,
of Baring & Company, bankers, London. She
died March 4, 1841. Children, born at Wey
mouth: 1. Ebenezer, July 17, 1783, died Jan
uary 27, 1823. 2. William, July 7, 1786, died
September 24, 1822. 3. Susannah, died Feb
ruary 20, 1862; married, December 8, 1820,
Caleb Stetson. 4. Elias, born 1798, mentioned
below. Child of second wife: 5. Albert, May
6, 1809, died July 1, 1810.
(VII) Major Elias, son of Deacon Ebe
nezer (3) Hunt, was born in Weymouth in July,
1798, died 1889. He was a shoemaker, and
engaged in the business at first with his
brothers Ebenezer and William, and after
wards by himself. In 183 1 he built a house in
Weymouth, which he occupied a year, and then
removed to Boston. He was a noted singer
of his day, and was among the organizers of

the choir of Union Church in Weymouth,, and
president of the organization for thirteen years,
and vice-president nine years. His voice was
a clear and musical tenor. He sang in the
Old North Church before Union Church was
organized, and he also in his early years sang
in a quartette in old King's Chapel, Boston, in
1818, and afterwards in Trinity Church.. He
was the first salaried church singer in Boston.
His voice retained its musical qualities until
he was advanced in age. In politics he was a
Jackson Democrat, and was a candidate in
1844 for representative to the general court.
In 1850 the coalition of the Free Soilers and
Democrats resulted in the election of Charles
Sumner to the senate. In Weymouth, Mr.
B. F. White, a Free Soiler, and Major Elias
Hunt, a Democrat, were elected representa
tives to the general court over twenty-three
other candidates. He married (intentions
dated September 9, 1820) Eliza Maria Theresa
Soper, daughter of Major Edmund Soper, of
Braintree. Children, born at Weymouth : 1.
Ebenezer William, December 4, 1823, died De
cember, 1900; married, February 13, 1849,
Mary E. Richards. 2. Edmund Soper, July
19, 1827, mentioned below. 3. Nathaniel Fred
erick Thayer, January 17, 1831, died 1835.
4. Nathaniel Frederick Thayer, June 30, 1835,
married, February 26, 1867, Florence T. Allen.
5. Rebecca Francis, November 13, 1837, died
July, 1901 ; married Charles G. Thompson.
(VIII) Edmund Soper, son of Major Elias
Hunt, was born on Front street, Weymouth,
July 19, 1827. He received his education in
the Fourth District school in his native town,
and six months in a private school. As a boy
he worked at shoemaking and in 1851 began
the manufacture of shoes, but the work was
uncongenial and he sold the business and went
to Boston, where he kept the books for some
time in the shoe store of his brother Ebenezer
W. From boyhood he had been interested in
the manufacture of fireworks, and had always
been experimenting in the uses of the chemi
cals of which they were made. In 1856 he
started in the manufacture of fireworks in
Weymouth, and sold his goods through A. S.
& J. Brown, of Boston. The business grad
ually increased. He furnished the fireworks
for a great many parades and among them the
parade in Boston during the Lincoln campaign.
At the opening of the civil war the business
declined, and he was obliged to take up some
other line. He bought a small embossing and
gilding press and did the decorating of boot
tops, which were then in fashion. In 1865 his

190

MASSACHUSETTS.

firework business increased and that year he
sold $50,000 worth of goods. About that time
he bought his farm and planted a large orchard
of grapes and pears, in the cultivation of which
he took much pride. In 1867 he made a new
venture in the manufacture of ladies' fans,
putting in a well equipped plant, and doing a
good business for a few years. Owing to
various circumstances the business met with
reverses and he was obliged to give it up, losing
a large amount of money. In 1876 the cen
tennial celebration revived the fireworks busi
ness, and he took this up again with renewed
activity. In 1877 he made his first experi
ments with life-saving projectiles, and the
next year was induced by the Massachusetts
Humane Society to exhibit the life-saving
apparatus at the Mechanic's Fair in Boston.
He was awarded a gold medal for the exhibit.
About this time Mr. Hunt made several in
ventions in the line of fireworks, among them
being the small gelatine lanterns for Christmas
trees, a colored shell to fire from an ordinary
shot gun, and a dragon wheel which was a
good money maker, and which is still popular.
The Humane Society voted him five hundred
dollars to be used in perfecting his invention
of a life-saving projectile, and requested him
to go to England to present to the Royal Life
boat Association of England one of the new
guns. He made this trip in 1878, remaining
about six months. On his return, under the
auspices of the Humane Society, he placed
several guns in the life saving stations along
the coast of Cape Cod and the New Jersey
coast and they proved a great success. In
1 88 1 he received a gold medal at the Mechanics'
Fair in Boston for the best display of fire
works, and in the fall of 1884 received the
contract to furnish the fireworks for the fair
at New Orleans. He. made the trip South,
and then made a trial of the gun at Washing
ton before the United States navy officials,
among whom was Commander Schultz Clay.
As a result of this he received an order from
the government for seventy-five projectiles
and lines. At this time he formed a partner
ship with John P. Lovell, who took charge of
the making of the life-saving apparatus, Mr.
Hunt looking after the inventions. At a trial
at Nantucket between Mr. Hunt's gun and the
Lyle gun, undertaken by the government, the
Hunt gun was proved to be far superior, and
he received an order to fit out ten life saving
stations. The firm of E. S. Hunt & Sons was
formed in 1892 for the manufacture of fire
works and this has continued up to date. They

are said to be among the largest manufacturers
of firecrackers in the world. He was a mem
ber of the Weymouth fire company and also
of the Weymouth band, in his early manhood,
in which he played for a number of years and
of which he was a charter member and director
and took an active interest for many years. He
took his first degree in the Old Colony Lodge
of Free Masons, in 1854, and the third degree
in 1855. Afterwards he became a member of
the Orphans Hope Lodge of East Weymouth.
He married, September 13, 1853, Annie Maria
Poole, daughter of Samuel Poole, Esq., of
Scituate, the ceremony being performed by
the venerable Dr. Storrs at Braintree. Five
children: 1. Edmund Aubrey, born February
7, 1855, an artist, resides in London where
he has a studio and is a portriat painter of
note; he has six children; his eldest son,
Aubrey Edward, is in San Francisco; all the
others are in London. 2. Frederick Thayer,
September 11, 1857, a graduate of Harvard,
has charge of the correspondence of Edmund
S. Hunt's business ; married Bessie, daughter
of Peter French, who is a prominent man in
Weymouth. 3. Russell Goddard, March 23,
1863, in business with Edmund S. Hunt. 4.
Mary Gore, January 25, 1868, died same year.
5. James Turner Baker, July 11, 1871, died
1905 ; he was educated in music in which he
attained great proficiency.
Mr. Hunt published a volume of three hun
dred and seven pages entitled "Weymouth
Ways and Weymouth People, Reminiscences
of Edmund Soper Hunt," in 1907. His long
and intimate association with the people of
Weymouth, his own interesting and varied ex
periences, his knowledge of men and affairs
and his remarkable memory have qualified him
admirably to write a book of exceptional inter
est and entertainment to the people of Wey
mouth and of much historical value. The
book is not an autobiography but a close per
sonal account of old Weymouth for the past
seventy years.

Haw comes from haeg, a
HAWKINS small close. Mr. Haw was
the one who lived in the close.
Kin means child and Hawkins was the son of
Haw. From the land of the "brown heath
and the shaggy woods" does the Hawkins line
trace its remote beginnings. It was then known
as Haw Clan on account of a defective enuncia
tion. During the rage of a fierce battle with
a rival clan the Hawkins tribe were victorious
over their disconcerted opponents who at once

MASSACHUSETTS.

191

made overtures of peace. The reply of the
Hawkins chief, sententious as it was mag
nanimous is reported to have been, "I am as
bold as a lion but I will hold out the olive
branch of peace." The coat-of-arms of this
family was a lion presenting an olive branch,
the motto of which was , "to be rather than to
see." (I) Captain John Hawkins, of Tavistock,
England, was a gentleman of birth and edu
cation. He was a large ship owner and cap
tain in the service of his Majesty Henry VIII.
(II) Captain William, son of Captain John
Hawkins, lived in Plymouth, England., He was a
great favorite of the king who showered upon
him many favors. He made journeys to Brazil
in the years 1530-31-32 in the good ship "Paul
of Plymouth."
(Ill) Sir John (2), son of Captain Will
iam Hawkins, was early bred to the sea, and
made voyages to the Isles of the Canaries, to
Africa, Sierra Leone, to the coast of Florida
including the Saint John's river. He com
manded the ship "Victory" against the Spanish
Armada, was a member of the council of war
and had charge of the Sicily squadron. He
was treasurer of the navy, and was entitled
to some credit for raising the fund known as
"the Chest at Chatham" for needy and disabled
seamen. His career was mixed up much with
Sir Francis Drake, and though perhaps not so
great a man as his superior officer, he was a
skillful and successful navigator. He was
a covetous man, but whatever his faults he
was one of those fearless, determined men who
aided in breaking the power of Spain and
establishing Englands marital supremacy. He
died while on the expedition to the West Indies
and was buried at sea off Porto Rico. At his
request a monument was erected to his mem
ory in the church of Saint Dustan in-the-East.
His life has been written by Campbell and
Southey. The best likeness of him extant
hangs, in the hospital for seamen at Chatham
bearing his name.
(I) William (2) Hawkins, the founder of
the American family, was descended from the
above distinguished naval commander, and
was born in England in 1609, dying in Provi
dence, Rhode Island, subsequently to 1699.
He was one of the pioneers in Providence
plantation and received grants of land there
in 1638-40. He was made a freeman in 1655
and served in King Philip's 'war, receiving for
his service therein a share in the Indian cap
tives of August 14, 1676. He signed the agree
ment for establishing a better form of govern

ment for the colony. He married Margaret
Harwood, born in England in 1612.
(II) John (3), eldest son of William (2)
and Margaret (Harwood) Hawkins, lived in
Providence. December 29, 1710, he deeded
forty acres of land to his wife. July 27, 171 1,
he confirmed a deed made by his brother Ed
ward, and October 19, 1715, he gave full con
sent to his sons to sell all their land they had
of him. He married the widow of Humphrey
Damarill whose christian name was Sarah.
(Ill) William (3), eldest son of John (3)
and Sarah Hawkins, was born in Providence,
December 14, 1716. He sold land to Joshua
Winsor, March 6, 1731, also land to Elisha
Knowlton, and in 1744 gave to his son Job a
right in lands west of "the seven mile line."
The name of his wife was Mary. Children:
Job, Rufus, and others.
(IV) Rufus, son of William (3) and Mary
Hawkins, was born in Providence, died in
Johnston, Rhode Island, April, 1788. He
served as lieutenant in Captain Edward Shel
don's company in 1746, connected with the
colonial militia. His will was executed August
13, 1784, proved in May, 1788. The witnesses
to the same were Perley Williams Junior,
James Winsor and Noah Matthewson. His
son Rufus was named executor.
(V) Rufus (2), son of Rufus (1) Haw
kins, was born in Providence, 1739, died in
Johnston, February 7, 1818. He located in
Johnston and built a machine shop at a place
named for him, Hawkinsville. In this shop
was made the first machine for carding woolen
cloth. He was ensign in Captain Ezekiel
Olney's company in 1783. He married, No
vember 7, 1761, Martha, daughter of Charles
Waterman; she died in Johnston, February 11,
1804. (VI) Captain Nehemiah, son of Rufus (2)
and Martha (Waterman) Hawkins, was born
in Johnston, July 7, 1762, died there on Inde
pendence day, 1830. He was commissioned as
captain of Johnston Rangers. He was called
the most skillful mechanic in Rhode Island at
that time. He married, May 29, 1785, Han
nah, daughter of Samuel and Ann (Winsor)
Winsor. She was born February 7, 1762, died
September 29, 1845. Her ancestry is traced
herein. Children : Alpheus, William H, Eph
raim, Martha, Milley, Lydia Ann, Hope and
Betsey. (VII) Alpheus, eldest son of Captain Nehe
miah and flannah (Winsor) Hawkins, was
born in Johnston, September 4, 1795, died in
Hoboken, New Jersey, October 29, 1847. He

192

MASSACHUSETTS.

was a justice of the peace, and was a locomo
tive builder, working on the first one made
in this country. He lived in Lowell and
Springfield, Massachusetts, and Baltimore. He
married, June 30, 1825, Celia Antis, daughter
of Richard Rhodes, of North Scituate, Rhode
Island, whose ancestry is traced herein. She
died in Springfield, November 13, 1902, hav
ing attained the remarkable age of a centenar
ian. Children: William Rhodes, Elizabeth
Fenner, Nehemiah, Richard Fenner, mentioned
below, Frank Porter, Mary M., deceased, and
Mary M.
(VIII) Richard Fenner, third son of Al
pheus and Celia (Rhodes) Hawkins, was bora
in Lowell, Massachusetts, March 9, 1837. His
early education was gained in the Springfield
public schools. At the age of sixteen he began
working for Stone and Harris, railway bridge
builders. In 1862 he was taken into the firm
as a partner and the concern is now known as
the Hawkins Iron Works. He erected the New
Bedford and Springfield jails, the Williman-
set bridge near Holyoke, the Northampton
Iron bridge for the Massachusetts Central
railroad. He also did the iron work on the
stations of the Boston and Albany railroads
at Springfield, that of the New York Central
at Buffalo and Rochester. He likewise ex
tended the pier on the Connecticut River road
for the Boston and Albany, and built all the
bridges on the New York and New England
from Waterbury to Fishkill, some of them
on the Delaware and Lackawanna. In addi
tion, he built a series of bridges over Lake
Champlain for the Lamoille Valley. To be a
bridge builder is a far reaching accomplish
ment uniting the commerce and interest of two
communities and is a work that withstands the
wear of centuries. Thomas Carlyle said he
had rather have constructed the bridge his
father built at Ecclefechan than to have writ
ten all his books. The Hawkins iron plant
covers two acres upon which are erected seven
spacious buildings. Mr. Hawkins has been
more or less identified with current affairs of
interest in his city, but prefers to devote his
immediate time to the details of his business.
He has, however, served in the board of alder
men, and was one of the prime movers in
organizing the board of trade of which he
was for a long time director. He has been a
trustee of the Hampden Savings Bank. He
married, in New York, September 3, 1862,
Cornelia Morgan, daughter of Amasa Bemis
and Sarah Fry (Cadwell) Howe. Children:
Paul Rhodes, mentioned below ; Florence, mar

ried Thomas Dyer, January 16, 1898; Edith
and Ethel (twins) ; David Smith.
(IX) Colonel Paul Rhodes, eldest son of
Richard Fenner and Cornelia Morgan (Howe)
Hawkins, was born in Springfield, June 23,
1867, and educated at the Worthington street
school, the old high and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, from which he grad
uated in 1887. Returning to Springfield he
at once took an active part in the social and
political life of his home city, and was soon
a councilman in ward four. Some years later
he served in the board of aldermen from ward
six. In 1890 Mr. Hawkins entered the militia
as first lieutenant of Company B, Second Regi
ment, and served four years. Then he was
appointed on the staff of Colonel E. P. Clarke
as regimental adjutant, in which position he
served until January 3, 1900. On the election
of Governor Crane he was made aide-de-camp
with the rank of major on the governor's staff
and remained throughout his term. When
Goveror Bates assumed the gubernatorial chair
Major Hawkins was retained on the staff and
made lieutenant-colonel and assistant inspector-
general. On the declaration of war with Spain
Colonel Hawkins volunteered his services to
the government and was appointed by Gov
ernor Wolcott regimental adjutant of the Sec
ond Massachusetts Infantry, United States
Volunteers, with the rank of lieutenant. The
colonel proceeded with his regiment to the
front and saw some hard service at the battle
of ElCaney where the troops were under fire
for twenty-four hours. As the scene of the
conflict waged from different points now at El
Pozo Hill where the batteries were planted,
now on the banks of the muddy Aquadares
river, or around the demolished sugar house,
or out on the Mariana je road towards San
tiago, the colonel on that hot July day was in
the thick of the scrimmage wherever his duties
as staff officer called him, unmindful of the
screeching Mausers that entailed so frightful
a death-toll on the brave American boys. He
was also present at the surrender of Santiago.
Colonel Hawkins has been commander of Gen
eral Lawton Camp, Spanish War Veterans,
and 1903 was elected commander-in-chief of
the national muster league of Spanish war
veterans. In 1908 he received his commission
from state of Massachusetts and went on re
tired list as full colonel. He is a member of
the various Masonic bodies, of Hampden Lodge
of Odd Fellows. Also he is a prominent club
man. He is engaged in the iron business with
his father.

MASSACHUSETTS.

T93

(The Winsor Line).
This name is derived from local geography.
The town in England was first called Wind-
shore on account of the many indentations
along the shore at this point. The word be
came corrupted by use to Windsore, then
Windsor, Winsor. There was a castle there
from time immemorial and Walter Fitz-Other,
who was a Norman nobleman, was made gov
ernor of the stronghold, and from then on
called himself Walter de Windsor, and he is
founder of the race. We have the English
successive generations in Robert ( 1 ) , a Roman
Catholic in Henry VIII's time, Samuel (2),
John (3), and Samuel (4). Justin Winsor,
the Harvard librarian and eminent historical
writer, is of this line.
(I) The American progenitor was Joshua,
son of Samuel (4) Winsor, mentioned above.
He was in Providence in 1637 and died there
"in 1679.
(H) Samuel, son of Joshua Winsor, was
born in Providence in 1644, died there Septem
ber 16, 1705. He was a deputy in 1674 and
received a share in the Indian captives, and
was on the grand jury in 1687. fle married
Mercy, widow of Resolved Waterman, a
daughter of Roger Williams. She was the
mother of Samuel, Hannah and Joshua.
(IH) The Rev. Samuel (2), eldest son of
Samuel (1) and Mercy (Williams) (Water
man) Winsor, was born in Providence, No
vember 18, 1677, died November 17, 1758. He
was ordained pastor of the First Baptist
Church of Providence. He always preached
gratuitously and would not accept an invita
tion to a Sunday dinner in the fear it might
be interpreted as a pay for Sunday services.
His will was executed December 20, 1749.
He married Mercy, daughter of Abraham and
Deborah Harding. His wife was living in
1749. Children: Samuel, Martha, Mary,
Lydia, Hannah, Deborah, Mercy and Free-
love. (IV) Rev. Samuel (3), eldest son of Rev.
§amuel (2) and Mercy (Harding) Winsor,
was born in Providence, November 11, 1722,
died there January 26, 1803. He served in
the revolution with the rank of captain. He
succeeded his father in the pulpit, being ordain
ed in 1759. In the old Winsor burial ground
is this inscription on his tombstone "Sacred to
the memory of the Rev. Samuel Winsor who
departed this life January 26th A. D. 1803 in
the 81 st year of his ministry as Pastor of the
ancient Baptist church in Providence & John
ston." He married Lydia Olney, from which
i— 13

line comes the Hon. Richard Olney, the states
man of Cleveland's cabinet. He married (sec
ond) Ann, daughter of Johnna Winsor. By
Ann he had Hannah, who married Nehemiah
Hawkins, and was the grandmother of Rich
ard Fenner Hawkins, so that he was doubly
descended from Roger Williams.
(The Rhodes Line).
Rhodes is an island in the Mediterranean,
also a town in Guienne, France. The Rhodes
are a very ancient and respectable family of
Norman extraction, and the first one we come
to in history is William de Rhodes who accom
panied Richard I to Palestine in one of the
crusades. There was a Rhodes a pilot with
Sebastian Cabot in his initial trip to America,
and from him the little state of Rhode Island
was named, small territorially but immense
in its influence over commerce and manufac
turing. The eminent historian, James F.
Rhodes, is of this line.
(I) We begin our table with Zachariah
Rhodes, who was born in England in 1603.
He was first of Rehoboth, Rhode Island, but
later removed to Providence. July 3, 1644, he
"with twenty nine others agreed to bind them
selves together under a government of mine
persons chosen from the inhabitants of Sea-
cunk." August 21, 1648, he was one of a
committee sent to Massachusetts to ascertain
the damage done to Pomham of Warwicke and
to demand redress for him. He was of those
from Pawtuxet who asked to be dismissed
from the government of Massachusetts, June
1, 1658. He was a commissioner for several
years and in 1663 was appointed to treat with
the Indians regarding a consideration for their
lands. He was on the committee who run
the boundary line between Rhode Island and
Plymouth Colony, also a deputy and town
councellor. He was imprisoned a short time
in jail in Boston for openly remarking, "the
court has naught to do in matters of religion."
(II) John, son of Zachariah Rhodes, was
born in Providence in 1668, died at Warwicke,
August 14, 1716. He was a soldier in King
Philip's war, receiving his share of the Indian
captives. He was a man of some parts and
possessed of legal knowledge ; he was several
years attorney general of Rhode Island and
was clerk of the assembly. He married Waite,
daughter of Resolved and Mercy (Williams)
Waterman, February 12, 1685. She died sub
sequent to 1712. The above Mercy (Williams)
Waterman was a daughter of the celebrated
Roger Williams.

194

MASSACHUSETTS.

(Ill) William, son of John and Waite
(Waterman) Rhodes, was born in Warwicke,
July 14, 1695. He was chosen a deputy. His
will was made July 13, 1772. He married,
December 28, 1722, Mary Sheldon, of Provi
dence. Children : William, Joseph, Waitestill,
Nehemiah and Eunice.
(IV) Captain William (2), son of William
(1) and Mary (Sheldon) Rhodes, was born
in Providence, died in Burrillville, Rhode
Island, June 30, 1823. He was a cooper and
worked at his trade in the West Indies. He
made frequent trips there and being a wide
awake fellow, anxious to learn, and of an in
quisitive disposition, he thus acquired some
knowledge of navigation. In 1775 two vessels
were fitted out, one of which was commanded
by Captain John Grimes with William Rhodes
as lieutenant. The nautical information he had
gleaned on his West Indies trips now stood
him and his government in good stead. In
August, 1776, he was granted letters of marque
by the Rhode Island government. He was in
command of the sloop "Montgomery," ten
guns, ten swivels, and manned by sixty sea
men engaged in privateering. This vessel
overhauled English ships on their way from
the West Indies, laden with sugar and molasses,
and with the prizes thus secured he made what
was then a comfortable fortune. He sold his
prizes for continental money which became
through the depreciation worthless. His wife
advised him to invest in Providence real estate.
This was a case where foresight of a woman
was worth heeding, and William observed that
his wife was wiser than he. At the end of
hostilities he bought land at Rhodesville since
called Harrisville, now Burrillville, settling
down to the less exciting arts of peace. He
builded himself a home in which he lived
quietly after his stormy career. He was a
good horseback rider and made trips to South
Carolina in that manner where he had invest
ments. He was a man of remarkable agility
and even in his later years could cover thirty
feet in three leaps. He married Elizabeth,
daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Arnold)
Fenner. She died October 2, 1824, in her
eighty-first year. Children: Elizabeth, Rich
ard (mentioned below), Fenner, and William,
who died August 15, 1799, at Newbern, North
Carolina. (V) Captain Richard, eldest son of Cap
tain William (2) and Elizabeth (Fenner)
Rhodes, was born in Providence, December
15, 1776, died at North Scituate in 1845. He
was a revolutionary soldier in Captain Dexter's

company, Colonel Green's regiment. He was
a sea captain. His farm was situated half-way
between Scituate and North Scituate and is
known as the Butler farm, now occupied by
Arthur Steer. Richard, both his wives, and
the younger children are buried there and their
tombstones are in a fair state of preserva
tion. He married Abigail (surname unknown),
who died in 1797. His second wife was Tabitha,
daughter of John Harris. By his first wife
was born Richard and Sarah, both of whom
died young. Tabitha (Harris) Rhodes was
the mother of Fenner (died early), Thomas
H, George A. (twins), Eliza, Celia Antis,
Mary, Patience, Tabitha, Maria N., Waite H,
Richard and Emeline (died in infancy). Celia
Antis married Alpheus Hawkins and became
the mother of Richard Fenner Hawkins, herein
mentioned. (The Howe Line).
Howe or Hoo as it was once written meant
a hill. Da La Howe was originally the name
of the family when they came over with Will
iam the Conquorer and it meant as then written
literally "from the hills." So the first Mr.
Howe was the man who lived on the hill. As
it is the branch roads in the vast network of
railways that, feed and make possible the great
trunk lines of commerce, so it is the confluent
streams whose torrents flood the banks of the
mighty river in its onward race to the sea; so
it is the subsidiary lines commingling and
interlacing from which is realized the unit
denominated the family. In this people we
are herein considering, beginning with the
first generation in 1639, no fewer than nine
teen families have contributed to the making
of the brawn and brain of the last or ninth
generation. Among the distinguished men of
this line have been the Hon. Timothy O. Howe,
United States senator from Wisconsin and
postmaster-general in Arthur's cabinet, and
Major General Nathaniel F. Banks, governor
of Massachusetts and speaker of the National
house of representatives.
(I) John Howe (3), was the son of John
Howe (2), of Warwickshire, England, and
the grandson of John Howe (1), of Hodifi-
hull, a descendant of Lord Charles Howe. John
Howe (3) was in Sudbury, Massachusetts, in
1639, was made a freeman in 1641, and select
man in 1643. The selectmen appointed him
in 1655 "to see to the restraining of youth on
the Lord's day." His' name was on a petition
from the Sudbury inhabitants to the general
court for a grant of land in 1656, and on May
1 of that year a tract six miles square was

MASSACHUSETTS.

195

granted, with conditions of settlement "so as
to be able to maintain a ministry." It was.
then called Whipperpewicke now known as
Marlborough. At the first grantees meeting
held September 25, 1656, he was of a select
committee to organize a new plantation, and
was the first white settler there. His log cabin
was near the Indian planting field and was
situated about one hundred rods from the
Spring Hill meeting house. For many genera
tions this spot was the home of the Howes and
later he kept a tavern. He enjoyed the friend
ship and good will of the Aborigines who
frequently referred their disputes to him. It
is related that two Red Skins became involved
in.a quarrel over the possession of a pumpkin.
Planted in one field it grew over the line into
an adjoining lot. Learning each side of the
story Mr. Howe cut the pumpkin in two pieces
and divided it equally to the infinite satisfac
tion of both parties, a way of settling involved
points we moderns might safely borrow wis
dom from. The general court referred to
Goodman Howe and Goodman Rice a claim
made upon it by Thomas Danforth. The
following is a copy of a letter written by Mr.
Howe which shows him to have been of fair
education and to have had a ready command
of forcible English.
"Honrd Sr — , My humble suit unto this
Honrd Court is that they would be pleased to
grant me freedom from Training and that my
License for Ordinary keeping may be renewed
unto me. My grounds wch I request the said
are i.The consideration of a bodily infirmity
I have had many years upon me wch as I grow
in age encreaseth in tediousness in so much it
is frequently interruptive to me in my calling.
2. I am also thick of hearing." 3. I do and am
like to maintain three trained soldiers in my
family. Sr I trust you will endeavor that I
may obtain my desire in the respects men
tioned though I give you but a hint of things
which if you do, you will hereby more abund
antly oblige me to subscribe myself as' I
already do. Yor humble servant. John Howe
Marleborough this 30th September 1662."
He died in Marlborough in 1687, and his
wife whose christian name was Mary about
two years later. Children : John, Samuel,
Sarah, Mary, died early, Isaac, mentioned be
low, Josiah, Mary, Thomas, Daniel, Alexander,
Eleazer. A grandson of John Howe (3) by
the above Samuel whose name was David built
the old Howe tavern on the Boston road which

has been immortallized by Longfellow as the
"Wayside Inn."
(II) Isaac, third son of John (3) and Mary
Howe, was born in Marlborough, August 8,
1648, died there December 9, 1724. fle was
in charge of Garrison number 6 on the South-
borough road near the present Newton rail
road station. He married (first) Frances
Wood, January 17, 1671, who died May 14,
1 718. He married (second) December 2, 1718,
Susanna Sibley, of Sutton. Children: Eliza
beth, Mary, John, died. early, John, mentioned
below, Bethiah, Hannah, Thankful.
(Ill) John (4), third son of Isaac and
Frances (Wood)' Howe, was born in Marl
borough, September 16, 1682, died May 19,
1754. He resided on the Howe homestead.
fle married, November 3, 1703, Deliverance,
¦ daughter of John and Tabitha (Stone) Rice,
of Sudbury, whose ancestry is traced herein.
Children : Jezaniah, mentioned below, Mat
thias, Isaac, Benjamin, Tabitha, Patience,
Paul, Mary, Francis and Abigail.
(IV) Jezaniah, eldest son of John (4) 'and
Deliverance (Rice) Howe, was born May 30,
1704, in Marlborough, died in Leicester, Mass
achusetts, in 1762. He resided both in South-
borough and Leicester. He married Damaris,
daughter of Zerubbel and Hannah (Kerley)
Eager. Children: Elijah, mentioned below,
Jacob, Jezaniah, George, Kerley, Miriam,
Persis and Rebecca.
(V) Elijah, eldest son of Jezaniah and
Damaris (Eager) Howe, was bom in South-
bridge, Massachusetts, December 7, 1731, died
in Spencer, same state, February 2, 1808. He
lived in Paxton, Leicester and Spencer. He
served in Captain Newhall's company which
marched to Cambridge on the alarm of April
z9- :775- Also he served in Captain Josiah
White's company, Lieutenant-Colonel Benja
min Flagg's division, and Colonel Samuel
Denny's regiment which marched August 21,
1777, and was discharged August 23, 1777.
This company marched to Hadley on the
alarm. He married Deborah, daughter of
James and Dorcas (Richardson) Smith, of
Leicester. Children: Jael, Kerley, Frederick,
Elijah, mentioned below, Sally, Elizabeth,
Catherine, James and Lucretia.
(VI) Elijah (2), third son of Elijah (1)
and Deborah (Smith) Howe, was born in
Paxton, November 25, 1768, died in Spencer,
January 9, 1816. He married Fanny, daughter
of Joshua and Sarah (White) Bemis, whose
ancestry is traced herein. After Mr. Howe's
death she married Aaron Banister, and she

MASSACHUSETTS.

died May 30, 1845. Children: Elijah, Elias,
mentioned below, Liberty, Tyler, who invented
the spring bed ; William, who invented the
truss bridge; Alphonso, Hiram, Elbridge and
Sarah Ann.
(VII) Elias, second son of Elijah (2) and
Fanny (Bemis) Howe, was born at the old
Howe homestead at Howes' mills in Spencer,
died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, December
28, 1867. He married, October 22, 1816, Polly,
daughter of Sylvester Bemis, of Chester, who
removed from Spencer there and made a home
on the mountains. Polly (Bemis) Howe died
September 12, 1871, at Cambridgeport. Chil
dren : Amasa Bemis, mentioned below, Elias,
mentioned below, Mary, Horace S., Juliet,
Corinth and Fanny.
(VII) Amasa Bemis, eldest son of Elias
and Polly (Bemis) Howe, was born in Spencer,
November 3, 1817, died in Cambridge, January
15, 1868, while there attending the funeral of
his father. In about 1842 he went to Louis
iana. Later he came to Massachusetts and
assisted his brother in perfecting the sewing
machine. He afterward established a sewing
machine business- of his own in New York.
He married, October 27, 1842, Sarah Fry,
daughter of Daniel and Almira (Goodrich)
Cadwell. The marriage took place at Bayou
de Siard, Louisiana. She died in Springfield,
March 24, 1872. Children: Cornelia Morgan
and Benjamin Porter.
(IX) Cornelia Morgan, only daughter of
Amasa Bemis and Sarah Fry (Cadwell) Howe,
was born in Monroe, parish of Carroll, Louis
iana, August 29, 1844. She was brought to
Massachusetts when very young by her par
ents and educated in Springfield. She is the
only Colonial dame in Springfield and derives
her admission thereto through her ancestor,
Colonel Joseph Buckminster. She is also a
member of Mercy Warren Chapter, Daughters
of the American Revolution. Colonel Joseph
Buckminster was in the expedition at Port
Royal, September 10, 17 10, and was captain of
the grenadiers in Sir Charles Hobby's regi
ment and served on the brigatine "Henrietta."
He was a tall muscular man of indomitable
character, a brave officer beloved of his men
and respected by his superiors. Cornelia M.
Howe married Richard Fenner Hawkins,
whose ancestry is traced herein.
(VIII) Elias (2), second son of Elias (1)
and Polly (Bemis) Howe, was born in Spencer,
July 9, 1819, died at Brooklyn, New York,
October 3, 1867. At forty-eight years of age
he worked with his brother in sticking wire

teeth into strips of leather for cards, used in
the manufacture of cotton. At eleven he went
out to live with a farmer of the neighborhood
and after an experience there of one year he
returned to his father's mill. In 1835 he went
to Lowell, Massachusetts, and obtained a learn
er's place in a manufactory of cotton machinery,
earning about fifty cents a day. In 1837, the
panic year, he was adrift again for work and
showed ¦ up at Cambridge where he secured a
position in a machine shop. His shopmate
there was Nathaniel P. Banks, his illustrious
kinsman, who afterwards was governor of
Massachusetts and speaker of the National
house of representatives. In a few months
he is in Boston in another machine shop. Two
men came into the shop one day and brought '
a knitting machine which they were striving to
perfect and sought the proprietor's aid whose
name was Davis. "Why don't you make a
sewing machine asked Davis ? It can't be done
said the caller." "O yes it can," insisted Davis.
Elias Howe stood by and heard the above
conversation and it was the germ of the idea
from which he developed a sewing machine,
abolished "The song of the shirt," and made
the name of Howe famous the world over. He
began to study the idea at once. Never was
necessity more truly the mother of invention
than in his case. He had wife and children
three to feed and cloth on the pitiable salary
of nine dollars per week. It was to provide
for this little family he worked in after hours
and in moments snatched from sleep and need
ed rest. One day in 1844 the thought came
upon him with the suddenness of a pistol shot ;
it was necessary that the machine should imi
tate naturally the action of the hand in sewing.
This was the acme of the crisis. The idea
of using two threads and forming a stitch by
the aid of a shuttle and a curved needle, with
an eye near the point soon occurred to him.
The tailors in Boston were opposed to the de
vice as likely to hurt their business and he was
nearly mobbed at times. He secured letters
patents. The income from the invention was
practically nothing and he engaged himself as
a railroad engineer to support his family. In
1847 he sailed in the steerage for London upon
an engagement with a machinist over there to
construct a machine to sew corsets. This ven
ture proved abortive and he was wretchedly
poor. Fle was obliged to pawn his first
sewing machine to secure passage home.
Arrived in New York he had a half crown as
his sole possession. By this time the machine
was becoming utilized in the United States.

MASSACHUSETTS.

197

and his long fight with the infringers began.
Litigation ensued, followed by temporary de
feats and vexatious delays; but Elias won in
the end. The court held: "there is no evi
dence in this case that leaves a shadow of
doubt, that all the benefit conferred upon the
public by the introduction of a sewing machine,
the public are indebted to Mr. Howe." From
the clay of that decision Mr. Howe's prospects
began to brighten and his income 'was two
hundred thousand dollars per annum. He
formed a company for the making of his
machines at Bridgeport, Connecticut, and
erected an immense plant there. At the out
break of the civil war he enlisted as a soldier
and fought in the ranks for he came of fight
ing stock. On one occasion he advanced the
pay for the whole regiment when the pay
master was short of funds. He was always
making contributions to the army.
(The Cadwell Line).
The history of Massachusetts ancestry con
tains no name more deserving of perpetuation
on account of its deeds of glory and renown
achieved on the battlefield, and in the civil
affairs of the community than this one hereto
annexed. (I) Thomas Cadwell was in Hartford, Con
necticut, in 1632. That year, March 9, for a
consideration of forty-five pounds he bought
land of the Scott heirs, situated on what is
now Front street. He was a chimney viewer,
a constable and also was a ferryman. After
his decease, October 9, 1694, his widow had
charge of the ferry. He married, in 1668,
Elizabeth, widow of Robert Wilson, of Farm
ington, and daughter of Edward Stebbins.
Children : Mary, Edward, Thomas, William,
Matthew (mentioned below), Abigail, Eliza
beth, Samuel, Hannah and Mehitable.
(II) Matthew, fourth son of Thomas and
Elizabeth (Stebbins) Cadwell, was born in
Hartford, October 5, 1668, died there April
22, 1719. He owned Jand there near the Farm
ington line but exchanged it with his brother
for the old homestead. He married Abigail,
daughter of John Beckly, of Wethersfield,
Connecticut. Children: Matthew, Abigail
(died young), Ann, John, Abel, Daniel (died
early), Daniel (mentioned below), Abigail and
Elias. (Ill) Daniel, fifth son of Matthew and Abi
gail (Beckly) Cadwell, was born in Hartford,
May 18, 1710, died prior to 1791. In early
life he settled in Springfield, Massachusetts,
and as was the custom of the time followed

up the river in seeking a new home. Later he
went to Palmer, Massachusetts, then Wilbra
ham, Massachusetts, where he was selectman.
He was committee of the precinct in 1750, and
at the outbreak of trouble with England was
appointed on a' committee to graft resolution
representing sentiments of the town in regard
to the mother country. He belonged to the First
Church of Springfield, and was concerned
actively in the Breck controversy. His will
was probated in 1791. He married Mary,
daughter of Ebenezer Warriner. Children :
Daniel (mentioned below), Mary, Ann, Ebe
nezer, Matthew, Eunice, Simeon, Levi, Ste
phen, Joanna, Aaron and Moses.
(IV) Captain Daniel (2), eldest son of
Daniel (1) and Mary (Warriner) Cadwell,
was born January 15, 1733, in Wilbraham,
then a 'part of Springfield, and died of small
pox in the service of his country at Skees-
borough, New York, March 27, 1777. He was
commissioned as sergeant in Captain Luke
Hitchcock's company in the French and Indian
war, and saw hard service at the battle of Lake
George with Baron Dieskou. In October, 1774,
he was appointed on. the committee of corre
spondence and inspection. Also he served as
lieutenant in Captain Paul Langdon's com
pany of minute-men from Wilbraham, who
marched on the alarm, April 19, 1775. He
was promoted to a captaincy in Colonel Charles
Pynchon's regiment in 1776. He was with
Colonel Danielson's regiment at Ticonderoga
from December 5, 1776, until his death. Cap
tain Cadwell was a brave soldier and faith
ful officer, and his death at this juncture of
affairs was greatly to be deplored. He mar
ried Eunice, daughter of Moses Burt. She
died August 9, 1816. Children : Hannah,
Louisa, Eunice, Daniel (mentioned below),
Pliny and Chauncy.
(V) Daniel (3), fourth child of Daniel (2)
and Eunice (Burt) Cadwell, was born in Wil
braham, January 21, 1768, died there April
19, 1839. He married Olive Arnold, who died
in 1797. He married (second) Grace Beebe,
of Monson, Massachusetts. Children by first
marriage: Daniel (mentioned below) and
Roderick. Grace (Beebe) Cadwell was the
mother of George, Francis, Olive and Marcus.
(VI) Daniel (4), eldest son of Daniel (3)
and Olive (Arnold) Cadwell, was born in Wil
braham, April 27, 1793, died in Springfield,
August 28, 1826. He married Almira, daugh
ter of Elijah Goodrich, of West Springfield,
whose ancestry is traced herein. His widow
married Marcus Cadwell and she died April

198

MASSACHUSETTS.

25, 1872. Children: Sarah Frye, born No
vember 16, 1820, mairied Amasa Bemis Howe,
whose ancestry is traced herein and who be
came the parents of Cornelia Morgan Howe.
(The Goodrich Line).
This family were of fighting stock and main
tained in the various wars that have devastated
our country its prestige for martial affairs.
The name came from Goderick, meaning rich
in God or goodness. Goodman and Goodrich
were interchangeable names.
(I) William Goodrich was born in Suffolk,
England, and emigrated to these shores, be
coming an inhabitant of Wethersfield, Connec
ticut, where he died in 1676. He was made a
freeman, May 15, 1656, was a deputy from
the above town to the general court and one
of the grand jury. He saw actual fighting in
the King Philip war and bore the title of
ensign. He married Sarah, daughter of Mat
thew Marvin, and upon his death she married
(second) William Curtis, of Stratford. She
died in 1702. William Goodrich was the father
of William (died early), Sarah, Mary, John,
Elizabeth, William (mentioned below), Abi
gail, Ephraim and David.
(II) William (2), third son of William (1)
and Sarah (Marvin) Goodrich, was born in
Wethersfield, February 8, 1661, and died there
December 27, 1737. fle was lieutenant in the
train band. He married, November 22, 1680,
Grace, daughter of John Riley. She died Octo
ber 23, 1712. He married (second) the relict
of Dr. Nicholas Ayrnoult. Children by first
wife: William (died in infancy), William
(mentioned below), Benjamin, Joseph, Isaac,
Ann, Ephraim and Ethan.
(Ill) William (3), second son of William
(2) and Grace (Riley) Goodrich, was born
in Wethersfield, July 2, 1686, died in, Sharon,
Massachusetts, March 3, 1743. He lived at
Sheffield, Massachusetts, and Litchfield, Con
necticut. Children : Deborah, Samuel, Mar
garet (who soon died), William, Ethan, Jared,
Margaret, Elnathan ( mentioned below ) , David,
Elisha and Solomon.
(IV) Elnathan, eighth child of William (3)
and Margaret (Orvis) Goodrich, was born
probably in Sheffield, December 6, 1718, died
in Sharon. He married, January 1, 1740, Eliz
abeth Showers. Children : Jared, Michael
(mentioned below), Sabra, Isaac, Joel.
(V) Michael, second son of Elnathan and
Elizabeth (Showers) Goodrich, was born in
Wethersfield, March 23, 1747, died in Walton,
New York, August 17, 1825. He settled in

Sharon and from there moved to Delhi, New
York. He enlisted in 1775 in Captain Samuel
Elmore's company, Colonel Hinsman regiment,
and served ten months. In February, 1776, he
re-enlisted in Captain Oliver Parmale's com
pany, Colonel Charles Burrill's regiment, and
was discharged at Fort George, November 27,
1776. Also he saw active service in the militia
and was at the sacking of Danbury, Connecti
cut, by the British, and joined in the pursuit
of the retreating enemy. Also he was present
at the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga.
The forename of his first wife was Ann. The
christian name of the second wife was Martha.
Children : Michael, Elijah (mentioned below),
Sabra, Anne, Elnathan, flarriet, Elizabeth,
Miranda and Stephen.
(VI) Elijah, second son of Michael and
Ann Goodrich, was born in Sharon in 1776,
died in West Springfield, December 5, 1835.
He lived in Delhi but removed to Springfield
somewhere near 1796. He married Rachel,
daughter of John Lloyd, September 17, 1783.
Children: John, Francis, Silas, and Almira,
who was born in Delhi and married Daniel
Cadwell, whose ancestry is traced herein, and
they were the grandparents of Cornelia Mor
gan Howe, whose ancestry is traced herein.
(The Lloyd Line).
This is not a common name in the United
States, but it makes up in importance what it
lacks numerically. It is derived from luhyd
meaning brown.
(I) John Lloyd appeared at Stamford, Con
necticut, as early as December 17, 1747. He
petitioned the constituted authorities to cart a
"parcel of small stone out of his orchard on
to the sloughry place in the road between the
town and the common landing place by Peter
Demills especially in the flat line all along the
front of my orchard." The name of his wife
is not known. Children: Henry, John (men
tioned below), Rebecca, Abigail and Sara.
(II) Major John (2), second son of John
(1) Lloyd, was born in Stamford, February
22, 1744, died in West Springfield, August 11,
1827. fle removed to Amenia, Dutchess county,
New York. He was appointed sheriff there in
1774, and was first lieutenant in Captain In
crease Child's company of minute-men. No
vember 25, 1786, he was promoted to the Cap
taincy of the said company. The name of
his wife was Eunice. Children: James, Annie,
Rachel (mentioned below), John, Henry and
Anthony. (Ill) Rachel, daughter of Major John

timed I

o^mon, f757-f<$32

MASSACHUSETTS.

199

Lloyd, married Elijah Goodrich, whose an
cestry is traced herein, and they were the
great-grandparents of Cornelia Morgan Howe,
whose ancestry is traced herein.

The early generations of the
ROBINSON Robinson family in America
are difficult ' to trace on
account of the large number of early settlers
of this name and the incompleteness of the
records. John Robinson was in Salem before
1637 when he was admitted a member of the
church there; died in 1653 leaving a will be
queathing to wife Eleanor during her life,
then "to the first one of his kindred that shall
come to seek it."
William Robinson, presumably brother of
John, settled also in Salem; was admitted a
freeman May 18, 1642; was proprietor as
early as 1637 ; had land granted to himself and
son in 1647. He sold land in 1660. His will
dated February 9, 1676-77, proved November
29, 1678, bequeathed to son Joseph of the
Barbadoes, sons Samuel and John, executors;
daughter Sarah Newbury, and grandchild Tim
othy Robinson. Children: 1. Ann, baptized
December 3, 1637. 2. Samuel, baptized De
cember 26, 1639. 3. Mary, baptized March
12, 1642-43. 4. Timothy, baptized June 28,
1644. 5. Mark, born and died 1645. 6. Esther,
born May 28, 1646. 7. Martha, born February
2, 1647, lived four days. 8. John, died in 1678.
9.. Joseph. William Robinson, of Lynn, be
lieved to be grandson of William Robinson, of
Salem, son or nephew of John, had children :
1. William, born October 7, 1683. 2. Aquila,
September 26, 1686. 3. John, June 10, 1688.
(I) Colonel James Robinson, born at Lynn,
Massachusetts, February 27, 1757, was a de
scendant of William Robinson, of Lynn, with
out doubt. The surname was spelled Robi-
son, Roberson and Robertson in the early rec
ords, but the later generations have spelled
the name Robinson. According to family tra
dition the ancestry is Scotch. The family set
tled in Salem, Lynn and other towns of the
vicinity. James Robison was a soldier in the
revolution, first in the company of Captain
Rufus Mansfield on the Lexington alarm, then
in May following a fifer.in Captain Enoch
Putnam's company, Colonel Mansfield's regi
ment He was taken prisoner at Fort Warren
and held for a year. After the war he was
active in the militia and was commissioned
lieutenant-colonel of the Forth Massachusetts
Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, May 11,1801,
by Governor Caleb Strong; resigned March

7, 1803. He was a prominent citizen of Lynn
and was appointed first postmaster in 1793,
and for a period of ten years afterward, his
commission being preserved by his grandson,
John Campbell Robinson. He was a repre
sentative to the general court from Lynn from
1796 to 1802. lie died at Saugus, Massachu
setts, formerly part of Lynn, January 21, 1832,
aged seventy-five years, fle married (first) May
6. 1779, Lydia Newhall, died April 13, 1800,
aged forty, daughter of James and Lois (Bur
rill) Newhall, of an old and distinguished Lynn
family. Fle married (second) August 15,
1801, Alice Jane Gay, widow of Timothy Gay,
of Boston, at one time one of the most promi
nent and wealthy citizens of Boston. Chil
dren of first wife, born at Lynn: 1. James,
born March 10, 1780. 2. Lydia, December 25,
1 78 1. 3. Nabby, January 8, 1784. 4. John,
May 7, 1786, mentioned below. 5. flarriet,
February 7, 1789. 6. Lois, August 8, 1791.
7. Janet, July 12, 1793, died May 28, 1795. 8.
George, June 29, 1795. 9. Moses Gill, Decem
ber 7, 1796, died October 23, 1819. 10. Will
iam Charles, April 14, 1798. Children of sec
ond wife: 11. Hamilton. 12. Alford. 13.
Helen. (II) John, son of Colonel James Robinson,
was born at Lynn, May 7, 1786. He attended
the public schools and early in life began to
follow the sea. He rose rapidly and became
a master mariner in early life. He had com
mand of a vessel largely engaged in importing
hemp from Riga, a commercial port of Russia,
capital of Livonia on the Diina. He once had
a narrow escape from a mutinous crew that
sought his life. A faithful bull-dog frustrated
the plan by an attack on the leader, seizing him
by throat and felling him to the deck. Luckily
for the sailor, the dog's teeth were fastened
into the knot of the tie at his neck, but an
iron bar was necessary to pry apart the jaws
and release the man. The captain restored
order promptly, but the dog paid for his faith
fulness with his life. When the cargo was dis
charged the captain found the remains of his
dog pressed between bales of hemp, a victim of
the mutineers. Captain Robinson was commis
sioned by the government as a privateer in the
war of 1812 and cruised with some success in
the West Indies. Just before the close of the
war he was appointed sailing master in the
United States navy, not only in recognition of
his loyalty and efficiency as a privateer, but
because of his wide knowledge and experience
as a navigator. He served at many marine
posts until a few years before his death. After

200

MASSACHUSETTS.

his retirement he made his home at Jamaica
Plain, Boston, where he lived during his last
years, highly respected and esteemed by his
neighbors. He died there March 17, 1868.
Captain Robinson was upright, conscientious
and straightforward, of great strength and
force of character, a skillful seaman, a good
disciplinarian and a natural leader of men.
Though religious by nature and of high ideals
and sterling moral character, he was liberal
in his faith and belonged to no denomination.
In early life he was a Federalist, then a Whig.
As a matter of conscience he never voted after
becoming an officer of the United States, be
lieving they should take no part in politics.
He married, March 9, 1820, Sarah Campbell,
born in New York City, December 5, 1795,
died November 10, 1879, daughter of John
Campbell, born at Glasgow, Scotland, May 4,
1769, of distinguished Scotch ancestry. Her
father came to America in 1788, married, Jan
uary 5, 1793, Sarah Guest, of New York, and
died October 6, 1801. After her father's death,
her widowed mother came to Massachusetts
with her three daughters and married (second)
Benjamin Russell, founder and publisher of
the Columbian Sentinel of Boston, a notable
newspaper in its day. Mr. Russell was for
many years a prominent journalist, and a fig
ure in the literary world. He was born in
Boston, September 12, 1762, died there Janu
ary 4, 1845, son of John and Johanna (Rich)
Russell, of Worcester, Massachusetts. His
mother was the daughter of Lemuel and Abi
gail Rich. Children of Captain John and Sarah
Robinson: 1. John Campbell, died in infancy.
2. Sarah Campbell, born January 25, 183 1,
died April 4, 1886, unmarried. 3. John Camp
bell, January 12, 1835, mentioned below.
(Ill) John Campbell, son of Captain John
Robinson, was born January 12, 1835. He
was educated in the various naval ports where
his father was stationed during his youth.
When seventeen he entered the employ of
James K. Mills & Company, commission mer
chants of Boston, to learn the business. Later
he clerked for Massachusetts Hospital Life
Insurance Company, and subsequently was
clerk and purchasing agent for the Merrimack
Manufacturing Company of Lowell, remain
ing thirty-seven years, after which he retired
from active business, devoting his time to the
care of his real estate and other investments. In
politics he is a Republican, though for several
years he was a Cleveland Democrat. Mr. Rob
inson is a Unitarian in religion, and Mrs. Rob
inson is a member of the Friends Church at

Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. He married (first)
in Boston, October 14, 1869, Elizabeth Bangs
Simpkins, born 1842, died July 11, 1900, at
Jamaica Plain, daughter of John and Abi
gail (Harris) Simpkins. Married (second)
September 12, 1904, Beatrice Magill, born in
Providence, Rhode Island, March 18, 1859,
daughter of Dr. Edward Hicks and Sarah W.
(Beans) Magill. Mrs. Robinson was edu
cated under the direction of her father and
studied art in the schools of Philadelphia and
Paris, and for. ten years was at the head of
the department of fine arts in Swarthmore
College of which her father was president.
She continued to teach until the time of her
marriage. She has taken a keen interest in
the affairs of the community near her home
in Jamaica Plain, especially in charitable work,
and is a director of the Friendly Society of
that section and of the Neighborhood House
Association. Both she and her husband have
been generous in the support of organized
charity and in giving to the poor and unfor
tunate. Mr. Robinson had no children by
either mariage. His kindly manner, high char
acter, fine intellectual qualities, the magnetism
of his face and personality, his sympathy and
earnestness, have won the hearts of his neigh
bors of his neighbors and made a host of
friends for him.
Dr. Magill was the second president of
Swarthmore College at Swarthmore, Pennsyl
vania, near Philadelphia, was connected with it
from its beginning, and its president for many
years. In his younger days Dr. Magill was a
teacher in Boston. He was born in 1825, son of
Jonathan Paxon and Mary (Watson) Magill,
both natives of Bucks county, Pennsylvania.
The Magill family is of Scotch-Irish ancestry,
the immigrant ancestor coming with the great
tide of pioneers from the north of Ireland in the
middle of the eighteenth century to Pennsyl
vania. The original grant of land made by
William Pen tp the pioneer is still owned by
descendants. The family joined the Society
of Friends at an early date and most of their
descendants have held to that faith to the
present time. Dr. Magill was one of the most
distinguished and successful educators of his
day, and had a world-wide reputation. He
died December 10, 1907. A full and inter
esting account of his long and useful career
is to be found in his autobiography entitled
"Sixty-five Years in the Life of a Teacher."
One of the other daughters of Dr. Magill,
Helen, married Hon. Andrew D. White, first
president of Cornell University, late ambassa-

MASSACHUSETTS.

20 1

dor to Germany and to Russia, one of the
most distinguished educators and diplomats of
the country. Andrew Ford, immigrant ancestor,
FORD settled in that part of Weymouth,
Massachusetts, which was set off
to Hingham. He was admitted a freeman in
1654 and purchased from the colony a part of
the land which was afterwards known as
Ford's Farms, in what is now Abington, and
some of which has remained in the family to
the present time. He married Eleanor Lovell,
daughter of Robert Lovell. Her father came
to New England from Weymouth, England,
before March 20, 1635, and settled in Wey
mouth, Massachusetts, where he was a pro
prietor in 1643; in his will, dated April 3,
1652, proved June 25, 1672, he mentions
Andrew Ford. The will of Andrew Ford was
dated February 5, 1692, and mentions the
following children : 1. Andrew, mentioned be
low. 2. Joseph, died 1690; settled in New
Bristol. 3. Mary. 4. James. 5. Samuel, born
May 30, 1656, died 171 1 ; lived at Weymouth.
6. Nathaniel, March 15, 1658, died 1733 at
Weymouth. 7. Ebenezer, March 18, 1660. 8.
Silence, November 13, 1661. 9. Prudence,
December 22, 1663, died 1695; married Joseph
Lincoln, of Hingham. 10. Jacob, February
20, 1666. 11. Elizabeth,. November 2, 1667.
12. Israel, June 7, 1670, died 1736 at Wey
mouth. 13. Sarah, May 25, 1672.
(II) Andrew (2), son of Andrew (1) Ford,
was born about 1650 and died August 24, 1725.
He was an original settler of the town of Ab
ington, occupying the land inherited from his
father, going there in 1680. His farm was
near that of Joseph Cleverly, and it is said
that he was obliged at one time to go away on
account of Indian attacks. He was one of
the chief proprietors of the first meeting house
in Abington. His will was dated April 8, 1725,
and proved October 29, 1725. It mentions his
children, and grandchildren ¦ Ruth, Jacob, son
of Andrew, and Andrew, son of Thankful.
His son Andrew was made executor. He mar
ried Abiah Whitman or Whitmarsh. Chil
dren: 1. Andrew, born 1682, mentioned be
low. 2. Hezekiah, April 28, 1687, married
Mercy Whitmarsh. 3. Sarah, died 1734; mar
ried Joseph Joslin. 4. Thankful, married 
Hersey. 5. Lydia, married Richard Whit
marsh. 6. Abiah.
(Ill) Ensign Andrew, son .of Andrew (2)
Ford, was born at Weymouth in 1682, died
May 12, 1750, aged sixty-nine, at Bridgewater.

He lived in Abington on the homestead. He
married, in 1706, Mercy Whitmarsh, who died
at Abington, February, 1737-38. Children,
born at Abington: 1. Mercy, 1708. 2. Jacob,
171 1, mentioned below. 3. flester, 1714, mar
ried Jacob Porter. 4. Mary, 1719, married
Jacob Reed. 5. Andrew, 1721, married, 1742,
Sarah Shaw.
(IV) Jacob, son of Ensign Andrew Ford,
was born at Abington in 171 1, died there June
9, 1794. He married, in 1733, Sarah Poole,
who died 1788, daughter of Samuel Poole.
Children, born at Abington: 1. Jacob, 1738,
married (first) 1761, Rachel Agur ; (second)
1793, Annas Ellis. 2. Sarah, 1739, married
Barnabas Packard. 3. Mark, 1741, married,
1764, Hannah Brett. 4. Luke, 1742, mar
ried, 1766, Hannah Reed. 5. John, 1744,
married, 1767, Lydia Agur. 6. Noah,
1745, died in the French war. 7. Joseph, 1746,
married, 1766, Freelove Beal. 8. Mary, 1748.
9. Benjamin, 1750, mentioned below.
(V) Benjamin, son of Jacob Ford, was born
in Abington in 1750. He served in the revolu
tion in Captain William Reed's company, Col
onel John Bailey's regiment, and answered the
Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775; also in Cap
tain Edward Cobb's company, Colonel Ed
ward Mitchell's regiment, at Braintree Farms
in 1776; and in. the same company went to
Bristol, Rhode Island, in 1776, and under
Major Eliphalet Cary, marched in 1780 on the
Rhode Island alarm. He moved in 1797 from
Abington to Cummington or Windsor, Massa
chusetts, and built a saw mill there. He mar
ried Sarah Brett, of Bridgewater. Children :
1. Sarah, born 1773. 2. Mehitable, 1775, mar
ried Samuel Noyes. 3. Benjamin, 1*^77. 4.
Sarah, 1778. 5. Patty, 1779, married -** 
Hall. 6. Moses, 1781, mentioned below. 7.
Peter, 1782, married Polly Reed. 8. Molly,
1783. 9. Mark, 1785. 10. Andrew, 1787. 11.
Silvia, 1788, married  Whitman. 12.
Ephraim, 1791. 13. Betsey, 1793.
(VI) Captain Moses, son of Benjamin
Ford,_ was born at Abington, 1781, and moved
with his parents to Cummington, where he
was a shoemaker and farmer. He was a cap
tain in the state militia. He married Lydia
Davis, of Thompson, Connecticut. Children :
1. Albert, mentioned below. 2. Marcia. 3.
Lydia. Another child, name unknown.
(VII) Albert, son of Moses Ford, was born
December 10, 1824, died November 2, 1884.
He was a farmer in Windsor, Massachusetts,
all his life. He married Harriet Adeline Tir
rell, daughter of Shaw and Eunice Tirrell, of

202

MASSACHUSETTS.

Plainfield, Massachusetts. Children: i. Willis
Albert, mentioned below. 2. Harry Arthur,
born May 16, 1865.
(VIII) Willis Albert, son of Albert Ford,
was born in Windsor, Massachusetts, Decem
ber 11, 1854. He received his education in
the public schools, assisted his father on the
farm, and from 1876 to 1887 engaged in the
produce business in his native town. He then
engaged in the same line of business at Provi
dence, Rhode Island, but a year later removed
to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he con
tinued to do a large and flourishing business
until he retired in 1905. He made a specialty
of trading eggs. In February, 1909, Mr. Ford
became a member of the firm "known as the
Springfield Power Associates, with the posi
tion of treasurer and manager, with office at
33 Lyman street. This concern owns and
rents buildings, stores, offices and rooms for
manufacturing purposes ; they also erect build
ing to suit tenants. He was gifted with ex
ceptional business ability and possessed also
the enterprise and industry essential to success.
He is well known and highly respected among
the merchants of New England. Mr. Ford
has taken a prominent part in public life and
has held various offices of trust and responsi
bility. He was on the board of assessors and
the board of selectmen of th,e town of Cum
mington three years; member of the board of
aldermen of the city of Springfield from 1902
to 1907. He is at present a member of the
public works commission and in 1905-06 served
on the city property commission that built the
Springfield Technical High School. He is a
member of the Winthrop Club and of the
Springfield Auto Club, fle married, October
18, 1881, Lizzie Rebecca Morris, born Febru
ary 13, 1858, daughter of Rev. Ozias S. and
Rebecca Chamberlain (French) Morris. (See
Morris family). Mr. and Mrs. Ford have no
children. (The Morris Line).
The surname Morris is said to be derived
from two sources ; one of native Welsh origin,
the other from the continent of Europe. It is
variously spelled : Morys, Morrys, Moris,
Morris, Morice, Morrice, Moryce, Mawrice,
Maurice etc. and is compounded with various
initial expressions, as De Mont, Fitz, Clan, etc.
When these latter occur, and when the name
is spelled Maurice, it may be considered of
continental origin. Several of the name
accompanied William the Conqueror to Eng
land. The name means warlike or powerful,
and was used to signify a chieftain. Waltham

Abbey, county Essex, England, was presided
over by Nicholas Morris, who was abbot from
1 37 1 to 1390. In 1377 John Morris gave the
abbey forty acres of land. This place was the
seat of the Morris family in England, from
which the immigrant mentioned below is sup
posed to have sprung.
(I) Lieutenant Edward Morris, immigrant
ancestor, was born in England and baptized
August 8, 1630, in the Abbey Church, Waltham
Holy Cross, by Rev. Joseph Hall, rector. He
was son of Thomas and Grissie (Hewsome)
Morris, of Waltham Holy Cross, county Essex.
It is probable that he was brought over to
New England by his parents in his early child
hood, and that they settled in Roxbury, Massa
chusetts, but there is no record to prove this.
The first record of him appears in 1652 in
Roxbury, when he was granted land which,
however, he forfeited. Later he had land in
Roxbury where Armory and School streets are
now. In 1 661 he was on a committee to sur
vey the common land, of which in 1662 he was
given charge. He was constable in 1664, and
was often on important committees for run
ning boundary lines, etc. He bought in 1666
a farm in the west part of the town, where he
removed and lived until 1686, when he re
moved to Woodstock, Connecticut. In 1674
he was chosen selectman of Roxbury, and
served in that office as long as he remained in
the town, with the possible exception of the
year 1680. He served on the jury in 1674 and
in 1676 was chosen one of the trustees^ for
the high school. In 1678 he was deputy to
the general court, and annually until 1686. In
1683 the town of Roxbury was given leave to
make a settlement at Woodstock, and in 1686
his name heads the list of those who settled in
the new plantation. His grant of land there
was on the east side of Plaine hill. He was
on the committee to hire the minister, to build
the corn mill and to lay out highways. In
1689 he was selectman. He was lieutenant
in the military company. He died September,
1690, probably the first person to die in Wood
stock. He married, November 20, 1655, Grace
Betts, who died at Roxbury, June 6, 1705.
Children, born in Roxbury and baptized by
Rev. John Eliot, the Indian apostle: 1. Isaac,
born September 16, 1656. 2. Edward, bap
tized March 13, 1658-59. 3. Grace, born Feb
ruary 7, 1660-61, married, March 7, 1682-83,
Benjamin Child. 4. Ebenezer, born April 14,
1664. 5. Elizabeth, baptized March 25, 1666,
married, March 9, 1685, Joshua Child. 6.
Margaret, born September 25, 1668, married

MASSACHUSETTS.

203

John Johnson. 7. Samuel, born March 19,
1670-71, mentioned below. 8. Martha, born
November 30, 1674, married Deacon William
Lyon. (II) Samuel, son of Edward Morris, was
born March 19, 1670-71, died in Thompson,
Connecticut, January 9, 1745. He removed
with his father to Woodstock and at his
father's death inherited land there. October
24, 1694, he bought of the heirs his father's
estate in Roxbury and removed there. In
1706-07 he bought land in Marlborough, where
he was living at that time. On December 18,
1714, he bought of Governor Joseph Dudley
a large tract of land in Killingly, Connecticut,
and gave his Roxbury property in exchange.
His land was on the west side of the river,
where the village of New Boston now is, and
he built a house with fortifications. In 1718
he built the first bridge over the Quinnebaug
river and kept it in repair for many years.
He also built two other bridges over smaller
streams, and for these services was exempted
from ta'xes. His farm lay in what became the
Thompson parish, and he had some trouble
with the church authorities, as he did not wish
to pay church taxes in two parishes. He mar
ried (first) Mehitable Mayo, born in Roxbury,
January 6, 1669, died February 8, 1702-03,
daughter of John and Hannah ( Graves) Mayo.
He married (second) Dorothy  , who
died July 28, 1742. Children of first wife,
born in Roxbury: 1. Samuel, August 13, 1695,
mentioned below. 2. Benjamin, October 18,
1696. 3. Mehitable, June 25, 1698, married
Philip Newell. 4. Rebecca, September 15,
1699. 5. Hannah, November 9, 1700, married
Clement Corbin. 6. Dorothy, February 7,
1701-02, married Samuel Perrin. 7. Prudence,
January 31, 1702-03, married Moses Marcy.
Child of second wife: 8. Abigail, February,
1704-05. (Ill) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1)
Morris, was born in Roxbury, August 13,
1695. He succeeded his father at "Myanexit
Farm" and established a business as a trader.
His name appears often in suits at law to re
cover for money owed him and he also had
litigation in regard to the settlement of his
father's estate. In 1755 he sold a large part
of the farm and removed to Smithfield, Rhode
Island, where he died June 13, 1756. He
married (intentions dated September 7, 1728)
Abigail Bragg, of Bristol, Rhode Island. After
his death the widow went back to Woodstock,
where she died July 29, 1790. Children: 1.
Mehitable, born December 25, 1729, died Janu

ary 7, 1730. 2. Samuel, March 18, 1730-31.
3. Mehitable, February 17, 1731-32, died May
17, 1750. 4. Henry, April 18, 1734, mentioned
below. 5. John, September 5, 1735. 6. Lem
uel, July 29, 1737. 7. Anne, March 13, 1739,
married J. Bugbee. 8. William, November 28,
1740. 9. Abigail, April 29, 1742, married E.
Lillie. 10. Susanna, September 1, 1743. 11.
Edward, August 19, 1745. 12. Elizabeth, May
16, 1747 (town record). 13. Hannah, bap
tized May 31, 1747 (church record). 14.
Lucretia, baptized June 4, 1749, died June,
I75°- (IV) Henry, son of Samuel (2) Morris,
was born April 18,-1734, in Thompson. He
served in the French and Indian war as cor
poral in Colonel John Payson's regiment, in
the same company in which his brother Sam
uel was clerk. In 1758 he was a sutler at Lake
George. He. and one Cary contracted to supply
the troops under Colonel Putnam, but in con
sequence of the exorbitant prices paid for food
in New York they failed. On May 7, 1775,
he enlisted in the revolution and was corporal
in the Seventh Company, Third Regiment of
Connecticut troops, and afterwards sergeant.
He had other service in the Continental army.
He was a great pedestrian and jumper. It is
said of him that while in the army he was sent
with a message from Crown Point to "No. 4"
(Charlestown, New Hampshire), and accom
plished the feat in twenty-four hours, a dis
tance of sixty-five miles. At the age of seventy
he could clear an ordinary fence at a bound
without touching his hand. He removed about
1790 to Concord, now Lisbon, New Hamp
shire, where he died in 1808. fle was a Con
gregationalist. He married Hannah Frizzell,
of Woodstock, who died in 1828. Children:
1. Lucretia, born September 2, 1762, died at
the age of thirteen. 2. Lucinda, September 27,
1763, married David Young. 3. flenry, died
a prisoner of war on the ship "Kersey." 4.
Simeon P., a midshipman of the "Randolph."
5. Benjamin, disappeared in the war of 1812.
6. William, died young. 7. Adolphus, died *
young. 8. Samuel, born May 19, 1774. 9.
Ebenezer, born April 19, 1778, mentioned
below. (V) Ebenezer, son of Sergeant Henry
Morris, was born April 19, 1778, in Woodstock,
died at Lisbon, New Hampshire, August 16,
1842. He was a farmer at Lisbon. He was
a Methodist, noted for his humble character,
purity of life and devoted piety. He married
(first) Hannah Moore; (second) December,
1816, Alice Swan. Children of first wife:

204

MASSACHUSETTS.

I. Henry, born 1811. 2. Lucretia, 1813, mar
ried (first) Phineas Titus; (second) Pliny
Bartlett. 3. Alice, 1814. 4. Hannah, married,
1841, C. C. Kimball. Children of second wife :
5. Clarissa (twin), April 21, 1821, married T.
P. Frost. 6. Ozias S. (twin), born April 21,
1 82 1, mentioned below. 7. Charles W., De
cember 7, 1824. t
(VI) Rev. Ozias S., son of. Ebenezer
Morris, was born April 21, 1821, in Lisbon,
New rlampshire, died at Willington, Connec
ticut, December, 1885. He received his edu
cation in the common schools, at Newbury,
Vermont, Seminary, and the Biblical Insti
tute at Concord, fle was admitted to trial at
the Vermont Conference in 1844 and ordained
deacon by Bishop Waugh at Springfield, Ver
mont, June 14, 1846, and elder by Bishop
Hedding at Barre, Vermont, July 9, 1848. For
ten years he preached in the Methodist church ;
in Barton and Glover, Vermont, 1844-45 *>
Craftsbury, Lamoilleville and South Hardwick,
Vermont, 1846-47; while at South Hardwick
he built the Betheny Methodist Episcopal
Chureh; Randolph, 1848-49; Brattleboro,
1850; Newfane and Dover, 1851-52; Walpole,
New Hampshire, 1853-55 ; Sunapee, New
Hampshire, 1856-57; Newfane and Dover,
Vermont, 1858-59. fle then entered the Con
gregational ministry, supplying from 1863 to
1867, and preached in Tunbridge, Vermont,
in 1868-71; Westminster, Vermont, 1872;
West Cummington, Massachusetts, 1873-80;
Ashford, Connecticut, 1883-85. He repre
sented Walpole in the New Hampshire legisla
ture in 1855. He engaged for some time in
evangelistic work for the Connecticut Bible
Society, but his health gave way under the
toils and exposure incident to the service, and
he was obliged to return to the pastorate. He
married, November 8, 1847, Rebecca Chamber
lain French, daughter of Isaac and Rebecca
(Bush) French, of Hardwick, Vermont. Chil
dren: 1. O. Manly, born December, 1849. 2.
Ella E., August, 1851. 3. Anna R., Septem
ber, 1853. 4. Clara, December, 1855, died
1857. 5- Lizzie Rebecca,. February 13, 1858,
married Willis Albert Ford (see Ford family).
6. Charles F., February, 1861.

Among the landed gentry in Ire-
FORD land there are families whose inter
est in public affairs and local
matters, and whose devotion to the professions
and business which they followed, have en
abled them to be of signal service to the com
munities in which they lived. Characterized

by these traits, in their efforts to build up and
better their community, the Ford family of
Cork, Ireland, is well and favorably known.
For several centuries that family has been
identified with county Cork, and well known
and prominent ever since they came there. The
later generations have been no less prominent.
(I) Dennis Ford was born in Ballingcollig,
county Cork, Ireland, about 1-800-25. His an
cestors were of pure Irish stock of the better
class, progressive and for the most part well
educated. He was a landowner in the parish
village of Banningcollig. He lived an indus
trious life, and brought up a large family,
which became a credit to the town. He died
there at an advanced age. He married Kate
 , also of good Irish stock. She died
aged about eighty years, being a little younger
than her husband. The Fords were active
supporters of the church and did much in a
financial way to aid the cause of religion.
Children : 1. Mary Ann, married  ¦— Car
roll, a business man of Ballingcollig, now de
ceased; children: John (deceased), Margaret,
Elizabeth. 2. R. Timothy, came to New Eng
land and settled in Boston, Massachusetts,
when a young man ; was the first of this family
to come to America ; removed to Hyde Park,
Massachusetts, where he now resides, with a
large family. , 3. Ellen, died unmarried in her
native town. 4. Jerry, came as a young man
to join his brother R. Timothy in America;
became a painter by trade and resides in Cam
bridge, Massachusetts; married and has a large
family, of whom one son, J. D. M. Ford, is
instructor of languages in Harvard University,
and another, Dennis, returned to Ireland and
engaged in business with his uncle in Balling
collig. 5. Patrick W., mentioned below. 6.
Daniel, resides in Ballingcollig and is asso
ciated with his brother in business; married
and has four children. 7. Margaret, unmar
ried; resides in Ballingcollig, where she is
housekeeper for her brother Dennis. 8. Dennis,
resides in his native town where he conducts
a large and prosperous business as a contractor ;
he is the owner of a large part of the village
of Ballingcollig, and in that part of Ireland
is known as a man of affairs ; he is the wealth
iest land owner in that section, a foremost
citizen, liberal to the many in his employ, and
generous in his gifts to the community in gen
eral ; unmarried.
(II) Patrick W., son of Dennis Ford, was
born in Ballingcollig, county Cork, Ireland,
about 1852. He received a college education,
and when about twenty-one years of age came

MASSACHUSETTS.

205

to the United States. In 1872 or 1873 he
landed and settled in Worcester, Massachu
setts. Here he studied architecture in the
office of Elbridge Boyden & Son (George E.
Boyden), well-known architects of that city.
He secured a thorough knowledge of his
chosen profession, and then started in business
on his own account, making school buildings,
churches, and other public buildings his spec
ialty. From the very beginning he was suc
cessful, and having" essentially broad ideas and
a complete knowledge of the requirements of
his calling, he became one of the leading archi
tects of New England. He drew the plans
and supervised the erection of five large Cath
olic churches in Worcester, and a great many
throughout New England. His work was pro
nounced of the highest order, and he soon had
all the business it was possible for him to
care for. He removed to Boston and opened
an office on School street, where he remained
for many years, later remdving to more com
modious quarters in the Boylston building. At
that time there was probably no architect in
the city of Boston better known in his pro
fession than Mr. Ford. He accumulated a
competency, and began to build beautiful pri
vate homes in Jamaica Plain. His residence
at No. 48 Peter Parley road, of his own plan
ning and construction, is a perfect model of
beauty and convenience. He also built fine
houses at Nos. 42 and 44 Peter Parley road,
and the nearby houses at 18 and 23 Armstead
street, all models of good architecture. These
are still owned by his widow. He died August
11, 1900. He was always very active in church
work, giving largely of his means and contri
buting in a most generous way to the poor. He
was a prominent member of the Charitable
Irish Association of Boston. He married,
April 22, 1880, in Worcester, Elizabeth A.
McKenna, born in Worcester in 1859, daugh
ter of Patrick and Kate (Tighe) McKenna.
Her father and mother were born in Ireland
and came to America when young people, set
tling in Worcester; her father was a promi
nent Irishman in Worcester, one of the organ
izers of St. John's Catholic Church in that
city, to which he gave liberally. He died in
1870. Her mother died some years ago, leav
ing two daughters, Elizabeth A., mentioned
above, and Mary J., who married Patrick Car
roll, and is living a widow in Worcester. Mrs.
Ford was carefully reared and well educated,
especially in music. Some years of her early
womanhood were devoted to the teaching of
music. She was a member of St. John's Cath

olic Church in Worcester. Her interest in
church work has never ceased, and she is yet a
working member in local church societies.
Patrick W. and Elizabeth A. Ford had one
child, Mary Agnes, born 1883, graduated from
the Shurtleff School in 1899 and entered the
Notre Dame Academy at Boston, where she
graduated in 1901 with distinctive honors* in
music. She received a gold medal for her
high standing in piano music. She is devoted
to music and to her mother, whose care and
interests have been uppermost in her desires.

The hamlet of Pilsbury, or
PILLSBURY Pilsbury Grange, is situated
between thirty or forty
miles southeast of Liverpool, Staffordshire,
England. Pilsbury is the union of the two
words "pile" or "peel" and "burgh" or
"borough." Lower in his "Patronymica Brit-
annica," states: "Burgh, a component syllable
in many local surnames. It is the Anglo-Saxon
'burh,' 'bureh,' etc., a word common to most
German dialects. Its meaning appears to be
that which Richardson assigns, viz : 'A place
of defence or security.' The word occurs very
largely in local nomenclature as a prefix or ter
mination, sometimes in the middle of a name,
and in variously modified forms, as 'borough,'
'berry,' 'bury,' 'barrow,' etc." "Pile or peel, a
fortified farmhouse built on the border for
securing the inhabitants and their cattle in
moss — trooping times." In the reign of Ed
ward IV the inhabitants of Britain were order
ed to take surnames, and from Peelsbury,
Peelsborough, or Pillesburie, the first of the
Pillsburys took his cognomen.
(I) William Pillsbury, the settler, came to
Boston from England, probably in 1640 or
1641. Tradition has it that he left his native
land to escape the consequence of a misde
meanor, and on his arrival in Boston let him
self as a servant to pay the expense of his
passage. In 165 1 he bought forty acres of
land in Newbury on which was a dwelling
house, and appurtenant were meadow land,
rights of commonage, etc. For this he paid
one hundred pounds, fifteen in hand and the
rest in securities which family tradition says
consisted of real estate in Dorchester. The
original homestead in Newbury has remained
in the family and descended from father to
son for nearly two- hundred and fifty years,
and though reduced in size is now held and
occupied by members of the ninth generation.
The original deed from Edward Rawson is
still extant. William Pillsbury and his son

206

MASSACHUSETTS.

Job were members of the First Church, who
adhered to Mr. Woodman's party in the dis-
sentions which rent the church in 1671 and
were on the losing side. They were fined a
noble, about $1.63, each. William Pillsbury
was made freeman, April 29, 1668. He made
his will April 22, 1686, and died June 19, next
following. His inventory made July 7, 1686,
amounted to three hundred and six pounds,
nineteen shillings, ten pence, and there were
debts due the estate of twelve pounds. This
statement shows that he was a man of more
than ordinary wealth. Tradition says that he
was a lender of money which he kept con
cealed under the eaves of his thatched barn.
Like many others of his time he was a slave
holder, one of the items of his inventory being
"a man servant," valued at twelve pounds, an
Indian or negro, as there were no white slaves
at that time. William Pillsbury and Dorothy
Crosby were married between June and July
29, 1641. They had ten children, the first
four of whom were born in Dorchester. Their
children were: Deborah, Job, Moses, Abel,
Caleb, William, Experience, Increase, Thank
ful and Joshua.
(II) Job, eldest son of William and Doro
thy (Crosby) Pillsbury, was born in Dor
chester, October 16, 1643, died in New
bury, September 10, 1716. He was the exe
cutor of his father's will, inherited the greater
part of his father's estate and became a per
sonal, having comfortable means and enjoying
a good living. He took a part in the Newbury
church controversy, as stated above. He mar
ried, in Newbury, April 5, 1677, Katherine
Govett, who died September 1, 1718. They
had two sons, Daniel, Josiah, next mentioned.
By the terms of his will dated August 30,
1716, he left his estate to his two sons who
were to assume the support of their mother.
Job Pillsbury's inventory was: real estate,
five hundred and fifteen pounds ; personal, sev
enty-three pounds, two shillings ; total five hun
dred and eighty-eight pounds, two shillings.
(Ill) Josiah, son of Job and Katherine
(Govett) Pillsbury, was born in Newbury,
April 17, 1686, died in 1761. In 1729 he sold
his share in the homestead of his brother. He
was a cooper by trade, and was evidently an
industrious and prudent man, as by the
terms of his will, dated January 26, 1761,
he left a comfortable estate to his chil
dren. He married, May 12, 1720, Sarah
Kelley, who survived him. Their children
were: Josiah, Abiel, Sarah, Joseph, Richard,

Mary, John, Henry, Jacob, David, Edmund,
Abraham and Abigail.
(IV) David, son of Josiah and Sarah
(Kelley) Pillsbury, was born in Newbury,
July 20, 1737. He was a blacksmith by trade.
He received from his father's estate "land by
Joshua 'Pillsbury's and two acres of lot at
Crane neck hill, he to pay his sister Abigail
six pounds, ten shillings." He married, about
1757-58, Anna, whose surname has not come
down to us. Their children were : Elizabeth,
Jonathan, David, Abby and Anna.
(V) Jonathan, eldest son of David and Anna
Pillsbury, was bora in Newbury, Massachu
setts, May 15, 1762, died in Scarborough,
Maine, March 14, 1833. He was a shoemaker
and farmer in Scarborough, and in religious
faith was a staunch Friend or Quaker. He
always spelled his surname Pilsbery. He mar
ried (first) in Newburyport, November 25,
1787, Elizabeth Carl, who died in Scarborough,
May 7, 1800, aged thirty years. He married-
(second) in Scarborough, March 2, 1808,
Shuah Milliken, who died in Limington, Maine,
November 20, 1864, aged eighty-eight years.
She married for her second husband a Mr.
Burton, of Gorham, Maine. Jonathan was
the father of fourteen children, six by wife
Elizabeth ara-J eight by wife Shuah, as follows,
the first eight being born in Scarborough: 1.
David, August 15, 1788, died in Parsonsfield,
February 14, 1855. 2. Anna, October 10, 1790,
died in Waterboro, Maine, April, 1859. 3.
Miriam, December 8, 1792, died in Saco,
Maine, January 12, 1866. 4. Mary, January
20, 1795, died in West Newbury, Massachu
setts, August 21, 1872. 5. Joseph, April 26,
1797, died in Saco, April 23, 1863. 6. Mehit
able, October 30, 1799, died October 30, 1847,
unmarried. 7. John, December 18, 1808, died
March 12, 1847. 8. Charles C, November 3,
1810, died July 28, 1893. 9. Amos, November
29, 1812, died in Saco, October 31, 1874. 10.
Noah, February 5, 1815, died March 30, 1838.
11. Betsey, February 6, 1817, died in Brans-
wick, Maine, October 18, 1874. 12. William
C, see below. 13. Tristram, March 28, 1822,
died April 7, 1823. 14. Sarah, born July 28,
1823. (VI) William Cobb, son of Jonathan and
Shuah (Milliken) Pillsbury, was born in Scar
borough, January 9, 1820, died at Limington,
Maine, September 15, 1895. He was a tanner
and currier in Windham and Limington, dur
ing a large part of his life, and finally relin
quished the tannery to settle on the old Frost

MASSACHUSETTS.

207

farm, which had been in the possession of the
Frost family for over two hundred years. He
was a man of sterling character, his motto
was,. "Owe no man anything;" his payments
were always prompt and exact," and what was
due him he required with equal exactitude.
He was a member of the Sect of Friends and a
strong advocate of temperance. He married
(first) in Limington, January 1, 1846, Nancy
Frost, who died March 23, 1865, aged fifty-
two years. She was the daughter of Wingate
and Anna (Mitchel) Frost, of Limington, and
a descendant of James Frost, who was the
owner of a large tract of land in Limington in
early times. The children of this union were :
John H, James F., Anna and Alfred F. H.
He married (second) May 20, 1868, Maria
N. Frost, of Limington, who was born, Feb
ruary 26, 1835*, daughter of James and Nancy
Frost, James being an older half-brother of
first wife.
(VII) Alfred Fuller Howe, youngest child
of William Cobb and Nancy ( Frost) Pillsbury,
was born in Limington, May 18, 1856. He
attended the Limington Academy and the high
school, and went from the. latter place to
Massachusetts and attended Wilbraham- Acad
emy. He started in commercial life as a clerk
for Ginn & Heath, of Boston, booksellers. He
went from there back to the farm and assisted
his father for a year and then took charge of
the office of Irving BJake, baker, of Portland,
Maine. He was later with George C. Shaw
& Company, of Portland, grocers, where he
was delivery clerk. In 1881 he went to Spring
field, Massachusetts, to learn lithography with
Milton Bradley Company, who there carried
on a large business, fle continued in this
business fifteen years, and then not being able
to purchase an interest in the enterprise he
left it to engage in real estate and insurance
business, which he has since carried on. Mr.
Pillsbury has taken a lively interest in public
affairs and for the last seven years has been a
member of the city council, and was president
of the board of aldermen for the two years end
ing January, 1909. In politics he is a Republican.
He is a Free Mason of the thirty-second de
gree, a member of Hampden Lodge, Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons, of Springfield,
Massachusetts ; Springfield Commandery,
Knights Templar; Massachusetts Consistory;
and Malha Temple, Ancient Arabic Order
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is a member
of the County, the Winthrop, the Springfield
Automobile, and the South Branch Fishing
clubs. He attends the South Congregational

Church. Mr. Pillsbury married, October 20,
1887, Ella Augusta Perkins, born in Spring
field, November 18, 1861, only child of Virgil
and Eliza M. (Albee) Perkins, of Springfield.
Mr. and Mrs. Pillsbury have two children:
Alfred, born October 27, 1890, and Anna,
May 7, 1892.
Virgil Perkins was born March 1, 1823, in
Rock Valley, then a part of West Springfield,
but now of Holyoke. He was the son of
Horace and Elmina (Eggleston) Perkins,
being in the fifth generation descended from
John Perkins who came here from England
and settled in this vicinity. In the little old
cemetery on the Rock Valley road lie the re
mains of the pioneer John, his son John, his
son William, and William's wife Judith, and
their sons florace and Dr. Justin Perkins,
who was the first missionary sent by the A. B.
C. F. M. to Nestoria in 1833. He, too, was
born in Rock Valley, March 5, 1805. His early
education was of the most meagre sort, but he
early developed an ambition to attend college
and enter the ministry, and in April, 1823, he
began preparations for Amherst College.
About this time a son was born to his brother
Horace living in the same neighborhood, and
when the young student called to offer his
congratulations, he was asked to name the
child. He picked up a piece of charred wood
from the open fire and wrote over the fire
place "Virgil" and the boy was named. After
ward when Justin Perkins had graduated from
Amherst with honor, been ordained as a mis
sionary in the old Orthodox church in West
Springfield, and become the loved and honored
apostle to the Nestorians, Virgil Perkins would
tell with pardonable pride how he had received
his rather uncommon name. When eight years
of age Virgil Perkins was bound out to John
Wright, a farmer at Easthampton, until his
majority. Later he located at Chicopee Falls
and there worked for a Mr. Gleason, a grocery-
man and butcher. While in the village he
made the acquaintance of W. R. Purple, and
together- they talked over business and the
prospects for making a start in Springfield.
In 1848 their numerous talks culminated in
their removal to Springfield and purchasing
the grocery and meat store of H. Q. Sander
son, at the Watershops. The firm continued
business in that locality until about i860, when
the store was transferred to State street. In
1864 Mr. Perkins bought out Mr. Purple's
interest in the business and continued alone
for a number of years. In 1871 a partnership
was formed with George Nye, who had been

208

MASSACHUSETTS.

in Mr. Perkins's employ for some time. Later
the firm moved on Main street, opposite Hamp
den street, where they remained for some time.
After the removal of the Boston and Albany
railroad's freight business from its old quarters,
the firm occupied the building. After several
years occupancy of this place, a new elevator
building located nearer Main street was leased
by the firm. In 1880, after a business career
of eighteen years, the firm dissolved partner
ship. Mr. Perkins was a director in the Swift
Refrigerator Beef Transportation Company,
also in the Second National Bank, and a
trustee in the Five Cent Savings Bank. He
was at one time a director in the Longmeadow
railroad. He was a Republican in politics;
he was elected as alderman in 1863-64 from
ward seven. In the death of Mr. Perkins the
city of Springfield lost a man of sterling char
acter, uprightness and integrity. Many local
institutions have occasion to remember his life
with gratefulness. The City Library, Chil
dren's Home, School for Christian Workers
were objects of his attentions. Virgil Perkins
married Eliza M. Albee, daughter of Alvira
and Sally (Blanchard) Albee, of Westmore
land, New Hampshire.

The Amory family is said to have
AMORY descended from the family of
Montford l'Amaury of France.
It has been many generations in England. The
name is spelled in various ways. The arms
borne by the Amory family of Somersetshire,
England, are : Barry of six argent and .gules
on a chief of the first a lion passant of the
second armed. Crest : Eagle's head erased.
(I) Hugh Amory died in England in 1626.
He married Agnes Young, widow, daughter of
Nicholas and Joane Young. Children: 1.
Hugh, born 1605. 2. John, 1606-07, married
Mary Willet. 3. Thomas, mentioned below.
(II) Thomas, son of Hugh Amory, was
born in England, 1608, died in 1667. He
married, in 1631, Anne Elliot, born in 1613.
Children: 1. Thomas, married, Elizabeth Fitz-
maurice, and removed to Ireland. 2. Hugh,
born 1639, died unmarried. 3. Elizabeth, died
unmarried in 165 1. 4. John, born 1644, died
unmarried, 1730. 5. Ann, born 1645-46, mar
ried  Chappell. 6. Robert, born 1647-
48, died unmarried, 17 10. 7. Mary, born 1649,
married William Hoskins. 8. Henry, born
1652, died unmarried. 9. Elizabeth, married
Thomas Coynes, or Connies. 10. Jonathan,
mentioned below.
(Ill) Jonathan, son of Thomas Amory,

was born in England, in 1653-54, died in 1699.
He spent his youth with his elder brother in
Ireland, and became a merchant in Dublin.
He married (first) in 1677, Rebecca, widow
of David Houston. He went to the West
Indies with his brother Robert, and lived there
for a time. His wife died there in 1685, and
soon afterward he removed to Charleston,
South Carolina. He married (second) in
Charleston, Martha  , who died in 1699.
He acquired much land and houses, and be
came a wealthy man. He was speaker of the
colonial legislature, treasurer of the province,
and first treasurer of the proprietors. He died
in the fall of 1699, of yellow fever, and his
widow died three months later. Both left
wills. Children: 1. Judith, born 1680, mar
ried Joseph Groskeys. 2. Thomas, mentioned
below. 3. Robert, died young. 4. Ann, mar
ried James Ramsey. 5. Sarah, married Gov
ernor Arthur Middleton.
(IV) Thomas (2), son of Jonathan Amory,
was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1682, and
came to this country with his father in 1685.
In 1696 he was sent with his sister Ann to
England to be educated, and placed in the care
of his cousin, Counsellor Amory, who sent
him to Westminster school. After the death
of his father he entered the counting house of
M. Ozell, a French merchant in London, who
sent him in 1709 to the Azores as supercargo.
Here he established himself as a merchant. He
was appointed Dutch and English consul, and
remained here many years. In 1719 he wound
up his affairs and resigned his office, and June
4 of that year, at the earnest solicitation of his
relatives, set sail for Boston, arriving there
July 13. He spent the following winter with
his sister in South Carolina, and in the spring
travelled through Pennsylvania, New York,
and Rhode Island. He returned to Boston,
and bought land in South Boston, built a house
and wharves. He hired a counting house on
Long Wharf, of his friend, Governor Belcher,
and engaged in commerce with England, the
Azores, and Carolina. He died in Boston in
1728. Many volumes of his letters and account
books, written in English, French and Portu
gese, giving the story of his life in the Azores,
are still in existence and are very interesting.
He married, in May, 1721, Rebecca, daughter
of Francis Holmes, who had a summer home
in Boston, and spent his winters at Charleston.
Mr. Amory met the young woman on the trip
from the south. Children: 1. Thomas, born
April 22, 1722, mentioned below. 2. Mary,
1723, married Timothy Newell; died in 1804.

MASSACHUSETTS.

209

3. Rebecca, 1725, married Edward Payne. 4.
Jonathan, December 19, 1726, died 1797; mar
ried Abigail Taylor. 5. John, 1728, married
Caroline Greene.
(V) Thomas (3), son of Thomas (2)
Amory, was born April 22, 1722, died 1784.
He graduated at Harvard College in 1741, and
studied divinity, but never took orders. As
the eldest son he inherited a double portion of
his father's estate. He bought a house built
by Governor Belcher, at the corner of Har
vard and Washington streets, with gardens ex
tending to the water, and resided there until
his death in August, 1784. He engaged in
commerce with England. In 1776, at the re
quest of the selectmen of Boston, he went with
his brother Jonathan to Dorchester Heights to
ask General Washington to permit the British
troops to retire from the place unmolested, on
condition it should be left by them uninjured.
No agreement was reached, however. As his
wife's relatives were refugee loyalists, he was
regarded by many with suspicion, and was
obliged to live for some time in Watertown.
He married, in 1765, Elizabeth, daughter of
William Coffin. After his death the house
was destroyed in the great fire of 1790, and
the widow removed to the house on Franklin
place, where she died in 1823. Portraits of
both him and his wife by Copley are owned by
her descendants. Children: 1. Rebecca, born
1766, married Dr. Aaron Dexter. 2. Thomas
C, 1767, mentioned below. 3. Elizabeth, July
26, 1768, married Stephen Deblois. 4. Jon
athan, 1770, mentioned below. 5. John, 1771,
married Sarah Gardner. 6. Mary, 1773, mar
ried Jonathan Davis. 7. William, 1774, died
1812 in English navy. 8. Nathaniel, 1777, mar
ried Mary Preble.
(VI) Thomas C, son of Thomas (3)
Amory, was born in Boston in 1767, died in
1812. He married, in 1795, Hannah Rowe
Linzee, born 1775, died 1845. Children, bom
in Boston: 1. Thomas C, 1796, died 1865;
married, 1820, Esther Sargent; (second) 1857,
Almatia Pinkham. 2. Mary L., 1798, died
1859. 3. S. Linzee, 1800, died 1829. 4. Susan,
1802, died 1869; married, 1820, William H.
Preseott. 5. William, 1804, mentioned below.
6. Eliza A., 1806, died 1867. 7. Charles, 1808,
married, 1832, Martha B. Greene. 8. Edward
P., 1810, died 1812. 9. H. Louisa, 1813, died
1888; married, 1836, Edward D. Sohier.
(VI) Jonathan (2), son of Thomas (3)
Amory, was born in 1770. He graduated at
Harvard in 1787, and entered the counting
house of his uncles, J. & J. Amory. Later lie
i— 14

went into business with James Cutler, and
afterwards entered into partnership with his
brother, Thomas C. Amory, as a merchant, and
acquired a handsome property. After 181 1 he
resided on Park street, Boston, in the house
of the late Abbott Lawrence, and died there
in August, 1828. He married (first) in 1793,
Ruth or Ann Wyer, born 1771, died 1795. fle
married (second) in 1801, Mehitable (Sulli
van) Cutler, born 1772, and died 1847; she
was widow of his partner, James Cutler, and
daughter of Governor James Sullivan. Chil
dren: 1. Jonathan, born 1802, mentioned be
low. 2. Elizabeth, 1805, died 1859. 3. James
Sullivan, 1809, mentioned below. 4. Frances
M., 1807, died 1886; married Samuel O. Mere
dith. 5. Rebecca A., 181 1, died 1894. 6.
Thomas C, 1812, mentioned below. 7. Isa
bella L., 1815, died 1888.
(VII) William, son of Thomas C. Amory,
vyas born in 1804 and died in 1888. He mar
ried, 1832, Anna Sears, born 1813, died 1895,
daughter of David Sears. He was educated
in Harvard College, class of 1823. He was
a prominent manufacturer. In 1837 he was
treasurer of the Jackson Company of Nashua,
New Hampshire, and the Amoskeag Company
of Manchester made him treasurer that year.
It was a period of progress and expansion and
he carried out the plans of the company for
canals and extensions with marked ability and'
success, conceived other plans and executed
them. From eight thousand spindles in opera
tion at the time he took charge the business
grew to one hundred and thirty-nine thousand
spindles in 1876 when he resigned. The growth
of business was marvellous; the average divi
dends in that period from 1837 to 1876 were
eleven per cent and the company accumulated
a capital of two million dollars invested in
extensions and other property in that time.
Mr. Amory became president of the corpora
tion in 1876 and was succeeded by T. Jefferson
Coolidge as treasurer. Mr. Amory was also
treasurer of the Stark Mills, "-a child of the
Amoskeag Company of Manchester. He organ
ized the Amory Manufacturing Company in
1879 to manufacture fine and medium shirtings
and sheetings and yarns. He was the first
treasurer of the Nashua Manufacturing Com
pany. He was a director of Merchants' Nat
ional Bank, and overseer of Harvard College.
In religion he was an Episcopalian; in politics
a Whig and during war and afterwards a Re
publican. Children: 1. William, born 1833,
married, i860, Ellen Brewer, born 1835, died
j.873; (second) 1874, Ehilomene_ Gnichard,

2IO

MASSACHUSETTS.

born 1832, died 1894; (third) Louise Gaude-
let. 2. Harriet S., 1835, died 1865; married,
i860, Joseph P. Gardner, born 1828, died 1875.
3. Ellen S., 1837, died 1908; married John F.
Anderson. 4. Charles W., 1842, mentioned
below. 5. Francis I., 1850; mentioned below.
(VII) Jonathan (3), son of Jonathan (2)
Amory, was born in 1802, died in 1885. He
married Letitia Austin, born 1806, died 1875,
daughter of John and Mary (Redding) Austin.
Children : 1. Jonathan Austin, born 1827, died
and buried in Japan, 1861. 2. Thomas Isaac
Coffin, mentioned below. 3. Letitia, born in
Isle of Wight, England, 1830, married Lucius
Manlius Sargent Jr., who was killed at Belle-
field, Virginia, while lieutenant colonel com
manding First Massachusetts Cavalry Regi
ment ; children : i. Mary Turner Sargent, mar
ried Thomas Burgess, son of Bishop Burgess;
son Daniel, deceased; ii. George Amory Sar
gent, born in Roxbury, July 26, 1854, attend
ed private schools in Boston and Jamaica
Plain, and graduated A. B. from Harvard,
1876, and M. D. from Harvard, 1886; began
practice at Boston; assistant city physician;
vaccinator for board of health fourteen years ;
county jail physician about fourteen years;
member of Massachusetts Medical Associa
tion and American Medical Association; an
Episcopalian in religion ; married Sally Prince
Osgood, daughter of George Prince and Caro
line (Perkins) Osgood; iii. Sullivan Amory
Sargent, born in Boston, January 9, 1861, attend
ed private schools in Germany and Switzerland
four years ; member of Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, class of 1880; studied archi
tecture ; served as draughtsman at Newport,
Rhode Island, one and one-half years; in 1882
became bass of Arlington Street Church quar
tette, which position he still holds, a period of
twenty-seven years ; vocal teacher ; teacher on
piano and cello ; now vocal teacher in New
England Conservatory; member of Loyal
Legion; married Grace Fessenden, daughter
of Sewall H. and Louisa Bursley; children:
Sullivan Amory Jr., born September 30, 1887;
Lucius Manlius, November 10, 1893 ; Helen
Bursley, August 11, 1902; Grace Fessenden,
January 17, 1904; iv. Ellen B. Sargent. 4.
George Washington, born 1832, married Caro
line M. Bigelow, daughter of Judge Bigelow,
1870; children: i. Caroline M., born 1874,
unmarried; ii. Constance, born 1876, married
Philip Wadsworth. 5. Mary F., born 1833,
died 1896; married Samuel Haskell, died 1891 ;
children : i. Child, died aged eight years ; ii.
Jonathan Amory Haskell, married Margaret

Riker, resides in New York City; iii. Henry
Garner Haskell, born 1870, resides in Wil
mington. 6. Elizabeth, born -1835, unmarried.
7. Harriet, born 1837, married Thomas Garner ;
daughter Fannie married C. Oliver Iselin, of
New Rocheile, New York; four children:
Nora, Fannie, married Philip Livermore,
Adrian and Oliver. 8. William Appleton, born
March, 1839, resides in Chicago, auditor of
expenditure for Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
railroad for thirty years; married Rosalie G.
Ernst. 9. Charles B., born July 30, 1841, men
tioned below. 10. R. Gordon, born 1847, men
tioned below. 11. Philip Dumeresq, born 1848,
died 1849.
(VII) James Sullivan, son of Jonathan (2)
Amory, was born in 1809, died in 1884. A
portrait of Governor James Sullivan, ancestor
and namesake of Mr. Amory, painted by Gil
bert Stuart in 1807 is now in possession of the
Massachusetts Historical Society of which
Governor Sullivan was one of the founders
and first president. His house stood where
state house now stands ; Pemberton square was
part of the garden when hill was cut down
some thirty feet ; house was razed after sale of
hill for improvement for house lots. He mar
ried Mary Copley Greene, daughter of Gardi
ner and Elizabeth (Copley) Greene, the latter
of whom was a daughter of a Royal Acade
mician and a sister of John Singleton Copley
(Lord Lyndhurst), three times Lord High
Chancellor of England. Gardiner Greene was
a wealthy Boston merchant. Children of Mr.
and Mrs. Amory: 1. James Appleton, born
1839, died 1 86 1. 2. Arthur, mentioned below.
3. Dr. Robert, mentioned below. 4. Frances
M., 1843, died 1844. 5. Frederick, 1844. 6.
Gertrude, 1846, died 1847. 7- Harold, 1847,
died 1852. 8. Mary C, 1849, died 1852. 9.
Mountfort, 1850, died 1852. 10. Augustine
Heard, 1852, graduate of Harvard, 1877;
Episcopal clergyman rector of a church in
Lawrence, Massachusetts, and of a church in
Lynn, Massachusetts; married Elizabeth T.
Snelling, born 1855 '¦> children : James S., born
1890, and Harold, 1893. 11. Harcourt, 1855,
graduate of Harvard, 1876; married, 1891,
Gertrude L. Chase, born 1868 ; children : Ger
trude L., and Harcourt, born 1894.
(VII) Thomas Coffin, son of Jonathan (2)
Amory, was born in Boston in 1812. At the
age of eight he entered a boarding school on
the shores of Jamaica pond, and two years
later went to Northampton to a similar school.
Leaving Round Hill Seminary at the age of
fourteen, he studied with tutors, entered an

MASSACHUSETTS.

211

advanced class at Harvard, and took his degree
in 1830. His health being impaired he took
a sea voyage and travelled abroad. Return
ing, he studied law with his uncle, General
William Sullivan, and was admitted to the Suf
folk bar. He practiced a short time, one of
his cases being in collaboration with Rufus
Choate against Richard D. Fletcher, and
Horace Mann as opposing counsel. He soon
gave up the law, however, and spent the winter
of 1842 in Cuba, later travelling in Europe.
On his return he took up the study of litera
ture and history, especially that of Massachu
setts, contributed to periodicals and news
papers, and wrote the biography of his grand
father, Governor James Sullivan, a two volume
book published in 1858. He was elected an
alderman of Boston in 1858, and to the legis
lature the following year. He was five years
alderman and was chairman of the overseers
of the poor. He was chairman of a committee
sent to Halifax to invite the Prince of Wales
to visit Boston. He was chairman of the
committee which superintended the erection of
the Boston City Hospital, and president of
the first board of trustees of that institution.
He delivered the address at its dedication in
1864. He was in great demand as an orator,
and delivered many addresses. He was chair
man of the committee on police, and in 1862,
during the draft-riots, he interfered arid was
violently assaulted, barely escaping with his
life, fle was elected a member of the city
council in 1864 and many times afterward, and
served as chairman of the council. It was due
largely to his efforts that the Charity building
on Clarendon street was erected. He was
four years on the school committee, and was
a member of numerous charitable organiza
tions. Before the war he was a Whig, after
wards a Democrat. In 1859 he was a repre
sentative to the general court, and in the fol
lowing year was nominated for the state senate
but withdrew in favor of a rival candidate.
He came within one vote of being nominated
for congress. In 1865 he was Democratic
candidate for mayor of Boston. While chair
man of the aldermanic committee on overseers
of the poor he arranged a weekly meeting of
the public and private almoners during the
winter to consult and systematize their work.
His report on the work and usefulness of these
conferences resulted eventually in the adop
tion in Boston of one of the best organiza
tions for the distribution of alms and the pre
vention of pauperism in the state if not in
the country. Among the printed reports giv

ing evidence of the careful study and public
spirit of Mr. Amory are those on city hos
pitals, in which he was especially interested;
on ferries, which led eventually to the pur
chase of the ferries by the municipality; on
county relations, law department, ordinances
and primary meetings ; weights and measures ;
the Hancock House ; town criers ; street widen
ing ; printing ; city charities ; amendments to
the city charter ; state aid to volunteers ; public
instruction ; the police force ; methods of re
cruiting the army and supplying the state
quota. He opposed the Metropolitan police
bill, and is credited with defeating its passage.
His report on state begging was a notable
document. He was one of the first to advocate
the erection of the Charity building, now
located on Chardon street. His report on
municipal questions in answer to various
queries of the English government was pub
lished by the local government board (Eng
land) 1878., He wrote the annual report of
the Boston school board for 1867. He was a
member of the Charitable Historical and
Scientific Society, and a founder of the Social
Science Association. Among the lectures that
he delivered from time to time were : "Old
Homes," "Old Cambridge and New," "Our
English Ancestors," "Homes of the Olden
Times," "John Winthrop," "The Siege of
Louisburg," "The Siege of Newport," "Seals
of Massachusetts," "Street Nomenclature of
Boston." He wrote biographies and other
articles for various publications. He wrote
the memoir of General Sullivan, of revolution
ary fame, and a pamphlet in answer to un
truthful asperions on the character of General
Sullivan. His letters from Europe in 1871
were published. He wrote a versified legend
of William Blackstone, sole inhabitant of Bos
ton for the Old South Fair ; also other metrical
productions. His most important book was
perhaps, "Transfer of Ireland, or the Acquisi
tion of Ireland by the English," published first
in magazine form, then in two volumes, 1878,
by Lippincott of Philadelphia. He is one of
the one hundred members of the Massachu
setts Historical Society to which he has con
tributed valuable papers. In religion he was
an Episcopalian, member of Trinity Church.
He never married.
(VIII) Charles W., son of William Amory,
was born in Boston, October 16, 1842. He
was educated in the public schools, in Pro
fessor Wayne Lovering's School and at Har
vard College where he was graduated in the
class of 1863 with the degree of A. B. He

212

MASSACHUSETTS.

enlisted in Company G, Second Massachusetts
Cavalry, and was taken prisoner July 6, 1864.
For three weeks he was confined with other
Union prisoners in box-cars at Macon, Georgia,
then in the common jail at Charleston, South
Carolina. He was released on parole in Octo
ber, was exchanged and returned to his regi
ment in January, 1865, in the campaign in the
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. He took part
in the great review in Washington at the close
of the war. After the war he went abroad,
traveling for recreation and health through
Norway, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Italy,
France and Spain. In the autumn of 1866 he
came home and entered the firm of Wain
wright & Amory, stock brokers. After seven
years in this business, he retired on account
of ill health and spent three years in Europe.
In 1879, upon his return, he became treasurer
of the Amory Cotton Mills, owned by his
father. From 1898 to 1905 he was treasurer
of the great Amoskeag Mills at Manchester,
New Hampshire. Since then he has been presi
dent of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Com
pany. He married, 1867, Elizabeth Gardner,
born 1843. Children: 1. William, born Sep
tember, 1869, graduate of Harvard in 1891 ;
resides in Boston; married Mary Stockton.
2. Clara, 1872, married T. Jefferson Coolidge
Jr., born 1863. 3. George Gardner, 1874, grad
uate of Harvard in 1896; resides at Boston;
associated in business with his father. 4.
Dorothy, married Frederick Winthrop.
(VIII) Francis I., son of William Amory,
was born in Boston, June 5, 1850. He attend
ed the Epes S. Dixwell School and fitted there
for Flarvard College, where he was graduated
in the class of 1871 with the degree of A. B.
He studied law in the Harvard Law School,
graduating in 1875 with degree of LL. B. He
has not been in active practice but has spent
most of his time in management of trust
estates. He is an Episcopalian in religion and
a Republican in politics. He is a member of
Somerset, Country and Essex County clubs.
He married, May 12, 1886, Grace J. Minot,
born September, 1859, daughter of Charles H.
and Maria J. (Grafton) Minot, of Boston.
Children, born in Boston f 1. Mary J., June
27, 1887. 2. Charles M., December 6, 1890,
prepared for college at Groton school, Groton ;
student of Harvard College, class of 1912. 3.
Child, died young. 4. Francis I. Jr., May 16,
1859, student in the Noble Greenough School.
(VIII) Colonel Thomas Isaac Coffin, son of
Jonathan (3) Amory, was born in Boston,
November 27, 1828. His earlier years were

spent in boarding schools, one being at New
port, Rhode Island. In 1846 he was appointed
to the West Point Military Academy, from
which he was graduated with the class of 1851
as brevet second lieutenant. He served in the
seventh cavalry, United States army, until
i860, when he was ordered to Boston on re
cruiting service. He was commissioned sec
ond lieutenant August 21, 1851 ; first lieuten
ant August 16, 1855 ; captain May 7, 1861 ;
major Eighth Infantry, United States army,
September 19, 1864. His service with the
Seventh Cavalry was mostly in the west and
southwest. He was stationed at Jefferson
Barracks, Missouri, at Fort Smith, Arkansas,
and other points. At the breaking out of the
rebellion he was for a time the only regular
army officer in Boston, and proved extremely
useful to Governor Andrew as to advice in the
enlistment and equipment of state regiments
for the war, and as acting commissary of
muster, and it was he who mustered into the
service of the United States the first of these
regiments. On September 2, 1861, Governor
Andrew commissioned him colonel of the
Seventeenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volun
teers. He proved himself an able and efficient
officer, and his service was conspicuously
meritorious until his death at Newberne,
North Carolina, in October, 1864, from an
attack' of yellow fever while in the line of his
duty. He married, in 1853, Mary M. Nolan,
who died a few days before her husband, and
from the same disease. Children: 1. Thomas
Montford, died in 1863 at Newberne, North
Carolina. 2. Edward J., born 1856, resides
in Wilmington, Delaware. 3. William N. 4.
Mary, died in 1878, while a student at Pelham
Priory. 5. Laura C, married Thomas C.
Dugan, of New Orleans, Louisiana ; resides in
New York City.
(VIII) Major Charles Bean, son of Jona
than (3) Amory, was born in New York, July
30, 1841. He was educated in the public
schools, grammar and high, at Jamaica Plain.
He began business life in May, 1857, entering
the counting-room of B. C. Clark & Company,
Commercial Wharf, Boston, and remained
there until the civil war period, when he
entered the army, having previously served in
1860-61 as a private in the New England
Guards. He was first lieutenant of the Twenty-
fourth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers,
from September 2, 1861, to July, 1862, and
captain from the latter date to May, 1864;
then became captain and assistant adjutant-
general, United States Volunteers, staff of

MASSACHUSETTS.

213

General William F. Bartlett; and brevet major
for gallantry in front of Petersburg, May 13,
1865. He served with his regiment in the
following engagements: Burnside expedition
to North Carolina, Roanoke Island, capture of
Newberne, Tarboro, Kinston, Whitehall,
Goldsborough, the siege of Morris Island and
Fort 'Sumter, the charge on rifle-pits in front
of Battery Wagner, Drewry's Bluff, and then
on the staff of General W. F. Bartlett in front
of Petersburg, and at the explosion of Peters
burg mine. At the latter he was captured and
taken to Danville, Virginia, thence to Rich
land jail, Columbia, South Carolina, and thence
to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he escaped
with Lieutenant Hoppin, Second Massachu
setts Heavy Artillery. They were out five
weeks tramping over the Blue Ridge and Alle
ghany mountains, striking the pickets of Gen
eral Thomas's army at Greenville, East Tennes
see. Then they received leave of absence for
thirty days, at the end of which time Rich
mond had fallen and the war was practically
over. Consequently Major Amory resigned.
After the war he was for two years, 1865-66,
confidential clerk to Burnham & Dexter, cotton
buyers in New Orleans. The next two years,
1867-68, he was a member of the firm of Tab-
ary & Amory, cotton brokers in New Orleans ;
from 1869 to 1878 a member of the firm of
Jno. A. Burnham & Company, cotton buyers ;
from 1878 to 1885 of the firm of Appleton,
Amory & Company, in the same business. Then,
leaving New Orleans and coming north, he
was in 1886 elected treasurer of the Hamil
ton Company of Lowell, with office in Boston,
the position he now holds. Mr. Amory is a
member of the Massachusetts Military His
torical Society, of the Loyal Legion, and of
the Somerset and Country clubs. His resi
dence is in Milton, where he is warden of the
Church of the Holy Spirit, Mattapan. He
married (first) June 9, 1867, Emily A. Ferri-
day, of Concordia Parish, Louisiana, who was
born in 1848, died July 31, 1879, daughter of
William and  (Smith) Ferriday. He
maried (second) April 30, 1881, Lilly Clapp,
born in 1856, daughter of Emory and Pamela
(Starr) Clapp, of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Children by second marriage: 1. Charles B.,
born 1882, educated at Pennsylvania Military
College, graduating in 1904; same year com
missioned second lieutenant and assigned to
First Infantry, United States army; in 1908
transferred to Ninth Cavalry; now (i9°9)
serving his third year in the Philippines,
located on Island of Luzon. 2. Leita Mont

gomery, born 1883, married Charles E. Per
kins, son of Charles E. and Edith (Forbes)
Perkins, of Boston; resides in Burlington,
Iowa. 3. John Austin, born 1885, in New
Orleans, Louisiana, graduate of Milton Acad
emy and of Harvard College, class of 1908;
now assistant secretary of State Street Trust
Company. 4. Roger, born in Boston, 1887,
attended private schools in Milton and Milton
Academy ; student at Harvard College, class of
1910; enlisted in December, 1907, for three
years as private in Troop B, First Battalion,
Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.
(VIII) Lieutenant Robert Gordon, son of
Jonathan (3) Amory, was born in Roxbury,
April 12, 1847. He attended a private school
at Jamaica Plain, and a boarding school at
Newton Center. He enlisted as a musician
in the Second Massachusetts Artillery, April
15, 1863, and was stationed at Newberne,
North Carolina; was transferred to Company
D, Second Artillery, and made sergeant; was
commissioned second lieutenant, August, 1864,
and remained in service until September 3,
1865, when he was honorably mustered out.
His service was mostly in fortifications out
side of Newberne, and at Forts Macon, Fisher
and Johnson. After leaving the military ser
vice he returned to Boston, and was associated
with his father as clerk. He was afterwards
appointed to a clerkship in the clearance de
partment of the Boston custom house, and
was afterward clerk to the cashier of the cus
tom house until 1876, when he resigned. He
then went to New York, where he remained
until 1887, at that time leaving the agency of
the Boston Belting Company. He was asso
ciated with Nathan Matthews in the manage
ment of his mother's large estate for a number
of years. Since 1899 he has been in the cotton
business with Francis C. Stanwood, at 4 Post
Office Square, Boston. He is a companion of
the Massachusetts Commandery, Military
Order of the Loyal Legion, and a comrade of
Charles Ward Post, No. 62, Grand Army of
the Republic, Newton. In religion he is an
Episcopalian, and in politics a Republican. He
married Annie Jameson, daughter of Thorn-
dike and Lucinda L. (Otis) Jameson, of Bos
ton. They have no children.
(VIII) Arthur, son of James Sullivan
Amory, was born in Boston, February 6, 1841.
He fitted for college in Mr. Dixwell's School
and graduated from Harvard in the class of
1862, a classmate of General William F. Bart
lett. He received the degree of A. M. He
began his business career with the firm of

214

MASSACHUSETTS.

Slade & Colby, wholesale dry goods commission
merchants, New York City, representatives of
Upham, Tucker & Company, selling agents for
the Lancaster Mills, the Nashua Mills, Jack
son Mills and other large manufacturers of
cotton goods, etc. After three years he was
admitted to the firm of Upham, Tucker &
Company. He was connected with the New
York house of this firm until 1877 when he
returned to Boston. The firm name became
Dana, Tucker & Company, then Amory,
Browne & Company, with Mr. Amory at the
head of the business, and so continues. He is
a director of the Old Boston National Bank,
not the largest bank of Boston but without
doubt the highest in standing and financial
reputation. lie is president of the Indian
Head Mills of Alabama and of the Nashua
Manufacturing Company of Nashua, New
Hampshire, and a director of the Atlantic
Mills of Lawrence, Massachusetts. He is an
Episcopalian in religion, and a Republican in
politics. He is a member of the Somerset
Club, Harvard Club of New York, one of the
five founders of the Eastern Yacht Club and
Wednesday Evening Club. He married, June
6, 1866, Elizabeth W. Ingersoll, born in Phil
adelphia, in which city she inherited the family
plantation, daughter of Charles and Susan
(Brown) Ingersoll, the former of whom was
a very distinguished barrister and a very prom
inent citizen of Philadelphia. Children: 1.
Arthur, born 1767, died 1898 ; graduate of
Harvard, 1892 ; married Mabel Sard. 2. Inger
soll, born 1869, graduate of Harvard, 1892. 3.
Susan, born 1871, married Edwin B. Bart
lett ; child, Betty Bartlett. 4. Ethel, born 1873.
5. Sullivan, born 1878, died 1881.
(VIII) Dr. Robert, son of James Sullivan
Amory, was born in Boston, May 3, 1842. He
attended the Epes Sargent Dixwell School
where he fitted for college, entered Harvard
and graduate in the class of 1863 with the
degree of A. B. and from the Medical School
in 1866 with the degree of M. D. In the spring
of 1866 he was an interne at the Massachu
setts General Hospital and subsequently
studied in Professor Tardieu's laboratory at
Paris and at Dublin Rotunda Lying-in-flos-
pital. In 1867 he began to practice at Long-
wood, part of Brookline, Massachusetts, where
he has since resided. He was devoted to his
profession and became eminently successful
as a practitioner. At the same time, under
circumstances particularly favorable, he prose
cuted medical research, fle published a treatise
in 1870 entitled "Action of Nitrous Oxide"

and in 1872 "Bromides of Potassium and
Ammonium." In 1872 he wrote an article for
the New York Medical Journal entitled
"Chloral Hydrates — Experiments disproving
Evolution of Chloroform in the Organism."
Later, he had a paper in the London Practi
tioner on the "Pathological Action of Prussic
Acid." He wrote the chapter on "Poisons" in
the third edition of Wharton & Stille's Medical
Jurisprudence published in 1873 hy Kay &
Brother. In a second edition of this work he
and Professor E. S. Wood of the Harvard
Medical School expanded the chapter into the
second volume of the work. He translated
"Lectures on Physiology" by Professor Kiiss
of Strasburg University Medical School, pub
lished in Boston in 1875, and during the same
year he contributed to the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences papers on "Photographs
of the Spectrum and Other Subjects." As
reporter on Medical and Surgical Journal of
Boston on the progress of therapeutics, he
wrote various papers as to the action of drugs.
In 1869 he was appointed annual lecturer on
the physiological action of drugs for that year
in Harvard Medical School and later was
appointed professor of physiology in the Bow
doin College Medical School. He resigned in
1874. He was councillor and vice-president of
the Norfolk County District Medical Society
and afterward president; councillor of the
Massachusetts Medical Society and trial com
missioner. In May, 1880, he was delegate
from the Massachusetts Medical Society to
the sixth decennial convention of state medical
societies, colleges of physicians and surgeons
and o f pharmacy, held in Washington, to revise
and publish an official guide for physicians and
apothecaries of the United States ; was perma
nent president of the convention and member
of the general committee on revision and pub
lication. The result of the work — The United
States Pharmacopeia — was published by Will
iam Wood & Company, New York, in 1882.
He was an early member of the Boston Society
of Medical Observation, treasurer and presi
dent of the Boston Society of Medical Re
search, and corresponding member of the New
York Therapeutical Society. In 1879 with Dr.
Sabine he examined the causes of an epidemic
of typhoid fever in Brookline, and their re
port, published in a supplemental volume of
the Massachusetts State Board of Health, was
highly commended for its thoroughness and
hygienic value. In 1876 he was appointed
medical director of the Second Brigade, Mass
achusetts Volunteer Militia, with the rank of

MASSACHUSETTS.

215

lieutenant-colonel. When the antiquated and
obectionable office of coroner was abolished in
Massachusetts, Dr. Amory was appointed by
the governor medical examiner of the eighth
¦district of Norfolk county and with Dr. Alfred
Flosmer, another medical examiner, he organ
ized the Massachusetts Medico-Legal Society,
of which he was recording secretary two years
and afterward president. The membership of
this society consists of all the medical exam
iners of the state, the attorney general and dis
trict attorneys, and various legal and medical
men interested in the subject. In 1881 he built
a summer home at Mount Desert, Maine, and
practised there during the summer months,
resigning his office as medical examiner, his
commission in the militia and as president of
the Medico-Legal Society. His closing address
to that society was printed in the Medical and
Surgical Journal in December, 1881. He has
been active in public affairs in Brookline, serv
ing nine years as member and four as secre
tary of the school committee, and six years as
trustee of the public library. Since 1871 he
has been a member of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences and since 1864 of the
National Historical Society of Boston. He
has been president and manager of the Brook
line Gaslight Company and is a member of the
St. Botolph, Algonquin, Somerset and Uni
versity clubs of Boston and the University
Club of New York.
He married (first) in May, 1864, Marianne
Appleton Lawrence, born 1843, died in 1882.
He married (second) September, 1884, Kath
erine Leighton Crehore, born 1864. Child of
first wife: 1. Alice, married, 1892, Augustus
Thorndike. Children of second wife : 2. Rob
ert Jr., born 1885. 3. Mary Copley, 1888. 4.
Katherine L., 1891. 5. Margery Sullivan,
1897-  The Rev. John Robinson,
ROBINSON the father of the Puritans
in England in 1620, pastor
of the Pilgrims in Holland before they sailed
in the "Mayflower" and landed at Plymouth,
New England, is the progenitor of a branch of
the Robinsons of New England who proudly
claim a heritage of brain and power seldom
vouchsafed to a family able to maintain through
successive generations so rich an heritage. To
Samuel Robinson, the founder of Bennington,
Vermont, and his descendants, this honor be
longs. In a single century his descendants
claim to have had two representatives in the
chair of governor; two in the United States

senate ; six on the bench of a court of justice,
including the highest degree ; acknowledged
leaders of Democratic party in three genera
tions ; United States marshals, generals, col
onels, state attorneys, town clerks and lesser
officials without number. Dartmouth College
in 1790 had an honorary class and conferred
degrees on Josiah Bartlett, Samuel Bass, Alex
ander Hamilton, Aaron Hutchinson, Peter
Olcott, Jonathan arid Moses Robinson, of Ver
mont. They were allied with the ancestry of
Governor Jonathan Trumbull, of Connecticut,
and other notable New England families.
(I) William Robinson, immigrant ancestor
of this branch of the Robinson family, was
born about 1640. The first record obtainable
shows that he was living in Watertown, Mass
achusetts, as early as 1670. He then had a
farm of two hundred acres on the narrow
neck of land claimed by both Concord and
Watertown. He was a signer of the original
petition for the separation of Newtowne and
Cambridge in 1678. He married in Cambridge
as early as 1667, Elizabeth Cutter, born in
Cambridge, July 15, 1645, daughter of Rich
ard and Elizabeth (Williams) Cutter. Eliza
beth Williams is said to have come with her
father, Robert Williams, in the ship "John and
Dorothy" to Massachusetts, April 8, 1637.
Robert Williams was born in 1608, in Nor-
wick, Norfolk county, England, and was a
cordwainer. His wife Elizabeth was born in
1626, in England, and was admitted to the
church at Roxbury in 1644. She died in Cam
bridge, March 5, 1662. Children: 1. Eliza
beth, born at Cambridge, 1669, married, De
cember 20, 1693, Daniel McGregor, of Wash
ington. 2. Hannah (Ann), Concord, July 13,
1671, died at Cambridge, October 5, 167*2. 3.
William, July 10, 1673, married Elizabeth Up
ham; died at Newton, 1754. 4. Mercy, August
7, 1676. 5. David, May 23, 1678, died at the
age of ninety-five, and was "lame and help
less" in old age. 6. Samuel (twin), April 20,
1680, resided at Grafton and Hardwick, Mass
achusetts, and was a prominent man. 7. Jona
than (twin), April 20, 1680, mentioned below.
(II) Samuel, twin of Jonathan, son of
William and Elizabeth (Cutter) Robinson,
was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay
Colony, April 20, 1680. Jonathan removed to
Cambridge farms in 1706 and it is probable
that about 1735, on the organization of the
town of Grafton, William, the father, with his
son Samuel and other members of the family
removed to the new town, the place they set
tled being set off as Hardwick in 1739. He

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MASSACHUSETTS.

married Sarah Manning. He was a soldier
in the French and Indian wars and a founder
of Bennington, Vermont, with his sons, and he
died there in 1767.
(Ill) Samuel (2), the eldest son of Samuel
(1) and Sarah (Manning) Robinson, was
born in Cambridge, Middlesex county, Massa
chusetts, April 1, 1707, and was brought up
in that place and removed to Hardwick in 1735
and thence to the disputed territory known as
New Hampshire Grants (Vermont) in 1761,
locating at Bennington. While in Massachu
setts he had been a captain in the Massachu
setts troop through the several campaigns in
the vicinity of Lakes George and Champlain,
in the French and Indian wars, and went from
Hardwick to the New Hampshire Grants in
1761 and was made the first justice of the
peace in Bennington, being commissioned by
Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire.
This appointment brought him prominently
before the people in the struggles between
New Hampshire and New York authorities,
and as an appointee of Wentworth he took
sides in the case of two claimants in Pownal
and was supported by Samuel Ashby, a New
Hampshire deputy sheriff, and both men were
arrested by the authorities of the state of New
York and carried to Albany where they were
placed in jail, and Robinson and Ashley were
indicted for resisting the New York officers,
but never brought to trial as after an acrimon
ious correspondence between the governors of
New York and New Hampshire the affair
ended in a compromise. On his return to
the grants, Captain Robinson was deputed by
the settlers in 1765 to go to Albany and try to
save the lands on which they had settled, built
homes ; and were occupying from speculators,
who were obtaining grants of the very same
land from the land of Lieutenant-Governor
Colden, but his efforts were unavailing. He
was sent in 1766 as an agent for the settlers
to England to present their claims to the
British ministry, and his purpose was receiv
ing favorable consideration and was likely to
succeed when he was stopped from further
action by the dread disease, small-pox, from
which he died in London, England, October
27, 1767. His eldest son, Colonel Samuel
Robinson, was elected one of the town com
mittee of Bennington to succeed his father.
Captain Robinson married, while a resident of
Hardwick, Massachusetts, Mercy Leonard,
daughter of Moses Leonard, and their chil
dren were all born in that town. These chil
dren were: 1. Samuel (q. v.). 2. Moses,

born March 20, 1741, attended Dartmouth Col
lege, removed to Bennington, Vermont, in
1761 ; was the first clerk of Bennington in
1762 and served for nineteen years. As col
onel of the militia, he was in command of his
regiment on Mount Independence, when Ticon-
deroga was evacuated by St. Clair, July 5,
1777, and after that disastrous event he was
a member of the committee of safety, in con
tinuous session for several months. He was
a member of the governor's council, 1777-85,
and during the infant troubles of the new
state he had the confidence of the leaders and
the fathers of the movement, although his
official position prevented his taking an active
part, fle was the first chief justice of the new
state and held the office until 1789, when he
was elected governor of Vermont, but before
it was admitted as a state and by the legisla
ture after Crittenden had received 1263 votes
from the freemen, Robinson 746, and Samuel
Safford 378. He was an agent from the state
of the continental congress in 1782 and one
of the commissioners to finally adjust the con
troversy with New York. He received the
honorary degree of A. M. from Yale and
Dartmouth in 1790. In 1791 he was chosen a
United States senator in congress when he
approved the ratification of the Jay treaty and
not being in accord with the majority of his
party in the state he resigned his seat in the
United States senate in October, 1796, served
for one term in the state legislature as a repre
sentative from Bennington, where he died May
26, 1813. He married (first) Mary, daughter
of Stephen Fay, July 25, 1762, who died in
1801, and by her had six sons of whom Moses,
the eldest was a representative in the state
council and a member of the general assembly
of Vermont, and Aaron, the second child, was
town clerk for seven years, justice of the
peace for twenty-three years, representative
in state legislature, 1816-17, judge of probate,
1835-36; and Samuel, the third child, was clerk
of the supreme court for the county, 1794-
1815, and Nathan, another son, was a repre
sentative in the state legislature, a lawyer, and
died at the age of forty, a member of the
assembly. Moses married (second) Susannah,
widow of Major Artemus Howe, and daughter
of General Jonathan Warner, of Hardwick,
Massachusetts. 3. Nathan, born about 1752,
had son, John Saniford Robinson, who was
bora in Bennington, November 10, 1804. He
was graduated at Williams College, A. B.,
1824, was a state legislator in both houses and
thrice the Democratic candidate for governor

'"

«s

^,(2^/7^™-

MASSACHUSETTS.

217

of Vermont, and was once elected. He was
a delegate to the Democratic National conven
tion at Charleston, South Carolina, in i860,
where he died April 25, i860. He married
but had nO children. 4. David, born Novem
ber 22, 1754, was a major-general in the state
militia; United States marshal, 1810-18; pri
vate at the battle of Bennington and resigned
as major-general in 1817. He was sheriff of
Bennington county, 1789-1811 ; married Sarah,
daughter of Stephen Fay, who bore him three
sons ; Stephen, a member of the state assembly,
served several years ; judge of the county court
and member of the council of censors in 1834.
He died at the age of seventy-one years in
1852. General David Robinson died in Ben
nington, Vermont, December 12, 1842, at the
age of eighty-nine years. 5. Hon. Jonathan,
born August 24, 1756, was brought by his
father to Bennington in 1761, where he was
admitted to the bar in 1796, and received the
honorary degree of A. M. and A. B. from
Dartmouth in 1790. He served as town clerk
of Bennington for six years; as member of
the general assembly thirteen times before
1802 ; chief justice in the supreme court of
the state, 1801-07; United States senator, 1809-
15; judge of probate for Bennington county,
1815-19; member of the general assembly,
1818, and he died in Bennington, November
3, 1819. He married Mary, daughter of Job
Fassett, and one of his sons, Jonathan E.,
was a lawyer ; town clerk for nine years ; was
elected judge of the county court, 1828; and
died in 1831. Another son, Henry, married
Harriet Haynes, was paymaster in the United
States army ; clerk in the pension office ; briga
dier-general of militia; for ten years clerk of
the county and supreme courts. His son,
Charles Seymour, (1829-1889) was a noted
Presbyterian clergyman and author. Jonathan
E. died in Bennington, Vermont, in 1856, and
Jonathan, the father, died in Bennington, Ver
mont, November 3, 1819.
(IV) Samuel (2), eldest son of Samuel (1)
and Mercy (Leonard) Robinson, was born in
Hardwick, Massachusetts, August 15, 1738.
He was brought up in Bennington, Vermont,
and after his father died in London, England,
in 1768, he was chosen by the people of the
town to succeed him as committeeman in the
controversy over the New Hampshire grants.
He was a captain early in the war of the Re
volution and was in command of a Bennington
company in the battle of Bennington and dur
ing the war rose to the rank of colonel. He
was the "overseer of the Tory prisoners"

1777-78, represented the town in the general
assembly of Vermont, 1779-80, and was a
member of the board of war. He was the first
justice of the peace of the town of Bennington,
appointed under the authority of the new state
of Vermont in 1778, and a justice of the special
court for the south shire of the county and as
such presided at the trial of Redding. "He
was a generous and large minded man, upright
and enterprising, and kindly in manner and
of decided natural ability and ready courage,"
says a biographer who was fully competent to
estimate his character. He married Mary Leon
ard and had a son Marcus (q. v.).
(V) Marcus, son of Captain Samuel (2)
and Mary (Leonard) Robinson, was born in
Hardwick, Massachusetts, October 3, 1799. He
married, about 1833, Deborah Brown, of
Hardwick, Massachusetts, and lived in that
town where seven children were born to them
as follows: William, Marcus Franklin (q v.),
Melissa, Caroline, Susan, Louisa, and one
daughter whose name is unknown.
(VI) Marcus Franklin, second son of Mar
cus and Deborah (Brown) Robinson, was born
Hardwick, Massachusetts, July 2, 1834. He
was educated in his native town and in Pelham,
to which place his parents removed during his
early life. From this town, as a young man,
he went to Amherst where he learned the
jewelry trade and later started a retail jewelry
store at Chicopee, which he conducted until ill
health caused him to return to his old home
in Pelham and recuperate. He again started
in business, opening his store on the site of
the present Five Cent Savings Bank. He
moved his business several times until April,
1907, when it was installed in its present loca
tion, 360 Main street, Springfield. Mr. Rob
inson conducted business alone until 1899,
when he took into partnership his son, W. A.
H. Robinson, and since then the firm has been
known as Robinson & Son. For some years
prior to his decease Mr. Robinson's health had
been so poor that he could not take any active
part in the concern, which has been practically
in the hands of his son. In early life he mar
ried Mary A. Tucker, daughter of Edwin
Post and Mary Rice (Dwight) Tucker, of
Belchertown. Edwin P. Tucker was born in
Enfield, Massachusetts; he was a manufac
turer of straw bonnets and palm leaf hats in
Belchertqwn, Massachusetts, and afterwards
was a hotel keeper in New York, Philadelphia,
Springfield and Palmer, Massachusetts, at the
latter place conducting the Nassawanna Hotel,
where he died January 21, 1857, and his widow

2l8

MASSACHUSETTS.

died January 8, 1887. Children of Marcus
Franklin and Mary A. (Tucker) Robinson
were born in Springfield, Massachusetts, as
follows: 1. Grace Edna, April 5, 1867. 2.
William Arthur Hawes, December 9, 1869,
succeeded to his father's business as jeweler
in Springfield, 1908; married, June 23, 1897,
Grace, daughter of John and Elizabeth
(Reilley) Denver, born September 4, 1871 ;
one child, William Franklin, born July 5, 1898.
In the death of Marcus Franklin Robinson,
which occurred November 14, 1907, of heart
failure, at his home, 46 Byers street, Spring
field, the jewelry trade of Springfield lost one
of its oldest, most prominent and most re
spected members, he having conducted a store
there for nearly forty years. His death was
not unexpected, as he had been ill for five
or six weeks, and in fact had been in poor
health for many years. His widow, a son and
daughter survive him.

The surname Bradford is
BRADFORD derived from the name of a
place, Broadford or Braden-
ford. There are two very ancient towns of
this name, one in Wiltshire, England, near
Bath, and one in Yorkshire, near Leeds. Near
the latter was the home of the ancestors of the
American family. The family dates back in
England doubtless to the beginning of sur
names in the eleventh or twelfth centuries.
One of the first martyrs burned at the stake
during the reign of Bloody Mary was John
Bradford, Prebend of St. Paul and a cele
brated preacher. He was born in Manchester,
Lancashire, 15 10, and was executed July 1,
1555- He was a friend of Rogers, Hooper,
Saunders, Latimer, Cranmer and Ridley, who
also died at the stake about the same time.
The Bradford coat-of-arms is : Argent on a
fesse sable three stags' heads erased or. Right
Reverend Father in God, Samuel Bradford,
Lord Bishop of Rochester and Dean of West
minster, bore these arms as well as those of
his Episcopal See. The ancestry of Governor
William Bradford has not been traced beyond
his grandfather, mentioned below, though it
is known that the family is ancient.
(I) William Bradford, grandfather of Gov
ernor William Bradford, lived at Austerfield
(Osterfeldt), county Nottingham, England,
and in 1 575 he and John Hanson were the only
subsidiaries located there. Bradford was taxed
twenty shillings on land; Hanson the same
amount on goods. His grandson William (gov
ernor) lived with him after the death of Will

iam, his son. The date of his burial at Auster
field was January 10, 1595-96. Children: 1.
William, mentioned below. 2. Thomas, had
a daughter Margaret, baptized March 9, 1578,
at Austerfield. 3. Robert, baptized at Austerfield,
June 25, 1 561, married, January 31, 1585, Alice
Waingate; with him Governor Bradford lived
after his grandfather died; in 1598 Robert
was the only sudsidiary at Austerfield; his
will was dated April 15, 1609, and he was
buried April 23 following; children: Robert,
Mary, Elizabeth and Margaret. 4. Elizabeth,
baptized July 16, 1570, married, January 20,
1595,  .
(II) William (2), son of William (1)
Bradford, was born at Austerfield, probably
about 1560, and died when yet a young man,
July 15, 1591. He married Alice Hanson.
Children, born at Austerfield: 1. Margaret,
baptized March 8, 1585, died young. 2. Alice,
baptized October 30, 1587. 3. Governor Will
iam, baptized March 19, 1590, mentioned
below. (Ill) Governor William (3), son of Will
iam (2) Bradford, was born in England and
baptized at Austerfield (Osterfeldt), March
19, 1590. After his father's death he lived at
first with his grandfather; but on his death
in 1596, William went to live with his uncle,
Robert Bradford, who lived in Scrooby, five
miles from Osterfeldt, near the estate of the
Brewsters, in county Nottingham. He joined
the church where Rev. Richard Clifton and
Rev. John Robinson preached, and soon be
came one of the leading "separatists." His
early educational advantages were limited, but
by diligent study he became very proficient in
Dutch, Latin, French and Greek, and also de
voted himself to the study of Hebrew that he
might read the Bible in its original form. He
went with the company which migrated to
Holland, and was a most influential power
among them. On his coming of age he re
ceived considerable property from his father's
estate, but did not succeed him in his com
mercial undertakings. He learned the art of
"fustian or frieze weaving." On November
15, 1613, he was affianced to Dorothea May,
from Wisbeach, Cambridge, England. The
banns were published in Leyden, and they
were married in Amsterdam, Iiolland, Decem
ber 9, 161 3. His age is given as twenty-three,
hers as sixteen. They embarked for England,
July 22, 1620, and after many trials sailed
from Plymouth, England, September 6, 1620,
on the ship "Mayflower," reaching Cape Cod
harbor the November following. While they

MASSACHUSETTS.

219

were at anchor, and he was absent from the
vessel, Dorothea fell overboard and was
drowned, December 9, 1620. Soon after the
death of Governor Carver, William Bradford
was elected governor of the colony, which he
held by annual election until his death, with
the exception of the years 1633-34-36-38-44.
He took a prominent part in all the councils,
which were held at his house, and in all civic,
political and military affairs. From his house
at the foot of Burial Hill each Sunday morning
the company of people who assembled there
marched up to the fort at its top, where relig
ious services were held. The history of the
times which he left gives a correct and valuable
picture of the events of that time. He mar
ried (second) Mrs. Alice (Carpenter) South-
worth, widow of Edward Southworth, and
daughter of Alexander Carpenter, of Wrent
ham, England. She died March 26, 1670, and
he died May 9, 1657. Child of first wife: 1.
John , of Duxbury, 1645, married Martha
Bourne,; died in Norwich, Connecticut, 1678,
s. p. Children of second wife : 2. William,
mentioned below. 3. Mercy, married Benja
min or Joseph Vermages. 4. Joseph, born
1630, married, May 25, 1664, jael Hobart;
died July 10, 171 5.
(IV) Major William (4), son of Governor
William (3) Bradford, was born June 16,
1624, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, died Feb
ruary 20, 1703. He removed to Kingston,
Massachusetts. He was assistant deputy gov
ernor and was one of Governor Andros's
council in 1687. He was the chief military
officer of Plymouth colony. His will is dated
January 29, 1703. He married (first) Alice
Richards, who died at Plymouth, December
12, 1671, daughter of Thomas and Wealtyan
Richards, of Weymouth, Massachusetts. He
married (second) the Widow Wiswell ; (third)
Mrs. Mary Holmes, who died June 6, 1714-15,
widow of Rev. John Holmes, of Duxbury,
and daughter of John Atwood, of Plymouth.
Children: 1. John, born February 20, 1653,
mentioned below. 2. William, March 11,
1655, died 1687; married Rebecca Bartlett. 3.
Thomas, of Norwich. 4. Samuel, 1668, died
April 11, 1714; married Hannah Rogers. 5.
Alice, married Major James Fitch. 6. Hannah,
married, November 28, 1683, Joshua Ripley.
7. Mercy, married  Steel. 8. Melatiah,
married John Steel. 9. Mary. 10. Sarah,
married Kenelm Baker. Child of second wife :
11. Joseph, of Norwich. By third wife: 12.
Israel, married Sarah Bartlett. 13. David,

married, 1714, Elizabeth Pinney; died 1730.
14. Ephraim. 15. Hezekiah.
(V) Major John, son of Major William
(4) Bradford, was born February 20, 1653,
died December 8, 1736. He resided in Kings
ton a few rods from the landing. lie was
the first deputy to the general court of Mass
achusetts from Plymouth, going in 1689 and
1691. He married Mercy Warren, who died
March, 1747, aged ninety-four, daughter of
Joseph and Priscilla (Faunce) Warren, and
granddaughter of Richard Warren who came
in the "Mayflower." They lived together
sixty-two years. Children: 1. John, born De
cember 25, 1675, married Rebecca Bartlett.
2. Alice, January 28, 1677, married, August
26, 1708, Edward Mitchell; (second) Joshua
Hersey, of Hingham. 3. Abigail, December
10, 1779, married Gideon Sampson. 4. Mercy,
December 20, 1681, married (first) Jonathan
Freeman, of Hardwick; (second) Lieutenant
Isaac Cushman Jr. 5. Lieutenant Samuel, De
cember 23, 1683, mentioned below. 6. Pris
cilla, March 10, 1686, married Seth Chipman.
7. William, April 15, 1688, married Hannah
Foster. (VI) Samuel, son of Major John Bradford,
was born December 23, 1683, died March 26,
1740. He lived in Plymouth and married,
October 21, 1714, Sarah Gray, daughter of
Edward Gray, and granddaughter of Edward
Gray, of Plymouth. She married (second)
William Hunt, of Martha's Vineyard, and
died there in October, 1770. Children: 1.
John, born April 8, 1717, married Elizabeth
Holmes. 2. Gideon, October 27, 1718, men
tioned below. 3. William, December 16, 1720,
died February 15, 1725. 4. Mary, October 16,
1722, married Abiel Cook. 5. Sarah, April
4, 1725, married November 15, 1742, Ephraim
Paddock. 6. Dr. William, November 4, 1728,
married Mary LeBaron. 7. Mercy, April 12,
1 73 1, died June 3, 1731. 8. Abigail, June 12.
1732, died young. 9. Phebe, March 30, 1735,
married Shubael Norton, of Martha's Vine
yard. 10. Samuel, April 13, 1740, married
Lydia Pease.
(VII) Gideon, son of Samuel Bradford,
was born October 27, 1718, died in 1793. He
lived in Plympton and married, in 1741, Jane
Paddock, daughter of Ichabod and Joanna
(Faunce) Paddock. Children: 1. Levi, bom
1743, married Elizabeth Lewis. 2. Joseph,
1745, married Susanna Weeks. 3. Sarah,
1748, married Freeman Ellis. 4. Samuel, 1750,
married (first) Susannah Vaughan; (second)

220

MASSACHUSETTS.

Sarah Fuller. 5. Gideon, 1752, mentioned be
low. 6. Calvin, 1754, married Lucy Pratt. 7.
Jenny, 1756, married Noah Bisbee.
(VIII) Gideon (2), son of Gideon (1)
Bradford, was born in 1752, died in April,
1805. He served in the revolution in Captain
Thomas Loring's company and answered the
Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775; also in Cap
tain Joseph Stetson's company, Colonel Dyke's
regiment, at Dorchester Heights; and was a
drummer in Captain James Harlow's company
under Lieutenant Elijah Bisbee Jr., Colonel
Thomas Lathrop, and General Joseph Cush
ing, and marched to Bristol, Rhode Island, in
1777. He married Abigail Sampson, daughter
of Zabdiel and Abiah (Whitmarsh) Sampson.
Children: 1. Zabdiel, born January, 1779,
mentioned below. 2. Gideon. 3. Abram. 4.
Abigail. 5. Isaac. 6. Elizabeth. 7. Cynthia.
8. Sampson. 9. William.
(IX) Zabdiel, son of Gideon (2) Bradford,
was born in January, 1779, died in May, 1843.
He married Mary Standish (see Standish
VI). Children: 1. Mary, married Thomas
Fish, of Pembroke. 2. Zabdiel, married Ann
Harris, of Yarmouth, Maine. 3. Shadrach
Standish, May 24, 1812, mentioned below. 4.
Martha, married Rev. Francis Smith, of South
Reading. (X) Shadrach Standish, son of Zabdiel
Bradford, was born May 24, 1812, died August
24, 1875. He married, November 2, 1841,
Dorcas Brown Lockwood, born February 10,
1821, died July 13, 1872 (see Lockwood
family). Children: 1. Edward Standish, born
December 1, 1842, mentioned below. 2. Alice
Lockwood, June 4, 1844, died September 8,
1881. 3. Mary Standish, December 18, 1853.
4. Moses Brown Lockwood, February 13, 1856.
(XI) Edward Standish, son of Shadrach
Standish Bradford, was born in North Provi
dence, Rhode Island, December 1, 1842. He
prepared for college at the University grammar
school, Providence, but ill health prevented
him from entering Brown University. A year
and a half was spent in foreign travel but his
physical condition was still so unsatisfactory
that he was reluctantly forced to give up his
ambition for a college education. He entered
the office of Bradford & Taft, manufacturers
of woolen goods, Providence, of which his
father was the senior member, the junior mem
ber being Royal Chapin Taft, afterward gov
ernor of Rhode Island. In 1870 he accepted
the position of manager of Samuel Slater &
Sons large interests in Webster, employing
from two to three thousand operatives, and

his good business training had equipped him
well for this position. In 1878 he was appoint
ed treasurer of the Hampden Cotton mills at
Holyoke, and he took up his residence in Spring
field, where he has made his home since. In
1885 he retired from active business, though
he still retains the office of director of the
Chapin National Bank, which he has held for
many years. His public career has been long
and useful. He was chairman of the board
of selectmen and overseers of the poor in
Webster, and after he went to Springfield he
continued to take an active interest in politics.
He was a member of the common council in
1886-87-88. During this time his ability was
recognized, and he was elected to the office
of mayor, which he held in 1 889-90-9 1. He
was a member of the house of representatives
in 1894 and served on the committee on cities
and on election laws. He was a member of
the state senate in 1895-96-97, and was chair
man of the committee on cities, ways and
means, bills in third reading, expenditures,
treasury, towns, woman's suffrage, and rules.
In 1899 he was appointed by Governor Wol
cott to the state board of insanity. He served
as state treasurer and receiver general in 1900-
01-02-03-04 (constitutional limit) and render
ed very efficient service during those years.
He was chairman of the Republican city com
mittee in 1896 and was on the board of park
commissioners for many years. Mr. Bradford
is ex-president of the Winthrop Club of Spring
field ; of the Union Relief Association and of
the Nayasset Club, of which he was the first
president. He is ex-manager and director of
the Flampden Musical Association, director of
the Connecticut Valley Historical Association,
and was chairman of the finance committee
of the First Baptist Society. He married,
April 28, 1868, Mary Slater, born February
17, 1846, daughter of Horatio Nelson and
Sarah (Tiffany) Slater, of Providence, and
granddaughter of Samuel Slater, the pioneer
cotton manufacturer of America. Children:
1. Horatio Nelson, born February 8, 1869,
married Rose Baker, daughter of Henry
Kingsley Baker, of Springfield; is at the head
of the Boston house of Samuel Slater & Sons,
manufacturers, of Webster; child, Horatio
Nelson Slater, born September 19, 1901. 2.
Edward Standish, February 10, 1870, treas
urer and manager of the Springfield Machine
Screw Company; married, May 16, 1891,
Sydney Howe, daughter of James Henry and
Elizabeth (Slater) Howe, of Webster; chil
dren : i. Elizabeth Howe, born May 3, 1892 ;

MASSACHUSETTS.

221

u. Mary Slater, January 29, 1894; iii. Edward
Standish, December 27, 1895 ; iv. James Henry
Howe, August 9, 1897; v. William, March 30,
1899. 3. Sarah Tiffany, December 1, 1872,
died young. 4. Dorcas Lockwood, May 19
1874. (The Lockwood Line).
The surname Lockwood is of very ancient
origin and is mentioned in the Domesday Book.
It is a place name, and the family has several
branches in England in Staffordshire, York
shire, county Essex and Northampton. The
coat-of-arms borne by Rev. Richard Lock-
wood, rector of Dingley, Northampton, was:
Argent, a fesse between three martletts sable.
(I) Robert Lockwood, immigrant ancestor,
came to New England about 1630 and settled
in Watertown, Massachusetts. He was ad
mitted a freeman, March 9, 1636-37, and was
the executor of the estate of one Edmund
Lockwood, supposed to be his brother. He
removed to Fairfield, Connecticut, where he
was recorded as a settler as early as 1641, and
died in 1658. He was admitted a freeman of
that state, May 20, 1652. He was appointed
sergeant at Fairfield in May, 1657. He is
said to have lived for a time in Norwalk, Con
necticut. He married Susannah  , who
married (second) Jeffrey Ferris, and died<«at
Greenwich, December 23, 1660. Children: 1.
Jonathan, born September 10, 1634. 2. Deb
orah, October 12, 1636. 3. Joseph, August
6, 1638. 4. Daniel, March 21, 1640. 5. Eph
raim, December 1, 1641. 6. Gershom, Septem
ber 6, 1643, mentioned below. 7. John. 8.
Abigail, married John Barlow, of Fairfield.
9. Sarah. 10. Mary, married Jonathan Heusted.
(II) Lieutenant Gershom, son of Sergeant
Robert Lockwood, was born September 6,
1643, at Watertown, died March 12, 1718-19,
in Greenwich, Connecticut. He removed to
Greenwich with his father at the age of nine.
He became one of the twenty-seven proprietors
of Greenwich. He was a carpenter by trade,
and held many positions of trust in the town.
His will was dated November 22, 1692. The
plain blue slate stone which marks his grave
is well preserved. He married Lady Ann Mill-
ington, from England, daughter of Lord Mill-
ington. She came to New England in search
of her lover, a British army officer. Failing
to find him, she taught school, and afterwards
married Gershom Lockwood. In 1660 her
parents sent her a large oak chest, ingeniously
carved and strongly built. Tradition says it
contained a half bushel of Guineas, many fine
silk dresses etc. The chest was at last accounts

owned by Samuel Ferris, of Greenwich, who
married Ann Lockwood, Ann (Millington)
Lockwood's grandmother. He married (sec
ond) Elizabeth Townsend, daughter of John
and Elizabeth (Montgomery) Townsend, and
widow of Gideon Wright. Children, all by
first wife: 1. Gershom. 2. William, died
y°ung- 3- Joseph. 4. Elizabeth, married John
Bates. 4. Hannah, born 1667, married (first)
John Burwell; (second) Thomas Hanford. 5.
Sarah (twin), born 1669, received by will
from her father "a certain negro girl being
now in my possession." 6. Abraham (twin),
born 1669, mentioned below.
(Ill) Abraham, son of Lieutenant Gershom
Lockwood, was born in 1669, died in June,
1747- He removed to Old Warwick, Rhode
Island, and lived there the remainder of his
life. He married Sarah Wescott, born 1673,
daughter of Amos and Deborah (Stafford)
Wescott. Children: 1. Deborah, married, No
vember 29, 1725, Nathaniel Cole. 2. Amos,
mentioned below. 3. Adam, married, Decem
ber 24, 1734, Sarah Straight. 4. Sarah, mar
ried, June 16, 1728, Abel Potter. 5. Abraham,
married Mary  .
(IV) Captain Amos, son of Abraham Lock-
wood, was born about 1695 in Warwick, Rhode
Island, died March 11, 1772. He was ad
mitted a freeman, April 30, 1723, and went
as deputy to the general court, May 1, 1749.
He married, December 23, 1725, Sarah Utter,
born August 1, 1707, died January 4, 1780,
daughter of William and Anne (Stone) Utter,
of Warwick. "Children: 1. Amos, born April
25, 1727, married Mary Knight. 2. Sarah,
January 26, 1728-29, married Siom Arnold.
3. Ann, December 28, 1730, married Joseph
Arnold. 4. Benoni, November 26, 1733, men
tioned below. 5. Alice, October 10, 1735, mar
ried John Healy. 6. Marcy, November 26,
1737, married Stephen Greene. 7. Waite,
September 2, 1742, married William Greene.
8. Phebe, June 20, 1744. 9. Barbara, April 24,
1747. 10. Abraham, December 26, 1748, mar
ried Patience Greene. 11. Millicent, April 25,
1750. (V) Captain Benoni, son of Captain Amos
Lockwood, was born in Warwick, November
26, 1733, died February 19, 1781. He lived
in Cranston, Rhode Island. He married, April
5, 1772, Phebe Waterman, born April 11, 1748,
died October 19, 1808, daughter of Resolved
and Sarah (Carr) Waterman. She married
(second) Moses Brown. Children: 1. Sarah,
born April 24, 1773, married Bates Harris. 2.
Avis, December 7, 1774. 3. Benoni, April 2,

222

MASSACHUSETTS.

1777, mentioned below. 4. Phebe, December
9, 1778.
(VI) Captain Benoni (2), son of Captain
Benoni (1) Lockwood, was born April 2, 1777,
in Cranston, Rhode Island, died April 26, 1852.
In his early years he was a sea captain, and
later a civil engineer. He married, April 29,
1798, Phebe Greene, born January 20, 1781,
died April 30, 1837, daughter of Rhodes and
Phebe (Vaughan) Greene. Children: I.Rhodes
Greene, died young. 2. Phebe Greene. 3.
Sarah. 4. Mary. 5. Benoni, born April 26,
1805, married Amelia Cooley. 6. Rhodes
Greene, married Sally M. Davidson. 7. Avis
Waterman, married Rhodes B. Chapman. 8.
Amos De Forest, born October 30, 181 1, mar
ried Sarah F. Deming. 9. Anna Tucker, Octo
ber 13, 1813, married James Dennis. 10.
Moses Brown. 11. Dorcas Brown, February
10, 1821, died July 13, 1872; married, No
vember 2, 1 841, Shadrach Standish Bradford
(see Bradford.). (The Standish Line).
The surname Standish is derived from an
ancient parish of Lancashire, England, still
known as Standish, the seat of the family for
many centuries. The earliest recorded ances
tor was Thurstan Standish or de Standish of
the reign of Henry III. He inherited lands
from his mother, Margaret de Standish, daugh
ter and co-heiress of Robert de Hulton. The
Standish family of Duxbury, county Lancaster,
was descended from Hugh de Standish through
his son Ralph and grandson Hugh, who was
living in the reign of Edward I. The coat-of-
arms of the Lancashire families : Azure three
standing dishes two and one argent. Crest:
A cock argent combed and wattled gules.
Another and perhaps even older coat-of-arms
is also given in Burke's Armory: Argent a
saltire within a bordure gules. To this Lanca
shire family Myles Standish, the immigrant,
doubtless belonged though his ancestry in Eng
land has not been definitely traced.
(I) Captain Myles Standish, who came in
the "Mayflower" in 1620, with his wife Rose,
was born in England about 1586. He settled
first in Plymouth, but soon removed among
the early settlers of Duxbury across the bay
from Plymouth, and the hill rising abruptly
from the waters of Plymouth bay, upon which
he built his house and lived the remainder of
his life, has been called Captain's Hill to this
day. He signed the compact and became one
of the leading men of the colony. In Febru
ary, 1 62 1, at a general meeting to establish

military arrangements, he was chosen captain
and vested with the command. He conducted
all the early expeditions against the Indians
and continued in the military service of the
colony his whole life. He commanded the
Plymouth troops' which marched against the
Narragansetts in 1645, and when hostilities
with the Dutch were apprehended in 1653, he
was one of the council of war of Plymouth,
and was appointed to command troops which
the council determined to raise. He was also
prominent in the civil affairs of the colony;
was . for many years assistant, or one of the
governor's council, and when in 1626 it became
necessary to send a representative to England
to represent the colonists in the business
arrangements with the merchant adventurers,
he was selected. He was a commissioner of
the United Colonies and a partner in the trad
ing company. He married (first) Rose  ,
who came with him, and died January 29,
1620-21. He married (second) Barbara
 , before 1627, when she and his children,
Alexander, Charles and John, had shares of
cattle with him. His will dated March 7,
1655, was proved May, 1657. He desired to
be buried near his deceased daughter Lora and
daughter-in-law Mary. He bequeathed to his
Wife Barbara; eldest son Alexander; sons
Myles, Charles and Josias ; "to Marrye Roben-
son whom I tenderly love for her Grandfather's
sake ;" to servant John Swift Jr. ; to son and
heir-apparent (under the English law) Alex
ander, lands in Ormsticke Borsconge, Wright-
ington, Maralsley, Woodburrow, Crawston
and the Isle of Man, which were detained
from him; his great-grandfather being a
younger brother from the house of Standish.
He died October 3, 1656. An imposing monu
ment has been erected on Captain's Hill, Dux
bury. Captain Standish is one of the Pil
grims known to every generation since and to
the whole world partly because of his military
prominence, the first in New England, and
partly, especially in the present generation,
from the poem of Longfellow, "The Courtship
of Myles Standish." Children: I.Alexander,
mentioned below. 2. Charles, living in 1627.
3. John, living in 1627. 4. Myles, settled in
Boston, died April 5, 1653 ; married Sarah
Winslow, daughter of John, July 19, 1660. 5.
Lora. 6. Charles.
(II) Alexander, son of Captain Myles
Standish, married (first) Sarah Alden, daugh
ter of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden. He
married (second) Desire (Doty) Sherman,
daughter of Edward Doty, and widow first of

MASSACHUSETTS.

223

Israel Holmes and second of William Sher
man. He was admitted to the freedom of the
colony in 1648; was third town clerk of Dux
bury from 1695 to 1700. He died in Duxbury
in 1702; his widow Desire in 1723. His will
was dated July 5, 1702, and proved August 10,
1702. He bequeathed to his eldest son Myles
his dwelling house and homestead at Duxbury ;
mentions also children Thomas Ichabod, and
Desire Standish, Lorah Sampson, Mercy Samp
son, Elizabeth Delano, Sarah Soule, Ebenezer.
The estate in England to which his father
referred in his will he devised also, stating
that he had committed it into "ye hands of
Robert Orchard to recover in England by
letters of Attorney from under my hand and
seal ; and John Rogers of Boston in New Eng
land by a letter of Attorney from under my
hand & seal." Children of first wife : 1. Myles,
married Experience Sherman (or Holmes),
died September 15, 1739. 2. Ebenezer, born
1672, mentioned below. 3. Lorah, married
Abraham Sampson, of Duxbury. 4. Lydia,
married Isaac Sampson, of Plympton. 5.
Mercy, married Caleb Sampson, of Duxbury.
6. Sarah, married Benjamin Soule, of Plymp
ton. 7. Elizabeth, married Samuel Delano, of
Duxbury. Children of second wife: 8.
Thomas, born 1687, married Mary Carver. 9.
Desire, 1689, married Nathan Weston. 10.
Ichabod, married Phebe Ring (or Pring). 11.
David, killed in Duxbury, by the fall of a tree.
(Ill) Ebenezer, son of Alexander Standish,
was born in 1672, died March 19, 1755. He
lived in Plympton. He married Hannah
Sturtevant, who died January 23, 1759, daugh
ter of Samuel Sturtevant. Children : 1. Zach
ariah, born October 12, 1698, mentioned below.
2. Lieutenant Moses, August 30, 1701, mar
ried, 1723, Rachel Cobb; died April 24, 1769.
3. Hannah, March 6, 1704, married Seth
Staples. 4. Zerviah, January 8, 1707, married
Andrew Ring. 5. Sarah, November 9, 1709,
married Jabez Newland. 6. Ebenezer (per
haps oldest child). 7. Mercy, October 17,
1710 or 1716, married (first) Ebenezer Lob-
dell; (second) Benjamin Weston; she died
1794. (IV) Zachariah, son of Ebenezer Standish,
was born October 12, 1698, died March or
May 30, 1780, in Plympton. He married Abi
gail Whitman, who died August 3, 1778, aged
seventy-four, daughter of Ebenezer Whitman,
of Brdgewater. Children: 1. Ebenezer, born
October 16, 1721, mentioned below. 2. Han
nah, December 5, 1723, married Elkanah Cush
man. 3. Sarah, August 5, 1729, married Josiah

Cushman Jr. 4. Abigail, December 16, 1731,
married, 1752, Samuel Wright Jr. 5. Peleg,
January 1, 1734, died August 17, 1758. 6.
Zachariah, May 30, 1739, married (first) Re
becca Pool; (second) Olive Pool.
(V) Ebenezer (2), son of Zachariah Stand
ish, was born at Plympton, October 16, 1721,
died November 28, 1747. He married Averick,
daughter of Isaac Churchill. Children: 1.
Mary, born July 17, 1740, died July 26, 1740.
2. Ebenezer, May 6, 1741, died January 18,
1786, unmarried. 3. Averick, January 15, 1743,
married (first) Zadock Thomas; (second)
Hon. A. Parker. 4. Shadrach, May 12, 1746,
mentioned below. '
(VI) Shadrach, son of Ebenezer (2) Stand
ish, was born May 12, 1746, died in 1837 or
November 29, 1851. He lived in Plympton
and was in the revolution, and marched on
March 21, 1777, in Captain Thomas Samp
son's company, Colonel Thomas Lothrop's
regiment, Brigadier-General Joseph Cushing's
brigade, on the alarm at Rhode Island, and
again in 1781 in the same company to Rhode
Island, in Colonel Theodore Cotton's regiment
of militia. He married, April 25, 1771, Mary
Churchill, born July 21, 1754, died July 25,
1827, daughter of David (4) Churchill, de
scended from David (3), William (2), Will
iam (1). Children: 1. Averick, born May 2,
1772, married John Avery Parker. 2. Ellis,
1774, married Polly' Bradford. 3. Jane, 1777.
4. Shadrach, 1779, married Mehitable Clark.
5. Levi, 1779, married Lucy Randall. 6. Abi
gail, 1781. 7. Mary, 1783, married Zabdiel
Bradford (see Bradford IX). 8. Sarah, 1788.

The surname Castle or Castles
CASTLE is English in origin. Most of
the New England and northern
New York families of this name trace their
ancestry from the Woodbury, Connecticut, set
tler, mentioned below.
(I) Henry Castle, immigrant, was doubtless
born in England, fle settled at Stratfield, on
a farm lying between Stratford and Fairfield,
Connecticut. He was one of the early settlers
of the town of Woodbury, Connecticut, where
the family was prominent for many genera
tions. He died there in 1697-98. Children:
1. Henry, resided at Woodbury; married
(first) Hannah Squire; (second) Ruth  .
2. Samuel. 3. Isaac. 4. Abigail. 5. Mary,
married, May 17, 1698, Joseph Hurlburt Jr,
6. Mercy, baptized with the five already men
tioned September, 1686. 7. William, baptized
at Woodbury, July, 1688; his son Jabez, born

224

MASSACHUSETTS.

May, 1718, had a son Selah, baptized at Wood
bury, February 2, 1755 (born November 2y,
1754), died at Madison county, New York,
February 18, 1817, married, January 28, 1756,
Abigail Jenkins and had children, Jabez,
Zylpha, Abigail, Selah, Philo B., Israel and
Wealthy Castle, some of whom settled at
Canaan, New York.
(II) Isaac, son of Henry Castle, was born
in Connecticut, near or in Woodbury, about
1680. He married (first) Sarah  , who
died at Woodbury, February, 1708. He mar
ried (second) Joanna  . Children of
first wife, born at Woodbury: 1. Isaac, bap
tized August 9, 1707. 2. Samuel, also baptized
August 9, 1707. 3. Sarah, baptized March,
1708. Children of second wife: 4. Daniel,
baptized October 13, 1717, mentioned below.
5. Israel, born April 18, 1722.
(Ill) Daniel, son of Isaac Castle, was bap
tized in Woodbury, October 13, 1717. Chil
dren, born at Woodbury: 1. Samuel, born
January 3, 1740. 2. Joanna, baptized March
6, 1743. 3. Gideon, baptized July 23, 1745.
4. Jerusha, baptized November 17, 1752. 5.
Eunice, baptized January 5, 1759.
(IV) Gideon, son of Daniel Castle, was
baptized July 23, 1745, in Woodbury. He
removed with others of the family to Amenia,
Dutchess county, New York. According to
the census of 1790 he had five males over six
teen, five under that age and six females in
his family — a total of sixteen children living at
home at that time. Daniel, Lemuel, Samuel
and William from Woodbury also settled in
Dutchess county, and were heads of families
there in 1790. At this time Daniel, James,
John, Selah, and William Castle or Castles
were all the other heads of families in New
York state.
(V) Garry, son or grandson of Gideon
Castle, was born in New York, probably in
Dutchess county. He was a lawyer and judge.
In his later years he and his son, DeWitt
Clinton Castle, who was also a lawyer, prac
ticed in the village of Central Square, Oswego
county, New York. He married, April 1, 1831,
Maranda Ford. Children 1. DeWitt Clinton,
a lawyer in New York (Oswego county) and
Chicago, where he died; left eight children,
all living. 2. Henry M., born July 24, 1833,
mentioned below. 3. Eugene Davis, died in
Washington, D. C, leaving two children, now
living in Seattle, Washington; he was in the
Army of the Potomac under General McClel
lan. 4. Anna F., married William H. Patter
son, of Augusta, Maine ; resides in Providence,

Rhode Island, 100 Chapin avenue. 5. Clarissa,
married Horace Sawyer, of Lafayette, Indiana,
where she died, leaving one daughter, Helen
May, who married Harry Knight. 6. Helen
M., resides in Seattle; married S. Merritt
Allen, of Wisconsin ; children : Eugene Allen,
George Allen, Pliny Allen, William Allen,
Lulu Allen.
(VI) Henry Munroe, son of Garry Castle,
was born in Utica, Central Square, Oswego
county, New York, July 24, f833- He had a
common school education. When a young
man he came to Springfield, Massachusetts,
and found employment with the firm of Chapin
& Gould, paper manufacturers. Subsequently
he worked for a number of years for the
Morgan Envelope Company of Springfield.
He embarked in business on his own account
as a dealer in paper stock and continued until
his death with the greatest success. He accu
mulated a substantial competence and became
one of the leading business men of the city.
He was a member of the Free Masons. He
married, March 29, 1857, Mary Augusta Cut
ler, daughter, of Joseph and Susan P. (Olm-
stead) Cutler, granddaughter of Thomas Cut
ler (see Cutler VIII). His widow resides at
385 Maple street, Springfield. Children: 1.
William Anderson, born at Warren, Massa
chusetts, in 1858, head of the W. A. Castle
Company, Springfield; married Adella Sey
mour; have no children. 2. Flora May, born
at Lafayette, Indiana, in 1861, married Dr.
Aliis, D. D. S., of Springfield; child, Cath
erine Hurlburt Aliis, born September 20, 1905.
3. George Hewett, born at Springfield in 1864,
married Flora Hill, of Westfield, Massachu
setts ; children, Dorothy and Kellogg. 4. Alice
Peck, born at Springfield, died aged seventeen
years. 5. Mary Chapin, died in infancy. 6.
Ida, died in infancy. 7. Henry Clark, born
at Springfield, October 11, 1875, married Edith
R. Bullens and lives in Brookline, Massachu
setts. 8. Clifford DeWitt, secretary and treas
urer of the W. A. Castle Company, importers
and packers of Castle's cream olive oil, cremoil
pickles and table delicacies, 49 Lyman street,
Springfield; this business was established in
1870. (The Cutler Line).
This is an occupative surname, like Smith,
Cooper, Carpenter and Gardner. The usual
mutations have occurred in the spelling.
Domesday Book had it Le Coteler. In Scot
land it was written Cutlar ; in Dutch, De Mes-
maker. It was a very respectable calling, and
required much skill ; a sword-maker was honor-

MASSACHUSETTS.

225

ed above ordinary tradesfolk in the warring
times of old. The father of Demosthenes was
surnamed the Cutler. He was a citizen of
rank and quality, and left a large estate, which
we know Demosthenes frittered away; but to
this fact we owe the greatest orator of ancient
times. Tubal Cain was also a cutler. The
origin of livery companies or guilds in London,
of which the labor unions of today are an out
come, began in 1335. The king ordered that
all artificers and mysteries shall each choose
its own mystery, and, having chosen it, shall
henceforth choose no other. To raise the
estimates of trades, which were the main
spring of the kingdom, King Edward himself
joined some, and so did others of the nobility.
The Cutler guild was incorporated in 1413,
and Cutler's hall was on the south side of
Cloke lane. Each guild had a coat-of-arms.
The Cutler's armor being : Gules, six daggers
in three saltier crosses argent, handled and
hilted or, pointing toward the chief. Sup
porters two elephants, argent. Crest : A third
castle on his back or. Their motto: "To
gain good faith." Our common ancestor in
England was of this trade, but whom he was
we are not informed. The greatest Cutler in
American history was the Rev. Manaseh Cut
ler, M. D., LL. D., who founded the Ohio
company, out of which was evolved the magni
ficent state bearing this name. He was the
author of the ordinance of 1787, restricting
the extension of slavery, and he labored assidu
ously to promote education and religion in the
great state, of which he was the founder. He
has been called next to Franklin in diplomacy
and varied learning. He was deeply versed
in both medicine and theology, and a great
naturalist. He served as chaplain in the revo
lutionary war, and was a member of congress.
(I) James Cutler was born in England in
1606, and is commonly credited to Sprowston,
a suburb of Norwich. He settled in Water-
town, Massachusetts, in 1634, and was one
of the original grantees of land next to what
is now Belmont. He had a house-lot assigned
him in 1635, in .1636 twenty-five acres, and in
1642 eighty-two acres. In 1645 he was one
of the petitioners for Nashaway plantation,
now Weston, Massachusetts. In December,
1649, he with Bowman bought for seventy
pounds two hundred acres at Cambridge Farms,
adjoining Rock Meadow, and near to Walt
ham. This same year he settled at Cambridge
Farms, now Lexington, on what is now known
as Wood street, near where William Haskell
lived, and not far from Bedford. He built
J— 15

the first house in Lexington, vestiges of the
cellar still remain. In October, 1682, he signed
a petition to the general court to have Lexing
ton set off as a separate parish, and in 1691
he gave one pound toward erecting a meeting
house there. The front name of his wife was
Anna. She, with her sister, was -so tantalized
in Old England for their Puritanism, that they
resolved to escape to America, and so did, un
attended by parents or friends. She died Sep
tember 30, 1644. He married (second) March
9, 1645, Mary, widow of Thomas King, and
she died nine years later; for his third wife
he contracted with Phoebe, daughter of John
Page, about 1662. James died May 17, 1694,
his will was dated November 24, 1684, and
proved August 20, 1694. We thus find little
bits of history which throw some light on the
manner of man our forbare was.. That he had
a fair reputation among his townsmen, his in
vestiture with full citizenship shows, for only
churchmen were thus admitted. That he was
industrious and prudent his accumulation of
property is evidence. Children by Anna:
James, sketched below, Hannah, Elizabeth and
Mary. Children by Mary : Elizabeth, Thomas
and Sarah. Children by Phoebe : Joana, John,
from whom the Rev. Manaseh was derived;
Samuel, Jemima and Phoebe.
(II) James (2), eldest son of James (1)
and Anna Cutler, was born in Lexington, Sep
tember 9, 1635, died there July 31, 1681. fle
was a planter, and resided near Concord line.
He was a soldier in King Philip's war. His
will was made July 28, 1685, admitted to pro
bate October 8, 1685, his widow Lydia and son
Benjamin being named as executors. He mar
ried Lydia, widow of Samuel Wright, and
daughter of John Moore, of Sudbury. She
died* November 23, 1723. Children: James,
Ann, Samuel, Joseph, John, Thomas, sketched
below; Elizabeth and Isaac.
(Ill) Thomas, fifth son of James (2) and
Lydia (Moore) Cutler, was born in Lexington,
December 2, 1677, died in Warren, Massachu
setts, December 23, 1759. He was a constable
in 1719, and selectman in 1729-31-33-34. He
owned the covenant on June 6, 1703, at Lex
ington, and was dismissed to the church in
Warren, March 17, 1752. He sold to Josiah
Wood sixty-eight acres in Lancaster, Massa
chusetts, for seventy pounds ; November 6,
1736, lot in of seventy-seven acres in Narra
gansett No. 2, for seventy pounds, also in 1750
a lot in the same township to Noah Ashley,
drawn in the right of his father who served
in King Philip's war. In 1752 he moved to

226

MASSACHUSETTS.

Western, now Warren, Massachusetts. His
will was drawn September 15, 1759, and
among his effects was a negro slave. He
married Sarah, daughter of Samuel and
Dorcas (Jones) Stone. She joined the church
in Lexington, July 4, 1708, and died January
10,1750. Children: Abigail, David, sketched
below, Amity, Sarah, Mary, Hannah, Thomas,
Mellicent. (IV) David, eldest son of Thomas and
Sarah (Stone) Cutler, was born in Lexington,
died in Warren, December 5, 1760, of small
pox. He joined the church April 14, 1728.
In the reign of George III he was surveyor
of townships, a constable in 1746, selectman
in 1749-50-51. His homestead was near the
Bedford line. He executed a will September
3, 1758, and among the bequests was that his
son should supply his wife with three barrels
of cider annually. The appraisement of the
estate was five hundred and seventy-three
pounds and fifteen shillings. He married
Mary, daughter of Joseph and Mary Tidd.
He died May 25, 1797. Children: Abigail,
David, Joseph, sketched below, Isaac, Mary,
Salmon, Thomas, Elizabeth and Amity.
(V) Joseph, second son of David and Mary
(Tidd) Cutler, was born in Lexington, March
31, 1733, died at Warren, February 7, 18 16.
On May 6, 1755, he married Rebecca, daugh
ter of John and Esther (Prince) Hoar, of
Lincoln, Massachusetts, the family to whom
the celebrated statesman of that name belongs.
She was born in July, 1735, died September
16, 1758. He married (second) September 20,
1759, Mary, daughter of Major Reed, of War
ren; she was born January 30, 1740, died
March 28, 1792. He married (third) Thankful
(surname unknown). Children by Rebecca:
Converse and Joseph. By Mary he -had
Rebecca, Mary, Anna, Sally, Lydia, Bethia,
Reuben and Nathan (twins). Nathan was
governor of Maine and appointed judge of the
court of common pleas, which, however, he
declined. (VI) Joseph (2), second son of Joseph (1)
and Rebecca (Hoar) Cutler, was born in Lex
ington, died in Western, now Warren, Feb
ruary 23, 1837. He was a husbandman, and
owned real estate in Warren, and Nelson,
Madison county, New York. By naming his
youngest son after the Federalist, Charles C.
Pinckney, Joseph was probably of that politi
cal faith. His will was made April 26, 1830,
his sons Thomas and Newell were named as
executors. He married Lydia Bascom, August
4, 1785; she died March 28, 1816. Children:

Frasier, to whom he gave the New York land ;
Polly, Thomas, sketched below, Lydia, Newell
and Charles Coatsworth Pinckney.
(VII) Thomas (2), eldest son of Joseph
(2) and Lydia (Bascom) Cutler, was born in
Warren, November 13, 1789, the year of the
famous Ordinance, of which his namesake
was the author, and died there after 1853.
He married, May 6, 181 1, Aurelia Joslyn, who
died January 3, 1813. He married (second)
Attossa Lilly, who died July 4, 1817. He
married (third) Mary Stone. He married
(fourth) Nancy Stone, sister of Mary Stone.
Child by Aurelia: Harriett. Attossa was the
mother of Joseph, sketched below, Attossa and
Aurelia. (VIII) Joseph (3), only son of Thomas
(2) and Attossa (Lilly) Cutler, was born in
Warren, died there July 23, 1815. He was a
farmer. He married Susie P. Olmstead.
Children : Mary Augusta, married Henry M.
Castle, (see Castle VI), Thomas, Holton O.,
Joseph, Fannie, Olmstead, Susie, Jennie and
Ida Gertrude.

Although the immigrant ancestor
MAYO of the New England Mayos came
from England the name is
believed to be of ancient Irish origin and was
probably derived from county Mayo in the
province of Connaught, a section of Ireland
noted for its antiquities, chiefly ecclesiastical.
Some genealogical writers, including Savage,
are of the opinion that Mayo and Mayhew
sprung from the same source while others
assert that there is no positive evidence to
substantiate this belief. Many of the early
American Mayos were sturdy mariners
hailing from Cape Cod.
(I) Rev. John Mayo, a native of England
and a graduate of an English University,
emigrated to Massachusetts Bay about the
year 1638 and settling in Barnstable was in
the following year ordained a teaching elder
of the church presided over by Rev. John
Lothrop. He was admitted a freeman in 1640
and six years later removed to Eastham where
he became pastor of the church. In 1655 he
was called to the Second Church in Boston
as its first pastor, and was long associated
with the famous Dr. Increase Mather, who
succeeded him in the pastorate. The infirm
ities of old age compelled him to relinquish
his activities in 1673, and he died in Yarmouth,
Massachusetts, in May, 1676. In 1658 he
delivered the annual election sermon in
Boston. The christian name of his wife,

MASSACHUSETTS.

227

whom he married in England, was Tamosin
or Tamsin, and her death occurred at Yar
mouth in 1682. Their- children, all born in
the mother country, were: 1. Hannah, who
became the wife of Nathaniel Bacon, of Barn
stable, in 1642. 2. Samuel, became a mariner
and was for some years master of a packet
plying between Cape Cod and Boston ; assisted
in establishing a settlement at Oyster Bay,
Long Island ; finally settled in Boston and died
there in 1663; he married Thomasine, daugh
ter of William Lumpkin, of Yarmouth. 3.
John. 4. Nathaniel, who settled in Eastham,
which he represented in the general court in
1660, and he died in 1662 ; he married Hannah,
daughter of Governor Thomas Prence of the
Plymouth Colony, and reared a large family.
5. Elizabeth, who married Joseph flowes, of
Yarmouth. (II) John (2), second son and third child
of Rev. John (1) Mayo, accompanied his
father to Eastham, but subsequently returned
to Barnstable, as according to the records of
that town he was residing there in 1672. He
married Hannah Reycroft or Lecraft, and
was the father of nine children : 1. John, born
December 15, 1652. 2. William, October 7,
1654. 3. James, October 3, 1656. 4. Samuel,
August 2, 1658. 5. Elisha, November 7, 1661.
6. Daniel, January 24, 1664. 7. Nathaniel,
April 2, 1667. 8. Thomas, June 24, 1670, died
in infancy. 9. Thomas.
(Ill) Thomas, youngest child of John (2)
and Hannah Mayo, was born in Barnstable,
July 15, 1672. In 1695 he was residing at
Eastham. He married Mary  and his
children were: 1. Mary. 2. Mercy. 3. Han
nah. 4. Noah.
(IV) Noah, son of Thomas Mayo, was re
siding in Truro at the time of his marriage,
which took place in 1742-43 to Mary Cushing,
and he subsequently removed to Provincetown.
(V) Noah (2), eldest child of Noah (1)
and Mary (Cushing) Mayo, was bom in 1743-
44. He was reared in Truro and in 1764 he
married Hope Rich, who bore him seven chil
dren: 1. Noah, born in 1767, went to Harps-
well, Maine, but returned to Cape Cod and
died in Truro in 1809. 2. Nehemiah Doane,
1769, married Malatiah Rich. 3. Thomas,
1772, married Sabra Rich. 4. Mary, 1774,
became the wife of Zoheth Smith. 5. John.
6. Jane, 1784, became the wife of Moses
Paine. 7. Samuel, 1787, married Tirzah Wiley,
of Wellfleet, in 1810.
' (VI) Captain John (3), fourth son and
fifth child of Noah (2) and Hope (Rich)

Mayo, was born in 1776. Information at hand,
furnished by his grandson, states that his birth
place was Truro, but Riches History of that
town says that he was. probably born in Pro
vincetown. At an early age he began to follow
the sea, and becoming a master mariner was a
successful blockade runner during the war of
1812-15. He subsequently engaged in farming
in Truro and died there at the age of about
eighty years. In 1798 he married Hannah
Rich, and she lived to the advanced age of
ninety-six years. Both were members of the
Methodist Episcopal church. Their children
were: 1. John. 2. Alfred. 3. Timothy. 4.
Amaziah. 5. Susan, married  Atwood,
of Truro. 6. Hannah. 7. Noah.
(VII) Amaziah, fourth child of Captain
John (3) and Hannah (Rich) Mayo, was born
in Truro, June 4, 1812. From the public schools
of his native town he entered Wilbraham
Academy, and after concluding his attendance
at that well-known school he learned the car
penter's trade, serving an apprenticeship of
four years. Having acquired considerable
practical experience as a master carpenter, he
established himself as a contractor and builder
in Springfield in 1842, and possessing the
requisite amount of business ability he soon
acquired a high reputation for competency and
reliability which served as an excellent founda
tion for the substantial success he ultimately
attained in his useful calling. In addition to
numerous private residences he constructed
the William Rice Library building, the State
Street Methodist Episcopal Church edifice,
several public school buildings, including the
Springfield high school, the Women's Re
formatory at Sherborn etc. Many of the
streets in ward one were laid out according
to his plans, and he erected numerous houses
in that section. Having acquired possession
of considerable real estate on North Chestnut
street he gave his particular attention to its
development and this venture proved a profit
able investment. In politics he acted with the
Republican party, and although his ambition
did not lay in the direction of public office he,
nevertheless, evinced a profound interest in
the general welfare of the city of his adoption,
and his death, which occurred on January 8,
1892, or 1893, was sincerely deplored by the
entire community. His church affiliations were
with the Methodists. On April 16, 1843, Mr.
Mayo married Mrs. Hester A. R. Mayo (nee
Nye), widow of his brother Alfred, who was
a shipmaster and was lost at sea. She was
born in Chatham, Massachusetts, August 14,

228

MASSACHUSETTS.

1820, daughter of Isaiah, of Sandwich, Mass
achusetts, and Keziah (Rider) Nye, of Chat
ham. Isaiah Nye was in his earlier years en
gaged in mercantile business in Chatham, and
figured quite prominently in local public affairs.
He afterward served as United States deputy
collector of customs and also register of deeds.
His death occurred in May, 1835, and his wife
died in September of the same year. Both
were members of the Methodist Episcopal
church. They were the parents of one son
and six daughters, of whom Hester A. R.
(Mrs. Mayo) is the only one living. Beside
a widow Mr. Mayo is survived by three sons :
1. Alfred Nye, who is again referred to. 2.
Amaziah Jr., born in 1846, now engaged in
the brick business in Springfield ; married
Sarah White, of Peterboro, New Hampshire.
3. Charles Sumner, born in 1858, agent of the
Merrimac Paper Mill at Lawrence, Massachu
setts, and resides in that city.
(VIII) Alfred Nye, eldest son of Amaziah
and Hester A. R. (Nye) (Mayo) Mayo, was
born in Springfield, March 19, 1844. Leaving
school in 1862, the second year of the civil
war, he enlisted for service in that eventful
struggle and remained in the army about one
year. Upon his return to Springfield he
accepted a position with Messrs. Smith and
Dickinson, dealers in paper stocks, and pur
chasing Mr. Smith's interest some three years
later he became a partner in the succeeding
firm, which continued in business about fifteen
years. For more than a quarter of a century
he has carried on the paper stock business
successfully as senior member of the firm of
A. N. Mayo and Campany. Mr. Mayo is
actively interested in several important indus
trial enterprises, being president of the Dexter
P. Lilley Company of Indian Orchard, of the
Springfield Brick Company and the Standard
Brick Company of that city and Boston ; treas
urer of the Merrimac Paper Company of
Lawrence; the Fiske Rubber Company of
Chicopee Falls, and the Knox Automobile
Company of Springfield. He is also stock
holder in the Union Trust Company, Spring
field, and one of its board of directors. He is
quite active in religious and benevolent work,
being a member of the First Congregational
Church and of its parish committee, and presi
dent of the board of trustees of the Wesson
Memorial Hospital. His club affiliations are
with the Nayasset Club, of which he was for
merly president, and the Springfield Country
Club. He is a member of E. K. Wilcox Post,
Grand Army of the Republic, of Springfield,

Massachusetts. On December 21, 1870, Mr.
Mayo married Julia Billings, of Springfield,
daughter of Horace E. Billings, granddaughter
of Solomon Billings, and great-granddaughter
of John and Eunice (Cooley) Billings. Mr.
and Mrs. Mayo have three children: 1. Alice
Billings, born March, 1872, wife of Harry G.
Fiske. 2. Ada Frances, May 13, 1874, wife of
E. O. Sutton, of Springfield, and has three
children: Emily Mayo, Alfred Mayo and
Owen Mayo Sutton. 3. Emily Stebbins, Octo
ber, 1881, wife of Rev. William P. Schell, of
Seneca Falls, New York.

The surname Ireland dates
IRELAND back to the early days of pat
ronymics in England. The
family in some unknown way took its name
from the neighboring island, just as Wales,
England, and other place names of this class.
In its early form we find the names Adam de
Irlonde and Henry de Irlonde. The ancient
coat-of-arms : Gules three fleur de lis argent
a chief indented ermine. Crest : A dove bear
ing an olive branch vert. The motto of a
Hertfordshire branch of the Ireland family is :
Amor et Pax. Thomas Ireland, who settled
in Hempstead, Long Island, in 1644, and Sam
uel Ireland, who settled in Wethersfield about
the same time, were probably brothers.
(i) William Ireland, immigrant ancestor,
came from England and settled first before
1648 in. Dorchester, Massachusetts. Thence
he removed to Rumney Marsh, Boston. He
was a yeoman; admitted freeman, May 22,
1650. He was dismissed from the_church in
Dorchester to that in Boston, February 3,
1660-61. He had a contract to build highways
in 1654; was witness with his son William in
1681. He was overseer of the will of Elias
Maverick in 1684. He bought the Vane allot
ment at what is now Chelsea in 1652. One
account states that his wife Abigail died in
171 5, aged seventy- four years, daughter of
John Greenland, at Maiden. The History of
Charlestown assumes that Abigail was wife of
Abraham Ireland, because of the statement in
the records: "Abraham Ireland's mother-in-
law, a widow, notified at Skinner's, 1721."
This date is probably wrong. Mother-in-law
was the term used for step-mother and as John
Greenland mentions no wife in his will we
conclude that Abigail, second wife, of Abra
ham Ireland's father is the person meant in
this record. William was a constable of Dor
chester in 1656. Children: 1. Rebecca, bap
tized March 10, 1649-50. 2. Rebecca, baptized

MASSACHUSETTS.

229

October 20, 1650. 3. Ann, baptized February
13, 1652. 4. William, baptized December 16,
1655 ; married Elizabeth  , who when a
widow received a gift of a house in Boston
from William (1) ; children: i. John, born
September 17, 1682; ii. Elizabeth, February
24, 1687-88; iii. Jonathan, January 5, 1694-95.
5. John, sea captain, married, July 15, 1680,
Grace Healy, who died October 2, 1730, aged
seventy-seven years, five months, one day
(gravestone at Copps Hill) ; children: i. Mar
garet, born August 15, 1681, died May 25,
1685, at Boston ; ii. John, October 5, 1683 ;
iii. Abiel, February 17, 1684, married Fortune
Raddock ; iv. Grace, April 26, 1688, married
William Sterling; v. Mary, baptized March 8,
1696, died November 24, 1721 ; vi. Nathaniel,
baptized July 17, 1698; all baptized at the Sec
ond Church, Boston. 6. Abraham, mentioned
below. (II) Abraham, son of William Ireland, if
the widow of William, was, as appears from
the records of Chelsea, Charlestown, and Mai
den, his step-mother. He died January 24,
1753, in his eighty-first year. According to
the record of his gravestone, as given in Wy-
man's Charlestown, "God brought him from a
distant land," &c. He was doubtless a sea
faring man. What the epitaph means is not
clear. His children or grandchildren who
erected the stone may have thought he was
born in the old country, but the names in the
families of William and John, the apparent
relationship and all the evidence is against the
idea that he was an immigrant. He married
Abigail  . He was taxed in 1733-36-37-
42 at Charlestown. He bought land there first
in 1708 of Joseph Whittemore and from time
to time afterward. He lived also at Cambridge.
Children, born at Charlestown: 1. Margaret,
November 25, 1700, died January 17, 1721 ;
gravestone at Cambridge. 2. Abigail, Febru
ary 14, 1702-03, married Eben Shed. 3. John,
May 25, 1705. 4. Mary, February 8, 1707-08,
married Thomas Hutchinson. 5. Elizabeth,
July 18, 1710, married Ephraim Osborn. 6.
Abraham, April 8, 1713, married, April 8,
1736, at Dorchester, Ann Bird; son Abraham
settled at Lunenburg, Massachusetts. 7.
Thomas, August 31, 17 15, married, June 4,
1 741, Mary Randolph. 8. Tamsen, married
Nathan Ward. 9. Jonathan, September 24,
1719, mentioned below. 10. Margaret, mar
ried, 1743, Thomas Raymond.
(Ill) Jonathan, son of Abraham Ireland,
was born at Charlestown, September 24, 17 19.
He was living in Roxbury as early as 1747,

later at Chelsea, where his grandfather settled.
He married Martha  . He was taxed
in Charlestown, 1727-32-44-61-66. He died
in 1804 and administration was granted his
widow, August 7, 1804. His estate was divided
in 1806 among his widow and children, Jona
than, Nathaniel, William, Martha, John, Mary,
Sarah and Eleanor. At a later date, 1832, his
heirs were children of son Jonathan, deceased ;
Martha, wife of B. Hadley, Charles Wait's
children by wife Eleanor, deceased; Nathan
Field's wife Mary; Sally S. Ireland; Mary E.,
wife of Jonathan Ireland, deceased. Children,
born in Charlestown: 1. Jonathan, mentioned
below. 2. Nathaniel, lived at Boston and Cam
bridge, blacksmith; married, November 18,
1802, at Cambridge, Sally Prentice. 3. John,
married Abigail Withington, of Stow, Janu
ary 12 (intention) 1833. 4. Martha, married
B. Hadley. 5. William. 6. Sarah. 7. James,
married, March 2, 1802, Joanna Bemis. 8.
Eleanor, married Samuel Welch. All were
mentioned in the census of 1789 with Sarah
Coolidge, of Cambridge, as of Jonathan's
family. (IV) Jonathan (2), son of Jonathan (1)
Ireland, was born in Charlestown. He lived
during his youth probably on the ancestral
estate in what was then Charlestown, now
Somerville, at the corner of Ireland's range-
way (School street) and Milk row (Somer
ville avenue). He settled in Boston on War-
renton street, corner of Tremont street, and
followed his trade as chaise-maker there. The
house stood until recently when it was taken
down, the land being condemned for subway
purposes. He married, February 14, 1813, in
Boston, perhaps his second wife, Mercy (Pol
lard) Carleton, widow. His will was dated in
1830 and proved in 1843. He devised to wife ;
to children William H., George W., Martha H,
Sarah and to Martha A., wife of Orr K.
Towne, daughter of his wife by her first hus
band. Children: 1. William H., born 1812,
mentioned below. 2. George Washington, Jan
uary 13, 1816, mentioned below. 3. Martha H.
4. Sarah. (V) William H., son of Jonathan (2) Ire
land, was born in Charlestown, November,
1812, died at his home, 45 Rutland square,
Boston, August 18, 1899. He was educated
in the public schools, and had a long and suc
cessful business career. He was in partner
ship with his brother, George Washington Ire
land, as a manufacturer and general merchant
in Stoddard, New Hampshire, and later as a
manufacturer of soda in Boston. At the time

230

MASSACHUSETTS.

of his death the Universalist Leader said of
him "Ansther landmark among the Universal
ist laymen of Boston and vicinity has been
obliterated in the death of William H. Ireland
of the Every-day Church. His record in the
church was in some regards very remarkable,
for he was associated with it during its entire
history as the Warren Street Church. He was
present when the union took place between the
Warren Street Church and other South End
Churches in 1866. He has been a member
during all these years, and a deacon for a great
many years. He was buried from the Every
day Church Tuesday, August 21. An invoca
tion was offered by the Rev. Dr. J. K. Mason
of Chicago, a former pastor. An address was
given by the present pastor. In the course of
his remarks Dr. Perin declared that while
many of us may become saints by and by in
heaven, Mr. Ireland was a saint on earth. This
language is scarcely exaggerated, for he was
indeed one of the best of men. A man of the
strictest integrity as guileless as a little child,
he displayed, under great sorrow and misfor
tune, a fortitude like that of St. Paul and a
sweetness and cheerfulness like that of the
Master himself. If Mr. Ireland had lived till
November he would have been eighty-seven
years old-. He was preceded to his home above
by nearly all his immediate relatives. His
wife passed away in 1885. His only child,
Mr. Carlton Ireland, died several years ago,
since which time he had made his home with
Mrs. Carlton Ireland, who had devoted her
self to him with all the love and fidelity that
could have characterized the ministry of an
own daughter. Needless to say Mr. Ireland
will be greatly missed at the Every-day
church." (V) George Washington, son of Jonathan
(2) Ireland, was born on Warrenton street,
Boston, January 13, 1816. He received his
education at Madam Rider's private school,
the Franklin school and the English high school
of Boston. He was always true to the friend
ships of his youth and made great efforts in
his old age to attend the reunions of the Bos
ton Old Schoolboys' Association. He entered
the employ of Whittemore & Chamberlin in
1833, attaining to the position of chief clerk in
a few years, and having the management of
the business. In 1837 he entered partnership
with his brother, William H. Ireland, at Stod
dard, New Hampshire, conducting a general
store and manufacturing potash and potato
starch. In 1845 this firm bought the soda manu

facturing business of Darling & Pollard of
Boston and continued it with marked success.
George W. Ireland sold out his interests in
1853, built a residence in Somerville and en
gaged in the real estate business and in fruit-
raising. He was one of the founders of the
First Universalist Church of Somerville and
was at the time of his death the senior deacon.
He was assessor for four years and the last
collector of taxes under the town charter of
Somerville. He died after a long and pain
ful illness at the home of his daughter, whom
he had been visiting, July 2, 1895. In politics
he was a Republican. He married, November
28, 1841, Jane Preston, of Windsor, New
Hampshire, daughter of Reuben and Nancy
(Dresser) Preston, of Windsor. Children: 1.
Emma Jane, 'died in infancy. 2. George Henry,
born April 29, 1844, mentioned below. 3.
Martha Jane, married Dr. E. P. Gerry, of
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
(VI) George Henry, son of George Wash
ington Ireland, was born at Stoddard, New
Hampshire, April 29, 1844, died at West
Harpswell, Maine, July 31, 1900. His parents
removed to Somerville, when he was a young
child, and he received his education there in
the public schools. He began his business
career as clerk in the store of Horace Part
ridge & Company of Boston and continued
with that house for a number of years. In
1872 he established himself in business in
Springfield, Massachusetts, having a "Ninety-
nine Cent" store at the corner of Main and
Pynchon streets. In 1875 he entered the em
ploy ofthe Milton Bradley Company of Spring
field as traveling salesman for the game de
partment, of which he afterward became the
manager. In 1889 he became clerk of the cor
poration and in 1892 assistant treasurer of the
Milton Bradley Company, a position he filled to
the time of his death with conspicuous ability.
He had many interests in social as well as busi
ness life, fle was for many years an active
member of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal
Church. He was treasurer of the Roswell
Lee Lodge of Free Masons ; member of Morn
ing Star Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; of
Springfield Council, Royal and Select Masters ;
of Springfield Commandery, Knights Templar,
and of Melha Temple, Order of the Mystic
Shrine ; also of Oasis Lodge of Odd Fellows,
Somerville. He had been a member of the
Camera Club and of the Springfield Improve
ment Association. In politics he was a Republi
can. His death was caused by heart disease.

7 i£* <*

ys.

MASSACHUSETTS.

231

He was spending a month at the summer home
of his friend and partner in business, Milton
Bradley, when taken ill. The funeral was
held at the home of his sister, Mrs. E. Pea
body Gerry, in Jamaica Plain, Rev. Charles A.
Skinner officiating, and the interment was in
the family lot at Mount Auburn cemetery. Mr.
Ireland was methodical and systematic, pains
taking and earnest in business. He was pre
eminently a man of his word. He never failed
a friend or defaulted in an obligation. He
performed all the duties of life carefully,
wisely and conscientiously. His wide experi
ence in business brought him into close and
intimate relations with many men and he made
many friends. He was a student all his life,
both of men and books and had a vast fund
of general information at his command. He
was interesting in conversation and an attrac
tive companion. He loved children and made
friends with the young as readily as with men
of his own age. He demonstrated his practical
knowledge and his literary ability a few years
before his death by winning a $250 prize for
an essay on "Sanitary Improvements in Manu
facturing Establishments."
Rev. Flint M. Bissell, pastor of the church
which Mr. Ireland attended, paid a high tribute
to his character in his sermon following the
death. He said : "Mr. Ireland was a thorough
going Christian, a generous giver, a loyal
friend, a faithful attendant ; but he was chiefly
~ distinguished by his eagerness to serve. He
never waited to be urged, but constantly sought
avenues of usefulness, and without ostentation
or display delighted to give not only money,
but time and interest and personal work for
the cause of the church he loved. We may not
fill his place, but our most fitting tribute to his
memory will be a new endeavor to fill our
places as throughly as he filled his." At the
session of the Sunday school on the same day,
a fine portrait of Mr. Ireland was presented to
the school by the boys of his class and was
hung on the wall over the place where the class
for so many years had met.
He married, May 21, 1873, Ella F. Leland,
of Somerville, daughter of John Murray and
Sophronia Page (Savage) Leland. They had
but one child, George Preston, born at Som
erville, March 28, 1873, graduate of the Spring
field high school and of the class of 1894, Tufts
College, taking the degree of Ph. B. ; civil
engineer for a few years with the Boston &
Albany railroad, now practicing his profession
in Seattle, Washington.

William and Osmond Trask were
TRASK probably brothers. William was
a very early settler of Salem,
perhaps coming in 1628 before Governor Endi
cott. He was admitted a freeman October 19,
1630, and was commissioner to the general
court in 1632. He was muster master and cap
tain of Militia, and deputy to the general court
in 1635-36-37-39. After the Pequot war he
was granted two large tracts of land compris
ing six hundred acres. He owned a corn
mill and fulling mill. He died May 15, 1666.
(I) Osmond Trask, supposed brother of
William, mentioned above, was the immigrant
ancestor of one branch of the family. He was
born in England in 1625-27. He stated his
age as thirty-five years in 1660 and as thirty-
eight years in 1665. He was a planter in Salem
before 1649, and a very prominent citizen. It
appears from certain records that the Trasks
came from the southwest of England, where
people of that name still reside: He removed
to Beverly and was constable there. He died
in 1676, intestate. The inventory is dated
March 5, 1676-77, filed by his widow Elizabeth
in the court at Ipswich, March 27 following.
The court made the widow administratrix and
placed the rest in her hands; she to give the
eldest son forty acres of land with the house
upon it ; the other eight children — Sarah,
Mary, Samuel, Benjamin, Joseph, Elizabeth,
William and Jonathan— to have fifty pounds
apiece ; the same for the expected child. The
widow deeded land to her five sons — Samuel,
Benjamin, Joseph, William and Edward Trask
— March 27, 1679, to be delivered after she
had paid legacies to daughters — Sarah, Mary
and Elizabeth. In the settlement of the estate
the children of the first wife are not mentioned,
some other provision having been made for
them, doubtless. The records show conclu
sively that the son John was living at that time.
He married (first) January 1, 1650, Mary
 , who died January 2, 1663. He mar
ried (second) May 22, 1663, Elizabeth Gaily,
daughter of John Gaily. She married (sec
ond) John Gyells. Children of first wife: 1.
Sarah, born September, 1650, died young. 2.
Edward, June 6, 1652. 3. Mary, May, 1657.
4. John, August 15, 1658, mentioned below.
5. William, July 5, 1660, died next month.
Children of second wife: 6. Mary, died young.
7. Samuel. 8. Benjamin. 9. Joseph. 10. Eliz
abeth. 11. William (the last five baptized at
the same time, March 14, 1675-76, probably
after the father's death). 12. Jonathan, bap-

232

MASSACHUSETTS.

tized June 6, 1675. 13. Edward (posthumous),
baptized November 10, 1677.
(II) John, son of Osmond Trask, was born
in Salem, August 15, 1658, died in Beverly,
May 13, 1720. He settled in Beverly. He
married (first) April 9, 1679, Christian Wood
bury, who while temporarily deranged killed
herself with a pair of scissors, June 3, 1689.
He married (second) October 30, 1690, Mary
Dodge. Married (third) 1692-93, Elizabeth
 , who died at Beverly, November 26,
171 5. Children, recorded at Beverly, though
some may have been born in Salem : 1. Chris
tian, born January 20, 1680, died December 2,
1687. 2. Edward, November 14, 1685. 3.
Elizabeth, August 25, 1687. 4. Hannah, bap
tized July 10, 1687. 5. William, born January
1, 1689. Child of second wife: 6. Josiah,
December 10, 1691. Children of third wife:
7. Jonathan, June 5, 1694. 8. Mary, July 3,
1697 (parents called of Salem). 9. Christian,
May 25, 1701. 10. Israel, a minor over four
teen in 1720. 11. Ebenezer, mentioned below.
(Ill) Ebenezer, son of John Trask, was
born in Salem or Beverly. His father died
May 13, 1720, and on October 3 following
Jonathan Trask was chosen guardian of Israel
and Ebenezer Trask, minor sons of the "late
John Trask of Salem." Family tradition says
he was in the revolution. An Ebenezer Trask
of Beverly was in Caleb Dodge's company of
the second parish at the Lexington alarm, April
l9> 1775- His estate was settled December 6,
1779; in probate papers he is called a house
carpenter. He married, March 5, 1729-30, at
Beverly, Mary Rix. Children: 1. Elizabeth
born April 18, 1731, died April 8, 1753. 2
Ebenezer, September 23, 1732, died young. 3
Mary, September 23, 1732 (twin), died young.
4. Mary, December 12, 1733. 5. Esther, De
cember 21, 1735. 6. Miriam, January 23, 1737
7. Martha, September 18, 1739. 8. Ebenezer
June 12, 1741, mentioned below. 9. Sarah
May 20, 1743. 10. Hannah, April 3, 1745. 11
Israel, July 31, 1747, died January 13, 1754
The father of these children died in I779:
intestate. (IV) Ebenezer (2), son of Ebenezer (1)
Trask, was born in Beverly, June 12, 1741,
died there March 9, 1814. His will was dated
June 23, 1814, proved April 5, 1814. He be
queathed to sons John and Israel the home
stead on the north side of the county road at
Beverly; to Ann Phippen, widow of Joshua
Phippen ; to daughter Mary, wife of Epes
Coggswell ; to son Ebenezer ; to son Israel the
residue ; mentions also grandchildren. He was

a soldier in the revolution in Lieutenant Peter
Shaw's company, April 19, 1775. He married,
January 31, 1765, Betty Dodge, of Wenham.
Children, born at Beverly: 1. John, May 2,
1766. 2. Israel, December 7, 1767. 3. Ebe
nezer, July 24, 1769. 4. Mary, January 29,
1771. 5. Samuel, November 8, 1772. 6. Anna,
August 17, 1774. 7. Joseph, April 21, 1776, men
tioned below. 8. Mary, April 1, 1778. 9. Betsey,
June 19, 1780, died young. 10. Betsey, Sep
tember 9, 1784. 11. Israel, February 1, 1792.
(V) Joseph, son of Ebenezer (2) Trask,
was born in Beverly, April 21, 1776, and set
tled in Gloucester. He married (first) Sarah
Dodge; one child Joseph. Married (second)
Susanna Hovey; children: Joshua P., Sarah
D. and Ebenezer.
(VI) Joshua P., son of Joseph Trask, was
born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, July 23,
1805, died September, 1862, deeply lamented
by the entire community. He was educated
in the public schools of Gloucester. He was
in business for a few years at Hampden,
Penobscot county, Maine, but returned to
Gloucester in 1847 and spent the remainder
of his life in that town. He was active in
public affairs, a just, upright, well-informed
citizen of sterling character and sound judg
ment. He had some legal education and was
appointed first judge of the municipal court
of Gloucester, and held this responsible office
until his death. He was a just and efficient
magistrate. He was always an earnest worker
in the cause of temperance and was prime
mover in organizing a number of temperance
and toal abstinence societies. Through his
efforts a fund was subscribed for the relief of
the widows and orphans of the seafaring men
who are drowned. He was an active and
prominent member of the Congregational
church. In 1832 he wrote a series of articles
for the village newspaper advocating a public
library, which as a result of his agitation was
established. He took part in every movement
for the welfare and benefit of the town. No
man of his day showed a greater public spirit ;
he was resolute and aggressive. He married,
December 14, 1830, Mary Ellery Rogers, born
April, 1803, daughter of William and Eliza
beth (Low) Rogers. William Rogers was an
•officer of the pqriof customs, a school teacher
many years, a soldier in the revolution and a
descendant of Rev. John Rogers, president of
Harvard College in 1684. Children : William
P., Charles A., Susan E., Elizabeth R., John
L. R. and Mary A. (twins).
(VII) Rev. Tohn L. R. Trask, D. D., son of

MASSACHUSETTS.

233

Joshua P. Trask, was born in Hampden,
Maine, December 19, 1842. He was educated
at the Gloucester public and high schools,
Dummer Academy at Byfield, Massachusetts,
Atkinson Academy, New Hampshire, and at
Williams College, where he was graduated in
the class of 1864 with the degree of A. B.
He began the study of divinity at the Prince
ton Theological School, and received the de
gree of A. M. in 1867 at Williams College.
After another year of study at Andover Theo
logical Seminary, he was called to the pastorate
of the Second Congregational Church of
Holyoke, was ordained there December 4,
1867, and continued until 1883, when he re
signed on account of ill health. During his
pastorate he raised funds for the purchase of
the site of the present edifice, "and also for
the Holyoke Public Library of which he was
one of the founders. After resting and recov
ering his health he accepted the pastorate of
Trinity Congregational Church of Lawrence in
1884. He spent the summer of 1888 abroad
and was much benefited by his vacation. In No
vember of that year he was installed as pastor
of the Memorial Church of Springfield, Massa
chusetts. This church is classed as union evan
gelical and is entirely unsectarian in its govern
ment, being designed to meet the spiritual
needs of all classes and denominations. A par
ish house was erected a few years after Mr.
Trask became pastor. It is at the corner of
Church and Main streets and is a center of
good work. The church has one of the largest
Sunday schools and the largest Christian En
deavor societies in the city. Dr. Trask is inter
ested in genealogical and historical research,
and is a member of the New England His
toric Genealogical Society of Boston, Spring
field Historical Society, the Massachusetts
Society, Sons of the American Revolution,
Winthrop Club, Phi Beta Kappa fraternity
and Connecticut Valley Theological Club.
Since 1878 he has been a trustee and secretary
of Mount Holyoke College. In politics he is
a Republican. He married, August 1, 1871,
Abbie J. Parker, of Dunbarton, New Hamp
shire, born September 24, 1846, daughter of
Daniel Hardy Parker. She was educated at
Adams Academy at Derry and at Hartford,
Connecticut. Children: 1. Frederick Parker,
born July 14, 1872, graduate of Amherst Col
lege in the class of 1896; was with the Equit
able Life Insurance Company of New York
for many years; married Kate Davies; one
child, Parker. 2. Elizabeth Rogers, born June
25, 1875, graduate of Mount Flolyoke College in

the class of 1898 ; was a student in music and the
German language in Hanover, Germany; now
a lecturer on art. 3. Mary Ellery, .born August
25, 1877, graduate of Springfield high school
and of Smith College in the class of 1900;
married, November, 1903, Paul H. Loomis ; one
child, Ellery Trask Loomis.

Before the Norman Conquest in
DRAKE 1066, the Drake family was estab
lished in county Devon, England,
and in the Domesday Book six places are men
tioned as being owned by persons of that name.
The name is said to have come from a family
named Draco, or Drago, who took possession
of an old Roman encampment in what is now
Musbury, county Devon, soon after the con
quest of Wessex by the Saxons. The name
signifies "a leader." The coat-of-arms is : A
wivern displayed. The crest of the family
mentioned below : Dexter arm erect proper,
holding a battle-axe sable, headed argent.
Motto : Aquila non captat muscas. The home
of the family at Musbury came to be known
as Mount Drake, where there was a fortified
house before the erection of Ashe, the ancient
seat of the family. This came into the Drake
family through the marriage of the first John
Drake, mentioned below, and remained in
their possession about four hundred years.
Ashe House, part of the old original house
and chapel still existing, is the property of an
Axminster grocer, and the estate of Mount
Drake is owned by Rev. John Vaughan Payne,
Lord of the Manor of Musbury.
(I) John Drake, Esq., of Mount Drake and
Exmouth, county Devon, "a man of great
estate," married in the time of Henry V (1413-
22), Christiana, daughter and heiress of John
Billett, of Ashe. He was engaged in shipping
in Exmouth, and his son and grandson suc
ceeded him in the trade.
(II) John Drake was numbered in the hun
dred of East Budleigh, Devon, and settled at
Otterton, about sixteen miles from Ashe. He
married Christiana, daughter and heiress of
John Antage.
(Ill) John Drake, of Otterton, married a
daughter of John Crews, or Cruwys.
(IV) John Drake, of Otterton, married
Agnes, daughter of John Kailway, and had
five sons.
(V) John Drake was of Ashe, Exmouth,
county Devon, and married Margaret, daugh
ter and heiress of John Cole. Children: 1.
John, mentioned below. 2. John, second son,
buried November 9, 1554. 3. Alice, second

234

MASSACHUSETTS.

wife of Walter Raleigh, father of Sir Walter
Raleigh. 4. Gilbert.
(VI) John Drake, of Mount Drake, Ashe
and Exmouth, was son and heir, and high
sheriff of Devon in the time of Queen Eliza
beth. He married, in 1535, Amye, daughter
of Roger Greenville, of Stow. He died Octo
ber 4, 1558, and he and his wife are buried in
the parish church at Musbury, where may be
seen their tomb, bearing their effigies. She
died February 18, 1577. Children: 1. Sir
Barnard, knight ; mentioned below. 2. Robert
of Wiscomb ; married Elizabeth Prideaux. 3.
Richard of Esher, born 1535, equerry to Queen
Elizabeth ; married Ursula Stafford ; died July
11, 1603.
(VII) Sir Barnard Drake, knight, of Mount
Drake and Ashe, was knighted January 9,
1585, being a favorite of Queen Elizabeth,
"employed in several great offices at sea." He
went to Newfoundland with a commission, also
took many Portugese ships, and for his deeds
ranked as second among the most famous sea
captains of his day. His last exploit was while
England was at war with Spain, when he took
a large Portugese ship which had menaced
the English a long time, and brought her into
the harbor at Dartmouth, which action, "how
brave soever it might be, proved fatal to him
self and many other persons of quality." He
died in his house of Ashe, April 10, and was
buried April 12, 1685, in the parish church,
where his effiigy still marks his tomb. He
married Gertrude Fortescue. Children : 1.
John. 2. Hugh, died 1589. 3. Marie, married
 Tynsley. 4. Mary, married John Sher
man. 5. Elianor, married John Button.
(VIII) John Drake, of Mount Drake and
Ashe, was buried April 11, 1628, in the parish
church at Musbury, and his effigy, with that
of his wife, is there. His will was dated Jan
uary 16, 1620-21, and proved May 29, 1628.
He married Dorothy, daughter of William
Button, of Ashton, who was buried December
13, 1631-2. Her will was dated December 7,
1631, and proved January 13, 1631-2. Chil
dren: 1. Mary, married Sir flenry Rouswell;
buried November 4, 1643. 2. Sir John, died
August 25, 1636. 3. William, mentioned below.
(IX) William of Yardbury, in the parish
of Colyton, was buried in the Temple Church,
London. His will was dated November 2,
1636, and proved February 29, 1639-40. He
married, in 1620, Margrett, daughter and
heiress of William Westofer, of Colyton. She
was buried at Colyton April 16, 1635. Chil
dren: 1. John, baptized March 24, 1621-2;

buried April 12, 1648. 2. Dorothy, baptized
March 26, 1623. 3. Eleanor, baptized Decem
ber 15, 1625. 4. Joan, baptized June 11, 1628;
came to America with her brother Thomas
and settled in Weymouth; married Thomas
Randall, of Weymouth. 5. William, baptized
December 22, 1629 ; buried March 6, 1680. 6.
Elizabeth, baptized December 10, 1632 ; came
to America; married, June 8, 1654, Ezekiel
Hamlin, of Boston. 7. Endimion, baptized
June 25, 1634. 8. Thomas,- mentioned below.
(X) Thomas, son of William Drake, was
baptized in St. Andrew's Church, Colyton,
county Devon, England, September 13, 1635.
After the death of his parents he followed his
relative, John Drake, to Taunton, Massachu
setts and Wjndsor, Connecticut, to America
about 1653-4. His sisters Jane and Elizabeth
accompanied" him. He settled in Weymouth,
Massachusetts, and in 1663 owned lot No. 70,
six acres, in the first division. He took an
active part in the affairs of the town, and in
1667 was a member of the Suffolk troopers.
He served in King Philip's war, and June 24,
1676, was a member of the garrison at Punck-
apouge. He bought in 1682 a large tract of
land near the Taunton river, in Freetown, half
of which he sold in 1688 to Ralph Paine, of
Rhode Island. He died in Weymouth, in 1691,
and his estate was valued at 237 pounds. He
married (first) Jane, daughter of Thomas Hol-
brook; (second) March 9, 1681, Millicent,
widow of John Carver and daughter of Will
iam Ford. Children, born at Weymouth: 1.
Thomas, about 1657; died August 19, 1728.
2. John, March 12, 1659. 3. William, May 30,
166 1. 4. Joseph, October 28, 1663. 5. Amy,
February 3, 1666 ; married Joshua Phillips. 6.
Elizabeth, 1670; died June 14, 1748; married
John Phillips. 7. Benjamin, January 15, 1677;
mentioned below. 8. Experience, 1683 ; married,
January 23, 1706, William Richards Jr.
(XI) Benjamin, son of Thomas Drake, was
born at Weymouth, January 15, 1677. He
bought, June 6, 1700, fifty acres of land with
buildings thereon, on what is Church street,
South Easton, and settled there. He also
bought other lands in Middleborough, and the
estate of his brother Thomas. He was elected
the first selectman of Easton, 1725-6, and
served also in 1728-31-33-34-35-36-38-43-46. In
1 73 1 he was town treasurer and moderator.
fle married, in Weymouth, Sarah Pool, born
about 1678, died in Easton, December 24, 1775,
daughter of Samuel Pool, of Weymouth. Chil
dren: 1. Benjamin, born December 1, 1700;
died April 18, 1784. 2. Sarah, born October

MASSACHUSETTS.

235

20, 1703; married (first) May 21, 1728, Zach
ariah Lyon; (second) 1759, Benjamin Smith.
3. Joseph, born April 1, 1706; died June 8,
1791. 4. Thomas, born March, 1709; died
March 7, 1788. 5. John, born December 13,
1711; died June 21, 1804. 6. William, born
January, 1715; died February 16, 1746; mar
ried, May 27, 1740, Mary Smith. 7. Richard,
born March, 1717; mentioned below. 8. Eliz
abeth, born December 21, 1719; died Decem
ber 25, 1726. 9. Robert, born November, 1723;
died February 2, 1797.
(XII) Richard, son of Benjamin Drake,
was born in March, 1717, in Easton, and died
there September 26, 1773. His will was dated
September 9, 1773. On April 7, 1757, he was
exempted from military duty, except in an
emergency, on account of deafness. He mar
ried, December 27, 1742, in Easton, Tamar
Manley, born March 25, 1724, died August 28,
1772, daughter of Thomas and Lydia (Field)
Manley. Children: 1. Jonah, born November
1, 1743, "fell and broke his neck" July 24,
1817. 2. Richard, born February 7, 1745 ; died
in the revolution, about 1777. 3. Sarah, born
August 4, 1746; married, May 7, 1767, Joseph
Randall Jr. 4. Zachariah, born July 6, 1748;
died January 14, 1818. 5. Thamer, born Au
gust 26, 1750; died January 17, 1774. 6. Elijah,
born February, 1752; died October 3, 1756.
7. Isaac, born December 7, 1752; died April
7, 1 80 1 ; married, September 8, 1785, Bath
sheba Turner. 8. Anne, born April 13, 1755;
died October 3, 1756. 9. Zilpha, born October
27, 1757, married, March 18, 1779, Jonathan
Witherell. 10. Adam, born February 1, 1761 ;
died July 23, 1841. 11. Edward, born July 9,
1763 ; mentioned below.
(XIII) Edward, son of Richard Drake,
was born in Easton, July 9, 1763, and died
February 28, 1830. He lived in Easton, about
eighty rods southeast of Nathan Randall's
place, and the old cellar hole is still to be
seen. He was in the revolution, in Captain
Samuel Fisher's company, General Godfrey's
brigade, in 1779, in Rhode Island; also in
1780, in Captain John Allen's company, Colonel
Carpenter's regiment, to assist Count Rocham-
beau's troops in Rhode Island. He married, Sep
tember 11, 1788, Hannah White, born No
vember 18, 1767, died September 11, 1850, of
Sharon. Children: 1. Edward, born August 27,
1789, died August 24, 1805. 2. Isaac, born August
9, 1791 ; died June 13, 1879. 3. Rhoda, born
May 29, 1793; died November 18, 1848; mar
ried Samuel Niles. 4. Huldah, born June 4,
1795; died October 24, 1841 ; married Reuben

French. 5. Alvin, born August 10, 1797 ; men
tion below. 6. Seth, born December 18, 1799;
died May, 1804. 7. Zilpha, born September
13, 1802; died September 1, 1889; married
(first) Otis Clark; (second) Daniel Curtis.
8. Hannah W., born February 3, 1805 ; died
July 8, 1861 ; married May 4, 1835, James
Willis. 9. Edward, born April 12, 1807. 10.
Seth, born July 17, 1809; died August 20,
1845. H' Asa, born April 13, 1813; died un
married, November 17, 1885.
(XIV) Alvin, son of Edward Drake, was
born August 10, 1797, in Easton, and died No
vember 10, 1871. He married (first) Novem
ber 24, 1820, Hannah Edson, of Boston, born
March 5, 1798, died July 27, 1833, in Bos
ton. He married (second) January 13, 1836,
in Boston, Belinda Green, of South Reading,
born August 28, 1804, died July 8, 1885, in
Stoneham, daughter of Nathan and Elizabeth
(Orr) Green. Children of first wife: 1.
Hiram E., born November 27, 182 1 ; died Sep
tember 11, 1858; married Margaret E. Col-
man. 2. Levi Keith, born May 6, 1824; men
tioned below. 3. Elizabeth J., born January
15, 1828; died February 11, 1874; married,
November, 1849, Caleb S. Wiley, of Stone-
ham. 4. Adeline M., born January 28, 1829;
married, November 4, 1852, William F. Cowd-
rey. 5. Alvin, born October 17, 1831. 6.
Phares, born May 26, 1833 ; killed in civil war,
September 24, 1862 ; unmarried. Children of
second wife : 7. Hannah Augusta, born July
19, 1837; married, June 9, 1861, Jacob Leigh-
ton. 8. Caroline Belinda, born December 16,
1842; married, September 15, 1867, James
Forrest. 9. Nathan Lowell, born February 17,
1847- (XV) Levi Keith, son of Alvin Drake, was
born at Raynham, May 6, 1824, and died at
Stoughton, 1899, aged seventy-five. He mar
ried, November 21, 1852, Eliza A. Pope, of
Stoughton, born May 25, 1828, died August
27, 1885, daughter of Thomas and Tyla
(Holmes) Pope. He resided at Stoughton.
Children: 1. Irving Lawrence, born June 18,
1856; mentioned below. 2. Harriet Augusta,
born August 15, 1861 ; died December 14, 1862.
3. Wilton Everett, born May 25, 1866; mar
ried, November 3, 1892, Harriet M. La Rocque,
born in Bakersfield, Vermont, June 11, 1870,
daughter of Joseph and Alice La Rocque;
had Wilton Everett, born November 29, 1894.
4. Eva E., born December 11, 1868; resides on
the homestead.
(XVI) Irving Lawrence, son of Levi Keith
Drake, was born in Stoughton, June 18, 1856.

236

MASSACHUSETTS.

He was educated in the public and high schools
of his native town. For many years he was a
letter carrier. Since 1903 he has been in part
nership with his brother, Wilton Everett,
under the firm name of Orient Manufacturing
Company, in the manufacture of boxes for
jewelry and eye glasses, formerly at East
Weymouth, now of Boston. He resides at
East Weymouth. In politics he is a Republi
can, in religion a Universalist. He- was for
merly a member of the Knights of Pythias and
the National Association of Letter Carriers.
He married, February 18, 1903, Mary E. Ken
dall, born October 20, 1872, at Canterbury,
Connecticut, daughter of Horace Kendall, who
was born at Canterbury and died at Brooklyn,
Connecticut. Her mother was Polly (Champ
lin) Kendall, born in 1839, at Exeter, Rhode
Island. Her grandfather was Major John
Kendall. Children of Horace and Polly Ken
dall: 1. George F. Kendall, born 1861, at
Canterbury. 2. Mary E. Kendall, born Octo
ber 20, 1872 ; married Irving L. Drake. Mr.
and Mrs. Drake have no children.

John Bryant, immigrant ances-
BRYANT tor, was born in England and
was in Scituate as early as
1639, when he was admitted a freeman.
According to tradition he came from county
Kent, England, in the ship "Ann." His farm
was on the second Herring brook, ten rods
east of the mill, and an ancient orchard now
or lately marked the site. Fle was prominent
in the early history of Plymouth colony, and
throughout his life was active in public affairs ;
was a land owner and actively engaged in sur
veying public lands. He was a house carpenter
by trade. He was a deputy to the general court
at Plymouth in 1657-77-78. He lived in Barn
stable a short time before settling in Scituate.
In 1643 he appears on the list of men able
to bear arms in Scituate. He married (first)
in 1643, Mary Lewis, daughter of George and
Mary (Jenkins) Lewis, of Barnstable. In
1657 he married (second) Elizabeth Wetherill,
daughter of Rev. William Wetherill, of Scit
uate. He married (third) in 1664, Mary
Highland, daughter of Thomas Highland, of
Scituate. Children of first wife: 1. John,
born August 17, 1644, mentioned below. 2.
Hannah, July 25, 1646, married, 1665, John
Stodder, of Hingham. 3. Joseph, died June
16, 1669. 4. Sarah, born September 29, 1648.
5. Mary, February 24, 1650, died April 8, 1652.
6. Martha, February 26, 1652. 7. Samuel,
February 8, 1654, died 1690 in the Phipps ex

pedition to Canada. Children of third wife:
8. Elizabeth, August, 1665, died December 17,
1783. 9. Daniel, married Dorothy  . 10.
Mary. 11. Benjamin, December, 1669, died
1701, unmarried. 12. Joseph, 1671. 13. Jabez,
February 18, 1672, died 1697, unmarried. 14.
Ruth, August 16, 1673, married William
Wanton, afterward governor of Rhode Island.
15. Thomas, July 15, 1675, married Mary
Ewell, daughter of Gershom. 16. Deborah,
January 22, 1677. 17. Agatha, March 12,
1678. 18. Ann, November 20, 1679. 19.
Elisha. (II) Lieutenant John (2), son of John (1)
Bryant, was born in Scituate, August 17, 1644,
died at Scituate, January 26, 1708, leaving a
will proved February 12, 1708. The inventory
shows an estate valued at three hundred and
ninety-five pounds. He built the first saw mill
on Herring brook in 1690, and later a grist
mill also. He and his descendants occupied a
large tract of land from Spring brook to James
Bowker's on which the sons settled. Joshua
settled near the place where his descendant,
Snow Bryant, lived lately. He married Mary
 . Children: 1. John, born March 27,
1678, married, January 1, 1707, Deborah Bars-
tow. 2. Jonathan, January 1, 1679. 3. Mary,
September 3, 1682, married, May 6, 1707,
Jabez Rose. 4. David, August 17, 1684, mar
ried Hannah Church. 5. Joshua, November
14, 1687, died June 9, 1709. 6. Samuel, Janu
ary 15, 1689, mentioned below. 7. Martha,
August 22, 1691.
(Ill) Samuel, son of Lieutenant John (2)
Bryant, was born in Scituate, January 15,
1689, died there in 1753. He was a wheel
wright by trade. He married, February 14,
171 1, Abigail Turner, of Scituate, (by Rev.
Nathaniel Ellis). Children, born in Scituate:
1. Joshua, January 6, 1713. 2. Samuel, bap
tized July 29, 1716, mentioned below. 3. John,
born December 21, 17 18. 4. Abigail, July 21,
1723- (IV) Samuel (2), son of Samuel ( 1 ) Bryant,
was born in Scituate and baptized July 29,
1716. He was a housewright by trade. He
married, in October, 1745, Mary Bucks. Chil
dren, born in Scituate: 1. Abigail, December
31, 1747. 2. Samuel, December 26, 1748. 3.
Ira, August 28, 1750. 4. Elijah, November 8,
1 75 1. 5. Molly, July 23, 1753. 6. Zina, Janu
ary 1, 1755, married Eunice Wade. 7. Snow,
October 6, 1758. Perhaps others.
(V) Zebulon, son or nephew of Samuel (2)
Bryant, settled in Ashfield, Massachusetts,
when a young man. He was a soldier in the

MASSACHUSETTS.

237

revolution from that town on the Lexington
alarm, April 19, 1775, a sergeant in Lieutenant
James Bartlett's company. He was also later
in 1775 in Captain Ebenezer Webber's com
pany, Colonel John Fellows's regiment (the
Eighth Hampshire), commissioned May 3,
1776, second lieutenant, second lieutenant in
Captain Elijah Cranston's company (the
Eleventh) in Colonel D. Fuller's regiment
(Fifth Hampshire County) ; also second lieu
tenant in Captain Nathan Frary's company and
lieutenant in Lieutenant Ephraim Jennings's
company, Colonel David Field's regiment at
the battle of Bennington, in August, 1777.
According to the federal census of 1790 he
was the head of the only family of this name
in Ashfield and had two males over sixteen,
one under that age and five females in his
family at that time. Among his children was
Zebulon, mentioned below.
(VI) Zebulon (2), son of Zebulon (1)
Bryant, was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts,
about 1775.
(VII) Chauncey, son of Zebulon (2)
Bryant, was born in Ashfield in 1823, died in
Greenfield, April 14, 1905. He was educated
in the public schools, and for many years car
ried on a grocery business in Greenfield. He
was a deputy sheriff of Franklin county for
forty years and was well known in all sections
of the county, especially to members of the
bar and "men in public life. He was a popular
and efficient public officer. He married Mehit
able Bassett.
(VIII) Charles Ashton, son of Chauncey
Bryant, was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts,
1 85 1, died at Chicopee, October 24, 1902. He
was educated in the public schools, and
throughout his life was in mercantile business.
He began as clerk for the firm of S. Allen &
Sons of Greenfield, and in 1789 bought a store
in Chicopee and engaged in trade on his own
account with much success. He had a large
retail hardware store in Chicopee and con
tinued in active business until he died. He
was one of the leading merchants of the town
for many years. In politics he was a Republi
can and served as selectman. He was a mem
ber of the Masonic order. He married Sarah
Foss, born Biddeford, Maine, daughter of
Cyrus Foss. Children: 1. Walter Thornton,
born June 15, 1879, mentioned below. 2. Jus
tin, died aged two years. 3. Marion Augusta.
4. Louise Tustina. 5. Chauncy Davis.
(IX) Walter Thornton, son of Charles Ash
ton Bryant, was born in Chicopee, June 15,
1879. He attended the public and high schools

of his native place, graduating from the Chic
opee high school in the class of 1898. He
entered Amherst College, from which he was
graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1902.
He took up his profession of teaching and was
appointed instructor in history in the Quincy
high school, Massachusetts, but two months
after he began to teach, his father died and he
resigned to return home and take charge of
the hardware business for the estate, and in
this occupation he has continued since. The
high reputation of the store has been main
tained and the volume of business constantly
enlarged under his management. He is a
member of Chicopee Lodge of Free Masons
and of the Amherst Alumni Association. In
college he belonged to the Theta Delta Chi
fraternity. The surname Harding is de-
HARDING rived from the very ancient
personal name Hardin of
Gothic origin, in use at a very early period in
Germany, Scandinavia and Britain, even before
the coming of the ancient feudal system. ' Sev
eral men bearing this name are mentioned in
the Domesday Book (1086) and several local
ities bearing this name or its derivatives, like
Harrington. There were no less than six
immigrants of this surname in Massachusetts
before 1650 ; Abraham, mentioned below ; Eliz
abeth, who settled in Boston ; George, of Salem,
of whom nothing further is known ; John, of
Weymouth; Robert, of Boston, who left no
issue in this country. Some connection existed
between Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the patentee
of Maine, and Captain Robert Georges, and
the Harding family. Sir Robert Georges mar
ried Mary Harding, daughter and heir of Will
iam Harding.
(I) Abraham Harding, immigrant ancestor,
was born in England, in 1620, and was son of
John Harding, of Boram, county Essex, hus
bandman, who married Agnes Greene, of Tarl-
ing. Abraham came to New England and set
tled first in Boston, Massachusetts, where he
was admitted a freeman in May, 1645. He
was living there as early as 1640, when he
gave a letter of attorney on August 28 for the
collection of a legacy left him by his father.
He was a glover and planter. In 1648 he was
living in Braintree, but sold his property there
in 1653 and removed to Medfield. His house
was on Bridge street, where the Clark house
is now situated. He died March 22, 1654-55,
and his will was proved April 24 following.
He married Elizabeth Adams, sister of Henry

238

MASSACHUSETTS.

Adams. She married (second) John Frary
Jr., and (third) Thomas Dyer, of Weymouth,
and died in 1678. Children, born at Medfield :
1. Mary, May 1, 1653. 2. Abraham, August
!5> 1^55, mentioned below. 3. John, died
March 4, 1719-20. 4. Elizabeth.
(II) Abraham (2), son of Abraham (1)
Harding, was born in Medfield, August 15,
1655, died there May 4, 1741. Soon after
1675 he settled on the old road to Hartford,
near the Bent bridge on the northeast bend of
the Charles river, one-half a mile east of Med-
way village. He built his house on the north
side of the road, and passed his days of active
usefulness in Medfield. He lived to see the
division of the town and to take part in organ
izing the first church in Medway. He was a
member of a town committee at the first town
meeting, November 23, 1713, and was elected
selectman in 1715-16. He was moderator in
1717 and one of the committee to lay out the
minister's land. He was himself fortunate *n
the choice of his land, and left a large estate
which he gave to his sons. His will was dated
December 19, 1718. He married (first) in
Medfield, April 26, 1677, Mary Mason, born
February 8, 1657-58, died 1694, daughter of
Thomas and Margaret (Partridge) Mason.
He married (second) in 1695, Sarah  ,
whose will is dated May 29, 1741, and proved
April 13, 1742. She died January 22, 1741-42.
Children: 1. Mehitable, born October 17,
1684. 2. Marie, August 25, 1687, married
Daniel  . 3. Elizabeth, January 1, 1689,
died April 15, 1708. 4. Abraham, April 5,
1691, died 1734; married Ruth Wight. 5.
Thomas, December 15, 1692, died October 15,
1754. 6. John, April 6, 1694, mentioned below.
Children of second wife : 7. Sarah, February
22, 1696, married George Fairbanks. 8. Samuel,
May 15, 1698. 9. Hannah, January 18, 1699.
10. Lydia, December 14, 1701, married, March
22, 1728, Ephraim Partridge. 11. Bathsheba,
February 12, 1703, died 1732. 12. Isaac, Feb
ruary 16, 1705. 13. Elizabeth, July 25, 1708.
14. Joseph, March 22, 1710, died 1731.
(Ill) John, son of Abraham (2) Harding,
was born in Medfield, April 6, 1694, and was
a cordwainer by trade, fle bought land, four
teen acres, of Theophilus Clark, of Wrentham,
April 29, 1735, and more of Nathaniel and
Mehitable Wight. He was selectman of Med
way in 1740. His name appears often in the
land records, and he was a citizen of influence
and substance. His will was dated June 3,
1778, bequeathing to wife Thankful. He died
August 10, 1782, aged eighty-eight years. He

married, July 2, 1722, Thankful Bullard, born
1702, died March 2, 1793, daughter of John and
Abigail (Leland) Bullard, of Medway, grand
daughter of Benjamin and Martha (Pidge)
Bullard. Children, born at Medway : 1. John,
January 20, 1723-24, mentioned below. 2.
Abigail, September 22, 1726, married David
Fisher. 3. Thankful, December 17, 1733, mar
ried, December 3, 1755, James Boyden, of
Wrentham. 4. Mercy, December 9, 1737, mar
ried, October 9, 1760, Seth Partridge.
(IV) John (2), son of John (1) Harding,
was born at Medway, January 20, 1723-24,
died September 7, 1809. He inherited the
homestead of his father in Medway and Hollis-
ton. He settled on the west line of Medway
on the lots assigned in 1659 to John Fisher
and Nicholas Rocket. He owned one hundred
and twenty acres in Holliston, separated from
the home lot by the road. In 1747-48 the
home lot was occupied by John Dewing. Hard
ing was a prominent man in the town. He
contributed a hundred dollars in 1781 for the
parsonage building fund. His will was dated
June 17, 1779, and proved October 3, 1809,
bequeathing to children and grandchildren. His
sons Abijah and John were executors. He
married, January 9, 1745, Keziah Pond. Chil
dren, born in Medway: 1. Keziah, December
12, 1746, married  Partridge. 2. Han
nah, October 18, 1747, married David Leland.
3. Abijah, captain, married Sybil Adams. 4.
Mary, March 2, 1755, married Jeremiah Leland,
of flolliston. 5. John, February 18, 1757,
mentioned below. 6. Alpheus, September 22,
1762, died February 9, 1779.
(V) Captain John (3), son of John (2)
Harding, was born in Medway, February 18,
1757, died March 11, 1833. He was a soldier
in the revolution in 1775 in Captain Samuel
Goff's company, Colonel Joseph Read's regi
ment ; lieutenant in Captain Moses Adams's
company, Major Seth Bullard, 1780. He
appears as lieutenant on the town's list of
soldiers, April 13, 1778. He was for many
years a leading citizen of Norfolk county ;
judge of the court of common pleas ; state
senator ; member of the executive council. He
was amiable, upright and enterprising, an ex
cellent neighbor and valuable citizen. He was
selectman of Medway several years. He
bought land August 10, 1779, for six hundred
pounds, the south half of his father's home
stead, also the hundred and twenty acres in
Holliston and sixty acres in Medway. His
will was dated February 4, 1827, bequeathing
to wife, children and grandchildren, fle owned

MASSACHUSETTS.

239

a pew in the Second Congregational Church of
Medway. The will was proved April 2, 1833.
He died March 11, 1833. He married, Janu
ary 3, 1782, Beulah Metcalf, born March 26,
1762, died March 20, 1839, daughter of Stephen
Metcalf, of Bellingham, long a leading citizen
of Norfolk county, judge of the court of com
mon pleas* state senator and member of the
executive council. Children: 1. Hepzibah,
born March 7, 1785, married Alexander Le
land, of Holliston. 2. Alpheus, April 20, 1787,
died 1813 ; married, 1812, Abigail Chamber
lain. 3. Beulah, July 23, 1790, married, June
20, 181 1, Lemuel Littelfield, of Holliston. 4.
Sewall, March 20, 1793, mentioned below.
(VI) Rev. Sewall, son of Captain John (3)
Harding, was born in Medway, March 20,
1793. He graduated at Union College in the
class of 1818 and studied theology under Rev.
Dr. Emmons and Rev. Dr. Ide. He was
installed pastor of the Trinitarian Congrega
tional church of Waltham and in November,
1837, became pastor of the First Congrega
tional Church of Medway, his native parish.
He was popular among his people and eminently
successful as a minister. In 1850 he was elect
ed secretary of the Congregational Board of
Publication, Boston. He continued in this
office until May, 1862, when he resigned and
retired to private life at his home in Auburn-
dale, Massachusetts. He was characterized
by an amiable and sprightly disposition, high
rank as a student and scholar, by his zeal and
activity as a pastor and success in the ministry
and by the consistency of his public and private
life. He was a clever writer and able preacher,
faithful Christian and useful citizen. He mar
ried, November 2, 1820, Eliza Wheeler, daugh
ter of Captain Lewis and Betsey (Richardson)
Wheeler, of Medway, and granddaughter of
the eminent Dr. Abijah Richardson, of Med
way, who was surgeon on General Washing
ton's staff during the revolution. Children: 1.
John Wheeler, born October 12, 1821, men
tioned below. 2. Sewall, December 25, 1823,
died September 19, 1834. 3. Eliza Mercy, De
cember 24, 1826, married Augustus Walker,
missionary at Diarbekir, Asia. 4. George L.,
January 9, 1830, died August 24, 1849. 5.
William Greenough, August 5, 1834, graduate
of Williams College in 1857; manufacturer at
Pittsfield, Massachusetts; married, June 27,
Tg6T)  •. 6. Harriet B., September 15,
1836, died December, 1857, at Mosul, Asia;
married, April, 1857, Rev- William F. Will
iams, missionary.
(VII) Rev. John Wheeler, son of, Rev.

Sewall Harding, was born October 12, 1821.
He graduated from Yale College with the
degree of A. B. in the class of 1845, and was
a member of the famous "Skull & Bones"
Society there, and from the Theological Semi
nary at Andover in 1848. He was ordained
and installed minister of the Congregational
church at Longmeadow, Massachusetts, in
1850, which pastorate he held for nearly fifty
years. He was a corporate member of the
A. B. C. F. M. and a member of the Christian
Commission during the war of the Rebellion.
He was a man of great literary ability and
traveled extensively in many countries. He
was revered and beloved by a large circle of
friends both at home and abroad; an upright
christian gentleman. He married, December
29, 1852, Mehitable Pratt Lane, born May 9,
1831, daughter of Jenkins Lane, of East Ab
ington, Massachusetts. Children: 1. Wiliiam
Colt, born June 24, 1854. 2. Grace, August
19, 1857, married William Bliss Medlicott, of
Longmeadow. 3. John Putnam, April 26,
1861, mentioned below. 4. Mary, April 17,
1865, married Dr. Joseph William Stickler,
of Orange, New Jersey. 5. Paul, October 27,
1870, died in infancy.
(VIII) John Putnam, son of Rev. John
Wheeler Harding, was born in Longmeadow,
April 26, 1 86 1. He attended private schools
until thirteen years of age, Williston Seminary
at Easthampton and Phillips Academy at An
dover, Massachusetts, where he was graduated
in 1880. He entered Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Boston, and graduated in the
class of 1884. He began the practice of his
profession as architect with H. H. Richardson,
of* Boston, then removed to Springfield where
he had an office for a time. He was one of
the founders of the Springfield Wood Work
ing Company, of which D. B. Wesson was
president, and of which Mr. Harding was
manager for eight years. The concern then
combined with the similar business of George
A. Schastey and built several new factories,
Mr. Harding being the general manager for
several years and finally succeeding Mr. Wes
son as president. In 1902 he sold his interests
in the business and retired. After spending a
year abroad, he established his present busi
ness of the interior decoration of homes in
Springfield. He is a member of the Nayasset
and Springfield Country Clubs and of the
Manhattan Club of New York. He married
February 20, 1907, Helen Buck Walker, of
Auburndale, daughter of Rev. Augustus
Walker.

240

MASSACHUSETTS.

The surname Tilley is found in
TILLEY England as early as the Norman
Conquest and appears in the
Domesday Book. The name was common also
in France and Holland at an early date and is
doubtless of Norman-French origin. The name
is spelled in the ancient records Tillie, Tilly,
Teley, Tiley, Tilee and Tely. We have at the
present time the surname Tylee, probably of
the same English stock.
Edward and John Tilley were among the
passengers of the "Mayflower." Edward and
his wife Ann both died in the spring of 1620-
21. John brought his wife and daughter Eliz
abeth, and he and his wife also died early in
162 1. The only descendants of these Pilgrim
Tilleys are through John's daughter who mar
ried John Howland. No person of the name
Tilley can claim descent through these ances
tors in the male line. There was another John
Tilley in Dorchester who came in 1629; left
no issue. William Tilley, of Barnstable and
Boston, came from Little Minories, England,
in the ship "Abigail" in June, 1635, left a
daughter Sarah, but no sons that have been
found on record. Others of the name came
later. George and Elizabeth Tilly had children
in Boston, 1727- 1748, George, Mary, Eliza
beth, Martha, George, William and John.
Samuel and Eliphal had children in Boston,
1712-32, Samuel, Eliphal, Eliza, Lewis, Will
iam, William and Sarah. Thomas and Kath
erine Tiley had two children, Eliza, bora Feb
ruary 1, 1716, and Sarah, August 20, 1724.
John and Eliza Tiley had, 1719-27, Eliza,
John, Sarah and Lydia. These are probably
related to Thomas Tilley who had by wife
Hannah a son, Samuel Tilee, in Boston, May
1, 1657. This Samuel Tilee or Tiley had by
wife Sarah: 1. John, born March 2, 1694. 2.
Hannah, died March 15, 1694. 3. Sarah, born
September 1, 1696. 4. William, born Novem
ber 30, 1697. Whether this Boston family
just described is related to that given below
we have not learned. The facts of the early
generation of this family are from an old
genealogy of the Tilley family.
(I) John Tilley lived at or near Exeter,
England. Among his children were : 1. Will
iam, mentioned below. 2. John ; children : i.
John, who remained in England ; ii. Elinor,
who remained in England ; iii. William, the
rope-maker, born in England in 1641, came to
New England in 1660 and resided on Milk
street, near Cow lane ; established a large rope-
walk, and Tilley 's wharf and Tilley's lane
were named for him; his wife Isabella died

January 13, 1702, and he married (second)
Abigail Woodmancy ; after his death she mar
ried (second) October 19, 1718, Judge Samuel
Sewell; John Tilley died at Boston in 1717;
daughter Isabella married Eliezer Armitage and
Grace married Jonas Clarke. From the similarity
of names and place of residence of the families
it is conjectured that Thomas Tilee was closely
related to William, the rope-maker.
(II) William, son of John Tilley, lived at
Exeter, England. Children: 1. William, born
about 1685, came with his two brothers, John
and James, to work for their cousin, William
Tilley, the rope-maker, in Boston ; married, in
1736, Dorcas  ; removed to Newport,
Rhode Island; son William, born October 19,
1738. 2. James, born in 1686, resided at New
London, Connecticut, about 1718; gave ten
pounds to the First Episcopal church of New
London; married, May 27, 1742, Hannah
Savel, daughter of John. 3. John, mentioned
below. (Ill) John (2), son of William Tilley, was
born at Edford, England, about 1687-90. He
came to Boston with his brothers William and
James to work in the rope-walk of their cousin,
William Tilley. He was in Boston about 1720 ;
removed to New York state where he married
and had two sons, perhaps other children. The
name of his wife is unknown. Children: 1.
Leonard, born 1730-40, mentioned below. 2.
Samuel, 1740, married Mary Morgan, of
Brooklyn, in 1765 ; left New York with other
Loyalists in 1783 and settled at Gagetown,
Queens county, New Brunswick; died in 1820;
widow died at Portland, New Brunswick, in
1834, aged eighty-four years.
(IV) Leonard, son of John (2) Tilley, was
born in Brooklyn, New York, where he lived
until his marriage, after which he resided at
Granby, Massachusetts, and was the progenitor
of all of the name, it is thought in western
Massachusetts. His wife was probably of
Dutch ancestry. The children known: 1.
Alexander, married Jerusha  ; children :
i. Leonard, had three daughters; ii. Porter;
iii. Orin, had eight children; iv. George, had
seven children ; v. Ruth, married  Bart
lett; vi. Jerusha, married  Thayer; vii.
Mary, married  Butterfield ; viii. Sally,
married  Sheldon. 2. Ludwig, mention
ed below. 3. John. 4. Ruth. 5. Bridget.
(V) Ludwig, son of Leonard Tilley, was
born about 1770-75 in New York or Granby.
He made his home in Granby and was a farmer
and substantial citizen. He married in Granby.
Children: 1. George, mentioned below. 2.

MASSACHUSETTS.

241

Orrin. 3. Porter. 4. Ruth. 5. Jerusha. 6.
Cynthia. 7. Sally. 8. Leonard.
(VI) George, son of Ludwig Tilley, was
born about 1800-05, on the old homestead at
Granby. He had a common school education
and followed farming for his vocation. In
politics he was a Whig, but he took no active
part in politics. In religion he was an orthodox
Congregationalist. He married, about 1828,
Hannah Sheldon. Children, born at Granby:
1. James. 2. Norris. 3. John, mentioned be
low. 4. Maria. 5. Benjamin. 6. Eugene. 7.
Hiram. 8. Clarence.
(VII) Norris, son of George Tilley, was
born at Ludlow, Massachusetts, December 3,
1 83 1. When he was very young, the family
removed to Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, and
lived there until he was four years old, remov
ing thence to Granby, Massachusetts, where
he attended the public schools until he was
eighteen years old. He began at an early age
to learn the business of manufacturing reeds,
working at this trade in the vacation months
while he was attending school and later devot
ing all his time to it. He went to Chicopee at
the age of twenty-two to work in the reed fac
tory there. In 1868 he embarked in business
as a reed manufacturer on his own account
with a factory in Springfield and has success
fully conducted this business to the present
time with marked success. He ranks among
the best-known and most substantial manu
facturers of the city. In politics he is a Jeffer-
sonian Democrat, but has never accepted public
office. He is a Congregationalist in religion.
He belongs to no secret orders. He married,
in 1858, Susan Clark, born in Ludlow, Massa
chusetts, daughter of Charles and Electa
(Sheldon) Clark. She died in 1901. Chil
dren: 1. Ernest, died in infancy. 2. George,
died aged nine years. 3. Grace, 1870, died
1904; married Frank Aldrich, of Springfield;
child, Grace Aldrich, born 1904.
(VII) John (3), son of George Tilley, was
born in Granby, February 13, 1834, on the old
homestead, where his childhood was spent.
He attended the public schools of his native
town. He left home at the age of seventeen
to work for a neighboring farmer, receiving
a hundred dollars for three years work. When
he was twenty he removed to Medway. Massa
chusetts, to work in a star-shop or "bonnet-
factory." Six months later he went to Hart
ford, Connecticut, and established himself in
business, cleaning and remodeling hats and
bonnets. He was successful in this venture.
A few years later he returned to Granby and

in partnership with his brother bought and car
ried on a farm until the civil war. He enlisted
in Company H, Fifty-second Regiment, Mass
achusetts Volunteer Militia, with the rank of
corporal. Upon the expiration of his term of
enlistment in 1862 he located at South Hadley
Falls, remaining until 1870, when he opened a
furniture store in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He
enjoyed a large and successful business and
from time to time has been obliged to enlarge
his store. In 1907 he built new quarters for.
his business in the building in which he is now
located in many respects one of the finest of
its kind in New England. He is counted
among the most substantial and successful
merchants of the Connecticut Valley of Mass
achusetts. He is president of the People's
Savings Bank, and a member of the finance
committee, director of the Home Saving Bank,
and member of the finance committee. He is
a member of the Congregational church. In
politics he is a Republican, and when a resident
of Granby was elected from a Democratic
district as a Republican candidate to the gen
eral court.. He married, November 27, i860,
in Granby, Mary A. Preston, born February
25, 1838, daughter of Joel L. and Esther
(Rust) Preston (see Rust family). Chil
dren: 1. Clifton Fowler, born October 2,
1861, educated at South Hadley Falls schools,
is associated with his father in business. 2.
Trenor Preston, December 8, 1875, educated
in Granby, Massachusetts, associated in busi
ness with his father and brother.
(The Rust Line).
The surname Rust is an ancient one, a Hugh
Rust having lived in England as early as 1312.
The name is also common in Germany.
(I) Henry Rust, immigrant ancestor, came
from Hingham, county Norfolk, England, and
settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1633 or
1635. He was the first man of the name in the
country, and was a glover by trade. He had a
grant of land at Hingham in June, 1635, and
other grants March 5, March 23, and August of
the same year. He was admitted a freeman in
March, 1637-38. On February 16, 1638, he
was chosen to make the rates and in 1645 was
town clerk of Hingham. He was admitted as
an inhabitant of Boston, and on March 31,
1 65 1, bought property of Andrew Palmer — a
house and land. This land he deeded later to
his son, Nathaniel Rust, and son-in-law, Robert
Earle. The site is now occupied by Trinity
church, corner of Summer and Hawley streets,
then Bishop's alley. The Seven Star Inn, or

i— 16

242

MASSACHUSETTS.

Pleiades, formerly stood there. The wife of
Henry Rust was admitted to the church with
himTebruary 20, 1669. Children: 1. Samuel,
baptized at Hingham, August 5, 1638, married
Elizabeth Rogers. 2. Nathaniel, baptized Feb
ruary 2, 1639-40, married Mary Wardell. 3.
Flannah, baptized November 7, 1641, married
Robert Earle. 4. Israel, baptized November 12,
1643, mentioned below. 5. Benjamin, baptized
April 5, 1646. 6. Benoni, baptized October 23,
, 1649- (II) Israel, son of Henry Rust, was born in
Hingham and baptized November 12, 1643. He
removed to Northampton when a young man
and there married December 9, 1669, Rebecca
Clark, daughter of William Clark, fle took the
oath of allegiance December 8, 1678, and March
30, 1690, he took the freeman's oath. He died
intestate November 11, 1712. Children: 1. Son,
born September 12, 1670, died September 29,
1670. 2. Nathaniel, November 17, 1671, married
Mercy Atkinson. 3. Samuel, August 6, 1673,
died January 1, 1701, unmarried. 4. Sarah,
May 29, 1675, married, February 20, 1699,
Samuel Allen Jr. 5. Experience, July 30,
1677, married, April 3, 1704, Sarah North. 6.
Israel, July 15, 1679, mentioned below. 7. Jon
athan, June 11, 1 68 1, married Elizabeth Allen;
(second) Anna Lyman. 8. Rebecca, about 1683,
married, December 31, 1702, Robert Danks Jr.
9. John, about 1685.
(Ill) Israel (2), son of Israel (1) Rust,
was born in Northampton, July 15, 1679, died
December 27, 1759. His will was dated January
16, 1744-45, and the inventory of the estate was
filed May 5, 1760. He married, April 13, 1704,
Sarah North.- Children: 1. Sarah, born De
cember 23, 1704, married, May 24, 1727, Sam
uel Clarke. 2. Mary, October 30, 1706, died
November 3, 1706. 3. Lydia, February 24, 1709,
married, January 11, 1730, Eliakim Phelps. 4.
Israel, February 15, 1712, mentioned below. 5.
Child, February 4, 1714, died young.
(IV) Israel (3), son of Israel (2) Rust,
was born February 15, 1712, in Northampton,
died November 10, 1779. He was a lumber
man in Northampton. His will was proved No
vember 12, 1779. He married, April 10, 1735,
Mary Warner, born 171 5, died November 10,
1809, daughter of Mark and Lydia (Phelps)
Warner. She made her will January 10, 1805.
Children : 1 . Eli j ah, born March 8, 1 736, married
Miriam Strong. 2. Mary, December 11, 1737,
died unmarried April 4, 1802. 3. Sarah, baptized
August 19, 1739, married, 1768, Nathaniel Par
sons. 4. Israel, born December 4, 1741, men
tioned below. 5. Daniel, January 12, 1744, died

August, 1744. 6. Lydia, July 18, 1745, died
aged seven years, two months. 7. Esther, Octo
ber, 1747, married, February 28, 1771, Seth
Clapp. 8. Eunice, October, 1749, married, Jan
uary 9, 1772, Nathan Clark. 9. Jerusha, 1751,
married, 1771, Noah Edwards. 10. Daniel, 1753,
married, March 14, 1782, Penelope Cook. 11.
Jonathan, November 2, 1755, died March 9,
1776. (V) Israel (4), son of Israel (3) Rust, was
born December 4, 1741, died October 21, 1816.
He was a farmer in Northampton. He married
there August 22, 1768, Esther Bartlett, sister of
Phebe Bartlett, whose conversion at the age of
four years and interest in Sunday school books
gave her great notoriety. Children: 1. Chester,
born February 12, 1769, married, 1798, Esther
Wright. 2. Electa, October 7, 1770, married,
January 8, 1800, Jared Clark. 3. Seth, March
15, 1772, mentioned below. 4. Phineas, August
29, 1773, married Meltiah Everett. 5. Israel,
July 9, 1775, died March 6, 1800. 6. Jonathan,
1777, married Fanny Dickinson. 7. Esther,
July 11, 1779, married, June 4, 1806, Colonel
Josiah Dickinson.
(VI) Seth, son of Israel (4) Rust, was born
March 15, 1772, died March 17, 1838. He
was a carpenter and joiner. He married, Sep
tember 10, 1794, Jerusha Starr, born 1772, died
April 4, 1848. Children: 1. Daniel, born Janu
ary 23, 1796, killed by being run over by a
team, August 12, 1812. 2. Spencer, February
4, 1797, married Sabra A. Smith. 3. Theodore,
September 18, 1798, married Elizabeth Clark.
4. Wealthy, August 22, 1800, died August 25,
1801. 5. Israel, August 11, 1802, died Octo
ber 25, 1802. 6. Jerusha Starr, November 18,
1803, married Stephen F. Knight. 7. Esther,
January 29, 1806, married, February 10, 1830,
Joel Lanson Preston. 8. Charles Clapp, June
27, 1809, married, September 10, 1848, Sybel
B. Clark; died May 13, 1874. 9. Samuel
Chase, October 17, 1811, married Adeline
Barnes; (second) Maria Van Ripen. 10.
Wealthy Amanda, July 8, 1816, married, March
5, 1846, Julius Lyman Edwards.

In the Anglo-Saxon, Danish, Dutch
RAND and German languages the word
rand signifies a border, margin or
edge. It first appears in England as a patrony
mic in the early part of the fifteenth century,
when there were Rands at Rand's Grange, a
small town near Bedale, and also in Yorkshire
in 1475. In Evelyn's Diary he mentions "his
friend, Dr. Rand." The name is found in the
London records as early as 1633 ; in Ripple,

MASSACHUSETTS.

243

Kent, in 1600; in Gateshead, county Durham,
in 1578; in Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire,
Lincolnshire, Essex and other counties, at later
dates. There are numerous coats-of-arms borne
by branches of this family in England. There
were three early immigrants of this name to
New England. James Rand settled in Plymouth,
coming in 1623 on the ship "Ann," but prob
ably returned before 1627. Francis Rand came
to Rye, New Hampshire, and has many descend
ants. Robert Rand is mentioned below.
(I) Robert Rand, immigrant ancestor, came
from England, probably in 1635, and settled in
Charlestown, Massachusetts, where his wife
Alice was admitted to the church in that
year and where, the following year, their son
Nathaniel was born. In the town Book of
Possessions, dated 1638, mention is made of
the property owned by Robert Rand, includ
ing one house on the west side of Windmill
Hill, sixty-six acres and "three commons." He
died in 1639 or 1640, perhaps at Lynn, where
he lived for a time, fle received a bequest in
the will of Robert Keayne, a former employer.
In 1658 his widow Alice Rand and her son
Thomas, jointly, had a grant of thirty-four
acres of wood land and nine commons. She
was a sister of Mary, wife of Captain Richard
Sprague, and said to be a daughter of Nicholas
Sharpe. Both Captain Richard and his wife
left in their wills legacies to members of the
Rand family. She died August 5, 1691, at
the age of ninety-eight years, according to the
town record, although given as ninety-seven on
the gravestone. The will of Alice Rand was
made August 22, 1663, but not proved until
August 17, 1691. She bequeathed to her sons
Nathaniel and Thomas, grandchildren John,
Edmund, Samuel, Thomas, and the four daugh
ters of her son Thomas. Children, probably
of a first wife: 1. Robert, settled in Lynn as
early as 1649 and died there November 8,
1694; wife Elizabeth died August 19, 1693,
leaving seven children. 2. Margery, born about
1624, died April 12, 1714, aged ninety ; married
Lawrence Dowse and had nine children. Chil
dren of Robert and Alice (probably). 3.
Thomas, born about 1627, mentioned below.
4. Susanna, born about 1630, married, Febru
ary 8, 1652, Abraham Newell, of Roxbury. 5.
Alice, bom 1633, died August 11, 1721 ; mar
ried, June 26, 1660, Thomas Lord. 6. Nathaniel,
baptized November 3, 1636, sergeant; select
man ; married Mary  and (second) Abi
gail Carter. 7.- Elizabeth, born 1639, died May
1, 1702; married, December 6, 1661, Nathaniel
Brewer in Roxbury.

(II) Thomas, son of Robert Rand, was
born in England about 1627, died at Charles
town, August 4, 1683. He was a sergeant and
a cordwainer by trade. He was admitted a
freeman in 1660. He married, March 25, 1656,
Sarah Edenden, died June 26, 1699, aged sixty-
three, daughter of Edmund and Eliza (Whit
man) Edenden. Children, born in Charles
town: 1. Thomas, February 1, 1657, married,
June 17, 167 — , Sarah Longley; drowned in
the Mystic river in a canoe accident, October
3, 1695. 2. John, October 6, 1659, died De
cember 19, 1659. 3. Sarah, baptized January
6, 1661, died young. 4. Elizabeth, baptized
February 2, 1662, married John flenry. 5.
John, born May 25, 1664, mentioned below. 6.
Sarah, August 15, 1666, married Thomas
White. 7. Robert, April 18, 1668, died of
small pox, 1678. 8. Edmund, January 27,
1670, died 1683. 9. Hannah, February 21,
1672, married Nathaniel Frothingham. 10.
William, September 11, 1674. 11. Deborah,
September 28, 1676, died February 16, 1701.
12. Samuel, May 3, 1679.
(Ill) John, son of Thomas Rand, was born
in Charlestown, May 25, 1664, died September
24, 1737. He was a maister by trade. He
married (first) December 2, 1685, Mehitable
Call, died March 25, 1727, in her fifty-ninth
year, daughter of John and Hannah (Kettell)
Call. He married (second) October 14, 1730,
Mary Randall, who died September 22, 1757,
aged eighty-five, widow of Job Randall. Chil
dren, born in Charlestown: 1. Mehitable,
March 27, 1687, married Randolph Davis. 2.
Sarah, born and died January 5, 1689. 3.
John, March 7, 1690, mentioned below. 4.
Hannah, February 6, 1692. 5. Jonathan, April
27, 1694. 6. Sarah, July 19, 1696, married,
December 22, 1720, John Lamson. 7. Re
becca, November 4, 1698, died January 14,
1699. 8. Benjamin, March 17, 1700. 9.
Thomas, March 22, 1702, died October 23,
1722. 10. Caleb, December 6, 1703. 11. Isaac
(twin), September 4, 1706, died October 27,
1706. 12. Rebecca (twin), September 4, 1706,
died October 27, 1706. 13. Rebecca, July 31,
1708, died November 2, 1708. 14. Edmund,
July 2, 1710. 15. Richard, November 19, 1714.
(IV) John (2), son of John (1) Rand,
was born in Charlestown, March 7, 1690, died
of small pox, January 28, 1722. He and his
sons John and James have one gravestone. He
married (first) June 14, 171 1, Ann Newell,
born August 21, 1693, daughter of John and
Hannah (Hurry) Newell. She married (sec
ond) December 19, 1723, James Hay. He

244

MASSACHUSETTS.

was a cordwainer. by trade. He was admitted
to the church December n, 171 5. Children:
1. John, born June 15, died September 8, 1712.
2. Ann, November 26, died December 9, 1713.
3. Ann, February 26, 1715, died young. 4.
John, December 10, 1716, died of small pox,
January 22, 1722. 5. Hannah (twin) Janu
ary 6, 1718, died January 14, 1718. 6. Mehit
able (twin), January 6, 1718, died January 11,
1718. 7. Isaac, baptized January 11, 1719,
mentioned below. 8. James, baptized Febru
ary 19, 1721, died of small pox, January 27,
1722. 9. Ann, baptized February 19, 1721,
married John Rayner.
(V) Dr. Isaac, son of John (2) Rand, was
baptized January 11, 1719, and was a noted
physician of Charlestown and Cambridge. He
was a surgeon in the revolutionary army. His
will was proved May 5, 1790. He married
(first) April 17, 1740, Margaret Damon, died
January 16, 1753, aged thirty-eight, daughter
of John and Margaret Damon. He married
(second) January 10, 1754, Elizabeth Apple-
ton, born December 16, 1726, died November
17, 1756, daughter of Rev. Nathaniel Apple-.
ton. He married (third) May 9, 1758, Jane
Flucker, born January 25, 1725, died March
23, 1805, daughter of Captain James and Eliz
abeth (Luist) Flucker. Children of first wife:
1. Margaret, born, May 7, 1741 married
Nathaniel Austin. 2. Isaac, April 18, 1743.
3. John, February 6, 1745. 4. Edward, June
1747, died August 21, 1747. 5. Edward, De
cember 11, 1748, died April 11, 1749. 6. Ed
ward, September 4, 1750, mentioned below.
7. Ann, January 8, died January 13, 1753.
Child of second wife: 8. Elizabeth, baptized
October 12, 1755, died May 18, 1772. Chil
dren of third wife : 9. Ann, born October 30,
1762, died January 15, 1763. 10. James, April
28, 1766, died July 30, 1768.
(VI) Edward, son of Dr. Isaac Rand, was
born September 4, 1750, died December 3,
1829. lie resided in Newburyport. He mar
ried (first) September 20, 1781, Ruth Sprague,
who died September 5, 1789. He married (sec
ond) October, 1792, Martha (Sprague) Par
sons, widow, who died February 27, 1829. Both
wives were daughters of Dr. John Sprague.
Children: 1. Edward Sprague, born June 23,
1782, mentioned below. 2. Isaac, September
7, 1784, died July 14, 1818; seaman; father's
sole heir. 3. John, 1786. 4. Margaret D.,
February 3, 1798, married John Andrews. 5.
Jane, December 17, 1802, married David
Wood. (VII) Edward Sprague, son of Edward

Rand, was born in Newburyport, June 23,
1782, died October 22, 1863. He was for
many years a successful merchant at New
buryport. He was prominent in public life and
was several years in the legislature. He mar
ried Hannah Pettingill, who died April 8, 1854.
Children: 1. Edward Sprague, born March 5,
1809, mentioned below. 2. Emily Ruth Sprague,
February 11, 181 1, married Dr. S. Augustus
Arnold, of Providence, Rhode Island. 3.
Hannah Pettingill, November 28, 1813.
(VIII) Edward Sprague (2), son of Ed
ward Sprague (1) Rand, was born in New
buryport, March 5, 1809, died January 18,
1884. He and his wife, his son, Rev. Charles
A. Rand, his son's wife and little daughter,
perished in the wreck of the steamer "City of
Columbus," off Gay Head, in Vineyard sound.
He graduated from Harvard College in 1828,
and Harvard Law School in 1831, and was a
prominent lawyer, filling high and honorable
position at the Suffolk bar, to which he was
admitted in October, 1831. He married, Sep
tember 17, 1833, Elizabeth, daughter of Sal
mon Arnold, of Providence, Rhode Island.
Children: 1. Edward Sprague, born October
20. 1834. 2. Arnold Augustus, March 25,
1837, mentioned below. 3. Francis Arnold,
April 30, 1839, died July 15, 1840. 4. Eliza
beth Arnold, July 29, 1841, died May 22, 1852.
5. Charles Arthur, November 4, 1843, nrst
lieutenant Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry,
and breveted captain. 6. Frederick Henry,
July 19, 1846, five children; captain Fourth
Massachusetts, later Twenty-sixth New York
Cavalry. (IX) Colonel Arnold Augustus, son of Ed
ward Sprague (2) Rand, was born March 25,
1837, in Boston. His education was obtained
in the public and private schools of Boston
and Dedham, and was supplemented by a
course of study abroad. He fitted for college,
intending to enter Harvard with the class of
1858, but instead entered upon a business
career in the counting room of the firm of
William B. Reynolds & Company, commission
merchants, Boston, and was promoted from
time to time until he became the assistant
bookkeeper. He then spent nearly two years
in study in Europe, and on his return became
clerk and later was promoted to cashier of the
banking house of Blake, Howe & Company,
remaining with that firm and its successors,
Blake Brothers & Company, until the civil
war. Before the first call for troops he was
private in the Fourth Battalion, Massachusetts
Volunteer Militia. His first commission was

MASSACHUSETTS.

245

dated October 30, 1861, as second lieutenant,
in the First Massachusetts Cavalry. On Febru
ary 4, 1 862, he was promoted to the captaincy. In
June, 1863, he was commissioned assistant ad
jutant general, with the rank of captain, and
assigned to duty in the Department of the
South. In the fall of 1863 he was recalled by
Governor Andrew and assigned to the com
mand of the Fourth Regiment Massachusetts
Cavalry, with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Early in January, 1864, he was made colonel,
and took his regiment to join the Army of the
James, and continued in active service in the
field until he resigned, February 3, 1865. Re
turning to Boston, after four years military
service, he entered his father's office and began
the study of law, was admitted to the bar in
1874, and immediately began to practice. He
has made a specialty of real estate and probate
business, and is an authority on these branches
of law. In 1893 he was made a director of the
John Hancock Life Insurance Company and
was elected a vice-president and counsel in
1898, which offices he still holds. Colonel Rand
is an active and prominent member of the Mili
tary Order of the Loyal Legion, serving as
recorder of the Massachusetts Commandery
from 1881 to 1906, when he declined re-election.
He is a member of Charles W. Carroll Post,
No. 144, Grand Army of the Republic, and has
served on the department staff. He is also a
member of the Algonquin Club. He is a Re
publican in politics, but has never been active
in public life. Colonel Rand married, in 1877,
Annie Eliza Brownell, daughter of Abner W.
and Eliza (LeBarron) Brownell, of New Bed
ford. They have no children. Their home is
in Boston. Woodbury is the name of
WOODBURY an ancient and widespread
English family. The name
occurs all over England, but the family is most
numerous in the county of Devon. The name
was undoubtedly a place name. An estate of
Wodebergh has been traced in Somerset from
1304. In 1216 Will'us de Wode-bere held a
knight's fee at Plymtree. The name occurs in
the Domesday Book (A. D. 1086), spelled
Wodeberie, and various spellings have since
been used.
(I) John Woodbury, immigrant ancestor,
came from Somersetshire, England, about
1624-25, in the interests of the Dorches|er
Company, which established itself at Cape Ann,
now Gloucester, Massachusetts, at or shortly
before that period. Perhaps no better or

clearer account can be given of his earlier con
nection with this company as its agent than to
give in full the deposition of his son Humphrey,
who accompanied him thither on his second
voyage. The deposition was given to disprove
Mason's claim to extensive tracts of land in
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, under date
of February 16, 1680-81.
"Humphrey Woodbury, Beverly, aged sev
enty-two, testifies, that when I lived in Somer
setshire, in England, I remember that my father
John Woodberye (since deceased) did about
56 years agoe remoove for New England &
I then traveled with as farr as Dorchester
(Eng.) & I understood that my said father
came to New England by order of a company
caled Dorchester company (among whomemr.
White of Dorchester in England was an active
instrument) & that my father and the company
with him brought cattle & other things to Cape
Ann for plantation work & there built an
house & kept theire cattle & sett up fishing &
afterwards some of them removed to a neck of
land afterwards called Salem. And after about
three years absence my father returned to Eng
land & made us acquainted with what settlement
they had made in new England & that he was
sent back by some that Intended to settle a
plantation about 3 leagues west of Cape Ann,
to further this designe after about half a years
stay in England, my father returned to new
England & brought me with him ; wee arrived
at the place now caled Salem in or about the
month of June, 1628; where wee found several
persons that said they were servants to the
Dorchester company & had built another house
for them at Salem besides that at Cape Ann.
The latter end of that sumer, 1628 : John Ende-
cott Esq : came over governor, declaring his
power from a company of pattentees in or
about London; & that they had bought the
houses boates & servants which' belonged to
the Dorchester company and that he sd Endi
cott had power to receive them which accord
ingly he did take possession of; when we set
tled the Indians never then molested us in our
improvements or sitting downe either on Salem
or Beverly side of the ferry, but showed them
selves very glad of our company & came &
planted by us & oftentimes came to us for
shelter saying they were afraid of their enemy
Indians up in the country; & wee did shelter
them when they fled to us & wee had theire
free leave to build & plant where wee have
taken up lands; the same year, or the next
after, wee came to Salem wee cut hay for the
cattel wee brought over on that side of the

246

MASSACHUSETTS.

ferry now caled Beverly : & have kept our
possession there ever since by cutting hay or
thatch or timber & boards & by laying out lots
for tillage : & sometime after building & dwell
ing heere, where, with others have lived about
40 years : In all this time of my being in new
England I never heard that Mr. Mason took
possession here, disbursted estate upon, or layd
claim to this place of ours, save the discourse
of a claim within this yeare or two."
John had a brother, William Woodbury,
who came over before 1630, when the two
brothers settled in what is now Beverly, near
Woodbury's Point, on Mackerel Cove. John
was admitted a freeman in 1630; was deputy
to the general court from 1635 to 1638. In
1635 he was appointed one of the committee
to lay out lands. In the year in which Har
vard College was established, 1636, Captain
Endicott, in behalf of Colonel John Humphries,
presented a motion to the general court to set
off some lands beyond Forest river for the
erection of a college there. Woodbury was
appointed on the committee of six to view the
lands. In 1637 he was elected selectman and
continued in that office until his death, being
present at every meeting. He and his wife
Agnes were among the original members of
the First Church at Salem in 1629. His will
was proved February 8, 1642-43, but is not
preserved. He was probably about sixty years
old at the time of his death. Children: 1.
Humphrey, born 1609-10, mentioned below. 2.
John, resided in Beverly, colled senior. 3.
Hannah, baptized December 23, 1636, married,
April 26, 1858, Cornelius Baker. ' 4. Abigail,
baptized November 12, 1637, married John
Hill. 5. Peter, baptized September 19, 1640
(born June 19, 1640, according to Savage).
(II) Humphrey, son of John Woodbury,
was born in England in 1609-10. He and six
others were granted a half acre each at Winter
Harbor for fishing trade and to build upon.
In 1636 he received a grant of forty acres of
land, and January 29, 1636-37, forty acres
more. He was called "fisherman" in the deeds
of various parcels of land that he bought. He
married Elizabeth  , who made her will
May 1, 1689. It was proved November 26,
1689, mentioning her two grandchildren, Peter,
son of John Woodbury, and Peter, son of
William, to both of whom she gave ten shillings
because they were named for her son Peter,
who was killed by the Indians in King Philip's
war under Captain Lathrop; two daughters,
Susanna Tenney and Christian Trask, to whom
she gave twenty shillings each, and daughter

Elizabeth Walker ; Peter Woodbury and Cor
nelius Baker, her friends, were named as over
seers of her will. Children : 1. John, bap
tized October 24, 1641. 2. Isaac, baptized
February 4, 1643-44, died March 11, 1725. 3.
Humphrey, baptized March 8, 1646-47, died
April 9, 1727. 4. Thomas, born about 1639,
mentioned below. 5. Susanna, born February
4, 1648-49, married, December 2, 1668, John
Tenney. 6. William, baptized May 4, 1651.
7. Peter, born March 28, 1653, killed 1675. 8.
Richard, born February, 1654-55, died 1690
on return from Canada expedition. 9. Eliza
beth, bora April 28, 1657, married  -
Walker, of Boston. 10. Christian, born April
20, 1661, suicide; married, April 9, 1679, John
Trask. (Ill) Thomas, son of Humphrey Wood
bury, was born about 1639. His will was dated
December 11, 1716, and proved April 20, 1719,
mentioning widow Elizabeth ; sons William,
Jonathan and Samuel ; daughters Hannah, wife
of John Ober, and Elizabeth, wife of Joseph
Merrick, and children of his son Samuel, de
ceased, viz: Samuel, Keziah, Mary. Thomas
deeded to his son William a house in which Will
iam had been living. He gave other heirs divers
parcels of land during his lifetime. He mar
ried (first) Hannah (Dodge) Porter, baptized
in the First Church of Salem, July 24, 1642,
died January 2, 1688, daughter of William
and Elizabeth Dodge, and widow of Samuel
Porter. He married (second) April 29, 1690,
Elizabeth Curtis, widow of Samuel Curtis. Chil
dren of first wife: 1. William, born Septem
ber 17, 1662, mentioned below. 2. Samuel,
1665-66, died April 18, 1689. 3. Thomas, bap
tized July 3, 1667. 4. Israel, born May 23,
1670. 5. Hannah, February 25, 1672, married,
July 5, 1694, John Ober. 6. Elizabeth, Febru
ary 6, 1676, married Joseph Herrick. 7.
Daughter, January 20, 1679, died young. 8.
Susanna, baptized March 7, 1680,' died before
1716. 9. Jonathan, born September 12, 1682,
married Eleanor Ellinwood. 10. Samuel, Feb
ruary 2, 1690-91.
(IV) William, son of Thomas Woodbury,
was born September 17, 1662. His will was
dated November 6, 1725, and proved Novem
ber 29, 1725. He married, September 29,
1689, Joanna Wheeler, of Concord, who died
April 7, 1748, aged seventy-six. Children: 1.
Sarah, born December 14, 1690, married, 171 1-
12,, Ralph Ellinwood. 2. Hannah, January 14,
1692-93, married, 1718, Peter Groves. 3.
Israel, December 26, 1694, married Mary
Woodbury. 4. William, July 11, 1697, men-

MASSACHUSETTS.

247

tioned below. 5. Thomas, September 5, 1700,
married, September 28, 1724, Priscilla Wood-
bufy. 6. flugh, March 18, 1703. 7. Lois,
May 1, 1705, married, 1726, Ezra Corning.
8. Elisha, February 21, 1706-07, died March
25, 1 751; married, 1728, Joanna Ober. 9.
Mihill, January 18, 1712-13, married Mary
Balch. (V) William (2) , son of William ( 1 ) Wood
bury, was born July 11, 1697, died October 18,
or November 16, 1788. He was a miller. He
married, September 2, 1720, Martha Wood
bury, baptized August 23, 1702, died April 27,
1775, daughter of Ebenezer and Hannah Wood
bury. Children: 1. William, born March 26,
1721, died April 10, 1789. 2. Joanna, March
1, 1724, married, January 20, 1743-44, Benja
min Harvey. 3. Israel, January 4, 1726, men
tioned below. 4. Ruth, February 14, 1728,
died September 23, 1773; married, December
12, 1 75 1, Larkin Thorndike. 5. Zacharias,
June 29, 1730. 6. Jude, baptized May 6, 1732.
7. Lois, born June 23, 1735, died September 19,
1774. 8. Ebenezer, October 9, 1737. 9. Joseph,
July 3, 1739. 10. Hannah, May 16, 1742. 11.
Elisha, August 12, 1744, married, 1768, Han
nah Raymond.
(VI) Israel, son of William (2) Woodbury,
was born January 4, 1726. He removed to
Salem, Massachusetts, before his marriage and
to Salem, New Hampshire, afterward, fle was
a prominent citizen of Salem, New Hamp
shire, often holding positions of trust and
honor. He was a juror in 1774; selectman
several years. He married (second) Hannah
 . Children, all recorded as born at
Salem, New Hampshire: 1. Mary, born No
vember 2, 1751. 2. Judith, January 25, 1755.
3. Hannah, May 6, 1757. 4. Israel, December
10, 1759, mentioned below. 5. Betty, Novem
ber 15, 1763. 6. Benjamin, May 29, 1766. 7.
Martha, January 16, 1770. 8. Esther, March
19, 1779.
(VII) Captain Israel (2), son of Israel (1)
Woodbury, was born in Salem, New Hamp
shire, December 10, 1759, died there October
16, 1858. He was a soldier in the revolution,
enlisting in 1777 in the Continental army, Cap
tain Robinson's company, Colonel Nathan
Hale's regiment, receiving a bounty of twenty
pounds on May 6. In the official records he
is reported as missing after the battle of Ticon-
deroga and was thus described: freckled, of
dark complexion, dark hair. During 1777-78-
79 he was in the Second Company, Second
Regiment under Colonel George Reid. He
was captured while in the service and the

story is told thus by his grandson, Levi Wood
bury: "He was stationed in northern New
York. There measles broke out in camp and
became epidemic. When he was nearly well,
the camp was surprised by a marauding band
of Indians and those who tried to escape were
slain, but grandfather being too weak to run
was taken prisoner and carried to the St. Law
rence River and across to Canada where he
was turned over to a wealthy Frenchman who
held him vassal for a long time, even after the
war was over. But by the aid of a half-breed
he managed to escape and recross the St. Law
rence in a canoe and when on our soil he
struck out through the wilderness for Salem.
His parents had given him up for lost, suppos
ing he was dead, as the war was over and they
had heard nothing from him. He walked all
the way to Salem and on a Sunday arrived
barefooted, hatless and with but very scant
clothing at his father's door with his trusty
gun upon his shoulder. It was no wonder that
his playmate whom he left at home when he
went to war, a lad by the name of Amos
Wheeler whom his parents raised, seeing him
at the door, fled in fright crying 'Israel's
ghost.' But grandfather reassured him by
saying Amos ghosts do not carry guns.' So
Amos came out from his hiding place and then
such handshaking and embracing by those two
fast friends was never seen before. It seems
that great grandfather and mother had gone
to church and left Amos at home to guard the
house. After Amos explained the absence of
his parents and had heard some of his adven
tures related, they saw his parents coming up
the road on one horse, she on a pillion, as they
rode in olden times, and what did Amos do
but run to meet them, crying at the top of his
voice 'Israel has come ! Israel has come !'
greatly to the chagrin and consternation of the
old people, who upon that very Sunday had
listened to prayers by their good pastor for
their dear boy whom they expected was surely
dead. So Amos got a sharp cut from the rid
ing whip with the remark that it was a sad
time for jokes (Amos had a reputation of being
something of a joker). So Amos ran and
brought grandfather's gun and said: 'See his
gun. Do you believe me now?' And then
grandfather came out and his mother fell into
his arms and his father embraced him and all
were happy in the reunion. And there was
great rejoicing in the whole town." He was
sold to the Frenchman for a barrel of rum.
The farm of Israel and of his father, bought
about 1757 of the town of Londonderry, was

248

MASSACHUSETTS.

lately owned by Levi Woodbury. Israel was
later a captain of militia; on the committee
to locate the boundary between Salem and
Windham, New Hampshire ; a large taxpayer ;
selectman 1804-06-07-10-11-12-14; represent
ative to the state legislature, 1817-19. He
married, June 30, 1783, Mehitable Hall. Chil
dren, born at Salem: 1. Asa, May 30, 1784,
mentioned below. 2. Betty, August 28, 1786.
3. Lois, August 11, 1789. 4. Richard, March
22, 1 79 1, died February 1, 1869; had the home
stead. 5. Abigail, November 20, 1792. 6.
Mehitable, February 17, 1795. 7. Israel, No
vember 4, 1796, died young. 8. Ruth, June 10,
1798. 9. Mary, February 21, 1800. 10. Israel,
October 10, 1805.
(VIII) Asa, son of Captain Israel (2)
Woodbury, was born at Salem, May 30, 1784.
He settled in his native town, and in 1835 was
clerk of the Congregational church there.
Afterward he was deacon of the Methodist
church. He was lieutenant of the military
company in 1822. In politics he was a Whig.
He was a mason by trade. He married Sarah
Thom. Children, born at Salem: 1. Charles.
2. George, born February 1, 1819. 3. Eliza
beth. 4. Isaac, born August 11, 1822, men
tioned below, only one living,
(IX) Isaac, son of Asa Woodbury, was
born at Salem, August 11, 1822. He was edu
cated in the district schools of Atkinson, New
Hampshire, and succeeded to his father's
homestead at Salem. He followed farming
during his active life and is still living at an
advanced age in his native town. In early life
he was a Whig, but since the organization of
the Republican party has supported its candi
dates and principles. He has been elected to
many offices of trust and honor in Salem and
served the town as representative to the state
legislature. He is a prominent member of
the Methodist church, of which he has been a
deacon. He married Caroline Willard Parker,
daughter of John and Mary (Lawrence)
Parker, of Cohasset, Massachusetts. Children,
born at Salem: 1. Isaac Franklin, born Octo
ber 31, 1849, a member of the firm of Wood
bury & Leighton, building contractors ; lives in
Boston. 2. Sarah Elizabeth, 1851, married
John W. Hall; they live in Methuen, Massa
chusetts. 3. Mary Caroline, February 1, 1853,
married Charles D. Austin ; they live at Som
erville, Massachusetts. 4. Charles Henry, De
cember 11, 1855, mentioned below. 5. John
Parker, January, 1858, died at Salem, 1882.
(X) Charles Henry, son of Isaac Wood
bury, was born at Salem, December 11, 1855.

lie attended the public schools of Salem and
the high school of Lawrence, Massachusetts.
He began his career as clerk in the crockery
store of Rogers & Company, Boston. When
he was but twenty-three years old, in 1878, he
formed a partnership with a fellow-clerk and
established the firm of Mitchell, Woodbury &
Company, dealers in crockery. Success attend
ed the new concern and has followed it to the
present time. The store was first at 151 Frank
lin street, then at 56 Pearl street, Boston, and
is now at 82 Pearl street. In 1901 the business
was incorporated as the Mitchell, Woodbury
Company and since then Mr. Woodbury has
been president and general manager of the
company. Mr. Woodbury is a Republican in
politics and a Congregationalist in religion.
His home is in Allston, twenty-fifth ward of
Boston. He married, May 26, 1880, Caroline
Francis Partridge, of Boston, born in Port
land, Maine. Children, born in Boston: 1.
Marion Willard, January 27, 1883. 2. Con
stance Caroline, May 23, 1896.

iFor first generation see Matthew Cushing 1).
(II) Daniel, son of Matthew
CUSHING Cushing, was baptized in Hing
ham, England, April 20. 1619,
died December 3, 1700. He settled in Hing
ham, Massachusetts, where he was granted
land in 1665. He was admitted a freeman in
1 67 1 and was an active magistrate for many
years. He was town clerk of Hingham and
left a valuable set of records which are of
great value to the antiquary. From 1682 for
many years he kept a general store. He was
selectman in 1665 and many years after; in
1680-82-95, deputy to the general court. A
book called "Extracts from the Minutes of
Daniel Cushing of Hingham, with a photo
graph of his manuscript etc" was printed in
1865. Flis will was dated September 11, 1693.
He married (first) January 19, 1645, Lydia
Gilman, born in England, died in Aingham,
March 12, 1689, daughter of Edward and
Mary (Clark) Gilman. He married (second)
March 23, 1691, Elizabeth, widow of Captain
John Thaxter and daughter of Nicholas and
Mary Jacob. Children, born in Hingham : 1.
Peter, March 29, 1646, mentioned below. 2.
Daniel, July 23, 1648. 3. Deborah, November
13, 1651, married (first) September 25, 1679,
Henry Tarleton ; (second) August 31, 1686,
Rev. Benjamin Woodbridge; died January 15,
1 710. 4. Jeremiah, July 3, 1654. 5. Theo
philus, June 7, 1657. 6. Matthew, July 15,
1660.

JfvAn S7r. ^QudAtnt

MASSACHUSETTS.

249

(III) Peter, son of Daniel Cushing, was
born in Hingham, March 29, 1646, died April
14, 1719- His will was proved October 12
following. He resided on East street, Hing
ham, and the old house, built in 1670, was
owned by his descendants as late as 1905. It
is shaded by a fine old elm tree, transplanted
in 1729. This part of East street is often
called "Rocky Nook." Fle was constable in
1688 and selectman in 1689 and 1702. He
married, June 4, 1685, Hannah Hawke, bap
tized in Hingham, July 22, 1655, died April
4, 1737, daughter of Matthew and Margaret
Hawke. Children: 1. Peter, born March 28,
1686, died March 27, 1715. 2. Stephen, No
vember 8, 1687, mentioned below. 3. Jona
than, December 20, 1689. 4. Mary, March 22,
1691. 5. Hannah, July 1, 1694," died unmar
ried April 29, 1737. 6. Lydia, October 6,
1695. (IV) Captain Stephen, son of Peter Cush
ing, was born in Hingham, November 8, 1687,
died April 3, 1749. He was a farmer, resided
on the homestead, and owned a large amount
of real estate. He was selectman in 1740. He
married, February 18, 1719, Catherine Kilby,
of Boston, who died in Hingham, July 23,
1758. Children, born in Hingham: 1. Peter,
December 9, 1720, died June 10, 1736. 2.
Stephen, July 13, 1723. 3. John, February 26,
1727, died June 5, 1727. 4. Catherine, May
5, 1728. 5. John, June 14, 1730, died June 13,
1754. 6. Lydia, February 13, 1732, died un
married July 25, 1770. 7. Hannah,. May 18,
1735. 8. Peter, May 15, 1737, died May 5,
1739. 9. Rebecca, May 27, 1739. 10. Peter,
May 3, 1741, mentioned below.
(V) Captain Peter (2), son of Captain Ste
phen Cushing, was born in Hingham, May 3,
1741, died July 12, 1783. He was captain of
a military company in the revolution. He
resided on the homestead and was constable
in 1772 and selectman in 1780. He married,
August 19, 1762, Silence Burr, born in Hing
ham, April 3, 1742, died June 8, 1829, daughter*
of Jonathan and Mary (Lincoln) Burr. Chil
dren, born in Hingham: 1. John, August 18,
1763, mentioned below. 2. Peter, February 15,
1765, died at Martinico, St. Pierre, May 24,
1794. 3. Christopher, November 18, 1766. 4.
Catherine, April 10, 1769, married, January
2, 1794, Samuel Andrews. 5. Child, died Au
gust 12, 1771. 6. Martin, August 7, 1772, died
at Winthrop, Maine, January 18, 1857. 7.
Samuel, September 21, 1774, died September
27, 1799. 8. Hannah, May 5, 1777. 9. Lydia,
October 8, 1779, married, January 6, 1802,

Martin Lincoln; died April 2, 1863. 10. Ned,
September 11, 1783.
(VI) Captain John, son of Captain Peter
Cushing, was born in Hingham, August 18,
1763, died there March 14, 1803. He resided
on the homestead. He married (first) March
8, 1785, Lucy Thaxter, born in Hingham, May
16, 1760, died June 22, 1786, daughter of Col
onel John and Anna (Quincy) Thaxter. He
married (second) December 20, 1787, Christina
Thaxter, born in Iiingham, December 2, 1766,
died at Weymouth, September 1, 1847, daughter
of Benjamin and Susanna (Joy) Thaxter. Child
of first wife.\ Lucy Thaxter, born June 21,
1786, died February 14, 1814. Children of
second wife: 1. Chrissey Thaxter, born April
26, 1789, married, 1819, William Pomeroy;
died November 22, 1859. 2. Fanny Lincoln,
April 4, 1791. 3. Silence Burr, June 15, 1792.
4. John, January 13, 1797, mentioned below.
5. Peter flawkes, April 16, 1799.
(VII) John (2), son of Captain John (1)
Cushing, was born in Hingham, January 13,
1797. He was a bookbinder and resided many
years on South street, Hingham, but after
wards removed to Weymouth, where he died
May 5, i860. He married Delia Kingman, of
Boston. Children: 1. George Arms, married
Deborah Whitmarsh and lived in Weymouth;
died January 25, .1891. 2. John, born Novem
ber, 1820, died at Weymouth, November 15,
1844. 3. Francis Henry, mentioned below. 4.
Peter, removed to New York. 5. Delia Amanda.
6. Adeline Lincoln. 7. William Pomeroy, died
at New York, September 12, i860.
(VIII) Francis Henry, son of John (2)
Cushing, was born in Weymouth, died at East
Weymouth. He was educated in the district
schools, and followed the trade of shoemaker
many years. He was superintendent of room
in a shoe factory at East Weymouth. He
attended the Congregational church. He mar
ried Mary Anna Shaw, born in Weymouth.
Children: 1. John Francis, born March 15,
1852, mentioned below. 2. William Henry, a
painter at Stoughton. 3. Weston H., one of
firm of John F. and Weston H. Cushing.
(IX) John Francis, son of Francis Henry
and Mary Anna (Shaw) Cushing, was born
March 15, 1852, at North Weymouth, died
February 19, 1903, at East Weymouth. He
had a common school education, and began
when a boy to learn the shoe business, begin
ning at the bottom and winning promotion
from time to time until he became the head of
one of the departments, the treeing and finish
ing room, of the Beacon, later the John A.

250

MASSACHUSETTS.

Holbrook shoe factory, and held this position
for fourteen years. During the last twenty
years of his life, from 1883, he was in business
on his own account in the firm of J. F. & W. H.
Cushing, general contractors and ice, wood,
coal, hay and grain merchants. He took con
tracts for excavation, grading and road build
ing. His affairs prospered and he became one
of the leading business men of the town, a
trustee of East Weymouth Savings Bank. He
was a member of the Congregational church.
He belonged to Orphans Flope Lodge of Free
Masons ; to Crescent Lodge of Odd Fellows,
and has held all the offices, and at one time
was a member of Wompatuck Encampment
and Steadfast Rebekah Lodge of Odd Fellows,
also a member of Pilgrim Fathers. In politics
he was a Republican, and he took an active
interest in all the affairs of his town. He mar
ried, May 4, 1874, Elizabeth Ella Holbrook,
bora November 5, 1852, daughter of Tohn and
Elizabeth B. (Pratt) Holbrook. (See Hol
brook family). Children, bora at East Wey
mouth: 1. Lester Holbrook, June 26, 1888.
2. Francis Henry, August 12,*- 1894, died aged
five months. (The Holbrook Line).
The family of Holbrook is ancient and dis
tinguished in England. The ancient coat-of-
arms is : A chevron between three martlets.
Several other coats-of-arms were borne by
different branches of the family in England.
(I) Thomas Holbrook or Holbrooke, immi
grant ancestor, aged thirty-four, of Broadway,
England, with wife Jane, aged thirty-four, and
children — John, aged eleven; Thomas, aged
ten ; Anne, aged five, and Elizabeth, aged one,
came from Weymouth, England, about 1628.
He settled at Weymouth and in 1640 was on
the committee to lay out the way from Brain
tree to Dorchester. He was admitted a free
man in May, 1645. He was selectman several
years. His will was dated December 31, 1668,
with codicil December 31, 1673. He died 1674-
y6. His widow Jane died before April 24,
1677, when administration of the estate was
granted to his son John. Children: 1. John,
born 1617, mentioned below. 2. Thomas, died
1697; married Joanna  . 3. Captain
William, died 1699; resided at Scituate. 4.
Ann, married  Renolds. 5. Elizabeth,
married Walter Hatch. 6. Jane, married 
Drake. (II) Captain John, son of Thomas Hol
brook, was born in England in 161 7, died No
vember 23, 1699. He was a man of independ

ence, courage, enterprise and wealth. He re
sided at what was known as Old Spain, Wey
mouth. He took the freeman's oath in 1640
and in 1648 first served as selectman. He was
deputy to the general court several years. He
dealt largely in real estate and loaned large
sums of money for the times. He had com
mand of a company in King Philip's war. He
married (first) Sarah  , who died Janu
ary 14, 1643; (second) Elizabeth

who died June 25, 1688, aged sixty- four;
(third) Sarah Loring, widow, who survived
him. His will was dated July 12, 1699. Chil
dren : 1. John, married Abigail Pierce. 2.
Abiezer, died unmarried 1671-72. 3. Samuel,
died 1695 ; married Lydia  . 4. Hannah,
married  — Pierce. 5. Lois (twin), born
May 12, 1658. 6. Eunice (twin), born May
12, 1658, married  Ludden. 7. Experi

ence, born May 23, 1661, married
Edson. 8. Ichabod, born May 20, 1662, men
tioned below.
(Ill) Ichabod, son of Captain John Hol
brook, was born in Weymouth, May 20, 1662,
died December 14, 1718. He inherited the
homestead and married Sarah Turner, who
died, a widow, December 20, 1739. Children:
1. Abiezer, born May 7, 1689, died February
17, 1761 ; married Ruth Vinson. 2. David,
September, 1690, mentioned below. 3. Sarah,
January 13, 1694, died October 10, 1725. 4.
Elisha. 5. John, November 28, 1699.
(IV) David, son of Ichabod Holbrook, was
born in September, 1690. He married, in 1716,
Mary Pittey, and settled in Weymouth. Later
he removed to Braintree. Children: 1. David,
born June 26, 1717; married (first) Mary
Hayden; (second) Mary Jones, widow. 2.
Ichabod, March 12, 1719, married Hannah
Hayden. 3. Nehemiah, May 16, 1722, men
tioned below. 4. Mary, November 21, 1726,
married Zebediah Howard. 5. Ruth, baptized
December 13, 1730.
(V) Nehemiah, son of David Holbrook,
*was born May 16, 1722, died April 4, 1752,
intestate. He married, May 10, 1744, Chris
tian Thayer, and was received with her into
the second church in Braintree. Administra
tion was granted the widow, May 15, 1752,
and James Penniman was appointed, March 6,
1753, guardian of the three minor children.
The widow married (second)  French,
of Stoughton. Children: 1. Nehemiah, born
May 6, 1745, mentioned below. 2. William,
April 2, 1747, died April 26, 1808, at Stoughton.
3. Elizabeth, December 25, 1749, died unmar
ried.

MASSACHUSETTS.

251

(VI) Nehemiah (2), son of Nehemiah (1)
Holbrook, was born May 6, 1745. He received
of his grandfather, David Holbrook, April 30,
1763, a deed of half his house and five acres in
Braintree. He settled there and married, prob
ably, Elizabeth Hubbard. Children: 1. Nehe
miah, married Sarah Wild. 2. Caleb, married
Susannah Holbrook. 3. Joshua, born October
14, 1773, mentioned below. 4. Rebecca, mar
ried Nathaniel Whiting. 5. Mary, married
John Tower. 6. Daughter, married Lemuel
Whiting. 7. Olive, married Luther Thayer.
(VII) Joshua, son of Nehemiah (2) Hol
brook, was born October 14, 1773, died Sep
tember 14, 1829. He settled first at Braintree
and removed to South Weymouth. He mar
ried Mary Read, born May 13, 1778. Chil
dren: 1. Mary, born March 1, 1797, married
Jacob Shaw. 2. Joshua, May 11, 1799, mar
ried Nancy W. Bates. 3. Elizabeth, August
26, 1802, married Riley Flayford. 4. Sarah
R., August 10, 1804, married Roswell Trufant.
5. Nathaniel T, March 3, 1807, married, 1831,
Ann Whitmarsh. 6. John, March 9, 1809,
mentioned below. 7. Elmira, March 1, 181 1,
died unmarried, February 27, 1829. 8. Cath
erine/September 6, 1813, married Samuel Bar
ren. 9. Rebecca, June 28, 181 5, married Jonas
Bates. 10. William, April 7, 1818, married
Maria Bicknell. 11. Priscilla, November 14,
1820, married Quincy Pool.
(VIII) John (2), son of Joshua Holbrook,
was born March 9, 1809. fle married Eliza
beth B. Pratt, and resided in Weymouth, on
the homestead. Children: 1. John Adams,
born May 27, 1837. 2. Elizabeth Ella, No
vember 5, 1852, married J. F. Cushing. (See
Cushing family).
(For preceding generations see Matthew Cushing 1).
(Ill) Captain Theophilus Cush-
CUSHING ing, son of Daniel Cushing, was
born in Hingham, Massachu
setts, June 7, 1657, died January 7, 1717-18.
He was a farmer and selectman in 1697-1707-
15. He was deputy to the general court in
1702-03-04-07-13. His house was on Main
street, Hingham. His will was dated January
3, 1717-18, and gives "to wife Mary, thirty-
two shares in the second part of 3d division in
Cohasset ; also land at 'Planters' Hill ; my quick
stock, all my movables, and the improvements
of my whole estate while she remains a widow ;
afterwards to go to sons Theophilus and Seth
when they become of age. To daughter Deb
orah one hundred pounds; to son Nehemiah
land in Abington, and the release of a bond

for money lent him; to son Adam land and
buildings formerly purchased of Samuel Stod-
der, also the lot purchased of my brother,
Samuel Thaxter ; to son Abel house and land
purchased of William Sprague Jr., lying near
Page's bridge ; to son Theophilus my dwelling-
house and barn, and land on the west side of
the road, and land at Wakely's marsh; to son
Seth land and other valuables ; and the sons
are to pay one hundred pounds each to their
sister Deborah." The widow was made execu
trix. Fle married, November 28, 1688, Mary
Thaxter, born August 19, 1667, daughter of
John and Elizabeth (Jacobs) Thaxter. She
married (second) January 11, 1721-22, Captain
Joseph Herrick, of Beverly. Children, born in
Hingham: 1. Nehemiah, July 18, 1689. 2.
Mary, February 9, 1690-91, died August 8,
1699. 3. Adam, January 1, 1692-93. 4. David,
December, 1694. 5. Abel, October 24, 1696,
mentioned below. 6. Rachel, August 17, 1698,
died September 9, 1699. 7. Mary, September
26, 1701, died August 30, 1716. 8. Theophilus,
June 16, 1703. 9. Seth, December 13, 1705.
10. Deborah, September 26, 1707. 11. Lydia,
February 13, 1709-10, died young.
(IV) Captain Abel, son of Captain Theo
philus Cushing, was born in Hingham, October
24, 1696, died May 20, 1750. He was a farmer
and mill owner, and selectman of Hingham
for many years. His house was on South
Pleasant street. He married, November 24,
1720, Mary Jacob, born September 29, 1698,
daughter of Peter and Hannah (Allen) Jacob.
Children, born in Hingham: 1. Mary, August
12, 1722, died October 12, 1726. 2. David,
July 12, 1724, died October 17, 1726. 3. David,
September 7, 1727, mentioned below. 4. Abel,
January 26, 1729-30, married, January 29,
1758, Hannah Crocker. 5. Mary, January 28,
1731-32, married, March 25, 1753, Rev. Daniel
Shute. 6. Laban, February 21, 1733-34, died
May 18, 1747. 7- Infant (twin), January 21,
1736-37, died same day. 8. Infant (twin),
January 21, 1736-37, died same day. 9. Lydia,
April 23, 1738, married, January 31, 1759,
Gideon Hayward. 10. Abigail, June 14, 1741,
married, October 2, 1761, Thomas Hersey.
(V) Colonel David, son of Captain Abel
Cushing, was born in Hingham, September 7,
1727, died February 15, 1800. He lived on
Pleasant street, Hingham, and was an ener
getic and prominent man in town affairs. He
was selectman in 1768-69-70-71-75-76. He
was in the revolution, fourth lieutenant of.
Captain Jotham Loring's company, on the
Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775; sergeant in

252

MASSACHUSETTS.

Captain Pyam Cushing's company, Colonel
Solomon Lovell's regiment, at Hull and Dor
chester in 1776; lieutenant colonel of the same
regiment, commissioned February 7, 1776; and
colonel of the Second Suffolk Regiment, in
Brigadier General Lovell's brigade, in 1778.
He married (first) April 9, 1752, Ruth Lin
coln, baptized February 25, 1732-33, died July
6, 1761, daughter of Samuel and Ruth (Cush
ing) Lincoln, of Hingham. He married (sec
ond) January 23, 1763, Mabel Gardner, born
January 6, 1738-39, died August 14, 1798,
daughter of Hosea and Mary (Whiting) Gard
ner. Children, born in Hingham, by first wife :
1. Ruth, November 1, 1752, married, August
30, 1770, Perez Cushing. 2. David, July 2,
1754. 3. Molly, September 26, 1756, married,
January 30, 1783, Joshua Mann. 4. Jonathan,
April 13, 1759, mentioned below. 5. Lydia,
June 2, 1761, married, September 3, 1786,
Asaph Tracy. Children of second wife : 6.
Abel, born October 22, 1763, married, No
vember 14, 1784, Sarah Wilder. 7. flosea,
May 29, 1765. 8. Charles Whiting, November
7, 1766. 9. Russell, April 24, 1768, died Feb
ruary 2, 1851. 10. Nancy, March 10, 1770,
died unmarried, December 27, 1835. 11. Jane,
April 3, 1772, married, November 6, 1796, Lem
uel Dwelley. ' 12. Lucy, October 18, 1773, mar
ried, May 24, 1798, David Lewis. 13. Chris
tina, March 14, 1775, died unmarried, July 1,
1822. 14. Elnathan, April 30, 1777, removed
to Scituate. 15. Jerusha, February 3, 1779,
died unmarried, September 18, 1862. 16. Josiah,
April 8, 1781. 17. Mabel, March 6, 1783, mar
ried, 1810, William Rouse, of Bath, Maine.
(VI) Jonathan, son of Colonel David Cush
ing, was born in Hingham, April 13, 1759, died
January 29, 1847. He lived on Main street,
Hingham, and was a farmer. He was select
man in 1804 and deputy to the general court
from 1808 to 181 3 inclusive. He married,
January 15, 1788, Sarah Simmons, of Scituate,
who died April 25, 1845, aged seventy-eight
years. Children: 1. Jonathan, bora January
16, 1789. 2. Sarah, November 10, 1790, mar
ried, December, 1820, William Torrey. 3.
Ruth Lincoln, June 9, 1793, married, Decem
ber 3, 1816, David Lane. 4. Adam, Novem
ber 30, 1796. 5. Rowland, November 9, 1798,
found dead near Prospect Hill, May 13, 1840.
6. Clarissa, March 26, 1805, married, Febru
ary, 1832, Henry Ripley. 7. William Gray,
August 3, 1810, mentioned below.
(VII) William Gray, son of Jonathan Cush
ing, was born in ITingham, August 3, 1810,
died December 2, 1872. He lived on Main

street, South Hingham, and was a butcher and
provision dealer. He married, December 27,
1835, Sarah Merritt, of Hingham, born in
Scituate, died in 1888 in Brockton. Children :
1. William Gray, born November 7, 1836. 2.
Sarah S., December 24, 1837, married, April
27, 1869, Caleb C. White. 3. Webster A.,
October 14, 1839, married. May 24, 1868,
Amanda F. Hobart. 4. Martha A., March 14,
1841. 5. George R., March 8, 1842, died May
19, following. 6. George R., March 9, 1843.
7. Infant, 1844, died 1846. 8. and 9. Twins,
1845, died soon. 10. Ellen G, August 26,
1848, died April, 1849. n- Isabella G., July
12, 1850, died July 16, 1851. 12. Leona Parker,
May 25, 1852, married, April 29, 1877, Benja
min T. Raymond. 13. Charles M., October 8,
1854, mentioned below. 14. Ida May, October
8, 1856, married, September 15, 1881, Charles
F. Severance ; died October 6, 1885. 15. Infant,
May 12, 1858, died young. 16. Frank E., De
cember, i860. 17. Alma E., October 24, 1862,
died February 6, 1863. Of the above only
Webster A., Leona Parker and Frank E. are
living. (VIII) Charles Melvil, son of William Gray
Cushing, was born October 8, 1854, died at
North Weymouth, July 8, 1907. He was edu
cated in the public schools of Hingham. He
was employed for many years in the fertilizing
company at Weymouth, Massachusetts, filling
various responsible positions, retiring finally
upon the incorporation of the business. He
was a well known and highly respected citizen,
keenly interested in public affairs though not
seeking public honors for himself. In politics he
was a Republican. He was a prominent mem
ber of the Unitarian church. He belonged to
Orphans Hope Lodge of Free Masons, also
Council and Commandery. He married, Feb
ruary 28, 1883, Jeannette Augusta Batchelder,
born November 15, i860, at Baldwin, Maine.
(See Batchelder sketch). Their only child
was Harriet M., born at Weymouth, died aged
three years and a half. •

Some disparity has existed in the
CRANE manner of spelling this name.
Crane, Cran, Cranne, Crain, Craine
and Crayne. Its etymological source is from
the Gaelic root Cran, meaning water, and the
fowl of the name doubtless received its appella
tion from being a frequenter of watery places.
We find it used frequently as a place name.
There is a town of Craon on the river Oudin,
province of Maine. In northern France is
Cranne. Cranae is an island of Laconia.

MASSACHUSETTS.

253

Crananus is a town of Caria and there was a
king of Athens bearing this name. Craneus
was the first king of Macedonia. Crania was
the ancient name of Torius in Cilicia. Crane,
a city of Arcadia in Classic Greece. The
family in the first instance is undoubtedly of
Norman extraction. According to an ancient
record called Rotuli Huntredorum, William de
Crane is claimed to have come over from
Craon in the province of Maine and settled in
Saltrey Moyne, in Fluntingdonshire, in 1272.
According to the Herald's visitation in the
Harleian collections of Suffolk, Crane of Stow-
market in Suffolk, lived in the reign of Richard
II in 1382. They thus have an unobstructed
line of three hundred years. The male line of
the Stowmarket or Chilton Cranes came to an
abrupt end in the person of Sir Robert in
1643 who left only daughters. Robert Crane,
of Coggeshall, county of Essex, and Sir Robert
it is affirmed were kinsmen. He was an active
member of the original company to settle Mass
achusetts and owned land there but never
came over himself. Flis daughter Margaret
married Rev. Nathaniel Rogers. Their son
John was the fifth to become president of
Harvard College. Owing to a similarity of
christian names and other ear marks, it seems
probable that- the Cranes who bore the name
to America were related to that Robert of
Coggeshall. The coat-of-arms borne by the
Cranes was : Argent, a fesse between three
crosses crosslet fitchee gules. Crest : A Crane
ppr. We have shown that the Cranes came
from a good source, we will now show it has
been borne by good people. It has contributed
to political history in the person of Governor
and Senator Winthrop Murray Crane, to litera
ture in the novelist, Stephen Crane, who wrote
the "Red Badge of Courage," to high military
achievement in Brigadier General Niron M.
Crane of the Union army, to the advancement
of woman in Rev. Caroline B. Crane, of Wis
consin. The first in point of time to arrive in
New England was John, who was in Boston in
1637. Soon after came the brothers, Benja
min and Henry, of Wethersfield.
(I) Benjamin Crane, who founded this
branch of the family, was born in 1630. By
some he is supposed to have been a son of
John Crane, of the Muddy Brook section of
Boston,- now Brookline. Other traditions more
or less substantiated are to the effect that he
lived in Dedham for a time in youth and then
up the Hudson river. He appeared in Wethers
field in 1655 and was a tanner and currier. At
that time he was a defendant in a civil suit

with John Sadler, plaintiff, in the particular
court held at Hartford. February 24, 1656,
the town gave him a house lot of two and one-
half acres. He also bought land on Mud
Lane in 1664. It was there he built his dwell
ing and tannery. The town also gave him
three acres on Beaver, now Tonda brook in
1666. In 1670 he was allotted more land and
December 8, 1671, purchased land of Daniel
Rose and acquired other tracts in 1680. He
was a juryman in 1664; in May, 1682, with
others he petitioned the general court for
liberty to establish a plantation in the Wabay-
nassit country, now Windham county, fle
macfe his mark in common with the majority
of his neighbors, penmanship not being a pre
vailing accomplishment at that time. He car
ried on his tannery about a mile below the
village on the Middletown road and it is still
known as old "Crane Tannery Place." He
died May 3, 1691. The inventory was five
hundred and fifty-eight pounds. He married,
in youth, Mary, daughter of William and
Sarah (Charles) Backus, April 23, 1655. She
died May 31, 1691. Children: Benjamin,
born March 1, 1656 (deceased) ; Jonathan
(see hereafter) ; Joseph, April 1, 1661 ; John,
April 30, 16637 who succeeded to his father's
business; Elijah, 1665; Abraham, 1668; Jacob,
1670; Israel, November I, 167 1 ; Mary.
(II) Lieutenant Jonathan, second son of
Benjamin and Mary (Backus) Crane, was
born December 1, 1658, at Wethersfield, died
in Lebanon, Connecticut, March 12, 1735. He
lived in that part of Wethersfield, afterwards
set off as Windsor. At a town meeting of the
inhabitants thereof, Jonathan was chosen to
run the town line. In October, 1691, he was
on the petition for the town charter which was
granted the next year. Mr. Crane was made
one of the first townsmen and served on a
committee to secure a minister. He was. of
the committee chosen "to set to rights the lots
at the Ponds," also a collector to levy and
gather rates. He served on the committee to
locate the burying ground. In May, 1695, he
received a commission from the general court
as ensign of a military company. He took an
active part in building the parsonage house.
In 1700 he, with Rev. Mr. Whiting, purchased
the William Backus lot and gave to the town
for a meeting house and thereon was erected
the first church and was long called "Windham
Green." That year he was appointed by the
general court to view Plainfield and see where
the best place was to erect a meeting house,
appointed on a committee to regulate the grind-

254

MASSACHUSETTS.

ing of corn. In October, 1701, he was on a
committee to run the town lines, in 1702 to
see to completing the meeting house, and in
1703 to assign the seating, in 1704 to run the
town lines "from Appaynayz to the southeast
corner of the town." In 1705 Lieutenant
Crane was on the committee to have charge
of the town lands, to call meetings to vote on
matters necessary to be considered and to sign
the acts to lay out the highways. In 1713 he
was on the committee to build a new church
and treasurer of the same. In 1715 he served
pn a committee to settle the question whether
to allow the North Parish (Canada) to form
a separate society. In 1726 he was chosen one
of the pillars of the church. Lieutenant Crane
was the first juryman to be impannelled in the
county of Windham at the first court of com
mon pleas holden January 26, 1726. He was
a miller and built a grist-mill on what is now
known as Brigham Mills. He also kept the
village tavern for the entertainment of trav
ellers and strangers. In the Indian war of
1704 he was commissioned by the general
court lieutenant in Captain John Fitch's com
pany. On his gravestone in the old cemetery
at Lebanon, Connecticut, reads this inscrip
tion : "Here lies Mr. Jonathan Crane, husband
of Mrs. Deborah Crane, who lives a pius,
Godly life and left ye Earth for heaven March
ye 12th, Anoe 1735 on ye 77th year of his age."
From all we can learn Lieutenant Crane was
a man looked up to by his neighbors and by
people in general, and was frequently called
to discharge town offices. Capable men were
scarce in those days and when one was found
qualified to act in times of an emergency, he
was often pressed into service. He labored for
the advancement of the church and the cause
of christian religion. He was known as an
enterprising citizen, concerned for the develop
ment of his town. He married Deborah,
daughter of Francis Griswold. She was born
in May, 1661, died about 1704. This Mr.
Griswold was of Windsor and later of Wind
ham. He erected the first saw mill there and
was in addition a blacksmith. He was a deputy
to the general court of Windham for nine
years. Children of Lieutenant and Deborah
Crane : Sarah, born November 16, 1680 ; Jon
athan, February 2, 1684; John (see hereafter) ;
Mary, October 20, . 1689 ; Hannah, March 7,
1692; Isaac, April 6, 1694; Joseph, May 17,
1696; Elizabeth and Deborah (twins), Febru
ary, 1698; Abigail.
(Ill) John, the third son of Lieutenant
Jonathan and Deborah (Griswold) Crane, was

born in Windham, October 1, 1687. He lived
at a place called Fort Hill where his father
gave him a house and land, January 18, 1710.
Fle sold April 10, 1728, all of his land and
dwelling to Joseph Walden for three hundred
pounds. He resided in Coventry, Connecticut.
He married Sarah Spencer, September 16,
1708, at Windham. She died September 15,
1715. He married (second) Prudence Beld
ing, April 18, 1716. Children of this marriage:
John (see later) ; Alvah, born October 12,
1710; Eunice, May 13, 1712; Elisham, March
13, 1718; Sybil, April 1, 1719; Hezekiah (see
later) ; Prudence, July 24, 1723; Lemuel, July
12, 1725; Hannah, March 15, 1727; Rhoda,
March 28, 1729; Adonijah, May 12, 1731.
(IV) John (2), eldest of the eleven chil
dren of John (1) and Sarah (Spencer) Crane,
was born in Windham, July 31, 1709, died at
Becket, Massachusetts, March 9, 1793. He
was given land in Wethersfield, July 3, 1734,
by his grandfather Crane, and purchased land
there of Jonathan and Stephen Riley. He was
assessor in 1757. His marriage to Rebeckah,
daughter of Joseph and Adgate Huntington,
was solemnized January 24, 1733. She was
born in Windham, September 18, 1712, died
January 23, 1742. The second marriage was
with Sarah Hutchinson, November 11, 1742,
and the third with Hannah Bissell, of Middle-
field, Massachusetts. Children: Sarah, born
November 30, 1735; Benjamin, March 29,
1738, died young; Benjamin, March 8, 1740;
John, January 12, 1742; Amos, April 8, 1744;
Elijah (see later) ; Abel, March 27, 1748; Re
becca, May 18, 1750; Samuel, May 29, 1752;
Rachel, January 14, 1755; Lydia, August 18,
1757- (V) Elijah, the sixth of the eleven children
of John (2) and Sarah (Hutchinson) Crane,
was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, Eebruary
22, 1746, died at Madrid, New York, January
15, 1818. He was one of the first to settle in
Washington, Massachusetts, then called Hart-
wood. He was appointed to settle his brother
Amos' estate at Tolland, Connecticut, who was
killed by the Redskins. He married Sarah
Hill, of Woburn, Massachusetts. She died at
Canton, St. Lawrence county, New York, Sep
tember 11, 1819. Children of this marriage:
Elijah, born December 15, 1771 ; Sarah, May
26, 1773; Amos (see later); Lois, March 2,
1777; Jael, February 17, 1779; Eunice, No
vember 23, 1780; Lucy, August 23, 1782; Sus
anna, April, 1784; Elijah, September 28, 1785 ;
Lucy, September 18, 1787.
(VI) Amos, the third of the ten children of

MASSACHUSETTS.

255

Elijah and Sarah (Hill) Crane, was born in
Washington, Berkshire county, Massachusetts,
December 17, 1774, died there July 25, 1863, at
that time the oldest inhabitant of the place.
For thirty-two years he was connected with the
Methodist Episcopal church. He married
Martha Remington, of Suffield, Connecticut,
October 30, 1799. She died November 16,
1 841, and was a devoted christian woman.
Children: Martha R., born February 21, 1801 ;
Amos S., November 5, 1802 ; Samuel R., No
vember 27, 1804; Polly, October 15, 1806;
George, April 17, 1808; Lucy, September 30,
1810; John M. (see later) ; William H., Feb
ruary 12, 18 16.
(VII) John M., the seventh of the eight
children of Amos and Martha (Remington)
Crane, was born in Washington, Massachu
setts, March 21, 181 3. He tilled the patri
monial estate and lived in the house in Wash
ington where his grandfather settled, long the
home of the family, and he was the last of
the race to retain a residence in the old town.
He married Sarah M. Joy and (second) Mary
C. Wright, of Middlefield, Massachusetts, May
20, 1846. She died February 5, 1880. Chil
dren: John W., Delia M., Myra C. and
Lester M.
(VIII) John Wright, the eldest of the four
children of John M. and Mary C. (Wright)
Crane, was born in Washington, Berkshire
county, Massachusttts, May 23, 1847. He was
educated in the schools of his native town and
began as a clerk in a store at Middlefield, of
which he subsequently became proprietor. He
came to Springfield in 1886 and bought out
the store of P. D. Winter & Sons, grocers, on
upper State street. From 1889 to 1893 he
was with J. S. Marsh & Son. Then one year
with W. S. & Dana Buxton and one year with
the Whitcomb Stove Company. In 1902 he
opened the real estate and insurance office .
which he still conducts and is one of the
largest real estate operators in the city. He
is masonically related and a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He mar
ried Harriet, daughter of Sumner U. Church,
of Middlefield. She died December 14, 1905.
Mrs. Crane was a woman of quiet nature and
of great refinement of character, with warm
qualities of mind and heart which endeared
her. to all who knew her. She had been from
childhood a member of the Congregational
church of Middlefield, and on her removal to
Springfield she became connected with the
Hope Church, where she was very active, hav
ing been a teacher in the primary department

of the Sunday school. Children: Alfred, born
in Middlefield, January 5, 1880, a graduate of
the Springfield high school in 1896, now in the
real estate business with his father ; he mar
ried Lulu E. Rice, of Lyndonville, Vermont.
Mary C, unmarried, who lives at home.
(IV) Hezekiah, the sixth of the eleven
children of John and Prudence (Belding)
Crane, was born in Windham, March 31, 1721,
died in Bolton, Connecticut, January 3, 1805.
There was a Hezekiah Crane, a private in Cap
tain Roswell Grant's company, Colonel Johns
ton's regiment, in the service in Providence
and was either he or his son. His will was
dated October 20, 1796, and admitted to pro
bate, East Windsor, February 1, 1805, David
Crane named as executor. He married Rachel
Rockwell, April 2, 1746. She died October
7, 1809. Children: flezekiah (see later);
David, born October, 1748; Rachel, June 8,
1751; Rhoda, April 22, 1753; Rufus, 1755;
Aaron, May 8, 1756; Anna.
(V) Hezekiah (2), the eldest of the seven
children of Hezekiah (1) and Rachel (Rock
well) Crane, was born in Windsor and died in
1794. He enlisted, September 7, 1776, and
was honorably discharged November 2, 1776,
serving as a private in Captain Isaac Sergeant's
company, Major Backus' regiment of light
horse, and was engaged in New York City.
As we have stated it was he or his father who
was in Captain Grant's company and Colonel
Johnson's regiment in Rhode Island. His
estate was administered as intestate, the son
Joel made administrator. He married Sybil
Lamphire. Children: Wareham (see later) ;
Joel, born January 19, 1772; Hezekiah, 1773;
Eunice; Abner, January 3, 1776; Rhoda, Jan
uary 8, 1783 ; Russell Willis and Lucretia.
(VI) Wareham, the eldest of the eight chil
dren of Hezekiah (2) and Sybil (Lamphire)
Crane, was born in Windsor, 1770, died there
January 21, 1835. He was a farmer . He mar
ried Eunice Barber ; she died October 23, 1854,
aged eighty-three years. Children: Clarissa,
born July 15, 1792; Sibil, January 21, 1794;
Eunice, January 3, 1796; Wareham Barber,
January 27, 1798; Anna, October 30, 1799;
Russell Willis, January 31, 1802; Sophronia,
February 14, 1804; Oliver Root, December 6,
1806; Electa B., August 25, 1808; Hezekiah
Backus (see later) ; Charles Reynolds, Febru
ary 26, 181 7, and Lorenzo Bliss, November 21,
1818. (VII) Hezekiah Backus, the tenth of the
twelve children of Wareham and Eunice
(Barber) Crane, was bora in Windsor, Sep-

256

MASSACHUSETTS.

tember 12, 181 1, died in East Longmeadow,
December 19, 1880. He was reared upon the
old farm, but in early manhood entered the
dry goods trade in Hartford, going from
thence to Springfield, where he went into the
confectionery trade. The factory was on the
corner of Sanford and Market streets. Sell
ing out his interest therein, he removed to
New Britain, Connecticut, and finally to East
Longmeadow. He married Angeline, daugh
ter of Robert and Anna (Henry) Gowdy, of
Somers, Connecticut.
(VIII) Deacon Roman A., only child of
Hezekiah B. and Angeline (Gowdy) Crane,
was born in Enfield, Connecticut, February 19,
1842. He came to Springfield with his father
and began work in the confectionery shop at
the early age of sixteen. His health failing
him, he went to farming. He has been a great
traveller in his own country. He and his wife
are members of the Congregational church of
East Longmeadow, of which he has been clerk,
treasurer, teacher in the Sunday school, dea
con and trustee. He is Republican in politics
and has served on the school committee and as
town auditor. He is a member of the Hamp
den Agricultural Society. He married, in 1864,
Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel T. Avery, of
South Windsor, Connecticut. Children: 1.
Frank Albert, born September 9, 1865, mar
ried, November 23, 1887, Bertha Cadwell, of
East Longmeadow. 2. Howard Walton, born
May 8, 1867, died January 15, 1869. 3. Arthur
Gowdy, born July 18, 1871, married, January
11, 1893, Lute Hanscom, of Alfred, Maine;
their children are : i. Marion Elizabeth, born
May 26, 1894; ii. Howard Irving, February
15, 1896; iii. Helen Esther, April 9, 1898; iv.
Roland Arthur, November 30, 1901. 4. Walter
Avery, born June 6, 1876, died April 2, 1882.
5. Robert Samuel, born December 6, it

This family inherits from many
HALL generations of ancestry the Yankee
propensity for business activity,
and the sound mind, body and principles neces
sary to usefulness in the world. The name is
one of the oldest in America, and was estab
lished at several points in New England at
almost simultaneous dates. The origin of the
name has been the subject of much speculation
among its bearers, and three probable sources
are mentioned. The most probable is the fact
that baronial seats in England were almost
always called Halls, with some title annexed.
When men were obliged to take surnames,
many took the name of their estates, and thus

many names were made to end with Hall. The
Norman or Anglo-Saxon usage, "de la Hall"
(translated, of the Hall), accounts for most of
the occasions where this became a surname,
without doubt. One authority attributes it to
the Welsh word for salt, which would be
attached to a worker in salt or dweller near a
salt mine. Again, it is traced to the Norwegian
word for hero, which is hallr, the last letter
being silent and only indicative of the nomina
tive case. As the Norwegians overran Eng
land at one time, many of their words found
their way into the language. Hallett is a dimi
nutive of Hall, and was probably given to a
dwarfed or younger son, only the eldest son
being entitled to the patronymic in earliest
usage. (I) Gilbert Hall resided in the county of
Kent, in the southeastern part of England. No
record is available as to his wife, but the next
mentioned is known to have been his son.
( II ) Francis, son of Gilbert Hall, born about
1608, with his brother, William, came from
Milford, county of Surrey, England, in the
ship with Rev. flenry Whitefield and his party,
which included people from Kent and Surrey.
They arrived at what is now New Haven, Con
necticut, in time to praticipate in the" meeting
of the colonists held in Newman's barn, June
7, 1639. In 1640 he joined Mr. Ludlow in the
enterprise of planting a settlement at the head
of a small inlet of Long Island sound, which
they named Fairfield. At that time he had a
wife, Elizabeth, and two sons, Isaac and Sam
uel, born in England. The mother died in
1662, probably in Fairfield, and Francis Hall
married (second) October 30, 1665, Dorothy,
widow of John Blakeman, and daughter of
Rev. Henry Smith, of Stratford, Connecticut,
who survived him. He was a man of some
property and brought with him a small stock
of hardware, carpenter's tools and farming
implements for trade. He was a member of
the Church of England, but on his arrival in
America adopted the Congregational method
of worship. He may have lived in New Lon
don for a time. In 1669 he held the office of
constable in Stratford and was a deputy from
that town to the general court held at Hart
ford, May 11, 1676. He was a large owner of
lands in Fairfield and Stratford and died in the
latter town in 1690. Besides his widow" he
was survived by the following children : Isaac,
Samuel, Elizabeth, Hannah, Mary and Re-
beccah. ( III) Isaac, eldest son of Francis and Eliza
beth Hall, was born about 1629 in Kent, Eng-

MASSACHUSETTS.

257

land, and accompanied his father to America
as above related, dying in Fairfield, Connec
ticut, in 1714, in his eighty-fifth year. He was
married about 1660 to Lydia Knapp, who sur
vived him. He qualified for the practice of
medicine and settled in Fairfield where he
became an eminent surgeon and physician.
During the Indian wars he was surgeon of the
colonial militia and for this service received
a grant of land in the town of Fairfield from
the general court. He had previously received
in 1660 a large estate from his father in that
town. He subscribed to the oath of fidelity to
the colonial government in 1659 and was prob
ably one of the proprietors of Wallingford in
1670. His children were: Isaac, Sarah, Lydia,
Elizabeth, Samuel, Francis, John (died young),
John, Mary, Abigail and Jonathan.
(IV) Jonathan, youngest child of Dr. Francis
and Lydia (Knapp) Hall, was born December
2, 1684, and resided in Stratford, where he un
doubtedly died. His estate was distributed in
1723, which indicates that he died at the age
of about thirty-nine years. He left sons Icha
bod and Jonathan, who disappeared from the
records of Stratford after the division of the
paternal estate.
(V) Jonathan (2), probably son of Jona
than (1) Hall, was born in 1712, and settled
about 1760 in Walpole, New Hampshire, where
he died August 26, 1802. He brought with
him his wife, Mary, and eight children. His
wife died one month after him, September 24,
1802, aged eighty-two years. Record is found
of eight children who became heads of families.
Mrs. Philippi Hall, who died in Walpole, Octo
ber 15, 1774, at the age of ninety years, is sup
posed to have been his widowed mother. There
was a Pelatiah Hall in Walpole, who is sup
posed to have been a brother of Jonathan. The
latter's- children were: 1. Sarah, born 1741,
wife of Captain Levi Hooper; lived in Wal
pole. 2. Elisha, 1746, married Philippi Smith;
lived in Walpole. 3. Abraham, married, in
1783, Polly Floyd;; settled in Bath, New
Hampshire. 4. Recompense, married, in 1775,
Phoebe Gerry ; removed to Westminster, Ver
mont. 5. Jonathan, subject of the next para
graph. 6. John, resided in Walpole and reared
a family. 7. David, born 1756, married, in
1778, Lydia Graves; lived in Walpole.
(VI) Jonathan (3), fourth son of Jonathan
(2) and Mary Hall, was a youth when he went
with his parents to Walpole, where he lived
and died. He was a soldier of the revolution
and at the time of the national census in 1790
he had three sons under sixteen years of age

and four daughters. No record appears of his
birth, marriage or death. His Sons were Sam
uel, Jonathan and Elisha.
(VII) Jonathan (4), second son of Jona
than (3) Hall, was born about 1785 in Wal
pole and lived in Westmoreland and Surry.
He married Phoebe Britton, probably daugh
ter of John Britton, and had a large family.
The names of three sons are preserved, namely :
Henry, Jonathan and John Britton.
(VlII) John Britton, son of Jonathan (4)
and Phoebe (Britton) Hall, was born Decem
ber 6, 181 3, probably in Surry, and when a
young man went to Saratoga Springs, New
York. He was there married, February 20,
1837, to Clarissa Willard Hayward, born
March 10, 181 1, in New Hampshire, daughter
of Claudius D. and Sallie (Redding) Hayward,
of Saratoga. Their children, born in Saratoga,
were: 1. Maria, June 10, 1838, died in her
twenty-first year unmarried. 2. John Alvin,
subject of the next paragraph. 3. Lucella
Clarissa, April 15, 1843, married Charles E.
Rawson. 4. Sarah, September 23, 1845, mar
ried Edward Augustus Deuel. 5. Lewis Hay
ward, March, 1848, married Maria Olive
Tompkins. 6. Edwin Lucius, May 29, 185 1,
married (first) Rebecca Wickwire.
(IX) John Alvin, eldest son of John Brit
ton and Clarissa W. (Hayward) Hall, was
born December 17, 1840, in Saratoga, and
located in Springfield, Massachusetts, July 21,
1861, shortly before attaining his majority.
During the civil war he was employed in the
United States armory at Springfield, and in
1865 leff there to go into the insurance busi
ness in Springfield. After a short time he was
connected with the Guardian Life Insurance
Company of New York, and on October 1,
1872, he became general agent of the Massa
chusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company of
Springfield, whose headquarters were then
located on the- site of its present handsome
offices. This connection continued until Janu
ary, 1879. Early in 1881 he was elected secre
tary of the company and filled this position
most efficiently for a period of fourteen years,
until his election in 1895 to the position of
president. This office he held until the close
of his life, which occurred September 3, 1908,
while on a trip to Europe, dying in the city of
London, England. Mr. Hall filled a large part
in the business, social and philanthropic life of
Springfield, and was identified with many of
the leading interests of that city. He was vice-
president and subsequently president of the-
Springfield Institution for Savings, and during

258

MASSACHUSETTS.

the early years of his career in Springfield he
served the city as a member of the common
council, board of aldermen and on its school
committee. While not a member of any relig
ious organization he was a regular attendant
of the Unitarian church, and was a member of
the Union League Club of New York and
Nayasset Club of Springfield. He married,
July 21, 1863, Frances E. Fay, of Springfield,
daughter of Foster and Sarah (Taft) Fay, a
member of an old Massachusetts family. She
was born January 14, 1843, in Mendon, Mass
achusetts, and died January 19, 1908, in Spring
field. Their children were : Clara F., Blanche
E. and John Alvin.

<For first generation see John Ball 1).
(II) Nathaniel Ball, son of John
BALL Ball, was born in England and came
to New England with his father.
He settled in Concord and married Mary
 . Fle was admitted a freeman, May 22,
1650, the same day as his father. Children: 1.
John, died July 27, 1649. 2. Nathaniel, born
September 29, 1649, died November 23, 1649.
3. Ebenezer. 4. Eleazer. 5. Nathaniel, born
July 3, 1663, mentioned below. 6. Hannah,
January 22, 1665.
(Ill) Nathaniel (2), son of Nathaniel (1)
Ball, was born in Concord, July 3, 1663, and
married, April 19, 1688, Mary Brooks. Chil
dren, born at Concord: 1. Susannah, January
24, 1689. 2. Caleb, August 10, 1690. 3.
Nathaniel, April 1, 1692, married, May 31,
171 1, Sarah Baker. 4. Thomas, February 2,
1693-94. 5. Samuel, March 24, 1696-97. 6.
Mary, May 11, 1699. 7. Jeremiah, May 1,
1701, mentioned below. 8. Benjamin, June 19,
1704. 9. Ebenezer, May 30, 17 12. 10. Sarah,
April 29, 1714.
(IV) Jeremiah, son of Nathaniel (2) Ball,
was born at Concord, May 1, 1701. He settled
in Townsend, Massachusetts, in the east part
of the town, in 1726, near the John Spaulding
place. Fle married, in 1727, Mary Stevens,
who died February. 11, 1764, aged sixty-two
years. He died April 12, 1780, aged seventy-
nine years. Children: 1. Ebenezer, born July
3, 1729, mentioned below. 2. Lieutenant Jere
miah, August 31, 1 73 1, died March 7, 1792;
married, January, 1759, Mary Stevens. 3.
Mary, June 24, 1733, died August 11, 1822;
married (first)  Hubbard; (second)
 Baldwin; (third) Jedediah Jewett. 4.
Elizabeth, March 4, 1736. 5. Susannah, March
11, 1738, married  Dutton. 6. Benja

min, July 26, 1742, settled in Hancock, New
Hampshire. (V) Ebenezer, son of Jeremiah Ball, was
born in Townsend, July 3, 1729, died April 7,
1797. He served in the revolution in Captain
James Hasley's company, Colonel William
Prescott's regiment, and marched on the Lex
ington alarm, April 19, 1775; also in Captain
Henry Haskell's company, same regiment, in
January, 1776. He married, in 1753, Rebecca
Butterfield, of Westford, born July 31, 1729,
died October 21, 1800. Children, born in
Townsend: 1. Rebecca, November 8, 1754,
died August 15, 1830; married (first) Febru
ary 20, 1787, William Weston; (second) Abel
Keyes; (third) April 27, 1830, Rogers Weston.
2. Ebenezer, September 2, 1756, mentioned
below. 3. Olive, September 6, 1758, died De
cember 5, 1838; married, November 11, 1784,
John Blood. 4. Susannah, October 22, 1760,
died October 9, 1833; married, December 16,
1788, Joseph fleywood. 5. Hannah, October
20, 1762, died June 5, 1833; married, March
22, 1786, Nathaniel Shattuck. 6. Abraham,
January 26, 1765, died September 15, 1840;
married, 1785, Deliverance Per ham. 7. Bath
sheba, June 14, 1769, died May 2, 1815; mar
ried, November 16, 1791, Hezekiah Winn. 8.
Noah, August 3, 1771, died August 28, 1847;
married, May 26, 1796, Betsey Weston. 9.
Mary, May 6, 1773, died March 6, 1858; mar
ried, December 20, 1797, Zaccheus Richardson.
(VI) Ebenezer (2), son of Ebenezer (1)
Ball, was born in Townsend, September 2,
1756, died December 5, 1837. He was in the
revolution in the same companies as his father,
and saw the same service. He married (first)
October 18, 1781, Sarah Shattuck, of Pepperell,
born September 3, 1755, died July 8, 1785. He
married (second) June, 1786, Hannah Smith,
of Mason, New flampshire, who died April 4,
1787. He married (third) October 10, 1787,
Phebe Weston, of Townsend, born December
19, 1767, died November 2, 1848. Children:
1. Sarah, born November 20, 1782, died Janu
ary 3, 1854; married, November 3, 1808, Dea
con Samuel Walker. 2. Ebenezer, April 2,
1787, mentioned below. 3. David, November
7, 1788, died March, 1863; married Nancy
Weston. 4. Deacon Levi, July 7, 1 790, died
October 11, 1849; married, January 10, 1813,
Lucy Burbank. 5. Rev. Hosea, August 11,
1792, married, September 12, 1817, Sarah
liolmes. 6. Phebe, August 4, 1794, died July
31, 1852; married, December 31, 1833, Captain
Edmund Blood. 7. Samuel, August 7, 1796,

MASSACHUSETTS.

259

married Olive Nelson. 8. Hannah, October
31, 1800, died February 17, 1840; married,
October 10, 1821, Samuel W. Burbank. 9.
Roxanna, born November 23, 1804, married,
December 10, 1834, Nathan Davis. 10. Var
num, June 30, 1807, married, September 2,
1828, Nancy Ball, of Lunenburg.
(VII) Ebenezer (3), son of Ebenezer (2)
Ball, was born April 2, 1787, died December
31, 1845. He married Sarah Swift, of Ware.
He was a carpenter by trade. Children: 1.
William, May 7, 181 5, mentioned below. 2.
Emory, September 11, 1818. 3. Amos, June
14, 1820, died August, 1846. 4. Hosea, Sep
tember 20, 1822. 5. Mary Mariva, December
29, 1825.
(VIII) William, son of Ebenezer (3) Ball,
was born May 7, 181 5, at Ware. He was
educated in the public schools of his native
town and lived during his boyhood with his
parents in Ware. He began to learn the trade
of carpenter, working with his father, but
became disgusted with the work one day while
helping his father shingle a house, threw down
his hammer and quit work. He secured work
in a machine shop in Ware Center, and soon
became a skillful machinist. He developed
wonderful ability as an inventor. He first
invented and patented a machine for manu
facturing the wooden pegs used in making
shoes, a great labor saver. Next he produced
a device for using horse power to operate
machinery. He removed to Paterson, New
Jersey, where he devised and manufactured
the machinery used in making Colt's pistols
and other fire-arms. Thence he went to Whit-
neyville, and invented a rifling machine that
rifled four gun barrels at the same time. At
Chicopee he invented the paper cap used to fire
cannon and the friction primer, made of paper,
then the brass primer, and manufactured these
goods for a time. He next devised the ingen
ious gate used to regulate the flow of molasses
from barrels. Fle invented the machine that
is still in use in the manufacture of pins. He
devised a machine to produce the carpet tack
with leather washer attached, formerly very
popular. Through his inventions in connection
with the manufacture and handling of fire
arms he met Commodore Stockton of the
United States ordnance department, who was
interested in mines and mining, and at his
instance, invented a steam stamp mill to crush
ore. Afterward he produced the first gold
washer and amalgamator in America. He also
invented and built machinery for copper min
ing, including a steam stamp mill and copper

washer for the Copper Falls Mine, built under
his guarantee to do better work than anything
used hitherto. His business in mining machinery
became extensive. He built mills for Pewabic
and Franklin Mines, Sheldon and Columbian
Mills, South Pewabic, and he sold the rights
for the Calumet and Hecla and Osceola Mines.
He was the first man to inaugurate the system
of interchangeable parts in the manufacture
of fire-arms. Considering the number, the use
fulness and variety of his inventions, their effec
tiveness in saving labor and increasing the
production of mines and factories, his career
as an inventor can scarcely be equalled in the
history of American genius. He died January
31, 1870. In politics he was first a Democrat
and later a Republican. In religion a Congre
gationalist. He married (first) June 17, 1838,
his first cousin, Sarah Shattuck Walker, born
December 18, 1818, daughter of Deacon Sam
uel and Sarah (Ball) Walker, of Townsend,
Massachusetts. Samuel Walker was born
March 27, 1783, died July 19, 1849; his wife
Sarah (Ball) Walker, was born November 20,
1782, died January 3, 1854, daughter of Ebe
nezer Ball (6) and sister of Ebenezer Ball
(7). Children: 1. Albina S., born March 27,
1 841, married, January 23, 1862, John W.
Colton, of Westfield, Massachusetts; he was
born June 13, 1832, died January 10, 1907;
had children: i. Helen Ball, born December
15, 1863, died May 10, 1864; ii. William Ball,
born July 13, 1868, died March 30, 1893; iii.
Gertrude Whitman, born December 18, 1871,
married, April 21, 189 1, William J. Barton;
had Sidney Colton, born April 21, 1892; Leota
Albina, born June 29, 1896; Helen Ball, born
April 15, 1898, died March 4, 1899; Lois, born
December 19, 1899, died September 11, 1900.
2. George W., born October 18, 1843. 3- Edwin
Pliny, mentioned below. He married (second)
Adelia E. Southworth (nee Mead) and had
one child who died in infancy.
(IX) Edwin Pliny, son of William Ball,
was born in what is now Chicopee, Massachu
setts, January 26, 1846. He attended the public
schools of Chicopee and attended the Chicopee
high school when Governor George D. Robin
son was principal. He left the high school
during his fourth year to take up draughting
in the office of the Ames Company of Chicopee.
After a short time he entered Williston Semi
nary at Easthampton. He became associated
with his father in business and continued until
he died. Afterward he carried on his father's
business until the patents had expired. He
became associated with A. D. Briggs & Com-

260

MASSACHUSETTS.

pany, bridge builders, and during the nine
months he worked for this concern Mr. Ball
drew the plans for the first iron drawbridge-
over the Connecticut river, built at Saybrook
Junction. Next he went into business for him
self as a mill and mechanical engineer. He
built the first new mill at Ludlow, Massachu
setts, in 1878; Mill No. 1 at West Warren and
all the other buildings completed there at that
time, 1880. He built the Lower Canal bulkhead
at Bondsville ; then the Richmond Paper Mills
at East Providence, Rhode Island. He rebuilt
the woolen mills that had been destroyed by
fire at Saxonville, Massachusetts. From 1884
to 1904 he made his home in Palmer, Massa
chusetts, since then in Springfield. In the
meantime he constructed the Ashcroft Manu
facturing Company plant at Bridgeport, Con
necticut; the plant of the South Paris Manu
facturing Company of Paris, Maine ; the plant
of the Suffolk Cordage Works, Chelsea, Mass
achusetts; factories C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J and
K for the General Electric Company at Lynn,
Massachusetts, and the plant of the Lynn Gas
& Electric Company; the factory of the Amer
ican Projectile Company; the Electric Light
station at Elizabeth, New Jersey ; electric
light plants at Poughkeepsie, New York ; at
Hudson, New York; at Catskill, New York;
at Palmer,- Massachusetts; at Stafford, Con
necticut; at New Britain, Connecticut; the
machine shop of the New Hampshire State
schools at Durham, New Hampshire. He also
rebuilt the dam destroyed by a freshet at
Jewett City, Connecticut ; built the Red Bridge
Dam & Power plant at Ludlow, Massachusetts ;
Cushman woolen mill, and dormitory at Mon
son Academy. lie was the engineer of the
new bulkhead, canal and power house at
Turner's Falls, Massachusetts. Few engineers
have so many great works that will serve as
monuments to their skill, ingenuity and genius.
Mr. Ball is a Republican in politics and a
Unitarian in religion. Fle is a member of the
following clubs and societies : Thomas Lodge,
Free and Accepted Masons, of Palmer, and
Palmer Club, fle married, December 2, 1869,
Ada I. Brigham, born December 3, 1846, daugh
ter of Lemuel Hawley and Lucinda D. (Bam-
ford) Brigham. Children: 1. Mina L., born
September 14, 1870, married, September 28,
1897, William Rodney Marsh, a dentist, of
Brandon, Vermont; had children: i. William
B., born September 10, 1899, died October 23,
1899 ; ii. Margaret B., born February 21, 1903 ;
iii. Edwin B., born November 23, 1904; iv.
Elizabeth S., born October 6, 1908. 2. Gertrude

A., September 14, 1872, married, October 10,
1906, John Howard Willis, an architect, lives
in Berkeley, California. 3. Edwin Brigham, De
cember 22, 1876. 4. Sarah Walker, July 18,
1883. ' 
This name, which if of very
CORDIS rare occurance in the early rec
ords of Massachusetts, is evi
dently that of a Dutch immigrant who settled
in the Bay State after New Amsterdam be
came an English colony.
(I) Cord Cordis, born in 1709, was a mer
chant and lived in Boston, where he married,
November 30, 1733, Sarah Eveleigh, who died
in 1740, and was buried at King's Chapel,
March 28, 1740. He married (second) at
Boston, October 2, 1740, Hannah, widow of
Elnathan Jones. Fle died at Concord. Massa
chusetts, July 29, 1772, aged sixty-three years.
His widow Hannah died in London, England,
1779. Cord Cordis had four children by his
first wife and two by his second wife. They
were: 1. John, born December 28, 1733. 2.
Sarah, born December 29, 1734; married John
Wheelwright. 3. Frederick, born October 28,
1736. 4. Catherine, born March 18, 1739. 5.
Thomas, see forward. 6. Joseph.
(II) Thomas, son of Cord and Hannah
(Jones) Cordis, was born September 5, 1741,
in Boston, died in 1774. He married, October
5, 1763, Elizabeth Vinton, who survived him
and married (second) March 16, 1780, Jonas
Lee, of Concord and Ashley. She died March
9, 1804. Jonas Lee died in Ashley, April 21,
1819. Four children were born to Thomas
and Elizabeth (Vinton) Cordis: 1. Thomas,
see forward. 2. Flannah, married Thomas
Oliver Larkin. 3. Mary, born June 5, 1772,
married Abraham Butterfield, died August 22,
1802. 4. Elizabeth, born 1773, died unmarried,
August 30, 1779.
(Ill) Thomas (2), eldest son of Thomas
(1) and Elizabeth (Vinton) Cordis, was born
in Boston, 1771. He was a prominent and
respected merchant of that city, was of the
firm of Bellows, Cordis & Jones, importers of
British dry goods, afterwards of the firm of
Scudder and Cordis, importers of and dealers
in hardware. He was one of the incorporators
of the fifth bank of Boston, known as the New
England Bank, which was organized in 1813.
He was one of the first board of directors
of the City Bank, organized in 1822. He
married Sarah S. Kemble, December 5,
1799. He married (second) July 22, 1813,
Hannah Cordis, born in Charlestown, Massa-

MASSACHUSETTS.

261

chusetts, November 5, 1789, died July 25, 1832.
Children : 1. Thomas Frederick, born Novem
ber 24, 1814, died July 19, 1881. 2. Sarah
Eliza, married Russell jarvis ; was lost on the
steamer "Lexington," with her two children,
January 13, 1840. 3. Francis Temple, born
January 16, 1817, see forward. 4. Mary Ellen,
born August 6, 1818, died  . 5. Edward,
born March 5, 1821, died April 4, 1904. 6.
Clarence Russell, born December 3, 1822, died
November 13, 1859. 7- Charles, born Febru
ary 11, 1829, died February 3, 1831. Thomas
Cordis died December 8, 1854.
Hannah (Cordis) Cordis was the daughter
of Captain Joseph and Rebecca (Russell)
Cordis, and granddaughter of Cord Cordis.
Captain Joseph Cordis was born June 4, 1740,
in Charlestown, and died in 181 1. He was a
man of much prominence, and after 1781 a
large real estate holder. Cordis street, named
in his honor, was laid out through his pasture ;
an old deed in possession of a member of the
family shows the transfer by Thomas and
Mary Welsh to Joseph Cordis of a house and
a wharf, forty-six feet, on Joiner street. He
lost heavily through the influence on Ameri
can commerce of the wars between France and
England, and his losses are supposed to have
hastened his death. Captain Joseph Cordis
married, June 15, 1770, Rebecca Russell, born
February 2, 1746, died at Reading, Massachu
setts, February 19, 1800, daughter of Richard
and Mary (Cary) Russell, fle married (sec
ond) Elizabeth Spear, in 1803. Children of
first marriage: 1. John Blake, born February
6, 1772, died 1818. 2. Rebecca, born June 4,
1774. 3. Frances Temple, born December 3,
1776, died April 8, 1815. 4. Hannah (ist),
born August 3, 1778, died March 20, 1780. 5.
Mary, born April 16, 1781, died November 23,
1868. 6. Joseph, born June 17, 1782, lost at
sea, in 1805. 7. Thomas, born June 13, 1783,
died May 25, 181 5. 8. An infant, born in
1784, died the same day. 9. Harriet, born
February 19, 1785, died September 17, 1786.
10. Hannah (2d), born November 5, 1817;
wife of Thomas Cordis, aforementioned.
(IV) Francis Temple, son of Thomas (2)
and Hannah (Cordis) Cordis, was born at 43
Beacon street, Boston, January 16, 1817. He
was educated at a private school in Jamaica
Plain, Massachusetts, and brought up as a
merchant, being of the firm of Horton, Hall &
Company, 114 Milk street, Boston, importers
and dealers in hardware. He was a man of
wealth, and influential and highly respected.
In his youth he was a member of the Boston

Cadets. In March, 1843, he settled in Long
meadow, where he resided the remainder of
his life, continuing in business in Boston for
several years previous to his retirement. Fle
married, April 30, 1840, Ruth Anna Preseott,
born in Boston, November 9, 1819, died July
1, 1886, daughter of Jonathan Preseott, of
Boston. Children: 1. Thomas Francis, born
July 28, 1843, see forward. 2. Charles Fred
erick, born April 23, 1849, died June 26, 185 1.
Francis Temple Cordis died April 3, 1890.
(V) Colonel Thomas Francis, son of Fran
cis Temple and Ruth Anna (Preseott) Cordis,
was born July 28, 1843, "i Longmeadow, Mass
achusetts, fle obtained his education in pri
vate schools, and at Williston Seminary, in
Easthampton, Massachusetts. At eighteen
years of age he responded to the call for
troops in the civil war, and enlisted Septem
ber 25, 1862, in Company A, Forty-sixth Mass
achusetts Regiment Volunteer Infantry, and
served as a sergeant until July 29, 1863, when
he was honorably discharged on account of
expiration of term of service. The Forty-
sixth Regiment served with credit under the
command of Major General John G. Foster,
and was stationed most of the time at New
bern, North Carolina. It took part in the
Goldsboro expedition ; a raid from Newbern,
which began December 11, 1862, and resulted
in the capture of Kinston,- the Confederate
center of operations in North Carolina ; De
cember 14, it dispersed a rebel force at White
hall ; December 16, it destroyed a railroad
bridge and miles of track, besides defeating
the enemy with heavy loss at Goldsboro, De
cember 17. It also took an active part in the
operations about Newbern and Little Wash
ington, North Carolina, in March and April,
1863, caused by Confederate attacks upon
these places. Company A, in which Mr.
Cordis served, while on picket duty at Batch-
elder's Creek, North Carolina, was attacked
by a large force of Confederates, May 13,
1863, and without other support held the enemy
in check for several hours until reinforce
ments came to their relief. In 1876 he became
a member of the Second Battallion of Infantry,
Massachusetts Militia. August 29, 1876, he
was appointed paymaster on the staff of the
battallion, with the rank of first lieutenant, and
served in that capacity until August 20, 1879.
He was elected and commissioned second lieu
tenant of Company B (Springfield City
Guard), Second Regiment Infantry, M. V.
M., and was promoted to first lieutenant of
the company February 11, 1889; appointed

262

MASSACHUSETTS.

on the staff of Brigadier General Benjamin F.
Bridges as aide-de-camp, February 20th, 1889,
with the rank of captain; promoted to be
assistant inspector general of rifle practice,
January 12, 1894, with the rank of major; was
retired with the rank of major, August 11,
1897, having served continuously for over
seventeen years in the Massachusetts militia.
During the Spanish-American war he recruit
ed and organized the Twenty-seventh Com
pany of Provisional Militia, of which he was
elected captain, July 21, 1898, and was honor
ably discharged April 15, 1899. He was again
retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel,
May 27, 1899, under provisions of Section 1,
Chapter 302, Acts of 1899. He is a member
of E. K. Wilcox Post, No. 16, Grand Army
of the Republic, of Springfield. He is very
much interested in all matters concerning the
civil war, and has compiled a complete chrono
logical list of all officers that were killed or
died from wounds during the war, giving the
regiment, place, and date of death, also a
chronological list of all battles of the civil war,
with a list of regiments engaged in each battle,
and the losses of each, both on the Union and
Confederate sides, also a list of all officers of
Florida and North Carolina who were killed
while in the Confederate service.
Colonel Cordis is a staunch Republican,
takes an interest in politics, and was a member
of the Massachusetts legislature in 1876. He
has a villa at Seabreeze, Florida, where he
spends his winters.
Thomas Francis Cordis married, in Philadel
phia, Pennsylvania, November 13, 1867, Annie
Byrd Colton, of Philadelphia, born June 11,
1845, daughter of Simon and Mary (Flint) Col
ton. Children : Grace Temple, born May 23,
1872, died February 23, 1875 ; Thomas Edward,
born August 16, 1884.

The Colonial records give the
PFIIPPS orthography of the name as
Phips, but the family adopted
the spelling of Phipps. Two immigrants
appeared in America; James in New England
in the first half of the seventeenth century,
and Joseph, born in Reeding, England, in
1640, as a member of William Penn's colony,
that settled Pennsylvania in 1672. Like Penn,
he had embraced the Quaker faith, and their
descendants, who were very prolific and noted
for their longevity, were represented in 1907
by a representative in the sixth generation.
Pennsylvania continued to be the home of
Joseph Phipps and his descendants up to the

fifth generation when they began to move
west. A careful compiler of genealogical
records gives to twelve children of the two
families representing the second generation of
Phipps one hundred and eight of the third
generation and eleven hundred and forty-two
descendants in one hundred and ten years, and
three thousand in one hundred and forty years.
We have to do with the New England branch.
(I) James and Mary Phipps, sturdy pion
eers, founded Phippsburg, Maine, in the early
part of the seventeenth century. One of their
sons was William Phipps, the first royal gov
ernor of the colony of Massachusetts. Mary
Phipps was still a comparatively young woman
when her husband died, and she married John
White. (II) Sir William, son of James and Mary
Phipps, was born in 165 1, on the bank of the
Kennebec river, in a border settlement known
as Phippsburg, located near Woolwich, Maine.
His father was a husbandman, extensively
engaged in raising sheep, and young William
was up to his eighteenth year occupied as
keeper of these flocks of sheep, but his ambi
tion led him to leave his father's farm when
eighteen years old, and he learned the trade
of ship building, and after mastering it he
found work in the ship yards of Boston. He
first learned to read and write while living in
Boston. He married a widow with some prop
erty, and while working at his trade conceived
the plan of locating and fishing up the treasure
represented to be stored in the Spanish galleon
wrecked fifty years before in the West Indies.
He enlisted the co-operation of the English
Admiralty who furnished him a frigate and
made him its commander, but his quest was
fruitless. The Duke of Albemarle and others
furnished him with a second vessel and he
. located a wreck and took from it gold and
silver treasure estimated at a value of three
hundred thousand pounds, and as a reward for
his services he was allotted about one-
twentieth of the treasure, making his share
about sixteen thousand pounds. He was also
knighted and made sheriff of the province of
New England. In 1690 the Colony of Massa
chusetts Bay made him commander of a fleet
of eight vessels and sent him against the
French settlement at Port Royal in Acadia,
and he succeeded in capturing the place. This
impelled the general court to fit out a fleet of
thirty- four vessels manned by two thousand
men and he proceeded against Quebec, but was
repulsed by Count Frontenac, the French
commander of the fortress, and on his way

MASSACHUSETTS.

263

back to Boston he lost nine of his ships by
shipwrecks. He was made governor of
Massachusetts under the charter of 1692, and
one of his first popular movements was to
commission a special court for the trial of
those accused of witchcraft, and after a ses
sion of some months the court was suspended,
the witchcraft excitement having been quelled
by its existence. Flis training as a sea captain
and commander of fleets had cultivated a spirit
of domineering and bluff action towards his
fellow officials in the service of the govern
ment, and this brought him to England in 1694
by summons to answer complainers against
his overbearing and in some instances brutal
conduct, and while there he died of malignant
fever in 1695. Eor the purpose of reaching
other lines of the family genealogy, we begin
with the Hinckley genealogy which follows:
(I) Samuel Hinckley, a native of Tenter-
den, Kent, England, was a passenger in the
ship "Hercules" of Sandwich, England, in
1634, and landed in Plymouth Colony, settling
at Scituate with his wife Sarah and four chil
dren, and in 1639 he removed to Barnstable
where he died in 1662.
(II) Thomas son of Samuel and Sarah
Hinckley, was born in Tenterden, England,
about 1618, and came with his father and fam
ily to Scituate, Plymouth Colony, in 1634, and
removed with them to Barnstable in 1639. He
was elected deputy of Plymouth Colony in
1645, a representative in the general court in
1647, and was magistrate and assistant, 1658-
80. In 1680 he was elected governor of
Plymouth Colony as successor to Governor
Winslow, deceased, and except during Gover
nor Andros's administration, 1687-91, he was
chief magistrate of the colony up to the time
of its union with Massachusetts Bay Colony
in 1692. He served as commissioner of the
colony, 1672-93, and as councillor of the gen
eral court of Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1692-
1706. He collected valuable information on
the affairs of Plymouth Colony, published in
three volumes in the Old Smith collection of
the Rev. Thomas Prince which were placed
in the Boston Public Library in 1866. Gover
nor Hinckley married (first) Mary Richards;
(second) Mary Glover. He died in Barn
stable, Massachusetts, April 25, 1706.
(Ill) Samuel, son of Governor Thomas and
Mary (Richards) Hinckley, was born in Barn
stable, Massachusetts, 1652, died in 1697. He
married, November 13, 1676, Sarah, daughter
of Thomas and Sarah (Jenney) Pope, of

Plymouth. She was born February 14, 1652.
She married (second) August 17, 1698,
Thomas Huckins; she was the mother of
twelve children.
(IV) Job, son of Samuel and Sarah (Pope)
Hinckley, was born in Barnstable, Massachu
setts, February 16, 1688. He married Sarah,
daughter of Captain Peter and Mary (Cotton)
Tufts, of Medford, granddaughter of Rev.
Seaborn and Dorothy (Bradstreet) Cotton,
great-granddaughter of Governor Simon and
Anne (Dudley) Bradstreet and of John Cot
ton, born in Derby, England, 1585, and great-
great-granddaughter of Governor Thomas
Dudley, born in England, 1576, died in Rox
bury, Massachusetts, 1653.
(V) Captain Samuel, son of Job and Sarah
(Tufts) Hinckley, married Abigail Welch.
(VI) Samuel, son of Samuel and Abigail
(Welch) Hinckley, was born in 1757, died in "
Northampton, Massachusetts, 1840. He mar
ried Dorothy, daughter of Caleb and Phoebe
(Lyman) Strong, sister of Governor Caleb
Strong, granddaughter of Jonathan and
Mehitable (Stebbins) Strong and of Captain
Moses and Mindwell (Sheldon) Lyman, and
a descendant of Elder John and Abigail
(Ford) Strong. Elder John Strong (1605-
1699) was born in Taunton, England, arrived
at Hull, Massachusetts Bay Colony, May 30,
1630, on the "Mary and John," was one of
the founders of Dorchester, Massachusetts
Bay Colony, and in 1659 became one of the
pioneer settlers of Northampton, Massachu
setts. (VII) Sophia, daughter of Judge Samuel and
Dorothy (Strong) Hinckley, was born in
Northampton, Massachusetts, 1787, died in
1839. She married Jonathan Huntington
Lyman, of Northampton, who was a descend
ant of Richard Lyman, the immigrant, who
came over from High Ongor, Essex, England,
to Massachusetts Bay Colony, on the ship
"Lion" with his wife, Sarah (Osborne)
Lyman, and children: Phillis, Richard, Sarah
and John, in company with John Eliot, the
apostle to the Indians, sailing from Bristol,
England, in 1631, and locating in Charles
Town, Massachusetts Bay Colony, November-
11, 1631, but attending the church at Rox
bury, to which town he was admitted as free
man, June 11, 1635. Fle joined the exodus to
the Connecticut Valley in 1635, and was a
pioneer settler in Hartford Colony, October 15,
1635, in which place he died in August, 1640.
His line of descent is through John and Dorcas

264

MASSACHUSETTS.

(Plumb) Lyman, Moses and Mindwell (Shel
don) Lyman. They had a daughter, Sophia
Ann, mentioned below.
(VIII) Sophia Ann, daughter of Jonathan
Huntington and Sophia (Hinckley) Lyman,
was born in Northampton, Massachusetts,
April 4, 181 5, died in Philadelphia, Pennsyl
vania, February 20, 1864. She married, Octo
ber 1, 1835, George W. Phipps, who was born
in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, May 14,
1808, died in New York City, March 6, 1870.
Children : Frank Huntington, mentioned
below, and E. S. L., born in Roxbury, Massa
chusetts, August 4, 1845.
(IX) Frank Huntington, son of George W.
and Sophia Ann (Lyman) Phipps, was born in
Northampton, Massachusetts, August 9, 1843.
He attended school in Germantown, Pennsyl
vania, and was prepared at the Germantown
Academy for matriculation at the University
of Pennsylvania. He was appointed a cadet
from the state of Pennsylvania to the United
States Military Academy at West Point, New
York, in 1859, when sixteen years of age, and
he was graduated June 11, 1863, and assigned
to the ordnance department with the commis
sion of first lieutenant, United States Army.
He was at once ordered to duty as an officer
of the ordnance department and served in
various United States arsenals in the southern
states, 1863-65, and "for faithful and meritor
ious service in the ordnance department" dur
ing the civil war he was brevetted captain,
March 13, 1865. His regular promotions in
the United States army were: Captain, June
23, 1874; major, December 4, 1882 ; lieutenant-
colonel, July 7, 1898; colonel, February 17,
1903; he was retired by reason of the age
limit with the rank of brigadier-general,
August 9, 1907, after a record of forty-eight
years active military service, forty- four of
which were spent in the ordnance department.
He was assistant ordnance officer at Fort
Monroe arsenal, Virginia, from July 11, to
December 26, 1863; at the United States
arsenal at St. Louis, Missouri, from January
7, 1864, to January 8, 1865 ; chief of ordnance
of the Department of the Mississippi from Jan
uary 10, to July 1, 1865, and while holding
that post he had charge of all the depots on
the Mississippi river at which ordnance was
stored, from Cairo, Illinois, to Natchez, Mis
sissippi ; assistant ordnance officer at St. Louis
arsenal from July 3, 1865, to August 20, 1867,
during which time he was detached with Gen
eral John Pope, May 24, to September 7,
1866; United States arsenal at Watertown.

New York, August 20, 1867, to October 20,
1868 ; United States arsenal at Washington,
D. C, October 20, 1868, to October 25, 1871 ;
in temporary command of the United States
arsenal at Augusta, Georgia, May 3, to June
22, 1871 ; United States arsenal at Frankford,
Pennsylvania, October 25, 187 1, to December
13, 1875; chief ordnance officer, Department
of the Gulf, from December 23, 1875, to
March 16, 1877, during which time he served
on special duty as a member of the board to
fix values of right of way through the United
States arsenal grounds at Pittsburg, Pennsyl
vania, April 30, to June 7, 1875; recorder of
ordnance board from April 7, 1877, *° Octo
ber 31, 1879; chief ordnance officer of the
Department of Texas, commanding the United
States arsenal at San Antonio, Texas, from
November 17, 1879, to June 16, 1882; assist
ant at United States arsenal at Rock Island,
Illinois, June 28, 1882, to April 11, 1883; com
mandant at United States arsenal at Kenne
bec, Maine, April 11, 1883, to July 15, 1887;
in command of United States powder depot,
Dover, New Jersey, from July 15, 1887, to
November 30, 1890; commandant of United
States arsenal at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
from December, 1890, to July, 1893; chief
ordnance officer, Department of the Missouri,
and a member of the staff of Major General
Miles from July, 1893, to May, 1894; com
mandant of United States arsenal at Gover
nor's Island, New York; president of the
Ordnance Board, and ordnance member of
the Board of Ordnance and Fortifications
from May, 1894, to June, 1899; commandant
of the United States arsenal at Springfield,
Massachusetts, from June 5, 1899, to the date
of his retirement, August 9, 1907. During his
assignment to the armory at Springfield the
present model rifle known as the Springfield
Rifle Model, 1903, was manufactured to super
sede the rifle known as the Krag-Jurgeson.
His patriotic affiliation by right of inheritance
is with the Sons of the American Revolution
and the Society of Foreign Wars, and by his
own military services with the Military Order
of the Loyal Legion of the United States,
and the Army and Navy clubs of Washington,
D. C. He received from the Sultan of Turkey
a medal of honor.
Frank H. Phipps married (first) June 11,
1867, at St. Louis, Missouri, Louisa De-
Hart Patterson, who died in 1881. Married
(second) November 13, 1884, Anna Lally,
born May 3, 1851, daughter of Major Folliot
Thornton and Ellen (Evans) Lally, and

MASSACHUSETTS.

265

granddaughter of George Evans (1797- 1867),
one of the distinguished statesmen of Maine;
A. B., Bowdoin College, 1815; A. N., 1818;
lawyer in Gardiner ; representative in the state
legislature, 1825-28; speaker in 1828; repre
sentative in the United States congress, serving
in the Twenty-first and Twenty-sixth congress,
1829-41; United States senator, 1841-47; a
candidate before the Whig convention for
vice-president in 1848; chairman of the Mexi
can claims commission by appointment of
President Taylor in 1849; attorney general of
Maine, 1853-55. His academic honors were:
Overseer of Bowdoin College, 1827-45 ; LL. D.
from Bowdoin, 1847, and from Washington
College, Pennsylvania, 1846. Major Folliot
Thornton Lally rendered distinguished service
in the war with Mexico. Children of General
Frank Huntington and Louisa DeHart (Pat
terson) Phipps are: 1. Henry Patterson, born
in Washington, D. C, March 25, 1870, mar
ried Emily Trenholm Hazzard, of South Car
olina, and have one child, Louisa DeHart
Phipps. 2. Frank Huntington Jr., born in New
York City, June 15, 1879, married, September
15, 1906, Mary Yates. The only child of Gen
eral Frank fluntington and Anna (Lally)
Phipps is Anita Evans, born in Augusta,
Maine, January 29, 1886.
The Phipps family of this
PHIPPS sketch is one of the old colonial
families of this name which has
furnished well known members to the profes
sional, mercantile, and industrial elements
which have built up New England.
(I) Dr. Thomas Phipps was a leading
physician and prominent citizen of Quincy,
Massachusetts. (II) Dr. Thomas (2), son of Dr. Thomas
(1) Phipps, graduated from Harvard College
and like his father distinguished himself in
the practice of medicine at Quincy. He mar
ried Mehitable Arnold.
(Ill) Thomas Glover, son of Dr. Thomas
(2) and Mehitable (Arnold) Phipps, was
born in Quincy, Massachusetts, and died in
Hudson, New York, 1861. He was educated
in private schools and after completing his
studies went with his uncles, William and
Samuel Phipps, wholesale dry goods mer
chants, who resided at "Green Haze" in Dor
chester, and carried on business in Boston.
Subsequently he became a dealer in lace in
Boston, where he conducted a large business.
About the year 1846 he removed to Spring
field and established himself in the dry goods

business, having a Mr. Ellery as a partner,
the firm taking the style of Phipps & Ellery.
About 1857 he sold his interest and removed
to Fludson, New York, where he died 1861.
The family later returned to Springfield. He
was an active and prominent member of the
Unitarian church and a personal friend of the
leading Unitarian clergymen of New England,
and a strong man in the councils of his church.
He was also a Mason. Thomas G. Phipps mar
ried, about 1833, Lucy Steele, born in Boston,
Massachusetts, June 17, 1810, daughter of
Guerdon and Nancy (Creen) Steele, of Bos
ton. She died in Englewood, New Jersey,
February 14, 1885. Five children were born
of this union, who reached maturity: 1.
Adelaide Lucy, born in Boston, died unmar
ried January 5, 1894. 2. Thomas, born Bos
ton, died in Brooklyn, New York, at the age
of twenty-seven. 3. Caroline S., born in Bos
ton, has been a resident of that city continu
ously since 1862. 4. Guerdon Steele, born
Hudson, New York, an active and patriotic
young man who went into the civil war as a
soldier and was wounded at the battle of Bris
tow Station. He died in Washington a year
later, at the age of twenty-one. 5. Mary
Augusta, born New York city, married Edwin
D. Foster, of New York, who was head
cashier of the firm of Spencer Turner & Com
pany; three children were born of this mar
riage : Ernest Howard, Ethel L. and Amy.
The latter married John Corbin, the well
known writer of New York.

(For preceding generation see John Webster 1).
(II) John (2), son of John
WEBSTER (1) Webster,' was born in
England in 1632. He was a
blacksmith and learned his trade as an appren
tice to Daniel Pierce. He removed to Haverhill
in March, 1653, and back to Newbury in
spring of 1657. He took the oath of allegiance
at Newbury in 1678. He married, June 13,
1653, in Newbury, Ann Batt, daughter of
Nicholas and Lucy Batt. Children: i. John,
born February 11, 1655-56, mentioned below.
2. Mary, March 29, 1658, died May 4 follow
ing. 3. Sarah, July 1, 1659, married Rev.
Edward Thompson; several children, one of
whom Abigail, married Stephen Longfellow
and was ancestor of the poet Longfellow and
of Ichabod Goodwin, war governor of New
Hampshire. 4. Abigail, March 16, 1662, died
July 24, 1723 ; married in Newbury, May 27,
1685, William Moulton; nine children. 5.
Lucy, December 15, 1664, married John Mer-

266

MASSACHUSETTS.

rill. 6. Mary, May 24, 1667. 7. Stephen, May
8, 1669, married, November 1, 1698, Sarah
Clark, three children. 8. Anne, September 2,
1671. 9. Rev. Nicholas, October 19, 1673,
graduate of Harvard, 1695; married Mary
Woodman. 10. Jonathan, May, 1676.
(Ill) John (3), son of John (2) Webster,
was born in Newbury, February 11, 1655-56,
died in Salisbury, Massachusetts, April 12,
1737. He resided in Newbury and was a
weaver by trade. He removed to Salisbury
and was admitted to the church there October
20, 1706. His will was dated at Salisbury,
September 20, 1732, and proved May 18, 1737.
He took the oath of allegiance at Newbury in
1678. He married there March 9, 1680-81,
Bridget Huggins, who died before he died.
Children: 1. Anne, born January 9, 1682, mar
ried, 1703, Philip Colby. 2. John, November
2, 1683, mentioned below. 3. Sarah, Decem
ber 28, 1685, died January 17, 1727; married,
February 14, 1710-11, Thomas Bartlett. 4.
Israel, April 9, 1688, a weaver ; married, No
vember 25, 1714, Susanna Morrill ; seven chil
dren. 5. Mary, married, October 28, 1712,
Jacob Morrill. 6. Hannah, October 5, 1692,
married, December 18, 1712, Stephen Bartlett.
7. Stephen, January 11, 1698, probably died
young. (IV) John (4), son of John (3) Webster,
was born in Newbury, November 2, 1683. He
lived in Salisbury and was a soldier in the foot
company in 1702. He married (intentions
dated March 13, 1707-08) Sarah Greely, bap
tized January 8, 1709-10 (adult). Children:
1. John, born April 28, 1709 died April 29,
1788; married, November 17, 1730, Ruth
Clough; married (second) Susannah Snow;
thirteen children. 2. Andrew, November 12,
17 10, married (intentions recorded December
10, 1742) (first) Mercy  , who died Jan
uary 30, 1742; married (second) Patience or
Prudence Weare. 3. Stephen, October 5, 1712,
mentioned below. 4. Mary, September 30,
1714. 5. Daniel, November 12, 1716, married,
April 28, 1739, Abigail King. 6. Nathan, Jan
uary 17, 1719, married Mary  , three
children. 7. Sarah, July 6, 1721. 8. Nathan
iel, March 25, 1724. 9. Ann, May 2, 1726,
married, October, 1748, Jacob True.
(V) Stephen, son of John (4) Webster,
was born October 5, 1712, at Salisbury. He
settled in the adjoining town of Newbury,
Massachusetts. He married (intention dated
November 1, 1734) Hannah Swett. Children,
born at Newbury: 1. Betty, born September
25, 1735, died September 5, 1753. 2. Hannah,

December 4, 1737. 3. Samuel, April 1, 1740,
married December 24, 1766, Susanna Jewell;
seven children. 4. Susanna, November 8,
1742, married Reuben Webster. 5. Stephen,
February 22, 1744, mentioned below. 6. Anne,
April 23, 1747, died May 5, 1747. 7. Israel,
March 31, 1748, died December 31, 1751. 8.
Benjamin, May 2, 1750, died May 13, 1750.
9. Benjamin, September 17, 1751. 10. John,
November 28, 1754, died December 18, 1754.
(VI) Stephen (2), son of Stephen (1)
Webster, was born in Newbury, Massachu
setts, February 22, 1744, died in New Durham,
New Hampshire (testified to by Jonathan
Choate, his wife's brother) about 1828. Prob
ably the correct date is January 20, 1827. He
was a soldier in the revolution in Captain
Green's company, Colonel Bedell's regiment,
1776, from the town of Tamworth. He was
at Ticonderoga. He lived at Tamworth, later
at Sandwich. Stephen and Jonathan Webster
were in Sandwich in 1786 and signed a peti
tion for an issue of paper money that year.
In 1790 the federal census shows that Stephen
had three males over sixteen, two under that
age and three females in his family. Besides
Stephen there were Jonathan, Joseph, William,
and Hezekiah Webster given as heads of fam
ilies in Sandwich in 1790. There are so many
Stephen Websters that it is almost impossible
without great care to sift them out accurately.
A "Death Notice" in an old New Hampshire
paper reads: "In New Durham, January 20,
1827, Mr. Stephen Webster, aged eighty-seven
years, seven months, one day," but that might
not be the same Stephen. He ' married, in
Moultonborough, New Hampshire, 1770,
Anna Choate, born in Kingston, New Hamp
shire, December 20, 1751, died in Sandwich,
New Hampshire, October 5, 1848, daughter
of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Moody) Choate,
and of the same ancestry as Hon. Rufus
Choate, the great advocate. They had six chil
dren, among whom were: 1. Reuben, born
1771, died in New Durham, New Hampshire,
in July, 1854; married, in New Durham, Feb
ruary 21, 1793, Lydia Smith; seven children.
2. Stephen. 3. Mary. 4. Jacob, born April 6,
1779. (VII) Jacob, son of Stephen (2) Webster,
was born in Tamworth, New flampshire,
April 6, 1779, died in Sandwich, New flamp
shire, May 8, 1858, of "Heart disease" (Vital
Records of New Hampshire). He married,
probably in Sandwich, April 18, 1802, Rhoda
Quimby. Children, all born in New Durham,
New flampshire: 1. Josiah, born September

MASSACHUSETTS.

267

20, 1803, married Ruth Atwood. 2. John, Au
gust 9, 1804. 3. Mary Quimby, married Hosea
Pettingill. 4. Jane, married Reuben Bean. 5.
Susan, married (first) John Carter; (second)
John Kent. 6. Alpheus. 7. Horace.
(VIII) John (5), son of Jacob Webster,
was born in Sandwich, New flampshire, Au
gust 9, 1804,' died there July 28, 1888. He
married Polly Pettingill, daughter of Asa
Pettingill, who was in the war of 1812. Chil
dren: 1. Asa Pettingill, born November 16,
1824. 2. Susan Maria, married George Wil
son, of Maiden. 3. Mary Ann, married John
N. Preseott, who was in the civil war. There
were three other children, whose names are not
known. (IX) Asa Pettingill, son of John (5)
Webster, was born in Sandwich, New Hamp
shire, November 16, 1824, died there February
16, 1851. He married in Tuftonborough, New
Hampshire, Mary Elizabeth Abbott, born in
Tuftonborough, 1825, daughter of Grafton
Abbott. One child born in Sandwich, New
Hampshire, Orrin Asa, born December 25,
1849. (X) Orrin Asa, son of Asa Pettingill Web
ster, was born at Sandwich, December 25, 1849.
He was educated in the public schools, and
when a young man entered the railroad busi
ness and became a locomotive engineer on the
Boston & Albany railroad. He is now retired.
In. religion he is a Baptist. He was formerly
a Democrat, but in recent years has been a
Republican. He is a life member of Dalhousie
Lodge of Free Masons of Newton, Massachu
setts. He married, at Haverhill, Massachu
setts, May 11, 1869, Laura Esther Varrell,
born at Rye, New Hampshire, January 24,
1848, died in Boston, August 2, 1882, daughter
of Robert Waldron and Eliza E. (Foss) Var
rell. Children: 1. Harriet Joy, born March
12, 1874, at Newton, Massachusetts, married,
May 9, 1906, at Somerville, Massachusetts,
Arthur Leroy MacKusick, of Cambridge, son
of Leroy Chase and Martha Eleanor (Rand)
MacKusick; child, Webster MacKusick, born
September 12, 1907, at Boston. 2. Walter
Archibald, December 4, 1875 ; mentioned below.
(XI) Walter Archibald, son of Orrin Asa
Webster, was born in Newton Lower Falls,
Massachusetts, December 4, 1875. When he
was two years old his parents moved to Boston
and he attended the public schools of that city,
graduating from the English high school in
the class of 1892. He entered Boston University
Law School, from which he was graduated
with the degree of LL. B. in the class of 1899.

He was admitted to the bar in 1899 and imme
diately began to practice law in Boston. He
is the senior member of the firm of Webster,
MacKusick & Lyman, at 6 Beacon street, Bos
ton. He is a master in chancery. In politics
he is a Republican, and in 1901 was secretary
of the Republican committee of ward 22, Bos
ton, and chairman in 1902-03. He was a repre
sentative to the general court in 1905-06-07
from the twenty-second Suffolk representative
district, serving efficiently as a member of the
committee on street railways in 1905-06, as
hOuse chairman of the committee on engrossed
bills in 1906, and house chairman of the com
mittee on metropolitan affairs, one of the most
important committees of the legislature in 1907.
He was also a member of the committee on
rules in 1907. He was a delegate and presided
at the Republican convention of the second
councillor district in 1905, at the Boston munici
pal convention in 1906 and at the Suffolk
county convention in 1908. While in the legis
lature he originated the idea of the finance
commission for Boston and drafted the act
that created it. This commission has attracted
the attention of the whole country for its effec
tive work and demonstrated usefulness. Mr.
Webster also drafted the police and excise bill
which created a single police commissioner in
place of a board of three, and a board of three
excise commissioners, providing also for the
separate and independent powers of the police
commissioner and excise board. He was the
Republican candidate for district attorney of
Suffolk county in 1907 against the late John B.
Moran. Mr. Webster is a member of Daniel
Hersey Lodge of Odd Fellows of Jamaica
Plain; of Boston Lodge, No. 10, Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks ; of Camp Sted
man, No. 51, Sons of Veterans, Jamaica Plain ;
of the Jamaica Club of Jamaica Plain ; of the
Boston City Club and the Old Boston Club of
Boston, fle attends the Baptist church. He
married, April 25, 1907, at Quincy, Massachu
setts, Florence Mabel Gray, born August 19,
1876, at Concord, Massachusetts, daughter of
George Arthur and Martha Parks (Pierce)
Gray. The Tinkham family is of
TINKHAM ancient English origin. As
far as known all the Ameri
can families' are descended from the first settler
mentioned in this sketch.
(I) Sergeant Ephraim Tinkham, immigrant
ancestor, came from Ashburnham, near
Plymouth, England, in April, 1630. fle was

268

MASSACHUSETTS.

born about 1606 and died June 5, 1685. He
probably came in the service of Thomas Hath-
erly, under indenture or contract, as many
young men did, to pay their passage. Later
he was transferred to the service of John
Winslow, in 1634. He received a grant of
land from the town of Duxbury, thirty-five
acres, and was one of the proprietors, August
2, 1642. He became a very prominent citizen
both in civil and military life; and selectman
and sergeant and held other offices of trust
and honor. He and his wife sold a third part
of a lot of land with dwelling and other build
ings which had belonged to Peter Brown, by
deed of October 27, 1647, to Henry Thomp
son, of Duxbury. Tinkham was admitted a
freeman in 1670. In 1674 he was juror in a
murder case ; in 1676 member of the grand
inquest. He and William Crowell and Edward
Gray were a commission in 1668 to settle the
bounds of the governor's lands at Plaindealing.
His will was dated January 17, 1683, and
proved June 5, 1685, bequeathing to wife Mary,
children Ephraim, Ebenezer, Peter, Elkiah,
John, Isaac, Mary Tomson. He was one of
the twenty-six men who in 1662 bought of the
Indians the territory comprising the town of
Middleborough and settled that town. He
married Mary Brown, daughter of Peter
Brown, who came to Plymouth in the "May
flower." Children, born at Plymouth or Dux
bury: 1. Ephraim, August 1, 1649, mentioned
below. 2. Ebenezer, September 30, 1651, men
tioned below. 3. Peter, December 25, 1653. 4.
Hezekiah, February 8, 1656-57. 5. John, June
7, 1658. 6. Mary, August 5, 1661, married
John Thompson, son of Lieutenant Thompson.
7. John, November 15, 1663. 8. Isaac, April
11, 1666, married Sarah King.
(II) Ephraim (2), son of Ephraim (1)
Tinkham, was born in Duxbury, August 1,
1649, died at Middleborough, October 13, 1714.
He settled in Middleborough where he was
propounded for freeman in 1682 ; was con
stable in 1 68 1. He married Esther Wright,
born 1649, died March 28, 171 7, granddaughter
of Francis Cook, who came to Plymouth in
1620 in the "Mayflower." He inherited his
father's house in Middleborough. Children,
born at Middleborough: 1. John, August 23,
1680; mentioned below. 2. Ephraim, October
7, 1682, died July 11, 1713; married, June 24,
1708, Martha Cobb, born 1691, died August
8, 1775- 3- Isaac, June, 1685, died April 7,
1750; went to Halifax in 1734; married Abiah
Wood, born 1689, died December 25, "1777. 4.

Samuel, March 19, 1687-88, died March 16,
1775- (III) John, son of Ephraim (2) Tinkham,
was born August 23, 1680, at Middleborough,
died there April 14, 1766. He also settled in
Middleborough. He married, December ii,
1716, Hannah Howland, born 1695, died March
25, 1792, great-granddaughter of John How
land who came in the "Mayflower." Children,
born at Middleborough: 1. Cornelius, August
31, 1717. 2. John, May 8, 1719, died August
22, 1793 ; married jerusha Vaughan. 3. Esther,
April 26, 1721 ; married Elisha Vaughan. 4.
Hannah, April 10, 1723, died April 14, 1802;
married Joseph ' Vaughan, John Weston and
David Sears. 5. Susanna, March 19, 1724-25,
died June 21, 1813; married James Cobb. 6.
Abishai, May 23, 1727. 7. Amos, July 10,
1729; mentioned below. 8. Zilpah, July 25,
1737- (IV) Amos, son of John Tinkham, was
born in Middleborough, July 10, 1729, died
there April 5, 1776. fle married Sarah Tink
ham, born 1735, died February 18, 1820, daugh
ter of Peter and Eunice (Thomas) Tinkham,
mentioned below. Children, born at Middle
borough : 1. -Sarah, born 1757, died September
20, 1846; married Ichabod Wood. 2. Squire,
1772 ; mentioned below.
(V) Squire, son of Amos Tinkham, was
born at Middleborough, 1772, died October 17,
1851. He went to Hartland, Vermont, in 1823.
He married Anna Wood, born 1773, died Sep
tember, 1849, daughter of Israel and Priscilla
(Vaughan) Wood. Israel Wood was born in
1744 and died May 12, 1829 ; Priscilla Vaughan,
born 1749, died 1808. Israel was the son of
Ichabod Wood, born 1719, died April 8, 1787,
and wife Thankful (Cobb) Wood. Ichabod
was the son of Samuel Wood, Jr., born 1684,
died 1754, and wife Elizabeth, and grandson
of Samuel Wood, who was bora in 1648, died
February 3, 1718. Samuel, Sr., was the son
of Henry Wood, alias Atwood, the immigrant,
of Plymouth. Children of Squire Tinkham:
1. Loranus, born August 15, 1798; mentioned
below. 2. Squire, February 9, 1800, died Jan
uary 25, 1867; married Melinda Hoisington,
born November 1, 1807, died October 23, 1893;
children : i. Sophronia, born February 21,
1830, married Benjamin Fletcher and J. Q. A.
Ditty ; ii. John Howland, born March 31, 1831,
died January 2, 1836; iii. Harrison Gray, born
1833 ; iv. Harriet, born September, 1838, mar
ried Hosea Young; v. Charlotte, born 1841,
married W. H. Walker.

MASSACHUSETTS.

269

(VI) Loranus, son of Squire Tinkham, was
born at Middleborough, August 15, 1798, died
at Northampton, Massachusetts, December 5,
1874. He was educated in the district schools
of his native town. In 1823 he went with his
father and brother to Hartland, Vermont,
where they settled. He married, August 18,
1821, Mary Rogers, born September '7, 1799,
died January 9, 1885, daughter of Sylvanus
and Polly (Mason) Rogers. His wife was
born September, 1773, died August 21, 1862.
Sylvanus Rogers, born 1771, died July 13,
1857, son of John Rogers. Children of Loranus
Tinkham: 1. Horatio N., born October 3,
1822, died November 28, 1884; married Eliza
beth Wilson. 2. Mary Ann, married James
Goodwin. 3. Susan, died 1835. 4. John, died
1837. 5. Francis M., born October 11, 1846;
mentioned below.
(VII) Francis M., son of Loranus Tink
ham, was born in Claremont, New Hamp
shire, October 11, 184.6. He attended the
public schools of Claremont until fifteen
years of age, when he came to Springfield,
Massachusetts, where he completed his educa
tion in the high school. He then became a
clerk in the dry goods store of his brother,
Horatio N. Tinkham. This was the largest
concern in its line in Springfield. He con
tinued in the employ of his brother from 1864
to 1884, the year of his brother's death, filling
positions of responsiblity. He had a carpet
store on his own account in Springfield from
1884 to 1889, when he became treasurer and
general manager of the United States Spring
Bed Company, a position he has held to the
present time. He is one of the best known
manufacturers of the city. His energy, in
dustry and foresight have developed a large
and flourishing business. The factory is at
Brightwood. The concern manufactures woven
wire mattresses, spiral spring beds, iron bed
steads, cots, etc., and ranks high in the trade.
Mr. Tinkham joined the First Baptist Church
in 1864 and afterward became a member of
the Highland Baptist Church of that city. He
has been a deacon for many years and is a
prominent member and active worker in the
society. In politics he is a Republican. He
married, November 14, 1878, Edith M. Ellis,
born in New York City, July 5, 1848, died
March 6, 1903, daughter of Theodore W. and
Maria L. (Van Boskerck) Ellis. They had
one child, Florence Louise, bom April 6, 1885.
(II) Deacon Ebenezer, son of Ephraim (1)
Tinkham, was born at Plymouth, September
30, 165 1, died at Middleborough, April 8, 1718.

He settled in Middleborough and was town
treasurer many years and one of the charter
members of the church. He married, 1678,
Elizabeth Liscomb, who also died April 8,
1718. Children: 1. Ebenezer, born March
23, 1679-80; mentioned below. 2. Jeremiah,
August 7, 1681, died April 5, 1715, a farmer;
married Joanna Barlow. 3. Peter, April 20,
1683. (Ill) Ebenezer (2), son of Ebenezer (1)
Tinkham, was born in Middleborough, March
23, 1679-80. lie married Patience Pratt, who
died June 5, 1720.
(IV) Peter, son of Ebenezer (2) Tinkham,
was born in 1709 at Middleborough, died there
October 10, 1745. He married Eunice Thomas,
born 1709, died April 8, 1778. Children, born
at Middleborough: 1. Sarah, 1735, died Feb
ruary 18, 1820; married Amos Tinkham, men
tioned above. 2. Peter, married Mary Thomp-

William Johnson, immigrant
JOHNSON ancestor, was born in Eng
land. As early as 1634 he
settled in Charlestown and followed the occu
pation of planter and brick-maker there. He
was admitted to the church with his wife Eliz
abeth, February 13, 1634-35; was a proprietor
of the town and was admitted a freeman
March 4, 1634-35. He deposed December 29,
1657, that he was fifty-four years old. -He
was at the time the grave-digger at Charles
town. He was town constable in 1657. He
died December 9, 1677, and his widow Eliz
abeth married (second) Thomas Carter. His
house was on Middle Row and Back street,
where he bought land in 1651. His will was
dated December 7, 1677, bequeathing to wife
Elizabeth; children John, Joseph, Jonathan,
Nathaniel, Zachariah, Isaac, Elizabeth; de
ceased daughter Ruhamah's daughter, Eliza
beth Bacon. The inventory of the estate of
William and Elizabeth Johnson was taken'
April 12, 1686;. John Johnson, of Haverhill,
and Zachariah Johnson, of Charlestown, were
appointed administrators of the estate of their
father William and mother Elizabeth; made
division of the real estate between themselves
and their brothers Joseph, Isaac, Jonathan and
Nathaniel, April 13, 1686. Children: 1. John.
2. Ruhamah, baptized February 21, 1634-35,
married, 1654, John Knight. 3. Joseph, bap
tized February 13, 1636-37. 4. Elizabeth, bap
tized March 17, 1639-40, married, 1658-59,
Edward Wyer; (second) William Moore. 5.
Jonathan, baptized August 14, 1641. 6.

270

MASSACHUSETTS.

Nathaniel. 7. Zachariah, born 1646. 8. Isaac,
born 1649.
(II) Joseph, son of William Johnson, was
baptized February 13, 1636-37, and with his
brother John was an early settler in Haverhill.
His house lot of five acres and two "common
ages" adjoined that of his brother. His farm
was in the northwest part of the village, and
he and his sons owned three hundred acres
extending to the North Parish meeting house
nearly a mile in length, mostly on the east side
of the road, from the south line of the home
stead to the north side of a small stream called
Fishing river. Fourteen years before his
death, he gave by deed of gift, June 19, 1700,
to his sons, Thomas, Joseph and William, the
north part of the homestead. He also owned
five hundred acres of land in Amesbury, and
was a well-to-do farmer. He married (first)
April 19, 1664, Marie Soatlie, who died March
22, 1664-65. He married (second) Hannah
Tenney. Children, born in Haverhill: 1.
Joseph, October 15, 1667. 2. William, Jan
uary 15, 1669, ancestor of Colonel William
Johnson, of Enfield. 3. Thomas, December
11, 1670, mentioned below. 4. Zachariah, April
16, 1672, died October 27, 1673. 5. John, No
vember 9, 1673, died March 23, 1704-05, un
married. 6. Hannah, June 10, 1675, married,
December 28, 1704, Nathaniel Osgood. 7.
Mary, June 4, 1677, married, May 16, 1697,
Lieutenant John Johnson. 8. Jonathan, April
24, 1678, slain February 8, 1703-04; unmar
ried. 9. Elizabeth, February 28, 1680-81, mar
ried, January 31, 1721, Samuel Worthen. 10.
Nathaniel, August 15, 1683, married, 1714,
Ruth Gile. 11. Zaccheus, August 26, 1687,
died unmarried.
(Ill) Deacon Thomas, son of Joseph John
son, was born in Haverhill, December 11, 1670,
died February 18, 1742. He was a farmer
and owned land in Haverhill and Amesbury,
in that part set off as Newton, New Hamp
shire. The day before his marriage he bought
of Joseph Bradley ten acres of land with a
house thereon, and soon afterward received
eleven acres from his father by deed of gift,
being the north part of the homestead. In
1728, when the North Parish meeting house
was erected, he was elected deacon of the
church, and remained in that office from its
organization in 1730 until his death. He held
various town offices, and disposed of most of
his estate by gift to his children before his
death. He married, May 1, 1700, Elizabeth
Page, born September 14, 1679, daughter of
Cornelius and Martha (Clough) Page, and

granddaughter of John and Jane Clough. She
died at Hampstead, New Hampshire, June 12,
1752. Children, born at North Parish of
Haverhill: 1. Mehitable, February 26, 1701-
02. 2. Cornelius, January 17, 1703-04, re
moved to Andover and Concord, New Hamp
shire. 3. Thomas, January 6, 1705-06, farmer
at Plaistow. 4. Abigail, May 15, 1707. 5.
Ruth, August 24, 1709. 6. John, November
15, 171 1, mentioned below. 7. Susannah, Jan
uary 25, 1714-15. 8. Jabez, April 24, 1716,
died young. 9. Jeremiah, June 30, 1717, mar
ried Abigail Wright. 10. Elizabeth, January
2, 1720-21.
(IV) Hon. John, son of Deacon Thomas
Johnson, was born at Haverhill, North Parish,
November 15, 171 1. He joined the church in
Haverhill, February 4, 1727-28, and in No
vember, 1730, became a member of .the new
church in the North Parish of which his father
was the deacon. He bought five acres of land
in the North Parish of his brother Cornelius
and settled on it after his marriage. His father
gave him land also. He was not only a well-
to-do farmer, but a merchant of note, dealing
much in ship timber. Incidentally he did much
conveyancing and legal work, fle was elected
hog-reeve in 1732, the year after his marriage,
this honor being facetiously bestowed on young
married men. He held many important places
of trust and honor in the town and province
and was influential in the town and parish.
He removed early in 1648 to Haverhill district
of Timberland, some six miles north. This
section was set off from Massachusetts in 1741
when the line was determined between the
provinces. He was delegated to represent his
neighbors in petitioning for a town charter
and went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
He was successful in his mission, paid the ex
penses and on the following month at the first
town meeting was chosen first selectman of
the new town of Hampstead. The charter was
dated January 19, 1749; the town organized
February 7, 1749. fle was appointed a mag
istrate and was for many years a member of
the court of sessions for the entire province.
He erected a sawmill at Wash Pond outlet.
Flis house was near the present 61* late home
of Dr. Knight, of Iiampstead, nearly oppo
site George's Inn. He died intestate April 1,
1762, in his fifty-second year. He disposed
of most of his real estate by sale and deed of
gift to his sons before his death. He married,
November 25, 1731, Sarah Haines, born Janu
ary 9, 1710-11, daughter of Thomas and Han
nah (Harriman) Haines, of Haverhill, west

MASSACHUSETTS.

271

precinct. She joined the church at Haverhill,
September 18, 1726. She died September 20,
1750, having had ten children. He married
(second) January, 1751, Sarah Morse, sister
of Lieutenant Peter Morse. She removed to
Newbury, Vermont, and married (second)
Samuel Way. She married (third) 
Barnard, and died at Newbury in 1795, aged
sixty-five. Children : 1 . Jesse, born October
20, 1732, administrator of his father's estate,
removed to Enfield, New Hampshire, where
he died March 11, 1800. 2. Sarah, July 9,
1734, died young. 3. Miriam, March 22, 1735-
36, married, October 10, 1752, Ebenezer
Mudget. 4. Caleb, February 3, 1737-38, re
moved to Caledonia, New York. 5. Moses,
April 13, 1740, died November 8, 1748. 6.
Thomas, mentioned below. 7. Ruth, Febru
ary 3, 1743-44. 8. Elizabeth, March 6, 1744-
45, died May 1, 1747. 9. John, February 9,
1746-47, died August 18, 1757. 10. Haines,
August 28, 1749, farmer in Newbury, Ver
mont. Children of second wife: 11. Sarah,
October 29, 1751, married Jacob Page. 12.
Ruth (twin), April 23, 1754, married Samuel
Hoag. 13. Elizabeth (twin) April 23, 1754,
married Jacob Currier. 14. Peter, June 7,
1756, soldier in the revolution. 15. Judith,
April 4, 1758, married Jesse Preseott. 16.
John, February 9, 1760. 17. Tamar, July 6,
1761, married Joseph Bonat or Bonny.
(V) Colonel Thomas (2), son of Hon.
John Johnson, was born in Haverhill, March
22, 1742, died at Newbury, Vermont, January
4, 1819. He was a grantee of Haverhill in
1762, but settled in Newbury, Vermont, on
the Ox-Bow. He built his first house in 1766
and the second in 1775, which is still standing.
He was an innkeeper, farmer and merchant.
His store was at last accounts a corn barn
owned by J. R. Weed. He was captain in the
militia and of a company of minute-men in
May, 1775; also of an independent company
which marched to Ticonderoga in 1777, in
which campaign he acted as aid to General
Lincoln. He was placed in charge of prisoners
after the surrender. He was captured Febru
ary 18, 1 78 1, in Peacham, and taken to Canada,
but returned in October. After the war he
became owner of large tracts of land in New
bury and elsewhere. He represented New
bury in the convention at Cornish in 1788;
was town representative in 1786-87-88-89-90-
95-97-1800-01. His journal, kept while a cap
tive in Canada, is now owned by the sons of
A G Johnson. He was admitted to the first
church in September, 1812. His funeral ser

mon was preached by Rev. David Sutherland,
of Bath. In 1830 a brick tomb covered by a
single massive stone was built over the graves
of him and his wives, which remained until
the present monument was erected by the be
quest of his grandson, Hiram Johnson, in
1869. Fle married (first) February 12, 1765,
at Newburyport, Massachusetts, Elizabeth
Lowell, born June 30, 1741, died September
19, 1772, daughter of George Lowell. He
married (second) November 26, 1772, Abi
gail (Merrill) Pool, who died December 2,
1774, daughter of Joseph Merrill, and widow
of  Pool. He married (third) February
17, 1775, Abigail Carleton, born March 30,
1750, died March 23, 1833, daughter of Dudley
Carleton. Children of first wife: 1. John,
born April 2, 1766, died May 9, 1847. 2.
Moses, February 29, 1768, died May 17, 1840.
3. Jessie (twin), February 29, 1768, died same
day. 4. Betsey, February 28, 1770, married
Isaac Bayley. 5. Lowell, August 7, died Au
gust 17, 1772. Child of second wife : 6. Abi
gail, November 18, 1773, died May 22, 1796.
Children of third wife: 7. Haines, July 29,
1776. 8. David, September 13, 1778, died
May 17, 1865. 9. Hannah, September 8, 1781,
died April 9, 1782. 10. Hannah, December 20,
died December 28, 1783. 11. Hannah, Au
gust 4, 1785, married David Sloan; died May
30, 1861. 12. Haines, November 9, 1787, men
tioned below. 13. Thomas, October 26, 1790,
died July 7, 1792. 14. Sally, March 9, 1792,
died January 27, 1859 ; married Charles Storey.
(VI) ^Captain Haines, son of Colonel Thomas
Johnson, was born November 9, 1787, died
July 3, 1878. He was a farmer and resided on
the homestead. He was admitted to the first
church May 4, 1829, and was captain in the
militia. He married, March 14, 1813, Phebe
Hazletine, born 1789, died April 10, 1881,
daughter of John Hazletine Jr., and grand
daughter of General Moses Dow, of Haverhill.
Children: 1. Thomas, born March 27, 1814,
died May 2, 1901 ; married, June 24, 1857,
Mrs. Ann Austin. 2. Leonard, August 19,
181 5, died August 14, 1858. 3. Alfred, April
17, 1817, died October 14, 1882; married, Feb
ruary 6, 1845, Frances Edson. 4. Abigail
Carleton, September 29, 1818, died November
27, 1861 ; married (first) March 14, 1839,
Thomas Brosk; (second) October, 1845,
George Severance. 5. Mehitable Hazletine,
June 12, 1820, married, December 25, 1845,
John Nelson Dewey. 6. Amelia Bailey, March
22, 1822, died April 16, 1842. 7. John, Decem
ber 1, 1823, died May 17, 1861 ; married, June

272

MASSACHUSETTS.

26, 1853, Elizabeth F. Stickney. 8. Mary
Elizabeth, October 9, 1825, married, December
19, 1855, Albion P. Maxwell. 9. Edwin Haines,
August 15, 1827, died July 11, 1881 ; married
Mary Jane Galloway. 10. Perry, May 28,
1829, married, February 22, i860, Sarah H.
Daggett. 11. Richard Baxter, April 17, 1831,
died February 16, 1834. 12. Charlotte Fox-
croft, June 29, 1833, married, September 4,
1853, David Russell. 13. Eliza Smith, May
22, 1835, married, October 19, 1858, Newell
Z. Tabor. 14. Baxter, June 7, 1837, died March
30, 1841. 15. Sidney, August 15, 1840, men
tioned below. 16. Emma Grant, March 31, 1843,
married, December 25, 1863, N. W. Johnson.
(VII) Deacon Sidney, son of Captain Haines
Johnson, was born in Newbury, Vermont, Au
gust 15, 1840, and was chosen deacon in the
first church in 1883. He is a farmer and
resides on the homestead. He married, No
vember 16, 1870, Mary Elizabeth Ford, of
Lowell, Massachusetts. Children: 1. Leonard,
born November 26, 1871, educated at Phillips
Exeter Academy and Dartmouth Medical Col
lege ; physician at Franconia, New Hampshire ;
married, July 9, 1896, Mabel Laing, daughter
of Robert G. Laing. 2. Ervin Arthur, Febru
ary 26, 1873, mentioned below. 3. Louise
Carleton, March 21, 1882, married Frank N.
Brock. 4. Haines Holden, January 13, 1884.
(VIII) Dr. Ervin Arthur, son of Deacon
Sidney Johnson, was born at Newbury, Ver
mont, February 26, 1873. Fle attended the
public and high schools of his native town,
graduating in the class. of 1891. He*became
bookkeeper at the Dudley Mills, Newton Lower
Falls, Massachusetts. After working two
years and a half he began to study his profes
sion in the Boston Dental College, graduating
in the class of 1897 with the degree of D. D. S.
Since then he has practiced dentistry at War
ren Chambers, Boston, and at 176 Federal
street, Boston, where he has had his office
since 1901. In 1905 he received the degree of
D. M. D. from Tufts College. In politics he
is a Republican, in religion a Congregationalist.
He married, October 1, 1901, Laura Helen
Chamberlain, born January 7, 1877, daughter
of Lieutenant R. W. and Helen F. (Corliss)
Chamberlain, of Newbury, Vermont (see
Chamberlain VIII). Children: 1. Thomas,
born July 14, 1904, died July 16, 1904. 2. Sid
ney Remembrance, September 12, 1906.
(The Chamberlain Line).
Richard Chamberlain, immigrant ancestor,
was born in England. He settled in Braintree,

Massachusetts, as early as 1642, and removed
thence soon afterward to Roxbury, where his
descendants have been numerous. He removed
to Sudbury later. His will dated April 12,
1673, and proved June 18, 1673, bequeathed
to his wife what she brought at marriage, etc. ;
to eldest son Benjamin ; daughters Rebecca,
Mehitable, Elizabeth Daniels, Mary Graves;
son Joseph and grandson John Graves. He
married (second) Sarah Bugbee, daughter of
Edward Bugbee, of Roxbury. Children: 1.
Richard, born December 19, 1642, died aged
six days. 2. Benjamin, baptized with the next
four children, June 4, 1665, at Roxbury; re
moved to Oxford, Massachusetts, in 1713 with
his brother Joseph when he was about seventy
years old; sold land in East Sudbury adjoin
ing land of Joseph in 1696; children Daniel
and John removed in 1720 to Colchester, Con
necticut; he sold his home in Oxford in 1723.
3. Joseph, mentioned below. 4. Mary. 5. Re
becca. 6. Ann. 7. Mehitable, born January
28, 1666. 8. Elizabeth, married  Daniels.
(II) Joseph, son of Richard Chamberlain,
was born about 1660 and baptized at Rox
bury, June 4, 1665. He settled in Oxford
about 1710 with his brother Benjamin. He
sold sixty acres of land and rights of land and
commonage in Sudbury. He was a soldier in
King Philip's war and was at Hadley in 1676.
His home lot in Oxford was on Bondet Hill
on lot H. 38. He had eight children and three
were of age when he went to Oxford and took
up house lots there with the first proprietors.
Joseph was elected to the first board of select
men of Oxford. In a deed dated February
22, 1 73 1, Ebenezer Chamberlain, Joseph
Rockett with wife Hannah, Benjamin Cham
berlain and Simon Chamberlain conveyed to
their brother Joseph, of Keekamoochaug, all
their rights in their father's lots laid out to
soldiers of the Narragansett or Swamp fight in
1676. His will was dated March 4, 1721, and
his inventory amounted to three hundred and
four pounds, nineteen shillings, six pence. He
died August 8, 1721. He married Hannah
 . Children: 1. Nathaniel, mentioned
below. 2. Joseph, settled in Oxford South
Gore ; married Patience  . 3. Ebenezer,
one of the thirty original proprietors of Ox
ford ; married Sybil Moore. 4. Hannah, mar
ried Joseph Rockett. 5. Benjamin, married,
July 8, 1728, Mary Ami don. 6. Simon, mar
ried, December 27, 1735, Abigail Taylor. 7.
Rebecca, married Nathan Kannie.
(Ill) Nathaniel, son of Joseph' Chamber
lain, was born at Sudbury, in the present

MASSACHUSETTS.

273

village of Wayland, in 1689. He removed to
Oxford in 1713 and married Elizabeth Hun-
kins, and both were members of the church
at Oxford. He removed to Hatfield about
1722. He was a soldier in Father Rasle's war
and was taken prisoner. After his return from
captivity he removed to Northfield, and was a
soldier in the Crown Point expedition in 1755,
and in Colonel Williams' regiment in 1759.
He died November 7, 1780, and the church
record says "He left a good name behind him."
Children: 1. Richard, born July 9, 1714. 2.
Moses, March 30, 17 16, mentioned below. 3.
Nathaniel, January 3, 1718, died August 22,
1745. 4. Elizabeth, August 30, 1719. 5. Sarah,
May 31, 1721, at Oxford. 6. Mary, July 13,
1727, at Northfield.
(IV) Deacon Moses, son of Nathaniel
Chamberlain, was born at Oxford, March 30,
1716. In 1748 he bought land in Litchfield,
Connecticut, and was a member of the church
there at South Farms in 1787. He married
Jemima Wright, who died July 30, 1801,
daughter of Remembrance and Elizabeth
Wright. He died June 25, 1796. It is said
that both he and his son Moses served in the
revolution, but it is impossible to distinguish
the service of each from the records. Chil
dren: 1. Susanna, born at Winchester, New
Hampshire, August 29, 1740,' married (first)
 Shepard; (second) November 25, 1784,
Captain Ephraim Stephens. 2. Azubah, No
vember 2, 1 741, married  Muncy. 3.
Jemima, August 25, 1743, married 
Johnson. 4. Lydia, January 30, 1746, married
Captain Robert Hunkins. 5. Remembrance,
December 19, 1747, mentioned below. 6.
Moses, December 10, 1749, in the revolution;
married Abigail Stevens. 7. Asher, April 14,
1 75 1. 8. Wright, June 14, 1757.
(V) Colonel Remembrance, son of Moses
Chamberlain, was born at Litchfield, Connec
ticut, December 19, 1747, died January 10,
1813. He owned the farm north of Bedel's
Bridge, where he kept a tavern many years.
The farm remained in the family three gen
erations. He was in the revolution in Captain
Steven's company in 1779 and 1781. He was
second lieutenant in Captain Frye Baileys
company, guarding and scouting. His com
mission as first lieutenant, signed by Governor
Chittenden, is owned by a descendant, and he
was made captain, major, and colonel in the
militia. He was prominent in the town and
held substantial offices. He was a kind arid
generous man, but a strict Puritan in principle.
He married Elizabeth Elliot, widow of Haynes
i— 18

Johnson, and daughter of Edmund and Mehit
able (Worthen) Elliot. After the death of
her first husband, she returned to Chester for
fear of the Indians and Tories, but came back
to Newbury bringing her three children with
her on the horse, fording streams, and some
times being compelled to lodge in the woods.
She was born at Chester, 1751, died February
8, 1829. Children: 1. Moses, born November
25, 1777, mentioned below. 2. Azubah, No
vember 6, 1779, married Joseph Sawyer. 3.
Elizabeth, December 19, 1781, married Joseph
Kent. 4. Mehitable, December 3, 1783, mar
ried (first) Green Saunders; (second) Octo
ber 6, 1831, Israel Willard; died March 13,
1849. 5- Remembrance, July 12, 1785, died
September 4, 1789. 6. Moody, September 12,
1787, died July 12, 1863. 7. Remembrance,
December 2, 1789, married Mrs. Mehitable
Peoples; died March 4, 1855. 8. Olive, Feb
ruary 4, 1792, married Ephraim B. Stevens.
(VI) Moses (2), son of Colonel Remem
brance Chamberlain, was born at Newbury,
Vermont, November 25, 1777, died in Novem
ber, 1854. He was a farmer in Bradford, Ver
mont, on the upper plain, where he bought the
farm of his Uncle Moses. He married (first)
Martha Child, died 1839, daughter of Cephas
and Martha Child, of Woodstock, Connecticut.
He married (second) Mrs. Jemima Peckett.
Children, all by first wife: 1. John Elliott,
born November 4, 1806, mentioned below. 2.
Cephas Child, January 21, 1809, married, June
3, 1835, in Boston,  . 3. Martha E.,
April 10, 181 1, married John Y. Cross. 4.
Mary C, August 9, 1813, married Benjamin
Chamberlain. 5. Moses Remembrance, April
20, 1816, married, September 24, 1840, Ruby
S. Johnson. 6. Elizabeth A., August 1, 1818,
died young. 7. Benjamin F., December 21,
1821, died unmarried. 8. Elizabeth E., August
16, 1823, married Jaret M. Haseltine. 9.
Amanda N., May 21, 1826, married Henry E.
Sawyer. 10. Azubah A., September 2, 1831,
married Luther S. Grover.
(VII) John Elliott, son of Moses (2) Cham
berlain, was born at Bradford, Vermont, No
vember 4, 1806, died October 7, 1886. He was
a farmer at South Newbury, Vermont, and a
member of the constitutional convention in
1843. He held most of the town offices at
various times. He was a railroad contractor
and with Robert Morse built the White Moun
tain railroad from Woodsville to Littleton, and
later, with Joseph A. Dodge, built the Boston,
Concord & Montreal railroad extension from
Littleton to the Fabyan House. He was also

274

MASSACHUSETTS.

interested in other enterprises. He married,
in March, 1831, Laura Willard, born Febru
ary 5, 1807, died May 16, 1864, daughter of
Israel Willard, of Bradford. Children: 1.
George Willard, born March 15, 1832. 2.
Horace Elliott, November 30, 1834. 3. Re
membrance Wright, March 21, 1836, mention
ed below. 4. Leona Eveline, April 9, 1842,
married, November 9, 1865, John W. Currier;
died April 27, 1896. 5. Ella Amanda, August
1, 1845, married, September, 1867, George B.
Harriman; died June 25, 1901. 6. Charles
Wesley, November 4, 1849.
(VIII) Remembrance Wright, son of John
Elliott Chamberlain, was born at South New
bury, Vermont, March 21, 1836. He served
in Company D, First Vermont Regiment in
1 861 ; was first lieutenant in Company H,
Twelfth Vermont Regiment in 1862-63. He
was a farmer on the homestead and in business
in Newbury Village. He was postmaster there
from 1885 to 1891 inclusive. He married,
March 13, 1862, Helen F. Corliss, of Bradford.
Children: 1. George Elliott, born February
12, 1869, graduated Dartmouth Medical Col
lege, 1896; interne one year in Mary Hitch
cock Hospital ; studied in New York ; began
practice at Lawrence, Massachusetts ; became
acting assistant surgeon United States Army,
Second Division, Seventh Army Corps, at
Havana, Cuba; now in service in the Philip
pine Islands. 2. Laura Helen, January 7, 1877,
married Dr. Ervin Arthur Johnson (see John
son VIII).
(For preceding generations see John Johnson 1).
(Ill) Benjamin Johnson, son
JOHNSON of Humphrey Johnson, was
born in Scituate, Massachu
setts, in 1657, died March 26, 1707. He re
sided in Hingham and was a blacksmith by
trade. He was selectman in 1698. He was
landlord and proprietor of the Pine Tree
Tavern, situated on Town (now South) street,
on the site of the residence owned by the
heirs of George and Zadoch Hersey. His
estate, valued at four hundred and forty-five
pounds, four shillings, was settled December
9, 1712, his son Joshua being administrator. He
married, at Hingham, June 11, 1683, Rebecca
Hersey, born August 20, 1663, died February
11, 1711-12, daughter of William and Rebecca
(Chubbuck) Hersey. Children: 1. Rebecca,
born June- 28, 1684, died September 28 follow
ing. 2. Benjamin, July 15, 1685, died Decem
ber 5, 1695. 3. Joshua, August 9, 1689, died
March 21, 1693-94. 4. Ruth, January 10,

1691-92, died March 8, 1712-13. 5. Sarah,
February 7, 1693-94, married, January 25,
1715-16, Nathaniel Fearing. 6. Benjamin,
June 3, 1696, married, February 4, 1719-20,
Ruth Beal, and resided in Stoughton and
Hingham. 7. Mary, July 27, 1699, married,
October 11, 1722, Barnabas Seabury. 8.
Joshua, 1702, mentioned below.
(IV) Joshua, son of Benjamin Johnson,
was born in Hingham in 1702. He removed
to Stoughton in 1738 or 1739. He married,
April 29, 1730, Lydia (Ward) Lincoln, born
in Hingham, June 15, 1705, daughter of Henry
and Ruth (Bailey) Ward. Children, born at
Hingham: 1. John, January 18, 1731, men
tioned below. 2. Joshua, October 25, 1732,
resided at Stoughton. 3. Jacob, January 31,
1734-35 resided at Stoughton. Born at Stough
ton: 4. Sarah,. November 6, 1741. 5. Mary,
"March 4, 1744-45. Probably others.
(V) John, son of Joshua Johnson, was born
in Hingham, January 18, 1731. He married
there, March 8, 1749-50, Mary Cushing, born
at Hingham, May 10, 1730, daughter of Seth
and Lydia (Fearing) Cushing, granddaughter
of Theophilus and Mary (Thaxter) Cushing,
and descended from Daniel (2) and Lydia
(Gilman) Cushing, and Matthew (1) and
Nazareth (Pitcher) Cushing. He removed to
Stoughton where he lived until his death.
Children, born in Hingham: 1. John, October
17, 1750. 2. Mary, August 3, 1752. 3. Ezekiel,
January 21, 1754, mentioned below. Probably
others. (VI) Ezekiel, son of John Johnson, was
born in Hingham, January 21, 1754, died Jan
uary 27, 1832. Fle lived in the north part of
Stoughton, incorporated in 1797 as Canton.
He was in the revolution in Captain John
Bradley's company, Colonel Benjamin Gill's
regiment, August 14, 1777, three months and
twenty-one days, and marched to Manchester,
Vermont, to join the northern army. He mar
ried, June 21, 1785, Elizabeth Crosman, of
Stoughton. Children: 1. Thomas. 2. Eliza
beth. 3. Betsey, born July 12, 1787. 4. Ezekiel,
April 4, 1795, mentioned below. 5. George.
6. Sally A., July 10, 1798.
(VII) Ezekiel (2), son of Ezekiel (1)
Johnson, was born in Canton, April 4, 1795,
died December 19, 1850. He was -educated in
the public schools and then established a pros
perous trucking business. He had the contract
for teaming for the Kinsey Forge at Revere,
and other large concerns. He was active in
the militia, and in religion was a Unitarian, In
politics he was a Republican. He married,

MASSACHUSETTS.

275

July 28, 1822, Louise Dickerman, born April
*9> 1754, died May 21, 1833, daughter of John
T and Ruth (Tolman) Dickerman. Children:
1. Mary Cushing, born December 2, 1824, mar
ried (first) Ichabod G. Jordan; (second)
George L. French, son of Samuel and Sarah
French; had Noah Wilbur Jordan by first.
husband, and Ella and George French by sec
ond husband. 2. Hiram, October 9, 1826, men
tioned below. 3. John Dickerman, 1828, mar
ried, June 11, 1857, Ellen Kendrick. 4. Louisa
Adelaide, February 19, 1830, married, Novem
ber 2, 1851, George Stephen Russell; children:
i. Harry J. Russell; ii. Blanche A. Russell,
married George W. Bowers ; iii. Helen Russell,
married Hiram Barnes; iv.  Russell.
5. Ezekiel Sanford, January 18, 1832, died
June 18, 1884; married, December 12, 1854,
Amanda D. Martin, daughter of William and
Betsey Martin; children: Alice J., Charles S.,
married  , had two children: Hiram
Sanford and Grace.
(VIII) Hiram, son of Ezekiel (2) John
son, was born in Canton, October 9, 1826. He
was educated in the public schools of his native
town. . At the age of sixteen he embarked in
the retail grocery business as clerk at 747
Washington street, corner of Northampton
street, Boston. He later leased the property,
and in 1853 bought it from Samuel Clapp,
holding it thirteen years, and then sold it to
the Penny Savings Bank, his investment in
creasing about three hundred per cent. He
then removed his business to Washington
street where Union Park is now located.
Afterward his business was located on Lin
coln street, later removed to Commercial street
and finally to State street. In 1887 he formed
partnership with C. FL Cummings & Company,
continuing nineteen years, in 1907 he became
the senior partner of the firm of Johnson &
Bryden, millers agent and receivers of flour,
at 168 State street, Boston. This firm is agent
for the great Washburn Crosby Company's
mills at Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. John
son was in active business from 1846 until his
death and was one of the best known men in
the trade. The annual business of the present
firm in flour amounts to eighty thousand
barrels of Washburn & Crosby's "Gold Medal"
flour, and a large amount of other brands, and
is constantly increasing. The firm handles the
famous Golden Crown and John Alden brands
of flour and many other popular kinds. Mr.
Johnson was a managing trustee of Dr. Flint's
estate for thirty-four years, having charge of
the property at the corner of Washington and

Warrenton streets and at 107 and 109 Shaw-
mut avenue, Boston. He was a member of the
South Congregational Church (Unitarian) of
which Rev. Dr. Edward Everett Hale has been
for many years pastor. He was a member of
the Hale Club of the church. In politics he
was Republican. He married, September 9,
1849, Catherine M. Jordan, born January 1,
1829, daughter of Rishworth and Harriet Jor
dan, of Biddeford, Maine. Children, born in
Boston: 1. Hiram, September 9, 1852, died
September 21, 1852. 2. Isabel Louise, April
16, 1855, resides at 467 Massachusetts avenue,
Boston. 3. Cora Lincoln, March 18, 1862,
married, October 23, 1889, Harry Johnson
Russell, son of George S. and Louise A. Rus
sell; he was born May 29, 1857; they reside
at 467 Massachusetts avenue, Boston. For
nineteen years Mr. Johnson lived at 3 Union
Park.

James Johnson, immigrant
JOHNSON ancestor, was called Irish in
the town records of Kittery,
Maine, where he settled. The term was often
used to designate the Scotch-Irish at that time.
He married (first) in Kittery, December 3,
1727, Elizabeth Seavey, who died in 1739.
Married (second) August 6, 1740, Rebecca
Benson. Children of first wife: 1. Elizabeth,
born July 8, 1728. 2. John, February 1, 1730,
died June 5, 1736. 3. Mary, May 5, 1733. 4.
James, June 18, 1735, died June 5, 1736. 5.
Joanna, May 10, 1737. 6. John, September 20,
1739, probably died in the revolution. Chil
dren of second wife : 7. James, June 29, 1742,
married, August 22, 1765, Rebecca Hutchings;
served in the revolution. 8. Lydia, February
26, 1746. 9. Rebecca, April 1, 1748. 10. Daniel,
June 13, 1750, married, April 29, 1773, Mary
Green; served in the revolution. 11. Anna,
August 13, 1752. 12. Dennis, January 19,
1756, mentioned below. 13. Noah, March 15,
1757, married, August 10, 1780, Sarah Good
win. 14. Miriam, July 16, 1759. 15. Sarah,
August 27, 1762.
(II) Dennis, son of James Johnson, was
born in Kittery, Maine, January 19, 1756. He
resided in Kittery for a time, and the house
which he occupied there was at last accounts
still standing. He removed to Waterboro,
Maine, in 1799, and there died in 1838. He
was a soldier in the revolution in Captain
Elisha Shapleigh's company, Colonel Joseph
Storer's regiment, August 14 to November 30,
1777. Under Captain Joseph Field, chairman
of class No. 10 in Kittery, he enlisted to serve

276

MASSACHUSETTS.

three years in the Continental army, and was
assigned to Captain Sylvanus Smith's com
pany, the Fifth Massachusetts, and in Decem
ber, 1782, he joined Captain Benson's com
pany. He served in Captain Smith's company,
Lieutenant Colonel David Cobb's regiment, in
January and February, 1783, but as the war
closed he was mustered out after but eleven
months of service ; he was afterward pension
ed ; he is said to have taken part in the battle
of Lake Champlain. He married, May 11,
1779, Mary Carter, who died in 1828, aged
seventy. Children: 1. Lucy, married 
Goodale, one son John ; settled in New York.
2. Ralph, settled in Seahrook, New Hamp
shire; married Anna Gove, one son Stephen,
born in Seabrook, New Hampshire, married
Huldah Chase, children : Sarah Ann and
Amos Ralph. 3. William, settled in Hollis,
Maine; married  Goodwin, children: i.
Lucy, married Benjamin Chadbourne, chil
dren, Colby and Austin; ii. Ralph, married
Dorcas Hooper, children, Sarah, Frank, Ralph,
Colby ; iii. Nancy, married David Deering, died
March, 1908; iv. Mary, lived in Waterboro,
cinmarried ; v. Colby, married Georgia Fabin ;
vi. William, married Julia Philpot; both de
ceased ; children : Mary Frances, Seth, George
and Charles; vii. Sarah, married Albian Hob-
son, one son William. 4. Olive, died unmar
ried in Waterboro. 5. Joseph, mentioned
below. 6. Mariam, died unmarried March 12,
1858, aged sixty-six years. 7. Polly, died
unmarried August 1, 1872, aged seventy-five
\ears. 8. Noah, married Eunice Linscitt, who
died October 26, 1851, aged forty-seven years;
children : Peltiah, Jerome, Oleva. Peltiah
was born November 15, 1827, died unmarried
May 24, 1905. Jerome married (first) Fla-
v:lle Bagley, son John; married (second)
Jennie Hawkes, son Edward.
(Ill) Joseph, son of Dennis Johnson, was
born in Maine, 1794, moved to Waterboro
with his parents in 1799, and resided there
during his active life. Fle married Mary
Batchelder, who died April 28, 1862, aged
sixty-seven years. Children: 1. Mary Ann,
married James C. Chadbourne ; both deceased ;
children: Joseph, John, Andrew, Eunice,
Levina, Eliza. 2. Eunice, deceased. 3. Eliza,
married John Roberts, died February 16, 1862,
aged thirty-nine years ; children : Mary, John,
Sarah, Eliza, Charles. 4. John, born May,
1833, died March 22, 1898; married Sally
Hussey, now deceased ; children : Joseph,
Cora, Mamie, Oscar, all deceased. 5. Dennis,
mentioned below.

(IV) Dennis (2), son of Joseph Johnson,
was born in Waterboro, Maine, April 30, 1839.
He was a lumberman and owned saw mills in
the town of Waterboro and vicinity. He
married Emma Bean, a native of Eaton, New
Hampshire. Children, bora at Waterboro and
all living at the present time (1909): I.
Charles W., mentioned below. 2. Maudlena,
born October 26, 1865, educated in the public
and high schools of Waterboro and at Lim
erick Academy and the State Normal school
at Gorham, Maine; taught school in North
Billerica and Chelmsford, Massachusetts, about
six years ; entered the State Normal school at
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, graduating there
from ; taught school two years in East Bridge-
water ; since 1901 has been teaching on Luzon
Island, in the Philippines, returning to her
home to visit in the summers of 1904 and 1908.
3. George H., born November 16, 1867. 4.
Nettie V, born December 26, 1868. 5. Mark
T., born September 3, 1870. 6. Melvin B.,
born November 28, 1872. 7. Laura E., born
April 9, 1874. 8. Frank B., born July 2, 1877.
9. I. Willis, born July 16, 1881. 10. Ina M.,
born August 25, 1883.
(V) Charles W., son of Dennis (2) John
son, was born in Waterboro, Maine, October
13, 1863. He attended the public and high
schools of Waterboro, being a student at the
latter for one year. He worked with his father
until the age of twenty-two, after which he
came to Boston and for five years worked for
A. J. Woodson. He then entered into busi
ness at No. 138 High street, Boston, continu
ing for twelve years, at the expiration of which
time he sold out and purchased the business of
A. J. Littlefield, then at No. 173 State street,
now at No. 222 State street, a general truck
ing business, in which he has attained a large
degree of success. He is a Baptist in religion,.
and a Republican in politics. He married,
September 19, 1886, Carrie E., daughter of
Eldredge and Lydia (Scribner) Sawyer, of
Waterboro, New Hampshire. Children:
Blanche, born July, 1894, and Lena, June,
i897- 
Henry Lunt, immigrant ancestor,.
LUNT was born in England, and came in
the ship "Mary and John," sailing
March 26, 1634-35. He settled at Newbury,.
Massachusetts, in 1635, was admitted a free
man, May 2, 1638, and became a proprietor of
the town. He died at Newbury, July 10, 1662.
His will was proved September 30, 1662, be
queathing to wife Anna; sons Daniel, John

MASSACHUSETTS.

277

and Henry; daughters Sarah, Priscilla, Mary
and Elizabeth. The widow married Joseph
Mills. Children: 1. Sarah, born November
8, 1639. 2. Daniel, May 17, 1641, mentioned
below. 3. Priscilla, February 16, 1646. 4.
Mary, July 13, 1648. 5. Elizabeth, December
29, 1650. 6. Henry, February 20, 1653.
(II) Daniel, son of Henry Lunt, was born
at Newbury, May 17, 1641, and was killed by
the Indians, June 27, 1689, in the garrison
house of Major Waldron, at Dover, New
Hampshire, while in the service. He was a
farmer at Newbury. He was admitted a free
man in 1685. ' He married (first) May 16,
1664, Hannah, daughter of Robert Coker. She
died January 29, 1679, and he married (sec
ond) June 29, 1679, Mary, Widow of Samuel
Moody. Children of first wife: 1. Hannah,
born May 17, 1665. 2. Daniel, May 1, 1667.
3. Henry, June 23, 1669. 4. John, February
10, 1672. 5. Sarah, June 18, 1674. 6. Mary,
July 24, 1677. Children of second wife : 7.
Joseph, March 24, 1680. 8. Ann, January 28,
1683. 9. Benjamin, March 15, 1686.
(Ill) Joseph, son of Daniel Lunt, was born
in Newbury, March 24, 1680. He settled in
Newbury, where he married (second) Decem
ber 4, 1708, Joanna Adams. He died there
October 14, 1751.
(IV) Cutting, son of Joseph Lunt, was born
in Newbury, January 22, 1713. He married, at
Newbury, December 16, 1735, Deborah Jac-
oues, who died February 14, 1788. He died
there December 29, 1790.
(V) Cutting (2), son of Cutting (1) Lunt,
was born in Newbury, January 1, 1749. He
was a soldier in the revolution, and was cap
tured by the British and confined in the
Plymouth prison. After his release he entered
the service again on the brig "Dalton," was
again captured, and cast into Mill Prison,
where he was confined two years. He was
sent on a cartel' to Nantes, France, where he
enlisted again and was commissioned third
lieutenant under Captain John Paul Jones on
the famous "Bon Homme Richard." He had
the misfortune to venture too close to the
English shore, when in command of a detail
in search of some deserters, was taken with all
his men, and again thrown into prison. When
he regained his liberty he returned to the ser
vice. In the privateer "America," he was
drowned at sea. Lieutenant Cutting Lunt was
one of seventeen under Captain Offin Board-
man, who surprised and captured the British
supply ship "Friends," of London, bound for
Boston, off Newburyport bar under the pre

tense of them wanting a pilot. He married
Mary Gerrish, daughter of William Gerrish,
born at Newbury, November 26, 1751. She
married (second) John Stickney, and died
August 18, 181 5. Children of Lieutenant Cut
ting and Mary (Gerrish) Lunt, born at New
bury: 1. Silas, August 26, 1775, mentioned
below. 2. Ebenezer, June 17, 1781, died May
13. 1783-
(VI) Silas, son of Lieutenant Cutting (2)
Lunt, was born in Newbury, August 26, 1775.
He married, September 23, 1802, Sarah,
daughter of Hussa Hoague, a revolutionary
soldier from Hampton, New Hampshire, born
at Newbury, September 30, 1778, died May,
1858. He died at Newbury, June 2, 1867. He
was a ship carpenter by trade, but ri early life
followed the sea, making many voyages to
foreign countries, including several to the
Baltic. Children, born in Newbury: 1. Silas,
July 26, 1803, died next day. 2. Mary S.,
October 8, 1804, married, August 2, 1827,
Philip Bollman. 3. Paul G., April 3, 1806,
married, February 11, 1841,  ; no chil
dren. 4. Silas, October 20, 1807, married,
November, 1852-53, Mary j. Hinckley. 5.
Caroline, October 31, 1809, married, October
7, 1830, Robert S. Lane. 6. Abraham, Octo
ber 1, 181 1, married, August 30, 1835, Eliza
beth A. Kent. 7. Charles, January 18, 1814,
married,- August 7, 1838, Sarah Blake. 8.
Sarah E., January 7, 1817, married, October
25, 1840, Jeremiah N. Jackman. 9. Enoch P.
(twin), August 25, 1820, mentioned below.
10. William twin with Enoch P., died August
27, 1820.
(VII) Enoch P., twin son of Silas Lunt,
was born at Newbury (now Newburyport),
August 25, 1820, died there September 9, 1908.
lie was educated in the common schools, and
learned the trade of ship-building, which so
many of his ancestors had followed. He was
a skillful craftsman, drafted his own designs
and built some of the fastest vessels in his day.
He learned drafting with James Townsend,
the builder of the clipper ship "Dreadnought,"
whose sailing record is unbeaten to this day.
During the civil war he was in the govern
ment service as foreman in the yard and
draftsman in the Portsmouth navy yard, and
always took pride in his part of the building
of the famous "Kearsarge" at that yard. After
ward he became a partner in the firm of Colby
& Lunt, boat builders, at Newburyport, build
ing principally many vessels for fishing and
the fruit trade with the West Indies. He con
tinued in active life to an advanced age, and

2f&

MASSACHUSETTS.

when over eighty designed a large four-masted
schooner, drafted the plans, made the model,
and laid the lines in the shiploft. He was an
old time Democrat in politics, and an Episco
palian in religion. He married, June 6, 1847,
Mary E. Colby, daughter of Captain John
Colby. Children, born in Newburyport: 1.
John E., May 11, 1854, married, April 22,
1896, Bertha Bingham; one child, Madelyn
Louise, born June 19, 1897. 2. George Colby,
mentioned below.
(VIII) George Colby, son of Enoch P.
Lunt, was born in Newburyport (formerly
Newbury), where his paternal ancestors had
lived from the time of the first settlement.
He was educated there in the public schools,
and learned the trade of engraver. He worked
at this trade in his native city for nine years,
then came to Greenfield, Massachusetts, to
take charge of the engraving department of
A. F. Towle & Son. He studied design and
modeling under Max Bachman, the sculptor,
and Was appointed assistant to the manager
of the firm. In 1900, when the -firm went out
of business, Mr. Lunt bought the tools,
machinery and trademarks of the concern, and
formed the present firm of Rogers, Lunt &
Bowlen, in 1902. The business is incorporated
and he holds the offices of treasurer and man
ager. The company manufacturers sterling
silver table ware at Greenfield, and has been
very successful. Mr. Lunt is a member of
Republican Lodge of Free Masons; of Frank
lin Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and the
Masonic Club. In religion he is an Episco
palian, and in politics a Republican. He mar
ried, December 16, 1896, Anna M. Denham,
born June 5, 1868, daughter of Henry C. and
Mary C. (Moore) Denham. They have one
child, Denham Colby, born November 19, 1900.
(The Denham Line).
The surname is identical with Dunham,
Donham, Dunhame and is spelled in various
other ways in the ancient records. The spell
ing Dunham was perhaps more common than
Denham until later generations.
(I) Sir John Dunham or Denham was born
at Dunham-on-the-Trent, England, in 1525.
(II) Sir Thomas, son of Sir John Denham,
was born in 1560. He lived at Kirklington,
England. (IIF) John (2), son of Sir Thomas Den
ham, was born in England in 1589. He came
from Lancashire in the ship "flope" in 1630-
31. He was of Plymouth, Massachusetts, as
early as 1633, and was admitted a freeman that

year. He was a weaver by trade. He was in
1639 one of the first four deputies to the gen
eral court and continued in that office for
twenty years. He was deacon of the church.
He was a landholder in 1632. He was a
member of Governor Bradford's council. He
was upright and faithful — "an appointed ser
vant of God and a useful man in his place."
He died at Plymouth, March 2, 1668-69, aged
about eighty years. His will was dated Janu
ary 25, 1668, witnessed by John Cotton and
Thomas Cushman, bequeathing to sons John,
Benaiah and Daniel ; son-in-law Stephen
Wood; to "the rest of my children that are
not designated in this my last will twelve pence
apiece if they demand it;" also to wife Abi
gail. Children: 1. John, born 1620. 2. Abi
gail, 1623, married, November 6, 1644, Ste
phen Wood. 3. Samuel, 1623, married, June
2, 1649, Martha Falloway. 4. Thomas, 1627,
admitted freeman June 1, 1647. 5. Jonathan,
1634, married, November 29, 1655, Mary
Delano; married (second) October 15, 1657,
Mary Cobb. 6. Joseph, 1637, mentioned below.
7. Benaiah, 1640, removed to Eastham, Mass
achusetts, then in 1671 to East New Jersey;
married, October 25, 1660, Elizabeth Tilson.
8. Persis, 1641, married, October 15, 1657,
Benaiah Tratt. 9. Daniel, 1649, admitted free
man 1671. 10. Hannah, married Giles Rich
ard. (IV) Joseph, son of Deacon John (2)
Denham, was born in. Plymouth in 1637. He
married, November 18, 1657, Mercy Morton,
daughter of Nathaniel Morton. She died Feb
ruary 19, 1662, and he married (second) Au
gust 20, 1669, Esther Worwell. He lived at
Plymouth, Middleborough and Edgartown. He
was admitted a freeman in 1657. Children:
1. Eleazer, mentioned below. 2. Nathaniel,
married Mary Tilson. 3. Micajah. 4. Joseph
Jr. 5. Benaiah. 6. Daniel. 7. Mercy.
(V) Eleazer, son of Joseph Denham, was
born about T659. He married Bathsheba
Pratt. He was admitted a freeman in 1689.
He was on the committee appointed to arrange
for worship in the west precinct and secure
preaching. Children, born at Plymouth: 1.
Fleazer, born January 15, 1682. 2. Nathaniel,
March 20, 1685, died young. 3. Mercy, De
cember 10, 1686, married Samuel Ransom. 4.
Israel, October, 1689, mentioned below. 5.
Klisha, 1691. 6. Josiah, June, 1694. 7. Bath
sheba, April 26, 1696. 8. Susanna, June, 1698.
9. Joshua, April 1, 1701.
(VI) Israel, son of Eleazer Denham, was
born October, 1689, at Plymouth, died August

ay^f</ v^^^^^K

MASSACHUSETTS.

279

18, 1726. He is buried at Plympton, accord
ing to the town records, in the burial ground,
forty-five feet east and southeast from the
west gate thereof. He married, June 18, 1713,
Joanna Richards, daughter of John Richards,
of Plympton. She married (second) Elisha
Whitney, (p. 94, vol. 3, Mayflower Descend
ant). Children, born at Plympton: 1. Syl
vanus, born May 26, 17 14, mentioned below.
2. Cornelius, August 12, 1716. 3. Ebenezer,
February 5, 1718-19. 4. Susannah, July 16,
1721, married Daniel Crocker. 5. James, De
cember 9, 1723.
(VII) Sylvanus, son of Israel Denham, was
born in Plympton, May 26, 17 14, died 1796.
He was prominent in the town and church.
'He married Rebecca Crocker, daughter of
Abel Crocker. Children, born at Plympton:
1. Patience, 1740, married. Percy Shaw. 2.
Israel, 1741, mentioned below. 3. Sylvanus,
1744. 4. Rebecca, 1745. 5. Simeon, 1747.
6. Silas, March 28, 1749, soldier in the revolu
tion. 7. Susanna, 1751. 8. Elijah, 1753. 9.
Isaac, 1755. 10. Molly, 1757. 11. Asa, 1759.
12. Eleazer, 1761.
(VIII) Israel (2), son of Israel (1) Den
ham, was born at Plympton in 1741. fle was
a soldier in the revolution, a private in Cap
tain John Bridgham's company, Colonel Theo
philus Cotton's regiment, during 1775; also
in Captain Ebenezer Washburn's company,
Colonel Eleazer Brooks's regiment, in 1777-78,
at Cambridge ; corporal in Captain Jesse Har
low's company in the defence of Plymouth in
1776; also in Captain Benjamin Rider's com
pany, Colonel John Jacobs's regiment, in 1780.
He married, about 1770, Hannah Whitney.
Among their children was Israel, mentioned
below. (IX) Israel (3), son of Israel (2) Den
ham, was born in Plympton in 1778. He lived
at Plympton and Carver, Massachusetts. He
married Elizabeth Crocker. Among their chil
dren was Henry, mentioned below.
(X) Henry, son of Israel (3) Denham,
was born at Carver in 181 1. He married
Louisa J. Pratt. Among their children was
Flenry Crocker, mentioned below.
(XI) Henry Crocker, son of Henry Den
ham, was born in Middleborough, January 30,
1836, married Mary C. Moore, born April i,
1832, daughter of Enoch Moore. Among
their children was Anna M., born June 5,
1868, at Bernardston, Massachusetts, married,
December 16, 1896, George Colby Lunt (see
Lunt VIII).

(I) Richard Lyman, the immi-
LYMAN grant, married flepzibah  .
(II) John, son of Richard Ly
man, born 1623, married Dorcas Plumb.
(Ill) John (2), eldest son and third child
of John (1) and Dorcas (Plumb) Lyman, was
born in Northampton, Connecticut Valley,
Massachusetts Bay Colony, August 1, 1660;
lived at South Farms, a settlement in the town
of Northampton ; kept a public house near
Smith's Ferry and died at South Farms,
Northampton, November 8, 1740. tie mar
ried, April 19, 1687, Mindwell, daughter of
Mary Woodford Sheldon, of Northampton,
and widow of John Pomeroy, to whom she
was married April 30, 1684. She was born
February 24, 1666, died at South Farms,
Northampton, April 8, 1735. Children of John
and Mindwell (Sheldon) (Pomeroy) Lyman
were born in South Farms, Northampton,
Massachusetts, as follows: 1. Mindwell, Au
gust 30, 1688. 2. Dorcas, 1690. 3. Hannah,
April 2, 1692. 4. John (q. v.). 5. Esther,
February 15, 1698. 6. Gideon, March 19,
1700. 7. Elizabeth, December 8, 1702. 8.
Phineas, May, 1706, died while a student at
Yale College, 1726. 9. Elias, May 10, 17 10.
10. Gad, May, 1713.
(IV) John (3), eldest son and fourth child
of John (2) and Mindwell (Sheldon') (Pom
eroy) Lyman, was born at South Farms,
Northampton, Massachusetts, October 12,
1693, died at Hockanum, Connecticut, Novem
ber 9, 1797. He lived for most of his life on
the so-called "Plain," South Farms, North
ampton, where his children were born and
where he had erected a house about the time
of his marriage in 1716 to Abigail Mosely, of
Westfield, who died November 9, 1750, after
bearing him nine children. He was known as
Captain John Lyman by reason of his rank
in the military company raised for the pro
tection of the early settlers from the Indians.
His home was burned at midnight December
8-9, 1747, and all the members of the family
escaped from the burning building except two
of his daughters, Hannah, aged fourteen years,
and Abigail, aged twenty-two years, who were
burned to death. This calamity determined
his removal to Hockanum about 1745, where
he became a large landholder. After the death
of his first wife, the mother of all his children,
he was married to Widow Theoda (Hunt)
Sheldon. Children of John and Abigail
(Mosely) Lyman were born on the "Plain,"
South Farms, in the town of Northampton,

280

MASSACHUSETTS.

Massachusetts, as follows: I. Zadoc (q. v.).
2. Mindwell, 1721, married Ebenezer Pom
eroy and died October 9, 1797. 3. John, Octo
ber 7, 1723, lived on the homestead, married
Hannah, daughter of Jonathan Strong, had
twelve children; his eldest son and three of
his daughters were deaf mutes; he died No
vember 4, 1797. 4. Abigail, 1725, was burned
to death, 1747. 5. Dorcas, 1727, married
(first) Noah Clapp and (second) Josiah
Moody. 6. Sarah, 1730, married Supply Clapp.
7. Hannah, 1733, burned to death 1747. 8.
Eleanor, 1735, married (first) Stephen Pom
eroy and (second) Oliver Morton. 9. Caleb,
June 21, 1738, married Mehitable Strong, re
moved to the state of New York and their son,
Caleb Junior, married Azubah Cooley and had
a daughter Martha.
(V) Zadoc, eldest child of John (3) and
Abigail (Mosely) Lyman, was born on the
homestead at South Farms, Northampton,
Massachusetts, in 1719, died in Hockanum,
Connecticut, October 14, 1754. He removed
with his father to Hockanum, Hartford county,
Connecticut, about 1745, where he kept a
public house and became a prominent citizen
of the town. He married Sarah, daughter of
Ebenezer Clark, and she became the mother
of his four children. After the death of the
father of these children, she married (second)
John Wright, of Northampton, Massachusetts.
• The children of Zadoc and Sarah (Clark) Ly
man were born in Hockanum, Connecticut, as
follows: 1. Israel (q. v.). 2. Azariah, De
cember, 1747, married Jemima, daughter of
Samuel Kingsley, March 17, 1774; lived in
Westhampton, had seven children born be
tween February 19, 1775, and March 9, 1789,
and died in Westhampton, October 28, 1833.
3. Abigail, 1751, married Ephraim Wright, of
Westhampton. 4. Luke, January 8, 1753,
married Susanna, daughter of Joel Hunt, De
cember 21, 1780, had eight children born be
tween January 27, 1782, and September 4.
1796, and died January 12, 1825.
(VI) Israel, eldest child of Zadoc and Sarah
(Clark) Lyman, was born in Hockanum, Hart
ford county, Connecticut, February 7, 1746,
died there June 8, 1830. Pie married Rebecca
Beals, January 4, 1770. She was born June
8, 1747, died in Hockanum, Connecticut, De
cember 27, 1824. Children, born in Hocka
num, Connecticut, as follows.: 1. Sarah, Sep
tember 12, 1770, married Stephen Johnson,
and died September 19, 1835. 2. Rachel, March
*o, 1772, married Elijah Montague in 1784,
'*<"! *hr. following children: Wealthy, Moses,

Obed, Sarah Montague, and these children
each married and had children. 3. Zadoc
Samuel, March 26, 1774, married Hannah
Watson, of Windsor, Connecticut ; kept a tav
ern at Hockanum; had nine children born of
the marriage in Hockanum, Connecticut, be
tween November 13, 1797, and October 3, 1813.
4. Israel, August 9, 1775, died the next day.
5. Israel (q. v.), October 17, 1776. 6. Achsah,
April 27, 1778, married Chester Clark, and
died November 21, 1819. 7. Cynthia, April
8, 1780, married Aaron Graves, fifth son of
Captain Seth and Eunice (Graves) Lyman, of
Northfield, and died December 2, 1839. 8.
Amaziah, February 13, 1782, married Eliza
beth Alvord, of South fladley, had eleven
children born in Hockanum between July 5,
1806, and December 31, 1825. 9. Hannah,
October 9, 1783,. married Perez Smith, of
South Hadley, and they had a large family of
children, one bearing the name George Lyman
Smith ; she died in South Hadley, Massachu
setts, in 1861. 10. Elijah, November 13, 1785,
died June 30, 1786. 11. Elijah, May 23, 1787,
married Hadassa Moody, of South Hadley.
12. Enos, January 2, 1790, married Lydia
Wadsworth, of Ellington, Connecticut, Janu
ary 29, 1 81 7, and they had eight children born
in Hockanum, Connecticut, between March
31, 1820, and May 29, 1837; he died Septem
ber 22, 1848. 13. George, December 13, 1792,
married Laura  , lived in Ellington, Con
necticut, and had seven children between Sep
tember 18, 1820, and August 7, 1835 ; he died
in Ellington, April 14, 1866.
(VII) Israel (2), third son and fifth child
of Israel and Rebecca (Beals) Lyman, was
born in Hockanum, Hartford county, Connec
ticut, October 17, 1776, died there August 4,
1836. He was a farmer. May 13, 1802, he
married Sarah Moody, born May 12, 1782,
died March 17, 1848. Children, born in Hock-
1 anum, Hartford county, Connecticut, as fol
lows: 1. Alonzo, March 16, 1803, married
Amelia Moody, of South Hadley, Massachu
setts, had five children between November 13,
1829, and February 9, 1839; died on his farm
in South Hadley, September 25, 1840, leaving
a widow and four children ; the widow placed
these four children with the Shakers at En-
fiel-', Connecticut, to be brought up by that
society. 2. Keziah Moody, January 19, 1805,
married Moses Hubbard, a farmer living in
Sunderland. 3. Maria, November 2, 1806,
married, May 10, 1831, a Brown, who went to
Michigan. 4. Almon, March 16, 1808, mar
ried Clarissa Barnett, of South Hadley, had

MASSACHUSETTS.

281

three children born between November 10,
1830, and September 14, 1837; died in South
Hadley, September 25, 1840. 5. Israel Frank
lin, September 11, 1810, married (first) Cath
erine A. Mann, (second) Marcia Ann Lyman,
and (third) Margaret E. Harmon; he had
five children born between July 27, 1841, and
May 26, 1867; four by his first wife and the
fifth, Lizzie Marcia, by his second wife. 6.
A son unnamed, February 8, 181 3, lived only
three days. 7. Harvey, August 26, 1814, mar
ried, June 24, 1854, Mary Ann  , while
an elderess of the Shaker faith, which faith in
1843 he with his mother and brothers, Elijah
Austin and Edward Mason, had joined ; on
announcing his intention of marriage, he was
an elder in the Society, he was banished under
the law of the sect and was married in Spring
field, Massachusetts ; they had three children,
all sons, born between April 31, 1855, and Feb
ruary 9, 1862, in Springfield, Massachusetts,
named Charles Harvey, George Edward and
John White. 8. Hadassah, October 27, 1816,
married Henry E. Bartlett, of Hadley, and
died October 11, 1846. 9. Mary Pomeroy, No
vember 12, 1819, died January 29, 1820. 10.
A son, born October 21, 1821, lived only three
days. 11. Elijah Austin, February 22, 1823,
married Sophronia Pease, December 28, 1845,
and lived in Easthampton, where four children
were born between September 30, 1847, and
March 30, 1862. 12. Edward Mason (q. v.).
(VIII) Edward Mason, youngest child of
Israel and Sarah (Moody) Lyman, was born
in South Hadley, Massachusetts, May 13,
1825. He was educated in the public schools
of South Fladley, and in 1843 removed with
his mother and brothers, Flarvey and Elisha
Austin, to the Shaker settlement at Enfield,
Connecticut, and they joined that community
and he remained a member up to 1854, when
his brother Harvey, an elder in the society,
married and the brothers left the community
and settled in Springfield. He established the
seed business in Springfield as Lyman and Son,
which grew to large proportions, the firm both
importing and exporting seeds and supplying
dealers in both the New England and Middle
States. He was an earnest advocate of tem
perance and affiliated with both the Sons of
Temperance and the Good Templars organiza
tions. He was at one time a member of the
Masonic fraternity, but withdrew from the
order. Fle established the Plymouth Press
and conducted it for a time, but subsequently
disposed of the property. He married (first),
on leaving the Shaker community, Caroline

Blodgett ; children: 1. Gilbert Edward, born
February 2, 1856, died December 2, 1859. 2.
John Alonzo, born March 12, 1857, died July
2, 1857. 3. Herbert Mason, born December
6, 1858, died May 30, 1859. Edward Mason
Lyman married (second) June 9, 1868, Eliza
M. Bayliss Hopkins, daughter of John and
Ann (Fisher) Bayliss, of Birmingham, Eng
land, a well known family of manufacturers
of military and sporting arms and supplies.
Children : 4. Alice May, married Nelson L.
Elmer and they had two children. 5. Albert
Edward, married Valborg ErichSen and they
had three children.

(For preceding generations see John Hawks or
Hawkes 1).
(V) Jared, third son of Joshua
HAWKS and Abigail (Flastings) Hawkes,
is claimed by tradition to have
been born at Fort Pelham, March 27, 1752.
He was baptized October 8, 1752, died Decem
ber 14, 1828, at Charlemont. Sheldon's "His
tory of Deerfield" says he married Hannah,
daughter of Nehemiah May. A sketch pub
lished by Herbert V. and Martha O. (Hawks)
Bullock, states that he married, September 16,
1773, Elizabeth Fales, who died January 1,
1830. They had eleven children : Jared, Cal
vin B., Eleazer, Boswell, James, Erastus,
Horace, Elizabeth, Ruth, Sylvia and Harvey.
(VI) Calvin B. Hawks (as he spelled the
name), second son of Jared and Elizabeth
(Fales) Hawkes, was born in Charlemont,
March 18, 1784, died in Shelbourne Falls, Jan
uary 24, 1874. He was engaged in farming
and lived at Buckland. He married (first)
February 26, 181 1, Clarissa Butler, born July
24, 1789, died November 3, 1819, daughter of
Athearn and Desire (Allen) Butler; (second)
Cordelia, sister of his first wife, September
28, 1820. She was born December 12, 1803,
died December 15, 1842. Clarissa and Cor
delia Butler were descendants as follows :
(I) Nicholas Butler, of Dorchester, Massa
chusetts, came with his wife Joyce, three chil
dren and five servants from Eastwell, in the
county of Kent, England, in 1636, as is shown
by the records of the custom house at Sand
wich, England. He was a freeman March. 14,
1639, and removed to Martha's Vineyard, 1651.
(II) John, son of Nicholas and Joyce But
ler, possibly baptized September 22, 1645, died
July, 1658. He married Mary, surname not
known, and left four sons from whom are
descended all the Butlers of Martha's Vine
yard.

282

MASSACHUSETTS.

(Ill) John (2), son of John (1) and Mary
Butler, married Priscilla Norton. They had
a son Samuel and others.
(IV) Samuel, son Of John (2) and Pris
cilla (Norton) Butler, lived on the Vineyard
and had a family.
(V) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1) Butler,
was born in Edgartown, December 25, 1727,
died in Providence, Rhode Island, June 29,
1814. He married Mary Athearn, born Sep
tember 16, 1 73 1, died in Providence, January,
1819, aged eighty-eight. She was the daughter
of Jethro and Mary Athearn.
(VI) Athearn, son of Samuel (2) and Mary
(Athearn) Butler, was born on Martha's Vine
yard, July 21, 1763, died May 6, 1814. He
married, October 2, 1788, Desire Allen, born
in Martha's Vineyard, November 7, 1767, died
January 13, 1843, at Williamsburg, to which
place they had removed. They had seven chil
dren : Clarissa, Sophia, Desire, Cordelia,
Mary Ann and Caroline.
The children of Calvin B. and Clarissa
(Butler) Hawks were: 1. Athearn Butler,
born March 30, 181 5, moved to Americus,
Georgia, and died there December 13, 1864,
leaving a widow and three sons. 2. Elizabeth
Fales, borri in Charlemont, February 12, 1817,
died in Buckland, June 6, 1830; married Will
iam Stearns, September 26, 1842. He died in
1845. A daughter born to them at Williams
burg, June 8, 1843, named Cynthia Cordelia,
died in Northampton, July 8, 1906. To
Calvin B. and Cordelia (Butler) Hawks
were born two sons, Theron H. and Sereno
Dwight. (VII) Theron Holbrook, son of Calvin
B. and Cordelia (Butler) Hawks, was born in
Charlemont, October 24, 1821. He was edu
cated in a private school at Buckland and at
Williams College, graduating from the latter
institution with the degree of A. B. with the
class of 1844, and as valedictorian. After
graduation he assumed teaching and taught in
Baltimore, Maryland, 1845-47; New York
City, 1847-48, and then became a student at
the Union Theological School in the years 1848-
51. He was instructor in Spingler Institution,
New York City, 1849-54. From 185 1 till 1854
he was an instructor at Union Seminary;
March 7, 1855, he was ordained pastor of the
Congregational church at West Springfield and
preached there from 1855 to 1861. Subse
quently he accepted a call and became pastor
in Cleveland, Ohio, of Second Presbyteriari
Church, 1861-68, and later in Marietta, Ohio,

of First Congregational Church, from 1869 to
1883. Returning to Massachusetts, he was in
structor in the School for Christian Workers
at Springfield from 1885 to 1895, and in the
latter year filled a similar position in the
Bible Normal College, a reorganization of the
former, and in 1885-86 in the Hartford Theo
logical Seminary. He was a member of the
school committee of West Springfield, 1855"
61 ; trustee of Mount Holyoke College, 1858-
61 ; of Western Reserve College, 1865-69; cor
porate member of American Board Commis
sioners Foreign Missions, 1871-91, and mod
erator of the Ohio Congregational Conference,
1870. He was a member of the American
Institute of Civics, the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, and was made D.
D. by Williams College in 1864. He retired
in 1900 from teaching, full of years and
honors, enjoying the rest to which a busy life
profitably spent entitles him. He married, June
5, 1855, Mary Oakes Hoadley, born in New
York City, November 17, 1830, daughter of
David Hoadley, president of the American
Exchange Bank, and later of the Panama rail
road. Her mother was Mary (Hotchkiss)
Hoadley. They had five children: 1. Mary
Hoadley, born at West Springfield, May 12,
1856, married Oscar Howard Mitchell, pro
fessor of mathematics in Marietta College,
who was born October 4, 18.51, died March 29,
1889. 2. Winthrop Butler, born April 13,
1858, in West Springfield, died in Colorado
Springs, March 24, 1885. He graduated A. B.
from Marietta College in 1878, and attended
Yale Seminary, 1879-1883. 3. Elizabeth
Sprague, born in West Springfield, October
15, 1859, lives in Springfield. 4. Theron Hol
brook, born February 1, 1862, at Cleveland,
Ohio, received the degree of A. B. from Mari
etta College in 1882. He is now in business
in Duluth, Minnesota. He married Florence
L. Curtis, daughter of R. L. Curtis, of Mari
etta, Ohio. She was born January 25, 1866.
Children : Russell Curtis, born September 14,
1889, died August 10, 1890, at Duluth; Theron
H, born September 10, 1892; Rollin Curtis,
born May 2, 1895, both at Duluth. 5. Eleanor
Russell, born in Cleveland, Ohio, November 8,
1865, married, January 14, 1891, William G.
Schauffler, M. D. ; she died December 23, 1891,
at Beirut, Syria, leaving one son, William G,
born November 24, 1891. Rev. Theron H.
Hawks died at his home in Springfield, No
vember 19, 1908, having just passed his eighty-
seventh birthday.

MASSACHUSETTS.

283

This Welsh name is derived from
ELLIS "Aleck's," the possessive form
adopted in many names of similar
origin. Instead of saying William's David, the
.Welsh used the expression, "David, William's,"
and this usage gave rise to such names as Evans,
Jones (John's), Edwards, Harris (Harry's),
and so through the long category. Many immi
grants of the name are found of early record
in New England, the first being among the
Puritans of Plymouth. Another family springs
from Dedham, and both sent out a large pro
geny. The arrival of the family herein traced
dates at a later period, but it is identified by
marriage with many of the oldest New Eng
land families.
(I) The first ancestor in this country was
Richard Ellis, the son of a Welshman who
served as an officer in the British army. Rich
ard was born in Dublin, Ireland, August 16,
1704, and spent the first thirteen years of his
life in the various posts of that island, as the
location of the military forces changed. His
father having died, his mother bought his
cabin passage to Virginia, where she expected
he would find a home with an uncle resident
there. The captain of the vessel in which he
sailed was none too honest, and upon landing
at a Masachusetts port sold the boy's time till
of age, according to a custom of those days,
claiming that he was a pauper. At Easton,
Bristol county, Massachusetts, in 1728, Rich
ard Ellis married Jane, daughter of Captain
John Phillips, a soldier of the expedition
against Quebec, in 1690, and in 1740 Richard
Ellis removed from Easton to Deerfield; Mass
achusetts, and shortly afterward began clear
ing, and erected a log cabin in Ashfield (then
called Huntstown), whither he took his family
in 1745. This constituted the first settlement
of that town, where a handsome monument
has been erected by his descendants. He died
there in his ninety-fourth year, and left a large
posterity, none of whom have lived in that
town for more than half a century. Eight of
his nine children grew to maturity and reared
large families. His youngest son, Caleb, set
tled at Ellisburg, Jefferson county, New York,
and a grandson, Richard, settled a place bear
ing the same name in Potter county, Pennsyl
vania. Several thousand of his descendants
are known to be now living, and many of them
have been pioneers of New York, Pennsyl
vania, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and all over
the northwestern states, reaching to Oregon
and Texas. Many were soldiers in the revolu
tionary war.

(II) Reuben, eldest child of Richard and
Jane (Phillips) Ellis, born November 5, 1728,
in Easton, lived at Ashfield, Massachusetts. He
married, June 4, 1749, in Sunderland, Mehit
able, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Scott,
early settlers of Sunderland. They became
parents of seven children.
(Ill) Deacon David, youngest son of Reu
ben and Mehitable (Scott) Ellis, was born
January 30, 1763, and removed from Ashfield
to Springfield, Erie county, Pennsylvania, in
1818; with him went his two sons, David and
William. Deacon David Ellis was an ardent
Baptist, and served many years as deacon in
the church, sometimes taking the pulpit in the
absence of a regular pastor. His Sabbath
always began at sunset Saturday night, at
which time all the farm work must be stopped
until Monday. He married Sarah, daughter
of Deacon Samuel Washburn, a prominent
pioneer citizen of Ashfield. She was a woman
of unusual refinement and, like her husband,
an ardent Baptist. Many interesting incidents
in the lives of these people may be found in
the Ellis Genealogy, a volume of four hundred
eighty-three pages, published by Dr. E. R.
Ellis, of Detroit, Michigan.
(IV) William, oldest son of Deacon David
and Sarah (Washburn) Ellis, was born in
Ashfield, March 28, 1787. He and his brother
David were noted for their skill in martial
music, and were active members of the Penn
sylvania militia. Their father served through
the revolution, and after the close of the
struggle was a lieutenant in the Massachu
setts militia. William Ellis married Rhoda,
daughter of Captain Lamrock, granddaughter
of Major Lamrock Flower, prominent among
the early settlers of Ashfield. She was born
in Ashfield, September 27, 1789, and died Au
gust 26, 1864. William Ellis and his wife
were both pious and devoted Baptists. They
had ten children, nine of whom reached matur
ity and seven reared families. William Ellis
died May 13, 1873.
(V) Charles Perkins, second child of Will
iam and Rhoda (Flower) Ellis, was born in
Ashfield, Massachusetts, March 20, 1812, and
was six years old when his parents removed
from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania. At the
age of eight years he was accustomed to take a
light axe, provided for that purpose, and go
regularly to the woods to assist in clearing up
the farm. Springfield was a heavily wooded
township, along the shore of Lake Erie, and
afforded few educational advantages; the set
tlers were poor, and the free school system

284

MASSACHUSETTS.

was not adopted in that state until 1840. For
three months in the year a school was main
tained in a log school house, with slabs for
seats and desks, light being admitted at the
windows through greased paper. The prin
cipal qualification exacted of the teacher was
ability to properly flog the larger boys.
On reaching manhood, C. P. Ellis found em
ployment in the lumber region, along French
creek, one of the principal tributaries of the
Allegheny river, and continued to work for
several winters at logging, going down the
rivers to the mouth of the Ohio with rafts in
the spring. After leaving the raft he made
his way northward through Indiana and Mich
igan, working on the farms along the way as
the season advanced, and put in several
autumns at carpenter work in Michigan. He
acquired eighty acres of fine timber and prairie
land in Cass county, Michigan, which he sub
sequently traded for property, including a
team of horses and a wagon, with which he
made the trip from Pennsylvania to Walworth
county, Wisconsin, in 1842. At this time La-
Grange, where he located, was peopled by
about a dozen families, and those several miles
away ; even people in adjoining townships
were considered neighbors, and Indians were
numerous not far away. Here the last thirty-
nine years of his life were spent. He secured
one hundred twenty acres, and at first made
his home in a log cabin on the northeast corner
of Section 21 ; this was replaced by a frame
building in 1848, which in turn gave place to
a larger and more pretentious dwelling, on the
same site. For several years the second struc
ture served as a hotel, until the construction
of a railroad six miles north diverted the line
of travel. The wayfarer was never turned
away, and this was considered the home of
any passing clergyman, whatever his creed.
December 15, 1839, Mr. Ellis married Sarah
Harris, who was born May 11, 1816, in Hen
derson, Jefferson county, New York, and died
January 7, 1894, at her home in LaGrange,
Wisconsin, in her seventy-eighth year. She
was a daughter of Jeremiah and Priscilla
(Cole) Harris, who settled in Springfield,
Pennsylvania, in 1824. The father of Jere
miah Harris was Anthony Harris, born June
5, 1736, in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and a
pioneer settler in- Richmond, New Hampshire,
where Jeremiah was born May 8, 1768. Anth
ony was a son of Richard (2), son of Richard
(1), mentioned elsewhere in this work. Pris
cilla Cole was a daughter of Barnabas Cole,
who was born in Chatham, Massachusetts,

and is supposed to have been a descendant of
Isaac Cole, who was born in Sandwich, county
Kent, England, and settled in Massachusetts,
in March, 1634. Anthony Harris was a
brother of Mercy Ballou, wife of Rev.
Maturin and mother of Rev. Hosea Ballou,
one of the pioneers of Universalism in New
England. While Mrs. Ellis had received but a limited
education in the primitive schools of western
Pennsylvania, she was an eager reader, and
secured a large fund of general information.
She lived in a realm above petty gossip, and
though her life was a somewhat narrow one,
her mind was not. She never complained of
her privations and disadvantages, but patiently
devoted herself to her home, her husband and
children. A daughter and two sons survived
her — Priscilla R., James A. and Charles E.
The daughter is Mrs. John E. Menzie, of La-
Grange. They revere her memory as that of
a sincere Christian, whose life is an inspira
tion to noble thoughts and the patient, faith
ful performance of every duty that may come
before them. The following words from the
pen of one of her neighbors appeared in a
local journal : "Charitably disposed, of a medi
tative nature, she was one of those persons
who if they have troubles never trouble others
with a recital of them, and of whom it may
be truly said the world is better for their hav
ing lived in it. She early discarded the doc
trine of eternal punishment for the beautiful
sentiment that 'The ways of man are narrow,
but the gates of heaven are wide.' As she
lived, so she died. Quietly, under the lengthen
ing shadows and into the purple twilight she
crossed the dark river, to the friends on the
other side, leaving to those that follow the
noble legacy of a long life well spent."
Mr. Ellis was reared under strict Baptist
teachings, and was often cautioned by his
grandmother, Sarah Washburn Ellis, against
the danger of Universalism, but from the age
of thirty years he steadfastly adhered to the
latter faith. He was an active supporter of
religious services, arid for many years the only
churches in LaGrange were owned by Meth
odists. It was partly through his influence
-and efforts that the church near his home,
which was begun by the Methodist denomina
tion and remained for many years in a partially
completed state, was jointly finished and dedi
cated by the Methodists and Universalists of
the neighborhood, not as a union church, but
free to all Christian denominations. From
early manhood he was an advocate of human

MASSACHUSETTS.

285

liberty, and joined the Republican party at its
inception. He was an active worker in its
town and county councils, nearly all his life,
and often served as a town officer ; he never
sought any higher position. He was town
treasurer in 1844 and was four times subse
quently elected to that position; in 1845 he
was elected supervisor, and at different times
filled that office for eight terms. In his house
the first town meeting was held. He never
signed a temperance pledge, but lived a most
temperate life, advocating that course because
it was right, and not because others did or urged
it. This was his rule in everything, to do right
from principle, and not through fear of punish
ment or hope of reward. He died at his home in
LaGrange, January 22, 1881, and the follow
ing testimonial of his character is taken from
an obituary published in the Whitewater Regis
ter, from the pen of a prominent citizen of
LaGrange : "The writer of these lines has
known the deceased for nearly thirty-five
years, and for the greater portion of that time
was privileged to enjoy his friendship. With
loving reverence for his memory, he testifies
to his manly virtues. Pie was a man of stain
less character and strict integrity and solid
worth. In his social relations he was genial
and pleasant, being possessed of that personal
magnetism which wins friends, and of those
fine qualities of heart which retain them. He
was a kind neighbor, and a good citizen, a
faithful husband and indulgent parent. He
was a man who always took the keenest inter
est in all questions affecting the public good,
and his opinions of men and measures were
broad and liberal. In religious matters he
had clear and well defined views; he believed
in the infinite love and compassion of God,
in the universal brotherhood of mankind, and
in the ultimate salvation of all men. There
was no doubt in his mind touching these
things, hence in the hour of death he was
' Sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, and approached the grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.' "
(VI) James Alfred, elder son of Charles
P. and Sarah (Harris) Ellis, was born April
15, 1852, in LaGrange, where he grew to
maturity. He attended the district school near
his home, and began teaching in the schools
of the county at the age of nineteen years.
After teaching several years in Wisconsin, he
entered the office of the Green Bay Advocate,
where he learned to set type, and was soon

placed in charge of its job printing depart
ment. He had been a contributor to various
newspapers and naturally drifted into help
ing in the editorial department of the paper.
He was subsequently the editor of papers in
Wisconsin and Illinois, and was at one time a
reporter on the staff of the Chicago Times,
from which position he went to the prepara
tion of works similar to this, January 1, 1883.
Since that time he has given little time to any
thing else, and has been privileged to assist in
preparing this work. He adheres to the relig
ious tenets of his parents, is an enthusiastic Re
publican, and an earnest working Odd Fellow,
having held many honors in the order. He
married, February 8, 1873, at Hebron, Wis
consin, Eva Lucretia Williams, born October
24, 1855, in Cold Spring, Wisconsin, eldest
daughter of Horace and Olive (Delano) Will
iams, the latter a lineal descendant of Philip
de la Noye (Delano), who came on the "For
tune" to Plymouth in 1621. Children: Cicero
Guy, born October 31, 1873, a postal clerk
on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul rail
road ; Julia Maud, August 6, 1875, wife of
Edward E. Lee, of Chicago; Priscilla May,
January 8, 1878, wife of Joshua Danforth
Mallette, of Chicago ; Minnie Madge, July 26,
1879, unmarried; Charles Williams, July 1,
1881, a resident of Illinois; James Horace,
November 19, 1882, residing in Chicago ; Will
iam David, September 2, 1885, also of Chi
cago; Philip de la Noye, June 18, 1895, a
student in school.

John Ellis, or Ellice, the immi-
ELLIS grant ancestor of this family line,
resided in Medfield, where he was
among the thirteen original proprietors. He
may have been a brother of Thomas Ellis, of
Medfield, and perhaps also of Richard, Joseph
and Ann Ellis, of Dedham, immigrants. John
Ellis was the thirtieth signer of the Dedham
Covenant, and attended town meeting. He
was admitted a freeman June 2, 1641. He
married (first) at Dedham, November 10,
1 64 1, Susanna Lumber, who died at Medfield,
April 5, 1653; (second) June 16, 1655, Joan,
widow of John Clap, of Dorchester. After
her marriage she was dismissed from the Dor
chester to the Medfield church. She died at
Medfield, March 2, 1703-4. He died April 2,
1697, leaving a will dated September 24, 1690,
proved June 24, 1697. Children of first wife :
1. John, born April 26, 1646; mentioned
below. 2. Susanna, married Matthias Evans.
3. Hannah, born at Medfield, April 9, 165 1 ;

286

MASSACHUSETTS.

married Samuel Rockwood. Children of
second wife : 4. Samuel, born May 24, 1660 ;
died March 24, 1684, unmarried. 4. Joseph,
born October 24, 1662. 6. Eleazer, April 24,
1664. (II) John (2), son of John (1) Ellis, was
born April 26, 1646, and died in 1716. He
settled on the west side of the Charles river,
in Medfield. He married (first) in 1677, Mary
Herring; (second) in 1698, Mary Hill, of
Sherborn, who was living a widow as late as
1729. Children: 1. John, born 1678. 2.
Joseph, mentioned below. 3. Mary, born
1686; married, 1701, Zachary Partridge;
(second) John Barber. 4. Sarah, born 1687,
died 1705 ; married, 1704, Nathaniel Wight. 5.
Hannah, born 1688; married John Taylor. 6.
Samuel, "born 1699, died 1769, inherited
father's estate in Medway.
(Ill) Joseph, son of John (2) Ellis, was
born in 1681, and died at Medway, September
29, 1754, aged seventy- four yeafs. He lived
at Wrentham, near Medway, and his death is
recorded at Medway. He married, at Wrent
ham, Catherine  , who died at Medway,
January 20, 1760. Children: 1. Joseph, born
July 14, 1712, at Dedham. 2. Gideon, born
June 29, 1714. 3. John, baptized May 7, 1727.
4. Asa, mentioned below. Probably others not
found on records.
(IV) Asa, son of Joseph Ellis, was born in
Medway or Wrentham, in May, 1730, and
baptized in the Medway church, May 3, 1730.
He married, at Medway, May 30, 1753, Mar
garet Bucknam. He was a soldier in the revo
lution, clerk of Captain Joseph Lovell's com
pany, Fourth Regiment; marched to War
wick, Rhode Island on the alarm of December,
1775; also served in Rhode Island campaign
of 1778; his name appears on list returned by
committee of the town of Medway, April j.5,
1778, as having served at various times since
April 19, 1775. Children, born at Medway:
1. Hannah, August 24, 1754. 2. Elizabeth,
November 7, 1759. 3. Charlotte, September 8,
1762, died May 18, 1768. 4. Nathan Buck
nam, October 16, 1764. 5. Joseph, October
31, 1766, died November 6, 1666. 6. Gregory,
August 19, 1769. 7. Mina, born October 31,
1771, died September 8, 1775. 8. Nancy, No
vember 1, 1774. 9. Shepard, mentioned below.
(V) Shepard, son of Asa Ellis, was born in
Medway, November 16, 1776. He lived at
Medway and Ware, Massachusetts, and Rock
ville, Stafford, and Coventry, Connecticut,
working in the mills in those towns, following
the trade of wool dyeing. He married Electa

Johnson, of Dana, Massachusetts. Children :
1. Dwight Warren, born in Dana, mentioned
below; Justus J., Stillman, Matilda, Clemen
tine, Mary, Isabel, Susan.
(VI) Dwight Warren, son of Shepard
Ellis, was born at Dana, Massachusetts, De
cember 22, 1824. During his boyhood he lived
in Ware, Massachusetts, and in Rockville,
Stafford, and Coventry, Connecticut, working
in the mills and attending the public schools in
winter terms. He attended Monson Academy
one term. He learned the dyer's trade of his
father, continuing through all the depart
ments of the woolen manufacture. In 1849 he
accepted a position as superintendent in the
Shaw mills at Wales, Massachusetts. After
four years he gave up this position and
engaged in the manufacture of boots and
shoes. In two years he lost all his property
and returned to his trade, filling positions in
various woolen mills as superintendent. In
1863 he rented a small woolen mill in North
Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and made a good
start, but lost the mill by fire after a year and
a half. Afterwards he considered this disaster
a blessing in disguise, for he bought the water
privilege, built a larger and more modern mill,
and- soon had a prosperous business. In 1868
he became owner of the Orcuttville mill in
Stafford, Connecticut, in partnership with
Julius Converse, in addition to his mill at Wil
braham. In 1870 he purchased the water privi
lege and tenement houses in South Monson,
and built a new mill in the place of one
recently destroyed by fire. Here also he estab
lished a profitable industry, greatly to the ben
efit of the town in which it was located, as
well as to himself. He made his home in
South Monson and built a handsome residence
there. His health failed as his years advanced,
and he sold his interests in the mill at Staf
ford. He turned over the management of the
Wilbraham mill to a brother with whom he
entered partnership, and the Monson mill to
his son Arthur, whom he admitted to partner
ship. Mr. Ellis ranks among the foremost and
most successful woolen manufacturers of
Hampden county, in his generation. His
determination and pertinacity won success
after a series of losses and failures. He knew
the business thoroughly and, once in the pos
session of sufficient capital, was uniformly
successful in business. He was highly hon
ored and respected in the community in which
he lived and in those in which he did business.
In politics Mr. Ellis was a Republican, but
never sought office. In religion he was a Uni-

MASSACHUSETTS.

287

versalist, and took an active part in church
work. He donated one-half of the total cost
of the building of the First Universalist
Church of Monson. He died February 6, 1889.
He married, March 27, 1849, Mary Puffer,
born April 9, 1826, daughter of George Puffer,
born at Medway in 1791 (see Puffer). Chil
dren: 1. Arthur Dwight, born at Wales,
Massachusetts, October 18, 1850; mentioned
below. 2. Frank P., born August 19, 1852,
died November 30, 1875. 3. Frederick W.,born
at Wales, April 10, 1857 ; graduate of Harvard
Medical School, class of 1881. 4. Milton G.,
born March 28, i860, died June 9, 1863.
(VII) Arthur Dwight, son of Dwight Warren
Ellis, was born at Wales, Massachusetts, Octo
ber 18, 1850. He was educated in the public
schools. He began his business career in asso
ciation with his father. After a few years he
was taken into partnership, and took charge of
the mill in Monson. Since the death of his
father he has had charge of the business,
which has been constantly extended. In 1900
he bought the New Reynolds mill, operated by
the firm of Ellis & Ricketts, of which he is
senior partner. In 1905 he bought the old
Reynolds mill, and after operating it two
years demolished the old structure, and in
1908 is building a modern mill on the old site.
Mr. Ellis and his uncle, Justus J. Ellis, owned
mills in Stafford, Connecticut. Since the death
of his uncle Mr. Ellis has become the sole pro
prietor. Mr. Ellis is generous with his wealth,
and has evinced much public spirit. He
co-operated with the town in building the mag
nificent new stone bridge on Main street in
1907, giving a large part of the money
required. He is a trustee of the Monson Sav
ings Bank, and since 1906 has been vice-presi
dent. In politics he is a Republican. He is a
prominent member of the Universalist Church,
of which he is a trustee and chairman of the
parish committee.
He married, October 1, 1879, Martha Rob
inson, born in Birmingham, England, died
March, 1888, daughter of Nathaniel Robinson.
He married (second) Mrs. Clara (Holbrook)
Ellis. Children of the first wife: 1. Louise,
born May 30, 1883; married Fritz W. Bald
win. 2. Dwight Warren, born November 18,
1885; graduate of Monson Academy and
Lowell Textile School; is associated with his
father in the woolen business.
(The Puffer Line).
The surname Puffer, Poffer or Pougher,
seems to be of German origin. The American

immigrant, George Puffer, unquestionably
from England, settled in Boston as early as
1639, among Englishmen. The only English
family found after a careful search of avail
able English records is traced back to one
William Pougher, or Puffer, born about 1690,
died at Hart's Hill, near Atherstone, county
Warwick, England. From the fact that he
had a grandson George and that no other
family of the name is to be found, it is reason
able to believe that George the immigrant was
related. The family of Puffer was* located in
Hesse, Germany, before 1569, wHen one of
the family was ennobled for civic services.
General Joseph Puffer of Austria, a Baron,
was doubtless of this German family. He was
born May 11, 180I ; knight of the Order of
the Iron Crown, second class.
(I) George Puffer, of Boston, Massachu
setts, had land granted him for five heads at
Mount Wollasfon, later Braintree. According
to one account he died September 27, 1639,
and no record of him as living after that date
has been found. He and his descendants lived
in old Braintree nearly a century. The orig
inal homestead was located about two miles
east of the Old Colony railroad station (now
New York, New Haven & Hartford), in
Quincy, Massachusetts. His widow died Feb
ruary 12, 1677, at Braintree. Children: 1.
James, mentioned below. 2. Matthias, mar
ried March 12, 1662, Rachel Farnsworth. 3.
Mary, died July 22, 1700.
(II) James, son of George Puffer; was born
about 1624, in England. He came to Brain
tree with his father in 1639, and when his
father died carried on the farm for his mother,
and succeeded to its ownership. He was also
a boatman, living at Ship Cove, now Quincy
Neck. He also owned land in what is now
Randolph, Massachusetts. He died at Brain
tree, July 25, 1692, aged about sixty-eight. He
married, February 14, 1656, at Braintree,
Mary Ludden, born at Weymouth, December
17, 1636, daughter of James Ludden, who was
a corporal and town officer at Weymouth.
Children, born at Braintree: 1. Richard,
March 14, 1657, mentioned below. 2. Martha,
December 28, 1658 ; died unmarried, March 29,
1 70 1. 3. Mary, February 1-1, 1659-60; mar
ried at Boston, November 26, 1700, Philip
Blackler. 4. James, May 5, 1663. 5. Ruth,
January 25, 1667, died January 29, 1667. 6.
Rachel, January 25, 1667 (twin) ; married,
January 7, 1695, Eleazer Isgate, of Braintree.
7. Jabez, February 4, 1672; married, Decem
ber 3, 1702, Mary Glazier.

288

MASSACHUSETTS.

(Ill) Richard, son of James Puffer, was
born at Braintree, March 14, 1657. He lived
at Wrentham. He deeded twenty acres of land
at Mendon to John Whiting in exchange for
twenty acres at Papanuttuck, March 1, 1702.
He married, at Dorchester, March 23, 1681,
Ruth, daughter of Richard Everett, of Ded
ham. He died August 3, 1723, and his son
William was appointed administrator of his
estate February 21, 1724. Children: 1. Ruth,
born at Dedham, March 17, 1682; married,
December 12, 1706, John Day, of Wrentham;
married (second) John Hill; died March 17,
1768. 2. Mary, born at Dedham, January 21,
1684; married, December 26, 1705, Ralph
Day; died December 30, 1769. 3. William,
born July 17, 1686; mentioned below. 4.
Richard, born at Wrentham, July 17, 1689;
died February 12, 1758; married, July 11,
1719, Anna Hawes. 5. Rachel, married June
14, 1722, Edward Gay; died May 17, 1754. 6.
Sarah, born about 1696; married, May 12,
1741, Samuel Morse; died February 8, 1772.
7. Benoni, born at Wrentham, January 4,
1697-8; died January 16, 1697-8.
(IV) William, son of Richard Puffer, was
born at Wrentham, July 17, 1686, and was
living there as late as 1745. He married, May
25, 1710, Elizabeth, daughter of John Guild,
of Wrentham. He was a proprietor of Keene,
New Hampshire, and partner in the Land
Bank in 1740. His widow died at Canterbury,
Connecticut, November 14, 1762. Children:
1. William, born March 9, 1712; mentioned
below. 2. Timothy, born January 17, 1713-14;
probably of Keene, New Hampshire, and later
of Swanzey, New Hampshire. 3. Elizabeth,
born January 2, 1716; married, April 27, 1737,
John Hancock. 4. Richard, born April 3,
1718. 5. Sarah, born June 6, 1719; married,
May 6, 1746, Joshua Prebel. 6. Seth, born
July 1, 1 72 1. 7. Esther, born 1727, died
March 15, 1742-3.
(V) William (2), son of William (1)
Puffer, was born March 9, 1712, and died
October 7, 1792. He was partner in the Land
Bank in 1740. He resided in Wrentham and
Norton, fle married August 30, 1733, Rebecca
Ware. He died at Medway in 1754. Chil
dren, the first five born at Wrentham, the rest
at Norton: 1. William, April 24, 1734; men
tioned below. 2. Elijah, August 18, 1737. 3.
John, September 24, 1739, died October 8,
1743. 4. Rebecca, November 18, 1741 ; mar
ried, 1761, Moses Ware, Jr.. 5. Esther,
January 14, 1744, married, December 3, 1772,
Jesse Read. 6. John, May 27, 1746. 7. Timo

thy, April 19, 1748; in the revolution. 8.
Mehitable, April 1, 1750. 9. Mary, February
21, 1752; married, October 24, 1771, David
Cobb, of Hallowell. 10. Benjamin, July 25,
1754- (VI) William (3), son of William (2)
Puffer, was born at Wrentham, April 24,
1734, and died at Monson, January 15, 1809.
He was in the revolution, in Captain Samuel
Fisher's company, in 1780. He was a select
man of Monson. He married (first) Feb
ruary 27, 1753, Mary Wetherell, at Norton,
Massachusetts; (second) intentions dated Oc
tober 15, 1781, Mrs. Anna Metcalf; (third)
Susannah Ellis, of Foxboro, born October 6,
1742, died at Monson, July 29, 1823. Chil
dren, born at Norton: 1. Molly, August 14,
1754; married, January 11, 1787, Daniel
Wight. 2. William, February 2, 1757; mar
ried, April 18, 1799, Mrs. Susan Ellis, at Med
field. 3. Timothy, March 25, 1759. 4. George,
August 3, 1761 (twin). '5. Chloe, August 3,
1761 (twin). 6.-*Phebe, December 18, 1763;
married, 1781, Joseph Grout, of Westford. 7.
Job, 1767; mentioned below. 8. Tisdale, born
about 1 77 1.
(VII) Lieutenant Job, son of William (3)
Puffer, was born at Foxboro, September 7,
1767, and died at Monson, June 4, 1836. He
married, December 26, 1787, Nancy Knowl
ton, born at Medway, February 17, 1767, died
June 4, 1856. Children, born at Medway: 1.
Elizabeth, January 21, 1788. 2. George, April
27, 1791 ; mentioned below. 3. Job, May 14,
1797, died at Charleston, South Carolina,
1831. 4. Timothy Metcalf, September 5,
1798; married, August 22, 1826, Bethsheba
Beals. 5. William H, December 6, 1800. 6.
Lowell, resided at Dansville, New York. 7.
John, merchant; resided at Redfield, Dallas
county, Texas, whence in 1840 he removed to
Waltham, Vermont, and thence to Essex, Ver
mont. (VIII) George (2), son of Lieutenant Job
Puffer, was born at Medway, April 27, 1791.
He lived at Monson and Brimfield, Massachu
setts. He was a mechanic, and ran a carding
mill in the west part of the town of Brim-
field. He married (first) in 181 1, Sally Ferry,
who died in 1814; (second) in 1817, Sarah
Gardner, born at Monson, 1794, died Septem
ber 6, 1830; (third) Mrs. Lucinda Edson, who
died at Monson, September, 1877. Child of
first wife: 1. Sarah F., born 1814; married,
August 20, 1832, Asa Foskett; died 1842.
Children of second wife: 2. George Metcalf,
born November 18, 1818, at Brimfield. 3.

MASSACHUSETTS.

289

Milton Gardner, June 14, 1819. 4. Betsey
Ann, 1822; married B. F. Hoag; died 1859.
5. Mary B., 1826; married, March 27, 1849,
D. W. Ellis (see Ellis). 6. Abigail, 1830;
married, March 25, 185 1, Henry Bodurtha.

The Quincy family of Amer-
QUINCY ica and England has had many
distinguished men in both
ancient and modern times. The surname is
said to be derived from the name of a town
in Normandy. In the Roll of Battle Abbey
the name appears several times, spelled
Quancey, Quinci and Quincy. It is not found
in Domesday Book, and the earliest record of
land titles of the family is in the Manor of
Buckby, of Northamptonshire, being given by
Henry II to the famous Baron Saher de
Quinci, who signed the Magna Charta. His
son Roger became the third Earl of Win
chester. At one time an American family
possessed a parchment pedigree of the lineage
back to the time of the Norman Conquest,
but unfortunately it has been lost. The arms
used by the family after coming to America:
Gules seven mascles conjoined or three, three
and one. Motto : Sine macula macla. These
arms are found on the seal of an unexecuted
will of Edmund Quincy, son of the American
immigrant, affixed about 1695. After coming
to America the family adopted a coat-of-arms
known as the seven diamonds.
(I) Edmund Quincy, father of the Amer
ican immigrant, resided at Wigsthorpe, a
hamlet in the parish of Lilford, county North
ampton. He was buried at Lilford, March 9,
1627-8. His will was proved in the district
court at Peterborough, March 14, 1627-8, by
his widow Anne. His widow's will is dated
January 29, 1630-1. She was then living at
Wigsthorpe. The will was proved at the
Prerogative Court of Canterbury, April 6,
163 1, by John Quincy, son and executor. Ed
mund Quincy was a yeoman of the middle
class, not educated, but thrifty and prosper
ous and of good social standing. He owned
the leaseholds of several farms, and the be
quests in his will were on the scale that only
a man of some wealth could afford. His will
mentions "a habitation or dwelling house to
be erected by his son Edmund upon his free
hold at Thorpe" (Wigsthorpe). That he stood
high in the estimation of his neighbors is
shown by his two elections to the office of
church warden, and by the excellent marriages
of his daughters.
Edmund Quincy was baptized December 21,
i— 19

1559. He may have been the son of John,
Thomas or Richard Quincy, all of whom were
living in that parish at the time of his birth.
He married, October 15, 1593, Anne Palmer,
at Lilford. Children: 1. Anne, baptized Sep
tember 22, 1594; married, at Lilford, Janu
ary 22, 1617-8, John Hills. 2. Elizabeth, bap
tized January 25, 1696; married James Hol-
ditch, who was a supervisor of the wills of
the parents of his wife. 3. Hellen, or Ellen,
baptized April 5, 1598; married, at Lilford,
February 9, 1620-1, Boniface Bing. 4. Alice,
baptized September 24, 1600; married, at Lil
ford, July 14, 1623, Edward Rooding; (sec
ond) September 30, 1633, Rev. Thomas Lewis,
Vicar of Lilford. 5. Edmund, baptized May
30, 1602 ; mentioned below. 6. Denis, baptized
February 17, 1604-5; buried June 26 follow
ing. 7. Francis, baptized November 16, 1606;
married, June 25, 1627, Elizabeth Andrew.
8. Christian, married Gabriel Munnes ; resided
at Harold Park, Bedfordshire, gentleman. 9.
John, baptized May 16, 161 1; had by wife
Anne twelve children, all baptized at Lilford.
10. William, baptized January 31, 1612-13, of
Wigsthorpe ; soldier and cornet in Major
Henry Pritte's command, General Cromwell's
regiment. 11. Thomas, baptized August 27,
1615. (II) Edmund (2), son of Edmund (1)
Quincy, was the immigrant ancestor. He was
baptized at Lilford, May 30, 1602, and married
there Judith Pares (Paris). The children they
had in England were doubtless baptized at
Achurch (or Thorpe- Achurch), county North
ampton, ¦ England. About the time of his
father's death in 1628 he emigrated to New
England, afterward returning to England to
bring his family. He came again with his
family in company with Rev. John Cotton,
from Lincolnshire, England, landing at Bos
ton, September 4, 1633. He was a member of
a committee to assess rates November 10,
1634. The town of Boston voted that his
lands and those of William Coddington, at
Mount Wollaston ( Braintree ) , should be
"bounded out," December 14, 1635. He was
a member of the committee to lay out lands
there January 4, 1635-6. "That he was a man
of substance may be inferred from the bring
ing six servants with him; and that he was a
man of weight among the founders of the new
commonwealth appears from his election as a
representative of the town of Boston in the
first general court ever held in Massachusetts
Bay, in 1634. He was also the first named on
the committee appointed (1634) by the town

290

MASSACHUSETTS.

to assess and raise the sum necessary to ex-
. tinguish the title of Mr. Blackstone to the
peninsula on which the city stands. In com
pany with William Coddington, afterwards
governor of Rhode Island, he bought of Chick-
atabut, Sachem of Mos-Wachuset, a tract of
land at North Wollaston, a part of the present
town of Quincy, confirmed to them by the
town of Boston in March, 1636. "He died
about 1636," immediately after he had built
a part of a house yet standing on the estate in
Quincy, now owned by the Colonial Dames.
His widow married Moses Paine, who died
in 1643, and she married (third) Robert Hull,
father of her son-in-law, John Hull, mentioned
below. She was dismissed from Boston to
the Braintree church March 30, 1645. She
died November 29, 1654. Children of Ed
mund and Judith Quincy : I. Judith, born
September 3, 1626; married, May 11, 1647,
John Hull ; died June 22, 1695 ; was one of
the sisters among the seceders from the First
Church who united with their husbands to
form the Third Church, or Old South ; for her
third husband, John Hull, named Point Judith,
in the Narragansett country, where he owned
lands. 2. Edmund, mentioned below.
(Ill) Colonel Edmund (3), son of Edmund
(2) Quincy, was baptized in England, March
15, 1627-8. He married (first) July 26, 1648,
Joanna, or Joane, Hoar, sister of Rev. Leon
ard Hoar (H. C. 1650), third president of
Harvard College, whose grandfather was
Charles Hoar, of Gloucester, England, and
whose father was Sheriff Charles Hoare, of
the "Cittie" of Gloucester. The illustrious
family of Concord, Massachusetts, of whom
Senator George F. Hoar, of Worcester, was
one, were of this Hoar family. Mrs. Joanna
Hoar Quincy died May 16, 1680, and he mar
ried (second) December 8, 1680, Elizabeth
Eliot, daughter of Major General Daniel
Gookin, and widow of Rev. John Eliot, oldest
son of Rev. John Eliot, the Apostle to the
Indians. He lived a private life on his estate
at Braintree; was magistrate, representative
to the general court, and lieutenant-colonel of
the Suffolk regiment. When Governor Andros
was deposed, Quincy was chosen one of the
committee of safety which formed the provi
sional government until the new charter of
William and Mary arrived. He died January
8, 1697-8, leaving his second wife, who died
November 30, 1700. He had a military fun
eral, and his grave is marked by two granite
stones in which his name and arms, cut in
lead, were inserted, but in the revolution the

stones were robbed of the lead, and all
knowledge of their object would have been
lost, had not President John Adams remem
bered the engravings, on the lead. The same
vandals broke the tablet on which the
coat-of-arms was inscribed on the Quincy
tomb. The fragments of this stone have- been
preserved by the family. Children of first
wife: 1. Mary, born March 4, 1650; married
Ephraim Savage (Harvard College, 1662). 2.
Daniel, born February 7, 1651 ; married Anna
Shepard, daughter of Rev. Thomas Shepard
of Charlestown; their son John was speaker
of the house. 3. John, born April 5, 1652.
4. Joanna, born April 16, 1654; married David
flobart, of Hingham. 5. Judith, born June 25,
1655 ; married Rev. John Rayner Jr. 6. Eliz
abeth, born September 28, 1656; married Rev.
Daniel Gookin, of Sherbom, son of General
Daniel Gookin. 7. Edmund, born July 9,
1657 ; died young. 8. Ruth, born October 29,
1658; married John Hunt, of Weymouth,
October 19, 1686. 9. Ann, born about 1663;
died September 3, 1676. 10. Experience, born
March 24, 1667; married William Savill. Chil
dren of second wife: 11. Edmund, mentioned
below. 12. Mary, born December 7, 1684;
married, 1714, Rev. Daniel Baker, of Sherborn.
(IV) Judge Edmund (4), son of Colonel
Edmund (3) Quincy, was born in Braintree,
October 14, 1681, and graduated at Harvard
College in 1699. He was in the public service
almost all his life, as a magistrate, councillor,
and justice of the supreme court. He was
colonel of the Suffolk regiment, when that was
a very important military body. In 1737 the
general court appointed him its agent to repre
sent it in the adjudication of the disputed
boundary between Massachusetts Bay and New
Hampshire. He died, however, very soon
after his arrival in London, February 23,
1 737-8, of the small pox, which he had taken
by inoculation. He was buried in Bunhill
Fields, where a monument was erected to him
by the general court, which also made a grant
of a thousand acres of land in the town of
Lenox to his family in further recognition of
his public services. Two portraits of Judge
Quincy were painted by Symbert, probably in
1728, one of which is deposited in the Boston
Art Museum, the other is preserved by the
family of the late Edmund Quincy, of Ded
ham, mentioned below.
He married, November 20, 1701, Dorothy
Flint, daughter of Rev. Josiah Flint (Harvard
College 1664) of Dorchester. Children, born
at Braintree: 1. Edmund, born June 13, 1703;

MASSACHUSETTS.

291

graduated at Harvard 1722 ; judge of court
of common pleas ; married Elizabeth, daughter
of Abraham Wendell ; their daughter Dorothy,
born May 10, 1747, married (first) Hon. John
Hancock, first signer of the Declaration of
Independence, and afterward governor of
Massachusetts; (second) Captain James Scott,
July 27, 1796. 2. Elizabeth, born-October 17,
1706; married, November 10, 1724, John
Wendell, brother of the wife of Edmund
Quincy. 3. Dorothy, born January 4, 1709;
married, December 7, 1738, Edward Jackson ;
died 1762, the "Dorothy Q" of Oliver Wendell
Holmes' poem. Dorothy was an ancestor of
Dr. Holmes. 4. Josiah ; see forward.
(V) Colonel Josiah, son of Judge Edmund
(4) Quincy, was born in Braintree, April 1,
1 710, and graduated at Harvard College in
1728. He married (first) January 11, 1733,
flannah Sturgis, of Yarmouth, daughter of
John Sturgis. fle married (second) in 1756,
Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. William Waldron,
of Boston. He married (third) in 1761, Ann,
daughter of Rev. J. Marsh, of Braintree. He
died March 3, 1784, his widow in 1805.
He accompanied his father to London in
1737-8, and afterwards visited England and
the continent more than once. For some years
he was engaged in commerce and ship building
in Boston, in partnership with his brother and
brother-in-law, Edward Jackson. A rather
singular adventure in 1745 was the occasion
of his withdrawing from business. Though
then but about forty years old he retired, and
for thirty years lived on his share of the home
stead at Braintree, the life of a country gentle
man. He was the local magistrate, and colonel
of the Suffolk regiment, fle was sent by the
provincial government to Pennsylvania in
1755 as commissioner to ask the help of that
colony in the proposed expedition to Crown
Point in the French and Indian War. He suc
ceeded in his mission by the help of Benjamin
Franklin, who relates in his autobiography that
"a most cordial and affectionate friendship sub
sisted between them for the next thirty years."
Whenever he came to Boston, Dr. Franklin
alwa'ys visited Colonel Quincy at Braintree,
and an intimate correspondence was kept up
between them as long as he lived. A portrait
of Colonel Quincy by Copley (1769) is in the
house of the nine hundred and ninety-ninth
son Josiah P. Quincy. Children: 1. Edmund,
born October 1, 1733, (H. C. 1752) ; died at
sea, 1768, unmarried. 2. Samuel, born April
13, 1735; (H- c- :754) ; solicitor-general of
Massachusetts under the Crown, succeeding

Judge Jonathan Sewell; in 1700 was engaged
on the popular side in the trial of Captain
Preston in opposition to his patriot brother,
Josiah Quincy, who appeared for the defend
ants; was in England on business when the
revolution broke out, but not approving the
idea of a Republic, stayed in England ; was
included in the banishment act of 1778; was
appointed comptroller at Parkin Bay, Antigua,
and died on his passage from Tortola to Eng
land, for his health, August 9, 1789; portraits
of him and his wife by Copley are owned by
the family; he married (first) Hannah Hill;
(second) Mrs. M. A. Chadwell. 3. Hannah,
born September 11, 1736; married (first) Dr.
Bela Lincoln; (second) Ebenezer Storer. 4.
Josiah, mentioned below. Children of second
wife: 5. Elizabeth, born December 27, 1757;
married, May 27 1784, Benjamin Guild. Child
of third wife : 6. Ann, born December 8,
1763 ; married Rev. Asa Packard, of Marl
borough. (VI) Josiah (2), son of Colonel Josiah (1)
Quincy, was born February 23, 1744, and
graduated at Harvard, in 1763. "On taking
his master's degree," says his grandson, "he
delivered an English oration, the first in our
academic annals, on the characteristic subject
of 'Patriotism,' by the rhetorical merits and
graceful delivery of which he gained great
reputation. * * * He studied law with
Oxenbridge Thacher, one of the principal
lawyers of that day, and succeeded to his
practice at his death, which took place about
the time he himself was called to the bar. He
took a high rank at once in his profession,
although his attention to its demands was
continually interrupted by the stormy agita
tion in men's minds and passions which pre
ceded and announced' the revolution, and
which he actively promoted by his writings
and public speeches. On the fifth of March,
the day of the Boston Massacre, he was
selected, together with John Adams, by Cap
tain Preston, who gave the word of command
to the soldiers that fired on the crowd, to con
duct his defence and that of his men, they
having been committed for trial for murder.
* * * At that moment of fierce excitement
it demanded personal and moral courage to
perforin this duty. * * * He did his duty,
and his prophecy (that the time would come
when the people would rejoice that he became
an advocate for the prisoners) soon came to
pass. Notwithstanding his youth (he was but
twenty-six at the time of the trial), he was
taken into the counsels of the elder patriots

292

MASSACHUSETTS.

and his fervid eloquence at the popular meet
ings, and his ardent appeals through the press,
were of potent effect in rousing the general
mind to resist the arbitrary acts of the British
ministry. He was one of the first that said,
in plain terms, that an appeal to arms was
inevitable, and a separation from the mother
country the only security for the future. In
1774 he went to England, partly for his health,
which suffered much from his intense pro
fessional and political activity, but chiefly as
a confidential agent of the patriotic party, to
consult and advise with friends of America
there. His presence in London, coming as it
did at that critical moment, excited the notice
of the ministerial party, as well as of the
opposition. * * * He had interviews, by
their own invitation, with Lords North and
Dartmouth, and was received and treated in
the kindest and most confidential manner by
Dr. Franklin, Lord Shelburne, Colonel Barry,
Governor Pownell, and many others of the
leading men in opposition at that time. The
precise results of his communications with the
English Whigs can never be known. They
were important enough, however, to make his
English friends urgent for his immediate
return to America, because he could give
information viva voce which could not safely
be committed to writing. * * * His
health failed seriously during the latter
months of his residence in England, and his
physician, Dr. Fotheringill, strongly advised
against his undertaking a winter voyage,
assuring him that the Bristol waters and the
summer season would restore him to perfect
health. His sense of public duty, however,
overbore all personal considerations, and he
set sail on the sixteenth of March, 1775, and
died off Gloucester, Massachusetts, April 26.
In his last hours he repeated again and again
his heart's desire for one hour with Samuel
Adams or Joseph Warren. His contempor
aries always spoke of his gift of eloquence
as something never to be forgotten, and as of
a higher strain than that of .the other famous
orators those times called forth. His voice is
described as combining strength, sweetness
and flexibility in an extraordinary manner,
and old citizens have told me that they could
hear him at the head of State Street when he
was speaking in the Old South Church. * * *
Josiah Quincy Jr. was barely thirty-one years
of age when he died, as truly perhaps, in the
cause of his country, as his friend Warren,
who fell, less than two months afterwards, at
Bunker Hill. Their names have been com

monly and not unjustly associated, together
with that of James Otis, who had been already
removed from active life by mental disease,
as those of men to whom the revolution was
largely owing, though they were not permitted
to assist in its progress, or to witness its
triumph." The sword which he wore as a
part of his court dress is now in the possession
of his great-grandson, Josiah P. Quincy. He
married, October 26, 1769, Abigail Phillips,
daughter of Hon. William Phillips, of Boston.
(VII) President Josiah (3) Quincy, only
child of Josiah (2) Quincy, was born Febru
ary 4, 1772. At the age of six years he was
sent by his mother to begin his education in
Phillips Academy, Andover. After eight years
there he entered Harvard College, graduating
in 1790 with the highest honors of his class.
He was admitted to the bar in 1793. It soon
appeared, however, that he was destined to
a more conspicuous career than that which is
opened by the practice of law. He was elected
to congress in 1805 as the candidate of the
Federalist party, and stood from that time
until 1813 a leading champion of the founda
tion principles of the Federal constitution,
eloquently expounding and enforcing them on
all questions of the day. These included the
disposal to be made of slaves surreptitiously
imported into the United States after the year
1808, the Embargo, the purchase of Louisiana,
and the War of 1812. His party was all this
time in a minority, calling the more for
mingled discretion and courage on his part,
and he proved himself fully equal to the call.
Mr. Quincy retired from congress of his own
accord, and for ten years devoted his energies.
to scientific farming on his ancestral estate at
Quincy, (formerly Braintree), and to the
exercise of a large hospitality there, partly
toward strangers drawn to him by the attrac
tions of his home and personal character ; and
to various personal objects in which he became
interested in his native town, serving for seven
or eight years out of the ten as state senator
and representative to the general court. For
about a year he was judge of the municipal
court at Boston, and in that office had occa
sion to lay down for the first time a definition
of libel which has since been universally
adopted in this country and in England,
namely, "that the publication of the truth
from good motives and for a justifiable end,
is not libellous." From 1823 to 1828 he was
mayor of Boston, an eminent example of
official devotedness, integrity, wisdom and
taste. The next year after his retirement

MASSACHUSETTS.

293

from the mayoralty he was chosen and inaug
urated president of Harvard College, the
finances of the college were reduced to order,
the library multiplied, and the new building
for its reception erected, the observatory was
established, the instruction of the college was
enlarged and extended in every direction, and
"in every particular he left the institution in
a more flourishing condition, both as to pros
perity and usefulness than it had ever been
from its foundation." He established new
relations with the students of social juris
prudence, and administered the discipline of
the college with a firmness, mingled with kind
ness, which secured him respect and affection.
After the Commencement of 1845, when he
was in his seventy-fourth year, he took leave
of Cambridge and removed to Boston, between
which city and his estate at Quincy he divided
his years about equally. He took his farm
again into his own hands and amused himself
with conducting its economy for more than
ten years, when he resigned it into the hands
of his eldest son, and gave the leisure which
the management of his own private affairs
and of extensive trusts permitted him, to read
ing and his pen, and constant intercourse with
society and his many friends. His life thus
declined with gradual and almost unperceived
decay in the society of his children, grand
children and friends, the most revered and
honored man of the city where he lived,
rounding out a life of singular freedom from
misfortunes by an old age of extraordinary
vigor and enjoyment. His interest in public
affairs remained to the last and he was one of
the few examples of a man keeping at least
abreast of the times to an extreme old age.
He was never accused even by his worst
enemies of any selfseeking. His public spirit
was real and his disinterestedness perfect. He
died July 2, 1864, over ninety-two years of
age ; born before the Revolution, he died soon
before the close of the Civil War, he saw the
growth and took part in the making of the
American nation. There are two portraits of
President Quincy by Gilbert Stuart, one of the
year 1806, owned by the heirs of Edmund
Quincy, of Dedham. A statue by Story
stands in Memorial Hall, Sanders Theatre, at
Harvard College; and another by Ball, pro
vided for in the will of the late Hon. Jonathan
Phillips of Boston, is on Court Square,
Boston. President Quincy married, June 6, 1797,
Eliza Susan, daughter of Colonel John Mor
ton, a native of the north of Ireland, one of

the most prominent and wealthy merchants of
New York city before the revolution, an
earnest and self-sacrificing patriot during the
struggle for independence. Her mother was
a daughter of Jacob Kemper, an immigrant
from Germany to America in 1741, born at
Bacharach, a fortified town of the Rhine, of
which his father, Colonel Kemper, was mili
tary governor, the office being hereditary in
the male line of the family. Of his mother
her son writes : "She was characterized by
great sensibility of temperament, qualified by
sound judgment and infallible good sense, by
a refined taste and love of literature, and man
ners at once dignified and engaging."
Children: 1. Eliza Susan, born in Boston,
March 15, 1798, whose contributions to the
history of this family have been drawn upon
freely in this sketch; she added not a little to
our knowledge of both private life and public
affairs in New England colonial and provincial
life ; she died at the family mansion at Quincy,
January 17, 1884, aged nearly eighty-six years.
2. Josiah, born January 26, 1802; mentioned
below. 3. Abigail Phillipa, never married. 4.
Maria Sophia, never married. 5. Margaret
Morton, married Benjamin Daniel Greene,
May, 1826 ; died March 16, 1882. 6. Edmund,
born February 1, 1808; married, October 14,
1833, Lucilla P. Parker; graduate of Harvard
1827; died April 17, 1877. 7. Anna Cabot
Lowell, married Rev. Robert C. Waterston,
of Boston, in March, 1840; children: Helen
Ruthven Waterston, Robert Waterston; both
died young.
(VIII) Hon. Josiah (4) Quincy, son of
President Josiah (3) Quincy, was born in
Boston, January 26, 1802, and died November
2, 1882. He was educated in the public
schools and at Harvard College, where he was
graduated in the class of 1821. He studied
law, and was admitted to the bar October 5,
1824, but preferred a business career. He was
interested in various enterprises, and a busi
ness man of great ability and success. He was
for many years treasurer of the Western rail
road, as that section of the Boston & Albany
railroad west of Worcester was known
formerly. He was treasurer of the Boston
Atheneum, in the work of which he was
greatly interested.
Like his distinguished father, he took a
prominent part in public life. He was a mem
ber of the common council of Boston, and its
president for three years. He was elected
mayor in 1845, serving the city with signal
ability and distinction until 1849, for three

294

MASSACHUSETTS

terms. His administration was notable for
the introduction of the Cochituate Lake water
supply ; the abolition of the liquor traffic under
the prohibition law of the state ; the reorgani
zation of the municipal police force ; the .filling
of a part of the Back Bay, which is now com
pleted, adding thousands of acres to the most
valuable district of Boston; increasing the
school accommodations and the number of
female teachers in the schools ; and the erec
tion of the Charles street jail. He was presi
dent of the state senate in 1842-44. In politics
he was a Whig. "His sprighty mind always
made him a favorite in society, and even in
his old age it sparkled with reminiscences of
younger days." He took an active interest
in public affairs all his life. In later years
he devoted himself to the organization and
maintenance of co-operative societies. In
religion he was a Unitarian. He was a mem
ber of the Wednesday Evening Club, a prom
inent social organization, and served upon
many occasions of note as a presiding officer,
among them a dinner given to Charles
Dickens, the author, also a dinner given upon
the arrival in Boston of the first Cunard
steamship, and many other notable occasions.
He married, December 18, 1827, Mary Jane,
daughter of Samuel R. Miller. Children: 1.
Josiah Phillips, born November 28, 1829; men
tioned below. 2. Samuel Miller, born June 13,
1832 ; graduated at Harvard College, 1852 ; ad
mitted to the bar January 23, 1856; became
editor of the Monthly Law Reporter; was cap
tain in Seccnd Massachusetts Regiment in the
Civil War, enlisting May 25, 1861 ; lieutenant-
colonel Seventy-second United States Regiment
ment Colored Troops, commissioned October
2r 1863, promoted colonel May 24, 1864, and
bievet brigadier-general March 13, 1865; died
unmarried, at Keene, New Hampshire, April
24, 1887. 3. Mary Apthorp, born August,
1834, deceased.
(IX) Josiah Phillips Quincy, son of Josiah
and Mary Jane (Miller) Quincy, was born in
Boston, November 28, 1829. He graduated
from Harvard College in the class of 1850.
After admission to the bar he went into the
real estate business. He removed his resi
dence to the then town of Quincy in 1858,
and there conducted a large milk business,
sending three carts daily to Boston. He
resumed his residence in Boston in 1885. He
married, December 23, 1858, Helen Fanny,
born at Northampton, Massachusetts, daugh
ter of Judge Charles Phelps and Helen
(Mills) Huntington. He was judge of the

superior court of Massachusetts. Mr. Quincy
has contributed to the daily and weekly press
and to many magazines. During the civil war
he wrote for the Anti-Slavery Standard, both'
in the editorial and correspondence depart
ments. He published "Lyteria," and "Chari-
cles," dramatic poems; also "Peckster Profes
sorship," "The Protection of Majorities," and
other papers ; also several pamphlets upon cur
rent topics of discussion, and several memoirs
of notable persons. At one time he lectured
upon Education and other subjects. His chil
dren are: 1. Josiah; see forward. 2. Helen,
wife of James F. Muirhead; children: Phillips
Quincy, Langdon, Mabel. 3. Mabel, mar
ried Walter G. Davis, director of the Mete
orological Department of Argentine Repub
lic. 4. Fanny Huntington, married. M. A
De Wolfe Howe, editor of the Youth's Com
panion; children: Quincy, born August 17,
1900; Helen Frances, January 11, 1905; Mark
De Wolfe, May 22, 1906.
(X) Hon. josiah Quincy, son of Josiah
Phillips Quincy, was bom at Quincy, October
15, 1859. He was fitted for college in the
Adams Academy of Quincy, when Dr. Dimock
was head-master, and graduated from Har
vard College in the class of 1880, of which
President Roosevelt was also a member. After
leaving college he served for a year as instruc
tor in the academy in which he had been a
student, under Dr. William Everett, then the
head-master. He studied law at Harvard Law
School without completing the course, and was
admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1883, but he has
never engaged in active practice in the courts.
He has been from his student days inter
ested in public affairs. In 1881 he was active
in the movement for civil service reform, and
became secretary of the Civil Service Reform
League of Massachusetts. Two years later
he was elected secretary of the Massachusetts
Tariff Reform League. In the national cam
paign of 1884 he was an active member of
the committee of one hundred, representing
the independent voters who supported Cleve
land against Blaine, and since then has been
a prominent Democrat. He was elected in
1886 to the general court from the Fifth Nor
folk Representative district, composed of the
towns of Quincy and Weymouth, and served
in the house in 1887 to 1888, retiring in 1888
to accept the Democratic nomination for con
gress in a strong Republican district. He was
defeated, but was re-elected the next year as
a member of the house of 1890 and again for
1891-. During these four years in the general

MASSACHUSETTS.

295

court he took a leading part in debate and was
active in the work of the committee rooms,
serving on the committees of labor, rules,
cities, election laws, and woman suffrage, and
also on two special investigating committees.
During the last two years he was the recog
nized Democratic leader of the house. He
was one of the organizers and original mem
bers of the Young Men's Democratic Club
of Massachusetts in 1888. In 1890, the year
in which Governor Russell was first elected,
he was chosen secretary of the Democratic
state committee; in 1891 he became chairman
of the executive committee, and in 1892 chair
man of the state committee, holding this posi
tion until 1894. In 1891 he gave up his resi
dence at Quincy and became a citizen of Bos
ton. In 1892 he was a delegate to the Demo
cratic national convention at Chicago, and was
chosen by the delegation as the Massachusetts
' member of the Democratic national committee.
He was made a member of the campaign com
mittee, and had charge of the preparation and
distribution of documents and of the news
paper work of the campaign. Immediately
after the inauguration of President Cleveland
in March, 1893, he was offered the office of
first assistant secretary of state, and accepted
with the understanding that he would hold it
for a limited time only, being unwilling to
remain in Washington. As Secretary Gres
ham wished to devote his attention exclusively
to the diplomatic service, Mr. Quincy under
took the reorganization of the consular service
to bring it into harmony with the tariff reform
ideas of the administration. After serving
as assistant secretary for six months he
resigned and returned to Massachusetts. In
the winter of 1894 he was in Washington act
ing as counsel for the Argentine government
in the preparation of its side of the boundary
dispute between that country and Brazil, sub
mitted to President Cleveland as arbitrator.
He was a frequent and effective speaker in
the state campaign of 1895, and in the autumn
of that year was nominated by the Democratic
party for mayor of Boston, and elected,
serving for the first two year term elections
to the office having previously been annual.
He was re-elected in the fall of 1897, and
served until January, 1900. One of his first
acts as mayor was to appoint an advisory
board of leading business men who were to act
with him upon large matters of business, tax
ation and finance affecting the municipality.
The wisdom of this action was recognized by
the leading Republican paper in these words:

"The action of Mayor Quincy in appointing
seven prominent business men as a board of
consultation and advice in reference to
municipal matters is not a surprise to the
public, as the rhayor during his campaign
announced his intention of organizing such a
board. It is, however, due both to Mayor
Quincy and to the gentlemen whom he has
selected, that some acknowledgment of his
wisdom in the selection he made."
He was the third Josiah Quincy elected
mayor of Boston, his great-grandfather and
grandfather, bearing the same name, having
each filled the office with distinction in his day.
His administration was signalized by the
building of the South Union Station, uniting
the terminals of the various railroads enter
ing the city from the south and west, and
many other important public improvements.
He was specially interested in the establish
ment of the system of public baths, gymnasia
and playgrounds which have now grown to
large dimensions in Boston, and in other pro
gressive measures for the benefit of the masses
of the people.
Mr. Quincy was the Democratic candidate
for governor of Massachusetts in 1901, at a
time when the Republican party had for
several years been carrying the state by over
whelming majorities, and had named in the
person of Governor Crane a very strong and
popular candidate ; he made an active canvass,
advocating various progressive policies, which
resulted in a substantial reduction of the
Republican plurality and in materially
strengthening the Democratic party. In 1906
he again served as chairman of the Demo
cratic state committee, but resigned before the
opening of the fall campaign to accept the
position, to which he was appointed in October
of that year, of a member of the Boston Tran
sit Commission, a board of five members con
stituted by the legislature in 1894 to build
subways and tunnels for rapid transit pur
poses, and he still continues to serve upon that
body. In 1908 he supported Mr. Bryan for
the presidency, and was appointed a member
of the advisory committee of the Democratic
national committee, of late years he has
resumed the practice of law.
On February 17th, 1900, he was married,
in London, to Mrs. Ellen (Curtis) Tyler,
widow of William Royall Tyler, Harvard
1874, who at the time of his death in Novem
ber, 1897, was head -master of the Adams
Academy in Quincy. From that time until the
death of Mrs. Quincy which occurred at

296

MASSACHUSETTS.

Biarritz, France, on January 16, 1904, Mr.
Quincy made his home chiefly in London and
on the continent, Mrs. Quincy's son, Royall
Tyler, being a student at Harrow and Oxford.
A son was born on May 15, 1903, at Biarritz,
France, and was given the name of Edmund
after his ancestor ten generations removed,
who was the first Quincy to come to America.
Mr. Quincy returned permanently to Amer
ica in the winter of 1904, and has since resided
in Boston. On November 1, 1905, he was
married, in New York city, to Miss Mary
Honey, daughter of Hon. Samuel R. Honey,
of Newport, Rhode Island, and New York
city, formerly Captain, U. S. A., lieutenant-
governor of Rhode Island, mayor of New
port, and a member of the Democratic
national committee.
Mr. Quincy is a member of the Union Club,
the Society of Colonial Wars, the Loyal
Legion, the City Clubs of Boston and New
York, and various other organizations.

From an old manuscript left by
PRINCE his great-uncle, Francis Prince, a
prominent merchant of his time in
London, England, the Rev. Thomas Prince, for
many years a distinguished clergyman of Bos
ton, Massachusetts, pastor of the Old South
Church, gathered the information that his great
grandfather was Rev. John Prince, rector of
East Shefford, within six miles of Newbury,
England, and about fifty miles fromLondon. He
was born of honorable parents, and educated
at the UJniversity of Oxford. It is said of him
that, though he was one of the conforming
Puritans of the Church of England of those
days who greatly longed for a further reform
ation, he omitted the more offensive ceremon
ies of the church as long as he lived, and in
doing so found great friends to protect him.
He married, about 1609, Elizabeth Tolder-
bury, daughter of Dr. Tolderbury, D. D., of
Oxford, by whom he had four sons and
seven daughters, who all grew up, every one
of them proving conscientious nonconformists,
even while their parents lived, but without
any breach of amity or affection. And thus
they continued pretty near together till the
furious and cruel Archbishop Laud dispersed
them and drove the eldest son, with many
others, into this country in the early days of
the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where, though
he was a young gentleman of liberal education,
yet, thinking he had not made sufficient pro
gress in learning for the ministry, he applied
himself to husbandry.

(II) Elder John Prince, of Hull, Massa
chusetts, eldest son of Rev. John Prince, of
England, was born in East Shefford, about
1610, and was, like his father, educated at
the University of Oxford, where he remained
two years with a view to the ministry and the
expectancy of succeeding his father as rector
of East Shefford, he being a young man of
eminent parts, talents and piety; but the
licentiousness of the University was so
grievous to him that he prevailed on his father
to take him away and put him to a merchant
near London Bridge with whom he lived most
acceptably until 1633, when, for the sake of
conscience and pure religion, he came over
to New England. His ideas of church govern
ment were in conflict with those of Arch
bishop Laud, and it is said that he wrote some
thing against the church which offended that
dignitary, and was obliged to flee from his
displeasure and persecution, and being about
to be apprehended he was conveyed secretly
in a pannier on board a ship bound for New
England. He was one of the first planters of
the colony of Massachusetts Bay, settling in
Watertown, where he married Alice Honour,
May, 1637. In 1634 or 1635, at the time of
the general dispersion from Boston, which was
before he married, he went to Hingham, Mas
sachusetts, through having formed an acquain
tance with the Hobarts of Charlestown. Going
from Hingham to Hull a few years later,
he was one of the early settlers of Nantascot,
in 1638, and shared in the first division of
the lands of Hull, the name given to succeed
Nantascot in 1644 by the general court. He
was urged by the people there at that time to
become their pastor but compromised by
accepting the office of ruling elder, the first to
occupy this exalted position, and became chief
both in the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of
the town. He held the office of ruling elder
for nearly thirty years. The general court
invested him with the power of marrying peo
ple. He was beloved by all, and his death,
which occurred August 16, 1676, in the sixty-
sixth year of his age, was greatly lamented,
and he was held in grateful remembrance for
many years thereafter for his abilities, piety,
wisdom and behavior. He was a true gentle
man of the old school, and won his distinction
not merely from the fact that his ancestors
were among the educated and influential, or
as one who had mingled with men of learning
and polished manners, but rather as one whose
demeanor was so perfectly and naturally
courteous and proper as to give him a decided

MASSACHUSETTS.

297

and marked preference among all classes. He
left behind in the old world, family influence,
exalted station and repose, and cast his lot
among the wayfarers in the savage wilderness
of the western world. Governor Thomas
Prince, one of the thirty-five persons who
came over in the "Fortune," valued him highly
and used to call him cousin. Elder Prince
married about 1670, a second time, his will,
dated May 9, 1676, mentioning his wife Anna ;
she was the widow of William Barstow. By
his first wife only he had children, and while
his will gives the names of eight, the dates of
their births are not recorded, although the
minutes of Rev. Peter Hobart, the first pastor
of Hingham, show the dates of the baptisms
of all. The will is probated in Boston, and
names his two eldest sons, John and Joseph,
as executors, the inventory being sworn to by
John. Elder John Prince had several tracts
of land granted to him by the towns of Hing
ham and Hull, the records showing in all
some twenty-one acres. Fishing was the
means of livelihood of the people of Hull, the
town being situated on the coast. In a peti
tion addressed "To the honoured Counsell
now assembled at Boston," presented March
3, 1675, and signed, with others, by John
Prince, Joseph Prince, Samuel Prince and
Isaac Prince, sons of Elder John, the follow
ing statement is made : "We being persons
whose sole employment is fishing, and so at
sea, having no lands nor cattle to maintain
ourselves or families, but what we must have
hitherto done by the blessing of God on our
labors produced from the sea." The sons as
they grew up took to the sea and became cap
tains of vessels, and most of them died in
foreign parts. Children of Elder John Prince :
1. John, baptized May 16, 1638; see forward.
2. Elizabeth, baptized August 9, 1640, died
May 13, 1727 ; married, 1662, Josiah Loring
of Hingham, who died February 17, 1713-14.
3. Joseph, baptized February 26, 1642, died
1695 ; married, December 7, 1670, Joanna,
daughter of Secretary Nathaniel Morton, of
Plymouth, Massachusetts, from 1645 to 1685.
4. Martha, baptized August 10, 1645; married,
1674, Christopher Wheaton. 5. Job, baptized
August 22, 1647, died 1694; married Rebecca
Phippeny, who survived him, and married
(second) John Clark. 6. Samuel, born May
16, 1649, at Boston, baptized August 19, 1649,
died July 3, 1728, at Middleboro, Massachu
setts; married (first) December 9, 1674,
Martha Barstow, of Hull, daughter of
William Barstow. She died December 18,

1684, and he married (second) Mercy Hinck
ley, born at Barnstable, January 31, 1662-3,
died April 25, 1736, eldest daughter of Hon.
Thomas Hinckley, governor of Plymouth
colony. 7. Benjamin, baptized April 25, 1652.
8. Isaac, baptized July 9, 1654, died November
7, 1718; married, May 23, 1679, Mary Turner,
born December 10, 1658, daughter of John
Turner, of Scituate. 9. Thomas, baptized
July 8, 1658; married Ruth Turner, baptized
May 17, 1662, daughter of John Turner, of
Scituate. John, the eldest son, died at Hull ;
Joseph died in 1695, at Quebec, Canada; Job,
ship-master, was lost at sea in the English
Channel in 1694; Benjamin died at Jamaica;
Isaac, at Boston, and Thomas, the youngest,
ship-master, at Barbadoes, in 1704. Samuel
lived first at Hull, and by his first wife,
Martha, had three sons and two daughters.
He at first went to coasting, and then applied
himself to domestic trade and merchandise.
After marrying his second wife, Mercy,
daughter of Governor Hinckley, he removed
to Sandwich, and by her had seven sons and
three daughters. In 1710 he removed to
Rochester, Massachusetts, where the chief
part of his estate lay, he being the principal
proprietor of the township and its first repre
sentative. For Sandwich and Rochester he'
served as representative in the great and
general court nineteen times since the revolu
tion, and was oftener chosen but excused him
self from serving. He was healthy and strong
in body, of a vigorous and active spirit, of a
thoughtful and penetrating mind, religious
from youth, much improved in Scriptural
knowledge, esteemed for his abilities and gifts
and especially for his powers of arguing. Rev.
Thomas Prince, who is remembered not only
as one of Boston's most distinguished clergy
men, but also as an annalist, of whom Samuel
G. Drake, the historian, says : "Nothing came
from his pen that does not now possess his
torical value," was a son of Samuel Prince.
Samuel died at Middleboro, at the home of his
daughter Mary, wife of Rev. Peter Thatcher.
(Ill) John Prince, eldest son of Elder John
Prince, was baptized May 6, 1638; married
Rebecca, supposed to be daughter of George
and Rebecca (Phippeny) Vickery, of Hull,
who were the next neighbors to Elder John
Prince on the northwest. The vital records
of Hull previous to about 1680 are very
meagre, and there is no record of either the
birth or baptism of Rebecca Vickery or of her
marriage to John Prince Jr., although there
are records of the births of two children of

298

MASSACHUSETTS.

"John and Rebeka Prince" after 1685. In
the early town records of Hull it is shown
that: "There is given to John Prince, Junior,
of Hull, by the inhabitants thereof, one small
lott for a house lott and a garden in the lane
-called Marsh lane, containing eight rodd and
twelve feet more or less." There was also
given to "David Vickree" a small lot adjoining
that of John Prince, Junior, on the east. He
was probably a brother to Rebecca. John
Prince, Junior, like his brothers, followed the
sea. Children: 1. Joseph. 2. Rebecca; mar
ried, February 24, 1709, Joseph Benson, of
Hull, and had a daughter Elizabeth, born May
5, 1720, and twin boys, Benjamin and John,
born March 5, 1724, both of whom died the
same year. The mother died March 9, four
days after the birth of the twins. 3. John,
born November 1, 1686 or 87, (the last figure
is blurred and rather indistinct), see forward.
4. Experience, born January 11, 1689; mar
ried, first, October 17, 171 1, Benjamin Benson
of Boston. He died in October, 1714, and she
married (second) November, 1718, John
Coombs. (IV) John Prince, son of John Prince,
born November 1, 1686, at Hull, died January
24. 1765, at Southold, Long. Island; married
Reliance Fuller, born September 8, 1691, at
Barnstable, died June 5, 1761, at Southold,
Long Island, daughter of Dr. John Fuller,
son of Captain Matthew Fuller, who is
believed to have been a son of Edward Fuller,
who, with his son Samuel and his brother,
Samuel Fuller, came over in the "Mayflower."
Among genealogists of the Fuller family,
however, there is a difference of opinion, a
recent compiler denying that Captain Matthew
was a son of Edward, while at the same time
he gives no satisfactory evidence to the con
trary. Captain Matthew Fuller was first of
Plymouth about 1640, and removed to Barn
stable in 1652, where he died in 1678. He was
appointed surgeon general of the Provincial
forces raised in Plymouth colony in 1673. He
was sergeant under Captain Myles Standish
in 1643; lieutenant at Barnstable in 1652; lieu
tenant in Captain Standish's expedition against
Manhattoes colony in 1654; chairman of
council of war ; lieutenant of the forces against
the Saconet Indians in 1671 and captain in
King Philip's war. He was one of the first
purchasers of the town of Middleboro about
1662. Children of John and Reliance (Fuller)
Prince: 1. John, born August 10, 1716; see
forward. 2. Joseph, born May 10, 1718. 3.
Rebecca, born September 9, 1719; married

Samuel Hutton, of Stamford, Connecticut,
who died there in 1787. 4. Benjamin. 5.
Samuel, born April 24, 1724. 6. Hannah, born
December 13, 1728; married Samuel (or
Thomas) Conklin, of Southold, Long Island,
New York, born September 10, 1728, at
Southold, and died there December 6, 1785.
(V) John Prince, son of John Prince, born
August 10, 1716, at Barnstable, died July 23,
1786, at Boston; married, May 25, 1749,
Esther Guild, born September 30, 1721, at
Wrentham, Massachusetts, died July 19, 1799,
at Boston, daughter of John and Mercy
(Foster) Guild of Wrentham. He was for
many years a merchant in Boston. Children :
1. John, died in infancy. 2. John, born July
22, 1 75 1, at Boston, died June 7, 1836, at
Salem, aged eighty-five years ; married (.first)
April 12, 1780, Mary Bayley, who died sud
denly in December, 1806, aged fifty-four
years, and in November, 1816, he married his
cousin, Mrs. Milly (Messinger) Waldo,
widow of Major Jonathan Waldo. She was
born December 18, 1763, and died at Boston,
January 7, 1836, and was carried to Salem
for interment. 3. Joseph, born August 24,
1753, died November 24, 1828, at Mendon,
Massachusetts, aged seventy-five years ; mar
ried Sarah Bennett. 4. Thomas, born Febru
ary 28, 1756, died September 26, 1781 ;
drowned off the Capes of Delaware. 5. David,
born September 18. 1757, died September,
1760. 6. Samuel, born December 13, 1760;
see forward. John, the eldest son, was
brought up a mechanic, but was later educated
to the ministry and was graduated at Har
vard University in 1776. He settled at Salem,
as pastor of the First Church there, in 1779,
and continued its pastor until his death, a
period of fifty-seven years. The University
conferred on him the degrees of Doctor of
Divinity and Doctor of Laws. Joseph, the
next younger son, went to the western country
in 1789, was at Marietta, Ohio, in 1792, and
at Cincinnati about 1794 and became one of
the early settlers of that place, but returned
to Massachusetts about 1812, purchased a
farm at Mendon and died there in 1822. His
wife, Sarah Bennett, died there five years
later. (VI) Samuel Prince, youngest son of John
Prince, was born in Boston, December 13,
1760, died there July 21, 1816; married, Octo
ber 15, 1786, Sarah Ingersoll, born August 19,
1761, died July 13, 1809, daughter of Daniel
and Bethiah (Haskell) Ingersoll. He was a
merchant in Boston. Children: 1. Samuel,

MASSACHUSETTS.

299

born July 11, 1787, at Boston, died September
5, 181 1, unmarried. 2. Sarah, born January
26, 1789, at Boston, died June 18, i860,
unmarried. 3. George Ingersoll, born July 9,
1 79 1, at Boston, died August 15, 1848, at
Buffalo, New York, where lie had resided ten
years ; married, September 8, 1816, Mary Ann
Rogers, of Boston, who died May 12, 1879.
They had four sons and three daughters. He
was a mariner, and for many years a captain
of ships sailing between southern ports and
Europe. 4. Charles Augustus, born December
5, 1795, at Boston; see forward. 5. Caroline
Matilda, born January 5, 1798, at Boston, died
May 18, 1865 ; married William H. Burbeck,
born May 3, 1796, died May 23, 1823. 6.
John, born February 12, 1800, died February
23, 1845. 7. Elizabeth Smith, born November
2, 1803, at Boston, died November 4, 1803.
(VII) Charles Augustus Prince, son of
Samuel, born December 5, 1795, died March
14, 1868, at Boston; married, .May 15, 1820,
at Providence, Rhode Island, Penelope Min
turn Greene, born May 3, 1798, at Providence,
died August 25, 1863, at Boston ; daughter of
Thomas and Waite (Comstock) Greene. He
was a prominent merchant of Boston, being
for fifty-four years a member of the firm of
Ballard & Prince, which succeeded the firm of
J. & J. Ballard, founded by John and Joseph
Ballard, brothers, carpet dealers at 168 Wash
ington street and afterwards at 7 and 9 Brom-
field street. This firm was the most important
in its line during its business career, being
large importers of foreign carpets. Mr.
Prince inherited the fine characteristics of his
ancestors and was highly esteemed in business
circles for his straightforward dealings and
gentlemanly treatment of all with whom he
came in contact. Socially he enjoyed a large
acquaintance among the leading men of his
time. Children: 1. John Ballard, born Feb
ruary 6. 1821, at Boston; see forward. 2.
Mary Elizabeth, born February 5, 1824. 3.
Louisa Frances, born August 2, 1833, died
May 8, 1893, at Dedham, Massachusetts, mar
ried (first) October 27, 1857, Louis Camille
Lynch, born October 7, 1832, died May 24,
1879; married (second) January 8, 1880, at
Dedham, Joseph A. Laforme, born July 16,
1829, at Rheine, Prussia. By her first hus
band she had one son, George Ingersoll Lynch,
born November 1, 1858, who married, Sep
tember, 1884, Ella Amelia Smith, of Wauke-
gan, Illinois, born August 27, 1862.
(VIII) John Ballard Prince, only son of
Charles Augustus Prince, born February 5,

1821, at Boston, died there July 21, 1901 ;
married Sarah Maria Fowle, born April 4,
1826, died March 15, 1905; daughter of
Charles Sigourney and Frances (Hilton)
Fowle, of Boston. Charles Sigourney Fowle
was son of John Fowle and Mary Parker,
who was daughter of Jonas Parker, the
martyr hero who was shot and then bayonetted
to death by British soldiers on Lexington
Common on the morning of April 19, 1775,
and whose name is inscribed on the monument
on Lexington Green.
John Ballard Prince was educated in the
public schools of Boston, graduating from the
English high school at the age of fifteen years.
From the high school he went as clerk for the
firm of Shaw, Blake & Co., one of the oldest
and wealthiest firms of woolen merchants of
that time. At twenty-one years of age he
became junior member of the firm of Smith
& Sumner, and afterwards of the firm of
Dorr, Balch & Prince, wholesale dry goods
merchants on Milk street, Boston. This firm
was succeeded by Ordway, Prince & Co., and
afterwards by Prince & Post. He retired
from active business in 1865. His children:
1. Charles John, born June 16, 1843, at Boston,
see forward. 2. Benjamin Balch, born March
3, 1846, at Boston; unmarried. 3. Edward,
born January 30, 1849, at Boston, died there
July 14, 1859. 4. Frederick, born August 19,
185 1, at Boston, died there October 24, 1851.
(IX) Charles John Prince, son of John
Ballard Prince, born June 16, 1843, at Boston;
married (first) June 3, 1869, Justine DePey-
ster Cotton, daughter of Joseph H. and Arria
(Coffin) Cotton, by whom he had one son,
Charles Barnard, born December 11, 1877;
married, June 5, 1906, at Boston, Halldis
Moller, of Christiania, Norway. They reside
in Cortland, New York. Mr. Prince married
(second) December 7, 1905, at St. Augustine,
Florida, Oleonda Becker, born at Hamburg,
Germany. They reside in Boston.
Mr. Prince was educated at the Chauncey
Hall School, following which he was clerk for
a short time for the firm of Page, Richardson
& Co., shipping merchants. During the time
of the war he entered into the firm of Lootz
& Prince, commision merchants, which was
succeeded by Mr. Prince in 1869, under the
firm name of C. J. Prince & Co., doing busi
ness on Milk street, Boston. He was a mem
ber of the First Corps of Cadets of Boston,
and the Algonquin, Country, Eastern Yacht
and Boston Athletic clubs.
Through the marriage of his grandfather,

300

MASSACHUSETTS.

Charles Augustus Prince, to Penelope Min
turn Greene, Mr. Prince is a direct descendant
of many of the celebrities of colonial times in
Rhode Island, including Governor Roger
Williams, Governor Caleb Carr, Governor
Joseph Jenckes, Major John Greene and Cap
tain Randall Holden. He is also descended
from Captain Matthew Fuller, (see above),
and, through his mother, of George Fowle,
the immigrant ancestor of the well known
Fowle family, who settled in Concord, Massa
chusetts, about 1637, his line being: George
(1), Lieutenant James (2), Captain John (3),
Cornet John (4), Jonathan (5), John (6),
Charles Sigourney (7), Sarah Maria (8),
(see Fowle family) ; also from Captain John
Carter, of Woburn, a prominent man of his
time, 1616-1692, and from Jonas Parker, the
Lexington hero.

The Welsh custom of adding to
HARRIS a name the father's name in
possessive form to distinguish
one from another of the same Christian name,
was the origin of this patronymic. In the
short four centuries that surnames have pre
vailed in Great Britain, time has sufficed to
make many changes and modifications in the
form of all classes of words, and names are
no exception to the rule. In the Welsh ver
nacular, William was "David's," Harry was
"John's," and David was "William's," and thus
we have Davy's (Davis), John's (Jones), Will
iams and Harris, among the most commdn of
the Welsh names. The Harris family, of whom
this article gives some account, was among the
earliest in New England, and has contributed
much to the advancement of this -region and of
the nation, and is now found in connection
with all worthy endeavor. It has been espe
cially active in the fields of invention and
pioneer development. Almost every state has
found the name among those of its pioneer
settlers, and it has spread from the Atlantic to
the Pacific.
(I) Thomas Harris, born in Deal, Kent
county, England, died in Providence, Rhode
Island, June 7, 1686. He came to America
with his brother William in the ship "Lion,"
from Bristol, England, December 1, 1630. On
August 20, 1637, or a little later, he and twelve
others signed the following compact: "We,
whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit
the town of Providence, do promise to subject
ourselves in active or passive obedience to all
such orders or agreements as shall be made
for public good of the body in an orderly way

by the major assent of the present inhabitants,
members incorporated together into a town of
fellowship, and such others whom they shall
admit unto themselves, only in civil things."
On July 27, 1649, he and thirty-eight others
signed an agreement for a form of govern
ment. On September 2, 1650, he was taxed
one pound. In 1652 to 1657 and 1661 to 1663
he was commissioner; in 1654, lieutenant;
1655, freeman; 1656, juryman. Bishop's "New
England Judged," published in London, in
1703, has the following with reference to July,
1658: "After these came Thomas Harris from
Rhode Island into our colony, who Declaring
against your pride and oppression, as we would
have liberty to speak in your meeting place in
Boston, after the priest had ended. Warning
the people of the Dreadful, terrible day of the
Lord God, which was coming upon that Town
and Country, him, much unlike to Nineveh,
you pulled down and hall'd him by the Hair
of his Head out of your meeting, and a hand
was put on his mouth to keep him from speak
ing forth, and then had, before your Governor
and Deputy, with other Magistrates, and com
mitted to Prison without warrant or mittimus
that he saw, and shut up in the close room,
none suffered to come to him, nor to have pro
visions for his money ; and the next day whipped
him with so cruel stripes, without shewing any
law that he had broken, Tho' he desired it of
the Jaylor, and then shut up for Eleven Days
more, Five of which he was kept without bread
(Your Jaylor not suffering him to have any
for his Money and threatened the other Pris
oners very much for bringing him a little water
on the day of his sore whipping) and all this
because he could not work for the Jaylor and
let him have Eight Pence in Twelve pence of
what he could earn; And starved he had been
in all probability, had not the Lord kept him
these Five Days and ordered it so after that
time that food was so conveyed him by night
in at a Window, by some tender People, who
tho' they came not in the Profesion of Truth
openly, by reason of your Cruelty, yet felt it
secretly moving in them and so were made
Serviceabale to keep the Servant of the Lord
from Perishing, who shall not go without a
reward. And tho' he was in this state of
Weakness from want of Bread, and by tortur
ing his body with cruel whippings, as aforesaid,
and tho' the Day after he was whipped, the
Jaylor had told him that he had now suffered
the Law, and that if he would hire the Marshall
to carry him out of the Country he might be

MASSACHUSETTS.

301

gone when he would ; Yet the next Sixth Day
in the Morning before the Sixth Flour, the
Jaylor again required him to Work, which he
refusing, gave his weak and fainting body Two
and Twenty Blows with a pitched rope; and
the ninettenth of the Fifth Month following,
Fifteen cruel stripes more with a three-fold-
corded whip knotted as aforesaid. Now upon
his Apprehension, your Governor sought to
know of him who came with him (as was their
usual manner) that so ye might find out the
rest of the company, on whom ye might Exe
cute your Cruelty and Wickedness, and your
governor said he would make him do it; but
his cruelties could not. Nevertheless they soon
were found out (who hid not themselves but
were bold in the Lord) viz : William Brend
and William Ledd, etc."
In 1664-66-67, 1670-72-73, he was deputy to
the general court ; in 1664-65-66-69 member of
town council, and February 19, 1665, drew lot
7, in division of town lands. In May, 1667, he
as surveyor laid out the lands. August 14,
1676, he was on a committee which recom
mended certain conditions under which the
Indian captives, who were to be in servitude
for a term of years, should be disposed of by
the town. April 27, 1683, he made the state
ment that about 1661, being then a surveyor,
he laid out a three acre lot for his son Thomas,
at Pauquchance Hill, and a twenty-five acre
lot on the south side, etc. June 3, 1686, he
made his will, which was proved July 22, 1686,
his son Thomas being appointed executor, and
his sons-in-law, Thomas Field and Samuel
Whipple, overseers. Thomas Harris married
Elizabeth  , who died in Providence,
Rhode Island ; children : Thomas, William,
Mary and Martha.
(II) Thomas (2), son of Thomas (1) and
Elizabeth Harris, died February 27, 171 1,
always lived in Providence, Rhode Island.
February 19, 1665, he had lot 49 in a division
of lands. In 1671-79, 1680-81-82-85, 1691-94-
97, 1702-06-07-08 and 1710, he was deputy of
the general court; and in 1684-85-86 member
of town council. July 1, 1679, he was taxed
eight pounds nine pence and September 1,
1687, fourteen shillings, nine pence. June 21,
1708, he made his will which was proved April
16, 1711, the executors being his wife Elantha
and his son Henry. He married, November 3,
1664, Elantha Tew, born October 15, 1644,
died January 11, 1718, daughter of Richmond
and Mary (Clarke) Tew, of Newport, Rhode
Island ; children : Thomas, Richard, Nicholas,

William, Henry, Amity, Elantha, Jacob and
Mary. (Ill) Richard, second son and child of
Thomas (2) and Elantha (Tew) Harris, was
born October 14, 1668, in Providence, Rhode
Island, and resided in Providence and Smith-
field. He deeded to his son Richard in 1725
one hundred acres of land in the' latter town,
and died there in 1750. He married (first) a
daughter of Clement and Elizabeth King, and
his second wife, Susanna, bora in 1665, was
widow of Samuel Gordon and daughter of
William and Hannah (Wicks) Burton. She
died in 1737. Children, all born of first mar
riage, were : Uriah, Richard, Amaziah, Jona
than, David, Preserved, Amity, Dinah and
Elantha. (IV) Jonathan, third son of Richard Harris,
was born June 12, 1710, in Smithfield, where
he died September 24, 1785. These dates are
found in the records of the Quaker church,
and lead to the assumption that his wife was
a Quakeress. No record can be found of his
marriage in either town or church records. He
resided in Providence.
(V) Abner, son of Jonathan Harris, was
born before 1740, and died between 1785 and
1789. No record can be found of his marriage,
but the vital records of Smithfield show that
he had sons David, Jonathan and William.
(VI) William, son of Abner Harris, was
undoubtedly born in Smithfield ; was married
in that town, by Rev. Edward Mitchell, Octo
ber 24, 1789, to Barbara, daughter of Water
man Allen, of Cumberland. He settled in
Hiram, Ohio, about 1812.
(VII) Allen, eldest son of William and
Barbara (Allen) Harris, was born in Smith-
field, Rhode Island, May 16, 1790, and died in
Worcester, Massachusetts, February 3, 1864,
aged seventy- four. In 1800 he moved with his
parents from Smithfield to Plainfield. He was
well educated and when very young taught
district school two winters, and not far from
1810 was a clerk in a store at Union Village,
Connecticut. After that came a great prostra
tion in business, which left him and his family
comparatively poor. In 1817, the year after
his marriage, Mr. Harris removed to Provi
dence, Rhode Island, and went into partner
ship with a Mr. Richmond, in the dry goods
business. Not succeeding in that, he removed
to Sterling, Connecticut, in 1820, and for sev
eral years was agent in the old stone mill, on
a salary of $600. In 1824 he moved to Union
Village, Plainfield, and afterward to Central

3°2

MASSACHUSETTS.

Village, where he built a cotton factory for
making bed ticking. He also built a double
house, part of which he rented. He kept a
village variety store in connection with his
factory, to supply the factory hands. In his
new business he invested all of his funds, so
that for a few years he had to work hard and
practice the closest economy in order to make
his business successful. He was connected
with Arnold Fenner in the factory at Central
Village. In 1840, after manufacturing became
very much depressed owing to the condition of
the times, he sold his interest to Mr. Fenner,
to whom he gave two thousand dollars to be
released from the debts of the factory and the
obligations he had entered into in connection
with the business. In 1843 he moved to Wor
cester and commenced business as a com
mission merchant, and in which he continued
to the time of his death in 1864. His son Will
iam H. was associated with him for many
years. He was successful and accumulated
considerable property. He bought a large and
substantial house at the corner of Elm and
Chestnut streets, where his widow continued
to reside after his death. Allen Harris was a
dignified, courteous gentleman, conspicuously
neat in personal appearance, and exact in every
business transaction. He had great pride of
family, and spent money freely for the edu
cation of his children and for all his relatives.
He desired to have all of his relatives prosper,
live in good houses, and rise to positions of
trust and honor. He frequently helped them
in business, and to buy themselves homes. He
was fond of genealogical research, and the
deeds of his ancestors, from Thomas Harris
down, were in his possession, and he had them
framed and kept as precious relics of the past.
He delighted in hunting after family relics of
every description. His sister Sophia, who did
not share her brother's antiquarian spirit, once
remarked of him : "There is Allen ; he is
always bringing home some old furniture. As
for me, I wouldn't give him two cents for
Adam's old bureau." When the rebellion broke
out he was very patriotic, and as none of the
family had gone to war he enlisted (at the age
of seventy-one years) in the Worcester State
Guard, which did escort duty on various occa
sions. Late in January, 1864, he marched
about five miles into the country with his com
pany, to do honor to the remains of a soldier
brought home for burial, and, taking cold, died
four days afterward. After his death his com
pany made his son Daniel an honorary mem
ber. He was a member of the Old South

Church in Worcester, and at his death its oldest
deacon. He taught a Bible class in its Sunday
school for many years, and a member of it
once said : "He was the best teacher I ever
had ; he made everything so plain." When the
Old South celebrated its one hundredth anni
versary in 1863, he was one of the committee
of arrangements and chairman of the finance
committee. As the oldest deacon he was selected
to "line off the hymn," as customary in the
olden time, which he did with precision and
zest. A gentleman who had attended the exer
cises said the next day: "It was announced
that the oldest deacon of the church would
'line off the hymn,' and I went to hear him;
but was surprised to find that he was only the
merest boy." This was related to Mr. Harris,
who, on hearing it, drew himself up in his
usual dignified manner, and exclaimed, "Did
he ! Did he !" His precision and self-possession
were not easily lost. Allen Harris's letters
show that he was high sheriff, justice of the
peace, and postmaster in Connecticut. From
1832 until 1841 he was engaged with others in
manufacturing. He was always a very busy
man and one who was much looked up to for
advice. He was full of good Christian work,
and his many letters, which have been pre
served, abound in good counsel and kind admo
nition. He made many loans and handsome
gifts to friends, for one who had so many
discouragements in business to contend against.
But with all his business cares and perplexities
he never neglected his sons, whom he wished
to train to be useful men. He had great energy,
and was a very close economist, fle had faith
that virtue would bring its reward, and he was
not disappointed. He said, "I never will fail
in business as long as I have my health." He
was very kind to his sisters, alwdys providing
for them when any of them were left widows
with children, and he remembered them all in
his will, as well as the established benevolent
associations. He was a pure, upright man, so
faithful to a promise that an old friend wrote
of him, "I would as soon take Allen Harris's
word as a note well indorsed." He was so
very conscientious that he thought every one
must do what was right; and he died greatly
beloved by all his relatives and friends. Allen
Harris married (first) May 7, 1816, at Plain-
field, Hart Lester, daughter of Colonel Timo
thy Lester, of Shepard Hill, Plainfield. She
was born at that place, December 23, 1789, and
died at Central Village, August 24, 1826. He
married (second) in 1827, Almira Vaughn,
daughter of Russell Vaughn, of Plainfield.

MASSACHUSETTS.

303

Children by first wife : Daniel Lester, born
February 6, 1818; William Henry, in Sterling,
Connecticut, March 7, 1820; Joel Benedict
(named for the pastor, Rev. Joel Benedict),
Plainfield, November 5, 1822. By second wife :
Mary Gladden, born in Plainfield, April 17,
1829; Emma Colwell, in Plainfield, August 13,
1836. William lived in Brooklyn, New York,
and Joel in. Rutland, Vermont. Mary married
Edward Marsh, of the firm of Lazell, Marsh
& Gardner, 8 Gold street, New York, and died
July 1, 1854. Emma, died March 12, 1845, °f
scarlet fever.
(VIII) Daniel Lester, eldest son of Allen
and Hart (Lester) Harris, was born in Provi
dence, Rhode Island, February 6, 1818, and
died in Springfield, Massachusetts, July 11,
1879. His birthplace was a brick house on
High street, which was afterward bought by
Governor Knight; his residence in Springfield
for years before his death was No. 2 Pearl
street. He worked in his father's mill to secure
means of education, attended Plainfield Acad
emy, and spent three years in the scientific de
partment of Wesleyan University at Middle-
town, graduating August 23, 1837, delivering
an oration on "The Progress of Experimental
Sciences." He adopted the profession of civil
engineer, and was employed on the Norwich
& Worcester railroad, with James Laurie, the
famous Scotchman, acting as rodman for five
months. He also went with Mr. Laurie in
1839 to take part in one of the early surveys
of the Erie railroad, in the then wilderness of
Allegany and Steuben counties, New York.
From 1840 to 1843 he was assistant on the
Troy & Schenectady railroad, and in the latter
year went to Springfield, Massachusetts, to
survey the proposed railroad to Hartford. He
was scientific and accurate as a civil engineer,
ranking with the leaders of his profession in
the Connecticut Valley. He was marvelously
industrious and pushing, and foresighted
enough to graduate into the wider and more
profitable field which he came to fill. He was
a "self-made man," and the professional civil
engineer developed into the railroad president
and influential and wealthy citizen by force of
his own ability and character. In 1843 he
resigned his position as engineer and took a
part in the contract for building the Hartford
road. As railroad contractor and bridge-
builder he made his fortune. He was asso
ciated in the latter occupation with Amasa
Stone and A. D. Briggs, continuing it up to
three years before his death. He built the
bridges on the New London Northern railroad,

and the old wooden bridges (before the present
iron structures were put up) at Warehouse
Point, Connecticut, and over the Connecticut
river in Springfield. The latter task was com
pleted without interrupting the travel of the
road. Mr. Harris was one of the owners of
the Howe truss bridge, and was interested in
railroad and bridge contracts all over the coun
try. He built twenty-seven bridges over the
Hartford, Providence & Fishkill road, includ
ing the bridge over the Connecticut, and one
of the works in which he always took pride
was the great truss roof over the depot in
Springfield. He was also instrumental in pro
curing the improvement of Bridge street, by
raising the railroad, an enterprise which he
repeatedly urged upon President Bishop, of
the Southern road. He was elected a director
of the Connecticut River Railroad in January,
1855, and its president, to succeed Chester W.
Chapin, in March. He was equipped for this
position by a thorough acquaintance with the
technique of railroading, and brought to it also
a mind broad enough to command its wider
office relations and complications. Ex-Presi
dent Chester W. Chapin said that in his work
Mr. Harris "had few equals and no superior,"
and none will dispute the claim that he was
one of the leading railroad men of the country.
President Harris was economical, foresighted,
failing, when he failed, on the side of caution
and conservatism, rather than of speculation ;
but his wise prudence was justified by its fruits.
When he took the Connecticut River railroad
its stock was quoted at fifty, and at the time
of his death it sold for more than any other
railroad stock in the state. Though content
with the control of the railroad from Spring
field to Greenfield, Mr. Harris by no means
limited his work to it. In 1859 he was selected
to inspect the railroads of Russia, which work
he performed with such characteristic thorough
ness and honesty as to be made the recipient,
beyond his salary, of a valuable jewel from
the Czar. During the civil war it will be re
membered that at one time the United States
felt compelled to take possession of the rail
roads near the seat of operations, and Mr.
Harris was selected as government manager, a
post which he declined. His administrative
ability was further recognized by General
Grant, who induced Mr. Harris, as a personal
favor, to become a government director of the
Union Pacific railroad. He held the office but
a short time, however, being entirely dissatis
fied, as Charles Francis Adams Jr. afterward
was, with the hampering restrictions put upon

3°4

MASSACHUSETTS.

these representatives of the government. He
was also a director of the Vermont Valley rail
road, and was interested in the Ashuelot road
and other local enterprises. He was a director
in the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance
Company, the Chapin Bank, the Holyoke
Water-Power Company, and other corpora
tions. But the highest service which Mr. Harris
rendered to his business associates over the
country, and the best monument to his catholic
sagacity in railroading, remains in the Eastern
Railroad Association. This grew out of a
conversation with lawyer N. A. Leonard, and
was developed entirely at Mr. Harris's sugges
tion. Railroad men were greatly annoyed by
suits for patent infringements, brought against
individual corporations ; the companies rather
than be put the expense of fighting such suits
would yield to the demand for a small royalty,
and great abuses were developed. Through
Mr. flarris's efforts the eastern railroads com
bined into an association, not only to resist
improper suits, but to introduce useful patents.
The value of such a combination was seen by
the western railroads, and the two associations
resulted, one with headquarters in Springfield
and later in Boston, and the other in Chicago.
Perhaps the crowning service of this association,
and peculiarly the personal triumph of its long
time president, was the defeat of the Tanner
brake suit for infringement. This was decided
against the patent by the United States
Supreme Court. Mr. Harris organized the
opposition and carried the fight from a defeat
in the lower court. How near the railroads
came to yielding few know. When the Tanner
people won their case in the court at Chicago,
some of the roads were ready to make terms.
Mr. Harris went to New York and spent days
in fighting this sentiment in the western man
agers. Having a few minutes on his hands
before returning, he visited Commodore Van
derbilt in the Grand Central Depot, and he too
was ready to compromise for $30,000, on the
ground that the other roads were cutting to
get good terms. Mr. Harris challenged the
statement in his positive fashion, hard words
were bandied for the moment, but within ten
minutes the New York railroad magnate had
agreed to stand out, Mr. Harris was on his
way to Springfield, and thirty millions were
saved to the railroads of the United States.
The statement will be made that Mr. Harris,
in the face of all crises, often became heated
to the extent of losing his power of calm judg
ment. This is perhaps true in a small sense,
but a candid survey of the results of his life

will not bear out this estimate. Mr. Harris
was a strong fighter, who sought to carry the
point in hand, but he was possessed of powers
of penetration singularly far-reaching, fle was
an early and always strong opponent of the
Hoosac Tunnel, and the Franklin county idea
that the finger of Providence had marked out
a great railway line up to Hoosac mountain via
the Deerfield Valley and beyond it along the
valley to the Hudson river, never impressed
him. He felt, with another ancient doubter,
that Providence left the greatest work undone
when it refrained from putting the aforesaid
finger through the mountain. If there was
any man in the commonwealth who saw the
end of the Hoosac Tunnel enterprise from its
beginning, it was Mr. Harris. Twenty years
before he died he predicted that the great bore
would dissipate as many millions of dollars
before it was available for railroading. Another
saying of his later had sterling verification.
"When it is done," said he, "they may call the
money spent on the tunnels sunk, and the
Fitchburg railroad cannot compete with the
well-equipped and organized Boston & Albany
road." President Stearns afterward made this
admission about his property, finding that the
rent paid Massachusetts for the tunnel is just
about what his road ran behind in the year
1878. Mr. Flarris took a prominent part in
the continuous war over the state appropria
tions for the tunnel, and not even Frank Bird
was so thoroughly posted in every phase of
the history of the progress of the great enter
prise. Mr. Bird owed him the celebrated ex
pression "demoralized rock," which constituted
one of the great difficulties of the work at one
time. Mr. Harris, describing to him the pro
gress of the enterprise, stuck at the word he
wanted (disintegrated), and finally in an em
phatic way brought out "demoralized rock,"
which was hailed with delight by the ardent
pamphleteer as just the expression he wanted.
Mr. Harris is believed to have bound every
document relating to the tunnel, making a valu
able collection. On all New England railroad
matters, including the complicated Vermont.
chancery questions, Mr. flarris was good
authority. He held his own opinions, but his
own statements of fact were strictly accurate.
As a pleader, whether in private conversation
or public debate, he had a marvelous power
of comprehension, clear statement and the art
of presenting his points powerfully. This was
strongly illustrated in the plan before the rail
road committee of the legislature in 1869, when
Mr. Harris successfully opposed the petition

MASSACHUSETTS.

305

for a charter for the Holyoke railroad to
Westfield. Mr. Harris disdained the resort to
lobbying, which was then common, and relied
on his presentation of the case in person to
the committee, in which he excelled all the
parliamentary attorneys. Intense in his con
viction that a community could support one
^railroad more easily than two, he over-per
suaded both the committees and himself of
the impossibility of building the completing
line. His understimate of the force arraigned
against him in this case was perhaps the most
striking error of his railroad management. In
all his public career as a public man and a
citizen with political duties, Mr. Harris was
an ordainable representative of the class of
men who study to serve the people. Like the
late Samuel Bowles, he studied public affairs,
made up his mind what ought to be done for
the public good, and went forward to do it,
often in advance of the suggestion of the peo
ple themselves, careless whether he met oppo
sition or sympathy, never courting approval
demagogically, and firm in the consciencious-
ness that he knew, better than those whom he
would serve, what was needed for their wel
fare. The people never know what such men
have done for them until long after the strife
and controversy of the moment, when they
begin to reap the fruits of the superior fore
sight by which they had reluctantly been
guided. Mr. Harris's services to the people
were peculiar and various. In material inter
ests he always opposed the efforts of coal, oil
and telegraph speculators to get a hold in
Springfield and prey upon the community. He
was solicitous to give the city's material, no
less than its moral, interests, a substantial char
acter. In politics he was a Republican of inde
pendent breadth. In the early days of the
party, he rendered efficient service, with his
partner, Mr. Briggs, in the effort to save Kan
sas as a free state, and was an active member
of the Kansas Emigrant Aid Association. Their
office was at one time the depot for arms for
the Kansas settlers, which were sent out in
detached parts, the gun-barrels at one time,
the locks at another, so that if either consign
ment fell into the hands of "border ruffians"
the booty would be useless. Knowing the
Springfield wool dealer, John Brown, Mr.
Harris was naturally one of the first to engage
in raising money for his assistance in Kansas.
Mr. Harris served with credit in the legisla
ture of 1859-63-69, and as mayor of Spring
field in i860. In 1872 he was elected one of
the first board of water commissioners, and he

bore a prominent part in the investigations
relative to the source of water supply, as well
as the final choice of the Ludlow reservoir, and
in the carrying out of the enterprise by which
the city secured its abundant and healthful sup
ply of water.
It was as the great economist of Springfield,
however, that Mr. Harris rendered the most
signal service, not only to the community, but
to the whole country. In 1875, at the call for
retrenchment, Mr. Harris took service in the
common council from Ward Four, and for
three years and during all the last year of
Mayor Wight's administration he carried the
government burden on his soul day and night.
The shrinkage in values had only then just
begun, and Mr. Harris incessantly and upon
every occasion, in private and in public life,
told men they would live to^ see Main street
property selling for half what it was then held
at, and that if taxes were not reduced, not
only Springfield but New York and nearly all
the cities in the country would decline into
repudiation. He was regarded by many as a
visionary and a dreamer, by others with dread,
as they feared to face . the truth ; but time
proved a cruel vindicator of his judgment, so
far as the valuation of property is concerned,
and the retrenchment which he advised saved
the city from the alternative of repudiation.
He devoted himself to the campaign of econ
omy with that thorough scholarship which was
his ready resource. He analyzed the appro
priations for successive years, showed pre
cisely where the increase had been, and demon
strated the preposterous fallacy underlying
valuations, by snowing the absurdity of pre
suming any such increase in the accumulation
of wealth per capita. He pricked the bubble
of inflation estimates, courageously applied the
knife of retrenchment to the twinging nerves
of the public service, reduced expenditure and
taxation one-half, and placed the city early
amid her contemporaries on the hard-pan,
ready to take advantage of a new era of pros
perity. He restored prudence to a spendthrift
people and stayed the hand of the tax gatherer.
Mr. Harris's labors were of a thoroughly pub
lic character. He often seemed personal, and
there was no respect in which he was worse
misunderstood or felt more keenly the popular
misapprehension. If he was ever personal, it
was because he made the public cause his own.
He was wounded by personal spite and malig
nity freely made against him in connection
with the controversy over the salary of an
official, who, in his opinion, forced his services

306

MASSACHUSETTS.

upon the city and then demanded compensa
tion for them. The settlement of the right
principle involved was all he ever contended
for. Not long before his death, in speaking
of his amicable relationship with the men he
had met in the world, he said : "I have been a
man of fight. Since I was thirty years old and
came to have responsibilities of my own, there
has not been a day in which I have not had
some controversy on my hands, some great
litigation, some railroad, telegraph or insur
ance quarrel, or some public question; but,
fighting character as I am, I never raised my
hand against a man, or had a hand raised
against me, never sued a man nor have been
sued, nor had any lawsuit in my private
affairs." On public questions he fought alone
as well as with a regiment, but no one can look
upon his character and associate with it any
rancor and selfishness, and the tranquil flow of
his private affairs would show that such traits
formed no part of his character, even if the
generosity of his public bestowals and labors
did not richly justify a more positive vindica
tion. That he was always solicitous to pre
serve amicable personal relations with those
from whom he differed most radically, has
been often exemplified by his sending for
opponents, after the heat of the contest, to
meet him socially. He was utterly devoid of
the papish pretension which sometimes accom
panies great personal force. Going into the
Republican office once in the early days of the
Wight administration, he was met by Mr.
Bowles, in his free and easy way, with a jovial
hail, "Well, how are you, Boss Reformer?"
Mr. Harris's deeply bronzed and leonine fea
tures blushed like a girl's at the compliment,
and his momentary embarrassment revealed
the inmate modesty and genuine self-abnega
tion of the man.
Mr. Harris was deeply concerned with the
city library, and was president of the corpora
tion at his death. When the library building
had been completed at an expense of $100,000,
and there still remained a debt of $25,000 to
clear, the task of raising the money was
intrusted to Mr. Harris, and was done with
his usual zeal and persistence. He was able
to report at the next annual meeting that the
entire amount had been raised. He gave
$10,500 to the library fund. He was a liberal
contributor also to the Wesleyan University,
his alma mater, and was never slow to any
public charity which he was convinced was
doing good commensurate with the outlay.
The duties and responsibilities of life were

by no one more deeply felt and considered
than by Mr. Harris, fle was eminently reli
gious in his feelings, without being supersti
tious and bigoted. When he went to Spring
field to live he attended the First Church, but
subsequently joined the South Church, and
continued his connection with it to the close
of his life. He was a member of Judge Chap
man's Bible class for several years until the.
Judge left the city, and then he became its
teacher. His explanations of obscure passages
were always plain and forcible, and the many
young and elderly people who were at various
times members of his class look back with
pleasure upon their connection with it. In the '
latter part of 1871 he moved with others, for
a better place of worship, and went earnestly
into the work of soliciting funds for a new
church edifice. He gave liberally of his own
means, and was instrumental in securing many
subscriptions to the building fund. He was
appointed a member of the building commit
tee ; but as a more expensive building than to
him seemed wise was generally desired he
withdrew from it. He, however, continued to
give such advice and assistance as was needed,
and maintained friendly interest in the work
until the building was finished. In 1874 Mr.
Harris made a second trip to Europe, going
to London to assist in the making a sale of the
right to use the vacuum brake upon English
railroads. His daughter Lillie and his
daughter-in-law Ida accompanied him. They
sailed from New York on August 1, and
embarked for home on September 15, having
spent most of the time in London and Paris.
His last visit to the Old World was in 1877,
when he went out to get rest from business
cares. He sailed from New York on July 18,
and was accompanied by his wife, his daugh
ters Lillie and Etta, and Rev. Dr. Bucking
ham. Fle remained abroad throughout the
summer months.
It seems hardly proper to close this article
without quoting some of the things that have
been said regarding Mr. Harris's traits of
character. To those who met him for a special
purpose, he appeared gifted as a talker. His
statements were clothed in language which
conveyed his precise meaning, and were made
without hesitation, but in reality his conversa
tional powers were not large. He could state
a fact clearly, and easily express any conclu
sion he had drawn from it; but he could not
entertain a company as an after-dinner talker.
He needed the inspiration of a great cause to
quicken his thoughts. He seldom made a set

MASSACHUSETTS.

307

speech before a public audience, but when
called out on any question to which he had
previously given thought, he could talk well.
In this way he often surprised his friends by
his array of facts and the diversity of his
information. His taste for literature leaned
strongly toward the substantial, from which he
could gain information. That which served
only to amuse had no interest to him. Scien
tific information he always treasured for the
benefit it might be to him in the future. In
business he was active and aggressive, and
whatever he found for his hands to do, he
took hold of with all his might. He was ready
for a conflict whenever he considered the
occasion demanded it, and the determined
spirit which he manifested often misled his
opponents and the public, who knew him only
through the newspapers or from the reports of
those who opposed his measures. It has been
supposed that such a man must of necessity
carry the same spirit to his home. In this
instance nothing could be further from the
truth. No one enjoyed his family more than
he, or could be more yielding to their wants
and wishes. The cares of business were laid
aside when he left his office, and there came
that genial flow of good feeling which made
his home agreeable and delightful to all. He
entered heartily into whatever interested his
family. His wife bore this testimony of him :
"I lived with him thirty-six years, and until he
was sick I do not remember that I ever saw
him impatient. He never spoke a harsh word
to me, or complained of anything which I did.
He was often very much in earnest, but I
should never call him impulsive. He seemed
to think twice always before speaking."
His stature was five feet seven inches, and
his weight when in good health was one hun
dred fifty pounds. His eyes were gray, and
his hair in early manhood was dark brown.
He was always neatly and plainly dressed, and
there was never any attempt at display in his
personal appearance. He was remarkably
systematic in his affairs. Papers relating to
every business transaction were carefully pre
served, and placed where he could find them
at any time. When he went to college, he
made an inventory of every article in his pos
session, including clothing, books, etc., which
is still among his papers. His accounts at that
time were kept with strict accuracy, and they
show the nature of each purchase, fle did not
believe in charging even small items as "Sun
dries." He began keeping a journal while in
college, entering only the most important

occurrences. This habit he kept up to con
siderable, extent through life. When he went
on a journey he kept a record of all his
experiences and observations. Wastefulness,
wherever he saw it, even in unimportant mat
ters, annoyed him exceedingly. He was by no
means penurious. Whatever was necessary
was right; beyond that, all that was used he
regarded as waste, and whoever showed waste
fulness in small things was sure to in larger
ones. Mr. Harris was not what might be
called a humorous man, though he appreciated
keen wit. He could not see any fun where
most others could. He never made puns or
jokes ; could not bear mimicry or imitation,
and never encouraged it in any member of his
family. He was choice in the use of language,
and never uttered anything that even sounded
like an oath. He never used a by-word or
slang phrase, and "fudge" was the strongest
term he used to express the utmost contempt.
He never used tobacco in any form, having
promised his father in early youth that he
would not; and he never formed the habit of
taking intoxicating drinks. He never spent
any time idling in saloons and- bar-rooms. His
motto in regard to forming any bad habit was
this : "It is much easier not to begin than it is
to break off." He placed great confidence in
those who had expressed friendship and given
evidence of sincerity. Nothing grieved him
more than to find himself betrayed by one in
whom he had confided. The true Puritan
spirit was largely represented in Mr. Harris's
life and example, and the good such men do
can not be measured by the generation familiar
with their works. The world counts success
only from immediate results ; but the success
which endures is that which comes with the
maturity of time. His life was full of activity
and usefulness — a bright and shining example ;
and his good name will be an inheritance to
the coming generations bound to him by the
ties of kindred.
Daniel L. Harris and Harriet Octavia Cor
son were married at the Mansion House, in
Albany, New York, May 25, 1843, hy Rev.
J. N. Campbell, pastor of the First Presby
terian Church. She was born in Canastota,
New York, January 18, 1824, and died in
Springfield, Massachusetts, July 10, 1904, aged
eighty years. Her parents were James and
Sarah (Evans) Otis Corson. Eleven children
were born of this marriage: 1. Edgar Lester,
July 26, 1844, died December 9, 1846. 2-3.
Twin daughters, August 9, 1846, died August
10, 1846. 4. Corinne Lester, August 31, 1848;

3o8

MASSACHUSETTS.

married Edward S. Brewer, of Springfield,
June 2, 1869; children: Edith Clement, mar
ried Franklin Weston, of Dalton, Massachu
setts; Edward Harris, married Amy Waller,
of Chicago; Maude Porter, married Howard
Lang, of Boston. 5. Harriet Buckingham,
September 15, 1850; died November 2, 1852.
6. Azariah, March 8, 1853, died February 7,
1892; married Ida C. Kibbee, of Springfield,
July 4, 1874; children: Harriet Esther, mar
ried Edward Ritzenthaler, and lives in
Auburn, New York; Ambia Boody, married
James flooker, and lives in Rochester, New
York; Daniel Lester, died aged fourteen;
Margaret Ida, married Isaac Allison, and lives
in Elmira, New York. 7. S. Jeannie, April 26,
1854, married, September 24, 1879, Henry
Kingsley Baker, and lives in Springfield ; chil
dren : Corinne Harris ; Kingsley, died October
29, 1903; Lester Harris. 8. Lillie Johnston,
January 26, 1856; married Damon N. Coats,
May 16, 1883, and died January 20, 1887;
child: Sylvia Marguerite, married Robert C.
Fenner, February 12, 1908, and resides in
Brookline, Massachusetts. 9. Ambia Corson,
May 28, 1859, resides in the old homestead.
10. Henrietta Clark, June 20, 1861 ; married,
October 10, 1883, William Allen Harris, and
resides in Springfield, Massachusetts; chil
dren : Henrietta Corson, William Allen, Ches-
ley Gardner, Hart Lester, Daniel Lester,
Ambia Harris and Harriet Octavia. 11. Cor
nelia Hawkins, July 10, 1866; married, Octo
ber 10, 1889, Edwin R. Lancaster; no chil
dren ; they live in New York City.
(For first generation see preceding sketch).
(II) William, son of Thomas
HARRIS and Elizabeth Harris, was a resi
dent of Charlestown, Rowley
and Middletown. In 1652 he sold John Green
land fifteen acres left by Deacon William Stet
son, his stepfather. His wife, Edith Harris,
was admitted to the church 30 (9) 1642, and
died August 5, 1685. He married (second)
Lydia, widow of Joseph Smith. Wyman makes
no mention of this last. Savage says his chil
dren were : Hannah, Mary, Martha, Elizabeth
and Patience.
(Ill) John, of Charlestown, who may have
been a son of William and Edith Harris, has
left no record of the date of his birth, marriage
or death. The records show that in 1658 he
was granted fifteen acres of woods and two
and one-half acres of cow commons. He mar
ried Amy, daughter of Joseph Hills. She was

admitted to the church 9 (6) 1656. Their
children were : Samuel, John, Thomas (died
young), Thomas and Joseph.
(IV) Thomas (2), fourth son of John and
Amy (Hills) Harris, was born March 18, and
baptized 29 (3) 1664, and died October 5,
1747, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, as
appears on his gravestone. He was taxed
1 727- 1 737, and his tax was abated February
5, 1739; he was also taxed 1741-1746. He
appears as a party to three deeds. His will
dated February 1, 1736, was probated October
. 19, 1747. He was a tailor. He married (first)
February 25, 1686, Hepsiba Crosswell, born
May 20, 1666, daughter of Thomas and Pris
cilla (Upham) Crosswell, who was baptized 6
(12) 1686, admitted to the church June 1,
1718, and died December 3, 1718 (or as the
record states-— 1717). He married (second)
August 26, 1719, Eleanor Miller, who was
admitted to the church August 13, 1721, and
died September 8, 1734, as stated on the foot-
stone at her grave, fle married (third) pub
lished March 22, 1735, Mary Dana, who mar
ried (second) 1848, John Brewster. His chil
dren were : Thomas, Hepzibah, William (died
young) , Silence, Ebenezer, William, John, Abi
gail, Rachel and Elizabeth.
(V) Thomas (3), eldest child of Thomas
(2) and Hepsiba (Crosswell) Harris, was
born in Charlestown, November 13, 1686, bap
tized 6 (12) 1687, and died probably 1768. He
was taxed as "Thomas Jr." 1727-1746, and
as "Thomas" 1748-1766. His name appears
on record both as grantor and grantee in vari
ous transfers of land, 171 5-2 1-24-32-33. The
last is a purchase with Mr. Brigden of Benja
min Lawrence of a wharf near the ferry.
Administration of his estate was granted to
his son John, April 15, 1766. The estate was
assigned to son John and daughter Martha in
1768, but there is no invention or description
of it. He married, June 3, 1708, Mary Dowse,
born in Charlestown, April 17, 1686, daughter
of Deacon Samuel and Faith (Jewett) Dowse.
Their children were : Martha, Mary, Thomas,
Anna, John and Jonathan.
( VT) John (2), second son of Thomas (3)
and Mary (Dowse) Plarris, was baptized June
1, 1718, in Charlestown, and died November
1, 1780. He was a potter, September 20, 1741,
he was admitted to the churcn. He was taxed
1741-1773, and was the seventy-ninth in point
of valuation in the town. He bought various
parcels of land on Charles river. April 3,
1782, administration was granted on his estate

MASSACHUSETTS.

309

to his son John ; the inventory mentions man
sion and lane, two acres of pasture, and a
large personal estate. He married, June 12,
1740, Mellicent Rand, born June 3, baptized.
June 4, 1721, daughter of Jonathan and Melli
cent (Esterbrook) Rand, of Charlestown, who
was admitted to the church September 20,
1741. Her gravestone at Maiden bears the
inscription : "Mildred, wife of John Harris,
died at Maiden, June 20, 1775. ae. 55." He
married ( second) "March 19, 1778, Elizabeth
Miller, of Medford, widow of Captain John
Miller, of Charlestown. She married (third)
Richard Devens, and died November 1, 1780,
aged, as the gravestone states, sixty- four. John's
children were: Mellicent, Mary (died young),
Mary, John, Thomas, Jonathan and Hannah,
all by wife Mellicent.
(VII) Captain Thomas (4), second son of
John (2) and Mellicent (Rand) Harris, was
born in Charlestown, October 15, 1749, and
died in Boston, June 14 or 15, 1814, aged
sixty-five. He was a sea captain. He and his
wife and five children are in the census of
1789. He married, August 18, 1776, Mary
Frothingham, who was baptized in Charles
town, July 14, 1754, daughter of Nathaniel
and Mary (Whittemore) Frothingham. Their
children were: Mary (died young), Thomas
(died young), Thomas, John, Mary, Eliza,
Sarah, George and Harriet.
(VIII) Captain Thomas (5), second son
of Captain Thomas (4) and Mary (Froth
ingham) Flarris, was born, as he has written,
"in Boston, May 14, 1779, on the southwest
corner of Winter and Common, now Tremont
street, where the Witwell House now stands."
He died in Brattleboro, Vermont, August 18,
1840. He was a sea captain and made many
long voyages to various ports of the world,
and was also a merchant. Among the quite
numerous land transactions to which he was a
party are a transfer to S. Knowles and
Thomas Harris by Thomas Robbins, of a
lot on the square in 181 5. In 1816, S.
Knowles and Thomas Harris granted the
same lot to the town of Charlestown for
the site of a town hall. After quitting the sea
he was sent by certain marine insurance com
panies, in 1835, as their agent, to take care of
and repair vessels damaged by storms, col
lisions, &c, on which they had insurance, hav
ing his residence in Cowes, Isle of Wight,
England. He filled this position till the panic
of 1837 and then returned to this country and
settled at Brattleborough, Vermont, where he

died. In a manuscript he left, Thomas Harris
states, concerning his grandfather, Captain
Thomas Harris, "He lived on a line between
Copp's Flill in Boston and Bunker Hill in
Charlestown, with a steep sand beach in front
of his house, a little to the eastward of a creek
that led into the Town dock, so called. He
was a potter, and owner of vessels in the cod
fisheries, and owned a number of stores ; and
in winter when the vessels could not go on the
Banks, he sent them to the southward with
earthenware and notions. * * * I believe
he and Richard Devens, known as Commissary
Devens, married sisters, for their second-
wives." Captain Thomas (5) Plarris married
(first) Lucinda Smith Fales, published Decem
ber 2, 1804. He married (second) Abigail
Chapin, who was born in Orange, Massachu
setts, July 2, 1789, and died in Jeffrey, New
Hampshire, August 3, 1870. She was the
daughter of Oliver and Mary (Jones) Chapin,
of Brattleboro, Vermont. She was admitted
to the second (Unitarian) church April 7,
1833. Their children were : George Oliver,
Charles Chapin, Thomas Edwin, Mary Chapin,
Frederick Harper, Julia Jones, Frank Orne,
Sophia Orne, all except the first baptized at
the Second Church, March 17, 1833.
(IX) Frederick Harper, fourth son of Cap
tain Thomas (5) and Abigail (Chapin) Harris,
was born in Charlestown, June 22, 1823. He
attended the public schools of his native city
until his parents went to Cowes, when he
accompanied them. Soon afterward he was
sent to Hamburg, Germany, where he studied
two and a half years, and among other things
acquired a practical knowledge of the German
language. On the return of his parents from
Cowes he came back to America, and when a
little more than fifteen years of age (Decem
ber, 1838) he became a clerk in the old Spring
field Bank. He remained with that institution
about six years, afterward became cashier of
the Pynchon bank. He attended faithfully to
his duties there till March 22, 1864, when the
Third National Bank of Springfield was
opened, when he became cashier, and from that
time till now he has been connected with what
is now (1909) the strongest bank in the city,
and since 1886 filled the office of president.
This bank, started in "War times," with a
capital of $500,000, has, through the wise
management of its officers, paid an annual
dividend of ten per cent, and now has a surplus
of over half a million, deposits of nearly four
millions, and its stock sells at 225 per cent of

3io

MASSACHUSETTS.

its face value. Mr. Harris began banking
seventy years ago, and has probably been
longer in the banking business than any other
man in the state of Massachusetts. His atten
tion has been chiefly to banking, but he has
also taken part in the management of other
concerns. He has been a director in the Spring
field Fire and Marine Insurance Company for
about fifty years, and is now its oldest director
both in age and in length of service. He was
a director of the Connecticut River railroad
for years, being elevated at the same time
that Nehemiah Leonard was made president.
He was a director of the Hampden Insurance
Company, which broke in consequence of the
great drain made on it to pay its losses in the
great fire in Portland, Maine, in 1866. He
was first a Whig and then a Republican, cast
his first presidential vote for Henry Clay, and
his first Republican presidential vote for John
C. Fremont. He filled the office of alderman
several times, but has never held any other
political office. He is a member of the Nayasset,
the Winthrop and the Country Clubs. In the
course of years he has taken an occasional
respite from work to devote to travel and
recreation, and has visited many of the beauty
spots and pleasure resorts of the United States
including California and Florida, and the
Bahama Islands, and portions of Canada.
Frederick H. Harris married, January 26,
1846, Martha Asenath Bliss, who was born
April 1, 1825, and died January 22, 1890; she
was the daughter of Theodore Bliss of Spring
field, born March 4, 1789, died December 13,
1844, and his wife Juliet Henrietta Mann, died
April 9, 1879. (See Bliss). The children of
this marriage are two: 1. Mary Chapin, born
in Springfield, March 19, 1847, died in Florence,
Italy, January 28, 1900; she married (first)
February 18, 1873, Edward Whitney Lambert,
merchant, of West Newton, son of Henry and
Katherine (Porter) Lambert. He died of
consumption at Aitken, South Carolina, March
25, 1874. She married (second) September
26, 1877, Charles Theodore Farlow, merchant,
of Newton, son of John Smith and Nancy
Wright (Blanchard) Farlow; he died in Flor
ence, Italy, February 7, 1900. 2. Frederick,
born September 26, 1853 ; married, September
3, 1879 Emily, eldest child of David M. and
Eliza (Wright) Osborne, of Auburn, New
York. They have two children : Florence
Osborn, born in Springfield, November 12,
1882; Helen Osborne, born in Springfield,
May 14, 1888. Mr. Harris is now (1909)
cashier of the Third National Bank.

William Richard Cutter, author
CUTTER and editor, is a direct descend
ant of Elizabeth (1) Cutter, a
widow, who came to New England, about
1640, and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
January 10, 1663, (1663-64). In her will she
gave her age as about eighty-seven years, but
as she lived about two years longer, she was
at death aged about eighty-nine. She dwelt
with her daughter in Cambridge about twenty
years. Three of her children emigrated to this
country: William, who after living in Amer
ica about • seventeen years, returned to his
former home in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in Eng
land ; Richard, the founder of the Cutter
family in America; and Barbara, her daugh
ter, who came to this country unmarried, and
later married Mr. Elijah Corlet, the school
master of Cambridge. In a relation Elizabeth
made before the church she is called "Old
Goodwife Cutter," and she makes a statement
to the effect that she' was born in some small
place, without a church, near Newcastle-upon-
Tyne. She "knew not" her father, who may
have died in her infancy, but her mother sent
her, when she was old enough, to Newcastle,
where she was placed in a "godly family,"
where she remained for about seven years,
• when she entered another where the religious
privileges were less. Her husband died, and she
was sent to Cambridge, New England, and
came thither in a time of sickness and through
many sad troubles by sea. What her maiden
name was is not known to the present writer.
From her own statement the inference is
drawn that her mother at least was in humble
circumstances. She had with her in Cambridge
a sister or a sister-in-law, a widow named Mrs.
Isabella Wilkinson, who undoubtedly was
from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. There is more
known of the Cutters in Newcastle, where it
is said an English antiquary has discovered the
name of the grandfather of William and Rich
ard Cutter, and this information is as yet
withheld from us.
(II) Richard Cutter, son of Elizabeth, died
in Cambridge, at the age of about seventy-two,
June 16, 1693. His brother William had died
in England before this time. Richard was
under age and probably unmarried when he
came to America. He was one of the first to
build a house outside of the settlement, in that
part of Cambridge called Menotomy, and his
house for defense against the Indians was
furnished with flankers. In December, 1675,
he sent four young men of his family — his two
sons Ephraim and Gershom, and his stepsons

MASSACHUSETTS.

3"

Isaac and Jacob Amsden — to the severe cam
paign in Rhode Island which culminated in
the Narragansett fight, in which a great part
of the New England military were engaged.
Richard Cutter was twice married: First,
about 1644, to Elizabeth Williams, who died
March 5, 1661-2, aged about forty-two years
(gravestone) ; she was the daughter of Robert
Williams of Roxbury and his wife, Elizabeth
(Stalham) Williams. Second, February 14,
1662-3, t° Frances (Perriman) Amsden, par
entage unknown; she was the widow of Isaac
Amsden, and survived Richard Cutter's de
cease, and died before July 10, 1728. Four
teen children, seven by each wife.
Elizabeth, eldest daughter and child of
Richard Cutter, married William Robinson,
and several of her descendants became famous
as governors. She probably died a long time
before her father, and was omitted in his will.
Two of her sons „ laid claim to their share of
their grandfather Cutter's estate at a later
period. William Robinson, Jonathan Robinson
and Elizabeth Gregory, and also Samuel Rob
inson, children of Elizabeth Robinson, daugh
ter of Richard Cutter, quitclaimed their rights
to their grandfather Richard Cutter's estate
(Middlesex Registry Deeds, 39: 113, etc.)
William Robinson died in 1693.
(Ill) William Cutter, third son and fourth
child of Richard Cutter, the immigrant, was a
thriving farmer, and died in Cambridge, April
1, 1723, in the seventy- fourth year of his
age (gravestone). By his wife Rebecca he
was father of ten children. She was Rebecca,
daughter of John (2) Rolfe (Henry 1) and
his wife Mary Scullard (Samuel 1). Rebecca
Rolfe married for her second husband John
Whitmore, Senior, of Medford, and died No
vember 13, 1 75 1, aged ninety.
(IV) John Cutter, second son and fifth child
of William, born October 15, 1690, died Jan
uary 21, 1776, in his eighty-sixth year, and
thirty-seventh in his office as a deacon. He
was a farmer. He married Lydia Harrington
(John (3), Robert (2), and possibly Ann
(1); she was formerly of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, England, and she died January 7, 1755,
in her sixty- fourth year. Eleven children.
(V) Ammi Cutter, tenth child of John, born
October 27, 1733, died April 19, 1795, in his
sixtyTsecond year. He was a farmer and a
miller, and had three wives and twenty-one
children. By his first wife, Esther Pierce, he
had ten children, the ninth of whom was Eph
raim Cutter, born October 31, 1767, died
March 31, 1841, who by his wife, Deborah

Locke, had fourteen children, the tenth of
whom was Benjamin Cutter, a physician, born
June 4, 1803, died March 9, 1864, who by his
wife Mary Whittemore had six children.
(VI) William Richard Cutter, youngest
child of Ammi Cutter, was born in Woburn,
August 17, 1847. He was educated in the public
schools of his native town until his fifteenth
year, when he was sent to the Warren Acad
emy in Woburn, where he remained until
April, 1865, when he entered Norwich Univer
sity at Norwich, Vermont — the institution now
situated at Northfield, Vermont, and known as
the Military College of the State of Vermont.
When at Woburn at the Warren Academy he
commanded (1863- 1865) a corps of cadets
known as the Warren Cadets, fle performed
his share of duty at Norwich Military Univer
sity during the two years of 1865 and 1866,
and leaving there in the latter year returned to
Woburn, where he pursued his studies under a
private instructor. In the fall of 1867 he
entered the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale
University at New Haven, Connecticut, as a
special student, and left there in 1869. In the
meantime having access to the large college
library at Yale, he became interested in the
study of history and more especially geneal
ogy, as he had the use of a larger and more
valuable collection of books here than he had
ever had before, and he decided to publish a
history of the Cutter Family, and issued, while
at New Haven, his proposals for that work.
He traveled extensively in his pursuit of
material, and published his book at Boston in
1871, under the title of "A History of the Cut
ter Family of New England."
He was married, on August 31, 1871, to
Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Kimball,
teacher, editor and lecturer, and his first wife,
Mary Ann (Ames) Kimball, and a grand
daughter of Rev. David Tenney Kimball, for
upwards of sixty years minister of a church in
Ipswich, Massachusetts. One child, Sarah
Ilamlen, was born to them, July 25, 1873, hut
died April 26, 1890. Another died in infancy
in 1880.
In 1871 Mr. Cutter removed his residence
to Lexington, Massachusetts, and devoted
himself for ten years to various pursuits.
While at Lexington he prepared and published
a "History of the Town of Arlington, Mass
achusetts," which was issued from the press
in 1880. This work contained a very full
genealogy of the early inhabitants,' and copies
are now scarce. At Lexington also he edited,
with notes, his article for the "New England

312

MASSACHUSETTS.

Historical and Genealogical Register," entitled
a "Journal of a Forton Prisoner, England,
l777'I779'" whose length caused its publication
to extend through the numbers of that period
ical from April, 1876, to January, 1879. While
at Lexington also he prepared a sketch of
Arlington, which was printed under his name
in Drake's "History of Middlesex County"
(1880). During his residence in Lexington he held
the office by successive elections of clerk of the
Hancock Congregational Church, and for
seven years from 1875 that of member and
clerk of the town school committee, and in
connection with the last named office that of
trustee of the Cary Free Public Library, being
for a greater part of that time clerk and treas
urer of that board. In 1882 he was elected
librarian of the Woburn Public Library in his
native city, and assuming his duties on March
1. of that year, removed at once to Woburn.
He holds this office at the present time. He
has served on the nominating committee of
the Massachusetts Library Club, of which he
was one of the original members, and has been
one of its vice-presidents. In Woburn he has
held the office of secretary of the trustees of
Warren Acac.emy since 1885, and that of trus
tee, clerk and treasurer of the Burbeen Free
Lecture Fund since 1892. He is also one of
the vice-presidents of the Rumford Historical
Association of Woburn, and is a member of
the Massachusetts Society of Colonial Wars.
He has been a vice-president of the Boston
Alumni Association of Norwich University,
and for more than a generation, or since 1870,
a resident member of the New England His
toric Genealogical Society. He has written
considerable for the publications of the Gene
alogical Society, and has held a position on its
governing council, and in 1906 was elected its
historian. He has edited for the Massachu
setts Historical Society a section of Hon. Mel
len Chamberlain's "History of Chelsea," mak
ing a greater part of the second volume of that
monumental work. He has prepared for pub
lication and now nearly finished, three volumes
of the Towne Memorial Biographies, published
by the New England Historic Genealogical
Society. In 1906 Mr. Cutter was selected by
the Lewis Flistorical Publishing Company as
editor of various of their publications, among
them the present work.
Since 1882, in his leisure from the urgent
work of his library position, Mr. Cutter has
written much for the newspaper and periodi
cal press, and has written or edited a number

of works of greater or less extent. Among
them sketches of the city of Woburn, and of
the towns of Burlington and Winchester, for
Hurd's "History of Middlesex County," 1890;
"Contributions to a Bibliography of the Local
History of Woburn," 1892, with additional
material, 1893 ; "Diary of Lieut. Samuel
Thompson of Woburn, while in service in the
French Wars, 1758" (with copious notes)
1896 ; "Life and Humble Confession of Rich
ardson, the Informer" (fifty copies printed)
1894; "A Model Village Library" (an article
descriptive of the Woburn Public Library)
in "New England Magazine," February, 1890;
"Woburn Historic Sites and Old flouses,"
1892; etc.
He received the degree of A. M. from Nor
wich University in 1893.

All who bear the name of Field,
FIELD both in England and America, are,
according to Burke's "Landed
Gentry," descended from the ' Counts de la
Field, who were prominently identified with
the history of Alsace-Lorraine prior to the
Norman conquest. Hubertus de la Feld, who
was probably the founder of the family in
England, crossed the channel with the Norman
duke in 1066, and three years later received
from the Conqueror a large landed estate in
Lancaster as a reward for his military services.
During the succeeding four hundred years
there were various changes in the orthography
of the name. The present surname, Field,
simplified by the omission of the French pre
fix de la, was adopted about the middle of the
fifteenth century. Many of this name were
noted for their intellectual attainments, and
other superior qualifications prior to the coloni
zation of New England, and the Fields of
America have every reason to be proud of
their English ancestors. A pedigree at hand
of Zachariah Field, the immigrant, contains
his line of descent through ten generations,
beginning with Roger Del Field, born at Sow-
erby about the year 1240, and continuing
through Thomas Del Feld, John Del Feld,
Thomas Del Feld, Thomas Del Felde, William
Feld, William Feld, Richard Felde, John Field
and the latter's son John. The elder John
Field was one of the early English astronomers,
and a noted writer upon that subject. By a
patent dated September 14, 1538, the heralds
formally recognized his right to the family
arms : Sable, a chevron between three garbs
argent, and at the same time they granted to
him the following crest: A dexter arm issu-

MASSACHUSETTS.

3J3

ing out of clouds fesseways proper, habited
gules, holding in hand, also proper, a sphere
or. This appropriate crest may be considered
a recognition of his services in the cause of
astronomy. The family about to be mentioned
is descended from Zachariah, the immigrant,
who was a son of John and a grandson of the
astronomer. (I) Zachariah Field was born at East Ards-
ley, Yorkshire, in 1596, and arrived at Boston
from Bristol in 1629, first locating in Dorches
ter, Massachusetts. In 1636 he accompanied
a large party of English immigrants to the
Connecticut valley, settling at flartford, and
being in the vigor of manhood was enrolled in
a company furnished by that town to partici
pate in the Pequot war. In * 1659 he estab
lished himself in mercantile business at North
ampton, Massachusetts, engaging quite exten
sively in trade with the Indians, and in 1663
removed to Hatfield, where he died June 30,
1666. The Christian name of his wife, whom
he married about 1641, was Mary, and her
death occurred about 1670. Their children
were: 1. Mary, born about 1643; married
Joshua Carter, jr., of Northampton. 2. Zach
ariah, born 1645 ' married Sarah Wels. 3.
John, mentioned below. 4. Samuel, born 165 1 ;
married Sarah Gilbert. 5. Joseph, born about
1658; married (first). Joanna Wyatt; (second)
Mary Belding.
(II) John, son of Zachariah and Mary
Field, was born in Hartford about 1648. He
resided in Hatfield, and served under Captain
Turner in the memorable engagement with the
Indians at Turner's Falls, in 1676. His death
occurred in Hatfield, June 26, 171 7. He mar
ried, December 17, 1670, Mary Edwards, born
January 20, 1650, daughter of Alexander and
Sarah (Searl) Edwards, of Northampton.
Children: 1. John, see next paragraph. 2.
Mary, born 1674, died young. 3. Zachariah,
born 1676; married Sarah Clark. 4. Benja
min, born February 14, 1679; participated in
the "Meadows Fight" in 1704. 5. Mary. 6.
Bethiah. 7. Sarah. 8. Abilene, died young.
9. Ebenezer. 10. Abilene.
(Ill) John (2), son of John (1) Field, was
born in Northampton, May 11, 1672. He
resided in Hatfield, and was one of the two
constables appointed by the governor and
council in 1708. He also served as a soldier
in the Indian wars. He died in Hatfield, May
28, 1747. In 1698 he married Sarah Coleman,
born February 15, 1673, daughter of John
and Hannah (Porter) Coleman. In Ash-
pelon's raid, which occured in September,

1677, Mrs. Hannah Coleman was killed, and
Mrs. Sarah Field was carried to Canada as
a captive. She was redeemed in the following
year, and one of the shoes worn by her on the
homeward march through the wilderness to
Hatfield is now one of the cherished relics to
be seen in the Deerfield Memorial Hall. Mrs.
Field survived her husband, and her death
occurred January 8, 1759. She was the mother
of six children : John, Sarah, Hannah, Amos,
Eliakim, Mary.
(IV) Eliakim, son of John (2) and Sarah
(Coleman) Field, was born in Hatfield, No
vember 27, 171 1. He resided in his native
town, and died there February 8, 1786. In
1752 he married Esther Graves, of Whately,
Massachusetts, born November 29, 1732,
daughter of David and Abigail (Bardwell)
Graves. David (4) Graves was a descendant
of Thomas D., the immigrant, through John
(2) and Samuel (3). Abigail Bardwell was
a daughter of Robert and Mary (Gull) Bard
well, the former of whom served in King
Philip's war and took part in the "Falls Fight"
under Captain Turner. Children of Eliakim
and Esther (Graves) Field: 1. Zenas, born
August 10, 1753; married (first) Sarah Bur
roughs; (second) Lydia Cathcart. 2. Sarah,
bora April 23, 1755 ; married David Scott, of
Whately. 3. Zilpah, born November 13, 1756;
married Abner Loomis, of Colchester, Con
necticut ; resided in Whately, Massachusetts ;
died March 22, 1847. 4. Rhoda, bora October
26, 1758; married Elisha Waite, of Hatfield;
died January 19, 1819. 5. John, see next para
graph. 6. Abigail, born July 21, 1762 ; married
Roger Dickinson, of Whately; died February
9, 1809. 7. David, born April 11, 1764; mar
ried Tabitha Clark. 8. Esther, born April 4,
1767; died unmarried. 9. Hannah, born June
21, 1769; married (first) Samuel Grimes;
(second) Oliver Cooley; died May 14, 1843.
(V) John (3), son of Eliakim Field, was
born in Hatfield, August 25, 1760. In early
manhood he settled in Conway, Massachusetts,
where he engaged in farming, and resided there
the remainder of his life. In 1789 he married
Lucy Look, of Conway, born at Edgartown,
Massachusetts, 1763, and died in Conway, July
29, 1854. The children of this union were :
1. Polly, born April 27, 1790; died October 25,
181 6. 2. Nancy, born October 30, 1791 ; mar
ried Elijah Page ; died December 2, 1856. 3.
William, born December 8, 1793. 4. John,
who will be again referred to. 5. Lucinda,
born June 8, 1798; married Franklin Childs,
of Conway. 6. Prudence, born October 20,

314

MASSACHUSETTS.

1800; died November 30, 1829. 7. Editha,
born May 6, 1803; died August 1, 1804.
(VI) John (4), son of John (3) and Lucy
(Look) Field, was born in Conway, June 28,
1796. He was a lifelong resident of Conway,
and an unusually prosperous farmer, acquir
ing possession of the homestead farm and de
voting his active years to its cultivation. He
was noted for his upright character and
superior judgment in business affairs, which,
together with his able administration of vari
ous important public offices, gained for him
the esteem and confidence of his fellow-towns
men. His personal appearance was particularly
attractive, and in his latter years he was an
excellent representative of a New England
country gentleman of the old school. In poli
tics he was originally a Whig and later a Re
publican. He attended the Congregational
church. Mr. Field died June 13, 1876. He
married, September 25, 1828, Fidelia Nash,
born in Conway, February 6, 1806, died Sep
tember 22, 1865, daughter of Elijah and
Pamelia (Warner) Nash. Pamelia Warner
was a daughter of Jonathan Warner. John
and Fidelia (Nash) Field were the parents of
nine children: 1. Chandler Augustus, born
September 19, 1829; married Helen Wells. 2.
Joseph Nash, born September 20, 1831 ; mar
ried (first) Jane Flayes; (second) Catherine
Blackwell ; resided in Manchester, England.
3. Marshall, who is mentioned at greater
length in the succeeding paragraph. 4. Helen
Eliza, born February 3, 1837 ; married Hon.
Lyman D. James (see sketch). 5. Henry,
born May 25, 1841 ; married Florence Lathrop.
6. Elizabeth Page, born September 25, 1843 >
died December 27, 1854. 7. William E., born
February 17, 1845 ,' died May 22 same year.
8. Laura Nash, born October 30, 1848; mar
ried, November 26, 1873, Henry Dibblee, for
merly of New York City, and now a prominent
real estate dealer in Chicago. Mr. and Mrs.
Dibblee have two children: Bertha, born
March 20, 1875, and Frances F., born August
26, 1877. 9. Elizabeth, born April 10, 1853 ;
died April 6, 1854.
(VII) Marshall Field, son of John and
Fidelia (Nash) Field, was born in Conway,
August 18, 1835. fle attended the public
schools and academy of his native town, and
these advantages, enhanced by a through train
ing in habits of industry received at home,
proved an excellent equipment for a business
hie. Although of a contemplative nature he
disliked study, was not desirous of entering
any of the learned professions, and possessed

but one ambition, that of becoming a merchant.
From the very first he was wholly subservient
to this idea and he believed himself destined
to attain its realization. As clerk of a country
store in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he
remained four years, he acquired the necessary
elementary training, and upon reaching his
majority he determined to take advantage of
his freedom by seeking business advancement
in the West, which^ was then being largely
populated by sturdy, energetic New Eng
enders. In 1856 he became salesman in the
wholesale dry goods house of Cooley, Wads
worth & Company, Chicago, and continued as
such with the succeeding firm of Cooley, Far-
well & Company, greatly adding to his business
experience and developing such marked ability
as to secure a junior partnership in that con
cern in i860. This house, which was one of
the largest mercantile establishments in Chi
cago to successfully weather the financial panic
of 1857, was also able to greatly expand its
volume of trade during the civil war period,
but in 1865 a complete reorganization was
deemed absolutely necessary, and Mr. Field
became, senior partner in the succeeding firm
of Field, Palmer & Leiter. From this time
forward his business career was practically a
succession of brilliant mercantile achievements.
He had mastered the science of credit as
applied to the changing conditions to which
the growing west was constantly subjected,
and this knowledge was always in evidence.
Having adopted a cash system, which however,
was conducted according to the most liberal
interpretation of the term, he was inflexible in
demanding punctual payments. He also pur
chased upon a strictly cash basis, never deviat
ing from that rule, and this system proved
one of the chief elements of his success, for
it was truthfully said that a concern without
debts was always solvent. By the subsequent
withdrawal of Potter Palmer the firm became
known as Field, Leiter & Company, and this
concern, guided by the energetic hand of its
senior partner, successfully survived the heavv
losses caused by the disastrous conflagration
of 1871. It also survived the financial panic
of 1873, and in 1881 Mr. Field became its sole
proprietor. A few years later it was deemed
advisable to separate the retail and wholesale
departments, and the latter was consequently
removed to a spacious and handsome building
fronting on Adam's street, and constructed of
rough hewn granite and brownstone, from
plans drawn by the famous American archi
tect, H. H. Richardson. This building con-

H

MASSACHUSETTS.

315

tains thirty and one-half acres of floor space,
and its thirty-four departments necessitate the
employment of three thousand people. The
retail branch, which is the largest as well as the
best equipped of its kind in the world, necessi
tates a still larger force of employees, and it
was estimated some time since that the Field
payrolls contained the names of over twelve
thousand people. Some years ago the firm
engaged extensively in' manufacturing and
established plants, in America, Europe and the
Orient. In 1891 the firm was transacting a
business aggregating thirty-five million dollars
per annum, and ten years later this amount
was nearly doubled. Although for many years
a multimillionaire, Mr. Field never seemed to
think of leisure. The enormous business
which had been created through his untir
ing industry was always uppermost in his
thoughts, and although he witnessed the
retirement of many of his contemporaries, the
fortunes of some of whom he was mainly
instrumental in building up, he preferred to
personally direct the affairs of his vast enter
prise almost to the last moment of his life,
and he left them in such a perfect condition
as to secure their continuance without the
slightest interruption. Mr. Field died of pneu
monia in New York City, January 16, 1906,
and the inexpressible sorrow which the sad
event brought to his family and large circle
of personal friends, was shared by the leading
business men of America and Europe. A
merchant prince in the truest sense of the
term, and possessed of a fortune sufficiently
colossal to maintain the dignity of his rank,
his remarkable ability for the accumulation of
wealth was fully equalled by his magnificent
generosity, and his gifts for benevolent pur
poses, which were indeed princely, embraced a
wide range of objects. In addition to found
ing and endowing with the sum of one million
dollars, the Field Columbian Museum, Chi
cago, he left eight millions to this museum by
his will. He was one of the original bene
factors of the Chicago University, presenting
that institution with land valued at four hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars, and to his
native town of Conway, Massachusetts, he
presented a handsome Memorial Library, dedi
cated to the memory of his parents, fle was
extremely charitable, subscribing liberally to
any cause which he considered worthy, and his
contributions to religious objects in general,
and to the Presbyterian church in particular,
were large. He was a member of various clubs
and not infrequently visited them, but he de

voted a very small portion of his time to
society. Aside from rendering valuable aid in
raising the municipal affairs of Chicago to a
higher moral standard, he evinced but little
interest in politics, and although several times
offered the nomination for vice-president of
the United States he declined the honor.
On January 3, 1863, Mr. Field married for
his first wife, Miss Nannie Douglass Scott, of
Ironton, Ohio. She died in France, whither
she had gone for the purpose of recovering
her health. Of this union there were three
children: 1. Lewis, born January 9, 1866, died
August 17, same year. 2. Marshall, born April
21, 1868; married Albertine Huck; was acci
dentally killed, 1905. 3. Ethel Newcombe,
born August 28, 1873, married, January 1,
1 89 1, Arthur Magie Tree, who was born in
Chicago, July 1, 1863; resides in Leamington,
Warwickshire, England. On September 5,
1906, Mr. Field married for his second wife,
Mrs. Delia Spencer Caton, who had been a
neighbor of his in Chicago for thirty years.

Philip James, immigrant ancestor,
JAMES came to New England in 1638
with his wife and four children,
and two servants, William Pitts and Edward
Mitchell, from Hingham, England. They set
tled in Hingham, Massachusetts, and Philip
"dyed soon after he came." He married Jane
 , who married (second) February 14,
1640, George Russell. Francis James, prob
ably brother of Philip, with his wife and two
servants, came from Hingham at the same
time. He died December 27, 1647, probably
without issue.
(II) Francis, said to have been a son of
Philip James, named after his uncle, was born
probably in England, and died in Hingham,
Massachusetts, November 29, 1684, intestate.
His widow Elizabeth was appointed adminis
tratrix of the estate. He was called husband
man, and resided at Hingham Centre. Chil
dren: 1. Elizabeth, died April 11, 1660. 2.
Sarah, born February 27, 1661-2; married,
1707, John Seal, of Boston; died August 2,
1727. \ 3. Jane, born November 6, 1664 ; mar
ried December 7, 1704, Edward Darby, of
Taunton. 4. Francis, born January 25, 1666-7 ;
died unmarried, December 28, 1717. 5.
Thomas, born December 7, 1669; mentioned
below. 6. Philip, died February 15, 1687-8.
7. Samuel, born April 6, 1676; married, 171 1,
Hope Chamberlain'; died August 20, 1749.
(Ill) Thomas, son of Francis James, was
born in Hingham, December 7, 1669, and

3i6

MASSACHUSETTS.

died July 31, 1724. He was called husband
man. His estate was appraised at 1720
pounds nine shillings three pence. It included
a "mansion house, part of a sloop," etc. He
resided in the second precinct of Hingham.
He married, May 30, 1704, Patience (Tower)
Farrow, born in Hingham, March 21, 1678-9,
widow of William Farrow, and daughter of
Ibrook'and Margaret (Hardin) Tower. Chil
dren, born in Hingham: 1. Thomas, January
11, 1704-5; married, 1730, Hannah Holbrook.
2. Elizabeth, August 21, 1706; married,
August 21, 1730, Abisha Stetson. 3. Philip,
July 25, 1708; married, May 25, 1738, Mary
Nichols. 4. Jane, October 7, 1710; married,
June 27, 1734, Jeremiah Lane. 5. John, 1712;
mentioned below. 6. Sarah, September 27,
1714; died November 28 following. 7. Mar
garet, March 19, 1715-16. 8. Content, bap
tized August 21, 1720; married, October,
1739, Samuel Hardin.
(IV) John, son of Thomas James, was
born in Hingham, in 1712, and resided in the
second precinct, at or near the easterly end of
Jerusalem Road. He married, July 28, 1743,
Deborah (Bates) Stodder, born in Hingham
April 2, 1716, widow of Canterbury Stodder,
and daughter of Joseph and Deborah (Clapp)
Bates. She married (third) December 15,
1768, John Turner, of Pembroke. Children,
born in Hingham : 1. .John, March 16, 1744-5 ;
mentioned below. 2. Deborah, March 23,
1746-7. 3. Francis, May 13, 1749. 4. Enoch,
August 24, 175 1, * married Abigail Adams. 5.
Sarah, September 13, 1755. 6. Thomas, July
11, 1758.
(V) John (2), son of John (1) James, was
born in Hingham, March 16, 1744-5. Fle
removed probably after the birth of the third
child, about 1769, to Goshen, Massachusetts,
then a part of Chesterfield. He was in the
revolution, in Captain Christopher Banister's
company, Colonel John Dickman's regiment, in
August, 1777, and marched to Bennington
with the Chesterfield company ; also in the
same company under Colonel Ezra May, in
the battles of Stillwater and Saratoga. He
married, April 4, 1765, Lois Beal, born in
Hingham, July 20, 1746, daughter of Adam
and Jael (Worrick) Beal. Children, born in
Hingham: 1. Moses, October 23, 1765. 2.
Malachi, July 9, 1767; mentioned below. 3.
Lois, May 29, 1769. Probably others born in
Goshen. (VI) Malachi, son of J9hn (2) James, was
born in Hingham, July 9, 1767. fle married,
February 18, 1790, Elizabeth, daughter of

Elias Lyman of Northampton. He died
August 24, 1849. Children: 1. Sophia, born
November 18, 1791 ; married, 1815, Dr.
Thomas. Sears. 2. Enoch, born December 8,
1793 ; mentioned below. 3. Lyman, born
March 23, 1796; married Maria C. Goodrich.
4. Maria, born July 2, 1799; married Samuel
Howes. 5. Clarissa, born May 18, 1801 ;
married, October 13, 1834, J. D. Whitney. 6.
Luther, born July 13, 1803. 7. Lewis L., born
May 8, 1805 ; married Corintha Wells. 8.
Elizabeth, married A. L. Babcock. 9. Rachel
L., born 1812; married David Storrs.
(VII) Enoch, son of Malachi James, was
born at Goshen, December 8, 1793. He was a
prominent and influential citizen of Goshen.
He managed a general store there, and also
engaged in woolen manufacture, having mills
in Williamsburg and Whately. He married
Armanilla R., daughter of Colonel Simeon
Dwight. He removed late in life to Ann
Arbor, Michigan, where he died February 28,
1867. Children: 1. Henry Lyman, men
tioned below. 2. Lyman Dwight, mentioned
below. 3. Martha Dwight. 4. Mary Frances.
5. Enoch Dwight.
(VIII) Henry Lyman, son of Enoch James,
was born in Williamsburg, February 13, 1829,
died July 5, 1896. He attended the public
schools of his native town, Hopkins Academy
at Hadley, the Williston Seminary at East-
hampton, and the New Haven grammar
school. After he had' returned home from his
schooling, his father removed to Ann Arbor,
Michigan, and to his son he gave the woolen
business in Whately and the store in Will
iamsburg. This general store has been owned
by the James family for a century or more,
and is one of the oldest in the country con
ducted by the same family. In 1866 Mr.
James admitted to partnership his brother,
Lyman Dwight James, who continued the bus
iness after his death. He bought the business
of Henry Wells, near the present site of the
new Meekins Library, and manufactured car
penters' tools until the factory was destroyed
by fire. Mr. James also conducted the woolen
mill at Whately with success for many years,
and the business was prosperous.^ He made
his home at Williamsburg, however* and drove
to the mill several times a week. He was a
great lover of horses, and in his stables there
could always be found some valuable animals.
In the fifties Mr. James met his first stroke
of ill fortune. A cyclone destroyed a part of
the mill property in Whately and soon after
ward the remainder of the mill was burned.

MASSACHUSETTS.

317

He then bought of Lewis Bodman the woolen
mill in Williamsburg, just above the railroad
station, south of the village, and conducted his
business there with success until the fatal
blow of 1874 came. The flood caused him a
heavy loss, carrying away eleven houses, more
than a hundred bales of wool, and ruined all
the contents of the basement of the mill and
dye-house, including machinery and supplies.
But his was the only mill in Williamsburg and
Haydenville not entirely destroyed by the
flood. He repaired his damages and resumed
business, receiving none of the fund sub
scribed for the relief of the owners of dam
aged property, etc. The business reverses of
later years were largely due to lack of capital
resulting from these disasters. In fact, most
of the industries of the town never recovered
from the shock, or removed to other locations.
No calamity ever worked greater change in a
town than did that fatal catastrophe of 1874
to Williamsburg. The Williamsburg of to-day
is a sad picture in comparison with the town
before the river flood. During the last five
years of his life Mr. James was in ill health
and not in active business. In 1891 he suf
fered a stroke of apoplexy and another shortly
before his death. He was one of a number of
industrial leaders in the Connecticut valley in
his generation, each of whom virtually built up
a town through the development of mills and
factories. He belongs in the class with Joel
Hayden,* William Skinner, .Samuel Williston
and Horatio G. Knight. Mr. James took great
interest in his own town, and did his utmost to
develop its resources, before and after the
disaster. He was appointed postmaster by President
Lincoln, and continued in the office for twenty-
five years. In politics he was a stanch Repub
lican, and he figured prominently in many a
campaign. He was active in supporting
Henry L. Dawes for congress. On the night
of the congressional campaign, Mr. Dawes
was speaking at a rally in Williamsburg. Re
turning from the convention with the news of
the nomination of Mr. Dawes, Mr. James
found the nominee in the midst of his speech,
and he took advantage of the opportunity to
break the news to the people, and interrupted
the speech for that purpose. Mr. Dawes was
thoroughly surprised and overcome by the
good news, which was received with vocif
erous applause, and had to take his seat to
recover his composure, before continuing his
address. Mr. James represented his district in
the general court in 1875, and f°r ten years

was an active and influential member of the
Republican state central committee of Massa
chusetts. Mr. James traveled extensively in this coun
try and foreign lands, and one of his last trips
was taken in company with H. G. Knight, late
of Easthampton. He possessed considerable
literary ability, and had a nimble wit, writing
many articles for the Springfield Republican
and other publications, generally under the
nom-de-plume of "Peter." Many of these
articles were descriptive of his travels. He
wrote in a humorous vein usually, was keen in
observing, and piquant in criticizing. There
was a characteristic ease and originality in his
work that attracted the general reader. He
attended the Congregational church. He mar
ried. May 31, i860, Maria Louise, daughter
of Dr. Elbridge Simpson, of Hudson, New
York. Children: 1. Mabel Louise, married
Norton Chase, of Albany. 2. Maud Arma-
nella, resides in the James home, Williams
burg. 3. Bertha Simpson, died aged seven.
Two others died in infancy.
Dr. Elbridge Simpson (see above), son of
John B. and Eunice (Tucker) Simpson, was
born at Ashfield, January 29, 1812, and died in
Hudson, N. Y., in October, 1880. He attended
the public schools, and commenced the study
of his profession as a student in the office of
Dr. Samuel McClellan, at Nassau, New York.
He remained with that distinguished physician
for about a year, and then studied under Dr.
John McClellan, of Johnstown, Columbia
county, New York, and at the Williams Medi
cal School, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he
was graduated in the class of 1838 with the
degree of M. D. He commenced practice at
Newark, Wayne county, in partnership with
Dr. Coventry, and in 1841 went to Catskill.
Thence he removed in 1845 to Hudson, in the
same state, succeeding to the practice of Dr.
Samuel McClellan. In 1858 he removed to
Toronto and practiced in that city and Mon
treal until 1873, when he returned to Hudson,
living there the rest of his days. He was a
member of the Columbia County Medical
Society and of the New York State Medical
Society from 1856.
He was a close student all his life, and few
physicians kept in closer touch with the devel
opment of medical science or sooner modified
his methods in the light of new discoveries.
He took a prominent place in his profession,
and as the years passed his skill was recog
nized by both laymen and the profession. He
grew to have confidence in his own judgment,

3i8

MASSACHUSETTS.

so often tested in the sick room and so often
successful in his treatment. He had a genial
and benevolent face, an impressive bearing, a
persuasive voice, and a good deal of magnet
ism of manner and address. He was, it has
been said, a "natural physician," one of the
finest compliments to his ability. The quali
ties which made him eminent were hereditary,
but trained by medical education and devel
oped by long and diversified practice. One
who knew him well, wrote at the time of his
death: "His original sagacity and intuitive
perceptions, admirable common sense and
manipulatory tact, guided by adequate pro
fessional knowledge, made him a very skillful
and successful practitioner. He was neither
theoretical nor speculative, but was intensely
practical. As a surgeon he was fertile in
mechanical resources, and was a deft surgical
operator. He had the wisdom to perceive
that the main end of all medical education is to
make a good practitioner. His intercourse
with his patrons was marked by the most
friendly cordiality. His professional relations
to the other sex were always delicate and
refined, and his purity of character was
unquestioned. He had a sort of chivalric
deference for refined women, and a nice sense
of professional honor will go with him to the
grave. To an extraordinary degree he was a
generous and benevolent man, and not a tinge
of a mercenary spirit discolored his life. He
was especially kind and benignant to the
poor." At a meeting of the Columbia County Medi
cal Society after his death, Dr. Thomas
Wilson paid an affectionate tribute to the
memory of Dr. Simpson, from which we
quote : "We are here to-day, not only to show
our respect for our departed brother, but also
to mingle our griefs and sympathies with those
of the bereaved family. He has passed the
mysterious boundaries of time, and we all
deeply deplore his loss. He is now done with
earth, but we are to tarry awhile. He has
climbed up life's rugged pathway; exercised
the high functions of his calling; discharged
faithfully its many and varied obligations;
tasted the sweets of success; and now, past
manhood's bright meridian, amid the scenes
and surroundings of his active life, beloved
and honored by those who knew him best, he
finishes his earthly career. Though his mortal
remains are now shrouded for the tomb, yet
he leaves for our contemplation his past life,
redolent with good, and eloquent in example.
Our medical society loses a worthy member,

and this city a valuable citizen. The afflicted
can no more listen to his councils, encourage
ments and consolations, more precious to them
than the rarest gems. Never again will he
appear at the bedside to assuage pain and
anguish of body, and, most of all, henceforth
will be* missed by the tender loving hearts
gathered about his own family hearthstone."
He married, in 1838, Sally A. Groat, born in
181 1, died in 1850, daughter of Captain Peter
and Amanda (Rogers) Groat. Children: 1.
Elbridge. 2. Maria Louise, married Henry
Lyman James (see James family). 3. Carrie,
died October 25, 1907; married Thomas C.
Stratton, of Montreal. 4. Albert.
(VIII) Lyman Dwight, son of Enoch James,
was born in Williamsburg, Massachusetts,
January 21, 1836, died there May 30, 1902.
He attended the public schools of his native
town and Amherst Academy. His father hav
ing moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, he spent
two years there, and then returned to Will
iamsburg, the town of his birth, where he
spent the remainder of his life. He first
entered the general store of his brother, Henry
Lyman James, as clerk, then became a partner,
and later sole owner. The business was an
old-jashioned country store handling all kinds
of general merchandise. After many years of
active life he retired in 1898, about four years
before his death. In politics he was a Repub
lican, and in religion a member of the Con
gregational church of Williamsburg. He was
a director of the First National Bank of
Northampton about twenty-five years, and at
the time of his death was vice-president, and
was also a trustee of the Nonotuck Savings
Bank. For twenty-five years he was a trustee
of the Northampton Insane Asylum, and was
serving in that capacity at time of death. Mrs.
James had a beautiful club house on the
Insane Asylum grounds constructed in mem
ory of her husband, who was deeply in sym
pathy with these unfortunate people.
The following was taken from one of the
newspapers at the time of his death: "The
death of Lyman D. James, of Williamsburg,
removes from us a man who was first and
always public-spirited. He was brim full of
enthusiasm, as active as a young man, and as
keen in his interest in the world. That he was
nearly seventy years old never occurred to
those who knew him. Young men, all .young
people, liked him heartily. He had good
humor in abundance, and delighted in a busy
life. Flis devotion to the state's interests, as
senior trustee of the Northampton Asylum, a

/yn^ccy^c^

Cisyz<-^t-

MASSACHUSETTS.

3J9

place he. had held for twenty-three years, was
a matter of note all through the common
wealth. Had it been his private enterprise he
could not have given closer, more faithful,
attention, and much of the notable success of
that large institution is due to him. He had a
very kindly nature, and people who had no
special business relation with him, 'took to
him,' to use a homelike New England phrase.
Whatever his more prominent services have
been, this constant good will and good humor
for all people, old and young, made him a man
whose daily presence was an influence for
good. He goes from us still young, full of
high courage, good work, and plans for the
future, leaving a most grateful memory."
Mr. James married, September io, 1857,
Helen Eliza Field (see Field). Children: 1.
Henry Dwight, who lives in Haydenville,
Massachusetts. 2. Howard, who lives in St.
Paul. 3. Grace Fidelia, married John W. Gil
lette, and resides in Hudson, New York. 4.
Philip Lyman, who resides in Chicago, Illi
nois. (The Dwight Line — For preceding generations see
John Dwight 1).
(IV) Colonel Simeon Dwight, son of Cap
tain Henry Dwight, was born February 18,
1719-20, and died February 21, 1776. He was
a colonel of militia, and at the time of his
death was high sheriff of Worcester county.
He was a farmer, and resided at Western
(now Warren) Massachusetts. He married,
December 14, 1743, Sibyl Dwight, born Octo
ber 8, 1725, died March 19, 1784, daughter
of Captain Samuel and Mary (Lyman)
Dwight. Children: 1. Sibyl, born October 4,
1744; married Major Elihu Kent; died
August, 1822. 2. Sarah, born May 1, 1746;
married Timothy Ruggles. 3. Anna, born
December 19, 1747; died November 23, 1751.
4. Jerusha, born October 15, 1749; died
unmarried. 5. Colonel Henry, born February
18, 1752; mentioned below; died November
26, 1819. 6. Anna, born November 10, 1753;
married Deacon Asahel Hatheway; died
March 17, 1807. 7. Simeon, Jr., born Sep
tember 13, 1755 ; died February r, 1815. 8.
Edmund, born January 6, 1757; died March
7, 1758. 9. Lydia, born October 12, 1759;
died August 20, 1761. 10. Edmund, born May
3, 1761 ; died unmarried September, 1803. 11.
Elihu, born February 17, 1763; married Lydia
Chadwick. 12. Samuel, born December 7,
1765; died April 10, 1817. 13. Lydia, born

December 4, 1767; married Shadrach Trum
bull ; died August 8, 1844.
(V) Colonel Henry Dwight, son of Colonel
Simeon Dwight, was born February 18, 1752,
and died November 26, 1819. He resided most
of his life at Belchertown, Massachusetts,
where he was a farmer and citizen of high
standing, holding various public offices. He
married, June 23, 1774, Ruth Rich, born 1756,
died 1837. He was a soldier in the revolution,
a second lieutenant in Captain Estes Howes's
company, First Belchertown regiment, in
1776; also in the same company, Fourth
Hampshire regiment, and in Captain Jonathan
Bardwell's company, Colonel Elisha Porter's
regiment, in 1777, with the Army of the
North ; lieutenant in Third company, Colonel
Porter's Fourth regiment, in 1780. His resig
nation from the service was accepted April 18,
1780. Children: 1. Lieutenant Joseph Haw
ley, born March 26, 1775 ; died unmarried, at
Fort Niagara, November 13, 1801. 2. Henry,
Jr., born November 7, 1777; died February 10,
1841. 3. Colonel Simeon, born September 24,
1779; mentioned below. 4. Charles, born
April 5, 1782; died 1815. 5. Solomon Rich,
born May 24, 1784; died unmarried, 1846. 6.
Sophia, born July 3, 1786; married Justus
Dwight; died November 26, 1814. 7. Pere
grine, born September 14, 1788; died April 24,
1793. 8. Thomas, born September 28, 1790;
died unmarried, February 9, 1857. 9. William,
born November 5, 1792; died July 13, 1810.
10. Peregrine, born March 15, 1795; died
August 4, 1842. 11. Clarissa, born November
23, 1799; married Myron Lawrence; died
February 10, 1852. 12. Daughter, born and
died April 21, 1802.
(VI) Colonel Simeon Dwight, son of Colo
nel Henry Dwight, was born September 24,
1779, and died December 23, 1842. He was
a carriage maker at Belchertown, and promi
nent in town affairs. He was deputy sheriff
for thirty years, and colonel of militia. He
was an earnest religious worker. He married,
March 3, 1802, Martha Rice, born August 26,
1781, died February 29, 1840, daughter of
Colonel Asa and Miriam Rice. Children: 1.
Armanilla Ruggles, born February 28, 1803;
married Enoch James; (see James). 2. Son,
born and died November 3, 1804. 3. Joseph
Hawley, born October 19, 1805 ; married
Eliza (Mason) Filer, widow ; died March 15,
1849. 4. Charles Hobart, born October 6,
1807; died November 11, 1857. 5. Mary Rice,
born January 20, 1810; died June 27, 181 1. 6.

320

MASSACHUSETTS.

Mary Rice, born December 26, 1812; married
Edwin P. Tucker; (second) Lewis Hawes.
7. Simeon Rich, born May 3, 1815. 8. Sereno
Edwards, born November 12, 1825.

George Corless, immigrant
CORLESS ancestor, was born in Devon
shire, England, about 1617,
son of Thomas Corless. He came to New
England in 1639 and settled in Newbury,
Massachusetts, and removed soon to Haver
hill, where he lived the remainder of his life.
He settled in 1640 in the west parish of
Haverhill, and the farm, now known as the
Poplar Lawn farm, was at last accounts in
possession of a direct descendant, having been
in the family ever since. Fle was the first
settler in that part of the town, and built a
log house in 1647. His name was on the list
of freemen in 1645, and was constable in 1650,
selectman in 1648-53-57-69-79. His will was
dated October 18, 1686, and he died October
19, 1686. It is a remarkable coincidence that
Gorge Corless, his son John, and his grand
son John, all died on the same farm, each one
sitting in the same chair. He married, Octo
ber 26, at Haverhill, Joanna, daughter of
Thomas Davis. Children: 1. Mary, born
September 6, 1646; died October 22, 1722;
married William Neff, and was with Hannah
Dustin when she was captured by the Indians.
2. John, born March 4, 1648; mentioned below.
3. Joanna, born April 28, 1650; died October
29, 1734; married Joseph Huckins. 4. Martha,
born June 2, 1652; married Samuel Ladd. 5.
Deborah, born June 6, 1655 ; married Thomas
Eastman. 6. Ann, born November 8, 1657;
died June, 1691 ; married John Robie. 7.
Huldah, born November 18, 1661 ; married
Samuel Kingsbury. 8. Sarah, born February
23, 1663 ; married Joseph Ayer.
(II) John, son of George Corless, was born
in Haverhill, March 4, 1648, and died Febru
ary 17, 1698. He inherited the homestead
from his father, and his name is among those
who took the oath of allegiance at Haverhill,
November 28, 1677. He was also among the
list of soldiers paid by the town August 24,
1676. He died intestate February 17, 1698,
and the inventory of his estate was filed Au
gust 1, 1698. He married Mary Wilford, born
November 18, 1667, daughter of Gilbert Wil
ford, of Haverhill. She married (second)
William Whittaker, of Flaverhill. Children:
1. John, born March 4, 1686; mentioned below.
2. Mary, born February 25, 1687. 3. Thomas,
born March 2, 1689; died 1784. 4. Hannah,

born 1691 ; died September 8, 1764. 5. Timo
thy, born December 13, 1693; died 1783. 6.
Jonathan, born July 16, 1695 ; died March 22,
1787. 7. Mehitable, born May 15, 1698.
(Ill) John (2), son of John (1) Corless,
was born at Haverhill, March 4, 1686, and
died in 1766. He resided on the old home
stead, and had willed it to his son, but outlived
him, and the farm descended to his grandsons.
He was a man of large stature, being more
than six feet in height and finely proportioned.
He had. a powerful voice, and it is said that he
could be heard and understood a mile away.
He enjoyed remarkable health until he was
over seventy-five years old. He gave each
of his children a good education and provided
for them liberally in every way. He married,
171 1, Ruth Haynes, born February 7, 1691,
died 1787. Children: 1. Ruth, born October
14, 1712; died 1802. 2. George, born March
4, 1714; died April 4, 1714. 3. John, born
September 12, 1715; died November 15, 1753.
4. Timothy, born February 4, 1717; died 1760.
5. Sarah, born November, 1718; died Novem
ber 20, 1736. 6. Abigail, born November 20,
1720. 7. Joseph, born November 4, 1722;
mentioned below. 8. Hannah, born August 16,
1724. 9. Infant, died young. 10. Mary, bom
May 8, 1727. 11. Infant, died young. 12.
Jonathan, born February 25, 1730; died 1776.
13. Joshua, born January 19, 1733; died Janu
ary 29, 1819.
(IV) Joseph, son of John (2) Corless, was
born in Haverhill, November 4, 1722, and
died November 3, 1762. He married, Febru
ary 19, 1746, Mary Emerson, of Haverhill,
born September 3, 1728, died November 8,
1815. Children: 1. Joseph, born November
29, 1747 ; mentioned below. 2. Sarah, born
May 5, 1749; died 1787. 3. Ephraim, born
August 3, 1751 ; died October 25, 1824. 4.
Solomon, born June 30, 1754; died September
IS, 1755- 5- Abigail, born August 9, 1756;
died November 11, 1803. 6. Polly, born April
16, 1760; died May 1, 1824. 7. John, born
March 25, 1761 ; died November 21, 1841.
(V) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (1) Corless,
was born November 29, 1747, and died Sep
tember 20, 1820. With his first one hundred
dollars which he earned peddling thread for
the Londonderry settlers, he bought a hundred
acres of land and a small house at Windham,
New Hampshire. He moved his family there,
and later built a large house which remained
there until 1840, when it was removed to
Lowell, Massachusetts. He married (first)
about 1767, Miriam Emerson; (second)

MASSACHUSETTS.

321

Betsey, daughter of Francis Utinox, a descend
ant of Huguenots. Her father left France for
England, where he married Mary Lee, de
scendant of Henry Lee, whom Walter Scott
has made historic. He and his wife and son
sailed for America, and Betsey was borri on
the voyage. On their arrival the father and
son both died, and the mother soon followed,
leaving her daughter in charge of a godmother
who bought her thread and linen of the Lon
donderry, settlers. This godmother placed her
charge, Betsey Utinox, in the family of Mr.
Gregg, of Londonderry. She learned the
weaver's trade, and used to travel among the
settlers and weave for them when needed.
Arriving at Windham, the constable, Joseph
Corless, was obliged to serve warning on her
as a transient person. He found her at the
house of his mother-in-law, dressed in her red
dress, weaving for them. The reading of the
law terrified her, and though they soothed her
by telling her that it was simply a matter of
form she never forgot the scene. Afterward
Joseph Corless took her for his second wife.
Joseph Corless kept a tavern from 181 2 to
1819. The cellar of his house may still be
seen at the corner of the road leading from
Windham to Richard Woodbury's farm at
Salem, New Hampshire. He served in the
revolution in the first military company of
Windham, in 1775, under Captain James Gil
more ; also in Captain John Nesmith's com
pany, Colonel Matthew Thornton's regiment
in 1776, and in August of that year was in the
Continental army. He was elected constable
in 1780, but declined to serve. Being forced to
serve he declined to collect the minister's rate
and was finally excused from doing so. Chil
dren of first wife : 1. Solomon, born in Haver
hill ; married Annis Houghton. 2. Sally, mar
ried  Lund. 3. Polly, born February 5,
1773; died unmarried. 4. Ephraim, born June
29, 1775- 5- Peter, born September 30, 1777;
died unmarried. 6. Miriam, born May 9, 1781 ;
died young. 7. Joseph, born April 21, 1784;
went to sea and never returned. 8. Benjamin
(twin), born April 21, 1784; died young. 9.
John, born September 6, 1786; died October
19, 1837; married Jane Todd. Children of
second wife : 10. Cyrus, born March 27, 1794 ;
mentioned below. 11. Betsey, born May 20,
1795; married John D. Emerson. 12. Elijah,
born July 21, 1796; died a young man. 13.
Lydia, born January 12, 1800; married Will
iam Dustin. 14. Abigail, born December 17,
1805; married Curtis Sargent; died 1878.
(VI) Cyrus, son of Joseph (2) Corless,

was born March 27, 1794, and lived in Wind
ham until 1824. He removed to St. Albans,
Vermont, and afterwards to Quincy, Massa
chusetts. He was a foreman in the granite
quarry there, and was killed in the quarry in
1839. He married Phebe, daughter of Lib-
beus Gordon, of Great Falls. She died in
1864, at West Quincy. Children: 1. Roxanna,
born February 4, 1817; married William Rip
ley. 2. Tabitha R., born June 8, 1818; married
Frank Brown. 3. Daniel G, born February
12, 1820. 4. Libbeus G, born February 25,
1821. 5. Joseph, born August 13, 1823. 6.
Edward Clark. 7. Simon Berry, mentioned
below. 8. Elijah, killed by blasting rocks at
Quincy quarry.
(VII) Simon Berry, only living child of
Cyrus Corless, was born at Greensborough,
Vermont, November 11, 1827. He was edu
cated in the public schools of Quincy, whither
his parents removed when he was about five
years old. His father was killed when he was
twelve years old, and he had to leave school
and go to work. He was first employed in the
stone quarry to carry tools for the quarrymen,
and learned the trade of granite cutter after
ward. When gold was discovered in Cali
fornia he and his brother joined a company of
young men who bought a small vessel and
sailed around Cape Horn to California, through
the Straits of Magellen. taking nearly eight
months for the trip. On reaching California
they sold the ship and sought their fortunes
in the gold fields. After three years of pros
pecting and mining, he returned home and
with his brother operated a granite quarry in
East Milton. They were prosperous, and after
a few years purchased other quarries in Ran
dolph. They took large contracts for granite
buildings and other structures, curbstones and
especially monuments, many of which were
designed by Mr. Corless. fle had charge of
many large contracts and was one of the best
known quarrymen in the business. He retired
1899. Was first made a Mason in Quincy, and
is a charter member of Constellation Lodge
of Free Masons of Dedham; a member of St.
Paul's Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, being
now an honorary member of both ; is a mem
ber of the lodge of Odd Fellows in Randolph,
and for twenty-one years was a member of
the Royal Arcanum. In politics he is a Re
publican. He has resided at Randolph since
1873. He married (first) Mary Kayo, born
at West Quincy, 1864. He married (second)
April 29, 1870, Susan Kingsbury, born Sep
tember 25, 1840, at Dedham, daughter of Mel-

322

MASSACHUSETTS.

zar and Mary (Stone) Kingsbury. (See
Kingsbury). Children of first wife : i. Alma
B., born West Quincy, August 13, 1854; mar
ried Henry Wales (see Wales). 2. Mehitable,
born February 8, 1857; married Walter Berry;
two sons, Simon C. and Donald. 3. Maria L.,
born February 5, 1859; married Edward
Young. Children of second wife: 4. Cyrus,
born April 24, 1877; married Sarah Jane
Langley, of Mattapan, Massachusetts. 5.
Ralph Kingsbury, born July 2, 1880.

Several immigrants by the
KINGSBURY name of Kingsbury, or Kings-
bery, came early to New Eng
land. Of these were Henry, John and Joseph
Kingsbury, probably brothers. Henry Kings
bury came in the ship "Talbot," in 1630, and
joined the church at Boston, with his wife
Margaret. Henry of Ipswich, born 161 5, and
called "kinsman" in the will of John of Ded
ham, was probably son of Henry the immi
grant. John Kingsbury, of Watertown, was
admitted a freeman March 3, 1635-6. He
removed to Dedham in 1636, where he served
as deputy to the general court and as a town
officer; his will proved December 2, 1659-60,
mentioning wife Margaret, brother Joseph,
kinsman Thomas Cooper of Seaconque, and
Henry Kingsbury of Ipswich. The name is of
ancient English origin, derived from the place
of that name, Kingsborough.
(I) Joseph Kingsbury, immigrant ancestor
of this branch of the family, brother of John,
settled at Dedham, Massachusetts, as early as
1637. His wife Millicent, "who appeared to
ye church a tender-hearted soule, full of feares
& temptations, but truly breathing after
Christ," was admitted to the Dedham church
April 24, 1639. He was admitted April 9,
1 641. fle was admitted a freeman June 2,
1 64 1. He died before June 1, 1676, his wife
surviving him. His will was dated May 22,
1675, and proved June 1, 1676. It bequeaths
to sons Joseph, John, Eliezer and Nathaniel;
wife Millicent; daughter Sarah Croseman;
son-in-law Thomas Cooper, of Rehoboth;
grandchild Elizabeth Brewer; sons-in-law
Robert Croseman and Nathaniel Brewer;
refers to deceased brother John Kingsbury.
Children : 1. Sarah, married Robert Crose
man, of Taunton. 2. Mary, born at Dedham,
September 1, 1637; married (probably) Dea
con Thomas Cooper, of Rehoboth. 3. Eliza
beth, born at Dedham, September 14, 1638;
married Nathaniel Brewer, of Roxbury, and
died June 25, 1661. 4. Joseph, born at Ded

ham, February 17, 1640-1 ; died December 16,
1688; married Mary  ; (second) Sep
tember 7, 1 68 1, Mary Donier; settled at
Wrentham. 5. John, born at Dedham, Au
gust 15, 1643; died May 30, 1669; married
Elizabeth Fuller. 6. Eleazer, born May 17,
1645 ,' died February 2, 1722-3 ; married Esther
Judson. 7. Nathaniel, mentioned below.
(II) Nathaniel, son of Joseph Kingsbury,
was born in Dedham, March 26, 1650, and
died October 14, 1694. He was admitted a
freeman in 1677. He married Mary  .
Children: 1. Nathaniel, born September 14,
1674; married, December 5, 1695, Abigail
Barker ; died January 19, 1724-5. 2. James.
3. Timothy, born October 15, 1680; resided
at Needham; married Hannah  . 4.
John, born August 17, 1686. 5. Daniel, born
November 11, 1688; mentioned below. 6.
Millicent, born March 30, 1693.
(ill) Daniel, son of Nathaniel Kingsbury,
was born November 11, 1688, and died April
27, 1754. He resided at Wrentham, where he
married, December 29, 171 3, Elizabeth Ste
vens, of Dedham, who survived him, and died
in 1764. Childien : 1. Daniel, born March 12,
1715; died 1783; married (first) November 3,
1737, Beriah Mann; (second) October 19,
1755, Abigail Adams, widow. 2. Stephen,
mentioned below. 3. Elizabeth, married Joshua
Partridge. 4. Mary, married Joseph Harding.
(IV) Stephen, son of Daniel Kingsbury,
was born about 1716, and died April 23, 1754,
aged thirty-eight years. He married Silence,
daughter of Samuel Partridge. Children: 1.
Moses, born about 1742, mentioned below. 2.
Aaron, born about 1743. 3. Lois, born about
1745; married  Metcalf. 4. Joseph,
born about 1747. 5. Olive, born about 175 1.
6. Stephen, born about 1754. 7. Benjamin. 8.
Abigail. (V) Moses, son of Stephen Kingsbury,
was born about 1742, and was probably the
Moses who died in the fall of 1771, leaving a
widow Thankful. Children: 1. Cyrus, re
moved to Alstead, New Hampshire, and was
father of Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury D. D. (B. U.
1812), missionary to Choctaw Indians. 2.
Moses, mentioned below. 3. Matilda.
(VI) Moses (2), son of Moses (1) Kings
bury, resided on the homestead at Dedham
Island. He was a farmer. He married Han
nah Lewis, of Needham. Children: 1. Han
nah, born November 23, 1799. 2. Calvin, Feb
ruary 3, 1801. 3. Daniel, January 25, 1802.
4. Melzar, October 1, 1803; mentioned below.
5. Joshua, January 25, 1805. 6. Deborah, De-

MASSACHUSETTS.

323

cember 13, 1806. 7. Mary L., September 3,
1808. 8. Jonathan, February 9, 1810. 9.
Moses, January 2, 181 1. 10. George, March
15, 1813; died young. 11. Charles, February
5, 181 5. 12. Caroline, September 12, 1816.
13. Sarah Ann, April 30, 1818. 14. George,
October 20, 1821. 15. Henry, May 16, 1823.
(VII) Melzar, son of Moses (2) Kings
bury, was born at Dedham, October 1, 1803,
and died there in July, 1872, aged sixty-nine
years. He was a farmer on the homestead,
and married Mary Stone, born at Brunswick,
Maine, in 1819, died at Dedham, 1902, aged
eighty-three. Children: 1. Benjamin, died
aged two years. 2. Mary, born January 28,
1839; married George Chase, of Dedham; one
child, George Arthur, born 1856. 3. Susan,
born September 25, 1840; married Simon
Barry Corless (see Corless). 4. Augusta, born
February 7, 1851, died December 17, 1901 ;
married Louis J. Houghton, of Dedham, died
June 28, 1908; two children: Charles Ed
ward, born January 5, 1878; Royal B., died
June 26, 1901, aged twenty years.

The surname Wales is obviously
WALES derived from the name of a place
and the family dates back in
England to remote antiquity. Nathaniel Wales,
immigrant ancestor, was born in England as
early as 1600, and came to New England in
the ship "James," a fellow passenger of the
famous Rev. Richard Mather, who has left an
interesting description of the voyage in his
journal, printed in "Young's Chronicles." He
settled at Dorchester of which he became a
proprietor, and was admitted to the church
there and freeman November 2, 1637. He was
a weaver or webster by trade. He removed
to Boston in 1651, and was received into the
church there with his wife Susan, March 2,
1651-2. She was a daughter of John Green-
away, a millwright of Dorchester. Isabel,
whom some records give as the name of his
wife, may have been his first wife. He de
posed February 1, 1661, that his wife's name
was Susan. He calls Humphrey Atherton his
brother-in-law, and his son Nathaniel married
Isabel, daughter of Atherton. Nathaniel
Wales died at Boston, December 4, 1661. His
will was dated June 20, 1661, bequeathing
land at Dorchester and Boston to his wife and
sons Timothy, Nathaniel and John ; daughters
Priscilla and Sarah, and grandchild Timothy
Wells Jr. Humphrey Atherton, his brother-
in-law, was made overseer and his wife Susan
executrix. The inventory was dated January

3, 1662, appraised by Edmund Jackson and
Robert Walker. His widow died without ad
ministering the estate, and his grandson Jeri-
jah Wales was appointed administrator July
6, 1719. Children: 1. Nathaniel, mentioned
below. 2. Timothy, lived in Dorchester. 3.
John, of Dorchester. 4. Priscilla. 5. Sarah.
6. Daughter married Timothy Wells.
(II) Nathaniel (2), son of Nathaniel (1)
Wales, was born about 1625, doubtless in Eng
land, and died May io, 1662, in Boston. His
will was dated May 18, 1662, and proved May
27, following. He married Isabel Humphrey,
baptized at Winwick, England, January 23,
1630, daughter of Major-General Humphrey
Atherton, of Dorchester, one of the most dis
tinguished men of the first generation in Mass
achusetts. His wife died shortly before his
death. Children, born in Boston, mentioned
in his will: 1. Nathaniel, mentioned below.
2. Samuel. 3. Mary. 4. Jonathan, killed in
King Philip's war.
(Ill) Elder Nathaniel (3), son of Nathaniel
(2) Wales, was born about 1650, and died in
Braintree, March 23, 1718. He settled early
in life in Braintree, formerly Mount Wollas-
ton, and part of Boston. He was there in
1675 and bought twenty acres of land Sep
tember 6, 1684, of the old iron works land at
Braintree, then called Monotoquod. He was
chosen deacon of the Braintree church, and
was ordained ruling elder there February 27,
1700-1, by Rev. Mr. Fiske, Rev. Peter
Thatcher, of Milton, and Elder John Rogers,
of Weymouth. He married Joanna Faxon,
who died May 11, 1704, daughter of Thomas
Faxon, of Braintree. She was less than fif
teen years old, we are told, when her first child
was born. Children : 1. Elizabeth, born Feb
ruary 10, 1675-6. 2. Joanna, born April 18,
•1679; died April 25, 1679. 3. Sarah, born
March 11, 1780; married Nathaniel Thayer.
4. Nathaniel, born December 29, 1681 ; mar
ried Esther Abbey. 5. Joanna, born December
19, 1683 ; died September 27, 1707, unmarried.
6. Elkannah, born December 1, 1685. 7. Deb
orah, born October 16, 1687; married, 1708,
Elizabeth Holbrook. 8. Thomas, born Octo
ber 6, 1689 ; died February 22, 1690. 9. Mary,
born April 1, 1691 ; married, April 8, 1714,
John Thayer. 10. Samuel, born June 23, 1693.
11. Thomas, born April 19, 1695, mentioned
below. 12. Joseph, born April 29, 1697; mar
ried, 1713, Hannah Allen. 13. John, born
May 25, 1699; married, November 8, 1733,
Hazadiah Leonard. 14. Rachel, born October
15, 1701 ; married, November 12, 1719, Cap-

.524

MASSACHUSETTS.

tain Ebenezer Thayer. 15. Atherton, born
March 8, 1704; graduate of Harvard College,
1726; married, 1730, Mary, daughter of Rev.
Samuel Niles.
(IV) Deacon Thomas, son of Elder
Nathaniel (3) Wales, was born in Braintree,
April 19, 1695. He married (first) January
13, 1719, Mary Belcher, who died January 30,
1 741 ; (second) September 7, 1742, Sarah
Belcher, widow of Samuel Belcher. Children,
born in Braintree: 1. Samuel, November 3,
1719. 2. Atherton, February 11, 1721. 3.
Mary, November 21, 1722; died July 13, 1731.
4. Ephraim, October, 1725 ; died young. 5.
Ephraim, November 3, 1727; died October 6,
1744. 6. Moses, December 20, 1728. 7.
Nathaniel, October 26, 1729. 8. Deborah,
March 27, 1731. 9. Thomas, August 24, 1733;
died July 3, 1736. 10. Mary, February 27,
1736. 11. Thomas, February 20, 1738; died
November 9, 1759. 12. John, March 3, 1739;
died March 23, 1740. Children of second wife :
13. Joanna, May 9, 1746. 14. Ephraim, May
9, 1746; mentioned below. 15. Jqhn, February
14, 1747; died March 7, 1747.
(V) Dr. Ephraim Wales, son of Deacon
Thomas Wales, was born in Braintree, May 9,
1746. He graduated from Harvard College
in 1768, and fitted himself for the medi
cal profession. He practiced medicine in
South Braintree many years, and became an
eminent and successful doctor. He was in
the revolution, on the Lexington alarm, in
Captain Seth Turner's company, Colonel Ben
jamin Lincoln's regiment. He married 
Beale. Children: 1. Thomas Beale, graduate
of Harvard, 1795 ; resided in Boston. 2. Dr.
Fphraim, mentioned below. 3. Emily, mar
ried Aaron Littlefield.
(VI) Dr. Ephraim Wales (2), son of Dr.
Ephraim Wales ( 1 ) , was born in South Brain
tree, now Randolph, about 1780. He was edu
cated in the public schools and in Dartmouth
College, and succeeded his father as a physi
cian at Randolph. He married Mary, daugh
ter of Silas Alden, and descendant of John
Alden of the "Mayflower." Children: 1.
Lawrence. 2. Ephraim. 3. Lawrence. 4.
Peter Adams, mentioned below. 5. Mary. 6.
Thomas B. 7. Sally. 8. Annie, lives in Ran
dolph. (VII) Peter Adams, son of Dr. Ephraim
Wales (2), was born in Randolph, Massachu
setts, April 30, 1813, and died there April 6,
1 88 1. He was educated in the public schools,
and followed farming. He possessed con
siderable mechanical genius, and invented a

pump, which he manufactured with profit for
man)- years. He accumulated a handsome
competence and took rank among the most
substantial men of the town. In politics he
was a Republican. He married, 1838, Millie
Ann Downs, born 1815, at Canton, died 1898,
at Randolph. Children, born at Randolph:
1. Henry James (twin), born December 26,
1838; died July 25, 1905; lived on the home
stead, which he and his twin brother conducted
in partnership ; married Alma B. Corless, born
in Quincy, daughter of Simon B. Corless (see
Corless) ; had two sons and two daughters.
2. James Henry (twin), born December 26,
1838 ; mentioned below. 3. Eliza Downes,
born 1840; married Edward K. Parker, of
Yarmouth, Massachusetts.
(VIII) James Henry, twin son of Peter
Adams Wales, was born at Randolph, Decem
ber 26, 1838. He was educated in the public
schools, and worked during his boyhood and
youth on his father's farm. He and his
brother succeeded to the farm and the pump
manufacturing business, which they conducted
successfully for many years. He has a pro
ductive farm and an excellent dairy. In poli
tics he is a Republican, but he has never
accepted public office. He is a member of the
Congregational church. He married, Novem
ber 26, 1898, Viola Morse, born in Rangeley,
Maine. They have had no children, but have
adopted a daughter, Alberta G. Wales.

William Thorpe, immigrant
THORPE ancestor, was born in England
about 1605. He was a founder
and settler of New Haven, Connecticut, and
came to New England about 1635, with his
wife Elizabeth, aged twenty, and daughter
Elizabeth, aged two years. His wife died Oc
tober 9, 1660, and he married (second) Mar
garet Pigg (Pidge), widow of Robert Pigg.
His will was dated September 12, 1670, and
he died about 1684. Children: 1. Nathaniel,
baptized May 24, 1640; mentioned below. 2.
Elizabeth, baptized April, 1643. 3. John, bap
tized July, 1643-4; settled in Fairfield, Con
necticut. 4. Samuel, baptized June 14, 1646;
died February 2, 1728. 5. Eleazer, born Jan
uary 12, 1649; died February 20, 1649.
(II) Nathaniel, son of William Thorpe,
was baptized May 24, 1640, probably in Mass
achusetts. He was admitted a freeman in
1699. He married (first) November 20, 1662,
Mary Ford, who died August 28, 1684, daugh
ter of Timothy Ford, of Charlestown, Mass
achusetts; (second) December 10, 1692, Sarah

MASSACHUSETTS.

325

Robbins. His will was dated July 9, 1709, and
he died that year. Children of first wife: 1.
Nathaniel, born March 6, 1664; mentioned
below. 2. Mary, born November, 1666; died
young. 3. Mary, born February 1, 1667; mar
ried John Mackay. 4. William, born April 30,
1670. 5. Daughter, January 14, 1671. 6. Abi
gail, May 15, 1676. 7. Elizabeth, July 21,
1680. 8. Samuel, February 13, 1681. Chil
dren of second wife: 9. Sarah, born Decem
ber 10, 1692. 10. Hannah, May 12, 1695. 11.
Experience, March 4, 1698 ; married Nathaniel
Payne. 12. Lydia, born September 12, 1702.
(Ill) Nathaniel (2), son of Nathaniel (1)
Thorpe, was born March 6, 1664, and died
April 11, 1737. He married Elizabeth  ,
who died April 23, 1735. Children: 1. Eliz
abeth, born March 6, 1687-8. 2. Rebecca, May
10, 1690. 3. Hannah, June 7, 1692. 4. Nathan
iel, March 7, 1695. 5. Isaac, October 8, 1697.
6. Samuel, September 6, 1702. 7. Moses, men
tioned below. 8. Aaron, January 20, 1709.
(IV) Moses Thorpe, son of Nathaniel (2)
Thorpe, was born October 3, 1707.
(V) David Thorpe, son or nephew of
Moses Thorpe, settled at Southampton, Mass
achusetts. He died there at an advanced age
in 181 1. His will was dated July 1, 1808, and
proved October 1, 1811. Children: 1. Sybil,
married Edward Johnson. 2. Sarah, married
Elihu Sandford. 3. Moses, was living in West
Springfield in 1790, and had two children;
was a soldier in the revolution, in Lieutenant
Eli Herman's company, Colonel John Brown's
regiment, and Captain Zenas Wheeler's com
pany, Colonel John Ashley's regiment. 4. Eli,
was head of a family in West Springfield in
1790, according to first census. 5. David (2d).
6. James, mentioned below. 7. Ira Bishop. 8.
Caleb. 9. Abraham. 10. Thomas, inherited
his father's farm at Southampton.
(VI) James, son of David Thorpe, was
born probably at Southampton, though the
birth is not on the town record. He worked
on the homestead during his youth and early
manhood. Later he was a blacksmith and
farmer in Southampton. He was a Whig in
politics and a Congregationalist in religion.
He died at Southampton in 1829. The inven
tory of his estate is dated TVIarch 3, 1829. The
estate was not finally divided, however, until
after a petition dated January 3, i860. He
owned land on Little Mountain, Pomeroy's
Mountain, and Easthampton. He married
Lucy Clapp. Children: 1. James A., men
tioned below. 2. Edward R., of Northampton.
3. Rebecca B., married, October 4, 1831,

George N. Lawton, at Southampton. 4. Ruth
P., married Mr. Moulton. 5. Lucy Salina,
married Louis Warner. 6. Elizabeth L., mar
ried, December 25, 1837, Edward Ludden.
(VII) James A., son of James Thorpe, was
born in Southampton, April 3, 1806, and died
in Holyoke, February 6, 1882. He was edu
cated in the common schools, and learned the
trade of blacksmith of Mr. Brackman, in
Holyoke. He followed this trade until he was
injured by a horse, and afterward carried on a
farm in his native town. He was a Congrega
tionalist in religion, and a Whig in politics in
early life, a Republican in later years. His
will was dated at Williamsburg, Massachu
setts, January 9, 1869, proved June 6, 1882.
He married, October 30, 1825, at Southamp
ton, Almena, daughter of Rufus Searle. Their
children all grew to maturity. Children: 1.
Ellen F., born December 24, 1830; married
Hiram Bates, of Goshen ; (second) Mr. Mer-
rey; now resides in California. 2. Mary A.,
born June or September 22, 1832 ; married, at
Southampton, May 21, 1851, Gardner Fowles,
of Holyoke. 3. Charles L., born January 19,
1834. 4. Edward R., born March 19, 1836. 5.
James A., April 19, 1838 ; resided in New
Haven. 6. Susan, June 24, 1840. 7. George
L., March 5, 1842 ; see forward. 8. Maria J.,
June 14, 1844; married Harrison Howe, of
Monson. 9. Amorette P., September 14, 1846;
married Gilbert W. Thomas, of Holyoke. 10.
Adelaide L., February 28, 1848; married D.
Merrick, of Springfield. 11. William S., Oc
tober 5, 185 1 ; lived in Holyoke.
(VIII) George L., son of James A. Thorpe,
was born in Southampton, March 5, 1842, and
was educated in the public schools of his
native town and at the Sheldon Academy. At
the age of eighteen he began to learn the car
penter's trade, and such was his natural apti
tude for this business that within ten months
he was sent out as foreman by his employer.
He worked as journeyman in Springfield,
whither he moved in i860, and in New Britain,
Connecticut, whither he went in 1864. He
took a contract to build a substantial barn on a
farm in Iowa, and while in the west took other
contracts of a similar kind. After fourteen
months in the west he came to Holyoke and
established himself in business as a contractor
and builder, and for many years has held a
leading place in that line of work. During his
active business career he has built most of the
fine residences and many public buildings in
Holyoke and vicinity. He had the contract
for Grace Church, and the United States

326

MASSACHUSETTS.

Armory. He has been his own architect and
has shown special ability in designing artistic
and convenient dwelling houses. In his
younger days he once built a ten-room house,
putting in seventy-seven bridges in the first
floor, and completing the house without a
single plan. He has been a steadfast Repub
lican since he became a voter, and was for
two years a member of the common council of
the city of Holyoke. Since 1872 he has>been
on the official board of the Holyoke Methodist
Church and for thirty-five years an active
worker in, and for the greater part of the
time superintendent, of the Sunday school of
that church. He is a member of Holyoke
Lodge of Odd Fellows, has filled the various
offices of the order and belongs to the Grand
Lodge of the Golden Cross.
He married, June 24, 1868, Ann Jennette
Hastings, born in Hatfield, daughter of
Lyman and Salome (Larabee) Hastings.
Children: 1. Reginald E., born April 15,
1870; married Harriet B. Pomeroy. 2. Leon
G., born August 26, 1875 ; died December 19,
1880. 3. Lena E., born March 21, 1882; mar
ried William R. Root ; child : Cecil E., born
April 26, 1907.

The Cash family is of ancient
CASH English and Scotch origin, deriv
ing its surname from the place of
that name, Cash in Strathmiglo, county Fife,
Scotland. (I) William Cash, immigrant ancestor, set
tled in Salem, Massachusetts, and lived at the
lower end of Essex street, near East street
at the corner of Gerrish place. He is men
tioned in the will of Ann Pickston, widow of
Thomas Pickston, of Beverly, dated Decem
ber 29, 1677, a legatee with Jeremiah Butman,
Jr., who married, October 8, 1659, Hester
Lambert. William Cash married her sister,
Elizabeth Lambert, October 16, 1667. He
died before 1693. Children, from whom
descended all of the name in this country as
far as is known: 1. William, born February
23, 1669; died 1729; married, May, 1693,
Sarah Flinder, daughter of Richard Flinder.
2. John, July 10, 1671, died July, 1724. 3.
John (twin), July 10, 1672, died August 26,
1674. 4. Elizabeth (twin), July 10, 1672, mar
ried, March 7, 1698-99, William Tapley. 5.
Mary (twin), April 29, 1675, married, May
28, 1697, John Meacham. 6. Anna (twin),
April 29, 1675. 7. Hester, March 9, 1679,
married, August 5, 1700, Joseph Flanders. 8.
James, mentioned below.

(II) James, son of William Cash, was born
at Salem or Marblehead. He married at Mar
blehead, October 29, 1716, Elizabeth Grove.
Children, born at Salem or Marblehead: 1.
James, mentioned below. 2. George, married
Eleanor  and lived at Marblehead.
Probably other children.
(Ill) James (2), son of James (1) Cash,
was born about 1715-20. He married at Mar
blehead, December 6, 1744, Ruth Putnam.
Children, born at Marblehead: 1. George
Putnam, married, August 3, 1776, Eleanor
Sweetland; had a son, James, born 1793. 2.
James, baptized April 13, 1746, married, Sep
tember 20, 1767, Mary Dinsmore ; had James,
born 1768. 3. Moses Pitman, baptized March
6, 1747-48. 4. Moses, baptized January 14,
1749-50, mentioned below. 5. Mary, baptized
December 8, 1751. 6. John, baptized Decem
ber 2, 1752; married, November 5, 1775, Han
nah Doak; son James, baptized June 29, 1783.
(IV) Moses, son of James (2) Cash, was
baptized in Marblehead, January 14, 1749-50.
He married (first) at Marblehead, February
13, 1772; married (second), April 15, 1779,
Hannah Richardson. He was a sailor in the
revolution on the ship "Junius Brutus." He
gave his age as thirty years, height five feet
seven inches and complexion light, enlisting
June 15, 1780. He was pilot of the brigantine
"Tyrannicide," Captain Jonathan Haraden, in
1778. He resided at Marblehead and was a
seafaring man. Children, born at Marble
head, of first wife: 1. Rebecca, baptized
March 16, 1773. 2. Moses, baptized Novem
ber 5, 1775. Children of second wife: 3.
Hannah, baptized September 23, 1787. 4.
James, baptized November 18, 1792, men
tioned below. 5. Hannah, baptized August 16,
1795- (V) James (3), son of Moses Cash, was
born in Marblehead, baptized November 18,
1792. He married, at Marblehead, Abigail A.
Tutt. He probably settled at Windham. Chil
dren : James, mentioned below ; Daniel, of
Bridgton, died there ; Jacob ; Mary.
(VI) James (4), son of James (3) Cash,
was born in 1824, died at Woodford, Maine,
1904. He was a contractor and builder for
many years. He married (first) Martha Lom-
bart; children: 1. Radford, born 1846, died
in service during civil war ; unmarried. 2.
Charles Henry, mentioned below. He married
(second) Harriet Hawks, of Windham,
Maine ; children : Jennie, Fannie, Harriet,
Nellie. (VII) Charles Henry, son of James (4)

MASSACHUSETTS.

327

Cash, was born at Windham, Maine, May 8,
1849. At the age of six months, on the death
of his mother, he went to live with his aunt,
Mrs. D. Cash, of Bridgton, Maine, and was
educated there in the public schools. He
learned the trade of carpenter with his father
at Westbrook, Maine. He worked at Wood
ford, Maine, under his father ; followed trade
at Boston ; took up car building, but later gave
it up and became an engineer on the East
Boston Ferry, continuing for twelve years;
he resided in East Boston during this time;
in 1886 he removed to Weymouth and fol
lowed his trade there ever since, being one of
the well known carpenters and builders of that
town. He is a member of Eastern Star Lodge,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of East
Boston; Delphi Lodge, Knights 6f Pythias;
Order of the Golden Cross. He is a Metho
dist in religion and a Republican in politics.
He married, January 18, 1873, Mary Jane
Marr, born October 14, 1846, and they had one
child who died in infancy. Mrs. Cash is a
daughter of Benjamin L. and Almira (Nor
ton) Marr. Benjamin L. Marr was born Feb
ruary 2, 1804, at Limington, Maine, died May
30, 1883, at Baldwin, Maine. His wife,
Almira (Norton) Marr, was born February,
1812, died April 19, 1898, at Weymouth, with
her daughter, Mrs. Cash. Children of Mr.
and Mrs. Marr: 1. James W., born Decem
ber 25, 1831, at Limington, married Mary
Louise Lovis ; one child, Byron, born in Cor
nish, 1871. 2. Lydia Ann, born March 23,
1833, married John Milton Pease, of Cornish;
one child, Jessie B., born September 11, 1855.
3. Sarah E., born September 26, 1836, at Bald
win, Maine, married William Gilpatrick. 4.
Hiram N., born July, 1838, died 1852. 5.
Harriet, born July 8, 1840, married George W.
Batchelder, of Baldwin ; children : Jeannette,
born 1858, and George E., born i860. 6. Han
nah, born March, 1843, married Isaiah C.
Libby ; children : Dr. J. Herbert, of East
Weymouth, and Winifred. 7. Mary Jane,
born October 14, 1846, married Charles Henry
Cash, mentioned above. 8. Benjamin W.,
born April 7, 1848, married Carrie Sweet; one
child, Stella S., born in Marblehead, Massa
chusetts. 9. Leonard Philmore, born October
23, 1850, died 1858. 10. Thompsanna L., born
1853, married Charles McLeod, of Prince
Edwards Island ; children : Harry, born Sep
tember, 1871 ; George W., September, 1873 ;
Charles B., September, 1875 ; Charles H, Oc
tober, 1877; Jessie, May, 1880; the first and
second the only ones living. 11. Sidney F.,

born 1859, unmarried. 12. Hiram Milton,
born 1 86 1, married Gertrude Stoddard; one
child, Mabel S. Benjamin L. Marr, father of
these children, was a mariner in early life;
settled on a farm at Limington, Maine, from
whence he removed to Baldwin, Maine, where
he was a pioneer, lived in a log cabin, cleared
off a fine farm and built a substantial house ; he
attended the Free Baptist church at Baldwin ;
he had brothers, James, Joshua and William,
and a sister Salome.

The Chaffees can
CHAFFEE— CARTER trace their ances
try in England to
the year of 1002, to the time of King Ethelred
and King Edward the "Confessor." The coat-
of-arms granted them satisfactorily marks
their descent from Hugo, Earl or Thegn of
"Chafecombe," and his connection with the
Saxon Earldom of Devon.
The Chaffee coat-of-arms is as follows :
Field, vert, a fess, gules, five fusils, argent.
Crest : On a mount vert, a peacock in its
pride, all ppr. Motto : "Vive ut postea vivas."
The Carter family, from which is descended
Mrs. Belle Genevieve (Carter) Chaffee, wife
of Emory Franklin Chaffee, was granted arms
in 16 12, the description of which is: On a
chev. betw. three cartwheels vert. Crest : On
a mount, vert, a greyhound sejant argent,
sustaining a shield of the last charged with a
cartwheel vert. Motto: "Sublibertatequietem."
Above is given the impaled coat-of-arms of
the Chaffee-Carter family, which is an exceed-
inly beautifully specimen of armorial emblaz
onry. The derivation of the surname is thus given

328

MASSACHUSETTS.

in the "Etymological Dictionary of Family and
Christian Names," by William Arthur, M. A.,
published New York, 1857:
Chaffee (Fr.) Chafe, to heat, to grow warm
or angry. (Fr.) Chauffer, to warm, to can
nonade, attack briskly.
Chaffee, Chafe, Chaffey, are all from the
same name.
Combe: O. Fr. — The unwatered portion of
a valley which forms its continuation beyond
and above the most elevated spring that issues
into it. A deep valley where the sides come
together in a concave form.
The "History of Somerset," by Rev. John
Collinson, published 1791, by R. Cruttwel, vol.
iii, pp. 115, gives the following:
Chaffcombe — This is a small parish in a
pleasant valley near Chard Common, England.
The land is unfavorable to agriculture, but
flowers of various kinds and ferns flourish here.
The ancient name of this parish is Caffecome,
which is compounded of the Saxon "lay,"
(sharp), and "lomb," (valley). In the Con
queror's time it belonged to the Bishop of
Coutances. Two thanes, (a title of honor
among the Anglo-Saxons), held it in the time
of King Edward, the "Confessor," for two
manors. "The parish contains thirty houses, includ
ing a hamlet called Libnash, situated a mile
southward from the church. There is a wood
eight furlongs long and as many broad. It
is worth forty shillings. To this manor is
added one hide and three virgates of land.
The arable is two carucates. These are held
by three villanes. It is worth twenty shillings.
But in process of time this manor became part
of the honor of Gloucester, which extended
itself throughout this county.
"Edward II, Hugh de Beauchamp, held one
moiety, and Ralph de Stocklinch held the
other, each by the service of a third part of a
knights fee, of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of
Gloucester. "John Denband held at his death the manor
of Stokelynch-Ostricer, with the advowson of
the church, of the Earl of Huntington, as of
his manor of Haselborough, by the service of
keeping a hawk (ostrum) every year until it
should be completely fit for service, and when
said hawk should be fit, he was to convey it
to his lord's manorhouse, attended by his wife,
together with three boys, three horses, and
three greyhounds, and to stay there forty days
at the lord's expense, and to have the lady's
second best gown for his wife's work."
The following extract from "Devonshire

Wills," by Charles Worthy, Esq., published in
London, 1896, by Bemrose & Sons, gives a
clear idea of the earlier surnames as found in
England. "The Chaffys derive their name from their
ancient heritage, 'Chafecombe,' now Chaff
combe, near Chard, which is the "ceaf cumbe"
(in English, the light or breezy valley) of the
Saxon period, and which was held by their
first known ancestor, Hugo the Thegn, or
Thane, in the days of Ethelred, the "Unready,"
and by his son Raynald Fitz-Hugh, in those
of Edward, the "Confessor," in 1002.
But although the Chafys can trace back with
unerring certainty to a period long anterior to
the Conquest, and so justify the assertion in
scribed on the ancient tomb of one of them
in Devonshire, as to his own identity with the
"perantiqua" race of Chafes of "Chafecombe,"
yet they are not, paternally at least, of Saxon
origin, which at once accounts for their con
tinued possession of "Chafecombe," under
Norman rule.
Hugo, was the confidential advisor of Queen
Emma of Normandy, second wife of King
Ethelred of England, and came there in her
train of 1002. That her Norman follower was
faithful to her, to her second husband King
Knut the Dane, and to her children, is shown
by his retention of his property at "Chafe
combe," under Saxons, Danes and Normans,
and although King Edward the "Confessor,"
had suffered for some quarter of a century
by the interpolation of the Danish dynasty, he
evidently recognized the fidelity Hugo had
evinced towards his royal mother.
With the title of Earldorman, or Earl, Hugo
was sent into the west very soon after the
arrival of Queen Emma with secret instruc
tions which he seems to have followed im
plicitly. The term Earldorman was afterward
changed to Thegn, and we next hear of Hugo
as "Thegn of Chaffcombe" during the reign
of King Ethelred. His son was joint owner
up to 1066, besides having a separate manor
and other lands. The grandson of Hugo,
Ralph Fitz-Regmald succeeded him at "Chafe
combe" and so on from father to son.
From the "Black Book of the Exchequer,"
we learn that during the reign of Henry II,
the Lord of "Chaffcombe," was Robert Fitz-
Ranulph who had a younger brother Ranulph-
Fitz-Ranulph. His son and heir Robert Fitz-
Ranulph was the ancestor of the present race
of Chafe and Chaffee. His father had re
ceived for his younger son's portion, "One

MASSACHUSETTS.

329

carrucate of land in "Chaffecumbe." The son
of Robert Fitz-Ranulph is especially note
worthy as being the first of the family who
assumed a regular surname which was of
course derived from his property. As "Thomas
Chaffee" of "Chafecombe" "he was seized of
land" of the inheritance of his father Robert.
(I) Thomas Chafe, (as the family name
was originally written), the first American
ancestor of the Chaffees of New England, was
born in England in one of the counties of
Somerset, Dorset or Devon. He came to
Plymouth Colony about the time of the settle
ment of the town of Hingham, September 2,
1635,- being one of the pioneers of that sec
tion, and there are records of his owning
land there at that time, also of lands granted
in 1637. At that time the General Court of
the Massachusetts Bay Colony encouraged
especially the advancement of fishing.
Thomas Chaffee took up the occupation of
fisherman and farmer. He found a most
advantageous location at Nantasket Plantation
(which became the town of Hull May 29,
1644). He moved there in 1642 and prob
ably married there. He acquired considerable
of an estate principally in land in what is now
Swansea, Attleboro and Rehoboth as evi
denced by his will made in 1680, in which he
described his possessions as including land on
the borders of Rhode Island. In it he names
Nathaniel and Joseph ; the latter as executor.
He died 1683. (Plymouth Colony Deeds, vol.
iii, p. 174).
During King Philip's war Thomas Chaffee
and family as well as near neighbors doubt
less lived in "Chaffee's garrison," a stone build
ing which stood near his home. During this
time he bought considerable property of Fran
cis Stevens of Rehoboth, but there is no record
of the disposal of the same or in his will,
which follows:
"In the name of God Amen. I, Thos.
Chaffee of Swansie in ye county of New
Plymouth, in New England, being of great
age, yet in perfect memory and good under
standing, make this my last will and testament.
First : I commit my Soul to Jesus Christ my
Redeemer, and my body unto ye grave. * *
Item : I give unto my elder son Nathaniel my
home lott, being twenty five acres the which I
purchased of Capt. Thos. Willett and Jas.
Brown (Sr.) gentt. as also my right in ye
common lott it being at a place commonly
called the long beach, and four acres of
meadow lying and being at ye mouth of ye
River on ye great Neck, commonly called

Mount Hope Neck. Item: I give unto my
son Joseph, all ye rest of my land, meadows,
orchard, gardens, dwelling-house, barn, out
houses, as also my living stock, neat cattle,
sheep, horse, kine, Swine, poltery, and thirty-
five acres of land, lately purchased upon ye
neck commonly called Phebes Neck, with all
other priveleges that I now have or here after
may have, in ye aforesaid Town of Swansy,
with my debts now due, or hereafter may be
due unto me, or my estate whom I make my
sole executor, to pay my debts to see this my
will performed and my body buried. In wit
ness my hand and seal this twenty-five of July
in ye yeer of oe Lord one thousand six hun
dred and eighty, signed and seal in ye presence
of John Peck, John Ormsby. — Signed Thos.
(T) Chaffee."
The exact date of his death is at present
unknown, but he was no doubt buried on his
own farm (in the ancient Chaffee burying
ground), located on the west bank of the
present Barrington River, a few miles north
west of the present town of Barrington Centre,
Rhode Island. Two children: 1. Nathaniel,
born 1638-42, married Experience Bliss. 2.
Joseph, born about 1639-46; married Annis
Martin. (II) Joseph Chaffee, second son of Thomas
Chafe, was born in Hull, between 1639-46.
He married, December 8, 1670, Annis, daugh
ter of Richard Martin, of Rehoboth, Massa
chusetts. She died at Barrington, Massachu
setts (formerly Swansea), about March, 1729-
30. They had nine children. Joseph Chaffee
probably moved with his parents and brother
from Hull to Rehoboth between 1657 and 1660.
In 1667 that part of Rehoboth (called Wan-
namoisett) was formed into a separate town
called Swansea. About 1675-6 he contributed
one pound eight shillings for carrying on the
King Philip war, the brunt of which fell on
Swansea, the most exposed and the greatest
sufferer of Philip's war, of any of the New
England settlements. Joseph Chaffee was
Surveyor of Highways in 1673 and again in
1681. He took the oath of fidelity in May 22,
1674, and took the oath of constable in 1687.
In his will he begins: "In the name of
God. Amen. I, Joseph Chaffee of the town
of Swansey, in the Co. of Bristol, province of
Mass. in New England, being sick and weake
in body But of sound & perfect mind & mem
ory Prased be god Doe make and ordaine this
my last will and Testament in manner & form
following — First and principally I commend
my Soule into the Hands of Almighty God and

330

MASSACHUSETTS.

unto Jesus Christ my Dear Redeemer and my
Body I commit to the Earth to be Decently
Buried at the Discretion of my Executrix, and
as Touching the Disposition of all such tem
poral Estate as God Hath been pleased to
bestow upon me. I give & bestow etc., etc.,
bequeathing to his wife and sons John and
Joseph. To his son Joseph was given the
Great Bible that was his father's.
Children of Joseph, born in Swansea: I.
Mary, born February 21, 1671 ; died May 7,
1674. 2. John, born December 16, 1673; mar
ried (first) Sarah Hills ; (second) Elizabeth
Hayward. 3. Mary, born October 23, 1675 ; mar
ried Daniel Whitaker. 4. Joseph, bora February
6, 1677; married (first) Abigail Hills, (second)
Jemima Chadwick. 5. Annis, married, Octo
ber 15, 1793, Daniel Allen. 6. Dorothy, born
September 4, 1682; died August 27, 1698. 7.
Elizabeth, born March 18, 1685 ; married
Josiah Paine. 8. Sarah, born March 18, 1687,
married Samuel Luther. 9. Abigail, married,
April 28, 1737, Thomas Field.
(Ill) Joseph, fourth child of Joseph (2)
and Annis (Martin) Chaffee, was born in
Swansea, Massachusetts, February 6, 1677,
and died, probably at Woodstock, Connecticut,
about August 10, 1759. He married, at
Maiden, Massachusetts, December 1, 1709,
Abigail Hills, daughter of Gershom and Eliz
abeth (Chadwick) Hills, and was a sister to
his brother John's wife. She (Abigail) died
October 2, 1710, when her only child was three
weeks old. Joseph married (second) at Fal
mouth, Massachusetts, October 16, 1712,
Jamima Chadwick, of that place. He was a
field-driver in 1701, also 1707-8; was petty
juryman 1703; clerk, 1710; constable, 1714;
tythingman, 1720; fence-viewer, 1721 ; hog-
reeve, 1722 and 1725 ; surveyor of highways in
Barrington, 1733; assessor in 1736, 1743 and
1749. He was prominently connected with
town affairs at both Barrington and Falmouth.
He later moved to new Roxbury, Massachu
setts Bay Colony (now Woodstock, Connecti
cut) living in the western part of the town.
He left no will, but an inventory of his large
estate was filed August 30, 1759. He was one
of three to select the site for the present Con
gregational Church at Woodstock, Connecti
cut. He selected sites for other churches and
schools and was prominent in all the town's
affairs. His children: 1. Benjamin, born
September 11, 1710, married (first) Hannah
Chapman, (second) Priscilla Green. By sec
ond wife : 2. James, born about 1713, married
(first) Beriah Hayden, (second) Rhoda Cady.

3. Abigail, born March 5, 1714-15, married
Joseph Wright. 4. Thomas, born October 18,
1716, married Dorcas Abbott. 5. Joseph
(Jr.), married Hannah Gould. 6. Samuel,
born about 1722, married (first) Susanna
Lyon, (second) Mary Howlett. 7. Stephen,
born about 1726, died February 13, 1800,
never married. 8. Josiah, born September 1,
1 73 1, married Sarah Cady.
(IV) James, second child of Joseph and
Abigail (Hills) Chaffee, was probably born at
Swansea, Massachusetts, about 1713, and died
at Monson, Massachusetts, May 22, 1799. He
married (first) in Woodstock, Connecticut,
June 16, 1737, Beriah Hayden, born February
10, 1715-16, died June 24, 1758. He married
(second) at Killingly, Connecticut, August 8,
1759, Rhoda Cady, of that place. She died
May 22, 1799. James Chaffee was made a
freeman September 12, 1749. He was drafted
during the revolution, but being the father of
twenty children he said he could not leave
such a large family, so his son Abial (aged
fifteen) was accepted in his place. Children,
by first wife: 1. Nathan, baptized September
23, 1739, died October 8, 1750. 2. Zebediah,
born April 11, 1741, married, Mehitable Pres
ton. 3. Dorothy, born May 6, 1743, died
October 27, 1743. 4. Sarah, born April 27,
1746, married Samuel Chaffee. 5. James
(Jr.), born March 22, 1748, married Sarah
flowlett. 6. Nathan, born November 17,
1750, married Priscilla Wedge. 7. Abigail,
born January 2, 1753. 8. Chester, born April
6, 1755, married Caroline Walker. 9. Calvin,
born May 12, 1757, died April 25, 1758. By
second wife : 10. Calvin, born February 3,
1760, married Ruth Evidon. 11. Abial, born
August 13, 1 761, married Hannah Sargent.
12. Charles, born June 14, 1763, married Deb
orah  . 13. Lucy, born August 18, 1765.
14. Martha, born June 22, 1768, died April
13, 1772. 15. Chadwick, born March 16, 1771,
married Abigail Moulton. 16. Stephen, born
September 25, 1773, married Ruth Under
wood. 17. Patty, born April 17, 1776, died
1845. 18- Jemima, born May 30, 1778. 19.
Joseph, born June 30, 1780, married Clarissa
Dunham. 20. Leonard, born April 11, 1782,
married Betsey Needham.
(V) Chester, eighth child of James and
Abigail (Hills) Chaffee, was born in Wood
stock, Connecticut, April 6, 1755, and died at
Thompson, Connecticut, September 17, 1841.
He married, at Woodstock, April 25, 1778,
Caroline, daughter of Joshua Walker, of that
place. She died November 3, 1845, aged eighty-

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MASSACHUSETTS.

33i

six years ; buried at East Woodstock, Connec
ticut. Chester was baptized in the First Con
gregational Church of Woodstock, May 18,
1755. He and his wife were members of that
church. He moved to Thompson, Connecti
cut, and bought land in 1785. In the records
of the Connecticut Revolutionary Service,
mention is made that Chester "Chafey" served
as private in the Seventh Company, command
ed by Captain Ephraim Manning, formed at
Woodstock, enlisted May 9, 1775, discharged
December 15, 1775. He enlisted again las pri
vate in the Third Regiment, July 1, 1780,
discharged December 11, 1780. fle also served
in Captain Lyons company, Colonel Durkee's
regiment, as is mentioned in his pension claim.
He was a revolutionary pensioner in 1832,
living in Windham county, Connecticut, also
in 1840, then living in Thompson, Connecticut,
aged eighty-five years. He was a farmer and
tailor. Description, five feet four inches, and
of light complexion. He had ten children : 1.
Cyril, born February 11, 1799, married Han
nah Grover. 2. Hannah, born June 21, 1781,
married Hezikiah Friesell. 3. Abigail, born
July 11, 1783, married Amasa Scott. 4. John,
born November 30, 1785, married Lydia
Elliott. 5. Alpheus Cady, born April 9, 1789,
married Nancy Evidon. 6. Caroline, born
August 2, 1791, died April 12, 1867, unmar
ried. 7. Sophia, born January 22, 1794, mar
ried John W. Elliott. 8. Chester (Jr.), born
March 14, 1798, married Mary Barker. 9. Mary
Ann, born March 30, 1800, married Arad
Upham; died May 5, 1871. 10. Harriet, born
April 2, 1804, died December 1, 1804.
(VI) John, fourth child of Chester and
Caroline (Walker) Chaffee, was born in
Thompson, Connecticut, November 30, 1785,
and died there March 1, 1864. He married,
at Thompson, Connecticut, March 17, 1813,
Lydia, daughter of John Elliott, of that place.
She was born November 8, 1794, died June 5,
1857-8; buried at Grosvenordale, Connecti
cut. Both were members of the First Congre
gational Church of Woodstock, having joined
March 3, 1816. Later they became members
of the Methodist Church. He was a farmer
and stone mason, and was of dark complexion
and of a jovial disposition. In politics he was
a Republican. In 181 3 and for many years
after, he lived in Thompson, Connecticut. He
was buried at North Grosvenordale, Connec
ticut. He enlisted as a private in the Connec
ticut militia during the war of 1812, serving
in New London, under command of John
Lyon from June 21 to June 24, 1813, and

under Commander Jacob Lyon from June 25
to July 15, 1813. He had five children: 1.
Emoret, born 1813, married Erastus Caldwell.
2. Calista, born January 5, 1815, married Ben
jamin Burlingame. 3. Faxon, born December
16, 1817, married Sarah J. Brown. 4. Loren,
born August 12, 1820, married Nancy Hall.
5. Eliza, born December 29, 1823, died before
1883, married (first) Hammond Johnson,
(second) Leonard Chaffee.
(VII) Faxon, third child of John and
Lydia (Elliott) Chaffee, was born in Thomp
son, Connecticut, December 16, 1817, and
died February 27, 1870. He married, Au
gust 9, 1846, Sarah Jane Brown, daughter
of Dr. Jeremiah Brown, of East Killingly,
Connecticut. He was baptized in the First
Congregational Church, at Woodstock, Con
necticut. He owned land in Killingly, Con
necticut, in 1862, and with his wife bought
and sold land from time to time, and this suc
cessfully. He was a carriage maker by trade,
and was also engaged in the building of steam
cars for many years. In 1869 he lived in
Danielsonville, Connecticut. There were three
children : 1. Francis Herbert, born June 5, 1847,
died August 28, 1847. 2. Ellen Jane, born Jan
uary 5, 1849, married George Row ell, lives in
East Somerville, Massachusetts. 3. Emory
Franklin, born January 27, 1856, married Belle
G. Carter, January 1, 1879. (See Carter
family). (VIII) Emory Franklin, only son of Faxon
and Sarah J. (Brown) Chaffee, was born
in Worcester, Massachusetts, January 27,
1856. He attended the public schools of
Danielson, Connecticut, and the National Col
lege of Business at New Haven, Connecticut,
from which he graduated. His father dying
when he was a mere lad, he was obliged at
the early age of sixteen to earn his own liveli
hood, thus beginning to carve his own way to
success. Having married, he resided in Wo
burn for about a year, then removed to Som
erville. There in 1880 he opened a new pharr
macy, on Cross street, of which he was pro
prietor for twenty-three years, selling out
the business in 1903 to his clerk. During the
time that he owned the store Mr. Chaffee
became connected with a land syndicate, the
first proprietors of which were j. W. Litch
field, Charles H. Porter and himself, he being
trustee for the property. The syndicate pur
chased three different estates in Everett,
Massachusetts, divided them into house lots,
located streets, etc. The first division was
named Washington Park, and others later

332

MASSACHUSETTS.

were Washington Park Addition and Mt.
Washington Park. Later Messrs. Chaffee
and Litchfield bought Mr. Porter's interest,
and erected some business blocks. In 1903
Mr. Chaffee bought Mr. Litchfield's interest.
Hundreds of dwelling houses, several blocks,
churches and schools, have been built upon the
land, which now bears no resemblance to its
former unimproved condition. Mr. Chaffee
now gives his attention to looking after his
real estate in Everett, and his blocks and
houses in Somerville, is trustee of several
estates, besides caring for numerous estates
belonging to others. He is recognized as one
of the prominent and influential citizens of
Somerville, his influence being always felt on
the side of right and justice ; and in behalf of
every enterprise for the best interests of the
community. He takes a deep and active interest
in church work, and is a member, treasurer and
head usher of the East Somerville Baptist
Church, and is on the executive board of man
agement. He is also superintendent of the
Sunday school. He acts with the Republican
party, but has never sought public office. He
is a member of the school board, being chair
man of the finance and a member of the Text
books committee. He is a member of the
Railroad Club of Boston, the Universalist
Men's Club of Somerville, and the Young
Men's Baptist Social Union of Boston.
Mr. Chaffee married, January 1, 1879, Belle
Genevieve Carter, born in Waterford, Maine,
daughter of Henry Wyman and Sarah G.
(Brown) Carter, of Woburn, Massachusetts.
(See Carter family). Mr. and Mrs. Chaffee
reside at 109 Pearl street, Somerville. Their
children, all born in Somerville, are :
1. Beulah, born February 7, 1882; gradu
ated from Somerville grammar and high
schools. She began the study of music when
very young and after graduating from the
high school she devoted herself wholly to
music, studying at the Faelton Piano School,
Boston. After teaching music for a time she
was married, September 19, 1906, to Dr. John
Allan McLean, a graduate of Harvard Medi
cal School, and who also studied in the hos
pitals of London and Glasgow. Dr. McLean
has been very successful in his practice. They
have one child, Marjorie Arline, born March
2, 1908. His family residence is 16 Curtis
street, West Somerville.
2. Emory Leon Chaffee, born April 15, 1885.
When a lad of nine years, and even before he
had reached that age, he showed a marked
taste for electricity and the sciences, preferring

experimentation to the usual boyish sports.
He was educated in the Somerville grammar
and high schools, and after graduating from
the English high school he designed, construct
ed and presented to the high school an X-ray
coil of the Tesla type. It is of high power,
giving a spark eighteen inches in length, and
is now used for exhibition purposes in the
chemistry and physics department. In June,
1907, he graduated with honor from the Insti
tute of Technology, Boston, receiving the de
gree of Bachelor of Science. In autumn of
the same year he applied at Harvard College
for entrance to the graduate School of Arts
and Sciences, and was granted a scholarship
upon his record at the Institute of Technology.
He received the degree of A. M. in Physics at
Harvard in June, 1908. He is now teaching
in several courses in Harvard and Radcliff,
and at the Harvard Summer School, at the
same time conducting research, expecting to
receive the degree of Ph. D. in June, 1910,
and to then give a year to further study in the
University at Leipsic, Germany. In addition to
prosecuting his studies, he is conducting per
sonal work in a building erected for the pur
pose in the rear of his home, containing labor
atories for X-ray and research work, and has
performed much useful labor for physicians.
He married, June 23, 1909, Dora L. Armes,
of Lexington, Massachusetts, a graduate of
Mt. Holyoke College, '06, granddaughter of
the late Rev. P. C. Headley, a well known
author. Mr. and Mrs. Emory Leon Chaffee
reside in 1909 at 262 Upland road, Cambridge.
3. Lillian Carlotta, born March 29, 1891.
She is now attending the English high school
and taking voice culture.
4. Raymond Osgood, born April 24, 1895.
He attends the Edgerly grammar school and
studies the violin.
All of these children are members of the
East Somerville Baptist church, and active in
its work, teaching in the Sunday school, etc.
All of the children are trained musically :
Beulah a fine pianist, Leon a cometist, Lillian
a soprano singer, Raymond a violinist.
Mrs. Belle Genevieve (Carter) Chaffee is a
direct descendant of Rev. Thomas Carter (1),
one of the founders of Woburn, and its
first minister, who was born in England,
in 1610; during the reign of James I, pre
sumably in Hertfordshire, at or near St.
Albans. He without doubt was the grandson
or great-grandson of Richard Carter, Lord of
the Manor of Garston, in the parish of Wat
ford, England. The Rev. Thomas Carter en-

MASSACHUSETTS.

333

tered St. John's College, University of Cam
bridge, England, April i, 1626, and there took
the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1629-30, and
the Master's degree in 1633. April 2, 1635,
he embarked from St. Albans in the ship
"Planter," bound for New England. He was
obliged to take the disguise of a servant to
one George Giddings, for the English govern
ment had at that period become so alarmed at
the utter contempt of the colonists for the laws
and authority of the Crown, that restraints
were placed upon emigration to the colonies,
and no one above the rank of serving man was
permitted to remove without special leave, and
persons of inferior rank were required to take
the oath of supremacy and allegiance. Hence,
because of the great difficulty of one of the
Rev. Thomas Carter's education and position
to obtain permission to emigrate, he adopted
the disguise mentioned. He took a farm and
homestall of 102 acres in Watertown, Massa
chusetts, and there married Mary Dalton. He
was ordained November 22, 1642, and an ac
count of his ordination as the first minister in
Woburn is given in the "History of New Eng
land," by Governor John Winthrop, Esq., first
governor of Massachusetts. He continued in
the pastorate forty-two years, during which
long period the greatest harmony existed be
tween himself and the society. In Sewall's
"History of Woburn" he is said to have been
a pious, exemplary man, an able and sound
preacher of the gospel, and one whom God
honored and prospered in his work. Under
his ministrations the church was greatly en
larged and built up, the town flourished and
was for the most part in peace.
The earlier members of the Carter family
were said to be a sturdy, industrious, sensible,
kind hearted, public-spirited, Godfearing set
of people. Their special characteristics were
love of their kind — fidelity in the marriage re
lation, and a cheerful recognition of the Divine
command to "multiply and replenish the
earth." The early records show them to have
been prominent in all matters of public interest
— the division of land and laying out of roads,
building of churches and establishment of
schools were entrusted to them. Many also
were active in the military organizations and
duties of their day, so that much of the re
ligious, moral and intellectual culture and
prosperity of the communities where they set
tled is due to the labors of these ancestors.
The most marked preference to any one calling
seems to have been that of physician. There

were many among the descendants, also many
ministers of the gospel.
Children of Rev. Thomas and Mary Carter:
1. Samuel, born August 8, 1640, died in Gro
ton, Massachusetts, 1693. 2. Judith, married
(first) June 8, 1660, Samuel Converse; mar
ried (second) May 2, 1672, Giles Fifield. 3.
Theophilus, born June 12, 1645, died February
15, 1649. 4- Mary, born July 24, 1648, died
1688, married (first) John Wyman Jr., about
1671, who was killed by the Indians at the
Swamp Fight, December 19, 1675 ; married
(second) Nathaniel Bachiler, of Hampton,
New Hampshire, October 31, 1676. 5. Abi
gail, born June 10, 1649-50, married, May 7,
1674, John Smith. 6. Deborah, born Septem
ber 15, 1651, died December 14, 1667. 7.
Timothy, born June 12, 1653, died July 8,
1727, married, May 3, 1680, Anna Fiske,
daughter of David Fiske, of Cambridge, Lex
ington. 8. Thomas, born June 8, 1655, mar
ried Margery Whitmore, of Cambridge, born
September 9, 1668, died October 3, 1754.
(II) Samuel, eldest of the eight children
of Rev. Thomas and Mary (Dalton) Carter,
and in line of descent to Mrs. Belle Gene
vieve (Carter) Chaffee, was born August 8,
1640. He graduated from Harvard College
in 1660, and in 1672 married Eunice Brooks,
daughter of John and Eunice (Mousall)
Brooks. He was admitted an inhabitant and
proprietor of the common lands by a vote of
the town of Woburn, January 4, 1665-6, and
sustained at different times several responsible
offices in the town — selectman 1679, 1681, 1682
and 1683; commissioner of rates 1680; town
clerk 1690; was also teacher of the grammar
school, 1685 and 1686. (Sewell's "History of
Woburn"). We find in "Annals of Lancaster,
Massachusetts," record of seventy-five acres
of land deeded to him. This land was on
George Hill, and was occupied by Mr. Carter's
descendants for several generations. He
preached at Lancaster between 168 1 and 1688,
and probably resided there for a time. The
births of his nine children are recorded in the
Woburn town (records. From "Groton His
torical Series," No. 12, edited by Hon. Samuel
A. Green, we learn that on October 21, 1692,
by vote of the larger part of the town, they de
clared the Rev. Samuel Carter to be their
fourth minister, to be ordained in due time.
He moved to that place soon after receiving
this call, but did not long remain over his pas
toral charge, dying there in the autumn of
1693. There is not much said in the town

334

MASSACHUSETTS.

records of his brief ministry, but as one of the
pioneer preachers in the early days of New
England life, his memory deserves to be cher
ished. Children of Rev. Samuel and Eunice
(Brooks) Carter: i. Mary, born July 24,
1673. 2- Samuel, born August 27, 1675, died
at Woburn, September 10, 1676. 3. Samuel,
born January 7, 1678, died at Lancaster, Au
gust 30, 1738. 4. John, born March 14, 1680,
died at Lancaster, 1705. 5. Thomas, born
April 3, 1682, died at Lancaster, March 31,
1738. 6. Nathaniel, born April 7, 1685. 7.
Eunice, born March~29, 1687. 8. Abigail, born
May, 1689, died young. 9. Abigail, born May
30, 1690.
(Ill) Samuel, the third child of Rev.
Samuel and Eunice (Brooks) Carter, and next
in descent, was born in Woburn, January 7,
1677, and died in Lancaster, August 30, 1738.
He married, March, 1701, Dorothy Wilder,
born 1686, daughter of Nathaniel and Mary
(Sawyer) Wilder. From "Annals of Lan
caster" we learned that they lived on George
Hill, on the land formerly purchased by his
father, Rev. Samuel Carter. He was assigned
to a garrison on George Hill, with his brothers-
in-law, Lieutenant Nathaniel and Ephraim
Wilder, Thomas Ross, and his brother, John
Carter, and lost in an attack by the Indians,
July 31, 1704, with two fires, a good dwelling
house, a horse, cow, two calves and his swine.
He was selectman in 1723, and served on vari
ous committees for the location of highways,
etc. Children of Samuel and Dorothy Wilder
Carter: 1. Samuel, born 1703, died Lancaster,
May 20, 1761. 2. Eunice, born 1704, died at
Sterling, November 16, 1789. 3. Nathaniel,
born 1706, died at Leominster, July 20, 1787.
4. Dorothy. 5. Anna. 6. Johnathan, born
171 1, died at Leominster, March 19, 1799.
7. Ephraim, born 1713, died at Lancaster. 8.
Oliver, born 171 5, died at Leominster, Sep
tember 11, 1790. 9. Mary, born 1719, died at
Bolton, February 3, 1743. 10. Elizabeth, born
1722, died at Lancaster, October 9, 1755. 11.
Prudence, born February 22, 1723, died at
Leominster, April 6, 1789. 12. Josiah, born
January 26, 1726, died at Leominster, Febru
ary, 18 1 2.
(IV) Josiah, youngest of the twelve chil
dren of Samuel and Dorothy (Wilder) Car
ter, and great-great-grandfather of Belle
Genevieve (Carter) Chaffee, was born Janu
ary 26, 1726, and died at Leominster, Febru
ary, 1812. He married, in 1745, Tabitha

Hough, born 1729, died June 29, 1810. His
farm was the northerly of the two farms on
Carter Hill, which was owned by the descend
ants of Samuel (3). The beautiful slope of
this hill marks the background of the view of
Leominster on the west, with South Monoos-
nock just, above it. It is recorded in the
"Book of Revolutionary Soldiers" that Josiah
Carter was the first major of Colonel Asa
Whitcomb's regiment, engaged in battle April
19, 1775 (Lexington). He was also lieuten
ant-colonel of Colonel Abijah Stearn's Eighth
(Worcester county) regiment, commissioned,
February 7, 1776, and lieutenant-colonel of
Colonel Josiah Whitney's regiment, and he
was also colonel of the Eighth (Worcester
county) regiment. There is an official record
in the above mentioned book of a ballot by the
House of Representatives dated June 2, I779-
the appointment as colonel being concurred in
council, June 2, 1779.
Children of Colonel Josiah and Tabitha
(Hough) Carter: 1. Tabitha, born October
18, 1745, died young. 2. Tabitha, born De
cember 30, 1747. 3. Josiah, born January
29, 1749, died July 19, 1827. 4. Jude, born
March 8, 175 1, died Rockingham, Vermont.
5. Sarah, born April 26, 1753. 6. Zerviah,
born April 9, 1755, died January 3, 1807.
7. Relief, born March 26, 1757, died young.
8. Mary, born April 20, 1759, died young.
9. Abijah, born September 5, 1761, died
Bridgton, Maine. 10. Jacob, born Septem
ber 4, 1763, died at Leominster, August 27,
1825. 11. Relief, born November 27, 1765,
died young. 12. James, born December 12,
1768, died Leominster, May 26, 1 850. 13.
Relief, born October 21, 1770, died Water
ford, Vermont. 14. Jonah, born January 26,
1772, died at Rindge, New Hampshire, Febru
ary 25, 1837.
(V) Abijah, ninth child of Colonel Josiah
and Tabitha (Hough) Carter, was born (prob
ably at Leominster) September 5, 1761, and
died at Bridgton, Maine. He served as a
soldier in the revolutionary war, and until
his death received a pension. The following
is taken from "Revolutionary Soldiers:"
"Abijah Carter was a private in Colonel Nicho
las Dike's regiment, and also in Colonel Abi
jah Stearn's (Worcester county) regiment,
and he marched to Saratoga, October 9, 1777,
under command of Major Ebenezer Bridge, to
assist General Gates. He also served in Col
onel John Rand's (Worcester county) regi
ment, and was in service there three months
and twelve days." He married, in April,

MASSACHUSETTS.

335

1781, Nancy Warner, of Leominster. After
his marriage he settled in Jaffrey, New Hamp
shire. He was surveyor there in 1786, and
owner of a pew in the church. He removed
to Bridgton, Maine, where most of his fifteen
children were born. Both he and his wife died
there or near by.
Children of Abijah and Nancy (Warner)
Carter: 1. Alpheus, died at Stowe, Mass
achusetts. 2. Abijah, Jr., born October 29,
1783, died December 11, 1873. 3. James. 4.
John, born 1785, died 1825, in Waterford,
Maine. 5. Levi, born June 16, 1789, died
March 3, 1854, at Stowe, Massachusetts. 6.
Henry. 7. Otis, died in Naples or Otisfield,
Maine. 8. William. 9. Joseph, died in child
hood. 10. Charles, died in Bridgton Centre,
Maine. 11. Thomas Jefferson, died at the
West. 12. George. 13. Nancy W. 14. Sally.
15. Betsey.
(VI) flenry, sixth child of Abijah and
Nancy (Warner) Carter, was born in Bridg
ton, Maine, about 1790. He was senior
deacon of the Methodist church in North
Bridgton for many years. He married Hannah
Cochran, of Andover, Massachusetts, and they
had seventeen children, all of whom came to
maturity except the first born, who died aged
five and one-half years. Among the sons who
served in the civil war were : James, in Twelfth
New Hampshire Regiment; John, in Third
Illinois Cavalry; Austin, orderly sergeant in a
Massachusetts regiment of heavy artillery, and
who participated in nineteen battles ; and Ed
win, Twelfth Maine Regiment, who died from
injuries received in service.
Children of Henry and Hannah (Cochran)
Carter: 1. Henry, born January 25, 1823,
died October 13, 1828. 2. Samuel, born Feb
ruary 1, 1824, died at Lawrence, Massachu
setts, March 24, 1881. 3. Mary, born May
10, 1825, resides at South Waterford, Maine.
4. James, born December 20, 1826, resides
at Biddeford, Maine. 5. Charles, born March
20, 1828, died at North Conway, New Hamp
shire, April 2, 1880. 6. John N., born Sep
tember 20, 1829, resides at Bridgton, Maine.
7. Abbie, born April 20, 1831, resides at
Andover, Massachusetts. 8. Emily, born Sep
tember 13, 1832, resides at Winchester, Mass
achusetts. 9. Nancy W., born May 21, 1834,
died Bridgton, 1908. 10. Margaret A., born
October 27, 1836, resides at Lawrence, Mass
achusetts. 11. Henry W., born January 9,
1838, died September 25, 1885. 12. Wesley,
born July 7, 1839, resides at St. Cloud, Minne
sota. 13. Austin F., born February 23, 1841,

resides at Hyde Park, Massachusetts. 14.
Edwin, born August 15, 1842, died June 30,
1862. 15. Elizabeth M., born March 30, 1844,
resides at North Bridgton, Maine. 16. Will
iam Solon, born January 24, 1846, resides at
Conway, New Hampshire. 17. Horatio L.,
born June 3, 1847.
(VII) flenry Wyman, eleventh child of
Henry and Hannah (Cochran) Carter, was
born January 9, 1838, in Bridgton, Maine. He
was educated in the public school there, and
took up the trade of carriage maker. He mar
ried, August 8, 1858, Sarah Georgie Brown,
of Bridgton. They lived for a time in Chess
Springs, Pennsylvania, and then settled in
Woburn, Massachusetts, the home of Henry
Wyman's first American ancestor. He and his
wife were members of the First Baptist Church
of Woburn. While visiting his sister, Mrs.
N. A. Holt, of Lawrence, he died, September
25, 1885. The Odd Fellows of the Woburn
Lodge, of which he was a member, and also
of the Lawrence Lodge, officiated at the
funeral, and accompanied the remains to their
interment at Bridgton, Maine.
Children of Henry Wyman and Sarah
(Brown) Carter. 1. Belle Genevieve, born
March 25,. 1859. 2. Henry Walter, died young
at Chess Springs, Pennsylvania.
(VIII) Belle Genevieve, daughter of Henry
Wyman and Sarah Georgie (Brown) Carter,
was born March 25, 1859, and married, Janu
ary 1, 1879, Emory Franklin Chaffee, then re
siding in Charlestown, Massachusetts. She
was educated in the Woburn grammar and
high schools, during the same, time and after
ward studying music in the New England
Conservatory and at the Petersilea Academy of
Music, then located on Columbus avenue. She
began teaching the piano when quite young,
and at the time of her marriage had a large
number of pupils. She gave several public re
citals of her pupils, and also several individual
recitals at Steinert Hall, Boston, besides play
ing concertos, etc., in entertainments in Music
Hall, Tremont Temple, and elsewhere in Bos
ton and vicinity. With her husband she is a
member of the East Somerville Baptist
Church, serving on the music committee, of
the church, and on the executive board of
management, and as pianist of the Sunday
school. She has had charge of many success
ful entertainments in the church and at clubs,
her time being freely given for charitable enter
tainments. She is chairman of the music com
mittee of the Heptorean Club, a member of the
Somerville Woman's Club, and until recently

336

MASSACHUSETTS.

belonged to the Maine Club of Somerville.
Although asked several times to take office in
the aforesaid clubs she has not as yet accepted.

William Hervey (or Harvey)
HERVEY immigrant ancestor, was a tan
ner and settled first in Taun
ton, Massachusetts, in 1639. He removed to
Boston, where he died August 15, 1658. Admin
istration was granted to his widow Martha for
herself and four young children, April 28,
1659. Fle married (first) April 2, 1639, Joane
Hucker, of Cohannatt, and she was admitted
with him to the Boston church in 1643. He
married (second) Martha Copp, who was
admitted to the church, April 16, 1654. She
married (second) November 10, 1659, Henry
Tewksbury, and removed to Newbury. Chil
dren of first wife, born in Boston: 1. Abigail,
April 25, 1640. 2. Thomas, December 13 or
18, 1641 ; died young. 3. Experience, (daugh
ter) March 4, 1644. 4. Joseph, December 8,
1645. Children of second wife: 5. William,
August 27, 165 1. 6. Thomas, August 16,
1652, mentioned below. 7. John, February 5,
1654-55, married Sarah (Barnes) Rowell. 8.
Mary, baptized August 2, 1657.
(II) Captain Thomas, son of William Her
vey, was born in Boston, August 16, 1652, and
settled in Amesbury. He took the oath of
allegiance in December, 1677, and was a mem
ber of the train band in 1680. He was admitted
a freeman in 1690, and in 1691-92 was a dep
uty to the general court. In 1708 he was cap
tain of the "snoe-shoe men." The inventory
of his estate was filed January 21, 1715-16,
and administration was granted his son Will
iam, March 19, 171 5-16. He married, Octo
ber 26, 1676, Sarah Rowell, daughter of Val
entine and grandddaughter of Thomas Rowell.
She survived him. Children: 1. Mary, mar
ried, May 15, 1707, Joseph Buswell. 2. Eliz
abeth, married, December 8, 1710, Theophilus
Colby. 3. Hannah, unmarried in 1721. 4.
William, born March 9, 1687-88, died January
8, 1689. 5. William, January 15, 1689, men
tioned below. 6. Thomas, February 14, 1691,
probably died young.
(Ill) William (2), son of Captain Thomas
Hervey, was born January 15, 1689, and
resided at Amesbury. He was among the
"snoe-shoe men" in 1708. He married, Octo
ber 14, 1 714, at Amesbury, Abigail Martin,
daughter of John Martin. He joined the
second church of Amesbury, August 11, 1726,
and she joined October 17, 1736. Children,
born at Amesbury: 1. William, mentioned

below. 2. Fortunatus, baptized August 25,
1728. (IV) William (3), son of William (2),
Hervey, was born at Amesbury about 1720.
He married Abigail Talbot. Children: 1.
Thomas, baptized December 7, 1746, men
tioned below. There was a William and
David living at Newburyport in 1790, also
sons. William died there July 7, 1806 ; David
died June 16, 1802. William's widow Abigail
died at Newburyport, July 8, 1819, aged
seventy-seven years. Mary, widow of David,
died there January 19, 1824.
(V) Thomas (2), son of William (3) Her
vey, was born 1746 and baptized December 7,
1746. The family removed to Newburyport
after the revolution. The heads of families in
Newburyport in 1790 were Thomas, David,
William and Abigail, a widow. Thomas had
four sons under sixteen and four girls in his
family at that time. He died at Newburyport,
November 29, 1821, aged seventy-five years.
He was a dealer in lumber and other ship
building materials. In 1785 he sold to the
town materials for building hay scales for
eighteen pounds. He served in the revolution,
taking part in a Kittery company. He married
(first) Tamsen Gerrish, and (second) Mary
Woodman. Children: 1. Mary, born Novem
ber 19, 1772, married, August 15, 1799, Josiah
Greenleaf. 2. Thomas, December 8, 1774, died
young. 3. Thomas, May 28, 1776, was a car
penter and was killed by accident, September
11, 1856: married, May 23, 1805, Jane Camp
bell ; children : i. Tamsen Stevens Hervey,
born April 12, 1806; ii. Jane Hervey, Septem
ber 30, 1807 ; iii. Margaret Hervey, June 25,
1809; iv. Elizabeth Fleming Hervey, February
10, 181 1 ; died young; v. Thomas flervey, July
25, 1812, died August 31, 1847; yi- Elizabeth
Hervey, October 27, 1813, died November 1,
1827; vii. Elizabeth Fleming Hervey, July
3, 1815, died May 13, 1850; viii. Calvin Her
vey, February 2, 1818; ix. Hannah Spring
Hervey, July 9, 1819; x. John Campbell Her
vey, December 17, 1821. 4. Betsey, July 15,
1778. 5. William, 1780, died September 19,
185 1 ; married, September 8, 1803, Elizabeth
Buntin; children: i. William Stevens Hervey,
born November 5, 1804; ii. Joseph Buntin
Hervey, October 16, 1806, married, November
4, 1832, Eunice W. Hale; iii. Elizabeth Her
vey, May 25, 1810, married William Ingalls;
iv. Mary Campbell Hervey, April 12, 1816. 6.
Jane, December 16, 1781, twin, died July 28,
1848. 7. Joseph, December 16, 1781, twin,
married, August 31, 1807, Mary French, of

MASSACHUSETTS.

337

Newburyport ; children : i. Joseph, born April
18, 1808; ii. Edwin, May 17, 1810. 8. Nath
aniel, January 15, 1784, died March 3, 181 9;
married, September 19, 1803, Mary Plummer;
children: i. Martha Hervey, (twin), born De
cember 27, 1805; ii. Mary (twin), born De
cember 27, 1805 ; iii. Nathaniel Plummer, born
January 11, 1808. 9. Tamsen Gerrish, De
cember 10, 1786, married, December 31, 1811,
Joseph Buntin. 10. James, December 27, 1788.
11, Charles, married, August 10, 1814, Eliza
beth Sanborn. Child of second wife: 13.
George, October 10, 1796, mentioned below.
(VI) George, son of Thomas (2) Hervey,
was born October 10, 1796, in Newburyport.
His mother is said to have been over fifty
years of age at the time of his birth. His edu
cation was received in the public schools of
Newburyport, and he developed his mind by
extensive reading, being one of the best
Shakespearian scholars of the time in the
vicinity. He early learned the business of a
tailor and cutter and for a short time was
employed in New York City. About 1821, he
removed to Andover and thence to Maiden,
where he became interested in Masonry and
joined Mt. Hermon Lodge in that place, the
charter of which was dated June 9, 1817. He
became a resident of Medford in 1835 and
commenced the business of tailor in the room
of the City Hall building, afterwards used as
the selectman's room, and more recently as the
mayor's office. At that time Jonas Coburn
kept the dry goods store on the first floor of
the same building and furnished the cloth for
Mr. Hervey. His tailor's shop became a pop
ular resort for the men of Medford, who
would visit there for the purpose of discus
sion of matters of local and public interest.
He was appointed postmaster, April 22, 1861,
and removed to the part of the building now
used as a waiting room by the Boston and
Maine Railroad Company. Here he continued
to conduct his business for the remainder of
his life. He resided at No. 12 Summer street
in a house which he built. He died, after a
lingering illness of two years, March 7, 1868.
He was a man of strict integrity, of an amiable
disposition, a thorough gentleman, and kindly
to all with whom he came in contact, always
ready with good advice, given with the best
intentions and never in an obtrusive manner.
An example of his quick wit is the story that
once when a good deacon of the church, who
was a frequent visitor in his shop, after the
usual gossip of the morning, asked him if he
could not tell him what he could do to make

his home happier — "Leave it" — replied Mr.
Hervey, without interrupting his work. He
was averse to holding public office, but was on
the school committee. He was a member of
the fire department of Medford and for many
years clerk of the hook and ladder company.
In early life he was a Whig and later a Repub
lican in politics. He and his wife were mem
bers of the Unitarian church of Medford. He
married, August 4, 1825, at Maiden, Sally J.
Wait, born May 28, 1804, died November 12,
1884, daughter of Thomas and Pamelia Wait.
Children: 1. George Cabot, born August,
1825, died April 9, 1882; merchant tailor at
Medford; married, November 25, 1852, Azu
bah Kimball ; children : i. Walter D. Hervey,
born August 2, 1857, died September 25, 1859;
ii. Edgar James fiervey, August 4, 1859; iii.
Mabel, March 29, 1863, married, April 4, 1888,
Carl Theodore Guething, and have Florence
Sally, born January 20, 1890; Theodore Her
vey, October 15, 1891 ; Carl Theodore, July
14, 1893 ; James Harold, March 26, 1895. 2.
Sarah, died young. 3. James Aigin, March 29,
1827, died September 9, 1905 ; superintendent
of schools at Medford ; married (first) August
12, 1862, Mary E. Peck; (second) April 11,
1894, Mrs. Julia A. (Peck) Leach, sister of
first wife; child of first wife: Philip, born
April 10, 1867, died March 17, 1889. 4. Sarah,
February 21, 1831, died September 3, 1848. 5.
Edwin, November 10, 1832, died August 9,
1842. 6. Thomas, May 16, 1836, drowned
July 16, 1851. 7. Franklin, June 29, 1838,
mentioned below.
(VII) Franklin, son of George Hervey,
was born at Medford, June 29, 1838, in the old
Garrison House of revolutionary fame. He
was educated in the public schools of his
native town. At the age of seventeen he
began work as clerk in the dry goods house of
Farley, Bliss & Company, Boston. He left
this position to enlist in the civil war in Com
pany F, Fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Vol
unteer Militia, September 1, 1862. After
being in camp a short time, this regiment went
to Beaufort, North Carolina, thence to New-
burn into camp in the department commanded
by General Foster. He took part in the battle
of Newbern, Kinston, Whitehall, and of
Goldsborough, returning with the regiment
and receiving an honorable discharge, July 2,
1863. After some time in a clerical capacity
he became engaged in the mercantile trade in
which he was successfully engaged up to 1904.
Mr. Hervey for many years was actively inter
ested in the Lyceum in New England, where

338

MASSACHUSETTS.

he has become well known as a public reader.
His residence is at 16 Hillside avenue. He is
a member of the First Unitarian Church and
on the parish committee and trustee of the
sinking fund. He was formerly a member of
the Medford Club and belongs to Medford
Council, Royal Arcanum. He married, Octo
ber 7, 1885, Olive Potter Sawyer, born at New
Bedford, Massachusetts, June 22, 1845, daugh
ter of Gideon and Olive (Potter) Sawyer.
Her father was a mason and builder ; held
various offices in New Bedford. They had
one daughter, born and died April 4, ii

The name of Williston doubt-
WILLISTON less is of Danish origin and
probably came over to Eng
land with the Danish invasion of King Can-
nute when the commander-in-chief of the
armies of Denmark bore the name of General
Williston. In 1640 three brothers of the name
of Williston came to America from Lanca
shire, England.
(I) Joseph Williston was probably born
about 1670. There was a John Willison or
Willingstone at Ipswich, Massachusetts, at an
earlier date, thought by some to have been his
father. As a child Joseph Williston lived in
the family of John Williams, at Windsor, Con
necticut, and to him he was doubtless nearly
related. Mr. Williams married, July 29, 1644,
Mary Burley, who died August 3, 1665 ; he
died April 18, 1681. Williston may have been
a grandchild. Early in life he removed to
Springfield, and in 1691 had settled in the
adjacent' town of Westfield, Massachusetts.
He married, at Springfield, March 2, 1699,
Mary (Parsons) Ashley, widow of Joseph
Ashley, daughter of Joseph and Mary Par
sons. She died August 23, 171 1. He married
(second) November 2, 171 1, Sarah Stebbins,
widow of Thomas Stebbins; she died in 1732.
Children, born at Springfield: 1. Joseph, De
cember 28, 1700; mentioned below. 2. Mar
garet, March 30, 1703, died aged thirteen years.
3. John, November 6, 1705, died November
10, 1747. 4. Nathaniel, January 28, 1707, died
July 18, 1748; married Miriam Stebbins.
(II) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (1) Willis
ton, was born at Springfield, December 28,
1700, died August 21, 1747. He married, 1727,
flannah, daughter of Thomas and Sarah
(Strong) Stebbins. Children: Joseph, Rev.
Noah, mentioned below; Thomas, Consider,
Gad, Margaret, Hannah.
(Ill) Rev. Noah Williston, son of Joseph
(2), was born in July, 1733, died November 10,

181 1. He graduated at Yale College in the
class of 1757 ; was ordained at West Haven,
Connecticut, June, 1760, and was the pastor of
the Congregational church there until his death.
His long pastorate is the finest testimony to his
tact, his faithfulness as a pastor and wisdom
as a teacher, and his power as a preacher. He
married (first) Hannah Payson, of Pomfret,
Connecticut, born 1742, daughter of Deacon
Joshua Payson. She died in 1769. He mar
ried (second) November 25, 1779, Eunice Hill,
widow. Children of first wife: 1. Rev. Pay-
son, born 1764; mentioned below. 2. Sarah,
June 14, 1765; married, October 12, 1785, Rev.
Richard Salter Storrs. 3. Rev. David, settled
as minister at Tunbridge, Vermont. 4. Han
nah, married Rev. Ebenezer Kingsbury; set
tled as pastor of the Congregational church of
Jericho, Vermont.
(IV) Rev. Payson Williston, D. D., son of
Rev. Noah, was born in West Haven, Connec
ticut, June 2, 1764, died in Easthampton, Jan
uary 30, 1856. He took part in the skirmish
ing when New Haven was invaded by the Brit
ish, 1779. He graduated at Yale College in
the class of 1783, and in 1789 was settled the
first minister at Easthampton, Massachusetts,
previously a precinct of Northampton, and
served in that capacity for over half a century.
During his long and successful pastorate, he
won the affection and confidence of his people
and took a leading position among the min
isters of his faith. In 1799 some of his ser
mons were published in a volume of collec
tions of the Association of the County of
Hampshire. Later other discourses were pub
lished from time to time by Mr. Williston,
and they display much ability. He was a
devout and pious Christian, a faithful and
sympathetic pastor, amiable and approachable
in his personality. To the end of his long life,
ninety-two years, he retained his health and
faculties. He married Sarah, daughter of
Nathan Birdseye, of Stratford, Connecticut.
Children, born at Easthampton: 1. Nathan
Birdseye, died aged four- years. 2. Maria,
married Theodore Brackett. 3. Hon. Samuel,
born June 17, 1795, was the founder of Willis
ton Seminary of Easthampton, one of the
leading preparatory schools of the state for
many years; established all the industries in
Easthampton; assisted Amherst College and
other institutions of learning; he married,
May 27, 1822, Emily Graves, of Williamsburg,
Massachusetts, born June 5, 1807, daughter of
Elnathan and Lydia (Pomeroy) Graves. 4.
Sarah, born January 21, 1800, married, De-

MASSACHUSETTS.

339

cember 4, 1818, Josiah Dwight Whitney, of
Northampton. 5. John Payson, mentioned
below. (V) John H-ayson, son of Rev. Payson
Williston, was born in Easthampton, Decem
ber 5, 1803, died in Northampton, January 4,
1872. He received his education in the public
schools of his native town, and for a number
of years taught school in Northampton. He
began business as a druggist in Northampton,
and later in life was a cotton manufacturer and
also interested as a stockholder and director in
various industries in Northampton and vicinity.
He was the inventor of Payson's Indelible Ink,
well known throughout the United States, still
a staple article of trade and still manufactured
at Northampton by his son, A. Lyman Willis
ton. He was a director of the Holyoke Water
Power Company and a director of the North
ampton National Bank, universally regarded
as one of the ablest business men in North
ampton. He was an early and devoted friend
and advocate of the anti-slavery cause and
later very active in true temperance reform
and prominent in what is known as the Wash-
ingtonian movement and continuing through
out his life his warfare against the use of intox
icating liquors and particularly against the
saloons of his native town. He was firm and
decided in his convictions, of great public
spirit, of exemplary character, a strong and
forceful personality, a useful citizen, known
as a liberal contributor to benevolent purposes
and for the advancement of charitable and
educational matters. He was a leading mem
ber and for thirty-four years and until his
decease deacon of the First Congregational
Church. In politics a Republican. He mar
ried, March 6, 1827, Cecelia Lyman, born Au
gust 6, 1805, died October 9, 1890, daughter of
Asahel Lyman. Children, born in Northamp
ton: 1. A. Lyman, born 1827, died young. 2.
John Payson, 1829, died young. 3. Lucy,
1832, died young. 4. A. Lyman, December 13,
1834; mentioned below. 5. Lucy, 1836, died
young. 6. Sarah, 1838, died young. 7. Han
nah Moore, August 11, 1841, (married, Au
gust 11, 1864, Rev. George Samuel Bishop,
D. D. ; children : William Samuel, born Au
gust, 1865, married Mary Luttrell, of Wash
ington, D. C. ; Margaret, 1868, died 1876; Ed
ward Hodge, 1870). 8. Samuel, 1844, died
young. 9. Charles, 1846, died young.
(VI) A. Lyman, son of John Payson Willis
ton, was born in Northampton, December 13,
1834. He attended the public schools of his
native town and the Williston Seminary at

Easthampton. At the age of eighteen he was
given the active management and superintend
ence of the Greenville Manufacturing Com
pany, manufacturing sheeting and other cotton
goods at Northampton. He was connected
actively with this concern for a period of thirty-
one years, filling the offices of treasurer and
president of the corporation and continuing as
president until he sold the property in 1883.
He has been connected also with other manu
facturing concerns in Northampton and else
where as director and manager. In 1877 he
became a director of the First National Bank
of Northampton, has been on the board to the
present time (1909) and president of the bank
since 1887. fle has been called to many posi
tions of public trust and honor. For many
years he has been a member of the public
library committee, also chairman of the trust
funds committee of Northampton. He served
as alderman of his ward in 1887, and was
chairman of the first board of sewer commis
sioners of the city, declining further service
after being six years in office. He never sought
public office, however, and both in 1889-90,
when nominated for mayor of the city by the
Republicans, he declined the honor.
Mr. Williston is best known, perhaps, through
his connection and labors in the interest of
various educational institutions. Early in life
he became interested in Mount Holyoke Col
lege ; he has served on the board of trustees
since 1867, and since 1873 has been its treas
urer; he has been chairman of all its building
committees. One of the finest structures of
the college is named Lyman Williston Hall,
erected in 1876 at a cost of eighty thousand
dollars ; he was the largest contributor ; he has
also given liberally to the funds for other
buildings and purposes of the college. He
gave the astronomical observatory, its equip
ment and site, to the college. A Massachu
setts paper published the following about Mr.
Williston and his connection with Mount
Holyoke College: "The present prosperity
and influence of Mount Holyoke College is
due in no small degree to the faithful and
never failing interest of Mr. A. Lyman Willis
ton, of Northampton, who has been its treas
urer twenty-five years. During his entire term
of office his efforts for its advancement have
been unremitting and he has spared neither
time nor money in its cause. To him the insti
tution is indebted for Lyman Williston Hall.
During his term of office Mr. Williston has
been the executive head of the school and that
his hand may long be felt in its direction, is

340

MASSACHUSETTS.

the earnest wish of all who have its interest at
heart. The office has no salary attached to it
and the hard work performed is purely a labor
of love and philanthropy." Mr. Williston has
been active in promoting the interests of Am
herst College also ; he was a member of a
special committee in 1882 in charge of the
rebuilding of Walker Hall and in the enlarge
ment and remodelling of the college library
building ; he was afterward on the committee
in charge of building the Pratt Gymnasium,
and has contributed liberally to various funds
of the college from time to time. The honor
ary degree of A. M. was conferred upon him
by Amherst College in 1881. Mr. Williston
was elected a trustee of Williston Seminary,
1873, which was founded by his uncle, Samuel
Williston, and was his own alma mater ; he
became its treasurer in 1880, an office he still
holds, has been a member of the finance and
excutive committees for many years, and was
president of the board of trustees from 1885
to 1895. Mr. Williston was elected a trustee
of Smith College in 1876, is a member of
some of the important committees, such as
finance and executive, for many years, and is
still active, and has been a faithful and active
member of the board of trustees to the present
time (1909). In 1881 he became a corporate
member of the American Board of Foreign
Missions; he served for one year as member
of the prudential committee, and from time to
time on important- special committees of that
organization. Mr. Williston is a member of
the First Congregational Church. While resid
ing in Florence, Massachusetts, he and his
father were the leading spirits in establishing
the Florence Congregational Church ; A. Ly
man Williston was chairman of the building
committee, one of the first deacons, and one
of the twenty-six charter members of the
church. Mr. Williston has traveled extensively
both in this country and abroad.
Mr. Williston married, June 12, 1861, Sarah
Tappan Stoddard, born May 29, 1839, daugh
ter of Professor Solomon and Frances Eliza
beth (Greenwood) Stoddard (see Stoddard).
Children: 1. May, born May 7, 1863, died
young. 2. John Payson, May 23, 1864, died
April 23, 1879. 3. Lucy, August 7, 1866; mar
ried Charles M. Starkweather ; children : L.
Williston, 1897; Sarah, 1899; Esther, 1903. 4.
Robert, January 12, 1869; married, June 22,
1 901, Margaret Randolph, daughter of John
and Margaret Bryan, of Charlottesville, Vir
ginia ; children : William Wadlaw, born Octo
ber 9, 1904, and John Payson, born April 25,

1906, died 1907. 5. Elizabeth, February 27,
1871 ; married, February 14, 1906, Herbert S.
Bullard, of Hartford, Connecticut. 6. Harry
Stoddard, December 15, 1872; raf ides at Lynn,
Massachusetts; married, October 30, 1907,
Sydney Stephens, of Washington, D. C. ; one
child, Harry S. Jr., born August 12, 1908.

The name Stoddard is de-
STODDARD rived from the office of stand
ard bearer, and was anciently
written De-la-Stahdard. The coat-of-arms of
the ancient family of Stoddard of London is:
Sable three estoiles and a bordure gules. Crest :
Out of a ducal coronet a demi horse salient,
ermine. Motto : Festina Lente. In the office
of Heraldry, England, the following origin of
the Stoddard family is found : "William Stod
dard, knight, came from Normandy to Eng
land in 1066 with William the Conqueror, who
was his cousin. Of his descendants there is
record of Rukard Stoddard, of Nottingham, ,
Kent, near Eltham, about seven miles from
London Bridge, where was located the family
estate of about four hundred acres which was
in the possession of the family in 1490, how
much before is not known, and continued until
the death of Nicholas Stoddard, a bachelor, in
1765." Lineage:
(I) Thomas Stoddard, of Royston. (II)
John Stoddard, of Grindon. (Ill) William
Stoddard, of Royston. (IV) John (2) Stod
dard, of Royston. (V) Anthony Stoddard,
of London. (VI) Gideon Stoddard, of Lon
don. (VII) Anthony (2) Stoddard, of Lon
don. (VIII) William (2) Stoddard, of Lon
don. (IX) Anthony (3), son of William (2)
Stoddard, was the immigrant ancestor, and
came to Boston about 1639. He was admitted
a freeman in 1640 and was a leading citizen.
He was deputy to the general court in 1650-
59-60, and during twenty successive years from
1665 to 1684. He died March 16, 1686-87.
He married (first) Mary Downing, daughter
of Hon. Emanuel and Lucy Downing, and
sister of Sir George, afterward Lord George
Downing. He married (second) Barbara,
widow of Captain Joseph Weld, of Roxbury.
She died April 15, 1654, and he married 1
(third) about 1655, Christian  . Chil
dren of first wife: 1. Solomon, born October
4, 1643; mentioned below. 2. Samson, De
cember 3, 1645, died November 4, 1698. 3.
Simeon, 1650, died October 15, 1730. Chil
dren of second wife: 4. Sarah, October 21
1652. 5. Stephen, January 6, 1654. Children

MASSACHUSETTS.

34i

of third wife : 6. Anthony, June 16, 1656. 7.
Christian, March 22, 1657 ; married Nathaniel
Pierce. 8. Lydia, May 27, 1660; married Cap
tain Samuel Turell. 9. Joseph, December 1,
1661. 10. John, April 22, 1663. 11. Ebenezer,
July 1, 1664. 12. Dorothy, November 24, 1665.
13. Mary, March 25, 1668. 14. Jane (twin),
July 29, 1669. 15. Grace (twin), July 29,
1669. ,
(X) Rev. Solomon, son of Anthony (3)
Stoddard, was born October 4, 1643, died Feb
ruary 11, 1729. He graduated at Harvard
College in 1662 and was afterward elected
fellow of the house, and was the first librarian
of the college, which office he held from 1667
to 1674. About this time, on account of his
health, he accompanied the governor of Mass
achusetts to the Barbadoes in the capacity of
chaplain, and remained nearly two years,
preaching to the Dissenters. In 1669 he re
ceived a call from the church at Northampton,
and settled there as minister, September II,
1672. He married, March 8, 1670, Esther
(Warham) Mather, born at Windsor, Con
necticut, died February 10, 1736, aged ninety-
two, widow of Rev. Eleazer Mather, his pre
decessor at Northampton. In 1726 Jonathan
Edwards, his grandson, was elected his col
league. Rev. Solomon Stoddard was the
author of many books on religious subjects,
and many of his sermons were published.
Among his publications were: "The Trial of
Assurance," 1696; "The Doctrine of Instituted
Churches," 1700, written in answer to the
work of Rev. Increase Mather, entitled "The
Order of the Gospel," which occasioned excit
ing controversy ; "The Danger of Degeneracy,"
1702; "Election Sermon," 1703; "Sermon on
the Lord's Supper," Ex. 47, 48, 1707; sermon,
"Ordination of Rev. Joseph Willard," Swamp-
field, 1708; "Inexcusableness of Neglecting the
Worship of God," 1708; "Falseness of the
Hopes of Many Professors," 1708; "An
Appeal to the Learned on the Lord's Supper,"
1709; "The Sermon of 1707" and the "Appeal"
of 1709 were a renewal of the controversy of
1700; "A Plea for Tithes;" "Divine Teachings
Render Persons Blessed," 1712; "A Guide to
Christ," 1714; three sermons: "The Virtue
of Christ's Blood," "Natural Men Underithe
Government of Self Love," "The Gospel as a
Means of Conversion;" and a fourth, "To
Stir Up Young Men and Maidens," 1717;
"Sermon at the Ordination of Mr. Thomas
Cheney," 1718 ; "Treatise Concerning Conver
sion," 1719; "Answer to Cases of Conscience,"
1722 ; "Inquiry whether God is not Angry with

this Country," 1723; "Safety of Appearing in
Christ's Righteousness," 1724. Children: 1.
Mary, born January 9, 1671 ; married, October
2, 1695, Rev. Stephen Mix. 2. Esther, June
2, 1672, died January 19, 1771 ; married, No
vember 6, 1694, Rev. Timothy Edwards. 3.
Samuel, February 5, 1674, died March 22,
1674. 4. Anthony, June 6, 1675, died June
7, 1765. 5. Aaron, August 23, 1676, died same
day. 6. Christiana, August 23, 1676 (twin),
died April 23, 1764; married Rev. William
Williams. 7. Anthony, August 9, 1678, died
September 6, 1760; married, October 20, 1700,
Prudence Wells; married (second) January
31, 1715, Mary Sherman. 8. Sarah, April I,
1680; married, March 19, 1707, Rev. Samuel
Whitman. 9. John, February 17, 1682; men
tioned below. 10. Israel, April 10, 1684; died
a prisoner in France. 11. Rebecca, 1686, died
January, 1766; married, November 16, 1722,
Joseph Hawley. 12. Hannah, April 21, 1688,
died December 29, 1745; married Rev. Will
iam Williams.
(XI) John (3), son of Rev. Solomon Stod
dard, was born February 17, 1682, died June
19, 1748, in Boston. He resided in Northamp
ton. He was often a member of the general
court, and for many years one of the gov
ernor's council, also chief justice of the court
of common pleas, judge of probate, chief col
onel of the regiment, etc. He married, Decem
ber 13, 1731, Prudence Chester, of Wethers
field, Connecticut, born March 4, 1699, died
September 11, 1780. Children: 1. Mary, born
November 27, 1732; married Colonel John
Worthington about December 7, 1768. 2.
Prudence, May 28, 1734; married Ezekiel
Williams, of Wethersfield. 3. Solomon, May
29, 1736; mentioned below. 4. Esther, May
23, 1738, died May 27, 1816; unmarried. 5.
Israel, April 28, 1741. 6. Hannah, October 13,
1742, died August 1, 1743.
(•XII) Solomon (2), son of John (3) Stod
dard, was born May 29, 1736, died December
10, 1827. He graduated at Yale College in
1756 and was for some time high sheriff of
Hampshire county. He married (first) Martha
Partridge, who died October 20, 1772. He
married (second) Eunice Parsons, who died
January 22, 1797. Children, born at North
ampton: 1. John, June 4, 1767; graduated at
Yale College, 1787; married Mary W. Bill
ings, of Conway; died in Cleveland, Ohio,
May 8, 1853. 2. Anna, March'24, 1769; mar
ried, April 28, 1799, John Williams, of Con
way. 3. Solomon, February 18, 1771 ; men
tioned below. 4. David, January 4, 1778, died

342

MASSACHUSETTS.

in infancy. 5. David, September 5, 1780; un
married; died March 31, 1855. 6. Israel,
October 27, 1784, died November 9, 1821.
(XIII) Solomon (3), son of Solomon (2)
Stoddard, was born February 18, 1771, died
at Northampton, October 16, i860. He pre
pared for college mostly by private instruction
and recitations to the minister, and at the age
of fifteen entered Yale College. He was
assigned the English oration in the graduating
class of 1790. Previous to his death he was
the oldest living graduate of the college, with
one or two exceptions. After leaving college
he entered the office of the late Governor
Strong as a law student. For eighteen months
he practiced law in Williamstown, Massachu
setts, and then settled permanently in his
native town of Northampton, where he con
tinued in active practice until 1810. At this
time he was chosen register of deeds for
Hampshire county, and served ten years. In
1821 he was appointed clerk of the courts for
the same county, which office he resigned,
after sixteen years, in 1837. He was repre
sentative to the general court in 1807-08-38.
He was of a modest, retiring disposition, and
never put himself forward, or claimed preced
ence over others. Kind, gentle, obliging, he
was ever esteemed among his fellow citizens
as a good neighbor and a man of unswerving
integrity and uprightness. Originally a Fed
eralist of the Governor Strong school, he be
came a Whig, and a Republican later. He
was always firm in his political opinions,
though prudent and courteous toward those
who differed with him politically. At the age
of sixty-seven he retired from public life. The
chief glory of his character was his constant
and exemplary piety. For forty years he was
a member of the church in Northampton, of
which Jonathan Edwards was pastor. The
later years of his life were passed in the bosom
of his family, where the christian virtues shone
with bright and constant lustre. He was the
patriarch of the house, who led the family
devotions morning and evening. He mani
fested a lively interest in the benevolent efforts
of the day, and was ever ready to contribute
to promote them. To the period of his last
illness, he kept himself familiar with all the
movements of the political and religious world.
He married, November 28, 1799, Sarah Tap-
pan, born August 1, 1771, died April 27, 1852,
daughter of Benjamin Tappan. Children: 1.
Solomon ; mentioned below. 2. Charles, born
June 27, 1802, married, August 2, 1832, Mary
A. Porter. 3. William Henry, March 5, 1804;

married (first) October 29, 1832, Frances I.
Bradish; (second) January 1, 1852, Mrs.
Helen Palmer; (third) Mrs. Sophia D. Stod
dard, September 4, 1867, died March 4, 1891.
4. Lewis Tappan, February 8, 1807, died July
6, 1865; married, October 30, 1833, Susan
Gore; married (second) October 7, 1844,
Sarah H. Lothrop. 5. John, March 11, 1809;
married, January 7, 1836, Mary L. Mongin.
6. Arthur Francis, November 30, 1810; mar
ried, September 9, 1840, Frances E. Noble.
7. Sarah Tappan, March 23, 1814; married,
May 17, 1837, Rev. Albert Smith. 8. David
Tappan, December 2, 1818, died January 22,
1857, at Mount Seir, near Oroomiah, Persia,
where he was a missionary for the American
board; married (first) February 14, 1843,
Harriet Briggs ; (second) February 14, 1851,
Sophia D. Hazen.
(XIV) Professor Solomon (4), son of
Solomon (3) Stoddard, was born November
28, 1800, died in Northampton, November 11,
1847. He graduated at Yale College in 1820, and
tutored there from 1822 to 1826. He was asso
ciate author of Andrew's and Stoddard's Latin
Grammar, and professor of languages at
Middlebury College from 1838 to 1847, resid
ing in Middlebury, Vermont. He married,
May 29, 1838, Frances Elizabeth Greenwood,
born January, 1808, in Demerara, South Amer
ica, died March 23, 1883. Children: 1. Sarah
Tappan, born May 29, 1839; married, June 12,
1 86 1, A. Lyman Williston (see Williston
family). 2. Solomon Partridge, February 18,
1841, married (first) Mary Dysle ; (second)
Jennie Munnell ; (third) Nellie Evans. 3.
Louisa Greenwood, December 2, 1842, mar
ried, May 29, 1869, Rev. Martin L. Williston.
4. James Greenwood, June 15, 1844, died
March 28, 1908. 5. Francis Hovey, April 25,
1847, married, May 14, 1873, Lucy M. Smith.

The surname Higginson is
HIGGINSON derived from or akin to
that of Higgins, and has
never been a very common name in England,
where the family originated. Higgins families,
on the contrary, are very numerous. As early
as 1500 the English family from which the
American Higginsons are descended was estab
lished in and about Wem, in Shropshire, and
then or soon afterward in and about Berkes-
well, Warwickshire. Between 1500 and 1560
there were residing in Wem as heads of fami
lies Allen, Johan, William (two), Richard, John
and Thomas Higginson. The families of Wem
and Berkeswell are doubtless of the same

MASSACHUSETTS.

343

branch, but the records are not preserved or
have not yet been discovered that would estab
lish the lineage.
(I) John Higginson, the progenitor to whom
the lineage has been traced, lived at Berkes-
well, and was mentioned as early as 1518 in
that place. His will was dated December 10,
1540, and proved February 4, following. He
had at the time of his death four grandchil
dren, and it is presumed that he was born as
early as 1480. From his will it appears he
had a brother deceased, formerly of Wem, and
two of his sons, John and Nicholas, lived at
Wem. The will mentions children and grand
children as given below, together with grand
children Robert and Dorothy Higginson and
cousin Agnes Higginson, who shall receive of
Nicholas Higginson dwelling in the parish of
Wem, three kine, to be delivered to Nicholas
by his widow; also small legacies to Agnes
Wallian, of Coventry, and Margaret Bam-
forth, and for prayers for the soul of Mistress
Burway. He married Jane  . Children :
1. Thomas, of Berkeswell; will proved Feb
ruary 10, 1573. 2. John, lived in Cotton, in
Wem; died 1577, and left will mentioning
various relatives and children. 3. Nicholas,
mentioned below. 4. Gregory, was unmarried
in 1540. 5. Daughter, married Ralph Oliver.
6. Margerie, married Rowland Radforthe. 7.
Alice. 8. Margaret. 9. Ellen, alias Joys, 10.
Elizabeth. The last four were unmarried.
(II) Nicholas, son of John Higginson, was
living at Wem at the time of his father's death
in 1540, and was trustee of a small legacy for
Agnes Higginson, which his father had re
ceived for her benefit from her father. He is
mentioned in the will of his brother Thomas
in 1573. He appears to have settled in Berkes
well or vicinity, and probably died in Clay-
brook in April, 1581, buried April 11. Chil
dren: 1. Hugh, of Berkeswell. 2. Rev. John,
mentioned below. 3. Nicholas, of Leire, died
1589; known from his will to be brother of
Rev. John. Probably others.
(Ill) Rev. John (2) Higginson, son of
Nicholas Higginson, was born as early as
1540, and educated at Jesus College, Cam
bridge, B. A. 1564-5; M. A. 1568. He was
instituted to the perpetual vicarage of Clay-
brooke, county Leicester, January 23, 1571-2,
and faithfully filled the pastorate for about
fifty-three years. He died in 1624, and accord
ing to the register of the parish of Claybrooke,
now in the possession of Lord Bray, was
buried February 10, 1624. His will, dated
December 4, 1623, proved April 2, 1624, directs

that John Picksley, clothier of Coventry, shall
convey to his wife Elizabeth and such one of
his two sons William and Nathaniel as shall be
most dutiful, a cottage in Claybrooke, etc. He
also mentions sons John, William, Nicholas
and Nathaniel ; grandson Nicholas Higginson,
and granddaughter Priscilla Higginson. There
is a tradition in the Marlow (England) branch
of the family that he lived and did duty as a
clergyman until he was one hundred and four
years old, and was then drowned by the sudden
rising of a brook as he was returning from
church. Children, all baptized in Claybrooke
except Nathaniel: t. Nathaniel, named in
father's will. 2. John, baptized April 25, 1575,
died young. 3. Dorothy, baptized April 24,
1576; married, December, — , William Gilbard.
4. Priscilla, baptized September 22, 1578. 5.
John, baptized December 14, 1580; buried
May 26, 1585. 6. John, baptized October 27,
1585. 7. Francis, baptized August 6, 1586;
mentioned below. 8. William, baptized May
15, 1589; married, October 28, 1629, Francis
Palmer. 9. Catren, baptized May 18, 1591 ;
married, April 22, 1619, Thomas Coleman. 10.
Martyn (twin), baptized February 4, 1593.
11. Mary (twin), baptized February 4, 1593.
12. Nicholas, baptized March 24, 1594; buried
April 11, r68i. 13. George, baptized Decem
ber 25, 1607; buried April 21, 1603. 14. Nich
olas, baptized March 19, 1608; died about
1649. 15. Grace, baptized May 13, 1610. 16.
Elizabeth, baptized December 8, 161 1; buried
January 30, 1612, or July 13, 1613. 17. Judith,
baptized May 23, 1613; buried October 17,
1613. (Dates are said to be all new style).
An old manuscript quoted by Colonel Thomas
Wentworth Higginson in his "Life of Francis
Higginson," gives the children as follows:
John, "a gentleman that kept high company ;"
Francis ; Nathaniel, "owner of a castle in Ire
land, but lost in the Rebellion ;" Nicholas,
"father of Henry the goldsmith in Liverpool;"
William ; four daughters married to Andrews,
Coleman. Gilbert and Perkins.
(IV) Rev. Francis Higginson, son of Rev.
Tohn (2) Higginson, was baptized at Clay
brooke, Leicestershire, England, August 6,
1586. He was educated in Jesus College,
Cambridge, where his father also took his de
grees, taking his B. A. in 1609-10; his M. A.
in 16 1 3. Two years later he was settled over
Claybrooke parish, apparently curate to his
father. Cotton Mather's "Magnalia" contains
a careful account of Higginson's life from the
time of his graduation, being in error in some
instances, however. Higginson was appointed

344

MASSACHUSETTS.

to one of the five parish churches of Leicester,
and such was his goodly influence, according
to Mather, that there was a notable revival
of religion in Leicester. "For some years he
continued in his conformity to the rites then
required and practised in the Church of Eng
land ; but upon his acquaintance with Mr.
Arthur Hildersham and Mr. Thomas Hooker,
he set himself to study the controversies about
the evangelical church discipline then agitated
in the church of God; and then the more he
studied the Scripture, which is the sole and
full rule of church administrations, the more
he became dissatisfied with the ceremonies
which had crept into the worship of the Lord
Jesus Christ. * * From this time he be
came a conscientious non-conformist, and
therefore was deprived of his opportunity to
exercise his ministry in his parish church ;
nevertheless his ministry was so desirable unto
the people that they procured for him the
liberty to preach a constant lecture, on one
part of the Lord's Day, and on the other part
as an assistant unto a very aged parson that
wanted it. Pie was now maintained by the
voluntary contributions of the inhabitants ;
and though the rest of the ministers there con
tinued conformists, yet they freely invited him
unto the use of their pulpits, as long as they
could avoid any trouble to themselves by so
doing. * * He preached also in Belgrave,
a mile out of the town."
He was a fearless and outspoken preacher
and some significant anecdotes are related by
Mather of his ministry in England. On one
occasion he rebuked the mayor and aldermen
of the city for over-indulgence in wine, and
after the commotion had subsided he held the
respect and confidence of these men to such
an extent that he was chosen town-preacher,
but he declined this comfortable living because
of his unwillingness to conform. He had
other offers of livings, but for the same reason
refused to continue in the Church of England.
While Mr. Higginson continued in Leicester,
he was not only a good man full of faith, but
also a good man full of work. He preached
constantly in the parish churches ; and he was
called, while a conformist, frequently to preach
visitation sermons, assize sermons and funeral
sermons ; and as well then as afterwards he
was often engaged in fasts, both in public and
private, both at home and abroad ; and many
repaired unto him with cases of conscience,
and for help about their interior state. Besides
all this he was very serviceable to the educa
tion of scholars, either going to or coming

from the university; and such as afterwards
proved eminently serviceable to the church of
God ; whereof some were Dr. Seaman, Dr.
Brian, Mr. Richardson and Mr. Howe, all of
them Leicestershire men, who would often say,
how much they owed unto Mr. Higginson.
And he was very useful in forwarding and
promoting of contributions for the relief of
the Protestant exiles which came over from
the ruined Bohemia and the distressed Palati
nate in those times; and many other pious
designs." When Laud came into power Mr.
Higginson was informed against and expected
imprisonment. But at this juncture he was
invited to go to New England as minister of
the colony about to be sent to Massachusetts.
He sailed on the "Talbot," one of the five ships
sent by the Massachusetts Bay Company in
1629, sailing from Gravesend April 25, 1629,
from Yarmouth May 16, and arriving June 29
at Naumkeag, now Salem, Massachusetts. In
August of that year he gathered a church at
Salem, the first of the Massachusetts Bay Col
ony. He kept a journal of his voyage, and it
is one of the most precious historical documents
relating to the founding of the commonwealth.
It has been repeatedly published. It is dated
July 24, 1629, and created much interest in
England, where it was originally printed. A
letter sent by him to England under date of
July 24, 1629, was also published and served to
increase the interest in the colony and per
suade many to join the pioneers. His book,
"New England Plantation," written soon after
ward, as a continuation of the journal, was
published in 1629. It was one of the first
books written in Massachusetts, and had much
to do with bringing thousands of colonists to
this country. The further history of Higgin
son is identified with that of the early days
of Salem. A house was built for him on the
site now occupied by the Asiatic building,
Washington street. His life in his new pas
torate was busy but very brief. He died Au
gust 6, 1630. As a preacher, Higginson was
popular in England ; of his preaching in Amer
ica we know little. His last sermon only was
preserved. The subject was: "What went ye
out into the Wilderness to see?" and it was
preached before Governor Winthrop and the
large body of colonists who came with him
that year. A portrait of Higginson and two
copies are extant, though some authorities be
lieve that the portrait was not of the immi
grant, but of his son John. There is no doubt
that it is of a Higginson. His widow removed
to Charlestown and finally to New Haven,

MASSACHUSETTS.

345

where she died in 1638-9, leaving eight chil
dren. Her estate was settled at New Haven
February 25, 1639. Her maiden name is un
known. Children of Francis and Ann Higginson : 1.
John, born August 6, 1616; mentioned below.
2. Francis, born 1617; schoolmaster at Cam
bridge, Massachusetts ; resided at London ;
settled at Kerby Steven, Westmoreland, Eng
land ; died unmarried. 3. Timothy, mariner ;
died unmarried. 4. Theophilus, died aged
thirty-seven. 5. Captain Samuel, captain of
an English man-of-war, and afterward of an
East Indiaman ; died aged forty-four. 6. Ann,
married Thomas Chatfield, of Guilford, New
Haven. 7. Mary, died Tuesday, May 19, 1629.
8. Charles, captain of a ship in the Jamaica
trade ; died aged forty-nine. 9. Neophytus,
died aged about twenty.
(V) Rev. John (3) Higginson, son of Rev.
Francis Higginson, was born at Claybrooke,
England, August 6, 1616, and died at Salem,
Massachusetts, December 9, 1708. He became
a member of his father's church at the age of
thirteen, and when he was but twenty was
sent at the head of a commission with Lieu
tenant Edward Gibbons and Cutshamekin,
Sagamore of Massachusetts, to wait on Can-
onicus, chief of the Narragansetts, concerning
the murder of John Oldham while on a trad
ing voyage to Block Island; and at twenty-
one was appointed scribe of the Cambridge
Assembly, to fake down its proceedings in
shorthand — a report unfortunately lost. He
was afterward teacher of the grammar school
at Hartford, and chaplain of the fort at Say
brook, Connecticut, where he took part in the
defence conducted by the celebrated Lion
Gardiner. He turned to the study of divinity
and was for some time assistant to Rev. Henry
Whitfield, at Guilford, Connecticut. The old
stone parsonage there, the oldest house stand
ing in the original limits of the United States,
was his home for a time, and in it his wedding
to the minister's daughter Sarah took place.
In 1659, after the death of his mother he de
cided to return to England to settle her estate
and make his home there, but the vessel in
which he and his family embarked was driven
by a providential storm into Salem harbor.
But for this storm the great contributions that
Higginson and his distinguished descendants
have made to American history would be want
ing. He was persuaded at Salem to take charge
of the church his father founded there thirty
years before, and was ordained in August,
1660. For a period of forty-eight years he

was minister at Salem, and during much of
that time the foremost clergyman of the Mass
achusetts Bay Colony. In his old age he bore
the title of 'Nestor of the New England
Clergy." John Higginson was undoubtedly in sym
pathy with the prevalent hostility to the
Quakers. "But his name is not identified, I
believe," writes Colonel T. W. Higginson,
"with any of the judicial cruelties aimed at
these persecuted people ; though it is probable
that he fully approved the action of the county
court when it sentenced Thomas Maule, known
to the readers of Hawthorne's 'House of the
Seven Gables,' to be whipped ten stripes for
saying that 'Mr. Higginson preached lies, and
his doctrine was the doctrine of devils.' But
he was a rational opponent of the witchcraft
persecutions, even in his old age. He was a
witness in favor of Goody Buckley, charged
with witchcraft, and this involved him in such
reproach among the fanatics that his own
daughter Anna, wife of Captain William Dolli-
ver of Gloucester, was arrested as a witch and
thrown into the jail at Salem."
He wrote the preface to Cotton Mather's
"Magnalia," and says in it of himself, January
25, 1697 : "As for myself, having been, by
the mercy of God, now above sixty-eight years
in New England, and served the Lord and his
people, in my weak measure, sixty years in the
ministry of the gospel. I may now say in my
old age, I have seen all that the Lord hath
done for his people in New England, and have
known the beginning and progress of these
churches unto this day, and having read over
much of this history, I cannot but in the love
and fear of the Lord bear witness to the truth
of it." Judge Samuel Sewell was one of his
intimate friends, exchanged papers and books,
and when Higginson was ninety years old we
find him giving Sewell his support in the move
ment against the slave trade and slavery, which,
it must be remembered, was the foundation of
the fortunes of many great families of Salem
and Boston. His funeral sermon was preached
by Cotton Mather, and at least two of the
printed copies have been preserved. The fol
lowing list of the published works of . Mr.
Higginson was compiled by Colonel T. W.
Higginson : "The Cause of God and his Peo
ple in New England," a sermon, May 27, 1663 ;
"Our Dying Saviour's Legacy of Peace"
(1686) ; "Address to the Reader of New Eng
land Memoriall" ( 1669) ; "Epistle Dedicatory
to New England's Duty" (1669) ; "Epistle to
the Reader of Modest Enquiry into the Nature

346

MASSACHUSETTS.

of Witchcraft" (1702); "Preface to Cotton
Mather's Winter Meditations" (1693); and
"A Testimony to the Order of the Cospel, in
the Churches of New England," (1701). His
"Advice to His Children," called his "Dying
Testimony," was apparently not published dur
ing his lifetime, but from manuscript left in
the hands of a descendant in the Essex Insti
tute Collections, ii. p. 97.
"No character in our annals," says Upham,
"shines with a purer lustre." John Dunton,
the London bookseller, visited him in 1686,
when seventy, and says of him : "All men
look up to him as to a common father ; and old
age, for his sake, is a reverent thing. He is
eminent for all the graces that adorn a min
ister. His very presence puts vice out of
countenance ; his conversation is a glimpse of
heaven." "He had been, in the words of the
Massachusetts Company's first letter to Endi
cott, 'trained up in literature' at the grammar
school at Leicester, and was therefore recom
mended for a medical education, but the inevit
able influence of the time led him to the pro
fession of his father, while he always retained
that breadth of intellectual interest which held
out so remarkable amidst many intellectual
vagaries, in the second generation of Massa
chusetts Puritans." He was one of the first
men in the colony to urge the importance of
historical investigations.
He married (first) Sarah, daughter of Rev.
Henry Whitfield, of Guilford, Connecticut.
She died July 8, 1675, and he married (sec
ond) Mary, born 1636, died March 9, 1708-9,
daughter of Rev. Adam Blackman, of Strat
ford, and widow of Joshua Atwater, of New
Haven and Boston. Children of first wife:
1. John, born 1646; mentioned below. 2.
Nathaniel, born at Guilford, October 11, 1652;
died in London, October 31, 1708; graduate of
Harvard, 1670; went to England, and was
with Lord Wharton about seven years, steward
and tutor to his children ; employed in the mint
of the Tower, 1681; went in company's ser
vice to Fort St. George, East Indies, 1683;
secretary and member of council and after
ward governor of factory at the fort ; married,
May, 1692, Elizabeth, daughter of John Rich
ards ; in 1700 returned with his wife and chil
dren to England, and was a London merchant.
3. Sarah, married Richard Wharton, of Bos
ton. 4. Anna, married, October 4, 1682, Will
iam Dolliver, of Gloucester. 5. Thomas,
served his time with a goldsmith in England ;
returned to America; sailed for Arabia, and
was lost at sea. 6. Francis, born at Salem,

June 9, 1660; went to his uncle Francis at
Kerby Steven, who educated him at the uni
versity ; died in London, 1684. 7. Henry, born
at Salem, December 18, 1661 ; educated as a
merchant; went to the Barbadoes as a factor,
and died there 1685.
(VI) Colonel John (4) Higginson, son of
Rev. John (3) Higginson, was born in Guil
ford, Connecticut, in 1646, and died in Salem,
March 23, 1719, aged seventy-three years.
He was one of the foremost men of the town
in his time, a prominent merchant, and in the
affairs of colonial government. In addition
to his mercantile interests in Salem, he engaged
in the fisheries and carried on foreign trade.
He had an extensive correspondence with his
brother Nathaniel between the years 1692 and
1700, published by the Massachusetts His
torical Society. From a letter written in 1697
the following quotation sets forth the condi
tions prevailing in the town by reason of the
French and Indian war: "In the yeare 1689,
when this war first broke out, I had attained
a competent estate, being as much concerned
in the fishing trade as most of my neighbors ;
but since yt time I have met with considerable
losses. Of sixty odd fishing ketches belonging
to this towne, but about six are left. I believe
no Towne in this Province has suffered more
by this war yn Salem." Again, October 3,
1699, he writes : "In the late war all East
India goods were extremely dear. Best mus
lin, 10 pounds a piece ; pepper, 3s, nuts (nut
megs) 18s. cloves 20s. mace 30s. lb., but they
are now fallen a quarter part ; china and lacker
wares will sell of a small quantity. Ambergrece
we often have from the West Indies. Some
musk, pearl, diamonds, beazor may sell well."
In 1674 he was appointed ensign of Captain
Gardner's company, and afterward became
lieutenant-colonel of militia. In 1708 he sent
a memorial to England setting forth to the
government the necessity of conquering Can
ada. In 1686 he is mentioned as a trustee in
a deed of Salem lands from the Indians "as a
safeguard against encroachments of Userpa-
tion." In 1 71 2 he was chosen one of a com
mittee "to procure a suitable grammar school
master." fle was deputy to the general court
in 1689; member of the governor's council
from 1700 until his death in 1719.
He married, October 9, 1672, Sarah, daugh
ter of Thomas and Mary (Symmes) Savage,
of Boston. Children, born in Salem: 1. Mary,
September 27, 1673; married (first) April 4,
1695, Thomas Gardner, Jr. ; (second) April
25, 1699, Dr. Edward Weld, of Salem. 2.

MASSACHUSETTS.

347

John, August 20, 1675 ; mentioned below. 3.
Thomas, December 23, 1677, died September
18, 1678. 4. Nathaniel, April 1, 1680, died
1720; married, April 23, 1702, Hannah Ger
rish. 5. Sarah, June 1, 1682, died August 5,
1699; married, June 22, 1699, Nathaniel
Hathorne. 6. Elizabeth, October 13, 1684;
married, October 22, 1705, John Gerrish. 7.
Margaret, November 10, 1686, died June 18,
1688. (VII) John (5), son of Colonel John (4)
Higginson, was born in Salem, August 20, 1675,
and died there April 26, 1718. fle was edu
cated for a mercantile career, and the manage
ment of his father's extensive business as a
merchant was for the most part in his hands.
For a number of years he was judge of the
court of common pleas of Essex county, with
his associate Corwin; but in 1702 Governor
Dudley made other appointments. In one of
his letters to Nathaniel, his father, Colonel
Higginson, says of his son John : "My eldest
son John, whom I brought up at home, is very
capable of business, a very hopeful young man
as any in our town, sober and judicious * *
and has made good progress in the world ; has
built him a good house, has one fishing vessel;
a lieutenant of one of our military companies,
and register to the judge of probate for wills
and granting administrations for this county,
and well accepted 'in the place." The dwell
ing house alluded to stood on the south side of
Essex street, between Barton square and the
corner of Washington street.
John Higginson married, September 11,
1695, Hannah Gardner, of Salem, who died
June 24, 1713, daughter of Samuel Gardner.
He married (second) November 11, 17 14,
Margaret Sewall, born May 7, 1687, died
March, 1736, daughter of Stephen Sewall,
first register of probate in Essex county. Chil
dren of first wife, born in Salem: 1. Elizabeth,
June 28, 1696, died March 20, 1722-3; mar
ried, October 20, 1715, Rev. Benjamin Pres
eott. 2. John, January 10, 1697-8, died July
15, 1744; graduate of Harvard 1717; register
of deeds for Essex county, 1725 ; married
(first) Ruth Boardman; (second) Esther
Cabot. 3. Samuel, February 5, 1699-1700,
died September 23, 1702. 4. Sarah, February
13, 1702-3, died June 14, 1745 ; married De
cember, 1732, Dr. John Cabot Jr. 5. Francis,
November 29, 1705, died same day. 6. Henry,
September 23, 1707, died December 1, 1708.
Children of second wife: 7. Stephen, July 31,
1716. 8. Nathaniel, 1718, died 1719.
(VIII) Stephen, son of John (5) Higgin

son, was born in Salem, July 31, 1716, and
died there October 12, 1761. He was a prom
inent merchant and held many town offices ;
deputy to general court two years, and one of
the founders of the Salem Social Library in
1760. Many of the books for this library were
purchased by him in Boston. In 1810 the
books were bought by the founders of the
Salem Athenaeum, fle married, April 22,
1743, Elizabeth Cabot, born March 8, 1710-11,
daughter of John and Anna (Orne) Cabot.
Children, born in Salem: 1. Stephen, Novem
ber 28, 1743. 2. Sarah, January 14, 1745, died
May 5, 1772 ; married, January 3, 1767, John
Lowell, LL. D., who was appointed judge of
the district court by President Washington.
3. John, April 30, 1746, died August, 1750. 4.
Henry, December 14, 1747, died in Boston,
October 4, 1790; master mariner ; deputy 1780-
81. 5. Deborah, July 24, 1750, died Septem
ber, 1753. 6. Deborah, January 6, 1754, died
December 14, 1820; married (first) Stephen
Cabot; (second) Joseph Lee. 7. Elizabeth,
baptized May 2, 1756, died July, 1826; mar
ried, February 22, 1774, George Cabot.
(IX) The Honorable Captain Stephen (2)
Higginson, son of Stephen ( 1 ) Higginson, was
born in Salem, November 28, 1743, and died
November 22, 1828. He was a merchant with
an extensive business in both Salem and Bos
ton. He made a visit to England just before
the revolution, and was called to the bar of
the House of Commons to answer questions
as to the state of feeling in Massachusetts. He
was a member of the Continental Congress in
1782-83, and a firm supporter of Washington
and Adams. He was acting secretary of the
navy May 11, 1798, to June 22, 1798, and
was one of Governor James Bowdoin's most
active and resolute advisers in the suppression
of Shay's Rebellion, going out as second in
command to suppress this insurrection. While
he was shipmaster he brought over a church
bell in 1772 for the North Church of Salem,
and later a bell for the East Church, which
then sold its old bell to Harvard College. In
the war of 1812 he suffered great losses. It
is said of him that he sustained with great
credit the reputation of an ancient and honor
able family. He was the reputed author of
"The Writings of Laco," as published in the
Massachusetts Centinel in February and
March, 1789. These articles had for a motto:
"The liberty of the Press is essential to the
security of freedom in a state, it ought not
therefore be restrained in this Common
wealth;" and they are reprinted under the

348

MASSACHUSETTS.

modernized title, "Ten Chapters in the Life
of John Hancock," (New York, 1857).
He married (first) Susanna Cleveland, born
at Medford, March 1, 1741, died at Salem,
June 24, 1788, daughter of Aaron and Sus
anna (Porter) Cleveland, granddaughter of
Aaron Cleveland, great-granddaughter of
Aaron, and great-great-granddaughter of the
immigrant, Moses Cleveland. She inherited
her mother's personal attractions, and was
celebrated alike for her beauty and her dignity
of mind and manners. The marriage license
signed by Governor Benning Wentworth, now
in the possession of Colonel T. W. Higginson,
is remarkable in that it authorizes all ordained
ministers of the Gospel "Except one Browne"
to join the couple in matrimony. Captain
Higginson married (second) Elizabeth Perkins,
of Boston, daughter of a merchant, Thomas
Perkins, of English birth. He married (third)
Sarah Perkins, sister of his second wife. Chil
dren of first wife: 1. John, born in Salem,
January 15, 1765. 2. Sarah, June 11, 1766,
died 1805; married Dudley Atkins Tyng. 3.
Nathaniel, February 12, 1768, died 1794; mar
ried Sarah Rhea. 4. Stephen, November 20,
1770, at Salem, d^ed February 20, 1834; for
many years steward of Harvard College ; mar
ried (first) August, 1794, Martha Salisbury;
(second) Louisa Storrow; father of Colonel
Thomas Wentworth Higginson. 5. Barbara
Cooper, June 15, 1774; married Samuel G.
Perkins. 6. Elizabeth, August 5, 1776; mar
ried (first) Dudley A. Tyng, being his second
wife; (second) George Searle. 7. George,
July 19, 1779, at Boston; mentioned below.
8. Henry, born in Boston, February 5, 1781 ;
married, 1803, Nancy Cushing. 9. Susan
Cleveland, April 20, 1783; married Francis
Dana Channing. Child of second wife: 10.
James Perkins, mentioned below.
(X) George, son of Captain Stephen Higgin
son, was born in Boston, July 19, 1779, and
died in March, 1812. He was a well-known
philanthropist. Among the young men whom
he helped to educate was John A. Sheppard,
A. M., who later became famous. Rev. Dr.
J. S. J. Gardner, on March 12, 1812, at Trin
ity church, Boston, preached a sermon on the
death of George Higginson, in which his char
acter was ably drawn and his benevolence ex
tolled. He married, in 1800, Martha Babcock,
who married (second) his half-brother, James
Perkins Higginson. Children: 1. Martha
Babcock, born October 15, 1801, died 1833;
married Augustus Aspinwall. 2. Susan Cleve
land, born September 18, 1803, in London,

England. 3. George, born September 18, 1804 ;
mentioned below. 4. James Babcock, died in
Boston, May 26, 1855. 5. John, died young,
1822. 6. Sarah Rhea, died young.
(XI) George (2), son of George (1)
Higginson, was born in Boston, September 18,
1804, and died there April 27, 1889, aged
eighty- four. When a young man he went to
New York and engaged in the East India
trade, which failed, with Stephen N., his cousin.
Returning to Boston he founded the banking
house of Lee, Higginson & Company, which
has continued to the present time without
change of name. His original partner was
J. C. Lee, then of Salem, and subsequently
Colonel Henry Lee, a cousin of J. C. Lee, be
came a partner. In 1874 Mr. Higginson with
drew from the firm to devote himself to the
care of his property and to works of philan-
throphy. He was a director of the Calumet &
Hecla Mining Company, in which he had a
large interest, and in the Provident Institution
for Savings. During the civil war he was a
strong supporter of the Union, and a large
contributor to the sanitary fund. He married,
in Boston, October 31, 1832, Mary Cabot Lee,
born August 16, 181 1, died August 26, 1849,
daughter of Henry and Mary (Jackson) Lee.
Her father received the electoral votes of South
Carolina for vice-president at the second elec
tion of Andrew Jackson. • Children, born in
New York City: 1. George, August 6, 1833;
married Elizabeth Barker. 2. Henry Lee, No
vember 18, 1834; mentioned below. 3. James
Jackson, June 19, 1836; married Margaret
Gracie. 4. Francis Lee, October 11, 1841 ;
mentioned below. 5. Mary Lee, September 5,
1838; married Samuel Parkman Blake.
(XII) Major Henry Lee Higginson, son of
George (2) Higginson, was born in New York
City, November 18, 1834. He received his
early education in Boston. He entered Har
vard College in 1851, but did not complete his
course, leaving in 1852 before the end of his
freshman year to begin his business career as
a clerk in the office of Samuel & Edward
Austin, bankers, of Boston. Afterward he
went abroad and studied music at Vienna and
other European cities, and notwithstanding his
activity in business and finance in later years,
he has maintained his interest in musical
affairs. To his support and initiative Boston
owes much. He was the prime mover in estab
lishing and maintaining the Boston Symphony
Orchestra, the best in the country. He entered
the Union army in the civil war, and at Aldie,
Virginia, in June, 1863, was severely wounded.

MASSACHUSETTS.

349

He held the rank of major in the First Massa
chusetts Cavalry, and was brevetted lieutenant-
colonel. After the war he was admitted to
partnership in the banking firm of his father,
Lee, Higginson & Company. His enterprise
and sagacity helped in large measure to main
tain the leadership of the firm in financial
circles. Major Higginson has been one of the
largest benefactors of Harvard University, in
which he has always shown great interest. He
gave to it the Soldiers' Field as a memorial to
the Harvard men who fought and died for the
Union. This great athletic field, on the bank
of Charles river, is one of the best in the world
for its purposes. On it the imposing stadium
has been built, where the football and baseball
games are played. Major Higginson was the
prime mover and donor of the Harvard Union,
for which a magnificent building was erected
near the college yard. He was given the hon
orary degree of A. M. by Harvard in 1882;
LL. D. by Yale, in 1901. He is a fellow of
Harvard, and a member of the Massachusetts
Historical Society. No man enjoys a greater
degree of popularity and honor among Har
vard men, undergraduates as well as graduates,
than Major Higginson. In politics he is a
Republican, of large influence, though he has
never consented to accept public office. He is
a member of the Metropolitan and Knicker
bocker Clubs of New York, the New England
Society of New York City, and is a trustee of
the Carnegie Institution.
He married, in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
December 5, 1863, Ida Olympe Frederika
Agassiz, born at Carlsruhe, Grand Duchy of
Baden, August 9, 1837, daughter of Professor
Jean Louis Rudolph and Cecile (Braiin)
Agassiz. Major Higginson resides at 191
Commonwealth avenue, Boston. Children,
born in Boston: 1. Cecile Pauline, born Janu
ary 5, 1870; died August 18, 1875. 2. Alex
ander Henry, born April 2, 1876; graduate at
Harvard, class of 1898.
(XII) Francis Lee Higginson, son of George
(2) Higginson, was born in Boston, October 11,
1841. fle married (first) February 16, 1876,
Julia Borland, daughter of Dr. John Nelson
and Madeline. (Gibson) Borland, descendant
of John Borland, born about 1660, from Scot
land. He married (second) April, 1898,
Corinna Shattuck. Children, born in Boston:
1. Francis Lee, born November 29, 1877;
graduate of Harvard, 1900. 2. Mary Cabot,
born December 3, 1878. 3. Juliet Borland,
born March 6, 1881. 4. Barbara, born March
28, 1884. Children of second wife: 5. Corinna,

born September 19, 1899. 2. Eleanor, Novem
ber 22, 1900. 3. George, December 21, 1904.
(X) James Perkins Higginson, son of Cap
tain Stephen (2) Higginson, was born in Bos
ton, July, 1792. He was educated in the public
schools and engaged in business. He died at
Boston, January 10, 1878. He married, in
1813, Mrs. Martha (Babcock) Higginson,
daughter of Adam and Martha Babcock, of
Boston. She was the widow of his brother,
George Higginson, mentioned above. Chil
dren, born in Boston: 1. Frances Saltonstall,
born May 28, 1814; married Charles Dudley
Head; died December 16, 1901. 2. Louisa
Gore, born November 5, 1815, died in Boston,
December 16, 1876. 3. Mary Hubbard, born
and died in 18 17. 4. Sarah Rhea, born De
cember 22, 1819; married William Ingersoll
Bowditch. 5. Charles James, born December
7, 1821 ; married, January 27, 1887, Mrs. Susan
Wilcox. 6. John Augustus, born June 21,
1824, died February 14, 1908. 7. Henry Fred
erick, mentioned below.
(XI) Henry Frederick Higginson, son of
James Perkins Higginson, was born in Bos
ton, September 5, 1825, and died there March
31, 1891. He was educated at Mr. Thayer's
school, Boston. He was in business in early
life in the Calcutta trade, later in the Sand
wich Glass Company. During the last twenty
years of his life he was retired from active
business. In politics he was independent, and
in religion a Unitarian. He married, April
15, 1857, Mary Jarves, born in 1832, died in
Brookline, May 10, 1863, daughter of Dem
ing Jarves and Ann Stetson. Their only child
was Frederick.
(XII) Frederick Higginson, son of Henry
Frederick Higginson, was born in Boston, Jan
uary 25, i860. He was educated at the Eng
lish high school, Boston. He is a merchandise
broker, with offices at 70 Kilby street. He
resides in Brookline. In politics is an inde
pendent, and in religion a Unitarian, a mem
ber of Dr. Lyons' church, at Brookline. He
married, June 12, 1883, in Boston, Mary
Brazer Ellis, born in Dorchester, June 10,
1862, daughter of Henry Payson and Anne
Warren (Brazer) Ellis. Children, born in
Brookline : Katharine, June 9, 1887 ; Fred
erick Jr., October 17, 1889 ,' John Brazer, Octo
ber 4, 1893; Charles, March 30, 1895.

Edmund Hobart, immigrant
HOBART ancestor of this family, came
from Hingham, England, and
settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1633.

35o

MASSACHUSETTS.

With him came his wife, son Joshua, daughters
Rebecca and Sarah, and servant Henry Gibbs.
They lived for a short time at Charlestown,
where he and his wife were admitted to the
church August 19, 1633. He was a constable
there in 1634 and admitted a freeman, March
4, 1633-34. Flis sons Edmund, Thomas and
Rev. Peter, soon followed him to this country,
and they all settled in Hingham, whither he
removed with them. He served as deputy to
the general court. He married (first) in Eng
land, Margaret Dewey; (second) October 10,
1634, Sarah Lyford, widow of John Lyford.
She died June 23, 1649. He died March 8,
1646. He wrote his name Hubbard and Hub-
beard ; but his son, Rev. Peter, wrote it Hobart.
Both spellings are in common use. Children:
1. Edmund, born about 1604, died February,
1686, aged eighty-two; married Elizabeth
 ; weaver; settled in Hingham. 2.
Rev. Peter, born about 1604, died 1679 ; grad
uated at Magdalen College, Cambridge, 1625 ;
minister at Hingham forty-one years ; married
Rebecca^ ~ * 'S 3. Thomas, born 1606, men
tioned below. 4. Nazareth, married John Beal.
5. Rebecca. 6. Sarah. 7. Captain Joshua, born
1614, died in 1682 ; married, 1638, Ellen Ibrook.
(II) Thomas, son of Edmund Hobart, was
born in England in 1606, died August 18, 1689.
He came to New England from Windham, a
town near old Hingham in England, in 1633,
and settled first in Charlestown. He was
admitted a freeman May 14, 1634, and removed
to Hingham in 1635. fle received a grant of
land there in 1636, and a ten acre lot in 1637.
He and his brothers Edmund and Joseph were
members of the train band. He married, in
England, June 2, 1629, Anne Ptomer, and the
present vicar of Wymondham, Norfolk, Eng
land, Rev. Robert Eden, has certified to the
record. His estate was settled by his son
Caleb in 1690. Children: 1. Caleb, born 1632,
mentioned below. 2. Joshua, 1639, married
Mary Rainsford, widow; died 1713, s. p. 3.
Thomas, 1649, apprenticed to John Nash, of
Boston, cooper, in 1670. 4. Mehitable, 1651,
married, 1674, John Lane. 5. Isaac, 1653. 6.
Hannah, 1655, married, 1672, John Records.
7. Moses, 1656, died in prison in Boston, 1686.
8. Aaron, 1661, married Rebecca  ; died
1705. 9. Nathaniel, 1665.
(Ill) Caleb, son of Thomas Hobart, was
born in 1632 in England and came to New
England with his parents. He settled in Brain
tree about 1679. He died in 1711, aged eighty-
nine. He married (first) in 1657, Elizabeth
Church, who died in 1659; (second) in 1662,

Mary Elliot, who died in 1675 ; (third) 1676,
Elizabeth Faxon, widow, who died in 1704.
Children: 1. Mary, born 1663. 2. Caleb, 1665,
married, 1704, Hannah Saunders. 3. Eliza
beth, 1666. 4. Hannah, 1668, married, 1692,
Jonathan Hayden. 5. Josiah, 1670. 6. Benja
min, 1677, mentioned below.
(IV) Benjamin, son of Caleb Hobart, was
born in 1677. He lived in Braintree. He
married, in 1699, Susanna Newcomb, who set
tled his estate in 1718. She died in 1725. The
estate was divided in 1727 among the follow
ing children: 1. Benjamin. 2. Caleb, men
tioned below. 3. Susanna (or Ann). 4. Peter.
5. Israel. 6. Joshua.
(V) Caleb (2), son of Benjamin Hobart,
was born about 1700, and resided in Braintree,
where his children were born. He married
Elizabeth  . Children: 1. Caleb, born
August 18, 1725, married, March 15, 1743
Elizabeth French. 2. Elizabeth, July 6, 1727.
died young. 3. Joshua, February 8, 1733-34
4. Elizabeth, August 19, 1736, died young. 5
Elizabeth, May 1, 1739. 6. Adam, June 9
1743, mentioned below. 7. Joshua, August 1
1747. 8. John, April 26, 1755.
(VI) Adam, son of Caleb (2) Hobart, was
born in Braintree, June 9, 1743. He married
(first) Mary  ; (second) Avis  .
Children, born at Braintree: 1. Caleb, May 8,
1765. 2. Mary, December 4, 1766. 3. Relief,
April 29, 1769. Children of second wife: 4.
Avis, February 8, 1774. 5. Adam, March 18,
1776. 6. Abraham, August 21, 1779, men
tioned below. Adam Hobart was in the revo
lution in Captain Moses French's company,
Colonel Joseph Palmer's regiment from Brain
tree, in March, 1776; also in the same com
pany, Colonel Jonathan Bass's regiment in
June, 1776, on orders to march to Hough's
Neck and later to Nantasket.
(VII) Abraham, son of Adam Hobart,
was born at Braintree, August 21, 1779. He
lived in Braintree and conducted a grist mill,
also was a building mover and wooden pump
maker. He married  Wheeler. Chil
dren : William Wheeler, mentioned below ;
Joshua, Henry, Charles, Mrs. Alexander Bou-
dich, Jane, Levi, Albert.
(VIII) William Wheeler, son of Abraham
Hobart, was born in Braintree, October 21,
1802, died February 15, 1847. He was edu
cated in the public schools of Braintree. He
first conducted the mill at foot of Mellen Hill,
the "Gannet" Mill, and for a number of years
operated the chocolate mills in company with
Alexander Boudich; also owned a grist mill

MASSACHUSETTS.

35i

at East Braintree, in company with Joseph
Arnold up to his death in 1847. In later
years he lived in South Braintree. He was a
Whig in politics. He married Mary Strong
Arnold, born at Braintree, November 11, 1805,
died there February 9, 1882, daughter of
Ralph Arnold. Children: 1. William W.,
born October 18, 1830, died February 23,
1853, unmarried. 2. Joseph H, born Novem
ber 1, 1837, married Caroline J. Baxter, of
Quincy; had one son that died, and one
daughter, Mary Baxter, who married Fred
erick Pennock. 3. Charles Harrison, born
October 18, 1840, mentioned below. 4. Francis
Strong, born April 27, 1844, died young.
(IX) Charles Harrison, son of William
Wheeler Hobart, was born at Braintree, Octo
ber 18, 1840. He received his education in
the public schools of Braintree. He started to
work as a clerk in the retail grocery business,
and in 1861, in company with P. D. Holbrook,
bought out a business, conducting it under the
name of P. D. Holbrook & Company until
1884, when Mr. Hobart purchased his part
ner's interest and has continued alone up to
the present time (1909), having built up the
largest business in this line in Braintree. In
1871 he built his present block, one of the
largest in Braintree. He succeeded F. E.
Thayer in the fire insurance business, the most
extensive in the town, and later associated with
him his son. He was one of the organizers
of the Braintree Savings Bank, which is located
in his block, organized in 1871, and is serving
as secretary and treasurer, having served in
the latter position ever since its organization.
He is an honorary member of Rural Lodge,
Free and Accepted Masons, which he joined
in 1862, and was also one of the organizers
of Delia Lodge, joining in 1906. In religion
he has liberal views. He is a man of sterling
character and irreproachable life. He mar
ried, February 3, 1874, at Braintree, Abigail
Field Hardwick, born May 9, 1844, daughter
of William Parker and Ruth M. (Thayer)
Hardwick. (See Hardwick family). Chil
dren, born at Braintree: 1. Lizzie M., born
December 19, 1874, married Plummer Chad-
burn Spring, a native of Portland, Maine;
children : i. Hobart W. Spring, born October
10, 1901, at Braintree; ii. Katherine Spring,
November 5, 1903; iii. Chadburn Arnold
Spring (twin), December 26, 1906; iv. Theron
Hardwick Spring (twin), December 26, 1906;
Mr. Spring is treasurer of the J. W. Moore
Manufacturing Company. 2. Harrison Parker,
born May 2, 1878, mentioned below.

(X) Harrison Parker, son of Charles Harri
son Hobart, was born May 2, 1878, in Brain
tree, and educated there in the public and high
schools. He became clerk in his father's store
and has been associated in business with his
father to the present time. He is assistant
manager and buyer of the grocery firm and
active in the insurance business. He is a
member of Free and Accepted Masons, Delia
Lodge, and Old Colony Driving Club. In
politics he is a Republican, in religion a Con
gregationalist. He married, March 30, 1900,
Ethel M. Gage, born in Braintree, daughter of
R. Allen Gage, of Braintree. Children, born
at Braintree: 1. Charles Harrison, October
5, 1901. 2. Robert Gage, December 24, 1903.
(The Hardwick Line).
The first record of the Hardwick family in
this county is the marriage of John Hennerick
(Heinrich) Hardwick and Katherina Hart
man (or flartmann) at Braintree, Massachu
setts, November 22, 1755. They were undoubt
edly of German ancestry, and were born in
Germany, though few immigrants of German
birth came to this locality at that period. The
Hardwicks and a number of German families
settled about 1752 in that part of Braintree
still known as Germantown. The name was
spelled Hardwic and was doubtless Hartwig.
We find it spelled Hartwick for several gen
erations, and finally Anglicized to Hardwick,
a distinctly English surname. In 1767 this
couple was living in Annapolis county, Nova
Scotia. Calnek's history gives an account of
the family and calls him Heinrich Hardwick
and states that the maiden name of his wife
was Hartmann. "Hartmann the maiden name
of his wife is certainly German." He obtained
lands and became a properous farmer. Chil
dren: 1. Henry, married, 1798, Ann Berteux.
2. Frederick, married, 1801, Sarah Easson.
3. John, married Mary Balcom. 4. Lucretia,
married John Kent. 5. Mary, married Ezra
Kent. .(I) Frederick, brother of John Heinrich
Hardwick, also settled in Braintree, Massachu
setts. His sister Carlot (Charlotte?) Hard
wick married there, September 28, 1759,
Joseph Steele. Another sister Elizabeth mar
ried, October 5, 1753, John Quincy. A John
Hardwick died in Boston in 1809. He was
son or brother of Frederick. In the census of
1790 Frederick Hardwick, of Braintree, had
three males over sixteen and two females in
his family. Adam and John Hardwick were
also heads of families. John Hardwick was

352

MASSACHUSETTS.

in the navy in the revolution on the ship "Gen
eral Putnam." William Hardwick, of West-
ford, Dunstable and Chelmsford, aged thirty-
five years in 1782, served through the revolu
tion. He may have been brother of Fred
erick. Children of Frederick: 1. Peter, men
tioned below. 2. Henry, married, July 16,
1791, Sarah Spear. 3. John. 4. Adam.
Probably other children.
(II) Peter, son of Frederick Hardwick,
was born about 1765 in Braintree. He mar
ried there, July 18, 1790, Mary Peck, and
lived in Quincy, formerly Braintree.
(Ill) Frederick (2), son of Peter Hard
wick, or of Frederick Hardwick, was for
many years a merchant in Braintree. He mar
ried Abigail Field. Children: 1. Abigail. 2.
Joseph. 3. George. 4. Frederick. 5. James
¦ P. 6. Peter. 7. William Parker, mentioned
below. (IV) William Parker, son of Frederick (2)
Hardwick, was born in Quincy, June 3, 1814,
and died in New Ispwich, New Hampshire,
January, 1873. He was reared and educated
in Quincy; he learned the shoe business and
manufactured and sold to the western trade
many years; later he retired. He married
Ruth M. Thayer, born at Randolph, February
10, 1820, died July 2, 1868, at New Ipswich,
New Hampshire. Children, born at Quincy:
1. Abigail Field, born May 9, 1844; married, at
Braintree, February 3, 1874, Charles Harrison
Hobart (see Hobart family). 2. George, July
18, 1847, at Quincy, resides in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. 3. Elizabeth, November 11, 1849,
died November 5, 1862. 4. Libes B., August
3, 1852. 5. William, April 17, 1855. 6.
Leonadas, December 7, 1859.

Ralph Blaisdell, immigrant
BLAISDELL ancestor, was born in Eng
land, about 1600. He came
to New England soon after his marriage, and
settled in Salisbury, Massachusetts. He was
a tailor by trade. He received grants of land
in Salisbury in 1640-41-44-45, and bought the
rights of John Harrison as proprietor in
1642-3. He was a tavern keeper in 1645, and
received a license to sell wine, etc. He was at
York, Maine, for a time between 1637 and
1640. In the early records the name is often
spelled Blasdale, Blesdale, and Blasdel. He
died before 1650, but was living in 1648. His
widow died August, 1667, and administration
on her estate was granted to Joseph Stowers,
October 8, 1667. As late as 1698, Ebenezer
Blaisdell, grandson of the immigrant, was ad

ministrator of his estate. Blaisdell was con
stable at one time. Children of Ralph and
Elizabeth Blaisdell: 1. Henry, mentioned
below. 2. Sarah, died January 17, 1646-7. 3.
Mary, born March 5, 1641-2; married (first)
Joseph Stowers; (second) December 19,1676,
William Sterling. 4. Ralph, born about 1642-3,
died about 1667, probably without issue.
(II) Henry, son of Ralph Blaisdell, was
born in England, about 1632, and came to New
England with his parents. He was one of the
first settlers of Amesbury, where he received
various grants of land. He was a tailor by
trade. He took the oath of fidelity in Decem
ber, 1677, and was admitted a freeman in 1690.
He married (first) about 1656, Mary Haddon,
who died December 12, 1690-1, daughter of
Jarrett Haddon; (second) Elizabeth  .
He died between 1702 and 1707. Children,
all by first wife : 1. Ebenezer, born October
17, 1657; mentioned below. 2. Mary, born
May 29, 1660; married Robert Rawlins. 3.
Henry, born May 28, 1663; married Mary
¦  ; (second) Mrs. Hannah (Powell)
Colby; (third) October 27, 1707, Dorothy
Martin. 4. Elizabeth, born about 1665 ; died
young. 5. Ralph, born about 1667; died un
married, January 11, 1691. 6. John, born May
27, 1668; married, January 6, 1692-3, Eliza
beth (Challis) Hoyt. 7. Sarah, born Novem
ber 11, 1671 ; married, June 20, 1706, Stephen
Flanders. 8. Jonathan, born October 11, 1676,
died 1748; married Hannah Jackson. 9. Sam
uel', "sixth son," according to the records ; died
October 3, 1683.
(Ill) Ebenezer, son of Henry Blaisdell,
was born October 17, 1657, and died August
10, 1710. He received "children's land" in
1659, and his father received a "township"
for him in 1660. He was a farmer, and took
the oath of fidelity in December, 1677. He
married, about 1680, Sarah, daughter of John
and granddaughter of Anthony Colby. Chil
dren: 1. Ephraim, born about 1682; married,
1703, Deborah Bartlett. 2. Thomas. 3. Ebe
nezer, born December 29, 1686; mentioned
below. 4. Eleanor, born November 30, 1688,
died January 19, 1688-9. 5. Mary, died young.
6. Ralph, born April 21, 1692; married Mary
Davis. 7. Sarah, born July 27, 1694.
(IV) Ebenezer (2), son of Ebenezer .(1)
Blaisdell, was born December 29, 1686, in
Amesbury, and was a cooper by trade. He
removed to York, Maine, where he was living
in 1712 and afterwards. The intentions of
marriage between Ebenezer Blaisdell and
Sarah Chase were published February 5,

MASSACHUSETTS.

353

1708-9. He married, before January, 1712-13,
Abigail, daughter of John Ingersol, of Kittery,
and widow of Joseph Jenkins, of York. She
died April 28, 1755. Children of Ebenezer
and Abigail, born at York, Maine: 1. Sarah,
October 9, 1713. 2. Ebenezer, April 9, 1715;
married three times. 3. Ephraim, September
23, 1717; mentioned below. 4. Samuel, Au
gust 21, 1719; married Olive Trafton. 5.
Daniel, February 7, 1 720-1. 6. Abigail, Janu
ary 7, 1722-3. 7. Joseph, October 5, 1725;
died April 29, 1726. 8. Mary, February 19,
1726-7. 9. James (?), March 7, 1727-8, died
August 10, 1728.
(V) Ephraim, son of Ebenezer (2) Blais
dell, was born at York, Maine, September 23,
171 7. He married there, May 3, 1742, Thank
ful, daughter of Benjamin Webber, of York.
Probably after the birth of his first child in
York, he settled in Lebanon, Maine, where the
other 'children were born. Children: 1. Martha,
born May 11, 1743. 2. Sarah(?), married,
October 17, 1766, Benjamin Farnham. 3.
Ephraim, married, December 3, 1767, Hannah
Burrows. 4. Ralph, married, July 11, 1768,
Elizabeth Herd. 5. Elizabeth, married, Sep
tember 29, 1768, jabez Garland. 6. Abigail,
married, August 19, .1773, Moses Goodwin.
7. Patience, married, March 22, 1778, John
Legrow. 8. John, born August 15, 1756; mar
ried, July 12, 1778, Abigail Legrow. 9. Thomas,
mentioned below. Probably other children.
(VI) Thomas, son of Ephraim Blaisdell,
was born in Lebanon, Maine, and resided
there. He married, March 11, 1784, Elizabeth
Varney. (VII) David, son or nephew of Thomas
Blaisdell, was born in Lebanon, and had a son
Samuel, mentioned below.
(VIII) Samuel, son of David Blaisdell, lived
in Boston, Massachusetts, and removed to
Somersworth, New Hampshire. He married
Charlotte, daughter of Charles Sweet. Chil
dren : Samuel, Charles M. and George Albert,
all mentioned below.
(IX) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1) Blais
dell, was born in Boston, 1833. At the age of
eleven years he went to Great Falls, Massa
chusetts, and went to work in the cotton mills
there. At the age of eighteen he returned to
Boston, and after working at various occu
pations entered the employ of the Boston &
Providence Railroad Company. He remained
nine years, filling nearly every position of
trust and responsibility on the road. Later he
removed to New York, and took charge of the
i— 23

business of the New York and Providence
Steamship Company, at Pier 11, North River.
Upon the organization of the New York &
Baltimore Steamship Company he became resi
dent agent and business manager of the line
at Baltimore. This company was a success,
and did a large business. At the close of the
civil war, lines were put in operation to Savan
nah, Charleston and Mobile, and Mr. Blais
dell cleared for Charleston and Savannah
the first steamer that left the port of Balti
more after the war. He also sent the steamer
"Kingfisher" into southern waters as a dis
patch boat, bearing dispatches from Grant to
Sherman. This was the first vessel that passed
Fort Sumter with the United States flag after
the evacuation. He remained in Baltimore
five years, during which time he furnished the
government with a large number of steamers
for the troops and supplies. In 1868 Mr.
Blaisdell went to Chicopee, Massachusetts,
and established himself in the cotton business
at Chicopee Junction, in company with George
Mattoon. Mr. Mattoon retired in May, 1872,
and Charles M. and George A. Blaisdell were
admitted to the firm. The business was at
first largely in cotton waste, but a large trade
was built up by the new firm in supplying raw
cotton to the iarge manufacturing companies,
direct from the producers, through agents in
New York. In April, 1879, the warehouse Was
destroyed by fire. He transacted the largest
business of its kind outside the city of New
York, doing a business of from one to two
million dollars annually. Mr. Blaisdell is a
Republican in politics; he has never sought
public office, fle married, in i860, Harriett
Crane, only daughter of L. H. Crane, of
Brattleborough, Vermont; children: Dasie L.,
Ruby, and Maude.
(IX) Charles M., son of Samuel (2) Blais
dell, was born in Somersworth, New Hamp
shire, 1843, died in Chicopee, February 12,
1888. He was employed as a clerk in the old
Boston & Providence Railroad in Boston, at
the time of the breaking out of the civil war.
He enlisted early in 1861 in the navy and
served a year, being discharged in March,
1862, on account of small-pox. He went home,
intending to continue his studies at the Great
Falls high school, but had been there but a
few weeks when he enlisted in Company F,
Ninth New Hampshire Regiment Volunteers.
He remained in this regiment during its entire
service, being absent only during the march
from Knoxville to Covington, Kentucky, act-

354

MASSACHUSETTS.

ing as assistant commissary sergeant from July
to October, 1863. The summer following the
war he went to Boston and was employed by
the Boston & Providence railroad as clerk. In
the fall of 1865 he went to Florida, and for
three years was engaged in raising cotton. At
the end of that time he returned north and
went into business with his brothers in Chic
opee in the firm of S. Blaisdell Jr. & Company,
dealers in cotton and wool. His business abili
ties proved to be of the highest, and a large
foreign trade was established, in addition to
the already large home trade. In 1888 he be
came the head of the firm. His pleasing
address and sterling character have won for
him and for the firm an enviable international
reputation. He has made many pleasant trips
abroad, and has formed many friends in
foreign countries. He married Mary H. Starr,
of Deerfield, Massachusetts, daughter of A. C.
Starr. (IX) George Albert, son of Samuel (2)
Blaisdell, was born in Somersworth, New
Hampshire, October 19, 1849. He attended
the public and high schools of his native town,
graduating in the class of 1864. He was for
three years a clerk for the United States &
Canada Express Company at Boston. He then
entered the employ of his brother, Samuel
Blaisdell, of Chicopee, then the largest dealer
in cotton in the United States. Later he was
admitted to partnership in the firm of S. Blais
dell & Company, of which his brother Charles
was the third partner. The business is now
conducted by the two surviving partners,
Charles and George Albert Blaisdell. He is a
member of Chicopee Lodge of Free Masons;
of Chicopee Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; of
Springfield Commandery, Knights Templar ;
and Massachusetts Consistory, 32d degree ; and
of Aleppo Temple, Mystic Shrine. He is a
director in the Chicopee Board of Trade, and
a trustee of the Chicopee Savings Bank and
of the Masonic Lodge. He is a member of
the First Unitarian Church of Chicopee. Mr.
George A. Blaisdell has been an extensive
traveller, both on business and for pleasure,
covering all of Europe, parts of Africa, Spain,
France, Italy, Russia, etc., all the time extend
ing the business of the firm of which he is a
member. He married, June 26, 1879, Elizabeth Blais
dell, born in Chicopee, February 4, 1849,
daughter of Emanuel J. and Maria (MacDon-
ald) Blaisdell. They have one child, Alice
Gertrude, born at Chicopee, July 12, 1884.

The surname Haskins and
HASKINS Hoskins are identical, and in
every generation both ways of
spelling have been in use. Hodgkins is another
spelling of the same surname and perhaps the
most common in England. William Haskins,
or Hoskins, settled in Plymouth in 1633, and
removed to Middleborough, Massachusetts.
Most of the Haskins of New England trace
their ancestry to him.
(I) John Hoskins (or Haskins), the immi
grant ancestor of this family, was born in
England and came to America in 1630 in the
ship "Mary and John." He settled first at
Dorchester, Massachusetts, and was admitted
a freeman, May 18, 1631. He was a juryman,
however, November 9, 1630, and soon after
ward became a proprietor, fle removed from
Dorchester with the first party of colonists
who founded Windsor, Connecticut, and had
lands granted him in 1640. He was a deputy
to the general assembly of Connecticut in
1637. He married Ann Filer, who was
admitted to the church April 9, 1648, and died
March 6, 1662. He died May 3, 1648, and his
will, dated May 1, 1648, bequeathed to the
church, to the poor, to his wife and son
Thomas. Children: 1. Thomas, born about
1610; mentioned below. 2. John, born in
England about 1612; remained at Dorchester
and had his father's homestead there. 3.
Anthony, born in Dorchester, about 1632. 4.
Rebecca, born about 1634; married Mark Kel-
sey, March 8, 1659, and died 1683, aged forty-
nine years.
(II) Thomas, son of John Hoskins, was
born in England, about 1610. He married, at
Windsor, April 20, 1653, Elizabeth Birge,
widow, daughter of Deacon William Gaylord.
She died December 22, 1675, and he died April
13, 1666. Children: 1. John, mentioned
below. 2. Thomas, born June 20, 1656; died
young. (Ill) John (2), son of Thomas Hoskins,
was born May 29, 1654, and died February 21,
1734. He married, January 29, 1677, Deborah,
daughter of Henry Denslow, who was killed
by the Indians while farming at Pine Meadow
in 1676. She died in 1693-4, and he married
(second), 1699, Ruth Atkins, who died in
1742, aged seventy-five. Children of first wife:
1. Deborah, born June 9, 1679 ; married Joseph
Peck, and removed to Tolland, Connecticut.
2. Elizabeth, born August 22, 1682, (twin) ;
married, November 2, 1699, Thomas ThralL
3. Susannah or Hannah (twin), born August

MASSACHUSETTS.

355

22, 1682. 4. John, born June 13, 1688; died
young. 5. Thomas, born May 21, 1693. Chil
dren of the second wife : 6. John, born Decem
ber 5, 1 701 ; see forward. 7. Jonathan, born
1703; died unmarried. 8. Mary, born April
2, 1707, died November 19, 1727. 9. Abigail,
born May 23, 1710; married Daniel Pinney.
10. Margaret, born May 10, 1712; married
Henry Viets.
(IV) John (3), son of John (2) Hoskins,
was born in Windsor, Connecticut, December
5, 1701, and died in 1765. He married, August
17, 1738, Catherine Viets, who died November
8, 1776, daughter of John and Catherine
(Myers) Viets. Her father was of German
birth. Children: 1. John, born May 5, 1740;
died young. 2. David, born May 24, 1741. 3.
Simeon, born June 1, 1742. 4. Mary, born
January 31, 1746; married David Viets, of
Simsbury, Connecticut. 5. Ezekiel, born Jan
uary 3, 1748; mentioned below. 6. Catherine,
born September 16, 1750; died aged fifteen.
7. Benjamin, born December 7, 1752, died
January 15, 1753. 8. Benjamin, born Decem
ber 25, 1753 ; died unmarried, and gave his
property to his nephew Eli.
(V) Ezekiel, son of John (3) Hoskins, was
born in Windsor, January 3, 1748; married,
about 1775, Elizabeth Skinner, of Simsbury,
Connecticut. Children: 1. Esther, baptized
October 19, 1776; married Roswell Miller, and
died November 12, 1826. 2. Elizabeth, bap
tized October 25, 1778; died young. 3. Sarah,
born March 28, 1781. 4. Chloe, born 1783.
5. Eli, mentioned below. 6. Silas, baptized
1787. (VI) Eli, son of Ezekiel Hoskins, was born
at Windsor, April 18, 1785, and married, about
1806, Harriet Richardson of Windsor. Chil
dren: 1. Henry, born November 30, 1807;
married Fidelia Skinner; (second) about
1855,  . 2. Edward, born June 11, 1809;
married Harriet Ann Abbe, of Enfield. 3.
Erastus, born May 28, 181 1; married
Rebecca Shepard. 4. Benjamin, born June 5,
1813; mentioned below. 5. Harriet, born
June 9, 1815; married James Y. Burnham;
died May 11, 1846. 6. Catherine, born Janu
ary 9, 1817; died February 13, 1817. 7.
Horace B., born April 9, 1820; married Fidelia
Holcomb. 8. William R., born February 5,
1826; died unmarried, February 3, 1893.
(VII) Benjamin Haskins, son of Eli Hos
kins, was born in Windsor, June 5, 1813, and
died in Springfield, Massachusetts, November
27, 1846. He married Amy B. Shipman, No
vember 26, 1834. He removed to Springfield,

where he was chef in the Massasoit House,
and where he died. Children: 1. Edward,
died young. 2. Benjamin Strong, mentioned
below. Benjamin Haskins and one of his
brothers changed the spelling of the name to
Haskins, while two of the brothers still con
tinued to use Hoskins.
(VIII) Benjamin Strong, son of Benjamin
Haskins, was born in Hartford, Connecticut,
April 3, 1838. He removed to Springfield,
Massachusetts, with his parents, and was edu
cated in the public schools of that city. He
worked at the trade of making gold chains
until the breaking out of the civil war. In
August, 1861, he enlisted for the war as a
musician in the Seventh Maine Regiment
Band for three years, but was discharged by
act of congress in 1862, all bands being dis
pensed with. He returned to Springfield and
became an inspector in the United States
armory, and later held the same position in
the Smith & Wesson factory. In politics he is
a Republican, and served as a member of the
Springfield city council in 1873-74. He is a
member of Roswell Lee Lodge, Free and
Accepted Masons, and has held all the offices
of the lodge up to master. He married, at
Newburyport, Massachusetts, December 24,
1862, Sarah Harrison Walton, born July 28,
1840, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Wal
ton. Her father was a sea captain. Children :
1. Harry Walton, born November 28, 1864,
mentioned below. 2. Arthur Shipman, born
January 4, 1871 ; married, October 14, 1897,
Helen jane Phelps, of Holyoke. 3. Benjamin
Strong, born July 29, 1874. 4. William Horace,
born October 7, 1877, married Flora Stevens,
of Springfield.
(IX) Harry Walton, son of Benjamin
Strong Haskins, was born in Springfield, No
vember 28, 1864. He attended the public
schools of his native place, graduating from
the high school in the class of 1882. Soon
after his graduation he entered the employ of
the Chapin Paper & Pulp Company, where he
worked about ten months. He left there to
take a position as office boy in the Massachu
setts Mutual Life Insurance Company ; he rose
steadily and was for many years second assist
ant secretary and later was appointed assistant
secretary, a position he held with credit until
his death. For many years he was a member
of Springfield Lodge, Free and Accepted
Masons, having been one of the organizers
and serving as first master; member of the
Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Springfield
Commandery, Knights Templar; Melha Tern-

356

MASSACHUSETTS.

pie, Order of the Mystic Shrine, in all of
which he has held prominent office. Few men
have had a wider circle of friends than he in
business or in lodges. Though he was never
a member of any church, he was brought up
in Hope Church Sunday school, and always
attended there, and served the church as treas
urer for two years. Many outside places of
trust have been given him in recognition of
his abilities as a business man and his integrity.
He was a keen lover of sport in all forms, but
rarely took the time away from the office to
gratify his liking for it. During his long labor
in the company, extending over a period of
cwenty-one years, he had given the helping
hand to many a young man making a start in
life, and will be held in grateful remembrance
far beyond the limits of the city of Springfield.
He married, June 26, 1895, Estelle Marie
Wagner, born April 27, 1871, at Dunmore,
Pennsylvania, daughter of Daniel and Mehit
able (Spencer) Wagner, granddaughter of
Daniel and Charity (Silvernail) Wagner and
Edward Spencer. Mr. Haskins died Decem
ber 9, 1904, at his home, 133 St. James ave
nue, Springfield, from a complication of
diseases. The following notice was sent out
by Mr. Phillips, vice-president of the Massa
chusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company: "It
is my painful duty to announce the death of
Mr. Harry W. Haskins, assistant secretary of
the Company, which occurred last evening at
his home in this city, after an illness of six
months' duration. Mr. Haskins entered the
service of the Company, as a boy, in 1883,
after graduation from the Springfield high
school, and step by step advanced to the posi
tion of auditor and assistant secretary, both
of which he had filled for several years. Of
unswerving honesty and integrity in both
thought and act, loving and lovable in all his
associations ; active, conscientious, and faith
ful in the discharge of every duty; his loss
will be sadly and deeply felt, not only by the
officers and employes of the Company, but also
by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances."

Thomas Chubb, immigrant an-
CHUBB cestor of all of this name so far
as known, was born in 1609,
in England, probably in Crewkerne. county
Somerset. He came to Boston with the first
settlers. He was a carpenter, and had bound
himself, presumably for his passage money,
to Samuel Maverick, and was freed by court
from his obligation and engaged to William
Gaylord, of Dorchester, May 3, 1631, (Colon

ial Records). He removed from Dorchester
to Salem about 1636, and later to Beverly.
He was an active citizen and appears rather
often as a party or witness in litigation in
early court records. He died October 17,
1688, according to Beverly records. His mar
riage is not recorded, but his children were:
1. Thomas, see forward. 2. John, born about
1655. 3. Susanna, married, November 2,
1676, Martin Hall. 4. Pasco (?), settled in
Andover; married, May 29, 1689, Hannah
Faulkner ; killed by Indians, January 23, 1698.
5. William, soldier at Hadley in King Philip's
war, April, 1676.
(II) Thomas (2), son of Thomas (1)
Chubb, was born in Salem or Beverly, 1650-
51 ; was eighteen in 1669, then of Ipswich. He
lived in Beverly. He married, May 9, 1672,
Mercy  , of Dorchester. Children, born
in Beverly: 1. Thomas, see forward. 2. Mary,
born July 10, 1682. 3. Mercy, born March 2,
1685-86, married Joseph Tree. 4. Elizabeth,
born June 25, 1688. 5. John, born September
14, 168 — ; settled in Needham; died February
25, 1755; his widow appointed administratrix,
November 21, same year, and guardian of
daughter Silence, August 14, 1761. 6. Ebe
nezer, baptized January 5, 1695-96; soldier;
in Boston ; administration granted Mary Shepi-
son, widow, of Hebron, Connecticut, October
1, 1723. 7. Samuel, baptized January 5, 1695-
96. 8. William, settled in Needham; builder
there in 1728, and collector; widow Frances,
of Brookline, and John Whitmore, appointed
to administer his estate, January, 1761 ; chil
dren: William, John, Samuel, Sarah, Mary,
Lucy, Ebenezer.
(Ill) Thomas (3), son of Thomas (2)
Chubb, was born in Beverly or vicinity, about
1675. He settled in Boston about 1700. He
married Eliza  ; children, born in Bos
ton: 1. Elizabeth, September 27, 1703. 2.
Benjamin, June 27, 1706, married Lydia
 , and had son Benjamin. 3. Nathaniel,
March 3, 1709-10, settled at Marblehead ; mar
ried, in Boston, June 2, 1733, and had son
Thomas, baptized August 11, 1734, and four
daughters later. 4. Thomas.
^ (IV) Thomas (4), son of Thomas (3)
Chubb, was born in Boston, between 1715 and
1720. He settled in Charlestown. He mar
ried, in Boston, June 13, 1747, Abigail Reed,
who died February 21, 1804, aged eighty years.
She was his widow in 1771, and bought the
house occupied by her son, Thomas Chubb,
southwest of Back Lane. Administration on
her estate was granted, May 14, 1807.

MASSACHUSETTS.

357

(V) Thomas (5), only known child of
Thomas (4) Chubb, was born in Boston, about
1750. He was a hairdresser by trade, in the
days of powdered wigs. He was a soldier in
the revolution, from Charlestown, private in
Captain Josiah Harris's company, Lieutenant-
Colonel William Bond's Thirty-seventh regi
ment (late Colonel Gardner's) in 1775. He
and his wife Elizabeth in 1804 sold the house
bought by his mother to John flarvey Jr. His
son Thomas, mentioned below, was probably
by a former wife.
(VI) Thomas (6), son of Thomas (5)
Chubb, was born in Boston, about 1781, and
died September 6, 1849. He was a soldier in
the war of 1812. He married Abigail Beaver-
stock. Children: 1. Thomas, see forward.
2. John, died aged ninety years ; married, May
28, 1840, Mary Ann Abbott. 3. Sarah, mar
ried, November 25, 1834, Moses Nason. 4.
Abigail, died young. 5. Lucy, married, May
23, 1830, Nelson Cutler. All of these children
are deceased.
(VII) Commodore Thomas (7), son of
Thomas (6) Chubb, was born in Charlestown,
June 12, 181 1, died August 29, 1890, at his
summer home at Post Mills, Vermont. Like
many, perhaps all, of his paternal ancestors,
he followed the sea. He married Phoebe
Briggs, who died in 1866, aged fifty years,
daughter of Barney Briggs, of an old Cape
Cod family ; the other children of Barney
Briggs were Barney, Mary and Rebecca. Chil
dren of Commodore Thomas and Phoebe
(Briggs) Chubb: 1. Abigail, born in Charles
town, Massachusetts, December 18, 1831, mar
ried General T. J. Chambers, of Texas; died
February 6, 1898; children: i. Kate, married
Fred K. Sturges, and resided in Galveston,
Texas; ii. Stella, married Donald McGregor,
of Galveston. 2. Thomas Henry, born in
Charlestown, November 4, 1836, married, Sep
tember 1, 1859, Isabel Mason, of Baltimore,
now of South Framington, Massachusetts ;
children : i. Abbie Eliza, born June 4, i860,
died December 19, i860; ii. Isabel M., born
December 3, 1861, died March 18, 1865 ; iii.
Thomas, born December 12, 1863, married,
September 4, 1901, Esther B. Knight and had
three children : Thomas R., born July 4, 1902 ;
Sheldon R., born October 29, 1904; William
U, born June 12, 1906; iv. Phoebe, born July
28, 1865; v. William M., born January 22,
1868, died May 2, 1869; vi. William M., born
December 13, 1870; vii. Isabel, born February
14, 1872; viii. Frank M., born March 26, 1874,
married Emma Gfafflin; one child, Frank N.,

born October 29, 1904. 3. Cecilia, born in
Charlestown, September 22, 1842, resided in
Galveston, Texas; married H. N. Duble, of
Ohio, now deceased ; children : Harry C,
Charles W., Lee, Phebe, Kate, Randall,
Thomas Henry. 4. John, born in Galveston,
Texas, January 3, 1850, died in Boston, Janu
ary 30, 1905 ; married Lola Sturges, of Gal
veston, September 21, 1869; children: i.
Duble, born 1871 ; ii. Edward C, born 1874,
died 1908; iii. Sidney, died 1900; iv. Lola,
born 1884; v. Kenneth, born 1890. 5. Will
iam Bennett, see forward.
(VIII) William Bennett, son of Commodore
Thomas (7) Chubb, was born in Galveston,
Texas, June 22, 1853. He married, at Post
Mills, Vermont, January 14, 1880, Jennie E.
Guild, born at West Fairlee, Vermont, Feb
ruary 24, 1862, daughter of Samuel Harvey
and Susan (Dearborn) Guild (see Dearborn).
(The Dearborn Line).
(I) Godfrey Dearborn, immigrant ancestor,
was born, according to tradition, in Exeter,
Devonshire, England. He settled in Exeter,
New Hampshire, about 1639, under Wheel
wright, and signed the famous Compact. After
living there ten years, he removed to Hamp
ton, New Hampshire. He was selectman of
Exeter in 1648. In March 4, 1650, seats were
assigned "Goodman and Goody Dearborn" in
the Hampton meeting house. His home was
in the west end of the town of Hampton, on
the farm latterly if not now occupied by a
lineal descendant. His descendants have been
very numerous in Hampton and vicinity. He
married (first) perhaps in England; (second)
November 25, 1662, Hannah, widow of Phile
mon Dalton. Children of first wife : 1. Henry,
born 1633 ; married Elizabeth Marrian ; died
January 18, 1725. 2. Thomas, born 1634 ; men
tioned below. 3. Sarah, died August 21, 1714;
married Thomas Nudd. 4. Esther, married
Richard Shortridge, of Portsmouth. 5. Daugh
ter. 6. John, born about 1742; married Mary
Ward; died November 14, 1731.
(II) Deacon Thomas, son of Godfrey Dear
born, was born in England, in 1634, and died
in Hampton, April 14, 1710. He married,
December 28, 1665, Hannah Colcord, and re
sided in that section of Hampton known as
"Drake Side." He was a leading citizen and
a deacon of the Hampton church. Children,
born in Hampton: 1. Samuel, May 27, 1676;
married Sarah Gove. 2. Ebenezer, October 3, ^
1679; mentioned below. 3. Thomas, born
about 1681 ; married Mary Garland. 4: Jona-

35^

MASSACHUSETTS.

than, November 18, 1686; married Mary
;  ; (second) Sarah Waite, who died Sep
tember 10, 1 77 1.
(Ill) Lieutenant Ebenezer, son of Deacon
Thomas Dearborn,, was born in Hampton,
October 3, 1679, and died March 15, 1772, aged
ninety- three. He married, October 7, 1703,
Abigail Sanborn, born October 1, 1686, died
February 26, 1768, daughter of Joseph and
granddaughter of John Sanborn. Like his
father he was deacon of the church. He was
one of the grantees of the town of Chester,
New Hampshire, and with his five sons settled
there in 1729 or 1730. He had lot No. 121,
the deed of which was dated October 3, 1729,
and in it he was called of Hampton. His home
lot was No. 17, at Chester, nearly opposite
the old White place, where Joseph Webster
now or lately resided. He was moderator at
the town meeting in Chester, March 26, 1729-
30, and was elected selectman at the town
meeting following. He was elected deacon of
the Chester church in 1734, and held various
town offices. He served against the Indians,
in Captain James Davis's company of scouts,
in 1712, and was later lieutenant of his com
pany. His will was dated March 17, 1767,
and proved May 27, 1772. Children: 1. Ebe
nezer, born January 7, 1705 ; married (first)
January 13, 1731, Huldah Nason; (second)
Elizabeth Swain, widow. 2. Hannah, baptized
March 9, 1707. 3. Mehitable, born November
4, 1709; married Deacon Nathaniel Fitts. 4.
Peter, born November 14, 1710; mentioned
below. 5. Benjamin, born August 1, 1715. 6.
Michael, born April 17, 1719; married Doro
thy Colby. 7. Abigail, born January 27, 172 1 ;
married, October 26, 1742, James Varnum. 8.
Mary, born June 11, 1723.
(IV) Peter, son of Lieutenant Ebenezer
Dearborn, was born November 14, 1710, and
died October 28, 1781. He resided at Hamp
ton on lot No. 25, on the cross road from
Derry. He married, December 2, 1736, Mar
garet Fifield, of Kingston. Children, born at
Hampton: 1.' Anna, born October 17, 1737;
died November, 1780; married John, son of
Ephraim Haselton. 2. Peter, born January 26,
1740; married, December 26, 1765, Tabitha
Morrill; died October 24, 1770. 3. Deacon
Joseph, born August 17, 1742; married 1761,
Betty, daughter of Deacon Jonas Hall; was
lieutenant and captain. 4. Mary, born 1746.
5. Josiah, born November 6, 175 1 ; mentioned
below. 6. Sarah, born September 16, 1754. 7.
Asa, born July 25, 1756; married Anna Emer
son and removed to Chelsea, Vermont. 8.

Sherburne, born September 5, 1758; married,
May, 1779, Elizabeth Towle, daughter of Isaac
Towle. (V) Josiah, son of Peter Dearborn, was
born in Hampton, November 6, 1751, and died
April 28, 1830. He was in the revolution, in
1775 in Captain Henry Elkins' company; also
in 1776 in Captain David Runnell's company,
Colonel Thomas Tash's regiment; also in 1777
in Captain Moses Leavitt's company, Colonel
Moses Nichols' regiment; and in 1781 in Cap
tain Jacob Webster's company, Colonel Rey
nolds' regiment, of Hampton. He removed
from Chester to Weare about 1790. While in
Chester, he resided on the John Aiken place.
He married, in August, 1779, Susannah Emer
son, born April 13, 1762, died August 13, 1847,
daughter of Samuel Emerson. Children, born
at Weare : 1. Nehemiah, March 9, 1780; men
tioned below. 2. Susannah, January 19, 1782;
married Winthrop Green, died September 25,
1810. 3. Henry, November 19, 1783; removed
to Corinth, Vermont. 4. Josiah, August 28,
1785 ; resided in Weare. 5. Edmund, January
8, 1788, removed to Corinth. 6. Samuel, Au
gust 18, 1792 ; married Miriam Sargent, and
went to Corinth. 7. David, November 19,
1796. 8. Jonathan, November 19, 1796 (twin) ;
married, 1825, Mary A. Rogers ; died March
3, 1828. 9. Peter, June 20, 1801 ; lived in
Weare. 10. John, February 6, 1803; lived in
Weare. 11. Moses, February 6, 1805; lived in
Weare. 12. Sarah, April 12, 1809; married
Hiram Nichols.
(VI) Nehemiah, son of Josiah Dearborn,
was born March 9, 1780, in Chester, New
Hampshire. He settled in Vershire, Vermont.
He was a farmer and leading citizen of the
town. He attended the Baptist church. He
died at Vershire, December 29, 1846. He
married, November 8, 1820, Judith Huntoon,
born February 25, 1799, died July 17, 1881.
Children born at Vershire and Corinth, Ver
mont: 1. Nathaniel, October 6, 1821 ; mar
ried  Tuller. 2. Susan H, January 4,
1823, died May 16, 1824. 3. Hannah, Novem
ber 4, 1824 ; married Silas Titus. 4. Fannie J.,
August 9, 1827. 5. Susan O., mentioned below.
6. Charles C, November 21, 1832; never mar
ried. 7. Mary S., April 23, 1834; married
(first) Preston Philbrick; (second) Frank
Potter. 8. Caroline F., December 8, 1836;
married James Patten. 9. Allen J., January
28, 1839; only one living; married Almena
Avery. 10. George M., August 5, 1841 ; mar
ried Mary Ella Robey.
(VII) Susan O., daughter of Nehemiah

MASSACHUSETTS.

359

Dearborn, was born in Vershire, June io,
1829. She married, in 1856, Samuel Harvey
Guild, born at West Fairlee, October 24, 1825,
died September 26, 1872, in Post Mills, Ver
mont. They lived at West Fairlee, Vermont.
He was a Congregationalist in early life, after
ward attended the Second Advent Church.
In his younger days he was a Whig in politics,
but became a Republican when that party was
organized. He was a member of the school
committee. He was a prosperous farmer. His
wife was a lifelong member of the Congre
gational (Orthodox) church. Children, born
at West Fairlee: 1. Emma L. Guild, Septem
ber 3, 1858; married W. H. Beckwith; they
live in Post Mills Village. 2. Carrie Guild,
March 15, i860 ; married F. O. Stanwood ; they
live in Brunswick, Maine ; child, Eldon Guild
Stanwood, born June 1, 1895. 3. Jennie Guild,
February 24, 1862; married William B. Chubb
(see Chubb family). 4. Eldon Harvey Guild,
December 8, 1865, at Post Mills, died October
3, 1880. 5. Nellie S. Guild, December 8, ic
died May 10, 1878.

This name is derived from fish. The
FISK breakfasting Englishman of early
times ate his fisc. The family flour
ished in the county of Suffolk, England, as
early as the reign of King John in 1208. In
that year we find the name of Daniel Fisc,
of Laxfield, where he ocupied manorial lands
and had a coat-of-arms. Among the distin
guished men of this line were Professor John
Fisk, the historian; General Clinton B. Fisk,
of New Jersey, who ran on the Prohibition
ticket for president; Colonel James Fisk Jr.,
the New York banker; the Hon. Stephen A.
Douglas; Ezekiel A. Straw, governor of New
Hampshire; and Gail Hamilton, the authoress.
When a country is new and agricultural, the
tendency of emigration as the inhabitants
expand, is to follow the river from its mouth
to its source. In this way, Lebanon, New
Hampshire, and nearly all the towns along the
Connecticut Valley, were peopled from down
below. Even institutions so travel. Dart
mouth College was a Connecticut fledgling
before its location in the wilds of northern
New Hampshire. But in the run of years
after the country has developed along com
mercial and manufacturing lines there is a
reactionary movement from the farms and the
hillside to repossess the land of the fathers
and the treke down the river to the centers of
population sets in. Down the river to Spring
field came those great captains of industry,

Elisha Morgan, Thomas W. Wason and
George C. Fisk. Members of the family in
America for centuries have been prominent in
private and public life as clergymen, lawyers,
physicians, financiers, soldiers, merchants,
teachers and professors in college, farmers,
philanthropists and patriots. Rev. Perrin B.
Fiske, of Lyndon, Vermont, has written of
them: "Ffische, Fisc, Fiske, Fisk (spell it either way)
Meant true knighthood, freedom, faith, good quali
ties that stay.
Brethren, let the ancient name mean just the same
for aye.
'Forward, every youth! to seek the higher good
to-day!' "
(I) Lord Symond Fiske, grandson of Dan
iel Fisc, was Lord of the Manor of Stand-
haugh, parish of Laxfield, county of Suffolk,
England, lived in the reign of Henry IV and
VI (1399-1422). He married Susannah
Smyth, and after her death, he had wife
Katherine. Symond Fiske, of Laxfield, will
dated December 22, 1463, proved at Norwich,
February 26, 1463-64, died in February, 1464.
He was survived by five children : William,
Jeffrey, John, Edmund and Margaret.
(II) William, eldest son of Symond Fiske,
born at Standhaugh, county of Suffolk, Eng
land, and lived during the reign of Henry VI,
Edward IV, Richard III and Henry VII. He
died- about 1504, was survived by his wife,
who died in 1505, and left seven children:
William, Augustine, Simon, Robert, John,
Margery and Margaret.
(Ill) Simon, son of William and Joan
(Lyme) Fiske, was in Laxfield, date unknown.
fle married Elizabeth  , who died in
Halesworth, June, 1558. In his will made July
10, 1536, he desired to be buried at the chancel
end of the church of All Saints, in Laxfield.
He died in that town in June, 1538, leaving
(living or dead) ten children: Simon, Will
iam, Robert, Joan, Jeffrey, Gelyne, Agnes,
Thomas, Elizabeth and John.
(IV) Simon (2), son of Simon (1) and
Elizabeth Fiske, was born in Laxfield. The
name of his wife and date of his marriage are
not known. He died in 1605. His children
were : Robert, John, George, Nicholas, Jeffrey,
William, Richard, Joan, Gelyne and Agnes.
(V) Robert, son of Simon (2) Fiske, was
born in Sandhaugh about 1525. He married
Mrs. Sybil (Gould) Barber. For some time
he was of the parish of St. James, South Elm-
ham, England. Sybil, his wife, was in great

360

MASSACHUSETTS.

danger in the time of the religious persecution,
I553"58, as was her sister Isabelle, originally
Gould, who was confined in the Castle of Nor
wich, and escaped death only by the power of
her brothers, who were men of great influence
in the county. Robert Fiske fled from relig
ious persecution in the days of Queen Mary
to Geneva, but leturned later and died in St.
James in 1600. His sons were: William, Jef
frey, Thomas and Eleazer. The latter had no
issue, but the progeny of the other three sons,
in whole or in part, settled in New England.
Besides these sons there was a daughter Eliza
beth who married Robert Bernard ; their
daughter married a Mr. Locke, and was the
mother of the celebrated John Locke, the
English philosopher.
(VI) William (2), eldest child of Robert
and Sybil (Gould) Fiske, was born at Lax
field in 1566. He married Anna Austye,
daughter of Walter, of Fibbenham, Long
Row, in Norfolk. After her death he married
Alice  . He is described as of St. James
in South Elmham, and it is said of him that
he fled with his father from religious persecu
tion. He died in 1623. Of the first wife
Anna, there were children : John, Nathaniel,
Eleazer, Eunice, Hannah and Esther (some
times called Hester). The youngest child Mary
seems to have been of the second wife, Alice.
(VII) Nathaniel, second son'of William and
Anna (Austye) Fiske, was born in Ditching-
ham, and resided at Weybred. He married
Alice (Henel) Leman. Children: Nathaniel
and Sarah.
(VIII) Nathaniel (2), eldest son of Nathan
iel (1) and Alice (Henel) (Leman) Fiske,
was born in Weybred. There is a tradition
in the family that he died on the passage to
New England. He married Dorothy, daugh
ter of John Symonds, of Wendham. Children :
John, Nathan, Esther, Martha.
(IX) Nathan, second son of Nathaniel (2)
and Dorothy (Symonds) Fiske, was born in
1615, died June 21, 1676, in Watertown, Mass
achusetts. He settled in Watertown as early
as 1642, and was admitted a freeman, May 10,
1643. Fle was selectman in 1673, and his
homestall was the lot in the town plot granted
to R. Frake on the north side of the Sudbury
road, opposite to A. Brown. His sister, Martha
Underwood, testified that he was very "crazy"
in his memory before he died. He married
Susannah (surname unknown). Children:
Nathan, John, David, Nathaniel, Sarah.
(X) Nathaniel (3), fourth son of Nathan
and Susannah Fiske, was born in Watertown,

July 12, 1653, died there September, 1735. He
was a weaver. His will was dated June 10,
and proved October 3, 1735, and the estate
inventoried one hundred and forty-two pounds.
He married the Widow Mary (Warren)
Child, born November 29, 165 1, a daughter of
Daniel Warren, of Watertown' and widow of
John Child. Children: Nathaniel, Hannah,
John, Sarah, Lydia, Mary, Elizabeth, Abigail.
(XI) John, second son of Nathaniel (3)
and Mary (Warren) (Child) Fiske, was born
in Watertown, March 17, 1682, died in Sher
burne, May 8, 1730. fle married, in Sher
burne, July 31, 1706, Lydia, daughter of Moses
and Lydia (Whitney) Adams. Children:
John, Lydia, Isaac, Daniel, Lydia, Peter, Abi
gail, Nathaniel.
(XII) Isaac, second son of John and Lydia
(Adams) Fiske, was born in Sherburne, April
24, 1714, died December 22, 1799. He was
a weaver by trade, resided first at Worcester
and later at Framingham, first near Addison
Dadmun's, after at Guinea End. His will was
dated August 24, 1789, and proved March 17,
1800. He married Hannah, daughter of Rich
ard and Lydia (Whitney) Haven, of Fram
ingham, who died February 21, 1800. Children:
Isaac, Hannah, John, Richard, Daniel, Moses,
Lydia and Moses.
(XIII) Hon. John, second son of Isaac and
Lydia (Haven) Fiske, was born in Framing-
ham in 1 741, where he always resided, and
died there December 17, 1819. He lived near
the Isaac Warren place on the Silk Farm, and
built the house of Rufus Brewer. For years
he was justice of the peace, for six years he
was representative in the legislature and for
twelve years selectman. He married Abigail
Howe, born in 1752, died in April, 1829. Chil
dren: Nat, Thomas, Sally, John Boyle, Sus
anna, Sally, Edward, Nancy, William, George.
(XIV) Thomas, second son of the Hon.
John and Abigail (Howe) Fisk, was born in
Framingham, March 22, 1774, died at Chester
field, New Hampshire, July 25, 1861. In 1807
he went to Chesterfield and settled on the
farm now owned and occupied by his son,
John B. Fisk. When about two years old, he
had an attack of scarlet fever which caused
him to be deaf and consequently dumb. He
learned nevertheless to read and cipher in the
four fundamental rules of arithmetic. At the
age of fifty years he was admitted to the
school for deaf mutes at Hartford, Connecti
cut, for the term of one year. He made rapid
progress and acquired knowledge that was of
great use to him during the remaining years

Lewis Histor-ico.1 PvYbCa ¦

W.T. Bath b^.NT

-*/£* , Ct *£5u^f

MASSACHUSETTS.

361

of his life. He married, in Westmoreland,
New Hampshire, Lucinda Trowbridge, of
Pomfret, Connecticut, who was born in 1782,
died April 14, 1869. Children: Thomas T.,
Lucinda D., Mary Ann B., John B.
(XV) Thomas Trowbridge, eldest son of
Thomas and Lucinda (Trowbridge) Fisk, was
born in Chesterfield, November 27, 1806, died
in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, June 17, 1861,
on the anniversary of the battle of Bunker
Hill and just as the clouds of rebellion were
lowering over the land. He was a farmer,
conducting an express and trucking business,
and later began the manufacture of soap in a
small way with his son, Lucius I., which busi
ness has since grown to mammoth propor
tions and is now located at Springfield, Massa
chusetts. He married Emily H., daughter of
Elijah Hildreth, who was born in Chesterfield,
November 28, 1806, died in Hinsdale, Janu
ary 6, 1849, a°d together with her husband is
buried in the Pine Grove cemetery there. She
was a woman warmly devoted to the interests
of her family. Children : George C, Lucius
I., Noyes W., Addie E., the latter by second
marriage to Miss Goodnow.
(XVI) George C, eldest son of Thomas
Trowbridge and Emily H. (Hildreth) Fisk,
was born in Hinsdale, March 4, 1831, and
received the merest rudiments of an elemen
tary education in the district school. For three
years previous to leaving Flinsdale he was
employed in the store kept by E. W. Hunt
and by Amidon & Holland; but drawing
molasses, weighing nails and selling dry goods,
all at one time, did not suit him. In 1851, at
the age of twenty years, he left Hinsdale with
$15 in his pocket to commence life in earnest.
He went to Springfield, Massachusetts, and
for want of something better suited to his
taste entered a dry goods store, but soon after
wards left and went into a grocery store. A
few months service in the grocery business
satisfied him that mercantile pursuits were not
congenial to his tastes. As every active young
man at that time was attracted towards the
great West where new fields of labor were
opened, Mr. Fisk turned towards that land
of promise. Reaching Cleveland, Ohio, he
stopped to renew the acquaintance of a friend
who had given some encouragement that work
would be given him. While waiting for a
decision, like a genuine Yankee he looked
around for an opportunity to turn an honest
penny. Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" had
just been published and thinking it might sell
well he purchased several copies and started

out as a book agent. The business flourished
with him until a crabbed old fellow threatened
to kick him out of his house if he was ever
seen selling another book to his family. If
this was the treatment that book agents were
to receive in Cleveland he should shake the
dust from his feet and "go West," which con
clusion he immediately put in practice, dispos
ing of the books unsold to a railroad newsboy.
He started for Beloit, Wisconsin, which place
he duly reached. He spent some time in look
ing around, but the slip-shod way of doing
business, then general in the West, did not suit
him and besides he found that a young man
without capital in the West had as few chances
for success as in New England. He turned
eastward and soon found himself back in
Springfield, Massachusetts. Eleazer Ripley, of
that place, was about to commence the manu
facture of locomotives, and wanting a book
keeper he offered the place to Mr. Fisk which
he accepted. While waiting for the machinery
to be put in order he went home to Hinsdale
to make a desk. Two weeks afterward Mr.
Ripley sent for him to take a temporary place
in T. W. Wason's car shops, while Mr. Wason
was absent in the West. Mr. Fisk took the
place and acted as bookkeeper until Mr.
Wason returned, who then made him an offer
of a permanent position. Mr. Ripley giving
his consent he accepted of the offer and com
menced work for Mr. Wason for one dollar
per day. In 1854, after the company had been
running a year, J. S. Mellen, one of the pro
prietors, became discouraged as very little had
been made, sold to Mr. Fisk his interest, one-
sixth for $3,333, and this was his commence
ment of a partnership interest. He continued
to serve as bookkeeper and cashier of the
establishment until it was organized as a cor
poration, when he became treasurer. In addi
tion to the duties of the office he had more
or less to do with the general business of the
company, and for some time previous to the
death of Mr. Wason he was chosen vice-presi
dent and took the general management of busi
ness of the concern. On the death of Mr.
Wason he was chosen president and is now
general manager, the direction of the entire
business coming upon him.
The works built in 1871 are situated at
Brightwood, three miles above Springfield, on
the banks of the Connecticut river, named after
the author Dr. J. G. Holland's country seat
which overlooked the site. Mr. Fisk planned
and had entire charge of the building of these
shops. Mr. Fisk determined that the new

362

MASSACHUSETTS.

shops should be light, airy, symmetrical in plan
and perfect in convenience — in short, the model
manufactory of the city. Accordingly, he de
voted himself to elaborating a systematic
method of utilizing to the best advantage the
sixteen-acre plot devoted to the Wason car
works. A survey of the completed buildings
will prove that Mr. Fisk's intention has been
carried out to entire success. Lying on the
west of the railroad and the north of the entire
purchase, the plot is occupied by two ranges
of buildings flanking a wide transfer track
that runs east and west between them and into
the long lumber yard that stretches beyond to
the Plainfield road. The transfer track and'
table which moves upon it the whole length
of the works are among the most novel and
remarkable apparatus to be found there. The
works and the lumber yard, it must be
premised, are seamed at regular distances with
lateral car tracks. This transfer table's duty
is to receive cars of freight, (iron, lumber,
etc.) from the railroad switch track, and con
vey them to the place where they are needed;
to take cars from the wood shops and trans
fer them to the paint shops, and to deliver to
the railroad for transportation the completed
cars ; being in short, a movable bridge. The
table is 42 feet long, built entirely of iron,
except the cab, in the company's own shops,
and at a cost of $10,000. It ran on three tracks
set upon eight foot piles, and operated by
steam. It could be run its whole distance of
one thousand feet in about two minutes with
sixty pounds of steam, while ten pounds
pressure was enough to operate it. At any of
the ninety lateral tracks it could be stopped
instantly or gradually, and moved half an inch
as easily as a greater distance; in all respects
a wonderful and invaluable invention.
The foundry itself is one hundred and sev
enty feet long, sixty-two wide, and thirty-five
high to the apex of the deek roof ; a deck roof,
be it explained, being as if the ridge of the
roof for twenty-five feet width were raised
some six and a half feet and the sides beneath
it occupied by windows for purposes of light
and ventilation; an arrangement adopted
throughout the new works. Beside the east
wall of the foundry stand a set of Howe's
eighty thousand pound track scales, the first
lateral track passing over their platform, on
which cars loaded with iron from the smelt
ing, are received from the transfer, weighed,
and run through to the iron yard at the rear,
whence the iron is transferred to the great
cupola room. There were contained therein

three McKenzie cupolas, melting twelve tons
each per day, two of them used for wheels
and one for floor castings, and contained in a
house forty feet by twenty-eight. From these
the metal passed into the moulding room,
which contained four wheel cranes, capacity
twenty-five car wheels each daily, though at
one time but seventy-two were made, using
three cranes. A peculiar notion of Mr. Ladd
committed each crane to the care of a different
nationality, the three in operation being wield
ed respectively by French, Irish and Yankee
gangs; the fourth may perhaps be a "heathen
Chinee." The full daily capacity of the
foundry was one hundred wheels and ten tons
of castings. After the wheels left the molds,
they were taken across the track (which is
roofed in at this point) to a house eighty feet
by thirty-eight, where they were put into pits
to remain three days. Continuous with the
pitting house was a core room thirty feet long
for molding and baking wheel cores, which
were made of a mixture of rye meal and yellow
sand, the latter article being brought from
Waterford, New York, as all the molding
sand used about here is, and kept in a brick
cellar (fifty feet long) to prevent its freezing
in winter. Still north of these buildings is
a shed eighty feet by thirty-three for foundry
supplies, directly opposite which is a coal shed
eighty by forty. Twenty-five feet west of
the foundry rose the second group of buildings,
the machine and smith shops. The machine
shop was a two story building, ninety-six feet
by forty-five, the lower story being devoted to
heavy and the upper to light machine work,
while the trimmings and pattern rooms were
also on the second floor. Among the improved
machinery that took the place of the obsolete
processes of the old shops may be mentioned
in this shop the Bement No. 30 hydraulic press,
for gauging the pressure with which wheels
are set upon the axles, a process which was
before guess work, depending on the judg
ment of the mechanic. At the north of and
connected with the machine shop was the
spacious smith shop, one hundred and fifty
feet by forty-five, and thirty-five feet high to
the deck roof, having a wing forty-eight by
twenty-four for an iron room. This shop con
tained twenty-six side fires, with new, im
proved cast iron forges, three large center
forges for heavy work, a Waters patent one
thousand two hundred pound drop, and the
usual deafening array of trip-hammers.
The passenger car erecting shop, twenty-
five feet farther west, begins the next fellow-

MASSACHUSETTS.

363

ship of buildings. It is one hundred and seven
teen feet long by seventy-five wide, and the
same height to the deck roof as the shops
before mentioned. This room area contains
five tracks, and is used exclusively for build
ing passenger-car bodies ; the trucks on which
they are mounted being set up in the lower
part of a two-story building, sixty by forty-
five, adjoining on the north, whose upper floor
will be occupied as a tin shop, for tinning is a
very considerable item in the business of car
manufacture. Extending continuously west
ward from the car-erecting shop, and separated
therefrom by a fire proof partition, a heavy
brick wall and double iron doors, is a building
two hundred feet by sixty-two and two stories
high, with a wing on the northwest forty-two
by fifty feet. The lower floor of both main
portion and wing is filled with machinery for
the heavy woodwork, nearly all of which is
new, though a portion comes from the old
shops. The cabinet shop above occupies the
entire area of the main building, while in the
wing are the upholstery and the varnish and
seat-trimming rooms, each twenty-five by
forty-two feet. East of this wing, and also
north of the main shop, is another two-story
addition, containing below the engine and
boilers. The engine is one of the Providence
steam engine company's, one hundred and fifty
horse power, eighteen inch cylinder, four foot
stroke, and running a fifteen foot fly wheel
with thirty-two inch face. The belt, which is
probably the most perfect specimen of that
manufacture in the whole country, and of
course, therefore, in the world, won the
premium of the American Institute, in whose
fair at New York it was exhibited. It is of
double leather, one hundred and twenty-two
and a half feet long and thirty inches wide
and cost one thousand dollars.
Passing still westward, the pilgrim through
this vast industrial array reaches the lumber
yard, extending on both sides the transfer
track, and to whose present and prospective
uses twelve of the sixteen and a half acres of
the factory are dedicated. Twenty-five feet
west of the wood-work buildings is a lumber
shed four hundred and twenty feet long and
forty wide, two stories high, in which are
stored all the choicest woods used in the elabo
rate cabinet work expended on the modern
passenger coach, and a bridge leads from the
upper story directly into the cabinet rooms.
The lumber beyond is systematically arranged
according to the order of demand, and tracks
run through between every two piles, so that

a supply of lumber can be taken with the
utmost economy of handling.
The south side of the grounds was occupied
for five hundred feet in length and seventy-
five in width by the paint shop. A noteworthy
feature connected with this shop was the keep
ing of the paint stock beneath ground, in a
fire-proof cellar, some distance south of the
shop, and communicating with it by a sub
terranean passage. On the same side and two
hundred and fifty feet from the west end of
the shop, in the lumber yard, was a brick
double dry house, forty-two feet by thirty-five,
heated by stoves.
The product of the company was in service
in every section of the United States, and they
had large contracts from the Central Pacific,
the Canadian Southern, the New Jersey Cen
tral, and Manhattan railways. Their goods
have also gone to Argentine Republic, Brazil,
Canada, China, Central America, Chili, Cuba,
Egypt, Mexico, Nova Scotia, Panama, Portu
gal, Venezuela, Yucatan. In 1893 the build
ing of passenger coaches for steam railways
declined so that the company commenced build
ing electric cars. Their product for one year
was fifty-one steam railway cars, four hund-
dred and fifty-three Manhattan cars, fifteen
rapid transit cars, sixty-four closed and forty-
nine open street cars, four freight cars and
fifty snow plows, valued at $1,200,000. It
may not be generally known that the first
through train which rolled upon the rails of
the Pacific railroad bound for San Francisco
was built, equipped and decorated at these
works. Mr. Fisk is not one who forgets former
neighbors and youthful scenes. How dearly
he prizes his old New Hampshire home is
illustrated by his selecting a view of Monad-
nock mountain and the Ashuelot valley as a
scene for the drop curtain at the Fisk Casino.
Mr. Fisk started the Brightwood Paper Mills
at Hinsdale, which furnishes employment to a
number of people and is one of the principal
industries of the place.
The Fisk Casino, built through the generos
ity of George C. Fisk, to provide a place of
amusement for the people of Brightwood, is
situated at the corner of Main street and
Wason avenue. It is constructed of wood and
is of Queen Anne style, and has cost about
$12,000. The casino, although but about one-
quarter the size of a good-sized theater, is
nevertheless as well equipped probably as any
in this part of the country. The corridor,
opening on Main street, is ten by fifteen feet.

364

MASSACHUSETTS.

The auditorium is thirty-seven by forty-five
feet and twenty-five feet high. The house,
including the balcony, has a seating capacity of
three hundred and eighty-seven. The main
floor has settees and the balcony has chairs.
There is a trap door in smoothly polished
floor, so that all the seats can be removed to
the basement and the room cleared for danc
ing. The woodwork is ash with cherry panels.
The windows are of yellow cathedral glass
and a Madras lambrequin is hung over each.
Over the proscenium arch is a monogram G. C.
F., Mr. Fisk's initials, and above this is a head
of Melpomene, the muse of tragedy. The
stage, twenty feet deep and forty-five wide, is
thoroughly equipped with all the paraphernalia
which goes to make the modern stage complete.
One of Mr. Fisk's fads at his farm at Eagle
Rest was thoroughbred cattle of the Holstein-
Friesians breed. Among his registered im
ported animals have been Promoter Bull Ryse
Duke 3075, sire Promoter, dam Koster 2nd
(463^2 quarts). Ryse Duke was bred by
Elizur Smith, of Lee, Massachusetts. The
females in the herd have been Kouingin Van
Friesland 6th, 6489, Dorrice 6863, Aagie Lee
2nd 4435, Kalma 2nd 3299, Slot 2nd 1520,
Aaggie Beauty 2907. Aaggie Beauty made a
record in Holland of 68I/2 lbs, in one day,
when three years old, and 13,574 lbs. in one
year when four years old, and was dam of
Aaggie Beauty 2nd, and Aaggie Beauty 3d.
Aaggie Beauty's bull calf, by Netherland
Prince, sold for $500 when two weeks old.
He also owned the Dutch cow "Atossa" which
took the sweepstakes premium at the Bay
State fair and won premiums at several other
fairs. This choice pet was imported by Mr.
Bradley, of Lee. Mr. Fisk has purchased the
old homestead farm at Chesterfield, New
Flampshire, together with other farms, making
about six hundred acres, where he spends
much of his time during the summer, during
the daytime, spending his evenings at Hinsdale.
He retird from the Wason Company in 1907,
after over fifty-four years with the company,
and thirty-seven years as president.
Mr. Fisk married Maria Emerson, daughter
of Daniel H. Ripley. Three of their children
are deceased : George, died at age of eleven
years ; and Robert and Lena, died in infany.
Charles Abbott, son of George C. and Maria
Emerson (Ripley Fisk, born in Springfield,
August 15, 1853, died at his summer home
in Fluntington in the Berkshire Hills. His
early education was received in a private
school in this city, and he afterward entered

the Massachusetts Agricultural College in Am
herst. He began his business career as an errand
boy in the Wason car works in 1872, and by
faithfulness and perseverance rose to higher
positions. He became paymaster and was also at
the head of the supply department. At the time
of his death he was cashier and purchasing
agent. He was a director of the Wason Car Com
pany, a director of the Fisk Paper Company of
Hinsdale, New Hampshire. He was also
president of the B. L. Bragg Company.
Although a firm believer in the principles of
the Republican party, Mr. Fisk often acted
independently in politics. He was elected to
the common council from ward 1 in 1877, and
served on the city property and enrollment
committee, giving good service to the city.
He belonged to the Calhoun Club and attend
ed the Third Universalist Church. Mr. Fisk
was twice married, his first wife being Jennie,
daughter of George A. Graves, of Springfield.
One daughter, Mattie, v/as born to them.
October 17, 1894, he married (second) Helen
E. Young, daughter of E. M. Young, of
Springfield, who survives him. He also leaves
three children by his second marriage : Mil
dred, Florence and Helen E.
Belle R., daughter of George C. and Maria
Emerson (Ripley) Fisk, married Oliver Hyde
Dickinson, June 20, 1888, and have three
children: George Fisk, born July 5, 1890;
Julia and Minerva, twins, born October
23, 1891. Mr. Dickinson is engaged in the
seed business in Springfield. The Dickinson-
Fisk nuptials was one of the swellest affairs
in the "smart set" of aristocratic Springfield.
The local papers and the Boston and New
York journals were very profuse in their
descriptions. "The most brilliant and beautiful wedding
which Springfield has seen for many years
occurred at the Brightwood residence of Mr.
and Mrs. George C. Fisk, Wednesday evening,
when their only daughter, Miss Isabel, (Belle
R.) was united in marriage with Mr. Oliver
Hyde Dickinson. The occasion bore the poetic
name of a "rose wedding," the residence, Dr.
Holland's Brightwood, being transformed into
a bower of roseate beauty. The estate, beau
tiful in itself, was made doubly so by all that
art and skill could do, the decorations being
a triumph of floral art. At the back of the
spacious hall was a bank of tropical plants
reaching from the ground floor to the top of
the balusters. The balusters were trimmed
with ivy and the newel-post entirely covered
with a column of La France and Pearl roses,

oy-.

(X/

MASSACHUSETTS.

365

surmounted by the bronze statue of Mercury
upholding a cluster of gas jets. The columns
supporting the Gothic arches were trimmed
with ivy so arranged as to hang in pendants
from the three arches. Over all this beauty
came the colored lights from the dome above,
which was lighted to give the brilliancy of the
midday sun, making the effect something
superb. In the library the fireplace was com
pletely disguised with plants and roses reach
ing to the ceiling. In the center of the room,
supported on a table, was a magnificent basket
of roses, four feet in diameter, and containing
some 500 buds. The piazza facing the east,
inclosed by bamboo-beaded portieres and filled
with tropical plants, gave the appearance of
a conservatory. The moonlight falling through
the portieres made the beads sparkle like
jewels, the effect being almost dazzling. Im
mense Japanese lanterns were hung in design
from the center of the ceiling. The piazza
facing the west was also inclosed by bamboo
beaded portieres lighted by 100 Japanese
candles, and it was here that Coenen's orches
tra gave forth music that could be heard all
over the house and grounds. In the dining
room the center piece was a silver epergne,
three feet high, filled with choice fruits.
Underneath the epergne was a floral base com
posed of roses and green with three small
pyramids supporting china filled with bonbons.
Other china to match that used on the table
was scattered among the roses. At each end
of the table were two square vases composed
of roses and carnations; the vases were three
feet high and resting on green bases. Both
vases were filled with choice roses and spirea
japonica. In the base of these vases were
canary birds, whose sweet voices were a mys
tery to the guests, who could not imagine
where the songsters were. The west parlor,
in which the ceremony was performed, was
transformed into a plateau of roses.' Glass
and mantelpiece were banked from the floor
to the ceiling with tropical plants and roses.
The frieze was festooned with smilax and
roses of all colors caught up with blue bows.
Across the broad opening of the exquisite bay
window were floral portieres with a frieze of
Marechal Niel, La France and Nephetos roses,
and a dado of bride and Jacqueminot roses.
The backgrounds of the portieres was com
posed of ferns and smilax, and in the center
of each was the monogram "D. and F." in
Pearl and La France roses. The chandelier
was festooned with smilax, and with its beau
tiful glass prisms gave a charming effect."

Among the distinguished guests at this wed
ding was the Honorable Don M. Dickinson of
Michigan, postmaster general in Cleveland's
cabinet. (XVI) Lucius I., second son of Thomas
Trowbridge and Emily H. (Hildreth) Fisk,
was born in' Hinsdale in 1833, died in Spring
field, August 18, 1880. He married Evaline
E. Raymond, of Ashuelot, New Hampshire,
and they had no children.
(XVI) Noyes W., youngest son of Thomas
Trowbridge and Emily H. (Hildreth) Fisk,
was born in Hinsdale, May 15, 1839, died
January 21, 1901. When thirteen years old
he entered the country store of Frederick Hunt
in Hinsdale as clerk. He remained with Mr.
Hunt for about four years, and in 1856 went
to Northampton and kept books for Thayer
& Sargeant for a couple of years. Later he
became bookkeeper for E. B. Flaskell & Sons,
grocers, in Springfield. In 1862 he enlisted
in Company A of the Forty-sixth Regiment.
When he had served out the term of his en
listment, he returned to Springfield and started
for himself in the grocery and provision busi
ness. In 1867 he went into the manufacture
of lamp-black on the corner of Chestnut and
Ringgold streets, and had hardly got on the
way when all his buildings were consumed by
fire. In 1868 he went into partnership with his
brothers in the manufacture of soap. In 1880
the Fisk Manufacturing Company was formed
for manufacturing this product, of which
George C. Fisk was president, Noyes W. Fisk,
clerk and treasurer. The company employs
nearly forty men and manufactures a larger
quantity of soap than any other New England
house and is among the very largest in the
whole country. The principal markets for the
Fisk Manufacturing Company's goods are in
New England, New York, New Jersey and
the Middle West. They make the popular
Japanese soap. Mr. Fisk was for seven years
a member of the common council from ward
one and for ten years a member of the water
commissioners. He was a director in the
Chicopee National Bank, the Springfield
Wood-working Company and the Hampden
Paint Works. He was a director in the
Masonic Mutual Insurance Company, a trustee
of the School for Christian Workers. He was
a member of the Winthrop Club, Nayassett
Club and Blue Lodge of Masons and the
Springfield Commandery of Knights Templar.
He had passed all the various degrees in the
Masonic order up to the thirty-second degree,
and was one of the most ardent members of

366

MASSACHUSETTS.

that order. He was one of the organizers of
the Fisk Rubber Company; was member of
Wilcox Post, Grand Army of the Republic.
He was a member of the Memorial Congrega
tional Church. He was a lover of animals, espe
cially horses and dogs, and it was his pride to be
the possessor of some of the best horses to be
had. He was public-spirited in all things
tending to the good of the community, and
loyal in his friendships. His positions of
public and financial trust show the estimation
in which Mr. Fisk was held by the general and
business community. August 25, 1862, he
married Emeline G. Adams, of Hinsdale,
daughter of Oliver and Fanny (Stearns)
Adams, and they had two children: Harry
G, and Grace M., who died in infancy. Harry
G., married Alice B. Mayo; they have three
children: Julia M., Noyes M. and Charlotte
M. Harry G. is actively associated with the
Fisk Rubber Company as secretary.
There were persons of distinc-
EATON tion among the English families
of the surname Eaton, and among
the New England descendants of that ancient
house in every generation from the time of
the immigrant ancestor there have been men
of distinction and high character equal perhaps
to that of their European forbears, although
on this side of the Atlantic we find none of
the name who have placed their chief reliance
for character and worth on the coat of arms
"or a fret azure" so much as on personal en
deavor and individual achievement. The family
of the Eaton surname whose pedigree is traced
here, begins its history in New England with
John and Anne Eaton, the former of whom is
mentioned in some chronicles as John Eaton
of Haverhill and in others as John Eaton of
Salisbury, both of the colony of Massachusetts
Bay. He came of the old English family of
the same name, and while there is room for
the belief that his ancestors were of the same
kin with those of Sir Peter, baronet, the fact
is not easily established. The immigration
registers and ship's lists of passengers give no
account of the departure of John Eaton and
his family from England, neither is it known
exactly when they arrived in this country, nor
the name of the ship in which they took pass
age ; but they came, John Eaton and his wife
and six children, and sat down in one of the
plantations in the Massachusetts Bay colony,
in or sometime previous to the year 1639.
(I) John Eaton first appears on the pro
prietors' books of Salisbury in 1639-40, and

several grants of land to him were made be
tween 1640 and 1646. A tradition which has
run in the family for more than a century and
a half is to the effect that he had a brother and
a cousin in the colony about or soon after the
time of his arrival, but the researches of more
recent investigators seem to dispel the theory.
One of the grants of land to John Eaton was
that made on the "26th of ye 6th mo. 1640, 2
acres, more or less, for his house lotte, lying
between the house lotts of Mr. Samuel Hall
and Rolfe Blesdale;" and another was his
"planting lotte," granted "the 7th of the 9th
mo. 1640, containing pr estimation six acres
more or less, lying uppon ye great neck," and
his house was built near the "great neck bridge,
on the beach road." It is interesting to note
in this connection that in 1890 the old home
stead property was still owned and in posses
sion of descendants of the immigrant. Later
in 1646 John Eaton conveyed the property to
his son John, and then moved with the other
members of his family about fifteen miles up
the Merrimack to Haverhill, and there spent
the remaining twenty-two years of his life. In
1646 he was chosen grand juror, and also one
of five prudential men of Salisbury. He was
a husbandman, and the records mention that
he also made staves. He died in Haverhill,
October 29, 1668, aged about seventy-three
years, hence he was born about 1595. He
married Anne  , about 1617, and all of
their children were born in England. She
died February 5, 1660, and he married second,
November 20, 1661, Phebe, widow of Thomas
Dow, of Newbury, Massachusetts. She died
in 1672. John and Anne Eaton had children:
1. John, born 1619 ; married Martha Rowland-
son, of Ipswich, Massachusetts. 2. Ann, born
about 1622, died in Haverhill, December 13,
1683 ; married June 25, 1645, Lieutenant
George Brown, who married second, March
17, 1684, widow Hannah Hazen of Rowley.
3. Elizabeth, born about 1625 ; married De
cember 1, 1648, James Davis, of Haverhill;
ten children. 4. Ruth, born about 1628; mar
ried December 9, 1656, Samuel Ingalls; lived
in Ipswich. 5. Thomas, born about 1631 ;
married (first) Martha Kent; (second) Eunice
Singletery; lived in Haverhill. 6. Hester,
born about 1634, died young.
(II) John Eaton, eldest child of John and
Anne Eaton, was horn in England in 1619,
and died on the old homestead in Salisbury,
Massachusetts, November 1, 1682. He went
to Salisbury with his father in the winter of
1639-40, and when the latter removed to

MASSACHUSETTS.

367

Haverhill; in 1646, he deeded his house and
property "on the neck" to his son John who
lived there until his death. He was a planter
and cooper, as he describes himself in his
will and he appears to have become possessed
of a large estate in lands which he gave to his
son, making ample provision for each, the
homestead going to his eldest son John. About
1644 John Eaton married Martha, daughter of
Thomas Rowlandson Sr., of Ipswich, and
sister of Rev. Joseph Rowlandson, who gradu
ated from Harvard College in 1652, the only
member of his class. The Rowlandsons came
from England, and it is believed that they
were acquainted with the Eatons be fore coming
to this country. Martha, wife of John Eaton,
survived him about thirty years, and died in
July, 1712, "a woman of great age and of great
excellency of character." Children: 1. Hester,
born August, 1645, died 1649. 2. John, born
about 1646; married Mary  ; lived in
Salisbury. 3. Thomas, born January 17, 1647;
married Hannah Hubbard ; lived in Salisbury ;
she was a descendant of William Hubbard,
"an eminent inhabitant" of Ipswich. 4. Martha,
born August 12, 1648; married (first) Benja
min Collins, of Salisbury; (second) Philip
Flanders, of Salisbury. 5. Elizabeth, born
December 12, 1650; married January 7, 1673,
Dr. John Groth, who was admitted to practice
medicine in 1679. 6. Ann, born December 17,
1652, died June 12, 1658. 7. Sarah, born Feb
ruary 28, 1655 > married May 6, 1675, Robert
Downer, of Salisbury. 8. Mary, born Decem
ber 9, 1656, died January 1, 1657. 9. Samuel,
born February 14, 1659; a mariner. 10.
Joseph, born March 1, 1661 ; married Mary
French; lived in Salisbury. 11. Ephraim, born
April 12, 1663; married Mary True; lived in
Salisbury. (Ill) Captain Joseph Eaton, son and tenth
child of John and Martha (Rowlandson)
Eaton, was born in Salisbury, March 1, 1661,
and died there January 13, 1743. His house
was in that part of the town known as Sandy
hill, where his houselot comprised three acres
of land given him by his father, but he had
much other land and is said to have bought
and sold land quite extensively for his time,
and to have gained an honest competency
through his dealings. He was a joiner by
trade, and built many houses and other build
ings in the town, and he also was captain of
militia and a man of considerable influence in
public affairs. Captain Eaton was a famous
hunter and trapper, and at certain seasons of
the year went with companions as far east as

Brunswick, Maine, and on his return home he
would entertain his family and friends with
anecdotes of his frequent excursions. These
stories aroused an adventurous spirit in his
sons, and three of them afterward sought their
fortunes down in the wilds of Maine. They
were not adventurers, however, but sturdy
pioneers, men of courage and determination,
Indian fighters in defense of home and family,
and one of them fell a victim of Indian rapac
ity, while the son of another received a wound,
and was made prisoner and carried away into
captivity. In the history of Brunswick,. Maine,
it is written as a matter of tradition that one
Jacob Eaton went there from Salisbury, Mass
achusetts, about 1680, or earlier, with one
Michael Malcom, and were trappers and
traders with the Indians; that they bought
lands from the Indians which included the
territory new comprising the town of Bruns
wick, and laid claim to title. The story is
not without foundation, though essentially in
correct in many respects, and is the outgrowth
of the hunting excursions which furnished
recreation for Captain Eaton's hunting parties.
If a put chase was made from the Indians, as
might be inferred if what has been termed the
"Eaton claim" had any foundation in fact,
the grant doubtless was secured by Captain
Eaton himself rather than his son Jacob, and
at a period much later than «68o, for the cap
tain then was less than twenty years old and
his son Jacob was not born until 1703. What
ever truth there may have been in the story
that the Eatons ever seriously laid claim to
title to the lands of Brunswick is not now
known, but there is no evidence that an Indian
deed was ever executed, or presented as a
foundation of the so called claim ; but if family
tradition be true the worthy captain possessed
a sufficiently keen sense of humor to narrate
to his friends the story of having acquired title
to Indian lands by verbal cession, if such had
been the case.
Captain Eaton married (first) December 14,
1683, Mary French, of Salisbury, who died
July 12, 1726; ten children. The intentions
of his second marriage were recorded in No
vember, 1726, and he married soon afterward
Mary Worster (or Worcester) of Bradford,
Massachusetts, who died September 2, 1759.
His children, all born of his first marriage : 1.
John, born August 23, 1684, died December
12, 1684. 2. John, born October 18, 1685 ;
married Esther Johnson, of Kingston, New
Hampshire; lived in Salisbury. 3. Samuel,
born December 7, 1687; married Mary Mai-

368

MASSACHUSETTS.

com ; removed to Brunswick, Maine. 4.
Joseph, born August 14, 1690; married Mary
French ; lived in Newbury, Massachusetts. 5.
Benjamin, born February 14, 1693; married
Sarah Merrill; lived in Salisbury. 6. Moses,
born May 18, 1695 ; was killed by Indians near
Brunswick, Maine, 1722. 7. Mary, born April
9, 1697; married January 14, 1715, Benjamin
True, of Salisbury. 8. Nicholas, born Septem
ber 12, 1699; married Mercy Walton; lived in
Salisbury. 9. Sarah, born May 20, 1701 ; mar
ried June 30, 1726, David Buswell, of Brad
ford, Massachusetts. 10. Jacob, born April
16, 1703; married (first) Sarah Plummer;
(second) Sarah Malcom; lived in Topsham,
Maine. (IV) Samuel Eaton, third son and child
of Captain Joseph Eaton and Mary French
his first wife, was born in Salisbury, Decem
ber 7, 1687, and is mentioned in the history
of Brunswick as having come from Salisbury
"early in the last century and built a house on
the corner of Bank and Maine streets." But
the author of the history just mentioned is
mistaken in saying of this Samuel Eaton that
'one of his children Samuel, was a soldier in
Fort George in 1722," for the Samuel Eaton
of Fort George and the colonial wars was
Samuel the elder son of Captain Joseph, and
the pioneer of the family in Maine. He in
herited a love of* exploration and "to gratify
it he plunged into the forests of Maine and
finally settled in what is now Brunswick." He
is the Samuel Eaton who figured so conspic
uously in what has been called Lovewell's war,
which began in 1722, and it was he whom
Captain Gyles (or Giles) sent from Fort
George to Colonel John Harmon at George
town, Massachusetts, with a letter tied up in
an eelskin and concealed in his hair. When it
was unsafe for him to travel by land he took
to the water and swam, and thus reached his
destination in safety. During the same war
Moses Eaton, brother of Samuel, was taken
prisoner (June, 1722), tortured and mutilated,
and finally was carried to Point Pleasant and
killed by his savage captors.
Samuel Eaton married, about 171 5, Mary,
daughter of John Malcom, first of Salisbury
and afterward of Brunswick. John Malcom
was one of the companions of Captain Joseph
Eaton on his hunting expeditions from Salis
bury into Maine, and it was he who with Eaton
is said to have taken part in purchasing the
Indian title to what now is Brunswick, although
the history of Brunswick ascribes that action
to one Michael Malcom. It is not known that

John Malcom took part in the colonial wars,
although one or more of his sons entered the
service. The names of all of Samuel Eaton's
children are not known, but it is stated (on
the authority of the late Martin Eaton) that
he had two sons — Enoch and Daniel; and a
daughter Mary. Enoch Eaton was drowned
when a boy.
(V) Daniel Eaton, son of Samuel and Mary
(Malcom) Eaton, was born in Brunswick,
Maine, in 1722, and through him are descend
ed many of the Brunswick Eaton families.
Little is known of his family life and there is
no present record by which we may learn of
his marriage, the name of his wife and their
children, except John. But there is a clear
account of a part of the service of Daniel
Eaton as a soldier of the French and Indian
war. Early in May, 1757, while John Malcom
and Daniel Eaton were going to Maquoit for
salt hay, they were attacked by Indians. Mal
com escaped, but Eaton received a bullet
wound in the wrist, was captured and taken
to Canada and held there about a year. His
captor was the Indian chief Sabattis, who sold
his prisoner for four dollars. Many years
after this event, about 1800, the old chief again
visited Brunswick, met his former prisoner
and was shown the mark of the bullet wound
on his arm ; and seeing the scar Sabattis said,
"That long time ago ; war time too."
(VI) John Eaton was a son of Daniel
Eaton, but other than this fact little is known
of him, except that he married Jane Grant, and
had children, among them sons Martin, John
and David, and a daughter Jane.
(VII) Martin Eaton, son of John Eaton,
was born in Brunswick, Maine, in 1796, and
died in South Durham, Maine, in 1888, having
attained the remarkable age of ninety-two
years. He was a substantial farmer, living
first in Brunswick and afterward for many
years in Webster, Maine, but later returned to
Brunswick in order that his children might
have the benefits of the better schools of the
latter town. Mr. Eaton married, April 27,
1834, Phebe Winslow, of Durham, born Janu
ary 31, 1805, daughter of William Winslow,
founder of the town of Winslow, Maine, and
one of the foremost men of his time in the
province. Children of Martin and Phebe
(Winslow) Eaton: 1. Sarah Jane, born May
30, 1835, died June 8, 1906; married, October
17, 1879, George P. Day, of South Durham,
Maine. 2. William Winslow, born May 20,
1836; married, July 12, 1865, Agnes H. Ma
goun. 3. Rebecca Annie, born July 18, 1837;

MASSACHUSETTS.

369

married, April, 1878, George Richardson. 4.
Abigail Stewart, born October 10, 1838, died
July 13, 1839. 5. Martha Ellen, born October
8, 1839, died February 4, 1872 ; married, De
cember 8, 1864, James Clark. 6. Alonzo Jones,
born January 10, 1841 ; a soldier of the civil
war, and died August, 1905, of disabilities
contracted in service; married, March, 1861,
Elizabeth M. Lyon, who died in 1906. 7.
Lucinda Maria, born January 10, 1841, died
November 2, 1842. 8. Edward R., born May
29, 1843 > died October 30, 1861, while in ser
vice in the first year of the civil war.
(VIII) Dr. William Winslow Eaton, eldest
son and second child of Martin and Phebe
(Winslow) Eaton, was born in Webster,
Maine, May 20, 1836, and for more than forty
years has been prominently identified with the
professional and civil life of Danvers, and of
Essex county, Massachusetts. When Dr.
Eaton was a boy living down in Maine his
father removed from Webster to Brunswick
that his children might have every opportunity
to gain a better education than was afforded in
the common schools in Webster, and William
attended the public schools in Brunswick, and
later finished the course of the high school
and was graduated. But this was not enough
for him for he had determined to obtain a
higher education and to that end fitted him
self for college, entered Bowdoin for the classi
cal course and graduated with the degree of
A. B. in 1861 ; and best of all, he accomplished
this course wholly through his own persever
ing effort, maintaining himself and paying his
own tuition rates from the day of matricula
tion to commencement day when the dean of
the faculty handed him his coveted and hon
estly deserved diploma. In 1865 he received
the degree of M. A. from the same institution.
While making his course in college Dr. Eaton
had begun the study of medicine under the
competent preceptorship of Dr. Isaac Lincoln
of Brunswick, but after graduating he taught
in the Bridgton high school one year and at
the same time continued his preliminary medi
cal studies more definitely than before, taking
his first and second courses of lectures in 1861
and 1862 in the Maine Medical School, although
for very good reason he did not receive his
diploma in medicine until something like two
years later. The interval of years, however,
was not without value from the standpoint of
practical medical and surgical experience,
although for the time the young aspirant was
compelled to lay aside his text books and
didactic studies for the more practical surgi

cal duties of the hospital tent and the battle
field. On June 6, 1862, Dr. Eaton enlisted from
Brunswick, Maine, in the Sixteenth Maine
Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and on June
27, 1862, was appointed hospital steward. He
was promoted to assistant surgeon January 25,
1863, and to surgeon, with rank of major, No
vember 25, 1864, having served as acting sur
geon from May 1, 1864. His regiment was
organized at Augusta, Maine, and was there
mustered into the service of the United States
for a period of three years or during the war,
on August 14, 1862, Colonel Asa W. Wildes
commanding. The regiment left Augusta on
August 19 for Washington City, arriving there
August 21, and the next day crossed the Long
Bridge into Virginia, being assigned to Forts
Cass, Woodbury and Tillinghast. On Sep
tember 7 it was withdrawn from the forts
and ordered to active duty in Maryland. At
Gettysburg only two officers and fifteen men
remained able for duty at the close of the
three days battle, out of 248 who went into
action. Surgeon Eaton was captured there on
July ist, and remained in charge of the Luth
eran Church Hospital until July 4th, when
after the advance of the Union forces he re
joined his regiment. He was always to be
found at his post, performing the arduous
duties of an army surgeon in the field with
efficiency and skill, caring for the sick and
wounded of his command, often under most
unfavorable conditions, and achieving a most
creditable record, whether in camp, hospital,
or on the field of battle. While a prisoner he
ministered to sick and wounded rebels, as well
as to his own comrades. In this connection it
may be noted that he still retains a fragment
of his regimental flag, which, when capture
was inevitable, was torn to pieces by the color-
bearer, and distributed among the men to pre
vent it falling., into the enemy's hands. While
in winter quarters at Mitchell's Station, in
December, 1863, he received from Secretary
of War Stanton a leave of absence to admit of
his completing his professional studies in the
New York Hospital and Medical School, re
ceiving the degree of M. D. from New York
University on March 4, 1864. During this
course he sat under the instruction of the
eminent D. Valentine Mott and other noted
physicians and surgeons. Surgeon Eaton was
honorably discharged from service at Augusta,
Maine, June 5, 1865, by reason of end of war.
After being mustered out of service, Dr.
Eaton returned to his old home in Brunswick,

370

MASSACHUSETTS.

where he married, but did not practice there.
His professional career was begun in South
Reading, Massachusetts, (now Wakefield),
where he was induced to locate in answer to the
urgent request of his old regimental chaplain,
with whom he was visiting after returning
from the front. After two years residence in
South Reading Dr. Eaton removed to Danvers
and has engaged in active and successful gen
eral practice in that locality since 1867, a period
of more than two score years. He maintains
an office in Salem as well as in Danvers,
although his home is in the latter town, and his
practice, while general, has its special side and
he is an electro-therapeutist of wide reputa
tion. It is doubtful if there is any professional
man in Essex county with a more extended
and favorable acquaintance than Dr. Eaton,
and few whose endeavors in professional life
have been rewarded with better success or
more substantial results. In 1865 he became
a member of the Essex County Medical
Society and the Massachusetts Medical Society,
and besides he holds membership in various
other organizations of men of his profession,
among them the Maine Medical Society, the
American Medical Association and the Ameri
can Electro-Therapeutic Society, of the latter
of which he is a former vice-president, as also
he is ex-president of the Essex County Medi
cal Society, and ex-vice-president of the Mass
achusetts Medical Society. He became a
member of the board of U. S. examining sur
geons for pensions, June, 1889, and still occu
pies that position, fle is an interesting but not
prolific writer. One of his best professional
monographs is one on "The Use and Abuse of
Alcohol," and he is author of a "History of
the Physicians of Danvers," which has been
published ; and a concise and accurate "His
tory of the Sixteenth Regiment Maine Volun
teer Infantry," his old command.
Dr. Eaton is a Mason of long .standing, hav
ing first become a member of Army Lodge, No.
8, F. and A. M., while in service at the front
in 1864. He is affiliated with Amity Lodge,
of Danvers; was a charter member and past
master of Mosaic Lodge, of Danvers; is a
charter member of Holton Chapter, R. A. M.,
of Danvers ; also member of Winslow Lewis
Commandery, No. 18, K. T., of Salem, of
which he has been prelate for sixteen years ;
and member of Sutton Lodge of Perfection,
of Salem. He is a comrade of Ward Post,
No. 90, G. A. R. ; was its second commander,
serving two years ; and for thirty-five years
has been annually installed in his present posi

tion of surgeon. In his life in Danvers he
has been for many years variously identified
with the best interests and institutions of the
community, and while he has never aspired to
political honors, he has taken an active part in
the interest of good citizenship and the gen
eral welfare. He has filled several offices of
minor importance, and for fifteen years served
as member of the school committee, of which he
was at one time chairman. He was a trustee
of the Peabody Institute; and for the past
twenty-three years has been president and one
of the trustees of the Walnut Grove Cemetery
Corporation. He is a member of the Danvers
Scientific Society. He is one of the organizers
of the Danvers Improvement Society, was its
first vice-president, and for eighteen years
president, which position he yet occupies. This
Society was formed with the idea of beauti
fying the roads, walks, shade trees, railroad
station, etc., of the city. The Society, without
any means in the treasury, purchased for five
thousand dollars, which has been paid, a tract
of land of twenty-five acres, which it pro
posed to turn over to the town as a beautiful
park bordering on Porter river for a quarter-
mile wide, with landscape scenery, river view,
etc., all graded and beautified, besides thous
ands of dollars expended in improvements.
This will be turned over to the town, to be
enjoyed as a public park forever. Dr. Eaton
delivered the address at the Memorial Institute
at the time of the death of General Grant, and
has made addresses on several Memorial Days.
On June 25, 1865, Dr. Eaton married Agnes
Hirst Magoun, born in Carlisle, England, Jan
uary 5, 1842, who came to the United States
when a child. She died in Danvers, July 14,
1904. Children of Dr. and Mrs. Eaton: 1.
Elbert, born August 8, 1866, died May 31,
1880. 2. Susan Wilhelmina, born April 2,
1870. 3. Harold P., born January 2, 1881,
died May 2, same year. 4. Marion Agnes,
born June 19, 1883.
(The Winslow Line).
William Winslow, or Wyncelow, the first of
the lineage as traced in England, had children:
1. John, of London, afterwards of Wyncelow
Hall, was living in 1387-88; married Mary
Crouchman, who died in 1409-10; styled of
Crouchman Hall. 2. William, mentioned be
low. (II) William Winslow was son of William
Winslow (1).
(Ill) Thomas Winslow, son of William
Winslow (2), was of Burton, county Oxford,

MASSACHUSETTS.

37i

having lands also in Essex ; was living in 1452.
He married Cecelia, one of the two daughters
and heiress of an old family — Tansley. She
was called Lady Agnes.
(TV) William Winslow, son of Thomas
Winslow (3), was living in 1529. Children:
1. Kenelm, mentioned beiow. 2. Richard, had
a grant from Edward VI of the rectory of
Elksley, county Nottingham.
(V) Kenelm Winslow, son of William
Winslow (4), purchased in 1559, of Sir Rich
ard Newport, an estate called Newport's Place,
in Kempsey, Worcestershire. He had an older
and very extensive estate in the same parish,
called Clerkenleap, sold by his grandson, Rich
ard Winslow, in 1650. He died in 1607, in
the parish of St. Andrew. He married Cath
erine  . His will, dated April 14, 1607,
proved November 9 following, is still pre
served at Worcester. Only son, Edward, men
tioned below.
(VI) Edward Winslow, son of Kenelm
Winslow (5), born in the parish of Saint An
drew, county Worcester, England, October 17,
1560, died before 1631. He lived in Kempsey
and Droitwich, county Worcester. He mar
ried first, Eleanor Pelham, of Droitwich ; sec
ond, at St. Bride's Church, London, Novem
ber 4, 1594, Magdelene Oliver, the records
of whose family are found in the parish regis
ter of St. Peter's, Droitwich. Children: 1.
Richard, born about 1585-86; died May 20,
1659; married Alice Hay, daughter of Ed
ward Hurdman; resided at Draycoat, parish
of Kempsey. 2. Edward, governor of Plymouth
Colony, born October 18, 1595, at Droitwich;
died May 8, 1655 ; married first, at Leyden,
May 16, 1618, Elizabeth Barker ; second, May
12, 1621, Susan (Fuller) White, (who came
in the "Mayflower" with Winslow), widow of
William White and mother of Peregrine
White, the first-born in the colony. 3. John,
born April 16, 1597; died 1674, in Boston;
married, October 12, 1624, Mary, daughter of
James and Susanna Chilton. 4. Eleanor, born
April 22, 1598, at Droitwich; remained in Eng
land. 5. Josiah, born February 11, 1605-06;
died December 1, 1674; sent over as account
ant to Mr. Shirley, 1631 ; lived at Marsh-
field, Massachusetts ; married, 1636, Margaret
Bourne. 6. Gilbert, born October 26, 1600;
came in the "Mayflower" with Edward ; signed
the compact; returned to England after 1623,
and died there. 7. Elizabeth, born March 8,
1601-02 ; baptized March 8 following, at Droit
wich; buried January 20, 1604-05, at St.
Peter's Church. 8. Magdalen, born December

26, 1604, at Droitwich; remained in England.
9. Kenelm, mentioned below.
(VII) Kenelm Winslow, son of Edwaro.
Winslow (6), was born at Droitwich, county
Worcester, England, April 29, 1599, and bap
tized May 3, 1599. fle was the immigrant
ancestor. He came to Plymouth probably in
1629 with his brother Josiah, and was admitted
a freeman January 1, 1632-3; was surveyor of
the town of Plymouth 1640, and was fined ten
shillings for neglecting the highways. He re
moved to Marshfield about 1641, having previ
ously received a grant of land at that place,
then called Green's Harbor, March 5, 1637-8.
This grant, originally made to Josiah Wins
low, his brother, he shared with Love Brews
ter. Flis home was "on a gentle eminence by
the sea, near the extremity of land lying be
tween Green Harbor and South Rivers. This
tract of the township was considered the Eden
of the region. It was beautified with groves
of majestic oaks and graceful walnuts, with
the underground void of shrubbery. A few
of these groves were standing within the mem
ory of persons now living (1854) but all have
fallen beneath the hand of the woodman."
The homestead he left to his son Nathaniel.
Other lands were granted to Kenelm, as the
common land was divided. He was one of
the twenty-six original proprietors of Assonet
(Freetown) Massachusetts, purchased of the
Indians April 2, 1659, and received the twenty-
fourth lot, a portion of which is still or was
lately owned by a lineal descendant, having
descended by inheritance. Kenelm was a joiner
by trade, as well as a planter. He filled vari
ous town offices; was deputy to the general
court 1642 to 1644 and from 1649 to 1653,
eight years in all. He had considerable litiga
tion, as the early court records show. He died
at Salem, whither he had gone on business,
September 13, 1672, apparently after a lon.g
illness, for his will was dated five weeks earlier,
August 8, 1672, and in it he describes himself
as "being very sick and drawing nigh unto
death." He may have been visiting his niece,
Mrs. Elizabeth Corwin, daughter of Edward
Winslow. He married, in June, 1634, Eleanor
Adams, widow of John Adams of Plymouth.
She survived him, and died at Marshfield,
where she was buried December 5, 1681, aged
eighty-three. Children: 1. Kenelm, born about
1635, died November 11, 1715. 2. Eleanor, or
Ellen, born about 1637; died August 27, 1676;
married Samuel Baker. 3. Nathaniel, born
about 1639; died December 1, 1719; married
Faith Miller. 4. Job, see forward.

372

MASSACHUSETTS.

(VIII) Job Winslow, son of Kenelm Wins
low, was born about 1641, died at Freetown,
Massachusetts, July 14, 1720. His house at
Swansey was burned by Indians in 1675. He
went to Freetown, Massachusetts, and was
selectman there in 1686, town clerk in 1690,
and leading man in all town matters, civil and
religious. He was a shipwright by occupation.
He married Ruth  . Children : William,
born November 16, 1674; Oliver, February
20, 1676; Ruth, September 13, 1678; Richard,
March 6, 1680; Hope, May 29, 1681 ; Job,
July 10, 1683 ; Joseph, about 1685 ; James,
May 9, 1687, mentioned below ; Mary, April
2, 1689 ; George, January 2, 1690-91 ; Jona
than, November 22, 1692 ; John, February 20,
694; Elizabeth, 1696-97.
(IX) James Winslow, son of Job Winslow,
,vas born at Freetown, Massachusetts, May
',, 1687, died at Falmouth, Maine, October 19,
1773. He owned a large tract of land at Broad
Bay (now Portland), which he gave to his
.sons, but on account of trouble with the Indians
they were obliged to return to Falmouth after
a few years. He was the first Friend in Fal
mouth and lent a most important support to
the doctrines of that respectable people. He
married Elizabeth Carpenter; married (sec
ond) Ruth Getchell, of Brunswick, Maine.
Children : Mary, born June 20, 1709 ; Nathan,
April 1, 1713 ; Job, March 30, 1715 ; Benjamin,
June 19, 1717, mentioned below; Elizabeth,
May 6, 1721; James, August 6, 1725; Sybil,
October 3, 1727.
(X) Benjamin Winslow, son of James
Winslow, was born June 19, 1717, at Free
town, Massachusetts, died April 26, 1796, at
Falmouth, Maine. He seems to have resided
in Falmouth after 1728. He bought in com
pany with Elijah Douglas one-half of what is
known as Birch Island for the sum of seventy-
six pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence.
He and his family were members of the
Society of Friends. He married Hope Cobb,
August 11, 1738. Children: Samuel, born
September 15, 1739; Sarah, June 18, 1741 ;
Oliver, March 9, 1743; Elizabeth, March 10,
1745; Benjamin, December 6, 1746; Joseph,
July 31, 1748; William, June 19, 1750, men
tioned below ; Oliver, March 2, 1752 ; Hannah,
August 18. 1754.
(XI) William Winslow, son of Benjamin
Winslow, was born June 19, 1750, died No
vember 28, 1834, at Falmouth, Maine. He
was a farmer by occupation. He married, in
Boston, Massachusetts, September 20, 1770,
Phoebe Pope. Children: Abigail, born June

25, 1771 ; Ebenezer, October 9, 1772 ; Hannah,
December 30, 1773; Huldah, May 24, 1775!
Stephen, June 14, 1776; Daniel, September 14,
1777; Eunice, July 26, 1779; William, April
8, 1 78 1, mentioned below; Stephen, June 18,
1782 ; Peter, September 30, 1783 ; Joseph and
Benjamin (twins), November 2, 1784; Robert,
August 1, 1786; Phoebe, January 4, 1788;
Daniel, March 31, 1789; Elijah, August 28,
1793; Reuben, January 21, 1795; John Tabor,
May 12, 1800.
(XII) William Winslow, son of William
Winslow, was born April 8, 1781, died June
28, 1844, at Durham, Maine, and was buried
there. He was a carpenter and millwright by
occupation. He married, in Scarborough, Maine,
February 27, 1804, Sarah Stuart. Children :
Phoebe, born January 31, 1805, at Winslow,
Maine, married Martin Eaton and they were
the parents of William Winslow Eaton ; Abi
gail Stuart, July 13, 1806, at Belgrade, Maine;
Sally, December 26, 1807, at Belgrade ; Jane
Gould, July 29, 1809; Mary Gardner, July 29,
181 1 ; Charles Stuart, June 18, 1813; Huldah
Mower, January 24, 1815; Harriet, July 4,
1817; Joseph Pope, September 28, 1819; Will
iam Penn, June 12, 1822; Martha Meader,
March 17, 1824; Eli Gould, May 5, 1826.

The Carter family is of ancient
CARTTER English lineage. In one ofthe
battles of Bruce'swar,an officer
by the name of McCarter countermanded the
order of a superior officer, which meant death,
but which gave the victory, hence they could
not really put him to death, but could not allow
the offence to go unpunished. Therefore they
deprived him of the "Mc" in his name, and
added a "t," making it Cartter. The present
family descends from him. Richard Cartter„
Lord of the Manor of Garston, in the parish
of Watford, England, is supposed to have been
the grandfather of Rev. Thomas Cartter, the
immigrant, mentioned below.
(I) Rev. Thomas Cartter, immigrant ances
tor, was born in Hertfordshire, England, about
1608, as he deposed December 17, 1662. He
was a graduate of St. John's College, Cam
bridge University, taking his degrees in 1629
and 1633. In 1635, with forty others, he came
in the ship "Planter" from England, giving
his residence there as St. Albans in Hertford
shire. Fle settled first in Dedham, but soon
removed to Watertown, where he was an elder
of the church. He was admitted a freeman
May 1, 1638. On the founding of the church
in Woburn. he was called as the minister, and

MASSACHUSETTS.

373

ordained there October 22, 1642. He served
the people acceptably for a period of thirty-six
years until his death, September 5, 1684. He
had in his possession what he believed to be a
Bible of the martyr, John Rogers, from whom
he descended in a maternal line. Johnson, in
his "Wonderworking Providence," calls him a
"Reverend, godly man, apt to teach the sound
and wholesome truths of Christ." Another
historian pronounced him "a very pious, exem
plary man, and able and sound preacher of the
Gospel." The customs of the time, good old
Puritan times, is shown by the bill of expenses
for the funeral of the beloved minister. Of
the total cost of four pounds, nineteen shillings,
the coffin cost six shillings, the wine for the
mourners cost half the total bill, over two
pounds. It may be interesting to note that the
town of Woburn paid him a salary of eighty
pounds a year. He married Mary Dalton, who
died March 28, 1687. Their children are men
tioned in the will of James Carter, brother of
Rev. Thomas, dated Hinderclay, county Suf
folk, England, September 8, 1655. Children :
1. Rev. Samuel, born August 8, 1640; men
tioned below. 2. Judith, March 15, 1645 ; mar
ried, October 14, 1660, Samuel Somers; (sec
ond) Giles Fairfield. 3. Theophilus, July 24,
1646, died February 15, 1649-50. 4. Mary,
July 24, 1648; married, 1671, John Wyman,
jr.; (second) Nathaniel Batchelder. 5. Abi
gail, August 10, 1649; married, May 7, 1674,
John Smith. 6. Deborah, September 17, 1651,
died December 14, 1667. 7. Timothy, Woburn,
June 12, 1653 ; married, May 3, 1680, Anna
Fiske; died July 8, 1727. 8. Thomas, June 8,
1668 ; married, 1682, Margaret Whitmore ; lived
in Woburn.
( II ) Rev. Samuel Cartter, son of Rev. Thomas
Cartter, was born at Watertown, August 8,
1640. He graduated from Harvard College in
1660 and was admitted an inhabitant and pro
prietor of the common lands at Woburn, Janu
ary 4, 1665-66. He held at different times
several responsible offices in the town ; select
man in 1679-81-82-83 ; commissioner of rates
1680; town clerk 1690. He was also teacher
of the grammar schools in 1685-86. He owned
land on George Hill, Lancaster, given him by
the town, and this land was occupied by his de
scendants for several generations. He preached
at Lancaster between 168 1 and 1688, and prob
ably resided there for a time. On October 21,
1692, by a vote of the larger part of the town,
Rev. Samuel Cartter was elected to be their
fourth minister. He removed there soon after
this call, but did not remain long over his

pastoral charge, as he died there in the fall of
1693. He married, in 1672, Eunice Brooks,
born October 10, 1655, daughter of John and
Eunice (Mousall) Brooks. She married (sec
ond) Captain James Parker; (third) John
Kendall. Children: 1. Mary, born July 24,
1673. 2. Samuel, August 27, 1675, died Sep
tember 10, 1676. 3. Samuel, January 7, 1678;
mentioned below. 4. John, March 14, 1680.
5. Thomas, April 3, 1682. 6. Nathaniel, April
4, 1685. 7. Eunice, March 29, 1687. 8. Abigail,
May, 1689, died young. 9. Abigail, May 30, 1690.
(Ill) Samuel (2) Cartter, son of Rev. Sam
uel ( 1 ) Carter, was born in Woburn, January
7, 1678, died in Lancaster, August 22, 1738.
He lived on the north side of the road that
leads up George Hill, a little to the north of
the school house, on the site of a house for
merly known as the Captain Ephraim Cartter
house, his father, Rev. Samuel Cartter, having
purchased two lots of Captain Henry Kerley
in 1688. He was assigned to a garrison on
George Hill with his brothers-in-law, Lieuten
ant Nathaniel and Ephraim Wilder, Thomas
Ross, and his brother, John Cartter, and lost
in attack by the Indians, July 31, 1704, with
two fires, a good dwelling house, a horse, cow,
two calves and his swine. He was selectman
in 1723 and served on various committees for
the location of highways, etc. He married,
in March, 1701, Dorothy Wilder, born 1686,
daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (Sawyer)
Wilder. Children: 1. Samuel, born 1703,
died at Lancaster, May 20, 1761. 2. Eunice,
1704, died at Sterling, November 16, 1789. 3.
Nathaniel, Lancaster, 1706; mentioned below.
4. Dorothy, baptized February 4, 1710-11. 5.
Anna. 6. Jonathan, baptized April 5, 1713,
died at Leominster, March 19, 1799. 7. Eph
raim, baptized February 6, 1714-15, died at
Lancaster, October 12, 1790. 8. Oliver, bap
tized December 16, 1716, died at Leominster,
September 11, 1790. 9. Mary, baptized Febru
ary 1, 1718-19, died at Boston, February 3,
1743. 10. Elizabeth, baptized October 30, 1720,
died at Lancaster, October 9, 1755. 11. Pru
dence, born February 22, baptized April 7,
1723, died at Leominster, April 6, 1789. 12.
Josiah, born at Lancaster, January 26, 1726-27,
died in Leominster, February 14, 1812.
(IV) Nathaniel, son of Samuel (2) Cartter,
was born in Lancaster, 1706, died at Leominster,
July 20, 1787. He resided on Bee Hill, in that
town, on land given him by his father. At the
first town meeting, July 9, 1740, he was chosen
selectman, and on December 15 of the same
year was made one of a committee to build the

374

MASSACHUSETTS.

meeting house. He was one of the first sixteen
to sign the church covenant when that body
was incorporated, September 25, 1743. His
son Elisha was the first person baptized by the
first minister of that church. He married
(first) February 9, 1731, Thankful Sawyer,
born 1715, died December 5, 1755, daughter of
Elisha and Beatrix Sawyer, fle married (sec
ond) July 21, 1758, Dorcas Spofford, of Lunen
burg, who died August 6, 1784. His will was
allowed November 20, 1787. He mentions
Samuel, Elizabeth and Thankful Bennett, chil
dren of his daughter Elizabeth; son Elias;
John, Nathaniel, Elias, David, Susanna, Doro
thy, Luke, Sarah and Joshua, children of
his daughter Susanna ; daughter Abigail ; Ebe
nezer, Prudence, Elisha, Abigail, Elijah, Thank
ful, Susanna Colburn, children of his daughter
Prudence ; his children Samuel, Elisha, Asa,
Thankful and Nathaniel to have the residue
of the estate. Children, all by first wife: 1.
Elizabeth, born February 9, 1734, died April
24, 1760. 2. Nathaniel, December 17, 1735,
died March 13, 181 2. 3. Elias, November 24,
1737, died at Buckland, December 21, 1721.
4. Susanna, April 20, 1739; married, 1757,
John Joslin ; died December 5, 1777. 5. Abi
gail, May 10, 1741, died June 10, 1816. 6. Pru
dence (twin), May 10, 1741, married ¦ — 
Colburn. 7. Elisha, September 11, 1743, died
young. 8. Samuel, August 14, 1746, died at
Buckland. 9. Elisha, July 12, 1748. 10. Asa,
May 6, 1750, died January 21, 1822. 11.
Thankful, June 6, 1752.
(V) Nehemiah, probably nephew of Nathaniel
Carter, was born at Lancaster in 1741, died
October 15, 1810. He settled in Westfield,
Alassachu setts, and married Mary Kellogg,
born in Westfield, January 13, 1748, died June
20, 1810, daughter of David Kellogg (see Kel
logg)- They removed in their old age to Low
ville, New York, to live with their son Phi-
demus. Children, born in Westfield: 1. Chand
ler, born February 27, 1768; mentioned below.
2. Nehemiah, May 4, 1769 died aged ninety-
two. 3. Mary, June 1, 1770, died aged ninety-
four in Iowa. 4. Colonel Zeboim, June 13,
1772, died in Iowa, aged eighty-one; served in
the war of 1812. 5. Catherine, August 18,
1774, died January 17, 179 1. 6. David Kel
logg, March 22, 1776; married, 1804, Elizabeth
Hollister, born October 31, 1789, daughter
of Abner Hollister; married (second) Sarah
Betty, who died in Rochester, New York, Au
gust 27, 1828; had son David, who was a
federal judge in the court of the District of
Columbia. 7. Submit, August 18, 1779, died

October 29, 1779. 8. James Bruce, May 17,
1 78 1, died in Rochester, March, 1852; mar
ried Mahala Doty, born in Saratoga, New
York, March 15, 1793, died in Rochester, New
York, in 1852 ; married (second) Anna Parks ;
was a blacksmith and settled first in Spring
field, Massachusetts, and removed to Rochester ;
said to have ironed the first wagon built in
Rochester. 9. Bathsheba, February 2, 1783,
died in Holyoke, March 15, 1873; married,
February 26, 1807, Nathaniel Gaylord. 10.
Isaac, October 21, 1784, died in Lowville, New
York, aged eighty-eight. 11. Phidemus, June
6, 1786, died in Lowville, December 19, 1874;
married (first) Sophia Murray (second) Mrs.
Ruth Hendel. 12. Samuel, September 9, 1788,
died in Kansas, aged ninety; removed in 1806
to Lowville ; served in war of 1812.
(VI) Captain Chandler, son of Nehemiah
Cartter, was born in Westfield, Massachusetts,
February 27, 1768, died in Springfield, 1853.
He married (intentions published April 28,
1805) Ann Waterman, in Medfield. He re
sided in Russell and Chester, Massachusetts.
He was captain of the militia at Russell, and a
blacksmith by trade. Children: 1. Waterman,
married  — Frisbee and died in Blandford ;
was captain of train band and commanded
mounted militia ; had children : Andrew Jack
son, Hosea, Milo, Homer and Lucy. 2. Hiram,
married Emma Day and resided in West Spring
field. 3. Mary, married Otis Wait. 4. Almira,
married John Wilbur. 5. Harriet, married
and moved to Ohio. 6. Emeline, married Eph
raim Walker, of West Becket. 7. Bethsina. 8.
Julia, married Richard Church, a fanner in
Becket. 9. Sarah, married Emerson Wait,
brother of Otis Wait. 10. Ann, married Elijah
S. Greene, of Chester, who was born in East
Brookfield. 11. Lorenzo, mentioned below.
(VII) Lorenzo, son of Captain Chandler
Cartter, was born probably in Blandford, Mass
achusetts, May 12, 1810, and settled in Chester,
Massachusetts, where he was a blacksmith.
He married (first) February 26, 1835, Polly
Frisbie, born July 28, 1807, died January 10,
1844: children: Harriet Ann, born April 6,
1836; Lydia Elisa, April 17, 1838; Eli Love-
man, March 31, 1841. He married (second)
September 24, 1844, Sarah Smith, born March
27, 1812, died February 6, 1852; children:
Lawson Frederick, born February 14, 1846;
Isaac Joseph, born July 13, 1847, died in the
South, December, 1878; Sarah Truelove, born
June 24, 1850, died August 3, 1850. He mar
ried (third) December 17, 1853, Lucina S.
Gardener, born in England, died May 30, 1902

MASSACHUSETTS.

375

daughter of Joseph Gardener, a native of Eng
land. Children: i. Charlotte Maria, born
September 17, 1854; married, July 12, 1872,
Jarvis Valentine Farrington ; had William A. J.
Farrington, married Susan Cross, daughter of
James Cross. 2. William Lorenzo, born Au
gust 23, 1856, died February 3, 1872. 3. Rich
ard Gardener Waterman, June 12, 1858; men
tioned below. 4. John Brown, born March 23,
i860, died May 30, 1871. 5. Charles Sumner,
born May 20, 1863, died January 29, 1864.
(VIII) Richard Gardener Waterman, son
of Lorenzo Cartter, was born in Chester, Mass
achusetts, June 12, 1858. He removed with
his parents to Westfield at the age of three
years. He attended the district school in West-
field a year, and then three years at Southwick.
At the age of eleven he went to work for a
farmer at Southwick, working for his board
and clothes. For six months he worked on
the farm of his brother-in-law, and three years
for S. W. Bryant at South Hadley Falls. He
then went as a travelling salesman, selling oil
on commission, but his income was so large
that the firm wished him to take a regular
salary. Not wishing to cut down his income,
he resigned his position, and went to West
Springfield as manager of the R. A. Bagg
farm, remaining three years. His experience
here in market gardening led him to buy a
farm of his own, and in 1883 he purchased
nine acres of land from W. W. Amadon, and
started in the market gardening business. From
the first the enterprise was a success, and he
now owns and cultivates over one hundred
acres, employing from twenty to one hundred
men, according to the season. He has brought
the farm to a highly productive state, and has
two large greenhouses, one sixty by twenty
feet, the other, two hundred and seventy-six
by fifty feet, together with extensive hot beds.
His farm is situated on the west bank of the
Connecticut river, two miles from Springfield
and one and a quarter miles from Chicopee.
He has all the facilities for successful market
gardening, and his application to business, to
gether with his thorough knowledge of the
work, has made him prosperous. He is a char
ter member of the Knights of Pythias and
Knights of Malta, and also a member of the
Royal Arcanum, Sons of St. George, and of
Tecota Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fel
lows. His hours of leisure are spent in enjoy
ing outdoor life in his motor car, and he is
especially fond of this mode of travel. In
politics he is a Republican. He married, 1882,
AdaBelleAmadon (see Amadon family). Chil

dren : 1 . Paul Raymond, died young. 2. Rich
ard, died young. 3. Ada May, died young.
(The Kellogg Line).
(I) Captain Joseph Kellogg, immigrant an
cestor, came from Great Heights, England.
He married Joanna  .
(II) John, son of Captain Joseph Kellogg,
was baptized in Farmington, Connecticut, and
married Sarah Moody, daughter of Samuel
and Sarah (Demming) Moody, granddaughter
of John and Anone (Treat) Demming, of Hart
ford, and great-granddaughter of Richard and
Alice (Gaylord) Treat.
(Ill) Captain Samuel, son of John Kellogg,
was born in Hadley, Massachusetts, and mar
ried Mary Ashley.
(IV) David, son of Captain Samuel Kellogg,
married Elizabeth Jones, of Enfield, daughter
of Lieutenant Thomas and Mary (Meacham)
Jones. ( V ) Mary, daughter of David Kellogg, mar
ried Nehemiah Cartter (see Cartter family).

Thomas Chadwell, immigrant
CHADWELL ancestor, was born in Eng
land, in 161 1, according to
his deposition in 1680, when he stated his age
as sixty-nine years. Both he and his brother
Richard were shipwrights, and came about the
same time, in 1636, probably together, to Salem,
Massachusetts. Richard Chadwell was atSaugus
in 1636, and was a witness in the Salem court
in 1637. The records show that John Sampson
was apprenticed to him in June, 1635, by Fran
cis Toby, of Rotherbith, county Surrey, Eng
land ; that he removed to Sandwich, Massachu
setts, of which he was a proprietor April 3, 1637 ;
was in the Barbadoes in 1655 ; married, July
22, 1649, Katherine Presberry, of Sandwich;
died November 27, 1661 ; bequeathed in will
dated November 22, 1681, to son-in-law Lodo
wick Hawkes and his "cosen" Thomas, son
of Moses Chadwell. Moses was son of his
brother Thomas Chadwell. Thomas Chadwell
went from Salem to Lynn, of which he was a
proprietor as early as 1638. He removed to
Sandwich before 1645, but was living in Charles
town, Massachusetts, in 1670, and finally re
turned to Lynn. He married (first) Margaret
 , died September 29, 1658; (second)
Abigail  : — , died at Charlestown. Her will
dated June 8, 1683, proved June 19 following,
bequeathed to husband ; to sister Ann Pearson,
of Piscataqua (Maine), to grandson Joseph
Goose (or Negus), to sister Susanna Cross,
and to sister Wheeler's daughters. Thomas

376

MASSACHUSETTS.

Chadwell died February 27, 1683. His will
was dated February 25, 1684, and the inventory
is dated June 18, 1684. He bequeathed to son
Moses ; to wife of Moses and their son Thomas ;
to daughter Ruth Needham. Children: 1.
Moses, born April 10, 1637; mentioned below.
2. Benjamin ( ?), lived at Dover, New Hamp
shire, and Lynn ; married Elizabeth Hawes ;
was not named in will. 3. Thomas, not men
tioned in will ; died at Lynn, February, 1683.
,(II) Moses, son of Thomas Chadwell, was
born April 10, 1637. He married, February,
1661, Sarah, probably daughter of Thomas
Ivory. Children, born at Lynn: 1. Thomas,
December 11, 1662 ; mentioned below. 2. Sarah,
March 12, 1667-8. 3. Lewis, October 3, 1670
(Savage gives name as Lois). 4. Moses, Sep
tember 11, 1673; died September 29, 1676. 5.
Margaret, September 30, 1676. 6. Ann, June
17, 1679. 7. Elizabeth, December 18, 1681.
(Ill) Thomas (2), son of Moses Chadwell,
was called "Jr." to distinguish him from his
uncle of the same name. He was admitted a
freeman in 1691. He died at Lynn, January
16, 1740. He married Hannah  . Chil
dren, bora at Lynn: 1. Moses, May 28, 1687;
buried at Boston, April 25, 1760, or at Lynn,
July 27, 1766. 2. Hannah, August 4, 1689. 3.
Sarah, June 2, 1692. 4. Benjamin, mentioned
below. (IV) Benjamin, son of Thomas (2) Chad-
well, was born at Lynn, December 24, 1694,
and died July 16, 1748. He married, May 1,
1717, at Lynn, Ruth Collins, who died May 11,
1734. Children, born at Lynn: 1. Moses,
April 28, 1719; mentioned below. 2. Martha,
November 30, 1722. 3. Benjamin, November
1, 173 — . 4. Sarah, August 21, 1724. 5. Ruth,
June 29, 1727. 6. Ruth (2d), October 12,
1730. (V) Moses (2), son of Benjamin Chadwell,
was born at Lynn, April 28, 1719. He married,
at Lynn (intention dated September 14, 1740),
Susanna Newhall, died January 20, 1743-4;
(second) (intention dated April 7, 1745) Eliz
abeth Knox (Nox), of Boston, died January
9, 1746-7; (third) (intention dated October
25, 1747) Mary Newhall, of Lynn. Children,
born at Lynn: 1. Moses. 2. Harris, March
14, 1746; mentioned below. 3. Child, April
12, 1755. 4. Ruth, baptized October 10, 1756.
Probably others.
(VI) Captain Harris Chadwell, son of Moses
(2) Chadwell, was born at Lynn, March 14,
1746; died there August 26, 1834. He was
lieutenant of a Lynn company at the battle of
Concord, April 19, 1775, in the revolution ;

lieutenant in Captain Samuel King's company
later in the year in coast defence duty ; second
lieutenant in Captain Benjamin Epes's com
pany, Colonel Isaac Smith's regiment; first
lieutenant in Captain Joseph Hiller's company,
assigned to General Farley's brigade, in the
Rhode Island campaign ; also in Captain Hiller's
company, Colonel Jonathan Titcomb's regi
ment, 1777, in Rhode Island campaign. He
was later a captain in the militia. He married,
at Lynn, December 22, 1768, Ruth Witt, died
January 30, 1834, aged eighty-three. Children
born at Lynn: 1. Elizabeth, July 12, 1769. 2
Mary, December 14, 1770. 3. Moses, Febru
ary 6, 1773. 4- Lydia, June 13, 1775. 5
Harris Jr., November 13, 1777; mentioned
below. 6. Ruth, June 28, 1780. 7. Sally, Octo
ber 21, 1782. 8. Susanna, January 31, 1785
9. Patty, April 25, 1787. 10. William, Novem
ber 29, 1789.
(VII) Harris (2), son of Captain Harris
(1) Chadwell, was born at Lynn, November
13, 1777, and died there February 8, 1833,
aged fifty-five years. He married (first) July
9, 1 80 1 (or June 23, according to a church
record), Lucy Stocke, October 10, 1802, aged
twenty-two years ; (second) July 6, 1806, Polly
Houghton, died at Lynn January 30, 1819,
aged thirty-four years. Child of first wife,
born at Lynn: 1. Harris, Jr., May 4, 1802;
died September 22, 1803. Children of second
wife, born in Lynn : 2. Lucy Houghton, April
3, 1807. 3. Mary, October 28, 1809. 4. Harris
Otis, July 3, 1812; married (first) September
30, 1833, Harriet Wright, died July 29, 1839;
(second) May 24, 1840, Mary D. Dodge, of
Concord. (There is a record of birth at Lynn
of Otis H. on the same date. Is it a duplicate
record of a twin child?). 5. Cyrus, mentioned
below. (VIII) Cyrus, son of Harris (2) Chadwell,
was born at Lynn, September 17, 1814. He
was educated in the district schools, and in
early life began to work at the trade of shoe
maker. He followed this trade in the inde
pendent way of the shoemaker of his day,
taking his work to the little shop on his own
place and making boots and shoes entirely by
hand. He was a good citizen, of strong con
victions, much earnestness, tireless industry
and uprightness. He married (intentions dated
July 3, 1836) Hannah P. Putnam, of Lynn,
of the same family from which General Israel
Putnam and General Rufus Putnam are de
scended. He and his wife were among the
early members of the Universalist church of
Lynn. He died aged seventy-eight, and his

MASSACHUSETTS.

377

wife at the age of seventy-seven years. Chil
dren, born at Lynn: i. Cyrus Alvin, Septem
ber 17, 1845 ; mentioned below. 2. Perley
Russell, March 3, 1847. 3- C. Faustina. 4.
Harriet P. 5. Laura P. 6. Harris.
(IX) Cyrus Alvin, son of Cyrus Chadwell,
was born at Lynn, September 17, 1845. He
attended the public schools of his native city.
He worked at the trade of shoemaking for a
time in his father's shop, leaving to enlist in
the civil war, August 8, 1862. fle was a pri
vate at the age of sixteen in Company E, Cap
tain John Edward Smith, Thirty-eighth Mass
achusetts Volunteer Regiment, Colonel Ingra
ham. The regiment was later under the com
mand of) Colonel Rodman, who was killed at
Port Hudson, and finally under Colonel Rich
ardson, who returned with it at the close of
the war. Mr. Chadwell took part in many
engagements. He was in the battle of Bisland,
Louisiana, and of Mansura Plains, and in the
Red River campaign under General Nathaniel
P Banks, and at Port Hudson. He was for a
time in the hospital at York, Pennsylvania, on
account of illness, and was mustered out in
May, 1865, on account of disability, and the
war being over.
Upon his return to Lynn at the close of the
war he resumed work at his trade. But the
days of hand-work in shoemaking were rapidly
passing, and he found employment in a fac
tory where some machinery operated by steam
power was in use. He worked at burnishing.
In 1871 he was appointed a letter carrier, soon
after the free delivery system went into effect
in that city, and has been in active and continu
ous service to the present time. Only one other
man in the Lynn postal department has been
longer in the service, and he has filled his
duties in this position with zeal and fidelity,
calling forth the commendation of various
postmasters, as well as the appreciation of the
public which he served. He was the prime
mover in organizing the Grand Army Post at
Lynn, and his name is at the head of the char
ter members of Post No. 5, which became in
its palmy days one of the largest and wealthiest
posts in the country, at one time turning out a
thousand actual members on Memorial Day.
Mr. Chadwell declined to serve as first com
mander, and a second time declined the honor,
but afterward accepted the office and is now
the third ranking past commander. In politics
he is a very decided and earnest Republican.
He married, October 3, 1876, at Lynn, Char
lotte Pratt Rogers, born in flolden, Maine,
October 2, 1855, daughter of Deacon Joseph

F. and Laura (Copeland) Rogers. Through
her Copeland ancestry she is descended from
John and Priscilla (Molines) Alden, of the
"Mayflower." Deacon Rogers began his busi
ness career with nothing, and acquired a com
fortable fortune in the timber and lumber trade
in Maine. He came to Lynn in 1873 on
account of his disgust over the management
of the affairs of his native town of Holden,
Maine. He engaged in the lumber business in
Lynn, and established a flourishing business,
but through too extensive credits and mis
placed confidence he lost heavily. He died in
1905, at an advanced age. His widow survives
him, active and in good health, at the age of
eighty. They were members of the Congre
gational church, of which Mr. Rogers was
deacon. Children of Cyrus Alvin and Charlotte Pratt
(Rogers) Chadwell: 1. Dr. Orville R., born
August 26, 1877; mentioned below. 2. Perley
A., born November 9, 1878; resides in Lynn;
married Rhoda Strong; child, Alvin. 3. Mel-
vin Otis, born February 22, 1881 ; clerk in
Lynn ; married Julia A. Day ; children : Alice
Perley, Edith Day, Florence M.
(X) Dr. Orville Rogers Chadwell, son of
Cyrus Alvin Chadwell, was born in Lynn, Au
gust 26, 1877. He attended the public and
high schools of his native city, and studied
medicine in Boston University, graduating with
the degree of M. D. in the class of 1903. Dur
ing the next four years he was an instructor in
the laboratories of the Medical School. In the
meantime he conducted a general practice at
Jamaica Plain, Boston. He later succeeded to
the practice of older physicians, and has as
patients many of the best families. of that sec
tion. He has been secretary of the Boston
Homoeopathic Medical Society for three years,
and is a member of the State and National
societies. He is medical examiner for the Inde
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and various
insurance orders, and is a director of the
Friendly Society of Jamaica Plain, and the
Neighborhood House, a philanthropic organi
zation. He married, September 21, 1904, Mabel
Margaret Hubbard, born at Solon, Iowa, De
cember 5, 1877, daughter of Albert M. and
Emma (Budd) Hubbard. When she was a
child the family moved' to Elyria, near Cleve
land, Ohio, where she attended the public
schools, completing her education at Mount
Holyoke College. Her father was a cousin of
President Grover Cleveland, and his paternal
ancestors were among the pioneers of Ohio

378

MASSACHUSETTS.

and later of Iowa. Mr. Hubbard's wife died
soon after the birth of his daughter Margaret,
and he removed in later years to Fruitvale,
California, where he has since resided. He is
a lifelong student, well versed in horticulture,
and has been especially successful in the grow
ing of fruit. During the civil war he was for
some time an accountant in the provost mar
shal's office. He is a member of the Congre
gational church. Children: i. Ashbell Hub
bard, lives with his father; is a mechanical
engineer. 2. Meribel, lives at home with her
father. 3. Edgar Hubbard, died when a young
man, unmarried. 4. Mabel Margaret Hubbard,
married Dr. Chadwell.

Thomas Hopkins was born in
HOPKINS Birmingham, England. He mar
ried Isabella Greives, daughter
of Thomas and Elizabeth (Hunter) Greives,
of Leith, Scotland.
( II ) Thomas Greives Hopkins, son of Thomas
Hopkins, was born in Birmingham, England,
where he was educated and learned the trade
of glass blower. He came to the United States
in 1832 with his family, and settled in Cam
bridge, Massachusetts, where he was employed
in the manufacture of window glass by hand.
Afterward he removed to the Adirondacks,
New York, where he was also employed at his
trade. Subsequently he returned to Cambridge,
and from that time to his death worked prin
cipally for the New England Glass Company
of that city. He married Elizabeth Hunter,
who was also born in England. Children: 1.
Thomas, was a member of Niagara Engine
Company ; married Elizabeth Shorey ; one child,
Emma. 2. William, was a member of the old
Niagara Engine Company; married Esther
Wyman; his son Joseph was killed while on
duty as a fireman in East Cambridge. 3. John,
assistant engineer of Cambridge fire depart
ment ; married Emeline Dawes ; children : i.
Lillian, married Walter Shapley; ii. Lizzie,
married Delmont Miller. 4. James Robert,
further mentioned below. 5. Edwin, married
his brother William's widow, Esther Wyman.
6. Elizabeth, married James Marr. 7. Louis
B., foreman of Hose Company, No. 3, Somer
ville ; married Elsie Price ; child, Albert.
(II) James Robert, son of Thomas Greives
Hopkins, was born at Cambridge, January 10,
1836, and attended the public schools there.
At the age of sixteen he began to work in the
furniture factory of Doe, Hazeltine & Com
pany, as an apprentice in the trade of wood
carving. At the same time he took a full course

in drawing at the Lowell Institute. He con
tinued at his trade as a journeyman until the
spring of 1858 at Cambridge. He then entered
the employ of Haley, Morse & Boyden, of
South Dedham (Norwood), but after a time
returned to his former employer in Cambridge.
When President Lincoln called for troops April
19, 1861, he enlisted with the Somerville Light
Infantry in the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment,
and served for three months at the beginning
of the civil war, and took part in the first battle
of Bull Run. In the fall of 186 1 he re-enlisted
and went to New Orleans in General Butler's
command, and served for seventeen months in
the chief quartermaster's department. After
he was mustered out he resumed his trade of
wood carving in the factory of Doe, Hazeltine
& Company, and afterward in the factory of
J. W. Berry & Company, on Medford street,
Charlestown. In 1870 he left his trade to en
gage in business on his own account as a gen
eral contractor and excavator.
In 1854 Mr. Hopkins became an active mem
ber of Niagara Engine Company, No. 3, at
East Cambridge. His family were natural fire
fighters, and his brothers were distinguished
in the fire departments of this section. He had
been for some time a volunteer in this com
pany. When his mother removed to Somer
ville he went with her and resigned from the
Cambridge company, but joined Somerville
Hand Engine Company, No. 1, July 6, 1856,
and continued in this service until 1858. Dur
ing his residence in Dedham he was a member
of Washington Engine Company, No. 10. Then
he returned and again joined the Somerville
Company, No. 1, retaining his membership
there until 1865, when he joined the newly
organized Hose Company, No. 1, and was a
member until it disbanded in 1866. While
serving with Engine Company, No. 1, he was
second assistant foreman in 1859, and clerk in
i860. He was also clerk of Hose Company,
No. 1, during its entire existence. He was
appointed engineer by the board of selectmen
in April, 1869, and two weeks after the city
was organized he was elected chief of the fire
department of Somerville. That was January
13, 1872, and since then Chief Hopkins has
filled this office with great fidelity and efficiency.
His courage, zeal and executive ability have
been often brought to the proof. He is one
of the oldest and most popular chiefs in New
England, and has the distinction of holding
the office of fire chief longer than any other
man in the country, with one exception, this
being Thomas O'Connor, of New Orleans. At

MASSACHUSETTS.

379

Baltimore, in 1873, he assisted in organizing
the National Association of Fire Engineers,
and at one time was vice-president, and from
time to time has done important work for the
association and read valuable papers at the
annual gatherings. He is a member of the
Massachusetts State Firemen's Association, the
Charlestown Volunteer, Cambridge and Som
erville Veteran's Firemen's Association, and
president of the Massachusetts Fire Chiefs
Club, which he was instrumental in organizing.
He is also a member of John Abbot Lodge of
Free Masons ; of Somerville Chapter, Royal
Arch Masons; of Oasis Lodge, No. 146, Odd
Fellows ; of Excelsior Council, No. 3, Royal
Arcanum; of the Knights of Honor; and of
Willard C. Kinsley Post, No. 139, Grand Army
of the Republic. He had more than a local
reputation as a singer in his younger days, and
belonged to various church choirs of the vicin
ity. In religion he is a Congregationalist, and
in politics a Republican.
He married, September 30, 1862, Susan
Cutter Moore, born in Boston, October 12,
1838, daughter of Abram and Charlotte (Cut
ter) Moore of Canterbury, New Hampshire
and Arlington, Massachusetts (see Moore).
Children: 1. Charlotte Isabel, born at Somer
ville, April 7, 1866; graduate of Somerville
high school ; assistant in the public library for
a time ; married Joseph W. Whitaker, of Som
erville ; child : Robert L., died August 19,
1900. 2. James Wesley, born March 2, 1875 ;
graduate of grammar school, and student three
years in Somerville high school ; clerk in jewelry
store of Foster & Company, West street, Bos
ton eight years, then traveled for Gulf Refin
ing Company. He married Alice M. Bow
ditch, September 30, 1908; lives in No. 84
Leamington avenue, West Somerville.
(The Moore Line).
A number of pioneers of the name of Moore
came to Londonderry, New Hampshire, in the
early days of the settlement, from the north of
Ireland. They were of Scotch ancestry, and
their descendants are numerous in all parts of
the country, particularly in New Hampshire.
(I) Jonathan Moore, immigrant ancestor,
was living in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1650,
and according to tradition was of Scotch an
cestry and had- been a colonel in the royal army.
If the tradition is correct, it is likely that he
was one of the prisoners of war shipped to
this country by Cromwell. Very little is known
of him. He had two sons, Jonathan and Will
iam, and perhaps other children.

(II) William, son of Jonathan Moore, was
one of the petitioners January 4, 171 5, for the
incorporation of the town of Stratham from
Exeter, and was elected selectman at the first
town meeting of Stratham, April 16, 1716. At
a subsequent town meeting, August 5 follow
ing, he was elected first deputy from the new
town to the general court. He married Sarah,
daughter of Andrew and granddaughter of
Thomas Wiggin, the immigrant. Among their
children were William, Mary and perhaps John,
mentioned below.
(Ill) John, son or nephew of William Moore,
was born about 1690, in Exeter or vicinity. He
married, March 15, 1719-20, Hannah Sias, of
Oyster River parish (Durham), and later in
life removed to Canterbury, New Hampshire.
In the first federal census taken in 1790 the
following sons and grandsons were heads of
families in Canterbury: Samuel had three
sons under sixteen and three females in his
family; Ezekiel had wife, but no children;
William had two males over sixteen, four
under that age, and four females in his family ;
Joseph had two sons under sixteen and four
females, while Archelaus had no children living
in his family. John and John, Jr., were both
living during the revolution at Canterbury, and
signed petitions. William, Archelaus, Eliza
beth and Samuel were baptized together at
Durham, New Hampshire, December 24, 1727.
Children: 1. John, mentioned below. 2. Will
iam. 3. Archelaus, was town clerk of Canter
bury 1772 and 1779; was with brother Will
iam at Concord, then Rumford, New Hamp
shire, in 1747. 4. Elizabeth. 5. Samuel.
(IV) John (2), son or nephew of John (1)
Moore, was born 1720-30. He lived in Canter
bury. (V) John (3), son of John (2) Moore,
was born about 1750-60, in Canterbury. He
married Tabitha Davis. Children, born in
Canterbury: Abraham M., mentioned below;
Hugh T., William D., Judith G., Ruth, Sallie.
(VI) Abraham M., son of John (3) Moore,
was born at Canterbury, August 31, 1799. He
married Charlotte Cutter, born January 28,
1800. They lived at Canterbury, where he
followed farming. Children, born at Boston,
Massachusetts: 1. Abraham M., Jr., June
28, 1830; children: i. Lizzie, married Frank
Draper; ii. Frank, married Annie Eames, one
son, Edwin H, born August 20, 1899; in.
Charlotte W., clerk, New England Telephone
Company, Boston; iv. Mrs. William H. John
ston, Greenville street, Somerville. 2. Will
iam Frank, born 1836 ; enlisted in Company I,

38o

MASSACHUSETTS.

Fifth Massachusetts Regiment, and was killed
in battle of Bull Run, in the civil war. 3.
Susan Cutter, married James R. Hopkins (see
Hopkins). The surname Van Ness is
VAN NESS undoubtedly taken from a
place name, the prefix signi
fying of or from, and Ness being the town or
locality in Holland where the family originated
or were located at the time the surname came
into use. Van Ness is a common name in
America as well as Holland. Most of the
family trace their ancestry to Cornelis Van
Nes (or Ness) who married, about 1625,
Mayken Hendrickse Burchgraeff, and lived
upon the Havendyke, Holland. Henrick Ger-
ritse Van Nes, from Emberland, Holland, mar
ried April 19, 1654, Anneke Wessels, who was
• from Colen, New Amsterdam. The Van Ness
family settled at Greenbush, New York, as
well as New Amsterdam, at an early date, and
became very prominent in social and public life.
A descendant of Cornelis Van Ness, Judge
William Peter Van Ness, w'as Alexander Ham
ilton's second in his duel with Aaron Burr, was
United States judge of the southern district
of New York, and wrote legal and historical
essays. Cornelius Peter Van Ness was gov
ernor of New York, minister to Spain, and
chief justice of Vermont.
Hon. John Peter Van Ness, of the old Van
Ness family, was born in Ghent, New York,
in 1770. He was representative in congress
1801-03. He took up his residence in Wash
ington, and became the first president of the
Bank of the Metropolis in 1814, and was
Mayor of Washington later. He died March
7, 1847, at Washington. His mansion there
was one of the most famous of the first fine
houses built in the capitol. It stood on the
banks of the Potomac, only a few rods from
the White House. Van Ness married Maria,
daughter of Davy Burns, owner of a large
part of the tract of land comprising the present
city of Washington. The site was not chosen
by congress, but by Washington himself, who
was authorized to select a location for the
capital city on the Potomac river between the
mouth of the eastern branch and the mouth of
the Conveocheaque. After the site was chosen,
the owners of three of the four farms required
by the government made no difficulty in selling
their property, but the fourth, Burns, a hard-
headed Scotchman, was not willing to sell, and
the commissioners appointed for the purpose
finally gave up their efforts to induce him to

come to terms and called upon Washington to
undertake the task. The Burns farm was
south of the White House and extended as far
eastward as the Patent Office, comprising six
hundred acres. Washington made several
visits to Burns, and finally lost his temper at
the farmer's obstinacy, and exclaimed : "Had
not the city been laid out here, you would have
died a poor tobacco planter." Burns replied :
"Had you not married Widow Custis wi' her
nagurs you would ha' been a land surveyor to
day, and a mighty poor one at that." Wash
ington had finally to threaten condemnation
proceedings before Burns came to terms. Burns
retained his house and some land. He sent his
daughter to a fashionable school in Baltimore,
after he became rich, from the sale of his farm
to the government, and when she returned she
was recognized as the belle of the city, not
only on account of her father's wealth but for
her own wonderful beauty and vivacity. She
was twenty years old when she married Van
Ness, who was described by a contemporary
as "well fed, well bred and well read." For
several years they lived in the old Burns home,
but in 1820 they built the manor house at a
cost of thirty thousand dollars. It was the
finest house in Washington at that time and
was a social center for many years. They had
one daughter, Ann Elbertine Van Ness, who
was nearly grown up when the mansion was
built, and who inherited her mother's beauty.
She married Arthur Middleton, of South Car
olina, and died a year later in childbirth. Her
mother never recovered from the blow of her
daughter's death. She abandoned society and
devoted herself to charity and reforms. As a
philanthropist she acquired a national reputa
tion. She was the founder of an orphan
asylum in Washington, and took great interest
in its management. She was an Abolitionist,
known the world over, and contributed stirring
articles to the leading American newspapers
and magazines, materially aiding the cause.
She died in Washington, September 9, 1832,
aged fifty years, and was buried with public
honors. At a memorial mass meeting in Wash
ington the leading men of the nation eulogized
her. Her husband erected for her remains a
costly mausoleum designed after the temple of
Vesta at Rome.
(I) Joseph Van Ness, said to be brother of
Hon. John Peter Van Ness, went from Hol
land to St. Andrew, Scotland, where he lived
and died. Among his children were, John
and James.
(II) James, son of Joseph Van Ness, was

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tZt/i^-c/sZsis^

(£d-^Uj!^ Vfa^l/hL^<-~V .

MASSACHUSETTS.

38i

born at St. Andrews, Scotland, and died in
Illinois, in 1851. He was well educated in the
schools of his native place, and when a young
man came to America with his brother John
and settled in New York City. He taught
school for a time, and finally settled in An
dover, Massachusetts. He removed to Illinois,
where he contracted malarial fever, and died
in 1851. He married Elizabeth Robb, of Scot
land, of Scotch or Scotch-Irish descent. The
family seat of one branch of the Robbs was at
Antrim, Ulster, in the north of Ireland.
(Ill) Joseph (2), son of James Van Ness,
was born at Andover, Massachusetts, Decem
ber 13, 1849. He was an infant when the
family went west, and but eighteen months
old when his father died. When he was four
years old his mother married a Scotchman
named Stevens. She was a frugal woman and
took the best of care of her property. She
owned two farms and a general store to which
she devoted her time and energy to good ad
vantage financially. At the age of eleven her
son had acquired what education the common
schools afforded and became familiar with the
standard authors to be found in the town
library and wished to continue his studies, but
his mother did not encourage him, though ex
tremely fond of the boy. He managed to per
suade the traveling salesman who came to his
mother's store to let him live with him and
work his way while in school, and fitted him
self for the Illinois Industrial University,
which he entered in the fall of 1873 and from
which he graduated June 7, 1876. He not
only worked his own way, but gave evidence
of superior scholarship, as shown by the extra
ordinary percentages of his final rank, viz:
English 97 ; German 95 ; Latin 89 ; Algebra
95 ; Geometry 97 ; Bookkeeping 100; Chemistry
95 ; Elocution 98 ; Zoology 97 ; History 99 ;
Political Economy 99; Military 90. During
his last year in the university he tutored to
save money for the course at Cornell Uni
versity and overtaxed his strength. He suffer
ed from a severe nervous affliction, and when
the facts became known to the faculty at Cor
nell, further teaching was forbidden and his
expenses provided for otherwise. He took his
degree at Cornell June 20, 1878, with high
honors. His health was shattered by his over
work and anxiety to complete his college edu
cation, and by advice of his physician he went
to Colorado to recuperate, selling his little
library to raise the necessary funds. He lived
near an irrigated section owned by an English
syndicate, and became interested in irrigation,

and wrote a series of papers for the Denver
Republican on the system of irrigation used
there. Later went to California and wrote a
series of articles on the mining interests, pub
lished in the papers of that state. After spend
ing four years in the open air he came to Chi
cago with renewed health and ambition, and
entered the newspaper business on the staff of
the Shoe and Leather Review, published by
C. L. Peyton, and became eastern representa
tive of this trade journal, with offices on Bed
ford street, Boston. He removed his offices
to Lincoln street, where he was burned out;
opened offices on Atlantic avenue, and was
again burned out. Under his energetic man
agement the Review became leader in its class
through the eastern states. Seeing an oppor
tunity to engage in business on his own account,
he resigned from the Review and established
an advertising agency of his own ; making a
specialty of handling contracts for the trade
journals and other mediums in which shoe
manufacturing machinery was advertised.
These concerns were finally consolidated as
the United Shoe Machinery Trust. While he
was placing the advertising of a thread con
cern he conceived the idea of reaching the
foreman and superintendents of the boot and
shoe factories, and for this purpose asked to
borrow a list containing the names of these
men. The friend whom he asked for this list
was reluctant to do the favor on account of
the great cost of getting the list, and its great
value in business. He succeeded finally in
borrowing the list, the value of which he then
realized, and he saw the possibilities for profit
in an advertising medium that would regularly
reach and interest these foremen and superin
tendents as well as the employers. He planned
a technical trade paper, through which the
dealers in sundries for shoe manufacturers
could reach their possible customers. A journal
that would discuss the best methods of factory
management, of manufacture, and of dealing
with help. A circular letter outlining his plans
brought the ready approval of his ideas from
the men to whom he sent it. He was encour
aged to proceed, and October 20, 1896, pub
lished the first number of the Superintendent
and Foreman, the only technical publication
devoted to increasing the skill of shoe manu
facturing. Superintendents, Foreman and ex
pert Operatives were invited to write for pub
lication short articles on methods, processes
and results in the shoe industry, to ask ques
tions about their work, and assistance in their
problems. His success was immediate. The

382

MASSACHUSETTS.

journal was started on a high plan and the
standard of excellence maintained. At the
end of the first year it had four times the cir
culation of any other shoe and leather technical
trades paper in the world. The price of sub
scription and advertising was increased. The
paper reached all parts ofthe English-speaking
and German-speaking world and had corres
pondents as far away as Australia and New
Zealand, reaching every country on the globe
where shoes are made. It was nick-named
"The Little Schoolmaster in the Art of Shoe-
making." Mr. Van Ness died July 8, 1901. The busi
ness was continued by his widow and under
her capable management the journal has grown
in circulation and standing. Mr. Van Ness
resided in Lexington, Massachusetts, where in
1894 he built a beautiful stone residence, one
of the most attractive and picturesque man
sions in the state, called "Fieldstone."
Mr. Van Ness possessed strong, and in many
respects extraordinary, characteristics. Bright,
active, energetic, an indefatigable worker, an
exceedingly able journalist, he was a gifted
writer as well as an astute man of business.
He saw his opportunities and knew how to use
them well. He was original in his business
methods and in his literary productions. His
capacity for accomplishing things gave him
unlimited confidence, and he never admitted
the possibility of failure 'or defeat. The suc
cess of his paper justified his confidence in his
last and most ambitious effort. But he was,
nevertheless, kindly and considerative in his
relations with other men, attracting friends,
giving freely to help others. He had higher
ambitions than the establishment of a success
ful and useful trade journal. He tried to make
the best use of the talents given to him and
to do his utmost for the benefit of mankind.
He gave his life in striving to accomplish this
purpose and died knowing that his life was
essentially successful. A kind and generous
nature, of refined and cultivated tastes, his
friends and business associates say of him he
was truly a deep thinker, a natural student;
he rose to his high position by his strict truth
fulness and honesty, and he was no ordinary
man from whatever standpoint considered.
He was singularly free from pride and pre
tence of any kind. As an instance, he dropped
the prefix "Van," when he entered the Illinois
UJniversity, least the prefix should suggest pre
tensions to rank, and he was known as Ness
up to the time of his marriage, when he re
sumed the use of his full name. His watch

word was simply duty — "Not happiness, but
duty done is the greatest good that life may
bring. Even death, and whatever there may
be beyond it, can bring no sweeter bliss than
comes to him who is conscious of having done
his, duty to his fellowman."
It was characteristic of Mr. Van Ness to
appreciate fully the character of Phillips
Brooks. He once said of him: "A great
teacher, a great preacher, a great man. And
from his life you will gather much which will
aid you to bear the burdens and realize the
beauties of life." In speaking of the future
Mr. Van Ness often quoted Tennyson:
"We have but faith, we cannot know,
For knowledge is of things we see;
And yet we trust — it comes from Thee
A beam in darkness; let it grow."
In politics he was a Democrat of the old
school. He was a member of the Greek letter
fraternity Delta Tau Delta, of the Illinois
University, and was one of the founders of
that chapter. He was a member of the New
England Cornell Club, the Appalachian Moun
tain Club, and the Megantic Fish and Game
Club. He loved out-door sports, especially
fishing. He married October 4, 1892, Sarah Lucinda
Bowman, daughter of John and Eliza Powell
(Gittings) Bowman. Her father was of an
old and prominent Lexington family and her
mother of prominent Virginia and Maryland
families. They had no children. Mrs. Sarah
Bowman Van Ness was founder and for eight
years active regent and later honorary regent
of the Daughters of the American Revolution
of Lexington, Massachusetts. (See Bowman).

The surname Bowman means
BOWMAN archer, and was derived from
the name of the weapon used
by the ancient Britons and Saxons — the long
bow — and took their origin from Kirkos-
wald, fourteen miles from Carlisle, county of
Cumberland, the beautiful hill country of Eng
land. The first coat-of-arms of this Bowman
family of England is described : Argent, two
bows gules, stringed, — or, in saltier — one
within the other. This is the most ancient
armorial of this family, and second earliest
arms in England. In the early days of sur
names in England, Bowman was common
along the English border under the Percys.
There are two branches of the family in Scot
land bearing arms. The BOwmans were the
early Britons of England, and became promi-

BOWMAN COAT-OF-ARMS.

THE BOWMAN HOMESTEAD-BUILT BY NATHANIEL BOWMAN, 1649.

MASSACHUSETTS.

3»3

nently known as one of England's most ancient
families, having furnished some of their earli
est lawyers and statesmen. Savage's directory
of early New England settlers states that
twelve Bowmans graduated from Harvard
College in fifty-five years, four being the larg
est number of any other family in the same
time. And each generation of the family has
given important members to the state and
nation. Robert Bowman, the earliest known ancestor
of this family, married, in 1544, Helen Crych-
loe ; two sons : 1. Richard, baptized and buried,
1546. 2. John, married Ann, daughter of
Anthony Beresford, of Parwick, England,
gentleman, and a member of one of England's
most celebrated families, and his wife Elyn,
of Gateleden Grange. John and Ann (Beres
ford) Bowman had children : Nathaniel, born
1608, see forward; Richard, baptized 1610;
Helene, 1612; John, 1614; Henry, 1617; Eliz
abeth, 1619; Ann, 1620; Elizabeth, 1623;
Anthony, 1625.
(I) Nathaniel Bowma'n, immigrant ances
tor, was born in England in 1608. He was a
cavalier "gentleman" (this title showing that he
bore arms conferred by the king) and emi
grated to America because of the encroach
ment of the Barons of England and Scotland
upon his lands. At the time the crowns of
England and Scotland were united, the Bow
man family of Cumberland county were the
largest landowners, having acquired title by
their military services rendered to the earliest
English Kings, and were recognized by the
Kings as exclusive owners of their lands and
consequently were not entered upon the Domes
day Book. These early Britons were selected
by William the Conqueror as his bodyguards,
owing to their thorough knowledge of the
country and their expert use of the bow and
arrow, and he conferred upon them the name
of Bowman. For centuries the Bowmans occu
pied and held exclusive possession of the hill
country in Cumberland county, England.
Nathaniel Bowman and wife Ann settled in
Watertown as early as 1630. He was never
admitted a freeman in the colony because he
would not relinquish his membership in the
Church of England, being a Cavalier, and not
a Puritan. The historian, Bond, says in his
"History of Watertown," page 1083, "a por
tion of the town was named in honor of Mr.
Bowman to show the high esteem in which he
was held." In 1635 Nathaniel Bowman pur
chased land from Edward Goffe in Cambridge
Farms (Lexington), and settled on this land

about 1649. ft was located in the southeast
part of the town, near Arlington. Nathaniel
Bowman died January 26, 1681-82. His will,
which refers to him as Nathaniel Bowman
(gentleman), dated October 21, 1679, proved
April 4, 1682, bequeathed to sons Francis and
Nathaniel ; daughter Dorcas Marsh ; and grand
children Nathaniel and Benjamin Blackleach.
Nathaniel Bowman and his wife Ann were
married in England. She deposed in 1678
showing that she was sixty-three years old;
she died befoie him. Children: 1. Francis,
born 1630, mentioned below. 2. Mary, buried
January 1, 1638. 3. Joanna, buried November
20, 1638, aged three years. 4. Dorcas, buried
February 6, 1639, aged seven days. 5. Nathaniel,
born March 6, 1641, probably died at Lexing
ton in 1694. 6. Joanna, born November 20,
1642. 7. Dorcas, married Benjamin Black
leach. (II) Francis, son of Nathaniel Bowman,
was born in 1630, died December 16, 1687,
aged fifty-seven. He inherited the homestead
in Cambridge Farms, where he resided. He
was admitted a freeman in January, 1652. He
married, September 26, 1661, Martha Sher
man, born February 21, 1641. Children: 1.
Francis, born September 14, 1662, mentioned
below. 2. John, February 19, 1665. 3. Martha,
March 26, 1667, died December, 1667. 4.
Nathaniel, February 9, 1669, died June 30,
1748. 5. Joseph, May 18, 1674, died April 8,
1762. 6. Anna, September 19, 1676, died Sep
tember 26, 1700. 7. Deacon Samuel, August
14, 1679, resided in Cambridge; married, first,
Rebecca Andrews ; second, Deborah  .
(Ill) Francis (2), son of Francis (1) Bow
man, was born September 14, 1662. He was
admitted a freeman, and was one of the most
prominent citizens of Lexington. He held
every office within the gift of the King and the
town, and was known as "ye most worshipful
justice;" was a member of the first board of
selectmen and assessors ; in 1693 was one of
a committee to buy land for the support of the
ministry; was a deputy to the general court
for many years; and a Royal Magistrate 1720
to 1744, being the first to be appointed to that
office by the King; was also honored with a
military commission by the King. He was
one of three to sit at table in the meeting
house, and his wife was given a "fore seat."
In his will he bequeathes to his wife the three
negroes — Battiss, Phillis and Pompey; and to
his granddaughter, Ruth Bowman, the negro
boy Domini; also bequeathes to wife Ruth,
son Isaac, daughters Mary Morse, Lydia

384

MASSACHUSETTS.

Simonds and Sarah Russell. He married first,
June 26, 1684, Lydia, daughter of Deacon
Samuel and Sarah (Stearns) Stone, of Cam
bridge ; second, Ruth, daughter of Rev. Samuel
Angier. Children: 1. Francis, born about
1685. 2. Mary, married  Morse. 3.
Lydia, married Jonathan Simonds. 4. John,
born July 14, 1689, mentioned below. 5. Sarah,
married Philip Russell. 6. Isaac, born 1693,
died July 18, 1785.
(IV) John, son of Francis (2) Bowman,
was born July 14, 1689, died April 30, 1726.
He was admitted to the church at Lexington,
June 22, 1718. He married Mary Stone, who
died June 28, 1757. Children: 1. John, born
December 5, 1713, mentioned below. 2. Jonas,
February 3, 1717, married Abigail Russell. 3.
Francis, April'2, 1718, married, June 24, 1756,
Sarah Simonds, and resided in Bedford. 4.
Ebenezer, April 21, 1720, resided in West
Cambridge. 5. Ruth, December 23, 1723, ad
mitted to the church, October 18, 1741.
(V) John (2), son of John (1) Bowman,
was born December 5, 1713, died April 21,
1760. He married, first, February 19, 1737,
Susanna, daughter of Captain Joseph and Eliz
abeth (Bond) Coolidge, of Watertown. John
and Susanna (Coolidge) Bowman owned the
covenant at the church in Lexington, Decem
ber 4, 1737. He married second, Hannah Wil
son, a widow. Children of first wife: 1. Sus
anna, born January 19, 1738, married, Decem
ber 16, 1779, Bezaleel Learned. 2. Josiah,
March 21, 1740. 3. Mary, August 1, 1742. 4.
Elizabeth, November 4, 1744, married Francis
Whittemore, of Medford. 5. Ruth, October
5, 1746. 6. Samuel, November 4, 1749, men
tioned below. Children by second wife: 7.
Benjamin, baptized June 5, 1757, died Febru
ary, 1776. 8. John, baptized July 15, 1759.
(VI) Samuel, son of John (2) Bowman,
was born at Lexington, November 4, 1749,
died at Warwick, Massachusetts, December 21,
1 819. His father died when he was a minor,
and Captain John Hoar, his uncle, was appoint
ed his guardian. Captain John Hoar married
second, Elizabeth, sister to Susannah Coolidge,
mother of Samuel Bowman. Captain John
Hoar was great-great-grandfather of Senator
George Frisbie Hoar. Samuel Bowman lived
in the family of his uncle, Rev. Jonathan Bow
man, who was forty-four years pastor of the
First Church on Meetinghouse Hill, Dor
chester. His wife was Elizabeth (Hancock)
Bowman, daughter of Rev. John Hancock,
grandfather of Governor John Hancock, and
they attended to his education. He served in

the revolution as drummer in Captain John
Parker's Lexington company, on duty from
May 6 to 10, at Cambridge, by order of the
committee of safety; was in same company
June 17-18, evidently at the battle of Bunker
Hill ; was in Captain John Bridge's company,
Colonel Ebenezer Brooks's regiment, 1776, at
Roxbury ; in Captain Watson's company, Col
onel Greaton's regiment, 1777; was sergeant
and sergeant-major in Captain Abraham Wat
son's company, Colonel John Greaton's regi
ment, 1777-79, and commissioned ensign in
same company, March 4, 1780; was in Cap
tain J. Sumner's company, Colonel Greaton's
regiment, 1781, and was commissioned lieuten
ant on recommendation of Colonel Greaton in
Colonel Vose's first regiment, April 22, 1782,
and was brevetted colonel after the close of
the war. He inherited considerable property,
and after the revolution settled at Warwick,
June 10, 1778, six days after his marriage,
where he bought a large farm and lived the
remainder of his life.
He married, June 4, 1778, Hannah Winthrop
Davenport, born June 16, 1751, of Dorchester,
who died December 1, 1824, daughter of Isaac
and Mary Pray (Winthrop) Davenport, great-
granddaughter of Governor John Winthrop.
Children: 1. Lydia, born May 17, 1779, died
September 29, 181 1; married Stephen John
son. 2. Hannah, December 8, 1780, died April
6, 1873 ; married Joseph Bishop. 3. Susannah,
September 29, 1782, died December 19, 1812;
married Stephen Perry, of Vernon ; children :
i. William ; ii. Maria, married  Newhall,
of Hinsdale ; iii. Martha, married Elijah Merri-
man. 4. Samuel, August 10, 1784, died Sep
tember 16, 1858; he was one of the prominent
East India merchants of New York ; married
Mary Power, of Charlestown. 5. Isaac, May
17, 1786, died October 20, 181 3. 6. Nancy,
March 22, 1789, died August 19, 1831. 7.
Polly, March 11, 1791, died July 22, 18*12. 8.
John, February 11, 1794, mentioned below. 9.
Joseph, November 4, 1797, died September 16,
1798. (VII) John (3), son of Lieutenant-Colonel
Samuel Bowman, was born February 11, 1794,
at Warwick, Massachusetts, and died there
August 30, 1831. He was brought up on his
father's farm, and was educated in the district
school. He remained on the farm with his
brothers, succeeded to the property, and fol
lowed farming all his life. He married, April
17, 1817. Lucinda (Willard) Foster, born in
Askburnham, June 9, 1798, died February 24,
1861, great-granddaughter of Henry, fourth

I
I

I

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<v**>

MASSACHUSETTS.

385

son of Major Simon Willard, who bought
Concord from the Indians and later settled in
Groton. Children: 1. Isaac Chauncey, born De
cember 26, 1 81 7, died in Springfield, Massachu
setts, January 19, 1886; married at Greenwich,
November 23, 1847, Almira T. Bannister, born
May 22, 1828. Children: i. Jenno Denning, born
July 3, 1852, at Hartford, died at Springfield,
December 19, 1866; ii. Nenry Newton, born
April 7, 1862, married, December 15, 1887, Lil
lian Brown, of Springfield. 2. Sarah Jane, born
March 9, 1820, died at Orange, Massachusetts,
October 14, 1875; married, at Brattleboro,
Vermont, November 27, 1846, Chester W.
Eddy. Children: i. Wales Bowman, born
April 19, 1848, died at Orange, Massachusetts,
August 18, 1884; married, June 12, i87i,Kate
W. Willard, of Orange; ii. John Winthrop,
born September 26, 1849, married, in Utica,
New York, March, 1871, Wealthy Hartshorn,
of Orange; iii. Eugene Leslie, born February
7, 1851, died at Cleveland, Ohio, January 16,
1888; iv. Robert Carpenter, born January 14,
1853, married Ella M. Harding, of Warwick,
Massachusetts ; v. Mabel Alice, born October
10, 1854, married, at Springfield, Massachu
setts, January 19, 1875, Henry B. Allen, of
St. Johnsbury, Vermont. 3. John, born April
16, 182s, died August 4, 1882, mentioned be
low. 4. Hannah Davenport, born April 18,
1824, died at Northfield, Massachusetts, Feb
ruary 6, 1858; married, at Warwick, Massa
chusetts, March 3, 1844, William D. Hastings,
born December 28, 1820. Children : i. Mary
Ann, born December 28, 1844, married 
Trott ; ii. William Bowman, born February 6,
1848, died September 14, 1848; iii. Frank
Greenville, born August 6, 1849; iv. Edgar
Allen, born September 16, 1852. 5. Samuel
Foster, born February 26, 1826, died in War
wick, Massachusetts, January 6, 1844. 6. Still
man Winthrop, born February 9, 1828, died
August 31, 1831. 7. Harriet Foster, born De
cember 17, 1829, died August 19, 1831. 8.
Plarriet Foster, born November 26, 1831, died
at Hyde Park, Massachusetts, October 9, 1883 ;
married, at Warwick, September 13, 1857,
Henry Alexander Rich, born June 19, 1833.
Children: i. Frank Bowman, born February
18, i860, died January 17, 1907; married, De
cember 13, 1888, Emma Young; children:
Mabel Henrietta, born December 16, 1889;
Edith, January 17, 1895; Henry Alexander,
February 2, 1901 ; ii. Fred Alexander, born
March 8, 1867, unmarried : iii. Foster Henry,
born January 14, 1873, died August 15, 1873;
iv. Bertha Jane, born July 2, 1874, married,

July 2, 1908, Henry B. Sergeant, of Sunapee,
New Hampshire.
(VIII) John (4), son of John (3) Bow
man, was born in Warwick, April 16, 1822,
died at Boston, August 4, 1882. He attended
the public schools, and in his youth lived part
of the time with his uncle, Willard Foster, in
order to be near good schools. He continued
his education at Worcester, and later took up
the study of law. He acquired a thorough
knowledge of mechanics, became a skillful
machinist and developed a genius for invent
ing useful machinery. Among his inventions
were : The Douglas Pump, a locomotive spark
arrester; knitting machine for making under
garments, which latter brought him fame and
fortune. He resided many years in Macon,
Georgia; Tallahassee, Florida; and Milledge-
ville, Georgia; he invested extensively in real
estate at Macon and Tallahassee. He was in
the south when the civil war began, and re
mained until he was drafted for the Confed
erate army. He made his way north and
escaped, finding refuge first on a Union block
ading vessel, the "Stars and Stripes," in the
Gulf of Mexico, and later coming north on the
supply steamer to New York. Owing to the
depreciation of both Confederate and United
States notes, his property was largely sacri
ficed. In the early seventies he became inter
ested in the railroad from Portland, Oregon,
to Marysville, California. He was a typical
gentleman of the old school, plain of speech,
straightforward and honest in purpose and
action, but kindly and courteous in manner.
In later years he was affectionately known as
"Uncle John" by all his friends, fle was kind
and charitable to those in need and suffering,
and gave liberally to all good causes. His
ancestors were of the Episcopal faith until the
introduction of the Channing theory which
introduced the Unitarian creed into many of
the Episcopal churches; this was accepted by
him and a portion of his family. In politics
he was a Republican. Though he considered
the condition of the negro better under the
slavery system than when freed, from the fact
that during slavery they were skilled artisans,
mechanics and domestics, a fact which has not
been the case since their freedom, he did not,
however, believe in the continuance of the
system. He was a member of the Masonic
order, joining the lodge at Macon, Georgia.
He was a member of the Worcester Lodge of
Odd Fellows.
He married, August 10, 1848, Eliza Powel
Gittings, of Macon, Georgia, born at Sparta,

386

MASSACHUSETTS.

Georgia, October 25, 1823, daughter of George
Gittings and Sarah Powel, died at Lexington,
Massachusetts, June 12, 1899, a direct descend
ant of John Gittings, who from 1 661 to 1669
was clerk of the upper "House of Burgesses,"
Maryland, and one of the best educated and
most prominent men of Maryland. She was
also descended through the Powel and Tracy
and Bridgers families, in direct line from
Egbert the first of the Saxon Kings of Eng
land, and from the Calverts of Maryland, and
. was a direct descendant of Captain William
Powel, son of Sir Hugh Powel, of "Castle
Madoc" in Brecon, Breconshire, Wales, who
represented Jamestown, Virginia, in the "House
of Burgesses," the first legislative assembly
in America, July 30, 1 619, being chairman of
the committee who examined the laws which
had been sent by parliament for the governing
of the colonies ; he and his committee were
elected to decide which of the laws would be
accepted by the colonies. She was also a de
scendant (through the Quiney and Sadler fami
lies) of William Shakespeare, the poet. Chil
dren: I.Samuel Stillman, born April 29, 1849,
an officer in the United States army; married
Janet Patterson, of Baltimore, Maryland-;
child, John Alexander, born April 3, 1886. 2.
George Foster, paying teller in First National
Bank of Oregon, a fine student and pen artist,
born January 25, 1851, died November 25,
1870, the result of a drowning accident at
Portland, Oregon. 3. Sarah Lucinda, married,
October 4, 1892, Joseph Van Ness, of Boston
(see Van Ness family). 4. John Thomas,
died two years of age, in Tallahassee, Florida,
1861. 5. Ida Corinne, died in Tallahassee,
Florida, 1861, four years of age.

Solomon Phipps, immigrant an-
PHIPPS cestor, was a settler in Charles
town and received a grant of
four acres of land in the town at Mystic Side,
and bought of John Gould, six acres later. He
was admitted to the church January 15, 1641-
42, and was made a freeman May 18, 1642.
He was a carpenter by trade, and a town
officer. His wife Elizabeth, called "Mother
Phipps," was admitted to the church May 15,
1642, and died "an aged widow," November 1,
1688. His will was dated May 4, 1670, and
proved December 14, 1671. He died July 25,
1671, aged fifty-two, according to his grave
stone. Children: 1. Elizabeth, born April 23,
1643, married John Roy. 2. Solomon, 1646.
3. Samuel. 4. Mary, died September 2, 1682.
5. Mehitable, died July 15, 1657. 6. Mehitable,

born December 10, 1657, died young. 7. Me
hitable, June 6, 1659. 8. Joseph, mentioned
below. (II) Joseph, son of Solomon Phipps, was
baptized October 13, 1661, and was a carpenter
by trade. His name figures frequently in real
estate transactions in Charlestown. His will
was dated January 1, and proved February 6,
1717-18. He married, May "12, 1687, Mary
Kettell, born October 8, 1666, died December
21, 1729, daughter of Samuel and Mercy
(flayden) Kettell, and granddaughter of Rich
ard Kettell. Children: 1. Joseph, born Feb
ruary 22, 1688, died December 25, 1690. 2.
Mary, baptized June 21, 1691, married Richard
Whittemore. 3. Mercy, baptized November 6,
1692, married Samuel Maxey. 4. Elizabeth,
born July 10, 1694. 5. Samuel, born October
27, 1696, mentioned below. 6. Solomon, born
March 31, 1700. 7. Joseph, baptized Septem
ber 15, 1706, died October 3, 1722.
(Ill) Samuel, son of Joseph Phipps, was
born in Charlestown, October 27, and bap
tized November 1, 1696, and died of fever,
February 11, 1730-31. He served as town
clerk of Charlestown. He married, before
171 5, Abigail  , who owned the covenant
March 5, 1730-31. She married (second)
August 17, 1732, Joseph Whittemore, and
administration was granted on her estate June
18, 1734, to Joseph Frost. A guardian was
appointed for the minor children April 1, 1734.
Children: 1. Abigail, born May 19, 1721, mar
ried John Blaney. '2. Joseph, March 31, 1723,
mentioned below. 3. Samuel, September 1,
1724, died before 1745. 4. Elijah, June 7,
1727. 5. Solomon, August 18, 1731 (post
humous). (IV) Joseph (2), son of Samuel Phipps,
was born in Charlestown, March 31, and bap
tized April 7, 1723. He was a baker by trade
and died June 27, 1795. He was among those
who lost property at the time the British burned
Charlestown, and his wife was among those
who claimed for losses in 1775. He married
Elizabeth Webb, born November 9, 1722, died
April 14, 1797, daughter of Samuel and Abi
gail (Austin) Webb. Children, born in Charles
town: 1. Elizabeth, born April, 1746, married
William Sargent. 2. Samuel, baptized April
24, 1748, died June 14, 1748. 3. Abigail, bap
tized April 30, 1749, married John Butterfield.
4. Joseph, born January 11, 1751-52. 5. Mary,
baptized February 25, 1753. 6. Frances, bap
tized March 9, 1755, married Timothy Trum
bull. 7. Sarah, baptized August 7, 1757, mar
ried Joel Hagai\ 8. Bethiah, baptized Febru-

M

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Lews: Eistsnr.dl Tub. Co.

MASSACHUSETTS.

387

ary 17, 1760, married John Brinkley. 9. Han
nah, baptized April 3, 1763. 10. Samuel, men
tioned below.
(V) Samuel (2), son of Joseph (2) Phipps,
was baptized in Charlestown, July 13, 1766,
died in May, 1813. He married, March 7,
1790, Esther Rand, daughter of Benjamin and
Abigail (Frothingham) Rand. Children: 1.
Ann Miller. 2. Benjamin, born October 18,
1797, mentioned below. 3. Esther, married
John Perkins. 4. Mary, died unmarried. 5.
Samuel, died young. 6. Bethiah Brinkley, died
unmarried. (VI) Benjamin, son of Samuel (2) Phipps,
was born in Charlestown, October 18, 1797,
died April 7, 1878. He was a harness-maker
by trade, and a prominent citizen of Charles
town. He held many offices in the town, and
was alderman after it became a city. For
many years he was treasurer of the Winchester
Home corporation. He married (first) July 4,
1820, Abigail Kimball, who died July 18, 1828,
aged thirty-three ; (second) September 9, 1829,
Sarah Kettell Frothingham; (third) May,
1838, Catherine W. Green; (fourth) April 23,
1 85 1, Josephine V. Kettell, who died October
4, 1874, aged sixty-seven. Child of first wife:
Benjamin, born February 12, 1824, mentioned
below. Children of second wife : John Alfred ;
Abby Ann, married Abraham G. Wyman, re
sides in Brookline. Child of third wife : Sarah C.
(VII) Benjamin (2), son of Benjamin (1)
Phipps, was born in Charlestown, February 12,
1824, died in Boston, May 1, 1906. Fle was
educated at the Bunker Hill school in his native
town, and at the early age of fifteen applied
for a position with Parker, Blanchard &
Wilder. There was one vacancy, and two
applicants. He was rejected because the other
boy was more muscular, and in those days the
younger employees were obliged to assist at
times with such work as is now done by
porters. Twenty-nine years later he was ad
mitted as a partner in this same firm. A letter
from his schoolmaster led the firm to take him
on trial. From office boy he was promoted
to a clerical position, after a faithful service,
and was admitted to the firm May 31, 1868.
The partners then were : Marshall P. Wilder,
Samuel B. Rindge, Ezra Farnsworth, John
Byers, William H. Wilder and Benjamin
Phipps. He outlived them all, and at his death
was the head of the firm. The firm was one
of the early commission houses of Boston, and
one of the first, if not the first to sell cotton
goods on commission. It expanded until it
became the sailing agent for some fourteen

mills, in not a few of which the firm was largely
interested financially. In 1849, at the time of
his marriage, he settled in Chelsea, and three
years afterward bought his first home there.
He took an active interest in the affairs of the
town, and in 1877 was a member of the com
mon council, in 1878 alderman. In 1869 he be
came a trustee of the new public library of
Chelsea, and served until 1894, two years after
he had removed from the city. He was chair
man of the book committee and deeply inter
ested in the success of the library. In 1855 he
was chosen a trustee of the Chelsea Savings
Bank, organized the year before; and in 1879
was elected its vice-president. At his death he
was the oldest trustee both in point of age and
service. He declined the nomination for the
office of mayor, although he was strongly urged
by many friends to run. He was a member of
the First Unitarian Church of Chelsea, for
many years its treasurer, and meeting many of
its obligations out of his own private purse, a
fact which was unknown until his successor
was elected. He was strongly attached to his
home, and even after his removal to Brighton,
in 1892, he retained the ownership of his
Chelsea house, and continued to assist the
church. In 1892 he took up his residence in
the Aberdeen district of Brighton. He attend
ed the First Parish Church there, and also had
a pew in the First Parish Church of Brook
line. He was, a director of the Hamilton Nat
ional Bank, and after its reorganization was a
director and vice-president of the National
Hamilton Bank, and later a director when it
was merged into the Fourth National Bank,
and served until his death. He was a director
in the Mill Owners Mutual Fire Insurance
Company until it was consolidated with the Ark
wright Mutual Fire Insurance Company; was
on the executive committee of the Home Mar
ket Club and one of its vice-presidents from
1899 till his death; director in the Belvidere
Woolen Manufacturing Company of Lowell;
treasurer and director of the Cocheco Woolen
Manufacturing Company; treasurer and presi
dent of the Conic Manufacturing Company;
treasurer and director of the Stirling Mills ;
treasurer and director of the Phoenix Factory ;
president of the Monadnock Mills; director
of the Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company;
director from 1890 and president from 1901
till his death, of the Yantic Woolen Company ;
and for many years treasurer and director of
the Union Manufacturing Company. In 1884
he was chosen treasurer of the National Asso
ciation of Wool Manufacturers, and was re-

388

MASSACHUSETTS.

elected continuously until his death. He was
a member of the Union Club, Country Club,
Boston Art Club, Bostonian Society, and New
England Cotton Manufacturers' Association.
He was respected by his business associates
for his high sense of honor and sterling char
acter. He was a fine example of an upright
man, of integrity both in private and business
life, who by reason of his ability, faithfulness
and capacity, reached the topmost round of
the ladder of success. Rev. Dr. William H.
Lyon said of him at his funeral : "His was a
long life and a strong life;_a useful life and a
steadfast life ; an upright life and a beloved
life; a religious life and a happy life.
When we think of what he has been in these
ways, our grief is almost lost in admira
tion and in gratitude, and we are sure
that the life so well begun we may follow
without fear." He married, January 4, 1849,
Anne M. Bowen, daughter of Abel Bowen, of
Boston. (See Bowen family). Children: 1.
Annie K, bora in Chelsea and died at the age
of seven. 2. Walter Bowen, educated in the
Chelsea schools and was in the wool business ;
married Frances B. Smith; had Maurice B.,
Benjamin K. and Alfred G. 3. Horace Jones,
mentioned below.
(VII) Horace Jones, son of Benjamin (2)
Phipps, was born in Chelsea, December 3,
1859. He was educated in the public and high
schools. As a boy he worked as clerk in the
commission house of Whittemore, Cabot &
Company, and afterward was in partnership
with his brother in the wool dealing business
in Boston. Since 1886 he has engaged in the
manufacture of stained glass, and the present
name of his firm is Horace J. Phipps & Com
pany, of which he is sole partner. He is also
vice-president of the Leslie Manufacturing
Company, of Boston ; a director of the Kinney
Manufacturing Company, the Farrington Man
ufacturing Company, and the Choralcelo Man
ufacturing Company, all of Boston ; vice-presi
dent of the American Trackless Trolley Com
pany, of Boston, and trustee of an estate. He
is secretary and director of the Apollo Club
and has been for many years one of the most
active members. He is a member of the Bos
ton Architectural Club, the Braeburn Country
Club, the National Art Club of New York, the
Boston City Club. He is a Unitarian in relig
ion, a Republican in politics. He married, De
cember 3, 1885, Annie Carlton Slocum, born in
Chelsea, 1859, daughter of Samuel D. and
Elizabeth (Farmer) Slocum. They have no
children.

Of the early immigrants to
BOWEN Massachusetts before 1650 three
settled at Rehoboth, Massachu
setts. Obadiah Bowen was there as early
as 1643; died there 1708 at an advanced age.
Richard Bowen also settled in Rehoboth ; was
a town officer, proprietor, admitted freeman
June 4, 1645 ; married, March 4, 1646, Esther
Sutton; buried February 4, 1674; bequeathed
in will dated June 4, 1674, to children,
William, Obadiah, Richard, Alice Wheaton,
Sarah Fuller and Ruth Leverich and wife
Elizabeth. (I) Thomas Bowen, the third and probably
the younger of the three brothers, settled in
Rehoboth but had been in New London,
according to Savage, 1657-60. Savage says his
widow married Samuel Fuller, of Plymouth.
There was another Thomas Bowen, of Salem
and Marblehead, who died about 1705, also
leaving a wife Elizabeth. It is not known that
the Rehoboth family was related to this
Thomas, of Salem, of the family of Griffith
Bowen who settled in Boston, a native of
Langenith, Glamorganshire, Wales. The will
of Thomas Bowen of Rehoboth was dated
April 11, 1663, bequeathing to wife Elizabeth
and son Richard, who is believed to be Rich
ard Jr. of Rehoboth, so-called to distinguish
him from his uncle of the same name.
(II) Richard (sometimes called Jr.), son
of Thomas Bowen, was born about 1630-35.
He married Mary Titus. Children, born at
Rehoboth: 1. Sarah, February 7, 1656. 2.
Hester, April 20, 1760. 3. Richard, January
17,. 1762. 4. Mary, October 5, 1666. 5. John,
March 15, (doubtless 1668-69), mentioned
below. (Ill) John, son of Richard Bowen, was
born at Rehoboth, March 15, 1668-69, died
there April 1, 1748. He is the only John
found in the records. The immigrant Thomas
left no son except Richard, according to his
will. Tradition, probably omitted the second
generation in transmitting the lineage. John
married, at Rehoboth, September 12, 1700,
Elizabeth Breckett (Brackett). The intention
was dated July 27. There is a record of the
death of an Esther Bowen, daughter of John,
August 3, 1701, indicating that he may have
had a wife earlier. Children of John and
Elizabeth (Breckett) Bowen: 1. Peter, born
July 22, 1701, married, March 23, 1726-27,
Susanna Kent. 2. Elizabeth, July 17, 1702,
married, September 14, 1726, Caleb Lamb, of
Barrington. 3. Sarah, September 27, 1704,
married, May 9, 1728, William Whipple. 4.

MASSACHUSETTS.

389

Esther, December 9, 1706. 5. John, Decem
ber 19, 1709, mentioned below. 6. Thomas,
August 14, 1712, married Sarah  .
(IV) John (2), son of John (1) Bowen,
was born at Rehoboth, December 19, 1709.
He settled at Rehoboth. He married there
(first) February 5, 1735-36, Mary Read, of
Rehoboth (married by Rev. John Green
wood). She died January 16, 1746, and he
married (second) August 17, 1749, Hannah
Peck, of Rehoboth, (by Rev. John Green
wood). She died September 21, 1755 or 1756
(duplicate records with this difference), fle
married (third) at Rehoboth, May 3, 1759,
Mary Ormsbee (by Rev. John Carnest).
Children, all born at Rehoboth, by first wife:
1. John, March 22, 1736-37, mentioned below.
2. Betty, January 26, 1739-40, died December
1, 1746. Children of second wife: 3. Bar
zillai, May 3, 1750. 4. Betty, July 21, 1752,
died September 10, 1754. 5. Bezaleel, August
3, 1754. 6. Consider, September 16, 1756,
Children of third wife : 7. Mary, July 23,
1760. 8. Hannah, September 25, 1762, died
January 7, 1785. 9. Shubael, March 7, 1765,
died May 14, 1766. 10. Daniel, September
17, 1767. 11. Esther, July 24, 1770. 12.
Shubael, August 24, 1772. 13. Thomas, No
vember 8, 1776.
(V) John (3), son of John (2) Bowen
was born at Rehoboth, March 22, 1736-37
He married Sarah Cushing, of Rehoboth
October 9, 1757 (by Rev. John Greenwood)
Children, born at Rehoboth: 1. John, Decem
ber 23, 1758. 2. Daniel, April 8, 1760. 3
Bette, February 8, 1762, married, April 24
1783, John Pearce. 4. Sarah, August 23
1764. 5. Bethia, September 20, 1766, married
December 4, 1788, Comfort Bullock. 6. Abel
December 14, 1768, mentioned below. 7
Olive, November 1, 1780. Daniel Bowen
lived to be nearly one hundred years old. He
compiled, set the -type and printed a history
of Philadelphia. He went abroad in 1800 and
met many of the notable men of Europe; he
also met, after his return, Washington, Lafay
ette and others. Daniel Bowen established
a museum in Boston in 1791 at the American
Coffee House, opposite the branch of Seafe's
Tavern, on State street; removed to the hall
over the school house in Hollis street, and in
1795 to the corner of Tremont and Bromfield
streets. (VI) Abel, son of John (3) Bowen, was
bora at Rehoboth, December 14, 1768. Mar
ried there, March 31, 1789, Delia Mason. He
removed to Sand Lake village, Greenbush,

New York, after his marriage. He died at
Otego, New York, December 8, 181 1. His
widow died in Milford, New York, October
22, 1838, aged sixty-eight years. Children:
1. Abel, born December 23, 1790, mentioned
below. 2. Delia, July 12, 1792, died July,
1793. 3. Henry, May 28, 1794. 4. Romeo,
September 16, 1796. 5. Juliet, May 31, 1798.
6. Sidney, July 29,' 1799. 7. Sophronia, July
25, 180 1. 8. Mason, June 6, 1802. 9. Lorenzo,
February 28, 1804. 10. Eliza, June 24, 1805.
11. Mary, January 1, 1807. 12. Olonda, June
6, 1809.
(VII) Abel (2), son of Abel (1) Bowen,
was born at Sand Lake Village, Greenbush,
New York, December 23, 1790. The follow
ing bit of autobiography is in the possession
of the family: "It is well known tljat Dr.
Alexander Anderson of New York was the
first to introduce the art wood engraving into
that city, and may be properly styled the father
of wood engraving in the United States. The
introduction of wood cuts met with much
opposition by newspaper printers and others,
on account of the liability to warp and crack,
they having been in the practice of using the
Type Metal Cuts which had been the kind of
engraving previously used. In Boston, Type
Metal Cuts were generally used, and no one
attempted to make a business of engraving on
wood till it was introduced by myself, although
it is evident that others had made some
occasional attempts to produce wood Cuts. I
have evidence that Dr. Franklin engraved
some devices on wood, and that some were
used in the printing of the Continental Money ;
and after him a Mr. Aiken, Mr. Skillen, Mr.
Callendar and several others executed Wood
Cuts not as a business, but as occasional
experiments as suited their convenience and
the accomodation of others. The first wood
cut I executed in Boston was a profile cut for
W. M. S. Doyle, for his advertisement for
cutting profiles, which may be seen in the New
England Paladium of Dec. 17, 1805. I
engraved many cuts while an apprentice at the
printing : business, some of which were for my
Uncle Daniel Bowen, proprietor of the Colum
bian Museum in Boston, and were used for
this Museum bills as early as 1811. I made
copies of some cuts by Thomas Bewick, the
restorer of the Art of Wood Engraving, which
my uncle took pains to exhibit to the printers
and publishers in Boston, many of whom were
pleased to express compliments in favor of
the specimens, and a desire to have me make
it a business, for there was no one established

390

MASSACHUSETTS.

in the art in the City. This led me to engrave
and issue a Cut (the Tiger Hunt) for a Card,
in the early part of 1812, soliciting a patron
age at the Museum while I executed my
Engravings at Brighton, where my uncle
resided. After engraving a number of Cuts
and finding a ready sale for them, I deter
mined on making Engraving a business, took
a room in Tudor's building in Court street,
and commenced in August, 1812, by doing a
cut of a Model of a Boat for Mr. Frederick
Tudor, and advertised to do Engraving on
Wood in Boston. I immediately received
orders from the principal publishers in the
City, such as Messrs. T. B. Wait, Caleb Bing
ham, Summings & Hilliard, Munroe & Francis,
Lincoln & Edmands, West & Richardson,
Adams ,& Rhodes, Benjamin Russell, and
others, most of whom had urged my making
Wood Engraving a business, as no one, as
they said, had ever attempted it in Boston."
"The patronage thus bestowed on me, led Mr.
Gershom Cobb, a writing master, to issue a
card, as he had made cuts occasionally, by
way of experimenting. This was soon fol
lowed by N. Dearborn, originally a book
binder and book seller, then a grocer, to issue
a Hieroglyphical Card, as having opened in
Water Street. Mr. Cobb soon relinquished
the business altogether, leaving the whole to
Mr. Dearborn and myself. After this a degree
of rivalry ensued between us, and the progress
each made may be seen by the work produced.
Mr. Shaw, when about to publish his Descrip
tion of Boston, gave each two cuts to do, the
Church of Christ in Salem St., and the Trian
gular Ware House, to Mr. Dearborn; and the
Old and New State House to me ; and any one
who wishes can see the state of the Art in
Boston at that period by examining the work.
And to show the progress I made in Engrav
ing on Wood, I would refer to a Cut placed
at the head of an Elegy on the Death of Law
rence, killed in the battle between the Chesa
peake and Shannon, the cuts in the Naval
Monument, Snow's History of Boston, the
Picture of Boston, and the Young's Ladies'
Book, all of which were published by myself.
Soon after the latter book appeared, Mr. Dun-
lap's work on the Arts in the United States'
was issued, in which he gave me the credit
of introducing the Art of Wood Engraving
into Boston. The statement made by Mr. D.
was from a knowledge of the circumstances
I have here related, obtained from what was
generally understood in Boston, not from any
information he got from me, for he made no

application to me on the subject. The public
must judge whether Mr. Dunlap's statement
is correct, and who was the first to introduce
the Art of Engraving into Boston, and bring
it forward to take rank with other cities in
the United States. Much credit awarded to
me in the Art, is no doubt due to the pupils
who have been in my employ, some of whom
I am proud to say have become distinguished
artists and do great credit to the country;
Croome, Hartwell, Devereux, Brown, Billings,
Kelly, Andrews, and several others. Abel
Bowen." An article on Abel Bowen in vol. 1, No. 2
of the Collections of the Boston Society by
William Henry Whitmore (1887) gives an
account of his life, and works, portraits of
himself and wife and reproduces many of his
engravings, now in the possession of the Bos
tonian Society.
One of the survivors of the artists of the
last generation has kindly favored us, writes
Mr. Whitmore, "with his recollections of our
subject." "Bowen was the real founder of
the art of wood-engraving here, not so much
by his own production as by the stimulus he
gave the subject. He was an enthusiast,
always projecting works to be illustrated in
this manner, and though rarely making a
profit himself, he was thus the cause of much
being clone. He was self-taught, copying the
designs and methods of those English exam
ples which inspired him. Before his time
engraving on copper and type metal had been
done here with fair success. But the aims,
processes and results of wood-engraving were
so well perceived and achieved in this city,
that for years it possessed almost a monopoly
of the business. And the work done a half
century ago was really good in style and man
ner ; so that to-day the greatest advance notice
able is mainly due to improvements in print
ing, paper and ink. That Bowen was unable
to command the means to succeed largely was
the misfortune of the times ; that he should
have struggled on, year after year, in the face
of reverses, poverty and long-continued illness,
is the highest proof that he possessed that
spark of vital energy which we call genius."
He died March 11, 1850. He married Eliza
Healy. The old house of his uncle, Daniel
Bowen, in Brighton where he executed some
of his early engravings is still standing. Chil
dren of Abel and Eliza (Healy) Bowen: 1.
Lorenzo. 2. Daniel. 3. Edwin. 4. Eliza,
married Henry Sanderson. 5. Anne M., born
November 29, 1823, married, January 4, 1849,

MASSACHUSETTS.

39i

Benjamin Phipps. (See Phipps family). 6.
Emeline, married Charles G. Butts. Four
others died young. All of these children with
the exception of Mrs. Phipps is now deceased.

In the following article is some
CHAPMAN account of a branch of the
Chapman family, supposed to
be descended from Samuel Chapman, who set
tled in Sharon, Connecticut.
( I ) Rev. Benj amin Chapman was born about
1724 and died June 22, 1786, aged sixty-one
says Mr. Robinson's church record of South-
ington, Connecticut, but the tombstone has it
sixty. Pie was the second pastor of the Con
gregational church in Southington. "All at
tempts to fix the time and place of his birth,"
says Rev. Heman R. Trinlow, in 'Ecclesiasti
cal and other Sketches of Southington, Conn.,'
from which much of this sketch is taken, "have
proved unavailing. A granddaughter remem
bers hearing her father say that an 'Uncle
Samuel' (brother of Rev. Benjamin) used to
visit them at Southington, and he lived some
where east of the Connecticut river. Another
fact seems to appear, that is, that he was early
in life left without a father, and that he had
property in his own right. From his youth his
associations were in the western part of the
state, and tradition says that he was in some
way under the care of Rev. Dr. Bellamy. He
had friends, and evidently lived for a time in
Fairfield. He also had some landed property
in the western part of the state, for once a
year he visited there to look after it. Putting
all facts and traditions and conjectures to
gether, it seems likely that he may have been
of the family of Samuel Chapman who left
Colchester and settled in Sharon."
He graduated at the College of New Jersey,
then located at Newark, September 25, 1754.
Within two months after graduating, in com
pany with two classmates, he applied to the
Litchfield Association of this state (Connec
ticut) for licensure. From the records of that
body it appears that it met November 20, 1754,
John Graham, moderator, and Joseph Bellamy,
scribe, and the following is an extract :
"Messrs. Noah Waddams, Benajah Roots, and
Benjamin Chapman B : of A : offered them
selves to examination in order to become
licensed preachers, this association examined
each of them according to our Standing Rules,
and look upon them completely qualified to
preach the Gospel, accordingly the said Noah
Waddams B. A., Benajah Roots B. A., and
Benjamin Chapman B. A., are each of them

licensed to preach the Gospel under the direc
tion and conduct of this association ; heartily
desiring that the great Lord of the Vineyard
may dispose each of them to a life of studious-
ness and Prayerfullness, & to an humble walk
with God and before man, and make each of
them a great Blessing in the world." It is a
matter of tradition that Mr. Chapman studied
for a time with Dr. Bellamy, and his name
appears in some of the old Bellamy papers in
such a way as to lead to the belief that he was
not only a student of his, but a kind of protege.
He may have been with Dr. Bellamy for the
two months intervening between his graduation
and application for license to preach. In Octo
ber, 1753, the Ecclesiastical Society of New
Preston, Connecticut, was constituted, and No
vember 14, 1754, it was voted to build a meet
ing house. At a meeting held January 30,
1755, it was "voted, that the ministerial com
mittee of New Preston Society shall give Mr.
Benjamin Chapman a call upon probation to
preach unto us in order for settlement amongst
(us) in said New Preston." "Voted, that the
ministerial committee James Terrill & Jacob
Kinne & John Bostwick shall aply themselves
to Mr. Benjamin Chapman in order to repre
sent said society in calling Mr. Chapman in
upon probation to preach to us in order for
settlement amongst us." How long he preach
ed there is not known, but his classmate Wad
dams was invited to preach on probation, Sep
tember 16, 1756. Mr. Chapman began his min
istry under favorable auspices in that there
was a general desire for peace, and not con
troversy, in the church. By his unaffected
piety and amiable manners, he won to him
self the friends of Mr. Curtis, his predecessor,
and at the same time satisfied those who had
been anxious for more radical religious meas
ures. For about ten years he was able to sat
isfy the people, and there were numerous addi
tions to the church. But after this time a
general apathy prevailed. This was not alone
the case in his church ; much the same feeling
prevailed elsewhere in New England. Mr.
Chapman contented himself with preaching
plain, practical sermons — never attempting to
make straight what seemed crooked in God's
moral government. ITis mind was not con
structed for controversy. He is spoken of as
a good natured man, benevolent, and overflow
ing with pleasantry. His piety was unques
tioned ; he was spiritual and faithful. The
fact is he was too spiritual for the times, in
his preaching, and finally, tired of preaching
to a church spiritually lifeless, in a community

392

MASSACHUSETTS.

¦where society was totally indifferent to relig
ious matters, he severed his connection as
pastor of the church September 28, 1774. But
the dissolution of the pastoral relation did not
release him from his ordinary duties. Prac
tically the relation was not dissolved, for he
still preached frequently, and was as before
the pastor of the flock. A large number of
the congregation was absent in the army, and
he was the trusted friend of the families left
behind. Although feeling himself the subject
of ingratitude and unmerited neglect, he allow
ed nothing to interfere with Christian duty.
He was constant in his attentions upon the
sick, and continued pleasant intercourse with
his old parishioners. It was a frequent cause
of lamentation among the more devout of the
people that they had permitted the dismission
of their pastor. Whatever had been their
former complaints, seldom did they have their
pulpit more satisfactorily filled than by him.
After he ceased to be their pastor many saw
and confessed their error. For three or four
years after resigning his pastorate, when not
supplying at Southington, he preached to
vacant churches in Litchfield and New Haven
counties. He also preached on week-day
evenings frequently in portions of this town
somewhat remote from the church. In his
later years he had a series of religious meet
ings at Red Stone Hill, and he found himself
again in his element. The fire of his earlier
ministry was rekindled. It was a great privi
lege to end his active life as he began it, in a
revival. This was in 1783, and from this time
until his death he was seldom from his home.
He gradually declined till he quietly passed
away. Mr. Chapman had not been entirely depend
ent upon his salary for his living. He seems
to have been in comfortable circumstances,
and generously dispensed his hospitality. By
his private fortune he was enabled ,to set a
better table than any of his people, and this
fact was often spoken of. Until he lost his
property and until his wife became an invalid,
his home was the center of social attraction to
the parish. He was interested in the young,
and is said to have originated for their special
benefit the plan of the library that survived
until about 1790. His two or three negro ser
vants were fed so well that to "live like Chap
man's' niggers" became proverbial, and to this
day the proverb is current in the town, although
its origin is unknown to many. But the revo
lutionary war came on, and he and his wife
invested a large part of their property in Con

tinental scrip, resulting in a large loss of prop
erty. His investments, whatever they were,
were not in Southington. A tradition in some
branches of his family is that his income came
from the western part of the state. There is
reason. to believe that his wife had quite a
patrimony. But when his successor assumed
the pastorate at Southington, Mr. Chapman's
circumstances were straitened. He added to
his income somewhat by supplying vacant pul
pits, but the compensation for such service in
those days was small. An evidence of the
smallness and harshness he had to encounter
at the hands of his people is illustrated by the
fact that, although his domestic sorrows were
overwhelming, and that he was, as providence
opened the way from Sabbath to Sabbath, still
preaching, his little estate was taxed to raise
the salary for his successor. He was so press
ed for the payment of this tax that he had to
petition the legislature for relief. And the
result was the enactment of a law by the gen
eral court, in October, 1782, relieving ministers
of the gospel during the continuance of their
public service in the gospel ministry from pay
ment of taxes on estates of theirs lying in the
town where they dwelt. "As an instance of
Mr. Chapman's humor and kindness of heart,
it is said that one night he heard a noise in
his cellar. Descending thither with a candle,
he saw a man tying up a bag which contained
all the pork that had been stored in a barrel.
He remarked, 'Friend, it isn't fair that you
take all the pork — you should at least leave
me half! Here now, I'll divide it, and you
take half and leave half for me.' The man,
ashamed at being caught, refused to touch it,
but Mr. Chapman good naturedly persisting,
he trudged off with his share. The next day
was 'militia training' upon the green north
of the burying ground, and Mr. Chapman
officiated as chaplain. After the prayer he
ran his eye along the ranks and saw that the
culprit was there, then turning to the captain
exclaimed, 'Captain Woodruff, one of your
men stole my pork last night and ought to be
punished.' But he refused to tell who it was,
and walked rapidly off, leaving the guilty
party fearing a punishment he was never to
receive." Benjamin Chapman married, January 8,
1756, Abigail Riggs, of Derby, who died Octo
ber 10, 1782. aged fifty-four years. Her mother
was also named Abigail. From the Derby rec
ords it appears that Mrs. Chapman had con
siderable property. There were several trans
actions in her name, and as late as 1770 her

€11
iSliilli

>'

MASSACHUSETTS.

393

mother deeds her property. The following
extract from the Farmington town records
bears date October 19, 1770: "Abigail Riggs,
of Derby, for the love she bears to her daugh
ters, Abigail R. Chapman, of Farmington,
Mary (or Mercy) Hawkins, and Elizabeth
Yale (wife of Thomas) of Derby," gives
"land lying in Derby, Waterbury, and Will
ington, or in any other town in the colony, to
be equally divided." Mr. Chapman is sup
posed to have given his son Samuel the farm
he occupied in Russell, Massachusetts. Mrs.
Chapman was a woman of education and re
finement, but of a very sensitive retiring nature.
The trials of her husband were no less sore to
her than to him, and he had hardly resigned
his charge before she became physically pros
trated under a painful disorder which lasted
for years, and she finally died insane from the
treatment her husband received at the hands
of the society and church. Eight children were
born of this union: 1. Abigail, born October
10, 1756; died October 15, 1776. 2. Roswell
Riggs, February 14, 1758; died September 5,
1776. 3. Sarah, May 17, 1759; died January
10, 1804. 4. Clarissa, November 22, 1764;
married, October 24, 1790, Russell Atwater,
of Cheshire. 5. Benjamin, February 26, 1763;
married (first) November 23, 1786, Polly
Cook, who died July 2, 1789; (second) Sep
tember 25, 1792, Sylvia Upson. 6. Parmelia,
November 7, 1764; married, 1797, Russell
Falley, of Montgomery, Massachusetts ; died
1873, aged one hundred and nine. 7. Samuel,
mentioned below. 8. Levi, October 30, 1768;
married, November 11, 1790, Mercy Carter;
died November 8, 1834.
(II) Samuel, third son of Rev. Benjamin
and Abigail (Riggs) Chapman, was baptized
June 22, 1766, and died December 30, 1850,
aged eighty-four. He resided in Russell, and
died in Blandford, Massachusetts, on a farm
probably given him by his father. He was a
quiet citizen, cultivated his farm, and held no
office, and was not in public life. He married
Hannah, daughter of John Ferguson, of
Blandford, who died August 23, 185 1. Their
children were: 1. Caroline, born November
9, 1799; married Marcus Bradley, of Russell,
Massachusetts, and died in 1823. 2. Reuben
Atwater, mentioned below. 3. Clarissa, May
15, 1805; married, September 25, 1831, Rev.
Richard Armstrong, missionary to the Sand
wich Islands.
(Ill) Hon. Reuben Atwater, only son of
Samuel and Hannah (Ferguson) Chapman,
was born in Russell. Hampden county, Massa

chusetts, September 20, 1801, and died in
Fluelen, Switzerland, June 28, 1873. He
attended the common schools "of the town, kept
for a few months only in each year. At the age
of seventeen he was engaged as a school teacher
in the town of Montgomery. He afterwards
went to Blandford, where he was a clerk in a
store, and studied the higher branches with the
minister of Blandford. The young men of the
town established a debating society, in which
he became a member, and was prominent as
the foremost debater. Pie at length entered
the office of General Alanson Knox, of Bland
ford, as a student at law. He soon mastered
the ordinary routine of country practice, and
was accustomed to attend justices' trials in
Blandford and the neighboring towns, en
countering sometimes the lawyers in the vicin
ity, and sometimes their students. At the time
of his admission to the bar he enjoyed the repu
tation of being an able and acute practitioner.
He was admitted to the bar at the March term
of the common pleas, in 1825, and opened an
office in Westfield. There were then in that
town a large number of lawyers, a number
much too large for the necessities of the town
and its vicinity, and he was much disappointed
with his success. In 1827 he removed to Mon
son, and, finding the demand for his services
there too limited, he removed in 1829 to the
more thriving town of Ware. He was at once
regarded in the light of an intruder, and a
feeling of professional rivalry ripened into
controversy. He was not a person to come
off second best in such a state of things, and
he had obtained a lucrative and an increasing
practice, when he was invited to a copartner
ship with the Hon. George Ashmun, in Spring
field. He attracted the notice of Daniel Wells,
of Greenfield, then district attorney, and the
leading lawyer of that region, and afterward
chief justice of the state ; and he suggested to
Mr. Chaprrian and George Ashmun, then prac
ticing in Enfield, that if they would go to
Springfield and join their talents and legal
knowledge, they would be the gainers, both in
pocket and reputation. The suggestion was
acted upon, and in 1830 the firm of Chapman
& Ashmun commenced practice on Elm street.
In those days it was not customary for young
lawyers to engage in the trial of cases, unless
some one of the older members of the bar was
associated with them; but the new firm at
once made an innovation upon that ancient
custom, and the old lawyers found that these
young men were foemen not to be despised
in th'1 court room. Mr. Lorenzo Norton, who

394

MASSACHUSETTS.

was a student in their office, and was admitted
to the bar in 1843, became a partner in the
firm, and remained such until his death. The
association of Chapman & Ashmun continued
until 1850, when Mr. Ashmun's election to
congress led to the dissolution of the firm, Mr.
Chapman continuing the business for some
time alone. In 1854 he induced Franklin
Chamberlain, of Lee, now Hartford, to remove
to Springfield, and become his partner, which
partnership continued until i860, when the
senior member of the firm was placed upon
the bench. In accordance with a legislative
resolution passed in 1849, Governor George
N. Briggs appointed Mr. Chapman one of the
members, with B. F. Curtis, Esq., of Boston,
and N. J. Lord, Esq., of Salem, to draw up a
practice act for the courts of justice of the
commonwealth except in criminal cases. The
resignation of Chief Justice Shaw, in i860,
and the promotion of Judge Bigelow to the
chief justiceship, made a vacancy which was
filled by the appointment of Judge Chapman;
and eight years later, when Chief Justice Bige
low resigned, the older and more prominent
Boston lawyers urged Governor Bullock to
ignore the claims made for the place by the
friends of Judge Benjamin F. Thomas and
Judge E. Rockwood Hoar, and give the
appointment to Judge Chapman. The first
intimation the latter had of any movement for
his promotion was his reception of the appoint
ment from the governor. His course upon the
bench won general indorsement and approval,
and his administration was characterized by
brief and commonsense decision, by careful
and close attention to business, and by the
most conscientious regard for legal principles.
It has been said of him : "In one respect he
succeeded admirably as a chief justice. He
was a most excellent administrative officer. He
properly appreciated the evils of the law's de
lay, and he was of a character to push forward
the legal business of the court to speedy justice.
Another trait of his character was his entire ,
impartiality. Fle considered a judicial tribu
nal as a theater for the ascertainment of right,
and that the legal forms of procedure were
the necessary securities by which the rights
of parties are to be investigated and establish
ed. Without regard, therefore, to the parties
litigant, and with no influences of friendship in
favor of the opposing counsel, he labored to
discover the substantial merits of the contro
versy, and to apply the principles of practice
to the triumph of justice. The opinions which
he left upon the record bear testimony to his

industry and his talent. They are generally
brief, being rather decisions of the questions
of law in dispute, than long disquisitions upon
the law. His language is concise and clear;
and no one who is desirous of ascertaining,
can fail to understand what the point of law
is, that he proposes to decide. There was one
admirable trait in the mind of the chief justice,
which distinguished him, both at' the bar and
on the bench; and we allude to the quick
appreciation of the evidence, and the points
of law in the case. Fle was always distinguish
ed for his readiness in understanding the facts,
and his application of legal principles to it."
Originally a Whig, Judge Chapman was
always a strong anti-slavery man, and during
the "Kansas" excitement was one of the fore
most men in Springfield in advocating the free
state movement. He was a personal acquaint
ance of John Brown, as well as his attorney
when Brown was in business in Springfield,
and when the latter was arrested in Virginia
he was at once sent for as counsel, but was
unable to respond to the call on account of
pressing engagements elsewhere, replying to
Brown to have his case held over and he
would then take up his case, but Brown was
executed before the letter was delivered. He
was a supporter of the Emigrant Aid Society,
and, when a United States commissioner, great
pressure was brought upon him to resign the
office that he might avoid the offensive duty of
returning fugitive slaves to their masters. "I
refuse to resign," was his firm reply. When
an explanation of his position was asked, he
said, "In the event of the pursuit of a slave to
Springfield, as an officer of the Emigrant Aid
Society 7 would forward the fugitive to other
parts * as United States commissioner I would
then issue a warrant for his arrest." Believing
the law unconstitutional, he felt that in this
manner the matter could be tested more fairly
with the office held by a man of anti-slavery
principles. f
Judge Chapman's mind was under such
thorough discipline that, whether well or ill,
he could bring himself to the performance of
his professional work; and so great was his
power of abstraction, that he was oblivious of
all external circumstances while actively en
gaged in mental work. There is something
remarkable in the fidelity with which he pur
sued studies outside of his profession. Early in
his professional life he took up mathematics —
Latin and Greek having been studied in con
nection with his profession — and afterwards he
devoted himself in succession to metaphysics,

MASSACHUSETTS.

395

theology, natural history, geology, English
literature, and the modern languages ; and
during the later years of his life he was accus
tomed each year to take up some one of these
branches of study and carefully review and
enlarge upon his original investigations. He
read French as fluently as English, and was
a fine reader and speaker of German. He
was exceedingly fond of poetry, and owned
and carefully read and studied nearly all the
writings of English and American poets. He
received the honorary degree of Master of
Arts, conferred by Amherst College in 1841,
and Doctor of Laws in 1861 ; also Williams
College, Master of Arts, in 1836, and Harvard
College, Master of Arts, in 1864, also LL. D.,
and from Yale the same.
Following are some extracts from a discourse
at the funeral of Judge Chapman in the South
Congregational Church, Springfield, July 26,
1873, by Rev. Samuel G. Buckingham, pastor:
"We all know how truthful and honest he
was. Sincerity and uprightness were the warp
and woof of his whole character, and whatever
else was woven into it, this was the main
fabric, and set off all the rest to advantage.
* * * We know, too, his worth as a neigh
bor and friend. His advice which was worth
so much, was always freely given. His en
couragement was sure to be bestowed upon
the deserving, especially upon the young and
the modest. His sympathy we were sure to
have, and the most tender expressions of it,
whenever trouble befell any of us. * * *
As a member of this community, and a citizen,
we are greatly indebted to him for helping to
create a just public sentiment, and for a hearty
co-operation in our public improvements. He
was always interested in such subjects, and an
admirable adviser in regard to them. The
improvement in our public schools had his
encouragement from first to last. The in
crease of church accommodations, and of mis
sion enterprises in the city was one of his
favorite projects. He was a sturdy friend of
the temperance cause, taking an active part in
the promotion of this reformation when it
began forty or fifty years ago, and always de
voting his professional services to its aid with
the utmost satisfaction. But he was especially
anxious to have public sentiment right; — to
have it pure, intelligent and Christian, as the
soil out of which everything good would natur
ally spring: — so he encouraged the dissemina
tion of right views and the advancement of
good men. He frowned heavily on all cor
ruption, even in politics. He denounced un

sparingly the highest in office, of any party,
who sold himself to corruption, or attempted
to mislead the people. He was for truth,
righteousness, purity, and the public good.
* * * We also love to remember him as
we met him in his own home, and with his
family. His wonderful amiability and loveli
ness there, together with his generous hospi
tality, made that a delightful household.
* * * But it is of his religious character
that we love best to speak. He believed the
Bible, and had no such difficulties, as many
have, about accepting the whole of it as the
inspired word of God. Accustomed to inter
pret language, and weigh evidence, he found
proof enough of the divine origin of these
writings, and could never be too grateful for
such 'a lamp unto our feet.' He held what is
called the evangelical faith, regarding Jesus
Christ as the divine Redeemer of mankind,
trusting in Him, and in Him alone, for salva
tion. He was always a diligent student of the
sacred writings. He was the first superintend
ent of this Sabbath school, and for many years
the teacher of a Bible class. The Sabbath
always found him in the house of God, and he
was habitually present at the weekly prayer
meeting. He always had for his Sunday read
ing some standard religious work. * * *
His relation also to the church at large, and
his connection with our religious institutions
and missionary organizations, demand notice.
He was one of the trustees of Andover Theo
logical Seminary, and a corporate member of
the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions. He took a deep interest in
the work of home missions. * * * He
was greatly interested in what we call home
evangelization. * * * He was the origi
nator of the Hampden County Conference of
Congregational Churches ; — one of the oldest,
and most efficient in the state; — and was
always aiding by his presence and suggestions,
as well as by his sympathy and prayers. His
advice was greatly desired upon ecclesiastical
councils, and in regard to all matters of
church government, which he had studied care
fully, and he was always ready to give atten
tion and time to such subjects. * * * But
what shall we say of his connection with this
church, more than that he was one of its origi
nal founders ; that he was for nearly twenty
years its clerk, and for the same time a mem
ber of the church committee; that he was
always its steadfast and liberal supporter;
that his first and last interest was bound up
in our welfare; — that wherever he went, his

39°

MASSACHUSETTS.

heart turned lovingly back to this, as his spirit
ual home; — that as he had lived so long and
pleasantly in communion with us, so he ex
pected to die and be buried here."
Reuben A. Chapman married, June 2, 1829,
at Blandford, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Knox,
who was born in Blandford, Massachusetts,
March 26, 1808, and died in Springfield, April
27, 1898. She was the daughter of General
Alanson and Lucinda (Knox) Knox, of Bland
ford. General Knox was a distinguished law
yer of Blandford, and representative and sen
ator of Massachusetts. He removed to Chagrin
Falls, Ohio, where he died. Their children
were: 1. Elizabeth, born November 20, 1837;
married, April 16, 1863, Timothy Manning
Brown, son of Manning and Mary (Smedley)
Brown, a lawyer, of Springfield, Massachu
setts. They had three children: i. Edward
Manning, born February 25, 1872 ; graduated
from Yale, B. S., 1894, and from the College
of Physicians and Surgeons, Medical Depart
ment of Columbia University, 1898; now a
practicing physician in Springfield ; married,
1899, Elizabeth Katherine Pettinger, daughter
of flenry Pettinger, of Lasselsville, New York ;
she died April 10, 1907, leaving two children —
Edward P. and Elizabeth Chapman ; ii. Harold
C. Brown, born April 2, 1879; tutor in Colum
bia College; graduate of Williams College
1901, and degree of Doctor of Philosophy at
Harvard, in 1905 ; married, 1903, Frances S.
Norton ; have two children. 2. Reuben, born
September 16, 1842; was admitted to the bar,
and died at Westfield, Massachusetts, April 4,
1870. 3. Mary, born January 5, 1845 ; was
educated both at home and abroad; she is a
member of the North German Chemical
Society; the American Association for the
Advancement of Science; the American Folk
Lore Society ; The Red Cross ; Mercy Warner
Chapter, D. A. R. ; Springfield Woman's Club ;
life member of the W. B. F. M. ; member of
the Woman's Association of the M. L. T., and
of the Farmington Lodge Society. She trans
lated Janet's "Theory of Morals," published
sometime in the eighties, besides other trans
lations.

Edmund Weston, immigrant an-
WESTON cestor, came to Boston in the
ship "Elizabeth and Ann," and
settled in Duxbury in 1635. His age at the
time of coming was given as thirty years. It is
said that in England his trade was a thresher
of grain. He was apprenticed to John Winslow,
and transferred November 2, T636, to William

Thomas. In 1639 he formed a partnership
with John Carver for planting and farming,
and in 1640 had a grant of four acres at Stony
Brook, Duxbury, and a tract of land at Green
Harbor. He was on the list of those able to
bear arms in 1643. In 1652 he was surveyor
of highways, and took an active part in town
affairs. His will was dated February 18, 1686,
and proved June 3, 1686. He died in Dux
bury in 1686, aged eighty. He married late in
life,  De La Noye (Delano). Children:
1. Elnathan, mentioned below. 2. Mary, mar
ried John Delano; lived in Duxbury. 3. Ed
mund, born 1660, died September 23, 1723. 4.
John, born 1662, died 1736.
(II) Elnathan, son of Edmund Weston, was
born in Duxbury, 1657, and died April 23,
1724. He lived on his father's farm, near Mill
Brook, Duxbury, and was surveyor of high
ways in 1687 and 1692, and a freeholder in
1707. His will is recorded with the Plymouth
records. He married Desire, granddaughter
of Miles Standish, who came in the "May
flower." All her descendants are eligible to
membership in the Mayflower Society. She
died May 13, 1735. Children: 1. Samuel,
died 1752. 2. Joseph, born 1692, died Septem
ber 11, 1778. 3. Mary, married, April 10,
1717, Joseph Simmons. • 4. Sarah, married,
April 10, 1717, John Churchill. 5. Abigail,
born 1704, died 1764.
(II) John, son of Edmund Weston, was
born in Duxbury, 1662, and died in 1736.
He resided at Powder Point, Duxbury, and
in 1690 he with others hired the common
meadows. He was a freeholder in 1707. He
married Deborah Delano. Children: 1. Isaac.
2. Jonathan. 3. Abner. 4. Eliphas, mentioned
below. 5. David, died September 4, 1805. 6.
Desire. 7. Deborah, married Benjamin Prior.
(Ill) Eliphas, son of John Weston, was
born in Duxbury, in 1702, and died March 15,
1762. He was a mariner, and lived in Dux
bury. Fle met his death by drowning in Dux
bury Bay, in a severe snow storm, his son
Joshua sharing the fame fate. He married
Priscilla Peterson, who died in 1778. Chil
dren: 1. Warren, born 1740, died 1799. 2.
Ezra, born July 13, 1743; mentioned below.
3. Daniel, born 1744, died November 17, 1766.
4- Ehphas, born 1745. 5. Arunah, born Febru
ary 4, 1746, died January 17, 183 1. 6. Joshua,
born 1748; drowned March 18, 1762. 7. Tim
othy, born 1749.
(IV) Ezra, son of Eliphas Weston, was
born July 13, 1743, and died October 11, 1822.
He lived in Duxbury, and was one of the most

MASSACHUSETTS.

397

enterprising and wealthy men in the province.
He was the largest shipbuilder and owner in
the country, and was familiarly known as
"King Caesar." He was the richest man in
Plymouth county, and owned nearly half of
the town of Duxbury, and did a great deal for
that town, and was of course by far its most
prominent man in all respects, a man of high
sense of honor and integrity and beloved by all.
He served in the revolution, in Captain Benja-
minWadsworth's company ( Second Duxbury),
Colonel James Warren's regiment, and answer
ed the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775 ; also
in same company under Lieutenant Nathan
Samson and Colonel Thomas Lothrop, Decem
ber 10, 1776; and in Captain Allen's company,
Colonel Theophilus Cotton's regiment, on a
secret expedition to Rhode Island, September
and October, 1777. He married (first) April
20, 1767, Sylvia Church, who died May 21,
1768; (second) October 25, 1770, Salumith
Wadsworth, of Marshfield; (third) July 4,
1817, Priscilla Vergin, of Plymouth. She was
a widow at time of marriage. Child of first
wife: 1. Sylvia Church, born May 13, 1768;
married Captain Sylvanus Sampson. Child of
second wife : 2. Ezra, mentioned below.
(V) Ezra (2), son of Ezra (1) Weston,
was born in Duxbury, November 30, 1771, and
died August 15, 1842. On arriving of age he
was taken into partnership by his father, under
the firm name of E. Weston & Son. Both
father and son resided on their farm of one
hundred acres at Powder Point,. Duxbury.
They established one of the finest shipbuilding
plants in the state, consisting of a shipyard on
Blue Fish river, of ten acres and wharf; a
ropewalk a quarter of a mile in length; a spar
yard and a sa.il loft, on their farm at Powder
Point, as well as a wharf with five large build
ings on it on their water front on the Bay. So
they built all their ships, made the spars, rigging
and sails, and when their ships left the wharf
they were all ready to proceed on a voyage.
They also conducted a country store from
which they paid in goods their army of work
men in their employ, there being at that time
.little if any money in circulation. They had a
foreman over each department under their
direction. On the death of "King Caesar" in
1822, his son continued the business in his
own name of E. Weston, with the same energy
and enterprise, as successfully as his father,
and proved a worthy successor to him, being
in 1830 still the largest ship owner in "the
United States and wealthiest man in the county.
He married Jerusha Bradford, who died Octo

ber 11, 1833. She was a lineal descendant in
the sixth generation from William Bradford,
governor of Plymouth Colony. All her de
scendants are eligible to membership in the
Mayflower Society. Children: 1. Ezra, born
1796; died 1805. 2. Maria, born 1798, died
1804. 3. Gershom Bradford, born August 27,
1799; mentioned below. 4. Jerusha, born 1802,
died 1804. 5. Alden Bradford, born 1805. 6.
Ezra, born 1809 ; he was a Harvard man, grad
uated in the famous class of 1829, studied law
and was admitted to the bar, but never entered
into the active practice of his profession. He
was very popular with his classmates, and they
elected him captain, and he commanded the
college military company. After his' gradua
tion he was called to the command of the
Boston Light Infantry, familiarly known as
"The Tigers." Some few years later he was
urged and accepted the appointment of "City
Marshall," of Boston, fle visited Europe
several times, and traveled abroad extensively.
(VI) Gershom Bradford, son of Ezra (2)
Weston, was born August 27, 1799, in Duxbury,
and died there September 14, 1869. He was edu
cated in the public schools, and assisted his
father in building ships. In 1840 he was ad
mitted to partnership with him, together with
his brothers, Alden B. and Ezra, in Boston
and Duxbury, the firm name being changed
from Ezra Weston, to E. Weston & Sons.
They continued in the shipping trade until
18^7, when the firm dissolved. The business
had thus been carried on successfully for about
one hundred years, from father to son. Their
ships were always rated Ai, and to say that a
ship was built in Duxbury and owned by the
Westons silenced and satisfied all criticisms or
inquiries. Their ships sailed and their sails
whitened every known ocean and sea on the
globe, and carried the Stars and Stripes into
all the principal maritime ports of the world,
where the names of Ezra Weston (2) E.
Weston & Son, (3) E. Weston, and (4)
E. Weston & Sons, were familiarly known
and their credit unlimited. E. Weston's brig
"Smyrna" was the first ship to carry the United
States flag into the Black Sea through the
Dardanelles and Sea of Marmora under a "Fir
man" issued by the Sublime Porte in 1830.
He served as representative to the general
court for fifteen or twenty years, and as sen
ator for some years; member of the constitu
tional convention in 1852 ; a member of Gov
ernor George S. Boutwell's council; and on*.
of the first comrhissioners for the Hoosic Tun
nel. He lived in Duxbury until 1850, when

398

MASSACHUSETTS.

he removed to Boston for five years, returning
then to Duxbury. In politics he was a Repub
lican in his later years. He was president of
the Duxbury State Bank, and director of the
Equitable Life Insurance Company of Boston
ten years. He attended the Unitarian Church.
He married (first) 1820, Judith Sprague, who
died November 25, 1845. He married (sec
ond) February 23, 1848, Deborah Brownell,
born in Little Compton, Rhode Island, August
1, 1822, died 1907. Children of first wife: 1.
Captain Gershom Bradford, born October 25,
1821, died April, 1887; he was a master mari
ner, took command of a ship at the age of
twenty-one, and commanded some of the finest
ships that sailed out of Boston. He married,
January 19, 1843, Mary B. Moore, and had
eight children. 2. Maria, born December 16,
1822, died May 30, 1823. 3. Jerusha Brad
ford, born March 15, 1824, died December 8,
1824. 4. John Allyne, born November 3, 1825,
died May 12, 1869; he was a Harvard man,
graduated in the class of 1846; studied law in
the Harvard Law School, and in the office of
Judge Barton, at Worcester; was admitted to
the bar, and practiced his profession in the
town of Milford. He married Mary Paine,
of Worcester ; had Annie Sprague, born Janu
ary 25, 1851. 5. George Canning, born March
28, 1828, died January 18, 1856. 6. William
Bradford, born June 20, 1830; mentioned
below. 7. Edgar, born August 31, 1832, died
October 31, 185 1. 8. Jerusha Bradford, t*>rn
December 19, 1834; resides in Duxbury. 8.
Alfred, born January 19, 1837; in response to
the call of Abraham Lincoln in the name of
the nation in 1861, for men to avert the nation's
death, the records of the Navy Department
show that Alfred Weston was appointed as
acting master's mate in the United States Navy,
October 3, 1861 ; acting master, November 4,
1861, and served on the United States barque
"Ethan Allen;" detached between March 31,
1863, and May 31, 1863, and ordered to com
mand United States schooner "Fox ;" detached
and ordered to U. S. S. "San Jacinto," flagship
of the East Gulf Squadron ; detached Septem
ber 5, 1864, and granted sick leave of absence;
ordered to U. S. S. "Iuka," October 6, 1864;
promoted to acting volunteer lieutenant, De
cember 17, 1864; detached October 26, 1865,
to await orders ; ordered to U. S. S. "Yantic,"
November 13, 1865; detached October 24,
1866, granted leave of absence, and honorably
discharged February 27, 1867; appointed act
ing master, April 5, 1867, and ordered to
U. S. store ship "Relief;" detached July 24,

1867, and ordered to the South Pacific Squad
ron ; served on U. S. S. "Wateree ;" returned
east and mustered out of the service October
2, 1868. The U. S. barque "Ethan Allen,"
steamer "Iuka," and schooner "Fox" were
employed in blockading the ports patrolled by
the vessels of the East Gulf Squadron. In
1870 was appointed by President U. S. Grant
lieutenant in the U. S. Revenue Marine. He
served on several revenue cutters at the sta
tions at Savannah, Georgia; Boston, Massa
chusetts; Ogdensburg (Lake Ontario) New
York; and Portland, Maine. In 1881, for
domestic reasons, he resigned from the service
and returned to private life. He married
Laura Eldredge, of Duxbury; resides in Ash-
mont. 10. Maria, born June 3, 1839, resides
in Duxbury with her sister. 11. Alden Brad
ford, born November 25, 1844; he was edu
cated at private schools in Pembroke and
Northfield, Massachusetts, and also took an
academic course at the Highland Military
Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts. No
vember 30, 1863, he entered the Union army as
private in Second Regiment, New Hampshire
Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered out De
cember 19, 1865. He participated in all en
gagements and battles in which the regiment
took part up to October 29, 1864, and after
that, as he was wounded and sick, was sent to
the Hampton Hospital, near Fortress Monroe,
Virginia, where he remained under treatment
until mustered out of the service. After the
war he was appointed deputy constable of the
commonwealth of Massachusetts by Governor
John A. Andrew, and served as such for a
year and a half. In 1871 he entered the
United States postal service as a clerk in the
Boston, Massachusetts, postoffice, and after
passing through the different grades was pro
moted to the position of superintendent of the
registry division in 1884, which position he
now holds. He married Helen P. Baker, of
Duxbury, Massachusetts ; resides in Dorches
ter. Child of second wife: 12. Edmund
Brownell, born in Duxbury, 1849, resides in
Providence, Rhode Island.
(VII) William Bradford, son of Gershom
Bradford Weston, was born in Duxbury, June
20, 1830. He received his education in the
public- schools, and at the age of fifteen entered
the counting room of Edward C. Bates &
Company, importers and shippers, as clerk.
At the age of seventeen he became head book
keeper, cashier and confidential clerk, in full
charge of the counting room, and at the age
of twenty-one was admitted to the firm. Mr.

MASSACHUSETTS.

399

Bates always fully appreciated young Weston's
business ability and willingness to work at all
times, and as a partner placed great and full
confidence and reliance in him, leaving it in his
hands to execute and carry out all the busi
ness affairs as planned by his senior. The
counting room of the company was located at
47 India Wharf, Boston, until 185 1, when Mr.
Bates was elected the first president of the
Bank of Commerce (which he was largely
instrumental in founding and organizing)
when the counting room was moved to 85
State street, over the bank. The business was
with the West Indies, especially Cuba. They
shipped goods also to various other countries —
Russia, England and Spain — having a very
large exporting and importing trade, ranking
then, as always, among the largest merchants
of his day and time. During the financial
panic of 1857 the firm went out of business,
when Mr. Bates, with his nephew Ives G.
Bates, under the firm name of E. C. & I. G.
Bates, were appointed and accepted the Boston
agency of the Cunard Steamship Company.
They had carried on an extensive trade, im
porting molasses, sugar and cigars and export
ing sugar box shooks, hogshead shooks, and
empty molasses hogsheads, salt fish, railroad
sleepers, and machinery for the manufacture
of sugar. The firm owned their ships, among
them being the old ships "Tirrell" and "Queen
of the Pacific," and barques "Lecocq" and
"Mimosa." Mr. Weston passed the winter of
1858 in Cuba and traveled all over the island,
renewing his acquaintance with the friends and
correspondents of his old firm and arranging
for his future business, and on his return to
Boston started in business on his own account,
importing sugar, the firm name being William
B. Weston, the counting room situated at
Rowe's Wharf, and afterward at 99 State
street, Boston. For seven years Mr. Weston car
ried on the business, importing sugar, molasses
and cigars. He then entered into partnership
with G. P. Carter, the firm name being Carter
& Weston, successors to the old firm of Charles
Hickling & Company, having the largest book
printing and binding business in the state, in
the manufacture of school books and music
books. In 1880 Mr. Carter died and Mr.
Weston continued the business alone until
1895, when he retired. He resided in Boston
many years, and in i860 removed to Roxbury,
and ten years later to Milton, where he has
since lived. He was a director of the Kansas
City & Atlantic Railroad Company ; in i860 a
director of the Fairfield Gold Mining Com

pany of Colorado ; treasurer of the East Bos
ton Dock Company, Lexington Paint Com
pany, and American Patent Tubing Company ;
also served as an expert accountant on several
occasions. He has voted the Republican ticket
at every election since 1856, and has often
served his party as delegate to nominating con
ventions, and has exerted a potent influence in
political affairs. Mr. Weston, being of a very
modest and retiring disposition, would never
accept public office (though urged to do so by
his friends) but always worked and voted for
highminded and honest men for public office.
Mr. Weston, in 1907, gave to the town of
Milton a handsome drinking fountain for man
and beast, and in other ways has shown his
interest in municipal welfare. This fountain,
cut from Quincy granite, is a very handsome
affair. It is so arranged that clean water con
stantly flows into three receptacles — one for
the human family and another for horses, and
a third for dogs. It stands at the corner of
Adams street and Randolph avenue, and bears
this inscription : "Adam's ale for man and
beast." "Presented to the town by William B.
Weston, 1907." It is a credit in design to both
the donor and the town, and signifies the inter
est taken by Mr. Weston in his town and his
kindness and forethought for the animal king
dom. Mr. Weston, being a gentleman of high
sense of honor, integrity and honesty, always
lived a simple life, minding his own business
and private affairs, and never wronged any
one out of a cent, always having for his guid
ance, "live and let live," and "Do unto others
as you would have others do unto you." He
was trustee of the Public Library for ten years
or more. The Westons were all large men,
mostly six footers or more.
He married, October 25, 1856, Charlotte
Louisa Fiske, born in Charlestown, Massachu
setts, October 23, 1823, died February 1, 1900,
daughter of John J. and Sarah (Stetson) Fiske,
of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and New York
City. The surname Mann appears very
MANN early in English history and no
doubt in Germany eariler as a
patronymic. In the earliest records it is gen
erally spelled Man, and in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries both Man and Mann. In
the Domesday Book (1086), Willelmus filius
Manne is mentioned as a landholder in county
Hants, England. Various branches of the
Mann family are found in counties Norfolk,
Northampton, Gloucester, Norfolk, Lincoln

400

MASSACHUSETTS.

and York. The principal seat of the family
seems to have been at Bramley, county York,
and from this family the immigrant William
Mann, who settled at Cambridge, Massachu
setts, is thought to have descended. There
are several coat-of-arms borne by various
branches of the Mann family, all somewhat
similar, some bearing three lions, others three
goats, and one, three legs conjoined, while a
tower appears in the crest. Arms of the Essex
family : A chevron ermine between three lions
rampant sable. Crest : A tower or, issuant
from the top five tilting spears proper. Motto :
Virtus vincet invidiam. Another : Argent
three antique boots sable spurs or. Crest : A
demi-man proper wreathed about the temples
and loins vert holding over the dexter shoulder
an arrow proper. The Lancaster family bore
arms : Per f esse embattled argent, and azure,
three goats passant counter charged, attired or.
Richard Mann, immigrant ancestor, born in
England, settled in Scituate, Massachusetts,
before 1644, when he was the owner of land
there. He took the oath of fidelity January
15, 1644. He has often been confounded
with Richard More, who came in the "May
flower" with the family of Elder Brewster,
and many of the descendants of Richard
Mann, relying on the statement of the historian
of Scituate, who was misled by the similarity
of names when written, have claimed to have
Mayflower ancestry. Richard Mann was a
farmer, and was one of the twenty-six part
ners in the celebrated Conihasset 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 Con
cord, Massachusetts, was his near neighbor,
and was on the jury that held the 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. His widow
Rebecca married (second) March, 1656-7,
John Cowan, and lived in the Mann house
until 1760. Cowan was killed at Rehoboth in
the Indian fight in 1676. Rebecca had five
children by her second marriage. Children of
Richard Mann : 1. Nathaniel, born September
23, 1646 ; died July 20, 1688. 2. Thomas, born
August 15, 1650; mentioned below. 3. Rich
ard, born February 5, 1652; married Elizabeth
Sutton. 4. Josiah, born December 10, 1654,
probably died young, though he may be the
Josiah who was in Boston, 1674-6.
(II) Thomas, son of Richard Mann, was
born in Scituate, August 15, 1650. He served

on a coroner's jury, March 20, 1677. He
was admitted a freeman in 1680. In 1679 he
settled his father's estate, and in 1703 he pur
chased of his brother, Richard Mann, lands on
Mann Hill, and deeded this land April 9, 171 3,
to his second son, Thomas, Jr. He also deeded
land to his sons Joseph and Benjamin, Febru
ary 24, 1719, and to his son Ensign Mann,
March 6, 1722, and lastly, half his remaining
estate, in 1723, to his son Joseph. He married
Sarah  . He died at Scituate in 1732,
and his will was proved July 12, 1732. Chil
dren : 1. Josiah, born March 11, 1679; died
1708. 2. Thomas, born April 5, 1681 ; married
Deborah Joy. 3. Sarah, born November 15,
1684; married —  Gibbs. 4. Mary, born
March 15, 1688; died unmarried, 1723. 5.
Elizabeth, born March 10, 1692, died 1723. 6.
Joseph, born December 27, 1694; mentioned
below. 7. Benjamin, born February 19, 1697;
married Martha Curtis. 8. Ensign, born about
1699 ; married widow Tabitha Vinall.
(Ill) Joseph, son of Thomas Mann, was
born in Scituate, December 27, 1694, and died
in Braintree (now Randolph), about 1747. He
was executor of his father's will in 1732. His
father deeded to him a part of the estate on
Mann Hill, February 24, 1719. In 1732 he
sold the property to Jeremiah Pierce, and
removed to Boston. Later he was of Brain
tree, where he had a farm of eighty acres of
Gideon Thayer in the south precinct of that
town, afterwards Randolph. In 1742, calling
himself of Flanover, he transferred a part of
that estate to his brother, Benjamin Mann, of
Flanover. The farm remained in the family
for many generations, and is situated about
two miles north of the village of Randolph.
He married Mary  . Children, born in
Scituate: 1. Joseph, October 10, 1722; mar
ried Elizabeth Niles. 2. Seth, 1724, mentioned
below. 3. Ephraim, 1728; married Sarah
Glover. 4. Mary, 1730; married August 27,
1751, Moses Littlefield. 5. Delight, born 1732 ;
married, October 11, 1750, Ephraim Hunt, Jr.
(IV) Lieutenant Seth, son of Joseph Mann,
was born in 1724, and died January 28, 1815,
aged ninty-one years. He was a farmer and
an extensive land holder, and resided on the
farm formerly owned by his father, situated
at what was known as the West Corner, where
his descendants at last accounts still lived, and
where his house still stands. He married
(first) October 14, 1745, Rachel Spear;
(second) October 18, 1750, Elizabeth Dyer;
(third) Deborah Dyer, widow, daughter
of Nathaniel Littlefield. Children: 1. Deb-

MASSACHUSETTS.

401

orah, born April 1, 1746, died October 4,
1822 ; married Zacheus Thayer. 2. Seth, born
December 3, 1747, married Mary Hayward.
3. Benjamin, born 1751 ; married Hannah
Hayward. 4. Ephraim, born April 3, 1752 ;
married Comfort Jewett. 5. Betsey, born Oc
tober 20, 1753; died June 3, 1833; married
William Blanchard. 6. Enos, born March 20,
1755 ! died aged thirty. 7. Rachel, born Feb
ruary 11, 1757; died December 29, 1833; mar
ried Joseph Riford. 8. Mary, born December
19, 1758; married Adam Howard. 9. Samuel,
born September 13, 1760; married (first)
Nancy Pettee. 10. Sarah, born July 11, 1762;
died June 2, 1852; married Micah White. 11.
Anna, born May 18, 1764; married Deacon
Eames. 12. Stephen, born March 11, 1766;
married Lucy Pettee. 13. Job, born March 26,
1769; married Matilda Fuller. 14. Elisha, born
February 4, 1771 ; mentioned below. 15. Phebe,
born September 19, 1772; died December 20,
1849; married Samuel Temple. 16. Olive,
born August 4, 1774; died April 9, 1855 ; mar
ried Deacon Asa Thayer. 17. Esther, bom
February 9, 1776; died April 19, 1847; mar
ried Rufus Thayer. 18. John, born November
18, 1777.
(V) Elisha, son of Lieutenant Seth Mann,
was born February 4, 1771. He inherited one-
half of his father's farm at Randolph. He
was admitted a member of the First Congre
gational Church there in 1800, and was elected
deacon in 1819, resigning in 1841. He married
Abigail Whitcomb, born 1775, died 1843,
daughter of Lieutenant Jacob Whitcomb. Chil
dren, born in Randolph: 1. Mary, May 4,
1798; died March 13, 1848; married (first)
Levi Mann; (second) Deacon Ziba Spear;
(third)  Rollins. 2. Lorena, born Oc
tober 7, 1800; married Warren White. 3.
Elisha, born March 31, 1803, mentioned below.
4. Adoniram Judson, March 28, 1805 ; married
Rosetta Howard. 5. Rachel, May 17, 1807;
died December 23, 1857 ; married Deacon
Wales Thayer. 6. Esther, August 6, 1809;
died March 11, 1881 ; married Thomas
Lamson. 7. Abigail Whitcomb, November 1,
181 1 ; died suddenly December 1, 1829. 8.
Lucinda, April 12, 1814; died September 4,
1879; married Zachariah Tucker. 9. Rev. Asa,
April 9, 1816; married Mary W. Bruce. 10.
Anna, April 9, 1816; married Ira Odell. 11.
Ephraim, April 18, 1820; married (first)
Mary Jane Leeds.
(Vt)Elisha (2), son of Elisha (1) Mann,
was born in Randolph, March 31, 1803. He
resided on the homestead, and married (first)
i— 26

Catherine Tucker, and (second) Naomi Mann.
Children of first wife: 1. Elisha, born De
cember 17, 1829; married (first) Sarah Jane
Iioward. 2. Minerva, born July 17, 1831 ;
died February 4, 1847. 3- Nelson, born Jan
uary 23, 1834 ; mentioned below. 4. Catherine,
born March 5, 1836. 5. Rachel Lavinia, born
April 8, 1841 ; married April 8, 1868, George
M. French. 6. Charles Henry, born Novem
ber 4, 1842; married June 11, 1867, Harriet
Anna Phillips.
(VII) Nelson, son of Elisha (2) Mann,
was born in Randolph, January 23, 1834. He
received his education in the district schools
and at Pierce Academy, Middleborough. He
worked on his father's farm until he was nine
teen years of age, and was clerk for a time in
a grocery store. He worked in various shoe
factories and learned the business thoroughly,
and then engaged in manufacturing boots and
shoes in Randolph. He retired from business
in 1884, and since then has been living in Ran
dolph. He enlisted in Company D, Fourth
Massachusetts Regiment, in the civil war, and
has kept a record of the members of that com
pany down to the present time. He was band
master in his regiment. He has always been
prominent in musical affairs, and was for
many years leader of the Randolph Brass
Band and director of the old Stoughton
Musical Association. He is a Republican in
politics, and an attendant of the Baptist
Church of Randolph, and was leader of the
choir for forty years. He is interested in local
history, and has in his possession many old
deeds and other documents of historical
importance. He married, June 9, 1864, Jane
Elizabeth Howard, born in Randolph in 1840,
daughter of Nathaniel and Almira (Hough
ton) Howard. Children, born at Randolph:
1. Howard Nelson, August 24, 1865; died
August 22, 1870. 2. Mary Porter, May 1,
1870; died September 4, 1885.
(The Howard Line).
Jane Elizabeth (Howard) Mann, wife of
Nelson Mann, is descended from John
Howard (q. v), through Major Jonathan (11)
and (III) Dr. Abiel, son of Major Jonathan
Howard, was a graduate of Harvard College,
1729, and married Silence, daughter of Nehe
miah Washburn. Children: 1. Silence, born
1738; married, 1757, Dr. Philip Bryant. 2.
Nehemiah, born 1740, mentioned below. 3.
Jane, 1742, married, 1763, Ebenezer Ames. 4.
John, 1743. 5. Daniel, 1746. 6. Charity, 1748,

402

MASSACHUSETTS.

died unmarried. 7. Ann, 1750, married, 1776,
Jacob Foster, of Maine. 8. Joshua, 1751, lived
in Easton, and married, 1776, Priscilla Capen,
of Stoughton.
(IV) Nehemiah, son of Dr. Abiel Howard,
was born in 1740, died September 30, 1825.
He resided in or near Easton, Massachusetts.
He was a soldier in the revolution in Captain
Seth Pratt's company, Colonel James Will
iams's regiment (Bristol county) in August,
1780, on a Rhode Island alarm. He married,
1768, Hannah Dean, of Easton, born August,
1745, died November 2, 1820. Children: 1.
Abiel, born May 1, 1771, died December 25,
1859. 2. Dean, April 5, 1773, died March 11,
1862; married, 1800, Polly Perkins. 3. Asa,
April 1, 1775, died January 1, 1838. 4. Han
nah, June 24, 1778, died February 6, 1864;
married  Mitchell, of Easton. 5. Jep-
thah, April 22, 1780, died November 13, 1839;
married, 1804, Betsey Knapp. 6. Nathaniel,
July 11, 1786, mentioned below.
(V) Nathaniel, son of Nehemiah Howard,
wah born at Easton, July 11, 1786, died there
January 28, 1857. He married Anna Tink
ham, born in Middleborough, Massachusetts,
died at the home of Nelson Mann, 1871. Chil
dren, born at Easton: 1. Jane, born February
22, 1814, died February 5, 1886; married the
Rev. Dr. James Porter. 2. Antoinette Frances,
May 7, 1815, died January 17, 1842; married
Charles Richardson. 3. Nathaniel, April 28,
1817, mentioned below. 4. Augustus Orville,
January 21, 1821, died November 9, 1889.
(VI) Nathaniel (1), son of Nathaniel (2)
Howard was born in North Easton, April 28,
1817, died July 11, 1897, at Randolph. He was
educated in the district schools, the Mandell
school at West Bridgewater and the Randolph
Academy. He began his business career as a clerk
in a store in his native town, but after a short
time he went into a shoe factory and learned
the trade of shoe cutter. In October, 1836, he
formed a partnership with Abiel Howard for
the manufacture of boots and shoes ; this con
tinued until 1838 when Mr. Howard retired
and John L. French came into the firm, the
firm becoming Howard, French & Company,
the company consisting of Nathaniel Howard,
Jr., John L. French and George W. French.
In 1842 George W. French died, and in 1857
A. O. French was admitted and the firm
became Howard & French, which continued
until 1873, when Nathaniel Howard retired
from the business, which was located in Ran
dolph, Massachusetts. He was prominent in
town affairs, and from 1875 to 1878 was a

member of the board of selectmen; from 1870
to 1876 a member of the school committee;
justice of the peace from 1866 to 1894; treas
urer of the Central cemetery in 1897. He was
a trustee of the Randolph Savings Bank for
many years; trustee of the Stetson high
school three years ; treasurer, trustee and col
lector of the Baptist church from 1875 to 1891.
He was a Republican in politics, fle married
Almira Houghton, born November 20, 1817,
in New York, died September 27, 1899, at
Randolph. Children: 1. Jane Elizabeth, born
December 30, 1840, married Nelson Mann, son
of Elisha Mann (see Mann family). 2. Fred
S., November 21, 1845, died December 7, 1845.
3. Antoinette Frances, October 18, 1856,
resides at Randolph on the homestead.

The Phelps family date from
PHELPS Lombardy, northern Italy, where
they were called Welf. In the
eleventh century they migrated to Germany
and changed the name to Guelph. In the six
teenth century they crossed to Scotland and
the name became Phelps. The Royal House
of Hanover to which Queen Victoria belonged
was of the Welf lineage, and her family has
been distinctly traced back to the city of Padu.
The English seat of the family was in Tewkes
bury, Gloucestershire, and beneath the old
Abbey church there remain the lettered tomb
stones of the ancestors. The name has been
variously spelled. Philps, Phelipps, Phelpes,
Philipp, Philippes, Philipps, Phellips, Phil-
lippes, Phillipp and Phellips, Phylippes, Phelyp,
Phelpse and Felpes. The word Phelps has its
root Pilos, Greek for friend. The escutcheon
of the American branch was "per pale, or and
argent a wolf salient azure with anorle of eight
crosses-crosslet and fitchie and gule, crest a
wolf's head erased, azure collard or, the collard
charged with a martlet sable." Interpreted
this is supposed to mean: The parting per
pale indicates that a fortification had been
placed by ancestor in face of an enemy. The
wolf signifies courage and endurance, the
crosses-croslets fitchee being emblems of the
second crusade, shows that it was in that cam
paign the arms were earned. The martlet on
the crest is the martin or swallows of Palestine,
and infers that the ancestor has been on a pil
grimage to the Holy Land in addition to hav
ing been in the second crusade.
(I) James Phelps was born about 1520.
The name of his wife was Joan. According to
the prerogative court of Canterbury, adminis
tration was granted on his estate May 10, 1588.

MASSACHUSETTS.

403

His children, baptized in the Tewkesbury
Abbey Church : William, Thomas, George,
Alice, Edward, Keneline, Richard and Robert.
(II) William, eldest son of James and Joan
Phelps, was born August 4, 1550. His wife
was Dorothy (surname unknown). Adminis
tration was granted on his estate September
28, 161 1. His wife died in 1613. Children:
Mary, Mary, Thomas (who was the progeni
tor of the Irish Phelps), Dorothy, William
(mentioned below), Elizabeth and George.
(Ill) William (2), second son of William
(1) and Dorothy Phelps, was born August 19,
1599, and emigrated to the new world, sailing
from Plymouth, England, March 30, 1630, in
the ship "Mary and John," Captain Squeb, with
one hundred and forty passengers, landing at
Hull, Massachusetts, May 30, 1630. With
him was his wife and six children. The origi
nal intention of the party was to land on the
bank of the Charles river, but a misunder
standing arose between the captain and his
passengers and they were unceremoniously put
ashore at Hull, where they had to shift for
themselves. The cruel captain, however, had
to settle in damages for the uncivil act. Will
iam was made a freeman October 19, 1630,
served on the first jury impanelled in New
England, September 27, was made constable,
was one of the committee to establish the
boundary line between Boston and Roxbury,
was on a committee to see about the enlarge
ment of Boston and in 1635 was member of
the general court. That year he went with
Rev. Mr. Warham and his parishioners to
settle Windsor, Connecticut, which was first
called Dorchester. He was one of seven
appointed by the Massachusetts company, for
it was then supposed it belonged to the Massa
chusetts government, to govern the colony. It
was later learned that the colony was out of
the Massachusetts jurisdiction, and the several
colonies in Connecticut met at Hartford and
adopted a constitution. In the work of draft
ing this document, William had a hand. The
principles enunciated in that constitution form
the body of the organic law of Connecticut
today. These simple pioneers in the wilder
ness builded better than they knew. He held
the office of magistrate fourteen years, and
was one of the committee to treat with the
Phenicke Indians. His residence in Windsor
was on the road running northerly and later
continued to Poquonoc and a short distance
north of the mill in the mill-river valley. He ,
was drowned out in the great flood of 1639,
after which he moved to the highlands. Marks

of the cellar of the old house may still be seen.
The first wife of Mr. Phelps died in 1635,
before he left Dorchester, Massachusetts, fle
married for his second wife, Mary Dover, in
1638, who was a passenger on the same ship
with him. He died July 14, 1672, his wife
surviving him three years. He was an upright
man, walked humbly with his God, and whose
public and private life was without reproach.
He helped to found two commonwealths, Mass
achusetts and Connecticut. Well may any
race be proud to bank upon such a forbear as
this, noble man. Children by first marriage :
Richard, William, Sarah, Samuel, Nathaniel
and Joseph. By Mary Dover, he had Timothy
and Mary.
(IV) Deacon Nathaniel, fourth son of Will
iam (2) Phelps, was born in Tewkesbury, Eng
land, about 1627, died honored and respected
at Northampton, Massachusetts, in his seventy-
fifth year. He came to America with his
father and moved to Windsor with the Hooker
treke Connecticutwards. He resided on the
Orton place opposite his father's. In 1656 he
removed to Northampton, of which he was a
first settler. The homestead he occupied for
forty-three years was later Margaret Dwight's
private school and afterward the Dudley Col
lege Institute, and is now Shady Lawn. Feb
ruary 8, 1679, he took the oath of allegiance
and fidelity before Major Pynchon; in 1685
was made a freeman by the general court of
Boston. He married Elizabeth Copley in
Windsor in 1635. She was of the same line
age of John Copley, the celebrated artist. She
died at Northampton, December 6, 1712. Chil
dren: Mary, Nathaniel, Abigail, William,
Thomas and Mercy.
(V) William (3), second son of Deacon
Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Copley) Phelps, was
born at Northampton, June 22, 1650, died
there in his eightv-eighth year. He lived on
the old homestead, and was made a freeman
May 30, 1690. He married Abigail, daughter
of John Stebbins, of Northampton, May 30,
1678, who died in her eighty-eighth year, hav
ing survived her husband three years. Chil
dren : Abigail, Elizabeth, William, Mary,
Nathaniel, Deborah, Ebenezer, Joseph Austin
and Mary.
(VI) Captain William (4), eldest son of
William (3) and Abigail (Stebbins) Phelps,
was born in Northampton, April, 1684, and
died there. He was on the committee of safety
in the revolutionary war. He married Thank
ful Edwards in 1706. Children: Thankful,
Eliakim, Thankful, Benjamin, Josiah, Ex-

404

MASSACHUSETTS.

perience, Eunice, Lois, Joseph, William and
Elnathan. (VII) Eliakim, eldest son of Captain Will
iam (4) and Thankful (Edwards) Phelps, was
born in Northampton, January 17, 1709, died
at Cold Spring, Belchertown, Massachusetts,
of apoplexy, August 19, 1777, a few moments
after family devotion, fle married Lydia
Rust, of Northampton, who died in 1753. He
married (second) Elizabeth Davis, of Spring
field, Massachusetts, in 1714, who died August
19, 1771, in her fifty-seventh year. Children
by the first marriage : Eliakim (died, in
infancy), Eliakim, Simeon and three others
who died in infancy. Children by Elizabeth
(Davis) Phelps: William, Eliakim, Phebe,
Sarah, Lucy, Betsey and John.
(VIII) Deacon Eliakim (2), second son of
Eliakim (1) and Elizabeth (Davis) Phelps,
was born in Belchertown, January 5, 1795,
died of heart disease, March 13, 1824. He
was prominent and active in community
affairs ; selectman eight years ; member of the
legislature twelve years ; a member of the
convention to revise the constitution in 1820
and a justice of the peace forty years. He
married Elizabeth Chapin, of Springfield,
August 28, 1777. He married (second) in
1778, Margaret Coombs, of Warren, Massa
chusetts, who died February 7, 1846, in her
ninety-fifth year. Children by second mar
riage : Abner, Daniel, Eliakim, Calvin, Azruth,
Eliakim, William, Zerviah and Diana.
(IX) William (5), fifth son of Deacon Eli
akim (2) and Margaret (Coombs) Phelps, was
born in Belchertown, June 19, 1792, died there
August 20, 1868. He was educated in the
schools of his native town, and was a farmer
on an extensive scale. Previous to the advent
of the railroads, he was a stage proprietor
of a line between Boston and Albany.
Also he was engaged in the construction
of highways. He held all the various town
offices and was a justice of the peace. During
the war of 18 12 he volunteered as a private
but was not mustered into service. In politics
he was an old line Whig until it became time
to forsake Whiggery for Republicanism, which
he promptly did. He was a deacon in the Con
gregational church, a just, honest and
thoroughly upright man and Christian. He
married Maria, daughter of Rev. Justin and
Lydia (Merritt) Forward, who was born in
Belchertown, July 5, 1800, died there October
6, 1840. He married (second) Mary L.,
daughter of Asahel and Diantha (Dimmick)
Hunt, of Bridgewater, New York, who died in

Belchertown, October 17, 1863. He married
(third) Louisa, widow of H. F. Filer, oi
Belchertown, a daughter of Abner and Keziah
(Fairfield) Town. Children of first marriage :
Charles W., Martha M. and Frederick B.
Mary L. (Aunt) Phelps was the mother of
Edward H, mentioned below.
(X) Edward Hunt, only son of William
(5) and Mary L. (Hunt) Phelps, was born
in Belchertown, June 10, 1842, and received
his primary education in the schools of his
native town, pursuing the higher branches at
Monson Academy and the Springfield high
school. An omnivorous reader of books and
newspapers and of a retentive memory, he-
saturated his mind with vast stores of infor
mation upon a wide scope of topics which was
of great value to him in his career as a jour
nalist. Possessing musical tastes and talents
of a high order of merit which he improved by
special study, he devoted himself to musical
instruction first at Belchertown and then at
Springfield. He was long a prominent organ
ist, in the principal churches in Springfield for
a period of thirty years. He was a musical
composer of rare merit, which had he devoted
himself exclusively to would have alone won
him fame. His "Oh, Morning Land" and
"Breathe Soft and Low," have been sung in
many lands and the words translated into
many tongues. Also he was a musical critic of
much acumen and his judgment on the efforts
of a virtuoso met with the approval of Dudley
Buck and Theodore Thomas, to whom he was
an intimate friend. His natural bent, however,
was for journalism, for which he had many
and varied qualifications. His first work in
that capacity was as an amateur and a volun
teer in assisting the local editor of the Repub
lican in reporting. Pie was one day given a
real assignment as reporter for a cattle show,
and so well and acceptably was the field cov
ered by the embryo reporter that it brought
forth encomiums from the discriminating
Samuel Bowles. Soon after this incident, the
local editor was going away on a leave of
absence for several months and he offered
young Phelps the opportunity to substitute.
Brought before Mr. Bowles for an introduc
tion the great editor looked him over care
fully and with his characteristic brusqueness
said : "Young man, I have heard of you, and
will try you. You cannot do worse than fail."
This was the launching of young Phelps into
the sea of journalism. During the next ten
years he remained with the Republican in
various capacities. It was during the stirring

Lewis Historical .Put Co.

Z.A Sfruch Z i>a?:,?*2YJ

MASSACH USETTS.

405

times of the great civil war and as night editor
Mr. Phelps' duties were very trying, often
drawn out until the small hours of the morn
ing, by the issues of extra editions. At one
period when Mr. Bowles and Mr. Pomeroy
were both ill, he not only performed his own
work but assumed entire charge of the paper,
doing the work of three men, writing all the
leaders, and in those days long editorials were
the rule. His sustaining powers were great.
It was, however, in the local department of the
Republican that his name was principally
linked. He was the first editor in the country
probably to introduce local correspondence
from the country- towns and villages and he
brought it to a high state of efficiency, an idea
since extensively borrowed by other journals.
Besides Mr. Bowles that paper contained such
writers as J. E. Hood, Clark W. Bryan and
Dr. J. G. Holland, and of these men he was a
compeer. In 1872 the time for parting with
with the Republican had come, being offered
a better position on the Springfield Union and
to that paper he devoted the best part of six
years of his strenuous life in faithful and
painstaking work. In 1878 he purchased of
H. M. Burt the New England Homestead and
with his prestige, influence and great editorial
ability, the circulation at once took an upward
bound. From the same office was issued a
city edition and the families soon had a
monthly called the Farm and Home. He later
bought out the good will and circulation list of
the American Agriculturist of New York and
added it to his other journalistic enterprises.
The combined circulation of these four period
icals was 389,000. In 1880 he organized the
Phelps Publishing Company and ten years
later he was obliged by failing health to relin
quish his connection therewith, of which he
was the founder and long the great head and
manager. Following his business career he
travelled extensively in this country and con
tinental Europe, fle married Harriet Elvira,
daughter of James I. and Elvira (Clapp)
Goulding. He was postmaster, selectman and
school committeeman of Athol, Massachusetts.
His father was Colonel Goulding from Holden,
Massachusetts, a large woolen manufacturer.
Mrs. Goulding's father was Deacon Samuel
Clapp. Children of Edward H. and Elvira
(Goulding) Phelps: 1. Mabel Goulding, born
June 6, 1866, married Frank E. Clark, a hard
ware merchant of Springfield, and their chil
dren were : Edward, born September 23, 1892 ;
Harold, January 8, 1894; Richard, August 4,
1896; Marion, May 1, 1904; and Mildred, De

cembers, 1906. 2. Walter Dimmock, see for
ward. 3. Jessie H, died in infancy. 4. James
E., died in infancy. 5. Edward H., died in
infancy. 6. Mary Agnes, born November 21,
1876; married, December 27, 1906, Flerman
Sweezey, of New Haven, Connecticut.
(XI) Walter Dimmock, son of Edward
Hunt and Harriet Elvira (Goulding) Phelps,
was born in Springfield, October 9, 1868, and
attended the public and high school of that
city. He entered the establishment of his
father in which he continued till the latter's
death. He is now engaged in the publishing
business. He married Flora W., daughter of
Myron C. Graves, of Springfield, Massachu
setts, October 23, 1889, by whom he has two
children: Harriet Davis, born October 30,
1894, Dorothy Alice, May 12, 1897.

iFor preceding generations see John Doane 1).
(IV) Simeon Doane, son of Sam-
DOANE uel Doane, was born at Eastham,
Massachusetts, December 1, 1708,
and died there December 4, 1789. He lived in
Eastham, on a part of the homestead. His
will was dated April 24, 1784. He married,
October 1, 1730, Apphia Higgins. Children:
1. Ruth, born March 30, 1733-4; married
Phineas Smith. 2. Abigail, born August 6,
1735; married  Eldredge. 3. John,
mentioned below. 4. Benjamin. 5. Ephraim.
6. Isaiah, born about 1742. 7. Phebe, married
 Smith.
(V) John, son of Simeon Doane, was born
in Eastham, about 1738, and died there April
19, 1800, in his sixty-second year. It is thought
he was buried in the old Herring-Pond burial
ground, near the church where he had wor
shiped (gravestone). He was a private in
the French war in 1758, under Captain Samuel
Knowles, Colonel Timothy Doty's regiment;
also in Captain Jabez Snow's company, Col
onel John Thomas' regiment, at Annapolis
Royal, March 27 to November 1, 1759; also
in same company November 2, 1759, to June
23, 1760. He lived in the present town of East
ham, on the north side of the harbor. He was
a deacon of the middle parish church during
Rev. Mr. Cheever's ministry. The house he
built and occupied on the homestead, was
standing until a few years ago, when it was
torn down. He married, about 1761, Betsey
Snow, who died October 22, 1819 (grave
stone). Children, born in Eastham: 1. Timo
thy, May 13, 1762; mentioned below. 2.
Heman, March 15, 1764. 3. Sarah, June 18,
1767. 4. Betty, March 21, 1769; married, Feb-

406

MASSACHUSETTS.

ruary n, 1793, Abijah Mayo. 5. Abigail,
March 21, 1771. 6. John, April 19, 1777. 7.
Simeon, July 31, 1780.
(VI) Timothy, son of Deacon John Doane,
was born in Eastham, May 13, 1762, and died
at Orleans, Massachusetts, January 19, 1822
(gravestone at Orleans). He lived in that part
of Eastham which was set off as Orleans in
171 ',y. He married, March 7, 1781, Jedediah
Higgins, who died March 4, 1847, aged eighty-
four years. Children, born in Eastham: 1.
Beriah, November 25, 1782. 2. Abigail, March
5, 1784. 3. Mehitable, November 15, 1785;
married, March 7, 1805, William Smith. 4.
Lewis, September 24, 1787. 5. Timothy, June
2, 1789. 6. John, May 28, 1791 ; mentioned
below. 7. Sally, October 9, 1794, died Decem
ber 26, 1830; married, November 7, 18 16,
Zoeth Taylor. 8. Betty, November 6, 1796;
married, 1819, Sparrow Horton. 9. Nancy,
February 19, 1799; married, December 30,
1821, Captain Sears Rogers. 10: Isaac, June
4, 1804; married, November 20, 1836, Phoebe
F. Foster.
(VII) John (2), son of Timothy Doane,
was born in Eastham,. May 28, 1791, and died
at Orleans, March 3, 1881. He received his
early education in the public schools, and
attended Sandwich Academy and a school at
Bridgewater. He studied law with John Reed,
and was admitted to the bar in Barnstable
about 1818. He practised his profession for
more than fifty years. He was a representa
tive to the legislature, and in 1830 was elected
state senator, in which office he served three
terms with dignity and ability. He was at one
time a member of the governor's council. In
1850 and 1853 he was elected county commis
sioner. He lived to a ripe old age and the
enjoyment of a rare social position, respected
by all who knew him. Upon the town.in which
he lived and upon the public whose interests he
sought to serve, he made a lasting impression
as an honest and sound counsellor, who in all
his professional career advised settlements,
compromises and concessions, instead of liti- .
gation in the courts. He was familiarly known
all over the Cape, as "Squire Doane." He was
a friend to young men seeking an education.
He was one of the earliest, if not the first, to
engage in aboriculture in this country, and
planted many acres of old lands to pine and
oaks. The following tribute by a friend describes
his character well : "He was one of the repre
sentative men of Cape Cod, and worthy of the
high esteem in which he was held and of all

the honors that were paid to him. Mr. Doane
was a lawyer of the old school, one of the class
that inclined to repress rather than encourage
litigation, and while conscientious and faithful
in the discharge of all professional duty, never
sought to create professional business. He was
a safe and wise counsellor, though perhaps too
distrustful of his own judgment — a failing
however, which never injured a client, nor
diminished the confidence o.f his fellows in the
soundness of his opinions. A constant attend
ant upon the terms of the court, he rarely
addressed the bench and never argued a case
to the jury, his native modesty and diffidence
only preventing; but no member of the old
Barnstable bar prepared his cases more
thoroughly ; and in his day he was not the
only one of that bar who' availed himself of
the magical influence of the silver-tongued
Nymphas Marston with a Cape Cod jury. I
said, Mr. Doane was one of the representative
men of Cape Cod. He was modest, but self-
reliant ; economical and thrifty, and at the
same time zealous and public spirited ; grave
and dignified, but never morose or unsocial; a
man true, exact and faithful in all his public
and private relations. I had the pleasure of
paying my respects to him a year or two since
in his pleasant home, where he was the central
object of devoted affection."
He married, November 13, 1820, Polly Eld
ridge, born July 28, 1796, died January 3,
1875, daughter of Barnabas and Zipporah' Eld
ridge. Children, born'in Orleans : 1. Thomas,
September 20, 1821 ; see forward. 2. Caro
line, August 14, 1823; died December 30,
1882; married Captain Allen H. Knowles, of
Yarmouthport, who died July 4, 1861 ; had
Sarah, Allen H, and Caroline ' Knowles. 3.
John, April 28, 1825, died August 25, 1873, in
Nebraska; married, January 1, 1853, at Paw
tucket, Rhode Island, Almira Starkweather. 4.
Martha, September 13, 1827, died August 29,
1894, unmarried. 5. Mary, August 17, 1829,
died August 22, 1894; married Captain Seth
Doane, of Orleans, of the Pacific Mail Steam
ship Company. 6. Lucy, born September 13,
1831, died November 22, 1849, at Bradford,
Massachusetts. 7. Henry, born January 22.
1834; graduated at Harvard Law School 1859,
and practiced law for a time in Boston ; captain
of Forty-third Tiger Regiment, Massachusetts
Volunteers, in 1862 ; in service in North Caro
lina and in battles of Kinston, Whitehall, Golds
boro. siege of Washington ; mustered out July
30, 1863 ; returned to Orleans in failing health,
and died September 2, 1865 ; will dated Decern-

Massachusetts.

407

ber 10, 1862, containing this clause : "I give my
gun and pistol to my brother Charles, not
doubting that he will use the same, should
occasion call, in the defence of liberty and good
government;" his name appears on the mural
tablet in Memorial Hall, Harvard College. 8.
Charles Watson, mentioned below.
(VIII) Thomas Doane, eldest of the eight
children of John and Polly (Eldridge) Doane,
was born at Orleans, September 20, 1821, and
died October 22, 1897. He was one of the
most eminent civil engineers of his day. He
began his education in the academy established
by his father and others, leaving it at the age
of nineteen to enter the English Academy at
Andover, which he attended five terms. He
then entered the office of the distinguished
civil engineer, Samuel M. Felton, remaining
three years. He was then engaged as engineer
of the Windsor White River Division of the
Vermont Central railroad, and from 1847 to
1849 was resident engineer of the Cheshire
railroad at Walpole, New Hampshire. In De
cember in the latter year he returned to Charles
town, Massachusetts, and opened an office,
carrying on general civil engineering and sur
vey work, personally and through capable assist
ants, until his death. At one time or another
he was connected with all the railroads out of
Boston, and particularly with the Boston &
Maine railroad. In 1863, under the State of
Massachusetts, he became chief engineer of the
Hoosac Tunnel, which he completed, under
great difficulty, by change of method previ
ously followed, and the introduction of modern
ideas and appliances. He relocated the tunnel
line and established its grades, connected the
two ends by precise measurements and levels,
built the dam across the Deerfield river to
furnish water-power for turbines to operate
air compressers, and for the first time effected
the successful use of nitro-glycerine, the use of
machine drills operated by compressed air, and
"simultaneous blasting" by electricity. Mr.
Doane invented the carriages on which machine
drills were operated, and he was designated
the pioneer of compressed air in this country.
As early as 1873 he proposed the compressed
air power plants for use in cities, and which
have but recently been established. In 1869,
as chief engineer of the Burlington & Missouri
River railroad in Nebraska, he in four years
completed four miles of road, constructed a
telegraph line its entire length, and established
a steam ferry over the Missouri river at Platts-
mouth. In 1875, at the opening of the Hoosac
Tunnel, he ran the first locomotive through it.

In 1879 he became consulting and acting chief
engineer of the Northern Pacific railroad, and
located its lines in Washington and part of
Dakota. While in Nebraska he secured a
square mile site for Doane College (named in
his honor) at Crete, and made to it a large
contribution. For many years he was one of
its trustees, and the bulk of his estate was
willed to it at his death. He was a member of
the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, and
president nine years ; of the American Society
of Civil Engineers ; a director of the Associated
Charities of Boston, and president of the
Charlestown branch ; of the New England His
toric Genealogical Society; vice-president of
the Flunt Asylum for Destitute Children ; first
president of the Charlestown Branch of the
Young Men's Christian Association, and a
liberal contributor to its support ; a member of
the Congregational Club, the Bunker Hill Boys
Club, the American College and Educational
Society, the Winthrop Church in Charlestown,
and for fourteen years one of its deacons. He
was a man of high principles and unswerving
integrity, kind and considerate to all, generous
toward all worthy objects, and lived an earnest
and christian life.
Mr. Doane married (first) Sophia D. Clarke,
of Brattleborough, Vermont; (second) Louise
Barber. His children were by his first mar
riage : Mrs. David B. Perry, wife of the presi
dent of Doane College; Mrs. W. O. Weeden,
wife of a Congregational minister; Mrs. H. B.
Twombly; and Rev. John Doane, pastor of
Plymouth Church, Lincoln, Nebraska.
(VIII) Charles Watson, son of Hon. John
Doane, was born at Orleans, July 9, 1840. He
attended the public schools of his native town
and the Orleans Academy. At the age of
nineteen he shipped as a sailor before the mast,
and at the age of twenty-five had risen to the
rank of master mariner. His first command
was the vessel "Colorado," owned by Henry
S. Hallett, and he made his first voyage from
Liverpool, where he took a cargo of salt for
ballast and proceeded to Calcutta, India, re
turning with a cargo of East India goods to
New York. His next voyage was in command
of a new ship, "Sarah Hignett," owned by
Paul Curtis & Brother, on a voyage from New
York to Calcutta. His next ship was "The
Puritan." owned by Elijah Williams & Com
pany, of which he had command for the next
six years, sailing to all parts of the world.
One of his largest cargoes was a complete
sugar refining plant manufactured in Philadel
phia and delivered in Peru, South America.

408

MASSACHUSETTS.

From this voyage he returned with ballast to
San Francisco. He sailed for Hong Kong
from Portland, Oregon, with a cargo of flour
and spars, and returned to Boston with tea and
other Chinese goods. His last voyage ended
in misfortune. When off the river Hoogley,
near Calcutta, he picked up a pilot. The
weather was bad, and the pilot attempted to
sail up the river, but through bad judgment in
miscalculating the set of the current, he ran the
vessel on the quicksands outside the Hoogley
river. On account of the heavy seas, no tugs
or steamers could come to the assistance of the
stranded vessel. The crew finally had to aban
don the ship. Two of the boats were picked
up and the men taken to Calcutta. The boat
in which Captain Doane left the ship landed
at the light-ship. "The Puritan" gradually
sank in the quicksands and was a total loss.
Captain Doane returned to London on one of
the P. & O. steamers, whence he returned to
his home in Orleans. He had been master of
ships for eighteen years and decided to retire
from the business. After a short time he
located at Crete, Nebraska, where he had a
sheep and horse ranch, and carried on general
farming. After living at Crete, Nebraska,
twenty-three years, a part of which time he
conducted a ranch, he retired from the busi
ness and in 1902 returned to Massachusetts,
and bought a home at Milton, where he has
resided since. He is a member of the Knights
of Honor; for many years member of the
Modern Woodmen, and Knights and Ladies of
Security. In politics he is a Republican.
Charles Watson Doane married, in Marl
boro, Massachusetts, June 13, 1877, Mary
Appleton Doane. Children: 1. John Apple-
ton, born at Orleans, April 16, 1878; superin
tendent of machine shops of Taylor Iron &
Steel Company, High Bridge, New Jersey ;
married (first) in Dorchester Lower Mills, Au
gust 30, 1901, Ida Helen Mason, who died May
25, 1902, at Milton; married (second) Octo
ber 29, 1906, Mabel Hopkins, of Crete, Ne
braska ; child : Beulah Appleton, born August
13, 1907. 2. Charles Watson, Jr., born in
Orleans, March 19, 1879; *s a draughtsman
with Westinghouse Company of Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania ; married in Pittsburg, May 16,
1907, Lillian May Bossart ; one child, Charles
Watson (3d), bora December 19, 1908.
Mrs. Mary Appleton Doane, wife of Charles
Watson Doane, is a Daughter of the Revolu
tion. She is a descendant of the immigrant,
John Doane, and daughter of Captain Isaac and
Mary (Freeman) Doane. Her father was a

ship master in the California and East India
trade. His last ship was the "Samuel Apple-
ton." He took his family on one voyage
around the world. He died aged forty-six
years, and his widow is yet living, at the ad
vanced age of eighty-two years. Of their seven
children Mrs. Charles W. Doane is the only
one living. Three of the brothers of Captain
Isaac Doane w^re ship masters.

Bacon is the name of an ancient
BACON seigniory in Normandy, and from
this place the Norman ancestors
in England took their name nearly a thousand
years ago. According to the genealogy of the
great Suffolk family of liacon, one Grimald, or
Grimaldus, a relative of the Norman chieftain,
William de Warrenne, came to England at the
time of the Conquest and settled near Holt, in
Suffolk. His great-grandson took the surname
Bacon, or rather resumed the use of the place-
name as a surname. In the north of France
the surname Bacon is still in use. William
Bacon in 1082 endowed the Abbey of Holy
Trinity at Caen. The surname Bacon is found
in the Battle Rolls in England in the eleventh
century, and in the Hundred Rolls in the thir
teenth. There are occasional variations in spell
ing, such as Bacun and Bachun, and in some
instances the surname Bacon may have been
corrupted from Beacon. From their connec
tion with Bayeux, the Bacons were sometimes
Latinized De Bajocis. Sir William Bacon, of
the knights bearing banners in the reign of
Philip III. in France, bore arms — a beech tree.
Grimaldus, mentioned above, had three sons :
1. Radulph. 2. Edmund, took the name of his
abode for his surname. 3. Ranulph, or Ralph,
was known as Ralph de Bacons-Thorpe (thorp
means village) ; his son, Roger de Baconsthorp,
was father of Robert Bacon, who assumed the
name without the particle implying location,
and the name has continued in various lines of
descent. George, son of Ralph de Baconsthorp,
was father of Roger Bacon, who released to his
sister Agnes lands belonging to the family in
Normandy, and from him for many generations,
descended the Bacons of Drinkstone and Hes-
sett, county Suffolk. The lineage of Nathaniel
Bacon, of Virginia, the famous "rebel" of early
colonial days, has been traced. Ridhard Bacon
(7), whose lineage is Reginald (6), Robert
(5), Roger (4), George (3), Ralph (2), Gri
maldus (1), who was first to bear the arms of
his family: Gules on a chief argent two mullets
sable. The Bacon family at Hessett bears these
arms: Argent on a fesse engrailed between

MASSACHUSETTS.

409

three escutcheons gules three mullets or. The
original seat of the family was in Suffolk, near
Ipswich, perhaps Barham, but families of im
portance of this name have lived and been
numerous in Durham, Hampshire, Norfolk,
Somerset, Yorkshire and other counties.
( I ) Michael Bacon, immigrant ancestor, was
born about 1575, probably in county Suffolk,
England. He went from England to the north
of Ireland in 1633, and seven years later came
to New England with Samuel Cooke and John
Smyth, also from Ulster, Ireland. They were
proposed as proprietors of the town of Ded
ham, Massachusetts, May 23, 1640, and the
records show that it was "agreed upon that the
Towne of Dedham shall entertain Mr. Saml.
Cooke, together with his estate, and also Mr.
Smith and Mr. Bacon, all from Ireland, and
afford to them such accomdation of upland and
meadow as their estates shall require." From
a record made the next month it would appear
that the wife of Bacon preceded him. He
signed the famous Dedham Church covenant.
His wife was admitted to the church Septem
ber 17, 1641, and died April 2, 1648. In 1644
he gave of his land to the town for one of the
highways (p. 364, Gen. Reg. 1902). He died
April 18, 1648, the same month as his wife.
His will, dated four days earlier, mentions all
his children except Alice, who died the month
previous. The inventory was dated April 20,
1649, and the estate amounted to nearly fifty-
five pounds. Some writers state that William
Bacon, of Salem, was a brother; he also was
an Englishman born, who lived in Dublin,
Ireland, in 1639; his wife Rebecca was sister
of Humphrey Potter, who was slain in a massa
cre in Ireland, and daughter of Thomas Potter,
sometime mayor of Coventry, England. Chil
dren of Michael : 1. Michael, born 1608; men
tioned below. 2. Daniel, was of Woburn, 1640 ;
of Bridgewater; of Newton, 1669; admitted
freeman May 26, 1647. 3- John, admitted free
man at Dedham, 1647; died June 17, 1683. 4.
Alice, married, March 31, 1647, Thomas Ban
croft, who died March 24, 1648; she died
March 29, 1648. 5. Sarah, married, April 14,
1648, Anthony Hubbard, of Dedham; died
1652. (II) Michael (2), son of Michael (1) Bacon,
was born in England, in. 1608, as indicated by
his deposition on June 17, 1668, stating his age
as about sixty years. He went to Ireland with
his father, and came to America with him. He
subscribed to the town orders for Woburn, and
became one of the original proprietors in 1640.
He was chosen surveyor of highways in Woburn

in 1644. He bought of Roger Shaw in 1648 a
farm in the northwest part of Cambridge, now
within the town of Bedford, including all the
meadow adjoining the Great Swamp, near the
east corner of the town of Concord, on the
Shawshin river, on which Bacon is said to have
built a mill before 1675, which is now or was
lately standing. In a mortgage recorded June
8, 1675, he was called a citizen of Billerica. In
August, 1675, the town of Billerica, in provid
ing defense against the Indians in King Philip's
war, assigned Michael Bacon to garrison No.
10. under Timothy Brooks. He died July 4,
1688. He married (first) Mary  , died
August 26, 1655; (second) October 26, 1655.
Mary Richardson, died May 19, 1670; (third)
November 28, 1670, Mary Noyes. Children:
1. Michael, born 1640; mentioned below. 2.
Elizabeth, January 4, 1642, at Woburn. 3.
Sarah, August 24, 1644, at Woburn.
(Ill) Michael (3), son of Michael (2)
Bacon, was born in 1640, probably in Charles
town, where his father was located for a time
before going to Woburn. He was a shoemaker
by trade. He was mentioned in a deed by his
father October 4, 1666, as Michael, Jr. He
bought of Rev. Mr. Mitchell the farm of five
hundred acres for two hundred pounds in July,
1682. This farm was granted originally by the
town of Cambridge to its minister in 1652. It
was on the Shawshin river, included a mill,
and was known for many years afterwards as
the Bacon homestead. From Michael, third
of the name, are descended many prominent
men in Bedford and vicinity during the past
two hundred years. His house, at last accounts
still standing, was built, it is said, before 1700.
Six later generations have been born or lived
on the homestead. Of the twenty-six minute-
men from Bedford in the Concord fight, six
were Bacons, all of this family, and two others
were in the company of militia in that engage
ment. Nine Bacons were reported as liable
for military duty in the town of Bedford, May
J5> 1775- Hie "History of Bedford" also
mentions the musical ability that seems char
acteristic of the family. Michael Bacon died
at Bedford, August 13, 1707. He married,
March 22, 1660, Sarah Richardson, died Au
gust 15, 1694, daughter of Thomas Richardson.
Children: 1. Mary, born March 1, 1661, in
Woburn. 2. Sarah, born August 24, 1663, at
Woburn. 3. Abigail, born at Woburn, March
5, 1666-7. 4- Jonathan, born at Billerica, July
14, 1672 ; mentioned below. 5. Nathaniel, born
September 18, 1675, at Billerica. 6. Josiah,
born August 20, 1678, died October 14, 1723.

4io

MASSACHUSETTS.

7. Ruth, born July 24, 1681, at Billerica. 8.
Benjamin, born 1683, at Bedford, died Novem
ber 19, 1747.
(IV) Jonathan, son of Michael (2) Bacon,
was born at Billerica, July 14, 1672, and died
January 12, 1754. He was a leading citizen of
Billerica, and in 1669 was approved to keep an
ordinary. He and two of his brothers were
in the Indian wars with "Major Lane" in 1706.
He was deputy to the general court from Biller
ica in 1726, and selectman in 1719 and 1727.
He was one of the petitioners for the forma
tion of the town of Bedford, and as a principal
inhabitant was appointed to assemble the first
town meeting, October 6, 1729, when he was
chosen one of the first selectmen. He married
(first) January 3, 1694', Elizabeth Giles, died
1738; (second) September 22, 1739, Elizabeth
Hancock, widow of Benjamin Wyman, of Wo
burn. Children, born in Billerica: 1. Eliza
beth, November 26, 1695. 2. Sarah, December
25, 1696; married Israel Putnam. 3. Anna,
April 28, 1698, died October 8, 1698. 4. Jona
than, December 18, 1700; mentioned below.
5. Mary, September 18, 1702. 6. Bridget, Jan
uary 5, 1706-7. 7. Anna, August 19, 1709.
(V) Jonathan (2), son of Jonathan (1)
Bacon, was born at Billerica, December 18,
1700. He lived in Bedford, Massachusetts,
and married Ruth  . He came to Ux-
bridge, Massachusetts, in 1733, and owned the
water power at what is now Whitinsville. He
sold to his son Jonathan six hundred acres of
land on the Mumford river, with mills, also
a farm of two hundred acres adjoining or
near the larger tract, then in Sutton. The
record of his family is in Sutton from 1741
to 1746. He died before February, 1764.
The Sutton history says his homestead was in
that part of Sutton now Upton. Children: 1.
William, born in Bedford, died "young. 2.
William, married Mary  ; lived in Sutton.
3. Jonathan, settled in Dudley, had a large
family ; married Martha  . 4. James,
mentioned below. *5. Daniel (?), settled in
Charlton. 6. Amos, died September 12, 1741.
7. Elizabeth, born at Sutton, August 28, 1741 ;
married, August 23, 1759, Joshua Hicks. 8.
David, born April 26, 1744, at Sutton; mar
ried, December 17, 1767, Tabitha Wakefield.
9. Ruth, born May 28, 1746 ; married, at Sutton,
November 5, 1765.
(VI) James, son of Jonathan (2) Bacon,
was born about 1735, in Uxbridge. He settled
in Dudley, Massachusetts, where he married,
March 30, 1760, Martha Jewell, of a distin
guished Connecticut family. He was a singer

of note in his day, and when a young man
taught school. About 1763 he removed from
Dudley to Charlton, and five years later to
Brimfield, Massachusetts. He was a soldier
in the revolution. Children, the first two of
whom were in Dudley, the next two in Charl
ton and the others in Brimfield: 1. Mary,
born February or September 17, 1761 ; mar
ried Thomas Lumbard; died December 29,
1791. 2. Martha, born June 27 or 28, 1762,
died September, 1775. 3. Abigail, born Sep
tember 10, 1764; married Abner Stebbins. 4.
Sarah, born April 17, 1766; married, February
1, 1786, Gideon Lumbard. 5. James, born
May 23, 1768, died November, 1768, baptized
at Dudley, May 30. 6. Hannah, born June 9,
1769, baptized at Dudley: married, November
19, 1789, Gardner Weyman. 7. John, born Au
gust 30, 1771, died September, 1775. 8. Chloe,
born March 19, 1774, died September, 1775.
9. Amasa. born June 13, 1776; mentioned
below, to. Patience, born April 9, 1779. II.
Cynthia, born April 13, 1781 ; married, Octo
ber 2. 1800, Samuel Nichols.
(VII) Amasa, son of James Bacon, was
born June 13, 1776, died June 10, 1855. He
resided in that part of Brimfield known as
Parksville, and built the first grist mill of Brim
field and vicinity. He married Hannah Dodge,
born April 9, 1776, died August 2, 1854, of an
old Brookfield family. Children, born at Brim
field: 1. Rufus Freeman, September 2, 1800.
2. Lucy Lee, February 11, 1802, died Decem
ber 15, 1805. 3. Sarah, September 14, 1803;
married. September 5, 1833, Andrew P. Fitts,
of Leicester. 4. James, September 5, 1805. 5.
GeOrge, May 23, 1807 ; mentioned below. 6.
Almira. luly to, 1809 ; married, March 1, 1832,
John W. Baker, of Uxbridge. 7. Clarissa,
October 3, 181 1 ; married Roswell Foskett. 8.
Liberty, August 23. 1812. 9. Maria, February
18, 1816: married Estes Bond, of Sturbridge;
(second) Henry Towne. 10. Fanny, August
23, 1819, died September 26, 1821. 11. Diana,
June 9, 1821 : married, February 23, 1842,
Frederick S. Pike.
(VITT) George, son of Amasa Bacon, was
born at Brimfield, May 23. 1807, and died June
8, 1 89 1. He was educated in the public schools
of his native town and followed the occupa
tion of farmer. In religion he was a Unitarian,
and in politics a Republican. He married
(first) December 25, 1831, Eunice Lombard
(or Lumbard), who died childless August 2,
1832. He married (second) September 24,
1834, Marv Eliza Ferry, born 181 5, died Octo
ber 25, 1862, daughter of Hezekiah and Han-

MASSACHUSETTS.

411

nah (Fisher) Ferry. Her father was one of
the most substantial busness men of Palmer,
and left a good farm to each of his eight sons.
Hannah Fisher was born in Boston ; her father
was a soldier in the revolution ; her mother was
a Cooley, of Springfield ; three of her brothers
were sea captains. Children of second wife :
1. George Norval, born July 29, 1835, died
April 19, 1895; married Jennie E. Munroe;
lived at Fiskclale, Massachusetts ; left no issue.
2. John Flavel, born February 9, 1839, died
September 14, 1862. 3. Albert Sherman, born
January 17, 1844; mentioned below. 4. Mary
Fisher, born March 1, 1851 ; married, April
12, 1876, Seth W. Smith; now residing at
162 Piney-woods avenue, Springfield ; children :
Alice Maud Smith, Florence Smith, Roy Smith.
5. Alice Maud, born February 8, 1853 ; resides '
at South Hadley.
(IX) Albert Sherman, son of George Bacon,
was born in Brimfield, January 17, 1844. He
was educated in the public schools and Hitch
cock Academy. He is now (1909) living in
Dorchester, Massachusetts. He married, Octo
ber 6, 1867, Cynthia Leonard, of Worthington,
Massachusetts, born November 13, 1842, died
February 28, 1899, daughter of William and
Mary S. C. (Everett) Leonard. Children,
born at Brimfield: 1. Fanny Gertrude, July
19 1868; resides at 420 Washington street,
Dorchester ; married Edwin Packenham Rug
gles, of Milton, Massachusetts ; child, Helen
Ruggles. 2. George Albert, August 27, 1869;
mentioned below. 3. Clarence Norval, born at
Wales. Massachusetts, December 4, 1871 ; mar
ried Rose Martha Mayforth, of Springfield ;
children : i. Doris Newberth, born August 4,
1900; ii. Rosalind Alberta, March 1, 1902; iii.
Norval Albert, October 2, 1903. 4. Ruth Gray,
born at Wales, Massachusetts, August 21,
1874; resides with her father in Dorchester.
5. Grace Mabel, born at Northampton, Massa
chusetts, April 27, 1878 ; resides with her father.
6. Jane May, born at Hinsdale, New Hamp
shire. May 27, 1880; resides with her father.
(X) George Albert, son of Albert Sherman
Bacon, was born in Brimfield, Massachusetts,
August 27. 1869. He attended the public
schools in Northampton, Massachusetts, and
Hinsdale. New Hampshire, also Boston Uni
versity College of Liberal Arts and Boston
University School of Law, graduating from the
latter in 1895 ; also studied law in the office of
Dean Edmund H. Bennett, in Boston. He
was admitted to the bar in 1895, and com
menced practice as attorney at law in Spring
field, June 17, 1895, where he has enjoyed a

large practice, and is one of the best known
and most successful corporation lawyers in
Western Massachusetts. He is always active
in all important matters for civic advancement.
As a Republican he has been prominent in city
politics, having held several offices of distinc
tion. He is a member of the Springfield Lodge
of Masons, De Soto Lodge of Odd Fellows, the
Springfield Board of Trade, the Nayasset Club,
Winthrop Club, Springfield Country Club, and
Phi Delta Phi, legal fraternity.
He married, January 22, 1902, Mabel Maria
Sedgwick, of Boston, born November 13, 1876,
in Adams, Massachusetts, daughter of Fred
erick R. and Mary (Kilmer) Sedgwick.

Jeremiah Norcross, immigrant
NORCROSS ancestor, came from England
to America in 1638, and from
Bond's "History of Watertown" we learn that
he was a proprietor in that place as early as
1642, his family then consisting of his wife
and three children — Nathaniel, Richard and
Sarah. The original homestead in Watertown
consisted of about twenty-six acres, the title 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 Watertown Arsenal. The senior Norcross,
in 1654, when arranging to visit England, exe
cuted a will 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 Catherine Hall College, Cambridge,
1636-7, was called to become the minister
at Lancaster, Massachusetts, and signed with
others a petition to the general court to plant a
settlement there. But there being so much
delay in preparing for the settlement and build
ing the early houses that his attention was called
in another direction, he is said to have returned
to England in 1646. Jeremiah Norcross mar
ried Adrean Smith. He died in England in
1657. Children: 1. Nathaniel, born in Lon
don ; married Mary Gilbert, of Taunton. 2.
Richard, mentioned below. 3. Sarah, married
Francis Massy.
(II) Richard, son of Jeremiah Norcross,
was born in England, in 1621, and was the
possessor of a small estate at Watertown, Mass
achusetts, in 1642. He was the first school
master in that town, from 1651 to about 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

412

MASSACHUSETTS.

married (first) June 24, 1650, Mary Brooks,
who died in 1672; (second) November 18,
1673, Susannah Shattuck, who died December
11, 1686, widow of William Shattuck. Chil
dren: 1. Mary, born August 27, 1652, died
1661. 2. Jeremiah, born March 3, 1655, died
unmarried. 3. Sarah, born December 28, 1651 ;
married, September 23, 1680, Joseph Childs,
Jr. 4. Richard, born August 4, 1660; mentioned
below. 5. Mary, born July 10, 1663 ; married,
April 2, 1712, John Stearns. 6. Nathaniel,
born December 18, 1665. 7. Samuel, May 4,
1671. (Ill) Richard (2), son of Richard (1) Nor
cross, was born in Watertown, August 4, 1660,
and resided in Weston, Massachusetts. He
married (first) August 10, 1686, Rose, daugh
ter of John Woodward, of Watertown; (sec
ond) August 6, 1695, Hannah Saunders, who
died May 14, 1743. Children of first wife,
born at Weston: 1. Richard, December 30,
1687. 2. Samuel, October 4, 1689. 3. Abigail,
July 11, 1692. Children of second wife: 4.
John, December 28, 1696. 5. Hannah, Febru
ary 16, 1699. 6. Joseph, July 1, 1701 ; resided
at Weston and Putnam. 7. Jeremiah, July 20,
1703; resided in Lunenburg. 8. Rose, March
20, 1708; married, October 20, 1733, Edmund
Mason, of Boston. 9. Peter, September 28,
1710; resided in Mendon. 10. William, men
tioned below.
(IV) William, son of Richard (2) Norcross,
was born in Weston, March 14, 171 5, and
resided in Sudbury. He married, November
6, 174 — , Lydia Wheeler, born March 25, 1722,
daughter of John Wheeler, and a descendant
of Thomas, of Concord. Children, born at
Sudbury: 1. William, March 18, 1742, died
young. 2. Daniel, March 9, 1745. 3. Sarah,
October 1, 1746. 4. William, September 20,
1748; mentioned below. 5. Sarah, June 3,
1759; married, 1779, George Fillmore, who
was in the revolution.
(V) William (2), son of William (1) Nor
cross, was born September 20, 1748, died Au
gust 14, 1803. He married, November 17,
1774, Sarah Marsh, of Sturbridge, born Febru
ary 13, 1756, died January 9, 1823. He laid
out the burying ground at Monson and was the
first to be buried there. He built the old house
in 1775, nc,w occupied by S. F. Cushman Sons
& Company. A William Norcross from Mass
achusetts was in the revolution, second lieuten
ant in Captain John Mott's company, Colonel
Elias Dayton's regiment (Third New Jersey)
in 1777. He resigned November 11, 1777, on
account of illness. Children: 1. Joel, born

August 6, 1776; mentioned below. 2. Amos,
born June 10, 1778; proprietor of Monson
Hotel; died August 27, 1853. 3. Sarah, born
May .29, 1780; died September 2, 1863; married
Rufus Flynt (see Flynt). 4. Betsey, born
October 16, 1783; married Timothy Packard,
who died March 15, 1865, aged eighty-three
years; she died August 6, 1812; children: i.
Lanna Packard, born October 20, 1805, died
181 1 ; ii. William N. Packard, born February
25, 1809, died 1878; iii. Fairbanks, born May
8, 1812. 5. William, born August 4, 1785;
resided at Brimfield, Massachusetts, merchant ;
died October 2y, 1813. 6. Erasmus, born July
22, 1794; resided in New York City; died Au
gust 23, 1874, aged eighty years.
(VI) Joel, son of William (2) Norcross,
was born August 6, 1776. He owned much
real estate, building a large number of houses
for investment. He established the Hampden
County Cotton Mills, and was one of the
principal stockholders of the corporation. He
was one of the original promoters and builders
of the Petersham and Monson turnpike from
the Connecticut line to New Hampshire; and
one of the large stockholders and a director of
the Western railroad, as that section of the
Boston & Albany road between Worcester and
Albany was originally called. He was the
founder of Monson Academy, and a prominent
member of the Congregational church at Mon
son. He married (first) December 16, 1798,
Betsey Fay, born November 5, 1777, died Sep
tember 5, 1829 (genealogy in manuscript in
library of New England Historic Genealogical
Society, Boston). He married (second) Janu
ary 6, 1834, Sarah Vaill, born March 29, 1788,
died April 25, 1854, daughter of Rev. Joseph
Vaill, of Hadlyme, Connecticut. He died
May 5, 1846. Children of first wife, born
at Monson: 1. Hiram, March 31, 1800,
died February 26, 1829. 2. Austin, Febru
ary 25, 1802. 3. Emily. July 3, 1804; mar
ried, May 7, 1828, Edward Dickinson. 4.
William Otis, September 13, 1806, of Newark,
New Jersey; died January 24, 1863. 5. Eli,
September 20, 1809, died October 20, 181 1. 6.
Lavinia, September 22, 1812 ; married, No
vember 4, 1834, Loring Norcross. 7. Alfred,
July 16, 1815; mentioned below. 8. Nancy
Fay, October 13, 1818. 9. Joel W., November
15, 1821 ; author of "Fay Genealogy" men
tioned above, and of a manuscript genealogy
of the Norcross family in the same library;
resided at Lynn, Massachusetts ; married, Jan
uary 17, 1854, Lannisa H. Jones, born in Chi
cago, April 26, 1833; died May 4, 1862, in

MASSACHUSETTS.

413

New York City; married (second) April 26,
1866, Maggie P., daughter of Elisha Gunnison,
of Roxbury.
(VII) Alfred, son of Joel Norcross, was
born in Monson, July 16, 1815. He was edu
cated in the public schools of his native town.
He was first a clerk in the general store, then
proprietor of a livery stable. When his father
died he succeeded to his business, and was
occupied largely in the management of his real
estate and other property. He was a prominent
and influential citizen, active in public affairs,
selectman of Monson for a number of years.
He was a member of the First Congregational
church. He married, January 20, 1841, Olivia
Chapin, born January 26, 1816, daughter of
Jonathan and Olivia (Dickinson) Chapin. She
died February 9, 1898, and he died December
5, 1888. Children, born in Monson: 1. Eliza
beth Porter, May 12, 1843, died young. 2.
Maria Olivia, October 29, 1845, died aged five
years. 3. Arthur Dickinson, November 7,
1848; mentioned below. 4. Herbert Chapin,
November 8, 1855 ; merchant at Monson ; mar
ried, December 25, 1884, Martha C, daughter
of John L. and Sarah Bacon, of Brimfield. 5.
Edward Dickinson, September 3, i860, died
aged eighteen months.
(VIII) Hon. Arthur Dickinson Norcross,
son of Alfred Norcross, was born November 7,
1848, at Monson. He attended the public
schools and the academy in his native town,
and the Massachusetts Agricultural College at
Amherst, where he was graduated in 1871, in
the first class taking their degrees at this insti
tution. He then worked two years in the straw
shop of Merrick, Fay & Company, of Monson,
as an inspector. In 1873 he was appointed
clerk, and later assistant postmaster in the
postoffice at Monson. He was appointed post
master in 1 88 1 and served until 1886, when he
engaged in mercantile business. His store was
destroyed by fire in November, 1893, and he
did not resume business. Flis time has been
occupied in the management of his real estate
and in attending to various offices and trusts.
He is a leading Republican in this section and
has been elected to many offices of responsi
bility and honor. He was elected water com
missioner of the town in 1894, and has been
chairman of the board to the present time;
selectman ten years, and chairman during that
time ; road commissioner for two years ; mem
ber of the school committee several years ; and
chief engineer of the fire department for a
number of years. He represented the first
Hampden district in the general court in 1904-

1905 and 1906; and in 1908 and 1909 he was
state senator from the Worcester-Hampden
district. He has taken a prominent part in the
legislation of those years he has been in the
general court, and has held places on important
committees. He is a trustee of the Monson
Savings Bank ; director of the Monson National
Bank; director of the Monson Free Library,
and trustee of the Monson Academy. He is
gifted musically, and has sung from time to
time in quartettes and choruses in Monson,
Amherst, Worcester, Boston, and various other
places, and has directed many musical organi
zations. He was a member, while in college,
of the Washington Irving Literary Society,
and its first president ; and member of the
D G K fraternity. He was on the base ball
nine, and one of the winning boat crew of 187 1.
He married, January 4, 1882, Augusta V.
Kinney, born February 4, i860, daughter of
George Kinney. Children, born at Monson : 1.
June, June 19, 1884. 2. Arthur Dickinson, Jr.,
November 8, 1895. 3. Grace, died in infancy.

There appears great confusion
PHILLIPS in the records as to the identity
of John Phillips, the immigrant
to New Plymouth. Governor Bradford states
that "John Phillips came to Plymouth as a
servant seeking service and a change of mas
ters in 1630." This has been the subject of
much controversy and the occasion of some
correspondence between the Massachusetts Bay
Puritans and the Plymouth Pilgrims. This John
Phillips, according to the Plymouth Colony
Wills as recorded and published in the Gene
alogical Advertiser, Vol. Ill, p. 28, was aged
eighty-seven years at the time he made his will,
October 20, 169 1, which would bring his birth
year 1602 and his age when he resided in
Plymouth Colony in 1630 as twenty-eight years
which is beyond the period of life in which it
was usual for servants to be under bonds of
service. As no mention is made of his first
marriage, or of the birth of children by his
first wife, on the Plymouth Records, we are
bound to assume that he had a wife and chil
dren before he came to the Colony. There is
no record except that statement of Winthrop
that he was an immigrant of 1630. He is on
record as having purchased land at Duxbury
in 1639, and of immediate grants of land being
made to him by the colony, adjacent to his
property, which facts would indicate him to
have been at that time a man of property and
already of the responsibility that falls upon
freemen with family. Then his son, John (2),

414

MASSACHUSETTS.

was killed by lightning in 1658, when about
twenty-five years of age, another proof of an
early marriage. In 1643 he was an inhabitant
of Duxbury, his name appearing on the records
as being able to bear arms and this takes it
out of the possibility that this John was his
son and not the patriarch. In 1653 he was
engaged in a law suit with a Marshfield citizen ;
he was constable of Marshfield in 1657; was
propounded as a freeman of that town in 1659,
but it does not appear that he took the oath
of freeman to which he was entitled and could
have claimed. He appears to have had sons :
John, Samuel and Jeremiah, and a daughter
Mary, according to the tract published by Dr.
Shurtleff entitled "Lightning in Marshfield,"
etc., and the fact that John Phillips, Jr., accord
ing to the Plymouth Records, Court Orders,
Vol. Ill, p. 141, reading the verdict of the
inquest held upon the death of John Phillips,
Jr., names the place in which it occurred as
"Mr. Buckley's," clearly a clerical error, in
tended for "Mr. Bulkley," the minister who
had formerly occupied the house then occupied
by the victim of the stroke of lightning, as it
is called in the official inquest "his dwelling."
This would indicate that he met death in the
house, but not necessarily that it was his house,
as no mention is made of his wife or children,
and it is quite apparent that Timothy William
son was the householder and that John Phillips,
Jr., took refuge in the home from the tempest
then raging. We will now trace the family
through the successive generations to meet the
objects of this article, with the best obtainable
data as to the facts.
(I) John Phillips, born in England about
1602, married and had besides his wife, Mary,
whose surname does not appear, three sons and
one daughter, when he is found in Duxbury
and Marshfield, Plymouth Colony, all the period
between 1639 and 1690. He died in Marsh
field between the dates of making his will,
October 20, 1691, and its probate, May 10,
1692, and probably in May, 1692, ten to fifteen
days before the will was probated, which was
the usual time allowed to elapse. The chil
dren of John Phillips by his first wife, who
came with him to New England and brought
with her four children, or who may have died
in England, were : 1. John, killed by lightning
at South Mansfield, Plymouth Colony, July
31, 1658, probably unmarried and aged about
twenty-five years. 2. Samuel, who married,
in 1675, probably Mrs. Mary Cobb; had three
children: Mehitable, born 1676; Samuel, 1678,
who may have been one of the proprietors of

Easton, Massachusetts ; Thomas. 3. Jeremiah,
killed by lightning, June 23, 1666, at Mansfield,
unmarried. 4. Mary, a feeble minded child
who never married, but survived her father
and all his wives. The date of his first wife's
death or the fact of her presence in New Eng
land is not on record. John Phillips married,
July 6, 1654, as his second wife, Grace, widow
of William Halloway, of Duxbury and Mans
field. She was probably born in England,
1615-20, and by her marriage to William Hallo-
way had prior to March, 1652-53 (the date of
her husband's death), two daughters, Grace
and Hannah (or Jane) Halloway. By this
marriage John Fhillips had two sons, making
his fifth and sixth children: 5. Joseph, born
March 31, 1655, wh° did not marry and was
killed in the "Captain Pierce Fight" at Reho
both, March 26, 1677. 6. Benjamin (q. v.).
The mother of these children was killed by
lightning at Mansfield, Massachusetts, June 23,
1666, at which time her son Jeremiah was also
killed. Her husband and his children, Samuel
and Mary, and her children by her first hus
band, Hannah and Grace Halloway, and her
children by her second marriage, Joseph and
Benjamin Phillips, and Mr. Shurtleff, his wife,
and two sons, William and Thomas Shurtleff,
and Mr. Thomas Rogers, were prostrated
but recovered from the effects of the shock.
This occurrence following the death by light
ning of the elder son John (2), eight years
before, created a profound sensation through
out New England. John Phillips married as
his third wife, Mrs. Faith Clark Dotey, who
came from England in the ship "Francis,"
from Ipswich, 1634, having been born in 1619,
daughter of Tristram and Faith Clark, of Dux
bury. She married (first) Edward Dotey, the
"Mayflower" Pilgrim, who died at Plymouth,
August 23, 1655, and by him she had nine chil
dren. The ante-nuptial agreement between
John Phillips and Mrs. Faith Clark Dotey
appears in the records of the general court of
Plymouth Colony, and is dated February 23,
1666-67, and on March 14, 1666-67, some nine
months after the sudden and tragic death of
his second wife, John Phillips, at the age of
sixty-five years, married Mrs. Faith Clark
Dotey, seventeen years his junior in age. The
household of the patriarch immediately after
this marriage consisted of his third wife with
her children by her first husband, his son Sam
uel and daughter Mary, child of his first wife;
his sons, Joseph and Benjamin, children by his
second wife ; and Hannah (or jane) Halloway,
daughter of his second wife, by her first hus-

MASSACH USETTS.

415

band. John Phillips lived with his third wife and
their various children for eight or more years.
By this marriage he had no children. Mrs.
Faith (Clark Dotey) Phillips was buried in
Marshfield, December 21, 1675, at the age of
fifty-six years, but the exact date of her death
is not recorded. John Phillips married his
fourth wife, April 3, 1677, Mrs. Anna (Hatch)
Torrey, of Scituate, a daughter of Elder Will
iam Hatch, and widow of Lieutenant James
Torrey, to whom she was married November
2, 1643. Her own house had just been burned
by the Indians and as she was the mother of
ten children by her first husband, she had need
of shelter and protection. She died before her
second husband, although much younger, and
this made the fourth wife he had followed to
the grave.
(II) Benjamin, fifth son and sixth child of
John Phillips, the patriarch immigrant, and sec
ond son by his second wife, Grace (Halloway)
Phillips, was born in Marshfield, Plymouth
Colony, in 1657, and lived with his father up
to the time of his marriage, January 12, 1682,
to Sarah, daughter of John and Sarah (Pit
ney) Thomas, of Marshfield. They had seven
children born in Marshfield as follows: 1.
John, 1682, married, 1710, Patience Stevens,
who died in November, 1760, aged eighty years.
Their child, Captain Nathaniel, born 17 13, mar
ried, 1735, Joanna White, who died February
3, 1798. Captain Nathaniel died May 15, 1795.
2. Joseph, March 29, 1685; married, 1711,
Mary Eames and had'six children : Naomi and
Elizabeth, 171 1; Elisha, 1713; Agatha, 1716;
Jerusha, 1721 ; Mary, 1725. Joseph Phillips
died and his widow married Benjamin Hatch
in 1740. 3. Benjamin (q. v.). 4. Sarah, June
29, 1689. 5. Thomas, January 17, 1691 ; mar
ried (first) 1725, Mary (Eames) Sherman,
and by her had six children: Obadiah, 1729;
Thomas, 1731 ; Mary, 1733; Lydia, i734"35;
Mark, 1736; Deborah, 1739. He married (sec
ond) Mrs. Herman Allen. 6. Jeremiah, 1697;
married and had issue : Isaac, 1703, married
Sarah White, 1729, died February 15, 1788-89;
Bethia, 1705, married, 1725, Ichabod Wash-
born. 7. Abigail, 1699; probably married James
Hawks. (Ill) Benjamin (2), third son of Benjamin
(1) and Sarah (Thomas) Phillips, was born
in Marshfield, Massachusetts, May 20, 1687.
He married (first) in 1716, Eleanor Baker,
and by her had three children: 1. Jedediah,
born in 1717, died in 1789. 2. Benjamin, 1719.
3. Captain John (q. v.). Eleanor (Baker)
Phillips died in May, 1726, and Benjamin

Phillips married as his second wife, Desire
Sherman, and by her he had four daughters
as follows: 4. Desire, born 1729. 5. Eleanor,
1731. 6. Penelope, 1735. 7. Alice, 1742. De
sire (Sherman) Phillips died May 10, 1750.
(IV) Captain John (2), third son of Benja
min (2) and Eleanor (Baker) Phillips, was
born about 1721. He lived in Duxbury and
Weymouth, was a captain in the French and
Indian war, 1775, married and had three chil
dren, the first born son being given the name
of his father, John (q. v.).
(V) John (3), son of Captain John (2)
Phillips, was born in Weymouth, Massachu
setts, about 1755. He was brought up in Wey
mouth, partook of the military spirit of his
father, and in the American revolution became
a member of the Continental army and is said
to have been a member of the bodyguard of
Washington but as there were several Cap
tain John Phillips in the revolution and from
Plymouth Colony, it is uncertain as to the
identity of John, the son of Captain John of
the French and Indian war.. This we do know
that he was a farmer in Ehixbury and a soldier
in the American revolution. John, of Duxbury,
married and had three children: 1. Lemuel.
2. Isaac (q. v.). 3. John.
(VI) Isaac, son of John (3) Phillips, of
Duxbury, was born in the town of Duxbury,
Norfolk county, Massachusetts, about 1780.
He was a stone mason and also a builder and
contractor. He married Rhoda Litchfield, of
Scituate, and they had ten children born in
Weymouth as follows : 1. Lucy Ann, August
14, 1804, married Truman Whitmarsh, and
died in Weymouth in i$8i. 2. Sally, Septem
ber 29, 1805, married Frederick Pope, of Wey
mouth. 3. Isaac, August 22, 1807. 4. Mary,
December 8, 1809, married Benjamin Hallo
way. 5. Joshua, March 20, 1812, married
Adeline Whittier. 6. Elizabeth, January 15,
1814; married John Peterson. 7. Rhoda Ann,
August 11, 1816, still living; married (first)
S.Deamon, deceased ; married (second) 
Monroe. 8. Lemuel, March 22, 1819, married
and lived with his son in Quincy, Massachu
setts, reaching his ninetieth birthday in 1909.
He had eleven children, nine of whom are
living. 9. John (q. v.). 10. Harriet, Decem
ber 27, 1824, married Mark Blanchard.
(VII) John (4), ninth child and fourth son
of Isaac and Rhoda (Litchfield) Phillips, was
born in Weymouth, Norfolk county, Massa
chusetts, February 22, 1822. He acquired his
school training in the district school, and learned
the trade of stone mason, which was the occu-

416

MASSACHUSETTS.

pation of his father. He also became an expert
carpenter and this led him into the business of
contractor and builder. He was one of a
party of four hundred and ninety-five adven
turers who left home to make a quick fortune
in the newly discovered gold mines of Cali
fornia. They left September i, 1848. He was
a miner there a part of the time during the nine
years, and on his return to Massachusetts, in
1858, he spent a number of years in freighting
stone from Quincy to different points and
building sea walls ; he continued in this em
ployment until his retirement in 1890. He
built a new house in Weymouth as a home for
his family, and he also erected the first house
built on Lincoln square. He was a useful and
greatly esteemed citizen of Weymouth. He
married, 'July 4, 1854, Mary, daughter of
Robert and Mary (Binney) Davis, of Wey
mouth. She was born September 18, 1831, and
died in Weymouth, March 12, 1889. She was
a prominent member of the Congregational
church. Their children, born in Weymouth,
were as follows: 1. John Wendal, who went
west. 2. Lizzie, married Irwin Sherman, of
South Weymouth ; children : Alida P., born
June 2, 1879, married, 1903, W. C. Griggs,
born August 1, 1878; Frank I., born December
14, 1884, married, June 30, 1905, Gertrude
Easton. 3. William, died aged four years. 4.
Lester, died aged seventeen months. 5. George,
born i860. 6. Walter, born 1862, married
Mattie Phillips, of Marblehead, daughter of
Michael Phillips ; children : Esther May, born
July 24, 1888, died February 7, 1903 ; Fred
erick, born June 26, 1894. 7. Henry, born
1867. 8. Ernest, born® 1872, died 1899.

This surname is a place name
BUCKLEY of ancient English origin, and
was originally spelled, in the
time of King John, in 1199, Buclough, and
later Bulclough. It signifies "a large moun
tain." There have been many and are still
variations in spelling. Bulkeley is the one
most commonly used, other forms being Bulk-
ley, Bulkly and Buckley.
Baron Robert de Bulkeley (1) lived in the
time of King John (1199-26). Baron William
de Bulkeley (2) married a daughter of Thomas
Butler. Baron Robert de Bulkeley (3) mar
ried Jane, daughter of Sir William Butler.
Baron William de Bulkeley (4) married, 1302,
Maud, daughter of Sir John Davenport. Baron
Robert de Bulkeley (5) married Agnes  .
Baron Peter de Bulkeley (6) married Nicola,
daughter of Thomas Bird. Baron John de

Btilkeley (7), of Houghton, married Arderne
Fitley. Baron Hugh de Bulkeley (8) married
Helen, daughter of Thomas Wilbraham. Baron
Humphrey de Bulkeley (9) married Grisel
Moulton. Baron William de Bulkeley (10),
of Oakley, married Beatrice, daughter of Will
iam Hill. Baron Thomas de Bulkeley (11)
married Elizabeth, daughter of Randelle Gros
venor. Rev. Edward de Bulkeley (12) was
born at Ware, Shropshire, England. He was
admitted to St. John's College, Cambridge,
April 6, 1560, and was curate of St. Mary's,
Shrewsbury, in 1565; prebend of Chester:
prebend of Litchfield about 1580; rector of
All Saints, Odell, in the Hundred of Willey,
Bedfordshire, where he died and was succeeded
by his eldest son Peter, mentioned below. He
married Almark Irlby (or Islby), of Lincoln
shire. (XIII) Rev. Peter Bulkeley, son of Rev.
Edward Bulkeley, was born January 31, 1582-3,
at Odell, Bedfordshire, England, fle entered
St. John's College, Cambridge, at the age of
sixteen, March 22, 1604-5 > fellow 1608, with
M. A. degree, and "said, but on doubtful
authority, to have proceeded Bachelor of Divin
ity." fle succeeded his father as rector of
Odell. He was known to be a non-conformist,
but "the Lord Keeper Williams, formerly his
diocesan, and his personal friend, desired to
deal gently with his non-conformity" and con
nived at it, as he had at his father's for twenty
years, but when Loud became primate of Eng
land in 1633, Mr. Bulkeley was silenced and
with no hope of reinstatement. He therefore
sold his estate and sailed for New England in
1635, at the age of fifty-two, with his children,
on the ship "Susan and Ellen." His wife
Grace, aged thirty, was enrolled on the ship
"Elizabeth and Ann," but it is probable that
she sailed with her husband. There is a tradi
tion in the family that while on the voyage, the
wife Grace apparently died. Unwilling to have
her body buried at sea, the husband pleaded
with the captain to keep it until they reached
port. As no signs of decay appeared, he con
sented, and on the third day symptoms of vital
ity appeared, and before land was reached ani
mation was restored. Though carried from the
ship an invalid she recovered and lived to a
good old age. Rev. Peter Bulkeley settled first
in Cambridge and the next year with twelve
others began the settlement of Concord. Three
years later he received a grant of three hun
dred acres of land at Cambridge. He was
teacher of the church at Concord of which
Rev. John Jones was pastor, and was installed

MASSACHUSETTS.

417

pastor April 6, 1637. He is always spoken of
at the first minister of Concord. He brought
with him from England about six thousand
pounds, most of which he spent for the good
of the colony. He was a learned and pious
man. He wrote several Latin poems, some of
which Cotton Mather, in his "Magnalia,"
quotes, as a part of the sketch of his life. He
also published a volume in London in 1646,
entitled "The Gospel Covenant," made up of
sermons preached at Concord, and an elegy on
his friend, Rev. Hooker. He was among the
first to instruct the Indians, and the singular
immunity of Concord from Indian attack was
largely credited, by tradition, to his sanctity
and influence. He died at Concord, March 9,
1658-9. There is a large tablet to his memory
near the open square at Concord. His will,
dated April 14, 1658, with codicils of January
13 and February 26 following, was proved
June 20, 1659. Before his death he gave many
books to the library of Harvard College. He
married first, about 1613, Jane, daughter of
Thomas Allen, of Goldington. She died at
Odell, in 1626, and he married second, about
1634, Grace Chetwoode, born 1602, daughter
of Sir Richard and Dorothy (Needham) Chet
woode, of Odell. She died April 21, 1669, at
New London, Connecticut, at the home of her
son. Children of first wife, bora in England :
I.- Edward, June 17, 1614; came to New Eng
land before his father; died January 2, 1696.
2. Mary, baptized August 24, 161 5; died
young. 3. Thomas, born April 11, 1617; mar
ried Sarah Jones ; settled in Fairfield, Con
necticut. 4. Nathaniel, born November 29,
1618; died 1627. 5. Rev. John, born Febru
ary 11, 1620; graduated at Harvard with the
first class. 6. Mary, born November 1, 1621 ;
died 1624. 7. George, born May 17, 1623. 8.
Daniel, born August 28, 1625. 9. jabez, born
December 20, 1626 ; died young. 10. Joseph
(probably), born 1619. 11. William, of Ips
wich, in 1648. 12. Richard. Children of sec
ond wife, born in New England : 13. Gershom,
December 6, 1636; mentioned below. 14. Eliz
abeth, born probably 1638, married Rev. Joseph
Emerson. 15. Dorothy, August 2, 1640. 16.
Peter, August 12, 1643.
(XIV) Rev. Dr. Gershom Bulkeley, son of
Rev. Peter Bulkeley, was born at Concord, De-
cmber 6, 1636, and died December 2, 1713.
He graduated at Harvard College in 1655, as
a fellow of the college. In 1661 he became
the minister of the Second Church at New
London. Connecticut, and in 1666-7 removed
to Wethersfield, where he was installed as

pastor. In 1676 he asked for dismissal on
account of impaired health, and he thereafter
devoted himself to the practice of medicine and
surgery, in which he achieved much success
and reputation. He was an ardent student of
chemistry and philosophy, and master of sev
eral languages, and was also an expert sur
veyor. During his pastorate in 1675 he was
appointed surgeon to the Connecticut troops
in King Philip's war, and placed on the council
of war. The court gave orders to have him
taken especial care of. At one time the party
to which he was attached was attacked by a
number of Indians near Wachusett Hill, Mass
achusetts, and in the fight he received a wound
in the thigh. His monument in the Wethers
field cemetery says oi him : "He was honor
able in his descent, of rare abilities, excellent
in learning, master of many languages, exqui
site in his skill, in divinity, physic and law,
and of a most exemplary and Christian life."
His will was dated May 28, 1712, and proved
December 7, 1713. He married, October 26,
1659, Sarah Chauncey, born at Ware, Eng
land, June 13, 1631, died June 3, 1699, daugh
ter of Rev. Charles Chauncey, president of
Harvard College. Children: 1. Catherine,
born about 1660; married Richard Treat. 2.
Dorothy, born about 1662; married, July 5,
1693, Lieutenant Thomas Treat; died 1757.
3. Dr. Charles, born about 1663. 4. Peter,
married, March 21, 1700, Rachel Talcott; lost
at sea. 5. Edward, born 1672. 6. Rev. John,
born 1679.
(XV) Rev. John Bulkeley, son of Rev. Ger
shom Bulkley, was born in Wethersfield, Con
necticut, in 1679. He graduated at Harvard
College in 1699, and studied divinity. He was
ordained as pastor of the church at Colchester,
Connecticut, December 20, 1703. He took a
high rank among clergymen of his time, and
was regarded as a famous casuist and sage
counsellor. The following anecdote in regard
to him is well authenticated: "A churcn in
the neighborhood had fallen into unhappy
division and contentions which they were
unable to adjust among themselves. They
deputed one of their number to the venerable
Bulkeley for his advice, with the request that
he would send it to them in writing. It so
happened that Mr. Bulkeley had a farm in the
extreme part of the town, upon which he had
located a tenant. In superscribing the two
letters, the one for the church was by mistake
directed to the tenant, and the one for the
tenant to the church. The church was con
vened in order to hear the advice which was to

4i8

MASSACHUSETTS.

settle all their disputes. The moderator read
as follows : 'You will see to the repair of the
fences, that they be built high and strong, and
you will take special care of the old black bull.'
This mystical advice puzzled the church very
much at first, but an interpreter among the
more discerning ones was soon found who
said: 'Brethren, this is the very advice we
most need ; the direction to repair the fences is
to admonish us to take good heed in the ad
mission and government of our members; we
must guard the church by our Master's laws,
and keep strange cattle from the fold. And
we must in a particular manner set a watchful
guard over the devil, the old black bull, who
has done so much harm of late.' All per
ceived the wisdom and fitness of Mr. Bulke-
ley's advice, and resolved to be governed by it.
The consequence was that all animosities sub
sided and harmony was restored to the
afflicted church. What the subject of the letter
received by the tenant was, we are not
informed, and what good effect it had upon
him the story does not tell."
Mr. Bulkeley was one of the largest land
owners in Colchester, and died intestate, and
his estate was divided July 17, 1733. Among
the property divided was a mill and the appur
tenances, a large amount of real estate, a negro
man Caesar, and a library. Mr. Bulkeley was
the author of several volumes. He wrote "A
Preface to R. Wolcott's Meditations;" an
election sermon in 1713, entitled, "The Neces
sity of Religion in Societies." In 1724 he
published an "Inquiry into the Right of the
Aboriginal Natives to the Land in America."
In 1729 he published "An Impartial account
of the late Debate at Lyme, upon the follow
ing points : Whether it be the will of God
that the Infants of Visible Believers should be
baptized; Whether sprinkling be lawful and
sufficient ; and whether the present way of
maintaining ministers by a public rate or tax,
be lawful." Dr. Chauncey thus writes con
cerning him : "Mr. John Bulkeley I have seen
and conversed with, though so long ago that
I formed my judgment of him from my own
knowledge. Mr. Whittlesey, of Wallingford,
Mr. Chauncey of Durham and others I could
mention, ever spoke of him as a first rate
genius; and have often heard that Dummer
and he, who were classmates in college, were
accounted the greatest geniuses of that day.
The preference was given to Dummer in
regard of quickness, brilliancy and wit; to
Bulkeley, in regard of solidity of judgment
and strength of argument. Mr. Gershom

Bulkeley, father of John, I have heard men
tioned as a truly great man and eminent for
his skill in chemistry; and the father of Ger
shom and grandfather of John, Mr. Peter
Bulkeley, of Concord, was esteemed in his day
as one of the greatest men in this part of the
world. But by all that I have been able to
collect, the Colchester Bulkeley surpassed his
predecessors in the strength of his intellectual
powers. Mr. Bulkeley was classed by Rev.
Dr. Chauncey in 1768, among the three most
eminent for strength of genius and powers of
mind, which New England had produced. The
other two were Mr. Jeremiah Dummer and
Mr. Thomas Walter."
Mr. Bulkeley married, in 1701, Patience,
daughter of John and Sarah Prentice. Chil
dren: 1. Sarah, born April 8, 1702; married
( first) Jonathan Trumbull; (second) John
Wells. 2. Daughter, born and died May 6,
1704. 3. John, born April 19, 1705 ; married
(first) Mary Gardner, October 29, 1738;
(second) April 16, 1751, Abigail Hastings. 4.
Dorothy, born February 28, 1706. 5. Ger
shom, February 4, 1709; mentioned below. 6.
Charles, December 26, 1710. 7. Peter, No
vember 21, 1712. 8. Patience, May 21, 1715.
9. Oliver, born July 29, 1717; died January 1,
1779. 10. Lucy, born June 29, 1720. 11.
Irene (twin), born February 10, 1722; died
February 20, 1722. 12. Joseph (twin), born
February 10, 1722; died February 25, 1722.
(XVI) Gershom, son of Rev. John Bulke
ley, was born in Colchester, Connecticut, Feb
ruary 4, 1709. He was a prominent citizen
there, and held many positions of trust and
responsibility. He married, November 28,
1733, Abigail Robbins. Children: 1. Sarah,
born January 10, 1735; married, January 17,
1765. Joseph Isham 2. John, born August
23, 1738; mentioned below. 3. Joshua, born
February 24, 1741 ; married, November 9,
1 761, Lois Day. 4. Daniel, born May 13,
1744; married, August 16, 1764, Dorothy
Olmsted. 5. Eunice, born May 14, 1747;
married, May 25, 1767, Elisha Lord. 6.
David, born July 18, 1749; married Hannah
Beckwith. 7. Roger, born September 14,
1 751; married Jerusha Root. 8. Ann, born
May 11, 1758.
(XVII) John, son of Gershom Bulkeley,
was born in Colchester, August 23, 1738. He
married, January 11, 1759, Judith Worthing
ton. Children: 1. John, born October 7,
1759; married Theodora Foote. 2. William,
born August 30, 1761 ; married Mary Cham
pion. 3. Gershom, born October 3, 1763;

MASSACHUSETTS.

419

mentioned below. 4. Elijah, born January 29,
1766; married Pamelia Loomis. 5. Nabby,
born December 30, 1769; married Roger
Tainter. 6. Joshua Robbins, born November
2, 1771 ; married Sally Tainter. 7. Mary, born
February 2, 1774; married Aaron Buckland.
8. Judith, born January 30, 1775 ; married Sol
omon Tainter. 9. Gurdon, born March 15,
1777; married (first) Fanny Wright; (sec
ond) Nancy Porter. 10. Gad, born February
20, 1779; married Orra Barstow. 11. Lydia,
born April 25, 1781 ; married (first) John
Worthington; (second) Dr. William Mason.
12. Dan, born March 20, 1784; married Phebe
Burnet. 13. Harriet, born January 22, 1787;
married Samuel Moseley.
(XVIII) Gershom, son of John Bulkeley,
was born in Colchester, October 3, 1763. He
married  Noble, widow, and removed
to Williamstown, Massachusetts. Children:
1. James, mentioned below. 2. George, law
yer, lived in Kinderhook, New York. 3. Will
iam, died in New York; one child, William,
who lived in Dalton, Massachusetts, in 1790,
with a family. 4. Gershom. 5. Harriet, died
unmarried. 6. Judith, married Platt Talcott,
of Lanesborough. 7. Mary, died unmarried.
(XIX) James Bulkley (or Buckley) son of
Gershom Bulkeley, was born probably at Will
iamstown, Massachusetts, about 1785^7. He
lived in Catskill, Troy and Kinderhook, New
York, and settled finally about 1821 in Lee,
Massachusetts. He learned the trade of paper
making and followed it in various mills of
western Massachusetts and New York. He
adopted the spelling Buckley, though others of
the family for a generation or two also used it.
Probably through the town clerk's error the
name is spelled Buckland in the birth records
of Lee, but is Buckley in the marriage records.
He had the births of all his children recorded
at Lee, with the places of birth indicated. He
married Clarissa Bell. He died at Lee. Chil
dren: 1. Hiram, born November 27, 1807, at
Catskill ; has children living in Troy. 2. jane
Anne, born September 27, 1809, at Troy. 3.
Lucius G., born June 28, 181 1, at Kinderhook.
4. William, born July 2, 1813, at Kinderhook.
5. Abigail, July 24, 1815, at Kinderhook. 6.
John, November 20, 1817, in Kinderhook. 7.
George Chittington, April 27, 1821, in Kin
derhook; mentioned below. 8. Martha, April
9, 1822; married at Lee, December 11, 1845,
Reuben O. Brown. 9. Ann, born about 1824;
married, June 24, 1846, at Lee, Nathan Allen.
(XX) George Chittington, son of James
Buckley, was born in Kinderhook, New York,

April 27, 1821. He removed with his father
and the family to Lee, Massachusetts, when
he was about three years old, and was educated
there in the public schools. He learned his
father's trade as paper-maker. When a young
man he removed to Kingston, New York,
where he followed the hatter's trade. He
returned to Lee in 1849 and lived there, where
he followed paper-making the remainder of
his life. He was a Whig in politics, in reli
gion a liberal. He died October 31, 1890. He
married Julia, daughter of Lawrence Keefer
and Hannah (Von Steinberg) Felter, of
Kingston. Her father was an iron worker by
trade. Children, born at Kingston : 1. James
Collier, July -4, 1848, mentioned below. 2.
Icedor, September 1, 1845. 3. George C. Jr.,
May 20, 1852. 4. Clara fl., February 2, 1856.
5 Frank E., December 5, 1861. 6. Fred E.,
May 24, 1863.
(XXI) James C, son of George Chitting
ton Buckley, was born at Kingston, New
York, July 4, 1848. His parents moved to Lee
when he was two years old, and he was edu
cated there in the public schools. At the age
of thirteen he left the high school after one
year's study, and became office boy of the
Holyoke Paper Company at Holyoke. Four
years later he left this concern to become
bookkeeper for White, Corbin & Company, of
Rockville, Connecticut. After a time he
returned to Holyoke as stock clerk for the
Whiting Paper Company. Subsequently he
was for three years receiving clerk for the
Connecticut River railroad at Holyoke, and
for three years clerk in the general freight
office of the, Boston & Albany railroad at
Springfield, Massachusetts, and bookkeeper
one year for the Chester Emery Company.
From 1872 to 1881 he was bookkeeper and
paymaster of the Gaylord Manufacturing
Company of Chicopee. He was for two years
bookkeeper and paymaster of the Florence
Sewing Machine Company, and bookkeeper
two years for the Worthington Paper Com
pany of Holyoke, Massachusetts. From 1886
to 1898 he was paymaster and resident busi
ness manager of the Ames Manufacturing
Company. From 1898 to 1906 he conducted
an iron and bronze statuary foundry on his
own account at Chicopee. He sold this busi
ness to the Spaldings. Since 1906 Mr. Buck
ley has been city clerk and treasurer of Chico
pee. He was a candidate for the office of town
clerk in 1883 against John White. The city
was incorporated in 1890. In politics, he is a
Republican. He is a prominent Free Mason,

420

MASSACHUSETTS.

a member of Chicopee Lodge; of Chicopee
Unity Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of
Chicopee Falls ; of Springfield Council, Royal
and Select Masters, of Springfield, Massa
chusetts ; of Springfield Commandery, Knights
Templar, of Springfield;- of Massachusetts
Consistory, thirty-second degree; and Melha
Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Springfield.
He married, July 4, 1870, Roxana M. Dor-
man, born October 17, 1848, daughter of
Amos and Ann (Nugent) Dorman, who died
June 24, 1909. This name undoubtedly originated
LONG in a person tall of stature. An
account of its origin. in England,
which may be regarded as more or less authen
tic, asserts that one of the family of Preux,
who was an attendant on the Lord Treasurer
of Hungerford, acquired the sobriquet of
Long Henry on account of his great height.
Having married a lady of quality he adopted
the prefix as a surname, transferring the appel
lation to Henry Long, thus becoming the
founder of the Longs of Wiltshire. The
name is also to be found in Cambridgeshire,
Oxfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, and is
known to have existed in the reign of Edward
I. Long is also a component syllable of many
other surnames, such as Longfellow, Long-
worth, Longstreet, Longchamp, Longacre,
Longyear, Budlong, etc. Several Americans
of this name have won national distinction,
including the Hon. John Davis Long, ex-sec
retary of the navy.
(I) James Long, an early settler in North
Carolina, was a resident of Perquimans pre
cinct, Albermarle county, at the time of his
death, in 1682, and his will mentions sons
James, Thomas and Giles.
(II) James (2), son of James (1) Long,
died in Tyrrell county, North Carolina, No
vember 15, 171 1. From his will we learn that
the Christian name of his wife was Elizabeth,
and that he had sons James, Thomas and John,
and daughters Mary and Elizabeth. Fle was a
man of prominence in the administrative
affairs of the colony, and a member of the
house of burgesses.
(Ill) James (3), son of James (2) and
Elizabeth Long, was of Chowan, Tyrrell
county, and died there September 1, 1734. Flis
will, which was probated at the April term of
court in the following year, mentions eldest
son James, second son Giles, brother Thomas,
John, Andrew, son Joshua and daughter Eliz
abeth.

(IV) Giles, second son of James (3) Long,
died in 1782, leaving a son Miles. (N. B.). The
"North Carolina Historical and Genealogical
Register" fails to mention any other child of
Giles Long.
(V) Miles, son of Giles Long, came from
North Carolina, and lived in Plymouth, Mass
achusetts. He married, in Plymouth, in 1770,
Thankful Clark, born 1750, and lived in Ply
mouth. She survived him, and afterward mar
ried Ezra Holmes. Children of Miles and
Thankful (Clark) Long: 1. Thomas, born
August, 1771. 2. Betsey, married John Clark.
Thankful Clark, wife of Miles Long, was
a daughter of Israel Clark, born 1720, lived
in Plymouth, who married Deborah Pope,
of Sandwich. Israel Clark was son of
Josiah Clark, born 1690, lived in Plymouth,
and married Thankful Tupper. Josiah Clark,
son of Thomas Clark, was born and lived in
Plymouth, and was called "Silver-headed
Thomas," because, having been scalped by the
Indians when a boy, he wore a silver plate;
married Elizabeth Crow. Thomas Clark was
son of James Clark, born in Plymouth, in
1536; married, 1557, Abigail Lothrop, who
was born 1659, daughter of Rev. John Loth
rop, who came over in the "Griffin," in 1635,
and was the first minister in Barnstable, where
his house still stands and is used as a public
library. James Clark was a son of Thomas
Clark, the Pilgrim, who came to Plymouth in
the "Ann," in 1623. He lived in Plymouth,
where he married Susannah Ring, and his
gravestone still stands on Burial Hill, Ply
mouth. (VI) Thomas, son of 'Miles and Thankful
(Clark) Long, was born in Plymouth, Massa
chusetts, in 1771, and died in Buckfield, Ox
ford county, Maine, in 1861. He lived in Ply
mouth and Middleboro-, Massachusetts, and
removed from Middleboro to Buckfield in
1806. He married, November 8, 1795, Bath
sheba Churchill, born May 26, 1766, died in
Buckfield, July 27, 1853. Children: 1. Betsey,
born about 1796; married Isaac Ellis. 2.
Thomas, born about 1798. 3. Zadoc, born July
28, 1800. 4. Sally, born about 1802 ; married
Lucius Loring. 5. George Washington; died
in infancy. 6. Bathsheba, married Isaac
Bearse. 7. Iiarriet, died in infancy. 8. Miles,
married Ann Bridgham. 9. Thankful, died in
infancy. 10. Washington, born about 181 1.
11. Harriet. 12. Thankful C, married Will
iam W. Bacon.
Bathsheba Churchill, wife of Thomas Long,
was a daughter of Zadoc Churchill, born 1747;

MASSACH USETTS.

421

son of Stephen Churchill, born 1717, son of
Stephen Churchill, born 1685 ; son of Eleazer
Churchill, born 1652; son of John Churchill,
who came from England to Plymouth, Massa
chusetts, 1643, and married, 1644, Hannah,
daughter of William Pontus.
Zadoc Churchill married Bathsheba Rider,
born 1750, concerning whose ancestry author
ities are at variance. One writer says : Rich
ard Warren, of the "Mayflower," 1620, son of
Christopher, of Kent county, England, mar
ried widow Elizabeth Marsh, who came over
in the "Ann," 1623 ; had Mary Warren, who
married, in 1628, Robert Bartlett, who came
in the "Ann;" had Sarah Bartlett, who mar
ried 1656, Samuel Rider (second wife) ; had
Samuel Rider, born 1657; married, 1680,
Lydia Tilden; had Joseph Rider, born 1691,
married, 1740, Elizabeth Crossman, (second
wife) ; had Bathsheba Rider, born 1650, mar
ried Zadoc Churchill.
On the other hand Mr. Bowman, secretary
of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, says
that James Chilton, of the "Mayflower," 1620,
had a daughter Mary, who married John
Winslow (brother of Governor Winslow) ;
and had Mary Winslow, who married, 1650,
Edward Gray, of Plymouth, and had Desire
Gray, born 165 1, married Nathaniel South-
worth, son of Alice Southworth, second wife
of Governor Bradford; and had Mary South-
worth, born 1676, married Joseph Rider, and
had Joseph Rider, Jr., who married (second
wife) Elizabeth Crossman ; and had Bath
sheba Rider, born 1750, married Zadoc
Churchill, and had Bathsheba Churchill, who
married Thomas Long.
(VII) Zadoc, son of Thomas and Bath
sheba (Churchill) Long, was born in Middle
boro, Massachusetts, July 28, 1800, and died
in Winchenden, Massachusetts, February 3,
1873. He was a man of considerable promi
nence in his native state, and in 1638 was the
Whig candidate for congress. He received a
plurality but not a majority of votes, hence
failed of election. He married, August 31,
1824, at New Gloucester, Maine, Julia Temple
Davis, born in Falmouth, Maine, February 17,
1807, died in Buckfield, Maine, September 19,
1869. Children: 1. Julia Davis, born August
16, 1825, died October 31, 1882; married Nel
son D. White. 2. Persis Seaver, born Febru
ary 14, 1828, died April 27, 1893; married
Percival W. Bartlett. 3. Zadoc, Jr., born April
26, 1834, died September 14, 1866; married
Ruth A. Strout. 4. John Davis, born October
27, 1838.

Julia Temple Davis, wife of Zadoc Long,
was a descendant in the seventh generation of
Dolor Davis, born in Kent, England, about
1600, and came to Boston in May, 1634, with
Simon Willard. He settled in Cambridge,
then in Duxbury, about 1643,- then at Barn
stable, where he died in 1673. Meantime he
lived in Concord from 1655 to 1666, where his
sons settled and lived. Dolor married, about
1624, Margery Willard, born in 1602, daughter
of Richard Willard, of Horsemonden, Kent,
England. She died in Concord, Massachusetts,
after 1655 and before 1666. Their son Samuel
married, January 11, 1665, at Lynn, Massa
chusetts, Mary Meads (or Meadows), who
died in Concord, 1710. ' Their son Simon,
known as Lieutenant Simon, born 1683, died
in Holden; married, 1713, Dorothy  ,
who died at Holden, 1776. Their son Simon,
born 1 714, died 1754; he lived in Rutland,
Massachusetts, and married Hannah Gates of
Stow, who died in 1761. She was a descend
ant of Stephen Gates, one of the early settlers
of Hingham. Their son, Deacon David, born
1740, lived at Paxton, and married Abigail
Brown, 1764. Their son Simon, born in Paxton,
September 2, 1765, died in Falmouth, Maine,
March 17, 1810. He married, 1802, at West
Boylston, widow Persis Seaver, maiden name
Temple, born 1766, at Shrewsbury, a descend
ant of the Temple family. Their daughter,
Julia Temple Davis, married Zadoc Long, Au
gust 31, 1824.
(VIII) John Davis, only surviving child
of Zadoc and Julia Temple (Davis) Long,
was born in Buckfield, Oxford county. Maine,
October 27, 1838. He acquired his earlier
literary education in public schools and the
academy at Hebron, in the latter fitting for
college under the principalship of Mark H.
Dunnell, afterward a member of congress
from Minnesota. He entered Harvard, taking
the academic course, and graduated A. B.
1857, second in his class. He wrote the class
ode which was sung on commencement day.
For two years after leaving college he was
principal of the Westford Academy, and at
the end of that time entered Harvard Law
School. He also studied law in the office of
Sidney Bartlett and Peleg W. Chandler, of the
Boston bar. In 1861 he was admitted to prac
tice, and the same year began his professional
career in Buckfield. He remained there six
months, then came to Boston, and became
partner with Stillman B. Allen. Alfred Hem
enway was afterward a partner, a relation
which was maintained until November, 1879,

422

MASSACHUSETTS.

when Mr. Long was elected governor of
Massachusetts. He and Mr. Hemenway still
hang out the sign of Long & Hemenway.
Soon after he had become a member of the
Boston bar, Governor Long took up his resi
dence in Hingham, where he still lives. In
1875 he was elected representative from the
Second Plymouth district to the general court,
was re-elected at the end of his first term, and
twice afterward ; during the legislative ses
sions of 1876-77-79 he was speaker of the
house, and the unanimous choice of the house
in 1877. At the Republican state convention
in Worcester in 1877 he was mentioned for
the governorship, but his name was with
drawn. At the convention of the next year he
received 266 votes in his candidacy for the
gubernatorial office, but when his name was
presented for the lieutenant-governorship he
was nominated by a large majority and elected
to that office. In 1879 he was nominated and
elected governor, succeeding Governor Talbot.
In the campaign of that year his Democratic
opponent was General Butler, with John
Quincy Adams and Rev. Dr. Eddy as nomi
nees of minor political factions. In 1880 he
was the unanimous choice of the convention,
and at the polls in November he received a
vote as gratifying as it was unprecedented in a
gubernatorial contest in this state in any other
than a presidential year. In November, 1S81,
he was re-elected for another term, and served
in all three years. In 1884 he was elected rep
resentative in congress, and twice re-elected,
serving during the 48th, 49th and 50th ses
sions of that body. On March 6, 1897, he was
appointed the Secretary of the Navy in Presi
dent McKinley's cabinet, and retired from that
office May 1, 1902. At the close of the last
session of his six years in congress, Governor
Long returned to Boston and resumed his
law practice, and with the exception of the
years in the president's cabinet he has not
been particularly identified with the public
service. For several years he was a member
of the state house construction commission.
He is president of the board of overseers of
Harvard College, member of the Massachu
setts Historical Society, fellow of the Ameri
can Academy of Arts and Sciences, and presi
dent of the Massachusetts Total Abstinence
Society. The Zadoc Long Free Library at
Buckfield, Maine, was presented to the town
by Governor Long in 1901 as a memorial of
his father.
"As a man of letters," says one of his recent

biographers, "Governor Long has achieved a
reputation. Some years ago he produced a
scholarly translation in blank verse of Virgil's
Aeneid, published in 1879, in Boston. It has
found many admirers. Among his other liter
ary productions may be mentioned his After-
dinner Speeches, The Republican Party, Its
History, Principles and Policies, and The New
American Navy. His inaugural addresses
were masterpieces of art, and the same can be
said of his speeches on the floor of congress,
all of them polished, forceful and to the point.
* * * Mr. Long is a very fluent speaker,
and without oratorical display he always suc
ceeds in winning the attention of his auditors.
It is what he says, more than how he says it,
that has won him his great popularity on the
platform. * * Amid professional and offi
cial duties, he also has written several poems
and essays which reflect credit upon his heart
and brain."
In 1880 Governor Long was honored by his
alma mater with the degree of LL. D. and
later with the same degree by Tufts College.
On September 13, 1870, he married (first)
Mary (Woodward) Glover, born in Roxbury,
June 29, 1845, died in Boston, February 16,
1882; married (second) May 22, 1885, Agnes
Peirce, born at North Attleboro, Massachu
setts, January 3, i860. His children are: 1.
Margaret, born in Hingham, January 26, 1872,
died same day. 2. Margaret, born in Boston,
October 28, 1873. 3. Helen, born in Hingham,
June 26, 1875, died October 4, 1901. 4. (By
second wife) Pierce, born in North Attleboro,
December 29, 1887.
Mary Woodward Glover, first wife of Gov
ernor John Davis Long, was a daughter of
George Stephen Glover, born Dorchester,
Massachusetts, in 1816, and married, about
1841, Helen Paul, of Sherbom. George Ste
phen Glover was a son of Captain Stephen
Glover, born in Dorchester, January 9, 1729,
died October 11, 181 1; master mariner and
deep sea navigator; married (first) Elizabeth,
daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Clough)
Glover; married (second) October 15, 1759,
Jerusha Billings, born in Dorchester Septem
ber 22, 1743, died in Quincy, April 2, 1807,
daughter of John and Miriam (Davenport)
Billings. Captain Elisha Glover was son of
John Glover, bom in Dorchester, September
18, 1687, died in Braintree (Quincy), July 6,
1768; was land holder; married (first). Janu
ary 1, 1714, Mary Horton, of Milton, died
December 19, 1776. John Glover was a son

MASSACHUSETTS.

423

of Nathaniel Glover, born in Dorchester, Jan
uary 30, 1653, died there January 6, 1723-4;
married, 1672-3, Hannah Hinckley, of Barn
stable, born April 1, 1650, died in Dorchester,
April 30, 1730, fourth daughter of Governor
Thomas Hinckley by his first wife Mary Rich
ards. Nathaniel, was son of Mr. Nathaniel
Glover, born 1630-31, died in Dorchester, May
21, 1657 ; married, March 22, 1652, Mary Smith,
born at Toxeth Park. Mary (Smith) Glover
married (second) March 2, 1659-60, Thomas
Hinckley, of Barnstable, afterward governor
of Plymouth colony. Nathaniel Glover was
fourth son of John Glover, Esq., of Preseott,
England, and of Dorchester and Boston, New
England, bora in Rainhill parish, Preseott,
Lancashire, England, August 12, 1600, died in
Boston, December 11, 1653.
Agnes Peirce, second wife of Governor John
Davis Long, was born January 1, i860, daugh
ter of Rev. Joseph D. Peirce, born November
15, 1815, died in North Attleboro, Massachu
setts, November 16, 1880; married, November
30, 1858, Martha S. Price, born 1830, died
1885, daughter of George Price. Rev. Joseph
D. Peirce was son of John Peirce, born Scit
uate, Massachusetts, October 29, 1776, died
at sea, May 16, 1816; married, November 10,
1810, Mercy Merritt, born January 24, 1784,
died April 4, 1838. John Peirce was son of
Seth B. Peirce, born Scituate, September 7,
1728, died December 9, 1810; married Septem
ber 6, 1766, Jemima Turner, died April 19,
18 14. Seth B. Peirce was son of Thomas
Peirce, born November 14, 1692, died before
March 28, 1786. Thomas Peirce was son
of Captain Benjamin Peirce, born 1646, died
1730; married (first) February 5, 1678,
Martha, daughter of James Adams; mar
ried (second) July 21, 1718, Mrs. Eliza
beth (Adams) Perry. Captain Benjamin
Peirce was son of Captain Michael Peirce,
born about 1615, in England, came to America
about 1645, and was first of Hingham and
afterward of Scituate. He was killed in battle
while leading his company against King Philip's
savage warriors, on Sunday, March 26, 1676.
His first wife died in 1662, and he married
(second) Widow Anna James.
Jemima Turner, above named, was a de
scendant of Elder William Brewster of the
"Mayflower." She was daughter of Richard
Turner, son of John Turner, who was son of
John Turner and Mary Brewster, who was
daughter of Jonathan Brewster, son of William
Brewster.

The surname Bowne (formerly
BOWNE Bohun and Bowyn) is of Nor
man-French origin, Humphrey de
Bohun, of Bohon in Normandy, coming into
England with the Conqueror in 1066. Of recent
years the English branches have largely
dropped the final e, spelling it Bown.
(I) Thomas ' Bowne, immigrant ancestor,
was baptized May 25, 1695, at Matlock, Derby
shire, England, and died September 18, 1677,
at Flushing, Long Island. He came to Boston
in New England in 1648-9, with his son John,
aged twenty-two, and a daughter Dorothy,
aged eighteen, leaving in England a daughter
Truth, who was living in 1674. He was an
early settler of Flushing, Long Island, about
1 65 1. Children: 1. John, mentioned below.
2. Dorothy, born August 14, 1631 ; married
Edward Farrington. 3. Truth, remained in
England. (II) John, son of Thomas Bowne, was bap
tized at Matlock, Derbyshire, England, March
9, 1627, and died December 20, 1695. He
came to Boston with his father in 1648-9, but
returned to England in 1650. He came back
to America in 1651, arriving at Boston, August
15, of that year. He visited Flushing, Long
Island, with Edward Farrington, his brother-
in-law, the same year, and settled in that town.
He built there in 1661 a house which is still
standing on Bowne avenue, and in good repair.
About 1656, he embraced the religious doctrines
of the Society of Friends, and was severely
persecuted by the Dutch authorities therefor.
In 1662, by order of Governor Stuyvesant, he
was taken from his family in Flushing, and
after several months confinement in old Fort
Amsterdam was banished to Holland and tried
before the Dutch West India Company in
Amsterdam. His acquittal and return in 1664
marked the close of Quaker persecutions in
New Netherland. On his death in 1695 the
following minute was made upon the records
of the New York Yearly Meeting of Friends:
"He did freely expose himself, his house and
his estate, to ye service of Truth, and had a
constant meeting in his house near about forty
years : he also suffered much for ye Truth's
sake." George Fox, founder of the Society
of Friends, made his home at the Bowne house
during his visit to America in 1672. John
Bowne was engaged largely in farming and
trading, and was a man of considerable influ
ence in the Dutch and English colonies. He
was treasurer of Queens county, New York,
in 1683, and was elected to the colonial legis-

424

MASSACHUSETTS.

lature in 1691, but his principles debarred him
from taking the oath of office and he did not
serve. He married (first) May 7, 1656, Han
nah, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Fones-
Winthrop) Feke. She was a minister in the
Society of Friends, and a gifted woman. In
1674 and again in 1676 she made extended
tours among the Friends' meetings of England,
Ireland and the Netherlands. While on one
of these tours she died at the house of John
Elson, in London, February 2, 1677-8. He
married (second) February 2, 1679-80, Han
nah Bickerstaff, who died June 7, 1690; and
(third) June 26, 1693, Mary, daughter of
James and Sarah Cock, of Matinecock, Long
Island. Children of first wife, Hannah Feke :
1. John, born March 13, 1656-7, died August
30, 1673. 2. Elizabeth, born October 8, 1658,
died 1721 ; married (first) November 2, 1678,
John Prior ; (second) Samuel Titus. 3. Mary,
January 6, 1660-1 ; married, 1680, Joseph
Thorne. 4. Abigail, February 5, 1662-3, died
June 16, 1688, married, March 25, 1686, Rich
ard Willits. 5. Hannah, April 10, 1665; mar
ried, 1691, Benjamin Field. 6. Samuel, Sep
tember 21, 1667; mentioned below. 7. Doro
thy, March 29, 1669 ; married, 1689, Henry
Franklin. 8. Martha Johannah, August 17,
1673 ; married, 1695, Joseph Thorne. Chil
dren of second wife, Hannah Bickerstaff: 9.
Sarah, born 1680, died 1681. 10. Sarah, Feb
ruary 17, 1681-2, married  Ford, and
died in 1699. IT- John, September 10, 1683,
died October 25, 1683. 12. Thomas, Novem
ber 26, 1684, died December 17, 1684. 13.
John, September 9, 1686; married Elizabeth
Lawrence, July 21, 1714. 14. Abigail, July 5,
1688, died July 13 following. Children by
third wife, Mary Cock: 15. Amy, born 1694;
married, 17 17, Richard Hallett, and died 1759.
16. Ruth, born 1695-6, died young.
(Ill) Samuel, son of John Bowne, was born
September 21, 1667, and died May 30, 1745.
He was a minister of the Society of Friends —
"a man serviceable in his day ; bore a public
testimony in meeting, and his house always
open for ye entertaining of Friends." fle
married (first) October 4, 1691, at Flushing,
Long Island, Mary Becket, who died August
21, 1707, daughter probably of John and Mary
(Brundett) Becket, of Middlewich, Cheshire,
England. She was a ward of Eleanor Lowe
of Newton, Cheshire, and in 1684 of Phineas
Pemberton, of Bucks county, Pennsylvania.
He married (second) December 8, 1709, Han
nah, daughter of Jasper Smith, of Flushing,
who died October 11, 1733. He married

(third) November 14, 1735, Grace, widow of
Hugh Cowperthwaite, of Flushing, who died
in 1760. He died May 30, 1745. Children of
first wife, Mary Becket: 1. Samuel, January
29, 1692-3, mentioned below. 2. Thomas, born
April 7, 1694; married Hannah Underhill,
1716. 3. Eleanor, April 20, 1695; married,
October 9, 1718, Isaac Horner. 4. Hannah,
March 31, 1697-8; married, April 6, 1717,
Richard Lawrence. 5. John, September 11,
1698; married, 1738, Dinah Umderhill. 6.
Mary, October 21, 1699; married, January 14,
1719-20, John Keese. 7. Robert, January 17,
1 700- 1 ; married, November 6, 1724, Margaret
Latham. 8. William, April 1, 1702, died April
15, 1702. 9. Elizabeth, October 11, 1704, died
young. 10. Benjamin, March 13, 1707, died
April 13, 1707. Children of second wife, Han
nah Smith: 11. Sarah, September 3, 1710;
married, March 12, 1729-30, William Burling.
12. Joseph, February 25, 1711-12, married
(first) November 13, 1735, Sarah Lawrence;
(second) June 13, 1745, Judith Morrell. 13.
Amy, October 17, 1715 ; married, July 4, 1734,
Stephen Lawrence. 14. Benjamin, August 1,
1717; married Mary Rodman. 15, Elizabeth,
November 26, 1720; married Thomas Dobson.
(IV) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1)
Bowne, was born in Flushing, January 29,
1692-3, and died May 31, 1769. He married,
September 20, 1716, Sarah Franklin, born Au
gust 31, 1700, died August 7, 1767, daughter
of Henry and Sarah Franklin, of Flushing.
Children: 1. William, born March 6, 1719-
20 ; married Elizabeth Willett. 2. Samuel,
May 14, 1 72 1, mentioned below. 3. Mary,
March 3, 1723-4; married, 1749, Joseph Far
rington. 4. Abigail, 1724; married George
Embree. 5. Sarah, 1726; married, 1753, Will
iam Titus. 6. James, 1728; married Caroline
Rodman. (V) Samuel (3), son of Samuel (2) Bowne,
was born in Flushing, May 14, 1721, and died
in New York City, April 24, 1784. He was a
very successful merchant. He married, No
vember 22, 1 741, Abigail Burling, born Febru
ary 25, 1723-4, died December 6, 1785, daugh
ter of James and Elizabeth Burling, of New
York. Children: 1. Edward, born September
3. 1742, died September 22, 1742. 2. James,
March 20, 1743-4. 3. Samuel, August 4, died
August 21, 1746. 4. Elizabeth, November 19,
1748, died January 22, 1752-3. 5. Samuel,
June 25, 1750, died September 23, 1752. 6.
Matthew, July 19, 1752, mentioned below. 7.
Abigail, October 21, 1754; married William
Kenyon. 8. Sarah, January 14, 1757, died No-

MASSACHUSETTS,.

425

vember 11, 1759. 9. Samuel, September 5,
1758, died May 22, 1760. 10. Mary, August 8,
died August 24, 1761. 11. William, March 9,
1763; married Sarah Newbold. 12. Samuel,
April 5, 1767; married Hannah Pearsall.
(VI) Matthew, son of Samuel (3) Bowne,
was born July 19, 1752, in New York City,
and died at Salem, New Jersey, September 1,
1797. He was a New York merchant. He
married, December 20, 1775, Elizabeth Quinby,
born September 29, 1753, died January 3, 1808,
daughter of Aaron and Elizabeth (Cornell)
Quinby, and granddaughter of Josiah and
Mary (Mullineux) Quinby and of Richard
and Hannah (Thorne) Cornell. Children: 1-2.
Charles and Aaron, twins, born October 10,
1776, both died young. 3. Richard Matthew,
September 25, 1779; married, August 2, 1804,
Penelope Hull. 4. Robert Martin, December
29, 1781, died unmarried, on Island of Java.
5. William, July 3, 1784; married Ann Ferris;
he was master of one of the first New York
and Liverpool regular line packet ships, and was
the first to use the chronometer in the merchant
service of the United States. 6. Abigail, Sep
tember 5, 1786, died May 20, 1787. 7. Sidney
Breese, mentioned below. 8. Josiah Quinby,
August 27, 1793 ; died unmarried, 1818, in Cal
cutta. (VII) Sidney Breese, son of Matthew
Bowne, was born at Nine Partners, New York,
June 19, 1788, and died at Westchester, New
York, November 5, 1865. He was a merchant
of Westchester. He married, January 30,
181 1, Jemima Honeywell Hunt, born at
Yonkers, New York, August 10, 1790, died in
New York City, January 25, 1863, daughter
of Major David and Phebe (Oakley) Hunt,
and granddaughter of Aaron and Rebecca
(Haydock) Hunt. Major David Hunt served
in the revolution from 1778. Children: 1.
William Hunt, January 2, 1812 ; married (first)
1839, Sarah L. Flendricks, (second) 1844,
Mary A. Clement. 2. Robert Matthew, born
September 21, 1813, died May 4,. 1818. 3.
Josiah Quinby, March 25, 181 5, died unmar
ried, October 10, 1859; sea captain in New
York merchant service 1842-52; later wreck
ing agent for the board of marine insurers and
underwriters of port of New York. 4. Richard
Matthew, mentioned below. 5. Elizabeth
Honeywell. July 27, 1819, and married Janu
ary 5, 1848, Ellwood Walter, of New York
City; she died January 23, 1863. 6. Honey
well, February 1, and died September 8, 1821.
7. Sarah Matilda, born September 14, 1822,
married September 27, 1845, Henry Crom

well, of New York City. She died April 13,
1875. 8. Maria Phebe, April 9, 1824; mar
ried, April 20, 1854, John Thomas, of New
York City, died July 5, 1887. 9. Phebe Ann,
1825; died 1826. 10. Catherine Iiaviland, born
and died 1826. 11. Sidney Franklin, 1827;
died 1828. 12. Sidney Franklin, November 10,
1829; died unmarried, February 4, 1855. 13.
Thomas Burling, June 11, 1831 ; married,
March 27, 1856, Rebecca Leggett Watson, died
August 29, 1880. 14. Amelia Crane, January
5, 1834; died unmarried, November t6, 1883.
(VIII) Richard Matthew, son of Sidney
Breese Bowne, was born in Westchester, New
York, March 14, 1817, and died June 5, 1899.
He was a merchant of Glen Cove, New York.
He married, March 17, 1846, Mary Margaret
Titus, born May .21, 1823, died December 23,
1884, daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Mott)
Titus, and granddaughter of Jacob and Martha
(Keene) Titus and of Samuel and Margaret
(Kershow) Mott. Children: 1. Jacob Titus,
born February 12, 1847, mentioned below. 2.
Josiah Quinby, born 1848; died 1851. 3. Sid
ney Breese, December 5, 1849; married, No
vember 3, 1 87 1, Martha Valentine Willets.
4. Samuel Titus, born and died 1851. 5.
Josiah Quinby, born 1852, died 1858. 6. Han
nah Titus, 1854, died 1855. 7. Ella Frost,
August 25, 1855 ; married June 16, 1875, Henry
Townsend Smith, died December 17, 1905. 8.
Mary Margaret, 1857; died 1858. 9. Richard
Franklin, November 17, 1859; married (first)
October 25, 1882, Minnie Cornelius Under
bill; (second) May 28, 1890, Agnes Wood.
10. Mary Titus, born 1861, died 1862. 11.
Elizabeth Walter, January 3, 1863 ; married
William Henry Zabriskie, M. D. 12. William
Hunt, January 27, 1864; married, September
24, 1890, Adelle F. Greene.
(IX) Jacob Titus, son of Richard Matthew
Bowne, was born at Glen Cove, Long Island,
February 12, 1847. He attended the public
schools of his native town and of New York
City, and entered the Free Academy, now the
College of the City of New York, but did not
graduate, because of illness. He was a clerk
in his father's general store at Glen Cove from
1863 to 1871, when he went into the flour and
grain business on his own account at Salina,
Kansas, returning in 1873 to Glen Cove, and
again became associated in business with his
father. In 1877 he entered upon what proved
to be his life work, accepting the office of
general secretary of the Young Men's Chris
tian Association at Hudson, New York. In
1878 he came to Brooklyn as assistant secre-

426

MASSACHUSETTS.

tary of the Young Men's Christian Association
of that city, and continued there until 1880,
when he became secretary of the Young Men's
Christian Association of Newburgh, New
York. After three years he resigned to take
charge of the Secretarial Bureau of the Inter
national Committee of the Young Men's Chris
tian Association. In 1885 he came to Spring
field to take charge of the Association Depart
ment of the School for Christian Workers,
now the International Young Men's Christian
Association Training School. In this institu
tion he is librarian and instructor in association
methods at the present time. He founded the
historical library of the American Young
Men's Christian Associations in 1877. and the
Secretaries Insurance Alliance in 1880. He
was joint editor of the Y. M. C. A. Handbook
from 1887 to 1892; author of the "Decimal
Classification for Y. M. C. A. Publications,"
in 1891 ; and joint author of "Decimal Classi
fication for Physical Training" in 1901. In
1906 he published a "Classified Bibliography
of Boy Life and Organized Work with
Boys," and the same year received the degree
of Master of Humanics from the Training
School. Outside his chosen profession he has
been much interested in historical and archae
ological studies. Since 1868 he has been en
gaged in collecting material for the Bowne
family in England and America. In 1869 he
compiled and published the proceedings at the
bi-centennial celebration of the settlement of
Glen Cove, Long Island. From 1868 to 1871
he contributed various articles on the early
history of Glen Cove and its institutions to the
local papers. Since 1900 he has published
several articles on aboriginal life in the Con
necticut river valley, and made archealogical
investigations on the coast of Maine, in the
Chesapeake-Potomac section, on the east coast
of Florida, and on the Pacific coast.
He married, April 15, 1884, Eliza Hunt St.
John, born in New York City, October 31,
1852, daughter of Charles W. St. John and
Sarah Eliza Smith Underhill. Children: 1.
Edith St. John, born at Greenpoint, Long
Island, February 22, 1885. 2. Richard Morse,
born at Springfield, August 15, 1886, died
March 31, 1887. 3. Mary Margaret, born Au
gust 19, 1888. 4. Bessie Haven, April 25,
1892. The surname Tirrell is an an-
TIRRELL cient English name dating back
many centuries. The spelling
is curiously varied in the early records. Such

spellings as Turrell, Terrill, Turrill, Turand,
Turin, Tarant, Thurrell, Thorall, Turings, Turel,
¦ Turen, Tirrell and Tyrell. The latter spelling
was not common. The family originally seems
to have preferred the spelling Turrell, but this
preference had small influence over the clerks
and clergymen, magistrates and conveyancers
of colonial days. The spelling Tirrell, probably
the ancient and correct form, is now in general
use. Captain Richard Tirrell was one of the
Protestant English who received grants of land
in Ulster province in the north of Ireland in
1610. He received from the English govern
ment a grant of two thousand acres in the
precinct of Tullsghgarvy, county Cavan, and
in 1619 it was reported by the government
agent, Nicholas Pynnar, that a strong stone
"Dawn" had been built since the grant. Whether
Captain Tirrell himself went to Ireland we do
not know.
The first immigrant of this name coming to
America was Daniel Tirrell, who before 1643
was a proprietor of the town of Boston. He
was an anchorsmith, blacksmith and sea cap
tain ; his wife Lydia was admitted to the church
August 29, 1647, and died in Boston, June 23,
1659. He married (second) Mary Barrell,
widow, daughter of Elder William Colborne,
and she died January 23, 1697. Daniel died
in 1688, bequeathing to wife Mary, sons Daniel,
Colborne and Samuel ; Humphrey and Sarah,
children of his son Joseph ; Sarah and Lydia
Foster, children of deceased daughter Lydia,
and to kinswoman Elizabeth Gording. In the
Suffolk deeds, July 19, 171 1, mention is made
of John Turell, eldest son and heir of Samuel
Turell, late of the parish of Instow, Devon
shire, England, mariner, deceased, the only son
of John Tirrell. some time of Boston, mariner,
deceased, and William, one other son of said
Samuel Turell.
(I) William Tirrell, immigrant ancestor of
this family, settled in. Boston. In all prob
ability he was a younger brother or nephew of
Daniel Tirrell mentioned above, and he is the
progenitor of all the Weymouth families of
this name. William Tirrell probably died in
the prime of life, for we have no record of the
settlement of an estate and no mention of his
death. He married, January 29, 1654-55, in
Boston, Rebecca Simpkins, daughter of Nicho
las Simpkins, a tailor and draper of high stand
ing, who removed from Boston to Dorchester
and thence to Cambridge, where he bought
land November 20, 1637. Simpkins was the
first commander of the fort on Castle Island,
Boston Harbor. He deposed before the general

MASSACHUSETTS.

427

court in 1645 as to a gun he took to the castle
in 1635. Simpkins was of Yarmouth, 1638-40,
removed to Barnstable, where he sold land in
1645, and to Scituate, where he sold land March
1, 1648; he died 1656, his widow Isabel being
administratrix. Children of William and Rer
becca Tirrell: 1. Rebecca, born December 26,
1655, at Boston. 2. William, Boston, March
16, 1658, settled in Weymouth with his brother
Gideon and is ancestor of many of the families
of this name in the vicinity ; married Abigail
Pratt, daughter of Thomas Pratt ; died at Ab
ington, October 27, 1727; among their six
children was one name Gideon. 3. Mary, April
6, 1661. 4. Gideon, July 16, 1664, mentioned
below. (II) Gideon, son of William Tirrell, was
born in Boston, July 16, 1664. He and his
brothers settled in Weymouth, Massachusetts.
It is known that John Tirrell, grandson of
Gideon, possessed a manuscript written by
Gideon Tirrell in which the town and county in
England, whence the family came, was named,
but this paper has been lost since about 1850,
and the best recollection of those who had seen
the document fixes the place as Thorne in
Yorkshire. Perhaps no value should be placed
on this statement, for until recently it had been
supposed that Gideon was born in England.
Gideon made his home in Weymouth about
1683. He married Hannah, probably daughter
of Thomas Kingman. She was born June I,
1666. He belonged to the church at Weymouth
when Rev. Mr. Paine was the pastor, and
when the church was formed in the south pre
cinct, he became a member; under Rev. James
Bayley in 1723 his name appears at the head
of the list of members. He was the first mod
erator of the south parish or precinct and one
of the assessors elected July 15, 1723; was
moderator also in 1724-25-26. At that time he
held the rank of sergeant in the militia and was
doubtless in active service in the Indian wars.
He bought land of Captain John Holbrook,
March 8, 1698, seven acres in the first division
of Weymouth, town commons. He bought of
Benjamin Luddle, August 6, 1702, six acres
and also a tract of forty acres of Samuel
White, extending from the Braintree line to
the lower end of the Great Pond, as far as the
south part of Great Pond, and bounded on the
west by the Braintree line. His house was
near the spot where Kingman Tirrell's house
stood in 1857 and later. Children: 1. Gideon,
born June 18, 1689, died young. 2. Mary, Octo
ber 4, 1690, married, 1713, Ebenezer Boulton.
3. Rebecca, March 20, 1691-92. 4. Gideon,

April 10, 1693, mentioned below. 5. Miriam,
September 29, 1696, died July 19, 1715. 6.
John, August 22, 1700. 7. Hannah, married,
1727, John Kingman; died 1761. 8. Deborah,
married, January 28, 1730, Joseph Nash.
(Ill) Gideon (2), son of Gideon (1) Tir
rell, was born at Weymouth, April 10, 1693,
died there in 1765. fle married, July 9, 1715,
Mary Nash, who died June 12, 1754. He was
a prominent citizen, of great piety. He joined
the Weymouth church in full communion, 1740.
He was a representative to the general court
in 1728-29-30, and held many other offices of
trust and honor. He inherited his father's
homestead at Weymouth. Children, born at
Weymouth : 1. Jacob, February 16, 1716, mar
ried, February 16, 1737, Elisheba Vinson. 2.
Gideon, November 3, 171 7, married, October
18, 1747, Hannah Vinson. 3. Joseph, Novem
ber 2, 1719, died August 2, 1738. 4. Hannah,
August 1, 1722, married, February 4, 1848,
Eliphalet Ripley. 5. Isaac, November 22, 1724,
married, February 4, 1748, Alice Shaw. 6.
Ebenezer, February 5, 1729, mentioned below.
7. Benjamin, October 15, 1731, married, De
cember 29, 1759, Flannah Packard.
(IV) Ebenezer, son of Gideon (2) Tirrell,
was born at Weymouth, February 5, 1729. He
was a soldier in the revolution in Captain
Thomas Nash's company, Colonel Solomon
Lovell's regiment at the taking of Dorchester
Heights in 1776, and in the same company of
minute-men later in that year (page 778 Mass.
Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolution). He
married, March 2, 1750, Lydia Weld, of Brain
tree. Children, born at Weymouth: 1. Lydia,
July 21, 1754, married John Tirrell, who was
drowned in 1807. 2. Ebenezer, August 24,
1759, soldier in the revolution in Captain Jacob
Wales's company, Colonel Thomas Marshall's
regiment; was taken prisoner and starved to
death in the service (vol. XV, Soldiers and
Sailors in the Revolution). 3. Sarah, October
24, 1760. 4. Hannah, January 26, 1763, mar
ried, September 14, 1782, Lemuel Smith, of
Roxbury. 5. Gideon, September 5, 1765, mar
ried Sarah Brown. 6. James, March 1, 1768,
mentioned below. 7. Betsey, May 7, 1771,
married Benjamin Loud.
(V) James, son of Ebenezer Tirrell, was
born in Weymouth, March 1, 1768, died at
South Weymouth, 1815. He married Hannah
Kingman who died at the age of eighty-seven
years. He was a farmer at South Weymouth.
His widow married (second)  Reed, of
South Weymouth. Children of James and
Hannah (Kingman) Tirrell: i: Kingman,

428

MASSACHUSETTS.

married Charlotte Richards, daughter of James
and Sarah (Tirrell) Richards. 2. James, born
1797, mentioned below. 3. Betsey, married
Randall Richards and had eight children. 4.
Minot, manufacturer of boots and shoes ;
leather merchant ; member of the Second Uni
versalist Church of Weymouth ; married Caro
line Bartlett, of Duxbury, and had three chil
dren. 5. Wilson, married Eliza Canterbury;
(second) Almira Blanchard; had four children
by his first wife and one child by his second.
6. Mary, married Jairus Vining and had two
children. 7. Albert, married Charlotte Blanch
ard, daughter of Cyrus ; was a shoe manufac
turer and leather merchant.
(VI) James (2), son of James (1) Tirrell,
was born in South Weymouth, 1797, died there
in 1865. He was educated in the public schools,
and learned the trade of shoemaker. He began
to manufacture boots and shoes on his own
account, when a young man. In 1845 he en
gaged in business in Boston as a dealer in hides
and leather and continued with much success
the remainder of his life. He was a prominent
citizen of his native town, and held the offices
of overseer of the poor and selectman. He
was one of the incorporators and a trustee of
the Weymouth National Bank. He was an
active and prominent member of the Wey
mouth Congregational Church. He married
Betsey Whitmafsh, born 1798, at East Wey
mouth, died 1888 at South Weymouth. Chil
dren, born at South Weymouth: 1. Hannah,
1818, died unmarried in 1888, at South Wey
mouth. 2. Tirzah, 1820, married Moses T.
Durrell ; she died December 30, 1908. 3.
Alfred, May, 1823, died 1890; married Frances
Hastings. 4. Mary Jane, 1825, married Charles
Hersey, of Hingham. 5. James, died aged
eight years. 6. James, December 6, 1829, men
tioned below. 7. Betsey, died 1832.
(VII) James (3), son of James (2) Tirrell,
was born at South Weymouth, December 6,
1829. He was educated in the public schools
of South Weymouth and of Derry, New Hamp
shire. At the age of sixteen he entered the
employ of his father as clerk in his store in
Boston, and when he came of age was admitted
to partnership. After the death of his father
he continued the business in partnership with
his uncle, who had been a member of the firm
from the first till 1871 when his uncle retired
and he conducted it alone till 1877, when he
sold out. He then returned to Weymouth to
live, since which time he has been interested
in real estate in Boston and South Weymouth.
He was for four years a director of the Wey

mouth National Bank. In religion he was a
Congregationalist ; in politics a Democrat. He
married, June 2, 1859, Helen Sprague, born
September 29, 1837, at South Weymouth,
daughter of Jesse Ii. and Nancy W. (Bates)
Sprague (see Sprague). Children: 1. James,
born June 25, 1865, at South Weymouth, now
in ice business in that town ; married Mary S.
Russell ; children : James, Russell Nevin and
Helen Sprague. 2. Helen Florence, June 21,
187.0, died April 25, 1906; married Fleeming
Brook; children: Crammore Wallace and Tir
rell. 3. Alfred, April 1, 1873, died 1881.
(The Sprague Line — See Edward Sprague 1).
(Ill) William (2), son of William (1)
Sprague, was born May 7, 1630, baptized at
Hingham, July 2, 1650. He was a prominent
citizen of Hingham, was selectman in 1690,
and deputy to general court in 1708. He re
moved to Providence in 1709, and died there.
He married (first) December 13, 1674, Deb
orah, daughter of Andrew and Triphena Lane.
She was baptized at Hingham, June 20, 1652,
and died there February 4, 1706-07, in her
fifty-fifth year. He married (second) (inten
tion dated November 5, 1709) Mary, daughter
of Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Rowland) Tower.
She was born in Hingham, November 3, 1672.
Children of first wife, all born at Hingham: 1.
William, December 24, 1675, mentioned below.
2. Deborah, March 24, 1677-78. 3. Joanna,
February 15, 1679-80. 4. David, December 23,
1683. 5. Jonathan, July 24, 1686; married,
May 23, 1712, Lydia Leavitt. 6. Abiah, Janu
ary 27, 1688-89. 7- John, September 13, 1692.
8. Benjamin, January 3, 1694-95.
(IV) William (3), son of William (2)
Sprague, was born at Hingham, December 24,
1675. He removed to Abington, where he
built a house that was standing until recently.
Mrs. John Underhay, daughter of Eliphaz
Sprague, his great-grandson, lived in the house
when a child, and remembers two old-fash
ioned barrels made of solid tree-trunks, placed
in the cellar of the house by William (3),
according to tradition. He married, April 23,
1707, at Hingham, Silence, born in Hingham,
August 27, 1684, died May 1, 1736, daughter
of Samuel and Silence (Damon) Tower. Chil
dren : 1. Silence, born September 7, 1708. 2.
William, born January, 1709-10; mentioned
below. 3. Jedediah, born March 18, 1712-13.
Probably others at Abington.
(V) William (4), son of William (3)
Sprague, was born at Hingham, January 29,
1709-10. and died November 6, 1796. He went

JfhmeA kJwwU

MASSACHUSETTS.

429

with his father to Abington, and owned a large
tract of land in the west part of the town.
According to report he was chosen to carry a
petition to the general court to have a line
stretched from Accord pond to Angle tree.
He was honest, upright, and highly respected.
He married, at Hingham, September 16, 1735,
Abigail Keen. They had eight children, six of
whom were victims of an epidemic called the
putrid sore-throat, doubtless diphtheria, which
prevailed in Abington in 1751-2. The surviv
ing children: 1. Samuel, lost his life in the
French and Indian war. 2. William, born
1754; mentioned below. 3. Abigail, born De
cember 2, 1758.
(VI) William (5), son of William (4)
Sprague, was born in Abington, in 1754. He
was a soldier in the revolution, in Captain Will
iam Reed's company, General John Thomas's
regiment, from April to August, 1775, at Cam
bridge and Roxbury. On the Lexington alarm
he served a few days in Captain Edward
'Cobb's company, Colonel Edward Mitchell's
regiment, fle married, October 3, 1776, Jane
Orcutt, of Abington, who died February 23,
1 83 1, aged eighty-eight. He died July 14,
1830. Children: 1. Susannah, born in Abing
ton, November 28, 1776; died unmarried, about
185 1. 2. Lydia, born May 1, 1778. 3. Zebedee,
born in Abington, May 11, 1780; died August
15, 1856; married, February 1, 1806, Susannah
Penniman. 4. Oliver, born September 25, 1782;
married, August 21, 181 5, Lydia Keith, who
died February 26, 1823. 5. James, born Feb
ruary 21, 1785. 6. Anna, born March 9, 1787 ;
married, January 29, 1812, Thomas Joy, of
Weymouth. 7. Eliphaz, born April 24, 1789;
mentioned below. 8. Polly, born June 5, 1793;
died April 27, 1796.
(VII) Eliphaz, son of William (5) Sprague,
was born in Abington, April 24, 1789, and died
at Holbrook, Massachusetts, in 1869, aged
eighty years. He married (first) March 11,
181 1, Mary Lydia Harlow, of Plymouth, who
died June 19, 1821, at the age of twenty-nine
years. He married (second) June 5, 1823,
Lydia Thayer, of East Randolph (now Hol
brook). Children of first marriage: 1. Chand
ler, married (first) December 6, 1840, Martha,
daughter of Manly Hayward ; child : i. Abby,
married Gustavus H. Farrar. He married
(second) Rhoda Shaw Packard; children: ii.
Alma Jane, born September 15, 1844; iii. Ara
bella, born March 30, 1846; iv. Julia Ann, July
29, 1848. Chandler Sprague was a last and
boot tree manufacturer at Sprague village;
director of the North Bridgewater Bank, the

Abington Mutual Fire Insurance Company,
and the Mutual Fire Insurance Company;
justice of the peace and leading citizen. 2.
Elbridge, married Sarah French. 3. Jesse H,
mentioned below. 4. Alpheus, died at sea. 5.
Harriet, born 1817; married John Underhay,
and resides at Holbrook, Massachusetts, ninety-
one years and eight months old ; these records
have been largely compiled from her researches
during the past few months. 6. James, married
Elena Bates. Children of Eliphaz Sprague by
second marriage : 7. Eliza Ann, married a
Bigelow. 8. Lydia, married a Crocker. 9. Emily,
married Augustus Chandler. 10. Nathaniel,
married Elizabeth Howard. 11. Homer, mar
ried Mary Jordan. 12. Quincy, never married.
(VIII) Jesse Harlow, son of Eliphaz Sprague,
was born at Abington, in 18 13, and died at
South Weymouth in 1871. He married, Octo
ber 30, 1836, Nancy W. Bates, daughter of
John Bates, granddaughter of Jonathan Bates.
John Bates, father of Jonathan, was son of
Increase and grandson of Edward Bates (1)
the immigrant. His wife died in South Wey
mouth in 1881. He followed the trade of shoe
maker in his native town, removing later to
South Weymouth. Children: 1. Helen, born
September 29, 1837; married, in 1859, James
Tirrell (see Tirrell VII). 2. Nancy, Febru
ary 13, 1840; married Augustus Vining. 3.
Eunice, September 19, 1842; married (first)
Parker Fogg; married (second) Crammore N.
Wallace, Boston. 4. Alice, February 13, 1844,
married Davis Randall. 5. Ida, March, 1853,
married John Augustine Fogg. 6. Charles F.,
January 24, 1855. 7. Fannie, October 16,
1857, married Charles Foster. 8. William,
1859, died when seven months old.

(For first generation see Thomas Hastings 1).
(II) Dr. Thomas (2) Hast-
HASTINGS ings, son of Deacon Thomas
(1) Hastings, was born in
Watertown, July 1, 1652, and died at Hatfield,
Massachusetts, July 23, 1712. He was admitted
a freeman February 8, 1678. He studied medi
cine and settled in Hatfield, practicing also in
Northampton, Hadley and Deerfield, and was
for many years the only physician in those
towns, fle was also the first school teacher in
Hatfield. It was not uncommon at that time
for the village doctor to teach school also.
A remarkable thing about Dr. Hastings's school
was that girls were admitted on the same foot
ing as boys. Elsewhere in New England, until
after the revolution- girls were not taught in
the public schools. It was 1789 before the

43°

MASSACHUSETTS.

Boston schools were open to both sexes and
not until 1802 in Northampton. Dr. Hastings
married (first) October 10, 1672, Anna, daugh
ter of John Hawks, of Hadley. She died
October 25, 1705, and he married (second)
February 14, 1706, Mary, daughter of David
Burt, of Northampton. She died April 13,
1734. Children of first wife: 1. Hannah,
born January 19, 1677; married Samuel Gil-
lett. 2. Thomas, born September 24, 1679;
mentioned below. 3. Hepzibah, born April 6,
1682; married, April 5, 1705, Jonathan Curtis,
of Wethersfield, Connecticut. 4. Mehitable,
born June 23, 1684; married, November 25,
1 7 14, John Burke. 5. John, born at Hatfield,
September 18, 1689; married Lydia  ;
(second) 1720, Hannah White, daughter of
Deacon John ; was at Fort Dummer, Vermont,
1735 ; settled at Charlestown, New Hampshire.
(Ill) Dr. Thomas (3) Hastings, son of Dr.
Thomas (2) Hastings, was born at Hatfield,
September 24, 1679, and died April 14, 1728.
He was also school teacher and physician in
the field that his father occupied before him.
He died a comparatively young man. He was
thought to have been the victim of slow poison.
He was taken ill in Boston while on a visit,
returned to his home, and told his wife he
should die April 14, 1728, and his prediction
came true. A quaint unpoetical but flattering
eulogy and an acrostic to his memory were
written at the time of his death by Josephus
Nash. A record of a surgical case of note is
preserved in Rev. John Williams's "History of
Captivity and Deliverance" (app. 3). Dr.
Hastings married, March 6, 1701, Mary, daugh
ter of John and Mary Field, born February
20, 1680, died November 9, 1764, aged eighty-
four. Children: 1. Mary, born December 29,
1701 ; died January 10, 1702. 2. Thomas, born
November 6, 1702; died November 4, 1703.
3. Mary, born July 26, 1704; married Benja
min Billings. 4. Anna, born October 13, 1706;
married  White. 5. Dorothy, born July
27, 1709; died July 29, 1711. 6. Thomas, born
May 5, 1713, died young. 7. Waitstill, born
June 3, 1714; died April 22, 1748. 8. Tabitha,
born October 6, 1715; married, January 4,
1739. John Strickland. 9. Hopestill, born April
13, 1718; mentioned below. 10. Dorothy, born
March 20, 1720, died April 6 following. 12.
Lucy, born February 1, 1723; married Jona
than Taylor ; resided in Heath, Massachusetts.
(IV) Hopestill, son of Dr. Thomas (3)
Hastings, was born at Hatfield, April 13, 1718,
and died December 24, 1766, in his forty-eighth
year. He was a farmer at Hatfield. He mar

ried, in 1 741, Lydia Frary. Children, born at
Hatfield: 1. Abner, born July 7, 1742; died
July 10, 1742. 2. Lydia, born July 5, 1743;
died October 4, 1746. 3. Dr. Seth, born De
cember 6, 1745 ; died April 29, 1830, aged
eighty-four years. 4. Lydia, born November
21, 1747; died October 4, 1751. 5. Tabitha,
born October 1, 1749; died at Amherst, 1795.
6. Elihu, born August 7, 1751 ; soldier in the
revolution, and pensioner afterward; lived
many years with his brother Dr. Seth and
nephew Seth Hastings; died at Clinton, New
York, February 25, 1837, very old. 7. Elijah,
born June 6, 1753; mentioned below. 8. Perez,
born December 23, 1754; died March 11, 1822,
aged sixty-eight years. 9. Hopestill, born
October 30, 1756; died October 31, 1756. 10.
Oliver, born August 25, 1757; died 1838, at
Hammondsport, New York.
(V) Elijah, son of Hopestill Hastings, was
born at Hatfield, June 6, 1753, and died at
Amherst, Massachusetts, October 4, 1803, aged
fifty years. He settled in Amherst, where he
was a blacksmith and farmer. He was a
soldier in the revolution, on the Lexington
alarm, in the company of First Lieutenant Eli
Parker (minute-men) April 19, 1775. He was
also in Captain Moses Cook's company in Sep
tember, 1786, and was called to the defence of
the governor in Shay's Rebellion. He held
various town offices ; was tithingman in 1777-
80-82, and perhaps other years ; on committee
to locate school house in 1790; committee to
build bridge over the river on Pelham road;
on school committee, 1799, when he was called
Lieutenant. He was one of the founders of
the Common Library and was on the committee
to buy books June 4, 1793. He removed to
Schenectady, New York. He married Jerusha,
daughter of Deacon John Billings, of Amherst,
where she died July 3, 1798, aged thirty- four
years. Elijah must have joined the church
after the death of his wife, for three of his
children were baptized at Amherst at the same
time, October 14, 1798. Children: 1. Lucina,
married April 2, 1809, Calvin Hamilton. 2.
Lydia F., baptized October 14, 1798; married,
May 14, 1810, Chauncey Hamilton, who was
called the best lawyer in New York state; she
married (second) August 31, 1723, her cousin,
Orlando (Parmalee) Hastings, son of Dr.
Seth Hastings ; removed to Rochester, New
York. 3. Nancy, baptized October 14, 1798;
married, December 24, 1807, Dr. Isaac Guern
sey Cutler, of Amherst, and died June 28,
1849. 4. Elijah, mentioned below.
(VI) Elijah (2), son of Elijah (1) Hast-

MASSACHUSETTS.

43i

ings, was born at Amherst, about 1790, and
was baptized there with two sisters, October
14, 1798. His wife was Rebecca Smith, daugh
ter of Ebenezer, a minute-man at Lexington,
born at Dedham, Massachusetts, 1792, died at
South Weymouth, Massachusetts, 1870. Elijah
was educated in the public schools of Amherst.
He went to Schenectady with his father and
followed the trade of tanner and currier, at
which he worked for a time in Vermont. He
died in 1832, in Schenectady, New York, of
Asiatic cholera, being ill only four hours ; this
was the last of this epidemic reported in New
York state. Children: 1. Ellen, born 181 7,
died young. 2. Elijah, born 1819, died young.
3. Ann Eliza, married Norman Bennett, of
Oswego, New York. 4. Henry J. 5. Oscar
Hamilton, deceased. 6. Edward Mortimer,
deceased. 7. Margaret Frances, born May 27,
1828; married Alfred Tirrell; see below. 8.
Charles W., born 1831, in South Weymouth;
served in the civil war, and was taken prisoner
at battle of the Wilderness, and held as such
nine months ; for the past thirty years
he has been commissioner of state aid for
Massachusetts. 9. Albert E., died in Buffalo,
New York.
Alfred Tirrell (see above) was descended
from William Tirrell, emigrant ancestor (q.
v.), and was a son of Captain James Tirrell,
who served in the war of 1812. Alfred Tirrell
was born at South Weymouth, June 18, 1824,
and died May 7, 1890, in his native town. He
was educated in the public schools of Wey
mouth and at Phillips Academy, Andover,
New Hampshire. He became associated with
his father in the manufacture of leather, boots
and shoes, at Weymouth, and it is to be noted
that his grandfather manufactured brogans
for soldiers in the Mexican war. The father
conducted a wholesale business in New Orleans,
Louisiana, but he relinquished this when that
city was blockaded during the civil war. Soon
after Alfred Tirrell came of age he succeeded
to the business, his father retiring. During
the civil war Alfred Tirrell was active in sup
port of the national government, and, unable
to enter the army himself, sent a substitute to
the front. He was a director of the Weymouth
National Bank for many years. He was active
in the Union Congregational Church, which
his father and a few other leading citizens had
organized, fle was a prominent leader in the
Whig party, and an active and useful citizen
of the town. He married, November 11, 1847,
at South Weymouth, Margaret Frances, daugh
ter of Elijah Hastings (see above) ; this was

the last marriage in South Weymouth under
the publication of marriage intentions.

All the American Sanborns
SANBORN are descended from three
brothers who settled in Hamp
ton, New Hampshire, in 1639. The surname
is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words Sand
and Burn (stream), evidently a place name
before it became a surname, and it seems prob
able that the English progenitors who first used
Sanbourne, the original form of Sanborn, as
their surname, were in Sambourne, Wiltshire.
The earliest mention of the name in England
in 1 194 gives it de Sambourne, and since the
fourteenth century these two forms have been
the accepted spelling in England, the only two
surviving branches in that country using them.
The American progenitors spelled the name
Samborn and Samborne, but gradually the
name has been changed to Sanborn, the form
accepted generally by almost all the American
descendants. In Illinois it is spelled Sanborn
and in Michigan, Sandburn. The Sanborn or
Samborne coat-of-arms : Argent, a chevron
sable, between three mullets gules, pierced or.
Crest : A millett as in the arms.
The Sambourne ancestry has been traced by
V. C. Sanborn, compiler of the genealogy, to
Nicholas Sambourne, of Wiltshire, in 1320.
Nicholas Sambourne was born about 1320;
probably held the fourth part of a knight's fee
in Biddestone, St. Nicholas, Wiltshire; repre
sented Bath City at the parliament held at
Westminster, November 3, 1391. His son,
Nicholas Sambourne, was born about 1350;
held the fourth part of a knight's fee, men
tioned above, was in parliament in 1393-4;
married Katherine, youngest daughter and co
heir of Sir John Lusbill, or De Lusteshull, who
was connected with the House of Lancaster.
A grandson, Walter Sambourne, born 1420,
held Fernham and Lusbill 'manors, but prob
ably lived at Southcot House, near Reading,
Berkshire ; married Margaret, daughter of
Thomas Drew, of Seagry, Wiltshire; she died
in 1494 and her will is extant. Nicholas Sam
bourne, son of Walter and Margaret, born
about 1450, made his home in Mapledumam,
Oxfordshire; married Elizabeth, daughter of
John Brooks, of Beaurepaire, Hampshire, de
scendant of an ancient and honorable family,
from which she inherited considerable prop
erty, including Timsbury, which the Sam-
bournes occupied. Timsbury House, now the
most ancient Sambourne residence in England,
is celebrated for the interesting and artistic

432

MASSACHUSETTS.

Tudor architecture. The house today is prac
tically unchanged since 1542, except for minor
alterations and repairs and the loss of one
wing by fire. The probable line of descent
from this Nicholas to the American immigrant
is thus given by the family historian : Nich
olas Sambourne, born 1500; Edward, born
about 1550, and William, who married Ann
Bachiler, and was of Brimpton, Berkshire, in
1616, their sons, Lieutenant John, mentioned
below, William and Stephen, being the three
American immigrants.
(I) Lieutenant John Sanborne, the immi
grant ancestor of the Sanborn family of Som
erville, Massachusetts, was born in England
in 1620, and settled in Hampton, now in New
Hampshire, as early as 1640, when he was
granted a house, lot and tract of land there
in that year. In 1643 he signed a petition
with other Hampton men, and after that the
records contain numerous references to him.
His house in Hampton was next to that of
Stephen Bachiler, across the road from the
meeting house green and nearly opposite the
old meeting house. John Sanborne and his
brothers William and Stephen were sons of
an English Sanborne (probably William of
Brimpton), Berkshire, and Anna, daughter of
Rev. Stephen Bachiler. Their father died
about 1630. The three brothers are said to
have come to America in 1632 with their
grandfather Bachiler. In 1647 Bachiler deeded
his property at Hampton to his four grand
children, the three brothers named and Nathan
iel Bachiler, "all now or lately of Hampton."
They were the ancestors of Daniel Webster.
February 2, 1657, . John Sanborne was
chosen a selectman, but exempted; March 30,
1657, he was appointed on a committee to
see to the building of a house for the minis
ter, Rev. Mr. Cotton. His familiarity with
the town records and boundaries led to his
being chosen on all committees to examine
old grants or establish boundary lines. Thus
in 1 65 1 and again in 1658 he was chosen a
committee to join with the town clerk to ex
amine all the grants and appointments of
lands, highways, and the like; and to perfect
the same in the town book. In 1661 San
borne was again a selectman and also on the
committee to hire the school teachers. In
1664 he was chosen ensign of the Hampton
military company. He was a selectman also
in 1665-68-71-74-75-78-79; commissioner to
end small causes in 1666-67-69 for the town
of Hampton ; foreman of the grand jury 1676.
He was admitted a freeman May, 1666; com

missioned lieutenant of Hampton forces Octo
ber 15, 1669. In the contest with the Mason-
ian proprietors he refused to yield to the de
mands of Mason and was imprisoned, Octo
ber 21, 1684. He was elected to the general
assembly, 1685.
He married (first) Mary Tuck, daughter of
Robert Tuck, of Gorlston, Suffolk, England,
and Hampton, New Hampshire. She died
December 30, 1668. He married (second)
Margaret (Page) Moulton, widow of William
Moulton, and daughter of Robert Page, of
Ormsby, Norfolk, England, and Hampton,
New Flampshire. Children: 1. John, men
tioned below. 2. Mary, born 165 1, died 1654.
3. Abigail, born February 23, 1653, married
Ephraim Marston; died January 3, 1743. 4.
Richard, born January 4, 1655. 5. Mary, born
1657, died 1660. 6. Joseph, born March 13,
1659. 7. Stephen, born 1661, died 1662. 8.
Ann. born November 20, 1662, married Ste
phen Palmer. 9. Dinah, married James Mars
ton. 10. Nathaniel, born January 27, 1666. 11.
Benjamin, born December 20, 1668. 12. Cap
tain Jonathan, born May 25, 1672.
(II) John Sanborne, son of Lieutenant
John Sanborne (1), was born in Hampton,
about T649 ; was admitted a freeman April
25, TO78. He married, November 19, 1674,
Judith Coffin, daughter of Tristram Coffin, of
i\'ewbury. She was born December 4, 1653,
and died May 17, 1724. John died Septem
ber 23, 1727. Children: 1. Judith, born
August 8, 1675, married Ebenezer Gove. 2.
Mary, born July 2, 1677, married Ebenezer
Stevens. 3. Sarah, born May 8, 1679. 4.
Deborah, born 1681, married Samuel Fellows
and (second) Benjamin Shaw. 5. John, born
1683. 6. Tristram, born 1684-85. 7. Enoch,
born 1685, mentioned below. 8. Lydia, born
February 24, 1687. 9- Peter, born 1689. 10.
Abner, born April 27, 1694.
(Ill) Enoch Sanborn, son of John San
borne (2), was born in flampton, 1685, lived
in Hampton Falls, where he owned a small
farm, and a mill, in 1750. In 1707 he went
with Captain Chesley's expedition to Port
Royal. He married, March, 1709, Elizabeth
Dennett, daughter of Alexander Dennett, of
Portsmouth ; (second) April 1, 1736, Mehit
able Blake Godfrey, daughter of John Blake,
of Hampton, and widow of Jonathan Godfrey.
Enoch was a saddler by trade. He deeded his
land in Halestown to his son John in 1760.
Children: 1. Elizabeth, baptized 1712, died
young. 2. Ebenezer, born July 25, 1712. 3.
Judith, born December 8, 1715; married John

MASSACH USETTS.

433

Philbrick. 4. Moses, baptized March, 1717;
mentioned below. 5. John, baptized July 19,
1719. 6. Elizabeth, baptized June 18, 1721 ;
married Alexander Salter and (second) John
Damrell. 7. Enoch, baptized June 28, 1724.
8. Sarah, baptized May 7, 1727. 9. Isaac, bap
tized November 18, 1737.
(IV) Moses Sanborn, son of Enoch San
born (3), was born in Hampton Falls, bap
tized there March, 1717; lived there and in
the neighboring town of Kensington, New
Hampshire, fle married, January 7, 1742,
Elizabeth Mitchell. He died June 8, 1802.
Children: 1. Dorothy, born February 25, 1744,
married Paine Blake. 2. Henry, born March
1, 1746, mentioned below. 3. James, born De
cember 6, 1748. 4. Moses, born October 25,
1758, died unmarried 1777. 5. Jesse, born De
cember 10, 1764.
(V) Flenry Sanborn, son of Moses Sanborn
(4), was born in Kensington, New Hampshire,
March 1, 1746; lived and died in Kensington;
signed the association test there. He married,
November 22, 1769, Anne Blake, daughter of
Jedediah Blake, of Flampton Falls. He died
May 3, 1798. Children: 1. Dorothy, born in
Kensington, January 9, 1772, married Samuel
Dow, of Northwood, New Hampshire. 2. Ebe
nezer, born June 14, 1773. 3. Henry, born
June 14, 1775. 4. Moses, born April 25, 1777;
mentioned below. 5. Newell, born July 15,
1779. 6. Polly, born October 29, 1781 ; rnar-
ried Ebenezer Sinclair, of Monmouth, Maine.
7. Betsey, born June 16, 1784, married William
Graves, of Hartland, Maine. 8. Ann, born
April 28, 1786, married, June 23, 1813, Moses
Dow, of Epping. 9. James, born June 11,
1790. 10. John, born September 14, 1792.
(VI) Moses Sanborn, son of flenry San
born (5), was born in Epping, New Hamp
shire, April 25, 1777; moved to Wales, Maine.
He was a farmer all his active life. He mar
ried, March 18, 1801, Nancy Fogg, daughter
of Major Josiah Fogg, of Raymond, New
Hampshire. She was born July 11, 1770, and
died February 23, 1838. fle died April 12,
1852. Children: 1. Clarissa, born July 18,
1802, married Parker Dow, of St. Albans,
Maine. 2. Sarah, born June 9, 1804. 3. Henry,
born February 18, 1808; mentioned below. 4.
Dudley F.. born December 5, 1820.
(VII) Henry Sanborn, son of Moses San
born (6), was' born in Epping, New Hamp
shire. February 18, 1808. He went to Maine
with his father's family and followed farming
at Wales and Greene, Maine. He married,
January 22, 1834, Ann Crossman Daly, who
i— 28

was born in Wales, Maine, April 9, 1812. She
died in Lewiston, Maine, fle died July 14,
1864. Their only child: James Solomon, men
tioned below.
( VIII ) James Solomon Sanborn, son of Henry
Sanborn, was born in Wales, Maine, March
29, 1835. His youth was spent in Wales and
Monmouth, Maine, and in Nashua, New Hamp
shire, and he received the education of the dis
trict schools of that time. He began his busi
ness career as traveling salesman for the seed
house of A. H. Dunlap, of Nashua, New Hamp
shire, and for a number of years he proved his
ability as a commercial traveler to the satisfac
tion of his employers and to his own advantage.
His first venture on his own account was in
Lewiston, Maine, where he went into the coffee
and spice business. In 1868 he became con
nected with the firm of Dwinell, Hayward &
Company, of Boston, dealers in coffee and
spices. The firm of Chase & Sanborn was
formed in 1878 and the greatest success has
attended the firm from the outset. The coffees
and teas prepared for the market by this con
cern have a world wide reputation. At the
World's Fair in 1893, the firm supplied the
coffee for all the restaurants upon the grounds.
Mr. Sanborn made his home in Somerville,
Massachusetts, in 1872, and except for the
period of five years from 1884 to 1889 in Bos
ton, lived the remainder of his life in Somer
ville, and in Poland, Maine, where he had a
summer home. His stables at Elmwood were
famous. He paid special attention to breeding
French coach horses. In 1897 he became part
owner and manager of the Maine Farmer, a
weekly newspaper that has been well known in
New England for half a century. Mr. San
born loved nature and traveled extensively in
America and Europe. He visited the countries
that produced coffee and spices, the West Indies,
Mexico, and Central America. He was a splen
did type of the American business man whose
success was won by his own native ability,
resourcefulness and endeavor. He was ener
getic and persevering, of high character and
broad mind. He died May 10, 1903.
At the time of his death the Somerville Jour
nal said : "The firm of Chase & Sanborn was
formed in 1878 and the successful history of
that firm is too well known to require any
comment. A partnership is a phase of active
life, which not only tests the business ability of
men, but also their temperaments, and no man
was ever happier in his relations with those
associated with him than was the late Mr. San
born. He was a great, big-hearted, big-brained

434

MASSACHUSETTS.

man, and not only believed that honesty was
the best policy, but made it a cardinal principle
of his life, because he believed that it was right.
Any suggestion of fraud or deceit in business
in a direct or indirect manner was always
promptly condemned. He would succeed only
along honest and legitimate lines, and never by
precept or example did he ever depart from
this rule. He never envied the succcess of
others, and only desired to secure success such
as his brains and his industry and his honesty
entitled him. His temperament was one of
those happy combinations of good cheer and
sunshine which made association with him
always a pleasure, and gave those who came in
contact with him in his daily life that comfort
and encouragement which makes men better
fitted to cope with their daily trials.
"He was a helpful, kindly nature, and he
seemed to realize always that the best deeds of
a man's life, and those which give him the most
satisfaction are those occasions where he has
helped those that are poorer and weaker than
he is. His whole career was lightened and
brightened all the way along by constant deeds
of kindness, with substantial aid wherever ,it
was required. Those who knew him intimately
were always inspired by his example, and found
joy and comfort in following his lead. * * *
"For thirty years he had been a resident of
Somerville, and among the pleasant, associa
tions of his later years, none were dearer to
him than his friendships formed in his early
acquaintance in Somerville. In his leisure
moments he was found' at the fireside and in
the library. * * *
"With a deep love for the New England
farm and the scenes of his early boyhood, Mr.
Sanborn purchased several years ago an old
homestead and estate in Poland, Maine, which
had been converted into a fine stock farm, not
to be duplicated in America. His reputation
for growing high-class road horses, French
coaches, has attracted many visitors to Elm
wood through the summer seasons. Here Mr.
Sanborn has enjoyed recreation from business
duties, which leisure time he had richly earned.
Meanwhile the active duties of his department
in the firm were transferred to his two sons,
Charles E. and Oren C, who have been care
fully trained and are thoroughly conversant
with the business."
In his funeral address, Rev. Charles L.
Noyes, pastor of the Winter-hill Congrega
tional church which Mr. Sanborn attended in
life, said, in part: "Without any endowment
but his native strength, he rose out of the ob

scurity of the humble circumstances and the
little town where he was born, to enter the
great movements and encounter the eager com
petition of our times. By his natural mag
netism and ascendency he gathered about him
a notable array of persons with those talents
he was able to combine his own. In an age
when a splendid material prosperity has been
the glory of our country, he took conspicuous
share in the commercial enterprise which has
contributed to the wealth and power and com
fort of the times in which we live. Emerson
has said : it is the privilege of any human
work which is well done to invest the doer
with a certain haughtiness.' It is his way of
saying that a man's work raises him into a
true aristocracy. There is such an aristocracy
of honorable and useful workers growing up
in our democratic land, and if there are ranks
in it of higher and lower, he must stand among
the foremost, whose work has been done on
sound and wholesome principles, and with
results of national importance and extent.
Strength, that tribute cannot be denied to him
of whom we speak. But it has been said,
'Oh, it is excellent
To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.'
"We have seen men who have controlled great
affairs, have built up great enterprises, but
have done it by overriding other personalities,
crushing other interests, making all things bow
to their will and minister to their emolument.
Now, those who have had any relations with
Mr. Sanborn, even the most superficial, most
of all those who have had to do with him inti
mately, must be well aware of the fine, friendly
spirit with which he dealt with other men — his
respect for others' personalities, his sense of
their rights and capacities. The spirit of co
operation was strong in him. He recognized
that truth of nature set forth in the Scriptures
in the figure of the body and its members. He
knew that his individual success lay in union
with all the other members, in business, or
political or social body, and his greatest joy
was in a success in which others contributed
and shared, each according to his merit and
aptitude. This it is which has enabled him,
together with other social traits of heart and
mind, to live and work so many years in part
nership with his equals, only with increasing
mutual respect and affection. Those who have
been his juniors and subordinates had found
him all the time more desirous to bring out
their powers, push them forward to success,

MASSACH USETTS.

435

make them share in the prosperity and power
of the concern, than to profit himself by their
labors. His pride in his business, if I may
judge by his way of speaking of it in conver
sation, was rather in the men and their char
acter and ability, than in the profits and fame
it had brought him. What was true in the
matter of his business was true in every other
activity of his, as neighbor, as patriot of his
state and country. Everywhere he was like a
great current of force pouring in its full charge
into any channel open for him, finding most
satisfaction and joy when thus he was able to
help on others, better mankind, bring new life
and pleasure to anyone.
"Yes, the first impression, ever deepened by
larger acquaintance, was of the rugged strength
and splendid force of his personality. But
there is something greater than that, on which
we all agree : it is our sense of respect for his
moral character. From all sides I hear this
unanimous acclaim, that it was the strong,
steadfast purpose of this man to do things
honestly, truthfully, justly, honorably, squarely.
He had a large magnanimous, open spirit. 'He
was honest,' one has recently said, 'not because
he believed honesty was the best policy, though
he did believe that and proved it; but it was his
nature, his satisfaction to be honest.' He loved
things honest, just, pure, of good report, as he
hated the small, mean, low, underhanded, hypo
critical, wherever he met it. His morality was
not merely that negative kind which avoids
evil, but a great positive passion for good,
which he wanted to see prevail in all things.
'He was always working to make things better.'
This was as true of his recreation as of his
work. He had large unselfish interests and
ambitions. In his business he had an ideal that
it should be as honorable as it was successful,
that it should raise the credit and tone of all
business. He meant his native state should be
better that he was born in it and raised stock
in it. He meant this city of ours should profit
by his residence here. His presence and sup
port was never wanting in any movement that
he believed for the advantage of the city. If
he gave liberally, as he always did to any object
that proved itself worthy to his mind, it was
in no careless or vain spirit, but he wished that
church and association and charity, and the
people through them, might be the better,
stronger, more useful, for his contribution of
money. * * *
"There is love in our hearts for one whose
heart was large, generous, tender, compassion

ate. This gentle side of his nature was not
always expending itself in words, but it was
always ready to the call of need or friendship.
We should have to read the secrets of many
lives to know of all the persons, who, in their
hour of misfortune, or even failure or fault,
had been set back on their feet, or steadied
and braced, by some encouraging word, faith
ful help, or substantial gift from Mr. Sanborn.
No one could ever go to him in behalf of a
good cause, or another person in- need, that he
did not respond to such an appeal with gener
osity and eagerness as if it were a favor to be
informed how to put his means to good use.
With the swiftness which the light flows from
the sun to things that grow by its power, his
help would run to the places and persons proved
worthy of his aid. And all his generosity, of
which there is no full earthly record, grew out
of his natural kindness, together with that
feature of his character of which I have spoken,
a desire, as far as he could 'to make things
better,' to put an end to distress and pain and
discomfort, to equalize comfort and happiness
in our human lot, to help the distressed and un
fortunate, and make the world a place where
all might share more evenly in the common
bounty of wealthy Nature.
"There are those who have known Mr. San
born long and intimately, and been allowed a
glimpse into his sacred inner motives, who
could tell something of what he was to his in
timate friends and kindred. The best things
that can be said of any worthy man are too
personal and sacred ever to be said. Our first
and holiest duties we owe to our own flesh and
blood. And in this kind of piety, which binds
us to be kind and true and loving, to those
whom God has knit to us by the closest bonds,
was the beginning of religion for this man.
And though we must here pass by with
veiled faces, yet in our time and day, when
men are so ambitious to find their sphere and
their interest in more public spheres and neglect
the home, or lightly break its ties, it is good for
us to pause and, at least, by our silence, to pay
our respect to this side of the nature of this
strong successful man of the world.
"I venture as the pastor of this church, the
minister and friend of Mr. Sanborn for so
many years, to bear testimony that I believe
he was essentially a religious man. He was a
man of reverence, a man of faith — faith in
goodness, faith in good men, faith in God.
* * * -We stand in silent reverence over
powers used to such g-onH purpose, over a life

436

MASSACHUSETTS.

spent so helpfully, over a battle fought so
bravely. May God give us strength to follow
on !"
Mr. Frank L. Dingley wrote of Mr. San
born: "The finest talent is the most rare and
it commands the highest reward. The late
James S. Sanborn, of the firm of Chase &
Sanborn, of Boston, rose from the ranks. He
forged ahead in virtue of what was in him,
subject to self-development, not in virtue of
anything done for him by inflence, or by pull.
He was his own architect, his own builder of
fortune. His executive gift was his genius.
Integrity of character was the inspiration of
his gift for organizing and for executing. He
never betrayed a friend. He was wholesome,
genial, strong in body and mind. A great
originating merchant, he leaves behind him a
legacy of unique values in memories and in
friendships, as well as in fame and service, as
an industrial founder.
"Wherever New England enterprise is
known — and the world is its open book — there
the name of James S. Sanborn is a household
word, there his generosity, his kindliness, his
many-sided and unostentatious service are
recognized. Starting at the foot of the ladder
and climbing, rung by rung, Mr. Sanborn's
heart went out to all who showed the real stuff
or moral courage and intellectual power.
Many's the struggling lad, worker, and student
whom he has helped so unobtrusively that the
secrets between his right hand and his left hand
were scripturally maintained. The merchants
of Boston have achieved nobly for the city, the
state, and the nation, and none more worthy
has joined the great majority than James S.
Sanborn. What he has done for his native
state in its varied interests of stock raising and
of agriculture is well appreciated. The places
where his first struggles began will miss him ;
the place where his struggles were crowned
with victory will miss him. Success is indeed
successful when built on the foundations of
intelligence, grit, zeal, loyalty, integrity and
comradeship. That is the tribute which those
who knew him best will unanimously pay this
great merchant, this noble citizen, this self-
made man — James S. Sanborn."
Air. Sanborn married, November 6, 1856,
Harriet N. Small, who died February 9, 1901,
daughter of Captain John and Sarah (Moody)
Small, of Auburn, Maine. Their children: 1.
Helen Josephine, born October 6, 1857 ; living
in Somerville, unmarried ; author of "A Winter
in Central America." 2. Charles Edgar, born
April 29, i860; married, August 1, 1887, Flor

ence Blazo ; he died January 2y, 1905 ; he was
a member of the firm of Chase & Sanborn, and
buyer for the coffee department. 3. Oren
Cheney, born October 6, 1865 ; married, June
1, 1886, Lorena Armstrong, of Machias, Maine,
resides in Winchester, Massachusetts; is con
nected with the firm of Chase & Sanborn ; chil
dren : i. James Oren, born in Somerville, March
10, 1891 ; ii. Helen Elizabeth, born in Somer
ville, May 2, 1897 ; iii. Caleb Chase, born in
Winchester, May 18, 1899; iv. John Arm
strong, born in Winchester, August 2, 1901. 4.
Georgie Dunlap, born in Lewiston, Maine, De
cember 20, 1867, married, February 17, 1897,
Edward Sands Townsend, of Boston, born in
Chelsea, in 1869; resides in Brookline, Massa
chusetts ; children : i. Charles Edward San
born, born in West Medford, May 7, 1898; ii.
Newell Colby, born in Newton Centre, August
27, 1902 ; iii. Clara Gary, born in Newton
Centre, February 22, 1905 ; iv. Edith, born
November 25, 1907.
( IX) Helen Josephine Sanborn, daughter of
James Solomon Sanborn, was born Octo
ber 6, 1857. She attended the public schools
of Lewiston, Maine, and Somerville, gradu
ating from the high school in 1875. She enter
ed the State Normal school at Salem and was
valedictorian of thij class of 1879. She taught
school for four terms at Concord, Massachu
setts, and won the commendation of the school
committee of the town for the excellence of
her work. The annual report of the Concord
school committee for 1879-80, referring to
Miss Sanborn, said : "At Nine Acre Corner,
the school has had a better attendance. An
excellent teacher has here been doing a good
work. She would, of course, be able to do
much better work in a graded school." Miss
Sanborn was offered a position as teacher in
the Emerson School at Concord but she chose
to go to college instead. She entered Wellesley
in 1880, and was graduated in 1884 with the
degree of Bachelor of Arts. During the winter
of 1885 she traveled in Central America and
Mexico with her father, and gathered her
material for the book, "A Winter in Central
America," which was published in 1886 by Lee
and Shepard of Boston. In 1888 she made
the European tour with a Wellesley College
party, visiting England, Holland, Belgium,
Switzerland, France, Germany, and other
points of interest abroad.
In 1893 she made the voyage to the Mediter
ranean countries, in company with her father.
She went abroad in 1904 and again in 1905,
when she visited Iceland, Norway and North-

MASSACHUSETTS.

437

era Europe. She wrote a series of articles on
"Travel" from her point of view and experi
ence. She has written another series of articles
on "Child Study," a subject in which as a
trained teacher she takes a special interest. In
1890 she was elected a member of the school
board of the city of Somerville, a position she
filled faithfully and efficiently for three years,
declining re-election from both the Republican
and Democratic parties. For seven years,
from 1893 to 1900, she was president of the
Hillside Club, the only woman thus honored.
She is a charter member of the Heptorean
Club. She joined the Winter Hill Congrega
tional church in 1884, and has been active in
the work of that society. She organized the
Daughters of -the Covenant, a missionary
society, of which she has been president since
June, 1895. She was appointed treasurer in
1903 of the College League in the interests of
the International Institute for Girls in Spain.
This is the first and only college for women in
that country. She is also a director of the cor
poration in charge of the college. She is also
a member of the Boston Authors' Club. In
June, 1906, she was elected to the board of
trustees of her alma mater, Wellesley College.

(For first generation see preceding sketch).
(II) Joseph, son of John San-
SANBORN born, was born in Hampton,
New Hampshire, March 13,
1659, and lived in Hampton Falls, on the farm
now or lately occupied by his descendant, Sarah
Sanborn. He married, December 28, 1682,
Mary, daughter of Captain Edward Gove, of
Hampton. She married (second)  Mor
rill, of Salisbury. Joseph Sanborn gave much
of his property to his sons before his death,
which occurred between 1722 and 1724. Chil
dren: 1. Abigail, born April 1, 1686; married,
October 7, 1703, Ebenezer Dearborn. 2. Hul
dah, born May 3,-1688; married, October 17,
1705, Jonathan Nason; died October 7, 1758.
3. Reuben, born May 18, 1692. 4. Edward,
born April 7, 1695. 5. Abraham, born March
10, 1696. 6. Mary, born July 28, 1697; mar
ried Samuel Preseott; died May 28, 1757. 7.
Joseph, born July 22, 1700. 8. David, men
tioned below.
(Ill) David, son of Joseph Sanborn, was
born January t6, 1702, in Hampton Falls. He
served in 1722 under Major John Gilman. He
removed to Barnstead, where his will is dated
June 7, 1775. He inherited land from his
father in Chester, but sold it. He died January
16, 1777, at Shaker Village, in Canterbury,

New Hampshire. He married, March 2, 1727,
Abigail Gliddin, who died at Shaker Village,
January 15, 1805. He and his first son were
baptized the same day in 1728, at Hampton
Falls.' Children: 1. Edward, died young. 2.
Jeremiah, died young. 3. David, died young.
4. Elizabeth, baptized in Hampton Falls, May
6, 1733 ; married John Mudgett. 5. John, bap
tized April 6, 1735, died young. 6. David,
baptized 1737, died young. 7. Edward, bap
tized April 1, 1739. 8. Abigail, baptized 1741 ;
died young. 9. Jeremiah, born June 27, 1744.
10. John baptized August 24, 1745 ; mentioned
below. 11. Joseph, baptized January. 10, 1728.
(IV) John (2), son of David Sanborn, was
baptized August 24, 1745, in Hampton Falls,
and was killed in the revolution. He enlisted
April 15, 1777, in Captain Morrill's company,
Colonel Stark's regiment, and again in 1778
for three years. He lived in Barnstead, and
signed the Test there. He married Hannah
Eastman. Children: 1. Reuben, born March
12, 1773. 2. Mary, born October 3, 1774;
married (first) Moses W. Rand; (second)
May 16, 1817, Joseph Kimball. 3. John, men
tioned below.
(V) John (3), son of John (2) Sanborn,
was born March 2, 1776, in Barnstead. He
lived at first in Barnstead, but removed early
to Lower Gilmanton, New Hampshire. In
1795, his father being dead, Ezekiel Eastman
of Barnstead was appointed guardian of the
minor son, John Sanborn. He died February
9, 1859. He married (first) Hannah, daughter
of John Hodgdon, of Barnstead; (second)
May 10, 1827, Mrs. Sally Avery. Children :
1. Jeremiah, born May 2, 1806; mentioned
below. 2. Mahala, born August 20, 1808 ; mar
ried William Marston; died 1856. 3. William,
born June 16, 181 1 ; died unmarried. 4. Nancy
M., born May 5, 1814; married John L. Lord.
5. John Hodgdon, born August 19, 1821 ; died
unmarried. 6. Hannah Hodgdon, born No
vember 6, 1827 ; married SamueJ B. Wedge-
wood. 7. Sarah, born September 16, 1832 ;
married July 4, 1856, Dyer J. Merrill.
(VI) Jeremiah, son of John (3) Sanborn,
was born May 2, 1806, in Barnstead, New
Hampshire, and died February 14, 1890, in
Epsom, New Hampshire. He settled in Barn
stead, but soon removed to Loudon, New
Hampshire, where he had a farm. He married
(first) December 30, 1826, Nancy Ann Sin
clair Pickering, of Barnstead, born February
28. 1807, died May 6, i860; (second) Mrs.
Climena Pearsons, of Epsom. Children, all
by first wife: 1. Woodbury Page, born April

438

MASSACHUSETTS.

24, 1827; mentioned below. 2. Rosetta Jane,
born December 11, 1828; died unmarried, Feb
ruary, 1867. 3. Hannah Ann, born July 21,
1830; died unmarried, July, 1865. 4. John
Sinclair, born February 4, 1832 ; died 1833. 5.
Amanda Maria, born November 11, 1833; mar
ried (first) January 2, 1854, Joel E. Cook;
(second) January 1, 1857, Andrew Locke. 6.
John Henry, born August 19, 1835 ; physician
at Newport, Rhode Island. 7. Jeremiah Lyford,
born April 7, 1837; resides in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. 8. Albert Burns, born Febru
ary 14, 1839 ; mentioned below. 9. Laura, born
August 19, 1841 ; married E. E. Maxfield. 10.
George Hodgdon, born September 20, 1845 ;
married, 1863, Adelia Hayes; resides in Wey
mouth, Massachusetts; he died December 7,
1901. 11. Charles, bora February 13, 1847;
married, 1878, Ellen Smith; resides in Water-
town, Massachusetts.
(VII) Woodbury Page, son of Jeremiah
Sanborn, was born April 24, 1827, at Gilman-
ton, New Hampshire. He was educated in the
district schools of Loudon, New Hampshire,
whither his parents moved when he was about
three years old. He followed farming during
his boyhood on his father's place, and at the
age of twenty-two years came to Quincy,
Massachusetts, where he was engaged in farm
ing for a year. From 1852 to 1856 he was in
Weymouth, and then for two years and a half
at Wilton, Maine, in various lines of agricul
tural work, where for a time he owned a small
farm, but sold it, and returning to Weymouth
entered the employ of Loud & Rhines, dealers
in lumber. Later this firm became Loud &
Pratt. He was connected with this firm for
thirty-three years altogether. He was then in
the boot and shoe department of a dry goods
store in Weymouth for six years. He is a
prominent member of the Baptist church, of
which he was deacon for four years, then was
marie deacon emeritus, which position he still
holds, clerk fifteen years, and for a long period
a teacher in the Sunday school. In politics he
is a Republican. He is now making his home
with son Walter, at Weymouth. He married,
April 30, 1854 Leonora (Fuller) Mosher,
daughter of Captain Fuller, of Wilton, Maine.
Children : Helen M. and Walter Francis.
Helen M. Sanborn married, in 1881, Frederic
A. Sulis, of St. John, New Brunswick, who
is in the drygoods business in Weymouth.
Their children : 1. Florence, born January 24,
1884; married, May 28, 1906, Frederic L.
Richards, a traveling salesman. 2. Helen L.,
born December 21, 1885. 3. George F., born

May 8, 1888. 4. Stanley R., born March 2,
1892. (VIII) Walter Francis, son of Woodbury
Page Sanborn, was born in Wilton, Maine,
May 6, 1858. When he was three years old
his parents removed to Weymouth, Massachu
setts, where he attended the public schools.
He was then employed in a grocery store there
for a few years, fle then learned the trade of
carpenter, and was employed by the firm of
Loud & Rhines for some years. Having left
this firm, he finally resumed his connection
with them. In 1891 he bought the lumber
business in Weymouth which he has since
owned and conducted with much success. He
is a trustee of the Weymouth Savings Bank.
He and his family are Christian Scientists in
religion, and he is a Republican in politics.
He married, July 11, 1877, Bryantha Etta
Thayer, born December 22, 1856, at Quincy,
daughter of Thomas Jefferson Hamilton and
Bryantha Richards (Hayden) Thayer, of
Braintree (see Thayer and Hayden).
(IX) E. Russell Sanborn, son of Walter
Francis Sanborn, was born February 25, 1879.
He took up the study of music at an early age,
and gave his first organ recital in his eight
eenth year, and shortly after secured his first
position as church organist. He was the organ
ist chosen to represent the commonwealth of
Massachusetts on Bunker Hill Day at the Pan
American Exposition, where he was engaged
to give a series of recitals. Has filled many
prominent organ positions, and given recital
tours which have taken him to almost every
section of the United States. He is now
located in Boston, where he has one of the
largest and most modern pipe organs in any
studio in America. He married, September 4,
1901, Caroline E. Skilton, born May 7, 1881,
at Reading, Massachusetts ; her father, Jona
than Skilton, was born in Burlington, Massa
chusetts, in 1849, died in East Braintree, Mass
achusetts, January 17, 1892; he married (sec
ond) Vestina Parker Converse, of Reading;
her mother Caroline (Dixon), died in Reading,
Massachusetts, 1881 ; her grandfather, Nathan
Skilton, of Braintree, married Elizabeth Locke,
of Boston. Caroline Dixon had sisters : i.
Ada Florence, married William Stevens, of
East Braintree, children: Norma Winona;
William Mason, died aged five months ; and
Dorothy Gene. ii. Irma Elinta.
(VII) Albert Burns, son of Jeremiah San
born, was born at Loudon, New Hampshire,
February 14, 1839. He was educated in the
district schools of his native town. In his

MASSACHUSETTS.

439

youth he worked on his father's farm. In
i860 he came to Weymouth, Massachusetts,
and for three years had charge of Captain
Joseph Loud's farm. During the next twenty
years he was employed in various shoe fac
tories in Weymouth, making shoes by contract.
Then, taking a position, he travelled exten
sively, selling shoe machinery ; then for a time
was foreman of a large shop in Philadelphia ;
then going to Sanford, Maine, he purchased a
large farm and built three houses ; he was ex
tensively engaged in farming up to 1892, when
he sold out and came to Weymouth, since
which time he has been in the real estate busi
ness. He is a Republican in politics. While
in Maine he was constable five years ; chairman
of the board of health five years ; agent of
schools four years ; had charge of streets three
years ; was special police in Weymouth ; K. of
P. of Maine, later of Weymouth ; member of
Business Men's Club, of Weymouth, and treas
urer of Trinity Church of Weymouth. He
married (first) 1863, Helen Higgins, of
Orleans, Massachusetts, daughter of Jabez
Fliggins. Fle married (second) November,
1884, Mrs. Cora Augusta Williams Hobart,
born January 4, 1838, at Weymouth, widow
of Otis Henry Hobart, daughter of Charles
Henry and Caroline Sarah (Stewart) Will
iams (see below). Children of first wife: 1.
Alden Linwood, resides at Dorchester, Massa
chusetts. 2. Ralph W., a letter carrier, resid
ing at Revere, Massachusetts. Children of
Mrs. Sanborn by first husband: 1. Charles
Augustus, born August 31, 1855; a real estate
broker at Lynn, Massachusetts ; married Han
nah Holt. 2. Frank Stuart, born May 10,
1858; married Nora Smith, a native of Nova
Scotia; child: Charles Stuart Williams, born
April 11, 1898. (The Williams Line).
(I) Chauncey Williams (see above) was born
at Winsted, Connecticut, and died at Weymouth,
Massachusetts. He married Mercy Hunt. Chil
dren: 1. Betsey, married Jacob Tirrell. 2.
Lyman. 3. Charles Henry, mentioned below.
4. Susan, married William Field. 5. Hannah,
married George Snow. 6. Mercy, married H.
Smith, of Weymouth. 7. John. 8. Sarah,
married Daniel Smith. 9. Betsey, married
Charles Arnold
(II) Charles Henry, son of Chauncey Will
iams, was born at Weymouth, October 9, 1813,
and died there April 3, 1894. He was educated
in the Weymouth schools, and learned the trade
of shoemaker. He embarked in business in

Boston as a manufacturer of shoes, and later
he was proprietor of an express business. He
devoted his later years to real estate, develop
ing and taking charge of property, buying and
selling, and enjoyed an excellent business. When
fifty years of age he built a yacht which he
sailed each summer the rest of his life. In
politics he was a Republican, in religion a Con
gregationalist. He was domestic in his tastes,
and a member of no secret orders. He mar
ried, February, 1836, Caroline Sarah Stewart,
born January 6, 1819, at Sterling, Massachu
setts, died August 13, 1904, at Weymouth.
Children, born at Weymouth : 1. Cora Augusta,
January 4, 1838; married (first) Otis Henry
Hobart; (second) Albert Burns Sanborn (see
above). 2. Charles Stewart, born January 1, (
1844, died July, 1891 ; married Susan R. H.
Hunt, of Braintree; she died 1890; he was a
banker and broker in Boston ; was selectman
of Weymouth; attendant of Congregational
church ; served in the civil war in Forty-second
Massachusetts Regiment, and was taken pris
oner by the Confederates in the campaign in
Texas. He was a member of the Masonic
fraternity of Weymouth. (The Stewart Line).
The Stewart family above named has for
ancestors Duncan (I), James (II). Solomon
(III), Daniel (IV), who married Mary Ire
land, and
(V) James Stewart, born in Lunenburg,
Massachusetts, February 23, 1785 ; married
Sarah Persis Manson, of Petersham, February
8, 1 810; died at Sterling, March 1, 1826; was
a manufacturing hatter in Sterling for several
years. (VI) Caroline S., fourth child of James
Stewart, born in Sterling, January 6, 1819,
died August 13, 1904; married, February, 1836,
Charles H. Williams ; two children : Cora Au
gusta and Charles Stewart.
(VII) Cora Augusta, daughter of Charles
and Caroline S. (Stewart) Williams, was born
in Weymouth, January 4, 1838; married (first)
October 30, 1853, Otis ft. Hobart; children: i.
Charles A. Hobart, born August 31, 1854, mar
ried Mrs. Hannah Holt, Crowninshield, born
in Winterport, Maine, and lives in Lynn; ii.
Frank Stewart Hobart, born May 10, 1858,
married Nora C. Smith, bora in Nova Scotia,
and has one child, C. Stewart Hobart, born April
11, 1897. Cora Augusta Williams (Hobart)
married (second) November, 1884, Albert B.
Sanborn.

440

MASSACHUSETTS.

The above named family intermarried with
the Dudley family, descended from
(I) Francis Dudley, a relation of Governor
Thomas Dudley, was born in England, and came
to this country, settling at Concord, Massachu
setts, about 1663, married Sarah Wheeler, of
Concord, October 26, 1665. He probably re
mained in Concord until his decease ; his wife
died December 12, 171 3.
(II) Joseph, son of Francis Dudley, mar
ried Abigail Gobble, 1691, and died in Concord,
November 3, 1702.
(Ill) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (1) Dudley,
born 1697; married, October 2, 1718, Mary
Chandler. (IV) Ebenezer, son of Joseph (2) Dudley,
bora about 1735, was a captain in the war of
the revolution. He married Grace  ; he
died at Sudbury; his wife died at Hebron,
Maine, September 25, 1821.
(V) Eunice, daughter of Ebenezer Dudley,
married Nicholas Manson; died in Boston.
(VI) Sarah Persis, daughter of Nicholas
and Eunice (Dudley) Manson, married (first)
February 8, 1810, James Stewart;- (second)
March 21, 1833, Elijah Wright, of Ashby; she
died at the home of her son, Dr. James Stewart,
in Brooklyn, New York (see Stewart above).

(For first generation see Richard Thayer 1).
(II) Richard (2) Thayer, son
THAYER of Richard (1) Thayer, was
born in England, in 1625, and
settled in Braintree, Massachusetts. He mar
ried, December 24, 1651, Dorothy Pray, who
died December 11, 1705; he died Decem
ber 4, 1705. Children: 1. Dorothy, born
July 30, 1653. 2. Richard, born July 31, 1655 ;
mentioned below. 3. Nathaniel, born January
1, 1658. 4. Abigail, February 10, 1661. 5.
Joannah, December 13, 1665. 6. Sarah, De
cember 13, 1667. 7. Cornelius, August 18,
1670. (Ill) Richard (3), son of Richard (2)
Thayer, was born July 31, 1655, and died Sep
tember 11, 1729. He lived in Braintree, and
married, July 16, 1679, Rebecca Micall, born
January 22, 1658. Children: 1. Rebecca, born
August 16, 1680; married, February 12, 1701,
Thomas Bolter. 2. Benjamin, born October 6,
1683. 3- Richard, January 26, 1685. 4. John,
January 12, 1688. 5. Mary, February 10, 1689.
6. James, November 12, 1691. 7. Deborah,
April 11, 1695. 8. Anna, November 14, 1697.
9. Gideon, July 26, 1700; mentioned below.
10. Obediah, May 1, 1703; died April 5, 1721.
(IV) Gideon, son of Richard (3) Thayer,

was born July 26, 1700, and died February 17,
1742, being drowned on a Sunday morning
while crossing the Monitoquot river, by break
ing through the ice. He was a farmer, and
lived in Braintree. He married, June 3, 1713,
Plannah Hollis. Children: 1. Abigail, born
November 15, 1724. 2. Mary, November 1,
1726. 3. Hannah, April 6, 1728. 4. Eunice,
October 10, 1730, died August 16, 1732. 5.
Gideon, October 2, 1732; mentioned below. 6.
Eunice, December 20, 1735. 7. Job, August
15, 1738, died August 9, 1750. 8. Elijah, born
August 17, 1741.
(V) Gideon (2), son of Gideon (1) Thayer,
was born October 2, 1732, in Braintree, and
died there November 27, 1800. He was ser
geant in Captain Thomas White's company,
Colonel Joseph Palmer's regiment in 1776, and
in Captain Holbrook's company, under Colonel
Bass, same year. He married, in 1758, Sus
annah Thayer, who died January 6, 1806,
daughter of David and Hannah Thayer. Chil
dren, born in Braintree: 1. Job, 1759. 2.
Gideon, August 21, 1763; mentioned below.
3. Sylvanus, January 21, 1774. 4. Rachel. 5.
Ira, 1781. 6. Naomi. 7. Zephora. 8. Leah,
died young.
(VI) Gideon (3), son of Gideon (2) Thayer,
was born in Braintree, August 21, 1763, and
died April 23, 1841. He lived in Braintree,
and was a soldier in the revolution, in Captain
Thomas White's company, Colonel Joseph Pal
mer's regiment, at Dorchester Neck, 1776; also
in Captain Peter Penniman's company, Lieu
tenant Colonel Nathan Tyler's regiment, 1776-7.
He married (first) April 24, 1800, Jemima
Vintor; (second) November 5, 1802, Hannah
Belcher. Child of first wife : 1. William, born
February 29, 1801. Children of second wife:
2. Jemima, born September 2, 1804. 3. Gideon,
March 11, 1806. 4. Joseph, mentioned below.
(VII) Joseph, son of Gideon (3) Thayer,
was born June 18, 1810, in Braintree, and died
in Randolph. He resided in the latter place,
and married (first) Drucilla Penniman; (sec
ond) Eveline Stetson, born November 25, 1805,
in South Weymouth, died in Brockton. Chil
dren, all by second wife: 1. George Washing
ton, living in Nova Scotia. 2. Drucilla. 3.
Joseph Henry, died in Taunton. 4. Thomas
Jeffprson Hamilton, see forward. 5. Almeda,
resides in Brockton. 6. Martin, died in Onset,
January 17, 1908. 7. Laura, died in Quincy.
8. Eveline J., born September 10, 1844; mar
ried, August 11, 1862, Thomas ft. Snow; he
died in Brockton. 9. Hiram, resides in Brain
tree.

MASSACH USETTS.

441

(VIII) Thomas Jefferson Hamilton, son of
Joseph Thayer, was born in Braintree, July 16,
1833, and died September 18, 1908, in Quincy.
He was educated in the public schools of Brain
tree. He married and settled in Quincy, where
he was engaged in the boot and shoe business
until the beginning of the civil war. In i'86l
he enlisted and served three years in Company
D, Thirty-ninth Massachusetts Regiment. After
the war he took a position as a stationary
engineer, and followed the same some years.
He then engaged in the polishing and granite
business in Quincy, where he continued about
ten years, then being burned out, after which
he lived retired until his death. He attended
the Methodist Episcopal church ; was a member
of Paul, Revere Post, No. 88, G. A. R., and
Weymouth Lodge, K. P. In politics he was a
Republican. He married, in 1854, Bryantha
Richards Hayden, born July 13, 1836, at Quincy,
daughter of Nathaniel and Sally Hayden. She
resides at 9 Wendell street, Quincy. Children :
Bryantha Etta, born December 22, 1856; mar
ried Walter F. Sanborn (see Sanborn). 2.
Anna Louise Loveland, born February 19,
i860; married Anson Lee Wright. 3. Clifton
J., born 1867; married Luella Goodwin, of
Charlestown, Massachusetts ; children : George
R., Marion L., Walter F., Priscilla H. 4.
Susie L., born 1869, died 1901 ; married George
Pratt. 5. Ida May, married Moses Dyer; re
sides in South Braintree. 6. Eva Frances, born
September 7, 1870; resides with her mother.

The Hayden or Heyden family
HAYDEN of England belonged to the
order of Knights deriving this
surname from the town of Heydon in Norfolk,
where they were first seated. The word means
high-down, or plain on the hill, and the town
itself is rich in ancient history. The family
itself appears as early as the Norman Conquest,
but comes into prominence early in the thir
teenth century in the person of Thomas de
Heydon, resident at Fleydon, and a justice
itinerant in Norfolk in 1221. From him all the
English families are descended. They do not
seem to have been numerous at any period of
their history. The principal branch, in the
persons of the eldest sons, remained in Nor
folk, inheriting the estates of Heydon, Bacons
thorp and elsewhere ; while a branch in the line
of the second son, by the name of John de
Hayden, settled in Devonshire about 1273, and
another a few generations later at Watford,
near London.
I'D Thomas de Haydon, the English pro

genitor, was born probably about 1185, and
died 1250. (II) William Heydon, eldest son
of Thomas, was born about 1220, and died
1272. He had an estate in Norfolk. (Ill)
John de Haydon, younger son of William, was
county judge in Devonshire in 1273. (IV)
Robert Haydon settled in Boughwood, Harp-
ford, Devonshire, near which estate the family
afterward dwelt. He married Joan  .
He deeded his estate to his son Henry, in the
nineteenth year of Henry I. (V) Henry Hay
don married a relative, Julian, daughter and
heir of Haydon of Ebford. (VI) William
Haydon inherited his father's estate at Bough-
wood. (VII) Robert Haydon succeeded his
father. (VIII) John Haydon was his son.
(IX) Henry Haydon had the Boughwood and
Ebford estates in 1397. (X) William Haydon,
a younger son, inherited the Boughwood and
Ebford estates, his elder brother John leaving
no issue. Children: Richard, died young;
John, Richard, William. (XI) Richard Hay
don was living on the estate in 1476. Children :
Richard, John, Jane, married Robert Gilbert,
of Powderham.
(XII) Richard Haydon had the estates in
1522, married Joan, daughter of Maurice Trent,
of Ottery St. Mary. Children : Thomas, John,
of Cadhay; George, of Hornesseys, married
Agnes Merrifield. The family arms : Argent
three bars gemelle azure on a chief gules a
barrulet dancette or. Crest : The white lion
vulning the black bull. The arms were granted
before 1315.
( XIII ) Thomas Hayden married Joan, daugh
ter of Richard Weeks, of Honey Church. Chil
dren : Thomas, mentioned below ; Daughter,
married Walter Leigh ; Jane, married Richard
Williams ; Margaret, married Thomas Brown
ing. (XIV) Thomas Hayden inherited the family
estates of Hills in Kelmiston and Ebford ; mar
ried Christina, daughter and heir of Robert
Tidersleigh, in Dorsetshire.
(XV) Robert Hayden inherited the estate
of his grand-uncle John, at Cadhay, a distin
guished lawyer, who held the charter for incor
porating the church when England broke awayN
from the Roman church, in 1536, known as
St. Mary Ottery, where many of the family
are buried. FTis wife Joan inherited the estate
at Cadhay, and he rebuilt the house, which is
still in good repair. Robert Hayden married
Toan, daughter of Sir Amias Paulet, of George
Hinton. Somerset. He was a justice of the
peace, living in 1620. Children : Gideon, men
tioned below : Amias, Drew, Margaret.

442

MASSACHUSETTS.

(XVI) Gideon, son of Robert Hayden, suc
ceeded to the Cadhay and Ebford estates ; mar
ried Margaret, daughter of John Davy, of
Greedy. The author of the family history
says: "They had seven sons and five daugh
ters. Several of the sons grew to manhood,
and were living in 1630. The eldest son, Gideon,
succeeded him. The names of the others do
not appear. I take it there must have been a
John, William and James, and that they were
the John, William and James who emigrated
to Boston in 1630-31." Gideon Hayden owned
the ship "Dove," of Lymston, in 1628, and it
was commanded by his son Gideon. The son
John Hayden commanded the "Phoenia," of
Dartmuth, also in 1628. In any case, the
American branch seems closely connected with
the Devon family, and the lineage seems to be
correct. (XVII) John, son of Gideon Haydon, is
said to have come to Boston in 1630, and was a
proprietor of Dorchester in 1632. He was
admitted a freeman May 14, 1634. On June 8,
1639, his "fine for entertaining an unlicensed
servant, as he did it ignorantly, was remitted
to him." In 1640 he was in Braintree. He
married Susanna  . His will, dated Octo
ber 31, 1678, proved July 26, 1682, bequeathed
to widow Susanna, sons Ebenezer,. Joseph,
Nehemiah and John ; daughter Hannah ; and
the children of deceased son Samuel. Chil
dren: 1. John, born 1634, died 1718; married
Hannah Ames. 2. Joseph. 3. Samuel, married
Hannah Thayer. 4. Jonathan, born May 19,
1640 ; married, April 20, 1669, Elizabeth Ladd.
5. Hannah, born April 7, 1642. 6. Ebenezer,
born September 12, 1645, died February 13,
171 8. 7. Nehemiah, mentioned below.
(XVIII) Nehemiah, son of John Hayden,
was born February 14, 1647-8, and died Janu
ary 12, 1 717-8. He was a prominent and influ
ential citizen of Braintree, and served as select
man ten years, 1706-1716, and on important
committees. He and his wife were members
of the Middle Precinct church at the time of
Mr. Niles' ordination in 171 1. His will, dated
January 16, 1717-18, proved February 28, 1717-
18, mentions all the children except Mary. He
married Hannah, daughter of Henry Neale.
Children: 1. Nehemiah, born May, 1680. 2.
Hannah, July 16, 1681 ; married  Ste
vens. 3. Mary, married Samuel Hayden. 4.
Samuel, mentioned below. 5. Benjamin, Feb
ruary 22, 1685-6: married Elizabeth Faxon. 6.
Rachel, married Samuel Paine. 7. John, mar
ried Margaret (Curtis) Thayer, widow. 8.
Ebenezer, married, November 30, 1719, Mary

Hollis. 9. Jonathan, married, December 22,
17 19, Sarah Copeland.
(XIX) Samuel, son of Nehemiah Hayden,
was born about 1690. He married Priscilla
 ; and lived at Braintree. Children : 1.
Child, born October 1, 1714, died October 6
following. 2. Samuel, January 20, 1715-16;
married, January 12, 1737-8, Esther Allen. 3.
Amy, August 26, 1717, died next month. 4.
Christopher, February 18, 1719. 5. Richard,
January 22, 1 720-1 ; mentioned below. 6. Jere
miah, December 29, 1722. 7. Nehemiah, Janu
ary 3, 1724-5. 8. Nathaniel, February 21,
1725-6. 9. William, October 5, 1727; settled
in Weymouth apparently.
(XX) Richard, son of Samuel Hayden, was
born January 22, 1 720-1, at Braintree. Chil
dren: 1. Amminidab, born August 26, 1746;
mentioned below. 2. Cozbi, November 26, 1749.
3. Asenath, November 1, 1751. 4. Ziba, January
22, 1754. 5. Cyrus, June 13, 1756. 6. Sally
(twin), August 28, 1759. 7. Molly (twin),
August 28, 1759. 8. Lewis, February 6, 1763;
settled in Weymouth.
(XXI) Amminidab, son of Richard Hayden,
was born August 26, 1746, at Braintree. He
was a soldier in the revolution, corporal in
Captain Silas Wild's company, Colonel Benja
min Lincoln's regiment, on the Lexington alarm,
April 19, 1775, and later in the same year in
the regiment of Colonel John Greaton. He
was quartermaster of his regiment, commis
sioned August 16, 1776, stationed in the defence
of Boston ; also quartermaster in Colonel Eben
ezer Freeman's regiment, October, 1776. He
married (first) Susanna Thayer, who died
before January, 1780; (second) Isabel Down
ing. After the war he settled in Weymouth.
Of the children of the second wife, two are
recorded at Weymouth: 1. Sarah, born Feb
ruary 6, 1789. 2. Isabel Downing, November
20, 1790. Also: 3. Samuel, born about 1778;
married Silence Hollis. 4. Thomas. 5. Nathaniel,
mentioned below. .
(XXII) Nathaniel, son of Amminidab Hay
den, was born according to the family record
October 15, 1780. (The birth is not on the
town records of Weymouth"). He married, in
Braintree, November 26, 1810, Sally Hayden,
born at Braintree, June 22, 1793. Children:
1. Nathaniel, born November 3, 181 1 ; married,
November 3, 1836, Harriet N. Stetson; he died
April 12, 1894. 2. Sally, born November 14,
1813 ; married, October 6, 1833, James Harris;
she died September 14, 1906. 3. Jonathan,
born November 14, 1815; died January 9,
1895 ; married, November 26, 1840, Dolly M.

MASSACHUSETTS.

443

Green. 4. Joseph, born January 11, 1818, died
December 7, 1846. - 5. William, born Septem
ber 19, 1819, died January 14, 1854; married,
August 9, 1842, Sarah Hamilton. 6. Albert,
born June 17, 1823, died February 11, 1825.
7. Henry, born November 14, 1825, died Au
gust 8, 1888; married Mary Richardson. 8.
Bartlett, born February 23, 1830, died March
30, 1905. 9. Bryantha Richards, born April
10, 1832, died September 18, 1836. 10. James
Alonzo, born April 13, 1834; resides with his
daughter in Quincy; married Prudence Rich
ardson. 11. Bryantha Richards, bora July 13,
1836 : mar.ried Thomas J. H. Thayer May 22,
1855 ; children : i. Bryantha Etta Thayer, born
December 22, 1856, married July 11, 1877,
Walter Francis Sanborn (see Sanborn) ; ii.
Annie Loveland Thayer, born February 19,
1861 ; iii. Clifford J. Thayer, September 24,
1867; iv. Susie Laura Thayer, November 1,
1869; v. Ida May Thayer, January 14, 1872;
vi. Eva Frances Thayer, September 6, 1879.

This is one of the class known
FULLER as occupative surnames, dates
from the twelfth century, or
later, and has the same signification as Tucker
or Walker, "one who thickens and whitens
cloth." Various persons named Fuller have
won distinction in both England and America.
Nicholas Fuller, born 1557, was a distinguished
Oriental scholar ; another Nicholas Fuller, died
1620, was a prominent lawyer and member of
parliament ; Isaac Fuller, died 1672, was a
noted painter; Andrew Fuller, born 1754, was
an eminent Baptist minister and writer ; Thomas
Fuller, English divine and author, bora 1608,
was chaplain extraordinary to Charles II. , and
a prolific writer. A high authority said of him :
"Fuller was incomparably the most sensible,
the least, prejudiced great man of an age that
boasted of a galaxy of great men." Sarah
Margaret Fuller, Marchioness of Ossobi, born
1810, was a prominent teacher, editor and
author. Melville W. Fuller, born 1833, distin
guished as a jurist, is now chief justice of the
United States.
(I) Edward Fuller, the "Mayflower" immi
grant, son of Robert Fuller, butcher, was bap
tized September 4, 1575, in the parish of Reden-
hall. county of Norfolk, England, and died at
Plymouth, between January 11 and April 10,
1621, as we learn from the "Genealogy of Some
Descendants of Edward Fuller," by William
Hyslap Fuller, from whose work most of the
following sketch has been drawn. There is
nothing to indicate that he was with the Pil

grims in Holland, and it seems probable that he
joined the others on the arrival of the "Speed
well" in Southampton, England, where the
"Mayflower" was awaiting them. His name is
the twenty-third on the Compact signed in the
cabin of the "Mayflower" just before landing
on Cape Cod, in November, 1620. The inclem
ency of the climate, the privations they suffered
and the changed conditions under which they
were brought, deprived Edward Fuller of his
life a few months after he first saw the inhospi-
talble shores of New England. He brought
with him a wife whose name is unknown, but
sometimes called Ann. She died early in 1621,
after January nth. Governor Bradford says:
"Edward Fuller and his wife died soon after
they came on shore." They left one child
Samuel, next mentioned.
(II) Samuel, only son of Edward Fuller
and wife, was born about 1612, and came to
Plymouth with parents and was left an orphan
when about nine years old. The place and
time of his birth and baptism are unknown.
He died October 31, 1683, O. S., at Barnstable,
Massachusetts, fle grew up under the care of
his uncle, Dr. Samuel Fuller, of Plymouth, also
a "Mayflower" Pilgrim. He had three acres
at the division of lands in 1623. This land
was on the south side of the town brook, "to
the woodward," and included what is now
Watson's Hill. He was made a freeman in
1634, and settled in Scituate ; November 7,
1636, he joined the church there, having a
letter of dismissal from the church of Plymouth,
of which he had been a member. In the same
year he built the fifteenth house in Scituate, on
Greenfield street, the first lot abutting on Kent
street. He had twenty acres of land on the
east of Bellhouse Neck in that town, probably
a grant from the town. Rev. Mr. Lothrop and
others of Scituate founded the town of Barn
stable, and to that place Samuel Fuller removed
between 1641 and 1650, probably about the
latter date. March 25, 1650, O. S., Samuel
Fuller and wife of Scituate in the government
of New Plymouth in New England in America,
conveyed to Peter Collymore "one dwelling
house arid a barn and cow house with sixteen
acres of upland and two parcels of marsh land
containing twelve acres." With his cousin,
Captain Matthew Fuller, Samuel Fuller bought
of Secunke. an Indian, so much of Scorton, or
Sandy Neck, as lies within the town of Barn
stable. Samuel Fuller also bought meadow of
his cousin Matthew that was Major John Free
man's, and meadow of Samuel House, and land
on Scorton Hill. He lived in the northwest

444

MASSACHUSETTS.

angle of the town, in a secluded spot where
few had occasion to pass. He was constable
in Scituate in 1641, and a few times was one
of a jury or committee to settle difficulties with
the Indians. He was the only one of the
passengers of the "Mayflower" who settled
permanently at Barnstable, and one of the
latest survivors of that company. He was
buried, if not on his own estate, in the ancient
burial place at Lathrop's Hill, in Barnstable,
near the site of the first meeting house. His
will, dated "the nine and twentyeth Day of
October in the year of our Lord one thousand
six hundred and eighty and three," was proved
June 5, 1684, and his inventory dated Novem
ber 14, 1683, amounted to fn6 5s. 9d., "the
land & housing not prised." Samuel Fuller
was married, at Mr. Cudworth's house in Scit
uate, by Captain Miles Standish, magistrate,
"on ye fourthe daye of ye weeke," (April 8-18,
1635) to Jane, daughter of Rev. John Lathrop,
of Scituate and (after 1639) Barnstable. She
was baptized September 29, 1614, at Edgerly,
county Kent, England, and died between 1658
and 1683, but just when is not known. Chil
dren : Hannah, Samuel, Elizabeth, Sarah (died
young), Mary, Thomas, Sarah, John, and an
infant. (HI) Samuel (2), eldest son of Samuel (1)
and Jane (Lathrop) Fuller, was baptized Feb
ruary 11. 1637, at Scituate. There is no record
of his family on the Barnstable records, and
but little is known of him. He probably lived
on a portion of his father's estate. An inven
tory of his estate was taken at Barnstable, De
cember 28, 1 69 1, amounting to £98 17s. From
this it appears that he had died some time
before, and that his widow had lately died, for
her estate was settled on the 30th of the same
month. The names of his children, given
below, are taken from an agreement made at
that time, dated December 30, 1691. He mar
ried Anna, daughter of Matthew Fuller. Chil
dren, born at Barnstable: Barnabas, Joseph,
Matthew. Benjamin, Desire and Sarah.
(IV) Matthew, third son of Samuel (2)
an-1 Anna (Fuller) Fuller, was born about
1663, at Barnstable, and died at Colchester,
before 1744, aged about eighty years. He
settled in Colchester about 1712, and was bap
tized at the First Church there. December 12,
1*734. "asred about eighty years," says the rec
ord, but there is probably an error as to the
a?e. He married, February 25, 1693, Patience,
daughter of George and Hannah (Pinson)
Young, of Scituate. She wo- born about 1670,

and died June 25, 1746, at Colchester,"leaving
a will which is a most useful confirmation of
the relationship here stated. In this will, dated
February 3, 1743-4. and probated August 6,
1746, she is described as a widow. Children:
Anna, J9nathan, Content, Jean, David, Young,
Cornelius and Hannah.
(V) Young, third son of MatthewandPatience
(Young) Fuller, was born in Barnstable in
1708, and died in Ludlow, June 17, 1796. He
removed in 1747 to that part of Windsor, Con
necticut, now Ellington. The earliest deed in
which he appears as the grantee is dated Janu
ary 21, 1747-8. He was also the owner of
land in Bolton, East Haddam, and elsewhere.
In 1767 he removed from Ellington with his
eldest son Joshua to Ludlow, Massachusetts,
where he died. He and his wife were baptized
and admitted to full communion in the Col
chester church, December 24, 1732. He mar
ried, April 23, 1730, at Colchester, Connecticut,
Jerusha, daughter of Jonathan and Bridget
(Brockway) Beebe, of East Haddam, Connec
ticut. Children : Joshua, David, Caleb, Jerusha,
Lydia and Anne.
(VI) Deacon Joshua, eldest son of Young
and Jerusha (Beebe) Fuller, was born in Col
chester, Connecticut, September 9, 1731, and
died October 6, 1810, in Monson, Massachu
setts. When sixteen years of "age he removed
with his father from Colchester to Ellington,
Connecticut, and March 11, 1754, his father
deeded him a house and farm there. In 1767
he removed to Ludlow, Massachusetts, then a
part of Springfield, where he was one of the
pioneers and a leading man in church and
municipal affairs, and a public official in vari
ous capacities. His last years were spent in
Monson with his son Benjamin. He married,
January, 1753, Mercy Lathrop, born October
1, 1736, died January 15, 1827, daughter of
Solomon and Susannah Lathrop, of Tolland.
Children, the first six born in Ellington : Elisha,
Solomon Lathrop, Ezekiel, Sarah, Lydia, Ben
jamin, Jonathan Beebe, Mariana and Olive.
(VII) Benjamin, fourth son of Joshua and
Mercy (Lathrop) Fuller, born in Ellington,
Connecticut, July 23, 1767 died December 8,
1842, in Monson, Massachusetts. He settled
in Monson in 1795, and his father and mother
removed from Ludlow and spent the later years
of their lives with him. He married, Novem
ber iq, 1788, Annis Fuller, born October 1,
1768, in East Haddam, Connecticut, died Sep
tember 3, 1854, in Monson, daughter of Jehiel
and Sarah (Day) Fuller, of East Haddam.

MASSACH USETTS.

445

Children : Horace Day, Harriet, Achsah, Ben
jamin, Austin, Sophia (died young), Warren
(died young), Sophia and Warren.
(VIII) Benjamin (2), second son of Benja
min (1) and Annis (Fuller) Fuller, was born
Jn Monson, January 1, 1796, and died in Spring
field, June 6, 1888, aged ninety-two years. He
married, March 9, 1823, Cynthia Collins, born
in East Windsor, Connecticut, September 12,
1803, died in Springfield, July 25, 1872, daugh
ter of Ebenezer and Azuba (Chapin) Collins,
of South Hadley, Massachusetts. Children:
Cynthia Collins, Mary E., Henry Lathrop,
Mary L., Helen Sophia, Elizabeth Annis and
Henrietta. (IX) Elizabeth Annis, fifth daughter of Ben
jamin and Cynthia (Collins) Fuller, was born
in Hartford, Connecticut, April n, 1838, and
married December 8, 1869, Richard W. Rice
(see Rice), whom she survives, and now re
sides in Springfield. *

Neither record nor tradition has
RICE been found of the place of embark
ation to this country of Edmund
Rice, nor is there anything known of the ship
he came in or at what place he first arrived.
He is first found at Sudbury, Massachusetts,
and became the head of a numerous and widely
scattered progeny.
(I) Deacon Edmund Rice came from Bark-
hamstead, in the county of Hertford, England,
and settled in Sudbury, Masachusetts, in 1638
or 1639 ; as he shared in the three divisions of
land in Sudbury, the first of which was made
in 1639, he was without doubt a resident there
at that time. He first appears in Sudbury with
a wife and a family of at least seven children,
who came over with him. He was born about
1594 according to a deposition which he made
April 3, 1656, giving his age as sixty-two years.
He became one of the best known and most
influential settlers of Sudbury. He was pro
prietor and selectman in 1639 and was prob
ably there in the early part of the preceding
year. His village plot in Sudbury, now Way-
land, was laid out in the fall of 1639, and he
was one of the first to build a house. The lot
was on old North street near the Mill brook.
He received his share of the meadow land. Sep
tember 4, 1639, April 20, 1640, and November
18, 1640, amounting in all to forty-three and
three-fourths acres. He shared also in all the
divisions of uplands and common lands until
his holdings amounted to two hundred and
forty-seven acres. He had eleven acres in the
south part of the town between Timber Neck

and Mr. Glover's farm. This lay near the
spring and he sold a part of it to Thomas
Axtell and a part to Philemon Whale, both of
whom built houses there. He sold his home
farm to John Moore, September 1, 1642, and
September 13 of the same year took a six year
lease of the Dunster farm on the west shore
of Lake Cochituate. In November, 1643, he
bought land of the Widow Axtell between
Philemon Whale's place and his own at Rice's
Spring. Later he also bought Philemon Whale's
house and nine acres of land adjoining his
own. These various purchases formed the
nucleus of the old Rice homestead, which re
mained in part in the hands of his descendants
until a recent date. September 29, 1647, he
leased for a term of ten years of President
Dunster of Harvard College, guardian for the
Glover heirs, what was known as the Glover
farm. By the terms of the lease he was to
erect a house on the place and a barn fifty feet
long. These buildings, it is supposed, were
located near Dudley Pond, and on that part of
the Glover farm which by an adjustment ofthe
town bounds in 1700 came into the town of
Wayland. Edmund Rice bought the Jennison
farm of two hundred acres extending from
the Dunster farm to the Weston line, and on
this tract some of his descendants still live.
He and his son bought the Dunster farm, June
24, 1659. Besides these and others grants and
purchases he received from the general court
fifty acres at Rice's End in 1652, and eighty
acres near Beaver Dam in 1659 in Framing
ham. He was on a committee to apportion the
meadows, September 4, 1639; selectman, 1639,
1644 and later; deacon of the church, 1648;
and deputy to the general court, 1654. He was
one of the original petitioners for the Marl
borough grant in 1656, received a grant there
and removed to that town in 1660. He died
at Marlborough, May 3, 1663, aged sixty-nine
years. The inventory of Edmund Rice, of
Marlborough, taken May 15, 1663, by Thomas
King, John Woods and John Stone, amounted
to £566; house etc., £170; another inventory of
the same date taken by William Ward, Thomas
Loring, John Woods and John Stone enumer
ates property amounting to £743.8.4. ' Whether
these two inventories refer to the same prop
erty or not is uncertain, but as Edmund Rice
had property in both Sudbury and Marlborough
the inventories mayrefer to different properties.
"Tamazine," wife of Edmund Rice, died in
Sudbury, June 13, 1654; the record of her
death is the only one wherein her name has
been found. Edmund Rice married (second)

446

MASSACHUSETTS.

March i, 1655, "Mercie," widow of Thomas
Brigham, of Cambridge. She survived Mr.
Rice and married (third) William Hunt, of
Marlborough, "Oct. or Nov." 1664. She died
December 28, 1693. The children of Edmund
Rice, the first nine by the first wife, were:
Henry, Edward, Thomas, Matthew, Samuel,
Joseph, Lydia, Edmund, Benjamin, Ruth and
Ann. (II) Thomas, son of Edmund and Tamazine
Rice, was born in England and came to Amer
ica with his parents. He resided in Sudbury
and Marlborough, to the latter of which towns
he removed about 1764. The births of six of
his children are recorded at Sudbury, and the
others, younger children, at Marlborough, of
which he was a proprietor. He died there No
vember 16, 1681. His wife's baptismal name was
Mary. The will of Thomas Rice, dated Novem
ber n, 1681, and proved April 4, 1682, gave to
sons Thomas, Peter, Nathaniel and Ephraim,
residue to wife Mary, and at her decease to go
to "the younger children not mentioned above."
My brothers, Henry and Matthew Rice, and
Peter King to be overseers of my will, etc.
The will oi Widow Mary, dated "May 10, in
the 8th year (1710) of Queen Anne's reign,"
was proved April 11, 1705, and gave to sons
Thomas of Marlborough; Peter, Nathaniel,
Ephraim, Gershom, James, Jonas and Elisha,
to daughters Mary White, Sarah Adams, Fran
ces Allen and Grace Moore. The children of
Thomas, most of whom lived to great age,
were Grace (died young), Thomas, Mary,
Peter, Nathaniel, Sarah, Ephraim, Gershom,
James, Frances, Jonas, Grace and Elisha.
(Ill) Ephraim, fourth son of Thomas and
Mary Rice, was born in Marlborough, April
15, 1665, and died in Sudbury, where for years
he was a resident, October 25, 1732. He was a
proprietor of Worcester, and had thirty acres
of land granted him in that town in 1718, but
as far as known he never resided there. His
will was made October 20, 1732, and proved
November 27, 1732. He married (first) Feb
ruary 22, 1689, Hannah Livermore, born Sep
tember 27, 1670, daughter of John and Han
nah Livermore, of Watertown. She died May
21, 1724. He married (second) March 24,
1725, Mary Noyes, of Sudbury, born at Sud
bury, June 22, 1666, daughter of Joseph and
Mary (Darwell) Noyes, of Sudbury, who were
married November 12, 1662. She died Janu
ary 11, 1744. Her will dated June 21, 1742,
was probated March 12, 1745. The children
of Ephraim Rice, all by the first wife, were :
Hannah (died young), Ephraim, Mary, Josiah,

Grace, Thomas, Gershom, John, Isaac and
Hannah. (IV) John, fifth son of Ephraim and Han
nah (Livermore) Rice, was born in Sudbury,
April 23, 1704, and died in Sudbury, in 1771.
At the request of the widow her son, Jonas
Rice, was appointed administrator December
24, 1771. John Rice married (first) Sarah
Dunton, of Sudbury, November 11, 1731. There
is no record of her death. He married (sec
ond) November 4, 1741, Anna Sanderson. His
third wife's baptismal name was Thankful.
He had by his first wife two children, and by
the third nine. They were : Anne, Lydia,
John, Jonas, Abraham, Amos, Eunice, Lucy,
Peter, Joel and Nathan, who is next mentioned.
(V) Nathan, youngest child of John and
Thankful Rice, was born in Sudbury, Decern--
ber 8, 1760. fle first settled at Belchertown,
and about 1820 removed to Springfield, where
he diet! May 23, 1838, in his seventy-eighth
year. He married Hepzibah Allen, of Con
cord, born December 18, 1763, died at Spring
field, April 8, 1854, in her ninety-first year.
Their children were : John, Nathan, William,
Nancy and James.
(VI) John (2), eldest son of Nathan and
Hepzibah (Allen) Rice, was born March 2,
1782, and resided at Springfield, where he died
February 24, 1841. He married Joanna, daugh
ter of David and Joanna (Moody) Warriner,
of Wilbraham. She died November 11, 1840,
aged fifty-nine. Their eight children were:
Maria J., John W., Mary Ann, William E.,
Sophia, Charles W., Henry and George W.
(VII) John W., eldest son of John (2) and
Joanna (Warriner) Rice, was born in Spring
field, where he died while a comparatively
young man. He always lived in Springfield
and was a carpenter by trade. He married
Mary Stebbins. Her parents owned a consid
erable piece of land in Springfield, of a part of
which she became the owner and on it she built
the house at 17 Flolyoke street. She was a
member of the First Church (Congregational).
The children of John W. and Mary (Stebbins)
Rice were: 1. Mary, who died unmarried. 2.
Richard W., mentioned below. 3. Lois Steb
bins, who died unmarried. 4. Martha Stebbins,
who married Augustus L. Childs, and died
March, 1907.
(VIII) Richard Wells, only son of John
W. and Mary (Stebbins) Rice, was born in
Springfield, April 13, 1838. His father died
when he was but six years old, leaving him,
an only son, with his mother and three sisters,
one of whom, Mrs. Martha S. Childs, survived

NX'
Si

\

MASSACHUSETTS.

447

him. He was educated in the public schools,
being a pupil in the high school at the age of
fourteen, when he went out into the world to
begin life for himself. His first employment
was in the ticket office of the Boston & Albany
railroad where he remained a year. His next
service was With the Hampden Insurance Com
pany, and the Five Cents Savings Bank, the
business of the two concerns being conducted
in the same office. Pie spent three years there,
and following that the same length of time
with the Massassoit Insurance Company.
Finally, in 1864, he entered the employ of
Isaac Mills, coal dealer, and was a clerk for
him until 1890, when he had the entire manage
ment of the business, and then purchased an
interest in it. On the death of Mr. Mills a few
years later he succeeded to the ownership of
the entire business which he carried on from
that time under his own name. His coal yard,
near the corner of Court and Water streets,
was the oldest in the city, the original books
of the concern showing entries made during
the year 1833, and under both Mr. Mills and
Mr. Rice the business was carried on with the
strictest integrity. In politics Mr. Rice was a
staunch Republican, and in religious belief a
Congregationalist. He died after an illness of
but one week, May 1, 1903, and was buried in
Springfield cemetery. At a regular quarterly
meeting of the trustees of the Springfield Five
Cents Savings Bank, July 3, 1903, the follow
ing letter was presented :
"Gentleman : Richard Wells Rice died at
his residence in Springfield aged sixty-five
years and eighteen days. Mr. Rice was clerk
in this bank in 1856, elected a member of the
corporation in 1857, a trustee June 7, 1895,
and an auditor July 9, 1895. For forty-seven
years he has fulfilled faithfully the duties of
the offices held by him as a member of this
corporation. He has been painstaking and
careful in their fulfillment, fle has endeared
himself to all his associates, and his death has
removed a faithful and worthy member from
our board. He loved his native city and always
gave his best efforts to make Springfield a
happy city of homes, and the community will
long cherish his memory and mourn his loss.
Our loss is great, but that of his family is
greater, and we sympathize with them in their
-sorrow and hope the memory of his many
deeds of kindness and his conscientious Chris
tian life may soften the shock of their bereave
ment." It was moved and carried by a rising vote

that this letter be adopted as the expression of
the feeling of the board, and that a copy be
sent to Mrs. Rice.
Richard W. Rice married, in Springfield,
December 8, 1869, Elizabeth A. Fuller, of
Springfield, who was born in Hartford, Con
necticut, daughter of Benjamin and Cynthia
(Collins) Fuller. There is no living child of
this union.

(For preceding generation see Edmund Rice 1).
(II) Deacon Edward, son of Dea-
RICE con Edmund and Tamazine Rice,
was born probably in England. Fle
resides in Sudbury, whence he removed to Marl
borough in 1664; was deacon of the church
there; died August 15, 1712. As shown by a
paper on the court files of Cambridge his age
was forty-seven, October 2, 1666. If this is
correct, he was born about 1619 and was not
far from ninety-three years old at the time of
his death. He bought land of his father and
also some from his brother Benjamin. He and
his wife Anna, of Marlboro, conveyed April 1,
1686, to their son Edmund Rice, of Sudbury,
half of this farm, lying within the bounds of
Sudbury "near the spring." This deed was
acknowledged April 16, 1706, and recorded
August 16, 1734. Edward Rice is said in
Barry's "History of Farmington" to have mar
ried (first) Agnes Bent, and that she died
without issue. No record of their marriage
or of her death have been found. His widow,
Agnes, died at Marlborough, June 4, 1713,
aged eighty-three. All his children except the
eldest, whose birth record is not found, were
by wife Anna — the two youngest being recorded
at Marlborough, the others at Sudbury. Chil
dren : John, Lydia (died young), Lydia, Ed
mund, Daniel, Caleb, Jacob, Anna, Dorcas,
Benjamin and Abigail.
(Ill) Daniel, third son of Edward and Anna
Rice, was born November 8, 1655, and resided
at Marlborough, where he died July 6, 1737.
His will made May 5, 1729, was probated De
cember 19, 1737. His wife Elizabeth . was
probably not living at the date of his will. He
married (first) February 10, 1681, Bethiah
Ward, born 1658, who died December 8, 1721,
daughter of Deacon William Ward. He mar
ried (second) May 9, 1725, Elizabeth, widow of
John Wheeler, of Marlborough, whose maiden
name was Elizabeth Wells. Children, all by
the first marriage : Bethiah, Daniel, Judith,
Luke, Priscilla, Eleazer, Deborah and Hope
still. '
(IV) Daniel (2), eldest son of Daniel (1) and

448

MASSACHUSETTS.

Bethiah (Ward) Rice.was born in Marlborough
June 3, 1684. He resided in Marlborough,
and in the latter part of his life in Shrews
bury. Elizabeth Rice, wife of Daniel Rice,
was admitted to full church privilege at Shrews
bury, November 28, 1731. Hannah Rice, being
adult, was baptized at her own request, April
16, 1732. She was the daughter of Daniel
Rice and Elizabeth, his wife. Daniel Rice re
sided on the farm in the northeasterly part of
Shrewsbury in 1731, and perhaps until his
death, on which his brother Luke settled soon
after, and which was the homestead of three
subsequent generations, that is, Hezekiah, Col
onel Asa and Asa, Junior. Daniel Rice, of
Shrewsbury, made a will October 13, 1733,
which was proved July 14, 1734, in which he
says, "having determined to travel abroad," he
made his wife Elizabeth sole executrix. His
inventory amounted to three hundred and fif
teen pounds, six shillings and six pence. He
married, in Marlborough, February 12, 1713,
Elizabeth Taylor, born in 1696, daughter of
James Taylor, Jr., (born 1664) and Elizabeth,
his wife, son of James (died 1713) and his
wife, Sarah, daughter of Richard Newton, all
of Marlborough. Elizabeth (Taylor) Rice
married (second) May 19, 1764, Captain Ger
shom Wheelock, of Shrewsbury, who had then
passed his seventieth year. Children of Daniel
and Elizabeth : Flannah, William, Davis, Ste
phen, Bezaleel, Abner, Jabez, next mentioned.
(V) Jabez, youngest son of Daniel (2) and
Elizabeth (Taylor) Rice, was born in Marl
borough, April 7, 1727. There is no record
of his death. He married, January 9, 1753,
Miriam Morse, daughter of Joseph and Abigail
(Barns) Morse, of Marlborough. She died
January 28, 1776; and he married (second)
Elizabeth Burnet, of Marlborough, April 2,
1776. She died November 27, 1812. Children
by first wife : Daniel, Miriam, William, Mar
tin, Lydia, Stephen, Phebe, Jabez, Aaron, Betty,
Anna, John Hancock and Dorothy Quincy
(twins). By the second marriage: Moses and
Paul. (VI) Stephen, fourth son of Jabez and
Miriam (Morse) Rice, was born June 8, 1762,
in Marlborough. About 1787 he removed from
Petersham, Massachusetts, and soon after set
tled in Reading, Vermont, where he died July
12, 1802. He married, April 6, 1785, Anna
Hammond at Petersham. Their children were :
Haven. Aaron, Stephen, Achsah and Sylvia.
(VII) Haven, eldest child of Stephen and
Anna (Hammond) Rice, was bora at Peters
ham, Massachusetts, October 26, 1786, died in

West Windsor, Vermont, February 6, 1868.
When an infant he went with his parents to
Vermont where he grew up. He was a mill
wright and constructor of early grist mills and
saw mills throughout Windsor county, Ver
mont. He was a Democrat in politics. In
religious sentiment he was a Baptist. He mar
ried, at Reading, December 15, 181 1, Abigail
Davis, who died at West Windsor. Children :
Lysander M., Betsey, Lorenzo Dow, Lucinda,
Joseph A. and Frederick G.
(VIII) Lysander Mason, eldest child of
Haven and Abigail (Davis) Rice, was born in
Reading, Vermont, November 11, 181 2, died
at the house of his son, Colonel John L. Rice,
in Springfield, Massachusetts, October 29, 1903.
He learned the trade of blacksmith in Ascutney-
ville, Vermont, during his minority, serving an
apprenticeship of four years and becoming the
most expert workman in all that region. At
the age of twenty-two he established himself
in business in Ascutneyville, then known as
Weathersfield Corners (named changed 1855),
having a large shop with water power and
machinery. This was in 1834, before the time
when farming tools could be bought at the
village stores, and until about 1848 he made
practically all the farm implements used on
the farms within a wide radius of his shop, as
well as the small hardware, such as cutlery,
pocket knives, scissors, etc. With the advent
of machine-made goods he found his occupa
tion fast slipping away, and thereupon went
into the employ of the Robbins & Lawrence
Company of Windsor, Vermont, then largely
engaged in the manufacture of military arms
for the United States government as well as
for foreign governments. Upon the failure
of that company in 1857, he went to Newark,
New Jersey, where he was engaged in the
same business until about the beginning of
the civil war. Soon after the outbreak of
hostilities, he became a contractor with the
Province Tool Company, of Providence, Rhode
Island, and continued throughout the war in
the manufacture of arms used in the sup
pression of the rebellion. It is a singular cir
cumstances that at one time his son, Colonel
John L. Rice, found the regiment of which he
had command armed with rifles made by his
father. During Mr. Rice's employment at
Windsor, Colonel Sharpe, of Hartford, Con
necticut, invented the breech-loading rifle which
bears his name, and seeking an expert work
man to fashion the parts of that famous weapon
from the paper drawings, selected Mr. Rice as
the one best fitted to do it. Mr. Rice with

MASSACHUSETTS.

449

hammer and anvil and file made all the parts
which went into the construction of the first
rifle, and from those the dies were made for
the manufacture of the weapon on a large
scale. Mr. Rice was a lifelong Democrat in
politics, but never in public life, except that in
early life he was for a short time an officer of
the Vermont State Prison at Windsor and was
postmaster at Ascutneyville during the first
administration of President Cleveland. He
supported the Democratic nominee for the
presidency from Andrew Jackson to William
J. Bryan. In early life he had become a mem
ber of the Baptist church at Windsor and main
tained the connection till his death. In 1834
Mr. Rice built the house at Ascutneyville where
he resided all the remainder of his life, and
where all his nine children were born and where
his wife died. After the death of his wife, he
spent the winters with his children in Spring
field, Massachusetts, and his summers at Ascut
neyville. Hewent from Ascutneyville in Septem
ber, 1903, to Springfield, where he died sud
denly, of apoplexy, six weeks later. Lysander
M. Rice married in Weathersfield, December
17, 1835, Clarinda Whitmore Upham, born in
Weathersfield, Vermont,. April 25, 1814, died
in Weathersfield, September 26, 1889. She
was the daughter of Asa and Betsey (Whit
more) Upham (see Upham IX.). Their chil
dren, all born in Weathersfield, were: 1. Abi
gail Maria, December 16, 1836 ; married Sam
uel Breck, of Springfield, and died January 27,
1898. 2. Ellen E. (died young). 3. John
Lovell, mentioned below. 4. Frances Eliza
beth, July 20, 1842; married (first) Daniel
Colton; (second) Dr. Henry H. Banks, and
died February 23, 1901. 5. Vietts Lysander,
February 11, 1844, died February 21, 1906. 6.
George Asa, June 7, 1846, died January 25,
1900. 7. Charles, August 29, 1848, died Feb
ruary 16, 1905. 8. Clara Jeanette, August 21,
18.52. died in infancy. 9. Infant, died young.
( IX ) Colonel John Lovell Rice, eldest son of
Lysander M. and Clarinda Whitmore (Upham)
Rice, was born in Weathersfield, Vermont,
February 1, 1840, and was educated in the
common schools of his native town and at
Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, New Hamp
shire. After leaving school he was engaged as
a clerk in a store in Cornish, New Hampshire,
until April 28, 1861, when he enlisted as a
private in Company A, Second New Hamp
shire Volunteer Infantry, serving till Novem
ber 18, 1862. He was appointed captain of
Company H, Sixteenth Regiment New Hamp
shire Volunteers, November 18, 1862, and

served with that rank until August 20, 1863.
October 31, 1863, he was promoted to lieuten
ant-colonel of the Seventy-fifth United States
Colored Infantry and filled that place until
November 26, 1865. He was severely wound
ed, being shot through the lungs at the first
battle of Bull Run and was reported dead;
funeral ceremonies were held at his house, and
he was deeply mourned. Meanwhile, he was
suffering in Libby prison, where he remained
until January 2, 1862, and rejoined his regi
ment when released. In December of the
latter year he was ordered to Louisiana, where
he participated in various strenuous campaigns
in that state. Following is his record in brief:
Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861 ; Siege of
Yorktown, March- April, 1862; Williamsburg,
May 5, 1862; Fair Oaks, May 31, June 1,
1862; Oak Grove, June 25, 1862; Savage Sta
tion, June 29, 1862; Glendale, June 30, 1862;
Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862 ; Bristow Station,
August 25, 1862 ; Groveton, August 29-30,
1862; Chantilly, September 1, 1862 — all in Vir
ginia; Butte a La Rose, April 20, 1863; Siege
of Port Hudson, June- July, 1863 ; Pleasant Hill,
April 9, 1864; Cane River, May, ,1864 — all in
Louisiana. In January, 1867, he returned to
Massachusetts and took up his residence at
Springfield, where he has since lived. After
six years in the provision business, 1867-1873,
he served two years — June 8, 1874, to April
30, 1876, as inspector of customs in Boston.
Fle devoted his spare time to the study of law
in the office of Jewell, Gaston & Eield, of
Boston, and was admitted to the Suffolk bar,
April 24, 1876. He was" representative in the
general court from Springfield in 1882, chief
of police in Springfield in 1882-83, postmaster
at Springfield from February 7, 1886, to March
1, 1890, and again chief of police from January
1, 1892, to January 1, 1895. He has also been
commissioner of the United States circuit court
for the Massachusetts district since November
14, 1889. May 18, 1909, appointed deputy
clerk United States circuit court and United
States district court with residence at Spring
field. Since 1876 he has devoted his attention
to the practice of law with the exception of
such time as has been required in the discharge
of his duties in the offices he has filled. He
has been a. liberal and valuable contributor to
historical magazines. He has been active and
prominent in the affairs of the Grand Army
of the Republic and the military order of the
Loyal Legion, holding the office of commander
of E. K. Wilcox Post, Department of Massa
chusetts, 1870, and judge advocate, Depart-

45°

MASSACHUSETTS.

ment of Massachusetts, 1879. Colonel Rice
married (first) at Cornish, New Hampshire,
January 8, 1867, Marion Virginia Chellis, born
at Cornish, 1844, daughter of Enoch F. and
Sarah A. (Taft) Chellis, of Cornish. She died
at Springfield, October 30, 1873, and he mar
ried (second) at Springfield, October 2, 1879,
Clara Elizabeth Galpin, born in Springfield,
August 5, 1850, daughter of Allen M. and
Jane E. (Dickinson) Galpin, of Springfield.
Children, all by second marriage and born in
Springfield: 1. Allen G., mentioned below. 2.
Elizabeth Banks, September 10, 1881, married
Joseph Maslen Meade, of Springfield, Janu
ary 8, 1903, and has one daughter, Eleanor,
born in Denver, Colorado, May 25, 1905. 3.
Ellen Birnie, April 11, 1883.
(X) Dr. Allen Galpin, only son of Colonel
John Lovell and Clara Elizabeth (Galpin)
Rice, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts,
July 20, 1880. He was educated in the public
schools, graduating from the Springfield high
school in 1898; then in Harvard University
where he took the degree of A. B. in 1902 and
that of M. D. in 1905. After receiving his
medical diploma he was interne and house
surgeon in the Boston City Hospital from No
vember, 1904, to November, 1906. After taking
the place for a month of the resident sur
geon of the Fore River Iron Works at Quincy,
Massachusetts, Dr. Rice began the practice of
medicine in Springfield, January 1, 1907, and
has since built up a good practice, being a
member of the surgical staff of the Springfield
Hospital since his settlement here and is also
United States civil service examiner for this
district. He is a member of the Massachusetts
Medical Society, of the 'Springfield Clinical
Club, of the Aesculapian Club, of the Harvard
Medical School Alumni Association, of the
Boylston Medical Club, and physician to Christ
Church Parish. In religious affiliation he is a
member of Christ Church (Episcopal), and in
politics he is a Democrat.

The first mention of Upham as
UPHAM a surname is met with in a deed
of lands to the church of Saint
Maria de Brandenstock, which was a small
monastery in Wills, England, founded by
Walter, son of Edmund, of Salisbury. The
document bears the name of Hugo de Upham,
date 1208. Upham as the name of a place
occurs in records previous to the introduction
of surnames. That Hugo, the first of this
name, is designated Hugo de Upham (of Up
ham), naturally indicates that he derived his

name from his estate, but the lands belonging
to him are expressly referred to in the same
document as bearing the name of Upham. The
"de" was early dropped and the name passed
through various forms of spelling. Although
many documents have been found in which
the name appears, three centuries pass from
the time of Hugo before the advent of Richard
Upham, from whom an unbroken line is traced
to the present day. The Upham family held
a copyhold estate at Gettington, in the parish
of Bicton, in the easterly division of the coun
try of Devon, and were associated with this
parish for upward of three hundred years.
(I) Richard Upham (spelled Uppam), the
first of the name found mentioned in Bicton,
was living there in 1523. No date of his birth
is given but according to the records he died
in 1546. As he left no will, there is little in
formation concerning his immediate family,
but from other sources it is conclusive that he
left three children one of whom was John.
(II) John, son of Richard Uppam (no date
of birth), died in Bicton in 1584. Only the
first name of his wife is given, Joan (or Johan).
The names of three children appear : Richard,
his successor at Bicton, Katherine and Thomas.
(Ill) Richard (2), yeoman, son of John
and Joan Uppam, date of birth not given, died
in Bicton in December, 1635. His wife, Maria,
died in July, 1634. Children: Thomas, his
successor at Bicton; Joan, married Robert
Martin, and both immigrated to New England
with her brother John; John, the immigrant;
Sara, who also accompanied her mother to
New England and may have become the wife
of Richard Webb; Judith; Frances and Jane.
The will of Richard Uppam is a lengthy and
interesting document in which there is men
tion of certain conditional bequests to his
daughter Sara and son John.
(IV) John (again sp'elled Upham), son of
Richard (2) and Maria Uppam, was the first
to bear the name in America, and so far as is
known was the ancestor of all who have since
borne the name in this country. He was born
in Bicton, county of Devon, England, probably
in 1600. He married, at Bicton, November
1, 1626, Elizabeth Sladei?)The names of six
children are given in the following order:
John, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, born in England;
Phineas, Mary and Priscilla, born in New Eng
land. John Upham accompanied by his wife,
three children and two sisters above mentioned,
emigrated to New England with the Hull col
ony, which set sail on the 20th of March, 1635,
from Weymouth, in old Dorset, for the lands

MASSACHUSETTS.

45i

of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The ship
cast anchor before Governor Winthrop's infant
city of Boston, May 6, but it was not until July
2 that the colonists, with the permission of the
general court, finally settled in Wessaguscess
as their future home. On September 2, 1635,
John Upham was admitted freeman, and on
this date the name of the place was changed
to Weymouth. It was made a plantation, with
the privilege of a deputy to the general court,
and this company became an important ele
ment in the community. In 1642 John Upham
was one of the six who traded with the Indians
for lands of Weymouth, and obtained a title
from them thereto. After being closely identi
fied with the town for thirteen years, he re
moved to Maiden, becoming one of the early
settlers and continued through life a leading
citizen of that place. He was repeatedly elected
to its various offices, and the general assembly
appointed him six times commissioner to settle
the lesser legal matters of Weymouth and
Maiden. He was also actively interested in the
settlement of Worcester (Lincoln's "History
of Worcester"). John Upham held the office
of deacon in the church for at least twenty-
four years. Through his long life he retained
his vigor of mind and body. He sustained
himself well as an efficient corroborator among
those who in time of great peril aided the
foundation of a free state. He died in Maiden,
February 25, 1681. His gravestone may still
be seen in the old burying ground at Maiden.
There is no record of the death of his wife
Elizabeth, but it is suggested that she must
have lived to be sixty-four years of age. In
1 67 1 John Upham married (second) Katherine
Holland. (V) Phineas was the only son of John
LTpham that left posterity, consequently he,
as well as his father, was the ancestor of all
the American Uphams. He was born in Wey
mouth, probably in 1635. He married, April
14, 1658, Ruth Wood. Nothing is known of
her ancestry. According to an inscription on
her gravestone which is identified in the old
burying ground above referred to, she died
January 18, 1696-97. There were conveyances
of land to Phineas Upham in 1663-64-72. In
1673 he was appointed with three others to
survey a road from Cambridge to Maiden, and
as early as 1672 he was interested in the settle
ment of Worcester. It appears that he pos
sessed in a high degree the energy and activity
that characterized his father. In the military
services of his country it is manifest that he
was esteemed an efficient officer. He held the

rank of lieutenant and rendered important
service in the war with King Philip. He was
at the storming of Fort Canonicees, December
19, 1675, and was wounded in the battle, from
the effects of which he never recovered. The
government was not unmindful of this great
sacrifice and bore testimony upon the records
of his long and good service for his country.
His death is recorded as having occurred Octo
ber 8, 1676. Children: Phineas, Nathaniel,
Ruth, John, Elizabeth, Thomas and' Richard.
(VI) John, third son of Phineas and Ruth
Upham, was born December 9, 1666, at Mai
den, Massachusetts, where he died June 9,
1733. He married, in 1688, Abigail Hayward
(in one account the name is written Howard),
daughter of Samuel. She died August 23,
1 7 17, and he married (second) Tamzen Ong,
1717. Children; all but the last by wife Eliza
beth : Abigail, John, Samuel, Abigail, Ezekiel,
David, Jacob (died young).
(VII) Captain Ezekiel, third son of John
and Abigail (Hayward) Upham, was born in
Maiden, 1700. fle is known to have been at
Dorchester in 1726, and in the same year he
was at Stoughton, where he sold land which
had previously been bought by his brother
John, on a portion of which the' Universalist
church was afterward built. He settled at
Sturbridge about 1730 and bought a tract of
land there, and probably resided there the re
mainder of his life. He was one of the four
teen male members who first organized the
Congregational church at Sturbridge, Septem
ber 29, 1736. He also appears to have held
the rank of captain at Sturbridge, as he is
given that title on the town records. He mar
ried, 1726, Hannah Stearns, of Dorchester,
who died June 10, 1.788. Their children were :
Ezekiel, Hannah, Abigail, John, Asa, William,
Isaac and Nathaniel.
(VIII) Asa, third son of Ezekiel and Han
nah (Stearns) Upham, was born May 18,
1736, in Sturbridge, where he died September
13,1826. He went from Sturbridge to Weathers
field after he had had eight children born in
the former town. He married, December 10,
1 76 1, Lydia Pierce, who died December 11,
1822. They had : Lydia, Joseph P., Abigail,
Mary, Eunice, Asa, Rachel, Lois, Ezekiel,
Hannah, Thankful and Samuel.
(IX) Asa (2), second son of Asa (1) and
Lydia (Pierce) Upham, was born November
26, 1 771, married in Sturbridge, Massachu
setts, and died in Weathersfield, July 24, 1858.
By occupation he was a farmer and well off ; in
religion he was a Methodist; and in politics

452

MASSACHUSETTS.

first a Federalist, then a Whig, and after the
outbreak of the civil war a Republican. He
married (first) Achsah Newell, who died No
vember 12, 1810. Fle married (second) Bet
sey Whitmore. Children by wife Achsah: Fanny,
Cynthia, George; by wife Betsey: Pluma,
Clarinda W., Sarah, Ann, Frances and Caro
line. (X) Clarinda Whitmore, second daughter
of Asa (2) and Betsey (Whitmore) Upham,
.vas born in Weathersfield, Vermont, April 25,
1814, and died in Weathersfield, September 26,
1889. She married, December 17, 1835, Lysan
der M. Rice, of Weathersfield (see Rice).

Jonathan Fales, who was bora in
FALES Massachusetts, served during the
revolutionary war, his record being
as follows: Order for pouches, June 18, 1775,
Captain Moses Draper's company, Lieutenant
Colonel William Bond's Thirty-seventh (late
Gardner's) regiment; drummer in same com
pany, same regiment, return dated at Prospect
Hill, October 7, 1775; order for bounty coat
or its equivalent in money, dated at Prospect
Hill, December 30, 1775; drummer in Captain
John Lincoln's company, Colonel Joseph
Webb's regiment, which marched to camp, Au
gust 20, 1 78 1, and was discharged November
29, 1 78 1. He was a farmer in the southern
part of Walpole. Mr. Fales married, March
29, 1776, Anna Graves, and had a son, James,
concerning whom see forward, and probably
others. (II) James, son of Jonathan and Anna
(Graves) Fales, was born in Walpole, Massa
chusetts, December 28, 1777, and died in West
Medway, June 16, 1853. He and his wife
Hannah are buried in the West Medway ceme
tery, appropriate headstones still marking their
graves. He was a farmer and shoemaker by
occupation. Four of his children, Caroline,
James D., John S. and Nancy, were baptized
June 3, 1810, at the Second Congregational
Church of West Medway. He married, April
24. J799> Hannah Daggett, born in 1777, died
October 2, i860. Children: 1. Nancy, born
July 28, 1799, died June 5, 1869, unmarried.
2. John Smith, see forward. 3. James Daggett,
born October 13, 1802, died March 1, 1864;
married, November 13, 1825, Mary Hill; chil
dren : Abbie C, born February 2-*, 1844 ; Lewis
G, February 8, 1848; George A., born Janu
ary 14, 1850, died February 2, 1872. 4. Mar
shall, born December 7, 1813. baptized July 3
1814, died April 12, 1889; married, October
19, 1841, Hannah R. Rice; children: Mar

shall, born January 6, died February 19, 1845 ;
Mary Ann, bora June 1, 1848. 5. Caroline
Mackentire, born November 21, 1807; mar
ried, February 7, 1830, Zina Underwood. 6.
Charles Fisher Emerson, born October 21,
1809. (Ill) John Smith, eldest son and second
child of James and Hannah (Daggett) Fales,
was born in Medway, Massachusetts, Novem
ber 5, 1800, and died at Sherborn, Massachu
setts. He received his early education at Med
way, at the same time assisting his father on
the farm and in his teaming; he was still. a
young lad when he was sent to Sherborn,
bound out to Daniel Leland, and attended the
common schools of the town. Later he settled
in Holliston, where he engaged in farming and
teaming, principally in bringing West India
goods from Boston to Holliston, and shortly
after his marriage he removed to Sherborn.
There he lived for a time on the Cutter place,
and worked on various farms. He and his
family attended the Orthodox church, and in
politics he was a Whig. He married, May 6,
1830, Charlotte, born July 25, 1807, died July
22, 1850, daughter of Captain John and Sylvia
(Leland) Leland. Children: 1. Harriet Au
gusta, born July 19, 1830, died June 9, 1850.
2. Charlotte Adelaide, born March 11, 1832,
died March 9, 1908; married, March 16, 1862,
Alden Harrison Adams, of Sherborn; chil
dren : i. John Leland, born July 24, 1863 ;
married, June 2, 1894, Caroline Comey; ii.
Charlotte Lovina, born January 7, 1865 ; mar
ried. August 29, 1893, Joseph Perry Douse;
iii. Charles Francis, born July 10, 1866; mar
ried, June 1905, Bertha Lee ; iv. George Alden,
born October 16, 1867; v. Oliver Fales, born
August 5, 1870; vi. Harriet Sybel, born Feb
ruary 9, 1875. 3- Oliver Leland, born Janu
ary 7, 1839, disappeared in i860. 4. John,,
bora March 12, 1841 ; married Ella Raleigh;
children: George and Bertha. 5. Charles
Leland, see forward. 6. George Miller, born
March 11, 1847, died August 29, 1884. At
an early age he became a fireman for the Bos
ton & Albany railroad, retaining this position
for the greater part of his life. He resided
at No. 32 Mall street, Roxbury, Massachusetts,
was of the Baptist faith, and a Republican in
politics. He married, June 10, 1880, Emma
Leland, born in Sherborn, daughter of John
and Sybil (Leland) Jones; child: Emma G,
born June n, died August 25, 1881.
(IV) Charles Leland, third son and fifth
child of John Smith and Charlotte (Leland)
Fales. was born in Sherborn, Massachusetts,

MASSACHUSETTS.

453

April 26, 1843, a°d died in Franklin, Massa
chusetts, September 28, 1902. He was edu
cated in the public schools of his native town,
then found employment in a grocery store,
where he remained until the outbreak of the
civil war, when he enlisted as a private in
Company B, Sixteenth Regiment, Massachu
setts Volunteer Militia, in the spring of 1861,
and went into camp. Was mustered into ser
vice July 2, at Camp Cameron, at Cambridge,
under Colonel P. T. Wyman. The regiment
was in various camps until May 12, 1862,
when it joined Hooker's Division, Heintzel-
man's Corps, Army of the Potomac. Its first
engagement was at Fair Oaks, June 18, another
at the same place on June 26, and others were
as follows: Savage Station, June 27; Glen-
dale, June 28; Malvern Hill, June 30, and at
the same place, July 20; Bristow's Station,
July 26 ; Bull Run, August 29 ; at this battle
Mr. Fales was taken prisoner and was under
guard on the battle ground for a week, paroled
and sent to Washington, from there to Camp
Parole at Annapolis, Maryland, where he was
exchanged in November and returned to service
December, 1862. Later he participated in the
following battles : Chancellorsville, May 1, 1863 ;
Gettysburg, July 2 and 3 ; Wapping Heights,
July 23 ; Manassas Gap ; Mine Run, Novem
ber 27, 1863. Later he was on detached duty
at division headquarters under the provost
marshal, and was discharged from service at
Brandy Station, Virginia. Pie re-enlisted, July
ti, 1864, in the Eleventh Massachusetts Batta
lion, and was advanced to the rank of corporal
September 1, 1864, serving in that rank until
the close of the war. He was also in the
following engagements : Cold Harbor, May
31, 1864; in and around Petersburg, Virginia,
from June 16 to June 22; Deep Bottom, July
27; Danville Railroad, October 2; Hatcher's
Run, October 27 ; siege of Petersburg, winter
of 1864-5; near Appomattox, April 7, 1865,
until the surrender of Lee, his division having
the honor of holding the front line of battle
when Lee asked for terms of surrender. Dur
ing the last year of his service he acted as com
pany clerk, and was mustered out, July 14,
1865. He was in the hospital at Camp Hamil
ton, near Fortress Monroe, here he had typhoid
fever and lay very ill for several weeks, and
was unconscious for a fortnight. Upon his
return to his home at the close of the war,
Mr. Fales resumed his work in the grocery
store in which he had formerly been employed,
remaining there for one year. Shortly after
his marriage he removed to West Medway,

where he formed a partnership with E. G.
Ware, selling his share at the end of the two
years. He removed to Foxboro in the fall,
and entered into partnership with Mr. Hixon,
under the firm name of Plixon & Fales. Mr.
Hixon retiring, T. G. Pierce took his place, the
firm continuing in business for several years
and then selling to Guy Brothers, of Boston.
In 1877 Guy Brothers came to Franklin, and
with Mr. Fales opened a grocery store under
the firm name of C. L. Fales & Company. The
following spring Mr. Fales purchased the en
tire interest, carrying on the business, how
ever, under the same name. When his store
was destroyed by fire he conducted the busi
ness at his home for a year or more, later
opening a store in the Metcalf block and tak
ing as a partner, A. A. Dean, who remained
for only one year, the firm name being Fales
& Dean. Altogether Mr. Fales was in the
grocery business nearly thirty-eight years, and
for twenty-five consecutive years in Franklin.
No man in the town was more highly respected
for integrity and honest business principles.
He and his family were attendants at the First
Universalist Church, and he gave his political
support to the Republican party. He was a
member of Franklin Post No. 60, Grand Army
of the Republic, and of King David Lodge,
No. 71, Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
of Franklin. He married at Medway, April
16, 1866, Abbie Caroline, born February 23,
1844, daughter of James Daggett and Mary
(Hill) Fales, the former a cooper by trade.
Children: 1. Nellie Adelaide, born Decem
ber 24, 1866; married, April 20, 1887, Arthur
Adams Dean, of Franklin; children: Charles
Walter, deceased, and another son died an
infant. 2. Charles Elmer, born January 21,
1869, carries on his father's business at Frank
lin. 3. Walter Leland, see forward. 4. Mary
Louisa, born August 26, 1878; married, June
15, 1904, Albert Rogers Willard, of Franklin.
(V) Walter Leland, second son and third
child of Charles Leland and Abbie Caroline
(Fales) Fales, was born in Foxboro, Massa
chusetts, September 27, 1871, and died in
Franklin, Massachusetts, March 4, 1890. The
larger part of his education was obtained in
the grammar schools of Franklin, from which
he was graduated, and at an early age he
became assistant to his father in the store of
the latter, acting as clerk. While in the per
formance of his duties, one day, he was taken
with cerebral hemorrhage and died in a short
time. During his leisure moments he had de
voted his time to the study of nature, more

454

MASSACHUSETTS.

especially plant life, in which he was partic
ularly interested, fle was of a most lovable
and generous disposition, a firm and devoted
friend, and had given promise of a brilliant
future. He was an attendant at the Univer
salist church.

The surname Taylor is a very
TAYLOR common and ancient English
family name, derived from the
occupation of the progenitors, as Smith, Mason,
Carpenter. This name is found also pretty
generally in Ireland. A branch of the family
settled in the north of Ireland at the time of
the grants to the Scotch and English Prot
estants, from whom the race of Scotch-Irish,
so-called, are descended. James Taylor, sup
posed to be the brother of the immigrant Will
iam, mentioned below, was born in 1607, came
to New England and married, October 19,
1641, Isabel Tompkins, born 1615, died Janu
ary 22, 1690, in Concord. He had children:
Henry, born and died 1648; Samuel, June 21,
1656; Thomas, born and died 1659. He was
probably older than William.
(I) William Taylor, immigrant ancestor,
may have come to New England with his
brother James. He settled at Concord on lot
No. 14, one hundred and seventeen acres on
the East Bedford road. He married Mary
Meriam. who died December 10, 1699. He
died at Concord, December 6, 1696. Children:
1. Mary, born February 19, 1649-50. 2. John,
October 19, 1653, married, March 26, 1678,
Eunice Woolen. 3. Samuel, July 3, 1655, died
July 16, 1655. 4. Abraham, November 14,
1656, mentioned below. 5. Isaac, March 5,
1650. 6. Jacob, May 8, 1662. 7. Joseph, Con
cord. April 7, 1665, settled in Grafton.
(TI) Abraham, son of William Taylor, was
born in Concord, November 14, 1656. He was
admitted a freeman in 1690 and was a farmer
in Concord all his life. He married, December
16, 1681, Mary Whittaker, who died Febru
ary /6, 1756, aged ninety-three years, eleven
months. Children, born at Concord : 1. Abra
ham, January 11, 1682-83, died young. 2.
John, September 8, 1685. 3. Ebenezer, April
30, 1688, mentioned below. 4. -Elizabeth, Au
gust 7, 1690. 5. Alary, March 15, 1691-92. 6.
Jonathan, August 10, 1694. 7. Sarah, October
13, 1696. 8. David, January 31, 1698. 9.
Benjamin, April 18, 1699. 10. Nathaniel, Feb
ruary 9, 1701-02. 11. Daniel, March 22, 1703-
04. 12. Timothy, March 5, 1705, died March
28, 1705.. 13. Abraham, April 4, 1707. 14.
Samuel, October 1, 1708.

(Ill) Ebenezer, son of Abraham Taylor,
was born at Concord, April 30, 1688, died
June 25, 1753. He married Deborah  .
He settled in Lancaster, now Sterling, Massa
chusetts. Children, born at Concord : I.John,
July 20, 1720. 2. Nathan, November 19, 1722.
3. Ebenezer, October 31, 1725, mentioned
below. 4. Abraham, August 21, 1729.
(IV) Ebenezer (2), son of Ebenezer (1)
Taylor, was born at Concord, October 31,
1725. He settled in Lancaster, now Sterling,
Massachusetts. He bought land of Thomas
Sawyer at Lancaster, April 27, 1750, and also
bought land at Lancaster, July 1, 1752, of
Elisha Sawyer. He bought land of Mary
Beaman in Lancaster, June 23, 1755, and of
Thomas Sprague in the west precinct of Lan
caster in 1751. He deeded his homestead, of
eighty-six acres in the west part of Sterling to
son Nathaniel, March 30, 1790. James and
Louisa Taylor witnessed the deed. He deeded
ether lands to his son Nathaniel, December 12,
1796. He married, March 9, 1748, Mary
Houghton, daughter of James Houghton. He
and his wife quitclaimed their share in the
estate of James Houghton. The other heirs
were Silas Smith, Oliver Hoar, Daniel Davis
and Fortunatus Eager. Children, born at Lan
caster and Sterling: 1. Ebenezer, July 5, 1749,
baptized an adult, April 4, 1773. 2. Jonathan
(twin), September 20, 1751. 3. James (twin),
September 20, 1751, baptized an adult, May 17,
1*72. mentioned below. 5. Elnathan, October
"7,1769. (V) Dr. James, son of Ebenezer (2) Taylor,
was born September 20, 1751, in Sterling,
Massachusetts. He was a physician and prac-
tice-1 in Sterling. He removed to Fitzwilliam,
New Hampshire, about 1796, and settled on
lot No. 4, range 1, and followed farming the
remainder of his life. He married, March 27,
1786. Louisa Belknap, born January 4, 1765,
died September 7, 1840, in Winchendon, Mass
achusetts, daughter of Ebenezer Belknap, of
Sterling. Her father was a captain in the
revolution. Children, the first five born in
Sterling, the others in Fitzwilliam: 1. Louisa,
September 17, 1787, died June 12, 1825. 2.
Deborah, March 31, 1789, died August 13,
1849; married, March 3, 1817, Stephen Elliot.
3. James, May 3, 1791, mentioned below. 4.
Jonathan, April 23, 1793, died 1874; married
(first) January 4, 1818, Betsey Bard; (sec
ond) Anne Osborne. 5. Ebenezer, May 7,
1796, died December 23, 1831 ; married, Octo
ber 5, 1820, Phebe Bard. 6. Asher, December
2, 1798, died December 4, 1871 ; married, No-

MASSACHUSETTS.

455

vember 7, 1822, Susan Stuart; (second) No
vember 9, 1848, Orinda Rugg. 7. Mark, July
7, 1801, died October 30, 1838; married, June,
1825, MaryF. Blood. 8. Mary, December 14,
1803, died March 14, 1877; married, March
27, 1824, Leonard Willoby. 9. Dorcas, Octo
ber 14, 1806, died November 19, 1869; mar
ried, August 25, 1829, Luther Willoby. 10.
Stillman, November 7, 181 1, died May 13,
1887 ; married, January 26, 1841, Susan Adaline
Tenney. (VI) James (2), son of Dr. James (1)
Taylor, was born in Sterling, May 3, 1791,
died April 2, 1863. After the birth of his first
child he removed to Winchendon, Massachu
setts. He married (first) January 22, 1822,
Kezia Stuart, born July 2, 1794, died April 28,
1828, daughter of Paul and Hannah Stuart, of
Winchendon. He married (second) October
26, 1829, Lucy Blood, born February 20, 1797,
died March 14, i860, daughter of Reuben and
Lucy Blood, of Sterling. He married (third)
January 31, 1861, Laura Jane Parkill, of Can
ton, New York. Children by first wife: 1.
James Hiram, born December 13, 1822, men
tioned below. 2. Arvilla Louisa, April 21,
1826, in Winchendon, married, November 28,
1848. Levi G. Smith. 3. Infant, born and died
April 28, 1828. Child by third wife: Edson
Parkill. September 1, 1862.
(VII) James Hiram, son of James (2)
Taylor, was born in Fitzwilliam, New Hamp
shire, December 13, 1822, died in 1884, in
Stockholm, New York, He bought a farm in
Stockholm, St. Lawrence county, New York,
where he removed about 1850, and lived there
the remainder of his life. He married, in
Bicknellville, New York, Lorinda Ursula
Humphrey, born July 2, 1831, daughter of
Lewis and Louisa (Eliott) Humphrey. Chil
dren: 1. Charles Humphrey. 2. Fred Bas-
comb, born May 2, 1855, mentioned below. 3.
T ouisa. 4. Delbert, a Baptist minister, now
living in Wisconsin. 5. Grace.
(VIII) Fred Bascomb, son of James Hiram
Taylor, was bora in Stockholm, New York,
May 2, 1855. He attended the public schools
of the town of Stockholm, and at the age of
eighteen came to Springfield and engaged in
the building business artd two years later built
a factory to manufacture sash and blinds. He
has developed a large and prosperous business
and ranks among the leaders in his line. From
the first he has invested at every opportunity
in real estate and at the present time is one of
the largest owners of real estate in the city of
Springfield. In politics he is a Republican.

and in religion a Methodist. He is a member
of De Soto Lodge, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows. He married, May 9, 1882, Eliza Jane
King, daughter of William A. and Sarah A.
(Ferry) King. Children: 1. Bernice Evelyn,
born July 3, 1883, married Walter Lawrence
Chamberlain ; child, Walter L. Chamberlain,
Jr. 2. Earle Humphrey, March 31, 1885, men
tioned below. 3. Philip Merwin, October 7,
1892. 4. Grace King, January 3, 1895.
(IX) Earle Humphrey, son of Fred Bas
comb Taylor, was born in Springfield, March
31, 1885, and was educated there in the public
schools, and at the Cheshire Military Academy,
where he was a student from the age of four
teen to twenty-two, and at Princeton Univer
sity. At the end of his freshman year he left
college to help his father who had suffered
heavy loss from a fire that destroyed his fac
tory. Since then lie has been associated in
business with his father. In politics he is a
Republican, and in religion an Episcopalian.
He married, April 17, 1909, Beatrice Stone,
born April 9, 1885, daughter of Wilmore B.
and Carrie (Newell) Stone.

The American advent of this family
DOTEN was in the "Mayflower." It has
produced merchants of wealth and
renown, men high in finance ; others have hum
bly sailed the seas, penetrating every clime on
the face of the globe ; but the vast majority have
been plain, substantial artisans and farmers,
who have educated their children well, and
have brought them up to lead useful lives. In
the revolution they were on both sides of the
fight ; the loyalists mostly emigrated to Nova
Scotia after independence was declared. The
Dotens were in the Seminole war in Florida ;
in the war for sailors' rights they were at
Plattsburgh and Sacketts Harbor ; in the Mexi
can war they were at Chepultepec ; in the fratri
cidal strife in '61 some followed the Stars and
Stripes, and others of the name the Stars and
Bars. Th°y were at Fredericksburg, Chan-
cellorsville, and in the Wilderness. In our
latest war, descendants of the name were with
Roosevelt at Kettle Hill. In religion, we find
them among the Quakers, and even among the
Mormons, as well as all the leading denomina
tions. Among those who have achieved special
prominence have been Hon. John Lamb Doty,
United States consul to Bermuda, under Cleve
land ; Hon. Lakewood L. Doty, private secre
tary to both Governors Morgan and Seymour,
and afterward United States consul to Nassau ;
Professor Frank A. Sherman, of Dartmouth

456

MASSACHUSETTS.

College ; and Hosea Doten, the mathematician
and astromonter.
( I ) Edward Doten was a London youth who
came over in the "Mayflower" as an apprentice
of Stephen Hopkins. The first account we have
of Edward is in Cape Cod harbor where he
signed the cabin contract. He was treated to
all intents and purposes as one of the company.
Stephen Hopkins was a tanner of London, and
joined the Pilgrims at Southampton, and did
not go to the Low Countries. The "Mayflower"
arrived at Cape Cod, November n, 1620, and
the first duty of the Pilgrims was to find a
suitable landing-spot. The shallop they brought
with them for shore explorations was out of
commission, and a few hardy ones volunteered
to make an inland journey. Sixteen in all went
ashore, and they were the first Englishmen
permanently to land in New England. In this
party was Edward Doten. They started No
vember 15, and were gone several days. A
few Indians whom they met ran away from
them, and they found some Indian corn, which
they bore back to the ship, the first they had
ever seen. On December 6th, the shallop being
made ready, a party of ten set out by water,
and of these Edward was one. The weather
was extremely cold, the seas rough and boister
ous, and they encountered much hardship. They
beat off the Indians, discovered their stores of
corn, their habitations, and graves. On Friday,
December 8, in a terrible snowstorm, they
reached a point of land now known as Clark's
island. Here they rendezvoused all day of the
9th, and Sunday, as became men of their pro
fession. It is said that Edward Doten attempted
to first leap on the island, but was checked, and
the master's mate allowed to first land, after
whom the island was named. On Monday,
December 11 (our 21st, Forefather's Day),
they sounded the harbor, and sailed for the
mainland, mooring at Plymouth Rock. It was
a hard winter for the Pilgrims, that first winter
at Plymouth. They were little prepared for
such rigorous climate, and their suffering was
consequently great. Disease attacked them;
death thinned their numbers. Edward Doten
bore his part of the inconveniences with the
others, but, being young and strong of frame,
he was carried through safely.
The next allusion we find to Edward is when
he fought a duel in single combat with sword
and dagger with Edward Lister, both being
wounded, the one in the hand, and the other in
the thigh. They were adjudged by the whole
community to have their head and feet tied
together, and so to remain for twenty-four

hours without meat and drink; but after an
hour, because of their great pains, they
were released by the governor. This was the
first duel fought in New England, and the first
pardon ever issued by the hand of an Ameri
can governor. It was also the second offense
committed in the colony. Lister seems to have
soon after, whether voluntarily or by compul
sion, left the plantation, and died some years
later in Virginia. Edward, it must be remem
bered, was not of the ascetic race, like the
Scrooby farmers and Notinghams.hire sectar-
ists who composed the bulk of the "Mayflower"
list. He had seen London life in abundance,
his blood ran quicker, he possessed a spryer
temper than they, and thus got into escapades
which were rendered venal through the effer
vescence of youth. He seems later in life to
have retrieved his somewhat lively character,
and began to accumulate property. In January,
1 63 1, he was rated at one pound seven shillings,
and there were many lower ratings than this.
He was made a freeman in 1633. He was a
litigant, due, no doubt to his warm blood and
a determination to stand up for his rights.
January 1, 1632, John Washburne haled him
into court for wrongfully taking his hog, but
the jury brought in for Edward. In April,
1633, Will Bennet complained of Edward for
clivers injuries — that he sold him a flitch of
bacon at the rate of three pounds, and that it
was not worth above half that sum. This was
referred to Robert Hecker and Francis Eaton,
to decide as they should think meet between
man and man. Edward called Bennet a rogue,
whereat he brought him into court on a sum
mons for slander, and Edward was fined fifty
shillings. In 1634, at a general court, an
apprentice of Edward's (this shows he was
getting up in the world, to keep an assistant),
John Smith, asked the court to free him from
his master Edward, to whom he had bound
himself for ten years, as the master did not
keep him properly. At a court of assistants,
held March 24, 1634, Edward and Jason Cook
were fined six shillings for breaking the peace.
They got into a fistic altercation, and Edward
drew the first blood. March 7, 1636, at a court
of assistants, George Clarke complained against
Edward for damages in a land trade. The
court ordered Edward to repay Clarke eight
pounds. At the same session, Edward was
convicted for assault and battery and assessed
twelve pence, and in another action of the
same kind, same parties, ten shillings. Up to
1650 he was in court either as plaintiff or de
fendant in twelve other causes. In 1624 the

MASSACHUSETTS.

457

people requested the governor to set off land,
and Edward received his share on what is now
Watson's hill. In 1627 there was another
allotment "to heads of families, and to young
men of prudence," and Edward was given a
share under this designation, though unmar
ried, which shows him to have gained the confi
dence of the governor. At a general meeting,
March 14, 1635, he was given hay ground on
Jones river, on High Clifford or Skeat Hill,
near the present border of Kingston. In 1627
he sold land to Russell Derby for one hundred
and fifty pounds. To this deed he made his
mark, as to all other documents. In 1637
he was allotted sixty acres on Mount Hill;
also, he owned land in Yarmouth, Cohasset,
Dartmouth, Lakenham and Punckquasett, now
Tiverton, Rhode Island. In 1638 he went bail
for Samuel Gaston for forty pounds ; in 1639
for Richard Derby in the sum of twenty pounds ;
in 1642 for John Hassel, of Seakonk; in 1643
for John Smith, of Eele river. He was a pri
vate in the militia, and lived in the town of
Plymouth, High Cliff, Plain Dealing, which is
the name Theodore Roosevelt adopted for his
Virginia country place.
fle died August 24, 1655, and his will bears
date May 20 that year ; the appraisement was
one hundred and thirty-seven pounds nineteen
shillings. He contracted marriage with Faith,
daughter of Thurston and Faith Clarke, Janu
ary 6, 1634. She was born in Ipswich, Eng
land, in 16 1 9. Her parents came to Plymouth
in 1634. After her husband's decease she mar
ried John Phillips, by whom she had issue, and
she died at Marshfield in 1675, and is buried
in the old cemetery there. Children of Edward
and Faith : Edward, John, who is the subject
of the next paragraph ; Thomas, Samuel, De
sire, Elizabeth, Isaac, Joseph and Mary.
(II) John, second son of Edward and Faith
(Clarke) Doten, was born in Plymouth, Massa
chusetts, May 14; 1639, and died there May 8,
1701. He was a farmer, and the only son of
his father who settled in Plymouth. He re
ceived a share of the patrimonial estate ; beside,
he was granted by the town, January 8, 1665,
three acres of meadow at Turkey swamp ; Jan
uary 31, 1668, thirty acres at Island pond; in
1694 was given a piece of the "gurnet," a. head
land on the coast near Plymouth ; and again in
1701 a valuable lot of ground. His mother
signed off to him all of her right and title to
her late husband's land in Plymouth. His name
appears on the court records in several matters.
In July, 1669, John Dunham complained that
he beat him in the highway. He had the pug

nacity of his combative father. In 1676 he
and Jacob Cooke had a dispute in court over
some marshland. In 1681 he entered suit
against Nathan Southworth for breach of con
tract. He was a juryman in 1675-6-9, and
1680-3-4. In 1671 he was highway surveyor,
and again in 1675, and in 1680 was constable.
His will was executed April 15, 1701, and pro
bated in June that year. His descendants still
reside in Plymouth, among whom are preserved
heirlooms and traditions of the family. He
married, in 1667, Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob
Cooke. He was a native of Holland, and was
the son of Francis who came over in the "May
flower," but Jacob and his mother came in the
"Ann" three years later. Elizabeth died before
John, and he married next, Sarah, daughter of
Giles Rickard. By Elizabeth he had John, Ed
ward, Jacob, Elizabeth, Isaac, Samuel, Elisha
(see below), Josiah and Martha. By wife
Sarah he had Sarah, Patience and Desire.
Sarah Rickard Doty married, after her hus
band's death, Joseph Peterson, and she was
living as late as 1708.
(Ill) Elisha, fifth son of John and Eliza
beth (Cooke) Doten, was born in Plymouth,
July 13, 1686, and died there before 1756. He
wrenched a living from a hard soil and harder
sea. March 11, 1711, he was granted a house
lot provided he build thereon during the year.
In 1716 he united with his brothers Isaac,
Samuel and Joseph in a deed to their sister
Elizabeth, as they knew it was their father's
intention to do before he died. The forename
of his wife was Hannah. Children: Elisha,
Samuel, Hannah (died young), Edward, Han
nah, Paul, Lois, Stephen (mentioned below)
and James.
(IV) Stephen, fifth son of Elisha and Han
nah Doten, was born in Plymouth, January 24,
1726, and spent his life there, fte married
Anna, daughter of John and Sarah (Cobb)
Bartlett. She was born in Plymouth in 1727.
He married (second) the widow Josie Don-
ham. Children : Mary, Stephen, Sarah, Mercy,
Hannah, Esther, Joseph, and John, whose sketch
follows. (V) John (2), youngest son of Stephen
and Hannah (Bartlett) Doten, was born in
Plymouth, in 1766, and died in Sheffield, Mass
achusetts, in August, 1825. It was not till this
generation that the Dotens drifted from the
family altars and firesides of their forefathers.
John went to Sheffield in 1814. He married,
November 27, 1790, Mary, daughter of Isaac
and Faith (Chandler) Wright, of Plympton,
Massachusetts. Children : James, Mary, Faith

458

MASSACHUSETTS.

Chandler, John, Bartlett (sketch below) and
Caleb. (VI) Bartlett, third son of John (2) and
Faith (Wright) Doten, was born in Plymouth,
February 16, 1797, and died in Bridgeport,
Connecticut, August 16, 1867. He was a mer
chant and manufacturer, residing in Sheffield
and Bridgeport. He married, November 14,
1833, in Sheffield, Augusta, daughter of Col
onel Darius and Sarah (Root) Mason. Chil
dren : Martha Ellen, Frederick Bartlett, sketch
below ; Edward Mason, who was cashier of
the First National Bank, of Chicopee ; Charles
A., educated at Yale, a lawyer and judge at
Bridgeport. (VII) Captain Frederick Bartlett Doten, eld
est son of Bartlett and Augusta (Mason) Doten,
was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, Decem
ber 9, 1 841, and died in Chicopee, Massachu
setts, April 9, 1903. He was educated in the
public schools of Sheffield and Bridgeport. As
a young man he went to New York, where he
took a position as clerk in a carriage manu
facturing concern. He remained there until
the outbreak of the civil war, when he returned
to Bridgeport and enlisted as a corporal in the
Fourteenth Connecticut Regiment. For his
bravery and excellent service he was promoted
to first lieutenant, February 3, 1863, and to
captain, October 20, 1863; and he served by
detail on the staffs of General Hays and Gen
eral Barlow. He participated in various of
the most bloody battles of the war. At the
battle of Fredericksburg the state flag borne
by his regiment was picked up by Captain
Doten and Major Hicks, after the color bearer
had been shot down. It remained in their
keeping all day, and they brought it safely
from the field at the close of the engagement.
At Morton's Ford he was captured, and sent
to Libby Prison. This was the most trying
experience of all, but by his uncomplaining
submission he won the respect of his keepers,
and was consequently trusted beyond his other
comrades. After three months he was ex
changed through the intervention of Secretary
Mallory, of the Confederate cabinet, who knew
his friends in Connecticut.
The war over, he returned to his old Bridge
port home and settled down to the pursuits of
peace as a matter of course, as if nothing extra
ordinary had happened. He never boasted of
what he had done. He then returned to New
York and entered the employment of Wood
Brothers, carriage manufacturers. In 1871 he
went to Chicopee and entered the firm of
Jerome Wells & Co. About this time he took

the position of cashier of the First National
Bank. He cared little for politics, less for
office, and was in no sense a politician. He
discharged his duties as a citizen at the polls.
Twice he was induced to hold minor offices in
the municipality — alderman and school com
mitteeman — and he brought to the. discharge
of these duties his varied business experience
and uncompromising honesty. He was a con
sistent member of the Unitarian church; also
a charter member of the Nayasset Club, and a
companion of the Military Order of the Loyal
Legion, Massachusetts Commandery. He was
a lover of music, and sang in the Unitarian
choir, and was a member of the Orpheus Club,
and a musical atmosphere pervaded the home
circles. He was conservative in business affairs,
and was frequently consulted by those in need
of advice and his judgment was rarely wrong.
He was intimately connected with the business
growth and life of Chicopee and saw it grow
to a large manufacturing city and he grew with
it. Somewhat reticent of nature, he was at
his best in his home, among those he loved.
A comrade-in-arms said of him at his death :
"It is with a sad heart that I note in The Re
publican of the 10th, the news of the death of
Captain Fred. B. Doten, of Chicopee. He was
a fellow-officer with me in the old Fourteenth
Connecticut Infantry during the civil war, and
was one of the best and bravest of the remark
able and dashing young fellows who worked
their way up from the ranks to a commission.
Death got in its work very frequently in the
ranks of the Fourteenth, and hence promo
tions were quick and recurring ; but in Captain
Doten's case, at least, it was well deserved and
acceptable to all concerned. At the battle of
Morton's Ford, in 1864, when a staff officer of
the old Second Corps, and engaged in carrying
orders, I stopped for a chat with the old regi
ment. I especially noted his gallant bearing
and pleasant greeting. * * * Our ranks
are thinning fast of late years, but Fred Doten
will be one of the most missed, for he was not
only a brave and efficient soldier, but, in those
days and since, ever and always a gentleman."
Captain Doten married, October 4, 1866,
Georgiana L., daughter of Jerome and Louise
(Rice) Wells, of Chicopee (see Wells). Mrs.
Doten is a member of the Unitarian church,
and has served on the parish committee. She be
longs to the Cosmopolitan Club, a woman's club
of Springfield ; the Chicopee Falls Woman's
Club, and the Travelers' Club of Chicopee ; she
has served on the committee on aids and char
ities of the Springfield Hospital. She is a

m

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ss'-tss^y.

Lewis Thistoyical PiYb Co

MASSACHUSETTS.

459

member of Mercy Warren Chapter, Daughters
of the American Revolution, deriving member
ship therein through her ancestor, Lieutenant
Seth Rice. Children of Captain and Mrs.
Doten: i. Jerome Wells, born September 9,
1869, died December 14, 1905; married (first)
Mary Whiting Groce. of Roxbury, Massachu
setts; (second) Bessie Henderson Taylor, of
New York City. 2. Florence E., married Louise
Trask Hawkins ; children : Frederick Doten,
born December 31, 1900; Georgiana Wells,
August 11, 1903.

Wells is from Wellan, to spring
WELLS up as a fountain, or water. It is
a place name in England. It also
has a Norman stem in Val, Vals, Vaux and De
Yollibus. Three sons of Harold De Vaux, a
Norman baron, came over to England in 1120
and settled in Cumberland. One of these was
named Robert, and his grandson Adams Vaux,
in about 1194, holding the manor of Welles,
took the name of DeWells. Bishop Hugo De
Welles became one of the most important men
in England. Advanced to the see of Lincoln
as archdeacon and lord chancellor of the realm,
his power became very great. He was chief
of the Barons, and was instrumental in obtain
ing from King John, at Runnymede, in 12 15,
the Magna Charta, the bulwark, of English
liberties, prepared by his own hand. The
family have had two United States senators,
three congressmen, three governors of states,
and one held a cabinet portfolio — the Hon.
CHeon Welles. The Hon. Roscoe Conklin was
a Welles descendant.
(I) Hugh Wells, of Essex county, England,
bora in 1.590, came to America in 1635, in the
ship "Globe," and landed at Boston. He re
moved to Connecticut in 1636, and his first
stop was at Hartford, where he was one of
the pioneers. He soon removed to Wethers
field, and was one of the founders of that
town. He died there in 1645. He married his
wife in England, and her name was Frances.
After her husband's death she married Thomas
Coleman, of Wethersfield, who was originally
from Evesham, near Bath, England. They
removed to Hadley, Massachusetts, where she
lived the residue of her life and died in 1678.
She bequeathed her property to her grandchil
dren, to her son John, and daughter Mrs.
Gilbert. Her son-in-law, Jonathan Gilbert, ad
ministered. Children of Hugh Wells: Thomas
(of whom later), Hugh, born 1625; Mary,
1626; John, 1628.

(II) Thomas, eldest son of Hugh and Fran
ces Welles, was born in Colchester, England,
in 1620, and died in Hadley, Massachusetts,
1676. He was taken to America as a mere
child in 1635, and thence to Wethersfield, Con
necticut. His name was on the agreement of
the "withdrawers," who went with Parson Rus
sell to Caponoke Meadow, afterward called
Norwoottucke, now Northampton, on account
of a religious schism in Wethersfield, October
8, 1660, and was one of the twenty-eight "en
gagers" to sign the engagement to become an
inhabitant of the new settlement on the Con
necticut. He was made a freeman March 26,
1661. His lot was number eight from the
river, between Samuel Porter and John Hub
bard. His lot in Hockanum meadow was num
ber forty-five, of six acres. In 1663 he was
on a petition to the general court for an en
largement of the township. February, 1668,
Thomas signed a petition directed to the gen
eral court to revoke the duties on imported
goods and merchandise which the general court
had imposed. This was perhaps the first free
trade propaganda in the United States.
"This morning was received sad intelligence
from Hadley ; that upon Saturday last, Captain
Lothrop with about sixty men, being appointed
to conduct from Deerfield to Hadley with
carriages and cattle, they were surprised by
abundance of Indians that lay in ambushment
and received a dreadful blow ; insomuch that
above forty of Captain Lothrop's men with
himself were slain. Captain Mosely being not
far off, engaged with the Indians and fought
several hours and lost eleven men ; others also
were slain that belonged to the carriages (carts)
so that the next day they buried sixty- four men
in all. The Indians were judged to be near
five hundred."
Thomas was in this engagement at Muddy
Brook, and received wounds there. He owned
land in Hadley, Wethersfield, also England.
His will was dated September 30, 1676, proved
December 19, 1676. The inventory was seven
hundred and thirty-two pounds. He married
Mary, daughter of William Beardsley, of Eng
land. She was born in 1631, and at the time
of the marriage was of Wethersfield. She
married after her -husband's death, Samuel
Bel'ing, of Hatfield, and she died there in
1690. Children of Thomas Welles : Thomas,
born January 10, 1652; Mary, October 1, 1653
(died) ; Sarah, May 5, 1655 ; John, January 14,
1657 (died); Jonathan, in 1659; John, April
3, 1660; Samuel, 1662; Mary, September 8,

460

MASSACHUSETTS.

1664; Noah, July 26, 1666; Hanah and Ebe
nezer (twins), in 1668; Daniel in 1670; Eph
raim, 1672 ; Joshua, February 18, 1673.
(Ill) Ebenezer, eleventh and twin child of
the fourteen children of Thomas and Mary
(Beardsley) Welles, was born in Hadley, July
4, 1668, and died in Hatfield, Massachusetts.
He had a grant of twenty-eight acres on Green
river on condition that he occupy it. He drew
lot number twenty-two, south of Fort river,
in the general division of land at Hadley. Home
lots were laid out according to one's estate, a
pound drew forty-six rods of land. The eleva
tions were selected for houses such as Chilcab's
Hill, Cold Hill and Sandy Hill. Their fuel
ground was at the growth at Falls Woods Field,
called so because it was a wood lot near the
falls. He married Mary, daughter of Sergeant
Benjamin Waite, of flatfield; (second) Au
gust 15, 1705, Sarah, daughter of Samuel
Smith, widow of John Lawrence. Children
of Ebenezer Wells: Ebenezer, born Septem
ber 13, 1691 ; Thomas, September 25, 1693;
Joshua (see below) ; Martha, September 18,
1697; John, June 9, 1700; Jonathan, Septem
ber 26, 1702; Mary, October 24, 1707.
(IV) Joshua, third child of Ebenezer and
Sarah (Waite) Wells, was born in Deerfield,
Massachusetts, August 31, 1695, and died in
Greenfield, Massachusetts, April 21, 1768. He
settled in the Green river district. His house
stood on the site of what is now called the
Arthur D. Potter place, and was palisaded
during the French and Indian war. His lot
was number fourteen, and was north of Cheap-
side and east of Green river. This was given
to his son Abner. He sold to Oliver Cooley,
' in 1819, and Cooley to Gould in 1827. Gould
sold to Henry W. Clapp in 1834, and he to
Arthur D. Potter. He was sealer of weights
and measures. Sixteen acres was laid out to
him as his "pitch," number ninety. August
25, 1725, he was with a party surprised by a
band of Indians in ambush near Green river.
One Indian was killed and one of the whites
wounded. An army of two hundred and eighty
men was raised in the Connecticut valley towns
to send to the Kennebec during the French-
Indian wars in August, 1774. They surprised
and killed Father Rasle and six chieftains and
about thirty of the enemy. Joshua Wells was
in this expedition. By death of Father Rasle
and the subsequent death of Governor Vaud-
reuil the Indians lost their leaders and peace
was restored. He was one of the organizers
of the First Church, and on the committee to
invite Rev. Mr. Billings. He married, April 6,

1770, Elizabeth, daughter of Ebenezer Smead;
she died May 2, 1773. Children: Joshua,
born September 16, 1721 ; Ebenezer (see next
paragraph) ; Martha, February 16, 1724; Eliz
abeth, October 17, 1726; Simeon, March 7,
1727; Asa, January 15, 1729; Elisha, Novem
ber 12, 1731 ; Mary, August 6, 1733 ; Joel, April
2, 1735; Esther, March 29, 1736; Elizabeth,
December 15, 1737 ; Joel, May 6, 1739; Thank
ful, July 14, 1741, and Abner, December 15,
1742. ( V ) Ebenezer ( 2 ) , second child of Joshua and
Elizabeth (Smead) Wells, was born in Deer
field, in 1723, and died in Greenfield, January
11, 1787. His house was situated on what is
now called the Frederick G. Smith place. Fred
erick's father, Deacon Moses Smith, bought of
A. H. Nims; Nims, of Elisha Root; he of
Elisha Lyman, who probably obtained it from
Captain Wells. Captain Wells was selectman
for twelve years, and town clerk and treasurer
in 1782. He obtained his title from service in
the militia, and was a leading man in the
town. He married, February 14, 1745, Eliza
beth, daughter of Ebenezer Field. She died
May 17, 1784; he married (second) February
20, 1785, Mary Whipple. Children of Eben
ezer : Obed, died young ; Elizabeth, born Octo
ber 3, 1748 ; Ebenezer, June 16, 1750; a daugh
ter, March 3, 1752; Reuben, May 5, 1753;
Simeon, June 30, 1756; Levi, July 27, 1758;
Obed (see below) ; Simeon, October 17, 1762;
Consider, January 16, 1765 ; Elizabeth, July 30,
1766, and Seth, October 27, 1768.
(VI) Obed, eighth child of Ebenezer (2)
and Elizabeth (Fields) Wells, was born in
Deerfield, February 5, 1746, and was drowned
at Gardners Island, November 10, 1809. He
married Caroline Grinnell. Children : Patrick
(see below) ; Lena, born October 21, 1783;
Obed, April 17, 1786; Harriet, January 4,
1788; Lydia, June 6, 1790; Hart, September 4,
1792 ; Russell, November 20, 1794 ; Willis West,
July 22, 1797; Elizabeth, October 6, 1799!
' Weston Wise, July 25, 1802; Warren Field,
July 25, 1802 ; Obed Hart, March 3, 1805.
'(VII) Patrick, eldest child of Obed and
Caroline (Grinnell) Wells, was bora in Green
field, December 17, 1779, and died in Burling
ton, New York, 1839. He married Amanda,
daughter of Ruel Willard.
(VIII) Jerome, son of Patrick and Amanda
(Willard) Wells, was born in Greenfield, April
2, 1812. In 1830 he went into the store of
Howard & Lothrop, South Hadley Falls, as a
clerk. Subsequently he went to Springfield
and learned the silversmith's trade. For a few

MASSACHUSETTS.

461

years he was a clerk in his uncle's store. In
1835 he removed to Chicopee and engaged in
the dry goods trade with Moses Younglove.
In 1854, upon the establishment of the old
Cabot Bank (later the First National Bank of
Chicopee), he was elected president, and re
mained in that office till 1880. He was a director
in and president of the Cabot Bank, chartered
January, 1845, succeeding John Wells in 1854.
He was a stockholder and director in the Gay
lord Manufacturing Company. He was elected
a representative from Chicopee to the legisla
ture in 1869, and was chairman of the com
mittee on banks and banking. His practical
knowledge of business affairs and of banking
was of great value to his associates, and no
legislative measure received his approval until
it had been carefully looked into and found in
his judgment to be in the best interests of the
majority of the people of the commonwealth.
- His own little city found in him a persistent
and conscientious advocate of its interests at
the state capitol. From conversing with those
who knew Mr. Wells, we learn that he was a
kind and obliging neighbor, a friend to the
friendless, that his business acumen was of a
high order, and that in his family relations he
was kind and indulgent.
He married Louise C, daughter of William
Rice, of Northboro, Massachusetts, who was
from Edmund Rice. One child crowned the
union — Georgiana L., married Captain Fred
erick B. Doten (see Doten, above).

Samuel Webb, immigrant ancestor,
WEBB was born in Redriff, near London,
England, December 25, 1696, son
of Captain Samuel Webb, who was in the ser
vice under the reign of Queen Anne, and who
was lost at sea in 1706. Samuel was left an
orphan, his mother having died in 1704, two
years before his father, and he was bound out
to learn his trade. His master or guardian did
not allow as much liberty as he desired, 'and in
1 713 he ran away, taking passage on a ship for
America. Where he went first on reaching
this country is uncertain. It is likely that he
followed the sea for a time. In an account of
him written by his grandson, Seth Webb, it is
stated that he landed in Rhode Island, and was
taken into the family of Mr. Mclntyre, a black
smith of Tiverton, and there learned the trade.
While his name is not found in the town rec
ords of Tiverton, there is no reason why it
should be there, for he was a minor. The town
records contain only records of birth, marriage,
death, elections to public office, etc. The first

public record of him is in Braintree and Wey
mouth, giving his marriage, September 13, 1721,
to Susanna Randall, born in Weymouth, Janu
ary 14, 1702-3, died there December 22, 1724,
daughter of John and Susanna ( Porter) Ran
dall. He married (second) August 11, 1725,
Bethiah (Farrow) Spear, born at Hingham,
November 29, 1704, died at Little Isle of Holt,
Maine, November 30, 1770, daughter of John
and Persis (Holbrook) Farrow, of Hingham,
and widow of David Spear, of Braintree.
These marriages were performed by Rev. Ne
hemiah Flobart, of the Cohasset parish, and are
recorded in the Weymouth town records.
Samuel Webb may have been distantly re
lated to the other Webbs of Braintree and
Weymouth. It is a curious coincidence that
he should choose for his residence on leaving
Rhode Island the same town in which Richard
Webb settled as early as 1640, and but a mile
or so from the home of Christopher Webb, of
Braintree. But a thorough search shows that
he was not a direct descendant of any of the
pioneers of this name. There is no reason to
doubt the family record of his birth in Eng
land. About 1730 Webb moved away from Wey
mouth, leaving his sons Samuel and Thomas
with their grandfather John Randall, who was
chosen guardian for the son Samuel, March 14,
1736. The history of Deer Isle states that he
once lived in the vicinity of Salem, Massachu
setts. He was in that part of Falmouth, now
Westbrook, in 1740. The "History of Gor
ham" states that he was in Boston in 1744,
moved to what is now Windham, in 1745, and
settled on home lot, No. 23. He was chosen a
blacksmith there, and the first schoolmaster.
He served as a schoolmaster in the Indian wars
of 1747-8 and in 1757. He probably moved to
North Yarmouth about 1760, and about 1764
to Little Isle of Holt. After the death of one
of his sons in 1784, he moved to Deer Isle,
where he died February 15, 1785. In the bury
ing ground of North Weymouth is a large
granite monument erected by his descendants
over the spot where his first wife lies buried,
and upon which is the inscription: "Samuel
Webb, son of Samuel Webb, was born in Lon
don, England, 1696. Died in Deer Isle, Maine,
February 15, 1785." Other family names are
inscribed thereon, including that of his first
wife. He and his second wife are buried in the
old graveyard at Deer Isle. Children of first
wife : 1. Samuel, born July 31, 1722 ; mentioned
below. 2. Thomas, born December 21, 1723,
died January 31, 1724. 3. Thomas, born De
cember 1, 1724.. Children of second wife: 4.

462

MASSACHUSETTS.

David, born March 29, 1727. 5. Susannah,
born March 29, 1729. 6. Ezekial. 7. Seth,
born 1732. 8. John. 9. Eli, born November
17, 1737; married, April 20, 1760, Sarah Clout-
man. 10. Eliza Adams. 11. Elizabeth, born
June 14, 1744-5. 12. James. 13. Josiah, born
January 21, 1746. 14. Elizabeth, born March
4, 1746-7-(II) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1) Webb,
was born July 31, 1722, and died at the North
Parish of Weymouth, November 6, 1809. In
1736, when his father left Weymouth, young
Samuel was placed in charge of his grand
father, Samuel Randall, who was legally ap
pointed his guardian. He became a highly
respected and honored citizen of Weymouth,
and was deacon of the first church there. He
married, December 29, 1743, Ruth Ward, born
January 29, 1723, died June 14, 1801, daughter
of Samuel and Jael (Beal) Ward. Children:
1. Samuel, born December 14, 1744; mentioned
below. 2. Susannah, born February 29, 1748;
married, March 18, 1779, Dyer Rawson, of
Milton. 3. Ruth, born September 3, 1752, died
unmarried, April 7, 1833. 4- Rebecca, born
December 14, 1757 ; married, June 10, 1782,
Eliphalet Ripley, of Weymouth.
(Ill) Samuel (3), son of Samuel (2) Webb,
was born in Weymouth, December 14, 1744,
and died there August 24, 1820. He married,
March 26, 1772, Margaret (Porter) Torrey,
of Weymouth, born December 23, 1744, died
October 4, 1826. He and his wife were ad
mitted to the Weymouth church August 29,
1773. He was a miller, and owned the mill
built by his father on the creek in Weymouth.
Children, born in Weymouth: 1. Colonel Sam
uel, June 7, 1777. 2. Christopher Columbus,
mentioned below.
(IV) Christopher Columbus, son of Samuel
(3) Webb, was born at Weymouth, July 12,
1780; died July 4, 1831, at Weymouth. He
lived in a house built by himself. He graduated
from Brown University in 1803. He was ad
mitted to the bar, opened his office in Wey
mouth, and became one of the leaders of the
bar in Norfolk county. He was elected to
many offices of trust and honor in his native
town ; was selectman a number of years, and
served his district in the general court for
twenty-seven years — a striking evidence of his
popularity and value as a citizen. He was a
strong and able legislator, and one of the best
known men of the state in his later years. He
was interested in town affairs and in all public
questions, especially in school matters, being
for many years on the board, and took an active

part in starting a high school. He was a lead
ing and influential Republican in politics. In
religion he was a Congregationalist, and for
many years deacon bf the Weymouth Congre
gational church. Of strong and vigorous intel
lect, of sterling character, strict integrity and
attractive personality, he was for many years
the foremost citizen of the town, enjoying to
the fullest extent the confidence and esteem of
his townsmen. He was a partner in the firm
of Whitcomb, Porter & Webb, lumber dealers.
He was keenly interested in the history of his
native town and state, and gathered much
valuable historical data.. He married, Novem
ber 13, 1817, Susanna, daughter of Major John
and Nancy (Babcock) White (see White).
Children: 1. Susan. 2. Mary H. Torrey, mar
ried L. Gelett Merrill, of Portland, Maine. 3.
Nancy B., married Captain Jackson. 4. Sam
uel, mentioned below. 5. Christopher, has two.
sons, Harry Howard and Louis, both mining
engineers. 6. Eliza, married Dr. Gibbons, of
Weymouth. 7. George.
(V) Samuel (4), son of Christopher Colum
bus Webb, was born in Weymouth, in 1822,
and died there in 1898. He attended the public
schools of his native town and when about
fifteen entered upon a mercantile career as
bookkeeper in the boot and shoe establishment
of Eliphalet Merrill. Later he attended Ober
lin College, after which he returned to Balti
more and was with Mr. Potter in the crockery
business, and later started in business for him
self in the same city. When the gold fever
broke out in 1849 he went to California with
his brother Christopher, in a company of forty
men from New Orleans. Not satisfied with
the mode of travel of the party, however, they
separated from it and continued on their way
alone by the difficult and dangerous land route.
After following the mining business a few
years Samuel opened a flour mill, in connec
tion With a grain, feed and provision store in
San Francisco, California, this being the first
business of its kind in that town. His wife
joined him, going by way of Cape Horn in the
long but safer journey by water, taking seven
months to make the voyage. Like many others,
however, he preferred to live in his native
state, and in 1859 returned with his family.
Pie engaged in business in Weymouth and also
in Washington, D. C, whither he often went
in connection with his business. He was a
Republican in politics. He was always inter
ested in the welfare of his native town, and
never neglected an opportunity to advance its
welfare. He was a prominent member of the

MASSACH USETTS.

463

Congregational church of Weymouth, and a
member of the Free Masons.' He married
Deborah Ayers Pratt, born 1823, died 1905,
at Weymouth, daughter of Asa Pratt. Chil
dren: 1. Samuel, mentioned below. 2. Susan,
married Charles Lemon, born in England. 3.
Rebecca. 4. Fannie W., died six years of age.
5. Christopher, resides in California, and has
charge of his father's estate in that state.
(VI) Samuel (5), son of Samuel (4) Webb,
was bora in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1850. He
was educated in the public schools of San
' Francisco and Weymouth, and later returned
to California, where he has a large ranch. He
married Sophia Remme, born in Yreka, Cali
fornia. Children : Alice, Miriam, Fanny, Wil
helmina, Samuel Henry, Robert, Edwin.
(The White Line).
(II) Captain Ebenezer White, son of Thomas
White (q. v.), w'as born in Weymouth, in 1648,
lived and died there, 1703. His original home
stead was recently occupied and owned by
Deacon Abiel White, of Weymouth, and is
near the house of the late Christopher C. Webb
(see above). He was admitted a freeman in
1674. He was a highly respected and useful
citizen, of strict integrity and moral worth.
His will was dated July 19, 1703, and his in
ventory amounted to nine hundred and fifty-
five pounds, ten shillings, six pence — a large
estate for his day. He married Hannah Phillips,
born November 25, 1654, at Yarmouth, daugh
ter of Nicholas and Hannah. (Salter) Phillips.
Children: 1. Ebenezer, born February 17,
1672; graduate of Harvard College, 1692; or
dained October 9, 1696, minister of church at
Southampton, Long Island ; married Hannah
Pierson. 2. Thomas, born August 19, 1673 ;
mentioned below. 3. Deacon Samuel, born
1676; married, September 14, 1692, Ann Pratt.
4. Joseph, married Sarah  ; (second)
Catherine Andrews, 1743. 5. Hannah, born
May 5, 1681 ; married John Alden, of Middle
borough. 6. Abigail, born March 1683 ; mar
ried Samuel Reed. 7. Benjamin, born Febru
ary 21, 1684; married Ruth Reed; (second)
Ann Bicknell. 8. Experience, born July 1,
1686'; married Joseph Pool. 9. Elizabeth, born
November 9, 1688; married David Pierson.
(Ill) Deacon Thomas, son of Captain Eben
ezer White, was born at Weymouth, August
19, 1673. He resided at Weymouth on the
homestead previously occupied by his uncle
Samuel White, and died there April 28, 1752,
aged seventy-nine years. He was distinguished
in both civil and military life, was deacon of

the Weymouth church, and held many town
offices. Fle married (first) in 1700, Mary
White, baptized November 11, 1677, daughter
of James and Sarah (Baker) White, of Dor
chester, Massachusetts. She died November
3, 1 7 16, aged forty-one, and he married (sec
ond) September 15, 1740, Silence (Torrey)
French, widow of Samuel French, of Abing
ton. Children, born at Weymouth: 1. Dr.
Nathaniel, September 4, 1701, died November
23, 1758; graduate of Flarvard, 1725 ; married,
April 27, 1726, Sarah Lovell; (second) April
15, 1742, Ruth Holbrook; (third) July 1, 1755,
Lydia or Abigail Heath. 2. Jonathan, October
21, 1702; married, January 1, 1731-2, Hannah
Lovell ; settled in New York. 3. John, Septem
ber 25, 1704; married, January 23, 1734-5,
Flannah Dyer; (second) May 24, 1739, Rachel
Loring; removed to North Yarmouth, Maine;
deacon; died November 1, 1747. 4. Thomas,
May 5. 1707; married, November 30, 1738,
Sarah Loring. 5. Ebenezer, December 21,
1709; graduate of Harvard, 1733; ordained
at Danbury, Conecticut, March 11, 1736; dis
missed March, 1764; died September 11, 1769,
at Weymouth; married (second) January 14,
1747, Mary French. 6. James, November 5,
1712; mentioned below. 7. Mary, February
12, 1714; married, June 19, 1735, Micah
Allen. 8. Silence, November 13, 1716; mar
ried, January 22, 1738, Captain John Hayward.
(IV) James, son of Deacon Thomas White,
was born in Weymouth, November 5, 1712 ;
died March 1, 1793, aged eighty years. He
resided on Fore River, in Weymouth, in the
house built by his uncle, Joseph White, from
lumber brought from England, now occupied
by the family of Samuel Webb, a descendant,
mentioned below. The house was built about
1700. White was captain of the military com
pany; deputy to the general court; held vari
ous town offices, and had a large estate, of
which his son John received the largest share.
He married, April 16, 1748, Miriam Kingman,
born October 2, 172Q, daughter of John and
Hannah (Tirrell) Kingman, of Weymouth.
She died December 29, 1791, aged sixty-two.
Children, born at Weymouth : 1. Hannah, Octo
ber 10, 1740, died November 20, 175 1. 2.
Mary, February 20, 175 — ; married Nathan
Vose. 3. Hannah, June 12, 1753, died June
26, 1753. 4. Hannah, October 25, 1754; mar
ried Lemuel Adams, of Milton. 5. Silence,
December 5, 1756; married Jonathan Swift, of
Milton. 6. John, March 6, 1759; mentioned
below. 7. Susanna, March 16, 1761, died April
1, 1761. 8. Sarah (twin), August 8, 1762;

464

MASSACHUSETTS.

married Hon. Daniel Baxter. 9. Miriam (twin),
August 8, 1762; married Colonel Benjamin
Hayden. 10. Deborah, July 17, 1765; married
Deacon Caleb Hayward, son of Captain John ;
(second) Deacon John White, of Concord,
January 19, 1807.
(V) John, son of James White, was born at
Weymouth, March 6, 1759; died November 7,
1816, aged fifty-eight. He inherited the man
sion house and a large part of his father's
estate. He married, April 29, 1791, Nancy
Babcock, of Milton. Children, born at Wey
mouth : 1. James, August 12, 1793. 2. Ann,
June 14, 1795; married Josiah Vose. 3. Sus
anna (twin), November 6, 1798; married Hon.
Christopher Columbus Webb, November 13,
1817 (see Webb). 4. Maria, June 27, 1800;
married Colonel Royal Turner, of Randolph,
son of Seth. 5. Harriet, March 19, 1805 ; mar
ried, July 18, 1829, Benjamin C. Harris. 6.
George, married, and left a son George, who
married and left a daughter Catherine, who
married a Clapp and resides in Dorchester. 7.
Arthur.

The two great families of Rhode
GREENE Island Greenes, of which a branch
of one family is delineated in
this article, are traced, say the genealogists,
from a companion of William the Conqueror
through a lordly line of descendants to the
immigrants, John of Warwick and John of
Quidnesset. The immigrant Greenes were prom
inent men among their fellows, and the brave
record of the family has been kept up since
their time. Of this family have been General
Nathaniel Greene, second only to Washing
ton as a general in the revolution ; General
George Sears Greene and General Francis Vin
ton Greene. It has supplied Rhode Island with
representatives, senators, supreme judges and
governors, and many others less distinguished
have been hardly less useful.
(I) Alexander, a knight at the king's court,
was the great-grandson of one of the Norman
nobles who invaded England with William the
Conqueror in 1066. King John bestowed the
estate of Boughton in Northampton on him in
1202. He is the earliest known ancestor of
the Greene families of Warwick and Quid
nesset in Rhode Island. He probably received
his estate for services rendered in putting down
a rebellion of John's nobles, and what was
given him had probably belonged to one of
the lords whom the king had attainted. • Lord
Alexander assumed a surname after his chief
estate, de Greene de Boketon, that is, the Lord

of the Park of the Deer Enclosure. A green
in those times was a park. Boketon is a very
old word meaning the ducks' (dokes) ton or
paled-in enclosure. Centuries ago the terminal
syllable ton had lost its original sense, and
meant a town, so that Boketon, still used in
the original sense, shows Lord Alexander came
to an estate named long before, and noted for
its extensive parks and deer preserves. Boke
ton became Bucks and Buckston, and later
Boughton, its present name. It lies in North
ampton. For a long time the full name de
Greene de Boketon was used in legal docu
ments. Naturally in everyday speech it was
shortened to de Greene. During the reign of
Flenry VI, 1422-1471, with its attendant French
wars, the patriotic de Greenes dropped the
patrician de as too Frenchy in sound for Eng
lishmen, as they now considered themselves.
(II) Sir Walter de Boketon, son of Sir
Alexander, succeeded his father to the title
and estates, and was probably a crusading
knight in the seventh crusade, which ended in
1240, as he was listed in the old rolls of the
twentieth year of Henry III (1236) and the
forty-fifth year of the same king (1261).
(Ill) Sir John de Greene de Boketon, the
son of Sir Walter, accompanied King Edward
III to the Holy Land as a crusading knight and
perished there, leaving an infant son.
(IV) Sir Noinas, only child of Sir John de
Greene de Boketon, received the title of his
ancestors in his infancy. He accompanied Ed
ward I against the Scots in 1296, and is men
tioned in the records of 1319 as then alive.
He married Alice, daughter and co-heir of Sir
Thomas Bottishane, of Brauston.
(V) Sir Noinas (2), fifth Lord de Greene
Boketon, was born in 1292, son of Sir Noinas
( 1 ) . When about forty years old he was made
high sheriff of Northampton (1330-1332), in
the early part of the reign of Edward III.
"The office in those days was esteemed equal
to the care of princes, a place of great trust
and reputation." He married Lucie, daughter
of Eudo de la Zouche and Millicent, one of
the sisters and heirs of George de Cantelupe,
Lord of Abergaveny. Lady Lucie had royal
blood. One house of de la Zouche was lineally
descended from Alan the famous Earl and
sovereign of Little Britain. One son was born
of this marriage.
(VI) Sir Henry, son of Sir Noinas de Greene
de Boketon (2), was the foremost lawyer of
his day and was made lord chief justice of
England. He was speaker of the house of
lords in two Parliaments (1363-64), and be-

MASSACHUSETTS.

4^5

came at last the King's nearest counsel. He
died in 1370, in the sixtieth year of his age,
and was buried at Boughton. He left to his
posterity one of the most considerable estates
of the age. He married Katherine, daughter
of Sir John, and only sister of Sir Simon Dray
ton, of Drayton. They had six children, Thomas,
Henrv, Nicholas, Richard, Margaret and Ama-
dila. '
(VII) Sir Henry (2), the second son of
Sir Henry (1) de Greene de Boketon, was
made the heir of his father in spite of the
English law of primogenture through a special
license given by the King. Henry was a very
rich man and possessed many estates. He
married Matilda, sole heiress of her father,
Lord Thomas Mauduit, who also had five
lordships and other fair possessions. Henry
was a man of ability and became as prominent
a statesman as. his father had been. He was
a member of the House of Commons, and one
of its leaders. He was knighted and became
one of the King's near counselors. As a fav
orite of the King, he received many more
manors and estates. Sir Henry was one of a
commission appointed over King Richard II,
whose eccentricity amounted almost to insanity,
and as such counseled the King to confiscate
the estates of the banished Henry Bolingbroke,
Duke of Hereford and Lancaster. After the
overthrow of Richard, Sir Henry was taken
prisoner by Bolingbroke and beheaded in the
market square in Bristol, September 2, 1399.
Shakespeare devotes much of Acts I and II of
his Richard II to Sir Henry Greene. The chil
dren of Sir Henry and Lady Matilda were :
Ralph, John, Thomas, Henry, Eleanor, Eliza
beth and Mary.
(VIII) Thomas (3), third son of Sir Henry
(2) Greene, was the only son of his father
whose line remained to bear the name of
Greene. From him came the Gillingham Greenes,
and from them again came the Warwick and
Quidnesset Greenes, two of the most important
lines of that name in America.
( IX ) The name of the son of Thomas Greene
who was the ninth of this line has not been
preserved. lie was born about 1420, and came
to manhood in the middle of the "bloody cen
tury." This included the period of the Wars
of the Roses and but little authentic history of
many families during this time is to be found.
(X) John (2),thenextof the line is supposed
to have been born about 1450. Dickens says
that King Richard III sent word to Sir Robert
Brackenbury by John Greene, ordering him to
put the two princes to death. But Sir Robert

refused to execute the command. After the
death of Richard, John Greene lost no time in
putting the seas between himself and Henry
VII, the rival and successor of Richard. He
returned to England, where he lived a while,
then fled again and died abroad. He is known
as "John, the fugitive" in the family records.
( XI ) Robert Greene, gentleman, son of John
(2), purchased an estate at Gillingham in Dor
setshire, which he called Bowridge Hill. On
the old records it is usually spoken of as Por
ridge Hill, the local pronunciation of Bowridge
FT ill. lie had five children: Peter, Richard,
John, Alice and Anne. From Richard's line
came Surgeon John Greene, the head of the
Warwick Greenes, and from John came John
of Quidnesset, the head of a numerous Rhode
Island family of Greenes.
(XII) Richard, second son of Robert Greene,
inherited his father's estate, married and left a
son and a daughter.
(XIII) Richard (2), son of Richard (1),
and wife, Mary, had five sons and four daugh
ters. (XIV) Surgeon John (3), (variously called
John Senior, John the Elder, John of Salisbury,
Chirurgeon John, Surgeon John, John of Provi
dence and John of Warwick), the fourth son
of Richard and Mary Greene, was born at
Bowridge Hall, Gillingham, England, probably
in 1585. In most American genealogies he is
called the son of Peter Greene of Aukley Hall.
This is a mistake. Peter was his eldest brother,
the heir of Bowridge Hall. His home was at
Aukley Hall, Salisbury. He left England to
enjoy religious freedom and probably for per
sonal safety, and with his wife and five chil
dren set sail from Southampton in April, 1635,
in the ship "James," and arrived at Boston,
May 3rd of the same year. He lived for some
time at Salem, and was among the first to fol
low Roger Williams to Providence. The latter
showed his confidence in him by making him
one of the trustees to whom Providence was
deeded, and of this land he received his pro
portionate allotment when it was divided. Dur
ing Roger Williams' visit to England in 1641,
Surgeon John wrote a bold pamphlet on what
was called the Verin Controversy, a question
of heresy and the states right to put down such
beliefs. Fle flatly charged the legislature of
the Bay with "usurping the power of Christ
over the Churches and men's consciences." The
year after his settlement at Providence he
visited Boston. There he expressed himself
freely as to the tyranny of town officers in try
ing to control men's consciences. Palfrey states

466

MASSACHUSETTS.

that the Boston authorities, September 19, 1637,
fined him twenty pounds for "seditious dis
course," and sent him away with an injunction
to keep away in the future. In 1643 Surgeon
John was living at Shawomet or Shawmut,
afterward called Warwick, when the Massa
chusetts authorities and forty soldiers broke
up the settlement by force, and took nearly all
the settlers of Shawomet prisoners. Joan,
wife of Surgeon John, was drawing near death.
In her weak state, she was dreadfully alarmed,
and her husband carried her off for refuge to
the friendly Indians at Conanicut, Rhode Island,
where she died. He escaped capture and the
trials of his comrades. In 1644 Surgeon John
was selected as a representative of Providence
Plantations to cross the ocean and lay their
side of the controversy with Massachusetts
before the English authorities. In England he
became the best known man of the Colony with
the exception of Roger Williams. Surgeon
John died in 1759 at Warwick (Shawomet)
and was buried at Conanicut by the side of
his first wife. John Greene married (first)
November 4, 1619, at St. Thomas' Church,
Salisbury, England, Joan Tatersall (or Joane
Tatarsole, as the old records have it). They
had five children, three sons and two daugh
ters, four of whom left issue. They were Mary,
John, James and Thomas. All three sons were
at various times assistant president of the Col
ony. While in England he married (second)
a lady whom he had known in Rhode Island,
Widow Alice Daniels, who had returned home.
She soon died, and after his return to Rhode
Island he married (third) Philippa (or Phellix)
 , who survived him.
(XV) James, second son of John (3) and
Joan (Tatersall) Greene, was born in Eng
land and baptized June 21, 1626. At the age
of nine years he came with his parents to
Massachusetts, and went with them on their
removal the next year to Rhode Island. He
was a prominent citizen, held the office of
assistant president of the Colony and lived
until April 27, 1698. He married (first) De
liverance Potter ; (second) Elizabeth Anthony,
daughter of John Anthony.
(XVI) Jabez, son of James and Elizabeth
(Anthony) Greene, moved in later life into the
edge of Quidnesset territory, on the Poto-
whommet, where he and his son built the fam
ous anchor mills and forge which made them
all rich. He married (first) Mary Gorton,
and had two daughters ; (second) Mary Greene,
probably the daughter of Captain Edward and
granddaughter of John Greene, the head of

the Quidnesset branch of Greenes. She was
the mother of all his sons. He married (third)
Grace Whitman, by whom he had one daugh
ter. The sons were: James, born February
21, 1701 ; Benjamin, December 16, 1703; Jabez,
May 26, 1705; Nathaniel, September 4, 1707;
John, December 14, 1709; and Rufus, April 21,
1714. (XVII) James (2), eldest son of Jabez and
Mary (Greene) Greene, was born February
21, 1701, and married (first) in 1726, Eliza
beth Gould, sister to the wife of his brother
Jabez. He married (second) in 1734, Han
nah Tucker. Of the first wife were born James
and Paul ; of the second were Elizabeth, Sam
uel, Jabez and Abraham, next mentioned.
( XVIII) Abraham, youngest child of James
(3) and Hannah (Tucker) Greene, was born
August 10, 1740. He married (first) Septem
ber 5, 1765, Patience Arnold; (second) 1771,
Mary Reynolds.
(XIX) William, son of Abraham and Pa
tience (Arnold) Greene, was born February
13, 1769, died December 30, 1848. He mar
ried (first) 1726, Sarah Shaw, who died July
24, 1807; (second) 1809, Mary Wilcox. The
children by the first wife were : James, Matty
(?), Perry, Eliza and Sally; by second wife,
Robert Wilcox.
(XX) James (3), eldest son of William and
Sarah (Shaw) Greene, was born in 1797, died
October 21, 1864. He married Lucy N. Sher
man, and they had : 1. Mary Wilcox, born
1820, married W. H. Allen. 2. William S.,
mentioned below. 3. Albert Crawford, 1825,
died 1881 ; married Lucretia Whipple. 4. Eliz
abeth, married Solomon P. Wells. 5. Harris
Ray, 1829, died 1892; married Nettie Seaman.
6. John Flavel, 1833; married (first) Ann E.
Blackwell; (second) Sarah E. Hull. 7. Lucy
E., 1836, died 1893 > married Roger T. Ester-
brooks. 8. Nathaniel Sherman, 1842; married
(first) Lucy Cole; (second) Josephine  .
(XXI) William Shaw, eldest son of James
(3) and Lucy N. (Sherman) Greene, was
born in North Kingston, Rhode Island, Sep
tember 29, 1822, died in Springfield, Massa
chusetts, June 21, 1878. His preparation for
college was made at South Kingston under
the tuition of Rev. Charles Vernon, a most
estimable man and a teacher to whom he was
very much attached. He entered Waterville
(College) Maine, as a freshman in 1845, and
completed the course as a member of one of
the best and most studious classes that ever
graduated from that institution. After gradu
ating he engaged in teaching for several years,

MASSACH USETTS.

467

first as principal of the academy at East Corinth ;
from October, 1853, for one year in the Jud-
son Female Seminary at Marion, Alabama;
and from September, 1854, to July, 1858, as
principal of the Worcester Academy. One
year from the fall of 1858 he spent in Europe.
About the close of 1859 he returned to Wor
cester and is thought to have resumed the
office of principal of the academy, while at the
same time he prosecuted the study of law under
the direction of Dwight Foster. Fle next re
moved to Springfield, where after a short period
of study in the office of O. A. Seamans he was
admitted to the bar in 1862, and there began
practice and continued in it till the close of his
life. He was first a partner with M. P. Knowl
ton and later with H. W. Bosworth, with whom
he was associated at the time of his death.
During the years 1867-68-69, he was a partner
in the operations of the Wells River Lumber
Company in Vermont, which terminated dis
astrously. He was a man greatly esteemed for
the conscientious manner in which he con
ducted his business and his kindness to the
poor, whom he often gratuitously counseled
and aided, even when pressed with matters
involving great pecuniary interest. Highly
gifted by nature, he became a most scholarly,
cultured and refined gentleman. He was ever
the center of attraction in the society in which
he moved, not only because of his manifest
scholarship and fund of information, but also
and especially from his rare powers of con
versation, which in a most eminent degree
blended real richness and fertility of thought
with the most mirthful wit and humor. He
everywhere made hosts of friends, and what is
a better proof of his real goodness of heart
he never lost any. He was a member of Spring
field Commandery, Knights Templar, though
not an active one. He was always noted for
his simplicity in dress and manner. He was
a man of good ability and of earnest religious
convictions ; and though for many years the
victim of a painful malady (general weakness
of the digestive system and hereditary disease
of the liver), he was remarkable to the end for
a sweet and cheerful disposition and genial
bearing. He married, May 11, 1870, Carrie
E. Patton, born in Springfield, May 7, 1849,
daughter of William and Caroline E. (Sikes)
Patton (see Patton VII). - There was born
of this marriage one child, Harrie W., next
mentioned. (XXII) Harrie William, only living child of
William S. and Carrie E. (Patton) Greene, was
born in Springfield, Massachusetts, October 9,

1872. Studied medicine and graduated from
Boston University School of Medicine, June 6,
1894. He settled in Springfield, May, 1896,
practiced medicine a short time, and upon the
death of his grandfather (William Patton),
who was a real estate dealer, gave up medicine
and went into real estate.

This is an ancient English sur-
PATTON name dating back to the very
beginning of the use of sur
names in England and taken, as was often the
case, from a locality. Richard Patten was a
resident of Pattine, near Chelmsford, Essex
county, England, as early as 11 19. One of
his descendants, Richard Patten, of Wayne-
fleet, was a man of distinction from 1422 to
1462, was bishop of Winchester and lord high
chancellor and founded Magdalen College at
Oxford. Hector, Robert and William Pat
ten came from Ireland and settled in New
England. Nathaniel Patten, of Crewkerne,
England, settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
Another William, mentioned below, came evi
dently from England but there is no clue to
the place of his birth, though Somerset has
been suggested.
(I) William Patten of this sketch is first
mentioned in this country in the Cambridge
town records under date of March 13, 1635-
36, when by vote of the townsmen it was agreed
that, he should keep one hundred cattle belong
ing to the inhabitants of the town for the space
of seven months for twenty pounds, one half
to be paid in money when he had kept half his
time, and the other half in corn (grain) when
he had done keeping. In 1638 he also had an
agreement to keep the town cows. In 1646
Brother Patten was fined for having one hog
without keeper, thrice one shilling. On the
20th day of the third month, 1649, Andrew
Stevenson and William Patten were appointed
to execute the town order concerning hogs,
and to levy on all such as shall be found break
ing that rule, then just penalty of the same
being therein prescribed. In the same year
liberty was granted some of the townsmen,
among them William Patten, for the present
hay time to mow the common meadow at
Shawshine "provided they intrench upon noe
property." On two or three different occasions
we find him appointed as one of the surveyors
of fences, his district being that about the
Menotomy fields. He was also appointed sur
veyor of highways on one or two occasions.
Between 1660 and 1668 William Patten was
granted libertv on_ several occasions to take

468

MASSACHUSETTS.

lumber from the common "to repair fencez,"
"for a cart," "for a cow house," "to build a
lean-to and an end to his farm," and to "re-
payre his old house at towne." He did not
always ask for permission, for in 1662 he was
fined twenty shillings for felling trees on the
common, contrary to town orders. Fines levied
by the selectmen were sometimes abated, for
in 1663 it appears that a fine imposed upon
William Patten was abated five shillings. In
1642 William Patten was enrolled as a member
of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com
pany of Boston. He lived on what is now
Massachusetts avenue, opposite the Common.
The proprietors' records show that he had "one
house and garden about halfe an Acre upon
the Cow Common." "In the New Lotts next
Manotomie two Acres of planteing grounde."
In 1645 forty-seven lots on the west side of
Menotomy river were granted to the several
inhabitants of the town. In this distribution
William Patten had "Three Acre more or
lesse." June 9, 1652, an agreement was made
by the church as to the division of Shawshine.
In this William Patten was assigned lot 87,
containing eighty acres, yet it is doubtful if
he ever lived there, but remained in Cambridge
until his death. In 1655 "The Great Deed from
the Cambridge Proprietors to the Billerica Pro
prietors," making Shawshine or Billerica an
independent town, was executed and William
Patten was one of the signers. This deed is
still preserved by the town of Billerica. Will
iam Patten died December 10, 1668. He left
no will, but on April 2, 1669, his widow filed
with the court an inventory of property amount
ing to one hundred and ninety-nine pounds,
three shillings and eight pence. The articles
enumerated and their value show him to have
been a citizen in good circumstances. William
Patten married before coming to this country
Mary  , who died September 20, 1673.
Their children were : Mary, William, Thomas,
Sarah, Nathaniel (died young) and Nathaniel.
(II) Thomas, second son of William and
Mary Patten, was bora at Cambridge, October,
1636, died January 16, 1690. He removed in
1654 to Billerica, and resided there till his
death. His house was on the west of Long
street, south of the Common, near the house
of Francis Richardson. He owned consider
able land in Billerica at the time of his death,
and also owned an interest in a sawmill near
Pattenville. Fle does not seem to have taken
an active part in the public affairs of the town ;
in the treasurer's account of the town for the
year 1664 Ralph Hill, Sen., and Thomas Pat

ten are charged thirteen shillings each for "not
traininge;" Billerica being a frontier settle
ment there was great fear of the Indians and
much dread of an attack from them. In 1675
an order was passed by the selectmen and
committee of the militia appointing garrison
houses and assigning citizens to them. An ex
tract from the order is as follows : "5. They
appoint Thomas Pattin's house, for garrison
and to entertain Goldin Moore, Samuel ffrost,
Jno. Kidder, Roger Toothaker & John Trull ;
seven soldiers and five families." In the same
order overseers were appointed for each garri
son, whose duty it was to regulate the work of
the garrison and determine what should be
clone for fortifying them. Orders were also
issued putting strict regulations on the conduct
of citizens, and giving instructions as to what
be done in case of an attack by the Indians.
A master was also appointed for each garrison,
Thomas Patten being appointed for his house.
January 14, 1690, Patten made a will of which
his wife and his son William were joint exe
cutors. The inventory of his property, filed
the March following, amounted to three hun
dred and eight pounds. Thomas Patten mar
ried, April 1, 1662, Rebecca Paine, of Dedham,
born October 19, 1642, daughter of Thomas
and Rebecca Paine. She died May 19, 1680.
He married (second) May 20, 1686, Sarah
Dunton, of Reading. Her name by some
authorities is given as Didson or Ditson, but
the name of Dunton is that given by the Biller
ica records. She married (second) December
29, 1690, Thomas Richardson. Thomas and
Rebecca were the parents of : Mary, Thomas,
Nathaniel, William, Rebecca, Sarah, Elizabeth,
Mehitable and Kendall.
(Ill) Nathaniel, second son of Thomas and
Rebecca (Paine) Patten, was born in Billerica,
September 14, 1668, died April 2, 1718. He
was a thrifty man and left what was for that
time a good estate. He married, December 6,
1695, Hannah Ross, born March 31, 1679,
daughter of Thomas Ross. She married (sec
ond) May 19. 1726, Joseph Emerson. The
children of Nathaniel and Hannah were : Han
nah, Nathaniel and John.
(IV) Nathaniel (2), son of Nathaniel (1)
and Hannah (Ross) Patten, was born in Bil
lerica, September 10, 1707, died November 25,
1756. December 7, 1729, Nathaniel Patten,
cooper, and Mary, his wife, convey land and
mill in Oxford to Joseph Reed, of Leicester.
The following year they convey land also in
Oxford to Benoni Twitchell. They are after
ward reported to have gone to Windham, Con-

fr*~Pa&**,

Lewis Historical Puh.Co.

MASSACH USETTS.

469

necticut, where their children are said to have
been born, but on the Windham records the
birth of Mary alone appears. He afterward
went to Stratford, Connecticut, where he re
mained till his death. His grave and that of
his wife Mary may be seen there at the present
time. At a term of probate court held at Hart
ford, September 5, 1757, the following entry
was made : "It was certified to this Court by
Zebulon West, Esq., Justice of the peace, that
Sarah Patten a minor thirteen years of age,
daughter of Nathaniel Patten, late of Tolland^
deceased, before him made choice of Nathaniel
Woodward of Coventry in the Court of Wind
ham, to be guardian, which choice the Court
allows." At the same session of the court
"Nathaniel Woodward of Coventry, adminis
trator in right of the wife Mary, the Relict of
Nath'l Patten, late of Stafford, deceased, hav
ing settled their account of administration on
said estate then move to the Court for dis
tribution." The decree of distribution gives
"to the Rellict of said Deed now the wife of
Nathaniel Woodward one third of the movable
estate, exclusive of Debts and charges and one
third of the Real Estate for her Improvement
during life and to Nath'l Patten, eldest son a
Double share and to John Patten, William Pat
ten, and to Mary Patten, Hannah Patten and
Sarah Patten, children of the deceased each
of them a single share." Nathaniel Patten
married Mary Kidder, daughter of Enoch and
Mary (Hayward) Kidder. They are thought
to be the ones who were living in Oxford in
1729. After the death of her first husband,
Mrs. Patten married Nathaniel Woodward.
She died November 30, 1789, aged eighty-eight
years. The children of Nathaniel and Mary
(Kidder) Patten were: Mary (died young),
Hannah, Nathaniel, Mary, Sarah, John and
William. (V) John, second son of Nathaniel (2) and
Mary (Kidder) Patten, was born in 1747.
March 18, 1778, he took the oath of fidelity
appointed to be taken by the state of Connec
ticut and at a freeman's meeting held in Staf
ford, Connecticut, April 8, 1782, John Patten
took the oath required by law for freeman.
He was a soldier of the revolution in Colonel
Spencer's Second Connecticut Regiment, Third
Company, Captain Roger Enos, of Windham.
He served from May 9 to December 18, 1775.
On a list of soldiers from Tolland county who
served in the campaign against Burgoyne in
1777 appears the name of John Patten, cor
poral. On a monument in Portland, Connecti
cut, is this inscription: "John Patten, buried

at West Springfield, August 13, 1800, aged
fifty-three years. Hannah, wife of John Pat
ten, died May 17, 1816, aged sixty-three years."
John Patten by his wife Hannah, daughter of
Seth Johnston, had five children : Seth John
ston, Lydia, Robert, Hannah and John.
(VI) Seth Johnston, eldest child of John
and Hannah (Johnston) Patten, was born in
Stafford, Conecticut, February 18, 1775, died
in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, April 24, 1855.
The name of Seth J. Patten appears on the
roll of Connecticut militia in the war of 1812,
his service being from August 6, 181 3, to Sep
tember 16, of the same year. He married,
November 27, 1800, Huldah Warner, born
January 11, 1779, died in South Wilbraham,
April 4, 1859. Their children, born at Ware
house Point, Connecticut, were: Seth J. (died
young), Adeline, Eliphalet Warner, Huldah,
John, Emeline, Robert, William, Seth J. (died
voting) and Mary A.
(VII) William (2), fifth son of Seth J. and
Huldah (Warner) Patten, was born at Ware
house Point, Connecticut, October 25, 1819,
died in Springfield, Massachusetts, November
30, 1898. In early life he changed the spelling
of the name to Patton. He was educated in
the common schools of Enfield and Warehouse
Point and for a time taught penmanship in
the common schools. He then became a peddler
of notions and from his cart sold wares in
various parts of New England. In this busi
ness he was a success and accumulated money.
Seeing how he could make his business more
extensive and more profitable, he came to
Springfield November, 1848, and opened a store
where he sold general notions, small wares,
arms, etc., and kept a number of men on the
road selling from wagons and distributing goods
all over New England, except Rhode Island.
Later these peddlers were succeeded by com
mercial travelers of the modern type, and he
employed about fifteen men, clerks and trav
elers. This enterprise was very successful and
Mr. Patton cleared a large amount of money
before January 11, 1875, when he sold out his
business to D. Frank Flale. He was engaged
in the real estate business from an early date,
and built up much in Springfield. He made
his first purchase at the corner of Hampden
and Main streets, February 16, 1857. In 1864
he built at 270-276 Main street, corner of
Hampden, a building four stories high of sev
enty-five feet front and eighty feet depth, a
large business structure for Springfield in those
days. In this building he had his store from
January, 1865, to January, 1875. In 1870 he

47°

MASSACHUSETTS.

built behind this block of stores another on
Hampden street; and in 1874 another block
on Hampden street which has recently been
taken down by William Patton, Jr., and on the
site he is now erecting a much handsomer and
more costly building. Foreseeing the inevit
able extension of Springfield toward the north,
Mr. Patton bought part of a piece of land then
used as pasture, and two years later bought
•the remainder extending from Main to Chest
nut streets, two blocks wide through the center
cf which he laid out Patton street. Continuing
to indulge his penchant for architecture, he
began to build residences on this tract in 1878,
when he erected two houses. Continuing he
erected four houses in 1879, four in 1880, six
in 1 88 1, two in 1886, one in 1887, six in 1888,
and many others in the years following till the
time of his death, covering the land he had
bought with well-built, two-story houses, a
total of fifty-eight, all but two of which he
continued to own and rent. He made large
real estate deals, in which he was a gainer, and
at the time of his death his property had vastly
increased in value. Mr. Patton was a Repub
lican. For many years he was a member of
Christ Church (Episcopal) and one of its
vestrymen. He was a Mason and a member
of the Winthrop Club. Mr. Patton was twice
abroad, his first visit to Europe including Eng
land, Scotland and France ; and the second Hol
land, Belgium and Germany. He was an en
thusiastic sportsman and greatly enjoyed hunt
ing and fishing. He traveled much over the
United States and spent winters in Florida
where he found ample opportunity to indulge
his desire to fish and hunt. Mr. Patton was
not wholly absorbed in the pursuit of business
and money getting in which he was so very
successful, but was one of the best informed
men in history, mythology, as well as general
literature, a deep thinker, a great student and
a pleasing conversationalist.
William Patton married, in Suffield, Con
necticut, April 2, 1846, Caroline E. Sikes, born
April 6, 1825, daughter of Amos and Anne
( Northam) Sikes, of Suffield. She died Janu
ary 19, 1888. Two children were born to them:
Carrie E. and William. Carrie E., born May
7, 1849; married, May 11, 1870, William S.
Greene, and resides in Springfield (see Greene
XXI). To Mr. and Airs. Greene was born
one child, Harrie W., October 9, 1872.
(VIII) William (3), only son of William
(2) and Caroline E. (Sikes) Patton, was born
in Springfield, Massachusetts, August 4, 1855.
He attended the public schools of Springfield

until he had completed a year in the high school
and then went to Williston Seminary, East
Hampden, where he took two years of the
three years scientific course. His service in his
father's store then began and this continued
until the latter sold out his mercantile business.
The following nine years he was in New York
city as a clerk with John B. Alden & Company,
then a famous publishing house. In July, 1888,
he returned to Springfield and from that time
had the chief care of his father's realty and
real estate business. By the death of his father,
he has become a large holder in real property
which he has managed with skill and profit. At
the present time (1909) he is about to finish a
handsome building on Hampden street. He is
the owner of one-half of the property on
Patterson street. He has a handsome residence
at 80 Cornell street. In politics he is a Re
publican. In foreign travel he finds entertain
ment and instruction, and the art galleries of
the old world have much that he admires. He
has made six tours to the countries of South
western Europe.

The origin of the name
RICHARDSON Richardson dates back
centuries, and came from
the name Richard, Richardson meaning son of
Richard. This tradition was a matter of course,
and the name has been widely spread in Eng
land, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Among
the name are found men of letters, barristers,
clergymen, baronets, bishops, painters, authors,
statesmen, professors, merchants and manu
facturers. The different family seats bore
arms, and it would be impossible to correctly
give a coat-of-arms that would apply to all the
different families, as few if any of the immi
grants had the same.
(I) Samuel, one of the three noted Richard
son brothers who were among the earliest set
tlers of Woburn, Massachusetts, was baptized
at West Mill, county Herts, England, Decem
ber 22. 1602 or 1604, and died in Woburn,
Massachusetts, March 23, 1658. He was son
of Thomas and Katherine (Durford) Rich
ardson, of West Mill, who were married Au
gust 24, 1590. He was second in age of the
three brothers, Ezekiel, Samuel and Thomas,
and the last of the three to come to New Eng
land. His wife Joanna, surname unknown,
probably died in 1678. She was living as late
as December 10, 1677, when she is mentioned
as receiving fifty-five acres of land at a meet
ing of the proprietors held that date. Her will
dated 20th, 4th, 1666, mentions sons John,

MASSACH USETTS.

47i

Joseph, Samuel and Stephen ; and daughters
Elizabeth and Mary Mousall. Elizabeth and
Mary married brothers, sons of Ralph Mousall,
of Charlestown, Elizabeth marrying John, and
Mary marrying Thomas. Samuel Richardson
was executor of his father's will in England,
dated March 4, 1630, and inherited his mother's
part of his father's estate. The will was pre
sented at court in 1634 by Samuel Richardson.
Samuel was married before he left West Mill,
and two of his children were baptized there — -
Samuel, 1633, and Elizabeth, 1635. It was
after 1635 that he and his brother Thomas
sailed for New England. In 1636 he located
in Charlestown. He was a selectman of Wo
burn, 1644-46-49-51, and his name appears on
the first tax list of Woburn in 1645. He was
one of the signers of Woburn town orders of
1640. He released certain lands, with his
brothers, to the inhabitants of Woburn in 1644,
and helped found the first church of Woburn
in 1642. His estate was located on the "Rich
ardson Row Road" of early times, and an
estate known a century ago as the Job Miller
estate, on present Washington street, in the
present limits of the town of Winchester, was
the more modern equivalent. This estate de
scended in a direct line from Samuel (I), to
Samuel (II), thence to Jonathan (III), and
thence to Jonathan (IV) Richardson. The
last Jonathan bequeathed it to his niece, Sarah
Miller, wife of Job Miller. Jonathan Richard
son (IV), who was born in Woburn, had lived
elsewhere during a part of his life, and return
ing in his latter days to Woburn, died in his
native town October 31, 1798. Job Miller that
year occupied the house, which was a very old
one at that time, thirty-six by eighteen feet in
lateral dimensions, and two stories high. The
adjoining farm contained fifty acres. The
family of Samuel Richardson (II) was attack
ed by Indians on this place, April 10, 1676, and
three of the family were killed. The father
was at work on the afternoon of that day,
with a young son for company, in his field.
He noticed a commotion at the house, and
hastening there found his wife Hannah and his
son Thomas had been slain by a band of skulk
ing Indians, so called, who after robbing some
gardens of linen articles, at Cambridge, had
on their retreat performed this mischief and
slaughter. A further search revealed the fact
that his infant daughter Hannah had also been
killed. Her nurse had fled with her in her
arms in the direction of a neighboring garri
son house, and being closely pursued by the
Indians, in order to save herself, she dropped

the child, which the Indians dispatched. The
father pursued the Indians with a rallying
party, and coming upon them seated beside a
swamp in the woods, the party shot at them
and hit one of them fatally, as the body was
found afterwards in the woods, buried under
leaves where his associates had laid him. The
fact of his being wounded was proved by
traces of blood which were found in the woods
from the point where he was first after he was
shot ; at this place the Indians left behind a
bundle of linen in which was found wrapped
up the scalps of one or more of their victims.
The Smith place represents the original estate
of Job Miller. Prince avenue traverses the
original Samuel Richardson estate. The estate
of the first Samuel extended from the present
tracks of the Boston & Maine railroad, near
Nathaniel A. Richardson's house, to the Stone-
ham and Winchester town line, the homestead
being on the estate known to many of the
present generation as the Josiah F. Stone place.
A part of the lands now owned by Nathaniel
A. Richardson were included in the original
estate. The Miller house was built by the
second Samuel, but the first Samuel is sup
posed to have lived on the other side of the
present Washington street, and opposite the
Millej place. His house stood in a little valley,
and disappeared before the year 1800.
Children : 1. Samuel, baptized at West Mill,
Herts, England, July 3, 1633. 2. Elizabeth,
baptized at West Mill, May 22, 1635 ; married
John Mousall, of Charlestown ; died at Charles
town, August 16, 1685. 3. Mary, baptized at
Charlestown, February 25, 1637-8; married
Thomas Mousall, of Charlestown. 4. John,
baptized at Charlestown, November 12, 1639;
married (first) October 22, 1658, Elizabeth
Bacon ; (second) October 28, 1672, Mary Pier
son ; (third) Margaret Willing. 5. Hannah,
born at Woburn, March 8, 1641-42, died April
8. 1642. 6. Joseph, born July 27, 1643; mar
ried, November 5, 1666, Hannah Green. 7.
Samuel, born May 22, 1646. 8. Stephen, born
August 15, 1649, mentioned below. 9. Thomas,
born December 31, 1651, died September 27,
i657- (II) Stephen, son of Samuel Richardson,
was bora at Woburn, Massachusetts, August
15, 1649, died there March 22, 1717-18. He
resided in Woburn which then included Burl
ington, a part of Wilmington, and his land ex
tended into Billerica which then joined Wo
burn. He was a freeman in 1690. His will
was dated August 15, 17i3,and proved April 22,
1718 (see Middlesex probate records, vol. 15,

472

MASSACHUSETTS.

pp. 157-163 ). In it he mentions as living wife
Abigail, daughters Abigail Vinton and Pru
dence Kendall, sons Stephen, William, Francis,
Timothy, Seth, Daniel and Solomon. He mar
ried, January 2, 1674-75, at Billerica, Abigail
Wyman, born 1659, died September 7, 1720,
daughter of Francis and Abigail (Read) Wy
man, the former of whom was one of the first
settlers of Woburn and one of the largest land
holders of Woburn. Children: 1. Stephen, born
February 20, 1675-76, died January 14, 171 1-
12. 2. Francis, born January 19, 1677-78, died
January 27, 4677-78. 3. William, born De
cember 14, 1678 ; mentioned below. 4. Fran
cis, born January 15, 1680-81 ; married Sarah
Houghton. 5. Timothy, born December 6,
1682, died January 18, 1682-83. 6. Abigail,
born November 14, 1683, died June 21, 1720;
married John Vinton, Esq., March 9, 1702. 7.
Prudence, born January 17, 1685-86; married
Samuel Kendall. 8. Timothy, born January
24, 1687-88; married Susanna Holden. 9.
Seth, born January 16, 1689-90; married Mary
Brown. 10. Daniel, born October 16, 1691,
died April 20, 1749 ; married Joanna (Mousall)
Miller. 11. Mary, born May 3, 1696, died
before 1713. 12. Rebecca, born June 10, 1698,
died December 6, 171 1. 13. Solomon, bora
March 27, 1702; married Abigail Evans.
(Ill ) William, son of Stephen Richardson,
was born at Woburn, Massachusetts, December
14, 1678, but the time of his death is not
recorded. Pie was a husbandman, and resided
in Woburn until 1709 or 1710, when he re
moved to Charlestown End, or the present
town of Stoneham, incorporated as such De
cember 17, 1725. His land bordered on that
of his brother-in-law, John Vinton, Esq., and
he owned several lots in common with him.
On March 22, 17 10, land in Charlestown was
conveyed to John Vinton and William Richard
son. There are three other deeds dated 1700,
1709, 1712, by which land in Charlestown
(east side of Spot Pond in Stoneham) was
conveyed to them also. On March 26, 171 5,
William Richardson sells land to John Vinton,
Esq. About 1718 he removed to Attleboro,
Massachusetts. He bought land there of the
proprietors, December 25, 1710. His wife Re
becca is mentioned in her mother's will dated
April 21, 1729. He married, September 15,
1703, at Woburn, Rebecca Vinton, born March
26, 1683, died after 1729, daughter of John
and Hannah (Giren) Vinton, of Woburn. Chil
dren: 1. Rebecca, bora August 4, 1704, died
at almshouse, April ii, 1788. 2. Hannah, born
October 28, 1706. 3. Abigail, born April 18,

1701, died November 23, 1730; married, Au
gust 8, 1728, John Shepard. 4. William, born
April 17, 1 7 12; married Mary Coy. 5. Ste
phen, born September 7, 17 14; married, No
vember 11, 1736, Hannah Coy. 6. Mary, born
April 18, 1717, died November 1, 1797, unmar
ried. 7. John, born November 27, 1719; men
tioned below. 8. Joanna, born September 17,
1722. (IV) John, son of William Richardson, was
born at Attleboro, Massachusetts, November
27, 1 7 19. He received his name John out of
regard to John Vinton, Esq., of Stoneham,
his mother's brother. He was private in Cap
tain Stephen Richardson's company of minute-
men which marched on the alarm of April 19,
1775, service nine days. There is a copy of
an order on Ephraim Newell, town treasurer
of Attleboro, dated July 5, 1776, for wages
due said Richardson and others for service on
the alarm caused by the battle of Bunker Hill.
He married Elizabeth Wyman. Children: 1.
Lucy, born December 5, 1742. 2. John, born
May 24, 1744, died June 2, 181 1 ; married Ruth
Woodcock. 3. Wyman, born May 13, 1746,
died October 14, 1839; married, October 31,
1771, Ruth Lane. 4. Betsey, born April 7,
1748. 5. Joel, born October 10, 1750; men
tioned below. 6. Henry, born August 7, 1752,
drowned November 4, 1827, aged seventy-five;
married, June 23, 1774, Olive Blackinton.
( V ) Joel, son of John Richardson, was born
at Attleboro, Massachusetts, October 10, 1750,
died at Belgrade, Maine, January 7, 1819.
Abort 1795 he removed his family from Attle
boro to Belgrade, Maine, with his brother
Henry's family, where they all settled. He
was a farmer and owned large tracts of land
in Belgrade. He was married at Belgrade,
Maine, they being the first couple to be married
in that town, having previously gone there, but
returned to Attleboro. He married, 1776, Sarah
Wyman, died December 10, 1845, daughter of
Simon Wyman. Children: 1. Joel, born May
11, 1777; mentioned below. 2. Henry, born
April 28, 1779. 3. Daniel, April 8, 1781. 4.
Elizabeth, June 11, 1784. 5. Sarah, February
27, 1787. 6. Ariel, June 17, 1789. 7. Silas,
October 6, 1796. 8. Stephen, May 30, 1799.
(VI) Joel (2), son of Joel (1) Richardson,
was born at Belgrade, Maine, May 11, 1777,
died at Canaan, Maine. He received his edu
cation in the district school, and assisted his
father on the farm. He later settled at Hart-
land, Maine, as a farmer and storekeeper. His
wife Temperance was said to have been a very
capable woman. Both Joel and his wife were

MASSACH USETTS.

473

members of the church, and he was strong in
his convictions, industrious, honest and frugal
in his living. He owned considerable property
at one time. He married, at Belgrade, Maine,
December 8, 1797, Temperance Crowell, died
September 5, 1841, and buried at Canaan,
Maine, daughter of Levi and Deborah (Bax
ter) Crowell. Children: 1. Joel, married Mary
Danforth; ehildren : Charles, Miller, Ralph,
Julia, Temperance, Sybil. 2. David, married
Lorinda Gale ; children : David, Jr., Marcia,
Angelica. 3. Bryant, married Rachel  ;
. children : Joel, Stephen, Eugene, Josephine.
4. Miller, married, and had children : Emogene,
Sarah. 5. Stephen, mentioned below. 6. Sally,
married  Ellis. 7. Deborah, married
(first) a Gleason; (second) Elkanah Miller;
children : Annie Maria, Sylvia, Leonard, Nancy,
Isabella, Elizabeth, Frances, Stephen. 8. Nancy,
married Joel Lambert. 9. Sylvia, married 
Gale. (VII) "Stephen (2), son of Joel (1) Rich
ardson, was born at Belgrade, Maine, about
1825, died and was buried at Forestville, Son-
omo county, California, 1880. He was reared
on his father's farm and in his father's store,
acquiring a good education in the district school,
being a fine penman and above the average of
his associates in learning. He also worked in
his brother's general store at Canaan, Maine.
At the age of nineteen years, having acquired
a knoweldge of the general store business, he
set up in business with Hartwell Merrow at
Flartland, Maine. His books show that he
sold rum, furs, groceries, jewelry, farm pro
ducts and such supplies as are sold in an inland
town. He was also the postmaster of the place,
and conducted a blacksmith and wheelwright
shop, also the village hotel for a time. He was
also town clerk and held other important offices.
In 1852 he sold his interests to his partner, and
with the impression that he was to buy goods
in New York, shipped via Cape Horn for Cali
fornia during the gold excitement. He was
not engaged at mining, but was steward and
supply agent, also clerk for one of the com
panies then operated in the gold fields. In
later years he was engaged as an exchange
dealer and trader. It was reported that he
was killed by Indians in 1880. He was a Dem
ocrat in politics, following in the footsteps of
his forefathers, who were all Democrats. He
was a brilliant man in conversation, genial in
disposition and generous among his friends.
He married, No.vember 18," 1846, at Augusta,
Maine, Harriet Miller, born in Sidney, Maine,
November 10, 1826, died in Franklin, Massa

chusetts, March 7, 1879, of cancer, daughter
of Elkanah and Isabella (Battles) Miller. Elka
nah Miller was a farmer. Children: 1. Wal
lace Ruthven, born May 18, 1848; married,
March 8, 1873, Elizabeth Jane Walker, of Yar
mouth, Maine; children: i. Annie Maud, born
December 4, 1874, died September 17, 1879;
ii. Charles Ruthven, born July 12, 1877, died
October 2, 1879 ; iii. Mildred, born December
27, 1881. 2. Fremont Miller, born October
8, 1849; mentioned below. 3. Stephen Will
iam, born March 16, 1852; married, October
3, 1877, Eldora M. Ricker ; children: i. Clar
ence Stephen, born April 16, 1880, married,
February 18, 1903, Ara Kisterson ; ii. Stanley,
born July 15, 1883, married, June 6, 1906,
Maud McGreno ; iii. Edith M., born August
20, 1886, married, February 20, 1907, Charles
Zimmerman; iv. Ralph Miller, born January
29, 1894.
(VIII) Fremont Miller, son of Stephen
(2) Richardson, was born at Hartland, Maine,
October 8, 1849. At the age of six years, after
his father went to California, he with his
mother and two brothers removed to Franklin,
Massachusetts, where the family settled in the
south part of the town (South Franklin).
Here, with his brothers, he attended the dis
trict school, working out on different farms,
and attending school until fourteen years of
age. He then entered the employ of Thomas
D. Elsbree, who kept the postoffice and general
store at Sheldonville, in the west part of
Wrentham, where he remained four years.
He then came home to Franklin, his mother
having previously moved to the center. He
took a six months course in Bryant & Strat-
ton's Commercial School at Boston, and again
entered the employ of Mr. Elsbree who was
then a general store keeper at Central Falls,
Rhode Island, remaining four years, subse
quently accepting a similar position as clerk
in the store of A. & W. Sprague Company, at
Central Falls, and after a year transferred to
their Providence store, where he remained until
the company was out of business. He then re
turned to Franklin, Massachusetts, and entered
the employ of James O. Chilson, a leading
grocer and provision merchant, where he re
mained until 1893, when Mr. Chilson took him
into the business under the firm name of Chil
son & Richardson. After about five years the
partners dissolved, Mr. Richardson disposing
of his interest to Mr. Chilson, and for a time
remained in Mr. Chilson's employ. Later with
George E. Emerson he bought out Mr. Chil
son and formed the partnership of Richardson

474

MASSACHUSETTS.

& Emerson, which continued five years, when
they dissolved, each partner starting in sep
arately. In 1900 Mr. Richardson opened a store
in Central Square, his present store, dealer in
groceries and provisions, having for his cus
tomers the best trade in Franklin and Wrent
ham. He and his family attend the Congrega
tional (Orthodox) church of Franklin; he has
served on the parish committee. He is a Re
publican in politics ; served his party as dele
gate to congressional conventions ; has filled
office of overseer of poor. He was made 'a
member of Excelsior Lodge of Free Masons,
at Franklin, June 20, 1878; was exalted in
Miller Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, at Frank
lin, September 9, 1902; member of King David
Lodge, No. 71, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, at Franklin ; member of Ancient Order
of United Workmen; member of Franklin
Business Men's Club. He married, September
20, 1871, Henrietta Heaton, born in Hopkin
ton, January 4, 1850, daughter of William
Albert and Nancy Ann (Hall) Heaton (see
Heaton). William A. Heaton was a leather
worker. Children: 1. William Fremont, born
July 4, 1872. He was, for fifteen years, con
nected with the house of Browning, King and
Company, of Boston, where he held the posi
tion of window decorator, and filled a number-
of other positions. He was a young man who
made a host of friends, and in fact had no
enemies. He was highly respected by all.
After a brief illness, he died July 11, 1909, and
on the day of his funeral the various members
of the firm and heads of the departments
attended in a body. 2. Edgar Stanley, born
August 1, 1873; married, November 7, 1901,
Florence Sumner Whiting. 3. Walter Ernest,
born June 12, 1875. 4. flerbert Lester, born
June 22, 1879; married, December 18, 1904,
Edith Louise Hamilton ; child, Florence Hamil
ton, born March 29, 1909.

Thomas Richardson, im-
RICHARDSON migrant, was born in Eng
land, and had brothers
Samuel and Ezekiel, who also came to New
England. He was probably the youngest of
the brothers, and probably came over in 1635.
He was admitted a freeman at Charlestown,
Massachusetts, May 2, 1638; was one of seven
chosen by the town of Charlestown to com
mence the settlement of Woburn. His wife
Mary was admitted to the church at Charles
town, February 21, 1635-6, and that is the
earliest record of the family. He had land
assigned him at Maiden, and died August 28,

1651. Fle joined the church in February,
1637-8, and held various town offices. He
married Mary  , who married (second)
Michael Bacon, said to have come from Ire
land, and one of the original inhabitants of
Woburn in 1641. She died May 19, 1670.
Children: 1. Mary, baptized November 17,
1638; married, May 15, 1655, John Baldwin,
of Billerica. 2. Sarah, baptized November 22,
1640 ; married, March 22, 1660, Michael Bacon,
Jr. 3. Isaac, born May 14, 1643 ; married
Deborah Fuller. 4. Thomas, born October 4,
1645 ; mentioned below. 5. Ruth, born April
14, 1647. 6. Phebe, January 24, 1648-9. 7.
Nathaniel, January 2, 1650-1.
(II) Thomas (2), son of Thomas (1) Rich
ardson, was born in Woburn, October 4, 1645.
He settled in Billerica, then called Shawshine,
and was accepted as an inhabitant in 1667. He
settled in the eastern part of the town, on the
ninety-nine acre tract called the Cambridge
School farm (Harvard College) west of the
Shawshine river, and north of the present
Boston road. He sold out in 1690 to Captain
Samuel Gallup. He was in the company of
Captain Samuel Gallup in the unfortunate Can
ada expedition in 1690. In 1704 he was deputy
to the general court. He gave his oldest son
Thomas a farm near the Boston road, now
Washington street, and October 4, 1705, gave
his son Andrew a farm north of Thomas's and
later, one to Nathaniel, north of Andrew's.
He died at Billerica, February 25, 1720-1.
He married (first) January 5, 1669-70, Mary
Stevenson, died June 7, 1690, daughter of
Andrew Stevenson; (second) December 29,
1690, Sarah, widow of Hugh Ditson and Thomas
Patten. She died November 20, 1734. His
will was dated April 10, 1719, and proved
March 20, 1 720-1. Children: 1. Mary, born
and died February 8, 1670-1.' 2. Mary, born
and died January 31, 1671-2. 3. Mary, born
February 17, 1672-3 ; married Edward Farmer.
4. Thomas, born December 3, 1675. 5. Andrew,
born June 16, 1678; married Hannah Jefts. 6.
Nathaniel, born January 25, 1679-80; men
tioned below. 7. Jonathan, born February 14,
1682-3 ; married Hannah French. 8. Ruth,
born December 4, 1685 ; married John French.
9. Elnathan, born and died February 7, 1686-7.
(HI) Nathaniel, son of Thomas (2) Rich
ardson, was born in Billerica, January 25,
1679-80, and died intestate, April 4, 1753, aged
seventy-three. He had a farm in Billerica
from his father, and after his father's death
in 1 72 1 received thirty-two acres of upland on
Content Plain and eight acres of the Mill

MASSACHUSETTS.

475

Swamp at a place called Black Hole. He mar
ried, May 7, 1703, Mary Peacock, died October
18, 1756. Children, born at Billerica: 1. Mary,
March 31, 1704; married Jonathan Goss. 2.
Nathaniel, January 8, 1706-7. 3. Samuel, De
cember 22, 1708; married Hannah Walker. 4.
Sarah, March 8, 1710-11, died April 18, 1712.
5. William, May 5, 1713; married, December
9, 1742, Mary Hobart. 6. Hezekiah, May 8,
17T5 ; married Elizabeth Walker. 7. Ebenezer,
September 24, 1717, died young. 8. Rebecca,
May 17, 1720; married Benjamin Richardson.
9. Joseph, May 20, 1722; killed by Indians in
ambush at Northfield, June 16, 1747, while he
was marching with a squad of soldiers to re
lieve Fort Dummer. 10. Ebenezer, mentioned
below. (IV) Ebenezer, son of Nathaniel Richard
son, was born in Billerica, October 2, 1724,
and died in 1808. The inventory of his estate
was dated October 4, 1808. He married (first)
December 30, 1746, Elizabeth Shed, died May
10, 1763, daughter of Benjamin Shed; (sec
ond) October 4, 1764, Mary, daughter of
Simon Crosby; (third) December 6, 1770,
Lydia, widow of James Danforth; (fourth)
December 12, 1776, Catherine, died January
19, 1783, widow of Increase Wyman. He
married (fifth) May 31, 1783, Elizabeth Bacon,
of Bedford, died May 1, 1790; (sixth) Novem
ber 23, 1790, Susanna, widow of Daniel Davis,
of Bedford; (seventh) Keziah, widow of Amos
Wyman. as appears from probate records. She
died November 13, 1814, aged seventy-five
years. Children: 1. Elizabeth, born Decem
ber 27, 1747 ; died July 23, 1749. 2. Rebecca,
born September 29, 1749. 3. Bettie, born Feb
ruary 12, 1750; married William Currier. 4.
Ebenezer, born December 20, 1752, died young.
5. Ebenezer, born February 25, 1754. 6. Rhoda,
horn December 31, 1755; married John Edes.
7. Nathaniel, born May 19, 1757. 8. Lucy,
born January 12, 1758, died young. 9. Asa,
born February 14, 1760; mentioned below. 10.
Isaac, born October 30, 1761. 11. John, born
March 16, 1763. 12. Lucy, born August 3,
1771, died September 4, 1775. 13. Abigail,
born December 8, 1772, died September 13,
1775- (V) Asa, son of Ebenezer Richardson, was
born at Billerica, February 14, 1760. He mar
ried, May 23, 1781, Sarah Tufts, of Medford.
She died October 13, 1835. Children: 1. Asa,
born March 5, 1782; married Elizabeth Bird;
died December 1, 1833. 2. Sally, born Decem
ber 22, 1785. 3. Francis (twin), born Decem
ber 6, 1787; married Martha Richardson. 4.

Josiah (twin), born December 6, 1787; men
tioned below. 5. William, born February 24,
1790; married, May 14, 1822, Sarah Dan
forth. 6. David, born February 10, 1792; mar
ried Eliza Kingsbury; died September 24, 1847.
7. Joseph, born November 8, 1794; married
Lucy Cummings; died 1874. 8. Peggy Tufts,
born June 23, 1795; married Cyrus Farmer.
9. George, born June 18, 1797; married Ase
nath Cummings; died Deceriiber 13, 1852. 10.
Lucretia, born May 9, 1799; died June 26,
1833. 11. Samuel, born December 5, 1802;
died September 13, 1810.
(VI) Josiah, son of Asa Richardson, was
born December 6, 1787, in Billerica. He lived
in Roxbury, and was a prosperous carpenter
and builder. He died at Roxbury, aged about
seventy years. He married, April 16, 1812,
Martha Wentworth, born September 11, 1785,
daughter of Benjamin and Rachel (Lewis)
Wentworth (see Wentworth) ; (second) Han
nah M. (Foster) Wentworth, widow of Amos
H. Wentworth, son of Stephen Wentworth.
Children of first wife: 1. Fannie Lewis, born
November 23, 1812; married, November 26,
1828. George Fracker, a school teacher; both
died in Iowa City. 2. Albert Lewis, born Octo
ber 28, 1814, died January 28, 1829. 3. Laura,
born November 6, 1816; married Daniel Jack
son, a successful builder and mechanic of Rox
bury. 4. Henry Horace, born April 21, 1819;
mentioned below. 5. Isabella, born July 27,
1826; died 1908; married, April 30, 1846,
William Gill, of Roxbury, a book binder ; died
February 1, 1854. 6. Ellen Maria, born May
27, 1828, died March 5, 1868; married, No
vember 19, 1846, John M. Marston, of Rox
bury, carpenter and builder, for some years
partner of his brother-in-law, Henry H. Rich
ardson. (VII) Henry Horace, son of Josiah Richard
son, was born in Roxbury, April 21, 1819. He
was educated in the public schools of his native
town, and learned the trade of carpenter of
his father, with whom he was associated in
business. Afterward he was in partnership
with his brother-in-law, John M. Marston, in
Roxbury, in the contracting and building busi
ness, fle removed to Barre, Massachusetts,
where for a number of years he was in busi
ness as a carpenter and builder on his own
account. Late in life he suffered a shock, for
which he was taken to a hospital in Reading,
Massachusetts, for treatment, and died there,
November 21, 1898. He was an active Odd
Fellow. In his younger days he was a member
of the old Roxbury artillery company, a noted

476

MASSACHUSETTS.

military organization at that time. He was a
member of the Unitarian church. He married
(first) in Roxbury, Cecilia Marsh, born in
Roxbury, January 21, 1830, died April 18,
i860, daughter of Warren and Hannah (With-
ington) Marsh, of Hingham, Massachusetts.
Her father, a successful mason and contractor,
died in 1864, aged eighty-one years; her
mother was born in Jamaica Plain, 1785, and
died in 1869. Mr. Richardson married (sec
ond) at Barre, April 14. 1863, Martha Lowe,
born April 29, 1842, in Worcester county, died
December 30, 1897, daughter of George Lowe,
a carpenter and builder. She was a Methodist
in religion. Child of first wife: I. Martha,
born in Roxbury, May 14, 1846; educated in
public schools; married, March 13, 1867, Cur
tis Clapp, a dealer in small wares, Boston ; they
are members of the Theodore Parker Unitar
ian Church, first parish ; children : i. Mabel
Clapp, born June 17, 1868, died November 7,
1897, aged twenty-nine years, unmarried ; ii.
Curtis Clapp, Jr., born December 7, 1869 ; asso
ciated in business with his father; iii. Alice
Coliday Clapp. born October 15, 1878, married
Arthur J. Crockett, a publisher, Boston; iv.
Child, died in infancy. Children of second
wife: 2. George, died in infancy. 3. Ella M.,
born April 28, 1865, died January 10, 1908;
married Rockland Walter, of Marlborough,
Massachusetts, clerk in a meat and provision
store ; child, Charlotte Lowe Walter. 4. Susie
Lowe, born June 7, 1867; married William A.
HoPlen, a traveling salesman ; they reside in
Dayton, Ohio. 5. Walter Gill, born August 30,
tS^o : mentioned below. 6. Alice M.,born March
20, 1874; educated at Boston University; now
teaching in Ben Charter School, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. 7. William Henry, born Octo
ber 18, 1876; a plumber, residing at Orange,
Orange county, California ; married Mabele Pal
mer, of Roslindale ; children : i. Ethel, born
October 4, 1904: ii. Ralph, January 18, 1907.
8. Joseph Warren, M. D., born January 3,
1880 ; graduate of University of Vermont, Bur
lington, with degree of M. D. ; has since prac
ticed his profession at Seattle, Washington ;
married Bertha Isham, of Burlington, Ver
mont, daughter of Senator Isham ; child, Ruth
Alice, born December 29, 1906.
(VIII) Walter Gill, son of Henry Horace
Richardson, was born at Hardwick, Massachu
setts, August 30, 1870. He was educated in
the public schools of Barre, and learned the
trade of tinsmith in that town in the shop of
William PI. White. Afterward he served an
apprenticeship at the plumber's trade under

Michael M. Herbert, of Roslindale. After
working six years for Mr. Herbert he embark
ed in business as a plumber and tinsmith on his
own account, buying the establishment of Ben
jamin F. Cobleigh, at Birch street and Bel
grade avenue. He has developed this busi
ness to large proportions, and it takes rank
easily as one of the foremost in its line in the
suburban districts of Boston. His store and
shops are models of method and neatness. He
is a member of Quinobequin Lodge of Odd
Fellows, and Prospect Lodge, Free and Accept
ed Masons. He married, at Dedham, October
5, 1894, Carrie PI. Weeks, born in Dedham,
daughter of Luther Weeks and Martha (Os
good) Weeks, formerly of Dedham. She is
a member of the Congregational church, and
active in social life. Mr. and Mrs. Richard
son have had four children, all of whom died
in infancy.
Martha Wentworth Richardson, wi f e o f Josiah
Richardson (VI), is descended from Regi
nald Wentworth (I), through line traced upon
another page of this work, and reaching to
John, named below :
(XXII) John Wentworth, son of Elder Will
iam Wentworth, was born about 1650. He
was in Dover from 1668-72; took the oath of
allegiance June 21, 1669. He was of York,
Maine, August 28, 1699, and in 1704 we find
him located near Canton, Massachusetts. He
marrieH Martha  . Children: 1. John,
born 1675 - mentioned below. 2. Edward, was
in Newbury, 1693. 3. Charles, died at Canton,
July 8, 1780, aged ninety-six years. 4. Shubael,
died 1759. 5. Elizabeth, married, May 16,
1728, John Kenney. 6. Abigail, married, De
cember 30, 171 5, Benjamin Jordan. 7. Mary,
married, September 24, 171 2, James Wright.
(XXIII) John, son of John Wentworth,
was born in York, Maine, probably in 1675,
and died January 6, 1772, aged ninety-five
years. He resided near Stoughton, Massachu
setts. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry
Burley. She died January 14, 1761. Chil
dren: 1. Mary, born August 15, 1705; mar
ried, June 22, 1742, Nathaniel Adams; (sec
ond) Benjamin Smith. 2. John, born Novem
ber 8, 1709. 3. Mercy, born May 8, 171 3 ; mar
ried, October 24, 1731, John Clark. 4. Martha,
born March 23, 1716; married, January 22,
1746, John Withington, Jr. 5. Moses, born
April 4, 1720; mentioned below. 6. Aaron
(twin), born April 4, 1720; married, Septem
ber 11, 1766, Ruth Blackmer. 7. Ebenezer.
(XXIV) Moses, son of John Wentworth,
was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts, April

MASSACH USETTS.

477

4, 1720. Fle married, November 10, 1757,
Susanna Warren. Children: 1. Ebenezer. 2.
Rebecca, born 1768, died young. 3. Aaron,
born 1769, died April 16, 1769. 4. Moses, mar
ried, at Northampton, March 23, 1787, Cath
erine Merrifield; (second)  Fowler. 5.
Benjamin, mentioned below. 6. Rebecca, born
June 10, 1770; married  Eaton.
(XXV) Benjamin, son of Moses Wentworth,
was born about 1760, and married September
9, 1784, Rachel Lewis. Children: 1. Martha,
born September 11, 1785; married, April 16,
1812, Josiah Richardson, of Roxbury (see
Richardson). 2. James, born July 30, 1787;
married Hannah Blackmail, of Augusta, Maine.
3. Andrew, born December 18, 1789. 4. Lucy,
born June 1, 1792, died 1862; married three
times. 5. Elizabeth, born March 2, 1786, died
unmarried, March 29, 1858, at Canton.

This name is of English
LUDINGTON origin, derived from a par
ish at one time called Lyd-
ington, in Northamptonshire, as first mentioned
in Domesday Book, when it was a part of the
bishopric of Lincoln. It has since been set off
to the county of Rutland. The chief seat of
the family seems to have been in the Eastern
Midlands, though families of the same name
appear in the counties of Lincoln, Rutland,
Leicester, Huntingdon, Northampton, Warwick
and Worcester. There is a credible tradition
that in the Third Crusade a Ludington was
among the followers of Richard Coeur de Lion,
and that afterward, when that adventurous
monarch was a prisoner in Austria, he sought
to visit him in the guise of a palmer, in order
to devise with him some plan of escape. Be
cause of such loyal exploits he was invested
with a patent of nobility, and with the coat-
of-arms of the family: Pale of six argent and
azure on a chief gules a lion passant andgardant.
Crest : A palmer's staff erect. Motto : Probum
non penitet. Robert Ludington, gentleman, was a
merchant in the Levantine trade, and also
made a pilgrimage to Palestine. He died at
Worcester, England, in 1625, aged seventy-
six years. The exact degree of relationship
between him and the American immigrant is
not known, but there is reason to believe that
they were of the same family.
(I) William Ludington, immigrant ancestor,
born in England, 1608, came to America with
his wife, Ellen, whom he married in 1636. He
settled in that part of Charlestown, Massachu
setts, which was set off as Maiden, and had
been there as early as 1640, when his name

appears on the court records. He built his
house outside the town limits, for which a
heavy penalty was imposed, but was remitted.^
He remained at Charlestown about twenty
years, and was a considerable land owner and
an important citizen, November 30, 1651, he
is named as one of the creditors of Henry
Sandys, of Charlestown, and in 1660 he was
a juror of Maiden. In 1660 he removed to
New Haven, Connecticut, and settled at East
Haven, adjoining Branford, on the east side
of theQuinnipiac river. Although he had been
a weaver, he became interested in the iron
works at East Haven. March 27, 1660, he
appears as complainant in a slander suit, and
died soon after. October 1, 1661, John Waite
petitioned for administration of his estate, and
the inventory was filed by James Barrat, April
1. 1662. His widow married (second) before
May 5, 1663, John Rose. Children: I.Thomas,
born 1637; settled in Newark, New Jersey. 2.
John, born 1640; living at East Haven in 1664,
and probably removed to Vermont. 3. Mary,
born February 6, 1642-3. 4. Henry, killed in
King Philip's war. 5. Hannah. 6. William,
mentioned below. 7. Mathew, born December
16, 1657, died January 12, 1657-8.
(II) William (2), son of William (1) Lud
ington, was born about 1655, and died Febru
ary, 1737. He was a man of means, intelli
gence and ability, and of important standing
in the community. His will was proved Feb
ruary 7, 1736-7. He married (first) Martha,
daughter of John and granddaughter of Robert
Rose; (second) in June, 1690, Mercy White
head, died November 23, 1743, aged seventy-
five, daughter of John and Martha (Bradfield)
Whitehead. Children of first wife: I.Henry,
born 1679, died 1727; married Sarah Collins.
2. Eleanor, married Nathaniel Bailey, of Guil
ford. 3. William, born September 25, 1686;
married Anna Hodge. Children of second
wife: 4. Mercy, born May 31, 1691 ; married
Ebenezer Deans, of Norwich. 5. Mary, born
May 31, 1 69 1, twin; married John Dawson.
6. flannah, born March 13, 1683, died June
4, 1719; married Isaac Penfield. 7. John, born
January 31, 1694; mentioned below. 8. Elipha
let, born April 28, 1697, died January 26, 1761 ;
married Abigail Collins. 9. Elizabeth, born
1699, died July 28, 1707. 10. Dorothy, born
July 16, 1702, died September 19, 1742; mar
ried Benjamin Mallory. 11. Dorcas, born July
16, 1704; married James Way.
(Ill) John, son of William (2) Ludington,
was born January 31, 1694, and died October
30, 1726. Administration was granted on his

478

MASSACHUSETTS.

estate January 2, 1726-7. Guardians were
appointed for his children : Samuel Potter for
John, Thomas Robinson for Elizabeth, Gideon
Potter for Jude. He married, before April
10, 1722, Elizabeth Potter, born September 24,
1697, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Holt)
Potter, of East Haven. She married (second)
October 2, 1734, Thomas Wheadon, of Bran
ford, and died September 3, 1746. Children:
1. Elizabeth, married John Rose. 2. John,
born June 26, 1723, died May 30, 1743. 3.
Jude, mentioned below.
( IV) Jude, son of John Ludington, was
born July 23, 1725, and was living at South
ington, Connecticut, November 12, 1748. In
deeds he was called of Branford in 1757 and
1 761. He served in the French and Indian
war in 1757. He married (first) Martha Page;
(second) widow Mary (Wade) Frisbie. Chil
dren of first wife: 1. John, mentioned below.
2. Daniel, married Naomi Searl, of Southamp
ton, Massachusetts. 3. Martha, married Noah
Stone. Children of second wife: 4. Jude,
married Huldah Carrier, of Colchester. ' 5.
Elizabeth, born March, 1763; married Elijah
Williams. 6. Asenath, born 1765 ; married
Asa Miller, of West Springfield; died Novem
ber 6, 1845. 7. Lucinda, born 1770, died De
cember 31, 1840; married Nathan Stevens, of
Wilbraham. (V) John (2), son of Jude Ludington, was
born in 1749, and died September 10, 1841.
He married (first) Sarah Palmer; (second)
May 7, 1795, jane Ely. He lived in Hoiyoke,
Massachusetts, where he was a farmer.
(VI) Isaac, son of John (2) Ludington,
was born in Holyoke, and was educated there
in the public schools. He removed when a
young man to Franklin county, New York,
where he engaged in farming. He married
Eunice Jones, born in what is now Holyoke.
Children: Lydia, married George B. Tread-
well; David Palmer, of whom further.
(VII) David Palmer, only son of Isaac
Ludington, was born in Franklin, New York,
August 20, 1831, and died in West Springfield,
Massachusetts, February 10, 1908. He was
reared and educated in his native town. At
the age of twenty years he came to Holyoke,
Massachusetts, and became clerk in a drug
store. After a time, having acquired a prac
tical knowledge of the business, he purchased
a drug store in that town. After conducting
it successfully for several years he relinquished
the business and removed to West Springfield,
where he passed the remainder of his life. He
was for a number of years a member of the

board of directors of the Mittineague Mills,
and was one of the promoters of that industry.
He was for many years an active member of
Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, and served
several years as steward, and later as a trustee.
He was a quiet unassuming man, of lovable
disposition, and was a liberal contributor to
all worthy causes. He married, December 14,
1870, Martha Day Smith, daughter of Charles
Horton and Sophia (Day) Smith (see Smith).
(The Smith Line).
(I) Hugh Smith, immigrant ancestor, was
born in England, and was among the early
settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts. He was
one of the proprietors of that town, and was
admitted freeman May 18, 1642. He was
overseer of the poor in 1649 and 1654, and
selectman in 1651. He was a man of substance
and importance in the community. In 1643
his house lot was a half-acre in Bradford
street. His widow Mary  married (sec
ond) December 2, 1657, Jeremiah Ellsworth.
Hugh Smith's will, dated November 19, 1655,
proved March 20 following, bequeathed to
wife Mary his estate; to be divided among his
children after her death or marriage. Chil
dren, born at Rowley: 1. Samuel, married
Mary Elithorp. 2. John, married Faith Parrat.
3. Mary, born March 17, 1642; married Daniel
Wicom. 4. Sarah, bora October 24, 1643;
buried January 5, 1643. 5- Hannah, born
March 24, 1647-8; married Joseph Trumbull;
(second) John Strong. 6. Martha, born Feb
ruary 5, 1648; married Caleb Burbank. 7.
Edward, mentioned below. 8. John, born and
died 1659. 10. Samuel, of whom Dr. Wicom
was guardian.
(II) Edward, son of Hugh Smith, was born
June 1, 1654. He settled in Suffield, Connec
ticut, and married there, March 21, 1685,
Sarah, daughter of Edward Allen. Children,
born at Suffield : Edward, Mary, Samuel,
Hugh, Joseph, died young; David, mentioned
below. (Ill) David, son of Edward Smith, was
born at Suffield, October 18, 1699, and died
in 1753. Fle married, December 14, 1726, Ex
perience Chapin, born July 8, 1703, daughter
of Samuel and Hannah (Sheldon) Chapin.
Her father was born July 4, 1665, died Octo
ber 19, 1729, married, December 24, 1690,
Hannah Sheldon, and lived at the upper end
of Chicopee street, Springfield. Japhet Chapin,
father of Samuel, married, July 22, 1664, Abi
lene Cooley, who died November 17, 1710; he
married (second) May 31, 171 1, Dorothy Root,

MASSACH USETTS.

479

or Rood. Deacon Samuel Chapin, father of
Japhet, was the immigrant, David Smith was
constable of Suffield, 1735-6, and highway sur
veyor, 1736-7. He proposed to exchange land
with the town May 9, 1734.
(IV) David (2), son of David (1) Smith,
was born about 1730. He and his son David
served in the same company and regiment in
the revolution, Captain John Boynton's com
pany, Colonel Nathan Sparhawk's regiment,
commanded by Major Jonas Wilder. David,
Sr., was in service July 27 to August 23, 1777,
and David, Jr., from September 27 to October
19 same year. He settled in West Springfield.
He married Joanna Bodurtha. Children : David
and Lewis.
(V) Lewis, son of David (2) Smith, was
born about 1763. He resided at West Spring
field. He served in the closing years of the
revolutionary war, and returning settled at
Smith's Ferry, Northampton, where he died,
March 15, 1838, leaving a family of eleven
children. He was a large landholder, and a
man unusually respected. He married, Novem
ber 3, 1785, at Smith's Ferry, Eunice Judd,
baptized January 27, 1768, died August 19,
1849, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Hulbert)
Judd and his second wife, of Northampton,
granddaughter of Thomas Judd. Samuel Judd,
father of Thomas, married Maria Strong, of
Northampton. He was of the second genera
tion in this country, youngest son of Deacon
Thomas Judd, the immigrant.
(VIII) Charles Horton, youngest child of
Lewis Smith, was born in Northampton, Octo
ber 29. 1810. He married Sophia Day, daugh
ter of Justin and Martha (Brackett) Day.
Children, born in Northampton : Martha Day,
bora at Smith's Ferry, October 28, 1837; mar
ried David Palmer Ludington, of West Spring
field. This name, variously spelled,
FRISSELL appears on the records of
New England about the mid
dle of the seventeenth century. The immi
grants of this name were all or nearly all of
Scotch extraction. James Frissell was of Rox
bury, Massachusetts, where a daughter Mary
was born May 16, 1656. John Frissell, a native
of Scotland, died in Braintree, Massachusetts,
January 19, 1664; William, also a Scotchman,
of Concord, married Hannah Clarke, Novem
ber 28, 1667. Various others of the name are
mentioned later in the century.
(I) John and Joseph Frissell were of the
original colony of thirty-five persons who re

ceived from Roxbury, Massachusetts, the grant
of the town of Woodstock, Connecticut, as
appears by an ancient deed on file in the office
of the town clerk. Joseph married Abigail
Bartholomew, January n, 1691. This is one
of the earliest marriages recorded after the
settlement of the town of Woodstock.
(II) John, son of Joseph Frissell, married
Abigail Morris, November 10, 1726.
(Ill) Lieutenant William, son of John Fris
sell, was baptized in Woodstock, July 9, 1737,
and died in Peru, Massachusetts, December 25,
1824, aged eighty-six years. Sergeant Will
iam Frissell's name is on the Lexington alarm
list from the town of Woodstock, term of ser
vice fifteen days ; he was ensign in Seventh
Company, Third Regiment, (Colonel Israel Put
nam's), commissioned May I, discharged De
cember 16, 1775. He re-entered the service in
1776. Two state battalions under Colonels Mott
and Swift, raised in June and July, 1776, rein
forced the Continental troops in the Northern
Department, at Fort Ticonderoga and vicinity,
served under General Gates, and returned in
November of same year. The commission of
first lieutenant given "William Fizle" under
the hand of Jonathan Trumbull, Esq., captain
general and commander-in-chief of the Eng
lish Colony of Connecticut in New England, at
Hartford, June 20, 1776, with the public seal
of the colony attached, is now in possession of
Francis W. Rockwell, of Pittsfield, Massachu
setts. William Frissell moved from Woodstock,
Connecticut, to Partridgefield (now Peru),
Massachusetts, about 1784, and represented
that town in the legislature in 1800 and for two
years thereafter. He married Judith Mason,
of Woodstock, Connecticut, who died in Peru,
Massachusetts, August 15, 1831, aged ninety
years. Children : Monica, Amasa, William,
Thomas, Sarah, Lemuel, Walter and John.
(IV) Captain Thomas, third son of Lieu
tenant William and Judith (Mason) Frissell,
was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, Decem
ber 20, 1773, and died in Peru, Massachusetts,
November 21, 1835. He removed with his
father's family to Peru, where he was a suc
cessful farmer and a prominent citizen. He
was a member of the legislature, 1817-19,
selectman, held other town offices, and was
captain of militia. He joined the church at
the same time with his youngest daughter. He
was a Free Mason. He married, April 19,
1805, Hannah Phillips, born in Peru, July, 1784,
died there April 3, 1849, daughter of Smith
Phillips. Children: Augustus Caesar, Semi-
ramis, Cleopatra, Statira and Monica Aspasia.

480

MASSACHUSETTS.

(V) Captain Augustus Caesar, eldest child
of Captain Thomas and Hannah (Phillips)
Frissell, was born in Peru, Massachusetts,
April 9, 1806, and died there November 14,
1851. He grew up on his father's farm, which
he afterwards owned. He was a good man
ager, succeeded in business, and was often
called to fill town offices. He was a member
of the board of selectmen, captain of militia,
and in 1849-50 was a member of the legisla
ture. He was a member of the Peru Congre
gational church, and took a deep interest in
its affairs. He married, November 30, 1833,
Laura ( Mack) Emmons, born in Hinsdale,
July 3, 1810, died September 18, 1898 (see
Emmons). Children: 1. Eliza, born Septem
ber 20, 1835; married, February 13, 1862,
Henry A. 'Messinger; he died January 21,
1888; she lives in Federalsburg, Maryland;
children: Plenry Burdett, born March 11,
1863 ; Jennie Eliza, bora April 22, 1864, died
July 25, 1865 ; Robert W., born February 28,
1870. 2. Dora (name afterward changed to
Emily), born May 7, 1837; married, March
16, 1862, William Joy; she died September 30,
chil 1 : William Ashman, born Novem

ber 21, 1872, died June 25, 1882. 3. Seraph,
mentioned below. 4. Susan, born February
19, 1845 ; married, September 4, 1870, Charles
E. White; she died May 2, 1890; children:
Madalene, born May 19, 1871, died June 29,
1893; Charles Euclid, born October 24, 1877;
Frank Russell, born November 27, 1884. 5.
Solon E., born May 25, 1847, died August 30,
1907 ; married, May 25, 1875, Fannie E. Bout-
well ; children : Fred B., born September 2,
1876; Marion E., September 20, 1878, died
November 3, 1878; Florence B., born Septem
ber 15, 1887. 6. Thomas A., born October 18,
185 1 ; married, June 9, 1878, Susan Hutchin
son Bingham ; children : Clinton B., born Sep
tember 18, 1879, died July 11, 1907; Thomas
Augustus, born December 30, 1887; Nelson
Emmons, born July 31, 1890.
Captain Frissell made no will. At the time
of his death, the youngest child, a son, was
only four weeks old. Mrs. Frissell, in com
pliance with her husband's wishes, kept the
home for the children. After nineteen years
it seemed best to dispose of the property. It
was therefore transferred to the eldest son,
Solon E., who was to care for his mother, the
four daughters each receiving a small compen
sation. Thomas, the youngest son, was not
of age, but promised to make no trouble. When
twenty-one years old he placed his name on the

quit-claim deed. The entire transaction cost
only two dollars.
(VI) Dr. Seraph Frissell, third daughter of
Captain Augustus Caesar and Laura Mack
(Emmons) Frissell, was born in Peru, Massa
chusetts, August 20, 1840. Her father died
when she was eleven years old, leaving her
mother with six children to care for, and with
limited means for their support. Her girlhood
years were divided between domestic work,
employment in woolen mills at Rockville, Con
necticut, and school life. During these years
she saved money enough to defray her ex
penses for one year at Mount Holyoke Semi
nary. She entered this institution September,
1 86 1, taking a four years course in three years,
but in the meantime teaching five years ; there
fore did not graduate until 1869. In 1867 she re
ceived appointment as missionary to Ceylon,
from the American Board of Foreign Missions,
but in deference to her mother's wishes did not
enter upon this work. She commenced the
study of medicine in 1872, and entered the
University of Michigan the fall of the same
year, which was the second year after women
were admitted. She received her diploma from
the department of medicine and surgery of the
University, March 24, 1875. Her hospital prac
tice included four months at the Woman's
Hospital, Detroit, Michigan; six months at
Dr. Ruth Gerry's Private Hospital, Ypsilanti,
Michigan, and eleven months at the New Eng
land ftospital for Women and Children, Bos
ton, Massachusetts.
In September, 1876, Dr. Frissell began the
general practice of medicine in Pittsfield, Mass
achusetts, where she resided until her removal to
Springfield in July, 1884. During her eight years
residence in Pittsfield she was elected the first
president of the Woman's Christian Temper
ance UJriion of that place, and for seven years
was president of the Women's Board of Mis
sions of the South Church. Women were first
admitted to medical societies in Massachusetts
in 1884, but the Berkshire District Medical
Society made Dr. Frissell an honorary member
in 1877, and she attended its monthly meetings,
receiving notices as a regular member. She
was a regular member of the Berkshire, Ben
nington, Rensselaer, and Washington County
Medical Society from its organization until
she left Berkshire county. She was the first
woman in western Massachusetts to be ad
mitted to any county society, becoming a mem
ber of the ftampden County Medical Society
in 1885. She is a member of the Massachu-

i^

y+^js^yYy.sb.

MASSACHUSETTS.

481

setts Medical Society, having been the fourth
woman to be admitted ; a member of the Amer
ican Medical Association ; an honorary member
of the Alumnal Association of the Woman's
Medical College, Pennsylvania; member of
Mercy Warren Chapter, Daughters of the
American Revolution; of E. K. Wilcox Relief
Corps, Grand Army of the Republic; of the
Springfield Mount ftolyoke Alumnae Associa
tion; of the Alumnal Association of Michigan
University; and of the College Club. In 1896
Dr. Frissell took a course in electro-therapeu
tics. For ten years she has been medical ex
aminer for the Berkshire Life Insurance Com
pany, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She is a mem
ber of the First Congregational Church of
Springfield. She has been superintendent of
the Department of Heredity and Health of the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union for
Hampden county; and during 1890-91 was
resident physician and lecturer on physiology
and hygiene at Mount Holyoke College. Her
specialty has been diseases of women and chil
dren. She presented before the American
Medical Association a valuable paper on the
treatment of diphtheria without alcohol, which
was published in the American Medical Asso
ciation Journal, November 13, 1897. She is
the author of several other interesting papers,
notably one : "Colonial Flags and the Evolu
tion of the Stars and Stripes." Other papers
are : "Memorial Day in Hampton, Virginia ;"
"Hygiene, and why it should be taught in our
Public Schools;" "Prevention better than
Cure;" "Tobacco;" "Contents of a Teapot;"
"Why I am a Temperance Doctor;" and
"Pioneer Women in Medicine." While devoted
to her profession, Dr. Frissell is interested in
the progressive movements of the day, and her
sympathies are as broad as humanity.

There are at least three sepa-
EMMONS rate and distinct Emmons fami
lies in the United States, one
of which is descended from a propositus who
is first mentioned in the earliest records of the
pioneers of Rhode Island. The line which
forms the subject of the following article de
scends from this ancestor.
(I) Thomas Emons, shoemaker, was prob
ably born in England, but there is no record of
him before October 8, 1639, when a census was
taken of such persons as were by general con
sent of the Company admitted to be inhabitants
of the Island called Aquidneck, "and have sub
mitted themselves to the government that is,
or shall be established according to the Word

of God therein." The entry of this census
upon the minutes of the Assembly consisted
of sixty-two names written in two parallel
columns headed thus : "Samuel Hutchinson,"
"Thomas Emons." On March 12, 1640, a
convention of the two towns of Portsmouth
and Newport was held at the latter place, at
which a new form of government for the whole
island was established and officers were elected
under it. Thomas Emons and seven others
presented themselves and were admitted as
"Freeman of this Body, fully to en joy the privi
leges belonging thereto." "Thomas Emins was
admitted to be an inhabitant of Boston June
29th, 1648," and from that time until his death
he remained a resident there. The following
facts concerning Thomas Emons and his family
are taken from the public records of Boston.
Thomas Emons and Martha Emons his wife
are subscribing witnesses to a deed made by
John Marshall, of Boston, to John Marrion,
of the same place, February 18, 1649. "Thomas
Emons, cordwainer, with his wife Martha, was
admitted to First Church, Boston, February
18th, 165 1." "He was admitted freeman there
May 26, 1652." As shown in a deed of Thomas
Yoe to Philip Wharton, dated December 16,
1653, Thomas Emons was a shoemaker, and
owned a house and lot on Conduit street, Bos
ton. The name of Thomas Emons appears on
four other deeds made before 1657. He was
chosen sealer of leather April 4, 1662. He
died May 11, 1664. On 20 11 mo. 1660, he
made his last will, which was probated June
17, 1664. The inventory of his estate amount
ed to £440 5s ; debts due deceased, £66 6s 4d ;
"from ye deceased, £45 10s 9d." He married
Martha  , date of marriage not known.
She survived her husband, and dictated her
will March 30, 1666, and it was recorded Feb
ruary 18, 1667. The inventory made Decem
ber 18, 1666, shows an "Am't of 417 pounds
17s.;" also mentions "A share in the Conduit,
14 pounds ; also debts of John Hincksman,"
etc. Children of Thomas and Martha Emons :
Obadiah, Hannah, Samuel, Elizabeth, Benja
min and Joseph.
(II) Obadiah, eldest child of Thomas and
Martha Emons, was born about 1635, and died
in Boston, 1705. He first appears as a legatee
under his father's will, 1660, and later as one
of the legatees of his mother's will, 1666. He
appears as a mortgager of real estate in 1670
and again in 1675. With others he signed a
petition to the general court of Massachusetts,
February 22, 1675, relative to the war then
waged against the Indians under King Philip.

482

MASSACHUSETTS.

Plis name appears in the list of inhabitants of
Boston in 1702. He married (first) about
1657, Abie, died about 1671-5; (second) Mary
 . Children: Thomas, Martha, Eliza
beth, Mary, Rebecca, Samuel and Obadiah
(twins). (Ill) Samuel, second son of Obadiah Emons,
was born November 8, 1671. He is believed
to have been the Samuel Emons who resided
in Cambridge, and removed thence to Wethers
field, Connecticut, about 1691, and later settled
in East Haddem, Connecticut, where he and
his wife were admitted to the church October
5, 1705, and where he died, aged ninety-six
years. He married, about 1692, a daughter of
Deacon Samuel Butler, of Wethersfield, Con
necticut ; children : Samuel, Jonathan, Nathan
iel, Mary, Ebenezer and Mehitable.
(IV) Deacon Samuel (2), eldest child of
Samuel (1) Emons, was probably born in
Wethersfield, Connecticut, about 1696. No
record of his death is found. He went to
East Haddam with his parents about 1700.
He was admitted to the church July 11, 1731.
In October, 1733, the parish of Millington was
formed of a part of East Haddam, and sub
sequently at a meeting of the citizens of Mill
ington, Samuel Emons was chosen one of three
men constituting the society committee. Sam
uel Emons and Daniel Gates were elected
first deacons of the Millington church in Octo
ber, 1736; and Deacon Emons as agent for
the parish, petitioned the General Assembly in
October, 1737, "That a tax of one penny an
acre be assessed upon all unimproved lands
within the said parish, in order to help settle
and support a minister." He married, Septem
ber 14, 1721, Ruth Cone, who was admitted
to the church at East Haddam, September 22,
1723. Children: Dorothy, Elizabeth, Eben
ezer, Samuel, Mary, Daniel, an infant, Jona-
athan, Hannah, Ruth, Sybel and Nathaniel.
(V) Lieutenant Ebenezer, eldest son of
Deacon Samuel (2) and Ruth (Cone) Emons,
was born at East Haddam, September 18, 1725,
and died in 1809. He was appointed ensign
of the Fourth company, Twenty-fifth regiment
colonial militia, at Hartford, in 1765 ; trans
ferred to Twelfth company, or train band,
Twelfth regiment, in May, 1766, and promoted
to lieutenant October, 1768. He married, April
4, 1754, Susannah Spencer, and they are said
to have had ten children. The names of the
seven following are known : Npadiah, Daniel
S., Nathaniel, Samuel, Susannah, Ebenezer
and Mary.
(VI) Major Noadiah Emmons, eldest son of

Ebenezer and Susannah (Spencer) Emmons,
was born in East Haddam, March, 1755, and
died March 6, 1808. He was a farmer, fle enlist
ed at East Haddam, May 10, 1775, as private in
Captain Joseph Spencer's First company, Sec
ond regiment, and was discharged December
17, 1775; enrolled as a minute-man in Captain
Eliphalet Holms's company, of East Haddam,
in May, 1776; appointed captain of the First,
or North Millington company, colonial militia,
1780, and major in 1780. He married. May 1,
1777, Elizabeth, daughter of Abner and Eliza
beth Brainard. She was born at East Haddam,
November 16, 1758, and died February 2, 1823.
Children, born at East Haddam: Ichabod,
Noadiah, Brainard, Henry, Susannah, Augus
tine, Jonathan L., and David.
(VII) Major Ichabod, eldest child of Noa
diah and Elizabeth (Brainard) Emmons, was
born in East Haddam, Connecticut, March 18,
1778, and died at Hinsdale, Massachusetts,
April 26, 1839. When a young man he went
to Middlefield, Massachusetts, to learn the
trade of blacksmith. After marriage he re
turned to East Haddam, where he remained
about two years, and again returning to Mass
achusetts, purchased a farm in Hinsdale, Berk
shire county, on the road from Boston to Al
bany. There he worked at his trade and culti
vated the soil. He is said to have been an inde
fatigable worker, often hammering at his forge
through the long hours of the night, shoeing
horses or fashioning farming implements. In
1 819 he erected a fine brick mansion on the
farm, in which he lived until his death. This
was for many years the finest dwelling in town,
and remained in the possession of the family
till 1901, when it went into other hands and
was remodeled and converted into a popular
summer hotel bearing the name of "Shady
Villa." The Major was a man possessing a keen
sense of humor, and was one of the best known
wags of Western Massachusetts. While in
the legislature, where he represented his town
several terms, he was noted for his witty say
ings, and was a welcome guest at many social
functions held in Boston during his legislative
career. At one of the legislative sessions he
introduced a bill entitled "An Act to Tax Min
isters and Sheep." The title of Major was
given him as an officer in one of the militia
regiments of Berkshire county. He married,
December 9, 1799, Mindwell, daughter of David
and Mary (Talcott) Mack, born in Middle-
field, September 6, 1779, died June 23, 1862.
Children were: Monroe,. Noadiah, Eliza,
Laura, Mack, Emily and Mary.

MASSACH USETTS.

483

(VIII) Laura Mack, second daughter of
Major Ichabod and Mindwell, (Mack) Emmons,
was born in Hinsdale, July 3, 1810, and died
September 18, 1898, aged eighty-eight years.
She married, November 30, 1833, Hon. Au
gustus C. Frissell, of Peru (see Frissell).

The surname Spear is of ancient
SPEAR English origin, though the family
seems never to have been very
numerous. The name is also spelled Spere in
the early records.
(I) George Spear, immigrant ancestor per
haps of all of the surname in this country, came
from England to Massachusetts in 1642 and
settled in Braintree. He was admitted a free
man May 29, 1644. He lived for a time at
Dorchester. In his old age he removed to New
Dartmouth, now Pemaquid, Maine, and is said
to have been killed by the Indians. He married
Mary  , who died at Braintree, December
7,1674. Children: 1. George, married, April
2, 1669, Mary, born January 16, 1652-3, daugh
ter of Samuel Deering, of Braintree ; children :
Hannah, Mary and Eleazer (given by some
writers as of his parents). 2. Sarah, January 3,
1647-8; married, June 19, 1672, George Witty.
3. Richard, had seven children baptized April
11, 1698. 4. Samuel, October 15, 1652, died
young. 5. Ebenezer, August 3, 1654; married,
July 16, 1679, Rachel Deering. 6. Hannah,
March 30, 1656-7, died 1668. 7. Samuel, Janu
ary 16, 1658-9 ; mentioned below. 8. Nathaniel,
May 15, 1665; married, August 8, 1689, Han
nah Holman.
(II) Samuel, son of George Spear, was born
January 16, 1658-9, at Braintree, and died there
December 24, 1713, aged according to his grave
stone fifty-five years. His epitaph reads: "The
memory of thy life is blessed." He married
Elizabeth Daniels. Children, born in Braintree :
1. Rev. Samuel, July 6, 1696 ; graduate of Har
vard College, 17 1 5," minister at Provincetown ;
his will, July, 1747, mentions brothers and
sisters William, John, Benoni, Mehitable, Doro
thy, Hannah, Mary. 2. Daniel, August 25,
1698. 3. Elizabeth, June 19, 1700. 4. Mehit
able, September, 1702. 5. Dorothy, mentioned
in brother Samuel's will. 6. Hannah, baptized
August 4, 1706. 7. William, born June 8, 1708;
married Hannah Penniman. 8. John, April 8,
1710; mentioned below. 9. Mary, baptized
March 23, 1712. 10. Benoni (posthumous),
born July 23, 1714; married, November 29,
1760, Elizabeth Newcomb, widow.
(Ill) John, son of Samuel Spear, was born
in Braintree, April 8, 1710, and died there July

5, 1776, in his sixty-sixth year. Fle resided on
the Spear homestead, on Hough's Neck, all his
life. He married Mary, daughter of Samuel
and Sarah Arnold, of Braintree, February 20,
1736. Children, born at Braintree : 1. Prudence,
March 8, 1736-7 ; married, 1755, Daniel Baxter.
2. Mary, baptized November 12, 1738, probably
died young. 3. Seth, born January 19, 1742;
mentioned below. 4. Mary, January 4, 1743 ;
married James Brackett, Jr. 5. Dorothy, born
February 14, baptized February 19, 1744; mar
ried, September 22, 1763, Edward Adams. 6.
Tchabod, baptized March 9, 1745, died young.
(John Spear (3d) also had a wife Mary and
children about the same time").
(IV) Lieutenant Seth, son of John Spear,
was born in Braintree, January 19, 1742, and
died August 26, 1818. fte was a soldier in the
revolution, in Captain Seth Turner's company,
in 1776, for three months and fourteen days,
stationed at Braintree ; also sergeant in Captain
Edmund Billings's company, of North Precinct
of Braintree, Colonel Jonathan Bass's regiment,
later in 1776, engaged to drive the British ships
from Boston harbor. He resided in the north
precinct of Braintree, and signed the petition
to set off the precinct and establish what is now
Quincy. According to the census of 1790 he
had two males over sixteen, three under that
age, and eight females in his family. He mar
ried (first) September 25, 1764, Judith Adams,
born 1746, died July 10, 1787 (town record),
daughter of Deacon John and Mary (Swift)
Adams; (second) May 15, 1788, Abigail Marsh,
died October 28, 1812, daughter of Wilson
Marsh. Epitaph :
"Here's one who lived in peace on earth
And here's her sleeping dust.
The soul we trust in Heaven is
And reigns among the just."
He married (thirds Frances, widow of John
Nightingale, daughter of Captain Moses Brack
ett. She died July 3, 1846, aged eighty years.
Children of first wife: 1. Mary, born October
20, 1765, died October 9, 1813; married, July
15, 1792, Ebenezer Adams. 2. Judith, born
May 19, 1767, died May 5, 1795 ; married,
October 17, 1793, Josiah Bass. 3. Seth, born
February 17, 1769, died young. 4. Sarah, born
January 17, 1770, died September 9, 1795;
married, September 30, 1791, Henry Hardwick.
5. John, born October 3, 1771 ; married, May
15, 1796, Mary, daughter of Joshua Hobart.
6. Abigail, born May 24, 1773, died young. 7.
Elijah, born January 27, 1775, died September
14, 1833 ; married, April 13, 1800, Susanna

484

MASSACHUSETTS.

Baxter. 8. Seth, born January 12, 1777, died
May 28, 1799. 9. Dorothy, born September 16,
1778, died January 30, 1822; married, May 31,
1804, Joseph Blanchard. 10. Elizabeth, born
October 22, 1780, died August 5, 1795. n.
Lucy, born February 20, 1783; married, Janu
ary 25, 1809, Elisha Marsh. 12. George, born
January 25, 1785 ; mentioned below. 13. Luther,
born June 13, 1787; married, December 17,
1807, Esther, daughter of Deacon Samuel Savil.
Children of second wife: 14. Maria Bowen,
born April 20, 1789, died May 3, 1819. 15.
Sophia, born December 1, 1790, died August
29, 1827; married, June 13, 1811, Jonathan
Marsh. 16. Abigail, born July 29, 1793; mar
ried, April 11, 1819, Charles Gleason. 17.
Louisa, born September 18, 1795; married,
May 22, 1814, George Nightingale. 18. Alpheus,
born December 8, 1796, died May 4, 1847;
married, March 21, 1819, Ann Adams. 19.
Lemuel, born March 4, 1798, died March 20,
1839 ; married, December 14, 1823, Velera Wat
son. (V) George, son of Lieutenant Seth Spear,
was born January 25, 1785, and died in Quincy,
at the age of ninety years. He was a prominent
citizen of Quincy, and a farmer. He was
brought up in the orthodox faith, and was a
great student of the Bible. Late in life he
became a Universalist. He married, December
20, 1809, Ann Savil, daughter of Deacon Sam
uel Savil. Children : 1. George W., born Octo
ber 30, 1810; see forward. 2. Sarah A., No
vember 5, 181 1, died July 11, 181 3. 3. Lucretia
S., born January 29, 1813; married Charles
Pierce, and died aged ninety years. 4. Elisha,
born January 29, 181 5, died September 10,
1817. 5. Edward A., born December 7, 1816;
captain in civil war ; settled in Quincy, where
he was superintendent of cemeteries. 6. Elisha,
born September 2, 1818; a shoemaker; served
in army during civil war ; lived in Missouri,
where he died. 7. Albert F., a shoemaker;
settled in North Weymouth. 8. Lebbeus C,
born March 20, 1822, died October 17, 1823.
9. Lucy A., born January 27, 1824; married
Frederick Garfield, and died at an advanced
age. 10-11. John and Mary, twins, born March
9. 1826; John died March 10, and Mary died
March 14, 1826. 12. Mary E., born August
9, 1829; died unmarried, at an advanced age.
13. Granville A., born June 11, 1831 ; a shoe-.
maker ; married in Indiana, went to California,
and later returned to Indiana, where he died.
14. Emily F., born August 23, 1834.
(VI) George W., son of George Spear, was
born in Quincy, October 30, 1810. He learned

the trade of blacksmith, and was engaged in
that business in Quincy for some time. He
became foreman for Gridley Bryant, a promi
nent architect of Boston, and worked in South
Boston and Medford. Here he met with a
serious accident in a quarry, a premature ex
plosion, by which he lost an eye and was made
a cripple for life. He returned to Quincy,
where he was accidentally killed by being caught
in a bevel gearing of a machine which he was
operating. He was a good citizen, and an
industrious man. He married, in Quincy, Eliz
abeth Thayer, born April 3, 1814, died July 8,
1893, daughter of Elihu and Elizabeth Thayer ;
her father was a carpenter of Quincy. Chil
dren : 1. George A., born November 14, 1836;
mentioned below. 2. Edward, born December
15, 1838. 3. Christopher A., born December
25, 1839, died March 14, 1905 ; was in the civil
war, and afterwards seven years purser in the
United States navy. 4. Ann E., bor'n Novem
ber 1, 1 84 1 ; married William S. Pierce, who
was in the civil war, and is now a clerk em
ployed by the city of Boston. 5. Walter F.,
born October 24, 1843, died December, 1897;
married Amanda Guild ; carpenter. 6. Hiram
Austin, born February 28, 1846; carpenter,
living in Middletown, Connecticut. 7. Angeline
M., born September 28, 1848; died unmarried.
8. Francis A., born May 15, 1854; probation
officer, city of Quincy. 9. Elihu T., born Au
gust 18, 185 1 ; head engineer of Metropolitan
Works, Quincy ; married Mrs. Abbie Newcomb.
10. Lucy G., born September 15, 1858; married
James Walker; lives in Quincy. 11. Herbert,
born January 10, 1861 ; officer on a revenue
cutter in the navy ; married Laura Jernegan,
of Edgartown, Massachusetts.
(VII) George A., son of George W. Spear,
was born November 14, 1836. He received
his education in the public schools of Quincy,
and in 1852, at the age of fifteen, went to West
Roxbury and was apprenticed to his uncle,
Hiram Thayer, to learn the trade of carpenter.
After a few years as a journeyman he estab
lished himself in business as a carpenter and
builder. He soon established a reputation for
careful, practical and honest work, and his
business increased rapidly. He erected many
private houses in West Roxbury and other
suburbs of Boston. He was always interested
in the growth and development of his native
town, and is a worthy and respected citizen.
In politics he is a Republican, and in religion a
liberal. He married, November, i860, Anetta
Harper, born in West Roxbury, 1839, died
February 22, 1874, daughter of Joseph and

MASSACHUSETTS.

485

Abigail (Bragg) Harper. Her father was a
native of Dorsetshire, England, who came to
New England and settled at West Roxbury as
a farmer. Children: 1. Sarah C, born Janu
ary 16, 1862; married Albert P. Langtry (see
Langtry). 2. Alvin, born October 30, 1869;
mentioned below. 3. George Harper, died
young. (VIII) Alvin, son of George A. Spear, was
born in West Roxbury, October 30, 1869. He
is a successful stone mason and contractor,
having constructed many foundations and sub
stantial buildings in that section. He married,
December 1, 1895, Louisa Agnes Lutz, born in
Roxbury, September 13, 1871, daughter of
George C. and Pauline M. (Roher) Lutz, both
of German birth. Children: 1. Ruth, born
November 3, 1896. 2. Helen, January 11,
1898. 3. George A., November 29, 1900. 4.
Earl Langtry, April 18, 1903.

The name Washburn' is de-
WASHBURN rived from two simple words
— wash — which applies to the
swift moving current of a stream, and burn or
bourne, a brook or small stream. It has been
said of the family, whose origin is in England,
that the posterity of John Washburn, the first
immigrant of the name to locate in New Eng
land, "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 them
selves, 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, statesmen and military men in
all of the American wars. Maine, Vermont,
Massachusetts and Wisconsin have all had gov
ernors from the Washburn family, and three
brothers served as congressmen from three
states at the same time, and all with much abil
ity. Authors and college graduates may be
found to a score or more, who have left their
impress upon the world. In England a John
Washburn was the first secretary of the Council
of Plymouth, and was succeeded in office in
1628 by William Burgess ; but it is not known
that he was identical with John Washburn, of
Duxbury, in 1632 ; nor is it known that the
New England Washburns, the descendants of
John, were of kin to William, Daniel and John
Washburn, who had land upon Long Island as
early as 1653, but whose names soon afterwards
disappeared from the records there.
(I) Sir Roger, of Little Washbourne, county

Worcester, England, flourished in the latter
half of the thirteenth century. He is men
tioned in the inquisition of 1259 and was living
in 1299. Pie married Joan  .
(II) Sir John, son of Sir Roger, was known
during the lifetime of his father as John de
Dufford. Fle was knight of the shire and died
before Michaelmas, 1319. Fle married Isa
bella  .
(Ill) Sir Roger (2), son of Sir John, mar
ried, as early as 13 16, Margaret  . He
was Lord of Washbourne.
(IV) John (2) Washburn, son of Sir Roger,
was a younger son. He had an elder brother,
also named John, who died without issue,
and consequently the estate and manor of
Washbourne • was confirmed to the younger
son by his father, Sir Roger. He married
Isabelle  .
(V) Peter Washborne,sonof John (2) Wash
burn, married Isolde Hanley in the twenty-
ninth year of the reign of Edward III. Had
sons John, mentioned below, and William.
(VI) John (3) Washborn, son of Peter
Washborne, married (first) Joan Musard, and
(second) Margaret Poher, or Powre, of Wich-
enford. He was knight of the shire, escheator,
and vice-comes. He was the last of the name
to own Stanford, and the first in Wichenford,
and was living in July, in the fifth year of the
reign of Henry Vi. Children: Isolde (by
first wife), Norman, John, Elynor.
(VII) Norman Washburn, son of John (3)
Washborn, married Elizabeth Knivton. As
son and heir he had a grant of the manor of
Washborne from his father in the fifth year
of the reign of Henry VI. He died before
1479. Children: John, mentioned below; Ele
anor ; other daughters.
(VIII) John (4), son of Norman Wash
burn, died in May, 15 17. He was probably
born as early as 1454. He was a commissioner.
He married (first) Joan Mitton, of Weston,
county Stafford, and (second) Elizabeth Mon-
ington, of Butters, county Hereford, who was
buried at Bosbury. His will was dated May 3,
1 517, and he died May 6 following. He was
buried in Wichenford church. Children of
first wife: 1. Robert, died in the lifetime of
his father. 2. John, mentioned below. 3. Wal
ter, executor of his father's will. 4. Francis.
Children of second wife: 5. Anthony, of Bos
bury. 6. Richard.
(IX) John (5), son of John (4) Washburn,
was founder of what is known as the Benge-
worth branch, and married Erame  , who
lived at Bengeworth, a few miles distant from

486

MASSACHUSETTS.

Little Washbourne. His will was dated De
cember 27, 1546, and he died soon afterward.
His wife made her will May 1, 1547. Chil
dren: 1. John, mentioned below. 2. William,
married Margaret Harward.
(X) John (6), son of John (5) Washburn,
of Bengeworth, married, in 1542, jone Bushell.
He married (second) in 1561, Jone White
head, who was buried in 1567. He was buried
in 1593. Children: 1. John, mentioned below.
(XI) John (7), son of John (6) Washburn,
was of Bengeworth, and married, in 1596,
Martha Stevens, whose will was proved in
1626. Pie was buried in 1624. His will was
r'ated August 3, 1624. Children: 1. John,
baptized July 2, 1597; mentioned below. 2.
Jane, baptized December 2, 1599. 3. William,
baptized November 9, 1601. 4. Jone, baptized
April 11, 1604, buried 1636.
(XII) John (8), son of John (7) Wash
burn, was baptized in Bengeworth, England,
July 2, 1597. He was the immigrant ancestor.
He settled in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in 1632.
Two of his sons, John and Philip, came with
him, and also his wife. In that year he had
an actiqn in court against Edward Doten, and
he was a taxpayer in 1633. In 1634 he bought
of Edward Bompasse a place beyond the creek,
called Eagle's Nest. He and his sons above
mentioned were on the list of those able to
bear arms in 1643. He and his son John were
among the original fifty-four proprietors of
Bridgewater in 1645. They bought the lands
of the old Sachem, Massasoit, for seven coats
of one and one half yards each, nine hatchets,
twenty knives, four moose skins, ten and a half
yards of cotton cloth. The transfer was wit
nessed by Captain Myles Standish, Samuel
Nash and Constant Southworth. He died at
Bridgewater in 1670. He married Margery
Moore, who was baptized in 1588. Children:
1. Mary, baptized 1619. 2. John, born 1620;
mentioned below. 3. Philip, baptized and buried
June, 1622, at Bengeworth. 4. Philip, went to
America with his father.
(XIII) John (9), son of John (8) Wash
burn, was baptized in Bengeworth, England,
in 1620. and came to New England with his
father. In 1645 he married Elizabeth Mitchell,
daughter of Experience Mitchell, as shown by
a letter written by her nephew, Thomas Mitchell,
to his uncle, Experience, dated at Amsterdam,
July 24, 1662. This letter has been preserved.
John Washburn in 1670 sold his house and
lands at Green's Harbor, Duxbury, which his
father had given him. He made his will in
i68(- His sons John and Samuel were exe

cutors and his brother-in-law, Edward Mitchell,
and his kind friend, John Tomson, were made
trustees and overseers. Children: 1. John,
married Rebecca Lapham. 2. Thomas, mar
ried (first) Abigail Leonard; (second) De
liverance Packard. 3. Joseph, married Han
nah Latham and resided in Bridgewater. 4.
Samuel, born 165 1 ; mentioned below. 5. Jon
athan, married Mary Vaughan. 6. Benjamin,
died on the Phipps expedition to Canada. 7.
Mary, born 1661 ; married, 1694, Samuel Kins
ley. 8. Elizabeth, married (first) James How
ard ; (second) Edward Sealy. 9. Jane, married
William Orcutt, Jr. 10. James, born 1672;
married Mary Bowden. 11. Sarah, married,
1697. John Ames.
(XIV) Sergeant Samuel, son of John (9)
Washburn, was born in Duxbury in 165 1, died
in 1720. He married Deborah Packard, daugh
ter of Samuel Packard. His will was made in
1720, and shows that his sons Noah and Israel
were dead at that time. Children : 1. Samuel,
born 1678. 2. Noah, 1682 ; mentioned below.
3. Israel, 1684. 4. Nehemiah, 1686. 5. Benja
min. 6. Hannah, married John Kieth.
(XV) Noah, son of Sergeant Samuel Wash
burn, was born in 1682, and died in 1717. He
married, in 1710, Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of
Joseph Shaw, and sister of Rev. John Shaw.
She married (second) in 1719, Isaac Harris.
Noah resided at East Bridgewater. Children:
1. Eleazer. 2. Noah, mentioned below.
(XVI) Noah (2), son of Noah (1) Wash
burn, married, in 1739, Mary Staples, and lived
in East Bridgewater. He settled in Williams
burgh and owned the house lately occupied by
Lauriston Washburn. Children: I.Elizabeth,
born 1739. 2. Noah, 1741. 3. Nehemiah, 1743;
married, in 1770, Ruth Edgerton. 4. Stephen,
1748; mentioned below. 5. Huldah, 1750. 6.
Mary, 1756.
(XVII) Stephen, son of Noah (2) Wash
burn, was born in East Bridgewater in 1748.
He married, in 1770, Sarah Faxon, and settled
in Williamsburgh. He was a farmer. Chil
dren : 1. Amos, mentioned below. 2. Polly,
married Gross Williams. 3. Sally, married
(first) Eleazer Hillman ; (second) Seth John
son, of Dana, Massachusetts. 4. Ruth, married
Rev. Hosea Ballou, the distinguished Universal
ist minister.
(XVIII) Amos, son of Stephen Washburn,
was born at Williamsbu rgh. He married Amanda
Root. Children, born at Williamsburgh : Lauris
ton, Nehemiah, William L., Charles, Sarah,
Edward G. ; the three latter were triplets.
(XIX) Edward Gardner, son of Amos Wash-

MASSACHUSETTS.

487

burn, was bora in Williamsburgh, June, 1819,
died in Springfield, May 22, 1889. He was
one of triplets, Edward G., Charles and Sarah,
and was brought up by Fenton Dutchertown,
who was a teacher of the violin, which he
taught Mr. Washburn, who thus became an
accomplished violinist and played in orchestras
all his life. He first learned the trade of orna
mental wood carver, and after working at that
some years went to Springfield, where he was
employed as a wood worker in the armory
until 1865. October 2, of that year he bought out
the undertaking business of Wells P. Hodgett,
and carried that on until his death. He was
also engaged for a time in the manufacture of
planes. He was a member of the Blue Lodge
of Masons, and attended St. Paul's Universal
ist Church. In politics he was independent.
He married, 1839, Sylvia Briggs Cheney, bora
in 1823, died in Springfield, 1894. She was
the daughter of Levi and Plotina (Metcalf)
Cheney, of North Orange. There were three
children of this marriage: Homer M., born
1846, died December 11, 1898; Edward Corral,
1850, died July 1, 1897; Cheney Davidson,
next mentioned.
( XX ) Cheney Davidson, only living son of Ed
ward Gardner Washburn, was born in Spring
field, September 24, 1856, and was educated in
the public schools and Burnett's English Classi
cal Institute on Court street. He was in the
employ of his father until the death of the
latter, May 22, 1889, when he succeeded to the
business which he has since carried on success
fully. He is an independent Republican in
politics, and attends the South Congregational
Church. He is a member of Springfield Free
and Accepted Masons, and Hampden Lodge and
Agawam Encampment, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows. Also of the Nayasset and Win
throp clubs. He married, December 3, 1877,
Mary W. Titus, born December 3, 1856, daugh
ter of Arthur F. and Waity W. (Aldrich)
Titus, the former born in South Scituate, and
latter of North Scituate, Rhode Island. Mrs.
Washburn is a member of the Londmeadow
Woman's Club, and the Tuesday Morning
Music Club. There is one child of this marri
age, Stanley Titus, born February 14, 1885.

The surname Farrington
FARRINGTON is old English, the family
taking its name from the
place called Frendon, meaning Fearn Hill. There
is an ancient town of Farrington in Berkshire,
England, west of London, and a town of Far
rington in Lancashire. The family of Farring

ton, or Ffarrington, of Warden, and Frarring-
ton of Woodvale, were lineal descendants of
John de Farrington, of the time of Henry III.,
whose will was dated in 1549. The family
motto is : "Domat omnia virtus." Sir Anthony
Farrington was knighted in 1766.
( 1 ) John Farrington, immigrant ancestor,
was in New England as early as 1639, as De
cember 3 that year he gave bonds before the
general court for Isaac Deesbro. lie was a
proprietor of Dedham, a townsman there Janu
ary 1, 1646, and died there April 27, 1676. He
married, in 1649, Mary, daughter of William
Bullard. He was a freeman, and joined the
church March 9, 1667. His wife Mary joined
in May, 1652. Administration of his estate
was granted his widow and son John, July 28,
1676. Distribution was made July 3, 1704,
after her decease, to other children, namely,
Nathaniel, Daniel and Benjamin Farrington ;
Sarah Witherly ; Abigail Hoadley ; Mary Ken
ney, daughter of Mary (Farrington) ; and John
Abbot, son of Hannah (Farrington). Chil
dren, born at Dedham: 1. Mary, January 26,
1650; married (first) April 27, 1667, John
Pidge; (second)  Kenney. 2. Sarah,
July 1, 1652; married  Witherly. 3.
John, February 25, 1654 ; married, September
24, 1677, Mary James. 4. Nathaniel, born June
6, 1656; mentioned below. 5. Eleazer, Febru
ary 11, 1660. 6. Hannah, July 22, 1662; mar
ried  Abbot. 7. Daniel, April 10, 1664;
married, October 5, 1691, Abigail Fisher; re
sided at Wrentham ; ancestor of Maine branch
of the family. 8. Judith, June 1, 1666; died
March 3, 1676. 9. Abigail, April 30, 1668;
married  Hoadley. 10. Benjamin, June
15, 1672.
(II) Nathaniel, son of John Farrington,
was born in Dedham, June 6, 1656, and died
there May 8, 1723. He married Sarah  .
Children, born at Dedham: 1. Sarah, January
3, 1683. 2. Nathaniel, July 24, 1685 ; died No
vember 20, 1707. 3. Hannah, August 17, 1687.
4. Abigail, October 16, 1689. 5. Jonathan, born
November 5, 1699 ; mentioned below. 6. Mary,
born April 16, 1704. (Very few births are
recorded between 1689 and 1699, and no doubt
he had children during that time).
(Ill) Jonathan, son of Nathaniel Farring
ton, was born at Dedham, November 5, 1699.
He resided at Dedham, and married, August
10, 1727, Prudence Childs, of Brookline. Chil
dren, born at Dedham: 1. Jonathan, May 5,
1728; mentioned below. 2. Nathaniel, Decem
ber 17, 1730; died young. 3. Joshua, August
22, 1732. 4. Ebenezer, May 13, 1734- 5- Na"

488

MASSACHUSETTS.

thaniel, March 15, 1735-6. 6. Sarah, January
8, 1739-40. 7. Abigail, August 15, 1741. 8.
Stephen, April 3, 1744. 9. Benjamin, born
March 20, 1745.
(IV) Jonathan (2), son of Jonathan (1)
Farrington, was born at Dedham, May 5, 1728.
His son Jonathan was in the revolution, on duty
at Rhode Island, in Captain Jeremiah Putnam's
company, Colonel Nathaniel Wade's regiment,
in 1778-9 ; on guard duty at Boston from Janu
ary to May, 1779, in Captain Abner Crane's
company ; in Rhode Island the same year under
Captain Joseph Richards. Jonathan Farring
ton, of Stoughton, probably the father, was in
Captain Asahel Smith's company, Colonel Lem
uel Robinson's regiment, and answered the
Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775. He married
(second) at Stoughton, April 15, 1756 (inten
tions dated April 1 ) Mary Puffer. Children :
1. Mary, born at Dedham, March 7, 1752 (by
first wife). 2. Jonathan, born at Stoughton,
baptized March 2, 1757. 3. Abel, mentioned
below. Other children.
(V) Abel, son of Jonathan (2) Farrington,
was born at Stoughton, about 1775. He re
sided at Stoughton, and married (first) Han
nah  ; (second) Sally  . Children
of first wife: 1. Abel, born November 17,
1800; married Louise Spaulding. 2. Nancy,
born November 3, 1802; married John Fisher,
of Dedham. 3. Enoch, born November 14,
1805 ; mentioned below. 4. Samuel, born Octo
ber 19, 1807. Children of second wife: 5.
Elizabeth, born December 20, 181 1. 6. Elijah,
November 2, 1813. 7. John B., October 20,
1815. 8. Sarah, June 10, 1817. 9. Hannah,
February 29, 1820 ; died January 25, 1823. 10.
Mary, born July 11, 1822. 11. Jairus, June 6,
1825. 12. Hannah, July 12, 1827.
(VI) Enoch, son of Abel Farrington, was
born at Stoughton, November 14, 1805, and
died February 21, 1888. He married Elizabeth
Thayer, born September 1, 1815, at Stoughton,
died July 12, 1897. As a young man he worked
in a shoe shop ; then in Canton, as a butcher ;
then drove a meat wagon in Dedham; then
worked in mill of Henry Capen, and later was
employed in different kinds of business until
he retired. Child, Charles Wentworth, men
tioned below.
(VII) Charles Wentworth, son of Enoch
Farrington, was born in Canton, December 19,
1835, and died at Stoughton, April 12, 1903.
He came to Stoughton when he was about
eight years old, and attended the public schools
of that town. He learned the trade of boot
maker, at which he worked for a time. In his

later years he was a small farmer at Stoughton
and then retired. He was a prudent and hard
working man, and succeeded in .accumulating
a competence. He was quiet and domestic in
his tastes, loving his home and family and
seeking no public honors. He was not without
interest in public affairs, however, and by ex
ample assisted in the temperance movement.
In politics he voted the Republican ticket, or
for the best man. He married, September 9,
1873, Mary Emeline Harris, born January 27,
1843, at Stoughton, daughter of Theophilus
Curtis Harris, born November 14, 1800, at
Abington, Massachusetts, died July 23, 1880,
at Stoughton, and Mary (Belcher) Harris,
born May 29, 1809, at Sharon, and died June
3, 1878, at Stoughton. Her father was a car
penter at Stoughton; was an attendant of the
Congregational church. Oliver Harris, father
of Theophilus Curtis Harris, lived at Stough
ton, married Elizabeth Leach ; children : i.
Simeon Harris ; ii. Oliver Harris ; iii. Theo
philus Curtis Harris, mentioned above; iv.
Vashti Harris ; v. Relief Plarris ; vi. Charlotte
Harris ; vii. Emily Harris ; viii. Elizabeth
Harris ; ix. Adeline Harris. Mr. and Airs.
Farrington had no children.
The surname Cole is derived from
COLE an ancient personal name of un
known antiquity. Coel, as the name
was formerly spelled, was the founder of Col
chester, one of the early kings of Britain.
Justice Cole lived in the reign of King Alfred.
Another Cole defeated Sweyne, the Danish
chieftain in 1001 at Pinhoe. William Cole and
wife Ysabella are named in Assize Roll of the
county of Cornwall in A. D. 1201, showing
that Cole was at that time established as a sur
name. Various branches of the English Cole
family bear coats-of-arms, all indicating rela
tionship by the similarity of the device. The
Hertfordshire family, to which the American
is believed to belong, bears : Party per pale or
and argent a bull passant within a bordure
sable on a chief of the third three bezants.
Crest: A demi-dragon vert bearing in his
dexter paw a javelin armed or, feathered argent.
(I) James Cole, immigrant ancestor of this
family, was living in Highgate, a suburb of
London, England, in 1616. He is spoken of
as a great lover of flowers. He married, in
1624, Mary Lobel, daughter of the noted botan
ist and physician, Mathieu Lobel. Her father
was a physician to James I., and was a great
student and the author of a number of books
on medicinal plants; he discovered the medi-

MASSACHUSETTS.

489

cinal qualities of the plant which he called after
himself, Lobelia. In 1632 James Cole, his
wife and two children came to Saco, Maine,
and in the following year located at Plymouth,
Massachusetts, where he was admitted a free
man the same year. He was a sailor. In 1634
his name appears on the tax list, and he re
ceived a grant of land. His house stood on
the lot next below the present site of the Bap
tist church. Fle was the first settler on what
is still known as Cole's Hill, the first burial
ground of the Pilgrims, and which probably
included the ground on which rests Plymouth
Rock. He had other grants of land and was
surveyor of highways in 1641-42-51-52 ; con
stable in 1641-44. In 1637 he was on a list of
volunteers against the Pequot Indians. Soon
after his arrival at Plymouth he opened the
first inn, which was one of the first in New
England. This house was kept by him and his
son James until 1698. Children: 1. James,
born in London, 1625 ; mentioned below. 2.
Hugh, born in London, 1627. 3. John, born
November 21, 1637, in Plymouth. 4. Mary,
born in Plymouth, 1639 ; married (first) John
Almy; (second) John Pocoke; died without
issue. til) James (2), son of James (1) Cole,
was born in London, England, in 1625-26, and
came with his father to Plymouth in 1633. He
removed to Scituate, and from there to York,
Maine, and probably thence to Kennebunk,
where he remained but a short time. He was
admitted a freeman of Plymouth in 1654. In
1656 he was surveyor of highways, also in
1678 and 1685 ; deputy to the general court in
1690. In 1668 he purchased from his father
the public house, which he kept for many years.
Judge Sewell in his diary says the house was
built by Governor Winslow, and was the oldest
in Plymouth. He died in Plymouth in 1712.
He married (first) December 23, 1652, Mary
Tilson. He married (second) Abigail Daven
port. Children: 1. Mary, born December 16,
1653. 2. John, March 16, 1660; mentioned
below. 3. Nathaniel. 4. Ephraim. 5. Eliza
beth, married Elkanah Cushman. 6. Martha,
married Nathan Howland. 7. Joanna, married
Thomas Howland. 8. Hannah, married Elisha
Bradford. (Ill) John, son of James (2) Cole, was
born March 16, 1660, died March 14, 1724.
He was on the first list of voters of the town
of Plympton which was incorporated June 4,
1707. fte bought of Robert Ranson fifteen
acres of land on the north of the brook out of
.Dotys Meadows, which was his homestead.

His will, dated March 13, 1723, bequeaths all
his property to his wife Susannah. He married
(first) Patience Barber. He married (second)
Susannah Gray, born October 15, 1668, died
August 26, 1727, daughter of Edward and
Dorothy (Lettuce) Gray, whose second hus
band was Captain Nathaniel Clark. Children :
1. Patience, born 1697. 2. John, 1699. 3.
Joseph, February 4, 1706. 4. Ebenezer, Octo
ber 17, 171 1 ; mentioned below. 5. Hezekiah,
died May 16, 1724.
(IV) Ebenezer, son of John Cole, was born
at Plympton, October 17, 171 1. He married
Ruth Churchill, daughter of William Churchill,
of Plympton. Children: 1. Ebenezer, born
1739. 2. Obadiah. 3. Barnabas. 4. Lemuel.
5. Joanna. 6. Seth, born 1756. 7. Amaziah.
8. William. 9. Consider, born 1762. 10. Jesse,
born 1764. 11. Hannah. 12. Ruth.
(V) Consider, son of Ebenezer Cole, was
born in 1762, in Plymouth, or Plympton, Mass
achusetts. He came to Chesterfield, Massachu
setts, with his father's family when he was a
boy. His brother Amaziah settled on the home
stead lately owned by Widow Smith and had
sons Fbenezer, Joseph and Amaziah, Jr., of
Chesterfield. Consider bought a hundred acre*
of unimproved land and cleared his farm. He
was a blacksmith by trade and followed his
trade as well as farming. He died at Chester
field and is buried in the Worthington ceme
tery. He married  . She died Septem
ber, 1819, aged fifty-five years. Of their eleven
children, four died young. Children, born at
Chesterfield: 1. Isaac, went west. 2. Daniel.
3. Seth. 4. William, born 1812 ; mentioned
below. 5. Consider, Jr. 6. Horace, stone
mason by trade, worked in New York City at
his trade ; became a leather merchant and dealer
in hides in partnership with Matthew Carroll ;
returned to Chesterfield, 1828, and carried on
a large farm; established a general store at
Worthington in 1845 in partnership with Sim
eon Clapp, later with C. C. Parish and finally
with his son as H. Cole & Son, his son succeed
ing to the business in 1875; also manufactured
boots and shoes; his house and store were
burned in 1859, but soon rebuilt ; established a
cheese factory in 1875 and sold out later to a
stock company; a Whig and later Republican
in politics ; selectman at Chesterfield and Worth
ington ; a Congregationalist in religion ; mar
ried (first) May 9, 1821, Sarah King, who died
June, 1855; (second) October 14, 1857, Mary
Cole, daughter of Elijah Cole, widow of John
Kinne, of Chesterfield; his second wife died
February 7, 1873, and he married (third)

49°

MASSACHUSETTS.

June 28, 1874, Almira Hall, daughter of Jere
miah Hall, of Stonington, Connecticut^widow
of Calvin Gunn, "of Pittsfield, Massachusetts,
granddaughter of Judge Hall ; Horace Cole
was an honest, successful, able and wealthy
man; he left a son Samuel. 7. Mary Ann. 8.
Lucy. Three others died young.
(VI) William, son of Consider Cole, was
born at Chesterfield, June 22, 1812, died at
Worthington, April 22, 1888. He was educated
in the public schools of his native town. He
followed farming at Worthington during his
active life. He took a keen interest in public
affairs and was active in the Methodist church
of which he was a member, and donated
liberally to the church fund when the edifice
was built. He was selectman for a number of
years. He married, April 8, 1834, Cynthia
Jackson, born August 12, 1819, at Chesterfield,
died in 1900, at Worthington. Children: 1.
Juliet, born October 4, 1835 ; married Harry
Arden, a lawyer, of New York City. 2. Wealthy
Ann, November 19, 1836, died December 21,
1872 ; married James P. Brown. 3. Charles
Franklin, April 19, 1838; mentioned below.
(VII) Charles Franklin, son of William
Cole, was born at Worthington, April 19, 1838,
died June 14, 1908, at Huntington, Massachu
setts. He was educated in the public schools
of his native town, and early in life learned the
carpenter's trade. When he came of age he
left home and found employment in the United
States arsenal at Springfield in the manufac
ture of guns, continuing for many years. He
was afterward employed in a toy sled factory.
In 1884 he purchased a grain store in Hunting
ton and lived there the remainder of his life.
He developed unusual business capacity and
built up a large trade. After a few years he
erected a large building on the site of the store,
using the ground floor for his own business.
In partnership with W. G. Kimball and Myron
Fiske, under the firm name of Cole, Kimball &
Fiske. he was at the head of the firm which
successfully built and owned the water works
of the town. He was a typical self-made man.
From a workman at daily wages he started in
a modest way in business and acquired a hand
some competence, won a place of influence and
importance in the community and the confi
dence of all his townsmen. He was a member
of Huntington Lodge of Free Masons. In
politics he was a Republican, and in 1892 was
a selectman of the town. Fle was an attendant
of the Congregational church. He married, in
1862, Josephine Elizabeth Goodrich, born Sep

tember 15, 1845, at Westfield, daughter of
Eliphalet Goodrich (see Goodrich, VII.). Chil
dren: 1. Helen Josephine, born August 3,
1864, at Westfield; married Alfred Converse;
children : Edith, Charles and Mabel Converse.
2. Flora A., April 29, 1874; married Leonard
F. Hardy, lawyer, of Huntington; children:
Margaret Josephine and Richard Earle Hardy.
(V) Amaziah, son of Ebenezer Cole, was
born in Plympton, about 1740. He was one of
the first of the family to come from Plymouth
county. He and his brothers settled in Chester
field, Massachusetts, and he bought the farm
lately owned by Widow Smith on Ireland Hill.
Pie married  . Children : 1. Elijah, men
tioned below. 2. Joseph, settled in Chester
field. 3. Amaziah, Jr., settled in Chesterfield,
and had son Ephraim. Perhaps daughters.
(VI) Elijah, son of Amaziah Cole, was born
about 1780 in Chesterfield, Massachusetts. He
lived in his native town and Worthington. He
married Deborah Damon. Among his children
was Amos, mentioned below.
(VII) Amos, son of Elijah Cole, was born
in Worthington. He married Adelaide Moore,
daughter of Holland Moore. Children: 1.
John, resides in West Springfield on George
street. 2. Henry. 3. Elisha Brewster, bora
April 2T,, 1835 ; mentioned below. 4. Selina,
married Cyrus Parsons, of Worthington. 5.
Martha, died young.
(VIII) Elisha Brewster, son of Amos Cole.
was born at Worthington, April 23, 1835, died
at Huntington, April 11, 1908. fle was edu
cated in the public schools of his native town.
He went to Illinois when a young man, but a
few years later returned to Massachusetts and
engaged in the manufacture of baskets at
Knightsville, about four miles from Hunting
ton Center. Pie was also in the business of
manufacturing sleds and toys in partnership
with his cousin and the firm was very success
ful. His later years were devoted to the insur
ance and collecting business in Huntington
where he lived for forty years, and was one
of the best collectors in Massachusetts. In
politics Mr. Cole was a Republican, but was
never active ; in religion he was very liberal.
He was a member of no fraternal organiza
tions, being devoted to business and his own
home. He married, October 5, 1867, Helen
Louisa Rude, born December 10, 1846, at Hunt
ington, daughter of Elias and Louisa (San
ford) Rude (see Rude, IV.). They had no
children. His widow resides in the home at
Huntington.

Lewis Historical- F-uh Co

W.T.Bat\e-r,NY

-MASSACHUSETTS.

491

(The Goodrich Line).
(II) Ephraim, son of William Goodrich (q.
v.), was born June 2, 1663, died February 27,
1739. He resided at Rocky Hill, Connecticut.
He married (first) May 20, 1684, Sarah Treat,
who died January 26, 1712, daughter of Major
Richard and Sarah (Coleman) Treat. He
married (second) December 25, 1712, Jerusha
Welles, born 1678, died January 15, 1754,
widow of Captain Thomas Welles, and daugh
ter of Captain James Treat. Children of first
wife: 1. Richard, born February 27, 1685;
married (first) Hannah Bulkley; (second)
Mehitable Boardman. 2. Sarah, August 3,
1689, died May 6, 1785; married, December
15, 1725, Richard Butler. 3. Ephraim, Decem
ber 21, 1693; married Hannah Steele. 4. Will
iam, February 21, 1697; married Rachel Sav
age. 5. David, October 3, 1699 ; married Sarah
Edwards. 6. Thomas, September 27, 1701.
7. Gideon, February 7, 1705 ; mentioned below.
Children of second wife : 8. Oliver, Septem
ber 14, 1714; married Temperance Wright. 9.
Gurdon, December 29, 1717; married Abigail
Belden. (Ill) Gideon, son of Ephraim Goodrich,
was born February 7, 1705, died in 1769. He
resided in Wethersfield and Upper Middletown,
Connecticut, and was for many years a sea
captain. He is buried at Rocky Hill. He mar
ried, June 29, 1718, Sarah  . Children :
1. Sarah, born February 29, 1719. 2. Jerusha,
December 16, 1720. 3. Elijah, June 5, 1725;
mentioned below. 4. Gideon, December 15,
1727 ; married Anna  . 5. Lois, April 12,
1729; married John Robbins. 6. Caleb, Sep
tember 1, 1 73 1 ; married Huldah Butler. 7.
Ebenezer, March 18, 1733; married Lydia
Denning. 8. Eunice, April 4, 1735. 9. Joshua,
May 18. 1738. 10. Wait, June 17, 1740; mar
ried Christian  . 11. Levi, June 10, 1747,
married, October 6, 1774, Azuba Goodrich.
(IV) Elijah, son of Gideon Goodrich, was
born June 5, 1725, and resided in Rocky Iiill,
Connecticut. He married, September 12, 1748,
Mary Wright. Children: 1. Ozias, born Sep
tember 13, 1750, died December 12, 1750. 2.
Lydia. November 3, 1751 ; married, December
3, 1768, Samuel Warner. 3. Israel, August 1,
1754: mentioned below.
(V) Israel, son of Elijah Goodrich, was
born August 1, 1754, and resided in Rocky
Hill. He married, January 4, 1785. Mercy
White. Children : 1. Israel. 2. Warren, men
tioned below. 3. Alfred Lindley. 4. Ozias,
died in Cuba, West Indies. 5. Gary, went to
Valparaiso. 6. Sarah. 7. Lydia.

(VI) Warren, son of Israel Goodrich, was
born at Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and died at
Westfield, Massachusetts. He lived at North
Chester, Worthington and Westfield, Massa
chusetts. He married Ann Bowers, who died
at North Chester, Massachusetts. Children :
Mercy, Charles, Jerome, Ann, Ozias, George,
Eunice, Elizabeth, Eliphalet, Henry, Alfred.
(VII) Eliphalet, son of Warren Goodrich,
was born in Worthington, April' 17, 1823, died
May 17, 1866, at Westfield. He attended the
district school, but was largely self-taught and
had a broad and general education, a retentive
memory and unusual ability. He began to
work in the "Whip City" in his youth, fle was
the first manufacturer of silver whip mount
ings. He enlisted in the civil war in Company
K, Massachusetts Volunteers. After his return
from the field of service, he was a contractor
in the manufacture of these whip mountings
by contract with state prison help, then a usual
proceeding. Later he resumed business in West-
field. He married Almira Elizabeth Bills, born
November 1, 1826, died June 3, 1902, at West-
field. Their only child, Josephine Elizabeth,
born September 15, 1845; married, in 1862,
Charles Franklin Cole (see Cole family).
(The Rude Line).
From either the Rood or Rudd families of
Norwich, Connecticut, and vicinity, the Rudes
of western Massachusetts are descended. We
find the name Rude on the Norwich records
occasionally, and after moving to Murrayfield,
Massachusetts, the spelling Rude was followed.
(I) John Rude or Rood, of Norwich, Con
necticut, had a home lot in 1679 on "the other
side of the Showtucket River near his uncle
Leffingwell's." He married Mary  . He
was in Preston, Connecticut, in 1686, as was
also Jonathan Rudd, and they were doubtless
related. He left six children, the names of
two being known: 1. John, mentioned below.
2. Zachariah, aged fourteen in 1706, died at
Preston, February 10, 1795, aged one hundred
and three years.
(II) John (2), son of John (1) Rude, was
born in Norwich in 1690. His age was stated
as sixteen at the time of his father's death in
1706. He had a bounty for killing birds in
1 7 18. He was doubtless the first or among
the first settlers of what is now Huntington,
Hampshire county, Massachusetts, originally
the eastern part of Murrayfield, incorporated
first as Norwich, June 20, 1773. The older
histories state that the first settlement was
made by an "Indian family by the name of

49--

MASSACHUSETTS.

Rhodes." The later histories find no corrobora
tive evidence of the statement, though they
make Rude one of the first settlers. The spell
ing of Rudd, Rood or Rude as Rodes, Roods,
Rudds or Rhodes is the best explanation of the
divergence of the statement. There may have
been Indian blood in the pioneer's veins. The
Christian Indians often took English names,
and the records do not help us discover why
the first settler was called Indian, when obvi
ously meaning an English settler. The loca
tion pointed out as the settlement made by
"Rhodes" is about two miles above Pitcher
Bridge, the date given was 1760. Tradition
says that Rude settled "when there were but
three houses in Huntington" but the three
houses were probably built at the same time
and one belonged to him. Caleb Fobes, Will
iam Miller, David Scott and Isaac Mixer were
the other earliest settlers. The farm he cleared
is still owned by a descendant. We are told
that his son John came with him, and it is
likely that the son was more active than the
father in clearing the land and building the
home in the wilderness. We know of no other
children. The wife's name was Mary Earle.
(Ill) John (3), son of John (2) Rude, was
born in Norwich, about 1750, and died at an
advanced age in 1848 on the homestead, where
he lived from boyhood, in Huntington. He
married Deborah Dunbar. Children, born at
Huntington: 1. Alvin, married Mary Bisby,
of Worthington. 2. Zara, born about 1775 ;
married Elizabeth Patch ; children : i. Thomas,
married Miranda Damon; ii. John, married
Maria Holmes ; iii. Lucy, married Jerome Stev
enson ; iv. Aliva, married Ira Miller ; v. Lydia ;
vi. Electa; vii. Welthea; viii. Elias, had the
homestead at Huntington, married, December
14, 1857, Nancy A. Merritt, born November 3,
1833, daughter of Austin Merritt. 3. Harvey,
never married. 4. Elias, mentioned below. 5.
Relief, married Ira Damon. 6. Joseph, married
Mary Damon. Children of second wife, Ruth
(Burton) Rude, were: 7. Norman. 8. Ursula.
(IV) Elias, son of John (3) Rude, was
born in Huntington, August 12, 1808, and died
there in 1890. He was a farmer all his life.
He married Louisa Sanford, born November
2, 1813, at Huntington, died there August 25,
1900. Children, born at Huntington : 1. Alma
M., February 24, 1838; married Austin T.
Hancock, of Huntington ; died January 6, 1892.
2. Egbert D. (twin), January 7, 1840; lives at
Forest Hills. Maryland. 3. Albert (twin),
January 7, 1840; enlisted in New York in the
civil war and died after the battle of the Wild

erness from typhoid fever, September 10, -1862.
4. Halsey, April 23, 1844, died June 28, 1909.
5. Helen Louisa, December 10, 1846; married
Elisha Brewster Cole, of Huntington (see Cole,
VIII.). (For preceding generations see Elizabeth Cutter 1).
(Ill) Nathaniel, son of Rich-
CUTTER ard Cutter, was born December
11, 1663, baptized January 24,
1664, at Cambridge. He was the executor of
his father's will and heir to a part of the lands
in Charlestown, where he lived. He married,
October 8, 1688, Mary Fillebrown, born May
5, 1662, died March 14, 1714, daughter of
Thomas and Anne Fillebrown, of Charlestown.
Both joined the Cambridge church October 28,
1705. About 1715 he married (second) Eliza
beth  , who survived him, and was dis
missed to the First Church in Groton, Novem
ber 12, 1749. Children of first wife: 1. Na
thaniel, born April 10, 1691 ; married Sarah
Winship. 2. Mary, bora August 5, 1693. 3.
Jacob, born April 8, 1695. 4. Ebenezer, born
November 11, 1698 ; mentioned below. 5. John,
born September 19, 1703'; married Hepsibah
(Cutter) Brooks. Children of second wife:
6. Richard, born October 11, 1716, died Au
gust 6, 1717. 7. Elizabeth, born January 26,
1718-19; married John Williams.
(IV) Ebenezer, son of Nathaniel Cutter,
was born in Charlestown, November 11, 1698,
and baptized July 2, 1699. He married, July
19, 1722, Sarah Cutter, daughter of William
and Rebecca (Rolfe) Cutter. On July 14,
1723, he was a Covenanter at Cambridge, and
with his wife joined the Cambridge church,
June 25, 1732. They were dismissed to the
Medford church in October, 1744. He made
generous gifts of fuel to his pastor in Cam
bridge. He lived most of his life in Medford
and died there June 29, 1750. His wife was
appointed administratrix of his estate and his
brother, John Cutter, was appointed guardian
of his son Daniel, then in his eighteenth year.
Children : 1. Sarah, born July 11, 1723, buried
March 19, 1782. 2. Ebenezer, born October
20, 1725. 3. Mary, born March 11, 1728-29;
married Timothy Hall. 4. Susanna, baptized
April 5, 1730, died young. 5. Daniel, born
April 24, 1733 ; mentioned below. 6. Susanna,
baptized November 30, 1735 ; married James
Wyman. 7. Rebecca, baptized February 5,
1738-39. 8. Abigail, born in Medford, Febru
ary 12, 1741742; married Isaac Hall.
(V) Daniel, son of Ebenezer Cutter, was
born in Charlestown, April 24, 1733, baptized

MASSACHUSETTS.

493

April 29, 1733, and was buried in Medford,
March 23, 1804. He married, November 28,
1756, Patience Hall, born May 4, 1738, daugh
ter of Deacon Thomas and Patience (Allen)
Hall, of Cambridge. He served in the revolu
tion in Captain Benjamin Locke's company,
Colonel Thomas Gardner's regiment, enlisting
May 4, 1775, aged forty-two, height five feet,
ten inches. He also served in the same com
pany in Colonel William Bond's regiment at
Prospect Hill in 1775 ; and in Captain William
Adams's company, at the taking of Dorchester
Heights, March 4, 1776. He was on guard
duty under Captain Caleb Champney, Febru
ary 12, 1779. Children: 1. Ebenezer, born at
Medford, January 24, 1758; married Mehit
able Morrison. 2. Patience, born September
10, 1760, died July 3, 1764. 3. Sarah, born
September 4, 1762. 4. Daniel, born October
11, 1764. 5. Abraham, born November 9, 1766,
drowned 1793. 7- Thomas Hall, born Septem
ber 5, 1772. 8. Jacob, born May 24, 1774;
mentioned below. 9. Isaac, born February 11,
1777, died June 28, 1778. 10. Moses, born
December 16, 1780. 11. Timothy, born Janu
ary 13, 1786.
(VI) Jacob, son of Daniel Cutter, was born
May 24, 1774, died in Newburyport, December
10, 1827. He was a mason by trade and went
from Medford to Newburyport, where he was
a much respected citizen, fle married, Decem
ber 17, 1797, Elizabeth Edmands, born August
14, 1778, died May, 1844, daughter of Barna
bas Edmands, of Newburyport. Children: 1.
Abraham, born August 13, 1799; mentioned
below. 2. David Edmands, born June 10, 1801.
3. Jacob, born May 15, 1804. 5. Thomas Hall,
born October 5, 1806. 6. Barnabas Edmands,
born February 11, 1813.
(VII) Abraham, son of Jacob Cutter, was
born August 13, 1799, died August 25, 1886.
He was a mason and builder of Saco, Maine,
and was representative in the Maine legislature
in 1853-54. He married Mary Gibson, of
Newburyport, August 14, 1820. She was born
December 23, 1798, died March 5, 1882. Chil
dren: 1. Abram Edmands, born January 24,
1822; mentioned below. 2. Francis Edwin,
born March 22, 1823, died in Saco, April 16,
1845. 3- Mary Hale, born May 7. i830; mar
ried, January '14, 1850, Joseph G. Deering, of
Saco; died there November 6, 1859, without
issue. (VIII) Abram Edmands, son of Abraham
Cutter, was born in Newburyport, January 24,
1822. When he was four years old his father
removed to Saco, Maine. Abram E. was edu

cated in the public schools of Saco, with a three
years course of study at Thornton Academy of
that place. After leaving school he was em
ployed in a drug and stationery store in Saco.
He made two voyages to Europe in a sailing
vessel, and spent another year at Thornton
Academy, and in 1843 went to Boston, Massa
chusetts, and found employment in William
Brown's drug store. He remained in this busi
ness until 1852, when he removed to Charles
town and started in business as a bookseller in
the firm of McKim & Cutter. At the end of
three years he purchased his partner's interest
in the business, and continued the business
alone until about twelve years before his death.
He was equally prominent in mercantile and in
public life. In 1857 he was elected to the
school board of the city of Charlestown and
served in that office for sixteen years, becom
ing a member of the Boston school board when
Charlestown was annexed. His service to the
cause of public education was at an important
period. He always retained his interest in
educational affairs, in local history and anti
quities. To his good taste and enterprise
scholars owe the beautiful edition of Anne
Bradstreet's Poems. He was active in various
local charitable organizations and institutions
of Charlestown and Boston. He was a promi
nent member of the Harvard Unitarian Church
of Charlestown. He died May 14, 1900. After
his death, Mrs. Cutter gave up his valuable and
interesting private library, which he left in his
will to the Boston Public Library. A very appre
ciative notice of the gift appeared in the Bos
ton Transcript at the time. Mr. Cutter had a
handsome residence in Charlestown opposite
Bunker Hill monument and lived there until a
few years before his death. His last years
were spent in Brookline, where his widow now
lives, at 56 Garrison Road. He married (first)
July 7, 1853, in Charlestown, Mary Eliza Ed
mands, born August 7, 1828, died February 11,
1854, daughter of Barnabas and Eliza (Whitte
more) Edmands. He married (second) Octo
ber 13, 1857, Elizabeth Finley Smith, born
January 22, 1837, daughter of Washington and
Elizabeth (Hay) Smith, of New York. Her
father was a prominent manufacturer of pot
tery, drain pipe, etc., on Eighteenth street be
tween Ninth and Tenth avenues, New York
City. He was one of the ten governors of the
Charitable Institutions of the City of New
York, and one of the electors of Abraham Lin
coln for president. He died January 27, 1863.
Mr. and Mrs. Cutter had no children.

494

MASSACHUSETTS.

Some authorities tell us that the
CONVERSE origin of the Converse family
was in Navarre, France, from
whence Roger de Coigniers emigrated to. Eng
land near the end of the reign of William the
Conqueror and to whom the Bishop of Dur
ham gave the constableship of Durham. Will
iam G. Hill in the "Family Record of Deacons
James W. and Elijah S. Converse" traces the
lineage to this Roger de Coigniers. Recent re
search has established the fact that this lineage
is not correct as to the immediate ancestors of
the American immigrant, Edward Converse,
of Maiden, Massachusetts. The name is spelled
Combers in some of the old registers and rec
ords, but Convers was the correct spelling as early
as 1430, and the family was numerous at West-
ham and Navestock, county Essex, in the fif
teenth and sixteenth centuries. There is every
reason to believe that the family is descended
from Le Convers family of France. Roger
Convers was of London in 1258. John, son of
this Roger, was in the service of the King in
1277; Nicholas le Convers who died 1304-05
may have been another son, and Roger le Con
vers a third. The latter married Agnes, who
married (second) Miles de Mountney prior to
1318. Roger and Agnes had a son Roger.
Richard Convers is mentioned as of Navestock
in 1389 and on a roll nine years earlier are
found the names of Roger Convers and of
Matilda Convers, both of that place. This
Richard is presumably the progenitor of the
Navestock family mentioned below.
(I) Richard Convers, probably husband of
the widow Margaret Convers, from whom this
lineage is traced, died intestate and was buried
at Navestock, England. October 21, 1542. The
will of Margaret, widow, was dated February
10, 1565, and proved February 1, 1566, men
tioning her son John and his children. Chil
dren: 1. John, mentioned below. 2. Annys,
executrix- of her mother's will. 3. Richard,
had a son living in 1665.
(II) John Convers, son of Margaret Con
vers, widow, had house and lands at Nave
stock, and lived at Stanford River ; will dated
August 6, 1574, and proved October 5, 1574.
His wife Joan was executrix and William Sum
ner, of Harlow, was executor. Children: 1.
Allen, of South Weald, Essex, had houses and
lands in Navestock, Stanford River and Fy
field ; mentioned below. 2. Thomas, baptized
at Navestock, May 31, 1560. 3. Anthony, bap
tized October 18, 1562, buried January 28,
1622; married, January 29, 1685, Clemence

Spady. 4. John, baptized May 5, 1566; will
dated 1627; was of Sheffield.
(Ill) Allen Convers, son of John Convers,
was of South Weald, flis will was dated Jan
uary 3, 1636, and proved June 28, 1639. He
had a house and lands at Navestock, Stanford
River and Fyfield. He married (first) Joanna
 , who was buried June 22, 1602. He
married (second) November 28, 1603, Eliza
beth Palmer. Children of first wife : 1. Allen,
baptized at Navestock, February 28, 1586; mar
ried Sarah  , who was buried December
5, 1626, at South Weald; his son Allen, bap
tized August 18, 1616, was the American immi
grant who settled in Salem, a nephew, there
fore, of the Edward Converse, mentioned be
low. 2. Edward, baptized February 23, 1588;
mentioned below. 3. Andrew, baptized No
vember 30, 1 59 1. 4. Anna, baptized June 20,
1599. 5. Richard, named in father's will. Chil
dren of second wife : 6. Susan, baptized at
Sould Weald, March 18, 1605. 7. Gabriel, bap
tized March 24, 1606. 8. Daniel, baptized
February 18, 1609. 9. Hester, baptized April
26, 161 2; married, October 28, 1630, William
Skinner. (IV) Deacon Edward Converse, son of Allen
Convers, was baptized at Navestock, county
Essex, England, February 23, 1588. He was
one of the select company of Puritans who
came from England to this country in the fleet
with Winthrop, whose ship, the "Arabella,"
preceding the other vessels of the fleet, arrived
at Salem, June 12, 1630, after a stormy passage
of sixty-three days. With him came his wife
Sarah and children Josiah, James and Mary.
They settled first at Charlestown, Massachu
setts, and were among the first members of the
church received on the Sunday following its
organization in Charlestown, July 30, 1630,
and which included in its congregation mem
bers on both sides of the river, the majority
of whom had removed to Boston within a few
months. This was the First Church of Boston,
and from it Edward and Sarah Converse and
thirty-three other members were dismissed Oc
tober 14, 1632, to be embodied at the First
Church of Charlestown, entering into mutual
covenant for this purpose November 2, 1632.
Fle was admitted a freeman, May 18, 1631,
among the first to be admitted to the company
in New England. Fle established the first
ferry between Charlestown and Boston under
the vote of the general court, November 9,
1630, and June 14, 1631, was authorized to charge
ferriage "two pence for every single person,

MASSACH USETTS.

495

and one penny apiece if there be two or more."
This lease was renewed November 9, 1637,
for three years, Converse paying forty pounds
a year for the privilege. This ferry crossed
where the old Charlestown bridge crosses now,
and was called the Great Ferry, to distinguish
it from the ferry between Charlestown and
Winnisimmet, operated by Thomas Williams.
Converse held the lease until October 7, 1640,
when it was granted for the support of Har
vard College. Edward Converse was a juror,
September 28, 1630; selectman from 1635 until
his removal to the new town — Woburn — in the
founding of which he was prominent. His
name was at the head of the seven commis
sioners appointed by Charlestown to establish
the town and church at Woburn. He built the
first house in Woburn, previous to January 4,
1641, which was at the mill once called by his
name in the south village, now Winchester.
He also built this first mill there, a corn mill.
On the organization of the town he was chosen
one of the seven selectmen, April 13, 1644, and
served until his death in 1663. On March 3,
1649, he was one of the four selectmen appoint
ed to settle the disputed boundary line between
Woburn and Charlestown; from 1649 to 1660
he was one of the commissioners for the trial
of small causes ; in 1660 he was deputy to the
general court. He was one of the two deacons
chosen by the Woburn church and continued
in that office until his death. He was tything-
man at various times. Deacon Converse was
a man of energy, strength of character and
substantial estate. His wife Sarah died Janu
ary 14, 1661-62, and he married (second) Sep
tember 9, 1662, Joanna Sprague, widow of
Ralph Sprague, of Charlestown. She died Feb
ruary 24, 1679-80. He died in Woburn, Au
gust 10, 1663. His will was dated August,
1659, and proved October 7, 1663. His estate
was valued at eight hundred and twenty-seven
pounds. In his will he mentions his wife
Sarah; sons Joseph, James and Samuel; Ed
ward, the son of James; his daughter Mary
and her -children by her first marriage; his
kinsman, .Allen Convers ; his kinsman, John
Parker, and his kinswoman, Sarah Smith.
Children : 1. Deacon Josiah, born in Eng
land, baptized at South Weald, October 30,
1618; died in Woburn, February 3, 1689-90;
married Esther Champney. 2. Lieutenant James,
born in England about 1620, died in Woburn,
May 10, 1715; married Anna Long. 3. John,
baptized in South Weald, November 29, 1620.
4. Mary, born in England, 1622 ; married (first)
Simon Thompson; (second) John Sheldon. 5.

Sarah, baptized at South Weald, June 2, 1623.
6. Sergeant Samuel, mentioned below.
(V) Sergeant Samuel, son of Deacon Ed
ward Converse, was baptized March 12, 1637-
38, in the First Church, Charlestown, and died
February 20, 1669. He married, June 8, 1660,
Judith Carter, daughter of Rev. Thomas and
Mary (Parkhurst) Carter. Her father was
the first minister of Woburn and continued
forty-two years. Judith survived her husband
and married (second) May 2, 1672, Giles
Fifield. She died 1677. Samuel Converse was
admitted a freeman in 1666 and was sergeant
in the Woburn train band. He came to an
untimely death by an accident in the corn mill
which he inherited with his brothers from his
father. His head was caught between the
wheel and the wall while he was cutting ice
from the wheel. He died intestate. Chil
dren: 1. Samuel, born April 4, 1662; men
tioned below. 2. Abigail, born in Woburn,
died July 14, 1689.
(VI) Samuel (2), son of Sergeant Samuel
(1) Converse, was born in Woburn, April 4,
1662, died in Thompson parish, Killingly, Con
necticut, about 1732. He married Dorcas
 prior to 1694. In 1710 Samuel Con
verse and family removed to Thompson parish
and occupied a farm that he had bought of
Richard Evans, the first settler of Killingly.
Mr. Converse was the first settler in Thompson,
his farm being in that part of the town set off
as Putnam. In 1718 he sold the Evans farm
and purchased a part of the "Quinatisset Farm"
laid out to John Gore, of Roxbury, surveyor,
in 1686. This farm is about a mile southwest
of Thompson Hill and in 1882 was occupied
by Stephen Ballard and Benjamin Bugbee.
He deeded parts of this farm to his sons as
they settled in life. They attended church at
Killingly until the erection of Thompson parish
in 1728. Converse and his sons were active in
building Thompson meeting house, and his
name heads the list of church members at its
organization, January 28, 1730. Children: 1.
Samuel, born in Woburn, May 26, 1694 ; mar
ried (first) Hannah Bartlett ; (second) Sarah
Atwell. 2. Edward, born September 25, 1696;
mentioned below. 3. Thomas, born October
28, 1699; married (first) Martha Clough;
(second) Abigail Fay. 4. Dorcas, born in
Woburn, February 1, 1702-03; married, April
28, 1723, Daniel Whitmore. 5. Pain, Novem
ber 25, 1706, died September 10, 1781 ; married
Mary Halford. 6. Josiah, baptized in Kill
ingly, November 20, 17 14 ; married Mary Sabin.
(VII) Ensign Edward (2), son of Samuel

496

MASSACHUSETTS.

(2) Converse, was born in Woburn, Septem
ber 25, 1696, died July 9, 1784. At the age
of fourteen he removed with his parents to
Thompson. He married, August 6, 1717, Eliz
abeth Cooper, who died February 19, 1776,
daughter of John and Elizabeth Cooper. He
received from his father, February 6, 1718, the
deed of fifty acres of land north of the home
stead. He built the house occupied by him and
his sons for many years and was known as
the "Converse Tavern." He was a man of
energy and sound judgment, and much em
ployed in public affairs. He was one of the
constituent members of the church and served
on the committee on building the meeting
house. He was chosen to repair bridges, help
survey the doubtful bounds, collect reserve and
distribute school money, and "settle distrained
Baptists on as easy terms as he could." He
was active in military affairs, served as ensign
many years. The rank of ensign corresponds
to that of lieutenant at the present time. At a
town meeting in December, 1732, he was
selected constable. His real estate was doubt
less made over to his sons in his lifetime. He
died intestate. Children: 1. Captain James,
baptized September 27, 1719; married Mary
Leavens. 2. Captain Edward, baptized at Kill
ingly, November 8, 1720; married Mary Davis.
3. Jonathan, baptized April 28, 1723 ; mentioned
below. 4. Lieutenant Jacob, born at Killingly,
February 26, 1727; married Ann White. . 5.
Asa, born September 30, 1730; married Ruth
Leed. 6. Jesse, born November 30, 1732 ; mar
ried Damaris Chandler, widow. 7. Elizabeth,
born April 4, 1735, died March 18, 1737. 8.
Zachariah, born April 4, 1736; probably died
young. 9. Elizabeth, born March 29, 1738 ;
married, May 20, 1757, Timothy Atwood. 10.
Susanna, born October 28, 1741, died August,
1833 ; married (first) Diah Johnson ; (second)
Dr. Samuel Ruggles.
(VIII) Jonathan, son of Ensign Edward
(2) Converse, was born in Thompson, Connec
ticut, and baptized April 28, 1723. He married
Keziah Hughes, daughter of Jonathan Hughes,
an early resident of Killingly. He died in
1761. He occupied after his marriage a farm
on a by-road running north west from Brandy
Hill and near to the old Hale and John Jacobs
places until about 1752, when he removed to
the homestead afterwards occupied by Elijah
and Riel Converse, near the present village
of Wilsonville. Living in such a remote neigh
borhood he had little to do with public affairs,
neither does his name appear on the society
records; but he evidently managed to attend

church, as his children were baptized. Chil
dren : 1. Elijah, born June 20, 1745, died June
14, 1820; married (first) January, 1770, Ex
perience Hibbard, daughter of Jonathan and
Experience Hibbard ; served three years in the
revolution. 2. Alice, born February 11, 1747.
3. Rhoda, born March 12, 1748, died young.
4. Elisha, born April 4, 1750, died young. 5.
Lois, born May 29, 1751. 6. Esther, born
October 29, 1752. 7. Jonathan, born Novem
ber 25, 1754, died May 9, 1761. 8. Rhoda,
born August 23, 1756; married, November 26,
1778, Jeremiah Converse. 9. Elisha, born
March 13, 1758; mentioned below. 10. Jona
than, born January 27, 1760; married (first)
November 20, 1783, Esther Whipple; (second)
April 7, 1833, Sarah Wilber, widow; (third)
September 24, 1837, Zerviah Sprague; was in
the revolution.
( IX) Elisha, son of Jonathan Converse, was
born March 13, 1758, died February 15, 1843.
He went to Vermont in 1806 and thence to
Brimfield, Massachusetts, in 1820. During the
war of 1812 he supplied the American army
with provisions, fle was in the revolution
and served in Captain Joseph Eliott's company
(the 8th), General Israel Putnam's regiment,
recruited at Windham county, Connecticut, and
served around Boston in 1775. In July of that
year the regiment became a part of the Con
tinental army, and a detachment served at
Bunker Hill, while another detachment went
on the expedition to Quebec. He was a cor
poral in 1778 in Captain Daniel Tilden's com
pany, Colonel Samuel McClellan's regiment,
under Sullivan in Rhode Island in 1778. He
married, December 2, 1779, Mary Bishop. He
married (second) November 2, 1814, Mary
Wells. Children: 1. Roswell, born September
14, 1780 ; married, March, 1807, Dosha Nichols.
2. Jonathan, born March 27, 1782 ; married,
March 10, 1806, Lydia Joslyn. 3. Polly, born
March 30, 1784; married, April 10, 1806, David
Warren. 4. Lucy, born February 22, 1786;
married, July 21, 1806, Jason Jones. 5. Esther,
born May 22, 1788; married, August 15, 1808,
Ephraim Wheeler. 6. Adelphia, born June
24, 1790; married, 181 1, Henry Wheelock. 7.
Louisa, born June 30, 1792 ; married, June 9,
1818, Sprague L. Converse. 8. Elisha, born
August 12, 1794; mentioned below. 9. John
Mason, born February 29, 1797; married, Jan
uary 17, 1821, Delinda Newton.
(X) Elisha (2), son of Elisha (1) Con
verse, was bora August 12, 1794. He resided
in Palmer, Massachusetts, where he worked
in a saw mill. Fle purchased a farm near the

MASSACHUSETTS.

497

old Centre, and became a successful farmer,
acquiring a competence. He married (first)
May 9, 1820, Mehitable Fenton, born May 26,
1795, died October 20, 1850. He married
(second) November 12, 1852, Lovinia Fuller,
who died December 17, 1873. Children: 1.
John Mason, born July 8, 1823; mentioned
below. 2. Henry Dexter, born May 22, 1825,
died January 25, 1848. 3. Mary Maria, born
April 23, 1828, died March 5, 1829. 4. Alfred,
born April 5, 1830.
(XI) John Mason, son of Elisha (2) Con
verse, was born at Palmer, July 8, 1823, died
there August 29, 1898. He attended the public
schools of his native town and the high school
at Westfield, Massachusetts. At the age of
fifteen years, he removed with his parents from
Palmer Center to the Depot Village, where his
father bought and managed the old Sedgwick
Tavern, which had been moved from Shearer's
Corner to the site of the present Converse
House. The son assisted the father in the
management of the hotel and for a time drove
the stage between Palmer and Brookfield. They
were associated in business many years and
accumulated a substantial estate. From time
to time they bought land in Palmer until they
owned most of the property east of Main
street between Church street and Thorndike
street and as far back as Dewey's Hill. They
put up dwelling houses to rent and not only
secured a large revenue from the real estate,
but greatly increased the land values in that
section. The old tavern was destroyed by fire.
In its place the Tockwotten House was built
by the Converses, but after opening the new
hotel, the management was transferred to
others, and the owners devoted all their ener
gies to their real estate investments. Mr. Con
verse continued to the time of his death, with
much enterprise and foresight, improving his
real estate and making other investments. In
later years his son, flenry Dexter Converse,
was associated with him. Mr. Converse was
never actively interested in politics, though he
held various town offices, and was always
identified with the important business affairs
of the town, of which he was one of the chief
taxpayers for many years. He married, De
cember 18, 1851, Emeline Rindge, born at
Templeton, Massachusetts, May 6, 1827, died
December 12, 1906, daughter of Erastus and
Sally (West) Rindge. Children, born at Pal
mer: 1. Mary Emeline, born May 28, 1853,
died August 20, 1854. 2. Lizzie M., born No
vember 4, 1854, died May 29, 1857. 3. Delia
Rindge, born September 8, 1856, died June 22,
i-32

1865. 4. Henry Dexter, born September 1,
1858; mentioned below.
(XII) Henry Dexter, son of John Mason
Converse, was bora in Palmer, September 1,
1858. He was educated in the public schools
of his native town, at the Wesleyan Academy,
also at Monson Academy, and Eastman Busi
ness College, at Poughkeepsie, New York.
After completing his education, he became
associated with his father in the real estate
business, and succeeding him in the ownership
of much improved property in the town of
Palmer. He is counted among the most saga
cious and successful real estate owners of the
county. His judgment is depended upon by
those in need of expert testimony. He is the
largest individual taxpayer in the town. In
politics a Republican.

(For early generations see preceding sketch).
(VIII) Captain Edward Con-
CONVERSE verse, son of Ensign Edward
Converse, was born at Kill
ingly, Connecticut, and baptized November 8,
1720. He occupied a fine farm on French river,
which was a part of his father-in-law's estate.
In 1741 he joined the church and was active
in its work. He was appointed in 1761 captain
of the Seventh Company, Eleventh Regiment
militia. After 1761 there is no record of him
at Killingly or Thompson, Connecticut. He
removed to Gageborough, afterward Windsor,
Massachusetts, and was selectman in 1771. He
and his wife were admitted to the church there
in 1773. Fle was assessor in 1778; surveyor
1784; selectman from 1771 to 1779. He mar
ried Mary Davis, daughter of Samuel Davis.
She died a widow July 18, 1814, in the ninety-
third year of her age. Children: 1. Samuel
Davis, baptized February 17, 1742; mentioned
below. 2. Edward, baptized June 10, 1745,
died 1745. 3- Edward, born June 6, 1747, died
April 9, 1 8 16. 4. Captain Amasa, born June
8, 1750; married (first) Olive  ¦; (sec
ond) Mrs. Sarah Cleveland. 5. Mary, born
March 1, 1753. 6. Abigail, born August 23,
1756, died December 28, 1824; married Asa
Hall. (IX) Samuel Davis, son of Captain Edward
Converse, was baptized February 17, 1742. He
resided in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, until
1782, when he removed to Dummerston, Ver
mont, and from there to Worthington, Massa
chusetts, where he died at the home of his son.
Pie was one of the thirteen inhabitants of
Chesterfield who refused to sign the association
test. He served in the revolution in the Ches-

498

MASSACHUSETTS.

terfield company under Lieutenant James Rob-
estson, marching for Ticonderoga, June 29,
1777. He was in Captain Kimball Carlton's
eighth company, Colonel Moses Nichol's regi
ment, General Stark's brigade, which marched
July 22, 1777, to meet the British at Benning
ton. This company was sent August 16 to the
rear of the enemy's left wing, and the battle
was opened at three o'clock by Colonel Nichols'
detachment. A detachment of Carlton's com
pany and another company was sent to Green
bush, New York, and fell into an ambuscade.
Samuel D. Converse married  . Chil
dren: 1. Willard. 2. Betsey, baptized August
24, 1766; married Simeon Thrasher. 3. Wal
ter, born July 19, 1767, lived in Butternuts,
New York. 4. Dr. John, born March 5, 1772,
died December, 1815; married, 1799, Sallie
Hanson. 5. Elisha, mentioned below. 6. Polly.
(X) Elisha, son of Samuel Davis Converse,
married Lucy Matthews. Children: 1. Sally,
married Erastus Pease and had eight children.
2. Orren, mentioned below. 3. Lucy, married
Joslin Tower; settled in Worthington; had
seven children. 4. Betsey, married John F.
Pease and had seven children. 5. Samuel, mar
ried Sarah Ladd and had five children. 6.
Elisha, Jr. 7. Horace, married Laura Ladd
and had one son.
(XI) Orren, son of Elisha Converse, was
born in Huntington, Massachusetts. He was
educated in the public schools of his native
town and learned the trade of carpenter. He
lived in Chester, Massachusetts. He married
(first) Elizabeth Yeomans, of New York City,
died in 1843, aged thirty-two. He married
(second) Rachel Eastman, daughter of Benja
min Eastman, of Chester, Massachusetts. Chil
dren of first wife: 1. Henry M., born August
25» !833- 2. William Wallace, born February
22, 1836; mentioned below. 3. Alinus M.,
born August 15, 1839. Child of second wife:
4. Emma E.
(XII) William Wallace, son of Orren Con
verse, was born in Chester, Massachusetts,
February 22, 1836. He attended the public
schools of his native town. Early in life he
began to work as a teamster for the lumber
mills. In December, 1863, he enlisted in Com
pany H, Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, as
sergeant, and served with credit to the end of
the civil war. In the course of his service he
was once given an important order from Gen
eral Benjamin F. Butler to' be delivered to
General Terry at Point of Rocks, Virginia.
On the way he had to cross a pontoon bridge
which he found undergoing repairs, and the

lieutenant in charge refused to allow him to
cross it, two of the boats having been removed,
rendering it unsafe. Sergeant Converse started
apparently on his way back, but suddenly
wheeled his horse, spurred him forward
upon the bridge, escaping all attempts to stop
him, clearing the gap in the bridge at a jump,
and delivered the message. When Richmond
fell he was with General Weitzel's staff, and
was the messenger sent back to confirm the
despatches to the war department at Wash
ington of the news of the occupation of the
Confederate capital. He was honorably dis
charged in November, 1865, at Richmond.
LJpon his return he found employment in the
carpet mills at Clinton, Massachusetts. Soon
afterward, however, he became a commercial
traveler and continued as salesman for J. W.
Coleton, Westfield, Massachusetts, fourteen
years. In 1883 he began the manufacture of
mineral paste at Palmer, Massachusetts, and
has built up a large and flourishing business.
He ranks among the foremost business men
and most prominent citizens of that town. He
is a member of Thomas Lodge of Free Masons ;
of Hampden Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; of
Washington Council, Royal and Select Masters ;
of L. L. Merritt Post, No. 107, Grand Army
of the Republic, and served on the staff of the
commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of
the Republic, 1892-93; of Hampden Lodge of
Odd Fellows. In politics he is a Republican.
He is a member of the Second Congregational
Church. He married (first) Mary F. Willis,
June 20, 1862 ; she died November 2, 1862. He
married (second) December 16, 1863, Clara L.
Fletcher, daughter of Joseph FL and Clarissa
I. Fletcher. Children, all by second wife: 1.
Algernon William, born October 9, 1864; mar
ried Emma E. Greeley, June 20, 1888. 2. flenry
Alinus, born August 9, 1872, died November
29, 1878. 3. Helen, born August 7, 1879 ; mar
ried September 28, 1904, Arthur O. Berry;
child, Doris Berry, born August 28, 1906.
Edward Allen, immigrant ances-
ALLEN tor of this family, was bora in
England about 1670, and died in
Nantucket, February 1, 1741. He emigrated
from London, England, about 1690, and settled
on Nantucket Island. Fle was popular with his
townsmen and held a number of public offices,
among them being that of trustee and constable
of the island, juror, and several others. He
was the possessor of considerable real estate,
and some years prior to his death deeded a
portion to each of his surviving children. He

.fatryi^yy^^

MASSACH USETTS.

499

was married about 1692 to Ann Coleman, born
November 10, 1675, died July 1, 1739, daughter
of Joseph and Ann (Bunker) Coleman, of
Nantucket. Children: 1. Mary, born August
25, 1693, died November 27, 1763, and was
buried at Newport, Rhode Island ; she married
(first) Paul Coffin, who died at sea, April 1,
1729, and had four children; (second) Novem
ber 29, 1731, Clothier Pierce, of Newport,
Rhode Island, grandson of the celebrated
Michael Pierce, who won renown in King
Philip's war. 2. Joseph, born October 10,
1695, died May 4, 1706. 3. Benjamin, born
March 22, 1697, was lost at sea in the south
while on a whaling expedition in 1722. 4.
Nathaniel, see forward. 5. TDaniel, born April
23, 1704, died March 30, 1788; he married,
January 26, 1737, Elizabeth Bunker, born
December 10, 1717, died January 7, 1809,
daughter of Peleg and Susannah Bunker ; they
had three children. 6. Sylvanus, born May 6,
1706, died* prior to 1784; he resided in Dart
mouth, Massachusetts, and married, January
8, 1727, Jemima Starbuck, born May 2, 1712,
died October 11, 1798, daughter of Jethro and
Dorcas Starbuck; they had nine children. 7.
Rachel, born December 31, 1709, died May 31,
1789; she married, October 2, 1726, Thomas
Starbuck, born October 22, 1706, died Febru
ary 5, 1779, son of Thomas and Abigail Star-
buck ; they resided in Nantucket and had seven
children. 8. Sarah, born June 4, 1713, died
December, 1766; she married, October 19,
1731, Joseph Harvey, resided at Nantucket,
and had three children. 9. Elizabeth, born
May 2, 1716; married William Brewer and
had one child. 10. Ebenezer, born December
26, 1718, died August 22, 1753; he married,
August 15, 1740, Christiana Heath, born Au
gust 5, 1724, died August 29, 1773, daughter
of Edmund and Catherine Heath ; they resided
at Nantucket and had six children.
(II) Captain Nathaniel, third son and fourth
child of Edward and Ann (Coleman) Allen,
was born at Nantucket, Massachusetts, Febru
ary 24, 1700, died April 7, 1776. He was a
mariner and had charge of the coasting trade,
spending the greater part of his time on the
sea and consequently having little time to spare
for the public affairs of his town. He was a
member of the Society of Friends but, after
his second marriage, which was out of meeting,
he was dropped from its membership. lie mar
ried (first) January 1, 1724, Provided Gaskell,
who died January 30, 1730, daughter of Cap
tain Samuel Gaskell, granddaughter of Samuel
and Provided (Southwick) Gaskell, of New

buryport, Massachusetts, and a descendant of
that Cassandra Southwick of whom Whittier
has written one of his most touching poems.
Children: 1. Edmund, born October, 1726,
died unmarried, August 26, 1763. 2. Provided,
born July 12, 1728, died December 3, 1798;
she married, March 17, 1747, Daniel Gardner,
born August 24, 1727, died July 9, 1780, son
of Samuel and Patience Gardner ; they resided
on Nantucket Island, had ten children, whose
descendants are still residents of the island.
Captain Nathaniel Allen married (second)
May 2, 1732, Mercy Coffin, born September
3, 1701, died April 24, 1781, widow of Prince
Coffin, and daughter of Nathan and Mercy
Skiff. On the maternal side she was the grand
daughter of John and Hope (Howland) Chap
man, great-granddaughter of John and Eliza
beth (Tilley) Howland, and great-great-grand
daughter of John Tilley, who came to this coun
try in the "Mayflower." She was also a de
scendant of Governor Carver, as the records
in the old Hartford Bible show. The children
of Captain Nathaniel and Mercy (Skiff)
(Coffin) Allen were: 1. Abigail, born April
10, 1733, died February 14, 1817; she married,
May 5, 1785, Jonathan Moores, born June 12,
1725, died September 3, 1795, son of Jonathan
and Elizabeth Moores. 2. Susanna, born April
1, 1737, died unmarried, April 11, 1796. 3.
Joseph, see forward. 4. Benjamin, born Janu
ary 1, 1740, was lost at sea; he married (pub
lished December 4, 1765) Abigail Trott, born
October 15, 1756, died November 18, 1811,
daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Trott. 5.
Mercy, bora September 4, 1742, died March
29, 1825; she married, December 4, 1760, Ste
phen Macy, born June 6, 1741, died February
8, 1822, son of David and Dinah Macy. 6.
Captain Oliver, who died in Shutesbury, Mass
achusetts, in 1792; he was master of a trading
vessel for many years, then retired to a farm
and became prominent as a member of the
committee of correspondence during the revo
lution. Pie married Joanna  .
(Ill) Joseph, eldest son and third child of
Captain Nathaniel and Mercy (Skiff) (Coffin)
Allen, was born at Nantucket, Massachusetts,
April 1, 1737, died at Shutesbury, Massachu
setts, December 20, 1804. He sold his real
estate holdings in Nantucket in 1766 and re
moved to Newport, Rhode Island. He is said
to have served in the continental army during
the revolutionary war, and after the conflict
returned to Rhode Island, where he was noted
as the owner of fine horses, with which he was
often a winner in speeding them on the turf.

;oo

MASSACHUSETTS.

His last days were spent in peaceful retirement
in the home of his son Robert. He married,
December 4, 1753,- Plephzibah Coffin, born at
Nantucket, November 18, 1736, died at Ports
mouth, or Newport, Rhode Island, about 1769,
daughter of Robert and Susanna Coffin. She
numbered among her ancestors many promi
nent people, among them being: Hon. Peter
Coffin, of Dover, New Hampshire; Edward
Starbuck, of Derbyshire, England, and Nan
tucket, Massachusetts ; Thomas Gardner, of
county Dorset, England, and Nantucket ; John
Severance, of Salisbury, Massachusetts ; Peter
Folger, of county Norfolk, England ; Richard
Kimball, of county Suffolk, England, and of
Ipswich, Massachusetts; and many others. The
children of Joseph and Hephzibah (Coffin)
Allen were: 1. An infant, who died about
1754. 2. Hephzibah, born about 1756, died
in 1784; she married, February 21, 1771, Peleg
Gardner, who died in 1809, son of John and
Keziah Gardner; he was a mariner and sailed
from Nantucket, taking his sons with him. 3.
Margaret, bora August 31, 1758, died June 19,
1850; she married Nathan Brooks. 4. Betsey,
born November 3, 1762, died September 16,
1808; she married, December 3, 1780, Benja
min Brown, born January 19, 1756, died De
cember 24, 1818, son of John and Mehitable
Brown ; they had five children. 5. Joseph,
born 1764, died October 23, 1823 ; he was a
successful practicioner of medicine in Buck-
land, Massachusetts; he married, about 1800,
Lucretia Smead, born October 12, 1776, died
in September, 1839; they had four children,
many of whose descendants have followed
various professions with honor. 6. Robert,
see below.
(IV) Robert, youngest child of Joseph and
Hephzibah (Coffin) Allen, was born at New
port, Rhode Island, November 10, 1767, died
in Wallingford, Vermont, May 15, 1856. His
mother died when he was but two years of age
and he was brought up in the family of his
uncle, Captain Oliver Allen, who had retired
from a seafaring life to a farm at Hardwick,
Massachusetts, and later removed to Shutes
bury in the same state, in whose schools young
Robert received his education. He was young
when he married and settled on a farm in
Shutesbury, where his eight children were born.
In 1806 he removed to Wallingford, Vermont,
cleared a farm there upon which he spent the
remainder of his useful life, and which was in
the possession of his descendants until 1897.
For many years he was engaged in buying
large herds of cattle and driving them to Brigh

ton market, where, being a man of sound judg
ment in business matters, he was invariably
successful in disposing of them to advantage.
He was sincere and earnest in his religious
belief and was one of the founders of the Bap
tist church, which is still standing in East
Wallingford, Vermont. He married, in 1786,
Rhoda Cady, born in Shutesbury, March 16,
1765, died May 22, 1850, daughter of Samuel
and Elizabeth Cady, great-granddaughter of
Captain Joseph Cady, a noted Indian fighter of
Killingly, Connecticut, and a descendant of
Nicholas Cady, the immigrant, of Watertown,
Massachusetts. In her youth Mrs. Allen was
a noted beauty, and that the spirit of patriotism
was not lacking in her immediate family is
evinced by the fact that when her father and
brothers were engaged in the service of their
country, the female members of the family
bore all the burdens and responsibilities of
carrying on the farm industry. One of her
brothers, Jeremiah, was a member of the fam
ous "Boston Tea Party," being temporarily in
Boston at the'time of its occurrence, and avail
ing himself gladly of the opportunity of join
ing in the adventure, a fact which he frequently
related when it was safe to do so. Mrs. Allen's
mother died at the advanced age of one hun
dred and three years. The children of Robert
arid Rhoda (Cady) Allen were: 1. Rufus,
born September 22, 1787, died September 30,
1879 ; he was a school teacher and noted for
his remarkable mathematical acumen ; he mar
ried, August 12, 1810, Sarah Furbush Warren,
born in Newfane, Vermont, March 18, 1789,
died October 12, 1862. 2. Rhoda, born April
30, 1789, died September 28, 1840; she mar
ried, December 11, 1808, Jonathan Anderson,
born August 25, 1785, died December 9, 1872.
3. Oliver, born March 27, 1792, died October
23, 1852; he was a deacon of the Baptist
church, and resided with his family of eleven
children in East Wallingford, Vermont; he
married (first) October 9, 1813, Nancy Sarah
Sweetland, born in Fitzwilliam, New Hamp
shire, February 18, 1790, died September 13,
1850; he married (second) Mrs. Jerusha Bis
sell, of Rutland, Vermont. 4. Calvin, born
September 11, 1794, died September 28, 1796.
5. Joseph, born August 27, 1797, died July 20,
1875 ; he was prominent many years in White
hall, New York, in mercantile and public
affairs, and accumulated a large property; he
married (first) 1825, Sally Cook, born Decem
ber 30, 1801, died November 28, 1830 ; he mar
ried (second) Alpha Cook, a sister of his first
wife, born November 29, 1809, died August

MASSACPI USETTS.

5oi

25, 1872; he had a family of eight children.
6. Hephzibah, born April 11, 1800, died Sep
tember 13, 1803. 7. Betsey, bora September
21, 1803, died December 8, 1887; she married,
November 12, 1822, Levi Warren Marsh, born
August 4, 1798, died January 13, 1888; he was
seventh in descent from John Marsh, who set
tled in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1633 ; they
resided in Wallingford and had nine children.
8. Robert, see below.
(V) Deacon Robert (2), youngest child of
Robert (1) and Rhoda (Cady) Allen, was
born in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, April 16,
1805, and died in Vernon, Vermont, August
21, 1889. He resided for short periods in sev
eral towns in the state of Vermont, and finally
settled in Vernon in 1856, and there made his
permanent home. He was a man of generous
impulses and gave largely of his means for
benevolent purposes. His moral worth was
acknowledged by all with whom he came in
contact; he was deeply imbued with the honest
religious views he had received in early life
and he was for many years deacon in the
, church at Vernon. He married, October 25,
1832, Eliza Paine Doolittle, born in Townshend,
Vermont, February 25, 1812, and died in Ver
non, Vermont, March 31, 1908, daughter of
Roswell and Clarissa (Burt) Doolittle. Chil
dren: 1. Orrin Peer, see forward. 2. Jason
Cady, born in Wallingford, Vermont, Febru
ary 26, 1835 ; he is a real estate owner in Ver
non, Vermont, where he has lived on the
Allen homestead since 1856; he has held with
honor nearly every office -in the gift of the
township, and was elected to the Vermont
legislature in 1896, receiving every vote with
the exception of two ; he married, December 1,
1864, Mary Sophia Combs, born in Enfield,
Connecticut, February 14, 1846, died January,
12, 1896, and their son, Robert Cady, is married
and lives on the Allen homestead in Vernon.
3. Julia Augusta, born in Newfane, Vermont,
July 30, 1837, died there January 23, 1839. 4-
Charles Anderson, born in Jamaica, Vermont,
February 1, 1840, died in Athens, August 11,
1865 ; he was a young man of much promise and
success ; he married, September 6, 1864, Abbie
E. Ball, of Athens, Vermont, who died Septem
ber 9, 1872. 5. Robert Clark, born in Jamaica,
Vermont, October 8, 1842; he resides in North
Springfield, Vermont, where he has been for
many years a building contractor and road
commissioner; he married (first) June 18,
1864, Jane A. Lockwood, who died April 29,
1867; married (second) October 13, 1867,
Lucy C. Lockwood, who died November 7,

1868; married (third) November 5, 1869, Mrs.
Hattie N. (Chapman) Henry; he has one
daughter who is unmarried and resides in
North Springfield. 6. Sarah Augusta, born in
Jamaica, Vermont, October 30, 1846, died in
Vernon, February 13, 1905 ; she married, Janu
ary 18, 1869, Lafayette W. Stoddard, and had
children : Wallace E., now residing in Williams-
town, Massachusetts; Bertha, married Chester
D. Hicks, and resides in Springfield. 7. Vesta
Eliza, born in Windham, Vermont, November
6, 1854, died in Vernon, January 16, 1862.
(VI) Orrin Peer, eldest child of Deacon
Robert (2) and Eliza Paine (Doolittle) Allen,
was born in Wallingford, Vermont, September
30, 1833. He completed his education at the
Chester (Vermont) Academy, where he won
an enviable reputation as a diligent and earnest
student, at the same time teaching schools in
the towns of Windham, Cavendish and Vernon,
Vermont, and after being graduated he taught
school in Hackensack, New Jersey. For several
years he was superintendent of schools in Ver
non, resigning this office upon his removal from
the state of Vermont. He settled in Palmer, Mass
achusetts, October 5, 1859, establishing himself
in the pharmaceutical business and continued
in this line until the fall of 1902, when he
retired from commercial enterprises. Early
in life he had evinced a decided taste for liter
ary pursuits and his course of reading has been
an unusually extensive one, ranging through
nearly all the departments of literature and
embracing the classics, poetry, history and the
various sciences. He commenced writing for
publication at the age of fifteen years and has
been a prolific contributor since that time. For
many years he has been interested in the sub
ject of local history and genealogy; has written
many historical papers for the press relating
to Palmer and other localities. He has com
piled and published the genealogies of Samuel
Lee, of Watertown, Massachusetts ; Abraham
Doolittle, of New Haven; John Fairman, of
Enfield, Connecticut; William Scott, of Hat
field, Massachusetts; John Scott, of Spring
field ; Edward Allen, of Nantucket ; and Sam
uel Allen, of Enfield, Connecticut. He has
gathered material for a volume- of the pioneer
Aliens of America, and is now ( 1908) engaged
in completing the genealogy of Nicholas Cady,
of Watertown, Massachusetts, 1645-1908. He
wrote the History of the Second Congrega
tional Church of Palmer in 1895, and on the
occasion of the public celebration of the jubilee
anniversary of the church in 1897, he was
chosen to deliver the historical address. He

"-02

MASSACHUSETTS.

was also chosen to deliver the historical address
upon the occasion of the celebration of the
centennial of the Thomas Lodge of Masons of
Palmer, in 1896, of which he is a member. He
has never sought public office, yet he has been
called upon to fill many positions of trust and
responsibility. He was secretary and treas
urer of the Eastern Hampden Agricultural
Society for nineteen years ; member of the
Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture for
three years ; many years a trustee of the Pal
mer Savings Bank; for several years superin
tendent of the Sunday school connected with
the Second Congregational Church of Palmer,
and for seventeen years clerk of the church.
He was one of the pioneers in the movement
for founding the Young Men's Library Asso
ciation of Palmer in 1878, was its librarian for
a period of twelve years and a trustee up to the
present time. When the history of Palmer
was contemplated in 1883 Mr. Allen was chosen
by the town as one of the publishing committee,
in which he was elected chairman, and devoted
much of his time to the collection of the neces
sary material until its completion in 1889. He
was the prime mover in the establishment of
the Palmer Historical Society, which was
organized in May, 1899, anc' incorporated
through his efforts in May, 1900 ; he has served
as curator of this society since its organization.
Pie has also collected and identified a very
complete flora of Palmer, this embracing some
four hundred and fifty specimens.
Mr. Allen married (first) February, i860,
Harriet Lyndon Maria Garvin, born in Boston,
September 12, 1840, died in Palmer, February
25, 1862. Their only child, Ina Lyndon, was
born in Palmer, May 16, 1861, and married
Charles R. Carroll; they had ten children, of
whom a daughter, Alice Lyndon, was gradu
ated from the Charlemont high school and the
Moody School at East Northfield, and became
a student at the Syracuse University. Mr.
Allen married (second) June 16, 1863, Lucinda
Elmina Scott, born in Vernon, Vermont, June
5, 1845. Her ancestors took a notable and
active part in the colonial and revolutionary
days. One of them, William Scott, partici
pated in the famous "Falls" fight with the .
Indians : Captain Moses Scott, her great-great
grandfather, was one of the brave defenders
of Fort Massachusetts : his son, Ebenezer
Scott, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Allen,
survived a captivity among the French and
Indians of Quebec, came back and bore his
share bravely as a soldier in the American
revolution, lived to a good old age, and became

one of the honored pensioners of the United
States government. Orrin Peer and Lucinda
Elmina (Scott) Allen had children: 1. Walter
Scott, born February 11, 1867, received his
education in the public schools of Palmer and
in the Mitchell's Boys' School, at Billerica,
Massachusetts, where he was awarded a gold
medal for superior scholarship. 2. Julia Ade
line, born July 6, 1869, was graduated from
the Palmer high school in 1888 and irom the
Westfield Normal school in 1892; she "was pre
cocious as a musician, having successfully
played on the piano at an entertainment at the
Palmer Opera House, when but five years of
age ; since then she has been engaged as a
teacher of music. 3. Lillie May, born Sep
tember 7, 1870, was graduated from the Pal
mer high school in 1888, and completed her
education at the Westfield Normal school in
1891 ; she is now an assistant in the postoffice
in Deerfield, Massachusetts.

Lewis Allen, immigrant ancestor,
ALLEN was living in Watertown Farms
(Weston), Massachusetts, in 1665,
and died there January 24, 1708. There is a
tradition that he came from Wales. He mar
ried (first) Sarah Ives, born in Watertown,
October n, 1639, daughter of Miles and Mar
tha Ives. He married (second) Mary (Sher
man) Freeman, widow of Henry Freeman, of
Watertown, who died November 12, 1672. She
died July 15, 1703, and was probably the eldest
daughter of Rev. John Sherman. Children of
first wife, born in Watertown Farms: 1. Child,
born and died November, 1665. 2. Lewis,
born and died December, 1666. 3. Sarah, born
January 3, 1668, mentioned in the will of her
grandfather Ives, December, 1683. 4. Abel,
,born September 15, 1669, mentioned below. 5.
Mary, born April 14, 1671. Child of second
wife: 6. Ebenezer, born about 1677.
(II-) Abel, son of Lewis Allen, was born in
Watertown Farms, September 15, 1669, and
died there early in 1756. His will was made
in 1750 and proved May 3, 1756. He lived on
the farm that his father had occupied, but
never owned. In December, 1683, Miles Ives,
his grandfather, gave to Abel Allen the farm
his son-in-law, Lewis Allen, is living on. Abel
Allen married (first) Sarah  , who died
September 18, 1736. He married (second)
September 18, 1738, Elizabeth Shepard, who
survived him. Children, all by first wife, born
at Watertown Farms: 1. Robert, January 21,
1694. 2. Sarah, March 9, 1696 ; married, July
30. 1724, Peter Fales, of Walpole. 3. Sus-

MASSACHUSETTS.

503

anna, January 10, 1698; married, May 13, 1720,
Isaac Harrington, of Weston. 4. John, No
vember 25, 1699. 5. George, October 23, 1701
mentioned below. 6. Samuel, December 5
1703, not mentioned in his father's will. 7
David, July 8, 1705. 8. Mary, November 3, 1707
not mentioned in will. 9. Lydia, March 3, 1710
not mentioned in will. 10. Abel, April 19, 1714
(III) George, son of Abel Allen, was born
at Watertown Farms, October 23, 1701. He
was a farmer and followed his elder brothers
to Walpole, and in 1728 or 1729 located per
manently in what later became the adjoining
town of Sharon (then a part of Stoughton).
He died there in the first half of the year 1792,
aged ninety years. William Savage, Jr., was
appointed administrator of his estate on June
20 of that year. He married (intention pub
lished April 26, 1729) Mary Talbot, of Stough
ton, born March 24, 1708, died January 19,
1804, daughter of Ceorge and Mary Talbot.
Children, all born in what is now Sharon: 1.
Mary, March 31, 1731. 2. Turell, February
21, 1734, died in Stoughton, February 27, 1824;
married (first) November 28, 1762, Margaret
Stearns; (second) October 18, 1798, Sally
Dersy, of Stoughton. 3. George, April 7, 1736,
mentioned below. 4. Ebenezer, about 1741,
enlisted for service at Lake George, April 2,
1759; reported as on a former expedition; in
service in Nova Scotia in 1760. 5. Abel, 1744,
died 1744. 6. Seth, March 13, 1746, married
Jemima Jordan. 7. Elizabeth, June 12, 1756.
(IV) George (2), son of George (1) Allen,
was born in Sharon. April 7, 1736. He mar
ried (first) in 1759, Experience Stearns, daugh
ter of Jonathan Stearns, of Stoughton. He
married (second) in 1777, Mercy Jordan, of
Stoughton. He enlisted May 31, 1754. for the
defense of the eastern frontier.
(V) Bethuel, son or nephew of George (2)
Allen, was born in 1772 in Stoughton, died at
Newton, Massachusetts, December 3, 1838.
He married, at Canton, December 17, 1797,
Martha (called Patty) Bent, daughter of Rufus
and Ann (McKenzie) Bent. Her father was
born March 10, 1742, and was housewright at
Milton and Boston, and Marietta, Ohio ; mar
ried, December 6, 1767, Ann McKenzie, widow
of Andrew McKenzie, and daughter of Alex
ander Middleton, who came from Scotland in
1735. Her ancestry was: Rufus Bent (5),
Joseph (4), Joseph (3), Joseph (2), John
Bent, the immigrant. The children were prob
ably born but are not recorded at Canton. Five
were baptized at the same time, June 2, 1822,
at Newton, Massachusetts, where the family

settled. He had a large farm in Newton.
Children: 1. Ann Middleton, married Na
thaniel Tracy, of Newburyport. 2. Kinsley,
born 1800; married, November 16, 1826, Abi
gail F. Smith; died at Newton, July 16, 1840,
leaving Kinsley Bethuel, who died January 15,
1832 ; Bowen, born at Canton, October 9, 1827,
married Mary Bent, born September 29, 1836;
died in the China sea. 3. Maria. 4. Joseph
Bent, baptized June 2, 1822, lived in Boston.
5. James Edward, baptized June 2, 1822. 6.
William Henry, born 1816, baptized June 2,
1822, mentioned below. 7. Charles Dwight,
baptized June 2, 1822. 8. Martha, baptized
June 2, 1822; married William G. Means.
(VI) William Henry, son of Bethuel Allen,
was born in 1816, at Newton. 'About 1822 he
went with his father's family to Newton, where
he was baptized with brothers and sisters, June
2, 1822. Pie was educated in the Chauncey
Flail School, Boston. He began his business
career in a large dry goods house in New York
City and a few years later opened a dry goods
store on his own account in Boston. His busi
ness flourished and he became a prominent
merchant. He made his home in Canton and
was very fond of nature and outdoor life. He
was devoted to his family, a man of many
friends and highly respected in the community.
He was a member of the Unitarian church at
Canton. In politics he was a Democrat. He
married Sarah Barnard Kinsley, daughter of
Silas Kinsley, of Dorchester, and Prudence
(Bent) Kinsley, who was born in Dorchester
and died in Canton. Her father was a farmer
in Canton on the present Allen homestead.
Children of Silas and Prudence (Bent) Kins
ley: i. Rufus Kinsley, one of the founders of
the Adams Express Company; ii. Mary Bent
Kinsley ; iii. Allen Kinsley ; iv. Edward Kins
ley ; v. Ann Kinsley ; vi. Henry Kinsley ; vii.
Helen Kinsley ; viii. Charles Kinsley ; ix. Sarah
Barnard Kinsley, married William Henry
Allen, mentioned above. Children of Mr. and
Mrs. Allen: 1. William, born 1842, in Boston,
died in 1888, at Canton. 2. Fanny, born 1844, at
Canton. 3. Gertrude, 1846, at Canton, unmar
ried. 4. Mary, 1849. 5. Sarah, 1853, married
Dudley Hall, of Medford, tea merchant, Bos
ton ; child, Dudley Hall Jr., in banking business
in Boston.
(For first generation see Robert Sanderson 1).
(II) William Sanderson,
SANDERSON son of Robert Sanderson,
was born at Hampden,
1641. He took the oath of fidelity in 1652.

504

MASSACHUSETTS.

All his children except Hannah were born in
Watertown, and he then removed to Groton,
but on account of trouble with the Indians re
turned to Watertown. He married, in Water-
town, December 18, 1666, Sarah  . Chil
dren: 1. John, born October 13, 1667. 2.
Sarah, March 17, 1668-69, married, February
4, 1695-96, Andrew White. 3. William, Sep
tember 6, 1670, married (first) Abigail Traine;
(second) May 14, 1704, Anna Shattuck. 4.
Mary, November 30, 1671. 5. Hannah, Gro
ton, May 3, 1674. 6. Lydia, Watertown, April
21, 1679. 7. Joseph, August 28, 1680, men
tioned below.
(Ill) Joseph, son of William Sanderson,
was born in Watertown, August 28, 1680, set
tled in Groton. He married there Sarah, daugh
ter of Samuel and Hannah Page. His estate
was administered in 1736 by his widow Sarah.
Children: 1. Joseph, mentioned below. 2.
David, born September 5, 1715, married Eunice
 . 3. Sarah, January 19, 1716-17. 4.
William, July 17, 1718. 5. Hannah, April 5,
1720. 6. Joseph, March 17, 1721-22, died
young. 7. Susanna, May 18, 1723. 8. Gideon,
February 19, 1724-25. 9. Joseph, March 5,
1726-27. 10. Sarah, October 15, 1729. 11.
John, December 13, 1731.
(IV) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (1) Sand--
erson, was born August 30, 1714, died at
Whately, March 20, 1772. He settled at
Whately in 1752 with his wife and eight chil
dren. He built a log house near Abraham
Parker's, perhaps on land belonging to him.
Later he built a house on his own land, where
the old Sanderson house was burned about
1880. He married, in 1737, Ruth Parker, who
died December 8, 1780, aged sixty- four, daugh
ter of Isaac Parker. In his will he mentions
ten of his twelve children who were married
and had families. From him have descended
between twelve and fifteen hundred children,
grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-
great-grandchildren. Children : 1 . Ruth, born
in Groton, October 6, 1737, married Jonathan
Spafford. 2. Esther, April 6, 1739, married
Captain Abel Dinsmore. 3. Joseph, March 8,
1741. 4. Anna, August 7, 1742, married Medad
Harvey. 5. James, April 7, 1744. 6. Thomas,
March 16, 1746. 7. Abraham, June 10, 1748.
8. David, May 15, 1750. 9. Child, 1752, died
young. 10. John, March 11, 1754, mentioned
below. 11. Asa, April 11, 1756. 12. Isaac,
October 9, 1757.
(V) John, son of Joseph (2) Sanderson,
was horn in Whately, March 11, 1754. He
lived on Indian Hill at Whately until 1803,

when he removed to Milton, Vermont. He
married (second) October 2, 1780, Phebe
Snow, of Conway. Children, born in Whately:
1. Levi, June, 1782, married, January, 1806,
Sally Bean. 2. John, 1784, married, 1807,
Louisa Jackson. 3. Hiram, October 24, 1788,
mentioned below. 4. Almeron, February 8,
1790, married, 1815, Nancy Meaker.
(VI) Hiram, son of John Sanderson, was
born at Whately, October 24, 1788. He mar
ried (first) October 4, 1811, Louisa Owens;
(second) Hettie Dorman. He was a gunmaker
and lived in Whitneyville, near New Haven,
Connecticut. He removed to Springfield and
was employed in the United States armory
there, and died September, 1873. Children:
1. David. 2. Frederick. 3. Hiram Quincy,
mentioned below. 4. Charles. 5. Perry. 6.
Berkeley. 7. Burton. 8. George.
(VII) Hiram Quincy, son of Hiram Sand
erson, was born in Middletown, Connecticut,
December 20, 1824, died May 1, 1892. He
attended the Lancasterian school in New
Haven, and at the age of fourteen was appren
ticed to a druggist in Fair Haven. Three years
later he came to Springfield and was clerk in
a grocery store. A year later he became owner
of the store. In 1848 he sold the business and
became corporation clerk at the American
Machine Works, where cotton gins and presses
were made for the south. In 1852 he went
west as paymaster and bookkeeper for Phelps,
Mattoon & Barnes, who were constructing
the Terre Haute, Alton & St. Louis railroad.
After its construction he became general freight
and passenger agent of the new line, with
headquarters at St. Louis. On the breaking
out of the civil war, his sympathies were with
the north, and his life was in danger there. He
was sent to New York City as eastern agent of
the road. Sleeping cars were then just begin
ning to be used, and Mr. Sanderson went into
this business and soon had sleepers running
from New York to Chicago, St. Louis, and
Louisville. This enterprise he finally sold to
George M. Pullman, who has since built up a
great business. One year, 1857-58, he spent
in Springfield and was elected to the house of
representatives. Pie was also a member of the
first city council ever chosen in Springfield. In
1 87 1 he returned to Springfield and made it his
permanent home. After a trip to Europe in
1875 he was appointed city marshal, serving
for two years. He was then elected high sheriff
of Hampden county and served nine years.
During this time he was largely instrumental
in building the new jail. He was elected chair-

MASSACHUSETTS.

505

man of the water board in 1881 and held that
office until his death. It was largely through
his influence and work on this board that the
city has such a pure and abundant supply of
water. He and his family were attendants and
supporters of the North Church. He married,
September 10, 1845, Mary Hannis, born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 17, 1826,
daughter of Captain Joseph and Eliza (Glad-
ing) Hannis. He was inspector of arms at
the Springfield armory. Children: 1. Ellen
Eliza, February 24, 1847, mentioned below. 2.
Charles J., January 5, 1849, died March 1,
1892; was president of the common council
of Springfield and a prominent Knight Temp
lar; local freight agent for the New York &
New England railroad. 3. Lilla Kate, 1864,
married Frank A. Holden ; died May 10, 1888.
Mary B., Frank, Mary FL and William, died
young. (VIII) Ellen Eliza, daughter of Hiram Quincy
Sanderson, was born February 24, 1847. She
was educated in- the public and high schools of
Springfield. She married Dr. Robert Ii. Melius,
of New York City. He was a graduate of the
Albany Medical College of the class of 1864 and
practiced his profession in Morrisania, a suburb
of New York City. He was a member of the
New York Medical Society. He died Decem
ber 2, 1876. In politics he was a Democrat
and in religion a Congregationalist. Their chil
dren: 1. Pauline Charlotte, born in Morrisania,
New York, October 13, 1873, graduate of
Springfield high school and of Smith College;
now a teacher in Palmer high school. 2. Mar
ion, January 12, 1875, graduate of the Spring
field high school and Smith College, class of
1898; a writer of some prominence; married,
December 20, 1907, Maurice W. Dickey, for
merly on the editorial staff of' the Worcester
Spy and the Springfield Union, now news edi
tor of the Boston Globe.

Archibald Little was born at
LITTLE Sligo, in the north of Ireland, of
Scotch-Irish ancestry. He and
his brother James came to this country when
young men. He learned the trade of mason,
but settled down to farming in Warren county,
New York. In 1850 he removed to Westfield,
Massachusetts. He was a very active and
energetic man. In religion he was a Meth
odist, and a man of high character and strict
integrity. He married Eliza Fish Dudley,
daughter of Joseph Dudley. Children: 1.
Mary, married Andrew J. Smith. 2. Thomas,
mentioned below. 3. Annie, married Silas

Bucknam. 4. Child, died young. 5. Child, died
young. 6. Jane, married Henry Kelsey, of
Westfield, Massachusetts. 7. William, is in
employ of Thomas Little, Westfield. 8. James,
deceased ; married Mary Crazier. 9. Charles,
died young.
(11) Thomas, son of Archibald Little, was
born at Williamsburg, New York, August 11,
1839. When he was about a year old his
family removed to Warren county, New York,
•and lived there until 1850. He worked during
the summer on his father's farm in his youth,
and attended the public schools at Westfield
until he was fifteen years old. He then began
to "work out" for wages of twenty-five cents
per day. Later he received ten dollars per
month. For two years he worked without
wages, receiving as his stipend some schooling,
besides his board and clothes. He was appren
ticed at the age of eighteen to learn the mason's
trade, in the employ of Colonel L. B. Walkley.
His wages were fifty dollars the first year,
seventy-five the second, and a hundred the
third year, besides his board. He served his
time and worked one year as a journeyman,
then his employer left his business to go to the
front with the Tenth Massachusetts Volun
teers. Mr. Little worked on his own account
for nearly two years, taking small contracts.
Then he enlisted for nine months in Company
K, the Forty-sixth Regiment Massachusetts
Volunteers, in September, 1862, served faith
fully with his regiment at the front, and was
mustered out in July, 1863. He was ill with
typhoid fever for a long time after his return
from the service. When he had recovered he
resumed business in Westfield and continued
with much success as a mason and contractor
until 1886, when he sold out and went to
Florida, on account of failing health. He was
in business at his old trade there for a time,
but finally returned to Westfield and again
engaged in business as a mason and contractor,
and so continuing to the present time. Mr.
Little is a thorough master of his trade, and
very capable in business. He has been ex
tremely busy and quite successful in accumu
lating property. His long years of active life
have not diminished his zest and activity in
business. He has much force of character,
and his many good qualities of heart and mind
have attracted to him many friends. He has
the respect and esteem of all who know him.
He is possessed of public spirit, and takes part
in every movement tending to benefit the town
of his adoption. He is a prominent member of
the Westfield Methodist Episcopal Church ; of

;o6

MASSACHUSETTS.

Lyons Post, No. 41, Grand Army of the Re
public; and of Mt. Moriah Lodge of Free
Masons. In politics he is a Republican. He
married Julia Lorette Sibley, September 12,
1865. She was born March 25, 1839, daughter
of Elijah Sibley, of West Springfield, Massa
chusetts (see Sibley). Children, born at West-
field : 1. Lucia A., born - November, 1867;
married Chester H. Abbee, of Westfield. 2.
Charles J., born December, 1869, educated in
public schools ; is one of the leading coal mer
chants of Westfield, a prominent and useful
citizen ; he is president of the Hampden Na
tional Bank of Westfield ; married Elizabeth
Lamberton ; children : David Charles, Thomas
Lamberton. (The Sibley Line).
John Sibley, immigrant ancestor, born in
England, came to New England on the ship
"Fleet," in 1629, with the Higginson fleet.
Richard Sibley, believed to be his brother, was
with him. He settled at Salem, and was ad
mitted a freeman there May 6, 1635. He may
be the son of John Sibley, of Charlestown, who
with his wife Sarah was admitted to the church
there February 21, 1634-5, and who was ad
mitted a freeman there September 3, 1634; he
was a proprietor of Charlestown, and may
have been selectman of Salem in 1636, instead
of the John Sibley first mentioned. There are
reasons for believing that John Sibley ( 1 ) was
too young to have held such an important office
at that date. John Sibley, of Charlestown, died
November 30, 1649. But for this death record,
all the references to John Sibley in both towns
could refer to one and the same man. It may
be that this death was of an infant son. John
Sibley was a proprietor of Salem, served on
the jury in 1636, was constable, and member
of the church. He resided at Manchester then
called Jeffreys Creek, in 1637. lie died in
1661. He married Rachel, daughter of John
Pickworth. Children: 1. Sarah, born in Salem,
baptized September 18, 1642. 2. Mary, bap
tized September 8, 1644; married Jonathan
Walcott. 3. Rachel, baptized May 3, 1646;
married  Bishop. 4. John, baptized May
4, 1648. 5. Plannah, baptized June 22, 1657;
married Stephen Small. 6. Samuel, baptized
April 12, 1657. 7. Abigail, baptized July 3,
1659. 8. Joseph, mentioned below.
(TI) Joseph, son of John Sibley, was born
probably in 1655, in Salem. He was a fisher
man. On his return from a fishing voyage he
was impressed on a British frigate and put to
hard service for seven weeks, then released
and sent home. His five sons settled in Sutton,

and were ancestors of a numerous family there.
Joseph, John and Jonathan were among the
thirty original settlers there. He married,
February 4, 1684, Susanna, daughter of Will
iam Follett, of Dover, New Hampshire. Chil
dren: 1. Joseph, born November 9, 1684. 2.
John, September 18, 1687. 3. Jonathan, May
1, 1690. 4. Hannah, baptized May 9, 1695;
married, August 10, 1722, Ebenezer Daggett.
5. Samuel, born 1697. 6. William, September
7, 1700; died October 18, 1763; married, July
4, 1726, Sarah Dike. 7. Benjamin, mentioned
below. (Ill) Benjamin, son of Joseph Sibley, was
born in Salem, September 19, 1703. fle re
moved with his brothers to Sutton, Massachu
setts, and settled there. About 1729 he re
moved to the adjacent town of Oxford, Wor
cester county, where the daughter Zeruiah was
born August 31, 1729. He went with his family
soon afterward to Union, Connecticut, lived
also at Ashford and Ellington, Connecticut,
and died at Ashford or Union.- Children, born
at Suttcn: 1. Priscilla. 2. Benjamin, Jr. Child
born at Oxford: 3. Zeruiah, August 31, 1729.
Children born at Union : 4. Joseph. 5. Ezekiel ;
mentioned below. 6. Samuel. 7. Jonathan.
(IV) Ezekiel, son of Benjamin Sibley, was
born in Union, Connecticut, about 1735. He
settled in Ellington, Connecticut, with others
of the family.
(V) Ezekiel (2), son of Ezekiel (1) Sibley,
was born probably in Ellington, Connecticut,
about 1770-80. He was a farmer. He removed
to West Springfield, Massachusetts. He mar
ried Mehitable Hurlburt. Children: 1-2. Ste
phen and Benjamin, twins. 3. Ezekiel, removed
to Ohio and Michigan. 4. Priscilla. 5. Allen.
6. Elijah, mentioned below.
(VI) Elijah,' son of Ezekiel (2)' Sibley, was
born at Ellington, Connecticut, June 29, 1800,
and died October 22, 1874, at West Springfield,
Massachusetts. Early in life he began to work
on his father's farm. He was educated in the
district schools and learned the trade of mason.
He and his father operated a quarry at West
Springfield, and he and his brother Allen had
the contract to build the piers of the old bridge
across the Westfield river, also the piers for
the old canal viaduct over Westfield. His
farm at one time comprised five hundred acres
of land, all in West Springfield. He was a
Democrat in politics, and a Methodist in relig
ion. He married, December 4, 1833, Lucy
Lee, born 1807, died August 22, 1863, at West
Springfield, daughter of Captain Charles Lee.
Children, born at West Springfield: 1. Henry

MASSACH USETTS.

507

A., March 9, 1835; married Amanda Cooley;
child, Fred H. 2. Laura L., January 3, 1838;
died February 23, 1838. 3. Julia Lorette, born
March 25, 1839; married September 12, 1865,
Thomas Little (see Little). 4. Augusta A.,
born July 16, 1842, a school teacher for many
years, now living with Mrs. Thomas Little.
The somewhat widely scatter-
SESSIONS ed, but not numerous family
of Sessions, are descended, it
seems, from Alexander Sessions, the only head
of a family of that name, as far as the records
show, who settled in New England in early
times. (I) Alexander Sessions, said to have been a
native of Wantage, Berkshire, England, born
in 1645, in a deposition recorded in the office
of the clerk of the courts of Essex county,
Massachusetts, in the case of Simon Brad
street against John Gage, stated that he was
twenty-four years of age ; and that he was in
Andover in 1666. Alexander and wife Eliza
beth were members of the church in Andover
in 1686, and from that time till their decease.
He was a witness to the will of John Aslet,
of Andover, Essex county, Massachusetts, May
15, 167 1, and was at the court when it was
proved "27 4 mo 1671," as appears from the
papers in the office of the clerk of the probate
court. An inventory of the estate of Alexander
Stitchins (the name being spelled in the origi
nal "Elexsander Seshins")who died February
26, 1687, mentions eighty acres of land and
other property, valued at £119. Elizabeth
Sutchins, widow of Alexander Sutchins, pre
sented the inventory of the estate to which she
made oath in Ipswich "25 1 mo. 1690," and
letters of administration were granted her after
she had given bond for £200, with John Spof
ford, of Rowley, and Thomas Patch, of Wen-
ham, as sureties. Later Elizabeth Sutchins,
alias Low, Admx. presented an account of her
administration to the court. As she was the
"Alies Low," it seems she had married again.
March 8, 1697, the widow makes final settle
ment, receives her portion, and the balance is
divided among the children of Alexander
Sutchins, to wit : Elizabeth, John, Alexander,
Timothy, Samuel, Nathaniel, Josiah, Joseph
and Abel. The oldest is given as about twenty-
four years old, and the youngest about eight
years old. The townrecords give the marriage
of Alexander Sessions with Elizabeth, daugh
ter of John Spofford, of Rowley, April 24,
1672. Alexander Sessions died February 26,
1689. Children: John, born October 4, 1674;

Alexander, October 3, 1676 ; Timothy, April 14,
1678; Samuel, March 8, 1680; Nathaniel, Au
gust 8, 1681; Josiah, May 2, 1684; Joseph,
March 28, 1686.
(II) Nathaniel, fifth son of Alexander and
Elizabeth (Spofford) Sessions, was born Au
gust 8, 1681, in Andover; settled in Pomfret,
Connecticut, as early as 1704, and was one of
the first white settlers there. lie died there
March, 1771. Iiis wife Hannah died the same
year. They had eight children : John, Na
thaniel, Abner, Abijah, Alexander, Amasa,
Davies and Simon.
(Ill) Captain Amasa, son of Nathaniel and
Hannah Sessions, was born in 17 15 and died
in 1799. He lived and died in Pomfret. He
was a captain of a company with Putnam in
the old French war. In his prime he was a
very strong man; in his advanced age he was
very corpulent. Iiis wife's name was Hannah,
and she died in 1804. They had eleven chil
dren : John, Samuel, Amasa, Nathaniel, Rob
ert, Hannah, Susannah, Squire, Mary, Abner
(died young) and Abner.
(IV) Robert, fifth son of Amasa and Han
nah Sessions, was born in Pomfret, March 4,
1752. He served in the revolutionary army,
attaining the rank of lieutenant, and was on
the Lexington alarm. "He was one of the
memorable Boston Tea Party." He removed
from Pomfret, Connecticut, to Wilbraham,
Massachusetts, about 1779, and lived there till
his death, September 27, 1836, at which time
he was in his eighty-fifth year. He was a
farmer, and bought a farm in 1781, on which
he made improvements, and among other things
raised and enlarged his house. He was a prom
inent citizen of the town, serving as moderator.
town clerk, treasurer and selectman many times,
and also as a representative in the legislature
three times. He was appointed justice of the
peace soon after he became a citizen, and held
that office till his death. He married Anna
Ruggles, of Pomfret, April 16, 1778, and they
had children : Betsey, Charles, Robert, George,
Nancy, Celina, Francis, Horace, Martha Phipps,
Hannah Miller, Sumner, Nabby, William Vyne,
next mentioned.
(V) William Vyne, youngest child of Rob
ert and Anna (Ruggles) Sessions, was born in
Wilbraham, Massachusetts, September 14, 1801,
and died April 9, 1897. He spent his early
life on the homestead and was prominent in
town and church affairs, often serving as
selectman and assessor, and was for many
years deacon of the Congregational church.
He represented the town in the legislature one

5°8

MASSACHUSETTS.

term, and was county commissioner three years,
and for many years was justice of the peace.
He helped to start the first factory in the town
for the manufacture of woolen goods, and thus
was an important factor in the growth of the
town. He married Lydia Ames, who was born
December, 1799, died July 3, 1893, daughter
of Cyrus and Rhoda (Osborn) Ames, of Cen
tral New York. Rhoda Ames' father, Samuel
Osborn, was captain in the revolution. They
had four children: Nancy Ruggles (died
young) ; Lydia Ames, born December 28, 1833 ;
William R., mentioned below; Helen Victoria
(died young). Lydia Ames was the first prin
cipal of the Lake Erie Seminary at Plainesville,
Ohio, now Lake Erie College. She married
Rev. W. W. W°°dworth, who died in Berlin,
Connecticut. (VI) William Robert, only son of William
Vyne and Lydia (Ames) Sessions, was born
in South Wilbraham (now Hampden), Decem
ber 3, 1835. He was educated in the common
and select schools of South Wilbraham. He
married at twenty years of age and started to
conduct his father's farm on shares, but at
the end of a year had to relinquish that kind of
work on account of physical disability, his left
leg having been weakened by a fever sore in
his childhood, not being able to perform the
labor required of it. He then removed* to
Columbus, Ohio, became partner in one of the
finest dry goods stores in Columbus, the firm
being Metcalf & Sessions. The financial crash
of 1857 came in October following, and after
struggling a year the firm collapsed, and Mr.
Sessions lost all he had put into the venture.
In the spring of 1859 he returned to Massa
chusetts, and became foreman in the weave
room of the South Wilbraham Manufacturing
Company, where he worked a year. His father
then became agent, and Mr. Sessions took his
father's place on the farm. There he remained
till the fall of 1862, and then enlisted in Com
pany I, Forty-sixth Massachusetts Volunteer
Infantry, was made sergeant, and served until
July, 1863. This regiment was brigaded with
the Twenty-seventh, Twenty-fifth, Third and
Fifth Massachusetts regiments, and was sta
tioned in North Carolina, and participated in
engagements at Kinston, Whitehall and Golds
boro ; and in several skirmishes, in one of which
at Bachelor's Creek, Mr. Sessions was captured
and sent to Libby prison, where he was kept
ten days and then paroled and sent home with
the regiment. From that time till 1899 the
old homestead was his home, and he carried
on the farm. During all this time he was en

gaged in dairying and raising short horn cattle,
keeping about fifty head all the time, and sell
ing animals that were sent all over New Eng
land and to other states. The next spring after
his return from the war Mr. Sessions began
what has proved to be a long term of public
service in various capacities. He was then
elected moderator, and was re-elected to that
place nearly every year till the division of the
town and the erection of Hampden town in
1878 ; and for several years longer he was
moderator in Hampden. In 1864 he was elect
ed selectman, and continued to fill that office,
with the exception of two years, till the divi
sion of the town, and was chairman of the first
board of selectmen of Hampden, and filled that
place most of the time till 1888. Occasionally
during those years he served as assessor and
school committee in Hampden. In 1867 he
was elected to the Massachusetts house of
representatives and served one term. In 1883
he was elected to the senate and served on the
committees on towns, agriculture and taxa
tion. He was re-elected the next year and
served on the committees on towns, agricul
ture, and roads and bridges. From 1856 he
had been a member of the Hampden County
Agricultural Society, holding the offices of
director and vice-president. In 1879 he was
elected by the society as its delegate to the
state board of agriculture. He filled that place
till 1887, and was then elected by the members
of the board as its secretary, and discharged
the duties of that office until his resignation
in 1899, a period of twelve years. Although
Mr. Sessions maintained his residence in
Hampden, his official duties required his pres
ence in Boston, and he spent almost all his time
except Sundays in that city. During his tenure
of office the dairy bureau was created, and
the secretary of the board of agriculture was
made its executive officer. In 1890 the task
of dealing with the gypsy moth pest was also
committed to the board of agriculture, to be
managed by a committee of the board, of whom
the secretary would be one, and Mr. Sessions
filled the place of chairman or secretary of
this board during his tenure of office. During
this time over a million of dollars of state
appropriations were expended by this board,
and every voucher for money paid out had to
go through Mr. Sessions's hands, and although
the bills for expenditures were frequently ex
amined by opponents of the work, not even
a cent of the funds was ever reported misspent.
The work was prosecuted with such success
that at the time it was stopped in 1900, the

ii

'On.

\^y<LyU<r>^l-

Lewis Historical fuh- Co.

MASSACHUSETTS.

509

investigating committee reported that there was
no place where the moth was doing dam
age. From 1885, when he was appointed by
Governor Robinson, till his resignation in 1905,
he served as a member of the board of trustees
of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. He
served as justice of the peace in Hampden one
term. In 1899 Mr. Sessions removed to
Springfield, where he has since lived retired.
Since becoming a citizen of Springfield he has
served one term of two years as alderman,
declining re-election. Mr. Sessions has always
been a Republican, and cast his first presidential
vote for Lincoln. He has been a Mason since
1862, and a member of Newton Lodge of Wil
braham. Soon after the establishment of Wil
cox Post, Grand Army of the Republic, he be
came a member, and still retains his member
ship there. He has also been a member of
Hampden Harvest Club since 1869, and of the
Franklin Harvest Club for fifteen years. Each
club's membership is limited to twenty-two.
He is also a member of George Washington
Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, of
Springfield. He married (first) Elsie W. Cunningham,
March n, 1856. She was born September 2,
1838, died July 29, 1869, daughter of Joseph
B. and Elsie (Walker) Cunningham, of South
Wilbraham. He married (second) Lucy E.
Cunningham, sister of his first wife, October
26, 1870. She died January 10, 1887. He
married (third) August 22, 1888, Clara Mark
ham, who died February 13, 1900. He mar
ried (fourth) April 11, 1901, Lydia Ellen
Toombs, born March 26, 1852, daughter of
William and Sophia J. (Barney) Toombs, of
North Bennington, Vermont. The children
of William R. and Elsie W. Sessions were:
1. Elsie Mary, born September 7, 1857, mar
ried Jonas Coolidge Mills, of Hartford, Con
necticut, April 23, 1896. 2. William Joseph,
December 18, 1859. 3. Helen Lydia, Septem
ber 2, 1861, died May 21, 1883. 4. Lucy Maria,
August 4, 1865, married Silas Ives Wallace,
of Clinton, Massachusetts, September 1, 1886;
children : Earle Sessions, born in Clinton,
July 29, 1887; Sylvia Perry, September 24,
1896. 5. Mortimer Walker, December 2, 1867,
died May 17, 1872. All were born in South
Wilbraham. (VII) William Joseph, son of William Rob
ert and Elsie W. (Cunningham) Sessions, was
born December 18, 1859. He went to South
Dakota when he was twenty-one years old, and
settled at Benedict in Sanborn county, which
county he represented in the legislature. He

returned to his native town in 1896, and was
soon called to serve as selectman, and has held
that office much of the time since. Governor
Crane appointed him justice of the peace in
1902. He owns and occupies the ancestral
acres. lie married, February 8, 1887, in Mc-
Henry county, Illinois, Mary E. Anderson.
Their children were: 1. Helen Lydia, born
in Benedict, South Dakota, October 22, 1888,
died March 29, 1889. 2. Mina Anderson Bene
dict, born March 11, 1890. 3. William Vyne
Benedict, April 29, 1892, died May 28, 1892. 4.
William Vyne (second), Hampden, Massachu
setts, born November 19, 1896. 5. Robert Lee,
Hampden, June 3, 1899, died February 16,
1900. This family is one of the most
JACKSON ancient and numerous in Eng
land. The surname is obviously
derived from Jack and son, and belongs to the
same class of names as Richardson, Dickson,
Bilson, and was in use in the eleventh or twelfth
century, when surnames were adopted in Eng
land. ( I ) Jonathan Jackson was a weaver in Leeds,
England, and according to family tradition the
family had lived there for many generations.
His father was born there in 1727, and died
there in 1829, at the remarkable age of one
hundred and two years. Jonathan was born
about 1750-60, at Leeds, fle had little educa
tion, and early in life began work at the weaver's
trade. Then the weaving was done at home on
hand looms. He married first  Gee, who
died about 1804, and he married again. He
lived at Slack, a town near Leeds. His second
wife died April 12, 1818, and he then went to
live with his son John, at Mount Pleasant, Eng
land. Children: Benjamin, mentioned below;
Hannah, Jonathan, Betsey, Sarah, John.
( II ) Benjamin, son of Jonathan Jackson, was
born at Slack, near Leeds, England, about 1783.
He learned his father's trade, and became a very
expert hand weaver. He had little schooling.
He came to this country at the age of twenty,
and is given credit for weaving the first piece ,
of broadcloth made in this country, according
to the "History of Connecticut Valley." He
was the only one of the family to come to Amer
ica, and he returned to his native land several
times to visit relatives. He settled and made
his home in Leeds, Massachusetts, then becom
ing an important manufacturing place. He
was an expert weaver, following that trade all
his life, and, after the ancient custom of the
family, teaching it to his sons. He went to

sio

MASSACHUSETTS.

England in 1830 and found his sister Betsey
living in Leeds, his brother Jonathan about six
miles from that town, and his sister Hannah in
the town of Slack. He made another visit to
the old country when he was seventy-five years
old. He was pious, but rather stern and austere.
He died December 28, 1863, aged about eighty
vears. He married and had children.
(Ill) Benjamin (2), soil of Benjamin (1)
Jackson, was born in Leeds, Massachusetts,
about 181 5, and died there. He was educated
in the public schools, and learned the black
smith trade. He settled in Greenfield, Massa
chusetts. He married Olive Sanderson Stebbins,
born May 17, 1818, daughter of Ralph and Sub
mit (Sanderson) Stebbins, of Conway, Mass
achusetts (see Stebbins). Children, born at
Greenfield : Elizabeth, Andrew, Charles Baker.
(IV) Charles Baker, son of Benjamin (2)
Jackson, was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts,
January 23, 1852, and was educated there in
the public schools. He followed farming until
1870, when he worked for two years in a car
riage factory and two years as clerk in a grocery
store. In 1880 he engaged in the trucking and
ice business in Greenfield, and has conducted
this business with much success to the present
time. He also deals extensively in horses, and
has a large sale stable. He is a Unitarian in
religion, and a Democrat in politics. He mar
ried, 1876, Zilpha C. Thayer, born 1859, daugh
ter of Lyman Thayer, of Greenfield. Children :
1. Charles Baker, Jr., born 1886. 2. Bertha
Olive, 1888; married Arthur S. Chapin, of
Northampton, Massachusetts ; children : Rich
ard, born 1902 ; Eleanor, 1906.

(For first generation see Rowland Stebbins 1).
(II) John Stebbins, son of
STEBBINS Rowland Stebbins, was born
in 1626, in England, and was
living in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1651, but
bought a house that year in Springfield. He
was one of the original proprietors of Pocum-
tuck, owning twenty cow commons, and drew
house lot. No. 13, there, in what is now Deer
field, Massachusetts, but probably was not a
settler. He made his home in Northampton.
He died March 9, 1679, "in an unusual manner,"
and witchcraft was suspected as the cause of
death. A jury of inquest found "several hun
dred spots, small ones, as if they had been shot
with small shot, which we scraped and under
them were holes into his body." No prosecu
tion followed the inquest, however. He mar
ried, May 14, 1646, Mary, widow of Abraham
Munden, probably daughter of Thomas Mun

son, of Hartford, Connecticut; (second) No
vember 17, 1657, Abigail, daughter of Robert
Bartlett, of Northampton, and she married
(second) December 28, 1681, Jedediah Strong,
and died July 15, 1689. Children of first wife:
1. John, born January 28, 1647; mentioned
below. 2. Thomas, died April 24, 1649. 3.
Ann, born April 10, 1651 ; died 1653. 4- Ed
ward, born July 12, 1653; died October 16,
1653. 5- Benoni, born June 23, 1655; ser
geant ; in 1667 he conspired with other lads of
Northampton to "run away to the French" in
Canada ; stole "24 shillings in silver and seven
shillings in wampum" to pay Quanquelatt, an
Indian, for helping them carry out the plan ;
the theft and plot were discovered ; Quanquelatt
was whipped and forced to give up the money;"
"Nims, the ringleader in these villainies," got
fifteen lashes on the naked back, and Stebbins
and the others eleven each ; in 1677 he attempted
to settle on his father's home lot in Deerfield,
but was captured in the Ashpelon raid that
year ; came again at the resettlement and was a
prominent man — selectman, assessor and con
stable; built on his father's lot the house so
successfully defended by seven men and a few
women against a horde of the enemy, February
29, 1704, and he alone of the party was slain;
married, 1677, Mary (Broughton) Bennett,
widow of James Bennett, who was killed at the
Falls fight ; she and her husband were both
fined because she wore silk when his bride,
contrary to the sumptuary laws of the colony ;
he married (second) 1691, Hannah, widow of
Joseph Edwards, and she married (third)
Thomas French, whose wife was killed by the
Indians when a captive on the march to Canada
1704. Children of second wife: 6. Samuel,
born January 21, 1658-9; lived at Northamp
ton, Deerfield, Boston and Leicester, and finally
settled at Belchertown, about 1727; died Sep
tember 3, 1732 ; married, March 14, 1678, Mary
French; (second) March 14, 1692, Sarah Will
iams, at Rhode Island. 7. Abigail, born Sep
tember 24, 1660; married, May 30, 1678, Will
iam Phelps. 8. Thomas, born May 6, 1662;
died April 28, 1712; married, September 26,
1684, Elizabeth Wright, who married (second)
June 16, 1715, John Hannum. 9. Hannah,
born July 8, 1664; married, November 15,
1679, aged fifteen, John Sheldon ; was killed in
old Indian house, February 29, 1704. 10. Mary,
born September 10, 1666 ; married, November
17, 1683, Thomas Strong, of Northampton. 11.
Sarah, born June 4, 1668; married, 1687, Will
iam Southwell, of Northampton. 12. Joseph,
born January 17, 1 670- 1 ; died June 8, 1681.

MASSACHUSETTS.

in

13. Deborah; born March 5, 1672; married,
1690, Benjamin Alvord. 14. Benjamin, bap
tized May 3, 1674 ; a trooper in Pomroy pursuit,
1698; removed to Belchertown, 1741 ; married,
December 21, 1709, Mary Ashley. 15. Rebecca,
baptized February 26, 1676; married, 1697,
Nathaniel Strong. 16. Thankful, born May 11,
1678; married, July 18, 1700, Jeriah Strong.
(Ill) John (3), son of John (2) Stebbins,
was born at Springfield, January 28, 1647. He
was a carpenter by trade. When his brother
Benoni planned to run away in 1667, John
knew about it, and when the plan was dis
covered, John suffered with the others, being
sentenced by court to ten stripes or to pay ten
shillings to the county treasurer. His father
paid the fine. He received a grant of lot 36,
May 10, 1670, and of lot 13, May 14, 1671. He
was a soldier in Captain Lothrop's company,
and the only man known to have come out
whole from the Bloody Brook massacre. Two
days afterward he enlisted in Captain Moseley's
company, and was serving in March, 1676, and
probably through King Philip's war. After
ward, when impressed for military duty at
Hadley, he was fined, but the statement of his
service and the facts of the impressment were
sufficient to secure his discharge from the pen
alty and service. He lived at Boston for a time
and worked at his trade at Muddy River
(Brookline) and Cambridge Village (Newton) .
He 'returned to Deerfield at the resettlement,
and lived on lot 35. In 1685 his home lot was
on "Plumbtree Playne," as Wapping was called
until 1689. He was hayward at Deerfield in
1689 ! on school committee in 1700. His house
was burned and the entire family taken cap
tives by the Indians, February 29, 1704. He,
his wife and son John are the only ones known
to have returned, the others choosing to live in
Canada. He died December 19, 1724, His
will, dated July 31, 1723, at Deerfield, bequeath
ed to Dorothy his wife ; one-eighth to each of
his children in Canada — Samuel, Ebenezer,
Joseph, Abigail and Thankful, provided they
would return to New England tolive, but if not,
each was to receive but the proverbial five shil
lings. AaronDesnoions, son of his daughter Abi
gail, was evidently living with his grandfather,
and he was made heir in place of his mother,
provided he "continue in this country." The
son John was to have a treble portion and rest
of the estate to be divided between the children
that returned from Canada. There is no evi
dence that any but Samuel returned, and he
did not stay and receive his portion. John
married Dorothy, daughter of John Alexander,

of Newton, where she was living in 1733.
Children: 1. John, born about 1685; mentioned
below. 2. Abigail, born about 1687 ! married,
February 3, 1703-4, by Rev. John Williams
James Denyo (Desnoions in the will), one of
the three "Frenchmen from Canada" in Mr.
Williams's list of captives; she was taken pris
oner with her husband; son Aaron, born in
Canada, December 14, 1704, returned to Deer
field and founded the Denio family; Abigail
was baptized in the Catholic church as Mar
guerite DeNoyan, at Montreal, May 17-28,
1708. 3. Samuel, born December 25, 1688.
4. Thankful, September 5, 1691 ; married a
Frenchman in Canada, Adrien L. Gram-La-
vallee. 5. Ebenezer, December 5, 1694; bap
tized in Catholic church as Jacques Charles;
remained in Canada. 6. Joseph, April 12, 1699;
settled at Chambly, Canada; died April 23,
1753 ; married Mary Sanssouci. (For children
see "Deerfield Flistory").
(IV) John (4), son of John (3) Stebbins,
was born at Deerfield, about 1675. He was
captured with the rest of the family in 1704,
but returned with his parents to Deerfield.
He had a grant of land May 8, 1723, as a
commoner, and again in 1743 grants of seventy-
five acres and ninety-three acres. He lent the
town five pounds December 11, 1728. He lived
on the homestead lot, No. 35 ; died at Deer
field, September 7, 1760. He married (first)
about 1714, Mary  , who died August
30, 1733, aged thirty-seven; (second) August
25, 1735, Hannah, born February 12, 1798-9,
daughter of Edward and Mercy (Painter)
Allen. Children, born at Deerfield: 1. John,
June 24, 1715; died unmarried. 2. Ebenezer,
October 26, 1716; probably died in Louisburg
expedition, February 7, 1746. 3. Joseph, Octo
ber 20, 1718; married Mary Stratton. 4. Mary,
September 20, 1720; married October 18, 1743-
Daniel Arms. 5. Abigail, March 11, 1723;
married, November 11, 1741, Daniel Nash.
6. Samuel, May 5, 1725 ; married Martha Bard
well. 7. Experience, October 31, 1727; mar
ried, December 5, 1745,- Enoch Bardwell. 8.
Thankful, April 1, 1729; married, August 30,
1749, Jonathan Severance. 9. Moses, October
18, 1 73 1 ; married Mercy Hawks. 10. Simon,
January 6, 1736; married Hannah Hinsdale.
11. Dorothy, January 6, 1738; married June
12, 1787, Lawrence Kemp. 12. David, April
20, 1741 ; mentioned below. 13. Hannah, Feb
ruary 19, 1744; died June 11, 1744.
(V) Lieutenant David, son of John (4)
Stebbins, was bom in Deerfield,_ April 20,1741.
He was commissioned second lieutenant in the

512

MASSACHUSETTS.

revolutionary army, May 3, 1776, in Captain
Nathan Frary's company, Fifth Hampshire
regiment ; was lieutenant also of Captain Enoch
Chapin's company, Colonel Jacob Gerrish's
regiment, detached from Hampshire county
militia to guard stores at Springfield and
Brookfield for six months from July 1, 1778.
He owned pew 23 in the new meeting-house in
1777. He removed from Deerfield to Conway
about 1792, and died there September 30, 1816.
He married, December 18, 1765, Rhoda Shel
don, born October 24, 1748, at Deerfield, died
August 8, 1826, at Conway, daughter of Abner
and Lucy (Bardwell) Sheldon. Children, born
at Deerfield: 1. Sylvester, July 8, 1767; mar
ried Elizabeth Dwelly. 2. Lucy, June 18, 1768.
3. John, May 25, 1771 ; married Sarah Sanders.
4. Horace, August 13, 1773. 5- David, August
16, 1775 ; settled in Sherman, New York; mar
ried Irene Collins. 6. Malachi, January 14
' ?)• l777- 7- Chester, July 22, 1778; married
Nancy Burroughs. 8. Israel, November 20,
1783, died March 3, 1790. 9. Rhoda, born
September 21, 178 — . 10. Ralph, January 20,
178 — ; mentioned below. 11. Israel, January
27, 1792; died of wounds received in battle of
Bridgewater in war of 1812, July 26, 1814.
(VI) Ralph, son of Lieutenant David Steb
bins, was born January 20, 178 — , at Deerfield,
and died July 11, 1858, at Conway. He was
a farmer, living at Conway, Deerfield and
Hoosac, New York. He was a Seventh Day
Baptist in religion. He married Submit Sand
erson, born 1787, at Whately, daughter of Eli
jah Sanderson. Children: 1. John, died aged
seven years. 2. Rhoda Sheldon, August 28,
1808. 3. Sarah Parker, January 2, 181 1 ; mar
ried John Goland; (second) Albert Jones. 4.
Israel, born March 20, 1812; married Dorothy
Aliis. 5. Marinda Arms, August 31, 1817;
died 1832, at Conway. 6. Olive Sanderson,
May 17, 1818; married Benjamin Jackson (see
Jackson). 7. Submit, August 16, 1819; mar
ried Austin Lee. 8. Charles Plitchcock, May 24,
1822 ; married Charlotte Ellen Jenks. 9. Mari
etta Augusta, September 2, 1825 ; married Aus
tin Wells. 10. Ralph, Jr., November 26, 1828;
died in Cummington, 1851. 11. James Sand
erson, born August 31, 1830; married Almena
 ; died 1863, in the civil war ; his widow
died at Millers Falls, Massachusetts.

James Mellen was a native of
MELLEN Ireland. He came to Massachu
setts with his parents and set
tled in Worcester. He had a common school
education and was a skillful mechanic. He

began at the foot of the ladder On the Boston
& Worcester railroad, later the Boston &
Albany, and was promoted from time to time
until he became a locomotive engineer, one of
the first and best on that road. He left the
railroad business to become a merchant in Wor
cester, and also conducted a livery stable. Dur
ing the gold fever of 1849 he sought his for
tune in California, but like many others lost
his life and was never heard from after leaving
home. He married Margaret Brennan, also a
native of Ireland. She was a gentle, refined
and capable woman, and managed to care for
her little family, and equip her sons with edu
cation and character. Both sons attained dis
tinction in professional and public life. She
died March 10, 1886. Children: 1. James
Henry, born October 7, 1845 ; was educated in
the public schools of his native city; a news
paper writer, editor and publisher ; representa
tive to the general court for a longer period
than any other man of his day, serving on
important committees and exerting a large in
fluence in legislation; for many years an alder
man of the city and a leader in that body; one
of the most influential and prominent Demo
crats of the commonwealth; an able public
speaker and campaigner ; married (first) Julia
Mooney ; children : William, John, Catherine,
Annie, James, Frances, Richard. He married
(second) Mary Hagan; child, Mary. 2. Will
iam M. E., mentioned below.
(II) Dr. William M. E. Mellen, son of
James Mellen, was born at Worcester, April
6, 1848. He attended the public schools of
his native city, and early in life began to con
tribute to the support of the family. He
learned the trade of iron molder in Worcester,
but was ambitious to continue his education,
and with the savings of several years from his
wages in the iron foundry he paid the cost of
a medical education in the University of Mich
igan. While in the medical school he evinced
exceptional ability, learning readily and taking
high rank. He received his degree of M. D.
in 1876, and at once began to practice his pro
fession at Northampton, Massachusetts. One
year later he came to the adjacent town of
Chicopee, and there practiced medicine the
remainder of his life. He took high rank as
a physician and had a large practice ; he had
the faith and confidence of his fellow-practi
tioners, and Was often called in consultation
by them. He was a member of the Hampden
District Medical Society, and was president
in 1905 ; a member of the Massachusetts Medi
cal Society; and in 1890 was chosen delegate

MASSACHUSETTS.

513

to. the Tenth International Medical Congress in
Berlin, and while abroad continued his medical
studies in the hospitals of London, Glasgow,
Paris and Vienna.
He was naturally inclined to the study of
public questions, and adapted by disposition,
education and natural qualifications for public
service. Almost from the time that he came
to Chicopee until he died he was the most
prominent Democrat of the town. A year
after he located there he was elected a member
of the school committee, and served on the
board from 1879 to 1882. He was town physi
cian in 1883-84, and for several years was a
member of the board of health, of which he
was chairman in 1889. In 1891 he was elected
to the board of aldermen, and in the following
year became president of the board. During
his service in the city council his executive
ability became known and recognized, and he
was appointed on all the most important com
mittees. He was a delegate to the Democratic
national convention in Chicago in 1892, and
served as delegate to nearly all of the Demo
cratic state conventions after he entered public
life. He was appointed by President Cleve
land on the medical board for examining appli
cants for pensions in Hampden county, and
served for the ensuing eight years. He was a
member of the committee for drafting'the city
charter for Chicopee. In the fall of 1892 Dr.
Mellen was nominated for mayor of Chicopee
by the Democrats, and after an active cam
paign was defeated by the narrow margin of
997 to 936, by Henry Harris, then mayor. At
the next city election the following year he
defeated the same opponent by a majority of
two hundred and thirty-six votes. His admin
istration was notable for the long and bitter
controversies in the city council over the grant
ing of liquor licenses and the granting of a
franchise to the Springfield Street Railway
Company for the Liberty street route to Chic
opee Falls. He was an able and conservative
executive and a good financier. During his
term of office the tax rate was reduced from
$17.50 to .$13.80, the lowest rate in the history
of the city after the first year. The city owes
many of its improvements to his initiative,
foresight and pertinacity. He persistently fol
lowed a policy or purpose once undertaken.
He was an earnest advocate of the municipal
ownership of electric light and gas plants for
lighting streets and houses, and after a cam
paign lasting three years he succeeded in
effecting the purchase of a municipal electric
light plant in Chicopee. He believed in the
i— 33

further extension of the public ownership of
public utilities. He was a prime mover in the
project to purchase the Wells property adjoin
ing the city hall lot for a city library site,
and was again successful. Largely through
his efforts and influence the liquor license fees
were raised and the municipal revenue consid
erably increased thereby. Such policies, while
wholly in the interest of the public, made
political enemies for him, though at the same
time they won for him the confidence and sup
port of the best citizens and a greater degree
of popularity. After the fight over liquor
licenses he was active in drafting and support
ing a law creating license commissions for cer
tain cities and taking from the aldermen the
function of granting liquor licenses. The result
6f this act has been to improve the personnel
of the boards of aldermen in cities where
licenses are granted. Throughout his career,
not only in the board of health and city coun
cil but in private practice and as a citizen, he
earnestly and consistently sought to improve
the sanitary conditions of the city. As alder
man and mayor he was responsible for the reg
ulation requiring all houses to connect with the
sewerage system, and for the systematic col
lection of garbage, etc. In nothing did he show
a greater amount of determination and public
spirit than in cleaning up the town. Indeed,
he came to be known as the "Iron Mayor," at
a time when the city needed a man of iron at
the helm. The wealthy property owner who
rented unsanitary premises to poor tenants had
to be coerced into obeying the law. He warned
but once, and those who persisted in violating
the health regulations were promptly brought
into court. Though instinctively genial and
charming socially, he never omitted a public
duty to favor a friend, nor neglected a dis-
agreeble task for fear of making enemies. He
was an open and fearless fighter, upright,
manly, sympathetic and earnest in character.
He was a charter member of Chicopee Coun
cil, Knights of Columbus, and member of the
Ancient Order of Hibernians and of the
United Workmen of America. He was a cor
porator of the Chicopee Savings Bank. In
religion he was a faithful Roman Catholic, a
liberal supporter of the parish. He died May
14, 1906, of hemorrhage of the brain. Until
his last illness Dr. Mellen had enjoyed perfect
health and a robust constitution. The funeral
was on May 17 following, at the Church of
the Holy Name. The city was represented by
the mayor and other city officers, and delega
tions from the fraternities and medical organ-

514

MASSACHUSETTS.

izations to which he belonged were in attend
ance. During the funeral all the merchants in
town closed their stores. The Springfield
Republican. "When a city like Chicopee, filled
with many activities and interests, pauses in
the middle of one of its working days and
remains quiet while one of its members is
being carried to his last resting place, a strik
ing tribute is paid to the dead."
He married, July 3, 1883, Catherine Burke,
born November 26, i860, daughter of Patrick
Burke, a prosperous farmer of Chicopee. She
survives him. They had one child, Eleanor
Margaret, born September 15, 1885; graduate
of the- Chicopee high school, class of 1904,
student one year at the Boston Museum of
Fine Arts, and now a student in the Normal
Art School, class of 1909.

Lambert Chenery (Ginere,
CHENERY Genere, Chenere, and other
forms) was born in 1593,
probably in England, and died in Dedham,
Massachusetts, January 30, 1674. He arrived
in America, landing at Salem, in 1630, went
first to Watertown, then to Dedham, where
he was among the first settlers in 1635-36. It
is supposed that his wife and two sons came
to America with him, his wife being admitted
f. c. December 4, 1640, and he June 9, 1644.
He married (second) May 14, 1656, Thomasis
Hewes, who died in Watertown, January 2,
1670. Children: Isaac, see forward. 2. John,
born in England in 1630, died in Watertown,
September 5, 1675. 3. Mary, born December
24, 1659.
(II) Isaac, eldest child of Lambert Chenery,
was born in England, and died in Medfield in
171 1. He married, November 16, 1654, Eliza
beth Gamlyn. Children: 1. Elizabeth, born
April 6, 1657. 2. Isaac, see forward. 3. Mary,
November 21, 1662. 4. Ephraim, May 30,
1664. 5. Deborah, April 8, 1667. 6. Eleazer,
February 26, 1668. 7. Hannah, June 9, 1671.
8. Benjamin, April 5, 1673.
(Ill) Isaac (2), eldest son and second child
of Isaac (1) and Elizabeth (Gamlyn) Chenery,
was born January 3, 1659; married Rachel
 ; children: 1. Ephraim, born March
14, 1709. 2. Isaac, see forward.
(IV) Isaac (3), youngest child of Isaac
(2) and Rachel Chenery, was born October
29, 171 1, died January 30, 1742. He married
Sarah Smith, fourth in line of descent from
Henry Smith, who came from England in 1637
and settled in Medfield. Children: 1. Isaac,

see forward. 2. Eleonia, born about 1739-44,
died January 7, 1754 or 1759.
(V) Dr. Isaac (4), eldest child and only
son of Isaac (3) and Sarah (Smith) Chenery,
was born in Medfield, Massachusetts, in No
vember, 1742, died in Holden, Massachusetts,
October 20, 1822. He married, about 1769,
Susannah Pierce, of Worcester, Massachusetts,
born October 2, 1748, died January 27, 1820.
Children : 1. Thaddeus, born April 27, 1769, died
September 25, 1857. 2. Zillah, February 5, 1771,
died March 8, 1843. 3- Nathan, see forward. 4.
Susannah, February 5, 1785, died at Enfield,
October 31, 1872. 5. Aloney, January 27,
1788, died December 12, 1863. 6. Isaac, April
30, 1791, died March 30, 1842. 7. Leonard,
April 27, 1794, died December 23, 1831. 8.
Wilkes, died young.
(VI) Nathan, second son and third child
of Dr. Isaac (4) and Susannah (Pierce) Chen
ery, was born in Holden, Massachusetts, in
February, 1774, died in Montague, Massachu
setts, February 25, 1826. He early removed
to Montague from his native town. Married,
May 4, 1807, Sophia, born in 1785, died No
vember 9, 1828, daughter of Captain Nathaniel
Gunn, of Montague. Children: 1. Harriet,
born December 6, 1807, died May 28, 1835.
2. Sophia, July 10, 1810, died December 12,
1828. 3. Leonard, February 18, 1812, died
January 10, 1842. 4. Juliann, March 7, 1814,
died April 8, 1814. 5. Hollis, June 12, 1815,
died March 30, 1850. 6. Richard, see forward.
7. James Gunn, April 12, 1819, died in Rich
mond, Virginia, November 3, 1866.
(VII) Richard, third son and sixth child
of Nathan and Sophia (Gunn) Chenery, was
born June 20, 1817, died in Belfast, Maine,
July 27, 1890. He received his education in
academic and private schools at Amherst,
Greenfield and Northfield, Massachusetts, after
which he resided three years in New York
City, then seven years in Wisconsin and four
years in Northampton, Massachusetts. He
went to California in 1849 and from thence
to Belfast, Maine, in 1879. His career has
been a varied one. Was merchant, farmer,
owner and manager of steamboats, builder of
railroads, government official and member of
the California legislature. He was one of the
earliest settlers in California, reaching there
in August, 1849, was a citizen of the state for
more than thirty years, during which time he
was prominent in many ways. He was presi
dent of the California Steam Navigation Com
pany and interested in incorporating and build-

MASSACHUSETTS.

515

ing some of the earlier railroads. He took a
leading part in the vigilance committee of 1856
that did so much toward purifying the condi
tion of the state, taking its government from
the hands of the roughs and placing it in that
of the better class. Pie was a member of the
state legislature when it was of the utmost
importance that honest and upright men should
frame the laws for the rapidly growing state.
Under President Lincoln's administration,
1861-65, he occupied the position of navy agent
and disbursed many millions of dollars for the
navy of the national government. His later years
were spent on the eastern part of the continent,
summering in Maine, and wintering in Florida.
He married (first) in Sunderland, Massachu
setts, August 15, 1839, Sarah Ann, born in
Milford, Massachusetts, August 29, 1819, died
in San Francisco, California, November 23,
1864, daughter of Dr. Gustavus P. and Sallie
P. Peck, of Milford. Children: 1. Charles
Eugene, born in Spring Prairie, Wisconsin,
June 16, 1841, died in San Francisco, Decem
ber 17, 1870. 2. James Perry, born in Sunder
land, Massachusetts, May 9, 1843, died in
Northampton, the same state, March 2, 1863.
3. Leonard, born in Northampton, March 11,
1846, died in New York, March 10, 1901. 4.
Richard, bora in San Francisco, November 17,
1864, died in Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, No
vember 6, 1876, where he was at school at St.
Albans College, and was drowned while swim
ming. Richard Chenery married (second) at
Boston, Massachusetts, May 18, 1873, Mrs.
Anne Maria Johnson, born July 2, 1832, widow
of Alfred Johnson, of Belfast, Maine, and
daughter of Hon. W. G. Crosby, the last Whig
governor of Maine. Child : Horace, see for
ward. (VIII) Horace, only child of Richard and
Anne Maria (Crosby) Chenery, was born in
San Francisco, California, September 29, 1874,
and now resides in Belfast, Maine. He mar
ried (first) Grace, daughter of George A. and
Ellen Fuller; a son, Fuller Chenery, born
March 7, 1899. Married (second) Julia H.,
daughter of Hon. H. A. and C. P. Lloyd;
children : Margaret, born November 11, 1902 ;
Richard, August 3, 1909.

Robert Daniels, immigrant an-
DANIELS cestor, was born in England,
about 1590, as on June 26,
1652, he deposed that he was about sixty years
old. He was an early settler at Watertown,
and was a property owner there as early as
1636. He was a farmer. In 1636 he removed

to Cambridge, but latter returned to Water-
town. He was admitted a freeman March
14, 1638-9. On October 7, 165 1, he sold to
Edward Garfield six acres of land on the
Hither Plain in Watertown. In December of
the same year he sold six acres more in the
same location to John Whitney. He was in
Cambridge again in 1652. He married (first)
Elizabeth  , died October 2, 1643; (sec
ond) May 2, 1654, Reana, widow of William
Andrew. His will, dated July 3, 1655, proved
October 2, 1656, bequeathed to widow Reana
the property she had when she married him,
besides other property ; to his five children and
his cousin Anna Newcomen. His widow mar
ried (third) Edmund Frost. Children: 1.
Elizabeth, married Thomas Fanning. 2. Sam
uel, married Marie (or Mercy) Grant. 3.
Joseph, born 1640; mentioned below. 4. Sarah,
married William Cheney. 5. Mary, born Sep
tember 2, 1642 ; married, 1660, Sampson Frary,
who was slain at Deerfield by the Indians. 6.
Thomas, buried September 6, 1644.
(II) Joseph, son of Robert Daniels, was
born in Watertown, in 1640, and died June
23, 1715. He settled in that part of Medfield
which is now Millis. He married (first) No
vember 16, 1665, Mary Fairbanks, born Sep-
¦ tember 10, 1647, in Dedham, died June 9, 1682,
daughter of George and Mary (Adams) Fair
banks; (second) Rachel Sheffield, born in
Braintree, March 24, 1660, died May 3, 1687,
daughter of William and Mary Sheffield. He
married (third) Mrs. Lydia (Adams) Allen,
born 1653, died December 26, 1731, daughter
of Edward and Lydia Adams, widow of James
Allen. Children: 1. Joseph, born September
23, 1666; mentioned below. 2. Mary, July 14,
1669. 3. Samuel, October 30, 1671 ; married,
1694, Deborah Ford. 4. Mehitable, July 10,
1674; died June 3, 1686. 5. Ebenezer, April
24, 1677. 6. Elizabeth, March 9, 1679; mar
ried Joseph Mason. 7. Jeremiah, March 17,
1680: died June 16, 1680. 8. Eleazer, March
9, 168 1 ; resided in Mendon. 9. Jeremiah, No
vember 3, 1684. 10. Rachel, October 17, 1686.
1 1. Zachariah, April 9, 1689 ; died May 2, 1689.
(Ill) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (1) Dan
iels, was born September 23, 1666, in Medfield,
and died there January 14, 1739. He married
(first) Rachel Partridge, born 1669, daughter
of John and Magdalen (Bullard) Partridge;
(second) Methia Breck, born December 20,
1673, in Sherborn, died February 3, 1754,
daughter of Thomas and Mary (Hill) Breck.
Children: 1. Samuel, born December 25, 1693;
mentioned below. 2. Joseph, December 15,

5i6

MASSACHUSETTS.

1695. 3. David, February 21, 1698-9. 4.
Hannah, September 30, 1701 ; married, Octo
ber 27, 1725, Eleazer Thompson. 5. Ezra,
March 10, 1704. 6. Sarah, May 1, 1707; mar
ried, February 20, 1733, John Bullard. 7.
Abigail, March 15, 171 5, died December 14,
1718. 8. Tamar, March 17, 1717; married,
December, 1733, John Metcalf.
(IV) Samuel, son of Joseph (2) Daniels,
was born in Medfield, December 25, 1693, and
died in 1789. He settled in that part of Med
field which became Medway, and married
(first) December 6, 1718, Experience Adams,
born 1696, died March 29, 173 1, daughter of
Deacon Peter and Experience (Cook) Adams;
(second) February 20, 1733, Sarah Phipps,
born in Wrentham, daughter of John Phipps,
who was a nephew and adopted son of Sir
William Phipps, of London, England. Chil
dren: 1. Samuel, born June 8, 1720; married,
January 7, 1743, Hannah Hill, lived in Keene,
New Hampshire. 2. Timothy, September 6,
1722 ; married, February 6, 1754, Ruth Leland ;
lived in Sherborn: 3. Nathan, August 20,
1727; mentioned below. 4. John, August 18,
1728. 5. Simeon, March 8, 1730-1 ; married,
April 9, 1754, Lydia Adams ; lived in Franklin.
Children of second wife: 6. Reuben, born
November 25, 1733; died February 26, 1734. *
7. Sarah, January 10, 1734-5 ; married, March
2, 1758, Timothy Force: 8. Mary, April 23,
1736; married, July 5, 1764, Jonathan Wiswell.
9. Japheth, February 17, 1738; married Mela
tiah Hayward ; lived in Holliston ; died March
3, 1805. 10. Abijah, July 27, 1740; married,
1774, Hannah Dix; lived in Milford.
(V) Nathan, son of Samuel Daniels, was
born in East Medway, August 20, 1727, and
died August 20, 1791. He was a soldier in
the revolution, in Captain Thomas Bacon's
company, on the Lexington alarm ; also matross
in Captain Perez Cushing's company, Colonel
Thomas Crafts's artillery regiment, 1776-77.
He settled in Franklin in his later years. He
married, March 17, 1746, Mary Adams, born
May 6, 1722, died November 10, 1772, daugh
ter of Jonathan and Dorcas Adams. Children,
born in Medway: 1. Napthali, born June 21,
1747. 2. Nathan, July 12, 1748. 3. Zepheniah,
May 6, 1750; died March 8, 1754. 4. Silas,
January 11, 1752; died September 10, 1755.
5. Benoni, November 5, 1754. 6. Adams, Sep
tember 4, 1757; married Mary Smith; lived in
Medfield; died 1804. 7. Seth, July 3, 1760;
died July 5, 1760. 8. Mary Daniels, December
18, 1761. 9. Joel (?), died August 24, 1837;

married, November 29, 1785, Mary Daniels.
10. Silence, August 28, 1766.
(VI) Nathan (2), son of Nathan (1) Dan
iels, was born July 12, 1748, in East Medway,
and died November 25, 1841, at Franklin.
He inherited his father's homestead. He fol
lowed farming all his active life, and was cap
able, industrious and successful. He had a
large herd of cattle and raised wool and flax,
which were spun and wove into cloth for the
use of the family. His farm was in what is
now Franklin, and he built a new house just
before his marriage, leaving it unfinished to
shoulder his musket and join the minute-men
in the revolution. He (or his father) was a
private in Captain Thomas Bacon's company
(First Wrentham) which marched on the Lex
ington alarm, April 19, 1775. He was clerk
of Captain Elijah Pond's company, which
marched on the same alarm ; also clerk of Cap
tain John Metcalf 's company (Fourth Suffolk)
county regiment, Colonel (Major) Seth Bul
lard, on the Rhode Island alarm, July and AuL
gust, 1780; also in Captain Ebenezer Pond's
company, Major Metcalf's regiment, on Rhode
Island alarm, December 8, 1776. He was a
veritable Puritan in his religion and daily life,
strict in his home and business, a devout and
prominent member of the orthodox church,
in which he held various offices of trust and
responsibility. In politics he was a Democrat.
He was town clerk of Franklin, 1786, 1791
and 1804; selectman, 1783; justice of the peace,
and by virtue of this office the local magistrate
many years. He held many positions of private
trusts, and was much occupied in probate busi
ness and the settlement of the estates of his
neighbors. Fle married (first) June 22, 1775, Elizabeth
Partridge, born October, 1753, died January
7, 1783, of a well known family of Medway,
Franklin, Sherborn and vicinity. He married
(second) January 23, 1786, Sarah Smith, born
October 17, 1758, died March 5, 1838, daugh
ter of Seth and Ann (Hartshorn) Smith. Chil
dren of first wife: 1. Elizabeth, born April
19, 1776; died September 24, 1778. 2. Cyrus,
February 9, 1778; married Polly Sawyer. 3.
Dorcas, October 14, 1779; married Samuel'
Cushing. 4. David, January 12, 1782; died
August 8, 1782. Children of second wife: 5.
Ezra, born November 11, 1786; died August
27, 1869 ; married Abigail Woodward. 6. Luke,.
January 28, 1788; married (first) Jemima.
Fiske; (second) April 12, 1857, Amelia T.
Hubbard. 7. Sally, July 1, 1789; died January,

/*

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MASSACHUSETTS.

5i7

1890; married, June 19, 1817, Samuel Ware,
Jr. 8. Nathan, August 13, 1791 ; mentioned
below. 9. Olive, September 13, 1793; died
August 24, 1882. 10. Betsey, October 19, 1795 ;
died January 3, 1797.
(VII) Nathan (3), son of Nathan (2) Dan
iels, was born at Franklin, on the old home
stead, August 13, 1791, and died there March
16, 1872. He attended the old "Latic" district
school. During his boyhood he worked with
his father on the farm, and continued there
after he came of age, succeeding to the home
stead upon his - father's death. He was an
energetic and well-to-do farmer. From his
wood lots he cut much timber, and he had a
cider mill to which the farms of the vicinity
brought their apples. He was of a quiet and
domestic disposition, seldom going from home,
but devoted to his family and highly esteemed
by his friends. He was a member of 'the Con
gregational church. In early life he was a
Democrat, but after i860 was a Republican.
He held the office of highway surveyor of
Franklin for a time. In early life he served
in the state militia. He married, January 13,
1823, Roxanna Thayer, born November 15,
1801, died June 12, 1887, daughter of Nahum
and Polly (Pierce) Thayer, of Medway. Her
father was a blacksmith. Children, born at
Franklin: 1. Son, born and died August 28,
1824. 2. Thomas Jefferson, born April 10,
1826 ; mentioned below. 3. Lucy Gilbert, Feb
ruary 2, 1829; married, October 3, 1850, Will
iam Henry Baldwin, who died in Anderson-
ville prison, during the civil war. 4. Harriet
Adeline, September 29, 1834; died March 1,
1909: married, May 4, 1854, William Amos
Bartlett ; children : i. Harriet Almina Bart
lett, born January 26, 1855, died April 26,
1855 ; ii. William Albert Bartlett, born Septem
ber 14, 1856, married Josephine Davidson, and
had William Amos Bartlett, married Ruth E.
Bean, and had Dorothy Eleanor Bartlett ; iii.
Herbert Eugene Bartlett, born March 8, 1859,
married Sarah Evans, and had Florence Ade
line Bartlett, married Robert Ware ; iv. Lucy
Rachel Bartlett, born August 31, 1861.
(VIII) Thomas Jefferson, son of Nathan
(3) Daniels, was born at Franklin, in that sec
tion formerly part of Wrentham called Popo-
latic, April 10, 1826, and died there February
8, 1905. He attended the district school at
"Laticj" about half a mile from his father's
house. He remained on the farm until he came
of age, then worked for a few months in a shoe
factory in Sherborn, in a machine shop in West
Medway, and in a cotton mill at Caryville.

While here he had a severe illness and returned
home. When he recovered he assisted his
father on the homestead and engaged at the
same time in the lumber business. About 1853
he purchased the Partridge Adams farm, or
Filo Fisher place, and conducted it until 1858,
when he sold it to Peter Ford, conducting a
small place at Grantville, Massachusetts, where
he lived six years. In 1865 he bought the
Willard Pond farm in the "Latic" district;
here he built a large barn, still standing. He
also purchased his father's farm there, and
became one of the most substantial farmers of
the town, owning some three hundred acres
of land, also purchased large tracts of timber
land and cut off and sold the wood and timber.
He also had an extensive business in timber
and wood cut from his farm and at one time
operated a steam saw mill on his place. He
attended the Congregational church. In poli
tics he was a Democrat, and he took a lively
interest in town" affairs. For a period of thirty
years he was highway surveyor of Franklin,
and for ten years was fire warden. He was
highly respected by his townsmen and beloved
by his family and friends.
He married (first) October, 1853, Celia Ann
Hicks, died September 7, 1858, daughter of
Jacob Hicks. He married (second) November
12, i860, Mary Elizabeth Billings, born August
22, 1838, daughter of Dudley and Achsah
(Thayer) Billings. Her father was a stone
mason and butcher. Child of first wife: 1.
Nathan Anson, born May 7, 1855 ; married,
March 9, 1879, Emma Melvina Ackley; chil
dren : ' i. Emery Nathan, born February 3,
1884; ii. Frank Jefferson, November 6, 1886;
iii. Bertha Elizabeth, June 15, 1889, married,
June 16, 1907, Robert Flenry Evans ; iv. Eva
Celia Ann, October 28, 1895 ; v. Emma Jane,
October 7. 1900. Children of second wife: 2.
Nahum Ellsworth, born October 20, 1861 ; was
a railroad conductor twenty-seven years ; died
April 9, 1909; married, May 12, 1892, Almira
Roberts ; children : i. Mabel Elizabeth, born
April 12, 18^3; ii. Ella May, March 24, 1895;
iii. Warren Ellsworth, February 18, 1897; iv.
Amy Louise, April 25, 1899 ; v. Oscar Lincoln,
Tuly 11, 1901 : vi. Ida Estelle, August 22, 1903 ;
vii. Frank Edward, December 27, 1905. 3.
Oscar Tefferson, born November 4, 1867 ; mar
ried Ethel May Hill; children: i. Marjorie
Louise, born December 25, 1906; ii. Dorothy
May, November 25, 1908. 4. Cyrus Weston,
born February 6, 1873 ; died September 6, 1875.
5. Caroline Alice, born January 29, 1876. 6.
Dora Elizabeth, born August 27, 1878; died

5i8

MASSACHUSETTS.

September 2, 1880. 7. Ella Ruhama, born
February 7, 1883 ; married, August 20, 1902,
Walter Oscar Nordstrom ; children : i. Mar
ion Daniels Nordstrom, born January 5, 1903 ;
ii. Gladys Charlotte Nordstrom, June 26, 1905.

The Campbell family has for
CAMPBELL many centuries been among
the most prominent in Scot
land and is common both in the Highlands and
Lowlands, and in the Scotch province of Ulster
in Ireland, especially in the counties Antrim,
Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Londonderry and
Donegal. The family was seated at Argyle-
shire, Perthshire, Banffshire, etc., before 1300.
The family possesses the dukedom of Argyle,
marquisates of Lorne and Kintyre ; earldoms
of Athol, Breadalbane, Caithness, Campbell,
Cowal, Irwin, Isla or Hay, and Loudoun; vis-
countcies of Lochowm Glenisla, Glenorchy and
Taymouth ; lordships of Arrois, Benedoraloch,
Denoon, Inverary, Lundie, Mauchline, Mor-
vern, Mull, Ormlie, Oronsay, Paintland, Tyrie
and Wick. The family is reputed of Anglo-
Norman origin. Eight Campbells registered
on the Famous Ragman's Roll in 1296. A large
number of Campbells came to the colonies early
in the eighteenth century from Ulster and Scot
land. (I) Robert Campbell, first settler, came to
Southwick, Massachusetts, about 1750. He
was doubtless related to the other Campbells
of Worcester and Hampshire county, coming
from Scotland and lister about this time.
John Campbell was another early settler, possi
bly a son. John, James and Thomas Campbell
were heads of families in Southwick, in 1781.
According to the federal census of 1790, James,
William, Joseph, Captain Thomas, Captain
John and Samuel Campbell lived in Southwick.
They were sons or nephews of Robert Camp
bell. As shown by the ages of their children,
Thomas, John and James were the elder chil
dren. (II) Captain Thomas, son of Robert and
Mary Campbell, was born December 25, 1747,
in Southwick, probably, but he may have come
there in early childhood. He settled there and
was a prominent citizen and well-to-do farmer.
He was a soldier in the revolution, a private
in Captain Silas Fowler's company (First
Southwick) of minute-men on the Lexington
alarm, April 19, 1775, and marched to Roxbury.
He was also a corporal in Captain James
Drury's company, in the sixteenth regiment in
1776. Later he held a captain's commission,
probably after the war. He married (first)

(intention dated November 6, 1771) Eunice
Noble, born 1752, daughter of John Noble.
Her father was born December 21, 1706, died
March 3, 1776, and was one of the first settlers
from Westfield in that part of the town set off
as Southwick. He became a preacher in the
Separate Baptist Church. He married (first)
July 10, 1735, Lydia Bush, born March 5, 171 1,
daughter of Ebenezer Bush, of Westfield;
(second) August 28, 1746, Elizabeth Reming
ton, who was born in Suffield, August 22, 1718,
daughter of Joseph Remington. Mark Noble,.
father of John Noble, was born at Westfield
about 1670, died April 16, 1741 ; was a farmer
and town officer; married, 1698, Mary Mar
shall, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (New
bury) Marshall, of Northampton. Mark Noble
was son of the immigrant, Thomas Noble.
Captain Thomas Campbell married (second)
Keziah Owen. Children of first wife: 1. Eliz
abeth, born September 20, 1772, at Southwick,
married, 1802, David Fowler, and died at
Southwick, March 20, 1845, aged seventy-two;
he was a farmer and cattle-dealer. 2. Lucy,
born October 29, 1774, married, January, 1798,
Walter Fowler; she died at Trenton, New
York, August 11, 1871. 3. Thomas, born
October 18, 1776, died at Truxton, October
29, 1844, aged sixty-eight years ; married, Octo
ber, 1805, Mrs. Dolly (Gates) Wait. 4. Noble,
born March 27 or 29, 1779; mentioned below.
5. Horace, born April 24, 1781, married, No
vember 25, 1807, Lucretia Waller. 6. Justin,
born September 7, 1783, died July 19, 1828;
married, April 18, 1813, Almira  ; he was
a merchant. 7. Asa, born September 23, 1785,
married Sally Strickland ; he died at Utica,
June, 1838. 8. Child, born and died December
29, 1787. 9. Eunice, born May, 1789, died
June 1, 1789.
(Ill) Noble, son of Captain Thomas Camp
bell, was born at Southwick, March 27 or 29,
1779, died at Westfield, March 28, 1853, aged
seventy-three years. He married, April 9,
1809. Lucy Miller, daughter of Lieutenant
Asa Miller, of what is now Tattam. Children:
1. Noble Andrew Jackson, born 1826, men
tioned below. 2. Caroline, married John Sim
mons. 3. Emma. 4. Lucy. 5. Hosea, died in
Indiana. 6. Lorain.
(IV) Noble Andrew Jackson, son of Noble
Campbell, was born at Southwick in 1826. He
was educated in the public schools. He was a
cigar manufacturer in Westfield for many
years. He died there in 1858. He married
Lydia Elvira Bush, born Westfield, 1827, died
March 20, 1906, daughter of Leonard Bush.

MASSACHUSETTS.

519

Children : 1. Sumner Bush, born July 25, 1852,
mentioned below. 2. Emma L.
(V) Sumner Bush, son of Noble Andrew
Jackson Campbell, was born in Westfield, July
25, 1852, and was educated there in the public
schools. He began his career as clerk for the
Boston & Albany railroad and continued for
thirteen years as clerk and ticket agent at West-
field. In 1882 he became connected as clerk
with the Textile Manufacturing Company,
manufacturing hardware and casket trimmings
and metal goods, remaining in that position
until 1 89 1, when he was elected treasurer and
general manager, made vacant by the death of
that official; this position he has filled up to
the present time. He is treasurer of the West-
field Power Company. He attends the Meth
odist Episcopal church ; member of the Ancient
Order of United Workmen and of Mount
Moriah Lodge of Free Masons. In politics he
is a Republican.

Captain Samuel Marshall,
MARSHALL immigrant ancestor of this
family, was born in Eng
land. He settled in Windsor, Connecticut, where
he had a lot in the Palizado, as early as 1637.
He was a man of education and early became
prominent; was magistrate in 1638; deputy to
the general assembly in 1637; juror several
times. In 1663 he was licensed to retail liquors
and doubtless kept a tavern. He bought of
Thomas Marshfield, January, 1652, his farm
on the east side of Broad street, but sold it the
same year and probably did not live there. He
bought of John Newton, February, 1653, a
farm on what is now Silver street and also
the Captain Mason place on the southeast
corner of the Palizado. With Joseph Fitch
and Jacob Drake he petitioned the general court
to enlarge the boundaries of Windsor. In
1673 he was called quartermaster on the record
of a grant of one hundred and fifty acres of
land. He was ensign in Major Treat's com
mand in the King Philip's war, and was one
of the five Connecticut captains who led the
colonial forces in the attack on the Narragan
sett fort, December 19, 1675. He fell in battle
at the head of his troops. Windsor lost in
him an active, honored and useful citizen and
brave soldier. His residence, according to
tradition, was on the bank of the rivulet near
the point that juts into the meadow below the
present site of the bridge. Captain Marshall
was one of those who "stayed by consent of
the town and enlarged their gardens in the
Palizado." His home was on the site, it is

thought, of the Elihu Marshall place. He mar
ried Mary Wilton, daughter of Lieutenant David
Wilton, May 6, 1652. Iiis widow, Mary, died
August 25, 1683. She contributed to the Con
necticut fund for the relief of the poor of the
other colonies in 1676. She owned the half
way covenant January 31, 1657. Children,
born at Windsor: 1. Samuel, born May 27,
1653; mentioned below. 2. Lydia, born Feb
ruary 18, 1655. 3. Lydia, born February 3,
1657, married Joseph Hawley. 4. Thomas,
born April 23, 1659. 5. David, born July 24,
1661. 6. Thomas, born February 18, 1663.
7. Mary, born May 8, 1667. 8. Eliakim, born
July 10, 1669. 9. John, born April 10, 1672.
10. Elizabeth, born September 2, 1674.
(II) Deacon Samuel (2), son of Samuel
( 1 ) Marshall, was born at Windsor, Connecti
cut, May 27, 1653. Married (first) Rebecca
Newbury. He married (second) Elizabeth
Holcomb, who married (first)  Case,
(second)  Slater and (third) Deacon
Marshall, and she survived him, dying at Sims
bury, Connecticut, February 26, 1762, at the
advanced age of ninety-one years. She was
born at Simsbury, April 4, 1670, third* daugh
ter of Joshua and Ruth (Sherwood) Holcomb.
This was the only Marshall family at Simsbury.
(Ill) Perez, son of Deacon Samuel (2)
Marshall, of Windsor and Simsbury, was born
about 1 7 10-20. According to the history of
Granville, Massachusetts, he removed to that
town as earlv as 1750. He lived in that part
set off as Tolland, Massachusetts, in 1810.
Some of his sons were living in Simsbury dur
ing the revolution and he perhaps returned to
his native town. (Page 1106, Connecticut
Valley History, vol. II). The name was some
times spelled Pierce (for Perez). According
to the account of the family he sold his prop
erty at Simsbury in 1782 and bought five hun
dred acres in what is now Tolland, Massachu
setts. He married Mary Woodford, of Avon,
Connecticut. According to the census of 1790
Perez Marshall was living at Granville and had
four males over sixteen, none under, and three
females in his family; his son Perez had a
wife but no children and his son Joel a wife,
daughter, and two sons under sixteen. Chil
dren : 1. Perez, Jr., settled in Granville; soldier
in the revolution from Simsbury, Connecticut,
in Captain William Stanton's company, Eighth
Connecticut Regiment, in 1780. 2. Joel, born
about 1760, was in the revolution in Captain
Adonijah Burr's company, Colonel Moseley's
regiment in 1778; settled in Granville and in
1790 had in his family two sons under sixteen

52°

MASSACHUSETTS.

and two females. 3. Samuel, whose son John
L. and daughter Mrs. Alonzo Miller lived in
Tolland. 4. Dudley, mentioned below. 5.
Gaius. 6. Hannah. 7. Mary.
(IV) Dudley, son of Perez Marshall, was
born in Simsbury and came to Granville (Tol
land) about 1782. He married  . Chil
dren: 1. Lyman, settled in Wellington, Ohio;
married Orpha Huff and had two sons and
one daughter. 2. Alonzo, mentioned below.
3. Gaius, settled in Colebrook, Connecticut, and
had three sons. 4. Eunice, married George
Cowles and settled in Wellington, Ohio; had
one son and one daughter.
(V) Alonzo, son of Dudley Marshall, was
born about 1800 at Colebrook, Connecticut,
and died at Tolland, Massachusetts. Fle mar
ried Phebe Smith, born at Colebrook, died at
Tolland. Children: 1. Dwight L. 2. Charles
N. 3. Roswell S. 4. Sarah E. 5. Miles W.,
born February, 1842, mentioned below. 6.
Georgie M.
(VI) Miles W., son of Alonzo Marshall,
was born February, 1842, at Colebrook, Con
necticut. He was educated in the public schools
of Tolland. He learned the meat and provi
sion business and in 1870 embarked in business
on his own account in Westfield, Massachu
setts. For a short time before he conducted
a farm, but sold out when he came to West-
field. Since 1880 he has been in the ranch
business and raised horses and cattle. He has
bought and sold several ranches and has been
successful in this line of business. He is a
Methodist in religion and a Democrat in poli
tics. He married, 1864, Marion Browning
Knox, born at Westfield, daughter of Abijah
Babcock and Artemisia Desdemona (Catlin)
Knox. Her father was born in 1804 at Bland
ford, Massachusetts, died in September, 1876,
at Westfield ; married Artemisia Desdemona
Catlin, born 1806, at Harwinton, Connecticut,
and died September 7, 1892, at Westfield; their
children: i. Marion Knox; ii. Lorenzo A.
Knox, died in 1899 in Mexico, married Lizzie
B. Ide and had Edith, Dorothy and Marion;
iii. Irving Catlin Knox, died April 12, 1908,
at Westfield, married Josephine Foley; iv.
Marion B., mentioned above. Eli Knox, father
of Abijah Babcock Knox, was of an early
Scotch-Irish family of Blandford ; married
Abigail Babcock ; children : i. Eli Knox, Jr.,
had Eli, Spencer, Abigail, Martha, Emma and
Howard Knox; ii. Abijah B. Knox, mentioned
above; iii. Samuel, had Watson Eli, Waldo
Samuel and Wallace Knox. Child of Miles
W. and Marion Browning (Knox) Marshall:

Allan, born July 16, 1865, educated in the
Westfield schools and graduated at University
of Minnesota; now a teacher in the schools
of the West Indies; married Florence Edith
Crossley, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Septem
ber 10, 1908. The name Abbot is derived through
ABBOTT the Syriac abba, from the Hebrew
ab, meaning father. It has been
applied to the head of a religious order by vari
ous peoples from the earliest times and finally
became an English surname. There always has
been a difference of opinion in respect to the
proper spelling of the patronymic, some author
ities contending for the use of but one t, while
others use two. Many persons have held
that the single letter indicates the ancient and
correct form, although careful investigation
seems to incline to the opposite theory, for of
two hundred and eleven Abbotts whose wills
were filed in and about London in the probate
courts during the fourteenth, fifteenth and six
teenth centuries one hundred and ninety-five
show the use of two t's. In this connection it
is proper to mention that Major Lemuel Abbott,
United States army, who recently has written
a most valuable work on the descendants of
George Abbott, of Rowley, finds the same pro
portion among the signatures of the early Amer
ican Abbotts, although he says frankly that he
prefers the single t, and always supposed that
to be the original and correct form of spelling
the name. The ancient English branch of the
family lived in Yorkshire, and its arms were a
shield ermine with a pale gules on which are
three pears or. Above the shield is a closed
helmet and the crest is a dove bearing an olive
branch in its mouth. The Guilford branch in
Surrey, which is said to contain the most dis
tinguished members of the family, has arms on
which three pears are prominent, and are varied
by the insignia of the bishop's office. The Guil
ford Abbotts present a remarkable record.
Maurice Abbott was a rich cloth worker in
town during the sixteenth century, and his wife
was Alice Marsh, or March. They were staunch
Protestants and people of undoubted respect
ability, but their own condition gave little indi
cation of the eminence to which three of their
sons would attain. They all were contempor
aries of Shakespeare, and their talents were of
the kind brought out by "the spacious times of
great Elizabeth." Robert Abbott, eldest of the
six sons, became bishop of Salisbury ; George,
the second son (1562-1633), became lord arch
bishop of Canterbury, which office gave him

MASSACHUSETTS.

52i

the rank of the first citizen of England; and
Morris, the youngest, became a knight, gov
ernor of the East India Company' and lord
mayor of London. Of the English Abbotts in
more recent times, mention may be made of
Charles Abbott, son of John Abbott, of Canter
bury, who was made lord chief justice of Eng
land, 1818, and Baron Tenterden, 1827. Another
Charles Abbot, son of Rev. John Abbot, of
Colchester, was speaker of the house of com
mons from 1802 to 1 81 7, when he became Baron
Colchester. The Abbott family of America
has not produced men of world-wide fame, but
according "to Major Abbott, genealogist, the
name always has stood for "quiet dignity, con
sideration, kindness of heart and great suavity
of manner." Many of them have been farmers,
others who are writers, clergymen, professors
and educators.
(I) George Abbot, -the venerable ancestor of
a numerous family of sons and daughters, and
of a vastly more numerous line of descendants
on this side of the Atlantic ocean, is believed
to have come from Yorkshire, England, about
the year 1640, and was one of the first settlers
of Andover, Massachusetts, in 1643, and one
of the proprietors of that town. He lived and
died on a farm which in 1847 was owned by
John Abbot, one of his descendants of the
seventh generation. During the period of Indian
troubles his house was a garrison and was used
a$ such many years after the death of the
immigrant. In 1647 he married Hannah, daugh
ter of William and Anne Chandler ; and George
Abbot and his wife were both industrious,
frugal and of pious mind. He died December
24, 1681, and his widow married a second hus
band, Rev. Francis Dane, minister of Andover.
She died June 11, 171 1, aged eighty-two years.
George and Hannah (Chandler) Abbot had
thirteen children, all born in Andover: 1. John,
March 2, 1648. 2. Joseph, March 11, 1649. 3.
Hannah, June 9, 1650. 4. Joseph, March 30, 1652,
said to have been the first person in Andover
who fell a victim of Indian murder. 5. George,
June 7, 1655, died February 27, 1736. 6. Will
iam, November 18, 1657, died October 24,
1713. 7. Sarah, November 14, 1659, died June
28/1711. 8. Benjamin, December 20, 1661,
died March 30, 1703. 9. Timothy, November
17, 1663, died September 9, 1730. 10. Thomas,
May 6, 1666, died April 28, 1728. 11. Edward,
died young, drowned. 12. Nathaniel, July 4,
167 1, died 1749. 13.. Elizabeth, February 9,
1673, died May 4, 1750.
(JI) Deacon John, eldest child of George
and Hannah (Chandler) Abbot, was horn in

Andover, Massachusetts, March 2, 1648, and
died there March 19, 1721. lie lived with his
father in the garrison house, and is said to have
been a man of judgment and executive ability.
He was employed much of the time in business
for the town, and served as selectman and
representative to the general court. When the
church was organized in the south parish of
Andover, in 171 1, he was chosen deacon, and
Mr. Phillips mentions that "he used the office
well." Both he and his wife were much re
spected for uprightness and piety. Deacon
Abbot married, November 17, 1673, Sarah,
daughter of Richard Barker, one of the first
settlers in Andover. She was bora in 1647
and died February 10, 1729. They had nine
children, 'all born in Andover: 1. John, No
vember 2, 1674, died January 1, 1754. 2.
Joseph, December 29, 1676, died January 9,
1757. 3. Stephen, March 16, 1678, died May
27, 1766. 4. Sarah, December 7, 1680, died
March 6, 1754 ; married, 1707, Zebadiah Chand
ler. 5. Ephraim, August 16, 1682. 6. Joshua,
June 16, 1685, died February 11, 1769. 7.
Mary, January 2, 1687, died December 2, 1688.
8. Ebenezer, September 27, 1689, died January
14, 1761. 9. Priscilla, July 7, 1691, died May
24, 1791.
(Ill) Ephraim, son of Deacon John and
Sarah (Barker) Abbot, was born in Andover,
Massachusetts, August 16, 1682, and died there
June 8, 1748. He was a farmer and spent his
life in the town in which he was born. He
married, January 6, 1715, widow Sarah Hunt,
of Billerica, who survived him and married for
her third husband, August 1, 1749, John Dane.
Ephraim and Sarah (Hunt) Abbot had eleven
children, all born in Andover : 1. Sarah, March
8, 1 7 16, married, September 8, 1736, Samuel
Gray, of Amherst, New Hampshire. 2. Eph
raim, July 22, 1718, farmer of Amherst, New
Hampshire, and of Andover; married (first)
Mary Abbott, (second) Hannah Kneeland. 3.
Mary, July 9, 1720," married, May 11, 1743,
Robert Read, of Litchfield. 4. Joshua, October
1, 1722, lived in Amherst, New Hampshire;
married, November 20, 1749. Phebe Ingalls.
5. Daniel, September 14, 1724, a blacksmith by
trade and lived in Andover; married. May 21,
1752, Widow Lydia Henfield. 6. Elizabeth,
June' 29, 1726, married Asa Abbot. 7. Josiah,
September 26, 1728, a farmer and lived in
Lyndborough, New Hampshire ; married Han
nah Hobbs. 8. Ebenezer, February 20, 1731.
9. Martha, March 31, 1733, died April 24, 1733.
10. Peter, May 8, 1734, died April 18, 1774;
lived in Kingston, New Hampshire; married,

522

MASSACHUSETTS.

September 22, 1757, Widow Elizabeth Damon,
of Reading, Massachusetts. 11. Martha, July
13, 1737, married Archelaus Towne, of Mil
ford, New Hampshire.
(IV) Ebenezer Abbott, son of Ephraim and
Sarah (Hunt) Abbot, was born in Andover,
February 20, 1731, died there December 19,
1771. fle was a cordwainer by trade. He
married, January 1, 1752, Lydia Farrington,
who survived him and was still living in 1776.
They had seven children, born in Andover :
1. Hannah, January 27, 1753, died July 24,
1816; married, September 18, 1777, Abijah
Clark. 2. Lydia, June 18, 1754, married, De
cember 26, 1773, Peter Towne. 3. Ebenezer,
January 15, 1757. 4. Ephraim, March 19,
1759, married (intentions October 26, 1781)
Esther Eastman, of Conway, Maine. 5. Jethro,
April 18, 1761, died May 2, 1764. 6- Theodore,
September 10, 1763, died May 14, 1764. 7.
Sarah, December 7, 1765, married, December
28, 1784, David Stevens.
(V) Ebenezer (2), son of Ebenezer (1)
and Ldyia (Farrington) Abbott, was born in
Andover, January 15, 1757, died in 1803. He
was a cordwainer and lived in the north parish
of Reading. He married, January 20, 1783,
Sarah Graves, by whom he had six children,
all probably born in Reading: 1. Ebenezer,
March 11, 1784. 2. Ephraim, 1786. 3. Sally,,
1788, died young. 4. Eliab, 1790, died in ser
vice during the war of 1812-15. 5. Sally, 1792.
6. Daniel, 1794. 7. Lydia, 1796. 8. Nabby,
1799. 9. Joshua, 1801.
(VI) Ebenezer (3), son of Ebenezer (2)
and Sarah (Graves) Abbott, was born in Read
ing, Massachusetts, March 11, 1784, died in
1867. He was a soldier in the American army
during the second war with the mother country.
He married, in 1707, Betsey Swain, who died
in 1852, having borne her husband ten children :
1. Ebenezer T., North Reading, March 4, 1808,
died November 9, 1888; married, February 19,
1835, Ruth Hewes, born May 16, 1816. 2.
Sumner S., June 9, 1809, died December 14,
1885 ; married, December 2, 1835, Elvina
Symonds, born May 12, 1814, died May 13,
1883. 3. Betsey, October 11, 1810, died March
1, 1838; married, February 27, 1834, William
Walls. 4. Benjamin S., April 19, 1812, died in
Francistown, New Flampshire, September 5,
i8')4; married (first) Harriet Quigley, (sec
ond) Eunice Upton Richardson. 5. Joseph Ii.,
March 4, 1814. 6. Samuel E., April 9, 1816,
died March 7, 1898; married (first) January
25, 1846, Abbie Stone, (second) November,
1856, Margaret Stone, (third) August 14, 1862,

Helen M. Bean, died January 7, 1907. 7. Sara
G, April 7, i8i8„ married, June 12, 1835, War
ren Eaton, born February 5, 1810, died Febru
ary, 1895. 8. Frederick, April 19, 1820, died
June 24, 1902; married, November 26, 1844,
Martha Wright, died October 12, 1907. 9.
William W., July 5, 1827, died October, 1827.
10. Daniel G., February 9, 1829, died May I,
1892 ; married, August 2, 1851, Anna U. Stone.
(VII) Joseph H, son of Ebenezer (3) and
Betsey (Swain) Abbott, was born in North
Reading, Massachusetts, March 4, 1814, died
in Holyoke, August 24, 1899. fle lived in
North Reading, where his father was a cord
wainer and was carrying on the business of
making shoes in a limited way and also engaged
in farming. Joseph H. was brought up to the
trade of his father and followed it during the
greater part of his life, although he too did
some farming. During the civil war he en
listed and made a good record as a soldier in
a regiment of heavy artillery. In politics he
was a firm Republican and in religious prefer
ence a Unitarian. Mr. Abbott married, May
14, 1837, Hepzibah F., daughter of William
and Esther (Damon) Sawyer, and by whom
he had six children, all born in North Read
ing: 1. Henry Stocker, March 8, 1838, died
October 15, 1841. 2. Joseph Edwin, April 16,
1841, died in Bangor, Maine, September 19,
1857. 3. Harriet F., May 14, 1843, married
(first) November 17, 1863, Alexander Terry,
who was drowned at sea, February 10, 1864;
married (second) John N. Davis. 4. William
PL, November 30, 1846. 5. Nathan P., Octo
ber 24, 1850, married, December 24, 1873,
Parthenia E. Crosby. 6. Lydia Betsey, Janu
ary 26, 1853, married, May 22, 1872, Arthur
A. Loomis.
(VIII) William Henry, son of Joseph H.
and Hepzibah F. (Sawyer) Abbott, was born
near North Reading, Massachusetts, Novem
ber 30, 1846, and when about nine years old
went to Ohio to live with the family of his
uncle. Until he was fourteen years old he was
sent to the district school, working on his
uncle's farm during vacation intervals. At the
breaking out of the civil war he went from his
uncle's home and applied for enlistment. This
was in the summer of 1861, before he had at
tained his fifteenth birthday. Although quite
large for his years he did not look to be eighteen
and at the recruiting office the captain in com
mand asked if he was eighteen years old. His
answer was that he did lack a little of it, and
then was told, with a smile from the officer,
that if he were not allowed to enlist he should

Zmiris Historical Fuft. Co.

MASSACHUSETTS.

523

have a chance to go as a waiter ; but when the
company was organized he was accepted with
out further question. He was mustered as
private in Company I, Twenty-ninth Ohio Vol
unteer Infantry, which command, after re-en
listment, became known as "Ohio Veteran
Volunteers." Company I was perhaps one of
the most shattered companies which ever enter
ed the service during the war from any state.
At the battle of Port Republic, when through
some misunderstanding twenty-five hundred
Union men were left alone to fight thirty thous
and Confederate troops, and when the regi
ment (under cover of the main army, which
had come up during the retreat) stacked arms
there were only thirteen men of the regiment
present; but during the following night a few
stragglers came in to camp. Mr. Abbott was
wounded in this engagement and for the next
two months lay in the hospital at Alexandria ;
and he was again wounded at the battle of
North Edisto River. At Chancellorsville his
regiment held its position to the very last and
was last to leave the field. Among the many
other important battles in which he took part
there may be mentioned Shenandoah Valley,
Gettysburg, Dug Gap ( Georgia ),Resaca (Geor
gia), New Hope Church, Pumpkin Vine Creek,
Dallas (Georgia), Pine Knot, Kenesaw Moun
tain, Peachtree Creek, and still others might be
added to the list. His was the first regiment in
Savannah at the siege of that city, and it also
took part in the siege of Atlanta. Mr. Abbott
received his discharge as corporal, July 23,
1865, having served three years eight months
ten days, fle enjoys the pleasant distinction
of having been the youngest man serving the
longest time in the whole army. It may be
said incidentally that only one officer returned
with the Twenty-ninth Ohio who went out
with it when it was mustered into service in
1861. At the end of the war Mr. Abbott re
turned to Northampton and with his uncle
went into the business of manufacturing soap.
After four years he removed to Holyoke and
started in business as sole owner and proprietor,
remaining in Holyoke until 1888, when his
factory was removed to Smith's Ferry, where
it still stands and he still is owner and operator,
For many years he has been a prominent figure
in business circles in Holyoke and is known as
one of the progressive and public-spirited citi
zens of that constantly growing city. He is
a Master Mason, member of Mt. Tom Lodge ;
past commander of Kilpatrick Post, No. 71,
Grand Army of the Republic, having served
five terms as commander, and now is senior

vice-commander ; member of the Sons of Vet
erans, and in politics is a Republican. Mr.
Abbott married, April 20, 1869, Ella L., daugh
ter of Charles M. and Submit (Walker) Ken
ney, and by whom he has eight children: 1.
Charles H, born January 29, 1870, married,
March 31, 1891, Harriet Rowe, of Holyoke;
children: Ruth E., April 12, 1892; Pearl I.,
April 20, 1894; William H, August 9, 1903.
2. Bernard F., March 24, 1872, married, June
6, 1897, Lillie Pickup; child, Herold F., Janu
ary 19, 1900. 3. Wilbur, March 18, 1874, died
August 9, 1874. 4. Annie Lee, February 18,
1876, married, May 21, 1902, Arthur E. Ben
nett. 5. May Pearl, May 29, 1880, married,
January 7, 1903, Frank Todd ; child, Beatrice
A., February 6, 1904. 6. Belle Clara, January
8, 1878, died October 5, 1878. 7. Bessie Ken
ney, July 1, 1883, married, January 24, 1906,
Thomas Kirley; child, Bessie E., September 6,
1907. 8. Fred Walker, April 15, 1886, mar
ried, January 3, 1907, Emily D. Vincent; child,
Charles H, September 30, 1907.

(Por preceding generations see Edmund Frost 1).
(Ill) Joseph, son of Deacon
FROST James Frost, was born March
21, 1682-3. He was living at
Tewksbury on December 18, 1737.' He mar
ried (first) April 5, 1710, Sarah Flint, of
Charlestown, daughter of John Flint ; (second)
December 8, 1718, Rebecca, daughter of James
Frost. Children : 1. Joseph, born January 22,
1711-12; mentioned below. 2. Sarah, May 31,
1716. 3. Benjamin, March 6, 1717-8. 4. Eph
raim, June 9, 1 72 1.
(IV) Joseph (2), sop of Joseph (1) Frost,
was born January 22, 171 1-2, and died Janu
ary 29, 1751. He resided in Tewksbury, Mass
achusetts. He married, October 25, 1731. Abi
gail Kittridge, daughter of Daniel. Children,
born at Billerica and Tewksbury: 1. Abigail,
March 6, 1733-4. 2. Mehitable, September 4,
1735 ; died January 24, 1736. 3. Joshua, April
3, 1737 ; soldier in the revolution. 4. Joseph,
February 20, 1738; mentioned below. 5. Jon
athan, February 29, 1740. 6. Benjamin (twin),
February 10, 1742. 7. Sarah (twin), February
10, 1742. 8. Mehitable, June 4, 1745. 9. Eliz
abeth (twin), August 16, 1747. 10. Daniel
(twin), August 16, 1747. 11. Abigail, April
30, 1749.
(V) Joseph (3), son of Joseph (2) Frost,
was born in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, Febru
ary 20, 1738-9. He was a soldier in the revo
lution, in 1779, in Captain Truell's company,
Colonel Brown's regiment (Seventh), age given

524

MASSACHUSETTS.

as forty, height five feet ten inches. He was
in the service at other times.
(VI) Joseph (4), son or nephew of Joseph
(3) Frost, was born about 1770, probably in
Tewksbury. In early life he settled in Charle
mont, Massachusetts, and was a prosperous
farmer. He lived to the age of seventy years.
He married and had five sons and two daugh
ters. (VII) Elmer, son of Joseph (4) Frost, was
born in Charlemont. He was educated in the
district schools there, and learned the trade
of carpenter. He settled in the adjacent town
of Buckland, Franklin county, and followed
his trade for a period of thirty years. He then
bought a hundred acres of land in Buckland,
erected a house, barn and other buildings, and
followed farming the rest of his life. He
died at the age of sixty-five years. In politics
he was a Democrat, and took an active part in
town affairs, serving as assessor, overseer of
the poor and selectman for many years. He
was a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church of Buckland. He married Mary, daugh
ter of Samuel and Betsey (Leonard) Brackett
(see Leonard and Brackett). Children: Justus
B., mentioned below ; Mary A., Sarah, Amelia,
Joseph. (VIII) Justus B., son of Elmer Frost, was
born in Buckland, December 28, 1821. He was
educated in the public and select schools. At
the age of sixteen he began to learn the car
penter's trade, and a few years later became a
contractor and builder on his own account.
He entered partnership with Samuel Toby and
his firm conducted a large business, employing
regularly twenty carpenters, and erecting many
buildings in Buckland and vicinity. This firm
built the Congregational church and the school
house at Buckland, and the brick school house
at Shelburne Falls, and many houses and busi
ness blocks in that village. He was a prime
mover in constructing the waterworks, bringing
an excellent supply of water from mountain
springs. He retired from the building busi
ness in 1 86 1, and bought a farm and saw mill
in Buckland, carrying on the lumber business
in connection with his farm for ten years. Then
he built the saw mill and grist mill for Lam
son & Goodnow, and in partnership with A. W.
Ward conducted these mills until 1875, when
D. C. Bartlett bought the interests of Mr.
Ward. The business was continued by the
new firm until 1895. Mr. Frost has also been
a very successful merchant, having a store in
the basement of the stone hotel, of which he
is a part owner, and conducting an extensive

flour and grain business, wholesale and retail.
He had a livery stable in Shelburne Falls for
twenty-five years, and still owns and manages
two farms. He was assessor, collector of
taxes and selectman, in Buckland. In politics
he was a Republican. He died August 19,
1906. He married, December 31, 1846, Eve
line, daughter of Lyman and Myra Wood.
Children, born at Buckland: 1. Ida, died aged
eighteen. 2. Ernest C, mentioned below.
(IX) Ernest C, son of Justus Brackett
Frost, was born at Buckland, August 28, 1857.
He was educated there in the public schools.
In 1874 he associated himself, with his father
in business as miller and builder. In 1876-7
he was connected with the boot and shoe busi
ness of A. W. Ward, at Shelburne Falls, and
later succeeded Mr. Ward in business. He
sold out, and for a time was in the employ of
Frost & Bartlett, his father's firm, in the flour,
feed and grain business. In 1893 his father
bought the interests of his partner, and from
that time until his father died, Ernest C. Frost
was manager of the business, and since his
father's death has become sole owner. In 1886
and 1887 he traveled extensively in the western
states. In politics he is a Republican, in relig
ion liberal. He married, April 14, 1892, Ber
tha A. Winterhalder. Children, born at Shel
burne Falls: 1. Dorothy W., December 27,
1892. 2. Roger B., April 1, 1896.
(The Brackett Line).
Captain Richard Brackett, immigrant ances
tor, was born, according to his own deposition,
in 1612. He was a member of the church in
Boston, Massachusetts, in 1631-2, and was dis
missed to the church in Braintree, December
5, 1641. He was deacon of the church, town
clerk, magistrate, deputy to the general court,
and a leading citizen, fle died March 3, 1690,
aged eighty (gravestone). His will was proved
December 19, 1690. fle owned houses and
lands in Braintree and Billerica, where several
of his children settled. He married Alice
 , died November 3, 1690, aged seventy-
six. Children: 1. Hannah, baptized January
4, 1635 ; married Samuel Kingsley. 2. Peter,
baptized May 7, 1637; married, August 7,
1661, Elizabeth Bosworth; (second) March
30, 1687, Mrs. Sarah Foster. 3. John, baptized
May 7, 1637 (twin) ; mentioned below. 4.
Rachel, born November 3, 1639 ; married
Simon Crosby. 5. Mary, born February 1,
1642 ; married Joseph Thompson. 6. James,
married Sarah  ; settled in Braintree.
7. Josiah, born July 8, 1652 ; married, February

MASSACHUSETTS.

525

4, 1672-3, Elizabeth Waldo; removed to
Chelmsford. 8. Sarah, married Joseph Crosby.
(II) John, son of Captain Richard Brackett,
was born in Billerica, and baptized May 7,
1637. He married, September 6, 1661, Han
nah French, born about 1643, died May 9,
1674, daughter of William and Elizabeth
French; (second) March 31, 1675, Ruth, prob
ably daughter of Joseph Ellice. He lived in
Billerica, at the corner on the west side of the
road between the two brooks. He died March
18, 1686-7. Children: 1. Hannah, born De
cember 1, 1662. 2. Elizabeth, June 7, 1664.
3. Mary, February 12, 1665-6; married, No
vember 27, 1683, Edward Spalding, of Chelms
ford. 4. Sarah, December 11, 1667. 5. Rachel,
September 30, 1669. 6. Abigail, December 31,
1670; died January 11 following. 7. Bathsheba,
March 10, 1671-2; died April 24, 1673. 8.
Samuel, March 4, 1672-3. 9. Sarah, May 9,
1674. Children of second wife : 10. John, born
January 19, 1675-6; died June 24, 1675-6. 11.
Ebenezer, October 19, 1677. 12. John, De
cember 10, 1680; mentioned below. 13. Bethia,
May 25, 1682.
(Ill) John (2), son of John (1) Brackett,
was born at Billerica, December 10, 1680. He
married Rebecca  . He lived at Brain
tree. Children, born at Braintree: 1. Rebecca,
May 24, 1706; died July 26, 1710. 2. John.
3. Samuel, mentioned below.
(IV) Samuel, son of John (2) Brackett, was
born at Braintree, February 25, 1712-3, and
died at Stoughton, Massachusetts, February 3,
1799. He married, August 27, 1737, Abigail
Stearns. (V) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1) Brack
ett, was born about 1740, in Braintree, of
Stoughton; married, at Stoughton, February
10, 1765, flannah Clapp. He was a soldier in
the revolution, sergeant in Captain Peter Tal-
but's company, Colonel Lemuel Robinson's
regiment, 1775; also in Captain Robert Swan's
company, Colonel Benjamin Gill's regiment,
1776. Child, Samuel, mentioned below; prob
ably others.
(VI) Samuel (3), son of Samuel (2)
Brackett, was born at Stoughton, January 5,
1766; married Betsey Leonard, born May 12,
1765, died January 15, 1852 (see Leonard).
(The Leonard Line).
The name Leonard is one of those taken
from the Christian name, and signifies the lion-
hearted. The ancient coat-of-arms of the
family is : Or on a fesse azure three fleur-de-
lis argent. Crest : Out of a ducal coronet or

a tiger's head argent. Motto: Memor et
fidelis. (I) Solomon Leonard, immigrant ancestor,
was born about 1610, in Monmouthshire, or
vicinity, in the southwest of England. He
seems to have gone first to Leyden, Holland,
probably with his father, believed to be Sam
uel Leonard. Fle came to New England, and
was engaged in the service of the Colony Com
pany in Plymouth for a time, but became one
of the early settlers of Duxbury, where he was
living when the town was incorporated in 1637.
He received a grant of land there in 1638, and
was admitted a freeman in 1643. The same
year he was on a list of those able to bear arms.
He spelled his name Lenner, and sometimes
Lennerson. He became one of the earliest
proprietors and settlers of Bridgewater, where
he lived the rest of his life. He was a weaver
by trade. He married Mary  . Chil
dren : 1. Samuel, married (first) Abigail
Wood; (second) Deborah  . 2. John,
born about 1645; married Sarah (Chandler?)-.
3. Jacob, mentioned below. 4. Isaac, married
Deliverance  . 5. Solomon, married
Mary  . 6. Mary, married December 24,
1673, John Pollard.
(II) Jacob, son of Solomon Leonard, was
born about 1647. It is said that he was one of
the earliest settlers at Worcester, but was
doubtless driven out by the Indians and lived
in Bridgewater again. He was in Weymouth
in 1679, where two daughters were born. In
1681 he sold certain tracts of his Bridgewater
property to John Aldrich, and in exchange
took John Aldrich's place in Mendon. On the
second attempt, to settle Worcester, Jacob
Leonard located in 1684-5, in the vicinity of
Lake Quinsigamond. About May 1, 1693, the
Indians being troublesome, they went back to
Bridgewater. He lived for a short time in
Taunton, North Purchase (now Easton). His
will was dated December 14, 1716, and proved
December 19, 1717. He married (first) Phebe,
daughter of Roger Chandler; (second) Sus
anna King, born in Weymouth, May 6, 1659,
died in Bridgewater, daughter of Samuel and
Experience (Phillips) King, and granddaugh
ter of John King, an original proprietor of
Mendon. Children of first wife: 1. Joseph,
mentioned below. 2. Josiah. Children of sec
ond wife : 3. Abigail, born in Weymouth, No
vember II, 1680; married Thomas Washburn.
4. Susannah, born in Weymouth, December
24, 1683; died November 19, 1764; married,
March 22, 1714, Ebenezer Hill. 5. Experience.
6. Mary, married, November 27, 1719, Benja-

526

MASSACHUSETTS.

min Willis, y. Solomon, born in Bridgewater,
1693; died May 29, 1761 ; married, 1730, Eliz
abeth Perkins. 8. Sarah, born in Bridgewater,
June 11, 1699; married, February 27, 1720-1,
William Orcutt. 9. Jacob, born in Bridgewater,
June 13, 1702; died December 6, 1722.
(Ill) Joseph, son of Jacob Leonard, was
born about 1670, and died January 29, 1749.
He and his wife are buried in the old Bridge-
water burying ground. He resided in Bridge-
water, and married, in 1695, Martha Orcutt,
born in Scituate, in 1671, died September 30,
1752, daughter of William and Martha Orcutt.
Children: 1. Joseph, born 1696; mentioned
below. 2. Ephraim, married, September 16,
1720, Martha Perkins. 3. Martha, married,
October 7, 1734, Ebenezer Eddy.
(IV) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (1) Leon
ard, was born in 1696, and died in Bridge-
water, April 28, 1786. He was a prosperous
farmer, and active in church affairs. He mar
ried, September 14, 1721, Mary Packard, born
1696, died March 29, 1770, daughter of Na
thaniel Packard. Children: 1. Mary, born
July 25, 1722; died young. 2. Sarah, born
October 15, 1723; married, December 20, 1743,
Isaac Pool. 3. Dan, born July 29, 1725; men
tioned below. 4. Seth, born March 1, 1727;
died 1755. 5. Mary, born February 2, 1729;
died young. 6. Joseph, born November 1,
1730; died October 11, 1793; married, January
31, 1750, Huldah Dean. 7. Benjamin, born
October 21, 1732; died November 22, 1813;
married (first) 1756, Keturah Briggs; (sec
ond) February 17, 1760, Mary Reneffe ; (third)
Polly Bosworth. 8. David (twin), born July
29, 1734; died November 24, 181 3; married,
May 24, 1770, Mary Hall. 9. Jonathan, born
July 29, 1734 (twin) ; died December 31, 1813 ;
married, April 25, 1758, Martha Washburn.
10. Simeon, born November 24, 1737; died
September 20, 1793; married, April 10, 1764,
Anna Smith.
(V) Dan, son of Joseph Leonard, was born
July 29, 1725, and died in 1771. He was a
drummer in the French war, and was with
General Winslow in 1755 in Nova Scotia. He
lived on the Darius Dunbar place in Bridge-
water. He married, November 1, 1750, Mary
Dunbar, born 1730, daughter of James and
Experience (Hayward) Dunbar. Children:
1. Mary, born March 26, 1711; died October
2, 1842; married (first) September 22, 1772,
Ichabod Warren; (second) March 28, 1777,
Captain Thomas Delano. 2. Dan, born June
16, 1752; died May 7, 1837; married, October
15, 1775, Hope Clapp (2nd). 3. Experience,

born November 13, 1753; died August 15,
1846; married, 1773, Luther Redding. 4.
Phebe, born April 27, 1755; married, Septem
ber 27, 1778, Joseph Delano. 5. Ziba, born
October 13, 1756; died July 7, 1845; married,
May 5, 1783, Chloe Shaw. 6. Josiah, born
August 8, 1758; died November 29, 1839; mar-
ried, May 13, 1784, Lurania Keith. 7. Kezia,
born January 21, 1760; died young. 8. Betsey,
born May 12, 1765; died January 15, 1852;
married Samuel Brackett (see Brackett and
Frost). 9. Calvin, born December 27, 1767;
died June 29, 1839; married, August 22, 1796,
Sally Temple. 10. Sarah, born August 4, 1768;
died May 22, 1833 ; married, October 23, 1788,
Isaac Shepard. 11. Rosamond, married Na
than Shaw. 12. Ichabod, born July 11, 1771 ;
died August 30, 1856; married, October 15,
1795, Sarah Sterns.

Michael Bright, immigrant an-
BRIGHT cestor of the Bright families of
Dedham, Needham, Canton and
-Stoughton, Massachusetts, was born in Eng
land in 1706, and died at Dedham, Massachu
setts, March 5, 1785. When a young man he
was impressed into the service of the king and
sent to New England, where he served in the
war with the French. He deserted from his
ship while it was lying in Boston harbor, and
hid in a barn which is now standing on Elm
street in Canton. Later he enlisted and served
in the expedition against Cape Breton in 1754,
and at Crown Point in 1755 ; at the age of
fifty-three years he enlisted in Captain Frank
Brentorales's company at Dedham, in 1759;
and August 25, 1761, in Captain Thomas Pea-
body's company. He settled at Dedham, where
he lived with his son-in-law, William Davels,
where he died, and is buried in the Red Ceme
tery. He was married, at Dedham, March 31,
1743, by Rev. Thomas Balch,- to Mrs. Thank
ful Warren, who died December 4, 1789. Chil
dren : 1. Michael, see forward. 2. Elizabeth,
born August 1, 1745; died 1829; married,
March 5, 1768, Elias Haven, of Wrentham;
children: Elias, Philemon, Betsey, Mary and
Susan. 3. Mary, born December 13, 1746, died
in April, 1833 ; married, July 24, 1770, Will
iam Davels, Jr., of Dedham, Massachusetts.
(II) Michael, eldest child and only son of
Michael and Thankful (Warren) Bright, was
born in Dedham, March 13, 1744, and died
May 20, 181 3. fte was among the early set
tlers of Needham, Massachusetts, where he
purchased a piece of land and established his
homestead, being an active and energetic man,

MASSACHUSETTS.

527

and followed farming throughout his life,
although he was afflicted with lameness during
his last years. He served during the war of
the revolution, enlisting from Needham, Janu
ary 30, 1776, as private in Captain Hopestill
Hall's company, Colonel Lemuel Robinson's
regiment, service twenty-two days ; rolls dated
Dorchester and Roxbury. He was also a pri
vate in Captain James Marion's company, Col
onel Pierces' regiment, enlisting March 12,
1778, discharged April 4, 1778, at Governor's
Island. He was chosen field driver, March 9,
1789, and March 17, 1794; tithingman, March
14, 1791. He was a member of the First
Church of Needham, and lived about three
miles from that structure. He married, De
cember 29, 1768, Abigail Davenport, born in
Dorchester, 1743, died in Milford, 1825, and
is buried in Needham. Her father was a chair-
maker. She was a very capable woman, but
was afflicted with blindness for ten years prior
to her death. Children: 1. Cate, born March
18, 1770; married (first), June 9, 1802, Amos
Fuller Jr., (second)  Godfrey. 2.
Michael, bora September 21, 1772, died Octo
ber 10, 1792. 3. Salla, born May 28, 1774,
died October 10, 1857 ; married Joshua Bart
lett, of Newton. 4. Samuel, born April 23,
1782, died in 1808; married Harriet  ,
who died in 1807. 5. Jesse, see forward.
(Ill) Jesse, youngest child of Michael and
Abigail (Davenport) Bright, was born at Need
ham, August 22, 1784, and died at Stoughton,
September 26, 1857. Until the age of seven
years he lived on the farm of his father, and
was then put out to work and attended the
district school; later he lived with a sister at
Newton, with whom he remained until he was
fifteen years of age, when he returned to Need
ham, and had one winter's instruction at the
district school. He subsequently worked in
Brookline and Brighton, where he was married.
He was of an economical and saving disposi
tion, and during the years of his employment
managed to accumulate sufficient means to
purchase a small farm ; as he was a minor his
father had the deed made out in his own name,
and Jesse later lost all his hard-earned wealth,
as his father in his will gave this property to
one of his daughters. He then left the parental
roof and settled in Canton about 181 2-3, work
ed there until 1842, when he removed to
Stoughton and leased a farm one mile from
Brockton, known as the Luther Swan place,
and there resided until his death. His life was
strictly honorable; he possessed great deter
mination, and was devoted to his h®me and

family. He served in the militia at Canton,
was orthodox in his religious views and a
Democrat in politics. He married, December
31, 1809, at Canton, Rebecca, born at Dedham,
April 19, 1787, died at Stoughton, July 1, 1876,
daughter of William and Mary (Bright)
Savels, the former a shoemaker and farmer.
Children: 1. Michael, see forward. 2. Samuel,
born May 12, 1813, died August 2, 1888; mar
ried (first) October 6, 1836, Clarissa Shepard;
children: i. Frank, born November 12, 1837,
married Elizabeth West ; ii. Alonzo, born June
27, 1840; iii. Horace; iv. Maria; v. Addie.
Samuel married (second) Mrs. Maria (Blake)
Packard; children: vi. Blanche Lillian, mar
ried Fred. H. Bisbee ; vii. John, died aged nine
teen years. 3. Rebecca, born August 9, 1816,
died April 30, 1837. 4. Warren, born April
6, 1819, died September 17, 1900; married,
September 18, 1845, Mrs. Elmira (Pitcher)
Briggs ; child : Blanche Warren, born Sep
tember, 1850, married Leander Bretton. 5.
Sarah, born September 22, 1821, died Janu
ary 20, 1861 ; married, November, 1843, Elias
Wentworth. 6. Abby Davenport, born July
16, 1828; married, June 17, 1869, Samuel
Capen, second.
(IV) Michael (2), eldest child of Jesse and
Rebecca (Savels) Bright, was born at Natick,
August 18, 1810, and died at Franklin, Massa
chusetts, April, 1879. He was very young
when his parents moved to Canton, where he
attended the district school, and was still quite
a lad when he engaged himself to Elisha White,
a wealthy citizen of the town, on whose farm
he remained until the age of twenty-one years.
He'then worked for various people, removing
to Stoughton, where he lived until 1838, when
he returned to Canton and was engaged in
farming there until 1843. He then removed
to Sharon, where he bought a farm known as
the old Draper place, and engaged in market
gardening, in which he was very successful as
a grower of small fruits including strawberries,
also melons and early vegetables, and found
a ready market for his products in the vicinity.
In 1867 he removed to Avon, Maine, where he
was associated with his sons in farming, in
1871 going with his son Warren to Franklin,
and was associated with him until the time of
his death. He was a home-loving man and
beloved by his family. He and his family
attended the Methodist church of Franklin.
Politically he was affiliated first with the Whig
party, and later with the Republicans. He
married, at Canton, August 15, 1830, Elvira
Richards, born April 28, 1809, died at Sharon,

528

MASSACHUSETTS.

April, 1863, and who lived during her girlhood
at the home of Samuel Wales, of Stoughton.
Children: 1. Samuel Wales, born May 27,
1831, died at Jackson, California, December 11,
1907; he was a beef merchant and ranchman,
and married, June, i860, Martha Bradbury.
2. Mary Wale's, born May 20, 1832 ; married,
September 24, 1854, William F. Smith; chil
dren: i. Arthur William, born December 23,
1855; ii. Fred Morville, born November 13,
1857, died October 6, 1859; iii. Lizzie Fostina,
born November 29, 1858, died January 15,
1863; iv. George Channing, born October 3,
i860, died April 2, 1889; v. Elsie May, born
March 1, 1867, married, November 28, 1889,
Alden Taylor Warren; children: a. Clarence
Addison, born October 30, 1891 ; b. Helen,
born August 24, 1893, died January 9, 1894;
c. Alden Taylor, Jr., born December 4, 1895;
d. Sylvia Adams, born August 31, 1897; e.
Ruth Elsie, born December 31, 1899. 3. Eliz
abeth Hodges, born at Canton, died in infancy.
4. Elizabeth Hodges, born March 27, 1835;
married, May 1, 1867, John Mason Metcalf;
children : i. Fred Morville, born August 27,
1877; ii. Bertha May, born June 19, 1881. 5.
Sarah A., born April, 1837, died June 26, 1838.
6. Thomas Wales, born August 15, 1838, died
May 1, 1893; married, January 4, 1857, Ellen
Tenney ; children : i. Nellie Frances, born July
16, 1857, married Edward Curran and had a
child, Edward ; ii. Harriet F., born December
20, 1858, died March 12, i860; iii. Hattie Au
gusta, born September 6, 1861, died May 3,
1907, married Alvin Cluer and has children :
a. Daisy, born April 30, 1885; b. Florence,
born December 25, 1889; c. Grace, twin of
Florence ; iv. Mary, married Webster Smith ;
v. Blanche, married Elwin Dunbar and has
children : Dorothy and Helen. 7. Daniel Web
ster, born May 20, 1839, died May 6, 1863, in
New Orleans, Louisiana, during the civil war ;
married Laura Smith. 8. Warren Henry, see
forward. 9. Abbie Morse, born July 31, 1843,
died April 25, 1869. 10. Edwin Thompson, a
sketch of whom follows. 11. Frederick, born
October 4, 1847, died April 10, 1901 ; married
(first) June 6, 1874, Laura Beals, and has a
son, Herbert N., who was born in 1875 and
married, December 25, 1901, Inga E. Kay;
married (second) Mrs.  Pond and has a
son, Raymond. 12. Willard Sumner, born Feb
ruary 3, 1850, married Sarah Adams. 13.
Charles Francis, born April 24, 1852, married
Alice Johnson.
(V) Warren Henry, fourth son and eighth
child of Michael and Elvira (Richards) Bright,

was born in Canton, the original home of the
immigrant ancestor of the family, August 4,
1 841, and died in Franklin, Massachusetts, May
6, 1907. He was three years old when his
parents removed to Sharon, and he there
attended the district school until fifteen years
of age, working on the farm a part of the
time ; he then attended the winter sessions until
twenty-one years of age, being engaged in
farming during the summer months. At this
time he obtained a position in the Lothrop
knife shop in Sharon, and at the end of one
year enlisted as a private at Readville, in the
Eleventh Massachusetts Battery, October 31,
1863. After a short stay in camp the battery
was ordered to the front and although he was
not promoted, he served in the front ranks of
his company until his discharge at the close
of the war, June 25, 1865. flis first active
experience on the battlefield was at the battle
of the Wilderness, May 5 to 7, 1864, and this
was followed by the engagement at Spottsyl-
vania. Then in succession he was present at
the following : North Anna River, Cold Har
bor, Petersburg, and the beginning of the siege
by Grant, until the close of the war. During
the time preceding the surrender of Lee, Mr.
Bright was constantly in active service, being
in the engagements of Deep Bottom, New
market, Malvern Hill, Weldon Railroad and
Fort Stedman. He was at one time in the
smallpox hospital at Georgetown. After his
discharge from the army he returned to his
home at Sharon, subsequently going to Phillips,
Maine, where he and his brother-in-law, Will
iam Smith, engaged in the making of barrel
hoops, then a thriving industry of that town
during the winter months. In the spring of
1866 he and his brother Frederick purchased
a fifty-acre farm at Avon, Maine, where they
were engaged in lumbering and hoop making,
finding a ready market for the hoops at Port
land, Maine. He sold his interest to Frederick
and removed to Franklin, Massachusetts, in
1871, locating on the John Metcalf homestead,
and a year later bought the farm on which he
died. Mr. Bright entered extensively into the
market garden business and later in the wood
and lumber business, purchasing large tracts
of land and wholesaling his products. He was
a prominent factor in the business world of
that section, was keenly interested in the affairs
of his adopted town, and always had an
eye to the greatest good to the greatest
number. In addition to his home farm of
fifty-five acres he owned two others of
sixty-five and forty-five acres respectively, and

MASSACHUSETTS.

529

eighty-five acres of other land. He served
his town as overseer of the poor for a
period of nine years, was assessor in 1895, and
was frequently solicited to act as selectman,
but always declined. He was a member of
Franklin Post, No. 60, Grand Army of the
Republic; of King David Lodge, No. 71, Inde
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, of Franklin ;
and an active and valued member of the Meth
odist church. He married (first) May 9, 1866,
Mary Elizabeth, born at Avon, Maine, Febru
ary 1, 1845, died at Franklin, Massachusetts,
December 18, 1886, daughter of Stephen and
Susan (Rowe) Peary. Children: 1. Edna
Amanda, born February 13, 1867; is a teacher
in Maine Conference Seminary, Bucksport. 2.
Susie Amanda, born July 1, 1869; married,
Tune 26, 1893, R°y C. Southworth. 3. Ina A.,
born December 4, 1870, died August 13, 1871.
4. Anna Belle, born April 14, 1872 ; married,
June 8, 1898, Charles H. Prince ; children : i.
Helen Bright, born January 31, 1900; ii. Mar
ion Chaffee, October 3, 1901. 5. Mabel I., born
December 29, 1873, died July 7, 1875. 6.
Elvira Frances, born August 20, 1875 ; mar
ried, December 5, 1896, George Francis Rivero ;
children : i. Edwin Francis, born November 3,
1897; ii. Irwin Warren, February 8, 1901 ; iii.
Lester Elmer, October 15, 1902; iv. Emily
May, September 18, 1904. 7. Henry James,
born February 24, 1877, died October 18, 1904.
8. Mary Elsie, born June 8, 1879; married,
July 23, 1901, Silas Arthur Cook; children: i.
Wesley Warren, born August 16, .1902; ii.
Edith Evangeline, August 20, 1904; iii. Esther
Elizabeth, July 3, 1907. 9. Harry Raymond,
born February 7, 1881. Mr. Bright married
(second) January 8, 1891, Agnes Marie, born
February 10, 1865, daughter of Henry Jerome
and Rebecca Elizabeth (Crosby) Trask, the
former a farmer and owner of a saw mill.
Child, Karl Aubrey, born December 12, 1892.
(V) Edwin Thompson, fifth son and tenth
child of Michael and Elvira (Richards) Bright,
was born at North Sharon, Massachusetts, De
cember 10, 1845. His elementary schooling
was obtained in the district school, and he
assisted on his father's farm until he was
fourteen years old. Two years later he entered
the employ of Morse Brothers, makers of Ris
ing Sun Stove Polish, remaining in this posi
tion four years. ' He then had charge of a trip
hammer for a year in the Ames Shovel Works
at Canton, at the end of this time removing to
Franklin, where he worked two years in the
straw- shop of H. M. Green, then went to
Attleboro, Massachusetts, in 1869, where for

eighteen months he learned the jewelry busi
ness with D. PI. Smith, subsequently entering
the employ of Sturdy Brothers to learn the
enameling trade, and was with this firm twelve
years. After two years spent in the same work
for the Watson & Newell Company, Mr.
Bright, in 1884, commenced this business for
himself, and was successful from the outset.
He worked for many of the leading jewelers
of Attleboro, but in 1898 his business, together
with many others, was totally destroyed by
fire. With the insurance money that he re
ceived he again started in the same business,
occupying various localities until January, 1909,
when he removed to new and more commodious
quarters in the Ingraham building, where he
is now established. He is also a member of
the firm of E. D. Gilmore & Company, manu
facturing rings, pins, brooches, etc., the other
members of the firm being: E. D. Gilmore'
and William L. King, also located in the Ingra
ham building. Mr. Bright served in the state
militia while living at Canton. He is a Repub
lican in politics, a member of the First Congre-
tional Church at Attleboro. He is a charter
member of Oriental Lodge, No. 165, Independ
ent Order of Odd Fellows, and a member of
the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He
married, April 2, 1874, Ida Cora, born Febru
ary 18, 1852, daughter of George R. Gilmore,
and they had one child, Harold Gilmore, born
November 14, 1874, died at the age of three
days. This is a name which has been
ADAMS conspicuous in the early annals
of New England, and is still
well-known in the leading walks of life through
out the United States. There were several
immigrants bearing the name and nearly all
have left a numerous progeny.
(I) John Adams came from England in the
ship "Fortune" and arrived at Plymouth, Mass
achusetts, November 9, 1621. He was a sharer
in the division of lands in 1623 and in the
division of cattle in 1627. He died in 1633 and
the inventory of his estate made by John Wins
low and John Jenny, amounting to seventy-one
pounds and fourteen shillings, was returned on
October 24, of that year, fle married Eleanor
(or Ellen) Newton, who came in the ship
"Anne" and their children were: 1. James,
mentioned below. 2. John, married, in 1654,
Jane James, lived in Marshfield and subse
quently in Flushing, Long Island. 3. Susanna.
After the death of John Adams, his widow
married (second) in June, 1634, Kenelm Wins-

530

MASSACHUSETTS.

low, brother of Governor Edward Winslow.
She survived him and died at Marshfield, De
cember 5, 1681, aged eighty-three years. The
children of Kenelm and Eleanor Winslow
were: 1. Kenelm, married Mercy Warden,
and lived in Yarmouth (now Brewster). 2.
Ellen, became the wife of Samuel Baker. 3.
Nathaniel, married Faith Miller, and lived in
Marshfield. 4. Job, a shipwright, living at
Swansey and Freetown.
(II) James, eldest child of John and Eleanor
(Newton) Adams, was born about 1625 in
Plymouth, and is found on the list of those
capable of bearing arms in that colony in 1643,
as accredited to the town of Marshfield. fle
lived in that town but was connected with the
Second church of Scituate, where his children
were baptized. On June 10, 1651, he acknowl
edged the receipt from Kenelm Winslow of
'five pounds which was to be paid him when
he arrived at age. He probably lived subse
quently at Concord, Massachusetts. He mar
ried, June 16, 1646, Frances Vassall, daughter
of William Vassall, one of the patentees of
Massachusetts and an assistant to Governor
Cradock. In answer to her petition, the gen
eral court of Massachusetts on May 25, 1672,
granted to Frances Adams, wife of James
Adams, and daughter of the late William Vas
sall, one hundred and fifty acres of land. This
grant was located in Lunenburg, and the plan
or survey was returned and approved by the
general court, May 7, 1673. In this proceeding
the grantee was called Frances Adams of Con
cord. No record of her death or that of her
husband appears. They had at least five chil
dren, all of whom were baptized in Scituate,
namely: William, born May 16, 1647; Anna,
April 18, 1649; Richard, mentioned below;
Mary, January 27, 1653; Margaret, baptized
March 18, 1654.
(Ill) Richard, second son of James and
Frances (Vassall) Adams, was born April 19,
1 65 1, in Marshfield, and baptized on the 27th
of the same month in Scituate. Very little
record can be found concerning him. He
probably removed to Rhode Island. He mar
ried Rebecca Davis, but no record of her birth
or parentage has been discovered.
(IV) William, son of Richard and Rebecca
(Davis) Adams, was born in 1690, and died
in 1727. He probably resided in or near Can
terbury, Connecticut. He married Susanna
Woodward, born in 1693, died April 29, 1790,
and was buried at South Canterbury, Connecti
cut. After the death of William Adams, she

became the second wife of Joseph Adams, the
marriage taking place April 4, 1728.
(V) Phinehas, son of William and Susanna
(Woodward) Adams, was born about 1725,
and lived in that part of Old Norwich, Con
necticut, which is now Lisbon. The records
say that he was there married, December 31,
175 1, to Lydia, daughter of Colonel Jabez
Fitch, of Canterbury. She was born January-
20, 1734, and died July 14, 1820 (see .Brad
ford). They had children born as follows:
William, October 17, 1752. Asael, September
13, 1754, married Alice Avery. Abigail, De
cember 7, 1756, married Septimus Lathrup.
Lydia, December 22, 1758, died young. Lydia,
February 16, 1759. Weltheon, February 22,
1760, married Joshua Bishop. Phinehas, Au
gust 17, 1762. Roger, November 6, 1764.
Jabez, mentioned below. Fitch, January 20,
1772. Lydia, May 4, 1774, married William
Sergeant. Alice, October 8, 1776, married
Simeon T. Rudd.
(VI) Jabez, fifth son of Phinehas and
Lydia (Fitch) Adams, was born August 23,
1768, in Lisbon, died in Mansfield Center, Con
necticut, May 24, 1848. He was for many
years a physician in Mansfield Center, where
he was for a considerable portion of the time
associated with Dr. Earl Swift. He married
(first) April 10, 1793, Lucy Swift, born Au
gust 27, 1772, died January 11, 1814, daughter
of Barzillai Swift, of Mansfield Center. He
married (second) in Pomfret, Connecticut,
April 12, 181 5, Lucy, daughter of Jedediah
Ensworth of that town. She died in Mansfield
Center, July 14, 1871. Children of first wife:
1. Harriett, born August 25, 1794, died Decem
ber 18, 1844. 2. Henry, March 20, 1796, died
April 29, 1858. 3. Abigail L., February 28,
1798, died October 1, 1813. 4. Lucy, Decem
ber 13, 1799, died June 8, 1880. 5. Jabez, Jan
uary 11, 1802, died February 11, 1802. 6.
Washington, January 6, 1803, died October 3,
1813. 7. Eliza, April 23, 1805, died 1879. 8.
David A., mentioned below. 9. Sarah F.,
March 20, 1809, died December 12, 1866. 10.
Alice R., February 10, 181 1, died September
27, 1888. 11. and 12. Fitch and Lydia, twins,
February 25, 1813; the latter died the same
day, the former March 18, 1814. Of the sec
ond wife: 13. Abigail A., April 15, 1816, died
July 2, 1848. 14. Jabez Fitch, September 10,
1820, died July 4, 185 1.
(VII) David Augustus, fourth son of Dr.
Jabez and Lucy (Swift) Adams, was bora
February 6, 1*807, m Mansfield, Connecticut,

MASSACH USETTS.

53i

and died April 30, 1891, in Springfield, Massa
chusetts, whither he removed in 1828. When
fifteen years of age, he went to work in a coun
try store in Thompsonville, Connecticut, in
which his brother-in-law, James Brewer, and
others in Springfield were interested. Fle con
tinued in this store for several years and then
went to New York, whence he soon returned
and located in Springfield, Massachusetts, tak
ing a position in the hardware store of James
Brewer, of that city. Later he entered the
store of his brother, Henry Adams, a silver
smith. From 1836 to 1852 he was a road sur
veyor of Springfield, and he was also the first
city marshal under the charter of the city.
He served as collector of taxes and was eleven
years a member of the board of assessors. He
was a deputy under sheriffs Cutler Bush and
Bradley, and during the war was assistant
United States assessor, it being his duty to
receive and assess all income returns. At one
time Mr. Adams was sworn in as United States
deputy thereafter to preserve order on govern
ment land. On December 3, 1884, was cele
brated the golden wedding anniversary of Mr.
Adams and his wife. He was married in
Mansfield Center by Rev. Anson S. Atwood,
December 3, 1834, to Harriet, daughter of Dr.
Earl and Laura (Ripley) Swift, of Mansfield
Center. She was born October 17, 1812, in
Wethersfield, Connecticut, and died October
27, 1899. Laura (Ripley) Swift was daughter
of Ralph Ripley, of Windham, Connecticut ;
General James Ripley, chief of United States
ordnance department, Washington, was son
of Ralph Ripley. Children: 1. David Au
gustus, born July 7, 1836, died January 10
following. 2. Harriet, November 6, 1837, died
March 30, 1882. 3. Henry Augustus, Novem
ber 3, 1840, died September 10, 1849. 4- James
Swift, May 20/1843, married, May 17, 1870,
Caroline E. Knight; children: Robert Win
throp, born October 4, 1872 ; Emily Belle, born
November 25, 1876. 5. Elizabeth Lee, Sep
tember 27, 1845, married Charles B. Conant,
of Newark, New Jersey, June 2, 1868; chil
dren: Harriet Elizabeth, born September 14,
1869 ! Sarah Lorena, born December 16, 1875 ;
Charles S., born November 20, 1877. 6. Will
iam Frederick, mentioned below. 7. Edward,
March 7, 1850, died August 13, i860. 8. Earl
Swift, November 1, 1852, died December 7,.
1872. 9. Frances, December 18, 1855, died
July 27, 1856. The youngest son was pos
sessed of a rare business tact and energy,
coupled with a genial and social nature, and

was a young man of great promise and a gen
eral favorite.
(VIII) William Frederick, fourth son of
David A. and Harriet (Swift) Adams, was
born March 13, 1848, in Springfield, where he
still resides. He was educated in the public
schools of his native town, and on leaving the
high school entered the Second National Bank
in January, 1865, as clerk. His connection with
the bank Continued until November, 1870, when
he resigned to engage in the book business.
He became a partner of James L. Whitney in
the "Old Corner Bookstore," one of the land
marks of Springfield, and this business was
continued under the firm name of Whitney &
Adams until July, 1887, when it was incor
porated under the title of the W. F. Adams
Company, with Mr. Adams as president and
treasurer. Mr. Adams was a member of the
city council in the years 1891-92-93, and served
as member of the board of supervisors, and
for three years was a member of the finance
committee of that body. He is president of
the Connecticut Valley Historical Society and
has contributed much to the growth and success
of that organization; is a Republican and has
always sought to further the principles for
which his party stands. Mr. Adams married.
May 30, 1878, in Springfield, E. Jennie Strong,
daughter of Daniel Strong, born April 27,
1853. Children: Dorothy Stockbridge, born
May 14, 1885, and William Bradford, July 31,
1890. (The Bradford Line).
The name Bradford is one of the most dis
tinguished in the early Colonial history of
Massachusetts, and the record of the Brad
ford family from the establishment of the
Puritans in Holland to 1657 includes a great
part of the history of the Puritan colony.
From this family have sprung a great part of
the Brad fords of New England.
(I) The first of the name, of whom record
is here known, was William Bradford, of Aus
terfield, England, who died January 10, 1596.
(II) William (2), son of William (1) Brad
ford, married Alice, daughter of John Han
som, and died in July, 1591.
(Ill) William (3), son of William (2)
Bradford, was born in 1588, in Austerfield,
Yorkshire, England. About 1608 he went to
Holland, and was among those who set out
from the country in 1620, on board the historic
"Mayflower," to settle the Puritan colony
across a broad ocean. He was accompanied
on this voyage by his wife, whose maiden name

532

MASSACHUSETTS.

was Dorothy May. She was accidentally
drowned on the seventh of December, 1620,
during the absence of her husband with an
exploring party, in the wilderness adjoining
Cape Cod Bay. With the exception of five
years, Mr. Bradford was chosen governor of
the colony from 1621 to 1657, the year of his
death, fle was one of the most efficient in
directing and sustaining the new settlement,
and a writer of those times said of him : "He
was the very prop and glory of Plymouth col
ony, during the whole series of changes that
passed over it." He married, August 24, 1623,
Alice Southworth, a widow whose maiden
name was Carpenter. She came to Plymouth
in the ship "Anne'' and was among the most
highly respected residents, dying March 26,
1670, at the age of eighty years. She was the
mother of three children : William, Mercy
and Joseph Bradford. Governor Bradford
died May 9, 1657, and was lamented by all the
New England colonies as a common father.
The bodies of himself and father were entomb
ed at Plymouth.
(IV) William (4), son of William (3)
Bradford, was born June 17, 1624. He mar
ried (first) Alice Richards, (second) Widow
Wiswall, and (third) Mrs. Mary (Wood)
Holmes. His biographer says : "Mr. Brad
ford was, next to Miles Standish, a chief mili
tary man of the colony. In Philip's war, he was
commander-in-chief of the Plymouth forces,
and often exposed himself to its perils. At the
Narragansett Fort fight, he received a musket
ball in his flesh, which he carried the remainder
of his life. In that desperate mid-winter en
counter, when both parties fough^ for their
very existence, nearly a thousand Indians fell
a sacrifice, and about one hundred and fifty of
the English were killed or wounded." In the
war with the Indians, Mr. Bradford held the
rank of major; was assistant treasurer and
deputy governor of Plymouth from 1682 to
1686, and from 1689 to 1691, and in the latter
year he was one of the council of Massachu
setts. His residence was in Kingston, Massa
chusetts, on the north side of Jones river. He
died February 20, 1703-04. His children of
the first marriage were : John, William, Thomas,
Samuel, Alice, Hannah, Mercy, Meletiah, Mary
and Sarah; of the second marriage: Joseph,
Israel, Ephraim, David and Hezekiah.
(V) Alice, eldest daughter and fifth child of
Major William (4) and Alice (Richards)
Bradford, was born in 1661, in Plymouth, and
died in 1745. She married •( first) March 29,
1680, Rev. William Adams, of Dedham, and

(second) May 8, 1687, Major James Fitch.
He was a Son of Rev. James Fitch, of Say
brook, Connecticut, who was born in Boking,
England, December 24, 1622, and came to this
country in 1638. He was married in October,
1664, to Pricilla, daughter of Captain John
Mason, the hero of the Pequot war, and died
at Lebanon, Connecticut, November 18, 1702.
Major James Fitch from early manhood was
actively employed in civil and military affairs.
He wholly re-established the colonial govern
ment after the revolution of 1689, and was
appointed assistant in 1690. Pie was sergeant-
major of New London county, in 1696, and
led military expeditions to guard the frontiers.
He exercised jurisdiction over the Mohegans;
he was a warm friend of the Indians, with
whom he had more influence than any one
else in the colony. He also served as treasurer
of the county of New London; but little pro
gress had been made in the settlement of this
county until 1697, when he removed thither
with his family, digging the first cellar and
erecting the first permanent habitation in what
is now the township of Canterbury. He select
ed for his permanent residence the neck of land
enclosed by a curve of the Quinebaugh river.
At the time of his settlement, he was little past
middle age, and had been for many years one
of the most prominent men in Connecticut.
It was for a long time the only settlement be
tween Norwich and Woodstock, and the ex
pedition for the relief of the latter place in
1699 passed the night both in going and com
ing at his farm. Here he died November 10,
1727, aged eighty years. He was born August
2, 1647, in Saybrook. Children: Abigail,
Ebenezer, Daniel, John, Bridget, Jerusha, Will
iam and Jabez.
(VI) jabez. youngest child of Major James
and Alice (Bradford) Fitch, was born 1703.
He resided for a time in Newent, and returned
to Canterbury, where he passed the greater
part of his life and was for many years justice
of the peace and quorum, and judge of probate.
He also served as colonel of the Eleventh Regi
ment of the Connecticut Colony Militia. In
1773 he was chosen agent by the town to oppose
the project for an open and public highway to
be laid out through Killingly, Pomfret and
Canterbury, to accommodate travel from Bos
ton, New Haven and New York, and was suc
cessful in defeating the project. He served in
the general assembly in 1764-65. He died in
1784 and was buried in Coventry. He married
Lydia, daughter of Abraham Gale, bora 1699,
died 1752.

MASSACH USETTS.

533

(VII) Lydia, daughter of Colonel Jabez
and Lydia (Gale) Fitch, was born January 20,
1734. She married in 1751 Phinehas Adams,
of Lisbon, and died July 14, 1820 (see Adams
V.)- . 
The pedigree of this family traces
ADAMS the ancestry, according to one
account, to Ap Adam, the father
of John or Lord Ap Adam, who was called to
parliament by Edward I. and Baron of the
Realm from 1296 to 1307, and states that he
came out of the Marches of Wales into Devon
shire. This statement has been discredited by
genealogists, though proof of error seems as
much wanting as proof of correctness." If
correct, the lineage includes kings of England
and France and goes back to Charlemagne.
(I) Henry Adams, immigrant ancestor, was
born in England, and came from Braintree,
England, to Braintree, Massachusetts, about
1632-33. He was allotted forty acres of land
for the ten persons in his family, February 24,
1639-40. President John Adams, a descend
ant, believed that Henry Adams came from
Devonshire, and erected a monument to him
in the old burying ground at Braintree, now
Quincy, with this inscription : "In memory of
Henry Adams who took flight from the Dragon
persecution in Devonshire, England, and
alighted with eight sons near Mount Wollas-
ton. One of the sons returned to England ;
and after taking time to explore the country,
four removed to Medfield, and two to Chelms
ford. One only, Joseph, who lies here at his
left hand, remained here — an original pro
prietor in the township of Braintree." The
monument commemorates the "piety, humility,
simplicity, prudence, patience, temperance, fru
gality, industry, and perseverance" of the
Adams ancestors. President John Quincy
Adams, however, dissented from the conclu
sion of his father that Henry Adams was of
Devonshire. Savage agrees with the younger
Adams that the immigrant was of Braintree,
^ county Essex, England, and some of the sons
from Chelmsford in that county. It is gen
erally believed that the wife of Henry Adams
returned to England with her daughter Ursula,
and died there. Henry died at Braintree, Octo
ber 6, 1646, and was buried on the 8th. In his
will, proved June 8, 1647, he mentions sons
Peter, John, Joseph, Edward, Samuel, and
daughter Ursula. Children: 1. Lieutenant
Henry, born 1604, married, in Braintree, No
vember 17, 1643, Elizabeth Paine; settled in
Medfield. 2. Lieutenant Thomas, 1612; men

tioned below. 3. Captain Samuel, 1617. 4.
Deacon Jonathan, 1619, married Elizabeth
Fussell; settled in Medfield. 5. Peter, 1622,
married Rachel  ; settled in Medfield.
6. John, 1624, settled in Cambridge. 7. Joseph,
1626. 8. Ensign Edward, 1630, see sketch. 9.
Ursula, mentioned in her father's will.
(II) Lieutenant Thomas, son of Henry
Adams, was born in England, in 1612, died in
Chelmsford, Massachusetts, July 20, 1688. He
removed from Braintree to Concord, and thence
to Chelmsford. He was chosen chief sergeant
of the military company in 1659, but the court
refused to confirm him on account of his relig
ious views. He was confirmed in April, 1660,
upon agreeing not to disseminate any views
contrary to those the church sanctioned. He
was chosen ensign in 1678 and lieutenant in
1682, in the the company in which his brother
Samuel was captain. He served as town clerk,
selectman, and deputy to the general qourt. His
will was dated March 28, 1688, and proved
October 7, 1690. He married, in Braintree,
in 1642, Mary Blackmore. Children: 1. Mary,
born in Braintree, July 24, 1643, died young.
2. Jonathan (twin), born in Concord, January
6, 1646, married, August 29, 1681, Leah Gould ;
died November 25, 1712. 3. Peletiah (twin),
born January 6, 1646, married Ruth  ¦;
died April 29, 1725. 4. Timothy, born April
2 or February 15, 1648, died July 1, 1708; mar
ried Mary  . 5. George, born March 29,
1650, died young. 6. Samuel, born in Chelms
ford, mentioned below. 7. Edith, born Feb
ruary 21, 1655. 8. Rebecca, born September
18, 1657, died young. 9. Elizabeth, born Octo
ber 21, 1658-59, died young. 10. Thomas, born
July 22, 1660, died November 20 following.
11. Mary, born October 29, 1664, married
 Cooper.
(Ill) Samuel, son of Lieutenant Thomas
Adams, was born in Chelmsford about 1652-53.
He was a millwright by trade and removed to
Charlestown. and thence to Canterbury, Con
necticut, where he was a prominent citizen.
He was one of the first board of selectmen in
Canterbury in 1699. His will was dated Au
gust 7, 1727, -and proved December 4, 1727.
He died ' November 26, 1727. He married
]y[ary  , who died March 28, 1718. Chil
dren: 1. Abigail, born in Chelmsford about
1682-83. 2. Captain Joseph, mentioned below.
3. Henry, married Sarah Adams. 4. Thomas,
married, February 23; 1714-15. Abigail Daven
port. 5. Samuel, married Mary Cady; died
February 11, 1725-26. 6. Susanna, born in
Charlestown, March 13, 1692, married James

534

MASSACHUSETTS.

Bradford, y. Katherine, born May 27, 1695,
married, June 7, 1718, David Adams, died Au
gust 2, 1733. 8. Margaret, born in Canterbury,
married Samuel Adams. 9. Rebecca, died July
5- 1709-
( 1 V ) Captain Joseph, son of Samuel Adams,
was born in Chelmsford about 1682-83, died
March 3, 1752. He was a first settler at Can
terbury, a large land dealer and prominent
man. fle married (first) July 23, 1708, Eunice
Spalding, who died April 5, 1726. He married
(second) April 4, 1728, Mrs. Susanna (Wood
ward) Adams, born 1693, died April 29, 1790,
daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Dana)
Woodward, and widow of William Adams.
Children of first wife: 1. Joseph, born in
Canterbury, June 10, 1709, died September 7,
1709. 2. Captain Samuel, September 4, 1710,
mentioned below. 3. Eunice, July 25, 1713,
married Thomas Bradford. 4. Lieutenant
Joseph, September 6, 171 5, died December 6,
1780; married, 1738, Sarah Bradford. 5. Mary,
August 5, 1719, married  Leach. 6.
Parker, April 18, 1722, married, May 9, 1745,
Freelove Fanning. Children of second wife :
7. Susanna, January 19, 1729, died October 3,
1729. 8. Elihu, June 11, 1731, married, March
6. 1753. Jerusha Adams; died December 22,
1804. 9. Captain Thomas, July 31, 1734, mar
ried (first) Susanna Peck; (second) January
4, 1782, Mary Mudge ; died April 22, 1815.
(V) Captain Samuel (2), son of Captain
Joseph Adams, was born in Canterbury, Sep
tember 4, 1 710, died there December 27, 1760
(gravestone). He married (first) in 1731,
Sarah Cady, who died January 7, 1736, daugh
ter of Richard and Mary Cady. He married
(second) in 1739, Abigail Adams, born No
vember 12, 1712, died August 21, 1809, daugh
ter of Samuel and Mary (Cady) Adams. She
married (second) Deacon Richard Hale. Chil
dren of first wife: 1. Captain Samuel, born
June 13, 1732, married, April 12, 1756, Lydia
Adams. 2. Anna, born May 19, 1734, married
Asa Aspinwall. Children of second wife: 3.
Gideon, May 2, 1743, married, January 5, 1764,
Mary Leach. 4. Eunice, June 17, 1746, married
April 16, 1764, Captain John Stark. 5. Na
than, 1748, mentioned below. 6. Abigail, April
12. 1750, married, November 19, 1768, Elijah
Williams. 7. Sarah, November 1, 1753, mar
ried, December 19, 1771, Major John Hale;
died 1803., 8.- Alice, July 1, 1756, married
(first) Elisha Ripley ; (second) William Law
rence. 9. Joseph, December 19, 1758, married,
1792, Abiah Edgerton.
(VI) Nathan, son of Captain Samuel (2)

Adams, was born in Canterbury, December 31,
1748, died February 4, 1837. He owned a
farm and grist mill one mile south of- Canter
bury village, and a house in the village, where
he spent his last days. He was appointed in
. 1782 lieutenant to command a garrison at
Black Rock, Fairfield, Connecticut. He mar
ried (first) April 4, 1771, Phebe Ensworth,
born August 1, 1749, died July 12, 1800. He
married (second) Mrs. Mary (Wright) Hale,
born December 3, 1743, died December 22,
1808, widow of Richard Hale, Jr. He married
(third) Anna Boswell, of Norwich. Children:
1. Mehitable, born June 16, 1772, died August
11, 1787. 2. Hon. Rufus, May 6, 1774, men
tioned below.
(Vii) Hon. Rufus, son of Nathan Adams,
was born in Canterbury, May 6, 1774, died
December 21, 1840. fte graduated at Yale
College in 1795. He was a member of the
legislature, and judge of the court in 1829.
He removed to New York City. He married,
November 26, 1807, Joanna Byers, born Sep
tember 14, 1781, died January 27, i860. Chil
dren, born in Canterbury: 1. Mehitable, Octo
ber 5, 1809, married, December 21, 1831,
Henry Smith; died April 14, 1880. 2. Mary
Smith, June 25, 181 1, died March 14, 1815.
3. Dr. Nathan, May 6, 181 3, mentioned below.
4. Mary Smith; June 30, 181 5, married, No
vember 23, 1852, Benjamin W. Delameter. 6.
Phebe Ensworth, November 5, 1819, married,
December 31, 1853, William Kinne; died April
17, 1893. 7. James Byers, October 10, 1822,
married, January 7, 1852, Catherine M. John
son ; died May 22, 1857. 8. Rufus, October 4,
1825, died October 9, 1825.
(VIII) Dr. Nathan (2), son of Hon. Rufus
Adams, was born in Canterbury, *May 6, 1813.
He attended the public schools with the addi
tion of two years at school in Hartford, where
he fitted for college. He graduated from Yale
Medical School with honors in 1836, and then
spent six years in BellevUe Hospital, New York
City, and a year or more lived in Connecticut.
He settled in Springfield, Massachusetts, and
at once took a deep interest in town affairs.
In 1856 he represented ward 3 in the city
council. He was a very successful practitioner,
and was popular with his patients and with his
professional contemporaries. On a bitterly
cold night in January, 1865, he was thrown
from his carriage and was a long time recover
ing from the effects of the accident, which
finally led him to give up his professional life.
He sold his Springfield property and removed
to New Haven, Connecticut, where he lived

AZ ,

MASSACHUSETTS.

535

for five years a secluded life, then travelled
five years more. In 1876 he returned to Spring
field and in 1886 bought a house on Worthing
ton street. Soon afterward he bought the
McKnight place at Ingersoll Grove, but did not
live long enough to enjoy his new home. While
on a visit to his daughter at Marblehead, he
died suddenly of heart disease, October 2,
1888. Dr. Adams was a man of great force
of character. His generosity was unbounded
and he did more gOod than the world will ever
know. He was interested in the Episcopal
church, especially the church in Vineland, New
Jersey, of which his son-in-law, Mr. Egbert,
was rector, and gave liberally towards its sup
port. He married, May 11, 1843, Elizabeth
Watkinson, born September 18, 181 7, daugh
ter of Robert and Maria (Champion) Watkin
son. Children: 1. Ellen Watkinson, born
February 6, 1844, mentioned below. 2. Nathan,
July 12, 1845. 3. William Rufus, January 3,
1853, died March 7, 1854.
(IX) Ellen Watkinson, daughter of Dr.
Nathan (2) Adams, was born February 6,
1844, at Springfield. She married, April 18,
1877, Rev. John L. Egbert, who was born in
Liberty, Missouri, but always lived in Ken
tucky, son of John Smith and Jane (Hazlett)
Egbert. He was an Episcopal clergyman, and
was settled in Bainbridge, New York, and
Vineland, New Jersey. Children: 1. Nathan
Adams, born in Bainbridge, New York, Febru
ary 15, 1878, graduate of Harvard College,
class of 1900 (A. B.). 2. Ellen Watkinson,
Bainbridge, August 12, 1879. 3. William Wal
lace, Vineland, New Jersey, August 10, 1882,
4. John Leighter, Vineland, New Jersey, Octo
ber 20, 1884.
(For first generation see Henry Adams 1).
Ensign Edward Adams, son of
ADAMS Henry Adams, was born in Eng
land, and about 1630 came to
New England with his parents. He and three
of his brothers settled in Medfield, Massachu
setts. He was ensign and selectman and deputy
to the general court in 1689-92 and 1702. He
died in Medfield, November 12, 1716, "the last
of the original settlers." He married (first)
in 1652, Lydia Rockwood, daughter of Rich
ard and Agnes (Bicknell) Rockwood. She
died March 3, 1676. He married (second) in
1678, Abigail (Craft) Ruggles, widow. (Til
den says Abigail Day, of Dedham). She died
1707. He married (third) January 6, 1709-
10, Sarah Taylor. Children, all by first wife :
1. Lydia, born July 12, 1653, married (first)

December 12, 1672, James Allen; (second)
1697, Joseph Daniel; died December 26, 1731.
2. Captain Jonathan, born April 4, 1655, mar
ried (first) 1678, Mary Ellis; (second) De
cember 12, 1717, Mehitable Cheney, widow;
died January 24, 1718. 3. John, born February
18, 1657, died March 1, 1761 ; married (first)
1682, Deborah Partridge; (second) Susanna
Breck. 4. Eliashib, born February 18, 1658-9,
mentioned below. 5. Sarah, born May 29,
1660, married, 1677, John Turner. 6. Lieu
tenant James, born January 4, 1661-62, mar
ried, January 4, 1689, Mary  ; died 1733.
7. Henry, born October 29, 1663, married
(first) December 10, 1691, Patience Ellis;
(second) 1697-98, Ruth Ellis ; (third) Mrs.
Hannah Adams; died June 28, 1749. 8. Mehit
able, bora March 30, 1665, married Josiah
Faxon; died March 1, 1753. 9. Elisha, born
August 25, 1666, married, December 18, 1689,
Mehitable Cary. 10. Edward, born June 28,
1668, married, May 19, 1692, Elizabeth Walley.
11. Bethia, born April 12, 1670, died 1672. 12.
Bethia, born August 18, 1672, died young. 13.
Abigail, born June 25, 1675, died young. 14.
Miriam, born February 26, 1676, died young.
(Ill) Eliashib, son of Ensign Edward
Adams, was born in Medfield, February 18,
1658-59. He settled in Bristol, Rhode Island,
.where he died in 1698. His will was proved
August 2, 1698. He married, December 18,
1689, Mehitable Cary, daughter of John Cary.
He had four children: 1. Lydia, born Janu
ary 7, 1690. 2. William, born June 3, 1693. 3.
Mehitable, born August 3, 1695. 4. Eliashib,
born September 11, 1697. All of these are
mentioned in his will.
(IV) Eliashib (2), son of Eliashib (1)
Adams, was born in Bristol, Rhode Island,
September 11, 1697. He settled in Preston,
Connecticut, and died May 15, I733"34- He
married, November 9, 1720, Deborah Tracy,
of Preston, daughter of Thomas Tracy. After
his death she removed to Canterbury, Con
necticut, and married (second)  Adams.
Children: 1. Jerusha, born November 28, 1721,
died November 26, 1726. 2. Mehitable, born
September 28, 1723. 3. Deborah, born Au
gust 5, 1725, died November 20, 1726. 4.
Eliashib, born July 28, 1727, mentioned below.
5. Jerusha, born August 24, 1729, married,
March 6, 1753, Elihu Adams ; died January 24,
1815. 6. Lydia, born November 17, 1731. 7.
William, born September 4, 1733.
(V) Eliashib (3), son of Eliashib (2)
Adams, was born in Preston, Connecticut, July
28, 1727. In 1741 he was apprenticed to learn

536

MASSACHUSETTS.

the weaver's trade at Norwich, Connecticut.
He settled in Canterbury, Connecticut, about
1750. He was a member of the general assem
bly a number of times. In 1797, with his
daughter Chloe, he removed to Worthington,
Massachusetts, where he died September 3,
1801, aged seventy-four. "He was a man of
naturally brilliant talents; had the manners
and used the language of a gentleman liberally
educated, and had the confidence of all who
knew him." He married (first) May 3, 1753,
Betsey Phillips, of Pomfret, Connecticut, who
died March 9, 1766. He married (second)
August 20, 1767, Mrs. Molly Webb Annable,
widow, of Scotland, Connecticut, daughter of
Timothy Webb. She died March, 1826, aged
eighty-seven, at the home of her daughter,
Chloe Brewster, at Chesterfield, Massachusetts.
Children of first wife, born in Pomfret, Con
necticut: 1. Dr. Elijah, born February 17,
1754, surgeon in the battle of Bunker Hill. 2.
Mary, born June 13, 1757, married Deacon
Rufus Marsh. 3. Cynthia, born August 2,
1760. 4. Mehitable, born February 11, 1763,
died September 13, 1763. 5. Betsey, born July
2, 1765. Children of second wife, born in
Canterbury, Connecticut : 6. Chester, born
May 13, 1768, died December 6, 1769. 7.
Chloe, born August 12, 1770, married, 1806,
Dr. Moses Brewster. 8. Deacon Eliashib, born
June 5, 1773, married, December, 1800, Anna
Leland, died August 28, 1855, in Bangor,
Maine. 9. Ashur, born August 17, 1777, mar
ried (first) Nancy Bissell; (second) Catherine
Bissell; (third) Emily Wyllys; died June 20,
i860. 10. Chester, born January 22, 1780,
mentioned below.
(VI) Chester, son of Eliashib (3) Adams,
was born in Canterbury, Connecticut, January
22, 1780. In early manhood he was a school
teacher. He became a prominent man of
Charlestown and Boston. From 1814 to 1819
he was cashier of the Tremont National Bank
of Boston. From December, 1819, to October,
1846, he was cashier of the Union Bank. At
that time he was elected its president, which
position he held until his death, May 30, 1855.
He was deacon of the Winthrop Congrega
tional church for a number of years. He
married, March 22, 1803, Elizabeth Watts,
born in Worthington, Massachusetts, Decem
ber 24, 1778, died in Charlestown, December
21, 1851. Children, the first two born in
Wprthington, the others in Charlestown: 1.
John, born May 5, 1804, married, January 1,
1838, Mary Ann Bryant; died July 29, 1873.
2. Rev. Henry, born April 13, 1806, married,

May 10, 1831, Sophia Field; died March 28,
1883. 3. James, born February 18, 1810, men
tioned below. 4. Elizabeth, born March 5,
1812, married Rev. Alvan Tobey, died May
11, 1897. 5. Sarah, born February 5, 1815,
married Dr. Jacob Hayes, died September 25,
1876. (VII) Hon. James, son of Chester Adams,
was born in Charlestown, February 18, 1810.
In early life he was in the hardware business
and had a store at first with his brother, John
Adams, in the square where the Charlestown
Enterprise office now is. Later his store was
located at the corner of Main and Henley
streets, opposite the Warren Institution for
Savings, of which he was later elected presi
dent. He held that office for twenty-five years.
He was also a manufacturer of kerosene and
other oils, owning a factory on the Mystic river,
adjoining the Chelsea bridge. In 1854 he was
elected the third mayor of Charlestown. He
was prominent in the commercial, political and
religious life of the community. He was among
the organizers of the Winthrop Congregational
church and was a deacon. He was also an
active member of the school committee, and a
director of the Bunker Hill Bank. He resided
in the house formerly owned by T. J. Goodwin.
He died" November 15, 1880. He married,
April 28, 1835, Pamelia W. Skilton, daughter
of Matthew Skilton. She died July 10, 1868.
Children, born in Charlestown: 1. Pamela S.,
born March 20, 1836, died September 22, 1836.
2. James, born September 17, 1838, mentioned
below. 3. William Henry, born October 6,
1839, died October 20, 1862. 4. Sidney Ed
ward, born April 7, 1843, married, June 20,
1889, Mrs. Mary E. Pierce, and resides in
Buffalo, New York. 5. Elizabeth Watts, born
July 15, 1844. 6. Sarah Hayes, born December
7, 1847- (VIII) James (2), son of James (1)
A^ams, was bora September 17, 1838, in
Charlestown. He attended the Harvard gram
mar school (of Charlestown) and the high
school of Charlestown. He beeame a clerk
in the Bunker Hill Bank and was promoted
step by step until he was cashier. In 1875 he
resigned this position to become cashier of the
Blackstone National Bank of Boston. He was
cashier of this large and influential bank from
that time until he was chosen its president in
January, 1899. The bank was liquidated in
April, 1900, and after forty-five years in the
banking business Mr. Adams retired. .He has
resided in Brookline, Massachusetts, since 1888.
In politics he is a Republican. He was a mem-

MASSACHUSETTS.

537

ber of the common council of Charlestown for
three years, 1868-69-70, and president during
the last year of his service. He married, May
14, 1873, Emma Kendall Tufts, born Decem
ber 15, 1848, daughter of William Tufts, of
Charlestown, and granddaughter of Amos
Tufts, a descendant of Peter Tufts, the immi
grant ancestor of one of the most distinguished
families of Charlestown and vicinity. Chil
dren: 1. Eliza Kendall, born April 25, 1874.
2. Pamelia Skilton, born May 8, 1876, graduate
of Smith College, class of 1900. 3. Helen
Crocker, born November 8, 1878, married Dr.
Frederic C. Paffard, of Brooklyn, New York,
December 15, 1904. 4. James, Jr., born De
cember 16, 1881, graduate of Harvard College,
class of 1905, now with Little, Brown & Com
pany, publishers of books, Boston.
(The Skelton Line).
The ancient home of the Skelton family is
in the north of England. There is a Skelton
in Cumberland near Penrith, and as early as
the reign of Edward I., Christina de Skelton
was defendant- in an action in the court of that
county respecting a land title. In the East
Riding of Yorkshire there is a township of
Skelton in the parish of Howden, and in the
West Riding a hamlet named Skelton, in the
parish of Leeds. There is a township of Skel
ton also in the parish of Ripon in Yorkshire.
The records of- the time of Edward I. mentions
William, son of Robert de Skelton, contesting
with William Skelton, son of William de Skel
ton, possession of lands. In 1417 Richard de
Skelton the younger, of Cumberland, and in
1418 Richard Skelton, of Carlisle, were named
in the French Rolls in the retinue of the Duke
of Gloucester, taking part in the subjection of
the northern province of France. The name
was common in the city of York many cen
turies ago. Adam de Skeltone's will was
proved October 18, 1330. Dr. Barber states
that the name is derived from Skeel, a Danish
personal name, and Tun, old Norse, meaning
a fortified town. The name occurs in the
Domesday Book, spelled Scheltun, probably
pronounces skaleton, as it is written later. The
variation in spelling is very great in the old
records. (See New Eng. Reg. 1898. p. 347)-
(I) Rev. Samuel Skelton, immigrant ances
tor, was born in England in 1584, died at
Salem, Massachusetts, August 2, 1634. He
was rector of the Sempringham church, Lin
colnshire, from about 1618 for three or more
years. This church is a relic of Norman arch
itecture to which a tower was added in 1425.

It is a parish of extensive area comprising the
chapelries of Pomton and Berthorpe, while the
village near the church has long since dis
appeared. The Manor House, formerly the
seat of the earls of Lincoln, is also destroyed.
Pie married there April 27, 1619, Susanna
Travis, daughter of William Travis. Her
father's will was dated April 22, 1635, and
proved June 17, 1645, at Lincoln. He was of
Horbling. Rev. Samuel's daughter Sarah was
baptized August 14, and was buried at Sem
pringham, August 27, 1621. He removed to
Tatershall, seventeen miles northeast of Sem
pringham, and there three children were bap
tized. It seems likely that Susanna was his
second wife and that Benjamin and Nathaniel
were by a former marriage. He* was about
thirty-six years old when he married Susanna
Travis, fle came under the appointment of
the Massachusetts Bay Company in the ship
"George Bonaventure" to Salem, sailing May
4, 1629, and he welcomed Winthrop's party
the next year. He was admitted a freeman
May 18, 1631. He had a grant of land in
Salem in 1630. (See Mass. Hist. Soc. second
series, vol. x, p. 108). He died August 2,
1634, and his wife died March 15, 1631, at
Salem. With the consent of Mrs. Beggerly,
the division of the estate was ordered in June,
I638, his three eldest children to receive the
personal effects. The house in which he lived
passed to the ownership of Nathaniel Felton,
his son-in-law, who sold it in 1643 to William
Browne. His farm was bought by John Porter.
the final deed being given by the son Samuel,
March 30, 1663. Children: 1. Benjamin, had
son John, baptized at Salem, in 1639. 2. Na
thaniel, had son John born 1648 at Salem. 3.
Sarah, born and died 1621. 4. Samuel, bap
tized January 8, 1622, mentioned below. 5.
Susanna, baptized April 3, 1627, married John
Marsh, of Salem. 6. Mary, baptized June 28,
1628, married Nathaniel Felton. 7. Elizabeth,
born about 1631 in Salem, married Robert
Sanford, of Boston.
(II) Samuel (2), son of Rev. Samuel (1)
Skelton, was baptized in Tatershall, England,
January 8, 1622. In 1644 and 1649 he conveyed
land formerly his father's, calling himself "son
of Rev. Samuel Skelton," and in 1663 completed
the transfer of his land at Salem. He returned
to England before 1645. He died at Taters
hall, May 12, 1695. His will was dated Febru
ary 15, 1663-64. It mentions his wife Mar
garet and chiUren Samuel, Zerrubbabel, Israel
and Nathaniel, and cousin John Skelton. Chil
dren : 1. Joseph, mentioned below. 2. Samuel,

538

MASSACHUSETTS.

baptized in England, 1645. 3. Zerrubbabel,
born 1647. 4. Israel, baptized 1650. 5. Na
thaniel, baptized 1656. 6. John. 7. Margaret,
buried March 14, 1695-96.
(Ill) Joseph, son of Samuel (2) Skelton,
was born probably at Salem and brought up
by his aunts or other relatives, as his father
returned to England when he was very young.
(See history of Billerica, Dedham Hist. Reg.
vol. 7, p. 11). In any case he seems to be
grandson of Rev. Samuel (1). He was
apprenticed to Captain John Carter and re
sided in Woburn as early as 1653. He mar
ried, at Dedham, February 25, 1673, Deborah
Howe, daughter of Abraham Howe, of Dor
chester. She died at Woburn in 171 1 and he
died there June 30, 1705. Children, born in
Dedham: 1. Thomas, born April 10, 1674,
mentioned below. 2. Deborah, born February
12, 1676, married, at Woburn, August 13, 1700,
John Cragin.
(IV) Thomas, son of Joseph Skelton, was
bora at Dedham, April 10, 1674, married, at
Woburn, December 29, 1701, Mary Cragin,
daughter of John and Sarah Cragin. He
learned the trade of tailor. In 1696 he deeded
lands in Woburn and in 1709 his father's home
stead at Woburn. His will was dated Novem
ber 13, 1650, bequeathing to wife Mary, son
Thomas, daughter Mary and grandson Thomas.
Children, born at Woburn: 1. Thomas, born
November 20, 1702, mentioned below. 2.
Mercy, born February 10, 1704. 3. Daze, born
August 17, 1705, died at Woburn, December
15, 171 1. 4. Anna, born January 11, 1710. 5.
Mary, died after 1750.
(V) Thomas (2), son of Thomas (1) Skel
ton, was born at Woburn, November 20, 1702,
died there March 23, 1796. He married, at
Woburn, November 3, 1729, Ruth Reed. His
will is dated February 20, 1773, with a codicil
in 1782, and was proved 1797. It mentions
his wife Ruth, daughters Mercy, Sarah, Sus
anna, Anna, and sons Daze, Thomas, John and
Matthew. Children, born in Woburn: 1.
Ruth, born August 3, 1730. 2. Mercy, born
February 9, 1731, married, January 18, 1753,
Elkanah Welch, of Cambridge. 3. Sarah, born
April 23, 1734, married, July 9, 1767, Abiathar
Johnson. 4. Anna, born January 3, 1736. 5.
Susanna, born July 24, 1737, married, Decem
ber 24, 1 76 1, Simeon Blodgett, of Lexington.
6. Thomas, born November 28, 1740, soldier in
the revolution ; married Elizabeth Johnson. 7.
Daze, born December 21, 1742, married Ruth
Hartwell; was in the revolution. 8. John,
born December 31, 1744, mentioned below. 9.

Matthew, born June 19, 1746, soldier in the
revolution; married, September 6, 1769, Sarah
Wyman. 10. Anna, born June 19, 1750, mar
ried, March 5, 1782, Edward Wood.
(VI) John, son of Thomas (2) Skelton,
was born in Woburn, December 31, 1744, died
June 10, 1821. He settled in the southeast
part of the town of Billerica, and his hame
appears on the tax list as early as 1770. He
married, February 2, 1768, Joanna Johnson.
Children: 1. John, born February 4, 1771,
married, May 14, 1809, Sally Jacques; died
October 1, 1824. 2. Matthew, born October
26, 1773, mentioned below. 3. Benjamin. 4.
Thomas, born December 16, 1779, graduated
at Harvard, 1806; married Emma Willard. 5.
Alfred, died before 1821. 6. Ann, married
Amos Haggitt. 7. Joanna, married David Fos
dick. (VII) Deacon Matthew Skilton (he and his
descendants spelled the name with an "i"),
son of John Skelton, was born October 26,
1773, died in Charlestown, October 7, 1842.
fle inherited the homestead. He married
(first) Pamela Wyman, of Charlestown, who
died March 15, 1834. He married (second)
April, 1835, Mrs. Martha Skilton (or Skelton),
who died October 10, 1842, aged sixty-nine.
Children: 1. Matthew, born August 19, 1806,
died January 12, 1831. 2. Samuel Putnam,
born August 18, 1808, died September 8, 1848.
3. Augustus, born October 11, 1810, died
young. 4. Pamelia Wyman, born October 23,
1812, married, April 28, 1835, Hon. James
Adams, died July 10, 1868 (see Adams family).
5. Augustus Henry, born February 11, 1823,
died April 20, 1898.

It has been wisely said .that the
ADAMS native American stock may be
found in its pristine purity in
Vermont as in no other state in the Union.
Among so much foreign influx, this old stock
has a saving quality. Vermont has raised many
great men and has loaned her citizens freely to
other states. Wisconsin borrowed the resource
ful Matt. Carpenter and the broad minded Dick
inson of Cleveland's ministry ; Iowa, that master
of finance, Leslie M. Shaw, and Illinois, that
matchless debater, Stephen A. Douglas. Ver
mont people are everywhere, and in Massachu
setts and the Connecticut Valley they are in
all honorable walks. They have brought with
them the traditions and high principles of the
old Green Mountain state. They have the
capacity to do things, to succeed in whatever
they undertake. Good people to know, to have

MASSACHUSETTS.

539

on your side, are these same Vermonters. The
city of Springfield contains among her pro
gressive and successful business men a goodly
number who have hailed from this state and
no family from there have wrought to better
advantage or moved iri better circles than the
one we now introduce.
(II) James (2), son of James (1) Adams,
came from Stillwater,. New York. He resided
in Canaan, Connecticut, and Springfield, Mass
achusetts. In 1768 he went to St. Johnsbury,
Vermont, then called Dunmore. He settled
in the meadow south of Railroad street and
made the first clearing in town. He was one
of the original grantees when the town was in
corporated. He later lived in Littleton and
Waterford, Vermont. He married, in Spring
field, Submit Purchase. His wife died in 1797
and he married again. He died in 1810 and
was buried on his farm in St. Johnsbury. Chil
dren: 1. Martin, whose career follows. 2.
Jonathan, born September 20, 1765. 3. Thirza,
September 29, 1767. 4. Clarisse, January 21,
!7°9- 5- James Callender, January 25, 1771.^
6. Charles. (Ill) Deacon Martin, eldest son of James
(2) and Submit (Purchase) Adams, was born
in Canaan, Connecticut, February 5, 1764, and
went with his father to Springfield and to St.
Johnsbury, then called Duncansboro. He served
as drummer boy in Captain James Brookin's
company and Colonel Sam Fletcher's regiment
in the revolutionary war from July to No
vember 23, 1 78 1. Also in Captain William
Hutchins's independent Vermont militia. He
settled in Newport, Vermont, then called Dun
cansboro, and built the first log house there in
1793 where Alfred Himes afterward long lived.
He went to Stanstead, Canada, for a few years
but returned to Newport. He was selectman
in 1802-09-10-15-18-19-20. He was representa
tive to the general court in 1814. He married
Mercy, daughter of Rev. S. B. Ryder.
(IV) Abial, son of Deacon Martin and
Mercy (Ryder) Adams, lived in Newport and
was a, farmer, owning a saw mill. He was"
town clerk in 1825 and was a constituent mem
ber of the Baptist church. His house was
made the pest house by vote of the town in
the small pox epidemic in 1844. He married
Irene Gray. Children: 1. Abial A., born Janu
ary 24, 1802, died July 9, 1881. 2. Irene, Sep
tember 15, 1807, died April 1, 1885. 3. Ira,
March 7, 1824, died December 16, 1900. 4.
Daniel M., October 17, 1825, died December 6,
1861. 5. Lucretia, October 17, 1827, died Au
gust 18, 1828. 6. James C, May 27, 1829, died

April 12, 1899. 7. John D., July 12, 1831, died
November 16, 1907. 8. Abel P., August 11,
ig33- 9- Oscar D., May 19, 1835. 10. Mercy,
April 17, 1838, died October 30, 1864. 11,
Newel H, June 8, 1841. 12. Orrin J., March
25, 1844. 13. Harriet, June 28, 1846, died
February, 1872. 14. Don C, December 19,
1848. 15. Ranson W., June 16, 1851. 16.
Frank, May 13, 1854.
(V) Oscar Dunreath, son of Abial and Irene
(Gray) Adams, was born in Newport, May
l9- 1835. He attended the district school and
Derby Academy, graduating from the latter in
1855. He taught country schools until twenty-
one years of age, when he clerked in a store
at Derby Center. In 1862 he was in Troy,
Vermont, in business. He. came to Springfield
in 1864, when it was a small city and he has
seen it grow to its present proportions. In
Springfield he has been engaged in the produce
business, selling Vermont produce, and is now
actively engaged in the same. He came from
a state where there are nothing but Republi
cans and of course belongs to that party. He
has never taken office except two years as alder
man under Mayor Ladd. He is president of
the Sons and Daughters of Vermont, in Spring
field. He attends the First Congregational
Church and contributed liberally toward the
erection of the Memorial Church. The sport
he loves best is fly-casting for trout. He came
to know when a farmer lad where the speckled
beauties lurketh and he usually entices a goodly
number from their hidden haunts when with
reel and creel he goes on his vacation among
the hills of his early days. He married Mari
etta, daughter of Hiram B. Lane, whose ances
try is traced in this work. They have one
child, Bertha E., who married Waldo E., the
son of Mark Benjamin. Her husband died
June 13, 1906. Mrs. Benjamin is a member of
the Tuesday Morning Musical Club and eligible
to membership in the Daughters of the Amer
ican Revolution, of which she is soon to become
a member. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin had one
child, Avis Retta, who married Wendell W.
Broadhurst, of the Broadhurst dye works of
Springfield. (The Lane Line).
Robert Lane was from Derbyshire, England,
and settled in Killingworth, Connecticut, later
coming to Stratford, Connecticut, in 1665. His
town lot was number sixty-two of two acres.
He was a successful farmer and was sexton
of the graveyard. In 1699 he was given four
teen acres in the division of the commonage.
Herders were employed to take care of cattle

540

MASSACHUSETTS.

which were pastured in the woods. It was an
irksome job, and the men sometimes proved
recreant to duty and not much to blame either.
"February 18, 1662, Samuel Fayrechild and
Robert Lane, cowkeepers for the year 1662,
being detected of unfaithfulness in keeping
the heard, the said Samuel and Robert doe
own they did leave the heard in the woods and
came home several days. This was owned in
a public town meeting. They were fined twenty
shillings." In 1675 he was chosen fence viewer
and in 1686 was representative to the general
court. He married Sarah Pickett, of Eng
land, and after her decease Lydia Kelsey. Chil
dren : Joseph, born February 29, 1666 ; Hurd ;
Hannah, December 16, 1668; Daniel, July 27,
1671 ; John, who is. sketched later; Elizabeth,
January 31, ,1676; Margaret, August 25, 1679;
Rebecca, March 7, 1682; Jonathan, October
16, 1685 ; Mary, September 23, 1688.
(II) John, fifth of the ten children of Rob
ert and Sarah (Pickett) Lane, was lieutenant
in the Seventh Regiment, having enlisted
March 17, 1775. He was also in Captain Jon
athan Johnson's company of the Wadsworth
brigade, having enlisted June 12 and discharged
November 16, 1775. He was made a prisoner
at Fort Washington. He re-enlisted under
Captain Daniel Allen in Colonel Samuel Wylles
third regiment of the Continental line and was
transferred to the Georgia battalion in August,
1777. Also he was a soldier at the East Haven
alarm, July 7, 1779, under Captain Bezaleel
Bristol. He enlisted again July 1 and was
discharged December 13 under Colonel Her
man 'Swift in the Seventeenth Regiment,
they being the short levies in Connecticut,
in 1780. On September 16, 1789, he was
promoted to be corporal and served several
years in Captain Abraham Pierson's Seventh
Connecticut regiment. He was accidentally
killed while drilling his company on the square
in Killingworth. He married Experience
Edgarton. Their children were : John, Jede
diah, Samuel, Hezekiah and Elisha.
(Ill) Samuel, third son -of Captain John
and Experience (Edgarton) Lane, married Abi
gail Norton, July 2, 1757, and lived in Salis
bury, Connecticut. Their children were : Sam
uel, Elisha, Abigail, Electa, Polly and Salome.
( IV ) Elisha, second son of Samuel and Abi
gail (Norton) Lane, was born in Salisbury,
Connecticut. He lived in Salisbury and Bur
lington, Vermont. He lived in Burlington on
the farm afterward owned by the Loomis
family above the high bridge on the intervale.
He married Charity Jacobs. Their children

were: Lovey, deceased when young; Laura,
Seymour, Burrill, Harry, Elisha, Charity,
Mariah, Calista, Hyman and Hiram, twins, and
Horace. (V) Seymour, third child of the thirteen
children of Elisha and Charity (Jacobs) Lane,
was born in Newport, February, 1788. He
was one of the organizers of the Congrega
tional church at Newport and was clerk of
the same from 1831 to 1864. He was select
man in 1828-29. He married, January 1, 1815,
Hetty Robinson. Their children were : George,
Henry, Harriet, Cephas, Hiram B., who is
sketched below; Augusta and Elisha.
(VI) Hiram B., fifth of the seven children
of Seymour and Hetty (Robinson) Lane, was
born in Newport, August 17, 1824, died in
Springfield, November 15, 1901. He was
selectman of Newport in 1859. He married
Eleanor, daughter of Samuel Bowley. She
was born June 20, 1822, died September 4,
1862. He married (second) Maria J. Hitch
cock, born March, 1834. Children by first
wife: Marietta, born July 21, 1844, became
the wife of Oscar D. Adams (see Adams).
Elma, October 31, 1848. Olin H, February
21, 1855. Children by second marriage : Harry
P., September 13, 1865. Harriet B., January
27. i875- 
John Adams removed from Bow-
ADAMS doin to Litchfield, Maine, in 181 3,
with his wife, whose maiden
name was Rebecca Tarr, and three sons, James,
Daniel and John. He died in Litchfield in 1830.
(II) James, son of John and Rebecca
(Tarr) Adams, was born in Bowdoin, in 1787,
and died at the home of his son James, in
Iowa, May 8, 1866, aged seventy-nine years. In
early life he followed the sea a part of the
time for some years, and being of a frugal
disposition he saved a portion of each year's
earnings. In 181 3, with his father and brothers,
he went to Litchfield, and after preparing a
log cabin in the wilderness he took his family
'there and instituted a home. He was soon able
to build comfortable buildings, and with the
efficient and faithful aid of his good wife, in
creased his estate until he became one of the
most independent and successful farmers in
the town. He succeeded by most rigid economy
and untiring industry, backed up by good judg
ment and sound New England sense. He was
deeply interested in public affairs, state and
national, and read much in the newspapers and
in such books as came into his hands. Though
at first opposed to prohibition, he carefully in-

MASSACH USETTS.

54i

vestigated the claims put forward in its favor,
and seeing its very beneficial effects in the
community where he lived, he gave it his un
qualified support and became a "tetotaller,"
and so remained the rest of his life. He was
one of the first to identify himself with the
political party which declared against the ex
tension of slavery into free territory, and
assisted in the organization of the Republican
party in his town. He was a man of intense
convictions, strong prejudices, active in mind,
and possessing courage at all hazards. He
was a good friend and an undesirable enemy ;
appreciating kindness, resenting injury with
fiery indignation ; a man who without a dollar
to begin life, with was ever able to command
credit to any amount he desired. He married
Mary Williams, who died November 3, 1863,
aged seventy-one years. They had ten children
who grew up on the old homestead and then
scattered from Maine to California: 1. Daniel,
born December 1, 1812, lived near his father,
and died December 5, 1852. He married Susan
Harriman. 2. Lettice, April 13, 1814, married
William Hale and moved to Fresno, California.
3. Mary Ann, October 27, 18 15, married Wil
son Sandford, of Bowdoin. 4. Rufus W., Sep
tember 28, 1818, married Mary I. Clifford, is
a builder, and lives in Bath. 5. Aaron, see
below. 6. Margaret, March 28, 1822, married
Dr. Isaac Rowell, lived first in Cardiner, Maine
and then in San Francisco, California. 7.
Janos L., July 19, 1824, married Mary Gan
non, and lived in Boston, Massachusetts. 8.
Urial D., September 6, 1826, married Love L.
Brackett and settled in Charlestown, Massa
chusetts, where he became a successful con
tractor. 9. Melville W., April 6, 1832, married
Mary C. Smith, and owns and occupies the
homestead farm. 10. Franklin C, October 6,
1834, married Lectina Lewis.
(Ill) Aaron, third son of James and Mary
(Williams) Adams, was born in Litchfield,
December 2.8, 1819, died in Harpswell in i860.
He carried on the lumber business in Litch
field, and afterward conducted a hotel at Bruns
wick, and later in Harpswell. In religious faith
he was a Universalist, and in politics a Whig.
He married, in Brunswick, Frances Ann Niles,
born in Topsham, July 27, 1821, and is still
living (1909). She is the daughter of James
Erastus and Deborah (Gannon) Niles, of
Turner. James Erastus Niles was a fifer at
the age of twelve in the war of 1812. His
parents, James and Mercy Niles, lived in
Turner. The children of Aaron and Frances
A. (Niles) Adams were: 1. Aaron Alphonso.

2. Georgiana, who married George H. Say-
ward, of Dover, New Hampshire, and now
resides in Winchester, Massachusetts. 3. Ed
win Boardman, next mentioned.
(IV) Dr. Edwin Boardman, youngest child
of Aaron and Frances Ann (Niles) Adams,
was born in Brunswick, Maine, October 20,
1851. He received his literary education in the
public schools, attending the high school 1 of
Bath from the age of twelve to fifteen. In
1866 he left Bath and went to Waltham, Mass
achusetts, where he was employed two years as
a dial-painter in a watch factory. The two or
three years next following he was employed in
a store in Boston. In 1872 he engaged at his
trade in the ,Springfield watch factory and was
employed there till 1879. In 1876 he decided
to study medicine, and for that purpose entered
the office of Dr. George E. Foster, of Spring
field, and read four years, as he had leisure, all
the time attending to his work in the factory.
In 1879 he left the factory and entered the
College of Physicians and Surgeons, of New
York, for his final course, from which he re
ceived his degree March 13, 1880. He im
mediately engaged in the practice of medi
cine and surgery in Springfield, and by labor
and skill has secured an honorable position
and a large practice. He was visiting sur
geon three years and, did all the operating
at Mercy Hospital for three months of each
year, and is now consulting surgeon in that
institution. He is a member of the Springfield
Academy of Medicine, the Massachusetts Medi
cal Society, and the American Medical Asso
ciation. In politics he is independent. He
married, April 30, 1884, Mrs. Jane Kent, whose
maiden name was Kirby. She was bora in
Leeds, England, and came to America when
a small child in 1857.

(II) Joseph Adams, son of Henry
ADAMS Adams (q. v.), born in England,
1626, died in Braintree, Massa
chusetts, December 6, 1694. He was a maister.
He was admitted a freeman in 1653 ; was select
man 1673. His will was dated July 18, 1694;
proved January 10, 1695. He married, in Brain
tree, November 26, 1650, Abigail Baxter, died
in Boston, August 27, 1692, aged fifty-eight,
daughter of Gregory and Margaret (Paddy)
Baxter, of Boston. Children, born in Brain
tree: 1. Hannah, born November 13, 1652;
married, April 10, 1672, Deacon Samuel Savil;
died September 15, 1726. 2. Joseph, born Octo
ber or December 24, 1654; mentioned below.
3. John, born February 13, 1656, died January

542

MASSACHUSETTS.

27, 1657. 4. Abigail, bora February 27, 1658 ;
married John Bass ; died October 26, 1696. 5.
Captain John, born December 20, 1661 ; mar
ried first, Hannah Webb; second, October 19,
1694, Hannah Checkley; was sea captain and
merchant. 6. Bethia (twin), born December
20, 1661 ; married, May, 1680, John Webb. 7.
Mary, born September 8, 1663, died young. 8.
Samuel, born September 3, 1665, died young.
9. Mary, born February 25, 1667-78; married
Deacon Samuel Bass; died March 9, 1706. 10.
Captain Peter, born February 7, 1669-70; mar
ried, February 12, 1695, Mary Webb. 11. Jon
athan, born January 31, 1671. 12. Mehitable,
born November 23, 1673; married, July 21,
1697, Thomas White, Jr. ; died October 2, 1713.
(Ill) Joseph (2), sonof Joseph (1) Adams,
born in Braintree, October or December 24,
1654, died there February 12, 1736-37. He
resided in Braintree, and was selectman in 1673
and 1698-99. Joseph Adams and John Bass
were credited to Braintree for services in the
war with the Indians in August, 1676. He
married first, February 20, 1682, Mary Chapin,
born August 27, 1662, died June 14, 1687. He
married second, 1688, Hannah Bass, born June
22, 1667, died October 24, 1705, daughter of
John and Ruth (Alden) Bass. He married
third, Elizabeth Hobart, died February 13,
:739> aged seventy-one, daughter of Caleb
Hobart of Braintree. Children of first wife:
1. Mary, born February 6, 1683, died January
30, 1733-34; married, April, 1714, Ephraim
Jones, Jr., of Braintree. 2. Abigail, born Feb
ruary 17, 1684, died April 28, 1722; married,
February 5, 1713, Seth Chapin, Jr. Children
of second wife: 3. Rev. Joseph, born January
4, 1688; married first, October 13, 1720, Mrs.
Elizabeth Janvrin; second, January 3, 1760,
Elizabeth Brackett ; graduate of Harvard, 1710.
4. Deacon John, born February 8, 1691-92;
mentioned below. 5. Samuel, born January 28,
1694, died July 17, 1751 ; married, October 6,
1720, Sarah Paine. 6. Josiah, born February
18, 1696, died July 30, 1802; married, Novem
ber 25, 1 71 8, Bethia Thompson. 7. Hannah,
born February 21, 1698; married, February 4,
1725, Benjamin Owen. 8. Ruth, born March
21, 1700; married, November 21, 1731, as sec
ond wife, Rev. Nathan Webb; resided at Ux
bridge. 9. Bethia, born June 13, 1702; married,
April 28, 1737, Ebenezer Hunt, as second wife.
10. Captain Ebenezer, born December 30, 1704,
died August 6, 1769; married, 1728-29, Anna
Boylston. Child of first wife : 11. Caleb, born
May 26, 1710, died June 4, 1710.
(IV) Deacon John Adams, son of Joseph

(2) Adams, born in Braintree, February 8,
1691-92, died May 25, 1761 ; married, October
31, 1734, Susanna Boylston, born March 5,
1699, died April 17, 1797, daughter of Peter
and Ann (White) Boylston, of Brookline. He
was a cordwainer and farmer, iand resided at
Braintree. Children, born in Braintree: I.
President John, born October 19, 1735 ; men
tioned below. 2. Captain Peter Boylston, born
October 16, 1738; married, August 20, 1768,
Mary Crosby; died June 2, 1823. 3. Captain
Elihu.born May29, 1741 ; married, 1765, Thank
ful White.
(V) President John (2) Adams, son of Dea
con John Adams, was born in Braintree, now
Quincy, Massachusetts, October 19, 1735. He
graduated at Harvard College in 1755, and
taught school and studied law at Worcester for
two years. He was admitted to the Suffolk
bar in 1758, and began practice in Boston, re
siding at Braintree until 1768, when he removed
to Boston. He was employed as counsel, to
gether with Jeremiah Gridley, the head of the
Boston bar, and James Otis, the orator, to pre
sent a petition to the governor and council that
the courts might proceed with business, though
no stamps were to be had, and he was chosen
one of a committee to draft instructions to the
representatives of the town. In 1770 he was
chosen a representative in the general court, a
position which he occupied for a number of
years, though his practice was larger than that
of any other lawyer in the province. He was
conspicuous as an adviser and leader of the
patriot party. He was one of five delegates
chosen by Massachusetts to the congress of
1774 at Philadelphia; was a member of the
provincial congress on his return, and in 1775
was again chosen a delegate to the second con
tinental congress. The war had already begun,
and Washington was chosen commander-in-
chief. Adams was a leading spirit, and upon
him devolved the presidency and the burden of
the board of war, which won for him the en
comium of "the clearest head and firmest heart
of any man in Congress." He went abroad as
commissioner to France in February, 1778, and
for the next ten years much of his time was
spent in the service of his country, as commis
sioner to France, minister to England and to
Holland. Through his efforts a loan of two
million dollars was negotiated in Holland, which
proved of great value. He was vice-president
with Washington from 1789 to 1797, and presi
dent from 1797 to 1801. fte then returned to
his large farm and home in Quincy, where he
passed the remainder of his life, devoted mainly

MASSACH USETTS.

543

544

MASSACHUSETTS.

to writing, and died July 4, 1826, a few hours
after the death of his former associate and
friend, Thomas Jefferson. His son wrote of
him: "In figure, John Adams was not tall,
scarcely exceeding middle height, but of stout,
well-knit frame, denoting vigor and long life,
yet as he grew old, inclining more and more to
corpulence. His head was large and round,
with a wide forehead and expanded eyebrows.
His eye was mild and benignant, but when
excited, expressed the vehemence of his spirit."
He has been described as a man of greater
learning and force than any of his contempor
aries, but of ungovernable temper and undue
self-esteem. His services to his country were
of inestimable value. He married, February 24
(October 25?), 1764, Abigail Smith, born No
vember 23, 1744, died October 28, 1818, daugh
ter of Rev. William and Elizabeth (Quincy)
Smith, of Weymouth, Massachusetts. She is
described as a woman of superior abilities and
great good sense. Her letters, written to her
husband during the revolution, are interesting
and valuable for the light they throw on the
life of that period. Children: 1. Abigail, born
in Braintree, July 14, 1765, died August 15,
1 81 3 ; married Hon. Henry William Smith, pri
vate secretary of President Adams, and ap
pointed by him surveyor of the port of New
York. 2. Hon. John Quincy, born July 11,
1767; mentioned below. 3. Susanna, born in
Boston, December 28, 1768, died February 4.
1770. 4. Charles, born in Boston, May 29,
1770, died November 30, 1800; married, Au
gust 29, 1795, Sarah Smith; graduated at Har
vard, 1789; was a lawyer in New York. 5.
Hon. Thomas Boylston, born in Quincy, Sep
tember 15, 1772, died March 12, 1832 ; married,
May 16, 1805, Ann Harrod; graduated at Har
vard, 1790; was chief justice of supreme court
of Massachusetts.
( VI) Hon. John Quincy Adams, LL. D., son
of President John (2) Adams, was born in the
south house on Franklin street, Quincy, July
11, 1767. He began his public career in early
boyhood, going abroad with his father when
ten years old. He served as private secretary
to the minister to Russia when he was only fif
teen years old. Much of his education was
obtained in European courts and capitals. He
entered Harvard College in 1786 and graduated
in 1788; studied law for three years in the
office of Chief Justice Theophilus Parsons, at
Newburyport, and was admitted to the bar in
1 791. He opened an office and began practice,
but in 1794 was appointed minister to the
Hague by Washington, and in 1796 minister to

Portugal. By the written advice of Washing
ton, his father, on becoming president, made
him minister to Berlin, whither he went soon
after being married in London, in the fall of
1797. He resided several years in Berlin, per
fecting his knowledge of the German language,
negotiating treaties of commerce with Sweden
and Prussia, and travelling. A volume of his
letters on Silesia, the New England of Europe,
written to his friends at home, was published
and extensively circulated. Returning to Bos
ton he was elected a member of the Massachu
setts senate in 1802, and to the United States
senate in 1803. His ardent support of the meas
ures of President Jefferson led to his defeat for
a second term. President Madison appointed
him ambassador to Russia, and while serving in
that capacity he was joined by Clay and Galla
tin on the commission which negotiated the
treaty of peace at Ghent, December 24, 1814.
He remained in London as minister of the
United States, but returned to become secre
tary of state to President Monroe in 1817. He
was elected to the presidency in 1824 and
served one term. Upon hjs retirement he was
chosen to represent his district in congress,
which he entered in December, 1831, and where
he continued till his death. During his term as
president both senate and house were against
him, and no measures of importance were
enacted on that account. The best work of his
life, was done after he was elected to congress,
where he stood as champion of his own inde
pendent thought and the rights of the people.
He was heard, whenever he spoke in congress,
with respect and attention and exerted a power
ful influence. He was especially distinguished
for his fearless and eloquent advocacy of the
right of petition for the abolition of slavery in
the District of Columbia, which had been denied
by the dominating politicians, and which no
other had the courage to defend. He continued
at his post till an advanced age, and became
known as "the Old Man Eloquent," and died in
the capitol, suddenly, February 23, 1848, and
his last words were "This is the last of earth ; I
am content."
He married, in London, July 26, 1797, Louisa
Catherine Johnson, died 1852, daughter of
Joshua Johnson, of Maryland, who was at that
time American Consul at London. Children:
1. George Washington, born in Berlin, Prussia,
April 13, 1801 ; graduated from Harvard 1821 ;
lawyer ; unmarried ; lost on a steamer off Long
Island Sound, April 30, 1829. 2. John, born in
Boston, July 4, 1803, died October 23, 1834;
married, 1826, in the White House, Washing-

MASSACHUSETTS.

545

ton, his cousin, Mary Helen Adams. 3. Hon.
Charles Francis, born August 18, 1807 ; men
tioned below. 4. Louisa Catherine, born at St.
Petersburg, 181 1, died young.
(VII) Hon. Charles Francis Adams, LL. D.,
son of John Quincy Adams, was born in
Boston, August 18, 1807, and died there No
vember 21, 1886. He resided much of his
earlier life with his parents in Europe, and
early became master of several of the modern
European languages. He returned and grad
uated at Harvard College in 1825, soon after
his father was inaugurated president. He
studied law in the office of Daniel Webster in
Boston, and was admitted to the bar of Suffolk
county in 1828. He was a member of the
Whig party and of the Massachusetts legisla
ture from 1 83 1 to 1 831 He was nominated
for the vice-presidency by the Free Soil Repub
licans on the ticket with Martin Van Buren in
1848 ; elected to congress from the third district
of Massachusetts in 1858, and re-elected in
i860. President Lincoln appointed him min
ister to England in 1861, where he continued
till t868, a position which his father and grand
father had filled before him, and which now re
quired the highest order of diplomatic ability.
Mr. Adams acquitted himself with great firm
ness and success through the most trying con
ditions, and proved himself an American of
great patriotism and diplomatic ability. He
married, September 3, 1829, Abigail B. Brooks,
born in Medford, April 25, 1808, died June 6,
1889, youngest daughter of Peter C. Brooks, of
Boston. Children, all but the last born in Bos
ton : 1. Louisa Catherine, born August 13,
1831, died July 13, 1870; married, April 13,
1854, Charles Kuhn, of Philadelphia, Pennsyl
vania. 2. Hon. John Quincy, born September
22, 1833, died July 16, 1894; married, April 29,
1861, Fanny Cadwalader Crowninshield, of
Boston ; graduated at Harvard, 1853 ; lawyer ;
member of corporation of Harvard College. 3.
Hon. Charles Francis, LL. D., born May 27,
1835 ; married, November 8, 1864, Mary Ogden ;
graduated at Harvard, 1856 ; in civil war ; mem
ber of corporation of Harvard College. 4.
Professor Henry, born February 16, 1838;
married, June 27, 1862, Miriam Hooper ; grad
uated at Harvard, 1858; became professor in
Harvard ; author of historical works. 5. Arthur,
born July 23, 1841, died February 9, 1846. 6.
Mary, born February 19, 1846 ; married, June
20, 1877, Dr. Henry P. Quincy. 7. Brooks,
born in Quincy, June 24, 1848 ; married Evelyn,
daughterof Admiral Charles Henry Davis, U.

S. N. ; graduated at Harvard 1870; lawyer and
author ; resides in Washington, D. C. ; no issue.

John Whitcomb, immigrant
WHITCOMB ancestor of this family in
America, was undoubtedly of
English birth, and the name was originally
Whetcombe. He was long supposed to be the
son of Symon Whetcombe, who was one of the
original patentees of the old Massachusetts Bay
Colony, but the publication of the will of John
Whetcombe of Sherbourne, Dorsetshire, Eng
land, probated in 1598, shows that Symon was
then a minor, and that he could not have been
the father. of the American progenitor, who
was born about 1588. Some authorities believe
that the American John was brother of Symon,
and the- John Whetcombe mentioned in the will
of Symon's father.
John Whitcomb settled in Dorchester, Mass
achusetts, and was a church member there in
1635; this and the birth of his youngest son
Josiah, in 1638, are the only events of his
family life recorded during the years he spent
in Dorchester. Later evidence shows him to
have been well-to-do for the times, a man of
intelligence and enterprise, much given to buy
ing and selling land. In 1640 he removed to
Scituate, where he owned land, one piece being
a farm of one hundred and eight acres near
the mouth of the North river, on the Marsh
field side, and after 1646, when he became one
of the Conihasset partners, he owned the lands
which through that transaction became his
share. While in Scituate he was constable,
then one of the most important offices. He
was admitted a freeman June 3, 1652. In 1644
he sold his farm on North river to Thomas
Hicks ; in 1654 he sold half his share in Coni
hasset lands to John Williams, Jr., giving the
other half to his son Robert. In the same year
he removed to Lancaster, Massachusetts, where
he had bought a share two years before, when
the town was laid out. Not all his children
accompanied him thither ; Catherine married
and settled in Scituate ; Robert remained in
Scituate and settled in Boston. John Whit
comb and his son John are counted among the
pioneer settlers of the town of Lancaster,
originally the Nashaway Plantation. The home
stead of John, Sr., was on lot No. 33 ; John,
Jr., had lot No. 34. The present post office
and bank building in Lancaster is on the origi
nal house lot.
Pie died September 24, 1662, aged about

546

MASSACHUSETTS.

seventy-four years. He married in England,
Frances  , who made a will May 12,
1 67 1, and died at Lancaster May 17, 1671.
The agreement of division of John Whitcomb's
estate has. the name spelt by his own children
three different ways — Wetcomb, Whetcomb
and Whitcomb, October 7, 1662. Children: 1.
Catherine, married, 1644, Rodolphus Ellmes,
of Scituate, nine children. 2. James, born in
England, settled in Boston ; owned five acres
of land opposite Boston Common ; died in Bos
ton, November 23, 1686 ; married first, Rebecca
 , second Elizabeth  ; had ten chil
dren. 3. John, Jr., may have been the eldest
son, and was most closely associated in later
life with his father; married May 19, 1669 or
1671 ; died April 7, 1683, leaving wife Mary
and two daughters. 4. Robert, remained at
Scituate ; married Mary, daughter of General
James Cudworth, in Rhode Island ; they were
the first to settle in the Beeches, the family place
at Scituate. 5. Jonathan, born about 1630, in
England ; settled in Lancaster, Massachusetts,
and Wethersfield, Connecticut. 6. Abigail. 7.
Job, land surveyor at Lancaster ; married, May
19, 1669, Mary  ; settled at Wethersfield,
Connecticut. 8. Josiah, mentioned below.
(II) Josiah Whitcomb, son of John Whit
comb ( 1 ) , was born in Dorchester, Massachu
setts, in 1638. He accompanied his father
from Scituate to Lancaster in 1654, and his
name appears often on the earliest town rec
ords. In 1688 he was paid a bounty for killing
a wolf, and he and his brother Job figured in
an action for damages to a neighbor's swine.
It seems that Stephen Gates, their next neigh
bor, had three pigs killed by the Whitcomb boys,
and their father agreed to settle for the dam
age by paying forty-five shillings in wheat
"within a week after Michael tyde next 1658
to be payed at his house in Sudbury," but later
Whitcomb asked the general court to relieve
him from payment. The court decided in favor
of Gates, because he had the note, though Whit
comb alleged that the note was obtained by
false representations and that he was not liable
for the hogs. "It was by reason of age and
weakness I did not consider of it that I had no
right to pay anything to him before he did duly
make it appear that I had damnified him."
Josiah married, January 4, 1664, in Lancas
ter, Rebecca, daughter of Lawrence and Ann
(Linton) Waters, of Watertown, Lancaster
and Charlestown, Massachusetts. She was born
February, 1640. During Queen Ann's war,
1702-1717, he was allowed a garrison for pro
tection against the Indians ; it was situate in
*

what is now Bolton, then Lancaster. He was
commander of the garrison. In 1705 he was
selectman ; in 1708 was one of thirty who
signed the church covenant, and he contributed
liberally to the support of the church : in 1710
was a deputy to the general court. In his will
dated March 20, 1718, he gave to each of his
children an eighth part of his right in the town
of Littleton, Massachusetts. His widow died
in 1726. A rough granite slab marks his grave
in Lancaster, and gives the date of his death
March 21, 1718, in his eightieth year. Chil
dren: 1. Josiah, Jr., born November 12, 1665,
died same day. 2. Josiah, Jr., born January 7,
1666, or 1667. 3. David, bom February 20,
1668, mentioned below. 4. Rebecca, born No
vember 12, 1 67 1 ; married Jacob Houghton,
1704. 5. Johannah, born March 8, 1674; mar
ried, December 26, 1708, Peter Joslin; she died
September 24, 1717. 6. Hezekiah, born Sep
tember 14, 1681. 7. Deborah, born December
26, 1683 ; probably died young. 8. Damaris, mar
ried in Marlborough, Massachusetts, Nathaniel
Wilder. 9. Mary. 10. Abigail, born March 13,
1687; married josiah White, June 26, 1706.
11. Eunice.
(Ill) David Whitcomb, son of Josiah Whit
comb, was married May 31, 1700, in Con
cord, Massachusetts, to Mary (Hayward) Fair
banks, widow, a descendant of Resolved
White, who came over in the "Mayflower," a
small boy, with his father and mother, and
whose brother Peregrine is famous as the first
white child born in Massachusetts, or New
England. Her husband, Jonathan Fairbanks,
was killed by the Indians at Lancaster, Sep
tember 4, 1697 i she was taken captive, but was
returned January 17, 1699, on the Province
Galley from Casco Bay. While in captivity
she acquired a knowledge of herbs from the
Indians, and was afterward for this reason
called Doctress. They lived in the southeastern
corner of what is now Bolton, and he 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 real estate
of David was divided among his heirs by a
partition agreement. Children: 1. David. 2.
Jonathan. 3. Joseph, born 1700, mentioned
below. 4. Rebecca, baptized 1708, married
Ezra Sawyer, January 16, 1725-6. 5. Benja
min, born 1710, baptized November 26, 1710,
at Lancaster. 6. Simon, baptized March 7,
1 7 1.3-4- ( IV) Joseph Whitcomb, son of David Whit
comb, was born in Lancaster, 1700. He
married, January 20, 1725, Damaris, daughter

CX^St^^^tSL^ -l^C^YyV^ty^^^^^-

MASSACH USETTS.

547

of John and Anna (Houghton) Priest. They
settled in Lancaster, in what is now Leomins
ter; removed about 1760 to West Swanzey,
New Hampshire, where his wife died Novem
ber 12, 1770. He moved into the wilderness,,
built a saw mill and grist mill, making the
privilege on which now stand the Stratton
mills and the box and bucket shops. He owned
an extensive tract of land, was a man of high
standing, and a leading citizen. He died No
vember, 1792, aged ninety-two years, and was
buried in Swanzey; his wife died November
12, 1770. In the expedition which laid siege
to Louisburg in 1745, Joseph Whitcomb was
lieutenant in Company Four, of which John
Warner was captain, in Colonel Samuel Will-
ard's regiment. In the Crown Point expedi
tion, 1755, he was lieutenant, and in the con
quest of Canada, 1758, was captain in Colonel
Timothy Ruggle's regiment.
Children: 1. Abigail, born April 13, 1726;
married  Derby. 2. Elizabeth, born De
cember 3, 1728. 3. Lieutenant Joseph, born
March 15, 1731-2; soldier in revolution. 4.
Benjamin, born September 1, 1735 ; died young.
5. Damaris, born January 7, 1737, died young.
6. Benjamin, born September 29, 1738. 7.
Colonel Jonathan Priest, born January 14,
1740, at Leominster ; was in the revolution. 8.
Colonel Elisha (twin), born October 18, 1742.
9. Elizabeth (twin), born October 18, 1742.
10. Damaris, born May 21, 1746 ; married, April
3, 1765, Jonathan Carter; she died July 6,
1820. 11. General Philemon, born October
29, 1748. 12. Abijah, born June 25, 1751 ;
mentioned below. 13. Anna, born 1755; mar
ried June 19, 1775, John Carter, of Leominster.
(V) Abijah Whitcomb, son of Captain Joseph
Whitcomb, was born June 25, 1751, at Leo
minster, Massachusetts, and moved with the
family to Swanzey, New Hampshire.^ He
built a saw and grist mill on the west side of
the river at West Swanzey, and later with his
brother Philembn built a saw mill at what is
now Spragueville, New Hampshire. He was
a soldier in the revolution and took part in the
battle of Bunker Hill, and served eight months
and a half in the army at Cambridge in 1775.
He was a pensioner late in life. He was in
Captain Jonathan Whitcomb's company, Col
onel Reed's regiment. Four of his brothers
had commissions in the army, while Abijah,
the youngest, was a private, flis brother, Cap
tain Jonathan, who commanded the company
in which Abijah was, was entertaining some
visitors at Cambridge, and without ceremony
ordered Abijah to fetch some rum. He felt

slighted at not being introduced to the visitors,
and so, it is said, bawled out : "Which will you
have, Brother Jonathan, Old England or New'
England ?" The five brothers settled in Swan
zey, and of this line comes the character made
famous on the stage as Joshua Whitcomb. In
1840 Abijah was living with Joseph Whitcomb,
Swanzey. He married first, November 6, 1786,
Mary Seaver, born November 8, 1764, died
August 25, 1789, daughter of Shubal Seaver.
Abijah married second, February 6, 1791, Sus
anna Warner, born August 19, 1766, died De
cember 10, 1825, daughter of Daniel Warner.
Abijah died May 17, 1847. Children: 1. Abi
jah, born October 25, 1791 ; married Novem
ber 24, 1815, Susanna Graves, born 1790, died
November, 1845, daughter of Elijah Graves ;
he died October 10, 1872; children: i. Caro
line Maria, born January 7, 1818, died April
29, 1867; ii. Benjamin Franklin, born Septem
ber 7, 1820. 2. Joseph, born January 31, 1800,
mentioned below. 3. Susanna, born January
4, 1807 ; married William Read.
(VI) Joseph Whitcomb, son of Abijah Whit
comb, was born in Swanzey, New Hamp
shire, January 31, 1800, and died May 8, 1842.
He married Betsey Page, who was born in
Rupert, Vermont, in 1799, and died August 9,
1873. Their children, all born at Swanzey:
1. Chestina, born April 21, 1829; resides in
Toronto, Canada ; married September 23, 1853,
James Elbridge Underwood, of Lawrence,
Massachusetts. 2. Joseph Page, born April 29,
1831 ; resides in Keene, New Hampshire; mar
ried Mary Elizabeth Goodnow ; children : i.
Alice Mary, born February 7, 1856; married
November, 1886, Marshall W. Nims, of Con
cord, New Hampshire; ii. Carrie Elizabeth,
born January 5, 1862; teacher at Keene (New
Hampshire), high school. 3. Irvine Abijah,
born April 9, 1839 ; mentioned below.
(VII) Irvine Abijah Whitcomb, son of
Joseph Whitcomb, born at Swanzey, New
Flampshire, April 9, 1839. Pie was educated
at the district school in old No. 5, and at Mt.
Caesar Academy at Swanzey Centre, from
which he was graduated at the age of sixteen.
fle was familiar with hard work, like most
boys of his day, and at the completion of his
schooling went to work in the pail factory in
his native town. In a few years he left the
thill and opened a stationery store in Law
rence, Massachusetts, where for some years he
was very successful. Disaster finally coming
upon him through no fault of his, he was
oblieed to settle with his creditors as best he
could, and wind up his business. His char-

548

MASSACHUSETTS.

acter is well shown by the fact that he later
paid all these debts with interest, a form of
honesty that is by no means common in these
times. He then accepted a position as travel
ing agent for the Boston, Concord & Montreal
railroad, going south as far as Baltimore, west
as far as St. Louis, Chicago, Cleveland and
Buffalo. The six years he spent in this posi
tion made him thoroughly familiar with the
railroad business, and revealed to him its possi
bilities. He was forty years old when he began
the life work that made his name known
throughout the civilized world. He formed a
partnership with Walter Raymond. In 1879
Raymond & Whitcomb put into successful
operation their plans to manage railroad excur
sions in the United States. These trips prov
ing successful, they were gradually extended
until they reached the Pacific coast and be
yond, and finally the Raymond & Whitcomb ex
cursions became known all over the world.
The first excursion to California from the east
was in the spring of 1881. The party consisted
of two hundred and eighty-four persons, and
the train was divided in two sections. Before
this, however, Raymond & Whitcomb had made
trips to Washington, the White Mountains,
Montreal, Quebec, Niagara Falls, etc. In 1882
the firm sent out five trains each carrying a hun
dred or more passengers. The business greatly
increased from year to year, and new routes
were selected. The first winter excursion cov
ered a period of seven months, carrying sixty
passengers ; the second numbered one hundred
and thirty-eight, and the third over four hun
dred. The business was incorporated in the state
of Maine in 1900, under the name of Ray
mond & Whitcomb Company, Mr. Raymond
being the first president, and Mr. Whitcomb,
general manager and treasurer of the com
pany. In 1903 Mr. Whitcomb was made
president, and retained that position, as well
as that of treasurer, until his death. The
company has offices at 25 Union Square, New
York ; 1005 Chestnut street, Philadelphia ; Park
Building, Fifth avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsyl
vania; 133 East Jackson Boulevard, Chicago.
The Agencies : Union Ticket Office, 377 Main
street, Buffalo, New York ; New York Central
City Ticket Office, University Block, Syracuse,
New York; 20 State street, Rochester, New
York; 64 North Pearl street, Albany, New
York ; 33 Seneca street, Geneva, New York ; 385
Main street, Worcester, Massachusetts ; 404
Main street, Springfield, Massachusetts ; 216
West Fourth street, Los Angeles, California;

San Francisco, California; 132 Third street,
Portland, Oregon; 20 Cockspur street, S. W.
London ; 14 Hare street, Calcutta ; 59 Hornby
Row, Bombay, India. Besides these mentioned,
there are correspondents in Paris and London,
and all other agents of the Compagnie Inter
nationale des Wagons-Lits and the Trans-
Siberian Railway throughout Europe. Besides
organizing and managing personally conducted
tours, the company makes a business of pro
viding the ordering of cars for family and
other parties anywhere in the world, selling
foreign exchange, providing letters of credit,
travelers' checks, bankers' money orders to all
parts of the world. The company sells rail
road and steamship tickets at regular rates to
all points, and has as authorized agents from
I'oston, the Boston & Albany, the Boston &
Maine, the New York, New Haven & Hart
ford, including the steamship lines; from New
York, the New York Central & Hudson River,
West Shore, Baltimore & Ohio, Lehigh Valley,
Central Railroad of New Jersey, the Erie;
from Philadelphia, the Baltimore & Ohio,
Philadelphia & Reading; also the United Rail
ways of Havana, all the principal lake and
river steamship lines, coastwise lines of
steamers to points in Maine and the maritime
provinces, the Chesapeake Bay ports, the South,
the West Indies, Porto Rico, South America,
Alaska, also all trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific
steamship lines.
These excursions were not managed solely
to save money, but to make traveling more
comfortable and freer from those petty details
that are so annoying to many people. Ladies
and those unaccustomed to travel were taken
in charge and cared for in such a satisfactory
manner that these excursions soon acquired a.
popularity that has persisted to the present day.
They catered to the best classes in the com
munity. They gained their confidence and
patronage, and it was their constant aim to
give their patrons a little more than they
promised, never anything short of what was
stated in their announcements, and many can
bear witness to their faithfulness in living up-
to this standard. Much of this excellent re
sult was due to the arduous and intelligent
effort of Mr. Whitcomb, and it was largely
through his great energy, perseverance and
tact that he was enabled to place this enter
prise upon its successful foundation. The
business involved an infinite amount of de
tail. Mr. Whitcomb knew the railroads, their
officers, managers and conductors, times of
moving trains, connections to be made, places-

MASSACH USETTS

549

for stop-overs, the names of the parlor and
sleeping cars, the hotels and eating nouses and
their owners and managers, carriage men and
stage proprietors, in fact every one and every
thing having to do with his business, to which
his great energy was entirely devoted. Mr.
Whitcomb was the pioneer in this particular
branch of industry in this country. His energy,
his honesty, his reliability, his ability to accom
plish results, his loyalty to his friends and to
the public, his generosity, and his great human
ity, all go to the formation of that high char
acter which his friends and acquaintances will
always associate with his memory.
Mr. Whitcomb resided in Somerville, Massa
chusetts, where he had a handsome home. He
was a Congregationalist in religion, and joined
the Broadway Congregational Church of Som
erville on Sunday, December 2, 1906. He,
however, for many years was active in the
affairs of the parish, and contributed liberally
to the various charities and societies of the
church, fle gave three thousand dollars to the
fund for a parsonage, and his plan to raise the
money to pay for the building was successful.
For fourteen years various contributors of the
fund are to pay over the sum of five hundred
dollars annually, and when the aggregate is
seven thousand dollars, Mr. Whitcomb's contri
bution is to pay the balance. The parsonage
cost ten thousand dollars, and the condition of
the gift is that it be used always as a parson
age. Mr. Whitcomb gave freely to other relig
ious societies that appealed to him for aid, and
in all affairs, whether municipal, political or
religious, showed the spirit of a patriotic Amer
ican citizen. He was an active supporter of
Republican politics and candidates. He was a
member of Tuscan Lodge. of Free Masons, of
the Congregational Club, Boston, and of the
Home Market Club, of Boston. He was popular
among his townsmen and business associates,
and was one of the most widely known and
highly respected business men in the United
States. Mr. Whitcomb married (first), June, 1865,
Helen M. King, daughter of A. B. P. King.
He married (second), July 3, 1877, Emma F.
Read, daughter of Edwin F. and Ambre
(Stone) Read, of Swanzey, New Hampshire,
her parents were natives there, residing in
Keene, New Hampshire. Mrs. Whitcomb is
prominent in Somerville society and a mem
ber of the Heptorean Club. Children of Irvine
A. and Helen M. Whitcomb : 1. Frank Irvine ;
born January, 1868 ; attends the Episcopal
church ; resides in New York City ; married.

in San Francisco, October 15. 1890, Miriam
Miller, born in Bear Valley, California, May
11, 1868; child, Frank Irvine, Jr., born No
vember 6, 1891, at New York. 2. Nelson,
died in childhood. Children of Irvine A. and
Emma F. Whitcomb: 3. Ernest Read, born
October 11, 1886, at Somerville; student in
Tufts College. 4. Emmons Joseph, born April
5, 1888, at Somerville ; student in Massachu
setts Institute of Technology.
Mr. Whitcomb died April 15, 1907, at Som
erville, Massachusetts. At his funeral, April
18, 1907, the following remarks were made by
his pastor, Rev. Robert Welsted Beers, of the
Broadway Congregational Church, Somerville :
"In sorrow's dark and gloomy day
We Mindly grope the troubled way,
And question 'mid our trembling fears
Why earth is such a vale of tears:
'Till Faith lifts up her radiant eyes.
And sees upon the azure skies
These words in hea.venly beauty glow, —
'Believe — Hereafter ye shall know.'
"We ask in hours of pain and grief
Why Love Divine grants not relief —
Why earth no comfort can impart,
No solace for the breaking heart;
Yet, when the promise we survey,
Our hearts with joyful meekness say,
'Since Love Divine ordains it so.
Amen: Hereafter ye shall know.'
"How oft the funeral march we tread,
And, weeping o'er our buried dead,
The mourning heart the answer craves
Why earth is such a world of graves;
Then Faith discerns the promised dawn
And hails the Resurrection morn;
And Jesus speaks to soothe our woe: —
'Rejoice — Hereafter ye shall know.' "
"May this blessed Promise of our/ Divine
Redeemer, the Friend that sticketh closer than
a brother, serve to take away the gloom and
sorrow of this present occasion, which are due
to its peculiar circumstances :
"The keys of death and the grave are in the
hands of Plim who was dead, but is alive for
evermore — in the hands of Him who is the
Lord of life and death, and who has so loved
us as to die the death of the Cross in our be
half. Death can come, neither to us, nor to our
loved ones, without His permission. And, since
He is infinite Love and infinite Wisdom, we
may be confident that He permits it at the
right time and in the right way to accomplish
the largest outworking of good.
"We should therefore today bow before His
superior wisdom, although we would all doubt
less have preferred that Mr. Whitcomb should

55°

MASSACHUSETTS.

have remained with us many years longer to
use in the service of humanity the endowments
and resources with which God had blessed
him, and which he himself was anxious to use
to the best possible advantage.
"He was a man of large experience with
men, and a man of great possibilities, as was
evidenced in his ever-expanding business ; and
he was still in the prime of his usefulness, so
that we are constrained at this time to exclaim
in the words of the prophet : 'How is the
strong staff broken !' He had a strength of
character which became manifest very quickly
to all with whom he had to do. He had a posi-
tiveness of conviction, a persistence of energy,
a solidity of opinion, which made him a tower
of strength against opposing forces, and equally
a strong staff to lean upon for counsel or assist
ance. He was a man of great frankness, of
deep earnestness, of strong determination, and
of sterling integrity. Accordingly, he com
manded the respect of the entire community.
"Added to these characteristics, he had a
mind of natural keenness, of broad vision, and
trained skillfulness, which constituted him still
more a man of strength — a strong staff wher
ever he appeared. This was made manifest
especially in his business career. He was in
love with his business, and burned with en
thusiasm at each new achievement, and strove
to use all his powers to advance its utility.
Progress was always his watchword. He was
intensely active, fle could not sit still. And
his activity was never aimless. It was always
for a purpose ; and that purpose was to secure
better and larger things.
"Not only was his activity and strength man
ifested in his chosen business. It was also
shown in behalf of the community in which he
lived. He was a public spirited man, taking a
deep interest in everything that pertained to
the advancement of the community, whether
it was of a material, intellectual, or moral char
acter. He was also intensely interested in
the church. He thoroughly believed in it as a
Divine institution. Tie thoroughly believed
that it is the great uplifting power in the
world. And for many years he has been one
of the chief financial supporters of the Broad
way Congregational Church, of which I am
now pastor.
"And then, in addition to his great strength
of character, exhibited in all spheres of his
life, there was the social and private side of his
character, which was as sweet and generous as
a woman's, which made him quick to sympa
thize with and relieve others. He had an ex

ceedingly tender heart, full of kindness, which
often impelled him to stretch forth his hands
in deeds of love and benevolence. If I -could
chisel upon his tomb the symbol of his char
acter, as it was made apparent to me, I would
carve a flaming heart upon a broad and open
hand. A flaming heart to denote the intensity
of his nature, his burning enthusiasm, his all-
consuming persistency of energy — and the
broad and open hand to denote his large heart
ed sympathy and liberality. A flaming heart
upon a broad and open hand is the truest sym
bol of his character.
"We are fortunate todayin havingwith us one
who has been very intimate with the family for
years — one married in this house, and who will
soon speak to you from a much longer acquaint
anceship with Mr. Whitcomb than it was my
fortune to have. Nevertheless, I feel that
although my knowledge of him has covered
but a year and a half, yet in that time by
reason of circumstances in the Providence of
God, I have become far better acquainted with
his true self than many others who' may have
been acquainted with him a great deal longer.
"A year and a half ago I came 'a stranger'
to Somerville ; and he at once 'took me in,' —
took me into his great big heart of loving sym
pathy, and lavished his affection upon me as
a father upon his son. Nay, more ; he took me
into his secret confidence, and talked to me of
matters the most private and sacred. In re
turn I unbosomed myself to him — told him my
plans for the Church, the encouragements and
discouragements that I saw before me. And
as a result, on the one hand, I am living today
in a home provided by his generosity, fitted up
according to my own desires — a project in
which he took the keenest delight, not only be
cause he knew that it brought happiness to
me and my family but because he believed he
was providing a suitable home for the future
pastors of our Church for all time to come.
I do not believe he ever did anything in his
whole life which gave him more gratification
than that. And, as the result of our mutual
confidences, on the other hand, it afforded me
very great pleasure to be the instrument in
God's hands of lifting him up to the higher
spiritual plane of open confession of Jesus
Christ as his Savior and Lord. I will never
forget our communion service last December,
when he and ex-Mayor Perry were both re
ceived into the membership of the Broadway
Church on confession of their faith — two strong
men — each one a tower of strength. And I
will never forget the earnestness of grasp, ex-

MASSACH USETTS.

.-**'

pressive of his gratification at the step he was
taking, which Mr. Whitcomb gave me when I
gave him the right hand of fellowship, together
with his life-motto in these words of our Risen
Lord: 'Him that overcometh will I grant to
sit with me in my throne.'
"I had hoped, because of this higher spir
itual vantage-ground which he had reached, to
have his wise cousel and liberal assistance in
everything pertaining to my pastoral work for
many years to come ; so that I am sure you can
enter somewhat into my feelings when I tell
you that I feel a- very keen personal loss — a
loss which seems to me just now to be irrepar
able. "But I know that God's ways are always
best. 'He is not ; for God hath taken him.'
And do you know that I think the manner of
his death was not only the most merciful way
possible, preventing as it did, much pain and
suffering, but also the most beautiful way.
When last Monday evening I received a mes
sage over the 'phone of his death, I hurried
at once to his home, and to the room where
he died. His death had taken place only a
few minutes before ; and as I looked upon him,
sitting on his couch with his head resting
peacefully against the wall, he looked as if he
had only fallen into a sweet, calm sleep, and
the words which came instinctively to my lips
were: 'So God giveth his beloved sleep.'
"Perhaps the finest tribute to the dead that
can be found in English literature is that
which Tennyson paid to his bosom-friend, and
is known under the name of "In Memoriam."
There is a line in it, which I think is specially
appropriate to this occasion, and certainly in
accord with God's Word. The line is this:
'God's finger touched him. and he slept.'
" 'God's finger touched him,' — no enemy, but
his best Friend, his heavenly Father. 'God's
finger touched him,' and bade him go up higher,
to larger opportunities under better conditions.
'God's finger touched him' — the last touch of
the Divine Sculptor upon his soul here on earth
— the touch that perfects, and makes one fitted
for the inheritance of the saints in light.
" 'God's finger touched him, and he slept.'
He sleeps. He is not annihilated, nor gone
into a state of unconsciousness of soul. He
has entered into the peaceful rest of God. He
sleeps. He is obtaining refreshment and re-
invigoration. He will be ready to greet us in
the morning — the same man, only the stronger
and brighter because of the sleep of death!
"And so, my dear friend, we follow you
today, not with the word 'good-bye !' upon our

lips, as though we might never see you more,
but rather with the word 'good-night,' for we
shall greet you again in the morning."
(For first generation see preceding sketch).
(II) Jonathan Whitcombe,*
WHITCOMBE son of John Whitcombe, re
moved from Scituate to
Lancasterwithhis father in 1654. He with others
signed a petition for aid after the Indian raid
of 1675-76, and he lived nearly all the remain
der of his life in Lancaster. With his brother
Robert and his brother-in-law, Rodolphus
Ellmes, he served on the jury of inquest upon
the death of Richard Mann, of Scituate, Feb
ruary 18, 1655. The family property at Lan
caster became his by inheritance and he added
to it. He died February, 1690, and the inven
tory of the estate was taken February 25, 1691,
by his brother-in-law, John Moor, Samuel Sum
ner and Cyprian Stevens, and was returned
under oath by his widow, April 7, 1691. The
amount of the inventory was about eighty-
eight pounds. His widow was killed by the
Indians July 18, 1692, at the house of Peter
Joslin in Lancaster. He married, November
25, 1667, Hannah  . Children: 1. Han
nah, born September 17, 1668, died December
9, 1668. 2. Jonathan, February 26, 1669, men
tioned below. 3. Hannah, August 28, 1671,
married Joseph Blood, of Groton. 4. Abigail,
May 5, 1674, married William Kelsey, of
Windsor, 1694. 5. Elizabeth, 1676. 6. Kath
erine, 1678. 7. Ruth, 1680. 8. Mary, 1682.
9. John, May 12, 1684.
(Ill) Jonathan (2), son of Jonathan (1)
Whitcombe, was born February 26, 1669. He
married (first) between 1680 and 1689, Mary
(Blood) Joslin, of Lancaster, daughter of
Abraham and Mary Blood, of Lancaster.
(Samuel Smith, of Littleton, recorded he was
married first to Mary Joslin and second to
Mary Blood, daughter of Joseph Blood, of
Groton). He married (second) at Concord,
September 4, 1710, Deborah Scripture, of Gro
ton. He died April 10, 1715, and she prob
ably died sometime before him, as about that
time he paid Samuel Barrows for a coffin. The
children were named in settling the estate, but
the correct order of birth is uncertain. Chil
dren : 1. Jonathan, mentioned below. 2.
Joseph. 3. Nathaniel. 4. Hannah, married
Joseph Powers ; nine children. 5. Martha,
died March 18, 172 1. 6. Ephraim, born April,
•The family name was spelled in various forms
by different descendants of the immigrant ancestor.
The line with which this narrative deals, preserves
the form of Whitcombe.

552

MASSACHUSETTS.

1702. 7. Mary, born 1704, married John Cob-
leigh, jr. 8. Benjamin, born December 11,
171 1, in Groton. 9. Lydia.
(IV) Jonathan (3), son of Jonathan (2)
Whitcombe, was born about 1690. He "had
lime kilns, was a tanner, currier, blacksmith,
shoemaker, and made coffins." By a deed,
October 20, 17 10, he was a cordwainer. The
old dam still remains and places can be seen
where he got his lime rock. He married, May
15, 1716, Deliverance Nutting, daughter of
James Nutting, at Groton. He died about
1767 or 1770. His wife was living as late as
1774 in Lancaster. Children: 1. Jonathan,
born December 23, 171 7. 2. William, Septem
ber 10, 1719. 3. Oliver, August 21, 1721. 4.
Elizabeth, January 17, 1723-24. 5. Tamar,
March 20, 1726, married Isaac Heald, June
7, 1745. 7. Job, April 16 or 26, 1730. 8.
Martha, December 26, 1732, unmarried in 1767.
9. Abner, February 12, 1734, mentioned below.
10. Jotham, August 8, 1737.
(V) Abner, son of Jonathan (3) Whit
combe, was born February 12, 1734, died Feb
ruary 13, 1821. He lived first in Littleton, and
then in Groton, Massachusetts. He twice en
listed as a minute-man from Groton. He was
in Captain Henry Haskell's company, Colonel
Prescott's regiment, in the revolution. In 1783
he became one of the founders of Hancock,
New Hampshire, and settled first in a level
place midway between Bald Hill and Norway
Pond, but died in a house on Main street built
by him in his old age. He was a man of re
markable physical vigor and outlived three
wives and married a fourth when he was
seventy-three years old. He married (first)
March 27, 1759, Sarah Jefts, born July 12,
1734; (second)  ; (third) September
8, 1795, Susannah Meads; (fourth) February
21, 1806, Abigail Boynton, who died October,
1823, daughter of Thomas and Alice Boynton,
of Hancock. Children, eight born in Groton,
four in Hancock: 1. Abner, February 13 or
t8, 1760. 2. Samuel, January 30 or 31, 1763.
3. John, August 30 or 31, 1764. 4. Ebenezer,
July 30, 1766-67. 5. Oliver, June 18, 1768,
mentioned below. 6. Eli, February 18, 1770.
7. Sarah, February 2, 1772, married (first)
October 23, 1792, James Grayham ; (second)
 Gilson. 8. Ira, February 13, 1774, died
young. 9. Lucy, died August 5, 1823 ; mar
ried, December 19, 1822, Samuel Dennis. 10.
Ira Meads, 1795. 11. Eunice, died when a
young girl from excessive nose bleed. 12. David,
May 30, 1808.
(VI) Oliver, son of Abner Whitcombe, was

born in Groton, June 18, 1768. He went to
Ipswich, New York, where he lived for a time,
but returned to Hancock, where he died Janu
ary 13, 1843. He was a blacksmith. For the
last fourteen years of his life he was an invalid,
during which time he read the Bible through
fourteen times. He married, December 18,
1794, Plannah Hosley, born August 11, 1776,
died in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, January 6,
1855. Children: 1. Elizabeth (Betsey), born
October 23, 1795, married, December 26, 1815,
Joel Gates. 2. Oliver, October 7, 1797, men
tioned below. 3. Joel, October 18, 1799. 4.
Stillman, August 7, 1801, died January 1, 1824.
5. Hannah, January 23, 1804, married, Febru
ary 17, 1828, Edward Taylor. 6. James Hos
ley, October 7, 1806. 7. John, May 6, 1809.
8. Harriet, October 13, 181 1, married, March
8, 1832, John Miller. 9. Sarah Hosley, Janu
ary 6, 1 816, married, September 4, 1834,
Charles G Hinman. 10. George, March 10,
1820. (VII) Oliver (2), son of Oliver (1) Whit
combe, was born October 7, 1797, died in Lon
donderry, New Hampshire, April 1, 1870. He
was engaged in lumbering, storekeeping, black-
smithing, etc., and was postmaster for a time.
He lived in Hancock, New Hampshire ; Union,
Broome county, New York ; Townsend, Massa
chusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire.
He married, March 23, 1824, Nancy Clark,
born April 2r 1801, died in Cambridge, Massa
chusetts, October 13, 1881. Children: 1.
Peter Cochran Clark, born January 14, 1825,
mentioned below. 2. Oliver Reed, April 11,
1830. (VTII) Peter Cochran Clark, son of Oliver
(2) Whitcombe, was born January 14. 1825, in
Hancock, New Hampshire, died at his home,
2 Clinton street. Cambridge, Massachusetts,
May 26, 1900. He was educated in the district
schools and began life as a clerk in a country -
store in New Hampshire. He came to Boston
in 1855 where he found employment with the
firm of Adams & Adams, publishers of city
and town directories. He held responsible
positions for many years with this firm, and
continued with its successor, Mr. Murdock,
and later with the firm of Sampson & Mur
dock, the present proprietors of this business.
Mr. Whitcombe was a faithful and capable
representative of his firm. In the course of
his career he became acquainted with more
business men of Boston than is the lot of many
men. He held the respect and confidence of
all with whom he had dealings and was trusted
implicitly by his employers. In politics he was

MASSACH USETTS.

553

a Republican, and in religion he and his wife
were prominent in the Congregational church.
He was interested in genealogy and contributed
a sketch of the family to the history of Han
cock, New Hampshire. He resided at Cam-
bridgeport many years. He married, in Bos
ton, August 6, 1850, Harriet Maria Harris, of
Middletown Upper Houses, Connecticut, and
through her mother was a direct descendant
of Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island.
Children: 1. Walter Clark, born April 20,
1852, in Townsend, educated in the Boston
public schools and Pinkerton academy; taught
music for a time; now associated with Mur-
dock & Sampson, directory publishers ; resides
at the family home, 2 Clinton street, Cam
bridge. 2. Charles Reed, November 6, 1853,
mentioned below.
(IX) Dr. Charles Reed, son of Peter Coch
ran Clark Whitcombe, was born in Oxford
street. Boston, then a residential section of the
city, November 6? 1853. Pie attended the public
schools of Boston and Cambridge and gradu
ated from the Cambridge high school in the
class of 1872. and from Williams College in
i8~6. He determined to secure a medical edu
cation and spent a year and a half in Harvard
Medical School : when his funds gave out he
turned his attention to teaching and continued
for the next five years. He was principal of
the Houghton school of Bolton, Massachusetts,
one year, at Marlboro high school two years,
ami of the West Boylston high school about
two years. He then resumed the study of
medicine in the Long Island Medical College
of Brooklyn and graduated in 1883 with the
deeree of M. D. fle has practiced since 1884
in Roslindale in the city of Boston, except for
a short time when he was in Chicago. Although
a general practitioner he has acquired a notable
reputation as a surgeon and has assisted in
many capital operations and is often called
to distant points on surgical cases and in con
sultation. Pie has a large practice and is very
ponular not only with his patients but with his
fellow-practitioners. He is a thorough, pains
taking, conscientious physician, keeping abreast
of the advance in medical science. He is a
member of the Massachusetts Medical Asso
ciation, and of the American Medical Asso
ciation, He is a prominent Free Mason, a
member of Jseph Webb Lodge, apd St. Paul
Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. In politics he
is independent. He married (first) in Sep
tember, 1875, Nellie Louise Ames, of Will-
iamstown, Massachusetts. He married (sec
ond at Kenosha, Wisconsin, January 21, 1898.

Isabelle Play, born November 12, 1871, in St.
John, New Brunswick, Canada, daughter of
Thomas and Maria (Case) Hay, both natives
of New Brunswick and of English and Scotch
ancestry. Her father lives in St. John, at an
advanced age. He was formerly a dealer in
wool. Her mother died in St. John at the age
of seventy-six years, January 27, 1908. Her
parents were for many years active members
of the Baptist church. Of their eight children,
five are living (1909) and four reside in the
United States. Mrs. Whitcombe was carefully
trained and educated in her native town, served
in New York City hospitals as a nurse, and
since she has resided in Roslindale has become
a leader in social life. Children of Dr. Whit
combe by his first wife : 1. Frank Harris, born
in Cambridge, July 12, 1876, is married, re
sides in Colorado. 2. Harriet Maria, March
18, 1882, died February 15, 1884. 3. Martha
Ames, November 17. 1886, in Roslindale, mar
ried, June 24, 1908, Irving M. Atwood, a
wholesale dealer in fish, "T" wharf, Boston;
they reside in Dorchester.
John Gould, immigrant ancestor,
GOULD was born in England, in 1610,
and died in Charlestown End,
Massachusetts, March 21, 1690-1. He came to
this country in the ship "Defence" in 1635,
from Towcester, Northamptonshire. He was
a carpenter by trade. He was admitted a free
man May 2, 1638. His first wife Grace died
in 1636, leaving one or two children. She was
born in England, in 161 1. He married (sec
ond) Mary  , who was admitted to the
church January 8, 1636-7, and died at Ten Hills
farm, September 28, 1642. He married (third)
Joanna  , born about 1608, died August
27, 1697, called one hundred years old, but it is
probable she was about ninety, judging from
the age of her husband, and that she was aged
fifty in 1658. Gould lived in the section of
Charlestown that became Stoneham. He had
a double lot, granted July 1, 1636. In 1682 he
was excused from training in the militia. He
fought in King Philip's war, and remained in
the militia until over seventy-two years of age.
He was admitted to the church March 25.
1638-9. His house was at the west end of
what is now Gould street, Wakefield. He and
wife Joanna sold land at Maiden in 1658. His
will, dated January 3, 1688, proved June, 19,
169 1, bequeathed to sons Daniel, John, and
John Burben, and grandson Thomas Gould.
Children : 1. Thomas. 2. Mary, baptized Feb
ruary 29, 1636-7. 3. Sarah, baptized December

554

MASSACHUSETTS.

15, 1637 ; married, 1660, John Burben (or Bur-
been). 4. Elizabeth, bora 1640, baptized Feb
ruary 17, 1639-40. 5. Abigail, born February
26, 1641-2; married, 1669, William Rogers;
(second) John Rogers. 6. Hannah, born Octo
ber 26, 1644. 7. John, born January 21, 1646,
died October, 1647. 8. John, mentioned below.
9. Daniel, born 1654.
(II) John (2), son of John (1) Gould, was
born August 5, 1648, at Charlestown, and lived
at Stoneham, where he died January 24, 171 1-2.
He married (first) Abigail Belcher, died De
cember 20, 1687, daughter of Jeremiah Belcher,
of Ipswich ; ( second ) Martha Redington, born
April 7, 1655, granddaughter of Zaccheus Gould,
another Gould immigrant. Children of first
wife, born at Stoneham: 1. John, March 28,
1671 ; married Sarah  . 2. Abigail, De
cember 30, 1672; married, May 15, 1693, Cap
tain Benjamin Geary. 3. Jeremiah, 1678; men
tioned below. 4. Thomas, 1680 ; married Mary
Hay, and Priscilla Bateman. 5. Daniel, De
cember 11, 1 681 ; married Sarah Grover, and
Abigail (Johnson) Richardson. 6. Mehitable,
married Jonas Eaton; (second) Nathan Brig
ham, of Sudbury. 7. Mary, May 8, 1687 ; mar
ried Ebenezer Knight, of Stoneham and Marl
borough. Children of second wife : 8. Samuel,
born 1691 ; married Ruth Dunton. 9. Abra
ham. 1693; married Mary  ; died 1776.
10. Isaac, 1696; resided at Westford and Attle
borough, Massachusetts.
(Ill) Jeremiah, son of John (2) Gould,
was born in Stoneham, in 1678, and died at
South Dedham, Massachusetts, according to the
church records, July 25, 1752, "aged about
seventy-four." fle married, in 1701, Mary
Brown, of Walpole, born 1678, died October
5, 1770. They lived at Stoneham, at Dorches
ter after 1715, at Dedham in 1728, and at
Walpole in 1742. Children: i.' Mary, born
1703. 2. Abigail, 1706. 3. Jeremiah, 1709;
married, October 15, 1740, Keziah Morse; he
died April 16, 1779. 4. Sarah, born 1710. 5.
John, 1714; married, January 25, 1738, Naomi
Pettee. 6. Daniel, born about 1716; mentioned
below. 7. Samuel, 1719; married, June 12,
1744, Mary Pettee. 8. Anna, baptized with
other children, March 25, 1739. Daniel, Sam
uel and Anna, children of Jeremiah, owned the
covenant in the church at South Dedham,
March 25, 1739.
(IV) Daniel, son of Jeremiah Gould, was
born 1716-7, and died April 20, 1754, aged
thirty-seven years. He married, at Dedham,
January 7, 174 1-2, Abigail Pettee. He and his
brother Samuel and sister Anna owned the

covenant in the South Church of Dedham,
March 25, 1739. He and his wife joined the
church in full communion March 4, 1753.' Their
children were all baptized in the South Church
of Dedham. He lived at Sharon, formerly
Stoughtenham, adjoining Dedham. Children
with dates of baptism : 1. Abigail, January 23,
1742-3. 2. Lois, December 30, 1744. 3. Dan
iel, August 7, 1748. 4. David, July 29, 1750;
mentioned below. 5. Ebenezer, baptized after
father's death, July 25, 1754.
(V) David, son of Daniel Gould, was born
in Stoughtenham, in 1750, baptized in the
church at South Dedham, July 29, 1750; died
at Ware, Massachusetts, August 22, 1817, aged
sixty-seven, according to Ware town records.
He removed with his brothers Ebenezer and
Daniel from Sharon to Ware, Daniel going
thither in 1770, according to the Breckenridge
Genealogy, but the others probably later than
1776, as he was in Stoughtenham in the revolu
tion. With Daniel came Oliver Coney and Philip
Morse, of Stoughtenham (Sharon). David was
a soldier in Captain Edward Bridge Savell's
company (First Stoughtenham company), Col
onel Robinson's regiment, on the Lexington
alarm, April 19, 1775 ; again in Captain Edward
Bridge Savell's company, Colonel Gill's regi
ment, 1776. His brother Ebenezer Gould was in
the same company. David Gould lived on the
farm now or lately owned by Joseph A. Cum
mings. He married, in 1780, Lovisa, daughter of
John Downing. Her father came from Spring
field, and bought a farm of Timothy Brown at
Ware in 1752 ; kept a tavern on the old road on
the west side of Muddy Brook, on land lately
owned by Wallace Sheldon. Another daughter
of Downing married Isaac Magoon. Children:
1. David. 2. George. 3. Samuel. 4. Downing.
5. John, mentioned below. 6. Lovisa. 7. Mar
garet. 8. Minerva.
(VI) John (3), son of David Gould, was
born in Ware, in 1789 ; died there at the age of
seventy-one. He married, September 21, 1819,
Annie Allen Brigham, born in Brookfield, De
cember 8, 1798, daughter of Michael and Polly
(Tyler) Brigham. (See Brigham). He was
a farmer in Ware all his life. Children: 1.
Maria, born May 25, 1820, died November 12,
1855. 2. William Bowdoin, born January 12,
1822. 3. David, February 4, 1824; resided in
Ware. 4. Minerva, March 13, 1826. 5. Min
erva, July 5, 1827. 6. John Brigham, June 12,
1829 ; mentioned below. 7. Daniel, June 19,
1831 ; resided at Springfield. 8. Mary Ann,
June 13, 1833; married Erskine Pease, of
Indian Orchard. 9. James H, May 27, 1835.

MASSACH USETTS.

555

io. Eliza, March 8, 1838. 11. Joseph B., Sep
tember 2, 1841.
(VII) John Brigham, son of John (3) Gould,
was born at Ware, June 12, 1829. He was
educated in the public schools of his native
town. During his boyhood and youth he work
ed on his father's farm, and later succeeded to
it. Since he has owned the homestead he has
greatly improved it, building the new house,
which is beautifully situated on a hill overlook
ing the town. He had a large milk route until
he disposed of it a few years ago, and he still
maintains an excellent dairy. Mr. Gould has
made a success of farming, and is one of the
substantial citizens of the town. He is a Re
publican in politics, a Congregationalist in relig
ion. December 23, 1867, he married Julia Ar-
delia Caryl, born at Barnet, Vermont, in 1838,
daughter of Rodney Clark Caryl. (See Caryl).
Children, born at Ware : 1. Edwin Caryl, born
1872 ; married Ellen Connor ; children : i. Stead-
man ; ii. Robert. 2. Helen E., born 1873. 3.
John A., born 1875. 4. Anna Brigham, born
1881.

The name Brigham is from
.BRIGHAM the Saxon brigg (bridge) and
ham (house). There is a
manor of the name in county Cumberland, ad
joining' Scotland, of which it was in ancient
days a part. The barony from which the
family name is derived is now generally called
by another name, Cockermouth. The old castle
was one of the strongest in its day. It was
built largely of material taken from an old
Roman castle in the vicinity. As late as 1648
it was garrisoned and stood siege for a month.
After it was captured it was nearly destroyed,
but at last accounts a small part was still habit
able. From this manor the English and Amer
ican Brighams get their names, and all prob
ably are descended from the early Brighams
of this place.
(I) Thomas Brigham, immigrant ancestor,
was born in England, in 1603. He embarked
at London for New England, April 18, 1653,
in the ship "Susan and Ellen," Edward Pyne,
master. He settled at Watertown. In 1637 he
had a fourteen acre lot there, bought of John
Doggett, situated in a part later annexed to
Cambridge. He built his house in Cambridge
on a lot containing three acres and a half. His
neighbors were Joseph, Simon and Isaac Crosby.
His home was about two-thirds of a mile from
Harvard College, and at one point abutted on
the Charles river. He resided there until 1648.
He was admitted a freeman April 18, 1637,

and was a leading citizen. He was selectman
in 1640-42-47, and constable in 1639-42. He
made a specialty on his farm of raising hogs,-
and in 1647 owned a third of all the swine in
the town. He was fined for letting his hogs
get away and run at large. lie owned a wind
mill for grinding corn. He died December 8,
1653. His will was dated December 7, 1653,
and proved October 3, 1654. He married
Marcy Hurd, who is said to have come with
her sister alone from England, owing to relig
ious difference from which they suffered annoy
ance and persecution at home. After the death
of Mr. Brigham she married (second) March
1, 1655, Edmund Rice, of Sudbury and Marl
borough, by whom she had two daughters;
she married (third) William Hunt, of Marl
borough, who died 1667. She died December
23- l693- after being in her third widowhood
twenty-six years. Children of Thomas and
Mercy: 1. Mary, born probably at Water-
town. 2. Thomas, born 1640-1 ; mentioned
below. 3. John, born March 9, 1644, died Sep
tember 16, 1728. 4. Hannah, born March 9,
1649; married Samuel Wells. 5. Samuel, born
January 12, 1652-3.
(II) Thomas (2 ),son of Thomas (1) Brigham,
was born probably in Cambridge, about 1640,
and died in Marlborough, November 25, 1716.
When his mother married Edmund Rice, Thomas
went with her to Sudbury and Marlborough.
On attaining his majority he bought of his
stepfather for thirty pounds a town right in
Marlborough of "twenty-four acres, with the
frame of a dwelling-house thereon." This land,
situated near Williams pond, in the southwest
part of the town, was the beginning of his large
farm. He was also one of the purchasers of
the old plantation "Ockoocangansett" which
had been reserved for the Indians out of the
ancient boundaries of Marlborough. On the
old Thomas Brigham homestead on the south
side of the present Forest street, something
like a score of rods from the highway, at the
foot of Crane Hill, is a slightly raised rec
tangular spot, about thirty by seventy-five feet,
in the centre of which is a large apple tree.
Here rest the last of the Marlborough Indians,
including their last chief and about thirty of
his followers. This spot is sacredly cherished
by the family of Brighams. The place is or
was lately owned by George F. Nichols, whose
wife was a Brigham. The last male Brigham
owner of the place is said to have strikingly
resembled his paternal ancestry, "having thick,
wavy black hair, black eyes and red cheeks ; a
fine looking man." The house stood a few

556

MASSACHUSETTS.

rods above the brook, which flowed through
the farm to Williams Pond. The first dwelling,
a log hut built by Thomas Brigham (2), was
burned during his absence by flax catching
fire. In 1706 he built a frame house, which
was left for an ell by his son Gershom, who
built a two story house about 1724. The old
house was used as a garrison during Queen
Anne's war. This ell was finally taken down
in 1 79 1 by Warren Brigham, and the house
was inhabited until 1859. After it had stood
empty for some time it was finally razed. The
Gershom Brigham house "was clapboarded but
never painted outside ; only two rooms were
finished ; the sitting room and the principal
bedroom were plastered and painted." About
1825 the present house was built on the oppo
site side of the road by Barnabas Brigham.
The old well still exists. Thomas Brigham
was one of the leading citizens of the town but
owing to the loss of records, nothing is known
of the offices he held. He made his will April
21, 1716. and died November 25 of the same
year, in his chair, which is now in the possession
of Miss Martha L. Ames. His will was proved
January 2, 1717. He married (first) December
27, 1665. Mary, daughter of Henry and Eliza
beth (Moore) Rice, and granddaughter of
Edmund Rice, the immigrant. He married
(second) July 3, 1695, Susanna, daughter of
William Shattuck, of Watertown, and widow
first of Joseph Morse and second of John Fay,
whose first wife was Mary, sister of Thomas
Brigham. Children: 1. Thomas, born Febru
ary 24, 1667, probably died before his father.
2. Nathan, born June 17, 1671. 3. David, Au
gust 11, 1673, died young. 4. Jonathan, Feb
ruary 22, 1675. 5- David, April 12, 1678;
mentioned below. 6. Gershom, February 23,
1680, died January 3, 1748-9; married, May
18. 1703, Mehitable Warren. 7. Elnathan,
March 7, 1683. 8. Mary, October 26, 1687;
married, July 30, 1710. Captain Jonas Hough
ton, of Lancaster ; seven children.
(Ill) David, son of Thomas (2) Brigham,
was born in Marlborough, April 12, 1678, and
died June 26, 1750. He settled on a wild
tract of land of about five hundred acres, in
cluding the present hospital grounds and sev
eral adjacent farms in Westborough, then in
cluded in the town of Marlborough. He was
surveyor in 171 1 in Marlborough. After 1717
he was seven years sealer of leather, and six
years selectman in Westborough. His house
was about sixty rods east of the present Insane
Asylum. It was burned during his old age,
October 16, 1737, with much of its contents.

He married (first) Deborah

-, died Octo

ber 11, 1708; (second) August 21, 1709, Mary
(Leonard) Newton, widow, who died Decem
ber 1, 1 741. He married a third wife, who
survived him. Children of first wife : 1. John,
born April 22, 1704. 2. David, September 30,
1708, died November 29, 1741. Children of
second wif*. 3. Silas, born August 9, 1710.
4. Jemima, August 24, 1712; married Edward
Newton. 5. Deborah, September 17, 1714;
married, November 14, 1752, Francis Harring
ton. 6. Levi, August 21, 1716. 7. Jonas, Feb
ruary 25, 1718; mentioned below. 8. Asa, De
cember 2, 1 72 1.
( IV) Captain Jonas, son of David Brigham,
was born February 25, 1718, in Westborough,
and died there September 25, 1789. He settled
on land inherited from his father, and built
his house about twenty rods south of the pres
ent Insane Asylum. He was lieutenant in the
train band, and acting captain at the relief of
Fort William Henry in 1758. He stood high
in the esteem of the citizens and was often in
office. He was on the school committee re
peatedly ; was surveyor and constable ; seven
years selectman, between 1764 and 1777; mod
erator of town meetings, and member of vigi
lance and other important committees. He
was delegate to the county congress at the be
ginning and during the revolution. He mar
ried, January 16, 1745-6, Persis Baker, who
died November 3, 1784. Children: 1. Martha,
born November 1, 1746. 2. Jonas, October 29,
1748; mentioned below. 3. Hannah, married
Rev. Halloway Fish. 4. Antipas, born July
23, 1750, died November 12, 1756. 5. Eli,
born May 17, 1752. 6. Edward, May 21, 1754.
7. Barnabas, March 29, 1756.. 8. Antipas,
March 15, 1758. 9. Daniel, June 12, 1760. 10.
David, March 31, 1762. 11. Persis, April 23,
1764. died February 3, 1775. 12. Joseph, born
April 20, 1766. 13. William, born May 12,
1768. died December 7, 1779.
CY) Captain Jonas (2), son of Captain
Jonas ( 1 ) Brigham, was born in Westborough,
October 29, 1748, and died in Bakersfield, Ver
mont, in 1826. He settled first in North Brook
field. He was in the revolution. In 1774 he
was a minute-man, and marched to Lexington
on the alarm, April 19, 1775, when he was a
sergeant ; was lieutenant from Brookfield, 1777,
and in the battle of Saratoga. His commission
as captain of the Massachusetts militia was
signed by John Hancock, July 1, 1781. He re
moved to Bakersfield, and was prominent in all
the affairs of the town. He was elected eighteen
times representative to the general assembly.

MASSACH USETTS.

557

On the division of the town his land fell into
the limits of Enosburg, where he was mod
erator in 1797. He married (first) published
January 26, 1771, Anna Draper, of Watertown,
died in 1802; (second) November 10, 1810,
Polly Wyman. Children, all except the last
born in Brookfield: 1. Michael, March 2, 1772;
mentioned below. 2. Eli, December 14, 1774.
3. Hannah, July 7, 1776; married Colonel ftol-
ley Taylor. 4. Sally, December 7, 1778, died
unmarried. 5. Patty, April 27, 1780. 6. Jonas,
March 14, 1782. 7. Luther, May 15, 1785. 8.
Asa, 1786. 9. Betsey, 1788, died young. 10.
Cheney, April 22, 1793, in Bakersfield.
(Vi) Michael, son of Captain Jonas (2)
Brigham, was born in North Brookfield, March
2, 1772, and died there in August, 1802. He
was a farmer. He' married, September 21,
1796, Polly Tyler, born July 10, 1776, died
July 19, 1833, daughter of John and Rachel
(Crosby) Tyler. She married (second) April
17, 1805, William Bowdoin, of Ware. Chil
dren, born in North Brookfield : 1. John Tyler,
1795, died unmarried 1849; merchant in New
York. 2. Annie Allen, December 8, 1798 ; mar
ried, September 21, 1819, John Gould. (See
Gould). 3. Loring W., October 30, 1799. 4.
Crosby, 1802, died September 25, 1803.

Benjamin Caryl, Sr., settled at
CARYL Hopkinton, Massachusetts, among
the first settlers, about 1720. Many
of the pioneers were Scotch-Irish, and Caryl
was doubtless one of them. He was a farmer.
The name is spelled Carryl, Carriel, Cariel,
and is of the same origin as Carroll. Children,
born in Ireland: 1. Benjamin, Jr., mentioned
below. 2. Samuel, settled in Sutton, an ad
joining town ; ancestor of most of the Wor
cester county families of Carriel. 3. Edward,
was one of the five hundred soldiers sent to
Cuba from Massachusetts in the war against
Spain in 1741, and perished there; but fifty of
these men lived to return home ; married Ruth
 ; children: i. Amos, born October 20,
1734, soldier in revolution ; ii. Louisa, born
November 4, 1736. 4. George, married Mar
tha  , and had several children at Hop
kinton. (See p. 155-60, New Eng. Reg., vol.
x4)- (II) Benjamin (2), son of Benjamin (1)
Caryl, was born about 1700, and came with his
parents to Hopkinton. He married Mary  .
Children, born in Hopkinton: 1. John, settled
with his brothers at Chester, Vermont, and
according to the census of 1790 had three
males over sixteen, two under sixteen and

three females in his family. 2. Joseph, born
February 13, 1727-8; married, at Westborough,
March 2, 1758, Elizabeth Dunlap; removed to
Westborough, then to Plubbardston, where he
died April 6, 1787, aged fifty-nine, and she
died September 18, 1800, in her sixtieth year;
he was a soldier in the revolution, from Hub
bardston, in Captain William Marean's com
pany of minute-men, Colonel Doolittle's regi
ment, on Lexington alarm ; sold his farm in
Westborough, March 19, 1766, to Levi Warren,
land bought September 16, 1763, of David
Baldwin, of Sudbury, Caryl then living in
Hopkinton; bought land of Moses Wheelock
in Westborough, May 18, 1772; no children
known. 3. Jonathan, born March 7, 1729-
30 ; removed to Hubbardston with his brother
Thomas, in 1770 or 177 1 ; to Chester, Vermont,
about 1785; in 1790 the census records the
fact that he had three males over sixteen, one
under, and two females in his family at Ches
ter, while his son Jonathan, Jr., had besides
himself, two males under sixteen and one
female in his family. 4. Rev. Benjamin, born
April 22, 1732. 5. Asa, horn March 5, 1734-5 ;
soldier in the revolution. 6. Mary, born Octo
ber 17, 1737. 7. Thomas, born April 18, 1740;
mentioned below. 8. Sarah, April 30, 1743.
(Ill) Thomas, son of Benjamin (2) Caryl,
was born in Hopkinton, April 18, 1740. fte
was a shoemaker by trade. He married Esther
 . He and his brother Jonathan bought
of Colonel John Murray, of Rutland, the fam
ous Loyalist of later days, a two-thirds interest
in a six hundred acre tract at Hubbardston,
Alassachusetts, known as Great Farm, No. 18,
originally laid out to Henry Franklyn, Esq.,
and bounded on the west by the east line of
Rutland district, later Barre. (See Worcester
deeds and Hubbardston Proprietors' records).
The deed is dated September 25, 1770, and
Murray held a mortgage on the land. They
moved there in the summer of 1770, and the
brother Joseph also settled there, although he
never owned land in that town. Thomas was
a soldier in the revolution, sergeant in Captain
William Marean's company, Colonel Timothy
Bigelow's regiment, on the Lexington alarm;
also in Captain Sylvanus Smith's company,
Colonel Timothy Bigelow's regiment, about a
year in 1780. Between 1780 and 1785, Thomas,
Jonathan and John removed to Chester, Wind
sor county, Vermont. Thomas sold his prop
erty at Hubbardston by deed dated June 3,
1785, to Moses Clark, of Hubbardston, to Isaac
Clark, of Hubbardston, on the same date, and
to William Clark, of Plubbardston, on the same

558

MASSACHUSETTS.

date. Again he deeded land at Hubbardston
to Joseph Clark, June 3, 1786. The Clarks
seem to be related. Jonathan witnessed some
of the deeds. The land they owned jointly was
deeded to John Clark, of flubbardston, Octo
ber 11, 1788, and included lot No. 1, one hun
dred acres and their rights in the Great Farm,
No. 18. According to the federal census of 1790,
Thomas had nine children, having three males
over sixteen, four under, and four females in
his family. Children, born at Hubbardston: 1.
Irena, July 22, 1770. 2. Lanson, July 31, 1772.
3. Rufus, April 9, 1774. 4. Leonilly, May 10,
1776. 5. Child, April 28, 1778. 6. Willard,
January 6, 1780; mentioned below. Three
others, or more.
(IV) Willard, son of Thomas Caryl, was
born at Hubbardston, January 6, 1780. He re
moved in early life with his parents to Chester,
Vermont, and thence to Barnard, in the same
county. He was a farmer, and lived in Barnard
the most of his life. He died in Yorkville,
Michigan, April 16, 1861. He married (first)
Elizabeth Henry, who died June 19, 1822;
(second) April 19, 1824, at Barre, Vermont,
Patty Browning, who died at Yorkville, Michi
gan, April 25, 1868. Children of first wife: 1.
John flenry, born August 17, 1804, died No
vember 21, 1823. 2. Lucien Willard, born
February 27, 1806. 3. Rodney Clark, born
October 13, 1807; mentioned below. 4. Eliza
beth A., born July 31, 1809. 5. Susannah A.,
March 31, 181 1. 6. William Oscar, September
29, 1812. 7. Isabella J., August 19, 1817. Chil
dren of second wife : 8. Charles Murray, born
January 24, 1828. 9. Helen M., October 4,
1829. 10. Francis M., July 10, 1831, died
March 11, 1832. 11. Horace Ballou, born Au
gust 12, 1833.
(V) Rodney Clark, son of Willard Caryl,
was born in Barnard, Vermont, October 13,
1807, and died there in 1868. He married,
December 31, 1831, Ardelia Jaques, born at
Barnard, August 23, 1812, died at Ware, Mass
achusetts, 1892. He had a common school
education, worked in a provision store, and
kept a hotel there. He came to Ware in 1843
and lived there until his death. He was inter
ested in public affairs, and was an active useful
citizen. In politics he was a Whig. Children,
born at Barnard: 1. Son, died in infancy. 2.
Henry O., born July 26, 1834, died May 9,
1893; had son Fred living at Ware. 3. jane
J., born August 3, 1835 ; married George De-
mond, of Ware. 4. Julia Ardelia, born August
25, 1838; married J. B. Gould, of Ware. (See
Gould).- 5. Sarah E., born July 30, 1843 ; lives

at Ware. 6. Edwin, died unmarried. 7. Emily
C, born December 5, 1846; married Frank Tis-
dale. 8. Susan Isabel, born at Ware, May 20,
1845 ' married Thomas Rollinson. 9. Lucian
Willard, born at Ware, September 11, 1855;
married there, November 29, 1882, Nancy Ma
tilda Le Gro ; children : i. Ethel Estella, born
May 14, 1884; ii. Rodney Clark, January 27,
1886; iii. Hazel Beatrice, May 8, 1?"

The name evidently came from
BRIDGMAN the occupation of bridge-keep
er or bridge-builder, and ap
pears entirely distinct from Brigham and Bridg-
ham. In America it is closely confined to the
neighborhood of the Connecticut Valley. Am
herst College has ten of the name in its alumni
catalogue between 1826 and 1885 ; Williams
has nine, between 1795 and 1876; Harvard
five, between 1762 and 1881 ; Yale five, be
tween 1765 and 1887; and the other colleges
appear singularly deficient of the name in their
alumni catalogues, which would indicate the
indisposition of the family to migrate from the
paternal roof, Williams having two and Union
one Bridgeman and one Bridgman.
(I) James Bridgman, immigrant ancestor of
the family to America, was a member of the
Hartford colony in 1641 ; was in Springfield,
1643 to 1655, and removed to Northampton in
1655. His wife's name was Sarah and they
had eight children, four boys of whom three
died during the first year of their existence,
which fatality also visited one daughter. The
children of James and Sarah Bridgman who
reached maturity were: 1. Sarah, who mar
ried a Mr. Tileston. 2. John, born July 7,
1645, in Springfield, Massachusetts. 3. Martha,
born November 20, 1649 ; married, June 4,
1668, Samuel Dickinson, of Hartford Colony.
4. Mary, born July 5, 1652 ; married, 1672,
Samuel Bartlett, and died in 1674. James
Bridgman, the immigrant, died in 1676, and
his wife Sarah, August 31, 1668.
(II) John, eldest son of James and Sarah
Bridgman, was born in Springfield, Massachu
setts Bay Colony, July 7, 1645. He married
Mary,' eldest daughter of Isaac Sheldon, De
cember 11, 1670. John Bridgman died in
Northampton, Massachusetts, April 7, 1712,
and Mary (Sheldon) Bridgman, his widow,
died April 28, 1728. Children of John and
Mary (Sheldon) Bridgman, all born in North
ampton, Massachusetts: 1. Mary, March 15,
1672; married, 1691, Judah Hutchinson. 2.
A child, December 29, 1673, died January 4,
1674. 3. John, born October 20, 1674. 4. De-

MASSACHUSETTS.

559

liverance (q. v.), March 17, 1676. 5. James,
about 1677-8 6. Isaac, March 29, 1680. 7.
Sarah, about 1682 ; married, 1702, John Chapin,
of Springfield. 8. Ruth, August 29, 1684; died
September 16, 1690. 9. Ebenezer, born Febru
ary 4, 1686. 10. Thomas, January 7, 1688;
died October 30, 1742. 11. Martha, August 13,
1690; married, 171 3,. Hezekiah Root. 12. Han
nah, October 24, 1693; married, 1716, John
Bancroft, of Westfield, Massachusetts. 13.
Dorothy, October 11, 1697; died January 20,
1705. 14. Orlando, born September 18, 1701.
(Ill) Deliverance, second son of John and
Mary (Sheldon) Bridgman, was born in North
ampton, Massachusetts, March 17, 1676. He
married, November 26, 1702, Joanna, widow of
Samuel King, and she bore him two children.
Deliverance Bridgman died February 2, 1738,
and his widow, Joanna, January 23, 1741, aged
seventy-five years. Rhoda, only daughter of
Deliverance and Joanna (King) Bridgman, was
born August 15, 1703, and married a Mr.
Guernsey, and Noah, their only son was born
July 24, 1706.
(IV) Noah, only son of Deliverance and
Joanna (King) Bridgman, was born in North
ampton, Massachusetts, July 24, 1706. He mar
ried, January 15, 1731, Mehitabel Warner;
children: 1. Noah, born December, 1731. 2.
Elisha, December, 1733; died October, 1736. 3.
Mehitable, June, 1736; married, 1758, Moses
Parsons. 4. Eleanor, March 20, 1738-9; mar
ried, 1757, Elnathan Phelps. 5. Hannah, July
15, 1741 ; married, 1765, Joshua Narramore;
when left a widow before 1790, she married
(second), May 19, 1791, Jonathan Phillips. 6.
Lucy,- married Thomas Spoffard. 7. Rhoda,
born December, 1747; married a Mr. Petti-
bone. Noah Bridgman died in March, 1776,
and his widow Mehitabel in 1749, aged eighty-
six years.
(V) Noah (2), eldest son of Noah (1) and
Mehitabel (Warner) Bridgman, was born in
Northampton, Massachusetts, in December,
1731. He married, February 1, 1759, Mary
Clark; children: 1. Elisha, born February 18,
1760; died 1835 or '36. 2. Erastus, February
24, 1762; died April 21, 1805. 3. Israel, Janu
ary 28, 1764; died November 16, 1835. 4.
Mercy, March, 1766; married, 1789, Levi Claf
lin. 5. Clark, November 30, 1768; died June 18,
1789. 6. Joseph (q. v.), January 23, 1771. 7-
Lydia, August 24, 1774; married Stephen Pom
eroy. 8. Noah, December 3, 1776; died August
13, 1851 or 1857. Noah Bridgman died at the
close of 1812, probably November, and his
wife about 1810.
(VI) Joseph, fifth son of Noah (2) and

Mary (Clark) Bridgman, was born at Horse
Mountain, Northampton, Massachusetts, Janu
ary 23> I77i- He married, November 24, 1796,
Mary, daughter of William and Susannah
(Gilson) Judd, of Northampton. She was born
November 24, 1772, and died in Platfield, Mass
achusetts, January 13, 1865, having borne her
husband eight children and outlived him thirty-
nine years, his death having taken place Octo
ber 27, 1826. Children of Joseph and Mary
(Judd) Bridgman: 1. Sylvester (q. v.), born
October 20, 1797. 2. John, November 30, 1799;
died May 9, i860. 3. Ansel, February 25,
1802; died September 14, 1838. 4. Theodore,
April 9, 1804. 5. Mary, November 3, 1806;
-married, February 12, 1845, Horace Waite, of
Hatfield; died April 14, 1877. 6. Lucinda,
March 19, 1809; died July 4, 1810. 7. Joseph
C, April 11, 1811; died November 21, 1843.
8. Melzar, April 28, 1814; died March 31, 1883.
(VII) Sylvester, eldest child of Joseph and
Mary (Judd) Bridgman, was born in North
ampton, Massachusetts, October 20, 1797. He
married, January 10, 1826, Betsey, daughter of
Worham and Sophia (Dwelley) Clapp. She
was born in Northampton, July 4, 1797, and
died there August 29, 1887. Children: 1. Sid
ney Edwin, born May 9, 1827. 2. Joseph Clark,
born October 23, 1831. Sylvester Bridgman
died in Northampton, July 22, 1870.
(VIII) Sidney Edwin, eldest son of Sylves
ter and Betsey (Clapp) Bridgman, was born at
North Farms, Hampshire county, Massachu
setts, May 9, 1827. He was a pupil in the
North Farms public school and at the school at
the "Center," where he pursued a more ad
vanced course and where he remained up to his
sixteenth year. He began his business life
April 14, 1844, as a clerk in the book store of
E. H. Butler & Company, established in 1797
by Simon Butler, proprietor of the Hampshire
Gazette. On reaching his majority in 1848, he
was admitted as a partner in the business, the
firm name becoming Butler & Bridgman, and
the changes in the name of the firm during Mr.
Bridgman's lifetime made it successively Hop
kins, Bridgman & Company; Bridgman &
Childs ; S. E. Bridgman & Company, and Bridg
man & Lyman. This famous book store be
came the literary center of the old town of
Northampton, and was known throughout Cen
tral Massachusetts as the "College Bookstore;"
Smith, Amherst, Mt. Holyoke and Williston
being perennial customers. The establishment
not only sold but published books, and E. H.
Butler, Mr. Bridgman's first partner, became
the proprietor of a large publishing business in
Philadelphia. Mr. Bridgman's limited school

5°o

MASSACHUSETTS.

privileges were but a grammar school course,
while his book store was his academy and col
lege, and he became the head of a literary insti
tution over which he presided with dignity, and
had as pupils and faculty the best minds of the
central portion of the commonwealth. As a
book-seller, book-maker, book-lover and au
thority on printed literature, he was fully posted
on the books of his day, and his day extended
over a period of sixty years. To go to North
ampton, without going to Bridgman's Book
store or consulting with Sidney E. Bridgman,
was the impossible act of a literary man, be he
publisher, book-seller, author, editor or littera
teur. His list of friends — for every one of his
customers was a friend — included distinguished
men from all the centers of learning in the New
England states and from New York. He made
frequent journeys to the old world, where he
found himself well known in the literary circles
of London, England, and Paris, and he thus
enlarged his personal acquaintance with men
and women of note on both continents. As the
dean of the book trade in the United States he
was a familiar personage at the trade-sales
held annually in Boston and New York, and
thus secured valuable additions to the libraries
of his customers in search of rare books. To
name his distinguished friends who had en
joyed his hospitality at Northampton or wel
comed him to equally hospitable homes in
Europe and America, is beyond the province
of this article. A roll-call of the literary people
of the Nineteenth Century in America and
Great Britain, with the learned men of China
and Japan who have visited our shores, would
contain few names not familiar to Sidney
Bridgman, the book-seller of Northampton.
Mr. Bridgman married (first), June 13, 1850.
Harriet, daughter of Timothy Phelps, of Ches
terfield, Massachusetts, and by her he had three
children: 1. Mary, died in childhood. 2. Anne
Cleveland. 3. floward, born August, 1859.
Hannah (Phelps) Bridgman died January 2,
1884, and Mr. Bridgman married (second),
September 3, 1889, Marion, daughter of Ahira
and Malinda (Shurtleff) Merrill, and widow
of Henry C. Paddock. She survives her sec
ond husband, and bore him no children. He
attended the Edwards Congregational Church,
of Northampton, almost since its organization,
and for thirty years was superintendent of the
Sunday school. He was also clerk of the church
a number of years, and senior deacon at the
time of his death. He was a popular lay
preacher in many of the towns in the Connecti
cut Valley, and in the early days of the Young
Men's Christian Association he was a member

of its state executive committee, and was asso
ciated with Henry M. Moore, of Boston ; Rob
ert K. Remington, of Fall River, and K. A.
Burnell, the evangelist, in the work of the asso
ciation. He contributed articles both religious
and in favor of total abstinence. With Mrs.
Bridgman he visited Europe and the Holy
Land, and the most attractive parts of the
American continent, including Mexico, Canada
and Alaska. He left the Republican party to
give the weight of his active support to the
Prohibitionists. Northampton had the advan
tages of his service for many years on the
school committee and as moderator of the
town meetings.
(IX) Howard Allen, only son of Sidney
Edwin and Harriet (Phelps) Bridgman, was
born in Northampton, Massachusetts, August
20, i860 ; graduate of Northampton high school,
1878, and Amherst College, A. B., 1883; stu
dent at Hartford Theological Seminary, 1884-
85, and graduate of Yale Divinity School, Yale
University, B. D., 1887 ; principal Granby high
school, 1883-84; associate editor Congregation
alist, Boston, Massachusetts, 1887-89, managing
editor since 1889; ordained to Congregational
ministry, November 19, 1890; trustee Talladega
College, Talladega, Alabama; director South
End House Social Settlement, Boston, Massa
chusetts ; director of the Monday and Twentieth
Century clubs, Boston, and author of "Steps
Christward" (1905). fte married, July 27 1898,
Helen North Bryant, of Witherbee, New York.
Her father, Rev. Mr. Bryant, is a Congrega
tional minister. Children of Howard Allen
and Helen (Bryant) Bridgman: Harriet, Ed
win B. and Marion.
(IX) Annie Cleveland, only daughter of
Sidney Edwin and Harriet (Phelps) Bridg
man is secretary of the American Missionary
Society. Sidney Edwin Bridgman died at his home,
115 Elm street, Northampton, Massachusetts,
November 25, 1906. He was a trustee of
Mount Plolyoke College nearly forty years.

W. K. Farrington, found-
FARRINGTON er of the W. K. Farring
ton Press in Boston,
Massachusetts, was born in Hackensack, New
Jersey, April 27, 1867. At the age of five he
removed with his parents to Orange, New Jer
sey, and five years later to Bloomfield, same
state, where he attended the public schools,
and this knowledge was supplemented by at
tendance at St. John's Military Academy, Sing
Sing (now Ossining), New York. At the age
of eighteen he located in Newark, New Jersey,

MASSACHUSETTS.

56i

where he served an apprenticeship at the trade
of printing. In 1888-89 he was employed in
the dry goods firm of Tebbitts, Harrison &
Robbins, New York City, and in 1900 was a
member of the firm of Williams & Farrington.
In the meantime he removed to Boston, Massa
chusetts, and served in the capacity of general
manager for Wheelman Company, publishers,
and in March, 1899, founded the W. K. Far-
ington Press in that city.

The name of Winthrop —
WINTHROP that of the Governor of the
Massachusetts Bay Com
pany at their emigration to New England — may
be traced back in various spellings for at least
six centuries and a half. The family can be
traced to various places in the mother country,
and latterly there to Groton in Suffolk, "where
they lived many years." In a volume by the
late Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, entitled "Life
and Letters of John Winthrop," the line of de
scent is there corrected, and begins with a man
called the second Adam Winthrop, born Octo
ber 9, 1498, died November^, 1562 (eldest son
of Adam and Joane (or Jane) Burton) ; mar
ried, November 16, 1527, Alice Henry, or
Henny. Children : 1 . Thomas, born November
8, 1528; died April, 1529. 2. William, born
November 12, 1529; died March 1, 1581, at
London; had wife Elizabeth, died June 2,
1578, and six children: Jonathan, Adam, Will
iam, Joshua, Elizabeth and Sarah. 3. Bridget,
born January 1, 1530; died January, 1536. 4.
Christopher, born January 4, 1531 ; died aged
nine months. 5. Thomas (2d), born June,
1533 ; died 1537. Adam Winthrop was mar
ried (second) , in 1534, to Agnes Sharpe, daugh
ter of Robert Sharpe, of Islington, she eighteen,
and he thirty-six. Children : 6. Alice, born
November 15, 1539; died November 8, 1607;
married Sir Thomas Mildmay, and had six
sons. 7. Bridget, born May 3, 1 543 ; died No
vember 4, 1614; married Roger Alabaster, and
had four sons and one daughter; one of the
sons was a celebrated poet. 8. Mary, born
March 1, 1544; married Abraham Veysie. 9.
and 10. John and Adam, twins, born January
20, 1546; Adam died in six months and John
died in Ireland, July 26, 1613 ; having married
Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Risby, of Thorpe
Morieux, Suffolk county. 11. Adam (2), born
August 10, 1548; see beyond. 12. Catharine,
born May 17, 1550; married and had children.*

•This last item is challenged by Robert C. Win
throp.

13. Susannah, born December 10, 1552; died
August 9, 1604; married D. Cottie (Dr. John
Cotta?), and had children. The widow of the
father Adam Winthrop married William Mild-
may. She died May 13, 1565.
(II) Adam (2) Winthrop, son of Adam
(1), bora in London, August 10, 1548; died
March 29, 1623; married (first), December 16,
1574, Alice Still, daughter of William, of
Grantham, Lincolnshire ; she and her first born
child died December 24, 1577, and he married
(second), February 20, 1579, Anne, daughter
of Henry Browne, of Edwardston ; her mother's
name was Agnes. Adam Winthrop (3d) was
a man of good education and high social stand
ing, lord and patron of the manor of Groton.
Children by second wife : 1. Anne, born Janu
ary 5, 1580-1; died January 20, 1580-1. 2.
Anne, born January 16, 1585-6; died May 16,
1618; married, February 25, 1604-5, Thomas
Fones. 3. John, born January 12, 1587; the
governor of Massachusetts; see forward. 4.
jane, baptized June 17, 1592; married, January
5, 1612, Thomas Gostling. 5. Lucy, born Janu
ary 9, 1600-1 ; married, April 10, 1622, Eman
uel Downing.
(Ill) John Winthrop, governor of Massa
chusetts, son of Adam (2) Winthrop, born in
Edwardston, a little village in Suffolk county,
England, immediately adjfoining Groton, Janu
ary 12, 1587; died in Boston, New England,
March 26, 1649, nineteen years after his em
barkation on March 22, 1629-30, in that harbor.
For details regarding his early life the reader
is referred to the admirable work on that sub
ject by his descendant, Hon. Robert C. Win
throp, already named, and to the various stand
ard histories of Massachusetts and New Eng
land for the latter part. He married (first),
April 16, 1605, Mary, born January 1, 1583,
died June 26, 161 5, daughter and sole heir of
John Forth, Esq., of Great Stambridge, in the
county of Essex, and Thomasine, only child of
 Hilles, in the county of Essex. Her
own immediate family was a wealthy one.
Sixteen children: 1. John, the eldest, born in
Groton, England, February 12, 1606; died in
Boston, April 5, 1676; known to history as
John Winthrop, the governor of Connecticut.
2. Henry, born (baptized January 20) 1607;
drowned at Salem, Massachusetts, July 2, 1630,
aged twenty-two years, the next day after his
landing in America. (See his father's journal).
He was somewhat adventurous, had been in
the Barbadoes; was married, April 25, 1629,
to his cousin Elizabeth Fones ; had daughter
Martha, baptized at Groton, England, May 9,

562

MASSACHUSETTS.

1630. He was left behind in his father's first
voyage, but arrived safely on a later one. He
was drowned in a small creek. His widow
came to New England afterwards and married
Robert Feake. 3. Forth, born December 30,
1609; died (buried at Groton, England, No
vember 23) 1630; was educated in the univer
sities, and was betrothed to Ursula Sherman.
4. and 5. Daughters, named Anne, baptized
1614-15, who died in their earliest infancy. 6.
Mary, eldest of the first three daughters, came
to America, and married, about 1632, Rev.
Samuel Dudley, son of Governor Thomas
Dudley, and died April 12, 1643, having had
four children, two of whom survived her.
Governor Winthrop married (second), Decem
ber 6, 161 5, Thomasine Clopton, died Decem
ber 8, 1616, daughter of William Clopton, Esq.
Child: 7. Daughter, born November, 1616;
died 1616, two days old. Governor Winthrop
married (third), April 29, 1618, Margaret
Tyndal, died in Boston, June 14, 1647, daughter
of Sir John Tyndal, knight. Her mother was
Anne Egerton, widow of William Deane, Esq.
Children: 8. Stephen, born March 24, 1618;
came with his father to America ; was recorder
of Boston; member of Parliament for Scot
land under Cromwell, and colonel of a regi
ment in the civil wars of England ; was married
and left posterity. 9. Adam, bora April 7, 1620 ;
see forward. 10. Deane, baptized March 23,
1622; died at Pullen Point (now Winthrop),
March 16, 1704; married (first) Sarah, daugh
ter of Jose Glover, and left a widow Martha
and children. 11. Nathaniel, baptized Febru
ary 20, 1625 ; probably died young. 12. Sam
uel, baptized August 26, 1627 ; married in Hol
land ; had estate in Antigua, where he held the
office of deputy governor, and died there about
1677. 13. Anne, baptized April 29, 1630; died
on her passage with her mother to New Eng
land, when aged about a year and a half. 14.
William, born at Boston, August 14, 1632 ;
probably died soon. 1 5. Sarah, baptized June 29,
1634, probably died soon. Governor Winthrop
married (fourth), December 4, 1647, Martha,
daughter of Captain William Rainsborough,
and widow of Captain Thomas Coytmore, of
Charlestown, and sister of Increase Nowell.
After the death of Winthrop she married,
March 16, 1652, John Coggan. Child by Win
throp : 16. Joshua, bora December 12, 1648;
died January 11, 1651.
(IV) Adam (3) Winthrop, son of John,
born in Groton, England, April 7, 1620; died in
Boston, suddenly it is inferred, August 24,
1652, thirty-two years and four months old;

came to New England in 1631. Adam's Chair,
a rock in Waltham, Massachusetts, was named
for him (1631); married (first), about 1642,
Elizabeth, died September, 1648, daughter of
Joss or Jose Glover; married (second) Eliza
beth, daughter of Thomas Hawkins. Children :
1. Adam, born October 15, 1647; see forward.
Fle was his parents' only child in 1652, and the
only one, unless there was a daughter Mary,
who died near the same time with her mother,
September, 1648. The widow of Adam (4)
married, May 3, 1654, John Richards; no chil
dren by either husband.
(V) Adam (4) Winthrop, son of Adam (3),
born in Boston, October 15, 1647; died August
3, 1700, aged fifty-two; will dated July 29,
proved September 5, 1700. He was graduated
at Harvard College, 1668 (Sibley's "Grad
uates," II. , 247) ; was for some time a merchant
at Bristol, England, and married there, Mary,
daughter of Colonel Luttrell, and there his chil
dren were born, one of whom was Adam, see
beyond. His daughter Mary married March 9,
1703, John Ballentine. The father was an
orphan, about five years old in 1652. He re
turned with his family to Boston in 1679. He
was captain of a military company in Boston in
1689; representative, 1689-1692; named as one
of the governor's council, but left out in the
first popular election, May, 1693. No time of
marriage or births of his children or baptism
of them is found here, as his marriage was in
England, and there the children were born.
Mary, his widow, married, March 13, 1706, as
the third wife of Joseph Lynde, of Charles
town. Her death occurred October 30, 171 5.
(VI) Adam (5) Winthrop, son of Adam
(4), graduated Harvard College, 1694, and
died October 2, 1743; married Anna  .
He was of the council of the province. Chil
dren: 1. Adam, born August 12, 1706; died
December 12, 1744; Harvard College, 1724;
merchant of Boston, and lived in Brattle street.
He was also clerk of the judicial courts. Mar
ried Mary, daughter of Hugh Hall, Esq., of
Boston. 2. John, Harvard College, 1732; see
beyond. (VII) John (2) Winthrop, son of Adam
(5), born in Boston, December 19, 1714; died
in Cambridge, May 3, 1779; married (first)
Rebecca  , died August 22, 1753, aged
twenty-nine, daughter of James Townsend, of
Boston ; married (second)., published March 25,
1756, Hannah, died May 6, 1790, widow of
 Tolman, of Boston, and daughter of
Thomas and Sarah Fayerweather. Children:
1. John, born September 17, 1747; graduated

' MASSACHUSETTS.

563

c:

(^\WmY&*wL

5r,4

MASSACHUSETTS.

Harvard College, 1765, lived in Boston, a mer
chant; married Sarah Phillips, and died in
1800, leaving posterity — John, Harvard Col
lege, 1796, and Adam, Harvard College, 1800.
2. Adam, born November 27, 1748, died Feb
ruary 11, 1774, aged twenty-five, graduated
Harvard College, 1767; left home contrary to
the desire of his father, became a shipmaster in
Covernor Hancock's employment, and in the
Downs was knocked overboard and lost. He
"was unfortunately knocked overboard by the
boom of his vessel on his passage from hence
to London, and was drowned," February 11,
1774 (Boston Nczvs Letter). 3. Samuel, born
July 20, 1750, died July 28, 1751. 4. James,
"a man of much curious erudition," born March
28, 1752, graduated Harvard College 1769, LL.
D. ; Allegheny College 1817 ; postmaster 1775
(i. e. with headquarters at Cambridge, Boston
being invested by the American troops) ; regis
ter of probate from September 6, 1775, until
18 1 7 ; for several years judge of court of com
mon pleas ; librarian of Harvard College, 1772-
1787 ; one of the founders of the Massachusetts
Historical Society ; resided in Cambridge, and
died unmarried, September 26, 182 1. A char
acteristic letter written him in 1 775 is published
by Paige, "History Cambridge," p. 700, note 5.
William, "the last survivor," born April 19,
1753, graduate Harvard College 1770; town
clerk 1 782- 1 788; selectman ten years between
1786 and 1802; senator in 1799; a gentleman
farmer, residing in Cambridge, and died un
married, February 5, 1825. The father of this
intelligent family was a man of great distinc
tion in his day. He was graduated at Harvard
College in 1738, appointed Hollis professor of
mathematics and natural philosophy in 1738.
He was in 1771, as already stated elsewhere' in
this work, the preceptor of Count Rumford
and Colonel Loammi Baldwin, of Woburn. He
was elected Hollis professor of mathematics
and natural and experimental philosophy Au
gust 30, 1738. He was then a resident of Bos
ton, and his inauguration with appropriate cere
monies occurred January 2, 1738-9. He de
clined the office of president of the college in
1769. Iiis age and "bodily infirmities" were
urged as objections against him. It was a time
when the office went begging. The choice was
made of Samuel Locke, a clergyman of a small
parish about twenty miles from Cambridge,
against whom was made the still greater objec
tion of "a want of knowledge of the world,
having lived in retirement, and perhaps not a
general acquaintance with books." In 1774,
after the resignation of Locke, Winthrop was

again chosen president and declined. President
Quincy* says of him, "The literary and scien
tific attainments of John Winthrop acquired
celebrity in his own country and in Europe, and
entitled him to be regarded as one ofthe bright
est ornaments of Harvard College. . . The
zeal, activity and talent with which he applied
himself to the advancements of the sciences
justified the expectations which his early prom
ise raised." As a lecturer he was skillful and
attractive, and during forty years he fulfilled
the duties of the professor's chair to universal
acceptance." Iiis labors were both practical
and scientific. He transmitted in December,
1740, to the Royal Society of London, "obser
vations of the transit of Mercury over the Sun."
These observations were published both in
London and honorably noticed in Paris. He
gave a lecture on the earthquake of November
18, 1755, in which he deliberately set out to
calm the apprehensions which the supersti
tions of the age had excited, with actual fear,
throughout the territory of New England,
where the quake had been experienced. He
explained his theory of the phenomenon of
earthquake with originality, research, and in
tellectual power, and advanced the consolatory
fact that though earthquakes had occasionally
occurred in New England from its first settle
ment by the English, not a single life had ever
been lost nor any great damage been done by
them. He supported the theories of Benjamin
Franklin concerning lightning, and protection
from it by the use of "iron points." Even in
this he met with opposition, even from the
ignorance of natural laws on the part of clergy
men and the superstitions of that age. One
thought, and published the fact, that the "iron
points" on the buildings in New England drew
the lightning from the clouds and caused the
earthquake of 1755. Professor Winthrop, in
reply, proceeded to show that earthquakes could
not be accounted for in that way. As late as
1770 there were religious people who were op
posed to lightning rods (in intelligent New
England!) on the ground that "thunder and
lightning" were tokens of Divine displeasure,
and that it was impious to prevent them from
doing their "full execution." Professor Win
throp again appeared in their defense with a
publication which showed that "Divine Provi
dence" governed the world by "stated general
laws," and showed in conclusion that it was as
much "our duty to secure ourselves against the
effects of lightning, as from those of rain, snow
or wind, by the means God has put into our
•"History of Harvard University," II. 217.

MASSACH USETTS.

565

hands." On the appearance of a remarkable
comet in 1759, he again came to the front with
lectures in which he explained the true nature
and motions of comets, according to the latest
discoveries of the times.
He transmitted to the Royal Society accounts
of whirlwinds and other natural phenomena
which he observed in this section. And so it
was in many other scientific observations, tran
sits of Venus and others, of which the record,
however creditable to him, is too long to men
tion in the present work. It is said that his
active, vigorous and comprehensive mind em
braced within its sphere various and extensive
knowledge, and that he was better entitled to
the character of a universal scholar, than any
individual of his time, in this country. He was
well versed in ancient and modern languages,
and President Quincy concludes that he was
one of the greatest mathematicians and philos
ophers America had then produced.
He was chosen a member of the council of
the province in 1773, but negatived by a royal
mandate. In 1774 he was a delegate to the
provincial congress. In 1775 he was restored
to the seat in the council, and also appointed
judge of probate. The latter office he held until
his death, May 3, 1779, at the age of sixty-five.

(Ancestry by Arthur G. Loring).
Thomas Brooks, of Concord,
BROOKS Massachusetts, died there May
21, 1667 ; his wife Grace, whose
surname is unknown, died May 12, 1664. He
first settled in Watertown, as early as 1636,
and removed very soon to Concord, where he
was , constable in 1638; representative 1642-
1644, 1654, 1659-1662. He is called captain,
and if so, probably of the military company at
Concord. In 1660, with his son-in-law, Cap
tain Timothy Wheeler, he purchased of Ed
ward Collins four hundred acres of land in
Medford, it being a portion of the Cradock
farm. Children: 1. Joshua, married October
17, 1653, Hannah Mason, of Watertown. 2.
Caleb, see forward. 3. Gershom, married
March 12, 1667, Hannah Eckles, of Cambridge.
4. Mary, married Captain Timothy Wheeler.
of Concord ; she died his widow, October 4,
1693. (II) Caleb Brooks, son of Captain Thomas
Brooks, died at Medford, July 29, 1696, aged
sixty-four years ; married first, April 10, 1660,
Susanna Atkinson, born April 28, 1641, daugh
ter of Thomas Atkinson, of Concord; she
died at Concord, January 19, 1669, and he
married (second) her sister, Hannah Atkinson,

born March 5, 1643, died at Medford, March
10, 1709. He moved from Concord to Med
ford in 1680, and occupied most of the land
purchased by his father. Children by his first
wife : 1. Susan, born December 27, 1661, died
at Medford, December 23, 1686. 2. Mary,
born November 18, 1663, died young. 3. Mary,
born April 3, 1666; married, April 19, 1688,
Nathaniel Ball, of Concord. 4. Rebecca, born
November 9, 1667. 5. Sarah, born December
16, 1668; married, October 18, 1705, Philip
Russell, of Cambridge. Children by second
wife : 6. Ebenezer, born February 24, 1670-1 ;
see forward. 7. Samuel, born September 1,
1672; married Sarah Boylston, of Brookline.
( III ) Captain Ebenezer Brooks, son of Caleb
Brooks, born at Concord, February 24, 1670-1 ;
died at Medford, February 11, 1742-3, in
seventy-third year (gravestone) ; married, 1693,
Abigail Boylston, daughter of Dr. Thomas
and Mary (Gardner) Boylston, of Brookline;
she died May 23, 1756, in eighty-second year
(gravestone), fte inherited his father's house
and homestead. Children: 1. Caleb, born July
8, 1694: see forward. 2. Ebenezer, born March
23, 1697-8; married, June 20, 1737, Hannah
Gibson, of Boston. 3. Abigail, born October
6, 1699; married October 27, 1720, Thomas
Oakes, of Medford. 4. Hannah, born April
15, 1701 ; married (intention dated November
8, 1721) Nathaniel Cheever, of Boston. 5.
Mary, born January 19, 1703-4, died Septem
ber 3, 1704. 6. Thomas, born April 28, 1705,
died November 14, 1784, aged eighty years. 7.
Rebecca, born July 24, 1706; married, Decem
ber 2, 1725, Samuel Pratt, of Boston. 8. Sam
uel, born February 8, 1709-10; married, April
2, 1747, Abigail Hastings, of Waltham.
(IV) Captain Caleb (2) Brooks, son of Cap
tain Ebenezer Brooks, born at Medford, July
8, 1694, died there November 21, 1766, seventy-
third year (gravestone) ; married first, March
30, 1730-T, Mary Winn, born July 3, 1711, died
January 1. 1745, aged thirty-four years and
"six months (gravestone), daughter of Increase
and Mary Winn, of Woburn ; married second,
March 1, 1749-50, Ruth Albree, born May 17,
1718, died May 6, 1793, aged seventy-four
years (gravestone) , daughter of John and Eliz
abeth (Green) Albree, of Medford. He occu
pied the estate now in Winchester known as
the Le Bosquet place, at present Symmes
Corner, at that time within the limits of Med
ford. This estate was purchased in 171 5 by
his father, Captain Ebenezer Brooks, of Will
iam Symmes, and after his death passed to his
son, Captain Caleb Brooks, and at his death

566

MASSACHUSETTS.

to his son, Ebenezer Brooks, whose daughter
Mary married Captain John Le Bosquet, who
bought out other heirs and died in April, 1844.
Mrs. Le Bosquet had all of his personal prop
erty and the use of his real estate during her
life-time. She died in September, 1847, and
was succeeded by Captain Lebbeus Leach,
whose wife was one of the heirs. He sold to
Hon. Frederick O. Prince, who conveyed the
house and a part of the land to Marshall
Symmes in 1865. In 1881 Mr. Symmes re
moved the old house to the rear of his barn,
and built a new house on the site of the old
one. Children by first wife Mary (Winn) : 1.
Mary, bora at Charlestown, December 20, 1731 ;
married April 4, 1752, Daniel Pratt, of Chelsea.
2. Abigail, born July 17, 1733; married, No
vember 24, 1757, Joseph Hall, of Medford. 3.
Ebenezer, born April 22, 1735; married, De
cember 28, 1758, Susanna Thompson, of Med
ford. 4. Caleb, baptized at Medford, Septem
ber 5, 1736, died young. 5. Caleb, baptized
October 5, 1737, died young. 6. Rebecca, bap
tized July 1, 1739; married, November 6, 1766,
Samuel Hall, of Medford. 7. Ruth, baptized
August 2, 1741 ; married, November 20, 1760,
Joseph Seccomb, of Medford. 8. Sarah, bap
tized November 28, 1742 ; married John Le
Bosquet. 9. Caleb, baptized September 9, 1744;
married, January 1, 1767, Mary Kidder, of
Medford. 10. Increase, baptized December 22,
1745. Children by second wife, Ruth (Albree) :
11. Theodore, baptized January 5, 1751. 12.
John, baptized May 4, 1752; see forward. 13.
Joseph, baptized February 24, 1754, died May
11, 1756. 14. Elizabeth, born June 20, 1757;
married, December 31, 1776, Rev. Jacob Bur
nap, of Merrimack, New Hampshire. 15. Han
nah, bom February 12, 1760; married, Octo
ber 21, 1794, Francis Burns, of Medford.
( V) Governor John Brooks, son of Captain
Caleb (2) Brooks; born at Medford, baptized
there May 4, 1752; died at Medford, March 1.
1825, aged seventy-three years, married Lucy
Smith, died at Medford, September 26, 1791,
aged thirty-eight years. Children: 1. Lucy,
born at Reading, June 16, 1775; married at
Med ford, October 2. 1803, George O'KillStuart,
of Kingston, Canada: had a son George O'Kill
Stuart, who was a mayor of Quebec, Canada.
2. A child, died at Medford, October. 1778. 3.
Alexander Scammell, born at Medford, Octo
ber 19, 1781, killed by a steamboat explosion at
St. John's bar coast of Florida, December 19,
1836; married, May 28, 1817, Sarah Turner,
of Boston ; he obtained a commission in the
army, first lieutenant of artillery. 1808; cap

tain in third artillery, 1812; brevet major for
gallantry at Plattsburg, 1814; major third artil
lery, 1832; lieutenant-colonel fourth artillery,
1835. (For a further account see Brooks's
"History of Medford," pp. 198-200) ; children :
1. Lucy, born at Medford, March 25, 1818:
married, May 30, 1843, Hon. Edward L. Keyes,
of Dedham. 2. John, born June 18, 1820, who
died a passed midshipman, United States navy,
June 4, 1843. 4. John, born May 20, 1784,
killed at battle of Lake Erie, September 13,
1813; he graduated at Plarvard College, 1805;
studied medicine with his father, and after
wards entered the navy as lieutenant of
marines ; he was unmarried. 5. A child, died
March 24, 1786. (By William R. Cutter.)
Governor John Brooks, the most
BROOKS distinguished citizen in Medford
of his own time, was born in
that town in May, 1752. It is said by his con
temporaries that the mother of the future gen
eral and governor was a woman of superior
character. His father was a respectable farmer,
and esteemed by his neighbors. It was, how
ever, to his mother that he was indebted for the
influence which encouraged him to make a rise
hi life, and through her family physician, Dr.
Simon Tufts, she was encouraged to give him
as good an education as circumstances would
allow. He was placed at the town school, where he
was taught the rudiments of science and the
Latin and Greek languages. Dr. Tufts took
him into his family at the age of fourteen to
educate for his profession. He continued with
Dr. Tufts until he was twenty-one years old.
The doctor then advised him to begin the prac
tice of medicine in the adjoining town of Read
ing, and recommended him to the people as well
oualified for the trust. He accordingly settled
there, was soon married, and his prospects were
fair for a respectable establishment in his pro
fession. But the revolutionary war broke upon
the scene, and matters military engaged the
attention of all the people, physicians included.
Tn his teens he had begun to display a talent
and fondness for military drill and his hours
of relaxation were given to that exercise. His
village mates were formed into a company com
manded .by himself. He was popular, and Dr.
Tufts' yard became for the time a miniature
training field. At Reading he was placed in
command of a company of minute-men, the
best soldiers in the militia, and soon was ad
vanced to the position of major in a new regi-

MASSACH ITSETTS.

567

GOVERNOR JOHN BROOKS.

568

MASSACHUSETTS.

ment. He displayed rare abilities as a discipli
narian, and was thought by all who were con
nected with him in military duty to be the most
competent to take the lead. At first he declined,
owing to the increasing and pressing duties of
his profession, but the affair of the 19th of
April, 1775, happening in his immediate neigh
borhood, made a speedy decision necessary,
and he quickly assumed the duties of an office
which he was well qualified to sustain. He
ordered out his company with promptness, and
directed them to proceed on the route to Con
cord ; and having made such provision for the
medical relief of the sick under his care as the
time would permit, he joined his corps with all
possible speed. Having arrived in the vicinity
of Concord, he met the British on their retreat
(near Merriam's Corner), and made such a
disposition of his men as to secure them from
injury, and enable them to annoy the enemy
with destructive volleys as they passed a nar
row defile (in the present town of Lincoln).
He then hung on their rear and flanks in con
junction with other troops until they arrived
at Charlestown. His contemporaries bore testi
mony to the fact that on this occasion, so im
portant at the beginning of the war, he dis
played the cool and determined bravery of a
veteran. His military talents and calm cour
age were remarkable in a young man only
twenty-three years of age who had never seen
a battle. Dr. Dixwell, who knew him well,
states that it was noticed by those who had the
direction of public affairs, and he soon after
received the commission of a major in the Con
tinental army, — the regular army of the revolu
tion. The contemporaries of Governor Brooks
furnish from their writings the following facts
regarding the record of his life. He said that
the most fatiguing clay he even spent was the
19th of April, 1775. History informs us that
the force. under his command arrived on the
field at a most opportune moment. A good
officer in command on the American side was
needed. The impact between the two opposing
bodies of well-armed troops was of the utmost
consequence to either, and both Briton and
American met on terms of equality for the first
time on that memorable day. Parker's men at
Lexington had fled, with fatal losses, before
the fire of a superior body. Buttrick's men at
the North Bridge, at a later hour, did not follow
up their trifling victory. At a much later hour
when the British main body had begun their
retreat, Brooks, with the body of minute-men
under his command, suddenly arrived on the

scene. Dr. Ripley, of Concord, says, "As the
enemy passed the road from Bedford, they n»,et
a body of minute-men, commanded by Major
John Brooks. A little below Bedford road
there was a sharp action, and several of the
British were killed." Rev. Mr. Foster, of
Reading, a member of Governor Brooks's com
pany, who wrote a circumstantial account of
what he witnessed, said of the beginning of
the fight : "The enemy faced about suddenly
and fired a volley of musketry upon us. They
overshot. The fire was immediately returned,
and two Britsh soldiers fell dead in the road
near the brook." This event in the fray was
followed by some sharp fighting in the Lincoln
woods, where by the peculiarity of the turns in
the road through which the British were obliged
to pass, they were hemmed together in places
and subjected to cross fires from men ensconced
behind stone walls and large trees by the way
side. In forcing their way through this defile,
the British came into close encounter with the
Americans, and a number on both sides of the
contending forces were killed. It was here that
young Brooks performed that service for his
country, which afterwards commended him to
promotion and distinction in the army." And
there is no doubt that his abilities in this direc
tion were great. These were not alone shown
for the long period of the revolutionary war,
but afterwards in the insurrection in Massa
chusetts known as the Shays Rebellion, and the
War with England of 18 12.
At the beginning of the revolution his rank
was that of major in Colonel Ebenezer Bridges's
regiment of minute-men — the new regiment we
have already mentioned, which marched April
r9> 1775- and credited with a service of four
clays. Major Brooks engaged himself to serve
in this regiment from April 24, 1775, to August
1, 1775, or a period of three months and fifteen
days. He was detailed while in this regiment
as field officer of the picket guard, May 8, 1775,
also for the main and picket guards at Cam
bridge from May 12 to May 31, 1775, and
again for the picket guard June 8, 1775. His
commission in same regiment was dated May
-7- 1775- His residence is given as Reading
and also Medford. On the night of June 16,
1775, he volunteered to assist in intrenching
Bunker Hill, and in watching the enemy, and
on the morning of the 17th he was sent by Col
onel Preseott to General Ward at Cambridge
for reinforcement. Being obliged to perform
this duty on foot, he could take no active part
in the engagement.
On January 1, 1776, Congress appointed him

MASSACH USETTS.

5^9

major of Webb's Nineteenth regiment. His
regiment was present at the siege of Boston, in
the retreat from Long Island, and in the battle
of White Plains. Major Brooks remained with
the regiment until its term of enlistment had
expired. From Janary 1, 1777, to December 31, 1779,
he served in the Continental army as lieutenant-
colonel commandant and as lieutenant-colonel
in Colonel Michael Jackson's Eighth regiment.
He also served as lieutenant-colonel command
ant of Seventh regiment, commissioned No
vember 11, 1778, and he held the same office
and position as regimental commander during
the year 1780, and also as acting colonel of the
Seventh regiment, January 26, to May 25, 1781.
He was reported on command at Boston about
June 1, 1 78 1. At that time his duties appear
to be divided between two places, Boston and
Peekskill. He was at this period reported as
in command at West Point, and also as com
manding the brigade, 1781. The war had prac
tically ended with the surrender of Cornwallis
in that year, but troops were still retained in
active service. Colonel Brooks was on furlough
in Massachusetts from January 5, 1782, by leave
of his general officers. During the last year men
tioned he was reported as attending court-
martial in garrison, and from September 1,
1782, he was reported on furlough in Massa
chusetts by leave of General Washington. He
was stationed at different places on the Hud
son river and its neighborhood during 1782 and
1783. He reported at Philadelphia by leave of
General Washington in 1783, and ended his ser
vices about June 13, 1783, when the war was
finally ended.
In the battle of Saratoga, September 19,
1777, Lieutenant-Colonel Brooks occupied the
extreme left of the American line, and was en
gaged with the German troops. On the 7th of
October, 1777, his regiment turned the right of
the enemy's encampment, and stormed the re
doubt occupied by the Germans. His regiment
remained masters of the field. He led the charge
to the top of the intrenchments. He was also
at Valley Forge. He was present at the battle
of Monmouth. He was employed as an in
spector (drill-master) under Steuben, in the
field of military tactics. He was the friend and
upholder of Washington at a most anxious
moment in the affairs of the army. He retired
in poverty from the service, and resumed his
medical profession at Medford.
In battle his manner of attack was not a
mere feint, but a direct attack in force ; witness
his conduct at Merriam's Corner, at White

Plains, and at Saratoga. His bravery was un
questioned. At Saratoga, at the second battle
of the action of Bemis Heights, October 7,
1777, his conduct is thus described by an eye
witness: "When the Colonel saw that the deci
sive moment had come, he lifted his sword in
the air, and cried, 'Follow your Colonel at
double quick !' Fle immediately led the way to
the top of the intrenchments, crying, 'Come on,
come on!' They did come on; and a most
bloody and violent conflict ensued, in which
they decided the fate of the day."
A letter of Governor Brooks from Valley
Forge, Pennsylvania, dated January 5, 1778,
states the precise reason why the British had
been victorious in that region, namely their
superiority in numbers. He also describes in
feeling terms the sufferings endured at Valley
Forge by the private soldiers during their can
tonment. He is severe on the lack of public
spirit displayed by the inhabitants of the middle
states. (See Massachusetts Historical Society
Proceedings, xiii: 243).
He entered, says his biographer, on the duties
of a soldier with ardor, and devoted all the
power of his mind to the cause of his country,
and the profession of arms. His gentlemanly
deportment and unassuming manners secured
the favor of his superiors in office, and ren
dered him the delight of his equals and infer
iors. His skill as a tactician was marked. After
Bunke-r Hill battle, the advantages of superior
discipline as shown on the part of the enemy
were apparent to every one. These advantages
made a strong impression on the American
officers, and especially on the mind of Governor
Brooks. He had showed early in his life his
talent as a drill-master, and his knowledge of
tactics while in the regular army was acknowl
edged to be superior to that of his fellow
officers. The corps he commanded was excel
lent as to discipline, drill, steadiness, and for its
skillful movements, either in advance or in
retreat. Some have gone so far as to say that
his knowledge was second only to that of the
celebrated Baron Steuben, a German officer en
gaged in reforming the American army. For
this reason he was associated with that officer
as an inspector-general in performing the diffi
cult task of introducing a uniform system of
exercise and manoeuvres into the army.
He was a major-general of militia in 1786.
He was nominated a brigadier-general to serve
in the provisional army raised in 1798, on
prospect of war with France, but declined the
position. During the war of 181 2 he was ad
jutant-general of the state. We quote his bio-

570

MASSACHUSETTS.

grapher in relation to the value of these later
military services. Dr. Dixwell says : "He was
for many years major-general of the militia of
his country, and established in his division such
excellent discipline, and infused into it such
an admirable spirit of emulation, that it was a
most brilliant example for the militia of this
state. In the insurrection of 1786 his division
was very efficient in their protection of the
courts of justice, and in their support of the
government of the state. At this time Gov
ernor Brooks represented his town in general
court, and he gave support to the firm and
judicious measures of Governor Bowdoin for
suppressing that alarming rebellion. He was
appointed by the acute and discriminating Gov
ernor Strong as his adjutant-general, in that
perilous crisis of our affairs, the later war with
England, (1812-1814). The prudence and dis
cretion with which he discharged this arduous
duty will be long remembered by his grateful
countrymen." He was frequently chosen a representative,
was a member of the constitutional convention
of 1788, several years a senator and a member
of the executive council of the state, United
States marshal, 1791-1796, inspector of rev
enue, 1796, and during the war of 1812 adju
tant-general, and seven years from 1816 to
1823, governor of Massachusetts.
He was admirably fitted to allay party ani
mosities. Among his merits it is said that he
maintained the dignity of the office, received
distinguished strangers properly, being bred in
the best school of manners — that of the high-
minded and accomplished officers of the army;
and that in deportment he was grav'e and dig
nified like Washington, but warm and affec
tionate. His amiable character and attractive
manners made friends for him everywhere.
The kindly affections of his heart increased
his acceptance with the people as a popular
physician. PHs practice was not only general
in his own town, but was greatly extended to
other towns. The parents of the writer of this
sketch (not dwellers in Medford) were assist
ed on their entrance into this world, 1803 and
1805, by his skillful hand. Judge then of his
sacrifice on entering the army of his country,
as a field officer of infantry, and the loss for
nearly seven years thereby of a growing and
profitable medical practice !
It is said that, when he left the army and re
turned to his home, he found himself so poor
that at first he opened a small shop, but with
out success.
It is said that in his boyhood he formed an

intimancy with the celebrated Count Rumford,
with whom he kept up a correspondence until
the death of the Count. The authority for this
statement is unknown to the present writer.
Count Rumford as a boy was known as Ben
jamin Thompson, of Woburn, a highly intel
lectual man, distinguished in the higher pursuits
of science, and a military man, who served on
the British side at the close of the American-
revolution, and later in one of the states of the
European continent.
It is said that as a church-goer the Governor's
influence was a powerful example to the people
of his town. Late in life he declared his public
belief in the authority of the scriptures. In
1820, on the division between the two leading
sects of his neighborhood, he took side withthe
Unitarians, but never liked the extremes of
either. It is said of him, "He lived as he pro
fessed." When General Lafayette came to
Massachusetts in 1824, he dined with his friend
and fellow officer, then living in retirement at
Medford. The citizens gave the guest a general
welcome. The dinner at the Governor's house
was a private one, and about twenty were pres
ent. Governor Brooks departed this life on
March 1, 1825, aged seventy-three, and in
1838 his friends erected a granite pyramid to
his memory in the old burying-ground of the
town. The judgment of his contemporaries is con
firmed by those best able to decide on his medi
cal abilities, as follows : "As a physician he
ranked in the first class of practitioners. His
manners were dignified, courteous and benign.
His kind offices were peculiarly acceptable
from the felicitous manner in which he per
formed them. He was accurate in his investi
gations and clear in his discernment. He pre
ferred erring on the side of prudence rather
than on that of rashness, fle watched the
operations of nature, and never interfered un
less it was obvious he could aid and support
her." Another cause of his fellow-citizens'
appreciation of him is expressed in the sen
tence of Dr. Dixwell : "He soared above the
sordid consideration of the property he should
accumulate by his professional labors. Plis
countrymen who have ever been distinguished
for the acuteness of their discernment in judg
ing of public men and measures, were always
ready to display their confidence in him."

Henry Baldwin, the immi-
BALDWIN grant ancestor, probably from
Devonshire, in England, was
one of the first settlers of the new town of

MASSACHUSETTS.

57i

Woburn, and of that part of it which is now
known as North Woburn. Here in 1661 he
built the "palatial house which is still one of
the most imposing in the town, and which,
though with some changes and occasional im
provements," has been owned and occupied by
his descendants for six generations. The house
is the oldest dwelling in Woburn. The estate
connected with it and its owner, Colonel
Loammi Baldwin, contained in 1801 the large
number of 212 acres, valued at $9,000 by the
town assessors at that time. A late owner,
George R. Baldwin, son of Colonel Baldwin, is
succeeded by his daughter, Mrs. Griffith. In
1820 the house was in looks much the same as
now. . The north chimney, put up by George R.
Baldwin, was reputed to be the first "single
flue" chimney made in the country. He de
signed the chimney caps and built a small addi
tion to the rear of the house. On the south,
between the house and the canal, was formerly
a beautiful garden, with walks and trees, super
ior to anything of the kind then in this section.
All traces of its appointments having long since
disappeared, "neither fountain, nor arbor, nor
walk, nor boat, is there now to hint at the story
of the past." In 1832 George R. Baldwin occu
pied the mansion house. Attached to the estate
in 1820 was a farm house which, doubled in size,
still exists as an attachment to the larger place.
Henry Baldwin was a sergeant of the Wo
burn militia from 1672-85, and deacon of the
First Church, Woburn, from 1686 until his
death. Henry Baldwin died February 14, 1697-98;
married, November 1, 1649, Phebe, baptized
in Boston, June 3, 1632, died September 13,
1716, eldest daughter of Ezekiel and Susanna
Richardson. Children: 1. Susanna, born Au
gust 30, 1650; died September 28, 1651. 2.
Susanna, born July 25, 1652, died March 7,
1694; married Israel Walker (Samuel 1), as
his second wife. 3. Phebe, born September 7,
1654, died October 20, 1679, aged twenty-five;
married, November 7, 1676, Samuel Richard
son (Samuel 1), as his third wife. 4. John,
born October 28, 1656. 5. Daniel, born March
15, 1659-60; see forward. 6. Timothy, born
May 27, 1661 ; see forward. 7. Mary, born
July 19, 1663 ; died January 8, 1663-64. 8.
Henry, born November 15, 1664; see forward.
9- Abigail, born August 20, 1667, died Decem
ber 25, 1769;* married, December 4, 1705,
John Reed (Ralph 2, William 1), as his second

"The statement is here advanced that the broken
stone  5th, 1766, (sic) (203 of the printed
inscriptions in the First Yard) is her's. — Editor.

wife. io. Ruth, born July 31, 1670; unmar
ried and alive at the date of her father's will.
11. Benjamin, born January 20, 1672-73; see
forward. Henry Baldwin the father, in will
allowed April 4, 1698, names his wife Phebe;
sons Henry, Daniel, Timothy and Benjamin;
his son Israel Walker, husband of his daughter
Susanna, and his grandson Israel Walker ; his
son Samuel Richardson, husband of his daugh
ter Phebe, and his grandson, Zachariah Rich
ardson, son of Phebe ; also his two daughters
then single, Abigail and Ruth Baldwin.
(II) Daniel Baldwin, son of Henry, born
March 15, 1659-60; died January 24, 1718-
19 ; married, January 6, 1684-85, Hannah, born
October 22, 1667, died September 28, 1736,
daughter of Josiah Richardson (Samuel 1)
and Hannah ( Green ) Richardson. Children :
1. Hannah, born August 21, 1686. 2. Phebe,
born May 13, 1690; died March 10, 1706-
07. 3. Henry, born March 15, 1692-93; died
March 12 (sic), 1692-93. 4. Joseph, born
March 15, 1692-93; died March 12 (sic), 1692-
93. 5. Susanna, born March 31, 1694, died
before 1746; married, December 15, 1712, Ben
jamin Walker, of Billerica (Joseph 2, Samuel
1). 6. Daniel, born December 16, 1695; killed
by the Indians in battle near Dunstable, New
Hampshire, September 5, 1724. 7. Dorcas,
born October 18, 1697 ; died March 7, 1697-98.
8. Joseph, born March 17, 1698-99; died Feb
ruary 3, 1744-45; married, July 4, 1733, Ruth
Centre, of Charlestown. She died December
15, 1733. 9. Dorcas, born August 11, 1701. 10.
John, born August 28, 1703; married, Decem
ber 8, 1726, Sarah Lawrence, of Watertown.
11. Rebecca, born December 19, 1705; died
March 10. 1735-36. 12. Benjamin, born March
30, 1707. 13. Phebe, born December 28, 1708;
married, October 29, 1735, John Hamblet, of
Nottingham. In the case of John Seers versus Lieutenant'
Tohn Wyman, before the council in i6y6, Dan
iel Baldwin, aged seventeen year's, testified
about the impressment of two horses, and that
while pressing a horse belonging to John Wy
man. who resisted the constable, said Wyman
"suffered his negro servant to beat me with a
great stick, and reproved him not." In the
same case, on the testimony of several wit
nesses, Daniel Baldwin is called "grandchild
to John Seers," and came with him to Lieuten
ant Wyman's garrison. The witnesses say
Daniel Baldwin abused James Carringbone,
negro servant of said Wyman, "both in words
and deeds," calling him "Black Roag," and
struck him with his gun across his back, and

57^

MASSACHUSETTS.

said he would "shute" him. Seers stated that
Baldwin was a "solger" who came to Wy
man's with him, and that one of Wyman's
household struck said Baldwin with a "great
stick." The particulars of this interesting case
are published in "Woburn Men in the Indian
and Other Wars," pp. 11-14 (editions of 1897
and 1903).
(II) Timothy Baldwin, son of Henry, born
at Woburn, May 27, 1661 ; died in Stone
ham, March 11, 1733-34; married first, June 2,
1687, Elizabeth, born July 28, 1661, died Janu
ary 26, 1703-04, daughter of Ralph (Ralph 1)
and Martha (Toothaker) Hill, of Billerica;
married second, July 9, 1706, Elizabeth, daugh
ter of Lazarus and Ruth (Adams) Grover, of
Maiden. She returned to Maiden (her will,
May 13, 1752, lodged November 8, 1756, was
probated in 1760). Children: 1. Elizabeth,
born May 29, 1688; died April 4, 1691. 2.
Timothy, born November 20, 1689; see for
ward. 3. Ralph, born June 28, 1691 ; probably
died before 1718. 4. Hannah, born September
6, 1692, died September 6, 1692. 5. Elizabeth,
born June 21, 1695, in Charlestown or Stone
ham. His will names wife, son Timothy and
daughter Elizabeth, and grandchildren Ralph
and Hannah, children of Timothy, Jr., and
Hannah (Richardson) Baldwin.
(Ill) Timothy (2) Baldwin, son of Timothy
( 1 ), born in Woburn, November 20, 1689 ; died
December 3, 1750, aged sixty-one (gravestone
at Stoneham) ; married, June 10, 1713, Han
nah, born May 6, 1689, died after 1766, daugh
ter of Nathaniel (Thomas 1) and Mary (  )
Richardson. His wife married second, about
April, 1752, John Vinton, and removed to Dud
ley; after his death in 1760 she returned to
Stoneham, where she was living in 1766. In
November, 1763, she was living with her grand
son Timothy, son of Joseph and Elizabeth
(Baldwin) Matthews. ("Vinton Memorial,"
p. 378). Children: 1. Ralph, born March 6,
1714, died May 1, 1731. 2. Hannah, born Sep
tember 4, 1715; married, February 19, 1734,
Joseph Vinton. 3. Elizabeth, born November
9, 1717, died November 25, 1717. 4. Elizabeth,
born April 9, 1723; married, November 10,
1 741, Joseph Matthews. 5. Timothy, born
June 23, 1727, died February 19, 1727-28. 6.
Timothy, born May 19, 1729, died April 1,
1742. The younger Timothy Baldwin is styled
"Ensign" on his gravestone, 1750. This office
has its equivalent in the modern second lieu
tenant. His will dated November 7, 1750.
mentions wife Plannah, and his daughters Han

nah Vinton and Elizabeth Matthews. He also
mentions a legacy given to his honored mother-
in-law (stepmother) by his honored father.
His father's will was dated July 12, 1718. Eliz
abeth, his daughter, is mentioned in it as mar
ried at that date, but to whom does not appear.
Agreements were made respecting the father's
estate in 1734 and 1741. To Elizabeth, his
wife, the father granted the use of a room in
the east end of his house, and she released to
the son her right to a room in the house, 1734.
Her will devised to grandchildren Matthews
and to Samuel Grover.
(II) Henry (2) Baldwin, son of Henry (1),
born in Woburn, November 15, 1664; died July
7, 1739; married, May 4, 1692, Abigail, born
February 1, 1674, died January — , 1771, aged
ninety-six or ninety-seven, daughter of David
and Seaborn (Wilson) Fiske, first of Woburn
and latterly of Lexington. Henry had all hous
ing of his father, per will, after his mother
Phebe had deceased, and all lands after his
father's decease. Children : 1 . Henry, born
January 12, 1692-93; see forward. 2. David,
born April 9, 1696; see forward. 3. Isaac,
born February 20, 1699-1700; see forward. 4.
Abigail, born February 13, 1701-02, died Sep
tember 4, 1704. 5. James, born July 11, 1705,
died June 12, 1709. 6. Abigail, born Novem
ber 19, 1707, died before 1751 ; married John
Converse, and removed to Leicester. 7. James,
born October 19, 1710; see forward. 8. Sam
uel, born August 31, 1717; see forward. The
last will of Henry Baldwin, dated January 9,
i732-33> presented by James Baldwin, left Au
gust 6, 1739, probated September 10, 1739,
names wife Abigail; Henry Baldwin, eldest
son; sons David, Isaac, Samuel, and daughter
Abigail Converse, and son James Baldwin,
executor. He gave wife one-half part of
house, northerly end, both upper and lower
rooms, with the cellar under them; his son
James had the other part. He confirmed cer
tain gifts. He also gave his son James his saw
mill and his rights to said sawmill stream.
(II) Benjamin Baldwin, son of Henry (1),
born January 20, 1672-73 ; died April 28, 1736 ;
married Hannah  , died September 28,
1736. Children: 1. John, born  , 1697.
2. Benjamin, born October 25, 1701. The
statement, real or unfounded, has been made
that Benjamin Baldwin resided at one time in
Canterbury, Connecticut.
(Ill) Henry (3) Baldwin, son of Henry (2),
born in Woburn, January 12, 1692-93 ; died in
Pelham, New Hampshire ; married,May 7, 1717,
Mary, born January 10, 1694-95, died Octo-
t

MASSACHUSETTS.

573

ber 25, 1798, aged 104, daughter of Joseph
(Joseph 2, Samuel 1) and Mary (Blodget)
Richardson. Children: 1. Henry, born Feb
ruary 27, 1717-18. 2. Nathan, born May 18,
1720. 3. Mary, born January 4, 1721-22. The
following is a contemporary notice of Mrs.
Baldwin's death.
"At Shrewsbury, Mrs. Mary Jones, aet.
nearly 105 years. Her maiden name was Mary
Richardson. She was born at Woburn, Janu
ary 10th, O. S., 1694. Her first husband was
Henry Baldwin, Esq., of Pelham, N. H, by
whom she had three children, who lived to
settle in the world, and left families. Her
second husband was Colonel Jones, of Hopkin
ton, who died about the year 1772, since which
time she remained a widow. She enjoyed a
good degree of health, until within a few weeks
of her death. The serenity of mind, and quiet
ness of temper, which she possessed to an un
common degree, doubtless contributed to her
great age. Being early imprest with the im
portance of religion, the practice of it, ever
appeared natural and easy. As she lived, so
she died in the hope of a blessed immortality,
and but a few hours before her death was able
to express, with great propriety, her views and
prospects of futurity." — Columbian Centinel
(Boston), November 3, 1798.
Captain Henry Baldwin died in Pelham,
New Hampshire, 1754. The gravestone of his
wife Mary at Shrewsbury reads : Mary, widow
of Colonel John Jones, died October 23, 1798,
in her 105th year.
Henry Baldwin, son of Henry (3), married
Abigail Butler, of Pelham, New Hampshire.
They settled in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
Children : Mary, married Captain Elisha Ward,
of Petersham; also Henry, Nathan, Thaddeus,
Eliphalet, Kezia, Abigail, Relief, Lucretia.
Henry married second, Martha Abbott, widow
of Ebenezer Abbott, and died November 17,
1789, aged seventy-two.
Nathan, son of Henry (3), lived in Wor
cester; married first Sarah Oakes, and second
Lydia Oakes. Children, by first wife : Sarah,
married  Johnson ;. Abigail. By second
wife: Lydia, Mary.
Mary, daughter of Henry (3), married Rev.
Abner Bayley, of Salem, New Hampshire.
Children : Mary, married first William White,
of Plaistow, and second Moses Webster, of
Haverhill; Elizabeth, married Henry Little, of
Salem, New Hampshire ; Lavinia, married Rev.
William Kelley, .of Warner, New Hampshire
("Vinton Memorial," 378).
(Ill) Captain David Baldwin, son of Henry

(2), born at Woburn, April 9, 1696; died in
Sudbury, June 23, 1770; married Abigail, born
December 18, 1702, died June 12, 1767, daugh
ter of Hon. William and Elizabeth (Golding)
Jennison, of Sudbury. He was an innkeeper
of Watertown, 1752-1757. Children: 1. Will
iam, born November 11, 1727. 2. Samuel, born
August 27, 1 73 1. 3. Lydia, born October 27,
1729, died July 8, 1732. 4. Abigail, born Au
gust 18, 1733. 5. Lydia, born October 5, 1735.
6. Elizabeth. 7. Mary, born September 8, 1742.
William, son of David (3), was graduated
at Harvard College in 1748; married, February
J5> 1753, Jane, daughter of Rev. William and
Jane Cook, of Sudbury, and was a deacon and
magistrate in Sudbury, where he died.
Samuel, son of David (3), graduated at
Harvard College, 1752; married, January 2,
1 77 1, Hannah, daughter of Judge John Cush
ing, of Scituate ; was ordained pastor at Han
over, Massachusetts, December 1, 1756, dis
missed March 8, 1780, and died December 1,
1784, aged fifty- four.
Abigail, daughter of David (3), married
May 7, 1752, Joseph Curtis, of Sudbury. She
had a daughter Abigail who became the wife
of Rev. Jonathan Barnes, of Hillsborough, New
Hampshire, December 14, 1774.
Lydia, daughter of David (3), married, Feb
ruary 19, 1756, Hon. Oliver Preseott, of Gro
ton, .a physician in a very large practice ; judge
of probate ; brigadier-general before and during
the revolution, 1768-1781 ; afterwards major-
general. He was also a member of the board
of war and of the supreme executive council
of Massachusetts ; a brother of Colonel William
Preseott, who commanded in the redoubt on
Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775; being third son
(sixth child) of Hon. Benjamin and Abigail
(Oliver) Preseott; while Colonel William was
their second son (fourth child). Lucy, sixth
child of Hon. Oliver and Lydia (Baldwin)
Preseott, married Hon. Timothy Bigelow, of
Medford, and their eldest daughter Katherine
married Hon. Abbott Lawrence.
Elizabeth, daughter of David (3), married
October 23, 1755, Henry Evans, and removed
to Nova Scotia.
Mary, daughter of David (3), married Feb
ruary 7, 1764, Captain Samuel Jackson, of
Newton ; no children.
(Ill) Isaac Baldwin, son of Henry (2), bora
in Woburn, February 20, 1699-1700; died in
Sudbury, March 12, 1759; married, March
24, 1726, Mary Flegg (or Flagg, as the name
is commonly spelt), born in Woburn, Decem
ber 5, 1702, died in Sudbury, September 23,

574

MASSACHUSETTS.

1744, daughter of Ebenezer and Elizabeth
(Carter) Flagg. Children: 1. Luke, born De
cember 23, 1728. 2. Jeduthun, born January
13, 1731-32. 3. Nahum, born May 3, 1734. 4.
Isaac, born December 12, 1738. 5. Josiah, born
June 10, 1743. The father was married to a
second wife, Elizabeth, who died his widow,
March 8, 1770.
Luke, son of Isaac (3), lived to manhood.
Jeduthan or Jeduthun Baldwin, son of Isaac
(3), was born at Woburn, January 13, 1732,
and died at North Brookfield, Massachusetts,
June 4, 1788, aged fifty-six; married, April
28. 1757. Lucy, daughter of Rev. Ebenezer
Parkman, of Westborough. "The Revolution
ary Journal of Col. Jeduthan Baldwin, 1775-
1778," edited by Thomas Williams Baldwin,
printed for the De Burians (Bangor), 1906,
contains a memoir and notes, and illustrations,
besides the journal. He was captain of a com
pany in the expedition against Crown Point in
1755-56, and served in the same capacity from
March to December, 1758, at Ticonderoga and
at Fort DuQuesne. Twenty years afterwards
he campaigned in the same country with dif
ferent generals, as colonel and chief of engi
neers. He lived but a short time in Woburn,
as his father moved to Sudbury about 1734.
The son left Sudbury when young, and settled
iii Brookfield, Massachusetts, probably about
1754. For a very full account of his life the
reader is referred to the volume above named.
He was survived by his widow, a son Luke,
and a daughter Betsey, and besides these two
there were two other children — one Jeduthun,
aged six, killed by being thrown from a cart,
October 31, 1763; the other, Isaac, a member
of Harvard College, died April 1, 1783, aged
nineteen years.
The published journal of Colonel Jeduthan
Baldwin mentions his father, Isaac Baldwin,
under date of 1756, his brother Nahum, and
later his father and mother, and uncle Samuel
Baldwin. Nahum married Martha Low, April
22, 1760. Isaac married Eunice Jennison, De
cember 31, 1761. Josiah married Susanna
Gould, March 29, 1763.
Isaac, son of Isaac (3), was mortally wound
ed at the battle of Bunker Hill, and died oppo
site the house of Colonel Royall, in Medford.
He belonged to Colonel John Stark's regiment,
was the captain of his own company from the
time of his entry into the service, April 23,
1775, and served two months, at six pounds
per month, total amount of wages received
twelve pounds, and number of miles travel,

eighty. He was the ranking captain in his
regiment. (N. H. State Papers; xiv. 50).
Isaac Baldwin at the beginning of the war
raised a company of men in Hillsborough, New
Hampshire, and led them to Cambridge. While
there a tender belonging to the enemy got
aground on the Chelsea ferry ways, and he
went with twelve of his men in open day in the
face of the enemy and burned her, after taking
out her guns and sails, by throwing a pitchfork
of hay on fire in the cabin windows. Having
accomplished this he put his men back one by
one and brought up the rear hjmself under the
fire of the British fleet, and in this way reached
their quarters safely with four of his men
wounded. He fought valiantly at Bunker Hill,
and was shot through the breast and died that
night. He is said to have loaded and dis
charged his musket three times after he was
wounded. When his men were carrying him
off the field he exhorted them to fight, assur
ing them that they would win the day and he
would be with them again directly. He died
that night. He came to Hillsborough in 1767,
was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and when
the news of the battles of Lexington and Con
cord came, he was at work framing a barn in
an adjoining town.
Isaac Baldwin had a posthumous son named
Robert, born July 15, 1775; married, April 5,
1803, Martha Brown, and had a family in
Waltham, an account of which is given in
Bond's "History of Watertown," pp. 11, 675.
Isaac Baldwin, probably another son, served
in the Continental army in the revolution^ mar
ried Hannah Caldwell, of Woburn, May 15,
1794; had sons, Isaac, born November 26,
1794, and Charles, born July 27, 1797, recorded
on Woburn records. Isaac and wife Hannah
were both admitted to Woburn precinct (or
Burlington) church, September 14, 1800, and
both were dismissed to Hillsborough. Chil
dren : Isaac, Charles, and Nahum, were bap
tized in Precinct church, Woburn, October 5,
1800. (Ill) James Baldwin, son of Henry (2), born
in Woburn, October 19, 1710; died June 28,
1791, aged eighty-one; married, May 29, 1739,
Ruth, born June 17, 1713, died May 13, 1791,
daughter of Joseph and Mary (Blodget) Rich
ardson, sister of the wife of his brother Henry
(3). Children: 1. Cyrus, born November
5, 1740; see forward. 2. Reuel, born May
9. 1742, died February 21, 1745-46, aged three
years (gravestone at Woburn). 3. Loammi,
born January 10, 1744-45; see forward. 4.

MASSACH USETTS.

575

Reuel, born June 30, 1747 ; see forward. James,
the father, was a carpenter "of good repute,"
and reported to have been the "master work
man" in the erection of the Woburn precinct
(or Burlington) meeting-house in 1732, the
frame of which is yet standing, but the exterior
has been twice materially altered. He served
one day in the Woburn quota on April 19,
1775, when the Woburn men in great numbers
marched to Lexington and Concord and took
part in the battle there. James Baldwin in will
dated April 9, 1771, probated November 9,
1791, named wife Ruth, and sons Cyrus, Reuel,
and Loammi (second son) executor. The son
Loammi received one-half of the real estate
after decease of the wife, Ruth.
(Ill) Captain Samuel Baldwin, son of Henry
(2), born at Woburn, August 31, 1717, died at
Weston, July 21, 1778, aged sixty-one; mar
ried first, March 23, 1741-42, Elizabeth, born
March 25, 1715, died February 7, 1757, daugh
ter of Captain James and Sarah (Moore)
Jones, of Weston ; married second, March 30,
1758, Sarah Deming, of Needham, died May
2, 1760, aged thirty-nine ; married third, March
25, 1762, Rebecca Cotton, born November 14,
1725, died January 16, 1795, aged seventy-one,
daughter of Rev. John and Mary (Gibbs)
Cotton. Children by wife Elizabeth : 1. Sam
uel, born at Falmouth, July 28, 1743; married,
July 7, 1763, Millicent Cutler.* 2. Elizabeth,
born at Weston, June 18, 1745; married, De
cember 22, 1768, Elias Jones, of East Hoosick.
3. Lydia, born at Weston, January 16, 1746;
married, October 25, 1764, John Newton Par
menter. 4. Ephraim, born at Weston, April 2,
1749, died December 30, 1751. 5. Sarah, born
at Weston, September 15, 1750, died April 11,
l7$6> aged five and one-half. 6. Lucy, born
June 30, 1753. 7. Esther, born June 27, 1756;
married, June 4, 1779, Jonathan Rawson. Child
by wife Sarah: 8. Sarah, born January 28,
1759. Children by wife Rebecca: 9. Rebecca,
born January 7, 1763, died January 29, 1763.
10. Rebecca, born July 10, 1764; married, De
cember 3, 1780, James Cogswell. 11. Mary,
born March 15, 1766; married, January 24,
1790, Isaac Hobbs, Jr.
(IV) Cyrus Baldwin, son of James, born
at Woburn, November 5, 1740; was drowned
at Dunstable, November 5, 1790; married Ruth
•Captain Samuel (4) Baldwin (Samuel 3, Henry
2, Henry 1) wrote a narrative in his eighty-second
year, which possesses considerable interest. He
mentioned his marriage to Millicent Cutler, the
daughter of Captain Ebenezer Cutler, of Lincoln,
and the names of their children. He removed from
Weston to Northbridge in 1766, and thence to
Windsor, Berkshire county, Massachusetts. — Letter
of Mrs. Mercy (Baldwin) Howard, July 22, 1907.

Wilson, of Bedford, and died without issue.
His wife was perhaps Ruth, born October
6, 1745, daughter of James and Lydia Wil
son, of Bedford. Samuel Thompson, Esquire,
of Woburn, wrote in his diary, under date
of November 5, 1790: "Fair. Cyrus Bald
win, Esquire, drowned -at Dunstable," and
on Sunday, November 7, following, he record
ed the item : "Cyrus Baldwin, Esquire's, corpse
brought to Woburn ;" and on November 10, he
wrote : "Very cold. Came home from Salem.
Cyrus Baldwin buried."
Cyrus Baldwin was taxed in the West List,
Woburn, 1776, and received his proportion of
a war assessment which he had paid before
1777. He lived for a time during the revolu
tionary war in Boston, and was first lieutenant
of the Eighth Ward company in Colonel Henry
Bromfield's (Boston) militia regiment, and
commissioned such, November 25, 1776. In
the dignified manner of the newspapers of
that day, the following is the only public men
tion of his death: "Died — At Dunstable, Cyrus
Baldwin, Esq., formerly of this town." —
Columbian Ccntinel, Boston, November 24,
1790. The "\ arnum Genealogy," p. 68, shows that
Elizabeth Varnum, born April 26, 1741, daugh
ter of Abraham and his second wife Rachel
Varnum, married Cyrus Baldwin, of Chelms
ford, possibly a second wife of the above Cyrus
Baldwin. This wife was probably the Mrs.
Betsy Baldwin who died at Dracut, January 6,
1827. ( IV) Colonel Loammi Baldwin, son of
James, born January 10, 1744-45, at "New
Bridge" (North Woburn), died at his birth
place, October 20, 1807, aged sixty-three years
(monument at Woburn) ; married first, July
9, 1772, Mary, died September 29, 1786, aged
thirty-nine years, daughter of James Fowle,
Jr., (Major John 3, Capt. James 2, Lieut. James
1, Fowle) and Mary (Reed) Fowle, (daughter
of Lieutenant Israel and Hannah Wyman
Reed) ; second, May 26, 1791, Margaret, bora
October 6, 1767, died August 8, 1799, daugh
ter of Josiah (Major John 3, Capt. James 2,
Lieut. Tames 1 Fowle) and Margery (Carter)
Fowle." Children: 1. Cyrus, born June 22,
1773; see forward. 2. Mary, born April 24,
1775, died May 15, 1776, "of canker rash." 3.
Benjamin Franklin, born December 15, 1777;
for forward. 4. Loammi, born May 16, 1780;
see forward. 5. James Fowle, born April 29,
1782; see forward. 6. Clarissa, born Decem
ber 31, 179 1, died May 27, 1841 ; married, Jan
uary 20, 1812, Thomas B. Coolidge: see for-

576

MASSACHUSETTS.

ward. 7. George Rumford, born January 26,
1798; see forward.
In early life he discovered a strong desire
for acquiring knowledge, and attended the
grammar school in Woburn under the instruc
tion of Master John Fowle, a noted teacher of
that time, the school being a movable one,
being kept at successive periods first in the
centre of the town and secondly at the pre
cinct, or the part of Woburn now incorporated
in the town of Burlington. At a more advanced
period of life, with the intention of obtaining a
thorough acquaintance with natural and exper
imental philosophy, he would walk from North
Woburn to Cambridge, in company with his
schoolmate, Benjamin Thompson, Count Rum
ford, and attend the lectures of Professor John
Winthrop at Harvard College, for which liberty
had been given, and upon their return home on
foot they were in the habit of illustrating the
principles they had heard enunciated in the
lecture room by making rude instruments for
themselves to pursue their experiments.
He was present in the battle of Lexington.
As early as 1768 he had enlisted in a company
of horse-guards, and was not wholly destitute
of military experience when summoned a little
before the break, of day to the field at Lexing
ton and Concord on April 19, 1775. In his own
statement he says: "We mustered as fast as
possible. The Town turned out extraordinary,
and proceeded toward Lexington." Holding
the rank of a major in the militia, he says, "I
rode along a little before the main body, and
when I was nigh Jacob Reed's (at present
Durenville) I heard a great firing; proceeded
on, soon heard that the Regulars had fired upon
Lexington people and killed a large number of
them. We proceeded on as fast as possible and
came to Lexington and saw about eight or ten
dead and numbers wounded." He then, with
the rest from Woburn, proceeded to Concord
by way of Lincoln meeting house, ascended a
hill there, and rested and refreshed themselves
a little. Then follows a particular account of
the action and of his own experience. He had
"several good shots," and proceeded on till
coming between the meeting-house and Buck-
man's tavern at Lexington, with a prisoner
before him, the cannon of the British began to
play, the balls flying near him, and for safety
he retreated back behind the meeting-house,
when a ball came through near his head, and
he further retreated to a meadow north of the
house and lay there and heard the balls in the
air and saw them strike the ground. Woburn

sent to the field on that day one hundred and
eighty men.
At the beginning of the war he enlisted in
the regiment of foot commanded by Colonel
Samuel Gerrish. Here he was rapidly advanced
to be lieutenant-colonel, and upon Colonel Ger-
rish's retirement in August, 1775, he was placed
at the head of the regiment, and was soon com
missioned its colonel. His regiment was first
numbered the thirty-eighth and was afterwards
numbered the twenty-sixth. Its original eight
companies were increased to ten. Till the end
of 1775, Colonel Baldwin and his men re
mained near Boston ; but in April, 1776, he was
ordered with his command to New York City.
On April 19 of that year he was at New York ;
on June 13, 1776, at the Grand Battery there;
on June 22, the same ; and on December 26,
1776, his regiment, commanded by himself,
"went on the expedition to Trentown" (Tren
ton). In this regiment was one company from
Woburn commanded by Captain John Wood.
Oil the memorable night of December 25, 1776,
in the face of a violent and extremely cold
storm of snow and hail, General Washington
and his army crossed the Delaware to the New
Jersey side, and took by surprise the next
morning at Trenton about one thousand
Hessian troops commanded by Colonel Rahl,
and Colonel Baldwin and his men took part in
this daring and successful enterprise.
Colonel Baldwin's experience in the cam
paigns in New York and New Jersey is told in
his letters to his family at home and many of
these letters have been sacredly preserved by
his descendants. During 1775-76 he was sta
tioned with about two hundred or more of his
men at Chelsea, while other companies of his
regiment were stationed about Boston at Brook
line and Medford. The "History of Chelsea,"
about to be published by the Massachusetts
Historical Society, contains a great mass of
material relating to the stay of a portion of the
regiment at Chelsea, where their duties were
those mostly of guards.
Colonel Baldwin resigned from. the army in
1777 on account of ill health. His subsequent
life was spent in his native place, and was
marked by an enterprising spirit and the active
habits of his youth. He had a talent and
capacity for business. He was, in his public
career, appointed on many committees on im
portant town business ; the records of the town
and many autographic town papers are ample
evidence of this. He was appointed high sheriff
of Middlesex county in 1780, and was the first

MASSACH USETJS.

577

to hold office after the adoption of the state
constitution. In 1778, 1779 and 1780, and the
four following years, he represented Woburn
in the general court. In 1794 he was a candi
date for election to congress, and had all the
votes cast in Woburn but one. In 1796, on
three trials for the choice of the same officer,
he had all the votes for the first two in Woburn,
and on the third seventy-four votes out of the
seventy-six cast in Woburn. At other elec
tions he was a prominent candidate among
those held up in Woburn for the offices of
state senator, lieutenant-governor and presi
dential elector.
From his acquaintance with mathematics and
the arts and sciences of his time, he was chosen
a member of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, and to the publications of that
body he contributed two papers, entitled, "An
account of a Curious Appearance of the Elec
trical Fluid," (Memoirs Am. Acad. vol. 1.
1785, pp. 257-259) ; and "Observations on
Electricity and an Improved Mode of Con
structing Lightning Rods," (Memoirs, vol. 2,
pt. 2, 1804, pp. 96-104). The first paper was
written in 1783, and the "curious appearance"
described was produced by raising an electrical
kite at the time of a thunder shower. The
experiments, however, were tried in July, 1771.
At that time the author mentions that there
stood some lofty trees near his house, and also
a shop near by it. His parents, family, and
neighbors witnessed the "electrical effect" he
succeeded in producing. The date of prepar
ing the second article was January 25, 1797.
Colonel Baldwin wrote a sketch of Count Rum
ford which was printed in a local publication
in 1805. He was also the author of a report on
the survey of the Boston and Narragansett Bay
Canal, 1806. Of the Academy he was elected
a Fellow in 1782, and was a member of the
council 1785 to 1796, and from 1798 to 1807.
Further, see Cutter, "Local History of Wo
burn," p. 203. He received from Harvard
College the degree of Master of Arts in 1785.
He was not one, however, who for the sake of
popularity would sacrifice his principles of duty
to the public, though, as the above votes show,
he was deservedly a favorite with his towns
men and fellow citizens generally. Thus he
protested with others -against the action of the
town in 1787 in the time of the Shays Rebellion,
when the majority of the citizens of Woburn
voted not to give any encouragement to the
men called out to go on the present expedition,
nor to aid or assist it. But against this pro
ceeding of the town Colonel Baldwin and

thirty-six others at once entered their protest,
and two days after, the town itself recon
sidered the votes it had passed on this subject.
lie took a prominent part in the construction
of the Middlesex Canal, completed in 1803, one
of the earliest enterprises of the sort in the
United States.
To him the discovery and the introduction
to public notice and the earliest cultivation of
the Baldwin apple, about 1784, has been justly
ascribed. He was one day surveying land at a
place called Butters' Row, in Wilmington, near
the bounds of that town, Woburn and Burling
ton, when he observed one or more birds of
the woodpecker variety flying repeatedly to a
certain tree on land of a Mr. James Butters,
and prompted by curiosity to ascertain the
cause of their attraction, he at length went to
it, and found on the ground under it apples of
an excellent flavor and well worth cultivating;
and returning to the tree the next spring he
took from it scions to graft into stocks of his
own. Other persons induced by his advice or
example grafted trees of theirs from the same
stock : and subsequently when Colonel Baldwin
attended court or went into other parts of
the county as high sheriff, he carried scions of
this apple and distributed them among his
acquaintances, so that this species of fruit soon
became extensively known and cultivated. The
original tree remained, it is said, till 1815,
when it was blown down in the famous "Sep
tember gale." The apple thus became known
as the "Baldwin apple."
His name is also associated with that of the
celebrated Count Rumford. In childhood they
were opposite neighbors, playmates and school
mates. They attended lectures at Harvard
College together. Baldwin befriended him
when arrested by one of the local military com
panies as a person inimical to the cause of the
colonies, and he was tried and acquitted by a
court of which Baldwin appears to be one of
the members. To the last, though separated
by the ocean and political preferences, they
were enthusiastic friends and correspondents —
the one was an American officer, and the other
an officer in the opposing British forces.
The history of his house, which is still stand
ing at North Woburn, may be told in the fol
lowing words taken from the recorded state
ments of different members of his family at
different periods. The house was built in
1661, as appeared by the date on a timber
which was lying about the house in 1835. It
was owned by Henry (1) Baldwin from 1661
to his death in 1697. He was succeeded by

578

MASSACHUSETTS.

Henry (2 ) Baldwin, who latterly went to New
Hampshire. Henry (2) was succeeded in
ownership by James (3), who died June 28,
1791, and son of Henry (2) ; Loammi, son of
James, to 1807, who put on a third story in
1802 or 1803. Benjamin F. Baldwin, son of
Loammi, was the owner from 1807 to 1822;
Loammi (second) and Mary and Clarissa
Baldwin were joint owners from 1822 to 1836;
and George R. Baldwin, sole owner, from
1836 to. his death, October 11, 1888. Mrs.
Catharine R. Griffith, daughter of George Rum
ford Baldwin, is the present owner, 1888 to
1907. Colonel Loammi Baldwin's estate em
braced from his inventory, which is very
lengthy, a very large amount of land, in 1801,
according to a town assessor's list, 212 acres.
His son Benjamin F. Baldwin occupied his
estate from 1807 to about 1822, as above men
tioned. The selectmen of Boston, at a meeting on
April 15, 1772, paid Loammi Baldwin, of Wo
burn, forty dollars, the premium they adjudged
to him for raising the greatest number of mul
berry trees in response to an advertisement
published in Edes and Gill's Gazette, 1768. The
selectmen took a receipt of Baldwin, and also
an obligation to dispose of one-half the trees
under the conditions mentioned in said adver
tisement. The first premium was awarded to
Loammi Baldwin. Under this competition Mr.
John Hay, of Woburn, received twenty dollars
as the premium adjudged him for raising the
third greatest number of mulberry trees. The
statement in the advertisement was that a gen
tleman of Boston had deposited one hundred
dollars with the selectmen to be distributed as
premiums to encourage the raising of mul
berry trees in the province. The conditions of
the awards were also given. The name of the
donor was William Whitwell.
In accordance with the dignified custom of
that time the following notice of Colonel
Loammi Baldwin's decease was published in
the leading Boston newspaper of that date :
"Died — In Woburn, yesterday morning, Hon.
Loammi Baldwin, Esq., aet. sixty-two. His
funeral on Friday next, which the friends and
relatives are requested to attend, without- a
further invitation." — Columbian Centinel, Oc
tober 21, 1807.
(IV) Reuel Baldwin, son of James, born
June 30, 1747; died April 18, 1775; mar
ried October 4, 1769, Keziah, born April 8,
1748, died October 23, 1822, daughter of Zeb-
adiah and Abigail (Pierce) Wyman. She mar
ried second. August 5, 1777, Reuben Johnson.

Children: 1. Reuel, born December 21, 1770.
2. James, born October 7, 1773. 3. Ruth, born
June 5, 1774. 4. Josiah, born May 14, 1775.
The probate of Reuel Baldwin's estate, April
22, 1776, names Keziah, his widow, and his
four minor children — Reuel, Ruth, James and
Josiah. According to these papers Josiah was
dead before 1794. James, born 1773, a deacon,
died November 25, 1827, at Nashua, New
Flampshire (monument at Little's Cemetery at
that place). Ruth Baldwin married Ichabod
Richardson, Jr., both of Woburn, September
21, 1791.
(V) Cyrus Baldwin, son of Loammi, born
at Woburn, June 22, 1773; died at Chelms
ford, June 23, 1854; married, April 28, 1799,
Elizabeth, born September 5, 1782, died De
cember 7, 1853, daughter of Bradley and Rachel
(Butterfield) Varnum, of Dracut. He was
for many years the agent of the Middlesex
Canal Company, and resided at the head of the
canal in Chelmsford. He was appointed in
spector and sealer of gunpowder at the factory
which was first Hale's and afterwards Whip
ple's, at Lowell. One child, died May 28, 181 5.
(V) Colonel Benjamin Franklin Baldwin,
son of Loammi, born at Woburn, Decem
ber 15, 1777, died suddenly October 11, 1821,
aged forty-three, while on his return from the
cattle show in Brighton; married, May 1, 1808,
Mary Carter Brewster, born September 11,
1784, died June 18, 1874, daughter of Benja
min and Mary Carter (Brewster) Coolidge.
He carried on the business of a yeoman, and
left his widow a handsome estate. She after
wards married Wyman Richardson, Esq., and
still later Burrage Yale, and spent the last of
her life with her children at Pomfret, Connec
ticut. Benjamin Franklin Baldwin held the
office of captain in the militia from 1800 to
1805, of major from 1807 to 181 1, and of lieu
tenant-colonel of the local regiment from 181 1
to 1816. Rolls of his company of date 1802
are extant. It is said that in addition of his
other pursuits he devoted himself to the busi
ness of civil engineering, and assisted his
brother in the construction of the milldam
across the Back Bay in Boston, and in other
works. Children: 1. Mary Brewster, born
March 26, 1809, died December 28, 1817. 2.
Clarissa, born November 29, 1810, died July
15, 1813. 3. Loammi, born April 25, 1813 ; see
forward. 4. Mary Brewster, born January 16,
1815, died October 23, 1854; married, Decem
ber 28, 1836, Professor Roswell Park. Pro
fessor Roswell Park, of the University of
Pennsylvania, later entered the ministry and

MASSACHUSETTS.

579

became Rev. Roswell Park. D. D. ; born Octo
ber i, 1807, died July 16, 1869. 5. Clarissa
Coolidge, born December 1, 1819, died January
22, 1900; married, May 16, 1843, Dr. Lewis
Williams. Loammi, born April 25, 181 3, died March 1,
1855; married, March 2, 1847, Helen Eliza'
Avery. Their children were : 1. Mary Emily,
born January 31, 1848; married, September
25, 1872, Darius Mathewson ; son, George Bald
win, born June, 1881, died May, 1882. 2.
Loammi Franklin,* born November 6, 1849;
married, September 11, 1873, . Kate Wyman
Richardson; children: Clara Richardson, born
September 1, 1874; Mary Brewster, born Sep
tember 17, 1875 ; James Rumford, born De
cember 19, 1880.
Clarissa Coolidge (Baldwin) and Dr. Lewis
William had no children.
Children of Mary Brewster (Baldwin) and
Roswell Park: 1. Mary, born March 4, 1839.
2. Clara, born January 12, 1845, died Decem
ber 21, 1845. 3. Helen, born April 13, 1848,
died October 14, 1855. 4. Roswell, born March
4, 1852; married, June 1, 1880, Martha Pru
dence Durkee, who died November 14, 1899;
children : Roswell, born August 12, 1885 ;
Julian Durkee, born November 6, 1888. 5. Bald
win, born October 14, 1854, died October 19,
l8S5-, . N
(V) Loammi (2) Baldwin, sonof Loammi (1),
was born at North Woburn, May 16, 1780, and
died June 30, 1838, intombed at Woburn. He
was fitted for college at West ford Academy,
and graduated from Harvard College in 1800.
His early inclinations were towards mechanical
subjects, to which very little attention was
paid in the learned education of that time ; and
during his college life he made with his own
hands a clock which kept good time and was
the wonder and admiration of his class. He
was put down as No. 9 in a list for "an exhibi
tion in mechanics." In 1806 he was vice-presi
dent of the Phi Beta Kappa. In 1799 his
father wrote to his friend Count Rumford,
then residing in London, that "I have a son at
college, whose genius inclines him strongly to
cultivate the arts. . . I have therefore
thought whether it would not be best to en
deavor to provide him with a place for a year
or two with some gentleman in the mathe
matical line of business in Europe, who is
actually in the occupation of making and vend
ing mathematical and optical instruments. . .
It may be that you know of some good place.
•Loammi Franklin now resides with his family in
the old Baldwin mansion at North Woburn.

. He is very lively, ready and enter
prising." Count Rumford wrote a reply ex
plaining the situation very fully, but he said
that "no instrument maker or dealer in such
would, without a very large premium, under
take to instruct a young gentleman in the
course of two or three years, and make him
perfect in both branches of the trade."
This scheme, however, was not followed any
further. Upon graduating from college he
entered the law office of Timothy Bigelow, at
Groton. Here he constructed a fire-engine, of
which the town stood in great need ; and the
small machine was still in active service a
short time ago. He completed his studies at
Groton, and opened an office in Cambridge in
1804, and in 1807, having abandoned the prac
tice of the law for engineering, he went to
England for the purpose of examining the
various public works of that country. He in
tended at that time to visit the continent, but
was prevented by the difficulty of reaching
France. On his return he opened an office in
Charlestown and began the life for which he
was so admirably fitted. One of the earliest
works upon which he was engaged was the
construction of Fort Strong, in 1814, during
the war, one of the strong forts erected for
defense against the British in Boston Harbor.
He was chief engineer with the rank of col
onel, at this time a title which has sometimes
confounded him with his father, who bore that
rank in the army of the revolution. In 1819
he was appointed engineer to complete the
undertaking of building the Milldam, or West
ern avenue, now the extension of Beacon street,
Boston, beyond the Common. From 1817 to
1820 he was engaged upon various works of
internal improvement in Virginia. In 1821 he
was appointed engineer of the Union Canal in
Pennsylvania. An elaborate description of this
work was prepared in 1830 by W. Milnor
Roberts. In 1824 Mr. Baldtvin went to Europe and
remained there a year, mostly in France, de
voted to a careful examination of the import
ant public works in that country. He went
also to Antwerp to inspect the docks there, and
at this time he laid the foundation of the larg
est and best professional library of engineering
works that was to be found in America,— to
which he added, until at his death it had cost
nearly eight thousand dollars.
In 1825 he was associate with the projectors
of the Bunker Hill monument. He recom
mended the obelisk now seen there, two hun
dred and twenty feet high, etc. Iiis original

58o

MASSACHUSETTS.

report is preserved among the papers of the
monument association.
Among the early projects in the neighbor
hood of Boston with which he was connected
were the Salem Mildam corporation, 1826, and
the project of connecting Boston with the Hud
son river by a canal, but the day for canals was
passing away, and in 1827 he was appointed by
the governor of Massachusetts to procure sur
veys and estimates for a railroad from Boston
to the Hudson river. This work, however, was
put into the hands of his brother James, as
Loammi had. at that time accepted an appoint
ment from the United States government which
led to the two great works of his life, — the
naval dry docks at Charlestown and at Nor
folk. These two structures were in process of
building from 1827 to 1834, and were carried
on both at the same time and with the crude
appliances of that day. The first when finished
was in all 306 feet long, thirty feet deep and
thirty feet wide. The depth of water at high
tide was twenty-five feet, and the rise and fall
of tide eleven feet. The surface of the site
was about nine feet below ordinary high tide.
The cost was $677,090.
The Norfolk dock was a similar structure, but
of' greater cost, owing to the extra price of
stone and labor, both of which were sent from
the North. Mr. Baldwin's salary on this work
was fixed by himself at $4,000 a year, with
additional allowance for travel and expense of
living when away from home. His time was
spent between the two docks, the summers at
Charlestown and the winters in Norfolk, his
leading assistant alternating with him at those
two places.
In addition to this work he was consulting
engineer on other important works connected
with the general government — the Dismal
Swamp Canal, the survey for' which was made
through an almost' impenetrable swamp, but
Congress was unwilling to carry it out in his
clay. In 1834 he made" an elaborate report
upon introducing pure water into the city of
Boston, which was published. He also had
considerable to do with water power in Maine,
and also with a canal in Georgia, but the latter
was never completed.
Mr. Baldwin was independent and positive
in his professional opinions, and dared even to
differ to his face with the aggressive General
Andrew Jackson, then president of the United
States. The general at their last interview at
first received him with politeness ; but the
bridge (the General's pet scheme, as was
natural), came up as the great thing in the

mind of the President, and he said : "By the
bye, Mr. Baldwin, I have read your report on
the bridge ; and, by the Eternal, you are all
wrong, I have built and have seen built many
bridges ; and I know that the plan is a good
one, and that the bridge will stand." "General
Jackson," quietly replied Mr. Baldwin, "in all
pontoon or temporary bridge-work for military
purposes, I should always yield to your good
judgment, and should not venture to call it in
question ; you must remember that this bridge
should be built as a permanent structure, and
should stand for all coming time. And I yield
in such matters to no one, when I have applied
scientific principles to my investigations and
am sure of my conclusions. Good morning, Gen
eral Jackson." It is hardly necessary to say
that the appropriation was not made, and that
the pet bridge was never built, much to the
chagrin of the President, but to the quiet satis
faction of Mr. Baldwin.
In addition to the numerous works already
referred to, Mr. Baldwin was connected in re
gard to many others, from a dam at Augusta,
Maine, to a marine railway at Pensacola, from
the construction of buildings at Harvard Col
lege, to a canal around the falls of the Ohio
river, from a stone bridge called the Warren
Bridge at Charlestown to the Harrisburg Canal
in Pennsylvania. His skill was in demand,
and that, too, m a very active manner in a
great majority of the internal improvements
undertaken at that formative period .in the
United States.
He was also noted as an author. His manu
script reports were always drawn up in his
own neat, uniform and compact handwriting.
lie published in 1869 a pamphlet of seventy
pages entitled, "Thoughts on the Study of
Political Economy as connected with the Popu
lation, Industry, and Paper Currency of the
United States." A large number of printed
reports on engineering enterprises are listed
in the catalogue of his special library on that
and co-ordinate subjects, given by his niece,
Mrs. Griffith, to the Public Library in Woburn,
several years ago. He is said to have written
an account of the Middlesex Canal, and also a
memoir of his father's friend, Count Rumford,
but neither of these papers are in the above
collection. His reports were prepared with
the greatest care, and were models for style
and remarkable for the exact and proper use
of words. In 1835 he was a member of the
executive council of the Commonwealth, and
in 1836 a presidential elector.
Hut there is little more to say. In person

MASSACHUSETTS.

58i

Loammi Baldwin (2nd) eminent for his services as a civil engineer.

5&2

MASSACHUSETTS.

he was over six feet in height, and superbly
built. His face presented a rare combination
of intelligence, manliness and dignity. He was
a thorough gentleman in his manner and his
intercourse with others. He detested sham
and pretense in everything and everybody ; was
liberal in his mode of life, and hospitable in
his home. To his work he gave his whole
strength. Fine portraits and a bust of him
remain to give posterity an idea of his noble
personal appearance. About a year before he
died he had a stroke of paralysis; a second
attack proved fatal. He died, as before stated,
at Charlestown, Massachusetts, June 30, 1838,
at the age of fifty-eight.
Mr. Baldwin was twice married ; first to
Ann, daughter of George Williams, of Salem.
She was sister of Samuel Williams, an emin
ent American banker in London ; second, June
22, 1828, to Catherine, widow of Captain
Thomas Beckford, of Charlestown. She died
May 3, 1864. Child by first marriage: Sam
uel Williams Baldwin, born 1817; died De
cember 28, 1822. aged five years.
The compiler is indebted for facts for this
sketch to such authorities as Vose, Felton, and
others. (V) James Fowle Baldwin, son of Loammi
(1), born at Woburn, April 29, 1782, died at
Boston, May 20, 1862, aged eighty; married,
July 28, 1818, Sarah Parsons, daughter of
Samuel (Yale College, 1779) and Sarah (Par
sons) Pitkin, of East Hartford, Connecticut.
James was the fourth son of his father, and
received hi? early education in the schools of
his native town and in the academies at Biller
ica and We it ford. About 1800 he was in Bos
ton acquiring a mercantile education, in which
city he was afterwards established as a mer
chant ; but the influence of his early association
with the engineering faculties of the older
members of his own family turned his atten
tion in that direction. He joined his brother
Loammi in the construction of the drv dock at
Charlestown Navy Yard. In 1828, he, with
two others, were appointed commissioners to
make the survey for a railroad to the western
part of the state, this being then a new and un
tried enterprise, and the survey was made from
Boston to Albany. Upon this work he was en
gaged for more than two years. It was not
prosecuted at the time, but subsequently the
Western railroad, so called, was built upon the
location selected by him and his plans were
generally adopted. lie always looked upon
this, next to the introduction of pure water into
Boston, as the most important of his profes

sional works. In 1832 he began the location
of the Boston & Lowell railroad, which was
constructed under his superintendence. He
was also employed on engineering lines by the
Ware Manufacturing company, the Thames
company of Norwich, Connecticut, and the
proprietors of the locks and canals at Lowell.
He also determined the relative amount of
water power used by the mills of the different
companies at Lowell.
In 1825 the subject of the water supply of
Boston attracted the attention of the authori
ties, and an investigation of the, sources for a
pure supply was made, and in 1837 he was
appointed on a commission to inquire still fur
ther into the matter. He dissented from the
majority in the recommendation of Spot and
Mystic ponds, and recommended Long Pond
(Lake Cochituate). Others high in authority
differed from his conclusion, but still he was
immovable in adherence to his recommenda
tion, in spite of rejection by popular vote, to
which it had been submitted, and it was not
renewed till 1844, when he was again in a posi
tion of influence on the commission. His plan
was, however, adopted March 30, 1846; the
ground was broken five months after, and on
October 25, 1848, he had the pleasure of seeing
his plan, so long resisted, finally triumphant,
and the public fountain playing for the first
time in the presence of a large concourse of
people. Pie was for several years a senator
from Suffolk in the Massachusetts general
court, and the first president of the Boston
Society of Civil Engineers.
The Boston Daily Advertiser, in a notice
of him at the time of his death says, "He was
of a kindly and benevolent disposition, affable
in his manners, warm and unfaltering in his
attachment to his friends. His sense of justice
and his fair appreciation of the rights of others
showed to great advantage in many of his
public works."
A memoir of Hon. James Fowle Baldwin, by
Dr. Usher Parsons, was published in 1865.
From his memoir are gleaned the following
tributes :
"He was a gentleman of highly respectable
attainments, and surpassed by none as a scien
tific and practical engineer. He was employed
by the State to superintend the construction of
its gigantic public works. He was a prominent
member of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, and during many years held the
position in that learned society in the section-
of Technology and Civil Engineering." Upon
his decease a brief sketch of his life and public

MASSACH USETTS.

583

services was presented and read hefore that
society, and soon after published in its Trans
actions. Hon. James F. Baldwin had the care of the
affairs of Count Rumford's daughter, the
Countess Rumford a great part of her life, and
she at her decease left him a generous bequest.
"It may be fairly claimed that the city of Bos
ton is pre-eminently indebted to the forecast,
firmness, and professional skill of Mr. Baldwin
for the present abundant and constant supply
of pure water from Cochituate." Instead of
three millions of gallons daily for the first ten
years, the amount was actually fifteen millions
of gallons during that period.
"Mr. Baldwin was of commanding presence,
being considerably about six feet in stature,
and remarkably well proportioned." His mind
was clear, but not rapid in its operation. He
came to his conclusions by successive steps,
carefully taken and closely examined ; but the
results once reached, his confidence in them
was rarely shaken. Confidence in his integrity
enabled him to settle questions of the transfer
of property with a facility that was surprising,
especially with those persons who had not the
clearest conviction of the. invariable upright
ness of corporate bodies in their dealings with
individuals. He endeavored to encourage and
assist young students who were pursuing the
study of civil engineering, and the number
were many who" remembered him with affec
tion and veneration.
He was especially the friend and protector
of the orphans. His last illness was of short
duration. Returning from a walk on the day
of his death, he complained of indisposition,
and speaking a few words to his wife, he soon
expired. (V) Clarissa Baldwin, daughter of Loammi
(1), born at Woburn, December 31, 1791, died
there May 27, 1841, aged forty-nine; married,
January 20, 1812, Thomas Brewster Coolidge,
of Hallowell, born December 8, 1785, son of
Benjamin and Mary Carter (Brewster) Cool
idge, of Boston and Woburn. Children: 1.
Benjamin, born at Hallowell, Maine, Novem
ber 10, 1812, died at Lawrence, Massachusetts,
August 25, 1871 ; married, October I, 1844,
Mary White, born at Medford, Massachusetts,
January 14, 18 10, died at Lawrence, April 11,
1883, daughter of Jonas and Mary (Wright)
Manning, of Woburn. Two children: Bald
win, born at Woburn, July 7, 1845 : see f°r"
ward. Brewster, born November 10, 1848,
died at Lawrence, June 21, 1853. 2. Thomas

Brewster, born at Hallowell, May 3, 1815, died
at Woburn, unmarried, February 18, 1895.
Baldwin Coolidge, son of Benjamin Coolidge,
and grandson of Clarissa Baldwin (5), was
born at- Woburn, July 7, 1845; was married, at
Lawrence, February 7, 1866, to Lucy, born at
Newburyport, Masachusetts, November 24,
1844, died at Woburn, August 13, 1904, daugh
ter of Nathan Thomas and Hannah (Noyes)
Plumer, of Newburyport ; was a soldier in the
Sixth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Mili
tia, campaign of 1864, in the civil war.* He
was band boy at the funeral of the first soldier
killed in the civil war, viz. : Sumner Henry
Needham, who was killed in the fight at Balti
more, April 19, 1861. Mr. Coolidge was the
first city engineer of Lawrence, Massachusetts,
and having inherited the Baldwin scientific
ingenuity and versatility of mind, he has be
come distinguished by his mechanical feats in
photography, and for the artistic excellence
and number of his productions in that line of
work. (V) George Rumford Baldwin, son of Col
onel Loammi (1), was born in the Baldwin
mansion at North Woburn, January 26, 1798,
and died there October 11, 1888, "having de
voted his lengthened life, with the full posses
sion of his facilties till its close, to the pursuits
of practical science, as a surveyor, a civil engi
neer, and a constructor." The lands of the
original Henry Baldwin held by his descendant
George R. Baldwin at the time of his death in
1888, included between five and six hundred
acres. The mansion is one of the noteworthy
survivals of our earliest times in size, arrange
ment, adornment, and in its well-preserved
relics. Within it are to be found implements,
household utensils, paintings, ornaments, and
sundry furnishings, with luxurious appliances,
gathered by the generations which have occu
pied it from birth to death. Piles of trunks
and boxes contain their private papers and
settlements of estates. Most interesting among
its contents is a large, select, and valuable
library of many thousand volumes, collected
principally by the father and brothers of George
R. Baldwin and by himself, giving evidence of
their scientific and literary tastes. Learned
tomes in many languages, costly ilustrated
works, series of scientific publications on con
struction and engineering, and sumptuous edi
tions of the best writers in various departments
of literature, are among its treasures. The

•The Sixth Regiment went to the front three
times— in 1861, 1862, and 1864, being the call regi
ment.

584

MASSACHUSETTS.

house and its contents is a memorial of one of
the oldest and most distinguished families of
its citizens.
His father was the earliest civil engineer in
this state, and on the projection of the^first of
our public enterprises for more extended inter
nal communication the connection of the waters
of the Merrimack with those of the harbor by
the Midlesex Canal, chartered in 1793, the
father of George R. Baldwin was one of its
leading promotors. Its course lay through his
own estate, the several hundred acres belong
ing later to George R. Baldwin, and it was
completed in 1803. Of this then signal enter
prise the father was surveyor, engineer, and
constructor under the supervision of an Eng
lish engineer, Weston by name, who was then
a resident of Philadelphia. The canal served
its uses until superseded by the Lowell rail
road. It is necessary to know these facts in
order to gain a background for the after career
of the son, George Rumford Baldwin. He early
found opportunity for the exercise of the
family ingenuity by engaging in the profession
of work of the older members of the family.
He was the son of his father's second wife.
His middle name recalled the friendly and
intimate relations which existed between his
father and the distinguished Count Rumford.
When the friend had attained rank and title
at Munich, a correspondence began between
the two which is of great personal and his
torical interest. In a letter following the birth
of George Rumford Baldwin, the father writes
to the Count. "I have had a son born to me
to whom I have given your name." The father
wished this ';oy, as he grew up, to enter Har
vard College, but the son was disinclined to
scholarship in that institution as its standard
then was, and from his earliest years his beut
was for mathematical and scientific studies,
pursued by himself, and for practical out-of-
door work in waterways, surveying and en
gineering, in the examination of mills and
water-power, clams and raceways. He, as wc
have already noticed, had marked facilities
for practice of this sort, with preliminary train
ing in a school kept by Dr. Stearns in Medford,
and by accompanying his father and brother
in field and office work. In his fourteenth
year he made some sketches of the fortifica
tions of Boston harbor in the war of 1812,. of
which his brother Loammi Baldwin was the
chief engineer.
A series of his diaries for more than fifty
years contain daily entries of his employments
and occupations. He lived a life of marvellous

industry, of wide travel, and useful service.
He was called upon as expert witness, referee
or examiner in many ways, at a period when
the development of our railroads and manu
facturing enterprises made a demand for talent
and skill. He helped form the first associated
company of engineers. He was naturally shy,
modest, diffident, and reticent, of most retiring
and undemonstrative ways, therefore when
called upon for any utterance in public before
many persons it was for him a serious strain.
His social intercourse was limited, and under
no circumstances could he have made a speech
in public of advocacy or argument. The follow
ing were some of his early engagements: 1821,
built P. C. Brook's stone bridge; 1822-1823, in
Pennsylvania with his brother; 1823-25, at
factories in Lowell ; 1826, surveyed Charles
town Navy Yard ; executed Marine Railway ;
1831-33, in England; 1833-34, on Lowell rail
road; 1834-36, in Nova Scotia; 1837, in Geor
gia, on Brunswick Canal. In 1845 he was chief
engineer on the route of the Buffalo and Missis
sippi railroad. In 1846 he was employed on
the examination of the water power of Au
gusta, Georgia,, and by the national government
on the Dry Docks in Washington and Brook
lyn. In 1847 he was summoned to Quebec to
engage on a professional task which occupied
him till he completed it in 1856. This was the
introduction of water into the city. He was in
full superintendence, under the mayor and a
water board. ' In the course of the work he
sailed with his family to Europe to superintend
the casting of the pipes, gates, etc., and to
arrange for their shipment.
In 1857-58 he was in Europe with his family,
principally in Paris and London, with many
excursions. With accomplished skill in draught
ing and etching, his pencil was ever busy in
sketching all the objects of special interest, "and
his descriptions are illustrated by a mass of
drawings, more or less perfected.
He was connected as consulting engineer
with many more modern works, the most im
portant, perhaps, being the Boston, Hartford,
and Erie railroad. His journals show how
fully every interval between these public works
was improved. He was skilled in all family,
horticultural, and agricultural labors, and his
pen was ever busy in his own affairs, or for
the service of friends.
George R. Baldwin married, December 6,
1837, the stepdaughter of his brother, Loammi
Baldwin, namely, Catherine Richardson Beck-
ford, daughter of Captain Thomas and Cath
erine ( Wilder) Beckford, of Charlestown,

MASSACHUSETTS.

585

Massachusetts. Mrs. Baldwin died in Woburn,
February 5, 1873, aSed sixty years. They had
one child, a daughter, now Mrs. Catherine R.
Griffith, and residing in Quebec, Canada.

(By Arthur G. Loring.)
Benjamin Thompson, better
RCMFORD known asCountRumford.was
a great-great-great-grandson
of James Thompson, one of the original settlers
of Woburn, and prominent among fhose who
early fixed their residence in that part of that
town, which is now known as North Woburn.
ihe same difficulty which meets not a few who
search in vain for the details of the old Eng
lish history of their ancestors, meets us at the
outset, says the family historian, in regard to
him: — but little is known of his English ante-
cendents, except that he was born in 1 593 ;
married a wife whose only name known to us
was Elizabeth ; had three sons and one daugh
ter, all born in England, and early in 1630,
when he was thirty-seven years of age joined
the company, who, under the lead of Governor
•John Winthrop landed in New England during
that year. The tradition is that James Thomp
son landed at Salem in the early part of June.
The numerous individuals bearing this almost
universal name may be considered as befogging
the subject, and therefore, in spite of vigilant
research, it seems to be impossible to ascertain
the place of his birth. Absolute proof is lack
ing up to the present date on the subject. It
may be that he belonged to the numerous re
lated families of Thompsons in London and
several of the nearest counties around that
metropolis. These families embraced a num
ber that were eminent in the intellectual, social,
and religious world, including a number who
received the order of knighthood. The coats-
of-arms of some of them, though differing
slightly, are essentially the same. James Thomp
son first located himself at Charlestown, where
he and. wife were admitted to membership in
the church at that place, August 31, 1633. He
was admitted a freeman later in the same year.
In December, 1640, he was one of thirty-two
who subscribed the town orders or by-laws for
Woburn. This town was incorporated in 1642,
and he was chosen a member of the broad of
selectmen and served the town in that office
with occasional brief intervals for about twenty
years. He held also various minor offices. He
was twice married. His first wife, Elizabeth,
dying November 13, 1643, he married, Febru
ary 15, 1644, Susannah Blodgett, widow of
Thomas Blodgett, of Cambridge. She died

February 10, 1661. Children: 1. James, died
January 24, 1647, an unmarried young man. 2.
Simon, married Mary Converse ( Edward, 1 ) . 3.
Olive, married, September 3, 1650, John Cutler,
and died before her father's death. 4. Jona
than, see forward.
James Thompson died 1682, at the age of
eighty-nine years. His will, dated the last day
of February, 1681 (meaning, of course, 1681-
2), speaks of him as being greatly stricken in
years ; names his son, Jonathan Thompson, the
only child of his then living; Sarah Rednap
and Hannah Horn (sisters) , his grandchildren ;
John Cutler and Susannah Logee (or Logan),
his grandchildren, and his son Jonathan's six
children (not given by name), James Thomp
son, "my grandchild," and John Sheldon, Sen
ior (who married his son Simon's widow) ; his
son Jonathan he appoints his executor ; Sam
uel Blodgett, Senior, and John Mousall, over
seers, and he gave Mr. Blodgett "Mr. Rogers
his book," and Mr. Mousall, "a pair of new
gloves." (11) Jonathan Thompson, son of James
Thompson, born in England ; died at Wo
burn, October 20, 1691 ; married, November
28, 1685, Susanna Blodgett (Thomas), died
February 6, 1697-8, a daughter of his father's
second wife "who bore her mother's name. He
inherited his father's homestead. He was the
first male teacher ever employed under the
authority of the town of Woburn. He was
also in subsequent years a constable and town
sexton. Children: 1. Susannah, born July 4,
1661 ; married, March 7, 1700, Abraham Rob
erts, of Reading. 2. Jonathan, born September
28, 1663 ; see forward. 3. James, born 1666,
died young. 4. James, born June 27, 1667;
married, October 22, 1695, Sarah Trask. 5.
Sarah, born June 1, 1670; married, April 11,
1692, John Swan. 6. Simon, born June 15,
1673 ; married, December 12, 1700, Anna
Butterfield. 7. Ebenezer, born August 18,
1676, died February 19, 1697-8, unmarried.
(Ill) Jonathan (2) Thompson, son of Jona
than ( 1 ), Thompson, born September 28, 1663 ;
died 1748 ; married Frances Whitmore, daugh
ter of Francis Whitmore, of Cambridge. He
was a resident of Woburn, in the part now
North Woburn. Children: 1. Jonathan, born
February 9, 1689-90 ; married first, September
3, 1713, Phebe Carter, of Woburn; married
second. Abiail Fowle, of Woburn. 2. Hannah,
born January 28, 1691-92; married Josiah
Pierce. 3. Joseph, born October 20, 1694 ; mar
ried, December 30, 1718, Sarah Bradshaw, of
Medford. 4. Tames, born November 14, 1696;

586

MASSACHUSETTS.

married Mary Hancock, of Lexington. 5. Sus
annah, born July 6, 1699; married, March 21,
1722, Benjamin Mead. 6. Ebenezer, born
March 30, 1701 ; see forward. 7. Mary, born
August 18, 1703; married first, William Cow
dry, of Reading; married second, January 20,
1736-7, Captain Isaac Hartwell, of Oxford.
8. Samuel, born September 8, 1705 ; married
Ruth Wright, of Woburn. 9. Patience, born
October 25, 1713; married Timothy Lamson,
of Concord. 10. Esther, married, 1740, Amos
Lamson. 11. Jabez, married, November 13,
1735, Lydia Snow. 12. Daniel, died young.
(IV) Ebenezer Thompson, son of Jonathan
(2) Thompson, born March 30, 1701 ; died
1755; married, September 27, 1728, Hannah
Converse, born May 10, 1706, daughter of Cap
tain Robert and Mary (Sawyer) Converse,
of Woburn. He was captain of the local mili
tia company designated as the second foot
company of the second regiment of Middlesex
county, of which regiment Eleazer Tyng, Esq.,
was colonel. Thompson's commission was
dated July 3, 1753. He occupied the house
now standing, known as the Rumford birth
place. Children: 1. Benjamin, born Novem
ber 27, 1729; see forward. 2. Ebenezer, born
September 15, 1731, graduated Harvard Col
lege, 1752, and became the pastor of the church
at York, Maine, where he died unmarried in
1755. 3. Plannah, born September 21, 1734,
married, March 8, 1753, Benjamin Flagg, of
Woburn. 4. Hiram, born May 17, 1743; mar
ried, February 3, 1767, Bridget Snow, of Wo
burn. (V) Benjamin (2) Thompson, son of Captain
Ebenezer Thompson, born November 27,
1729, died November 7, 1755; married, May
30, 1752, Ruth Simonds, born October 10,
1730, died at Baldwin, Maine, June 18, 181 1,
daughter of Lieutenant James and Mary
(Fowle) Simonds; she married second, Janu
ary !• 1756, Josiah Pierce, of Woburn. Ben
jamin Thompson died before completing hi§
twenty-sixth year, and resided in the house
of his father, now known as the Rumford
birthplace. His gravestone is standing in the
first burial ground of Woburn. Child : 1. Ben
jamin, born March 26, 1753 ; see forward.
(VI) Benjamin Thompson, son of Benja
min Thompson, born March 26, 1753 ; died
in Paris,- France, August 21, 1814; married
first, November, 1772, or December 25, 1772,
Sarah (Walker) Rolfe, widow of Benjamin
Rolfe, and daughter of Reverend Timothy and
Eunice (Burbeen) Walker, of Rumford, now
Concord, New Hampshire ; she was born Au

gust 6, 1739, and died January 19, 1792. He
married second, October 24, 1805, Marie Anne
Pierrette (Paulze) Lavoisier, born at Mont-
brison, January 20, 1758, died at Paris, Feb
ruary 16, 1836, daughter of M. Paulze, farmer-
general of the finances, and widow of Antonie
Laurent Lavoisier, the famous chemist and dis
coverer of oxygen. Child: 1. Sarah, born
October 18, 1774 (?), died at Concord, New
Hampshire, December 2, 1852.
His Simonds ancestry is this: 1. James
Simonds, of Concord and Woburn, whose sec
ond wife was Judith (Phippen) Hayward, to
whom he was married, January 18, 1643-4.
Their son, 2. James Simonds, born at Woburn,
November 1, 1658, died September 15, 1717;
married, December 29, 1685, Susanna Blodgett
(Samuel 2, Thomas 1), died February 9, 1714-
15. Their son, 3. Lieutenant James Simonds,
born November 1, 1686, died July 30, 1775,
in his eighty-ninth year; married, June 17,
1714, Mary Fowle (Captain James 3, Lieu
tenant James 2, George 1), born June 18, 1689,
died March 9, 1762. Their daughter, Ruth
Simonds, born October 10, 1730; married, May1
30, 1752, Benjamin Thompson (5), and was
the mother of Benjamin Thompson, Count
Rumford. Iiis Converse ancestry is this : Deacon Ed
ward Converse, of Woburn, son of Allen Con
verse, was the father of Lieutenant James
Converse, who died at Woburn, May 10, 171 5,
aged ninety-five years ; married first, October
24, 1643, Anna Long, of Charlestown (Rob
ert), born about 1625, died August 10, 1691.
Their son, Major James Converse, born No
vember 16, 1645, died July 8, 1706; married,
January 1, 1669, Hannah Carter (Captain
John), born January 19, 1651, who married
second, November 22, 1708, Henry Summers,
of Charlestown. Their son Captain Robert
Converse, born December 29, 1677, died July
20, 1736; married, December 19, 1698, Mary
Sawyer, daughter of Joshua and Sarah
( Wright-Potter) Sawyer. Their daughter,
Hannah Converse, born May 10, 1706 ; married,
September 27, 1728, Ebenezer Thompson (4).

(By William R. Cutter.)
So much has been written
RUMFORD concerning the life of Count
Rumford that the principal
events in the career of this remarkable man may
be summarized in a cursory manner geograph
ically for the sake of convenient reference,
paying particular attention in passing, to a few
facts or incidents that are not generally known.

MASSACHUSETTS.

587

Replica of Statue of Count Rumford (Benjamin Thompson) on Grounds of Woburn Public Library.

588

MASSACHUSETTS.

At Wop.urn. — Woburn was the place of his
birth. Aside from the date of the event and
the names of his parents, and the facts that his
father died soon after the birth of his distin
guished son, and that his mother soon married
again, almost nothing is actually known of his
early childhood. He was brought up in the
residence of his stepfather, Josiah Pierce;
attended the Woburn grammar school, kept by
the celebrated master, John Fowle ; was a play
mate with younger members of the Baldwin
family, his stepfather's opposite neighbors:
attended scientific lectures at Harvard College
with Loammi Baldwin, later famous as a col
onel under Washington in the revolutionary
war and a projector of the Middlesex Canal
and as the namesake of the Baldwin apple.
Dr. George E. Ellis, the author of the only
standard "Life of Count Rumford" (Memoir
of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford,
with notices of his daughter. By George E.
Ellis. Published for the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, Boston)* mentions Rum
ford as dependent on his own exertions, with
out inherited means, or patronage, or even good
fortune ; and while this may be to some extent
true of his early life in Woburn,. it was not
true of his later life. Likewise it must be ad
mitted that he had in his early, as he had in his
later life, a lack of that rigid purity of principle,
which, as. even Dr. Ellis admits, would not
insure with propriety all his domestic relations
being the subject of exact record. The cause
of these failings in virtue is referred to the in
fluences he encountered on foreign soil, and to
foreign customs in such matters which pre
vailed in his clay.
The emblazoned diploma of arms which he
received in his thirty-first year from the King
of England when he became a knight, states in
dignified terms that he was the "son of Benja
min Thompson, late of the Province of Massa
chusetts Bay, in New England, Gent: deceased,
and one of the most ancient families in North
America ; . that his ancestors have

""The Life of Rumford by Prof. James Renwick"
(Spark's Biography, 2nd ser., vol. V.) is the next
considerable American performance on the subject.
Professor Renwick expresses obligation for the use
of a manuscript belonging- to Josiah Pierce, half-
brother of Count Rumford, entitled by its author
"Outlines of the Family, Infancy and Childhood of
Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford." This manu
script was in existence in 1845, but its present
whereabouts is to us unknown. Josiah Pierce, half
brother of Count Rumford, married Phebe, daughter
of Daniel and Phebe (Snow) Thompson, of Woburn.
His wife's father was killed in the battle of Lex
ington and Concord, April 19, 1775. For an account
of their children see "Thompson Memorial" (Boston
1887), p. 50. This branch of the Pierce family were
among the founders of the present town of Rum
ford, Maine.

ever lived in reputable situations in that coun
try where he was born, and have hitherto used
the arms of the ancient and respectable family
of Thompson, of the county of York, from a
constant tradition that they derived their de
scent from that source."
He was born, it is said, in the west end of
the house now standing at North Woburn, and
generally known by the name of the Rumford
birthplace. His widowed mother was remar
ried when he was three years old, and his step
father took his new wife and her child to
another house not far distant, but long- since
removed, which stood opposite, as before said,
the present Baldwin mansion.
The fact which has been stated, praticularly
in France, that the child's stepfather banished
him from his house in his infancy, whether
this information be gotten from Count Rum
ford himself or not, must be taken with much
allowance for the exuberance of the French
imagination. For it was contrary to the usual
New England character and contrary to the re
gard which Count Rumford afterwards showed
to his mother and her children born of Joseph
Pierce. That his early life was always smooth
we do not pretend to assert, but that any ex
cessive cruel treatment was given the child,
that we deny. Making allowance for over-
colored statement, a few facts from the Count's
lips are here advanced :
"If the death of my father had not contrary
to the order of nature, preceded that of my
grandfather, who gave all his property to my
uncle, his second son, I should have lived and
died an American husbandman. Shortly after
the death of my father, my mother contracted
a second marriage which proved for her a
source of misfortune. A tyrannical husband
took me away from my grandfather's house
with her. I was then a child ; my grandfather,
who survived my father only a few months,
left me but a very slender subsistence. I was
then launched at the right time upon a world
which was almost strange to me, and I was
obliged to form the habit of thinking and act
ing for myself and of depending on myself for
a livelihood. "My ideas were not yet fixed ; one project
succeeded another, and perhaps I should have
acquired a habit of indecision and inconsist
ency, perhaps I should have been poor and un
happy all my life, if a woman had not loved
me, — if she had not given me a subsistence, a
home, an independent fortune."
Anticipating a little, we continue : "I mar
ried, or rather, I was married, at the age of

MASSACH USETTS.

589

nineteen. I espoused the widow of a Colonel
Rolfe, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Walker, a
highly respectable minister, and one of the first
settlers of Rumford. He was already con
nected with my family. He heartily approved
' of the choice of his daughter, and he himself
united our destinies. This excellent man be
came sincerely attached to me ; he directed my
studies, he formed my taste, and my position
was in every respect the most agreeable that
could possible be imagined."
It is admitted by Baron Cuvier that Rum
ford had informed him himself that he would
have probably remained in the modest condi
tion of his ancestors if the little fortune which
they had to leave him had not been lost during
his infancy. Thus a misfortune in early life,
as in many other cases was the cause of his
subsequent reputation. His grandfather, from
whom he had everything to expect, had given
all he possessed to a younger son, leaving his
grandson almost penniless. This and the loss
of his father and the second marriage of his
mother, and his so stated removal from her
care, leads to the conclusion that "Nothing
could be more likely than such a destitute con
dition to induce a premature display of talent."
These statements and imputations resting
apparently upon positive assertions made by
himself, however, leave room for supposing
that his eulogists, being both of them French
men, may have erred in a matter of sentiment,
by exaggerated expressions. (Ellis, Life, p.
10). Common reputation gives him an excel
lent mother, who never neglected him, but ap
pears to have treated him with a redoubled
love. His own letters to her, when in a state
of popular celebrity, comfort and affluence
abroad, in her later years, are full of affection
and tender regard. The alleged tyranny of his
stepfather finds no statement on the part of
the new- husband's descendants as a reason for
the justification of any charges of that kind.
The stepfather appears to be in every aspect
of the case a kind and faithful husband and
took his wife's child with her to a new home,
as already shown. The eldest son by her sec
ond marriage grew up with the Count as a
playmate and in after life as a correspondent,
and a son of this half-brother never heard any
thing from his father that would warrant an
imputation of ill treatment.
It is not to be doubted from his insistent will
during life, that he exercised the patience and
sympathy of his friends somewhat severely,
and by, perhaps, at the outset, a determined
unwillingness to apply himself to any routine

and rewarding work in accordance with their
old-fashioned New England ideas.
^ It is evident from the handwriting of the
Count when he was only thirteen years of age,
and from the spelling and the almost faultless
grammatical expressions in his letters and com
positions before he had reached manhood, and
from his skill in accounts that he had not only
remarkable native powers, but had been the
subject of careful and thorough training. Credit
for this is given to his village teacher, Master
John Fowle, a graduate of Harvard College in
1747, a man of unusually good reputation in
this line of work. The handwriting of Rum
ford was clear, strong and elegant in his youth,
and it remained so through his life, and it has
been asserted that the mode of instruction
through which young Rumford and his con
temporaries passed afforded a superior train
ing with more signal results than was realized
later under more elaborate provisions for ele
mentary education. Rumford indicated from
his earliest years an intense mental inclination
for things scientific in their nature, and showed
a particular ardor for mathematics, and his
leisure was devoted to the manufacture of in
genious mechanical contrivances leading early
in his career to an interest in the deeper princi
ples of mechanics and natural philosophy, as it
was then understood.
It is said of him that he was for a time a
pupil in a school at Byfield, under the charge
of. a relative; that he was, when eleven years
old, put under the care of an able teacher in-
Medford, named Hill; that in 1766 he was
apprenticed to a Mr. John Appleton, of Salem,
an importer of foreign goods, and a bill for
goods bought from his store and receipted by
Rumford when he was only fourteen years old
is remarkable for grace of penmanship, mer
cantile style, and business-like signature. But
his career in Salem is to be treated separately,
and we pass on to a later date in Woburn.
In 1771 young Rumford began the study of
medicine with Dr. John Hay, of Woburn. He
appears to have been a boarder in his house
from December 15, 1770, to June 15, 1772. Dr.
Hay lived on the estate now known as the Kim
ball estate, 732 Main street, Central Square,
and his house at a later date was called the
"Black House," and was standing as late as
1854. Dr. Hay returned about 1780 to his
native town of Reading, where his father was
also a physician. While boarding at Dr. Hay's,
Rumford attended Mr. Winthrop's lectures at
Cambridge (1771) and from December 9, 1771,
to February 5, 1772, he was keeping school at

59°

MASSACHUSETTS.

Wilmington. In March and April, 1772, he
was doing the same. And in June, 1772, he
was absent for the part of a week at Bradford,
probably arranging for work of a similar kind,
as he is credited with having been a teacher
there. The following is an account of the division
of his time while a student at Dr. Hays : "From
eleven at night to six in the morning, sleep. At
six, arise, and wash my hands and face. From
six to ' eight, morning, exercise one-half and
study one half the time. Eight to ten A. M.,
breakfast, attend prayers. From ten to twelve,
study all the time. From twelve to one, dine.
From one to four, study constantly. From
four to five, relieve my mind by some diversions
or exercises. From five till bedtime, follow
what my inclination leads me, whether it be to
go abroad, or stay at home and read either
anatomy, physic, or chemistry, or any book I
want to peruse." His studies while at Dr.
Hay's were divided into days. The list was
anatomy, physic, surgery, chemistry and the
materia medica.
The above data are taken from minutes made
by Rumford himself at the time. Through the
influence of Baldwin he obtained with his friend
the privilege of attending Professor Winthrop's
lectures at Cambridge, neither young man being
a regular student at the college there. It is
said that they walked to and from the place to
their homes at Woburn, and were in the habit
of repeating the experiments witnessed, with
rude apparatus of their own contrivance, at
their homes afterward.
The exact time when Rumford taught school
in Bradford is not definitely stated, but it was
some time in the year 1772. His experience
here led to his being appointed in the same year
to the mastership of a school in Concord, New
Hampshire, then known as a town by the name
of Rumford ; but his arrival there was followed
by his speedy marriage.
It is our intention to ignore the various tradi
tions which have befogged the actions of Count
Rumford in Woburn about the time of the
battle of Lexington and Concord, April 19,
1775, and present only an extract from a letter
of that time which has a very pointed reference
to him in connection with his arrest on that
date, while he was at his mother Pierce's house
in North Woburn, by a military company of
the town when he was confined there by an ill
ness, probably the one he mentions in his letter
of October 1, 1775, which we have quoted else
where. He said, "I came out of Boston a few
clays before the affair at Lexington," having

"enjoyed, since I left Boston a very indifferent
share of health." It is supposed then that he
took refuge at his mother's, and was ill there
on the day of April 19, as before hinted. The
quotation from the other letter mentioned is
here presented. It is an autograph letter from
Major Josiah Johnson to James Fowle, Esq.,
dated September 9, 1775, both influential men
of middle life in the then town of Woburn:"
"The town of Woburn upon the shortest
notice mustered and marched 180 brave men,
well equipped, for the assistance and relief of
their distressed brethren at Concord, whither
the Ministerial troops had stolen their march
for the destruction of our magazine there de
posited, whose heroic deeds under the prudent
conduct of Captain Jonathan Fox and others
(on the emergency of the 19th of April last)
greatly added to the glorious achievements of
that memorable day. . . Though we don't
find this Captain Fox justly charged with the
illboding' conduct of promoting the escape of
a supposed enemy that day captivated and com
mitted to safekeeping by the heroism of others,
whose worthy deeds justly entitled them to a
much better fortune ; a fact notoriously re
gretted."* His release is credited and probably correctly
to the influence of his friend Baldwin. He had
his trial later. Woburn is only five miles from
Lexington, and hesitation on the part of any
man to go to the field on Lexington's battle-
day was, under the excitement which prevailed,
a dangerous thing to display. It is commonly
believed that every able-bodied Woburn man
was present in the engagement, and the excuses
of the few left, who did not go, were rigidly
inquired into, and Rum ford's case among the
rest. The appearance of a militia company
before his house on the evening of that day and
its object, is clearly explained by the letter
which we have quoted. Rumford was indeed
favored by having influential friends through
out the whole of his career.
In a letter written from Woburn, May 11,
1775, he says, "Since Mrs. Thompson has been
at Woburn she has been very unwell, which
has prevented her coming to Concord this week
as was proposed." On May 16, following, he
was arrested in Woburn, and his trial was ap
pointed at the meeting-house in the first parish
of that town, on Thursday, May 18, at two
P. M. Baldwin states in his diary that Rum-

*In the "Journals of the Provincial Congress is
preserved a petition of Count Rumford in reference
to his trial at Woburn in May. 1775. It contains
nothing new in idea, however, beyond what we
present.

MASSACH USETTS.

59i

ford was taken up, as a Tory, but nothing was
found against him, and the court adjourned to
the following Monday. The final action in his
case is preserved by his friend Baldwin, in
words that show that the Woburn committee
having charge of the case reported that they
did not find in any one instance that the accused
had shown a "disposition unfriendly to Amer
ican Liberty," but that his general behavior
had "evinced the direct contrary." (Dated
"Woburn, in the Province of Massachusetts
Bay, 29th May, 1775").
It appears after his release that Rumford re
mained in this vicinity. On June 4, 1775, he
viewed the military works at Boston, in com
pany with Baldwin (then an American major)
from Lechmere's Point, Cambridge, and on
June 13 Baldwin reports that "Major Thomp
son went to Woburn." He was still in this
vicinity in August, 1775. In that month he
decided to quit the country. He made all his
arrangements with deliberate preparation. After
making his decision he remained two months
in and about Woburn, and on October 13, 1775,
accompanied by his stepbrother, Josiah Pierce,
he started from Woburn in a country vehicle,
and drove near to the bounds of the province,
on the shore of the Narragansett Bay, whence
young Pierce returned. Rumford was then
taken by a boat on board the "Scarborough,"
a British frigate which lay in the harbor of
Newport. The following apology for his unpopularity
among the Americans at the opening of the
revolutionary war was written about 1847 by
a Scotchman, and published in "Chambers Mis
cellany," (X. 5). His position comes as near
the truth as we shall ever know.
"The truth,"' says this writer, "seems to be
that not only was Thompson, as a man in com
fortable circumstances, was fond of the con
sideration and opportunities of enjoyment
which they afforded him, averse to any dis
turbance, such as a war between the colonies
and the mother country would cause, but that
his constitution and temperament, his liking
fot calm intellectual pursuits, disqualified him
from taking part in_political agitation. Many
men who have distinguished themselves in liter
ature and science have, as a matter of principle,
' kept themselves aloof from the controversies
and political dissensions of their time, alleging
that, however important such questions might
be, it was not in discussing them that their
powers could be employed to most advantage.
In the case of Thompson, however, who as yet
had not begun to lay claim to the character of

a man devoted to scientific pursuits, his coun
trymen thought, not altogether unreasonably,
that they had grounds of complaint. What
employment was he engaged in, that he ought
to be exempted from the duty of a citizen —
that of taking interest in public affairs? So,
probably, the most candid and considerate of
the American patriots reasoned ; and as for
the great mass of the populace, they condemned
him in the usual summary manner in which
the public judges."
Colonel Baldwin, his intimate friend, writing
in 1805, confirms the idea of his indifference:
"From this general view of the conduct of
Major Thompson and his manner of leaving
America, some may have received unfavorable
impressions of his character. But he had never
made politics his study and never perhaps seri
ously considered the origin and progress of the
contest; and if he sought for employment
against his countrymen, he had sufficient op
portunities of being gratified."*
At Salem. — Rumford as a youth was ap
prenticed to a merchant in Salem, October 14,
1766. He lived in his master's family as a
member of the household. It was here, it is
said, that he was interested in playing the fiddle,
an instrument upon which he was a skillful
performer. Here he continued until about
October, 1769. An enlightened minister, the
Rev. Thomas Barnard, gave him his friendship
and encouragement. As he says, himself. "The
father of one of my companions, a very respect
able minister, and, besides, very enlightened
(by name Barnard) gave me his friendship,
and of his own prompting, undertook to in
struct me. He taught me algebra, geometry,
astronomy, and even the higher mathematics.
Before the age of fourteen, I had made suffi
cient progress in this class of studies to be able
without his aid, and even without his knowl-
"The reader is referred to the life by Professor
Renwick (Spark's Biographies) for many particu
lars regarding Rumford's life in Woburn and Salem,
based apparently on the statements in the manu
script of Josiah Pierce (half-brother) already
referred to in a previous note. These statements
are repeated in the article on Count Rumford in
the "Chambers Miscellany," published about 1847.
While very interesting we have omitted them here,
because of their evidently overcolored and tradi
tionary character. One of them was, and the truth
of it we do not deny, that the Woburn meeting
house was crowded to its very doors at the time his
trial was held. This meeting-house then stood on
the present Woburn Common, and was within a
short distance of the spot where Rumford s admir
able statue now stands.  *„_,*._
Renwick's work when compared with Rumford s
memoranda presented in the latter work of Ellis,
shows many inaccuracies in dates, though his state
ments are in other respects correct. This refers to
statements of fact regarding the events of his life
?n America. It is supposed that Renwick used the
mportant part of the Pierce manuscript and the
Baldwin article of 1805, which he refers to.

592

MASSACHUSETTS.

edge, to calculate and trace rightly the elements
of a solar eclipse. We observed it together,
and my computation was correct within four
seconds. I shall never forget the intense pleas
ure which this success afforded me, nor the
praises which it drew from him. I had been
destined for trade, but after a short trial my
thirst for knowledge became inextinguishable,
and I could not apply myself to anything but
my favorite objects of study."
While in Salem he had premission to make
occasional visits to Woburn, and walked one
night from there to show his friend Baldwin
parts of a machine he had made in the direction
of solving the principle of "perpetual motion."
His services to his employer at Salem becom
ing less necessary, owing to the obstructions
imposed upon trade before the opening of the
revolutionary war, he was sent to Boston and
apprenticed to a similar business to that he
had been at Salem.
In Boston. — In Boston he was placed as an
apprentice clerk with a Air. Hopestill Capen,
a dry-goods dealer. This was in the autumn
of 1769. Here he attended a French evening
school for the purpose of learning that lan
guage, but his stay in Boston was short, owing
to the falling off in business caused by the de
pression of the times. Dr. Ellis gives a number
of instances of Rumford's precocity during the
period of his stay in Salem and Boston, but
they are mostly of a character of which Rum
ford would be ashamed in his after life.*
At Concord, New Hampshire. — An im
mature lad of nineteen, Rumford married a
wealthy widow of thirty-three. She had been
married when about thirty to an elderly bache
lor of about sixty. She was the daughter of a
clergyman, and the facts of their union have
been given in the genealogy preceding this
article. The widow's husband died December
21, 1771. The date of her second marriage is
said to have been about November, 1772, and
it is also related that his mother's consent was
obtained in the course of a rather sensational"
journey on the part of the couple to her abode
in Woburn. But this is a matter of tradition.
Something more definite is this : His friend
Baldwin writes of him at this period as a per
son of a "fine manly make and figure, nearly
six feet in height, of handsome features, bright
blue eyes, and dark auburn hair." He seems to
have been satisfactory to his Concord friends
•These incidents are also delated with even more
fullness of detail by Renwick. The most important
was his narrow escape from serious injury and the
loss of his life in an explosion of gunpowder with
which he was preparing some fireworks for a cele
bration.

as a teacher, and in a letter from there to his
mother in Woburn he writes, "I have had 106
scholars at my school, but only have seventy at
once." Owing to the influence and activity of his
wife, Rumford soon shone in New Hampshire
colonial society, and at a military review at
Dover, ten miles from Portsmouth, at which
both were present, on the 13th of November,
1772, he attracted the attention of the royal
governor, to whom he was introduced, and on
the following day was a guest at his table. The
result was a commission as major in the militia,
conferred by the governor on the future Count.
This commission was bestowed on Rumford
over the heads of men in the line of promotion,
and resulted, for political and military reasons,
in his becoming the subject of jealous feeling
and hostile criticism. So far as is known he
was at that time devoid of both military knowl
edge and experience. It was not so afterwards.
And whatever may be said, it was the opinion
of the men of that day that Rumford from the
outset of his military career was at heart a
loyalist ; and Wentworth, the governor to whom
he was indebted for his rise to military rank,
was the last royal governor of New Hamp
shire. How much (and doubtless it was much)
feminine influence may have helped to secure
his elevation to office is not determined. It is
evident to' the most superficial observer that
his wife's influence was a potent factor in
bringing about the result. Her father and
brother were staunch supporters of the Ameri
can side in the revolution, and it is likely her
notions afterwards were never again urged
either on one side or the other of the contro
versy. For a time, about 1773, Rumford became a
gentleman farmer on his wife's estate. He
had broad acres to till and employed many
laborers. To Baldwin he wrote in the middle
of July, 1773, "i am engaged in husbandry."
In August, 1774, he wrote: "I have been ex
tremely busy this summer, or I should have
given myself the pleasure' of coming to see
you." At Concord, New Hampshire, where his
family connections were the most powerful set
among the inhabitants, Rumford was protected
for a time by their influence: However, by the
people at large he was distrusted. He was
summoned before a committee at Concord in
the surumer of 1774 to answer to the suspicion
of "being unfriendly to the cause of Liberty,"
and he positively denied the charge, and chal
lenged proof. No proceeding ensued against

MASSACH USETTS.

593

him, and he was discharged. In November,
1774, a mob gathered round his dwelling and
demanded his appearance. Had Rumford been
within he would have been foully dealt with.
But he had secretly left Concord just before.
His wife and her brother Colonel Walker, came
forth and assured the mob that her husband
was not in town, and the gathering dispersed.
Rumford thought it was to be only a tem
porary separation from the place. His wife
and- infant child were with him afterwards at
Woburn and Boston, but his separation from
Concord was perpetual. He found himself
unsafe at Woburn, and next sought safety in
Charlestown, and on his own admission he
boarded in Boston (the seat of a British army)
until a few days before the 19th of April, 1775.
These facts are obtained from an interesting
letter of Rumford's, in which, seeking for his
goods, he gives incidentally an account of his
movements at the beginning of the revolution.
Separating these facts from the vagaries of
tradition, one gets a much clearer idea of the
truth. October 1, 1775, "I came out of Boston a
few days before the affair at Lexington on the
19th April, and have since not been able to re
turn. When I left the town I little imagined
that a return would be thus difficult, or, rather
impossible, and therefore took no care to pro
vide for such a contingency. ... I can
not conclude without informing you that since
I left Boston I have enjoyed but a very in
different share of health. . . . Since the
12th of August I have been confined to my
room the greatest part of the time, and this is
the nineteenth day since I have had a settled
fever upon me, which I fear is not come to a
crisis yet. ... I have not been out of the
Province of Massachusetts Bay since I saw.
you. Mrs. Thompson and little Sally* were
with me during the month of May, since which
time T have not had the pleasure of seeing
either of them."
The events in Rumford's life after the few
days before the 19th of April, 1775, when the
struggle actually began which separated the
United States of America from the English
government, are continued under the heading
"Woburn" in this article.
Great Britain. — After boarding a British
frigate in the harbor of Newport, Rumford
sailed in her to Boston, and remained there
until the evacuation of that town by the British
forces, of which event he was the bearer of
tidings to England. Henceforward to the end
•For more about this daughter, see beyond.
"-3

of the war he was in the service of the British
government. The intelligence of the evacua
tion was made public in London in May, 1776,
but it is supposed that through Rumford's
agency the event had been known to the gov
ernment before. There will be no further
attempt in this article to trace minutely his
future movements or to palliate his motives.
On the occasion of his arrival, "by the clear
ness of his details and the gracefulness of his
manners, he insinuated himself so far into the
graces of Lord George Germaine that he took
him into his employment." In 1779 he was
elected a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1780
he was made "Under Secretary of State for
the Northern Department," and the oversight
of all the practical details for recruiting, equip
ping, transporting and victualling the British
forces, and many other incidental arrange
ments, was committed to him. He held this
office about a year. He next sought active
service in the British army, and he was on the
American side of the ocean in 1782, and he
was honored at the aged of twenty-eight with
the commission in the British army of a lieu
tenant-colonel. He provided for himself by
raising a regiment among the loyal Americans,
or Tories, of his native land. He himself said,
he "went to America to command a regiment
of cavalry which he had raised in that country
for the King's service." He disembarked at
Charleston, South Carolina, passed the winter
there, led his corps often against the enemy,
and was always successful in his enterprises.
Here he had the reputation of defeating the
famous Marion's brigade, when its commander
was absent, who, however, came in season to
take part in the action, but had the mortifica
tion of witnessing the discomfiture of his little
band. In the spring of 1782 Rumford sailed
from Charleston to New York, and took com
mand of his regiment there awaiting Him, and
passed the winter with his command at Hunt
ington, Long Island. It has been asserted, and
apparently with truth, that he was merely
quartered there from having nothing to do
elsewhere. Cornwallis had already surrendered,
and Rumford, by leave of absence dated April
11, 1783, returned direct to England, where he
was advanced to a colonelcy, and thus secured
half-pay on the British establishment for the
remainder of his life.
In Germany. — Rumford, on his return from
America, readily obtained leave of the King to
visit the continent. He accordingly left Eng
land in September, 1783. He arrived at Stras
burg, where the Prince Maximilian of Deux

594

MASSACHUSETTS.

Fonts, then field-marshal in the service of
France, and later Elector of Bavaria, was in
garrison, who, when commanding on parade,
saw among the spectators an officer in a foreign
uniform, mounted on a fine English horse,
whom he addressed. The officer was Rumford,
and thus began an acquaintance which had a
decisive influence on his future career. The
Elector of Bavaria, Charles Theodore, uncle to
the above Prince Maximilian, gave Rumford
an earnest invitation to enter into his service
in a joint military and civil capacity. The
English King granted Rumford the permission
desired, and also conferred on him the honor
of knighthood. He therefore entered, at Mun
ich, in 1784, on the service of the Elector. His
labors ranged from subjects of the homeliest
nature in relation to the common people, up to
the severest tests and experiments in the inter
ests of practical science. On his arrival the
Elector appointed him colonel of a regiment of
cavalry and general aide-de-camp. He soon
learned that the development of resources and
the reform of abuses were the emergent needs
of the Electorate. He made reforms in the
army and for the removal of mendicity. The
manner of their accomplishment has been a
"household tale" for a century and a quarter.*
In 1788 the Elector made him a major-gen
eral of cavalry and privy councillor of state.
He was put at the head of the war department.
He was raised in 1791 to the rank of a Count
of the Holy Roman Empire, and selected as his
title the former name of the village in his own
native country, where he had first enjoyed the
favors of fortune, — that is, Rumford; and,
criticize as one may, this distinction was won
by merit. In 1796 he published his Essays —
altogether on scientific subjects — in London.
He had by 1797, "by his own exertions acquired
a sufficiency" not only for his own "comfort
able support" during his life, but also to enable
him to make a handsome provision for his
daughter. He was therefore willing to re
nounce all claims he might have on his late
wife's estate, and engage his daughter to do so.
He insisted, however, on the exchange of re
ceipts. His fame was also by this time well
established in America. The property of his
deceased wife came for the most part from
her former husband, and would go mainly to
her son by him. A portion of the widow's
dower which she had enjoyed as Mrs! Thomp
son, would legally descend to Rumford's daugh-
•His career was greatly popularized, particularly
in America, by an article in "Chambers Miscellany."
¦which appeared in the year 1847.

ter by her. On the event of a satisfactory
arrangement with her relatives the Count
agreed to assume the whole responsibility of
her maintenance thereafter, and of provision
for her survival, and that he would influence
her to make a will in which in the event of her
death all she received from these relatives
would be returned to them or to their heirs.
Her grandfather Walker left her a legacy of
f T4.0, to be received when she was married or
when she was eighteen years of age. It is
understood that all these matters were adjusted
in a satisfactory manner. Rumford's foreign
duties, however, and his obligations to the
Elector, debarred him from serving in certain
positions in England, and especially in the posi
tion of Minister Plenipotentiary from Bavaria
to the Court of Great Britain, to which he had
been appointed, it being contrary to the rules
to receive in that capacity from another coun
try a British subject. At the age of forty-five
Count Rumford had attained the climax of his
political services.
Conclusion. — From 1800 to the date of his
death in a suburb of Paris, August 21, 1814,
Count Rumford's career furnishes less interest
for Americans. He was engaged in 1799 in
the establishment of a new scientific institution
in London, called the Royal Institution of Great
Britain, on a plan regarded exclusively as his
own. He had reasons for believing that his
official position in Bavaria would no longer
yield the fruits it had previously enjoyed, and
so he turned his attention more strictly to the
pursuits of science. It is not our intention to
enlarge on this, as there is plenty of published
material at hand for any one who is interested
to investigate it. A significant incident in con
nection with the name of his American birth-
. place, was his visit with his friend Pictet to
Woburn Abbey, England, in the year 1801.
He was in Paris before 1807. Previously, in
1805, he contracted a marriage with the rich
widow of a celebrated French chemist. The
money settled upon him by his second wife, or
its remainder, he left by will to different insti
tutions; the reversion of half his Bavarian pen
sion he left to his daughter. Owing to incom
patibility of dispositions the couple . separated
by mutual agreement in 1809. The state of
war in Europe aggravated his troubles and those
of his second wife by preventing their contem
plated travels for pleasure.
The subject with which, as a physicist, he
was chiefly engaged was the nature and effects
of heat. A superb bronze statute of him was
set up in 1867, in one of the public squares of

MASS ACPI USETTS.

595

Munich, and a replica, the gift of a private
citizen, was in 1899 erected in Woburn.
His daughter, Sarah Rumford, sailed from
Boston for London in the winter of 1796, to
see her father, who had come from Munich to
meet her there. She went with him to Bavaria,
and remained abroad a little more than three
years. The praticulars of her stay are given in
Ellis' Life. She received the title of Countess
in 1797 from the Elector of Bavaria, and a
pension which lasted during her life. She
made a second visit to her father in 181 1, and
remained in France and England many years
after her father's death. The Countess says,
in her memoranda, that while her father was a
great favorite with the ladies, some of them
sharply censured him for the four following
faults : "First, for living so short a time with
his wives, considering him, from it, a bad hus
band ; second, for taking sides against his
country ; third, letting his daughter get on as
she could, he revelling at the time in the city of
Paris ; fourth, that he should pitch on Paris as
a permanent residence, when both in Munich
and in London he had made himself so useful,
had won such honors, and had such distin
guished associates and friends." This, it should
be understood, was the judgment of European
women of his acquaintance, and Sarah display
ed more wisdom than she is usually accredited
with when she made a record of it. Her at
tractions and ability were in no degree remark
able. In 1835 she came to America and again
went abroad in 1838. In 1844 she came back.
She died in the chamber in which she was born,
December 2, 1852, and her remains lie buried
in the old burial-ground at Concord, New
Hampshire. By inheritance and otherwise she
left a handsome estate. She devised her home
stead and fifteen thousand dollars in money to
trustees to found an institution in Concord to
be called "The Rolfe and Rumford Asylum"
for young female orphans. The funds were
allowed to accumulate. This institution was
opened for use about 1882, and has been in
successful operation since.
A translation of part of Count Rumford's
epitaph at Paris (the original is in the French
language) is here inserted as an admirable
tribute to his worth :
Celebrated Physicist! Enlightened Philan
thropist ! His Discoveries on Light and Heat
have made Flis Name Famous. His Labors
for the Bettering the Conditions of the Poor
will Cause Him to be Forever Cherished by
the Friends of Humanity.

In Bavaria,
Lieutenant-General, Plead of the State,
Leader of the Realm,
Major-General,
State Councillor,
Minister of War.
In France,
Member of the Institute.
and of
The Academy of Sciences.
The following significant opinion of Rum
ford's life was written in the year 1847, and
forms the conclusion of the sketch in "Cham
bers Miscellany:"
"Rumford, whose memoirs we have now de
tailed, was not a faultless character, or a per
son in every respect exemplary; but making
due allowances for circumstances in which he
was at the outset unfortunately placed, and
keeping in mind that every man is less or more
the creature of the age in which he lives, we
arrive at the conclusion that few individuals
occupying a public position have been so
thoroughly deserving of esteem. The practical,
calm, and comprehensive nature of his mind,
his resolute and methodical habits, the benev
olence and usefulness of his projects, all excite
our admiration. Cuvier speaks of Rumford as
"having been the benefactor of his species with
out loving, or esteeming them, as well as of
holding, the opinion, that the mass of mankind
ought to be treated as mere machines" — a re
mark which is applicable to not a few men who
have been eminent for labors of a humane de
scription, and which naturally gives rise to this
other remark — "that a good intellectual method,
directed to practical ends, is often of more
value to mankind than what is called a good
heart." Cuvier's remarks, above referred to, were
more fully as follows : "But it must be con
fessed that he exhibited in conversation and
intercouse, and in all his demeanor, a feeling
which would seem most extraordinary in a
man who was always so well treated by others,
and who had himself done so much good to
others. It was as if while he had been render-

596

MASSACHUSETTS.

ing all these services to his fellow-men he had
no real love or regard for them. It would
appear as if the vile passions which he had
observed in the miserable objects committed
to his care, or those other passions, not less
vile, which his success and fame had excited
among his rivals, had imbittered him towards
human nature. So he thought it was not wise
or good to intrust to men in the mass the care
of their own well-being. The right, which
seems so natural to them, of judging whether
they are wisely governed, appeared to him to
be a fictitious fancy born of false notions of
enlightenment. His views of slavery were
nearly the same as those of a plantation-owner.
lie regarded the government of China as com
ing nearest to perfection, because in giving
over the people to the absolute control of their
only intelligent men, and in lifting each of
those who belonged to this hierarchy on the
scale according to the degree of his intelligence,
it made, so to speak, so many millions of arms
the passive organs of the will of a few sound
heads — a notion which I state without pretend
ing in the slightest degree to approve it, and
which, as we know, would be poorly calculated
to find prevalence among European nations.
"M. de Rumford had cause for learning by
his own experience that it is not so easy in the
West as it is in China to induce other people to
consent to be only arms ; and that no one is so
well prepared to turn these arms of others to
his own service as is one who has reduced
them to subjection to himself. An empire such
as he conceived would not have been more
difficult for him to manage than were his bar
racks and poorhouses. He relied wholly on the
principle of rigid system and order. He called
order the necessary auxiliary of genius, the
only possible instrument for securing any sub
stantial good, and in fact almost a subordinate
deity, for the government of this lower world."
De Candolle, the Swiss botanist, said of
Rumford's personal appearance in later life :
"The sight of him very much reduced our
enthusiasm. We found him a dry, precise man,
who spoke of beneficence as a sort of discipline,
and of the poor as we had never dared to speak
of vagabonds." Speaking of Rumford's sec
ond wife, he said : "I had relations with each
of them, and never saw a more bizarre connec
tion. Rumford was cold, calm, obstinate, egotis
tic, prodigiously occupied with the material
element of life and the very smallest inventions
of detail. He wanted his chimneys, lamps,
coffee pots, windows, made after a certain pat

tern, and he contradicted his wife a thousand
times a day about the household management."
Here we draw the veil. Another has said :
"We enter into labors of Count Rumford every
day of our lives, without knowing it or think
ing of him." Professor John Tyndall said:
"Men find pleasure in exercising the powers
they possess, and Rumford possessed, in its
highest and strongest form, the power of organ
ization." Baldwin says of his friend : "He laudably
resolved not to sacrifice his bright talents to
the monotonous occupations of domestic life.
The world had higher charms for him. This
ambition was to rise in the estimation of man
kind by his usefulness. With a mind suscepti
ble to impressions from every quarter, he could
not fix his attention upon any uniform line of
conduct when young, and from this cause alone,
a want of regularity in his behavior, impres
sions unfavorable to his character as a patriot
were made upon the minds of his acquaintance
at Concord. The people in their zeal for the
American cause were too apt to construe in
difference into a determined attachment to the
British interest. Believing that the benevolent
plans which he afterwards adopted could never
be executed but under the fostering hand of*
well-directed power, he sought a field for the
exercise of his goodness and ingenuity where
they could be executed and where there was
the most obvious demand."
Count Rumford says himself in one of his
essays: "It certainly required some courage
and perhaps no small share of enthusiasm, to
stand forth the voluntary champion of the
public good. Again he says : "I am not un
acquainted with the manners of the age. I
have lived much in the world, and have studied
mankind attentively. I am fully aware of all
the difficulties I have to encounter in the pur
suit of the great object to which I have de
voted myself."
Count Rumford, at the beginning of one of
his Essays entitled "An Account of an Estab
lishment for the Poor at Munich," says of
himself: "Among the vicissitudes of a life
checkered by a great variety of incidents, and
in which I have been called upon to act in
many interesting scenes, I have had an oppor
tunity of employing my attention upon a sub
ject of great importance — a subject intimately
and inseparably connected with the happiness
and well-doing of all civil societies, and which
from its nature cannot fail to interest every
benevolent mind : it is the providing for the

MASSACH USETTS.

597

wants of the poor, and securing their happiness
and comfort by the introduction of order and
industry among them."

Jean Rivoire, the immigrant an-
REVERE cestor of the Revere family of
Massachusetts, belonged to the
ancient and distinguished family of Rivoires
or De Rivoires, of Romagnieu, France. They
were Huguenots and some of the family fled
from France during the Catholic Inquisition.
He married Magdelaine Malaperge. Children :
I. Simon, eldest son, was a refugee from
France ; went first to Holland and afterwards
settled in the Isle of Guernsey, Great Britain ;
took with him the coat-of-arms of the family,
on a silver seal ; and these arms were . after
wards registered in the French Heraldry Book,
in London, at the Herald's Office. 2. Apollos.
3. Isaac, mentioned below.
( II ) Isaac Rivoire, son of Jean Rivoire, was
born about 1670 in France ; married, in 1694,
Serenne Lambert. They had several children,
one of whom was named Apollos. The follow
ing account of his birth was written in the
family Bible by the father and a copy of it
sent to Colonel Paul Revere, Boston, by Mat
thias Rivoire, a second cousin, of Martel, near
St. Foy, France. "Apollos Rivoire, or son, was
born the thirtieth of November, 1702, about
ten o'clock at Night and was baptized at Rian-
caud, France, Apollos Rivoire, my brother, was
his Godfather and Anne Maulmon my sister-
in-law his Godmother. Pie set out for Guern
sey the 21st of November, 1715." According
to the late General Joseph Warren Revere,
Apollos, the father of the famous Paul Revere,
became the true heir and lineal representative
of his brother, Simon de Rivoire, and the
American branch of the family, consequently,
is the legal heir at the present day. All the
other heirs having become extinct, the Amer
ican family would inherit the titles and estates
if any now remained to inherit.
(Ill) Apollos Rivoire, son of Isaac Rivoire,
was born in Riancaud, France, November 30,
1702. As stated above he set out for the Isle
of Guernsey, November 21, 1715, and must
have reached the home of his uncle by the time
his birthday arrived. He was then thirteen
and was apprenticed to his Uncle Simond who
soon afterwards sent the boy to Boston, Mass
achusetts, with instructions to his correspond
ents to have him learn the goldsmith's trade,
agreeing to defray all expenses. He learned
his trade of John Cony, of Boston, who died
August 20, 1722. Revere's "time," valued at

forty pounds, was paid for, as shown by the
settlement of Cony's estate. During the year
1723 he returned to Guernsey on a visit to his
relatives, but determined to make his home in
Boston and soon came back. He established
himself in the business of a gold and silver
smith, and modified his name to suit the de
mands of English tongues, to Paul Revere.
But for many years the surname was variously
spelled in the public records. "Reverie" and
"Revear" being common. About May, 1730,
he "removed from Captain Pitt's at the Town
Dock to the north end over against Colonel
Hutchinson's." This house was on North
street, now Hanover, opposite Clark street,
near the corner of Love lane, now Tileston
street. He was a member of the New Brick or
"Cockerel" Church, so called from the cockerel
weather vane which is still in service on the
Shepherd Memorial Church, Cambridge. Sam
ples of his handiwork have been preserved. A
silver tankard owned now or lately by Mrs.
William Ii. Emery, of Newton, Massachusetts,
was made about 1747 for Rebecca Goodwill,
whose name and the date are engraved on it.
After he had been in business a few years he
married, June 19, 1729, Deborah Hitchborn,
who was born in Boston, January 29, 1704.
She died in May 1777; he died July 22, 1754.
Children: 1. Deborah, baptized February 27,
1731-32. 2. Paul, born December 21, 1734;
mentioned below. 3. Frances, born July, 1736,
baptized July 18. 4. Thomas, baptized August
27, 1738, died young. 5. Thomas, baptized
January 13, 1739-40. 6. John, baptized Octo
ber 11, 1741. 7. Mary, baptized July 13, 1743.
8. Elizabeth (twin), baptized July 13, 1743,
died young. 9. Elizabeth, baptized January 20.
1744-45. There were twelve in all.
(TV) Colonel Paul Revere, son of Paul Re
vere (Apollos Rivoire), was born in Boston,
December 21, 1734, and was baptized Decem
ber 22, 1734, the following day. He received
his education from the famous Master Tileston
at the North grammar school, and then entered
his father's shop to learn the trade of gold
smith and silversmith. He had much natural
ability in designing and drawing and became a
prominent engraver. He taught himself the
art of engraving on copper, flis early plates,
of course, were crude in detail, but they were
forceful and expressive, and his later work
was characterized by a considerable degree of
artistic merit and elegance. His unique abili
ties show to the best advantage in his craft of
which he was a master. His services to the
colonies in the struggle for independence and

598

MASSACHUSETTS.

afterward by his skill as an engraver- and
artisan were as important, perhaps, as his mili
tary achievements, to the cause of liberty. One
of his triumphs for the American cause was
the manufacture of gunpowder at Canton,
Massachusetts, when the only source of supply
was in the vicinity of Philadelphia, Pennsyl
vania, the proprietor of which was hostile to
the establishment of Revere's plant. He suc
ceeded, however, and thus greatly strengthened
the resources of the Northern army. He was
also employed by the government to oversee
the casting and manufacture of cannon, to en
grave and print the notes issued in the place
of money by Congress and by the state of
Massachusetts. In addition to his shop, he
established an important hardware store on
Essex street, opposite the site of the famous
Liberty Tree that was the centre of much of
the patriotic demonstration of pre-revolution-
ary times. There was apparently no limit to
the variety of work successfully essayed by
R.evere, for it is shown on abundant testimony
that in his younger days he practiced with
much skill the making and inserting of artificial
teeth, an art that he learned of an English
dentist temporarily located in Boston, and he
also designed many of the frames that sur
rounded the paintings of his friend, Copley.
These were, however, but incidents in compari
son with the bolder undertakings of later years.
In 1789 he established an iron foundry of con
siderable capacity and in 1792 began to cast
church bells, the first of which, still in exis
tence, was for the Second Church of Boston.
lie cast many bells, of which some are still in
use in old parish churches of Massachusetts.
He took his son, Joseph Warren Revere, into
business with him. Brass cannon and many
kinds of metal work needed for the building
and equipment of the ships of the navy were
manufactured for the government. He in
vented a process of treating copper that en
abled him to hammer and roll it while heated,
thus greatly facilitating the manufacture of
the bolts and spikes used in his work. In many
respects the most important of all his enter
prises was that of rolling copper into large
sheets, established in 1800, aided by the United
States government to the extent of ten thous
and dollars, to be repaid in sheet copper. It
was the first- copper rolling mill in the country.
The plates were made in this mill for the
boilers of Robert Fulton's steamboat and for
the sheathing of many men-of-war. In 1828
the business was incorporated as the Revere

Copper Company and under this name still
continues and prospers.
He is best known perhaps for his part in the
events preceding the battle of Lexington and
Concord. The martial spirit that stirred him
to such a degree in later life asserted itself first
on the occasion of the campaign against the
French in Canada in 1756, and he was at that
time commissioned second lieutenant of artil
lery by Governor Shirley and attached to the
expedition against Crown Point under the com
mand of General John Winslow. His service
in this campaign, however, proved uneventful,
and he returned some six months later to his
business. From this time his allegiance to
royal authority steadily waned. He became a
prominent Whig leader in Boston. He was
popular among his fellow patriots in the secret
organization known as the _ Sons of Liberty.
The meetings were conducted with great se
crecy, chiefly at the Green Dragon tavern, and
measures of importance taken to resist the en- _
croachments of the British authority on the
rights that the colonies had enjoyed for a cen
tury or more. Revere was intrusted with the
execution of many important affairs, often
bearing dispatches of importance between the
committees of safety and correspondence that
virtually organized and carried on the revolu
tion itself. He was prominent at the time of
the Stamp Act troubles, and he designed and
published a number of famous cartoons and
caricatures. His views of the landing of Brit
ish troops in Boston and of the Boston massa
cre had a large influence on the public mind.
In pursuance of the non-importation agree
ment the citizens of Boston took steps to pre
vent the landing of the cargo of the ship
"Dartmouth," November 29, 1773 ; Revere him
self was one of the guard of twenty-five ap
pointed to carry out the vote of a public meet
ing provided that "the tea should not be land
ed," and he was one of the leaders of the Tea
Party. December 16, 1773. That was the first
act of open rebellion against the government;
the port of Boston was closed and Revere pro
ceeded to New York and Philadelphia to secure
the co-operation of the other colonies, and he
took an important part in organizing the first
confederacy of the provinces effected in 1774.
He made two more trips to the city of Phila
delphia bearing messages from the Provincial
congress of Massachusetts, as the re-organized
general court was known. In Boston the situa
tion was becoming critical. Dr. Joseph War
ren sent for Revere, April 18, 1775, to tell him

MASSACH USETTS.

599

that the British troops were gathering on the
Boston Common and that he, feared for the
safety of Hancock and Adams who were at
Lexington whither he believed the British were
preparing to go in quest of military stores. Re
vere undertook to warn the country ; received
his signal that the expedition was making a
start; rode through Medford to Lexington.
The other messenger, William Dawes, arrived
half an hour later and the two messengers pro
ceeded together to Concord and were soon
joined by Dr. Preseott. They were suprised
by British officers who had been patrolling the
road; Dawes and Revere were captured, while
the more fortunate Preseott, who knew the
country better, made his escape and warned
Concord ; the alarm spreading thence in every
direction through all the colonies. The pris
oners were closely questioned and threatened;
but suffered no actual violence and, during the
excitement following a volley from the Lex
ington militia as they drew near Lexington, the
prisoners were abandoned. He helped rescue
the papers of Mr. Hancock from the Clark
house, and while they were getting the trunk
out of the house encountered the enemy but
got away safely. Longfellow's poem has made
Revere's ride one of the classic adventures of
American history. Revere made his home in
Charlestown and after some weeks his wife
and family joined him there. He made other
perilous trips for the Whigs to New York and
Philadelphia. After the Evacuation in 1776,
Washington employed Revere to repair the
abandoned guns at Castle William, now Fort
Independence, and he succeeded by inventing
a new kind of carriage, rendered necessary by
the fact that the British had broken the trun
nions from the guns. In July he was com
missioned major of a regiment raised for the
defense of town and harbor: in November
lieutenant-colonel in a regiment of state artil
lery, performing many important duties, in
cluding the transfer from Boston to Worcester,
August, 1777. of a body of several hundred
prisoners captured at Bennington by Stark.
He took part with his regiment in the first
campaign in Rhode Island, and was several
times in command of Castle William, incident
ally presiding at many courts martial. His
service in defence'of Boston harbor was oner
ous and, despite adverse conditions, he stead
fastly fulfilled his duties and endeavored to
make the best of the situation. On June 26,
1779, Colonel Revere was ordered to prepare
one hundred men of his command to go with
the expedition known as the Penobscot Expedi

tion to attack the British at Maja-Bagaduce,
now Castine, Maine. The expedition ended
m disaster to the American forces, and one
unfortunate result of it was a quarrel between
Colonel Revere and a captain of marines, re
sulting in Revere's removal from the service,
until he obtained a hearing at a court-martial
in 1 78 1 when he was completely vindicated and
acquitted of blame. It was a matter of great
regret to Revere that his service was restricted
to the state ; he hoped and endeavored to obtain
a place in the^ Continental army. He exerted
his influence in favor of the adoption of the
Federal constitution when its fate seemed
doubtful in Massachusetts.
The varied interests of his business and mili
tary career did not prevent him from cultivat
ing the social side of life. He was the first
entered apprentice received into Saint Andrew's
Lodge of Free Masons in Boston, and ten
years later, in 1770, he was elected its master.
He was one of the organizers of the Grand
Lodge of Massachusetts, and was its grand
master from 1794 to 1797. In this capacity he
assisted Governor Samuel Adams at the laying
of the cornerstone of the Massachusetts State
House, July 4, 1795, and delivered an address
on the occasion. In 1783 Saint Andrew's
Lodge was divided upon the question of re
maining under the jurisdiction of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland, which had chartered it,
and also the Grand Lodge, or of affiliating
with the latter. Twenty-nine members favored
the old arrangement, while twenty-three, in
cluding Revere, desired to change. The minor
ity withdrew and formed the Rising States
Lodge, September, 1784. with Paul Revere its
first master. He made jewels for these lodges
and made and engraved elaborate certificates
of membership and notification cards. At the
death of General Washington he was made one
of a committee of three to write a letter of con
dolence to the widow and ask her for a lock of
Washington's hair. This request was granted
and Revere made a golden urn about four
inches in height for the relic. Through corre
spondence he cultivated the acquaintance of
his relatives in Guernsey and France, and many
of the letters have been preserved. He was
the chief founder of the Massachusetts Char
itable Mechanic Association in 1795 and was
its first president from 1795 to 1799, when he
declined re-election, although his interest in its
affairs was undiminished.
Forty years old when he rode on the mid
night alarm, Paul Revere gave the best years
of his life to his country. After the revolu-

6oo

MASSACHUSETTS.

tion and the period of struggle to organize a
government Revere received the unqualified
respect and honor that he deserved, while his
own industry and skill provided him with a
competency that enabled him to live well, to
educate a large family of children and finally
to leave them in comfortable circumstances.
He died May io, 1818, and was buried in the
Granary Burial Grounds, Boston, where are
also the graves of his friends, John Hancock
and Samuel Adams.
He married, August 17, 1757, Sarah Orne,
who died May, 1773. fle married (second)
October 10, 1773, Rachel Walker, born in Bos
ton, December 27, 1745, died June 19, 181 5.
The children of Paul and Sarah Revere: 1.
Deborah, born April 3, 1758; died January 3,
1797; married Amos Lincoln. 2. Paul, born
January 6, 1760; mentioned below. 3. Sarah,
born January 3, 1762 ; married, March 20, 1788,
John Bradford; she died July 5, 1791. 4.
Mary, born March 31, 1764; died April 30,
1765. 5. Frances, born February 19, 1766;
died June 9, 1799 ; married  Stevens. 6.
Mary, born March 19, 1768 ; died August, 1853 ;
married Jedediah Lincoln. 7. Elizabeth, born
December 5, 1770; married Amos Lincoln,
whose first wife was her sister. 8. Hannah,
born December 15, 1772; died September 19,
1773. Children of Paul and Rachel Revere:
9. Joshua, born December 7, 1774; died about
1792. 10. John, born June 10, 1776; died June
27, 1776. 11. Joseph Warren, born April 30,
1777; died October 12, 1868; succeeded his
father in business ; a prominent citizen of Bos
ton. 12. Lucy, born May 15, 1780; died July
9, 1780. 13. flarriet, born July 24, 1783; died
June 27, i860. 14. John, born December 25,
1784; died March 1786. 15. Maria, born July
4, 1785 ; died August 22, 1847 ; married Joseph
Balestier. 16. John, born March 27, 1787;
died April 30, 1847.
(V) Paul Revere, son of Colonel Paul Re
vere, was born in Boston, January 6, 1760. He
was educated in Boston schools and associated
with his father in business. He resided in
Boston and Canton, where his father lived dur
ing his latter years in the summer months. He
died January 16, 1813, before his father, aged
fifty-three years. He married  . Chil
dren: Sarah, mentioned below; Paul, George,
Rachel, Mary, Deborah, Harriet.
(VI) Sally or Sarah Revere, daughter of
Paul Revere, was born in Boston about 1785.
Married, February 13, 1806, David Curtis; set
tled in Boston. Children : David Revere, Mary
Revere, Caroline Revere, George Revere,

Charles Revere, Henry Revere, Edward Alex
ander Revere, mentioned below.
(VII) Edward Alexander Revere Curtis,
son of David and Sallie (Revere) Curtis, was
born in Boston, February 22, 1822, the year
that Boston was incorporated as a city. Like
his brothers and sisters, he carried the name
to remind him of his mother's family. He was
educated in the public schools of his native city.
He started a type foundry when a young man,
and founded a large and prosperous business.
His foundry was located on Congress street,
Boston, until it was destroyed during the Great
Fire of 1872. His was the last building burned.
He resumed business afterwards on Federal
street and continued until his death in 1889.
He made his home for many years in Somer
ville, and was universally respected and esteem
ed by his townsmen there. He served in the
common council of Somerville and also in the
board of aldermen. He was a Republican in
politics. He belonged to the Soley Lodge of
Free Masons and to the Webcowit Club. He
married Caroline Pruden, daughter of Israel
R. and Caroline (Gulliver) Pruden- Children:
1. Flora. 2. Emma, married Frank W. Cole. 3.
Paul Revere, died aged three years. 4. Mabel,
died aged three months. 5. Grace, died aged
eleven months. 6. Frederick Revere, unmar
ried.

The name of Longfellow
LONGFELLOW is found in the records of
Yorkshire, England, as
far back as i486 and appears under the vari
ous spellings of Langfellay, Langfellowe, Lang-
fellow and Longfellow. The first of the name
was James Langfellay, of Otley. In 1510 Sir
Feter Langfellowe was a vicar of Calverley.
It is well established, by tradition and by docu
ments, that the ancestors of Henry Wads
worth Longfellow, Maine's most distinguished
son, were in Horsforth. In 1625 we find Ed
ward Longfellow, perhaps from Ilkley, pur
chasing "Upper House," in Horsforth, and in
1647 he makes over his house and lands to his
son William. This William was a well-to-do
clothier who lived in Upper House, and, be
sides, possessed three other houses or cottages
(being taxed for "4 hearths"), with gardens,
closes, crofts, etc. He had two sons, Nathan
and William, and four or five daughters. Will
iam was baptized at Guiseley (the parish church
of Horsforth), on October 20. 1650.
(I) The first of the name in America was
the above-named William, son of William, of
Horsforth. He came over a young man, to

MASSACHUSETTS.

o05

Newbury, Massachusetts, about 1676. He mar
ried Anne Sewall, daughter of Henry Sewall,
of Newbury, and sister of Samuel Sewall,
afterward the first chief justice of Massachu
setts, November 10, 1676. He received from
his father-in-law a farm in the parish of By-
field, on the Parker river. He is spoken of as
"well educated, but a little wild," or, as an
other puts it, "not so much of a Puritan as
some." In 1670, as ensign of the Newbury
company, in the Essex regiment, he joined the
ill-fated expedition of Sir William Phipps
against Quebec, which on its return encounter
ed a severe storm in the Gulf of St. Lawrence ;
one of the ships was wrecked on the Island of
Anticosti, and William Longfellow, with nine
of his companions, was drowned. He left five
children. The fourth of these, Stephen, born
1685, left to shift for himself, became a black
smith ; he married Abigail, daughter of the
Rev. Edward Tompson, of Newbury, after
ward of Marshfield. Their fifth child,
(II) Stephen, born 1723, being a bright boy,
was sent to Harvard College, where he took
his first degree in 1742, and his second in 1745.
In this latter year (after having meanwhile
taught a school in York), he went to Portland
in Maine (then Falmouth), to be the school
master of the town. The following note was
his invitation to move there :
"Falmouth, Nov. 15, 1744.
"Sir: We need a school-master. Mr. Plaisted
advises of your- being at liberty. If you will under
take the service in this place you may depend upon
our being generous and your being satisfied. I wish
you would come as soon -as possible, and doubt not
but you'll find things much to your content.
Y-our humble serv't, "Thos. Smith.
"P. S. — I write in the name and with the power of
the selectman of the town. If you can't serve us
pray advise us per first opportunity."
The salary for the first year was £200, in a
depreciated currency. He gained the respect
of the community to such a degree that he was
called to fill important offices being successively
parish clerk, town clerk, register of probate,
and clerk of the courts. When Portland was
burned by Mowatt, in 1775, his house was de
stroyed, and he removed ' to Gorham, where
he lived till his death, May 1, 1790. For fif
teen years he was the grammar school master ;
parish clerk twenty-three years ; town clerk
twenty-two years; from 1760 to 1775, from
the establishment of the court to the time of
the revolution, he was register of probate and
clerk of the judicial court. He married, in

1749, Tabitha Bragdon, daughter o* Samu ,'
Bragdon, of York. Their oldest son,
(HI) Stephen, born 1750, inherited his
father's farm, and married Patience Young, of
York, December 13, 1773. He represented his
town in the Massachusetts general court for
eight years, and his county for several years as
senator. From 1797 to 181 1 he was judge of
the court of common pleas. He died May 25,
1824. His second child,
(IV) Stephen, born in Gorham, in 1776,
graduated at Harvard College in 1798. After
studying law in Portland he was admitted to
the Cumberland bar in 1801, where he soon
attained much distinction. In politics he was
an ardent Federalist, and represented Portland
in the Massachusetts general court in 1814. In
1822, after the separation of Maine from Mass
achusetts, he was one term in congress. In
1828 he received the degree of LL. D. from
Bowdoin College, of which he had been a trus
tee for nearly twenty years. He was elected
president of the Maine Flistorical Society in
1834. He married, January 1, 1804, Zilpah,
daughter of General Peleg Wadsworth, of
Portland, and died in the famous Wadsworth-
Longfellow house there in 1849. William
Willis, the historian, said of Hon. Stephen
. Longfellow : "No man more surely gained the
confidence of all who approached him, or held
it firmer ; and those who knew him best, loved
him most." In this same house, which had
been her home since childhood, Zilpah (Wads
worth) Longfellow died in March 1851, and
her illustrious son, America's best loved poet,
wrote in his journal, under date of March 12,
1851 : "In the chamber where I last took leave
of her, lay my mother, to welcome and take
leave of me no more. I sat all that night alone
with her, without terror, almost without sor
row, so tranquil had been her death. A sense
of peace came over me, as if there had been no
shock or jar in nature, but a harmonious close
to a long life." Mrs. Longfellow was noted
for her purity, patience, cheerfulness and fine
manners, and held a high position in the society
of the town by her intelligence and worth.
General Wadsworth was descended from
John Alden and Priscilla Mullens, whose court
ship has become well known to all Americans
and thousands of foreigners through the charm
ing poem written by his grandson. The Gen
eral's wife, Elizabeth Bartlett, was a descend
ant of Richard Warren and Henry Samson,
and the blood of nine persons who came over
in the historic "Mayflower" flowed in the viens
of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

600,2

MASSACHUSETTS.

tic ( V ) Of such ancestry was born Henry
' Wadsworth Longfellow, at Portland, Maine,
February 27, 1807, and he grew to manhood
with the best possible inheritance and environ
ment. His first letter was written to his father,
who was attending the general court in Boston,
and seems worthy of reproduction even in /a
short sketch : '
"Portland, (Jan. — , 1814).
"Dear Papa: Ann wants a little Bible like little
Betsey's. Will you please buy her one, if you can
find any in Boston. I have been to school all the
week, and got only seven marks. I shall have a
billet on Monday. I wish you buy me a drum.
Henry W. Longfellow."
At the age of five he had been fired with
military ardor at the breaking out of the war
of 1812, and insisted upon having his hair
powdered and carrying a tin gun, ready to
march for the invasion of Canada. His first
printed verses, called "The Battle of Lovell's
Pond" appeared in the Portland Gazette, No
vember 17, 1820, and although his brother and
biographer, Rev. Samuel Longfellow, thought
other boys of thirteen have written better
verses, few have been actuated by more patri
otic impulses. The Longfellow children were
thrilled by their Grandfather Wadsworth's
accounts of his capture by British soldiers, his
being imprisoned at Castine, and his escape at
last, and these stories made an impression upon
Henry which shows in many of his patriotic
poems, so lasting are early influences. In 1821
Longfellow entered Bowdoin College, but pur
sued the first year's studies at home, taking up
residence at Brunswick in 1822. He main
tained a high rank in his class — one of marked
ability — and graduated fourth, standing higher
than thirty-four classmates. At commencement
he was assigned an English oration. "His was
the first claim to the poem, but as that effort
had no definite rank, it was thought due to
him that he should receive an appointment
which placed his scholarship beyond question."
This statement of his standing in college was
made by his old teacher there, Professor A. S.
Packard. In May, 1826, he sailed in a packet-
ship for France, to study in Europe that he
might fit himself to be professor of modern
languages at Bowdoin. His experiences there
were most interesting, and among them his
acquaintance with Lafayette was particularly
so, he having taken a letter to the Marquis,
who was entertained at the Wads worth-Long
fellow house in 1825. In August, 1829, he return
ed to America, and the following month took
up his work as professor of modern languages,

editing for his classes several French and Span
ish text-books. In September, 1831, he mar
ried Mary Storer Potter, daughter of Judge
Barnett Potter, of Portland. She was a very
beautiful young woman, of unusual cultivation.
He held his Bowdoin professorship five and a
half years constantly at work upon transla
tions, and while in Brunswick arranged to pub
lish "Outre-Mer." In 1834 he was offered the
Smith professorship of modern languages at
Harvard, and at once resigned at Bowdoin, and
set sail, in April, 1835, for Europe, to perfect
himself in German, and to make himself famil
iar with the Scandinavian tongues. Mrs. Long
fellow died, in Rotterdam, November 29, 1835,
and he at once left for Heidelberg, where he
passed the winter and spring, spending the sum
mer in Switzerland, and returning to America
in October, 1836. In December of that year
Mr. Longfellow moved to Cambridge and as
sumed his duties at Harvard.
In 1839 "Hyperion" was published; also
"Voices of the Night," his first volume of
poems. In a short time followed "Ballads and
Other Poems," "The Spanish Student," "The
Poets and Poetry of Europe," "Evangeline"
came out in 1847 ; "Kavanagh" in 1849 > "Hia
watha" in 1855; "The Courtship of Miles
Standish" in 1858 ; "Tales of a Wayside Inn"
in 1863; "New England Tragedies" in 1868;
and between this last year and 1880 appeared
the translation of Dante's "Divine Comedy,"
"The Divine Tragedy," "Christus," "After
math," "The Masque of Pandora,' and Other
Poems," "Keramos and Other Poems," and
"Ultima Thule," besides the "Poems of Places."
in thirty-one volumes, which Longfellow edited.
In July, 1843, Mr. Longfellow married Fran
ces Elizabeth Appleton, daughter of Mr. Na
than Appleton, of Boston, who is described as
"a woman of stately presence, cultivated intel
lect, and deep, though reserved, feeling." Their
life in the charming old Craigie House in Cam
bridge was ideal, and they were constantly
visited by the literary men of America and all
foreigners who appreciated the charm of his
poetry, and could secure letters of introduc
tion. His intimacy with Emerson, Lowell.
Holmes, Whittier, Motley, Agassiz, Bryant,
Sumner, Bancroft, Cornelius Conway, Felton,
Richard Henry Dana, father and son ; James
T. Fields, Ferdinand Freiligrath, Arthur Hugh
Clough, George W.Greene, Hawthorne, Charles
Eliot Norton, Preseott, Ticknor, Samuel Ward,
and many other noted men, both in this coun
try and Europe, gave great pleasure, and the
letters which were exchanged between them

MASSACH USETTS.

605

prove how deep was, their attachment. Mrs.
Longfellow was fatally burned, July 9, 1861,
and the burns which her husband received
while trying to extinguish the flames which
enveloped her, kept him an invalid for some
time. The "Cross of Snow," which was found
among his papers after his death, expresses
very beautifully his great grief, even after
eighteen years had passed.
Mr. Longfellow's eldest son, Charles Apple-
ton Longfellow, went to the front in March,
1863, and was wounded the following Novem
ber. The father's anxiety must have been
great, but how could a son of his, with all the
Wadsworth military traditions, have failed to
volunteer in the dark clays of 1863? In June,
1868, Mr. Longfellow and a large family party,
consisting of his two sisters, his brother Sam
uel, his three daughters, his son Ernest and his
wife, and Mr. Thomas Appleton, the beloved
brother-in-law, went to Europe, where much
attention was showed him. Queen Victoria
received him at Windsor, after informing him
she should be sorry .to have him pass, through
England without meeting him. Mr. Gladstone,
Sir Henry Holland, the Duke of Argyll, Lord
John Russell, and Tennyson, entertained him,
and even the lower classes showed their admir
ation. He said that no foreign tribute paid him
touched him deeper than the words of an Eng
lish hodcarrier, who came up to the carriage
door at Harrow and asked permission to take
the hand of the man who had written "The
Voices of the Night." After fifteen months
of delightful travel the party returned and the
last years of the poet's life were spent in Cam
bridge with occasional visits to his native town
and other places. In Craigie House, surround
ed by his family and mourned by thousands, he
passed away, March 24, 1882, and surely no
lovelier spirit ever dwelt among men. The
British nation has enshrined his image in West
minster Abbey; his native town has placed a
bronze statue in a square named for him. But
such fame as his needs no outward emblazon
ing while human hearts can thrill with emotion
at his lofty sentiments most gracefully ex
pressed. Mrs. Anne (Longfellow) Pierce, a beloved
sister of Longfellow, most generously donated
to the Maine Historical Society the Wads-
worth-Longfellow House in Portland, where
lived General Wadsworth, his distinguished
sons — Lieutenant Henry Wadsworth killed at
Tripoli, at the age of nineteen, while serving
under Commodore' Preble ; Commodore Alex
ander Scammell Wadsworth, who was second

in command to Captain Hull in the famous
fight of the "Constitution" and "Guerriere ;"
the Rev. Samuel Longfellow, the well known
Unitarian clergyman, whose exquisite hymns
breathe forth the true spirit of religion, and
whose biography of his brother is a model of
such work. But its best known inmate was
America's loved poet, Henry Wadsworth Long
fellow, to honor whose memory and to visit
whose early home thousands yearly throng the
rooms in which grew to manhood one who was
descended from the best blood of New Eng
land, and who shed an added lustre upon names
already distinguished.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of
EMERSON America's most famous men
—philosopher and poet, was
born in Boston, May 25, 1803, son of Rev.
William and Ruth (Haskins) Emerson.
He received substantial instruction from his
mother, and also from his aunt, Mary Moody
Emerson, a woman of deep scholarship, and
entered the grammar school at the age of eight,
soon afterward entering the Latin school. He
was already giving evidence of his intellectual
powers, when eleven years old writing a poetic
version from Virgil, and other verse. When
fourteen he entered Harvard College. As a
student there he excelled in Greek, history,
composition and declamation, winning several
prizes in the two latter subjects ; was class poet
in 1 82 1, and had a part at commencement.
For a few years he assisted his brother as
teacher in a school preparatory to Harvard
and also in a young ladies' school in Boston.
At the age of twenty he took up the study of
theology, and attended lectures at Harvard
Divinity School, but did not pursue the full
course. He accepted the Channing theology,
was licensed to preach, and supplied various
pulpits. In 1829 he became colleague of Rev.
Henry Ware, Jr., pastor of the Second Church
(Unitarian) Boston, and for eighteen months
occupied the pulpit while that divine was
abroad, finally succeeding him, and remained
in the pastorate until 1832, when he resigned,
on account of conscientious scruples against
administering the communion as provided in
the church office. In the two last years of his
ministry his church was open to all classes of
reformers, and several anti-slaveryites spoke
there. In 1833 he visited Europe, in quest of
health, meeting Walter Savage Landor, Cole
ridge, Wordsworth and Carlyle, and preached
in London and elsewhere. In 1833-34 he lec
tured in Boston on "The Relation of Man to

6o<H

MASSACHUSETTS.

(y ^^^£^yYe^~.

MASSACHUSETTS.

605

the Globe," and "Travels in Europe." In the
latter year he was invited to the pastorate of
the Unitarian Church in New Bedford, but de
clined on account of his scruples with refer
ence to communion. In 1835 he lectured in
Boston on biographical subjects — Luther, Mil
ton, Burke, Michael Angelo, and George Fox.
In 1835 he lectured before the American Insti
tute of Instruction on "Means of Inspiring a
Taste for English Literature." During succes
sive winters he lectured in Boston on "English
Literature," "The Philosophy of History," and
"Human Culture." In 1838 he preached for
several months in the Unitarian Church at
East Lexington but declined a settlement, say
ing, "My pulpit is the lyceum platform." In
1838-39 he lectured on "Resources of the Pres
ent Age," and in 1839-40 on "Human Life."
In 1838 he delivered the address before the
graduating class of Harvard Divinity School,
in which he explicitly defined his faith, and
which awoke such controversy that he sepa
rated from the Unitarians. In 1839 began the
transcendentalism movement in Boston, and
Mr. Emerson became an assistant editor of its
organ, The Dial, in 1842 became sole editor,
and acted as such until 1844, when it lapsed.
In 1841 was organized the Brook Farm ex
periment, with which he did not fully sym
pathize, but its founders and leaders were
among his intimate friends, and he frequently
visited them.
In 1841 Mr. Emerson's first volume of essays
was published, and republished in England,
winning for him high reputation there as well
as in the United States. In 1847 he lectured in
various places in England on "Representative
Men," and in London on "The Mind and Man
ners of the Nineteenth Century," and also lec
tured in Scotland, where he was most cordially
received. On his return home he lectured on
"Characteristics of the English People." He
was among the first contributors to The Atlan
tic Monthly at its founding. In i860 he warmly
espoused the anti-slavery cause ; in January,
1 86 1, took a prominent part in the annual meet
ing of the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society;
and in February, 1862, delivered an anti-slav
ery address in Washington, on "American
Civilization,'' which was heard by Mr. Lincoln
and his cabinet, and next day the President
made his personal acquaintance and the two
held a long conference on the subject of slav
ery. From 1868 to 1870 he lectured at Har
vard on "The Natural History ofthe Intellect."
In 1872 he lost many valuable papers, includ
ing the sermons of his father, by the burning

of his house, and in this disaster contracted a
cold and sustained a shock from which he
never recovered. He delivered the last ad
dress he ever wrote, April 19, 1875, on the one
hundredth anniversary of the Concord fight at
the unveiling of French's statue, "The Minute-
man." In 1879 he lectured on "Memory " be
fore the Concord School of Philosophy, and
the following year delivered his one hundredth
lecture before the Concord Lyceum, on "New
England Life and Letters." He was an over
seer of Harvard College, 1867-79; a fellow of
the American Academy pf Arts and Sciences *
a member of the American Philosophical Soci
ety, and the Massachusetts Historical Society
He received the degree of LL. D. from Har
vard College in 1866.
Mr. Emerson married, September, 1829,
Ellen L. Tucker, who died in February, 1832!
He married second, September, 1835, Lydia
Jackson, daughter of Charles Jackson, and a
descendant of Rev. John Cotton. He died in
Concord, Massachusetts, April 27, 1882.
James Russell Lowell, one of
LOWELL America's most distinguished
authors and who has left an
enduring mark upon American literature and
thought, was born in Cambridge, . Massachu
setts, February 22, 1819, and came of an ex
cellent ancestry.
He was descended from Percival Lowell,
who came from Bristol, England, in 1639, and
settled in Newbury. His father, Rev. Charles
Lowell, was born in Boston, August 15, 1782,
son of Judge John and Rebecca (Russell)
Tyng Lowell, and grandson of Rev. John and
Sarah (Champney) Lowell and of Judge
James and Katherine (Graves) Russell, these
generations numbering among their members
named, distinguished clergymen and lawyers
and jurists.
Charles Lowell was graduated from Harvard
College A. B. 1800, A. M. 1803 ; studied theo
logy in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1802-04; was
made a fellow of Harvard, 1818; and received
from the same institution the degree of S. T.
D. in 1823. After completing his theological
course in Edinburgh he traveled for a year in
Europe. He was installed pastor of the West
Congregational Church, Boston, January 1,
1806, and served in that capacity fifty-five
years. His health failing, in 1837, Dr. Cyrus
A. Bartol became his associate, and Dr. Lowell
traveled for three years in Europe and the
Holy Land. He was secretary of the Massa
chusetts Historical Society ; a corresponding

6o6

MASSACHUSETTS.

member of the Archaeological Society of
Athens ; and a founder and member of the
Society of Northern Antiquarians of Copen
hagen. His published works included : "Ser
mons," 1855; "Practical Sermons," 1855;
"Meditations for the Afflicted, Sick and

Dying

'Devotional Exercises for Communi

cants." He was married, October 2, 1806, to
Harriet Bracket, daughter of Keith and Mary
(Traill) Spence, of Portsmouth, New Hamp
shire, and sister of Captain Robert Traill
Spence, U. S. N. The Rev. Dr. Charles Lowell
died in Cambridge, January 20, 1861.
James Russell Lowell prepared for college
at the boarding school of William Wells, Cam
bridge, and graduated from Harvard College
A. B. 1838; LL. B. 1840; and A. M. 1841. He
received the following honorary degrees : From
Oxford University, D. C. L. 1873 ; from the
University of Cambridge, LL. D., 1874; and
the latter degree also from St. Andrews, Edin
burgh, and Harvard, 1884; and Bologna, 1888.
On January 2, 1884, he was elected Lord Rec
tor of the University of St. Andrews, Scot
land. He was an overseer of Harvard, 1887-
91-; a fellow of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences ; a member of the Massachusetts
Historical Society, the American Philosophical
Society, and the Royal Academy of Spain ; and
a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
and the Royal Society of Literature of London.
In all these bodies he enjoyed a unique distinc
tion, and in Europe his talents commanded
the highest admiration.
Mr. Lowell was devoted to letters from the
first. While in college he edited Harvardiana.
After his graduation he opened a law office in
Boston, but had no inclination for the profes
sion, and gave his time to literature, writing
numerous pieces of verse which were publish
ed in magazines, and were put into book form
in 1841, his first published volume. In 1842
he brought out the Pioneer magazine, which
was shortlived. A pronounced Abolitionist,
he was a regular contributor to the Liberty
Bell and he afterward became corresponding
editor of the Anti-Slavery Standard. In 1846
his famous "Bigelow Papers" appeared in the
Boston Courier and became famous from the-
outset, and exerted a powerful influence upon
the political thought of the day. These were
satirical poems in the Yankee dialect and were
eagerly read, not only for their peculiarity of
expression, but for their underlying philosophy.
He was now a somewhat prolific writer, prin
cipally upon political topics, and through the
columns of the Dial, the Democratic Review

and the Massachusetts Quarterly. He spent
about a year in Europe in 1851-52. In 1855 he
succeeded Henry W. Longfellow as Smith pro
fessor of French and Spanish languages, litera
ture and belles lettres at Harvard, serving until
1886, and was university lecturer 1863-64. He
was also editor of the Atlantic Monthly 1857-
62, and joint editor with Charles Eliot Norton
of the North American Review, 1863-72. He
was active in the organization of the Repub
lican party in 1856. In 1876 he was a presi
dential elector from Massachusetts. In 1877
he was appointed minister to Spain by Presi
dent Hayes, and in 1880 was made minister to
the court of St. James, England, serving as such
until 1885. During his residence in England
he was highly honored, delivering many ad
dresses, and being the orator on the occasion
of the unveiling of the bust of Coleridge in
Westminster Abbey, in May, 1885. In these
various efforts he displayed a breadth of
scholarship, originality of thought, elegance of
expression and depth of feeling, which proved
a revelation to Old World litterateurs, fle was
a devoted student during all his absences from
this country, and in 1887 delivered before the
Lowell Institute, Boston, a course of lectures
on the English dramatists. On his return home
he retired to his country seat, "Elmwood," on
the Charles river, Cambridge, and devoted him
self to study and literature, continuing his lec
tures at Harvard. He edited the poetical works
of Marvell Donne, Keats, Wordsworth and
Shelly for the "Collection of British Poets,"
by Professor Francis J. Childs, of Harvard.
His published works include : "Class Poem,"
1838; "A Year's Life," 1841 ; "A Legend of
Brittany, and Other Miscellaneous Poems and
Sonnets," 1844; "Vision of Sir Launfal," 1845 ;
"Conversations on Some of the Old Poets,"
1845; "Poems," 1848; "The Bigelow Papers,"
184.8, and a second series, 1867; "A Fable for
Critics," 1848 ; "Poems," two volumes, 1849,
and two volumes under same title, 1854;
"Poetical Works," two volumes, 1858 ; "Mason
and Slidell, a Yankee Idyl," 1862; "Fireside
Travels," 1864; "The President's Policy,"
1864; "Under the Willows, and Other Poems,"
1869; "Among My Books," 1870; "My Study
Windows," 1871 ; "The Courtin'," 1874 ; "Three
Memorial Poems," 1876; "Democracy, and
Other Addresses," 1887; his "American Ideas
for English Readers," "Latest Literary Essays
and Addresses," and "Old English Drama
tists," were published posthumously in 1892.
At the time of his death he was engaged on a
"Life of Hawthorne." His last published

MASSACH USETTS.

607

O-^J-yH^ss?

6o8

MASSACHUSETTS.

poem, "My Book, " appeared in the New York
Ledger, in December, 1890. He died in Cam
bridge, August 12, 189T. He was married, in
1844, to Maria White, of Watertown, Massa
chusetts, who died in 1853. In 1857 he was
married to Frances Dunlap, a niece of Gov
ernor Robert P. Dunlap, of Maine. His life
work is commemorated in "James Russell
Lowell : a Biography," by Horace E. Scudder,
two volumes, 1901. In 1898 a part of his
estate — Elmwood — was purchased by the
Lowell Memorial Park Fund, nearly forty
thousand dollars of the purchase price being
obtained by popular subscription.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, splen-
HOLMES didly equipped as a medical
practitioner and instructor, is
best known and most highly esteemed for his
literary accomplishments. As "The Autocrat
of the Breakfast Table," and "The Professor,"
he is more enjoyed than he was a half-century
ago. He was born in Cambridge, Massachu
setts, August 29, 1809, son of Rev. Abiel and
Sarah (Wendell) Holmes. He was a descend
ant of John Holmes, who settled at Woodstock,
Connecticut, in 1686, and of Evert Jansen
Wendell, who emigrated from Emden, East
Friesland, Holland, and settled at Albany, New
York, about 1640. His paternal grandfather,
Dr. David Holmes, was a captain in the colo
nial army in the French and Indian war, and
subsequently served as surgeon in the revolu
tionary army.
Rev. Abiel Holmes, father of Oliver Wen
dell Holmes, born in Woodstock, Connecticut,
December 24, 1763, was graduated from Yale
College in 1783; was a tutor there, 1786-87,
while pursuing theological studies ; he received
the honorary degrees of A. M. from Harvard,
1792 ; D. D. from Edinburgh University, 1805 ;
and LL. D. from Allegheny (Pennsylvania)
College, 1822. He was pastor of the Congre
gational church at Midway, Georgia, 1787-91,
and of the First Parish, Cambridge, 1792-1832.
He was a fellow of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Mass
achusetts Historical Society and the American
Philosophical Society. He wrote various
works : "Stephen Pannenius ;" "The Mohegan
Indians ;" "John Lathrop : a Biography ;" "Life
of President Stiles ;" "Annals of America,"
two volumes ; a volume of poems, and various
contributions to the "Collections of the Massa
chusetts Historical Society." He died at Cam
bridge, Massachusetts, June 4, 1837. He mar
ried, in 1790, Mary Stiles, daughter of Presi

dent Ezra Stiles, of Yale College; and (sec
ond), March 26, 1801, Sarah, daughter of Hon.
Oliver Wendell, of Boston. Their son,
Oliver Wendell Holmes, began his educa
tion in private schools, and in his fifteenth year
had as classmates Richard Henry Dana, Mar
garet Fuller, and Alfred Lee, who was after
ward Bishop of Delaware. He was sent to
Phillips Academy, in the hope that he would
incline to a ministerial life, but the reverse was
the case, and he cherished decided Unitarian
sentiments — a marked contrast to the stern
Calvinism of his father. While a student in
the Academy he gave the first evidence of his
literary temperament, producing a translation
of Virgil's "Aeneid." Entering Harvard Col
lege, he was graduated therefrom in 1829, in
the same class with William H. Channing, Pro
fessor Benjamin Pierce, JamesFreeman Clarke,
the Rev. S. F. Smith, and Benjamin R. Curtis,
and having as fellow students, though not in
the same class, Wendell Phillips, Charles Sum
ner and John Lothrop Motley. He was a fre
quent contributor to college publications, wrote
and delivered the commencement poem, and
was one among sixteen of his class whose
scholarship admitted them to the Phi Beta
Kappa fraternity. For one year he attended
the Dane Law School, and during this period
wrote the famous apostrophe to "Old Iron
sides"— the frigate "Constitution," then threat
ened with breaking-up by the navy department,
and which his stirring verse saved from an
ignominious end.
Disinclined to law, after one year's study he
began preparation for a medical career, in Dr.
James Jackson's private medical school, and in
1833 visited England and France, observing
hospital practice. Returning to Cambridge in
1835, he received his degree from the Harvard
Medical School the next year, and at once
entered upon practice, having received three
of the Boylston prizes for medical dissertations.
He was professor of anatomy and physiology
at Dartmouth College, 1838-40, and the follow
ing year located in Boston. In 1843 he published
his essay on "The Contagiousness of Puerpural
Fever" — the announcement of his own original
and valuable discovery, which, while now ac
cepted by the entire profession, then aroused
bitter controversy. In 1847 he became Park-
man professor of anatomy and physiology at
Harvard Medical School, besides occasionally
giving instruction in microscopy, psychology
and kindred subjects ; and in the year indicated
he retired from practice and became dean of
the medical school, which position he occupied

MASSACHUSETTS.

609

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

6io

MASSACHUSETTS.

until 1853. As a class room lecturer he was a
great favorite, and was able to- hold the close
attention of his auditors even after they were
well nigh exhausted by previous study and
attendance upon lectures. He resigned his
professorship in 1882, and was retired as pro
fessor emeritus — a unique distinction from
Harvard. He gave to his profession several
works of permanent value; "Lectures on
Homeopathy and its Kindred Delusions,"
1842; "Report on Medical Literature," 1848;"
"Currents and Countercurrents in Medical
Science," 1861 ; "Borderland in Some Pro
vinces of Medical Science," 1862 ; and with Dr.
Jacob Bigelow he prepared Marshall Hall's
"Theory and Practice of Medicine," 1839.
Ranking high as a medical practitioner and
teacher, Dr. Holmes' great fame and his strong
hold upon the American heart, down to the
present time, rests upon his work as an essayist
and poet. In the first year of his medical
career he gave out his first volume, comprising
forty-five miscellaneous poems. In 1852 he
delivered in several cities a course of lectures
on "The English Poets of the Nineteenth Cen
tury." In 1857 he became one of the founders
of The Atlantic Monthly, he giving it that
name, and beginning in it his delightful con
versational papers, "The Autocrat of the
Breakfast Table," and in which were embodied
some of his best poems. This was so favorably
received that it was followed by "The Pro
fessor at the Breakfast Table," 1859; and in
1872 by "The Poet at the Breakfast Table."
He contributed to The Atlantic Monthly the
serial novels : "Elsie Venner," 1861 ; "The
Guardian Angel," 1867; "A Mortal Antip
athy," 1885 ; besides, "Our Hundred Days in
Europe," 1887; and "Over the Teacups," 1890.
He was longer connected with that periodical
than was any other writer. On December 3,
1879, the editor gave him a breakfast in honor
of his seventieth birthday, on which occasion
he read a poem written therefor, "The Iron
Gate." In addition to those before mentioned
his published works included, "Soundings from
the Atlantic," 1864; "Mechanism in Thought
and Morals," 1871 ; "Memoir of John Lothrop
Motley," 1879; "Memoir of Ralph Waldo Em
erson," 1884; "Before the Curfew," 1888;
verse: "Uriana," 1846; "Astrea," 1850;
"Songs in Many Keys," 1-86 1 ; "Songs of Many
Seasons," 1875 ; "The Iron Gate, and Other
Poems," 1880. His poems were afterward
collected into three volumes under the title of
"Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell
Holmes," by John Torrey Morse, Jr., 1896;

and Emma E. Brown wrote a "Life of
Flolmes." Dr. Holmes died in Boston, October 7, 1894,
and he was buried at Mount Auburn, fle
married, June 15, 1840, Amelia Lee, daughter
of Associate Justice Charles Jackson, of Bos
ton, of the supreme judicial court. They set
tled in Boston, and their three children were
born at their home in Montgomery place, after
ward Bosworth street : Oliver Wendell, born
March 8, 1841, of whom further; Amelia Lee,
died in 1889; and Edward Jackson, died in
1884. Mrs. Holmes died in 1888.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, son of Dr. Oliver
Wendell and Amelia Lee (Jackson) Holmes,
referred to above, was educated in Boston
schools and Harvard University, 'from which
he was graduated in 1861, (being class poet),
when twenty years of age. When he was
graduated he was a member of the Fourth
Battalion of Infantry, at Fort Independence,
in the first year of the civil war. He was com
missioned second lieutenant in the Twentieth
Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, and par
ticipated in the engagements at Balls Bluff,
Virginia; Antietam, Maryland; and Marye's
Heights, Virginia, being severely wounded in
the first named action. He was commissioned
lieutenant-colonel in 1863, but the regiment
being depleted below the minimum, he could
not be mustered into service as of that rank.
From January 29, 1864, to July 17, following,
he served as aide-de-camp with the rank of
captain on the staff of General Horatio G.
Wright. He was graduated from Harvard
Law School in 1866, and the following year
was admitted to the bar and entered upon prac
tice in Boston. He was instructor in consti
tutional law in Harvard Law School, 1870-71 ;
edited The American Law Review, 1870-73;
lectured on common law before the Lowell
Institute, 1880; was professor of law at Har
vard Law School, 1882-83; justice of the su
preme court of Massachusetts, 1882-99, and in
August of the latter year succeeded the de
ceased Chief Justice Walbridge A. Field. He
edited "Kent's Commentaries," 1873 ; and is
author of "The Common Law," 1881 ; and
"Speeches," 1891, 1896; and has contributed
to various professional journals. He received
the honorary degree of LL. D. from Yale Col
lege in 1886, and from Harvard College in
1895 >" and was elected a member of the Massa
chusetts Historical Society, and a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He
was married, June 17, 1872, to Fanny Dix
well, daughter of Epes S. Dixwell, of Boston.

MASSACHUSETTS.

611

Nicholas Butler, immigrant an-
BUTLER cestor, of Eastwell, England, a
yeoman, according to his state
ment when coming to America, with his wife-
Joyce, three children and five servants, came
from Sandwich, England, before June 9, 1637,
and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He
was a proprietor before September 10, 1637.
Their names appear on the passenger list of
the ship "Iiercules," sailing June, 1637. He
was admitted a freeman March 4, 1638-9, and
is called "gentleman" on the records, a posi
tion one might suppose belonged to him from
the number of servants, lie was a town officer
and leading citizen in Dorchester. He re
moved to Martha's Vineyard in 1651, when he
gave a power of attorney to his son John for
sale of lands, etc. He sold land in Roxbury
in 1652. He died at Edgartown, Martha's
Vineyard, August 13, 1671. The will of Joyce,
his widow, mentions her grandchildren John
and Thomas Butler, Mary Athearn, and Han
nah Chadduck and son flenry. Children: 1.
Rev. Plenry, schoolmaster of Dorchester in
1652, proposed for minister at Uncatie, Eng
land, 1656 ; settled at Seoul, Somerset, until
August 24, 1662, later at Williamfray, five
miles from Frome ; persecuted by authorities.
2. John, mentioned below. 3. Lydia, married
May 19, 1647, John Minot, of Dorchester.
(II) Captain John Butler, son of Nicholas
Butler, was born in England, and he or an
infant son John was baptized September 22,
1645. In x6s8 he was constable at Edgartown,
whither he removed with his father's family.
The records show that his brother Flenry owed
him certain moneys. Fle was captain of the
military company in 1654-5. lie married
Mary  . He died in 1658.
(Ill) John (2), son of John ( 1) Suiter,
was born in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, in
1653. He made his will November 10, 1733,
¦at the age of eighty. He was a constable in
1692. lie married Priscilla Norton, daughter
of Nicholas and Elizabeth Norton. They re
sided at Martha's Vineyard. Children: 1.
Henry, married Sarah  . 2. John, Jr.,
married December 16, 1708, Elizabeth Dag
gett, daughter of Captain Thomas Daggett. 3.
Thomas, "born about 1680; married September
18, 1702, Anne Torrey, of Weymouth, who
died October 1, 1735, aged about fifty-one. 4.
Nicholas, born at Martha's Vineyard ; married
September 5, 1726, Sarah Ripley; second,
Thankful Marchant. 5. Samuel, married, after
1712, Elizabeth (Clay) Stanbridge, widow of

Samuel Stanbridge ; died December 23, 1768 ;
he died February 24, 1765. 5. Joyce, married
November 20, 1705, Joseph Newcomb. 6.
Onesimus. 7. Simeon, married, 1712, Hannah
Cheney. 8. Zephaniah, died September 15,
1721 ; married Thankful Daggett. 9. Malachi,
mentioned below. 10. Priscilla, married; in
1748 was widow of Thomas Snow. 11. Gam
aliel ; married Sarah Chase ; he died February
24, 1765, aged seventy-four.
(IV) Malachi, son of John (2) Butler, was
born about 1700, at Martha's Vineyard. He
bought a lot of his father, or was given a tract
adjoining the place of his brother John, March
24, 1721-2, about the time of his marriage.
After 1733 and before 1745 he removed to
Windham, Connecticut, and in the latter year,
then being of Windham, deeded to his nephew
Shubael Butler half the pew he owned with
his brother Gamaliel. In 1758 he was settled
in Woodbury, Connecticut, and that year deed
ed his property in Martha's Vineyard to John
Pease. These deeds were recently discovered
in a search since General B. F. Butler died,
and were published by his daughter, Mrs. Adel-
bert Ames. General Butler and all the other
descendants had confused Malachi with an
Irish family of Butler in the vicinity, many of
whom have been distinguished, especially in
New York State. In 1757 Malachi Butler had
a guardian appointed, being ill and "partly
insane." His son Benjamin graduated at Har
vard in 1752, and settled in Nottingham, New
Hampshire, while Zephaniah was in the Con
necticut troops in the French war in 1757 and
1758. Malachi married Jemima Daggett, daugh
ter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Hawes) Dag
gett, of Yarmouth. Thomas, who died Au
gust 25, 1726, was son of Thomas Daggett and
Hannah (Mayhew) Daggett; Hannah May
hew, born April 15, 1635, was daughter of
Governor Thomas Mayhew. Thomas was the
son of Thomas and Bathsheba Daggett, the
pioneers. Children of Malachi and Jemima
Butler: 1. Thankful, baptized at Edgartown,
January 20, 1723. 2. Susanna, baptized De
cember 20, 1724. 3. Zephaniah, baptized at
Edgartown, January 15, 1727-8; mentioned
below. 4. Rev. Benjamin, born April 9, 1729:
baptized May 4, 1729 : died December 29, 1804 :
married, Mav, 1753, Dorcas Abbott, who was
born Mav 11. 1729,. and died April 19, 1789;
his farm is still owned by lineal descendants at
Nottingham, New Hampshire. 5. Margery,
bantized julv 18, 1731. 6. Silas, baptized at
Edgartown, ' November 11, 1733; settled in

612

MASSACHUSETTS.

New York. 7. Solomon, removed to New
York, thence to South Carolina, where he left
issue. 8. Lydia. 9. Mary.
(V) Captain Zephaniah, son of Malachi
Butler, was born in January, 1728; baptized in
Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, January 15,
1827-8. He went with his father to Windham,
thence to Woodbury. He went to Quebec in
the army of General"Wolfe in the French and
Indian war, and General B. F. Butler's family
has the powder horn he carried, engraved with
his name, and the date April 22, 1758. Fle
was at the battles of Louisburg and Quebec.
He was also a soldier in the revolution, a pri
vate in Captain Nathan Sanborn's company, in
the regiment of Colonel Thomas Tash, raised
to reinforce the Continental army in New
York, September, 1776; also in Captain Amos
Morrill's company, Colonel John Stark's regi
ment, in 1777. Both he and his son Benjamin,
who was afterward on the staff of his uncle.
Colonel Joseph Cilley, where in Captain Na
than Sanborn's company at the battle of Bunker
Hill, as was also the second son, Enoch. After
the war he was a captain of militia. Zephaniah
Butler was a school teacher and farmer, lie
settled near his brother Benjamin, the minister,
and was called the "school-master." He mar
ried Abigail Cilley, daughter of General Joseph
Cilley. She was born in 1740, died in 1824.
He died in 1800. Children: 1. Benjamin. 2.
Enoch. 3. John, mentioned below.
( Vi) Captain John (3), son of Captain
Zephaniah Butler, born at Nottingham, New
liampshire, May 17, 1782; died March. 1819.
For the war of 1812 he raised a company of
light dragoons, was commissioned captain, July
23, 1812, and served on the northern frontier.
fle married first, June 5, 1803, Sarah Batch-
elder, of Deerfield, New Hampshire ; second,
July 21, 181 1, Charlotte Ellison, who was born
February 4, 1792, died October 4, 1870. Chil
dren of John and Sarah Butler: I. Polly
True, born June 8, 1804. 2. Sally, born March
11, 1806. 3. Betsey Merrill, born January 9,
1808; married Daniel B. Stevens, March 2.
1827 ; she died at Nottingham, September 22,
1904; children : i. Elizabeth B. Stevens, widow
of Colonel John B. Batchelder, artist and his
torian ; ii. Thomas Stevens ; iii. Amanda Ste
vens ; iv. Charlotte B. Stevens ; resides at Wash
ington. D. C. ; v. Walter D. Stevens, of Derry,
New Hampshire. Children of John and Char
lotte Butler: 4. Charlotte, born May 13, 1812;
died August, T839. 5- Andrew Jackson, born
February 13, 181 5; died February 11, 1864;
efficient aide and assistant of his brother in

the civil war. 6. Benjamin Franklin, mention
ed below.
(VII) General Benjamin Franklin Butler,
son of Captain John Butler, was born Novem
ber 5, 1818, at Deerfield, New Hampshire;
died January 11, 1893. He was rather a puny
child, and quiet, gentle, and eager to learn, at
the age of four was taught his letters by his
mother. In the summer he was sent away to
a school in Nottingham Square, quite two miles
from his home. He attended that school for
six weeks and learned to read with little diffi
culty. 1 Te remained at hime during the autumn,
and in the following winter his mother and
uncle -provided a home for him in Deerfield
with "Aunt Polly" Dame, and he went to school
there. In the winter of his sixth year he walk
ed from home every morning to Nottingham
Square to school, and proved a bright pupil.
In the course of time he was virtually adopted
by his grandmother, and attended a private
school and academy at Deerfield until eight
years of age, under James Hersey, afterward
postmaster of Manchester, New Hampshire.
lie was then sent to Phillips Exeter Academy
to be fitted for college. A clergyman, who had
befriended his widowed mother, built a house
for her to occupy in Lowell, and in 1828, at the
close of the winter term, Butler went to his
mother's house and studied Latin at home dur
ing the spring and summer following, having"
the kindly assistance of Seth Ames, then a
lawyer, afterward a justice of the supreme
court. Later in the year it became necessary
for him to earn some money, and his mother
procured him a place at Meecham & Mathew-
son's, the Franklin .bookstore, the only estab
lishment of its kind in the town. He remained
in this clerkshin until December 18, 1830, when
the Lowell high school was established through
the exertions of Rev. Theodore Edson, rector
of St. Anne's Church. lie finished his fitting
for college, to which he went unwillingly. He
wished to go to West Point Military Academy
and, when his appointment seemed assured,
his mother's clergyman, a good Baptist, advised
her to send the boy to the Baptist College at
Waterville, Maine, in the labor department,
where he could do something toward his own
support. He was religiously brought up and
inclined, giving his good mother the hope that
he would study for the ministry. His college
career was a disappointment to him, having set
his heart on the more virile and practical course
at West Point. Tie became interested in chem-
istrv and physics, outside of his prescribed
work, and loved experimental research, and'

MASSACHUSETTS.

613

6i4

MASSACHUSETTS.

became laboratory assistant to Professor
Holmes. He taught school during the long
winter vacations at college. At the time of his
graduation, Butler was so reduced by a severe
cough that he weighed only ninety-seven
pounds, and he seemed in clanger of consump
tion. But a sea voyage restored him to health
which even during the privation and exposure
of the rebellion never deserted him until his
last illness. On his return to Lowell he began
the study of law in the office of William Smith,
in the early autumn of 1838, and not many
months later before he was admitted to the
bar secured much valuable experience in the
Lowell police court. In the autumn of 1839 he
accepted the position of teacher in a Dracut
school, but declined a reappointment, and de
voted all his attention to studying law and
practicing in the police court. At the September
term of the court of common pleas in 1840, he
was admitted by Justice Charles Henry War
ren. Pie became interested in politics when quite
young, he learned by heart the Constitution of
the United States, and studied the founda-
mental principles that divided the parties, as
well as the public questions then agitating the
public mind. The characteristic pugnacity and
disregard of his future interests were shown in
his first struggle. He took advantage of a
coalition made by the Democrats and the new
Free Soil party in 1851, made to defeat the
Whigs, and secured candidates from Lowell
pledged to the ten-hour movement. He was
a Democrat. It was impossible to carry through
this radical reform in the legislature, but great
rtrides were made in the right direction, and
after unsuccessful efforts in several legislatures
a compromise bill was enacted, fixing the hours
of labor at eleven and a quarter. In 1852 he
was elected to the general court, and again he
espoused a very unpopular cause, the reim
bursement of the Order of St. Ursula for the
destruction in 1834 of their convent in Charles
town by an anti-Catholic mob. In the consti
tutional convention of 1852 he was a delegate
from Lowell, and served as chairman of the
committee to which was assigned the revision
of Chapter Six of the old constitution. The
defeat of this constitution at the polls by the
Roman Catholics brought the triumph of the
Know-nothing part}- in 1855 and the downfall
of the Whigs in Massachusetts. He attended
every Democratic national convention from
1848 to i860 inclusive: and was frequently a
candidate for congress, but his party in Lowell
was in a hopeless minority. In 1858 he was

elected to the state senate from Lowell, the
only Democrat on the ticket. He drew the act
reforming the judiciary of the state and the
superior court established in place of the old
court of common pleas. Most of the provisions
of that act are still the law of the state. In
18'io he accepted the nomination for governor
of Massachusetts from the Breckinridge wing
of the Democratic party, and received only
about six thousand votes while as the Demo
cratic candidate for governor in 1859 he had
had more than 35,000. He was a member of
the national committee of that wing of his
party. But when the war broke out, he stood
by the Republican governor of Massachusetts
and the Republican president, and became the
most conspicuous volunteer general of the be
ginning of the war, on account of his former
political "affiliations making his example of in
calculable value to other Democrats who were
brought to enlist and fight for the Union, and
on account of his promptness in getting his
troops to Baltimore and his success in action.
He came of a race of fighters. In 1839 he
enlisted in the Lowell City Guard and served
three years as a private. Step by step he was
promoted until he became colonel of the regi
ment in which he first enlisted. During the
Know-nothing furore, Governor Gardner re
organized the militia of the state for the ex
press purpose of disbanding companies of
Roman Catholic soldiers, and as a consequence
Colonel Butler lost his command, it being
assigned to another district in which he did not
live. Not long afterward, however, he was
elected brigadier-general by the field officers
of the brigade, and received his commission
from the same Know-nothing governor. He
encamped with his brigade in 1857, 1858, 1859
and i860. In i860 Governor Banks called to
gether the whole volunteer militia, six thous
and men, at Concord, so that when he went
into service he had seen together for discipline,
instruction and military movement, a larger
body of troops than even General Scott, the
commander-in-chief himself. With foresight
and persistent effort. General Butler caused
the Massachusetts volunteer militia to be made
ready so that they were the first organized
armed force marched into Washington for its
defence. As early as January 19, 1861, the
Sixth Regiment under Colonel Edward F.
Jones, of Lowell, was prepared and tendered
its services to the government. When the call
came it found General Butler trying an import
ant case in Boston. He stopped short, asked
the judge for adjournment, and in fact, Butler

MASSACHUSETTS.

615

tells us that the case has never been finished.
He helped devise the means to raise money to
transport the troops. The Sixth Regiment,
strengthened with two companies from others,
started for Washington on April 17. General
Butler, stayed behind to get his two other regi
ments in order, and to wait for the Eighth
Regiment, which he took to the front April 18.
He was in Philadelphia when his Sixth Regi
ment was attacked in Baltimore with six men
killed and thirty wounded. The Sixth finally
reached the capital, and President Lincoln, as
he shook the colonel's hand, said: "Thank
God you have come : for if you had not, Wash
ington would have been in the hands of the
rebels before morning." With his command
General Butler proceeded to Annapolis and
took possession of it against the protest of the
mayor and of the governor of the state, of
which it was one of the capitals. Thus he held
open a way for the transportation of troops to
Washington and insured its safety. He occu
pied and held the Relay House, and so prevent
ed an assault upon Washington from Harper's
Ferry, which the rebels had captured and were
occupying for that purpose. From thence he
made a descent upon Baltimore and established
it as a LTnion city, which it always remained.
These movements effectually prevented the
secession of Maryland, and held her loyal
through the war.
He was placed in command of the Depart
ment of Virginia, North Carolina and South
Carolina, with headquarters at Fortress Mon
roe. He had immediately to solve one of the
most perplexing questions of the war. Under
the civil law, the negro slaves that took refuge
in the Union lines were chattels, and should be
returned to their owners, but it would be out
of the question for northern troops to act as
slave-catchers. Butler cut the Gordian knot,
to the relief of the whole country , by declaring
the slaves contraband of war — a legal subter
fuge, under which during the rest of the war
the slaves were set free, and which paved the
way for the Emancipation Proclamation. No
single act or thought early in the war helped
the Union cause more Within forty-five days
after the fall of Fort Sumter, without orders
from anybody, he seized and strongly fortified
the important strategic point of Newport
News, at the mouth of the James river, which
was held during the war, thus keeping open a
water way for the transportation of troops and
supplies to the intrenchments around Rich
mond, by which the Army of the Potomac
under McClellan escaped from Harrison's

Landing. In co-operation with the navy he
captured Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark (thus
making the holding of the sounds of Virginia
and North and South Carolina possible)
August 29, 1861, the first victory of any
account that came to the Union army, taking
715 prisoners, and giving new courage after
the defeat at Bull Run. He went home on
leave of absence, but soon became aroused to
the need of a better system of recruiting sol
diers. Pie saw the political necessity of the sit
uation, and offered his services to President
Lincoln to recruit six regiments of loyal Dem
ocrats in New England. That effort was suc
cessful, uniting the North, and destroying the
suspicion that the war was a Republican party
affair and to be supported by partisans of Lin
coln. He raised this division of six thousand
men for the United States without the pay
ment of bounties or impressment. With them
he sailed to Ship Island, in an expedition aimed
at New Orleans, and, aided with an equal
number of troops added to his command, co
operating with the fleet of the immortal Farra-
gut to his entire satisfaction, they opened the
Mississippi, captured New Orleans, subdued
Louisiana, and held all of it that was ever held
afterwards permanently as a part of the United
States. He enforced there a proper respect for
the nation's flag, its laws and power. By proper
sanitary regulations he rescued New Orleans,
the commercial port of the Gulf of Mexico,
from its most potent danger, the yellow fever,
from the ravages of which in no year had it
ever escaped, a foe which the rebels relied
upon to destroy Butler's army, as it surely
would have done if left uncombated. He
enlisted there the first colored troops ever
legally mustered into the army of the United
States, thus inaugurating the policy of arming
the colored race before Congress or the Presi
dent had adopted it, and by so doing pointing
the way to recruiting the armies of the United
States by the enlistment of colored men to the
number of 150,000. and establishing the negro
soldier as a component and permanent part of
the military resources of the country. He was
superseded by General Banks in command of
New Orleans. He was appointed again to the
command of the Department of Virginia and
North Carolina, November 2, 1863, and subse
quently commissioner for the exchange of
prisoners. In the spring of 1864, General Butler
"devised, organized and perfected the strategy
for a campaign against Richmond by having an
impregnable intrenched camp containing thirty

6i6

MASSACHUSETTS.

square miles of territory within its boundaries,
which could be held by ten thousand men
against the whole Rebel forces forever," to
quote his own words, "within eight miles of
the Rebel capital, like a hand upon its throat
never to be unclenched, as it never was."
From that intrenched camp at Bermuda Hun
dred, July 15, he captured Petersburg, but lost
it, as he says, "through the sloth of incompe
tency of a corps commander who had a tech
nical military education." With the Army of
the James, September 29, he captured Fort
Harrison and a line of intrenched works, a
strong part of the defences of Richmond,
which were held by colored troops until Rich
mond was evacuated. He planned, carried out
and constructed the great strategic work, the
Dutch Gap Canal, and which remains to this
day a most valuable public work in the navi
gation of the James River, worth. more as a
commercial avenue in time of peace than all
it cost as a military undertaking. He was sent
to New York at the time of the presidential
election, and took effectual means to prevent
disorder and threatened illegal voting and riot
ing. He was offered the portfolio of secretary
of war, but declined it, as he had also declined
to be nominated as vice-president on Lincoln's
ticket. In January, 1865, when General Butler was
relieved from the command, he accounted
for and returned over five hundred thousand
dollars which he had collected in various ways,
such as taxes on traders-tolls on cotton sent
north. With the money thus shrewdly gained
for the Union cause, he paid largely the cost of
the Dutch Gap Canal ; built a hospital at Point
of Rocks and barracks at Fortress Monroe,
etc. He used the revenues at New Orleans
with great shrewdness, and was complimented
by his superiors for the condition of his
accounts, and by the business men of that city
for his regulation of the medium of exchange
and the banking business, preventing hardship
to the people, and yet saving the banks from
disaster. He cleaned Norfolk, Virginia, just
as he had cleaned New Orleans and made it
habitable. He put deserters and petty crimi
nals to work on the streets, taking for three
months a thousand loads of filth a week out of
the city. He was as proud of keeping the
yellow fever out of Norfolk as out of New
Orleans. Grant himself wrote to Lincoln ;
"As an administrative officer General Butler
has no superior. In taking charge of a depart
ment where there are no great battles to be
fought, but a dissatisfied element to control,

no one could manage it better than he." That
describes the popular opinion as well, after his
work in Norfolk and New Orleans.
In 1866 he was elected to congress from the
Essex district as a Republican, although his
residence was in Lowell'. He was placed on
the committee on appropriations. He took an
active part in the debates of the house. He
took up the cudgels for the legal tender or
"greenback" currency issued as a war measure,
and the controversy over this money lasted
many years. A party known as the Green
back Party existed for several years and Gen
eral Butler became a prominent figure in it.
In 1868 Butler was re-elected, and again in
1870 and 1872, but in 1874 he was defeated.
In 1867 he became one of the most prominent
figures in the impeachment of the president,
as the attorney for the board of managers on
the part of the house in the trial before the
senate, making the opening argument. In 1871
he became a candidate in the Republican con
vention for the nomination for governor, and
was defeated by William B. Washburn. The
following year he ran again against Governor
Washburn. lie was an independent candidate
for governor in 1878, and as such reduced the
Republican majority largely. Pie also had the
nomination of the Democratic party, but a
section of that party supported another candi
date, and he again was defeated. In 1879 he
was again the Democratic and so-called
"Greenback" candidate, and was again de
feated. In 1880 he supported the nomination
of General Hancock for president. In 1882 he
again became the Democratic candidate for
governor, and after a' hot canvass won by
fourteen thousand plurality. His administra
tion was hampered bv the fact that his council
was almost unanimously Republican, as well
as the legislature. He had one sensational inves
tigation, that of the Tewksbury almshouse,
something in the line of what has come in
fashion generally in later days of muck-raking
and graft-probing. The Republican party
nominated George D. Robinson, and the Re
publican governor reclaimed the state by a
slender majority of nine thousand. In 1884
General Butler was elected by the Democratic
state convention one of the delegates-at-large
to the national convention at Chicago, and
served on the platform committee. Ceneral
Butler had always stood for the doctrine of a
protective tariff for American industries. "I
could not agree," he said, "that the Demo
cratic party, which I supposed would be in the
ascendant, could stand upon anything but the

MASSACHUSETTS.

617

Jackson doctrine of a 'judicious tariff,' a tariff
to raise sufficient revenue for the wants of the
country, and to give American industry inci
dental protection against foreign labor. I was
overruled, and some mongrel resolution was
adopted which meant anything or nothing, as
one chose to construe it." He declined to sup
port any candidate on that platform, and
effected a "fusion between the Democrat and
Greenback parties in Michigan, but failed in
other states to carry out his plan, which would
have defeated Cleveland's election. He became
a candidate for president, and labored earn
estly in the hope that the Democratic vote in
New York would be split and the Republican
candidate elected. He says : "Election day
came and there were votes enough thrown for
me several times over to have prevented Mr.
Cleveland's election, but in many of the poll
ing places they were counted not for me but
for Cleveland," and so the electoral vote of the
state of New York was counted for him by a
few hundred- votes only. In 1888 Mr. Butler
made two speeches in favor of General Harri
son ; after that he took no active part in poli
tics. He married, May 16, 1844, at St. Anne's
Church, Lowell, Sarah Hildreth, daughter of
Dr. Israel Hildreth, of Dracut, a town adjoin
ing Lowell. Mrs. Butler had a distinguished
career on the stage before her marriage. After
her marriage she devoted herself wholly to her
husband and family, and was with him during
the whole of his civil war service, except
during active campaigning. She died April 8,
1876. Children: 1. Paul, born June, 1846,
died April, 1850. 2. Blanche, born 1847 >
married, 1871, Adelbert Ames. 3. Paul, born
1852; graduate of Harvard College in 1875.
4. Ben Israel, mentioned below.
(V) Ben Israel Butler, son of General Ben
jamin F. Butler (4), was born in Lowell in
1854. He was educated in the public schools
and high school of Lowell, and at West Point.
He graduated with honor, and accepted a lieu
tenant's commission in a regiment of colored
troops stationed on the Plains, that he might
have, in addition to his instruction at the acad
emy, the knowledge of the movement and care
of troops in the field, and in actual service. In
this onerous work of defending the scattered
population of. the frontier from Indian raids,
he served one year.
Four generations of the Butler family
fought in the wars of their country and held
commissions. General Butler had the swords
of Captain Zachariah Butler, of the French

War and Revolution; Captain John Butler of
the war of 1812; General Benjamin F. Butler,
of the Civil War, and that of his son; all kept
together in a glass case at his home, a unique
and perhaps unexampled testimony of the
loyalty and military prowess of one family in
direct line of descent. General Butler believed
that there would be a war in each generation,
and wished his son to be prepared to do his
part, but he planned also to make him his
partner in the law business. Fle studied at
Columbia Law School in New York, and after
two years was admitted to the bar, but on the
very day that his career in partnership with his
distinguished father was to begin, he died,
September 1, 1881. "I had hoped to lean upon
him in my declining years," wrote his father,
"to take my place in that profession which 1
love and honor. Man proposes, but God dis
poses." The family of this name is of
FANEUIL French .Huguenot origin, and
was planted in New York, in
what is now Westchester county, in 1690, and
there certain of its members founded the* town
of New Rocheile. In 1701 they removed to
Boston, Massachusetts, where Peter Faneuil
came into prominence as a merchant. When
the project of establishing a public market was
mooted, in 1717, he took an active interest, and
it was largely through his instrumentality that
in 1734 an appropriation of i7O0 was made by
the town for building market houses. These
did not meet with favor from the country
people, and they were soon abandoned. In
1740 Mr. Faneuil offered to provide at his
own expense a market house for the town, but
opposition was so strong that the vote of
acceptance carried by only seven majority,
though he was complimented with a unani
mous vote of thanks for his generosity The
edifice was erected by the architect Smibert,
was opened in 1842, and the auditorium was
first publicly used on March 14, 1743, when
John Lovell, the famous educator, pronounced
a funeral oration upon Mr. Faneuil. On De
cember 30, 1760, the accession of George 111
to the throne of England was proclaimed froni
the balcony, and a state dinner was served in
the hall. The hall was burned down in 1761,
and in 1763 was rebuilt by the town, a large
part of the building fund being procured by-
means of a lottery. The building was illumi
nated in 1767, in joy over the repeal of the
stamp act. In 1768 the citizens of Boston
assembled in the hall to express their indigna-

6i8

MASSACHUSETTS.

ie- ii s s ns, iR£i.srL js n a „

ITom tAe original picture tui Smilvert ui -po^p^s-ior.
of mr Wnf.saciiuoriu, Hisionrai Stinrtij

MASSACHUSETTS.

619

tion at the quartering of British troops upon
them, and to devise means for resisting British
oppression. British troops were quartered in
the hall in October, 1768, and it was used as a
theatre by the soldiers and loyalists during the
British occupation. After the British had
retired from the city, the hall was held for
patriotic purposes, and became known as "The
Cradle of American Liberty." The hall was
remodeled in 1805, after designs by Bulfinch.
The first city government was organized
within its walls, in 1822. The hall has been
used for patriotic and reform meetings from
that time to the present. Mr. Faneuil died
March 3, 1743. 
No more popular and truly meri-
HOAR torious family name comes to the
mind in writing of the many cele
brated family circles of Massachusetts, than
that to which the late lamented United States
Senator. George F. Hoar, belonged. His an
cestors from the early day "Massachusetts Bay
Colony," were men of great courage and activ
ity. 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 the three brothers who came with their
sister and mother from Gloucester, England.
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 re
turned to England in 1653 ; Leonard, at Har
vard College 1650, and was president of that
institution; and John. (See Hudson's "His
tory of Lexington," page 104, Genealogical
Register). (II) Leonard Hoar, son of Charles and Jo
anna (Hincksman) Hoar, of England, was
president of Harvard College from 1672 until
shortly before his death in 1675. He married
Bridget Lisle, daughter of John Lord Lisle.
Her father was president of the High Court
of Justice in England under Cromwell, and
drew the indictment and sentence of King
Charles I. He was murdered in Lausanne,
Switzerland, August 11, 1664, being shot in
the back as he was on his way to church, by
two Irish ruffians who were inspired by the hope
of reward from some member of the Royal
family in England. Bridget Lisle's mother
was the Lady Alicia Lisle, who was in sym
pathy with the King, and was one of the earli

est victims of the infamous Chief Justice Jef
fries, being charged with misprision of treason
in aiding and concealing in her dwelling the
day after the battle of Sedgemoor, Richard
Nelthorpe, a lawyer, and John Hickes, a min
ister, accused of being refugees from Mon
mouth's army. She declared herself innocent
of guilty knowledge, and protested against the
illegality of her trial because the supposed
rebels, to whom she had given common hospi
tality, had not been convicted. She was then
advanced in years, and so feeble that it is said
she was unable to keep awake during the tedious
trial. Jeffries arrogantly refused her the aid
of counsel, admitted irrelevant testimony, ex
celled himself in violent abuse, and so intimi
dated the jurors who were disposed to dismiss
the charge, that they unwillingly at last brought
in a verdict of guilty. She was hurriedly con
demned "to be burned alive" the very after
noon of the clay of her trial, August 28, 1685,
but, owing to the indignant protests of the
clergy of Winchester, execution was postponed
for five days, and the sentence was "altered
from burning to beheading." This punish
ment was exacted in the market place of Win
chester on the appointed day, the implacable
James II. refusing a pardon, although it was
proved that Lady Lisle had protected many
cavaliers in distress, and that her son John was
serving in the royal army ; and many persons
of high rank interceded for her, among whom
was Lord Clarendon, brother-in-law to the
King. Lady Lisle was connected by marriage
with the Bond, Whitmore, Churchill and other
families of distinction, and her granddaughter
married Lord James Russell, fifth son of the
first Duke of Bedford, thus connecting this
tragedy with that of Lord William Russell,
"the martyr of English liberty." In the first
year of William and Mary's reign, the attainder
was reversed by act of parliament upon peti
tion of Lady Lisle's two daughters, Tryphena
Grove and Bridget (Hoar) Usher. Among
the eight great historical paintings which adorn
the corridor leading to the House of Commons,
the third of the series represents Lady Lisle's
arrest. Lady Lisle's tomb is a heavy flat slab
of grey stone, raised about two or three feet
from the ground, near Ellingham church, close
to the wall, on the right side of the church
porch. It is said that when Lady Lisle was carried
on horseback by a trooper to Winchester for
trial, the horse lost a shoe and fell lame. She
insisted that the trooper should stop at a smith's
and have the shoe replaced, on his refusal de-

620

MASSACHUSETTS.

daring that she would make an outcry and re
sistance unless he did, saying that she could not
bear to see the horse suffer. The blacksmith at
first refused to do the work, saying that he
would do nothing to help the carrying off of
Lady Lisle, but on her earnest pleading, he did.
She told him she would come back that way in
a few days, but the trooper said, "Yes, you will
come back in a few days, but without your
head." The body was returned to Moyles'
Court the clay of the execution ; the head was
brought back a few clays after in a basket, and
put in at the pantry window ; the messenger
said that the head was sent afterward for
greater indignity.
There is a further tradition that when Lady
Lisle heard of her husband's connection with
the court which condemned King Charles, she
was much distressed. It is .well known that
she disapproved the execution, and that she de
clared on her trial that she never ceased to pray
for the King. The story further goes that she
hastened to London and reached her husband's
door as he had just mounted his horse to join
the procession for some part of the proceeding
of the court. She accosted him, but, being
covered with a heavy veil, he did not recognize
her, and roughly thrust her away. She fell
under the horse's hoofs in a swoon ; she was
taken up and cared for by Hickes, one of the
persons whom she afterward succored, and
for relieving whom she was condemned. She
remained in a swopn for a long time ; her hus
band was sent for and visited her but, to use
the phrase in which the story was told, "was
very odious to her." She told Hickes that she
could not repay him for his kindness in Lon
don, but if he came to the Isle of Wight, or to
Moyles' Court, in both of which places she had
property, she would repay him, saying, "At
Moyles' Court I am mistress."
Bridget Hoar married (second) November
29, 1676, Hezekiah Usher, Jr. A memorial to
the memory of Joanna, wife of Charles Hoar,
and to Bridget, wife of Leonard Hoar and
daughter of Lady Lisle, in the form of a double
headstone, shaped from a large, thick, slab of
slate, was erected by Senator George F. Hoar,
a descendant. Following are the inscriptions :
"Joanna Hoare, died in Braintree, September
21st, 1651. She was widow of Charles Hoare,
Sheriff of Gloucester, England, who died 1,638.
She came to New England with five children
about 1640.
"Bridget, widow of President Leonard Hoar,
died May 25, 1723, daughter of John Lord
Lisle, President of the High Court of Justice,

Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal, who
drew the indictment and sentence of King
Charles I., and was murdered at Lausanne,
Aug. nth, 1664, and of Lady Alicia Lisle,
who was beheaded by the brutal judgment of
Jeffries, 1685. She was nearly akin by mar
riage to Lord William Russell."
(II) John Hoar, son of first family who
located in New England by this name, was a
lawyer, distinguished for bold manly independ
ence. He resided in Scituate, Massachusetts,
from 1643 t0 1655. It was about 1660 when
he settled in Concord, and died April 2, 1704.
His wife, Alice Lyle, sister of Bridget Lisle,
who married Leonard Hoar, died June 5, 1697.
Their children included Elizabeth, who, Decem
ber, 1675, married Jonathan Preseott; Mary,
married Benjamin Graves, October 21, 1668;
and Daniel, married (first) Mary Stratton,
(second) 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 Iioar, at the request of the
colonial authorities, followed the Indian band
far into the wilderness, and after great hard
ship and the exercise of great ingenuity, re
covered by ransom Mrs. Rowlandson, a lady
captive from Lancaster. Pier account of her
ransom is published. The rock where she was
redeemed is close by the base of Wachusett
Mountain, and has been marked by Senator
Hoar by a suitable inscription.
(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
Brainfielcl, 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,
1 701. (IV) Daniel (2) Hoar, son of Daniel (1)
and great-grandson of the ancestor, born 1680 ;
married Sarah Jones, daughter of John and
Sarah Jones, December 20, 1705 ; lived in south
eastern part of Concord, where he died Febru
ary 8, 1773, aged ninety-three years. Their
children were : 1. John, born January 6, 1707 ;

MASSACHUSETTS.

021

was twice married. 2. 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 Ed
ward, 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 his pass
age thither, aged fifty-two years. 3. Daniel,
entered Harvard College 1730, but did not
graduate; married Rebecca Brooks, November
2, 1743, and removed to Westminster, where
he died, leaving two sons and two daughters.
4. Lucy, married John Brooks. 5. Elizabeth,
married a Mr. Whittemore, of West Cam
bridge. 6. Mary, married Zachariah Whitte
more. (V) John (2) 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 Coolidge. He died in
Lincoln, Massachusetts, May 16, 1786, and his
widow- died March 20, 1791. He lived succes
sively 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 personal 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 constable,
assessor and selectman. His home was in that
part of Lexington set off to Lincoln in 1754-
His children were: 1. Rebecca, born in Lex
ington, July 1, 1735; married, May 6, 1755,
Joseph Cutler. 2. Esther, born in Watertown,
January 28, 1739; married Edmond Bowman,
1760. 3. John, born in Lexington, July 14,
1 741 ; died young. 4. Samuel, born in Lex
ington, August 23, 1743. 5. Elizabeth, born in
Lexington, October 14, 1746. 6. Mary, born
in Lexington, October 5, 1750; died young. 7.
Sarah, born in Lincoln, June 9, 1755; married
Nehemiah Abbot. 8. Leonard, born in Lin
coln, June 29, 1758; was twice married. 9.
Rebecca, born in Lincoln, October 18, 1761 ;
married Joseph White Lancaster. 10. Mary,
born June 17, 1764; married Thomas Wheeler,
March 27, 1788. 11. Joseph, born July 30,
1767. (VI) Samuel Hoar, son of John (2) Hoar,
born in Lexington, Massachusetts, August 23,
r743 ! was an important man in Lincoln ; he

frequently represented his town in the house
of representatives, and was a state senator
from Middlesex county, Massachusetts, from
1813 to 1816. He married Susanna Pierce, by
whom he had ten children — five of each sex.
(VII) Samuel (2) Hoar, eldest son of Sam
uel (i) Hoar, bora 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 Massachu
setts 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 author
izing 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 daugh
ter of Roger Sherman, 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. Children of Samuel and Sarah
(Sherman) Hoar were: 1. Elizabeth, born
July 14, 1814. 2. Ebenezer Rockwood, Febru
ary 21, 1816. 3. Sarah Sherman, November
9, 1817. 4. Samuel Johnson, February 4, 1820;
died 182 1. 5. Edward Sherman, December 22,
1823; graduate of Harvard College 1844. 6.
George Frisbie, August 29, 1826.
(VIII) Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, eldest
son of Samuel (2) and Sarah (Sherman) Hoar,
born February 21, 1816; graduate at Harvard
College 1835. In 1839 he began the practice
of law in Concord, Massachusetts, 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 ap
pointed a justice of the supreme court of Mass
achusetts, and in General U. S. Grant's admin
istration 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 Massa
chusetts, from 1873 to 1875.
(VIII) George Frisbie Hoar, son of Samuel

622

MASSACHUSETTS.

(2) and Sarah (Sherman) Hoar, was born in
Concord, Massachusetts, August 29, 1826. The
scenes of his boyhood were cast in pleasant
places, 'midst fine influences, 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 hon
ored citizens. Among his legal associates were
Hon. Emery Washburn, and later Hon. Charles
Devens and J. Henry Hill, Esq. Mr. Hoar
very rapidly rose to a very eminent rank in his
profession. By native genius of his mind,
well disciplined by a thorough educational train
ing, and augmented by an uncommon energy,
he steadily moved forward and became' a recog
nized leader. In 1869, when he entered con
gress, after twenty years at the bar, his legal
practice was the largest of any west of Middle
sex county and the most valuable in a financial
point of view.
It was in 1849 when George F. Hoar first
entered 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 eleced
as a representative to the general court of
Massachusetts. He was its youngest mem
ber, but became the leader in law matters,
and to him was given the task of draw
ing resolutions protesting against the com
promise measures of the National govern
ment in 1850. He had so far advanced in poli
tical 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 profession, flad he at that
time entered the congressional 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 advanced more thorough, extended
and logical arguments.
In 1868 Mr. Hoar was elected a representa

tive 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 con
gress it was 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 annex
ation 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 Eads jetty bill,
and thus was opened up the New Orleans ocean
commerce line. But perhaps of more import
ance than all, was his connection with the elec
toral commission bill, he being associated with
General Garfield, Judge Abbott, of Massachu
setts, 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 demand
ed it.
In 1876 his resolve to not be a candidate
again for re-election was announced as final,
and the people elected his successor ; but the
next Massachusetts legislature chose Mr. Hoar
to succeed Mr. Boutwell as United States sen
ator, and he took his seat March 4, 1877, at
the beginning of President Hayes' administra
tion. Here he rapidly rose in the scale and
dignity of a true American diplomat and states
man. He became chairman of many important
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 presi
dential succession bill ; tenure of office act ;
bureau of labor statistics, and many others.
The most of his time in the house and the
United States senate was spent in working for
bills, laws and measures of large scope and
wide range, leaving others less competent than
himself 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 to the
legislature so many times by a unanimous vote
of its members was a new record for Massa
chusetts, and only bespoke of merit for him
whom this brief memoir is compiled, giving

MASSACHUSETTS.

623

him a rank along with Charles Sumner and
Daniel Webster, who were in the same office,
and as a contemporary with Samuel Hoar, his
father. His voice had been heard in the national
halls of legislation for thirty-five years, and he
served as United States senator twenty-seven
years at this period, his service being as long,
if not longer than any American of our time.
Mr. Hoar had four times served as the chair
man of the Massachusetts Republican state
convention. In 1880 he was president of the
national convention of Chicago, by which Gen
eral 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-mak
ing times. In 1898 President McKinley ten
dered him the ambassadorship to London, 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 had
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 Sen
ator Hoar wrote and had published what is
known by its title, "Autobiography of Seventy
Years." It is a neat and well written detailed
account of his own life. It embraces two vol
umes 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
the introduction of this work reads : "The
lesson which 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 to-morrow will be better than to-day. I
believe that in spite of so many errors and
wrongs, and even crimes, my good 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 had been in Washington, yet
Worcester felt the touch of his influence and
life. He was the prime mover in establishing a
free public library in the 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

honorary member of the Worcester Mechanics'
Association. He was the oldest member at the
time of his decease of any save two of the
American Antiquarian Society, and was an
honorary member of the Worcester Society of
Antiquity, as well as active in the Massachu
setts Historical Society. He was chairman of
the public preservation committee of Massa
chusetts, 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
helpless and oppressed be not lost sight of, it
should be here 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 Worcester, helped to de
fend a person from mob violence. It was
the case wherein a slave "kidnapper" during
the "fifties" was arrested and tried in Wor
cester, 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 be
lieve in the mob law. He ever took deep inter
est in the freedom of the south and gave liber
ally toward its educational institutions, be
lieving, 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 charge 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 sev
eral years, and declared his intention of becom
ing a citizen in Worcester. 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,
but to return at once to their native country.
The family was poor, and the father a hard
working citizen of Worcester, and the mother
was to be thus ruthlessly torn from the idols of
her heart. The various officials tried in vain to
evade the existing law, but were thwarted. The
steamer which was to take the little girls back
was to sail the next day, but through the inter-

624

MASSACHUSETTS.

position 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 kind-
hearted President visited Worcester a few
months later, he wished to see them, and he
met them at Senator Hoar's residence, where
all parties were pathetically touched by the
scene. It is small deeds that introduce us to
great characters and tender hearts, such as was
that of both Senator Hoar and President Roose
velt. 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 had been in 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
Islands questions — one where he crossed swords
politically with many of our brainiest states
men — all, even President McKinley, himself,
knew of and respected his manly independent
stand as against popular opinion. Air. Mc
Kinley was of a different opinion regarding a
vexed question, but personally was one of Sen
ator Hoar's warmest 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
Mr. McKinley, "You cannot maintain a Des
potism 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 advo
cates the right, as he sees the right, and not
from policy, is sure to accomplish what is de
manded 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
Alain 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 at
torney 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 nomi
nee 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 messenger,
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
identified with that church many years. His
funeral was attended by one of the largest
concourse of people ever seen in the common
wealth on such a sad occasion. His remains
now repose in Sleepy Hollow cemetery, at the
place of his birth.
A most remarkable testimony to the popular
ity and worth of the Senator was furnished by
the people of Worcester shortly after his death.
A representative committee of citizens was
formed to take charge of funds for a suitable
memorial, and in a few months the fund was
ample for the purpose, contributed by some
thirty thousand different persons, representing
nearly every family in the city and many in
other parts of the state and nation. The memo
rial took the form of a bronze statue executed
by the famous sculptor, Daniel Chester French,
and it was located in perhaps the most con
spicuous spot in the city, near the city hall, at
the corner of Main and Front streets. The
Senator is represented as seated in a massive
bronze chair, with manuscript in one hand, his
overcoat thrown over the left arm of the chair,
and a bag of legal papers beneath the chair.
The pedestal is a great monolith of granite
bearing bronze tablets containing the inscrip
tions. The statue was dedicated with appropriate
ceremony June 26, 1908, in the presence of a
vast gathering of people. Mayor James Logan
presided. Rev. Dr. Edward Everett Hale,
chaplain of the United States Senate, a life
long friend of the Senator, offered prayer and
pronounced the benediction. Music was fur
nished by Battery B Band of Worcester. The
speakers were Mr. Logan, Governor Curtis
Guild, Jr., and PI on. William H. Moody, jus
tice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
"And so we have erected this monument," said
Mayor Logan, "paid for by the free-will offer
ings of over thirty thousand people, 2648 sub
scriptions of one cent, 22,820 from one cent to

MASSACHUSETTS.

625

twenty-five cents, 3139 from twenty-five cents
to one dollar, fifteen subscriptions of over one
hundred dollars, and the subscriptions of one
hundred and twenty-eight societies. And this
has been done as a reminder to the youth of
coming generations of the life he lived, and
of the service which he rendered, that they
may be inspired with the true grandeur of
American citizenship as exemplified in the life
of this patriotic public servant, useful citizen,
faithful friend, charming companion, the mem
ory of whose life and service will be to this
community an abiding possession. * * The
occasion is great because of the purpose for
which we have come together, because of the
character and fame of him whom we thus honor
— our friend and neighbor — George Frisbie
Hoar — a man whose whole life was character
ized by unselfish public spirit, of unremitting,
intelligent, well-directed effort for the welfare
of his country and his fellow men."
Governor Guild paid an eloquent tribute to
the life and character of the Senator, and ren
dered a glowing appreciation of his service to
the commonwealth of Massachusetts. He said :
"We shall remember him, indeed, in future
years, as the last of the Puritans ; not because
he was austere — he exulted in the joy of living ;
not because he was prejudiced — he was a very
crusader for the rescue of free thought in a
free land; but because in public as in private
life, he lived uncompromisingly according to
conviction, and preferred defeat to equivoca
tion. A seeker for the ideal, he had in marked
degree the saving grace of common sense, and
in him honest independence never degenerated
into mere fantastic opposition. A wit, a scholar,
a jurist, a statesman, a Christian American
gentleman, we may well be proud that when
posterity in the days to come names George
Frisbie Hoar, it will be forced to add 'of Mass
achusetts.' "
Judge Moody spoke for an hour without
notes, but giving ample evidence of thorough
mastery of his subject. In closing he said : "It
seems almost an intrusion here today, toxhis
kindred, neighbors and friends, to speak of
the beauties of his private life, his insensibility
to the allurements of wealth, his indifference to
the constant decay of his fortune, his devotion
to the civic duties of this community, his love
of city, home and family, his gentle Christian
life and belief. The time of his departure was
well chosen. We cannot but rejoice that he
was spared the sorrow of the untimely death
of his son, to whom he would have gladly
yielded the few years of public life which re

mained to him. Fortunate it was that with
hope undimmed, happy in the love of those
dear to him, covered with honors which came
because he had labored and spared not, sustain
ed by faith in God and faith in man, he lay
down for the eternal rest which we fondly
trust is but another name for the life everlast-
ing." 
The family of which this narra-
STORER tive is intended to treat is of
English origin, and is said by
various reliable authorities to be one of great
antiquity, and throughout many generations
and in all of them to have been distinguished
by reason of the eminent qualities and high
character of those who have borne its honor
able patronymic. The immediate ancestor of
the particular family here written bore the title
and wore the vestments of the ecclesiastic, and
fulfilled the duties of his office with dignity,
becoming the spiritual leader of the parish
church. Out of his family there came two into
New England in the first half of the seven
teenth century, the one a son, whose calling
was that of husbandman and planter, but him
self the founder of a family which in point of
character and attainments is second to none
other in the continent of North America. In
the English records we find the name of this
family variously written Storr, Storee, Stoors,
Storah and Story, as well as Storer, the latter
being the accepted form during the last almost
three centuries by those who claim descent
from the vicar of the parish church of Bilsby,
England. (I) Rev. Thomas Storer, vicar of Bilsby,
had a son Augustine and a daughter Mary,
both of whom came to New England in 1637.
Mary Storer became wife of Rev. John Wheel
wright, founder of Exeter, New Hampshire,
and founder and builder up of a strong church
congregation. But it is of the son Augustine
and his descendants that this narrative has
particularly to treat.
(II) Augustine Storer, son of Rev. Thomas
Storer, was born in Bilsby, Lincolnshire, Eng
land, came to New England in July, 1637,
landed at Boston, and in 1638 was of Exeter,
New Hampshire, where he and his wife Sus
annah joined the combination established by
Wheelwright. In January, 1640, he was one
of the ruling elders of the church in Exeter,
and upon him and his colleagues fell the duties
of the office of selectmen. On the first division
of lands there he was allotted twenty acres and
one hundred poles of upland and two and three-

626

MASSACHUSETTS.

quarters acres of marsh. In the records of the
division he is mentioned as "Mr.," a title then
applied only as a mark of distinction, character
and worth. When Wheelwright left Exeter,
Augustine Storer also left the town, and is
said to have taken up his abode at Wells, Maine.
He married Sarah, daughter of Edward Hutch
inson, granddaughter of John Hutchinson, who
was mayor of Lincoln, England, 1 556-1 564.
She was a sister of Wheelwright's second wife.
(Ill) William Storer, son of Augustine and
Susannah (Hutchinson) Storer, lived in Dover,
New Hampshire, and died there in 1660. He
married Sarah, daughter of Edward Starbuck,
who came from Derbyshire, England, and was
a member of the Dover convention and an
elder of the church. After the death of Will
iam Storer his widow married, 1661, Samuel
Austin, of Wells, Maine, to which place she
took her children, and placed them under the
guardianship of Austin, with whom they lived
until of full age. He was keeper of a public
house, commissioner for trials for several years,
and doubtless a man of considerable conse
quence in the town. Here the Storer sons
came to manhood well grounded in moral prin
ciples and became men of usefulness and worth.
They were four in number: 1. Benjamin,
killed by Indians, 1677. 2. Joseph, born Sep
tember 23, 1648. 3. Samuel, lived in Charles
town, Massachusetts, and was a mariner ; mem
ber of the church in York, Maine; married
Lydia Austin, and died June 10, 1700.
(IV) Lieutenant Joseph Storer, son of Will
iam and Sarah (Starbuck) Storer, was born
September 23, 1648, and died in 1730. He was
a lieutenant and in command of the garrison
at Wells, Maine, during the earliest Indian
troubles and also during and after King Philip's
war. He owned a saw mill and carried on a
large business in making lumber. He built a
house on the main road in Wells, and after
ward surrounded it with palisades. During
the next war he built several small houses
inside the fortification for the use of those who
took refuge there, and his house was con
stantly open to whomsoever would avail him
self of its protection. At different times armed
troops were quartered there, while with truly
patriotic spirit he always stood ready to min
ister to the wants of all settlers who had been
driven from their homes by peril or suffering.
Mr. Wheelwright had not yet built his garrison
house, so that at three periods this was the
frontier garrison of the province. Lieutenant
Storer was in every way active in the common
defense, encouraging the settlers to hold their

lands and frequently giving up his own land
near the fort for cultivation and pasturage by
the refugees. The sick and wounded were
cared for under his own hospitable roof by
members of his household, and for all this ser
vice he neither asked nor received any remun
eration whatever. He was an officer in the
service, but his voluntary acts were far more
creditable than any war record, and it is said
that to him more than to any other person was
the province indebted for its preservation from
entire desolation, for without his garrison house
and the ample protection afforded by it the
Indians would have either killed or driven
every settler from the region. Joseph Storer
was one of the founders of the church at York,
hence his name does not appear among the
founders of the church at Wells, although he
became a deacon there and so continued to the
end of his days. He is regarded as the pro
genitor of the Storer family of Wells and its
vicinity. He possessed large means, and at the
time of his death was considered the richest
man in the town; his estate was appraised at
about $5,000. He married Hannah, daughter
of Roger and Sarah (Cross) Hill, of Saco,
Maine; children: 1. Hannah, born May 6,
1680; married Joshua Littlefield. 2. Sarah,
December 2, 1682; died January 1, 1770; mar
ried  Colburn. 3. Mary, born May 12, ,
1685 ; when a child she was stolen by the
Indians and carried to Montreal, Canada ; mar
ried at Montreal, August 25, 1747, Jean St.
Germaine. 4. Abigail, born October 29, 1687.
5. Joseph, August 29, 1690. 6. John, Septem
ber 5, 1694. 7. Keziah, May 2, 1697 ; married
Ebenezer Plummer. 8. Ebenezer, born at Saco
Fort, June 4, 1699; he and his brother Seth
owned a sloop in 1739, and it was lost in 1741 ;
in 1746 these brothers started on a visit to their
aged mother at her home, but when they reach
ed Kittery they were compelled to turn back
because of the hostile attitude of the Indians ;
Ebenezer appears to have lived in Wells and
Boston, and died May 22, 1761 ; married, June
20, 1723, Mary Edwards, and had ten children ;
a son Ebenezer was treasurer of Harvard Col
lege. 9. Seth, born May 26, 1702J was a clergy
man, and lived in Watertown for fifty years.
(V) John Storer, son of Lieutenant Joseph
and Hannah (Hill) Storer, was born Septem
ber 5, 1694, and died September 28, 1768. He
was one of the most influential men of his time
in the town and province, and was elected to
several offices of responsibility and honor. He
held a commission as colonel of militia, and
was in command of a regiment in the expedi-

MASSACHUSETTS.

627

tion against Louisburg. He served as repre
sentative to the general court, and for many
years was a judge of the superior court. He
married, October n, 1722, Elizabeth, daughter
of John Hill, of Berwick, Maine, who also was
a judge of the court, captain of militia and
representative to the general court.
(VI) John (2) Storer, son of Colonel John
(1) and Elizabeth (Hill) Storer, was born in
Wells, Maine, April 28, 1727, and died there
June 15, 1764. He graduated from Harvard
College in 1745, and received the .degree of
A. B. In business life he was a merchant and
ship owner, a man of substance and influence,
although he does not appear to have taken an
active part in public affairs. He married, Octo
ber 26, 1749, Mary, daughter of John and
Mary (Hall) Langdon, sister of Governor
John Langdon, of New Hampshire, and a de
scendant of the fifth generation of Governor
Dudley. (VII) Woodbury Storer, son of John (2)
and Mary (Langdon) Storer, was born in
Wells, Maine, in 1760, and died in Portland,
Maine, July n, 1825. He was a merchant and
ship owner, engaged extensively in commerce,
and acquired large wealth, fle was highly
educated, .and for much of the time was in
public life in one official capacity or another:
chief justice of the court of common pleas,
representative to the general court, state sen
ator, and for several years collector of customs
at Portland. He married (first) Ann Titcomb,
who died, leaving three children, and married
(second) September 13, 1792, Margaret, daugh
ter of James and Susannah (Coffin) Boyd, and
sister of General John Parker Boyd. James
Boyd was a grandson of the Earl of Kilmar
nock, Scotland, and his wife, Susannah Coffin,
was a granddaughter of Tristram Coffin, a
noted character in early New England history.
Judge Woodbury and Ann (Titcomb) Storer
had one son, Woodbury Storer, lawyer, of
Portland, and two daughters, Mrs. William
Goddard and Mrs. Judge Potter. His children
by his second wife were : Rev. John, a clergy
man of the Unitarian church; Robert Boyd,
born 1795 ; Bellamy, born 1796 ; Frances Eliza
beth, born 1798; Margaret Susannah, born
1800; Dr. David Humphreys, born 1804.
(VIII) Robert Boyd Storer, son of Judge
Woodbury and Margaret (Boyd) Storer, was
born in Portland, Maine, September 2, 1795,
and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, No
vember 14, 1870. He attended Bowdoin Col
lege, but left before graduation and entered
mercantile pursuits in Boston, being first em

ployed by the importing house of Codman &
Ropes, and having acquired a good understand
ing of the business and methods of the firm he
was given charge of matters of large import
ance. He travelled extensively in foreign coun
tries in the interest of his employers, and on
one occasion sailed as supercargo, making a
voyage around the world. For one year he
lived at Archangel, Russia, and held a consular
appointment there. Soon after returning to
Boston he engaged in business on his own
account, on India wharf, and for many years
afterward was an important factor in the com
mercial life of the city. He was for many years
Russian consul in Boston, and after his death,
the consulate was represented by his son. Both
father and son received orders of knighthood
from the Russian government in recognition of
services faithfully rendered. His endeavors in
life were highly successful and throughout the
period of his active career he held the confi
dence of all men in business and commercial
circles. Storer street in Boston is named in
allusion to him. He maintained a residence in
Boston for more than twenty years, and about
1861 removed to Cambridge, where he after
ward lived. Mr. Storer married, in 1837, in
Boston, Sarah Sherman Hoar, born November
9, 1817, daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Sher
man) Hoar, and sister of the late Hon. Ceorge
Frisbie Hoar, for many years senator in con
gress from Massachusetts. (See Hoar). Rob
ert Boyd and Sarah Sherman (Hoar) Storer
had four children : William Brandt, Sarah
Frances, Elizabeth Hoar and Mrs. Joseph B.
Warner. (IX) William Brandt Storer, only son and
eldest child of Robert Boyd and Sarah Sher
man (Hoar) Storer, was born in Boston, and
graduated from Harvard College in 1859, A. B.
Early in the civil war he entered the service
and was colonel on the staff of General Devens.
In business life he was a member of the im
porting and trading house of Robert B. Storer
& Company. For a time he was a vice-consul
of Russia, but generally he took little interest
in political affairs. For several years he was a
director of the National Bank of Commerce,
Boston, and at one time was its vice-president.
Mr. Storer died at his home in Cambridge,
October 14, 1884. He married Emily ,F.,
daughter of Samuel K. Williams, lawyer, of
Boston, and had three children: Robert B.,
died young; Elizabeth W., and Helen Langdon
Storer. (VIII) Bellamy Storer, son of Woodbury
and Margaret (Boyd) Storer, was born in

628

MASSACHUSETTS.

Portland, Maine, March 9, 1796, and died in
Cincinnati, Ohio, June 1, 1875. He was edu
cated at Bowdoin College, then studied law,
and was admitted to the bar in 1817, and in
the same year began his professional career in
Cincinnati. In 1824 he advocated the election
of John Quincy Adams to the presidency, and
edited the Crisis, an organ of his party. From
1835 to 1837 he was representative in congress,
and declined renomination for another term;
in 1844 he was presidential elector on the
Henry Clay ticket. For many years Judge
Storer was a member of the faculty of the
Cincinnati Law School, and served nineteen
years on the bench of the supreme court of
that city. He enjoyed special popularity as
speaker at both political and religious meetings,
and at one time in the early part of his life he
was one of the leading spirits of a band of
young men who were styled the "Flying Artil
lery," and who journeyed from town to town
for the purpose of promoting evangelical ser
vices. In 1821 Judge Storer received the hon
orary degree of LL. D. from Bowdoin College.
He married (first) Emily Bartow, who bore
him two children : Emily, who married Rev.
Mr. Bonte, a clergyman of the Protestant Epis
copal church, living in California; and Francis.
His second wife was Elizabeth Drinker, by
whom he had two children, Bellamy and Eliz
abeth. (IX) Bellamy (2) Storer, son of Bellamy
(1) and Elizabeth (Drinker) Storer, was born
in Cincinnati, Ohio, August 28, 1847; grad
uated from Harvard College 1867, and from
the Cincinnati Law School 1869. He wa*3 ad
mitted to the bar in Cincinnati in April, 1869,
and practiced in that city. From 1891 until
1895 he was representative in congress ; from
1897 to 1899 United States minister to Bel
gium; and from June, 1899, to September,
1902, was United States minister to Spain.
From 1902 to March, 1906, Mr. Storer was am
bassador of the United States to Austria-Hun
gary. He married Maria (Longworth) Nichols,
of Cincinnati, daughter of Joseph Longworth,
of that city. They have no children.
(VIII) Dr. David Humphreys Storer, son
of Woodbury and Margaret (Boyd) Storer,
was born in Portland, Maine, March 26, 1804 ;
graduated from Bowdoin College in 1822, stud
ied medicine with Dr. John C. Warren, and
graduated from Harvard School of Medicine,
M. D., in 1825, and in the same year began his
professional career in that city. In 1837 he
established the Tremont Street Medical School,
and afterward conducted it with gratifying

success. However in 1854 he was appointed
to the professorship of obstetrics and medical
jurisprudence in Harvard Medical School, his
alma mater, and soon afterward became dean
of the school, both of which he held until 186&
From 1849 to 1858 Dr. Storer was physician to
the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1837,
during the earlier years of his practice, he was
given charge of the departments of zoology
and herpetology under direction of the Massa
chusetts Survey. He held membership in many
of the leading professional and scientific socie
ties, and in 1866 was president of the Ameri
can Medical Association. He was a frequent
contributor to the literature of his profession,
and many of his papers are published in the
transactions of the larger organizations of
men of his profession. His larger published
works include a translation from the French
of Kiener's "Genera, Species, and Iconography
of Recent Shells," Boston, 1837; "Report on
the Ichthyology of Herpetology of Massachu
setts," 1839; "Synopsis of the Fishes of North
America," 1846; "History of the Fishes of
Massachusetts," 1853-1867 (in parts). Dr.
Storer married and had five children: Dr.
Horatio R., Professor Francis H, Robert W.,
Abbie M. and Mary G. Storer.
(IX) Dr. Horatio Robinson Storer, son of
Dr. David Humphreys Storer, was born in
Boston February 27, 1830 ; graduated from
Harvard College in 1850, and devoted special
attention to the study of natural sciences as a
private pupil of Louis Agassiz and Asa Gray.
Later on he took up the study of medicine,
made the course of Harvard Medical School,
and graduated M. D. in 1853. He then went
to Europe and spent two years in post-graduate
studies in London, Edinburgh and Paris, and
during one year of this period he was assistant
in private practice to Sir James Y. Simpson.
In 1855 he established himself in practice in
Boston, making gynecology a special feature
of his extensive practice, and soon, afterward
began giving assistance to his father while the
latter was conducting his course of lectures in
Harvard Medical School. In 1865 he himself
was chosen to the professorship of obstetrics
and medical jurisprudence in the Berkshire
Medical College, and filled that chair during
the next four years. In order to secure for
himself a better foundation for instruction in
medical jurisprudence, Dr. Storer made the
course of Harvard Law School and came to
the bachelor degree in 1868. Afterward he
established semi-annual courses for medical
graduates upon the subject of surgical diseases

4^^ /Va/&e*

Lewi;, Historical Full, Co

MASSACHUSETTS.

629

of women, and admitted to his classes none
except those who were in good standing in the
American Medical Association. These courses
became very popular with the profession and
drew attendance from all parts of the country. In
1872, on account of impaired health, Dr. Storer
went abroad for rest, and spent five years in
various cities of Great Britain and continental
Europe; but they were not idle years, for the
greater part of his time was given to study,
with special attention to study of the fevers of
southern Italy. On returning to America he
settled in Newport, Rhode Island, where he
still lives, although now retired from profes
sional pursuits. For many years he has en
joyed wide celebrity as a numismatist, and
besides has devised and patented several valu
able surgical and gynecological instruments
and inauguated new methods. He is a life
member and honorary president of the New
port Medical Society and the Newport Natural
History Society ; member of the Gynecological
Society of Boston, and consulting physician to
Newport Hospital. Iiis published works on
professional subjects include, "Criminal Abor
tion in America," 1859; "Criminal Abortion,
its Nature, its Evidence and its Law" (in col
laboration) ; "Why Not? a Book for Every
Woman," 1865; "Is it I? a Book for Every
Man," 1869; "On Nurses and Nursing," "On
Insanity in Women." In 1868 Dr. Storer was
president of the American Medical Associa
tion, in 1877 was president of the Association
of American Medical Editors, and in the same
year was president of the Gynecological Sec
tion of the Ninth International Medical Con
gress. He married (first) Emily Elvira Gil
more, by whom he had three sons : Frank
Addison, John Humphreys and Malcolm; he
married (second) Caroline Gilmore, sister of
his first wife and by whom he had one daugh
ter; he married (third) Frances McKenzie.
(X) John Humphreys Storer, son of Dr.
Horatio Robinson and Emily Elvira (Gilmore)
Storer, was born in Milton, Massachusetts,
September 2&, 1859, and received his earlier
literary education in private schools in Boston ;
St. Mark's School, Southboro, Massachusetts ;
and at Frank fort-on-the-Main, Germany; his
higher training at Harvard College, from which
he graduated A. B. in 1882; and his profes
sional education at Harvard Law School, where
he graduated LL. B. in 1885. Afterwards he
spent four months in the office of Ropes, Gray
& Loring, lawyers, Boston, and in 1885 was
admitted to practice in the courts of the com
monwealth. Since he came to the Suffolk bar,

Mr. Storer has devoted his attention chiefly to
real estate and the management of trust prop
erty, and has had a principal part in the organi
zation of a number of trusts and corporations.
Including those to be named hereinafter, he is
director or trustee of forty-two corporations
or trusts, of twenty-four of which he is treas
urer, these twenty-four having over twenty-
five millions of dollars cash invested or deposit
ed in banks or trust companies.
During the course of his business career Mr.
Storer has been identified with various institu
tions and interests of Boston, Massachusetts,
and New York, some of the principal of which
may be mentioned as follows: Member First
Corps Cadets, 1881-88 ; treasurer, secretary and
director New York Suburbs Company, City
Buildings Company, Kingsboro Realty Com
pany, Randolph Realty Company, Chatsworth
Realty Company, Pelham wood Company, Clif
ford B. Harmon & Co., Incorporated, Harmon
Water Company ; Tuckahoe Associates, Brook
lyn Associates, Metropolitan Associates of New
York, Eureka Harmon Stone Company ; treas
urer and director of Brooklyn Development
Company, Greater New York Development
Company, Wood Harmon Bond Company, and
Hudson Co-operative Savings and Loan Asso
ciation ; secretary and director Wood Harmon
Richmond Realty Company ; trustee and director
Boston Water Power -Company ; trustee Bos
ton Suburban Development Trust, Church Ave
nue Real Estate Association, Merchants' Real
Estate Trust, Staten Island Associates, Pelham
Associates, Harmon Park Trustees, Randolph
Associates,Winthrop Development Trust, Wood
Harmon Associates, Wood Harmon Real Estate
Association and Wood Harmon Real Estate
Trustees ; director Boston Co-operative Build
ing Company, Harwood Construction Com
pany, Montague Builders' Supply Company,
New England Watch and Ward Society ; Point
Shirley Company, Realty Company, State Street
Trust Company, Windsor Trust Company (New
York), Workingman's Building Association,
Workingman's Loan Association ; trustee Peo
ple's Institute, Robert Treat Paine Association,
Wells Memorial Institute for Workingmen ;
senior warden Christ. Church, Protestant Epis
copal, Waltham ; member of National Geo
graphical Society, American Arademy for the
Advancement of Science, American Academy
of Social and Political Science, Boston Natural
History Society, City History Club of New
York, National Civic Federation, Boston Ath
letic Association, and of the Somerset, Union,
' Harvard. Economic. Exchange, St. Botolph,

630

MASSACHUSETTS.

Boston City, Massachusetts Republican, Oak
ley Country, Essex County, Manchester, Yacht,
New York Athletic, Episcopalian, Harvard of
New York, and University of New York clubs.
His address is 16 State street, Boston, and 315
Madison avenue, New York.
Mr. Storer married, in Boston, November
18, 1885, Edith, daughter of Robert Treat
Paine. Children, with ages in 1909: John
Humphreys (22), Emily (21), Edith (19),
Robert Treat Paine (17),' Theodore Lyman
(14) and Lydia (10).
(IX) Professor Francis Humphreys Storer,
son of Dr. David Humphreys Storer, was bora
in Boston, March 27, 1832; was a student in
Lawrence Scientific School (Harvard), 1850-
51 ; became assistant in chemistry to Professor
Cooke in 185 1 ; was made chemist to Northern
Pacific Exploring Expedition for the federal
government, 1853 ; returned to Lawrence Scien
tific School and completed his course there,
graduating B. Sc. 1855 (A. M. Harvard 1870).
From 1855 to 1857 Dr. Storer continued his
studies in chemistry in foreign cities, then re
turned and practiced in Boston as chemist from
1857 to 1865, and from 1865 to 1870 was pro
fessor of general and industrial chemistry in
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Since 1870 he has held the professorship of
chemistry in the Bussey Institution, Harvard
College. Professor Storer is author of "Dic
tionary of the Solubilities of Chemical .Sub
stances," 1846 ; "Manual of Inorganic Chem
istry" (in collaboration with President Eliot,
of Harvard), 1869; "Manual of Qualitative
Chemical Analysis" (collaborator with Eliot),
1868; "Cyclopedia of Quantitative Chemical
Analysis," "Agriculture in Some of Its Re
lations with Chemistry," 1897; "Elementary
Manual of Chemistry" (Lindsay, collaborator),
1894; "Manual of Qualitative Analysis" (Lind
say, collaborator), 1899; "Bulletin of the Bus
sey Institution," "Alloys of Copper and Zinc"
and "Manufacture of Paraffin Oils." Pro
fessor Storer married Catherine Eliot, sister
of President Charles W. Eliot, of Harvard.

Governor John Endicott, im-
ENDICOTT migrant ancestor, was born
in Dorsetshire, England, in
1588; died in Boston, March 15, 1665. He
sailed from Weymouth in the ship "Abigail,"
Henry Gauden, master, June 20, 1628, and
arrived at Naumkeag, September 6, 1628, with
a hundred planters that came to form a colony
under his leadership. Johnson in his "Wonder
working Providence" says: "A fit instrument

to begin this wilderness worke, of courage bold,
undaunted yet sociable and of a cheerful spirit,
loving and austere, applying himselfe to either
as occasion served." He planted the first per
manent and legally recognized settlement in
Massachusetts, and was known as the Massa-*
chusetts Bay Colony. He found the remnants
of the Cape Ann colony at Naumkeag (Salem)
under Conant, who in one sense was the first
governor of the tiny colony founded by the
Dorchester Company at Cape Ann, and re
moved to Naumkeag, a virtual failure. Endi-
cott's company bought all the property and
privileges of the Dorchester Company, both at
Cape Ann and Naumkeag, and he removed the
frame house from Cape Ann for his own use.
Endicott was governor over this colony until
he was succeeded by Mr. John Winthrop, who
was chosen governor of the company and also
of the Plantation in June, 1630. Endicott took
the oath of office as assistant September 7,
1630, and was again elected governor March
26, 1649, serving as governor seventeen years
in all. Pie was a magistrate and one of the
most influential and able statesmen of the col
ony, in public office thirty-seven years. He
was also captain of the militia. He was a
zealous Puritan and a pronounced Republican
in sentiment. He was well educated and always
a friend of learning as well as of religion. Like
most of his associates in the colony, he was
intolerant. He was a member of the Salem
church until November, 1664, though he lived
nine years in Boston, having removed there in
1655. In 1658 he bought a quarter interest in
Block Island. His place of burial is unknown.
It is said, however, that his gravestone or tomb
¦was destroyed by the British soldiers during
the revolution. He called Roger Ludlow "my
brother" in a letter to Governor Winthrop in
1644. He married (first) Anna Gower, who
came over in 1628, and died in 1629. She was
cousin or niece of Governor Matthew Crad-
dock, and some of the needlework she did is
still preserved. Governor Endicott married
(second) August 17, 1630, Elizabeth Gibson,
of Cambridge, England. The will of Governor
Endicott was dated May 2, 1659. It mentions
his orchard farm at Salem given him by the
court of assistants, July 3, 1632, and which
still belongs to a descendant in the ninth gen
eration ; a farm in Salem which he bought of
Henry Chickering, October 4, 1648, which was
given to John Endicott at the time of his mar-
rige in 1653, and which afterward became the
home of Rebecca Nourse, of witchcraft fame ; a
portion of this house is now being restored by

MASSACHUSETTS.

631

descendants of Governor Endicott as a memo
rial to him and his son ; also two farms on the
Ipswich river, bought of Captains Trask and
Hawthorne. Children: 1. John, born about
1632. 2. Zerrubbabel, mentioned below.
(II) Dr. Zerrubbabel, son of Governor John
Endicott, resided in Salem, where he was a
practicing physician. He made his will in No
vember, 1683, and died in 1684. He married
(first) in 1654, Mary  , who died in
1677. He married (second) Elizabeth Win
throp, daughter of Governor Winthrop, and
widow of Rev. Antipas Newman. Children,
all by the first wife: 1. John, born 1657. 2.
Samuel, born 1659 ; mentioned below. 3. Zer
rubbabel, born February 14, 1664. 4. Benja
min, born 1665. 5. Mary, born 1667 ; married,
August 2, 1685, Isaac Williams, of Salem. 6.
Joseph, born 1672. 7. Sarah, born 1673; mar
ried  Brown. 8. Elizabeth, born 1675 ;
married Nathaniel Gilbert, of Boston. 9. Han
nah, born 1676 ; married Edward Gasbull. 10.
Mehitable, born 1677 ; died unmarried 1698.
(Ill) Samuel, son of Dr. Zerrubbabel Endi
cott, was baptized at the first church at Salem,
September 19, 1666. He resided at Orchard
Farm, Salem, and married Hannah Felton.
He died in 1694. She married (second) De
cember 15, 1697, Thorndike Proctor. Children:
1. Samuel, born August 30, 1687; mentioned
below. 2. Hannah, born 1691 ; married, April
3, 1712, Benjamin Porter. 3. John, born Octo
ber 18. 1695.
(IV) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1 ) Endi
cott, was born August 30, 1687. He was
baptized at adult age, at South Danvers,
September 30, 1716. He married (first-) his
cousin, Anna Endicott, December 20, 171 1.
She died in May, 1723, and he married (sec
ond) February 11, 1724, Margaret (Pratt)
FosterVwidow. He died in May, 1766, aged
seventy-nine, and is buried in the family bury
ing ground at Danvers. Children of first wife :
1. John, born April 29, 1713 ; mentioned below.
2. Sarah, born September 19, 171 5; died young.
3. Samuel, born March 12, 1717. 4- Sarah,
born 1719; married Dr. Benjamin Jones. 5.
Robert, born 1721 ; drowned ; unmarried. Chil
dren of second wife: 6. Margaret, born De
cember, 1724 (twin) ; married, June 30, 1743,
Hobart Clark. 7. Hannah (twin), born De
cember, 1724; married, September 10, 1769,
Francis Monroe. 8. Ann, born November,
1727; married, December 1, 1761, Thomas
Andrews. 9. Elias, born December, 1729. 10.
Joseph, born February, 1731. 11. Lydia, born
1734; married Peter Putnam. 12. Ruth, born

1739; married, December 19, 1765, Toseph
Dole ; died 1828.
(V) John (2), son of Samuel (2), Endi
cott, was baptized at the South Church, Dan
vers, June 9, 1717; died in 1783. He resided
on the Orchard Farm which contained the
Governor's homestead. He married, May 18,
1738, Elizabeth Jacobs, who died August, 1809,
aged ninety-one years. She was a woman of
great energy, and it is related of her that on
the day of the battle of Bunker Hill, when
Colonel Timothy Pickering halted his company
for a few minutes near the south meeting
house at Danvers, such was her impatience at
the delay that she walked up to the captain and
said : "Why on earth don't you march ; don't
you hear the guns at Charlestown ?" Children,
born at Danvers: 1. John, born 1739, men
tioned below. 2. Elizabeth, born 1741, died
young. 3. William, born 1742. 4. Robert,
born October 29, 1756.
(VI) John (3), son of John (2) Endicott,
was born at Danvers in 1739, baptized in the
South Church, June 7, 1741. He inherited the
Orchard Farm. He was a soldier in the revo
lution, second lieutenant in Captain Caleb
Low's company, (third Danvers), Colonel
Henry Herrick's regiment (Eight Essex
County) ; also lieutenant in Captain Asa
Prince's company, Colonel Timothy Picker
ing's regiment, which marched to Danbury,
Connecticut, via Providence, Rhode Island, in
1776; also second lieutenant in Captain Caleb
Low's company, in 1776. He died in Danvers,
March, 1816. He married Martha Putnam,
daughter of Samuel Putnam. She died Sep
tember, 1821, a woman of great purity and
strength of character, of blameless life and
speech. Children, born at Danvers : 1. Samuel,
born Tune, 1763, mentioned below. 2. John,
born January 13, 1765. 3. Moses, born March
19. 1767. 4. Ann. born January, 1769, mar
ried Solomon Giddings, of Beverly. 5. Eliz
abeth, born August, 1771, married James
Gray. 6. Jacob, born July 9, 1773. 7. Martha
(twin), born September, 1775, married Jere
miah Page, of Danvers. 8. Nathan (twin),
born September, 1775, died young. 9. Sarah,
born September, 1778, died unmarried. 10.
Rebecca, born May 20, 1780, married Daniel
Hardy, n. William, born 1782, died 1806.
12. Timothy, born July 27, 1785, married Har
riet Martin, of Sterling.
(VII) Samuel (3), son of John (3) Endi
cott, was born in Danvers, June, 1763, and
baptized November 1, 1767. He followed the
sea in his younger days, but retired. He

6,32

MASSACHUSETTS.

owned with his brothers the ancestral "Orchard
Farm" at Danvers, but lived at Salem. He
was prominent in public affairs and often
selectman. He represented the town in the
general court. At one time he and his five
brothers (John, Moses, Jacob, William and
Timothy) were in command of vessels sailing
from Salem. He died May i, 1828. He mar
ried, May 18, 1794, Elizabeth Putnam, daugh
ter of William Putnam, of Sterling, Massa
chusetts. She died November 9, 1841. Chil
dren, born at Salem: 1. Samuel, born March
13, 1795, at Danvers, died unmarried May 15,
1828, in Sterling. 2. Elizabeth, born April 28,
1797, at Salem; died February 6, 1866, in
Salem ; married, February, 1838, Augustus
Perry. 3. Martha, born November 27, 1799,
married, July 7, 1823, Francis Peabody; she
died March 12, 1891. 4. William Putnam,
born March 5, 1803, mentioned below. 5.
Clarissa, born December 16, 1807, married
September 5, 1827, George Peabody; she died
April 18, 1892.
(VIII) William Putnam, son of Samuel
(3) Endicott, was born at Salem, March 5,
1803, baptized March 13, 1803 ; died March
11, 1888. He was educated in the public
schools and at Harvard College, from which
he was graduated in the class of 1822. He
was a member of the Unitarian church. The
old Orchard Farm, upon which five genera
tions of Mr. Endicott's ancestors had tilled the
soil, was in Salem Village, now Danversport,
and was granted originally to Governor Endi
cott by the Court of Assistants, July 3, 1632.
It was passed down from father to eldest son
until 1828, when it was sold and remained out
of the family for sixty years, when it was
bought by a descendant of the governor.
Though somewhat diminished in size, this farm
is now the property of a member of the family
and the famous pear tree, said to have been
planted by the governor himself in 1635, still
bears fruit. Mr. Endicott lived in Salem in
the house formerly owned and occupied by his
wife's brother, Benjamin William Crownin-
shield, who was secretary of the navy, 1814-17,
under Madison and afterward a member of
Congress several years. He married, January
31, 1826, Mary Crowninshield, who died
March 13, 1838, daughter of Hon. Jacob
Crowninshield, great-granddaughter of Rich-
ter Caspar von Crounscheldt, who came from
Leipsic to Boston about 1688. Jacob Crown
inshield was a state senator in Massachusetts
1800 to 1802, and a prominent congressman
from 1802 to 1808. fle was appointed secre

tary of the navy by Jefferson at the begin
ning of the second term in 1805 and was
confirmed as such by the senate. Though his
commission is on file in the department of
state at Washington, he declined the office for
personal reasons — that he could not be absent
from his business and family all the year. The
correspondence between him and Jefferson on
this subject, on trade, on finance and on the
political aspect of parties in New England, is
very interesting, being partly preserved. His
career as sailor and sea captain (for he com
manded a ship when he was twenty-two years
old) was during that exciting period before
and after the French revolution when the arbi
trary decrees, paper blockades, seizures and
detentions of our ships and imprisonment of
our seamen seriously affected the commerce of
New England. In 1800 he had left the sea and
joined his father and brothers in the firm of
George Crowninshield & Sons. Jacob Crown
inshield died at Washington, April 15, 1808, at
the early age of thirty-eight years. After his
death his firm continued its foreign commerce
and took a conspicuous part in the war of
1812, arming and equipping several privateers,
one of which, the "America," made numerous
captures, fought some notable battles and
became famous, realizing her owners several
hundred thousand dollars in prize money. The
firm not only assisted the naval power of the
government but strained their resources to lend
money to the national treasury during the war.
Jacob Crowninshield married, June 5, 1796,
Sarah Gardner, daughter of John and Sarah
(Derby) Gardner. Mr. Endicott married
(second) December 4, 1844, Mrs. Harriet F.
Peabody, nee French, widow of Joseph W.
Peabody; she died March 18, 1886. Children
of first wife, born at Salem: 1. William
Crowninshield (baptized William Gardner),
born November 19, 1826, mentioned below. 2.
Mary Crowninshield, born February 4, 1830;
died February 26, 1833. 3. George Frederic.
born September 11, 1832, died January 11,
1833. 4. Sarah Rogers, born March 3, 1838,
married June 20, 1872, George Dexter.
(IX) Hon. William Crowninshield, son of
William Putnam Endicott, was born at
Salem, November 19, 1826, died in Boston,
May 6, 1900. From a sketch of his life con
tributed in 1902 to the Massachusetts Histor
ical Society by Charles Francis Adams, and
written by his son, William C. Endicott Jr..
the following is quoted :
"He was baptized July 1, 1827, by the Rev.
Dr. Flint, minister of the East Church at

MASSACHUSETTS.

633

Salem, William Gardner Endicott. After the
death of his uncle, William Crowninshield,
who was lost at sea while making a voyage
from Marseilles to Genoa, his name was
changed on April 19, 1837, by a special Act of
the Legislature, to William Crowninshield
Endicott." * * * "He was educated in the
public and private schools of Salem, and
entered Harvard college in 1843 from the
Salem Latin School. His scholarship was
above the average, and during his college life,
he acquired an unusual love for books which
gave him an extended knowledge and acquaint
ance with literature. He graduated from Har
vard in 1847. At his commencement, he deliv
ered a disquisition on 'Public Honors at Dif
ferent Ages.' During the last year of his col
lege life, it had been proposed that after grad
uation he should go to China, and enter one of
the firms which at that time was very pros
perous and appeared to have an unusual busi
ness opened for a young man * * * *
but he believed that law was his vocation, and
immediately after his graduation he began its
study in the office of Nathaniel J. Lord, at
that time one of the most prominent lawyers
in Salem. The winter of 1849-50 he spent at
the Harvard Law school, where he remained
for one year, and in 1850 was admitted to the
Essex County Bar. In 1853 he formed a co
partnership with Jairus Ware Perry, and for
twenty or more years the firm of Perry &
Endicott had a large portion of the legal prac
tice in Essex county. Mr. Perry confined
himself principally to office work, and Mr.
Endicott tried and argued the cases in court.
During these years he was active in local poli
tics and delivered political speeches in the
various towns of the county, and lectures upon
many subjects before the lyceums and other
societies. He also interested himself more or
less in the city government of Salem by serv
ing three terms in the Common Councii, 1852,
1853 and l&57> when on January 25, he was
unanimously elected president of the common
council. From 1858 to 1863 he was elected
city solicitor of Salem, and though after that
he does not seem to have been again elected
city solicitor, he served in that capacity from
time to time, through vote of the aldermen of
the city. For three yearsiie was the candidate
for Attorney General on the Democratic ticket,
with Theodore H. Sweetser in 1866, and with
John Quincy Adams in 1867 and 1868; and
in the autumn of 1870 he was the Democratic
candidate from the Fifth Congressional dis
trict for the 42nd Congress against Benjamin

F. Butler. In each of these years Mr. Endi
cott shared defeat with the other Democratic
candidates. On February 23, 1873, the Gen
eral Court of Massachusetts passed an act
increasing the number of Associate Justices of
the Supreme Judicial Court to six. At that
time no Democrat was upon the bench. Gov
ernor Washburn, a Republican governor,
appointed Mr. Endicott to fill the judgeship,
which has ever been considered a graceful and
public-spirited act. The appointment was a
great surprise to him, and his first knowledge
of the fact was when his friend and classmate,
the Hon. Charles Allen, asked him whether he
would accept the position from the governor.
The appointment was made on March 5, 1873.
During the next nine years Mr. Endicott
devoted his time and his strength to the work
of the court. For the most part his opinions
were written in his own handwriting. His
opinions (378 in number), are to be found in
the Massachusetts reports, Vols. 112-113, and
of these many opinions, written during the
nine years of his service as judge of the court,
'not one of his opinions has since been over
ruled.' The strain of this life told upon Mr.
Endicott's health, and in the spring of 1882 he
went to Europe. On October 25 of that year,
he resigned his seat upon the bench, and trav
elled abroad for some eighteen months. His
resignation was accepted by Governor Long
with the greatest regret. In the autumn of
1883 Mr. Endicott returned from Europe and
resumed the practice of law. Shortly after
wards he was retained as general counsel of
the New England Mutual Life Insurance
Company, which position he held for many
years. Originally a Whig in politics, he voted
for Taylor and Fillmore in 1848, and for Bell
and Everett in i860, and since those days
always supported the Democratic ticket. In
1884 he was nominated by the Democratic
convention at Worcester as its candidate for
governor. At first he refused the nomination,
but, finally, much against his will, accepted it
with the understanding that he should not
take the stump. Undoubtedly his prominence
as candidate for governor brought him to the
attention of President Cleveland, and in Feb
ruary, 1885, Mr. Cleveland sent for Mr. Endi
cott to come to Albany, when he offered him
a place in his cabinet as Secretary of War. He
accepted it, and his career in the War Depart
ment during the four years of Mr. Cleveland's
administration is now a matter of history. A
Board of Fortification and other Defences,
known as the Endicott Board, of which Mr.

634

MASSACHUSETTS.

Endicott was chairman, was created by an act
of Congress dated March 3, 1885. The work
of the board was long and laborious, and the
coast defences of the present day are the result
of the recommendations of this board.
"On his return to Massachusetts he resumed
his profession and was counsel in several
prominent cases ; but he never took up the
active work of his earlier years, and only
accepted a few of the most important cases
Which came to him.
"In 1867 he was one of nine trustees named
by George Peabody of London in his letter of
'Gift and Instrument of Trust' accompanying
a large donation for 'The Promotion of Science
and Useful Knowledge in the County of
Essex.' He was chosen vice-president of the
trustees, and the second president, and held
that office until his resignation in 1897. On
October 7, 1891, he was chosen' to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of Judge Charles
Devens as one of the trustees of the Peabody
Education Fund, and was appointed a member
of the executive committee. On April 6, 1897,
he resigned from this board." "He always
took a deep interest in the welfare of Harvard
College, and was elected a member of the
board of overseers from 1875 to 1876, from
1876 to 1882 and from 1883 to 1889. In 1885
he resigned for the reason that he had been
chosen a Fellow of the corporation in June,
1884. On Commencement Day, 1882, the
degree of LL. D. 'was conferred upon him in
glad recognition of his attainments, station and
influence.' On September 24, 1895, he
resigned from the corporation.
"In 1848 he was commissioned first lieuten
ant in the 6th Regiment of Light Infantry, 4th
Brigade, 2nd Division of Militia of the Com
monwealth, and, in 1850, captain. He was
president of the Salem Bank ; trustee of Salem
Savings Bank, president of Salem National
Bank ; resident member of Massachusetts His
torical Society ; honorary member of Phi Beta
Kappa Society, Alpha; trustee of Groton
school ; member of Saturday Club ; president
of Alumni Association of Harvard college;
member of committee of Supreme Court Cen
tennial celebration ; trustee of the Massachu
setts Eye and Ear Infirmary ; first president of
the University Club, Boston; member of the
Colonial Society of Massachusetts.
"His addresses, such as those delivered in
1867 upon the opening of the Peabody Acad
emy of Science in Salem, and in 1878 upon the
250th anniversary of the settlement of Salem,
were graceful, showed learning and refined

taste in the use of his language. He always
stood for what was best, and Was consistently
firm, impartial, dignified and just. He had a
righteous contempt for anything that was
mean or unworthy, and held those standards
which belong to the higher type of a New
England man. It has been often said that he
was born to be a judge, and he certainly filled
that office with dignity, patience, honor and
ability. Ip appearance he was tall and strik
ing, with dignity and repose of bearing, and
with unusual charm of manner, he attracted all
with whom he came in contact. Democratic
and simple in his tastes, he made lasting
friends among all classes."
The greater part of his life was spent in
Salem, where he lived until 1894, when he
moved to Danvers, and passed a large part of
the year there. He visited Europe several
times, but soon withdrew from active life. He
married, December 13, 1859, his cousin, Ellen
Peabody, daughter of George and Clara
(Endicott) Peabody, of Salem. Children: 1.
William Crowninshield, born September 28,
i860, mentioned below. 2. Mary Crownin
shield, born March 15, 1864, married, Novem
ber 15, 1888, Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain,
M. P., of Birmingham, England.
(X) William Crowninshield (2), son of
Hon. William Crowninshield (1) Endicott,
was born in Salem, September 28, i860. Mar
ried, October 3, 1889, Maria Louise Huron.

(For early generations see preceding sketch).
(VII) Captain Moses Endi-
ENDICOTT cott.son of John (3) Endicott,
was born at Danvers, March
19, 1767, baptized there November 1, 1767.
He died at Havana, Cuba, March 5, 1807. He
was educated in the public schools, and early
in life began to follow the sea, becoming an
able master mariner. He was cut off in the
prime of life, leaving a wife and five children.
He was an affectionate husband and kind
father and was sincerely mourned not only by
his family and friends but by the many poor
and unfortunate persons whom he had
befriended and helped. He married, in 1788,
Anna Towne. Children, born in Danvers :
1. Nancy, August 31, 1788, married Dr. George
Osgood. 2. Nathan, September 19, 1790. 3.
Charles Moses, December 6, 1793, mentioned
below. 4. Lewis Repillet, February 24, 1796,
died October 8, 1796. 5. Sarah, April 4, 1798,
died August 18, 1801. 6. Augusta, July 25,
1803, married Rev. B. B. Deane, D. D. ; she
died July 7, 1847. 7- Lewis, July 27, 1805.

MASSACHUSETTS.

635

(VIII) Charles Moses, son of Captain
Moses Endicott, was born December 6, 1793,
at Danvers. He entered upon a mercantile
career in the East India trade and accumu
lated a considerable fortune. He was cashier
of the Salem Bank, president of the East
India Marine Society, and a man of large
influence and ability. He married, June 8,
1818, Sarah Rolland Blythe. They resided in
Salem. Children: 1. Charles Edward, born
July 7, 1832. 2. Ingersoll Bowditch, May 17,
1835, mentioned below.
(IX) Ingersoll Bowditch, son of Charles
Moses Endicott, was born in Salem, May 17,
1835. He was educated in private schools in
Salem, and has lived a retired life. He mar
ried Ann Caroline Dennett, born at Standish,
Maine, February 3, 1839, died June 23, 1897,
daughter of Gardner and Eliza R. (Howe)
Dennett. Her father, Gardner Dennett, was
born June 14, 181 1, died February 11, 1887,
son of Samuel Dennett, born December 22,
1769, died February 22, 1884, and Mary
(Lowell) Dennett, born April 15, 1779, mar
ried, April 23, 1792.
The mother of Ann Caroline Dennett, Eliza
R. (Howe) Dennett, was born at Dorchester,
Massachusetts, February 20, 1812, died March
11, 1854. Children of Gardner and Eliza A.
(Howe) Dennett: i. Ann Caroline, married
Ingersoll B. Endicott, mentioned above; ii.
Mary Frances Dennett, born December 9,
1841, lives in Chicago; iii. Edwin Gardner
Dennett, born May 23, 1844, died September
11, 1869; iv. Frederic Oscar Dennett, born
December 17, 1847, nyes at Chicago, married,
June 24, 1869, Emeline Smith Crawford, and
had two daughters, Fannie C. Dennett, born
August 19, 1881, died February 17, 1884, and
Mary Crawford Dennett, born July 3, 1885,
died March 18, 1903. Children of Ingersoll B.
and Ann Caroline (Dennett) Endicott: 1.
George Gardner, born at Standish, Maine,
September 19, 1857, mentioned below. 2.
Eliza Howe, August 6, 1859, in Standish,
Maine, married, December 11, 1881, Charles
Edward Rich; residing in New York City;
children: i. Endicott G. Rich, born March 17,
1883 ; ii. Carleton Wheeler Rich, born Febru
ary 17, 1885. 3. Carrie Ingersoll, September
25, 1862, in Boston, married, June 24, 1885,
Frank Oakley Thissell, of Bangor, Maine;
child, Frank O. Thissell Jr., born October 15,
1889, in Boston; they live in Boston. 4. Emma
Crawford, Boston, October 4, 1866, died in
Boston, September 2, 1868.
(X) George Gardner, son of Ingersoll

Bowditch Endicott, was born in Standish,
Maine, September 19, 1857. He came to
Salem with his parents when very young and
later moved to Boston and was educated there.
He was connected with the firm of Chickering
& Sons, 791 Tremont street, Boston, manufac
turers of pianos, until May, 1899, when he
resigned from that position and has since been
actively engaged in the copper mining business,
being secretary and treasurer of a number of
mining corporations. His office is at 60 State
street, Boston. He resides in that section of
Boston known as Longwood. He married, in
Boston, June 30, 1891, Emily Cunningham, of
Wiscasset. Their only child is John, born at
Newtonville, Massachusets, February 3, 1894.
The first date now known in
BARNEY the history of this family, is
1601. It is evident that the an
cestors lived for some time in England, and
also that the American immigrant came to
Massachusetts for the same purpose as did
nearly every other person who settled in New
England at that time — the opportunity to wor
ship God according to the dictates of his own
conscience. The fortitude, determination, and
high principles thus involved are characteristics
which have come down through the genera
tions and are still clearly apparent in his de
scendants. (I) Edward Barney, of Bradenham, county
of Bucks, England, in his will dated 1643,
made a bequest to his son Jacob, "if he be
living at the time of my death, and come over
to England. ''
(II) Jacob Barney, undoubtedly the one
above referred to in the will of Edward Barney,
was born in England, in 1601, and in 1634
came to Salem, Massachusetts, where he was
made a freeman, May 14, 1634, and died April
28, 1673, aged seventy-two years. His wife,
whose baptismal name was Elizabeth, survived
him. He opposed the sentence of the general
court against those who petition for freer
franchise. This indicates that he was more
liberal in theology than were most of his con
temporaries. At a town meeting held Febru
ary 2, 1639, Jacob Barney was granted fifty
acres of meadow, and was. granted an addi
tional fifty acres January 28,m6so. His name
appears often in the early records of Salem
as an appraiser of estates, and also on a peti
tion dated June 29, 1658, and recorded in
Salem county court papers. A well known
writer says of Jacob: "An intelligent mer
chant, often selectman and deputy to the gen-

636

MASSACHUSETTS.

eral court, 1635-38-47-53-65, and served on
the first grand jury that ever sat in this coun
try. The loss of such men as Mr. Barney is
not easily supplied." Following is brief men
tion of the children of Jacob and Elizabeth
Barney: 1. Jacob, mentioned below. 2. Sarah,
married John Grover, May 13, 1656; died in
November, 1662. 3. Hannah, wife of John
Cromwell, of Salem, who died in September,
1700, and mentions in his will his wife, but no
children. 4. John, baptized in Salem, De
cember 15, 1639; died before his father.
(Ill) Jacob (2), eldest child of Jacob (1)
and Elizabeth Barney, was born in England,
and must have been a child when he. came with
his parents to Massachusetts. At a meeting
of the seven men, April 5, 1652, he was grant
ed thirty acres of land to be laid out with fifty
acres formerly granted to his father. It is
probable that he had just attained his majority
at this time. After 1673 he removed to Bristol,
and was subsequently a resident of Rehoboth,
where he died February 12, 1693, probably
about sixty-two years of age. flis will was
made July 13 preceding his death, and was
probated eight days after his demise, his wife
Ann being executrix. He became a Baptist
clergyman, and founded churches in Charles
town and Swansea, and is probably the one
who in 1668 was one of the founders of the
first Baptist societies in Boston. He was mar
ried (first) Salem, by Major Hathorne, Au
gust 18, 1657, to Hannah Johnson, who died
June 5, 1659, leaving an infant daughter Han
nah, who died young. He was married (sec
ond) April 26, 1660, by Captain Marshall, to
Ann Witt, who survived him more than eight
years, and died in Rehoboth, March 17, 1701.
She was a daughter of Jonathan and Sarah
Witt, of Lynn. The children of the second
wife were: 1. Hannah, born March 2, 1661,
in Salem, probably married Joshua .Boynton,
of Newbury, April 9, 1678, and died before
1681. 2. Sarah, September 12, 1662, in Salem,
married Henry Hampton. 3. Abigail, Octo
ber 31, 1663, in Salem, married Peter Marshall,
of Newbury. 4. John, mentioned below. 5.
Jacob, born May 21, 1667, in Salem, died be
fore 1692. 6. Ruth, September 27, 1669, was
unmarried in 1688. 7. Dorcas, April 22, 1671,
in Salem, married Daniel Throope, August 23,
1689, and died before 1697. 8. Joseph, March
9, 1673, in Salem, married in September, 1692,
Constance Davis, of Haverhill, lived in Swan
sea, and died at Rehoboth, February 5, 1731.
9. Israel, June 17, 1675, married November
18, 1696, Elizabeth Barrett, and lived in Reho

both. 10. Jonathan, March 29, 1677, married
Sarah Griffin; lived in Rehoboth. 11. Samuel,
February 10, 1679, was living in 1692. 12.
Hannah, October 6, 1681.
(IV) John, eldest son of Jacob (2) and
Ann (Witt) Barney, was born June 1, 1665,
in Salem, and died in May, 1728, in Taunton,
Massachusetts. He lived in Bristol, Rhode
Island, in Swansea and Rehoboth, Massachu
setts, and removed to Taunton in 1710. There
he bought the house and land of John Rogers,
formerly the residence of Robert Thornton,
one of the first purchasers of Taunton. Little
is found in the records concerning him, but
it is known that he was at one time a deputy
sheriff. He married, November 4, 1686, Mary,
daughter of Deacon William Throope, of Bris
tol, Rhode Island, and the following children
are enumerated in his will, dated May 25,
1728: 1. Sarah, born October 28, 1705, at
Bristol, Rhode Island, married James Will
iams, and was living in 1638. 2. Mary, mar
ried, William Carpenter. 3. John, died in
infancy. 4. Elizabeth, married Peter Caswell.
5. Annah, married William Leonard. 6. Jacob,
married a daughter of Samuel Danforth. 7.
John, married Mary, daughter of Thomas
Leonard. 8. William, subject of the next
paragraph. 9. Joseph, who had wife Susanna.
10. Jonathan, married Anna Dean.
(V) William, fourth son of John and Mary
(Throope) Barney, was born March 26, 1701,
in Bristol, and died prior to November 26,
1763, in Taunton, Massachusetts. He was
called Elder William, through his connection
with the church. He married Anna Williams,
born in 1 708, daughter of Emanuel Williams,
of Taunton. Children : Jonathan, William,
Syble, Anna and Joseph. The eldest daughter
married Ephraim Pray, November 14, 1763.
(VI) William (2), second son of William
(1) and Anna (Williams) Barney, was prob
ably born in Taunton, and was a blacksmith
in that town. The records of that town were
destroyed by fire in 1838, and it is impossible
to determine the time or place of his birth. He
married (first) August 10, 1760, in Taunton,
Margaret Sandford, who probably lived but
a short time thereafter. The date of his sec
ond marriage is unknown, but his wife,
Wealtha Staples, was born March 22, 1759.
He died before December 27, 1826, on which
date his widow "Wealtha married Captain Seth
Keith, of Middleboro, Massachusetts. She
died July 23, 1854, in Berkley, Massachusetts.
The children of William Barney by the first
wife are noted as follows: 1. Benjamin, born

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t>37

about 1760; married, December 11, 1783, Deb
orah Crapo, at Taunton. 2. William, born
about 1762; married Mercy Crapo, in Taun
ton, February 10, 1784, and died in Jeffer
son county, New York. 3. George, born May
24, 1766; married, January 1, 1792, in Taun
ton, Waitstill Crapo, and died January 14,
1853, at Collins, Erie county, New York. 4.
Anna, married Consider Crapo, April 23, 1795,
at Taunton, and died in Victory, Cayuga
county, New York. 5. Joshua, born March 2,
1778; married, September 6, 1804, in Taunton,
Chloe Caswell, and died April 29, 1861, in
Springfield, Massachusetts. He is buried near
the Pine street entrance of Peabody cemetery
in that town. Following is a brief account of
their children: i. Chloe, born May 6, 1805,
in Savoy, Massachusetts, married Ebenezer
Dawes, May 15, 1833, and died October 17,
1863 ; had Rosalie C, Chloe E. and Vesta, ii.
Sarah A., October 25, 1809; married Francis
Bates, and died January 20, 1877, in Spring-
. , field, surviving by seventeen years her hus
band, who died January 21, i860; both are
buried in Springfield cemetery, iii. Wealthy,
August 9, 1812, married William Dunham, in
1845, and died August 13, 1876, leaving no
issue. The children of William (2) Barney,
by his second wife were Polly, Jairus Sidney
and Wealthy. The elder daughter, born Feb
ruary 17, 1798, married, February 29, 1818,
Phillip, son of Ephraim and Phoebe Caswell,
and died December 5, 1859. Phillip Caswell
was born December 15, 1790, and survived his
wife a little more than a month, dying January
10, i860. The younger daughter married Will
iam Paull, of Lakeville, Massachusetts.
(VII) Jairus Sidney, fifth son of William
(2) Barney, and only son by his second wife,
was born February 4, 1799, in Taunton, and
died in Saxonville-Framingham, Massachu-
; ; setts, December 27, 1859. He resided in Saxon-
ville, a village of Framingham, Massachusetts,
where he was a manufacturer of machinery for
woolen mills, and made several important im
provements in looms and spinning machinery
that are still used in some of the largest mills
in the country. He married, October 14, 1827,
in Saxonville-Framingham, Harriet, daughter
of Joel Hosmer. She was born February 5,
1805, in Acton, Massachusetts, and died in
Saxonville-Framingham, Massachusetts, Au
gust 16, 1847. Her family was long resident
in that place, and some of its members fought
in the battle of Lexington. Their children are
noted as fellows: 1. Edward H., died in
infancy. 2. Susan, born May 14, 1830; mar

ried D. H. Byrnes, and died December 3, i860.
3. William H, December 28, 1631, was drown
ed April 4, 1857. 4. Edward A., was drowned
before two years and six months old. 5.
Everett Hosmer is the subject of the next
paragraph. 6. George Washington, January
26, 1838, in Saxonville-Framingham. 7. Eu
gene PI., August 11, 1840, in Saxonville-Fram
ingham ; died before twenty-one years old. 8.
Helen Cordelia, October 30, 1842; died before
nineteen. 9. Adel Viola, May 7, 1845.
(Vii) Everett Hosmer (3), son'of Jairus
and Harriet (Hosmer) Barney, was born De
cember 7, 1835, in Saxonville-Framingham,
Massachusetts. He was educated at the public
schools and at the academy of his native town,
after which he engaged in business with his
father until 1857, when he became a con
tractor on locomotive work for Hinkley &
Drury, of Boston, Massachusetts. While en
gaged in this work Mr. Barney conceived the
idea of fastening skates by a metal clasp, en
tirely dispensing with the old method of straps
and buckles, fle took out his first patent on
this design in 1864, and this was followed by a
series of patents. In 1864 Mr. Barney was
engaged by James C. Warner, of Springfield,
Massachusetts, who had a large government
contract for the manufacture of guns, to assist
in completing the contract. At the close of
the civil war Mr. Barney turned his attention
to the manufacture of his own inventions, and
formed a partnership with Mr. John Berry,
an old friend, who had been his coworker for
several years. They rented the premises
vacated by Mr. Warner after the completion
of his contract, and after two years Mr. Barney
bought out his partner's interest, retaining,
however, the old firm name of Barney &
Berry. The business grew rapidly, and Mr.
Barney erected the present factory on Broad
street, in Springfield, in 1872. This is equipped
with every modern improvement, and the
Barney & Berry skates have a world-wide
reputation. Mr. Barney invented a perforat
ing machine for stamping out the amount pay
able on bank checks, and took out a patent
for it. This machine stamps out any amount
from one dollar to one million dollars, and also
such words as "cancelled," "paid," etc. By his
industry and shrewd management Mr. Barney
acquired a large fortune, and in 1882 he pur
chased one hundred and ten acres of land in
the southern part of Springfield, adjoining
what is now known as Forest Park. On this
he erected a handsome residence on the side
commanding a superb view of the Connecticut

638

MASSACHUSETTS.

river valley. The grounds have been laid out
with great care, and contain many rare and
valuable trees and shrubs improved from
Europe, Egypt, China, Japan and India. His
lotus and lily ponds contain many choice and
beautiful specimens. Mr. Barney intended his
beautiful home to pass to his only child, George
Murray, born in 1863, but his death in 1889
decided Mr. Barney to present the place to the
city of Springfield as a memorial of his son,
reserving the right to occupy it as a home dur
ing his life and that of his wife. By this gift
Springfield acquires one of the most beautiful
parks in the country, with a magnificent view
of the Connecticut river, extending from the
Longmeadow line to the South End Bridge,
491 1 feet along the river front, including all
rights and privileges of the harbor line, un
surpassed for rustic scenery, rare trees, shrubs
and aquatic plants, numerous ponds, brooks,
rivulets, and drives, and which is being con
tinually improved and beautified by its gener
ous donor, to whom it will be a living monu
ment. Mr. Barney was instrumental in secur
ing the passage of a bill through the legislature,
entitled "An Act to annex a part of the Town
of Longmeadow to the City of Springfield."
The benefits secured by this bill were in the
interest of Forest Park improvements. Mr.
Barney has a winter home in Osprey, Manatee
county, Florida.
He married Eliza J. Knowles, born June 30,
1830, in Belfast, Maine, died April 29, 1905,
at Osprey, Florida. She was a daughter of
Lafayette Knowles, who was born 1799, in
Northport, Maine, was a farmer by occupation,
and died May 18, 1865. His wife, Eliza
Crockett, was born in 1804, in Canterbury,
New Hampshire, and died December 28, 1876
The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Barney,
George Murray, was born March 27, 1863,
and died May 29, 1889.

The Hosmers are an old Eng-
HOSMER lish family, and first appeared
in New England in 1633,
when Thomas Hosmer was one of the pro
prietors of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was
made freeman in 1635, but afterward removed
to Connecticut and founded the Hartford
family of that surname whose representatives
are now scattered throughout the country.
Thomas Hosmer was a brother of the immi
grant ancestor of the family here treated, and
preceded him to America about two years.
(I) James Hosmer, immigrant, brother of
Thomas Hosmer, was born in England in

1607, and is said to have come from Hock-
hurst, Kent, in 1635, in the ship "Elizabeth,"
with his wife Ann, aged twenty-seven, and chil
dren Marie and Ann, and two serving women.
He was a clothier by trade, and settled in Cam
bridge, Massachusetts, where he was admitted
freeman in 1637, and owned land before 1638.
This he soon sold and removed to Concord,
where he died February 7, 1685. His first wife
Ann was born in 1608, and after her death
he married Mary  , who died in May,
1641. He married (third) Elinne (Ellen, also
mentioned as Alice)  , who died March
3, 1664-5. His children: 1. Mary, born 1633,
died young. 2. Ann, 1635, died young. 3.
James, 1637 ; slain in engagement with the
Indians at Sudbury, April 21, 1676, in King
Philip's war. 4. Mary, born January 10, 1639;
died August 18, 1642. 5. Stephen (by wife
Alice), born November 27, -1642 (see post).
6. Hannah, born 1644; died December 15,
1675 ; married Joseph Hayward. 7. Mary,
born April 14, 1646; married Thomas Smith.
(II) Stephen, son of James Hosmer, was
born in Concord, Massachusetts, November
27, 1642. He settled in Concord, and was
admitted freeman of the colony in 1690. He
died there December 15, 1714. He married,
March 24, 1667, Abigail Wood, of Concord,
daughter of Michael Wood, granddaughter of
William Wood, the immigrant of Concord.
Children of Stephen and Abigail Hosmer: 1.
Mary, born May 2, 1668; married (first) Sam
uel; (second) John Bellows. 2. Abigail, born
November 6, 1669; died December 27, 1717;
married George Wheeler. 3. John, born Au
gust 31, 1671 ; died 1751 ; married Mary Bill
ings. 4. Ruth, born August 28, 1675. 5.
Dorothy, born December 10, 1677; married
John Wheeler. 6. Stephen, born June 27,
1680 (see post). 7. Hannah, born December
9, 1682. 8. James, born June 27, 1685 ; died
September 28, 1685.
(Ill) Stephen (2), son of Stephen (1)
Plosmer, was born in Concord, Massachusetts,
June 27, 1680. He removed to Acton, or rather
he lived in that part of Concord that became
the town of Acton. He married, February
26, 1707, Prudence Billings, died 1770, daugh
ter of Nathaniel and Jane (Bannister) Billings.
Children: 1. Prudence, born about 1709; mar
ried Thomas Hosmer. 2. Captain Stephen,
Jr., married (first) Millicent Wood; (second)
Elizabeth Farrar. 3. Jonathan, born March
29, 1 712. 4. Josiah. 5. Jane. 6. Ephraim.
(IV) Ephraim, son of Stephen (2) and
Prudence (Billings) Hosmer, was born in

yurscyi/

MASSACHUSETTS.

639

Acton, November 22, 1722, and died there
March 16, 181 1. He married (intentions
April 28, 1753) Sarah, born in Acton, Janu
ary 5, 1733, died October 2, 1823, daughter of
Samuel Jones, of Acton. Children: Sarah,
born November t, 1754; Ephraim, June 22,
1756; Prudence, September 6, 1758; Samuel,
September 11, 1761 ; Silas, September 30,
1763; James, January 14, 1766; Amos, De
cember 27, 1767; Joel, May 27, 1770; Charles,
April 23, 1772; Artemas, December 27, 1773.
(V) Joel, son of Ephraim and Sarah (Jones)
Hosmer, was born May 27, 1770, and died
April 14, 1830. He married Esther Wheeler,
of Acton, born June 27, 1767, died Novem
ber 8, 1844. Children: 1. Rebecca, born
March 27, 1797, died August 14, 1844. 2.
Nancy, born September 7, 1799, died June 1,
1884. 3. James, born March 30, 1802, died
October 30, 1861. 4. Harriet, born in Acton,
February 5, 1805, died in Saxonville-Framing
ham, August 16, 1847 ; married Jairus Barney,
October 14, 1827 (q. v.). 5. Edmund, born
September 8, 1807, died May 5, 1843. 6.
Ephraim, bora November 26, 1812, died March
5, i87i- 
The surname Marsh has been
MARSH common in England ever since
the use of surnames. . It is un
doubtedly a place name. Families of the name
of Marsh were numerous in counties Norfolk,
Suffolk, York, Kent, Essex, and in Wiltshire
and Ireland. Sir Thomas Marsh, who lived
in 1660, bore these arms, Which, with slight
variations, were borne by many different fami
lies of the same name : Gules, a horse's head
couped between three crosses bottonee fitchee
argent. At least six immigrants of the name
of Marsh came to New England before 1650.
John Marsh, of Braintree, county Essex,
England, father of the American immigrant,
was a clothier. His will was dated April 15,
1627, and proved May 29, 1627. He bequeath
ed to the poor of the parish three pounds. To
Samuel Collyn, minister, etc., fifty shillings.
To William Waslin, which was .my late ser
vant I and kinsman, forty shillings, and to
, Joseph Waslin his father, one suite of apparel,
vix. /one doublet, one pair of breeches, one pair
of stockings and one hat. To Francis Waslin,
my sister, now the wife of Joseph Waslin,
twenty shillings a year for life. To my servant
Jeremy Mannyng ten shillings. To Richard,
Mary and Thomasin Outing, one of the sons
and [two of the daughters of Richard Outing,
my brother-in-law, twenty shillings apiece. To

every one of my daughters Sarah, Mary, Grace
and Lydia, one hundred pounds apiece at their
several ages of nineteen years. To Grace my
wife all such lands, houses and buildings which
herein I do give to Joseph Marsh, my son, until
he come to his age of one and twenty years,
for and towards the bringing up of my chil
dren. To my said Joseph the messuage or tene
ment with the two orchards &c. in Branktrey,
now or late in the occupation of Thomas Plud-
son, and all those copyhold lands, fields or
closes in the said parish now or late in the
occupation of Richard Bedwell, and the three
fields or closes commonly called the broom-
fields, in said parish, now or late in my own
occupation, when he shall come to his age of
twenty and one years. All the rest of my
messuages, lands etc. for and towards the
bringing up of all my children, and I wholly
give them to the said John Marsh. To Sarah
Bawldwin, widow, ten shillings. To my son,
Samuel Marsh, four hundred pounds to be
paid unto the hands of my good friends Adrian
Mott and John Marryon, of Branktrey,
clothiers, upon trust &c. to purchase land or
houses (to that value) to the use of my wife
Grace until Samuel shall come to his age of
one and twenty and then to my said son. The
residue of all my goods I give to my wife and
children (equally). My said wife to be exe
cutrix. The will of his wife Grace was dated Janu
ary 29, 1657, and proved May 22, 1667, and
shows conclusively the relationship with the
immigrant. "To my son Joseph Marsh all
that copyhold messuage or tenement in In-
gateston, Essex, with all the houses &c. and
all the lands belonging, containing fifty acres,
more or less, provided he pay the several
legacies mentioned in the will. To my son-in-
law, Nathaniel Tyers, and Grace, now his
wife, my daughter, seven pounds yearly during
their lives and the longer liver of them both,
and after that to the heirs of the body of the
said Grace, lawfully begotten, three score
pounds. And for want of such heirs of the
said Grace the said Joseph shall pay or cause
to be paid unto so many of the children of my
son, John Marsh, now in New England, as
shall be living at the time of my decease the
sum of three score pounds at their several
ages of one and twenty. And he shall pay to
my daughter Lidia, the wife of William Mar
tin, seven pounds yearly, for her life, and after
that to so many of her children as shall be liv
ing at the time of my decease the sum of three
score pounds (at their ages etc). And my

640

MASSACHUSETTS.

son Joseph shall keep my brother, William
Baldwin, during his natural life, at his own
proper cost and charges or else pay unto him
yearly the sum of six pounds, during his life.
And after the decease of the said William
Baldwin, my brother, the said Joseph shall
pay unto my grandchild, John Marsh, the son
of my said son John, thirty pounds, when he
shall attain unto the age of one and twenty
years, and shall likewise pay to my grand
child, William Martin, the son of my son-in-
law, William Martin, and Lidia my daughter,
thirty pounds (when of age) and shall pay to
the said John Marsh, my son, thirty pounds.
To Joseph all my freehold meadow or parcel
of land in Branctree containing two acres,
more or less, with remainder to my son John
&c. Certain household goods to son John.
To grandchild, Grace Marsh, the daughter of
son John, a stitched white cupboard cloth and
a green Kersey cupboard cloth. To Samuel,
son of my son John, a feather bed and bolster
that my son John lieth on. To Grace my
daughter a pair of Virginalls (and certain
household stuff) during her life and after her
decease if not leaving issue, to the children of
my daughter Lidia &c. To John Sharp, my
grandchild, ten pounds to be paid in three
years. To Mr. Algar, now minister of Branc
tree, twenty shillings and I desire him to
preach at my funeral. To the poor of Branc
tree forty shillings. Son Joseph to be execu
tor. To summarize the family, showing the connec
tion : John Marsh, of Braintree, England,
married Grace Baldwin, sister of William
Baldwin. Children: 1. Sarah. 2. Mary. 3.
Grace, married Nathaniel Tyers. 4. Lidia,
married William Martin. 5. Joseph, remained
in England. 6. John, the immigrant, mention
ed below. 7. Samuel.
(I) John Marsh, immigrant ancestor of
this branch of the family, was born in Eng
land in 1618, and is said to have come to New
England in 1635, going first to Cambridge. He
is supposed to have gone with Hooker's com
pany the next year to Hartford, where he
became one of the first settlers. He had
grants of land for himself and for others in
1639-40. His home lot was No. 16, on the
north side of the stream that now runs through
Bushnell Park, where Temple and Front
streets now cross. He had other grants later,
one tract, "Up Neck," on Windsor avenue,
Hartford, is now in possession of one of his
direct descendants, He was a proprietor of
the common lands. He was a leading citizen

of Hartford, one of the five higher magistrates
in 1639, holding office until 1655, when
he became deputy governor. After serv
ing as governor in 1656, he resumed the
office pf magistrate, which he held until
1659. He removed at this time to Had
ley, Massachusetts. He was dismissed from
the Hartford church, July 11, 1656, his re
moval being caused by church differences. He
had lot No. 34 in Hadley, and was one of the
selectmen in 1675. He was one of the original
members of tHe Northampton church, June
18, 1661. His will was dated March 3, 1687-
88, and proved December 4, 1688. He mar
ried (first) in Hartford, 1640, Anne Webster,
daughter of Governor John Webster. She
died June 9, 1662. He married second, Octo
ber 7, 1664, Hepzibah (Ford) Lyman, widow
of Richard Lyman, and daughter of Thomas
Ford, of Hartford. John Marsh died Septem
ber 28, 1688, at Windsor, Connecticut, prob
ably while on a visit to his daughter, Hannah
Loomis, and is buried in the old churchyard.
Children of first wife: 1. John, born about
1643, mentioned below. 2. Samuel, born about
1645, married Mary Allison. 3. Joseph, bap
tized January 24, 1647. 4- Isaac, baptized
July 15, 1649, died young. 5. Jonathan, born
September, 1649, married Dorcas Dickinson,
widow. 6. Daniel, married Hannah Lewis.
7. Hannah, married Joseph Loo-mis. 8. Grace,
married Timothy Baker. Children of second
wife : 9. Lydia, born October 9, 1667, married
David Loomis. An adopted daughter, Grace
Martin, daughter of his sister Lidia (Marsh)
Martin. ' | I j
(II) John (2), son of John (1) Marsh,
was born about 1643 in Hartford, died in 1727.
He lived in Hartford and Hadley. He mar
ried (first) November 28, 1666, Sarah Lyman,
of Northampton, daughter of Richard and
Hepsibah (Ford) Lyman. After his marriage
he returned to Hartford and lived on the
Marsh homestead. He was selectman in 1677-
81-87-88-94 and 1 70 1. In 1700 he was on a
committee to build a bridge over the Hocka
num river in East Hartford. His will was
dated 1726 and proved August 1, 1727. He
was called sergeant. He married (second)
January 1, 1707-8, Susannah Butler, who died
December 24, 1714. Children by first wife:
1. John, born 1668, mentioned below. 2. Na
thaniel, baptized March 5, 1671, married Eliz-
beth Spencer. 3. Joseph, baptized March 5,
1 67 1, married, 1720, Hannah  . 4. Sarah,
baptized February 17, 1673, married John Mer
rill. 5. Elizabeth, baptized June 27, 1675. 6.

MASSACHUSETTS.

641

Hannah, baptized December 3, 1677, died
young. 7. Ebenezer, baptized February 23,
1679. 8. Hannah, baptized April 10, 1681,
married Deacon Olmsted, baptized January 13,
1684. 10. Hepzibah, baptized June 6, 1686,
married Jonathan Wadsworth. 11. Jonathan,
baptized August 7, 1688, married (first) Eliz
abeth Wadsworth; (second) Elizabeth Loomis.
Child of second wife : 12. Susannah, born
February 5, 1710-11.
(Ill) Captain John (3), son of John (2)
Marsh, was born in Hadley or Northampton,
in 1668, and removed when young with his
parents to Hartford. He was selectman there
in 1704-10-14. He was chosen to explore the
land for the new plantation which became
Litchfield. He was commissioned lieutenant
May 17, 1717, and in May, 1722, captain and
justice of the peace for Litchfield. He was
the first on the list of proprietors there, and
had the second choice of lots. He chose next
to Bantam river, where he was appointed to
erect a grist mill. He had command of a
garrison of thirty men for defense against the
Indians. He returned to Hartford again and
was selectman in 1730 and 1735. He was
also deputy to the general court, associate
judge of the county court, justice of the peace,
member of the council of war. He was order
ed in 1732 by the general court to build a
church for the second society of Farmington,
and was appointed by Hartford to lay out two
Connecticut towns. He died at Hartford,
October 1, 1744, and was buried by the side
of his second wife in the old burying ground
by Centre church, where their gravestones
may still be seen. He married (first) Decem
ber 12; 1695, Mabel Pratt, who died June 6,
1696. He married (second) January 6, 1698,
Elizabeth Pitkin, who died December 1, 1748.
Children: 1. John, born January 31, 1699-
1700, aged thirteen. 2. Ebenezer, born No
vember 3, 1 701, married Deborah Buell. 3.
Elizabeth, born November 20, 1703, married
(first) John Bird;, (second)  Cook. 4.
Williarji, baptized July 1, 1706, married Sus
anna Webster. 5. George, baptized February
29, 1708, married Lydia Bird. 6. Isaac, born
Novetnber 8, 1709, married Susanna Pratt. 7.
John, born October 20, 1712, married Sarah
Webster. 8. Timothy, born October 1, 1714,
married Sarah Nott. 9. Hezekiah, mentioned
below. (IV) Captain Hezekiah, son of Captain
John (3) Marsh, was born April 26, and bap
tized May 1, 1720, in Hartford. He went
with his parents to Litchfield, where his boy-
ii-6

hood was spent. Pie settled in Hartford and
became a prominent man there. He succeeded
to his father's business and the account book
kept by them both is still in existence, and was
owned at last accounts by his great-grandson,
John E. Marsh, of Hartford. In his will he
freed his negro slave girl, when she became
twenty-six years of age. He died in 1791,
aged seventy-one. He married (first) De
cember 1, 1744, Christian Edwards, born 1727,
died June 16, 1770, daughter of John Edwards.
He married (second) Elizabeth Jones, who
died October 26, 1788, widow of Levi Jones,
of Hartford. He married (third) Hannah
Tiley, who died 1789, widow of Samuel Tiley.
Children, all by first wife: 1. Jerusha, born
August 28, 174 — , married Joseph Wadsworth.
2. John, bora November 6, 1749, died young.
3. Abigail, born November 29, 1750, married
Theodore Skinner; died 1808. 4. John, born
October 4, 1753, mentioned below. 5. Chris
tian, born August 8, 1755, married Captain
Charles Merrill. 6. Son, born and died 1759.
7. Anne, born June 10, 1761, married 
Bunce. 8. Iiezekiah, born March 2, 1763,
married Sarah Burnham.
(V) John (4), son of Captain Hezekiah
Marsh, was born in Hartford, October 4, 1753,
died in 181 7. He served in the revolution
under Colonel Swift from June 24 to Decem
ber 13, 1780, in North Hartford, and in the
Third Regiment from August 27 to December
24, 1 78 1. He married, in 1783, Susan Bunce,
born 1765, died 1827, daughter of Timothy
Bunce, of Hartford. Children: 1. John, born
April 24, 1784, died December 13, 1862; mar
ried, 1829, Chlora Mills. 2. Susan, born Au
gust 12, 1786, died 1812; married, 1810, Sam
uel Beckwith. 3. Edwards, born June 15, 1788,
married Mary Ann Eggleston. 4.' Michael,
born March 27, 1790,. mentioned below. 5.
Abigail, born March 9, 1792, died 1866; mar
ried, 1817, Palmer Clark. 6. Ferderick, born
January 3, 1794, married Harriet Hills. 7.
Guy C, born August 4, 1796, married Lamira
Way. 8. Timothy B., born October 13, 1799,
married Abby Hubbard. 9. James E., born
December 25, 1801, married Eliza Capen.
(VI) Michael, son of John (4) Marsh, was
born in Hartford, March 27, 1790. He was a
leading merchant in Hartford of the firm of
Allyn & Marsh. About 1840 he removed to
West Springfield, where he kept a country
store and was postmaster. He also served as
town clerk and treasurer there until his death,
July 21, 1847. Interred in churchyard in West
Springfield. He married, in 1828, Catherine

642

MASSACHUSETTS.

Allyn, born July 8, 1793, died 1849, daughter
of Colonel Job and Abigail (Mather) Allyn.
(See Allyn and Mather families). Children:
1. Jane C, born December 11, 1829, married
(first) George W. Rice; (second) Rev. C. L.
Eastman. 2. Charles, born April 13, 1832,
mentioned below. 3. Oliver, born February
27, 1835, married Ella C. Ricker. 4. Daniel
Jay, born July 27, 1837, mentioned elsewhere.
(VII) Charles, eldest son of Michael and
Catherine (Allyn) Marsh, was born in Hart
ford, Connecticut, April 13, 1832, and died in
Springfield, Massachusetts, November 27,
1891. (The following sketch of him is taken
with slight change from the "Biographical Re
view," of Hampden County, published in
1895). He began to learn business at an early
age in his father's store and postoffice, where
he soon mastered the routine work of the latter
institution, and at fifteen years of age was vir
tually postmaster. The death of his father and
mother brought early responsibilities upon his
shoulders, and as a lad of seventeen he found
himself face to face with the serious problems
of life, and though still a boy he was the head
of a family. By a diligent use of time, shared
between hard work and study, he began to
prepare for college. He attended the West-
field Academy, and in 1851 was ready to enter
Williams College. Though his preparation had
been meagre his natural scholarship and his
determination to succeed enabled him not only
to take a creditable place in his studies, but
soon to become the recognized leader of his
class. He proved his scholarly ability by leav
ing college and working throughout his junior
year and still retaining the lead in his class,
graduating valedictorian of the class of 1855,
with John J. Ingalls, late United States senator
of Kansas, as his foremost rival for the first
honor. The associations of his college life he
always cherished, and William College and all
its interests were ever dear to him. There
was an uncommon bond between him and his
beloved president, and the death of Mark
Hopkins in later years came to him with
peculiar meaning. Leaving college with a rec
ord which could hardly have been more full of
promise, Charles Marsh took up his residence
in Springfield, and, after a short time spent in
teaching, entered upon a business career. In
1857 he was chosen treasurer of the Five Cents
Savings Bank, and two years later he was
given the position of secretary of the Hamp
den Fire Insurance Company. He served that
organization until dissolution at the time of
the great Portland fire, and then as associated

with Dr. J. C. Pynchon in a general insurance
business. In 1866 he was elected cashier of
the Pynchon National Bank, and continued as
an officer in that institution to the time of his
death. The responsibility of the bank soon
fell upon him, owing to the advancing years
of the president. Colonel H. N. Case ; and for
twenty-five years he directed its affairs. At
the death of Colonel Case, Mr. Marsh was
made president of the bank. That Mr. Marsh
should not have followed a profession, in which
with his exceptional mental endowments and
scholarly tastes he could not have failed to
have won wide reputation and distinction, was
a suprise and a disappointment to many of
his friends, and in later years was a source of
regret to himself; but in engaging in business
he never lost his love for books, and through
out his life he was a scholar in the truest sense.
Charles Marsh has been called the ideal college
man in business. The same trained mind
which made him prominent as a scholar he
applied to the problems of the business world,
and the widely diversified interests which
looked to him for guidance in matters of
finance, attest his success as a man of business.
His usefulness in the community was proved
by the almost unlimited demands made upon
his time. Few men in the city in which he
lived had a wider influence ; and no project,
whether in the social, civic, or religious world,
which looked to the betterment of the condi
tion of his fellowmen failed to enlist his sym
pathy, and no worthy cause ever appealed to
him without receiving generous encourage
ment. He was a man thoroughly abreast of
the times, and was quickly responsive to mod
ern thought. He had a wonderful amount of
general knowledge, and in constantly adding
to it he was but satisfying the demands of an
intensety active mind. He belonged to a family
of Democrats, but in relation to politics he was
entirely independent. He had no love for-
politics as pertains to the manipulation of
offices, but in the principles underlying the
greatest parties he was keenly interested. He
held a position of prominence and respect in
local politics, but was seldom persuaded to be
a candidate for office. He served one year in
the common council, and was a candidate for
mayor in 1879 ; and in 1882 and in 1883 his
name was on the state ticket for secretary of
state. Probably no man in Springfield was
actively identified with so many institutions
as Charles Marsh, and he stood as the repre
sentative of nearly all the charitable organiza
tions of Hampden county. The financial re-

MASSACHUSETTS.

643

sponsibilities which he carried in addition to
those of the Pynchon Bank were almost with
out number. He was often chided by his
friends for undertaking too willingly the
burdens which were so continually put upon
him; but the generous impulse of his nature
would not allow him to turn aside an oppor
tunity for doing good, even though it over
taxed his time and strength.
His first marked benevolent work was in
establishing the Soldiers' Rest Fund, at the close
of the war of the rebellion, and from that time
on he never ceased to work for the suffering.
He was for many years, up to the time of his
death, treasurer of the Springfield Hospital,
and was untiring in his devotion to the work
of building up that institution to the highest
degree of usefulness. He was treasurer of
the .School for Christian Workers from its
organization in 1885, and to this work he gave
most generously of his time. He was also
treasurer of Hampden County Benevolent
Association, as well as of the Hampden Con
ference of Congregational Churches. He was
a member of the finance committee of the
American Missionary Association and his re
port for that committee, delivered at North
ampton, the year before he died, was one of
the inspiring features of the meeting. He had
served as treasurer of the Connecticut Valley
Congregational Club, and one year as its presi
dent. He was a corporator in the Clark Insti
tution for Deaf Mutes at Northampton; and
was one of the most active members of the
board, never failing to be in attendance at the
annual meetings. He was secretary and treas
urer of the Springfield Cemetery Association,
and auditor for the Springfield Home for the
Friendless. He. was also vice-president of
the Springfield Institution for Savings, presi
dent of the Springfield clearing-house, trustee
and member of the finance committee of the
Five Cents Savings Bank, treasurer of the
old Springfield & New London Road, commis
sioner of the city sinking fund, and auditor of
the old Springfield Fire Assurance Company.
Aside from these business and philanthropic
associations Mr. Marsh had been the direct
ing hand in the settlement of some of the
largest estates in the city. He joined the church
while a student at the Westfield Academy, and
during his course at Williamstown he was an
active worker in the religious life of the col
lege. (Immediately after graduation he be
came a1 member of the South Congregational
Church, where he grew to be a pillar of.
strength * and it was in his church associations

that the richest side of his character was shown.
He had held almost every office in the church
and parish, and in him the pastors had found
a true and helpful friend. Fle was always
deeply interested in the work of the Sunday
school, partly out of his love of studying the
Bible ; and he is remembered by many who
had not the privilege of an intimate acquaint
ance by his work in his famous Sunday school
class. Here the personality and character of
the man found ample play. His love of the
truth was his inspiration, and nothing gave
him more genuine delight than in studying his
Greek Testament to find for himself an inter
pretation which seemed to throw new light on
a passage in question. In this way he turned
his scholarly research to practical use, and his
Sunday school expositions to a class of a hun
dred or more, were full of originality. He
was a careful student of modern theology, and
he met the progressive thought of the day with
a frankness that won deep respect even among €
those whose narrower views were at variance
with his. Charles Marsh was married in Spring
field, October 22, 1857, to Helen Penniman,
who was born December 31, 1836, and died in
Springfield, November 20, 1894. Her parents
were Henry Harding and Lucy Ann (Bond)
Penniman, of Springfield, Massachusetts. Four
children were born of this marriage: 1. Lucy
Penniman, born July 8, 1858. 2. William
Charles, mentioned at length below. 3. Anna
Bond, November 26, 1865. 4. Edward Hard
ing, December 9, 1869.
VIII) William Charles, elder of the two
sons of Charles and Helen (Penniman) Marsh,
was born in Springfield, February 13, 1862.
He graduated from the high school in the
class of 1881. and before a clerk in the Chico
pee Bank at Springfield. After two years in
that institution he was bookkeeper and teller
successively for ten years in the Pynchon Na
tional Bank, his experience there affording
him valuable training for the position of county
treasurer, to which he was elected in the fall
of 1891. As a matter of fact his candidacy was
suggested by his successful career in the bank
ing. He filled the office of treasurer three
years, successfully, and was especially service
able in negotiating economically the county
loans during the panicky times of that period
— 1892-95. While the nominee of the Demo
cratic party, Mr. Marsh had hundreds of sup
porters in th Republican ranks; and in 1895
the strongest speech was by a leading politician
of that political faith, urging his nomination
bv that convention. In 1892 Mr. Marsh's first

644

MASSACHUSETTS.

election was aided by the general dissatisfac
tion with previous official record. His own
management was not only eminently satisfac
tory, but he instituted certain long needed re
forms. As a candidate for re-election he had
the enthusiastic support of his party, the
cordial approval of the press, the principal
bankers in the county, and the leading mem
bers of the bar. The time was unfavorable,
however ; and, owing to the strong Republican
sentiment prevailing, Mr. Marsh was defeated
by a small majority at the polls. During Cleve
land's first administration he was disbursing
agent for the United States government for
the new postoffice building in Springfield.
After his service as county treasurer Mr.
Marsh held an important position in the
United States customs department from 1895
to 1899, being deputy surveyor. In 1901 he
was in New York City, cashier for Vernam &
Company, brokers, and in 1902 he was ap
pointed city auditor of Springfield, Massa
chusetts, and has since held that position.
Following the death of his father he was made
clerk and treasurer of the Springfield Ceme
tery Association, and trustee of the Soldiers'
Rest Association. He has also been treasurer
of the South Church, the Springfield Canoe
Club, and the Springfield Bicycle Club. The
only social club of which he is now a member
is the Nayasset. May 4, 1898, he was elected
auditor of the Springfield Institution for Sav
ings. This office was abolished by a law
enacted in 1908; the duties of the above office
are now transacted by the trustees.
William C. Marsh married, June 24, 1902,
Clara Louise (Hall) Hicks, born in Brooklyn,
New York, December 14, 1871, widow of
Francis Allen Hicks, and daughter of Dr.
Charles William and Emma Potter (Redfield)
Hall, of New London, Connecticut. They
have one child, Charles Hall, born February
9, 1907. The Allen or Allyn families were
ALLEN very numerous in New England,
even in the first years of the
settlement of the colonies. They were of
English blood for the most part, and the name
has always been numerous in England from
the beginning of the use of surnames.
There came to ancient Windsor, Connecti
cut, no less than three Allen families, one of
Scotch ancestry and two of English, both
spellings being in use. Thomas, Samuel and
Matthew Allyn, all immigrants, were brothers.
Their parents appear to have come also, but

little is known of them. "Ould Mr. Allyn"
died at Windsor, September 12, 1675 ; "Old
Mrs. Allyn" died there August 5, 1649. One
or both of these records doubtless pertain to
the parents of the Allyns. Samuel Allen, as
most of his descendants spell the name, re
moved to Windsor before 1644; held offices
there; was buried April 28, 1646, aged sixty;
widow removed to Northampton and married
(second) William Hurlburt; she died Novem
ber 13, 1687. Deacon Thomas Allyn, bap
tized, it is believed, at Chelmsford, England,
November 22, 1604, came to Cambridge, Mass
achusetts, in 1632; removed to Hartford in
1635; married (first) Isabella  ; (sec
ond) Martha Gibson, widow of Roger; he re
moved to Middletown where he was deacon
in 1670; deputy to the general court; select
man; adopted his nephew Obadiah, son of
Samuel; died October 16, 1688. Matthew,
the third brother, mentioned below.
(I) Hon. Matthew Allyn, brother of Sam
uel and Thomas, son of Samuel Allyn, of
Bramton, county Devon, England, was bap
tized at Chelmsford, county Essex, April 16,
1604. He came to New England with the
original Braintree company in 1632 to Charles
town, Massachusetts, where in 1633 he re
ceived a forty-five acre allotment of land, the
largest of any of the settlers. From, time to
time he had grants of other lands at Charles
town and in 1635 he owned five houses on
Trinity plot of Cambridge. He lived in Cam
bridge near the meeting house and was the
largest landholder of that town. He was ad
mitted a freeman March 4, 1635 ; was deputy
to the general court in 1636. In 1637 he went
to Hartford, Connecticut, of which he was
one of the original proprietors,, having a house-
lot on the road to the Neck, now Windsor
street. Pie had a hundred and ten acres in
that and adjoining lots. He owned the first
mill at Hartford at the foot of what is now
West Pearl street. In May, 1638, he was
lodging with Roger Williams, a proprietor of
Windsor, and in 1640 was a large land-owner
in Killingworth and Simsbury, Connecticut.
He was a member of Rev. Mr. Hooker's
church, but for some doctrinal difference was
excommunicated June 3, 1644. This differ
ence doubtless was the cause of his removal
to Windsor where as early as 1638 he had
bought all the lands, houses, servants, goods
and chattels of the New -Plymouth Company,
thus extinguishing the last vestige of the
Plymouth right and title on the Connecticut
river. Plis Windsor homestead stood close to

MASSACHUSETTS.

645

the old trading house. He as deputy to the
general court from 1648 to 1658, except 1653 ;
magistrate 1657 to 1667, and was much em
ployed in the public service ; committee for the
United Colonies of New England, 1660-64,
and was associated with his son on a commis
sion to deal with the Indians ; moderator ; on
the committee to petition Charles I. for the
new charter ; chairman of the committee to
treat with New Haven for a union of the
colonies, 1662-63 '< chairman of the committee
to treat with the Dutch envoys from New
Amsterdam ; on a committee with Mr. Welles
to settle the government of the English towns
on the west end of Long Island in 1663-64;
on the committee to settle the boundary with
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and the South.
He and his son John were assistants under
the union of Connecticut and New Haven
colonies in 1665-67, and was a patentee and
custodian with Wyllis and Talcott of the Con
necticut charter. He was active and public-
spirited, energetic, useful, just, persistent, and
was rightly called one of the props of the
colony. He died February 1, 1670-71. His
will was dated January 30, 1670-1. His wife
Margaret was sole executrix. Children: 1.
Hon. John, magistrate, lieutenant colonel, one
of the foremost men in both civil and military
life in his day; married, November 19, 1651,
Ann Smith; (second) 1675, Hannah Welles,
widow of Samuel Welles. 2. Captain Thomas,
mentioned below. 3. Mary, married, June 11,
1646, Captain Benjamin Newberry; she died
December 14, 1703.
(II) Captain Thomas, son of Hon. Matthew
Allyn, was born in England, died February 14,
1695-96. He resided in Windsor; was ad
mitted a freeman in 1658; was listed as a
trooper. In 165 1 he was the accidental cause
of the death of Plenry Stiles. He married,
October 21, 1658, Abigail Warham, daughter
of Rev. John Warham. Children, born at
Windsor: 1. John, born August 17, 1659, died
October 4, 1659. 2. Hon. Matthew, born June
5, 1660. 3. Thomas, born March 11, 1662-63,
mentioned below. 4. John, born June 23, 1665.
5. Samuel, born November 3, 1667. 6. Jane,
born July 22, 1670, married  Wolcott.
7. Abigail, born October 17, 1672, married
 Bissell. 8. Sarah, born July 13, 1674.
9. Hester, born October 29, 1679.
(Ill) Lieutenant Thomas (2), son of Cap
tain Thomas (1) Allyn, was born in Windsor,
March 11, 1662-63, died there April 6, 1709.
He married (first) January 6, 1686, Martha
Wolcott, daughter of Simon Wolcott. She

was born in 1664 and died September 8, 1687.
He married (second) Joanna  . Chil
dren of first wife, born at Windsor: 1. Ben
jamin, born October 14, 1686, mentioned
below. 2. Martha, born September 1, 1687,
died September 3, 1687. Child of second wife :
3. Joanna, born November 22, 1703.
(IV) Benjamin, son of Lieutenant Thomas
(2) Allyn, was born in Windsor, October 14,
1686, died there December 14, 1713. He mar
ried there, December 18, 1707, Ann Watson.
Children, born at Windsor: 1. Ann, born
December 13, 1708, died September 10, 1717.
2. Benjamin, born April 8, 171 1, mentioned
below. 3. John, born July 4, 1713.
(V) Captain Benjamin (2), son of Benja
min (1) Allyn, was born in Windsor, April 8,
171 1. He married there, August 9, 1733, Abi
gail Loomis, who died May 29, 1795, aged
seventy-four years. He died March 18, 1776.
Children, born at Windsor: 1. Abigail, born
October 30, 1734, died September 12, 1737.
2. Benjamin, born September 13, 1736, died
August 9, 1789; married Sarah  — ; (sec
ond) Abigail  , who died May 29, 1795,
3. Abigail, born October 26, 1738. 4. John,
born May 26, 1740, married, May 2, 1761,
Elizabeth Mather. 5. Samuel, born April 17,
1742, married, January 5, 1764, Lucy Gillett.
6. Eunice, born July 30, 1743. 7. Ann, bom
July 21, 1745. 8. Job, born September 15,
1747; died young. 9. Dorothy, born February
12, 1749-50. 10. Job, mentioned below.
(VI) Colonel Job, son of Benjamin (2)
Allyn, was born in Windsor, November 24,
1753. He was a soldier in the revolution,
sergeant of the Third Windsor Company,
Captain Roger Enos, Second Regiment, under
General Joseph Spencer in 1775. Afterward
he was colonel of his. regiment. He married,
May 16, 1777, Abigail Mather, daughter of
Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Allyn) Mather.
Children, born at Windsor: 1. Benjamin,
born January 29-, 1778. 2. Anna, born October
2, 1779, died April 7, 1849; married Edward
Moore. 3. Bille (William), born January 20,
1781, died January 16, 1826. 4. Norman, born
October 12, 1782, died August 21, 1796. 5.
Abigail, born September 1, 1784, married, June
1, 1809, Henry Halsey. 6. Elizabeth, born
August 18, 1786, married  Wilson. 7.
Allyn, baptized March 1, 1788. 8. Richard,
born January 5, 1789, died October 1, 1811. 9.
Roxana, born November 3, 1790, died August
18 1796. 10. Catherine, born July 8, 1793.
married Michael Marsh. (See Marsh family).
11. Job, born June 10, 1796, married Elizabeth

646

MASSACHUSETTS.

Cornish. 12. Timothy Mather, born Septem
ber 7, 1800, married Susan Pratt; a wealthy
merchant of Hartford ; erected the Allyn
House and Allyn Hall ; was mayor of the
city. (The Mather Line — See John Mather 1).
(VII) Nathaniel Mather, son of Dr. Sam
uel Mather, was born August "8, 1716, died
August 31, 1770. He lived in Windsor, Con
necticut, and married Elizabeth Allyn. Chil
dren: 1. Nathaniel, born March 10, 1741, mar
ried, November 15, 1762, Hannah Filley. 2.
Dr. Charles, born September 26, 1742, mar
ried, February 26, 1764, Rhoda Moseley; died
June 3, 1822. 3. Elijah, born December 1,
1743, died December 11, 1796; married Mary
Strong. 4. Elizabeth, born October 1, 1745,
died November 4, 1745. 5. Rev. Allyn, born
March 21, 1747, died November 4, 1784; mar
ried Thankful Barnard. 6. Colonel Oliver,
born March 21, 1749, married, March 21,
I77%> Jemima Ellsworth. 7. John, born Octo
ber 9, 1750, married Abigail Russell ; died
1782. 8. Increase, born July 4, 1752, married
Martha Wolcott. 9. Elizabeth, born May 18,
1754, married Hezekiah Hayden. 10. Dr.
Timothy, born November 5, 1755, died April
7, 1788; married Roxana Phelps. 11. Abigail,
born September 20, 1757, married Colonel Job
Allyn, May 16, 1777, (see Allyn family) ; died
June 17, 1843. I2- Elihu, born 1760, died
1787. 13. Hannah, born January, 1762, mar
ried, March 9, 1783, James Goodwin; died
November 22, 1805. 14. Roxana, born 1764,
died December, 1781.

(For ancestry see John Marsh 1).
(VII) Daniel Jay, son of Michael
MARSH Marsh, was born in Hartford,
Connecticut, July 27, 1837. He
was educated in the public schools and at
Wilbraham Academy, and in 1850 went to
Springfield as a druggist's clerk and then
bookkeeper in a dry goods store. In 1856
he went to St. Louis and was for three
years clerk and assistant paymaster for the
builders of the Ohio & Missouri railroad, and
also worked on the Northern Missouri rail
road, running the first passenger train as con
ductor from St. Charles to St. Louis. After
the completion of these two roads he returned
to Springfield in 1857, taking a position in the
Five Cent Savings Bank. He practically filled
the office as treasurer, though he was not form
ally elected until 1859. When the civil war
broke out, he united with others in forming a
drill club which sent many officers into the

field. In 1862 this club voted to enlist for nine
months as Company A in the Forty-sixth
Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. Mr.
Marsh was appointed orderly sergeant and
later lieutenant on staff duty. The regiment
was sent to Newburn, North Carolina, where
he was aide-de-camp on the staff of General
Horace C. Lee and a bearer of dispatches to
and from Washington. For a time he was
also with Generals John A. Dix and John G.
Foster. On the breaking, up of the brigade he
was ordered to North Carolina with orders
to take all the men from the different hospitals,
in all fifteen hundred, to their northern homes.
After eleven months' service he returned to
his place in the bank, where he has since
remained. He was formerly a director in the
Second National Bank, but resigned in 1891.
He served on the city council for one term
and since 1885 has been president of the park
commission. The development of Forest Park
was due largely to his influence. He was
treasurer of the Hampden Park Association
from 1870 to 1875. He was one of the organ
izers of the Springfield Club, of which he was
a member twenty-five years. He belongs to
the Nayasset Club, Massachusetts Command
ery, Military Order Loyal Legion, and the
Wilcox Post of the Grand Army. He mar
ried, May 27, 1864, Harriet Mary Gay, born
October 15, 1840, daughter of N. Denslow and
Mary (Pomeroy) Gay. Her mother is a lineal
descendant of Sir Ralph Pomeroy, owner of
the castle at Berry Pomeroy, the best pre
served example of ancient Norman architec
ture in England. Children: 1. Henry Daniel,
born March 15, 1865, mentioned below. 2.
Oliver Allyn, born October 15, 1866, married,
November 16, 1893, Anna Rumrill Dwight.
Children: i. Elsie Dwight, born October 3,
1894; ii. Allyn Jay, June 30, 1896; iii. Caro
line. (VIII) Henry Daniel, the elder of the two
sons of Daniel Jay and Harriet M. (Gay)
Marsh, was born in Springfield, March 15,
1865. He was educated in the public schools
of Springfield. At nineteen years of age he
took a clerkship in the Third National Bank,
and was employed there about a year. He
then became a clerk in the Five Cents Savings
Bank, and after passing through various posi
tions was made assistant treasurer and has
held that place ever since. He has also been
for some years a member of the corporation
and a trustee of the bank. In politics he is a
Democrat, and as such was elected to the com
mon council in 1896, and to the board of alder-

MASSACHUSETTS.

647

men in 1900. While serving in the latter
capacity he was chairman of the police com
mittee and a member of the committee on fire
department and other committees. lie is a
member of the Savings Bank Treasurer's Club
of Massachusetts ; George Washington Chap
ter, Sons of the American Revolution ; the
County, the Nayasset, the Canoe clubs ; and
the American Canoe Association. Mr. Marsh
married (first) March 16, 1896, Anna Frances
Lillis, born August 22, 1874. She died April
28, 1898, leaving two children : John Ather
ton, born January 7, 1897; anc^ Harriet, born
1898, died 1898. He married (second) May
20, 1902, Edith Sherwood Hall, born in Am
herst, daughter of Dr. Charles W. Hall. They
have two children : Elizabeth, born December
16, 1904; and Daniel Jay, (second), born Jan
uary 20, 1907. The surname Aldrich is of
ALDRICH ancient English origin, and the
spelling varies considerably.
In the early records it was spelled Aldridge
and Oldridge and some branches of the family
still prefer the spelling Aldridge. The famous
Rhode Island family and their descendants
have for many generations used the spelling
Aldrich. (I) George Aldrich was born in Derby
shire, England, about 1605. He married, in
England, November 3, 1629, Katharine Seald,
and came to New England in 163 1 with his
wife. She was born about 1610, according to
her deposition made June 18, 1670, that she
was sixty years old. He was a tailor by trade.
He settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and
belonged to the church there about 1636. He
was admitted a freeman December 7, 1636. In
1663 he was one of the first seven persons to
arrive in the township of Mendon, Massachu
setts. He sold his land in Braintree to his
friend, Richard Thayer, of Braintree, June 9,
1663. He died at Mendon, after the re-settle
ment following King Philip's war, March 1,
1682. His wife died January 11, 1691. His
will, dated at Mendon, November 2, 1682,
proved April 26, 1683, bequeathed to wife; to
children Joseph, John, Jacob, Mary, Sarah
Bartlett, Mercy Randall and Martha Dunbar.
Children: 1. Abel, born 1633. 2. Joseph,
June 4, 1635; married Patience Osborne. 3.
Mary, June 16, 1637, died 1683. 4- Miriam,
June 29, 1639; died May 10, 1652. 5. Experi
ence, September 4, 1641 ; died February 2,
1642, at Braintree. 6. John, April 2, 1644;
married (first) Sarah Thompson ; (second)

Sarah Leach. 7. Sarah, January 26, 1646;
died February 17, 1685. 8. Peter, April 14,
1648. 9. Mercy, June 17, 1650; married 
Randall. 10. Miriam, died March 16, 1652.
11. Jacob, bora February 28, 1653; mentioned
below. 12. Martha, July 10, 1656.
(II) Jacob, son of Ceorge Aldrich, was
born in Braintree, February 28, 1653. He set
tled in Mendon, and was a farmer there on
the homestead all his life. He died October
22, 1695. He married, November 3, 1675,
Huldah Thayer. Children, born at Mendon :
1. Jacob, May 28, 1676. 2. Abel, January 27,
1677. 3. Seth, July 6, 1679. 4. Huldah, born
1680. 5. Rachel, 1682 ; died young. 6. Sarah,
1683. 7. David, May 23, 1685 ; mentioned
below. 8. Peter, October 17, 1686. 9. John,
November 27, 1688. 10. Moses, April 1, 1691.
11. Mercy, February 17, 1692; died same year.
12. Rachel, born December 27, 1694.
(Ill) David, son of Jacob Aldrich, was
born in Mendon, May 23, 1685. He settled in
Mendon, and died there in 1758. His will is
dated March 18, 1758.' He married Hannah,
daughter of Banfield Capron. She died Feb
ruary 17, 1732. He may have been the David
Aldrich who married, July 6, 1733, at Smith-
field (where most of his children were mar
ried) Mehitable Mann. He bequeathed to
David, Edward, Peter, Jonathan, Margaret,
Abner and Levi, his children, and to his grand
son Benjamin Aldrich, son of his eldest daugh
ter Elizabeth, who married Abel Aldrich.
Children : 1. David Jr., born July 6, 1711. 2.
Edward, September 7, 1713 ; probably married
at Glocester, Rhode Island, July 17, 1732,
Dinah Aldrich. 3. Elizabeth, December 20,
1715; married Abel Aldrich, born January 16,
1705, son of Seth. 4. Jonathan, April 21,
1717; died young. 5. Peter, March 19, 1719.
6. Jonathan, August 31, 1721 ; mentioned
below. 7. Margaret, April 25, 1723; married
at Smithfield, July 2, 1741, Edward Thomp
son; (second) George Smith. 8. Abner, No
vember 17, 1727; married, at Smithfield, De
cember 10, 1747, Elizabeth Cook. 9. Levi,
December 19, 1729; married, at Smithfield,
February 27, 1745-46, Abigail Hunt. 10. Icha
bod, February 5, 1732; died before his father.
(IV) Jonathan, son of David Aldrich, was
born at Mendon, August 31, 1721. Like his
brothers he went to Smithfield, and married
there, March 17, 1742, Patience Gaskill, also of
Mendon. He settled immediately afterward
in Cumberland, Rhode Island. The Capron
genealogy is doubtless in error in stating that
he married, November 2, 1747, Abigail Salis-

648

MASSACHUSETTS.

bury. Jonathan and Patience Aldrich, of Men
don, deeded land in Uxbridge that before her
marriage Eliphalet Wharfield had deeded to
her, fourteen acres of upland and twenty of
woodland, to Eliphalet Wharfield, the former
owner. Jonathan Aldrich, son of Seth, was
the only other man of the name found at this
period in the real estate records, in Mendon or
Uxbridge. Children of Jonathan and Patience,
born at Cumberland: I. Asa, May io, 1744;
mentioned below. 2. Artemas, May 21, 1746;
married, September 10, 1767, Hannah Bishop.
3. Anne, February 7, 1749. 4. Alice, Novem
ber 6, 1752. 5. Amey, December 8, 1754;
married, May 29, 1777, Andrew Greene. 6.
Abigail, May 21, 1757. 7. Squire, June 14,
1760; married, March 3, 1787-8, Mary Whip
ple. 8. Patience, April 16, 1763 ; died August
31, 1763. 9. Henrietta, August 20, 1764; mar
ried, July 24, 1788, Russell Ballou. 10.
Patience, July 16, 1767; married Asa Harris.
( V) Asa son of Jonathan Aldrich, was born
at Cumberland, Rhode Island, May 10, 1744,
and died there. He was brought up on the
farm, and the first money he ever earned, ten
cents for a partridge he had snared on his
father's farm, was the nucleus of his first
farm money. Afterwards he became owner
of four farms in and around Cumberland and
Wrentham, each valued at three thousand dol
lars. To each of his sons except David he
gave on their marriage one of these farms. To
David he gave the equivalent in the form of a
college education at Brown University, with
some land besides. He married, June 28, 1770,
Lucy, daughter of Abner Haskell, of Cumber
land. He was a member of the Baptist church.
Children: 1. Nathaniel. 2. Nathan. 3. Abi
gail, married  — • Barnes, and died. aged
ninety-nine years five months. 4. David, born
1780; mentioned below. 5. Amos. 6. Samuel,
died at Attleborough. 7. Amy, born 1775;
died 1855 ; married Samuel Hancock.
(VI) David, son of Asa Aldrich, was born
at Wrentham, or Cumberland, in 1780, and
died at Cumberland, in 1879, aged ninety-eight
years five months and twenty-nine days. After
a common school education he prepared for
college at Williams Seminary and entered
Brown University in 1803 with advanced
standing, graduating in 1806. He studied
theology under Dr. Guno, of Providence, and
commenced to preach in a Baptist church in
Connecticut, where he remained three years.
He then settled, at the time of his marriage,
in his old home at Cumberland, Rhode Island,
where he took up the study of law. He served

as justice of the peace, and was known as
"Squire" Aldrich. He and his wife were at
the time of their death the oldest couple in
Rhode Island. His farm was on Cumberland
Hill, and was considered one of the best in
the town. He was a successful farmer, and
his wife was a most capable woman. She was
a tailoress and a maker of straw bonnets. In
religion he was a Baptist and in politics a
Whig. He married Jemima Rhodes, of Wrent
ham. Children: 1. Eliza, married Lewis
Freeman. 2. Amy Ann, born 1817 ; died 1845 ;
married George Sheldon. 3. David Benedict,
born 1819; mentioned below. 4. Henry De
Wolf, 1820; died 1854. 5. Emulus Austin,
October 15, 1822; married, May 1, 1850, Pris
cilla M. Hanney; children: i. Clarence Alberta,
born April 7, 1851, married December 31,
1878, Lucy F. Hill, and had Bertha Idella,
born March 12, 1881, and Clarence Alberta,
born December 11, 1883; ii. Idella Estella,
born May 6, 1854, married December 22, 1872,
Charles H. Spooner, and had Emma E.
Spooner, born July 18, 1874, and Carrie I.
Spooner, born June 25, 1877, died February
21, 1899; iii. David Emulus, born March 27,
1861, married January 6, 1887, Laura J. Per
kins, and had Charles Anderson, born March
4, 1888, Louis Palmer, born October 20, 1890,
David Carleton, born February 21, 1893, and
Richard Warren, born September 22, 1898;
iv. Bertha Idella, born June 7, 1873, married
February, 1895, Horace A. Jenkins, and had
Clarence A. Jenkins, born November 30, 1895,
E. Louise Jenkins, born February 20, 1898,
and Idella Jenkins, born March 10, 1901. 6.
Amos, born 1824; died 1905; married Char
lotte Dunbar, and had Julius, died aged four
teen years. 7. Emeline, born 1826; died 1835.
(VII) David Benedict, son of David Aid-
rich, was born at Cumberland in 1819, and
died there. He was educated in the district
school at Cumberland Hill, attending during
the winter months and working on the farm in
the summer. He learned the trade of ship
carpenter. After his marriage he settled in
Sheldonville, a part of Wrentham, for a year,
following his trade in Sheldon's boat shop. He
then returned to Cumberland and built a house
on a part of his father's farm, with a boat shop
in the lower part of the large barn. He sold
his boats in Providence. In 1849 he joined
the seekers after gold and made the trip
around the Horn to California. He remained
in the mines two years, and while there was
injured by a premature blast, which rendered
him partially blind. He returned east and

'suxUAa.

isu

MASSACHUSETTS.

649

resumed farming, and also sold Yankee
notions among the farmers in the vicinity. It
is said that though he was blind, no one ever
took an unfair advantage of him in a trade.
While returning from one of these trips, when
he was within sight of his home, the boy who
was driving struck the horse with the whip,
causing him to turn suddenly, throwing Mr.
Aldrich to the ground and inflicting fatal inju
ries. He died twelve days later. He was a
Baptist in religion, of high ideals and exem
plary character. In early life he was a Whig,
later a Republican. He married, at Wrent
ham, Sarah Rachel Huntley, born at Clare
mont, New Hampshire. Children: 1. Henry
Deland, born at Wrentham, died at Cumber
land ; married, at Attleborough, Jennie Bald
win. 2. Frederick Eugene, born June 4, 1849;
mentioned below. 3. Frank Albro, born at
Cumberland ; married Orpha Smith, of White-
field, New Hampshire. 4. Sarah Samantha,
born December 20, 1854; married, August 17,
William Converse Chase ; children : i.

Sarah Mary, born February 6, 1888 ; Flora
Alwildia, June 5, 1890. 5. Mary Flora, born
March 12, 1856; married Moses Clark; child:
George Benedict Clark. 6. Mary, died young.
(VIII) Frederick Eugene, son of David
Bennett Aldrich, was born at Cumberland,
June 4, 1849, and died at Franklin, Massachu
setts, January 19, 1900. He acquired a com
mon school education, and at the age of four
teen, shortly after the death of his father,
came to Chestnut Hill, Blackstone, Massachu
setts, to work on the farm of Caleb Thayer.
Afterward he was employed by Dr. Jesse
Miller, manufacturer of proprietary medicines,
as salesman, and traveled extensively. He
learned the business of manufacturing shoddy
and flocks in the mill of Frederick Thayer at
Millville, was for several years traveling sales
man, and afterward a partner of Mr. Thayer.
The product of the mill was sold to the woolen
mills in New England. About 1886 he with
drew from the firm and established himself in
business as a wholesale dealer in flocks, waste
and shoddy. In July, 1888, he removed his
business from Millville to Franklin, where he
purchased the Fremont Richardson property
at 47 Summer street, remodeled it for his
purposes, added a large store-house for his
goods, and maintained one of the most pros
perous establishments in the town. He pos
sessed a thorough knowledge of his business
and the confidence of all with whom he had
/ dealings. He was quick to perceive and
prompt in taking advantage of his opportuni

ties in business, and amassed a comfortable
fortune. He retired from active business in
1898, on account of failing health, but con
tinued in the management of his private affairs
to the last, exhibiting great fortitude and
endurance in the presence of pain and weak
ness. He had no ambition to fill public offices,
and declined to accept nominations for any
positions. In politics he was a Republican.
Pie was a Baptist in his younger days, but later
attended the Universalist church, in which his
good judgment and sterling character were
highly appreciated. Pie held various offices in
the church. He belonged to no clubs or secret
societies, loving his own fireside and family
best, though he made many friends in all walks
of life. He was cheerful in speech, democratic
in his ways and never turned a deaf ear to
those in need of help. He was upright, con
scientious and frank. He despised all forms
of deceit and gave an admirable example of
right living, fle married, October 31, 1878,
Emily Frances Mann, born at Walpole, De
cember 27, 1845, daughter of Charles and
Anna Maria (Green) Mann, (see Mann).
Children: 1. Mabel Huntly, born March 1,
1881 ; died June 9, 1903. 2. Emily Maria, born
August 13, 1882; resides with her mother.

William Mann, immigrant ances-
MANN tor, was born in England, prob
ably in county Kent, about 1607,
and was the youngest of eleven children. He
may have been the son of Sir Charles Mann,
of Hatton Braddock, county Kent, who was
knighted in 1625 by Charles I. In that case
he was the eldest son; but what is supposed
to be the private record of Rev. Samuel Mann
says that his father (William) was the young
est of eleven. He was a proprietor of Cam
bridge, Massachusetts, in 1634. He married
(first) 1643, Mary Jarred, who came from
England; (second) June 11, 1657, Alice Tiel.
His will, dated December 10, 1661, proved
April 1, 1662, unsigned, bequeathed to his
wife and only son Samuel. Child: 1. Samuel,
mentioned below.
(II) Rev. Samuel Mann, son of William
Mann, was born in Cambridge, July 6, 1647.
He graduated from Harvard College in 1665,
and May 13, 1667, began to teach at Dedham
and taught five years there. He preached to
the small society in that part of Dedham now
Wrentham until March 30, 1676, when the
people fled from the town on account of Indian
attacks. He was again in Dedham as teacher
in 1676-77-78. In the fall of 1677 the town

650

MASSACHUSETTS.

of Rehoboth voted to invite him to become
their minister for that winter, and early the
following spring he was engaged to preach at
Milton, but returned to Wrentham in the sum
mer of 1680. Here he continued his minis
terial labors until a church of ten persons was
gathered, and April 13, 1692, he was ordained
and preached his own ordination sermon. On
October 26, 1699, "in dead of night" his dwell
ing house with the church records were burned.
It is said that he was much afflicted with in
firmities, and for twenty-five years before his
death did not go out of his own town. One of
the first men of the province said that "he
was not only a very good, but a very great and
learned man." He wrote a work containing ad
vice to his children who were soon to enter the
married state. "His ordinary sermons were fit
for the press," and yet such was his humility
that he thought nothing of his worth publish
ing.' He was beloved by his people. His last
sermon was from the text, "I have seen all the
works that are done under the sun, and be
hold all is vanity and vexation of spirit." He
died at Wrentham, May 22, 17 19. He married,
May 19, 1673, Esther Ware, born September
28, 1655, died September 3, 1734, daughter of
Robert and Margaret (Hunting) Ware, of
Dedham. Children, born in Wrentham and
Milton : 1. Mary, April 7, 1674; married, May
4, 1708, Samuel Dearing. 2. Samuel, August
8, 1675; died 1732. 3. Nathaniel, born in
Milton; died at Wrentham, May 11, 1756. 4.
William, born in Milton, May 1, 1679. 5
Theodore, born February 8, 1680; mentioned
below. 6. Thomas, born October 24, 1682
died September 10, 1756. 7. Hannah, born
January 12, 1685; married, April 30, 1707
Samuel Davis. 8. Beriah, born March 30.
1687; married Daniel Hawes. 9. Pelatiah
born April 2, 1689; married Jemima Farring
ton. 10. Margaret, born December 21, 1691
married, April 18, 171 1, Nathaniel Whiting.
11. Esther, born June 26, 1696; married, De
cember 30, 1 7 19, Isaac Fisher.
(Ill) Theodore, son of Rev. Samuel Mann,
was born February 8, 1680, and died July 29,
1 761. He was a deacon in the Wrentham
church, and served the town as selectman, and
was representative in 1722. He married, Feb
ruary 28, 1702, Abigail Hawes. Children: 1.
Theodores (daughter), born August 9, 1703;
died September 1, 1703. 2. Mary, born July
16, 1704. 3. Phebe, February 16, 1706; mar
ried, March 22, 1732, John Gould. 4. Theo
dore, March 6, 1708; mentioned below. 5.
Abigail, September 16, 1710; married, March

7, 1733, Eliphalet Whiting. 6. Margaret, Oc
tober 15, 1712. 7. Sarah, May 6, 1714- §•
Daniel, September 8, 1716. 9. Beriah, April
27, 1719; married, November 3, 1737, Daniel
Kingsbury, Jr. 10. Deacon Thomas, October
11, 1 72 1 ; married, October 11, 1744, Mary
Blake. 11. Jerusha, November 12, 1724; mar
ried, October 11, 1751, Gamaliel Gerauld.
(IV) Theodore (2), son of Theodore (1)
Mann, was born at Wrentham, March 6, 1708,
and married, February 22, 1738, Abigail Day.
Children: 1. Joseph. 2. Benjamin (twin),
mentioned below. 3. Elias. 4. Jabez. 5. Timothy.
6. Daniel. 7. Seth. 8. Ralph. 9. Theodore.
(V) Benjamin, son of Theodore (2) Mann,
was born March 8, 1755, and died at Walpole,
January 16, 1835, aged eighty. He married,
"November 20, 1777, Deliverance Kendall, who
died December 4, 1834, aged eighty. He was
a soldier in the revolution, from Walpole, in
Captain Jeremiah Smith's company, Colonel
John Smith's regiment, 1775. Children, born
at Walpole: 1. Samuel, October 20, 1779;
mentioned below. 2. Fanny, May 29, 1783.
3. Susanna, July 18, 1785. 4. Cynthia, Febru
ary 11, 1788. 5. William, June 28, 1789. 6.
Benjamin, July 16, 1791. 7. Joseph, Septem
ber 16, 1793. 8. Lewis, June 15, 1796.
(VI) Samuel, son of Benjamin Mann, was
born at Walpole, October 20, 1779. He mar
ried (intentions dated October 27) 1805, Lydia
Fairbanks, of Walpole. Children: 1. Charles,
born July 15, 1809; see forward. 2. Sally
Fairbanks, born March 5, 1813, in Sharon;
married Newell Morse. 3. Samuel, born April
10, 181 5, in Sharon. 4. John, born in Sharon.
(VII) Charles, son of Samuel Mann, was
born in Walpole, July 15, 1809, and died April
21, 1888. He was first employed in a woolen
mill in Melville, Massachusetts, and returned
to his native town in 1876, where he spent
the rest of his life, being one of its prominent
citizens. He married Ann Maria Green, born
October 4, 1817, died March 8, 1895. Chil
dren: 1. Ellen Maria, born December 31,
1839; died 1852. 2. Charles Lewis, born in
Foxboro, June 24, 1842 ; died 1905 ; married,
February 22, 1866, Elizabeth Lyon Schofield ;
one son, Arthur Lewis, born November 18,
1866, died December 2, 1887. 3- Emily Fran
ces, born in South Walpole, December 27,
1845; married Frederick Eugene Aldrich (see
Aldrich). 4. Augustus E., born October 14,
1848; graduate of Providence, Rhode Island,
Normal School ; taught at Westerly; Rhode
Island, for twenty years ; now principal of the
public school of Lancaster, Massachusetts.

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