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M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01145 8368
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
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Eliot Memorial
SKETCHES“
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL
OF THE
ELIOT CHURCH AND SOCIETY
BOSTON
BY
A. C. THOMPSON
BOSTON The Pilgrim Dress CHICAGO
COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY A. C. THOMPSON
ELECTROTYPED BY THOMAS TODD, 14 BEACON STREET, BOSTON.
1533314
PREFACE.
'HE origin of this volume was as follows :-
The four Deacons of the Eliot Church - Messrs. Timothy Smith, Alpine McLean, Frederick C. Russell, and Clarence T. Mooar -communicated a joint and earnest written request that I should prepare such a work. They stated that my long connection with the Church had made me acquainted with many members now deceased, and with many facts in our collective life known to no one else now living. Emphasis was given to a suggestion that there should be special freedom in recording items of autobiography. The introduction of matters personal to the writer has accordingly been employed much more amply than might otherwise have seemed consistent with modesty. Without such freedom there would have been constraint and awkwardness in an endeavor not to appear egotistic.
The volume is an unpretentious contribution to local history, a response to the reasonable desire of friends for some acquaintance with a limited period not long ago, and with individuals whose names and but little more are familiar to them. After the preliminary chapters there follows a simple record, for the most part, of occur- rences between the years 1834 and 1871. Much greater fullness per- tains naturally to the period of my active pastorate, from 1842 to 1871. At the last mentioned date. Rev. B. F. Hamilton, D.D., be- came a valued colleague. Memoranda, regularly made at the time, aid these reminiscences.
The book comes from the press on the eighty-eighth anniversary of my birth, and in the fifty-eighth year of my connection with the Eliot Church.
A. C. THOMPSON.
BOSTON, April 30, 1900.
1.
₹
CONTENTS.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
I. ROXBURY - EARLY AND LATER PAGE
I-13
II. LOCAL ORTHODOXY AND LIBERALISM 14-26
III. PRELIMINARIES AND ORGANIZATION 27-33
IV. FIRST PASTORAL SETTLEMENT 34-36
V. SECOND SETTLEMENT 37-42
VI. THE PULPIT 43-49
VII. PASTORAL SERVICE 50
I Parish Calls 50-60
4 Marriages 74-77
2 Extra-Parochial Service 60-65
5 Contrasts and Coincidences . 78-86
3 Deaths and Funerals 66-74 6 Peculiar Persons and Proceedings, 86-95
VIII. CHURCH FUNCTIONS
. 96
I Sacramental Services 96-100 4 Church Discipline 110-113.
2 Church Prayer Meeting 100-108
5 Revivals
113-120
3 Special Church Fellowship 108-1IO
IX. ELIOT SUNDAY SCHOOL . 121-131
X. VARIOUS DEVOTIONAL MEETINGS . I 32 .
I Maternal Meeting
132-136 3 Other Prayer Meetings 137-139:
2 Female Prayer Meeting 136-137
XI. VARIOUS ASSOCIATIONS .
140
I Dorcas Society 140-14I
2 Eliot City Mission
141-148,
XII. SPECIAL OCCASIONS AND OCCURRENCES .
149-
I Social Gatherings 149-15I
4 Civil-War Time
157-163
2 Anniversaries 151-153
5 Sickness and Absences
163-169
3 Receptions 153-157
XIII. COLONIAL CHURCHES 170
I Vine Street Church
170-172
3 Walnut Avenue Church
·
175-18I
2 Highland Church 173-175
XIV. FELLOWSHIP - ECCLESIASTICAL AND MINISTERIAL 182
V
vi
CONTENTS.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
XV THE DIACONATE
I Alvah Kittredge 195-197
2 William G. Lambert 198-199
3 Henry Hill 199-202
4 William W. Davenport 202-206
5 Andrew S. March 206-208
6 Edward B. Huntington 208-210
XVI. MINISTERIAL PARISHIONERS
I Rev. Stephen Sanford Smith, 224-225
2 Rev. Huntington Porter 225-226
3 Rev. Ezra Conant 226
4 Rev. Charles Baker Kittredge, 226-228
5 Rev. William Henry Porter . 229
XVII. MISSIONARY OFFICIALS
I Rev. Rufus Anderson, D.D., LL.D.,
239-242
2 Rev. David Greene 242-245
3 Miss Mary Evarts Greene . 245-247
4 Mrs. Mary P. H. Leake 247-248
XVIII. MISSIONARIES
I Mr. George Christopher Hurter
255-257
2 Mrs. Elizabeth Grozer Hurter, 257-258
3 Rev. Daniel Crosby Greene, D.D., 258-260
4 Mrs. Mary Carpenter Paris . 260
5 Mrs. Louisa Bradbury Bunker, 260-262
6 Mrs. Maria Chamberlain Forbes,262-263 7 Mrs. Mary Ballantine Fairbank, 263-265
8 Mrs. Harriet S. Caswell . 266-267
XIX. EDUCATORS AND LITTERATEURS .
I Rev. Jacob Abbott . 283-285
2 Rev. William Channing Wood- bridge ·
285-287
3 William Alexander Alcott,M.D. 287-288
4 Rev. Solomon Adams . 288-290
XX. LAWYERS
I Hon. Samuel Hurd Walley . 303-305 2 Hon. Charles Theodore Russell, 305-306
3 Hon. William Gaston, LL.D. . 307-308
4 Nehemiah Chase Berry · 308-309
5 Henry Hill Anderson . · 309-310
6 Josiah Woodbury Hubbard . 311
. 193
7 Moses H. Day 210-2II
8 Lucius H. Briggs 212-214
9 J. Russell Bradford 214-216
IO Charles W. Hill 217~219
II Andrew Marshall 219-22I
12 William Francis Day . 222-223 224
6 Rev. Charles Shaw Adams 229-230 7 Rev. David Meaubec Mitchell, 230-232
8 Rev. L. Burton Rockwood . 233-234 9 Rev. Edward W. Hooker, D.D. 234-236
. 237
5 Rev. Joseph Sylvester Clark, D.D., 248-250
6 Rev. Henry Brown Hooker, D.D. 250-253
7 Mr. Benjamin Perkins .
253-254
255
9 Mrs. Jane Herring Loomis . 267-268
IO Rev. David Coit Scudder 268-27I II Miss Ellen Maria Stone . . 272-273 12 Miss Anna Wells Bumstead, 273-275
13 Miss Mary G. Bumstead 275-277
14 Rev. Charles W. Munroe 277
15 Rev. Samuel Greene 277-279 16 Miss Elizabeth Ellen Backup, 279-280 17 Miss Susan Maria Underwood, 280-282
283
5 Rev. Horatio Quincy Butter- field, D.D. 290-293
6 Charles Short, LL.D. 293-294
7 Prof. William Ripley Nichols, 294-298 8 Prof. Frank Eustace Anderson, 298-300 9 Horace Elisha Scudder,LITT.D. 300-302 3º3 .
7 David Brainerd Greene 311-312
8 Jeremiah Evarts Greene 313-314 9 Hon. Roger Sherman Greene, 314-316
IO William Phillips Walley 316
II Gen. Henry William Fuller, 316-317
12 John Wentworth Porter · 317-319
vii
CONTENTS.
XXI. PHYSICIANS . 320
I Daniel Francis Gulliver, M.D. 321-322
2 Alfred C. Garratt, M.D. 322-324
3 Henry Blatchford Wheelwright, M.D. 324-325
4 Ariel Ivers Cummings, M.D. . 325-326
5 Henry S. Steele, M.D. 326-327 XXII. ARTISTS
I Samuel Lancaster Gerry . 333-334
2 Mrs. Victoria Adelaide Root, 334-335
XXIII. DEAF-MUTES
I Jonathan P. Marsh 340-342
2 Mrs. Pauline P. Marsh 342-343
3 Mrs. Pauline Marsh Bowes . 343-344
XXIV. NOTEWORTHY LAYMEN .
I Dr. Nathaniel Shepherd Prentiss,
2 John Heath 349-353
353-355
3 Melzar Waterman 355-357
4 Richard Bond 357-358
5 John Newton Denison 358-360
6 Isaac Davis White 360-361
7 John Brown 361-362
XXV. YOUNG MEN
I Henry Martyn Hill . 379-381
2 John C. Carruthers, Jr. 381-382
3 D. Jarvis Hastings . 382-383
4 Nathan Haggett Brown 383-385
5 Edward P. Flint . . 385-386
XXVI. MINISTERIAL RECRUITS .
I Prof. John F.Gulliver, D.D.,LL.D., 392-393
2 Rev. William Ladd Ropes . 393-394
3 Rev. William Sewall 394
4 Rev. John Henry Denison, D.D., 395-396
5 Rev. George Edwards Hill .
396
6 Rev. Isaac C. White 396-398
7 Rev. Evarts Scudder 398-399
8 Rev. Alexander S. Twombly,
D.D. 399-400
XXVII. MINISTERIAL COLLEAGUES
I Mrs. Hannah C. Bowles Wolff, 410-41I
2 Mrs. Sarah P. Gulliver Pratt, 411-412
3 Mrs. Susan M. Huntington Perkins 412-413
4 Mrs. Elizabeth G. Strong . . 413-414
5 Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Boardman, 414-415
6 Stephen Wallace Bowles, M.D. 327-328
7 Timothy R. Nute, M.D. 328
8 Benjamin Mann, M.D. 329
9 Frank H. Davenport, M.D. . 330
IO Robert Bell, M.D. 330-331
332
3 Miss Emily Percy Mann 335-336
4 Mr. Frank Thayer Merrill 336-337
338
4 William Lynde 344-346
5 Mrs. Caroline F. Lynde 346-347
6 Mrs. Mary Coffin Lynde 347-348 349
8 Dea. James Clap 362-365
9 George Domett 366-367
IO Abner Kingman 367-369
II Hon. Joseph S. Ropes 369-370
12 Sylvester Bliss . 371-372
13 Robert McMaster Carson 373-374
14 William Henry Wardwell 374-37 5
15 Wesley Ireson 376-377
378
6 George Alvah Kittredge 386-388
7 Joseph Eppes Brown 388-390
8 Hon. James M. W. Hall 390
9 Col. Ebenezer W. Stone . 390-391
392 9 Rev. Francis Brown Perkins, 400-401 IO Rev. Edward Anderson 401
I'I Rev. Abbott Eliot Kittredge, D.D. 401-402
12 Rev. James Winchel Grush, 402-404
13 Rev. Isaac Curtis Meserve, D.D. 404-405
14 Rev. Alfred Henry Hall . 405-407
15 Rev. George Ross Hewitt . 407-409
410
6 Mrs. Hannah T. Fenn 415-416
7 Mrs. Mary Anderson Street, 416-417
8 Mrs. Jane Perkins Childs . 417-418
9 Mrs. Caroline Forbes Penniman, 418
10 Mrs. Angenette F. Tinkham Hamilton 419
viii
CONTENTS.
XXVIII. YOUNG WOMEN
I Maria Antonia Martina Eche- verria 421-422
2 Charlotte H. Baker 422-423
3 Emeline Silsbee 423-424
4 Charlotte R. Steele 423-424
XXIX. HONORABLE WOMEN
I Mrs. Mehitable Grozer Kit- tredge . 433-434
2 Mrs. Harriet L. Dickinson . 434-436
3 Mrs. Clara Stowell Franklin, 436-437
4 Mrs. Catharine Louisa Stone, 437-438
5 Miss Caroline Maria Stone . 438-440
6 Mrs. Abigail F. Wardwell 440
7 Mrs. Mary J. Basford 44I
8 Mrs. Anna F. Waters 442-444
9 Mrs. Magdalena Kuhn 444-446
IO Mrs. Mary Callen . 446-448
II Mrs. Judith Nutting 448-451
XXX. CHILDREN
I Caring for the Young 473-474
2 Early Piety 474-477
3 Early Deaths . 477-479
4 Our Young Saints : 479-483
(a) John Eliot Bowles ·
479-480
(6) Guy Richards 480
(c) Frances Elizabeth Murke, 481
484
I Harmony amidst Diversity . 484-488 1 2 A Happy Pastorate 488-496
.
.
420
5 Eliza Hill Anderson 425-427
6 Marcia Evelina Atkins 427-428
7 Ann Maria Bond 428-429
8 Caroline W. Bond . 429-430
9 Ann Bell 430-431
432
12 Mrs. Lucy Waterman 451-453
13 Miss Susan Wesson 453-455
Ministers' Wives.
14 Mrs. Eliza Hill Anderson . 456-461
15 Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth R. Peck, 461-462 Widows of Ministers.
16 Mrs. Mary Codman . . · 464-466
17 Mrs. Martha Vinal Hooker, 466-467 18 Mrs. Lucy Gilpatrick Marsh, 467-470 19 Mrs. Sarah Collins Porter 470-472
473
XXXI. EPILOGUE ·
·
·
CHAPTER I.
ROXBURY - EARLY AND LATER.
THE first of several churches now in our Commonwealth bearing the name Eliot was planted in Roxbury. The very name takes us back more than two and a half centuries. Notable contrasts are suggested. The wilderness then lying between the northern and southern lines of New England latitude, and stretching three thousand miles west to the Pacific, had not been penetrated by Europeans. Only its Atlantic fringes had been entered at a few points. Savage tribes were sparsely scattered over the broad territory, which remained in primitive rudeness. When John Eliot arrived, only five towns had been incorporated in the Massachusetts colony, and the early period of these feeble, coastwise settle- ments was one of privation and hardship. The first meet- ing house in Roxbury, built of logs, with a thatched roof and clay floor, but without spire, gallery, pew, or plaster, was erected in 1632, and, owing to fear of attack by Indians, all citizens were required to live within half a mile of the same; and the men were ordered to bring their firearms to church on the Sabbath. Wolves' heads were nailed to the meeting house. Bears and other wild animals were common in the neighborhood. Indeed, more than a century passed before they were exterminated."At first, there was no physician in
During one week in September, 1725, not less than twenty bears were killed, it is said, within two miles of Boston.
2
ELIOT MEMORIAL.
Roxbury, and some years after the settlement began, a ser- vant was one day (1639) sent into Boston, the adjoining town, for a dentist, and both of them were found days after- ward, beneath the snow, frozen to death. For a long time there were but few physicians in the colony, and no medical associations were formed till near the Revolution, 1776. Now there are over a thousand and five hundred physicians in Boston, and the present population of our city is not, perhaps, far short of the whole number of inhabitants in New England at the Declaration of National Independence. When a municipal charter was granted (1822) the popula- tion of Boston had not reached 44,000; now it is over 500,000. At that time, the towns immediately adjoining were all separate communities, and so continued till annexa- tions to the city took place- East Boston in 1836, Roxbury in 1867, Charlestown, Brighton, and West Roxbury in 1873. At the date referred to (1822), there were no good pave- ments. Now we have excellent roads in all directions, while our Franklin Park has ten miles of smoothest highways, and twenty miles of walks. There were no lighted streets at night, no water-works, no telegraphs. The cemeteries of Roxbury were then barely respectable : none in the land are now more attractive than our Forest Hills. The pillory, the stocks, and the whipping-post were banished long ago.
Advance in facilities of public conveyance has kept pace with other improvements. At the opening of this nineteenth century there were only a few stage-coaches in the neighborhood. A trip to New York required about a.
3
ROXBURY - EARLY AND LATER.
week's time. Even so late as when the Eliot Church was formed (1834), that journey, by schedule, took forty-one hours, night included. Now it may be accomplished in a little over one-eighth of that time. The fare by stage from Roxbury to Boston was twenty-five cents, and when an hourly was established,' in 1826, twelve and a half cents was the charge. At the date last named there was not a rail- road in the country, and the first passenger railroad -that from Boston to Newton - was not opened till 1834. Thirty years later came the horse car (1866), and after twenty-two years more (1888), the electric car, with fare reduced and speed increased.
The existing place of worship, on the same site as the one where Eliot began his long pastorate, was built in 1740, and is the fifth in succession. The house that stood there previously was riddled by cannon balls during the siege of Boston, and the lawn in front was a camping ground of our troops. The present pastor of the First Church, Dr. De Normandie, is the eleventh in succession.2
' By Horace King, now ninety-five years of age.
2 PASTORS.
Thomas Welde. July, 1632. Died in England, March 23, 1661. John Eliot. November 5, 1632. Died in Roxbury, May 20, 1690. Samuel Danforth. September 24, 1650. Died in Roxbury, November 10, 1674. Nehemiah Walter. October 17, 1688. Died in Roxbury, September 17, 1750. Thomas Walter. October 19, 1718. Died in Roxbury, January 10, 1725. Oliver Peabody. November 7, 1750. Died in Roxbury, May 29, 1752. Amos Adams. September 12, 1753. Died in Roxbury, October 5, 1775. Eliphalet Porter. October 2, 1782. Died in Roxbury, December 7, 1833. George Putnam, D.D. July 7, 1830. Died in Roxbury, April 11, 1878. John Graham Brooks. October 10, 1875. Dismissed, April 15, 1882. James De Normandie, D.D. March 14, 1883.
4
ELIOT MEMORIAL.
The geographical limits of Roxbury, extending eight miles from east to west and two miles from north to south, remained substantially unchanged for more than two hun- dred years. Besides the First Church, there was no other till the one organized in West Roxbury, 1712, which has had thirteen pastors.' Towards sixty years passed before the third church, that at Jamaica Plain was gathered (1770).2
Though the primitive region about Boston was so rude, the men who first came to these shores had been familiar with the conveniences, culture, and refinement of the mother- country. A fair proportion of them had enjoyed the advan- tages of her schools and universities. No well informed
I PASTORS.
Ebenezer Thayer. November 26, 1712. Died, March 6, 1733.
Nathaniel Walter. July 10, 1734. Died, March 11, 1776.
Thomas Abbot. September 29, 1773. Dismissed, March 10, 1783. John Bradford. May 30, 1785. Died, January 27, 1825. John Flagg. February 2, 1825. Died, March 14, 1831. George Whitney. June 15, 1831. Dismissed, February, 1836. Theodore Parker. June 21, 1837. Dismissed, February 8, 1846.
Dexter Clapp. December 20, 1848. Dismissed, November 23, 1851. Edmund B. Wilson. July 18, 1852. Dismissed, May, 1859. Trowbridge T. Forbush. July 1, 1863. Dismissed, May 8, 1868. Augustus Mellen Haskell. May 22, 1870. Dismissed, 1888. Frank Wright Pratt. 1891. Dismissed, 1895.
Alfred Rodman Hussey. 1895. Dismissed, 1898. John H. Applebee. June 6, 1899.
2 PASTORS.
William Gordon, D.D. July 6, 1772. Dismissed, March 17, 1786. Thomas Gray, D.D. March 27, 1793. Died, June 1, 1847.
George Whitney. February 10, 1836. Died, April 2, 1842. Joseph H. Allen. October 18, 1843. Dismissed, February 21, 1847. Grindall Reynolds, D.D. 1848. Dismissed, 1858. James W. Thompson. 1859. Died, 1881. Charles F. Dole. June, 1879.
5
ROXBURY - EARLY AND LATER.
person can now reside here without gathering inspiration from the annals of those early times. To settle in a place where there have been no eminent citizens, and hence where there is little or no history, is like pitching one's tabernacle on a broad sand-plain. Whatever the great or good may have or may not have to bequeath by last will and testa- ment, they leave an invaluable legacy, one that may enrich future generations, but which does not go through the pro- bate office. Such influence is second only to that of distin- guished contemporary residents. Roxbury has no gallery of portraits, but her prominent men form landmarks. They are like hills in an attractive landscape. Solomon did well to speak of the hyssop that springeth out of the wall, a low garden plant, but his far-reaching thought was chiefly on cedars that were in Lebanon.
Among conspicuous names in the early days of Rox- bury is found that of Dudley. A visitor in our city going from the present Dudley School building down Dudley Street, will pass the site of the Governor Dudley mansion (1636), where stood the late Universalist meeting-house. Thence by Washington Street he will go to our oldest cemetery, at the head of Eustis Street, one of the oldest in New England, and where interments began in 1633. On entering the enclosure, he will soon find the Dudley tomb. There rest the remains of two governors, a chief-justice, and other prominent men who bore that name. Thomas Dudley was an officer in the English army at the siege of Amiens, under Henry of Navarre. He came to the Massachusetts
6
ELIOT MEMORIAL.
Colony as Deputy-Governor in 1630, and held either that position or the office of Governor till his death in 1653. He was a man for the times and the place, a man of decided piety, unbending integrity, and ever on the alert for the public welfare. No clamor could make him swerve a hair- breadth. His daughter Anne, wife of Governor Bradstreet, was a noted poet of her day, and it is to be borne in mind that Oliver Wendell Holmes and Richard H. Dana were among her descendants. Joseph, a son of Governor Thomas Dudley, born in Roxbury, 1647, held successively numerous public offices, including the Chief-Justiceship of Massachu- setts, as well as that of New York, being later Deputy- Governor of the Isle of Wight. He was a member of the British Parliament, the first native of New England to whom that honor was accorded, and at length he became Governor
of Massachusetts. His talents were of a high order, and few men of any period or nationality have passed through greater vicissitudes. His son, Paul Dudley, studied law at the Temple in London, and, like his father, held many public offices, becoming Chief-Justice of Massachusetts, a position which he adorned. He was one of the few men in this country who have been elected members of the Royal So- ciety of England. By his will he provided for the annual Dudleian lecture at Harvard College, of which institution he was a graduate. The town of Dudley in this state per- petuates the family name.
Other colonial governors, as well as governors of the Commonwealth, have resided here. One who held that
7
ROXBURY - EARLY AND LATER.
office from 1741 to 1756 was William Shirley, a graduate of Cambridge University, England, who enjoyed the favor of Sir Robert Walpole and the Duke of Newcastle. He pro- jected the famous expedition which captured Louisburg. After serving as Governor of the Bahamas, he returned to Roxbury and died 1771. Increase Sumner, a graduate and afterwards master of our Latin School, became senator, judge, and in 1797 governor of the State. After his last election the oath of office was administered to him on his deathbed, June 7, 1799.
Eustis Street takes us to the site of a well known man- sion, that of Governor William Eustis, who was at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and served as surgeon through the war. He discharged various offices - member of Congress, Secretary of War, Minister to Holland - dying while Governor of Massachusetts. He was noted for urbanity and hospitality. Many distinguished men were his guests, among them Gen- eral Lafayette, a companion in arms.
Heath Street reminds us of Major-General Heath, who bore the name William, as did his immigrant ancestor who came to this place in 1636. For not less than five genera- tions the homestead remained in the family. John Heath, a descendant, was the first treasurer of the Eliot Church and Society. It was to General Heath that Washington en- trusted the command of West Point after Arnold's treason had been detected, and his division of the army was the last to be disbanded at the close of the Revolutionary War.
But we must go to Warren Street to find the residence
8
ELIOT MEMORIAL.
of one whose name has numerous local mementos, and is more widely known as a hero of the Revolution than that of any other Roxbury resident. The front of a stone cottage exhibits two tablets with inscriptions as follows : -
" On this spot stood the house erected in 1720 by Joseph Warren, of Boston, remarkable for being the birthplace of General Joseph Warren, his grandson, who was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775."
" John Warren, a distinguished physician and anatomist, was also born here. The original mansion being in ruins, this house was built by John C. Warren, M.D., a son of the last named, as a permanent memorial of the spot."
General Warren, as patriot, exhibited great activity, guided by prudence, firmness, and fearlessness. Few men in this country, or any other country, would have ventured upon delivering an oration commemorative of the " Boston Massacre " at such a time as March 5, 1775. British officers had threatened that it should cost any man his life who dared to do it. Capacious Old South Church was crowded to its utmost. Two score British officers in uniform occupied front pews or the pulpit stairs. Fully self-possessed and in a firm tone Warren proceeded with his oration, most of the audience applauding. One of the officers on the stairs held up his hand with several bullets in plain sight. Without interruption the speaker dropped a white handkerchief on to the hostile hand. In the battle at Lexington he showed coolness and undaunted bravery. At Bunker Hill, though a major-general, he preferred that Prescott should have
9
ROXBURY - EARLY AND LATER.
command, while he himself went into the redoubt where he fell.
The Pierponts were at one time among the chief fam- ilies of Roxbury .. Among descendants in Connecticut were distinguished individuals, as Sarah, daughter of Rev. James Pierpont, of New Haven, who became the wife of Jonathan Edwards; Rev. John Pierpont, known as poet and preacher in Boston; and Edwards Pierpont, who became United States Minister to the court of St. James. It is not out of place to speak of Gilbert Stuart (born 1756, died 1828), the most distinguished of American portrait-painters, who was here during the War of 1812. He occupied the large square house which came into the hands of Dr. Robbins, father of the late Rev. Chandler Robbins, D.D. It stands opposite the old Washington Schoolhouse, now occupied by the Munici- pal Court. In my study hangs the portrait of Governor Caleb Strong, by Stuart.
The stately Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn, as collector of the port of Boston, Adjutant-General, member of the Massachu- setts Senate and of the National Congress, was for many years a prominent figure in Roxbury. Mount Auburn Cemetery, which took the lead of such beautiful enclosures in our land, was a good deal indebted to his agency and excellent taste, while our Forest Hills Cemetery is still more largely his debtor. General Dearborn in his last years occu- pied a house immediately in the rear of the Eliot Church, though he seldom worshiped with us. Personal courtesies of his, such as almonds and dates which a friend had brought
1 ---- 1
IO
ELIOT MEMORIAL.
from Mt. Sinai, and other neighborly kindnesses, are well remembered. He was the second mayor of Roxbury, hold- ing that office from 1847 till the time of his death, 1851.
We have now come to comparatively recent days, and we still confine our retrospect to that portion of Roxbury which was the first to be incorporated municipally with Boston. Hence, nothing is said regarding "The Brook Farm Phalanx " at West Roxbury, which was incorporated, if I mistake not, the same year that I came to the Eliot Church, and where for a time were George Ripley, Thoreau, Curtis, Hawthorne, and other celebrities. In the eastern section of the place there was no more conspicuous citizen than Lucius Manlius Sargent. A man of finer figure or more courtly manners I never met, either at home or in foreign countries. He was an excellent scholar, a poet; and by lecturing, as well as by vigorous writing, did early good service to the cause of temperance. His effective " Temperance Tales," reaching, it is said, the one hundred and thirtieth edition, were republished in England, Scotland, Germany, and Aus- tralia. His death, at eighty years of age, occurred in 1867. A member of Mr. Sargent's family worshiped with us, usually bringing one or more of the grandchildren.
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