USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Annals of King's Chapel from the Puritan age of New England to the present day > Part 23
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1 Mrs. Appleton was the widow of down into the great sea, yet making us John Gore, son of Samuel and nephew of Governor Gore. See MMass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings for January, 1875, xiii. 424.
2 " We go into town to dine with Mrs. S. A. What a charming household is hers! The gentle, glowing, benignant, happy old man, in his crimson-velvet dressing-gown, like a sun setting in crim- son clouds, shining over all with cheer- Inl, genial light, -slowly, slowly rolling
feel that all this worth cannot grow old, all this benevolence cannot die, and that every setting sun is somewhere a rising sun. Then she herself, so young and fresh in her enjoyment of life, with all her French taste and love of the beauti- ful, - the old French blood showing itself in her Madame de Sévigné love of details and of social life ; and M., who is eyes to the blind and feet to the
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Mr. Appleton was of fine, commanding presence, being about six feet in height, with a full face and a fresh complexion. A portrait of him, by Healy, was owned by his nephew, the late Thomas Gold Appleton, of Boston.1
A Monument on the north wall of the Chapel, surmounted by a profile likeness of Mr. Appleton in relief, bears the follow- ing inscription : -
Sacred to the memory of SAMUEL APPLETON, A Boston Merchant, Honored for his uprightness, eminent for his liberality. An integrity without guile, A child-like faith in God, A never-failing benevolence towards his neighbor, Marked his whole character and career.
His charity expanded as his means increased ; And the wealth acquired in honorable labors Was held as if in trust, For the good of his fellow-men. A friend to the poor, a helper of the humble ; His hand and heart were open to every righteous cause. Dying in the fulness of years, a private citizen, He was lamented as a public benefactor. His name will be preserved to coming times By the numerous institutions of Learning, Philanthropy and Religion, Which were established, sustained, or aided By his munificence, alike in Life and Death. He died July 12, 1853, aged 87 years.
THOMAS G. CARY was a Vestryman of King's Chapel from 1856 till 1859. From a Memoir by J. Elliot Cabot2 we copy the following : -
Thomas Greaves (or Graves) Cary was born at Chelsea, Sept. 7, 1791, and died at Nahant, July 4, 1859. . . . The estate, consisting of more than
lame, and whose whole life is absorbed into the life of this family, - the whole presents a very peculiar and charming tableau ; and as I looked at it by the fitful firelight this evening, it drew me into many dreams and reveries." - Life of Henry W. Longfellow (Journal under date of April 20, 1850), ii. 20.
Mrs. Longfellow was a daughter of Nathan and a niece of Samuel Appleton.
1 Memorial Biographies of the New- Eng. Hist. Gen. Society, ii. 62-68.
2 Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings for June, ISSO, xviii. 166-168.
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a thousand acres of land, belonged to Governor Bellingham, by whom the older part of the house is said to have been built, and came into the possession of Samuel Cary (grandfather of the subject of this memoir), great-grandson of James Cary, who came to Charlestown in 1639 from Bristol, England, in which city both his father and his great-grandfather had held the office of mayor. Samuel Cary had a son, also named Samuel, who married Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Ellis Gray, and had thirteen children, of whom Thomas Greaves Cary was the tenth.
Samuel Cary, last mentioned, was a successful merchant and planter in the Island of Grenada ; he returned to Massachusetts in 1791, in affluent circumstances ; but a few years afterward the Grenada property was swept away in an insurrection consequent upon the revolution in San Domingo, and the family were reduced for their main subsistence to the produce of the Chelsea farm.
Much attention had been paid to the education of the children, the elder of whom had been sent to England for this purpose. They now took charge of the schooling of their younger brothers and sisters. Mrs. Cary was a good reader of the English Classics, -an accomplishment which her son Thomas inherited. He was prepared for admission to Harvard College by Ebenezer Pemberton, at Billerica Academy, and graduated in 1811, in the same class with Edward Everett, Dr. N. L. Frothingham, and other men of note. On graduating he studied law with Peter O. Thacher, walking to and from Boston except when the wind was fair for the sail-boat at the ferry. At home he took his share in the family work of instruction, advising and assisting in the studies of his younger brothers, who were fitted for college by him. He was admitted to the bar in Boston in 1814, but soon afterward removed to Brattleborough, Vt., where he practised law until 1822, when he gave up that profession and joined his elder brother in business as a merchant in New York. Having married a daughter of Col. T. H. Perkins, he was invited by his father-in-law to join the firm of J. & T. H. Perkins in Boston. Upon the dissolution of this copartnership he became treasurer of the Hamilton and Appleton Manufacturing Companies, and held this office until his death.
Mr. Cary was a man of decided literary tastes, and although always actively engaged in business, he was an occasional writer upon financial, economical, and political subjects, always commanding attention by the elevation of his views and the fulness and accuracy of his information. He was the unwearied friend and helper of every enterprise looking to the intellectual and moral advancement of the community. . . . The list of his public employments but imperfectly represents his activity for the public good. Few men in his generation equalled him in single- hearted devotion to every duty, public or private ; and this disposition was seconded by remarkable powers of application. He was always ready to give time and labor without stint and without thought of personal distinction. Never brilliantly successful so far as his own fortunes were
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concerned, his purity of character and unselfishness of conduct gave him an honored place in the community.
CHARLES PELHAM CURTIS,1 eldest son of Thomas and Hel- ena (Pelham) Curtis, was born in Boston, June 22, 1792, and
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died in Boston, October 4, 1864. He entered the Boston Latin School in 1803; graduated from Harvard College in the bril- liant class of 1811,2 and read law with the Hon. William Sulli- van. Mr. Curtis married (1) Anna Wroe Scollay, and (2) Margarett Stevenson, widow of Joseph William McKean, M. D.
Mr. Curtis was the first solicitor of the city of Boston, which station he sustained for two years (1827, 1828) with great honor to his reputation, and to the benefit of his constituents. He was a member of the Common Council four years (1823-1826), where his influence in the practical development of the city Charter has contributed to its perpetuity.8
1 He was a grandson of Peter Pel- John Chipman Gray, LL.D .; Ebenezer ham, the artist, step-father to Copley, the celebrated portrait painter.
2 Among Mr. Curtis's classmates were Joseph Allen, D. D .; Thomas Greaves Cary ; Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin, LL.D., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Carolina; Edward Everett, D. C. L .; Nathaniel Langdon Frothing- ham, D. D .; Samuel Gilman, D. D .;
Lane, LL.D., Chief Justice of the Su- preme Court of Ohio; Harrison Gray Otis; Rev. Thomas Prentiss ; Edward Reynolds, M. D .; Solomon D. Townsend, M. D .; and John Fothergill Water- house, M. D.
8 Loring's Hundred Boston Orators, P. 403; Boston City Records.
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ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
By invitation of the city authorities, Mr. Curtis delivered the Fourth of July oration in 1823.
Mr. Curtis was a Vestryman of King's Chapel from 1826 till his death; and Treasurer from 1827 till 1861, a period of thirty- four years. It appears that the financial affairs of King's Chapel, though prosperous in a general way, had not been administered with desirable strictness and regularity ; and that Mr. Curtis, for that reason, took the office of Treasurer, and instituted a new order of things, which has prevailed ever since. He further took an active and never-failing interest in the Chapel and its govern- ment, as well as in the several ministers who have occupied its pulpit, and was upon intimate terms with Dr. Freeman, who married his aunt. For nearly half a century he was engaged in the practice of the law, in which his fidelity and success were eminent.
" He had a perfect knowledge of that portion of the law which comes into use in the daily exigencies of life ; and as he had by nature a sound practical understanding, and excellent powers of observation, he was a trusty counsellor, to whom his clients could always look with perfect confidence for judicious advice. He was never in a hurry, because he was never idle. He entered into the business of his clients, and espoused their interests with hearty zeal, - so that his friends were his clients, and his clients were his friends."
In the Legislature of the Commonwealth, and in the inter- course of the committee-room, through a long session crowded with business, Mr. Curtis was not found wanting.
"With competent learning, thorough business habits, strong prac- tical sense, and the utmost integrity and fidelity in the discharge of his duties," says Judge B. F. Thomas, " he won the confidence of his colleagues and of the House. The difficult and responsible duties of Chairman of the Judiciary Committee have seldom, if ever, been better discharged."
He declined the offer by the Whig party of a nomination to Congress, which was strongly urged upon him by Mr. Webster, feeling that he could not sacrifice his eminent professional posi- tion and business.
" Deliberate and extremely conscientious in forming his own judg- ments," said Mr. Elias Merwin, at a meeting of the Suffolk Bar in men- ory of Mr. Curtis, " when a sense of duty demanded their expression, it may be said of him, without exaggeration, that -
' No favor swayed him, and no fear could awe.
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THE MINISTRY OF EPHRAIM PEABODY.
He was of a turn of mind which is perhaps sufficiently described as con- servative ; and though the tendency of this with advancing years may sometimes be to see nothing good but in the past, yet with him it was entirely free from this querulous excess. Though from his mental bent and training he turned rather to the solid landmarks and the beaten paths, yet his spirit affiliated with the present, - his congenialities were ever with the young."
" Mr. Curtis," adds Mr. George S. Hillard in a memorial notice,1 " was generous and charitable to an extent not imagined by the public, because his bounty flowed in unseen currents. The claims made upon him were neither few nor small, and they were faithfully - sacredly - met. Could this portion of his life be revealed, we are sure it would be a surprise, perhaps not unmingled with a little self-reproach arising from unjust judgment, to some of those who met him exclusively in the business intercourse of life, and saw only another part of his nature. . . . His domestic affections were warm, and he was happy in his domestic rela- tions. He lived in a little grove of kindred, and his heart was kept green to the last by the sweet charities of blood and race. His home was the seat of a generous hospitality, where his friends were welcomed with cordial grasp and genial smile." 2
Mr. Curtis was a member of the Friday Evening Club; one of the originators of the Boston Farm School for boys; and " a man of fine literary parts," who frequently contributed to the public prints, chiefly upon the political questions of the day.
A marble tablet upon the easterly wall of the church is thus inscribed : -
CHARLES . PELHAM . CURTIS DIED OCT IV MDCCCLXIV AGED LXXII TREASURER OF KING'S CHAPEL XXXIV YEARS
1 Rev. FREDERICK TURELL GRAY, youngest son of Edward and Susanna (Turell) Gray, was born December 5, 1804, and died March 9, 1859.
His father was a lawyer, and brother of Rev. Thomas Gray, minister of the First Congregational Church in Jamaica Plain. Early left an orphan, he was adopted by his grandmother, Madam Turell, a lady of wealth. On account of delicate eyesight, he was obliged to give up going to College, and entered business in 1825, becoming in 1829 a partner in the publishing firm of Gray and Bowen.
1 In the Boston Courier. pamphlet " In Memory of Charles Pel- ham Curtis ": Boston. 1864. pp. 25 (Eastburn's Press).
2 The above testimonials are chiefly condensed, without alteration, from a
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In 1821 the first Sunday Schools had been established, and Mr. Gray had joined one as teacher under Hon. S. T. Armstrong as superintendent. In 1823 he aided in organizing the Hancock Sunday School, and in 1825 became its superintendent. Meantime, he became associated with Rev. Dr. Tuckerman, assisted in organizing " the Howard Sunday School, pro- curing for its use the upper chamber of a building which had been a painter's loft, at the corner of Merrimack and Portland streets, in which Dr. Tuckerman preached his first sermon to the poor. Further, he visited with him the poor, introduced him to families with whose homes he was already familiar, seeking others whom they might relieve and save, and in the procurement of funds for the erection of a free chapel, which were at length secured, a building erected known as the Friend Street Chapel, and first opened for public services in 1828."
But Dr. Tuckerman's feeble health failed altogether in 1832. Mr. Gray did not hesitate to give up his prosperous business, and to place himself under the instruction of Rev. Samuel J. May, of Brooklyn, Conn., for a year. He then offered to the Association his gratuitous services as a minister to the poor. He was ordained Oct. 5, 1834, having three months earlier (July 3) married Elizabeth P. Chapman. He had a most successful ministry in this noble work. At the close of the second year the chapel - " the modest mother of poor men's churches" - was found to be too small, and in 1836 the Pitts Street Chapel was built by sub- scription, and " devoted exclusively and forever to free religious instruction in the city of Boston. . . . The new chapel was soon filled ; the com- munion service introduced, a new feature in a ministry to the poor ; the pastor's visits largely increased, . .. while conference and teachers' meetings were added."
Mr. Gray was called to be colleague with Rev. Paul Dean at the Bul- finch Place Church, and Rev. Robert C. Waterston, having specially prepared himself for the ministry at large so that he could at once take his place, Mr. Gray accepted the call and was installed November, 1839. In 1853, the pulpit of the Unitarian Church at San Francisco becoming vacant, he went for a year, by request of the American Unitarian Asso- ciation, to supply the post, having a year's leave of absence from his parish. In July, 1854, he returned to Boston, weakened by a severe illness. Resigning his pastorate of the Bulfinch Place Church, he accepted the Secretaryship of the Sunday School Society, but was never able to assume its duties. Rev. Dr. Bellows says of him (in his tribute to Rev. Thomas Starr King) : " He was pre-eminently a preacher of the heart ; his wisdom was thoroughly unbookish. He bathed the common- places and simplicities of truth in tones that made them shine, as the pebbles of the beach, when polished with the lustre of the ocean wave that finds them common stones and leaves them jewels."1
1 See Rev. Ephraim Peabody's Fu- phies of the New-Eng. Historic Genea- logical Society, ii. 340-352.
neral Sermon, and Memorial Biogra-
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THE MINISTRY OF EPHRAIM PEABODY.
GEORGE B. EMERSON was born in the town of Wells, Maine (then a part of Massachusetts), Sept. 12, 1797, and died in March, 1881, at the house of his son-in-law, Hon. John Lowell, at Chestnut Hill, Brookline, at the advanced age of eighty-four.
" His father was an able physician, a graduate of Harvard, a man of uncommon ability, with scholarly tastes and acquirements ; beloved and respected, he not only had a wide pro- Spero. B. Emestora fessional practice, but he made the public schools a special ob- ject of his care ; he was consulted in the choice and appointment of teachers, and as a visitor of the district schools his face was familiar, while his counsel and encouragement were always welcome. Mr. Emer- son's grandfather, a minister in Hollis, New Hampshire, not only was a very acceptable preacher, but was widely known through all the County of Hillsborough for the pre-eminent skill with which he fitted young men for college. Thus the rare gift of teaching seemed to have been transmitted from generation to generation. As an inherited quality it had come down from father to son, not evidently wearing itself out, but gain- ing, with time, fresh impulse and inspiration."
Among Mr. Emerson's classmates in Harvard College, where he grad- uated in 1817, were George Bancroft, Caleb Cushing, Samuel J. May, Samuel E. Sewall, and Stephen Salisbury. " President Kirkland was then at the head of the College, Edward Everett was tutor in Latin, Professor Farrar was head of the mathematical department, while Dr. Levi Hedge, Dr. Henry Ware, and George Ticknor held responsible positions. Such men could not but give life to the whole University " 1 He was himself not only an excellent general and classical scholar, but a naturalist of wide knowledge and observation ; his volume on the " Forest Trees of Massachusetts " is the standard work on the subject. In Hallam's " In- troduction to the Literature of Europe," it is remarked that all the trees named in a certain stanza of "The Faery Queen " could not possibly be found in a single forest ; but " Mr. Emerson was familiar with a natural forest within a few miles of Boston, where every tree there named stands both firm and in good condition. In Europe, all these trees might not be found in near companionship ;" in New England, they not only verify the precision of his knowledge, but illustrate the poet's keen observation, and verify his truth.
" Mr. Emerson was, through all the active days of his city life, a con- stant attendant at King's Chapel. He was the chosen friend of the Rev. Dr. Greenwood, whose tastes in natural history he shared. To him he
1 Mr. Emerson received from Harvard University the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1859 ; he was early elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, of which through many years he continued a valued associate, and was also a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
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looked as the religious teacher who most satisfied his spiritual nature. It is a special pleasure to speak of one who so earnestly loved this Church, and who became identified with its best thoughts and interests. He was a member of the Vestry from 1841 to 1866, being also Junior Warden in 1843-44, and Senior Warden from 1845 to 1853, and again from 1863 to 1866. The impressive duty was delegated to him of in- ducting the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Peabody into his official relations as Minister of the Gospel in this place. He was intrusted with the same duty when the present pastor [Mr. Foote] was publicly inducted into his office. It is the custom of this ancient Church, at the installation of its ministers; that the sermon in which the new clergyman addresses the people shall be preceded by an address from the Senior Warden ; to this the Pastor makes a brief reply. The Minister is then presented with a Bible, as containing 'the holy oracles of Almighty God,' a due observ- ance being solemnly enjoined of all the precepts therein contained, par- ticularly those connected with the duty and office of a minister of Jesus Christ. No more striking proof can be given of the respect in which Mr. Emerson was held by the Church and congregation than the fact that he was thus requested, on occasions of such importance, to act as their representative.
" All the daily duties of his life exemplified his professions here. His work as a teacher was a perpetual self-consecration to the highest pur- poses of existence. To the cause of education he brought fine gifts of talent and culture. This work he ennobled as a calling for all who should come after him. For thirty years, with wonderful success, he devoted himself to that genuine education which consists in the development of the intellectual, moral, and religious powers ; and he thus trained more than one generation of the best women in the community to an intelli- gent interest in all that is good, whether in literature or in life. His shaping impress is seen in the characters of many, now in middle life or beyond it, who are acknowledged as among the noblest and most useful members of society throughout the country.
"The personal quality of the man was felt in all that he did. Animated by enthusiasm and free from selfishness, he was ever ready to contribute valuable aid, whether in the field of public duty or literary service, and was quick to answer each appeal that was so fortunate as to gain his approval in the multifarious calls of philanthropy. Thus every good person and every worthy cause found in him a friend. Sparing upon himself, he was lavish of his means and his time to all that touched his sympathy. With such a spirit it was natural that he should hold the relationship of counsellor and friend to very many who felt that they owed to him the opening of a better life." 1
1 The paragraphs quoted are taken from a Memoir of Mr. Emerson by Rev. Robert C. Waterston, in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings for May, 1883 (xx. 232- 259), reprinted, with large additions, in
pamphlet form (Boston, 1884, pp. 126). The last three paragraphs in our text are contained in a letter from Mr. Foote to Mr. Waterston. - EDITOR.
Jours inte P. R. Cuentas.
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THE MINISTRY OF EPHRAIM PEABODY.
Mr. Emerson's services are visibly commemorated by a marble tablet bearing these words : -
BARRELL GEORGE EMERSON . Warden of this Church
XV Years .
Born 1797.
Died 1881.
BENJAMIN ROBBINS CURTIS, a Vestryman from 1844 till 1852, was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, Nov. 4, 1809.
His father was Captain Benjamin Curtis, master of a vessel trading between Boston and Valparaiso, who was half-brother to the late George Ticknor. His grandfather on his father's side was Dr. Benjamin Curtis, who graduated from Harvard College in 1771. His mother was Lois Robbins, of Watertown, who has been justly described as a lady of " great intelligence and the highest womanly virtues." After having graduated in 1829,1 he entered the Law School at Cambridge in September of that year, receiving at the same time an appointment to the office of proctor in the University. In the Law School his superior abilities were soon recognized by the professors and his fellow-students, who even then prophesied of the high career which was before him. It is related that Judge Story, then the Dane Professor of Law, said he should like to live long enough to see to what distinction three of his pupils would attain. One of these was Mr. Curtis ; another was Charles Sumner ; the third was a man who, by the force of adverse circumstances, was early turned aside from the course of life for which he had been preparing.
In the autumn of 1851 Mr. Curtis was commissioned by President Fillmore as one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States,2 which office he resigned in 1857. The announcement of
1 Mr. Curtis graduated from Harvard College in the brilliant class which in- cluded Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Dr. James Freeman Clarke, Chief-Justice Bigelow, Rev. William H. Channing, Professor Benjamin Peirce, Dr. Chandler Robbins, and Dr. Samuel F. Smith. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Harvard in 1852, and from Brown University in 1857. He was a Fellow of Harvard College from 1846 till 1851, and also of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
2 The appointment to this high office was made by the advice of Mr. Webster, who in making the selection passed by period of service.
several eminent lawyers who had claims to his consideration, not only for their professional character, but also on the ground of personal friendship, - among whom was one of the ablest and most brilliant members of the bar of his own State, with whom he had always been on terms of the closest intimacy. But Mr. Webster acted only for the best good of the country. Ile was influenced in his choice by his knowledge of the learning and abilities of Mr. Curtis, and of the peculiarly judicial traits of his mind and character, in combination with his ro- bust physical health and comparative youth, which gave promise of a long
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his purpose to resign was received with surprise and regret in all parts of the country, both North and South. Those who had most at heart the integrity and honor of the Supreme Tribunal, and who were most con- cerned for the security of our free institutions, regarded his retirement as a public calamity. Expressions of censure mingled with those of regret in private conversation and the public press ; and even those who had entire confidence in the purity of his motives and the validity of his reasons found it difficult heartily to approve his course, on account of their deep sense of the loss of his services to the country.
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