USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Plymouth County, Massachusetts > Part 22
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Daniel, the eldest son of Matthew and Naz- areth Cushing, was born in Hingham, Eng- land. The date of his baptism was April 20, 1619. He was first married on January 19, 1645, to Lydia Gilman, daughter of Edward and Mary (Clark) Gilman. She was a native of England, and died in Hingham, Mass., March 12, 1688-9. Her children were : Peter, Daniel, Jr., Deborah, Jeremiah, Theophilus, and Matthew. On March 23, 1690, Daniel Cushing was again married, his second matri- monial partner being Mrs. Elizabeth (Jacobs) Thaxter, widow of Captain John Thaxter. She died in Hingham at an advanced age. Daniel Cushing was an influential man in the town, where he accumulated a large property for those times. He resided on the paternal homestead until his death on December 3, 1700, at the age of eighty-one.
His son Theophilus was born in Hingham, June 7, 1667. On November 28, 1688, he
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was united in marriage with Mary Thaxter, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Jacobs) Thax- ter. She was born in Hingham, August 19, 1667, and became the mother of eleven chil- dren - Nehemiah, Mary, Adam, David, Abel, Rachel, Mary, Theophilus, Seth, Deborah, and Lydia. The father died January 7, 1717.
Theophilus. son of Captain Theophilus and Mary (Thaxter) Cushing, was born in Hing- ham, June 16, 1703. He married Hannah, daughter of Robert and Sarah (Lewis) Water- man, the date of their wedding being August 27, 1723. He died June 15, 1779. Perez, born July 13, 1746, the youngest of their ten children, was the grandfather of David, the subject of this sketch. He was married August 30, 1770, to Ruth Cushing, who was born in this town, November 1, 1752, daughter of Colonel David and Ruth (Lincoln) Cush- ing. They removed to Franklin, Mass., and were the parents of six children.
Pyam, the fourth child, was born February 21, 1778. He was married to Olive Lovell, of Hull, on December 26, 1805, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Nicholas Bowes Whitney. He passed the most of his life in Hull, Mass., dying in April, 1841, at the age of sixty-three years. His wife was born De- cember 11, 1783, and died January II, 1843. They had seven children, but three of whom are now living: David, the subject of this biography; Olive Gould, who married Moses Tower, of Auburndale, Mass .; and Eliza Jones Cushing, born in Hull, January 30, 1821, also now living in Auburndale.
David Cushing was taken by his parents in his infancy to Hull, where the entire popula- tion at that time was only one hundred and twenty. While a boy he worked at farming, and whatever else his parents found for him to do; and they kept him busy, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy not being their
theory of child-training. His educational privileges were limited to short winter terms at schools usually taught by college students, who were struggling to get their own educa- tion. At the age of seventeen he was appren- ticed to a carpenter in Medford, and, being apt with tools, he readily acquired his trade. Three years later in 1836, the times being so hard that he could get nothing to do, he went South, and worked in Mobile, Ala., and in New Orleans, La., for two years. Thereafter for four years he was engaged in getting ship timber from the Virginia woods, but he was obliged to abandon that enterprise on account of fever and ague.
Observing on a trip through Hingham that the wharves were not occupied, he thought it would be a good place to start the lumber business, and acted upon this judgment in 1845. Although he had no knowledge of the trade, it proved an excellent move for him, enabling him to accumulate considerable prop- erty. In 1882 he sold the plant to Wilder & Kimball, who have also done an excellent business. Mr. Cushing has not been actively occupied since he sold out, but he finds enough to do in looking after his property. Included in his landed estate is a tract in Hull, which is now being laid out in lots to sell to the summer residents.
He married Elizabeth Torrey, who died seven years ago, leaving two children: Eliza- beth, now Mrs. Henry Stone; and Sarah, who lives at home. Politically, Mr. Cushing was a Democrat until 1856, when he joined the Republican party. He served as Representa- tive to the legislature in 1868. Personally, he is a genial gentleman, hale and hearty at the age of eighty-three, having discovered the secret of growing old gracefully, in not allow- ing his faculties to stagnate, but keeping up his interest in the general welfare and progress.
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J OSEPH W. SHERMAN, a general farmer and cranberry-grower of Carver, was born here, September 5, 1831, son of Joseph R. and Betsy W. (Cobb) Sherman. He represents an old and respected family of this town, his great-grandfather, Rufus Sherman, a prosperous farmer, being a life- long resident of that place. Micah, a son of Rufus, was also a native of Carver, and there devoted a large portion of his life to farming. His son, Joseph R., likewise born in Carver, after following the sea in the earlier part of his life, worked at the trade of carpenter. On March 14, 1830, he married Miss Betsy W. Cobb, a native of Carver, and by her became the father of three children - Joseph W., Ann J., and Frederick C. Ann J. became the wife of A. D. Merritt, of Middleboro; and Fred- erick C. died in 1891. The mother's death happened in 1863. Joseph R. Sherman after- ward married Mrs Lydia Atwood, of Plymp- ton, who bore him a daughter, Myrtle L., now Mrs. Henry L. Pratt, of Plymouth. He passed away at Carver in February, 1896, at the venerable age of ninety years ; and his sec- ond wife died January 31, 1882, aged thirty- nine years six months.
Joseph W. Sherman grew to manhood at the paternal home, receiving his education in the common schools of his native town. At the age of fifteen he began working at the shoe- maker's trade, which he afterward followed for thirty-five years. During all but five years of that period he had a shop of his own at Carver. In 1871 he moved to his present farm, comprising fifteen acres, where he car- ries on general husbandry and the culture of cranberries. Mr. Sherman has been twice married. On the first occasion he wedded Miss Sarah C. Jones, a native of Maine, and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Appolus Jones. She died December 24, 1858, having borne
two children - Alberta and Edward. The latter is now deceased. Mr. Sherman con- tracted his second marriage on November 27, 1864, with Miss Hannah C. Sherman, daughter of Henry and Christiana Sherman, of Carver. Born of this union were two children, both of whom died in infancy. Mr. Sherman is an earnest promoter of judicious measures looking to the improvement of the town. In national political belief he is found among the ranks of the Republican party.
INSLOW BREWSTER STAND- ISH, the well-known dealer in 1834.
antiques in the historic old town of Plymouth, was born here on the 7th of March, Mr. Standish is a lineal descendant of Miles Standish and John Alden of "May- flower " fame. His great-great-great-great- · grandfather, Alexander Standish, the eldest son of Captain Miles Standish, married Sarah, daughter of John and Priscilla (Mul- lens) Alden. Their son, Ebenezer Standish, was the father of Moses Standish, who in turn was the father of Moses, Jr., and grand- father of Joshua, whose son Joshua was the father of Winslow Brewster Standish, of this sketch.
The first Moses Standish fought in the early French and Indian Wars, making a good record for himself. Moses Standish, Jr., was a brave soldier in the Revolutionary War, where he lost his life. Joshua, son of the second Moses, was a blacksmith by trade, and conducted his business in Plympton, and later in Middleboro, until he died at the age of seventy-four years. He married Susanna Cobb, by whom he had six children, of whom Joshua, Jr., was the eldest.
He was born at Plympton, and received his education in the schools of that town. Mr.
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Joshua Standish, Jr., was a man of great intel- ligence and ingenuity. , He invented the com- fortable split crutches for cripples, which are now so common. By trade he was a black- smith like his father, and his place of business was on South Russell Street, Plymouth, near the prison. He also was, like so many of his distinguished ancestors, a military man, and served in the War of 1812, enlisting at Bris- tol, R.I. He was also the last Captain of the militia at Plymouth, under the old militia law. He was a religious man, and at- tended the Universalist church. In politics he was an ardent Jacksonian Democrat. He married Mary, the daughter of William Shaw, of Middleboro, the descendant of an old and well-known Plymouth County family. By this union he had eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only one now living.
Mr. Winslow Brewster Standish has spent all of his life, with the exception of four years, in his native town of Plymouth. These four years of his early manhood he spent in Boston, in the employ of his brother-in-law, the late Frederick Gleason, for some years publisher of Gleason's Pictorial. Returning to Plym- outh, Mr. Standish there took up the shoe- maker's trade, at which he worked until the war broke out. On the 6th of May, 1861, he enlisted and went to the front, being in Com- pany E, Twenty-ninth Massachusetts Regi- ment, and with him went his nephew, Myles Standish. Mr. Standish was at Newport News at the time of the engagement between the "Monitor " and the "Merrimac," and was an eye-witness of that remarkable sea-fight. Here he took part in several heavy skir- mishes. On the 21st of June, 1861, he was in the army corps which occupied Hampton, Va., and after three months was transferred to Fortress Monroe. On the 10th of May,
1862, his regiment was ordered to Norfolk, and later to Suffolk. Soon they joined Mc- Clellan's army before Richmond; and Mr. Standish and his nephew were in the seven days' fight which took place therc. Mr. Standish was subsequently disabled by illness, and on the 6th of August, 1862, was dis- charged through the influence of President Lincoln, who with his wife visited him at the hospital.
He returned home, and, as soon as he had sufficiently recovered, he engaged in his old business, which he kept up until the end of the war. As he did not regain his strength, he was ordered by his physician to take out- door exercise, and he consequently took up the employment of a pedler, that being a trade in which he could constantly keep himself in the open air. He drove a pedler's cart for four years, and at the expiration of that period he bought out the business, and managed it till 1895, gradually working himself into a position where he could undertake the collect- ing and handling of antiques and curios solcly. He has since bcen strictly a dealer in antiques.
In politics Mr. Standish is a Republican, and in 1856 he voted for John C. Fremont. He was on the Town Republican Committee twenty-five years ago, and has continued there as an honored member. He was also a Select- man of the town of Plymouth five years, from 1881 to 1886. As a member of Collingwood Post, No. 76, Grand Army of the Republic, Mr. Standish has held every office from that of Commander down, and is now and has been for fifteen successive years its Chaplain. He has been a member of Mayflower Lodge, No. 54, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, for nearly thirty years, having joined in August. 1865, but has never been willing to accept a chair there. He was also the first governor of
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Patuxet Colony, No. 103, United Order of the Pilgrim Fathers.
Mr. Standish is liberal in his religious views. He was married May 10, 1861, to Sylvia, the daughter of Mr. Joseph Maybury, of Plymouth, who was for twenty-six years the superintendent of the Russell Iron Works.
ANIEL E. DAMON, a prominent lawyer now residing in Plymouth, was born at Scituate, Mass., August 2, 1829, son of Daniel and Lydia (Witherell) Damon. The first bearer of his name in this country was John Damon, who arrived in Scituate in company with his uncle, William Gilson, about the year 1630, and subsequently held the office of Deputy under the Colonial government. He married Catherine Merritt, daughter of Henry Merritt, of Scituate, and left one son, Lieutenant Zachary Damon. Lieutenant Damon, who earned his title in the early Indian wars, married Martha Wood- worth.
Joshua Damon, a descendant of Zachary, and the grandfather of Daniel E., was a farmer of Scituate, and died there at the age of seventy years. His son Daniel, who also followed farming in Scituate, died there at the age of seventy-eight years. He married Lydia Witherell, who was a descendant of Elder Brewster, one of the passengers of the " May- flower." Her grandfather, Jamcs Barrell, who served throughout the Revolutionary War with two of his sons, was within a few months of one hundred years old when he died, having performed the work of an ordinary man until he was ninety-five. Daniel Damon had six children. Of these five are living, four being residents of Norwell. Daniel E. Damon was brought up in Scituate, and lived there until he was seventeen years of age. He then left
homc, and afterward attended the Worcester Academy, where he was prepared for college. In 1852 he entered Brown University, but had soon to relinquish his college studies on account of a persistent illness. After leaving college he taught school for a time in South Scituate and Hingham, also reading law in the office of the Hon. Perez Simmons, an able lawyer of Hanover, Mass. Qualified to enter the legal profession in due timc, he was ad- mitted to the bar in 1858, and began practice at Plymouth in January, 1859. After a short time he came to be regarded as a rising lawyer. Early in his professional career he was elected to the office of Register of Probate and Insolvency, which he held for the unpre- cedented period of twenty-five years. He has also been a Special Justice of the Third Dis- trict Court for ten years. Formerly a Whig in politics, Mr. Damon has been a Republican since the formation of his party. While a resident of South Scituate, he was a Trial Justice, and also served on the School Com- mittee. From 1882 to 1888 he was a member of the State Board of Agriculture. Although he has been a Mason for forty years, he would not accept any chairs. He first joined the Old Colony Lodge at Hingham, and afterward became a member of Plymouth Lodge. A strong temperance man, he has been connected with several temperance orders. His union with the Church of the Pilgrimage covers a period of about thirty years. In the month of June, 1860, Mr. Damon married Ruth W. Stetson, a daughter of Martin W. Stetson, of Hanover, and another descendant of Elder Brewster. Her mother was by maiden name Ruth Bailey Stockbridge, a de- scendant of Colonel John Bailey, who com- manded a regiment all through the Revolu- tionary War. His daughter Ruth married William Stockbridge, who held a commission
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at Hanover, Mass., under the royal govern- ment during the reign of King George III.
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel E. Damon have two children - Ruth Stockbridge and Edwin Stet- son. Ruth, who graduated from Wellesley in 1890, is now a teacher in Blairsville College for women in Pennsylvania; Edwin graduated from Amherst in 1886, and is now engaged in manufacturing. In 1883 Mr. Damon com- piled a history of Scituate and South Scituate for the "Plymouth County History." He has also contributed miscellaneous articles of much value to the newspapers.
B ENJAMIN HARDEN, Superintend- ent of Streets of Bridgewater, Mass., is one of the well-known native citi- zens of the place. He was born March 23, 1833, son of Captain Jabez and Sarah (Pratt) Harden, both of Plymouth County. His grandfather, Samuel Harden, fought in the Revolutionary War, and Captain Jabez Harden was a soldier in the War of 1812. The latter, who was a lifelong resident of Bridge- water, was a prominent citizen, active as a Democrat in town politics, and at one time commanded a company of State militia. He died September 11, 1879. His children are: George P., who is living in Bridgewater; Alice, wife of Albion K. Washburn, in the same town; Albert in East Bridgewater; and Frank B. and Benjamin, both in Bridgewater.
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Benjamin Harden was educated in the com- mon schools of his native town. He was reared on a farm, and when he attained man's estate he chose the pursuit of agriculture, which he has followed up to the present time. For a number of years he was engaged in lum- bering in the winter season. He holds a lead- ing place among the farmers of this vicinity, and is a prominent member of Bridgewater
Grange, No. 201, ' Patrons of Husbandry. When the men of Massachusetts were muster- ing at the call of President Lincoln to save the Union, Mr. Harden joined the patriot ranks, enlisting in April, 1861, in Company A, Third Massachusetts Regiment; and after a term of service at Fortress Monroe he was honorably discharged. Mr. Harden, who is a Democrat with independent proclivities, is now serving his third term as Superintendent of Streets of Bridgewater, and devotes to the duties of his office such attention and energy in performance as gives general satisfaction. His home is in Papermill Village, in the part of Bridgewater known as Pratt-town, evidently named for his mother's family.
In 1863 he was united in marriage with Susan L. Andrews, of Bridgewater, daughter of Perez Andrews, a native of the State of Maine. Two daughters have blessed their union : Alice V., wife of Lyman Pratt, of Bridgewater; and Lizzie, wife of Fred Thomas, of this town. Mr. Harden is a member of the Unitarian church. One of the older active citizens of the town, which he has seen grow from a quiet village to one of the busiest manufacturing centres of the State, he has long been identified with local public affairs, keeping in touch with the progress of the times, and is widely known and respected.
OB PEIRCE, who is successfully en- gaged in farming in that part of Mid- dleboro, Mass., that is now Lakeville, is a native of this town, having been born here on September 2, 1812, son of Oliver and Amy Peirce. His paternal grandfather was Enis Peirce, and his great-grandfather, Isaac Peirce. The first of the family to locate in this neighborhood was Abraham Peirce. Oliver and Amy Peirce had seven children,
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born in the following order: Enis, Job, Stephen, Albert, Ruth, Amy, and George W. After the death of his first wife, Oliver Peirce married Miss Polly Hathaway, who bore him one son, Lysander.
Job Peiree, the only living representative of this family, spent his early years on a farm, and received his education in the district school and at Peiree Academy in Middleboro. He was married on May 29, 1853, to Miss Eunice R. Ellis, who was born in Rochester. Four children have blessed their union, namely: Polly, who is engaged in teaching; Judith N .; Lucy M .; and Eunice R.
In 1865 Mr. Peirce, who is a Republican, was a member of the State legislature. He has served his town very acceptably as Overseer of the Poor, also as Assessor and Seleetman.
ENRY GURNEY, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen of East Bridge- water, and a highly esteemed eiti- zen, was born in this town, March 18, 1828, a son of Captain Seth and Anne (Bates) Gurney. His mother was a daughter of Christopher and Mary Bates, and his father was a son of Seth Gurney, Sr. Perkins Gurney, the father of Seth, Sr., was a son of Joseph, who was a son of Zachariah Gurney, of Braintree. Two of Henry Gurney's great-grandfathers served in the War of the Revolution.
Captain Seth Gurney and his wife, Anne Bates Gurney, were both natives of Plymouth County. He spent his life in East Bridge- water, where he carried on farming with suc- cess; and for a number of years he was Cap- tain of a company of militia, which he trained at stated times. He had six children, of whom Henry is the only survivor. In polities Captain Gurney was a Whig. He died in 1844. .
Henry Gurney, who was sixteen years old at the time of his father's death, grew to man- hood on a farm in the north part of the town. He received his education in the common schools and at the East Bridgewater Academy. On starting out in life for himself, he ehose farming, the occupation to which he had been reared, and he has followed it diligently all his life. During the winter seasons he engages in logging and lumbering. He has resided at Elmwood since 1882.
On the 12th of April, 1849, Mr. Gurney was united in marriage with Sallie P. Poole, who was born in what is now Whitman, Mass. They have three children living, namely: David W .; Fannie M., wife of Allan B. Shaw; and Agnes C., wife of Prescott H. Pratt.
For a number of years Mr. Gurney has served as Seleetman of East Bridgewater, and he is now, as above mentioned, Chairman of the Board. He has been Town Treasurer one year, and on the School Board several years. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Gurney is a member of the Congregational ehureh at Whitman.
OSEPH D. JONES, an enterprising citizen of East Bridgewater, where he eonduets a saw-mill and a box manu- facturing business, was born in Warren, Me., November 14, 1837, a son of Linus and Phœbe (Peabody) Jones. On the paternal side he is a descendant of Miles Standish of Plymouth Colony fame.
The line is thus elearly traced: Captain Miles Standish's first wife died in 1621, and he married a second wife, Barbara. His chil- dren were: Alexander, Miles, Josiah, Charles, Lora, and John. Alexander, son of Captain Miles, married Sarah, daughter of the Hon. John Alden, and had : Miles, Ebenezer, Lorah,
HENRY GURNEY.
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Lydia, Mercy. Sarah, and Elizabeth. His first wife died, and he married Desire, widow of Israel Holmes. Miles, son of Alexander, married Experience, daughter of his mother-in- law by one of her former husbands, and had : Sarah, Patience, Priscilla, Miles, and Pene- lope. Miles, son of Miles, second, married Mehitable Robbins, lived in South Bridge- water, and had : Miles, Experience, Penelope, Hannah, and perhaps others.
Penelope Standish, daughter of Miles, third, married, in 1763, Nathaniel Cobb, of Plympton. Penelope Cobb married Ichabod Leach, and had: Jerathmael, Enoch, Ephraim, Backus, and Abigail.
Abigail Leach married Freeman Jones, and had: Linus, John G., Ichabod, Penelope, Olive, Mehitable, Huldah, Phœbe, and Lydia. Linus Jones married Phœbe Peabody, and had : Mary M .; Abbie; James W .; Oliver F .; Benjamin B. ; William O .; and Joseph D., the subject of this sketch.
The early boyhood of Joseph D. Jones was spent on his father's farm in Warren, Me. He was an attendant of the common school until eleven years of age, but, having been obliged from that time to support himself, his education has been acquired chiefly in the school of practical business experience, among the many valuable lessons learned being that of self-reliance. In 1858 he went to Stough- ton, Mass., and engaged in the shoemaking business, which he followed until 1880, being for a time employed in George Keith's shoe shop in Campello. He then came to East Bridgewater, and purchased the saw-mill that he now owns, and which has been in operation for sixty years. He put in the first planer used in this part of the State. After conduct- ing it as a saw-mill for five years, he added box making, and now the saw-mill department is run only winters, but the box manufactory
is kept in operation the year round. He employs eight hands in the summer and thir- teen in the winter.
On August 8, 1861, Mr. Jones married Jeannette Pratt, of Turner, Me., by whom he has four children, namely: Clarence E. ; Alice E., wife of L. P. Churchill; Benjamin O .; and Daniel B. Clarence E., the eldest, is a cigar manufacturer in Milford, Mass. He married Winona Hale. Politically, Mr. Jones is a stanch Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of Colfax Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at East Bridgewater.
T. PARKER, an enterprising and prosperous general merchant of
Plympton, was born in this town, January 29, 1842, son of Zaccheus Parker, a lifelong resident, and formerly a well-known merchant here. Mr. Parker's grandfather, Jonathan Parker, founded the business which has since been carried on by his descendants, and Zaccheus Parker conducted it for a period of forty-eight years or until 1867, when he was succeeded by his son, a brother of Z. T. Parker, the subject of this sketch.
Z. T. Parker was reared and educated in Plympton, and resided here until he was twenty-one years old. He then went to Bos- ton, where he was employed as a clerk by R. H. White & Co. until 1883, when he re- turned to this town, and, succeeding to his brother's business, has since conducted it with success. He continued to occupy the old building until 1893, when he erected his present commodious store, which is furnished according to modern ideas, and provided with improved heating apparatus, the water for which is supplied by the aid of wind-mills. He carries a large and varied stock, including dry goods, boots, shoes, and groceries,
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