USA > Massachusetts > Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901 > Part 36
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March 5, 1838; Elijah, born March 1, 1761, died January 20, 1847; Jabez born May 26, 1763, died April 15, 1783; John, born May 29, 1765, died in 1856, as already mentioned; Barradill, born May 21, 1768, died March 11, 1839.
The first of the family in America was probably Thomas Fox, who was a settler in Concord, Mass., as early as 1640, dying Feb- ruary 14, 1658. Samuel Fox was probably his grandson.
The children of John and Abigail (Bayley) Fox were: Charles, born September 14, 1795, died unmarried in Dorchester, December 28, 1831 ; William Cazneau, born July 26, 1797, died unmarried in Dorchester, January 30, 1867; Edward, born September 15, 1801, who sailed from Boston in May, 1851, arriving in San Francisco the following November, and was never heard from again; George, born July 10, 1803, died unmarried at Loango Bay, Africa, August 22, 1824; Thomas Bayley, born in Boston, August 20, 1808, died in Dorchester, June 11, 1876.
Thomas Bayley Fox, just mentioned, was graduated from Harvard College in IS28. He prepared for the ministry in the Harvard Di- vinity School, was first settled over the Unita- rian Society at Newburyport, Mass., from IS31 to 1845, and next over the Indiana Place Church, Boston, from 1845 to 1855. After this he was engaged in literary work, and was finally literary editor of the Boston Evening Transcript. He married October 27, 1831, Feroline Walley Pierce, daughter of the Rev. John Pierce, D. D., and Lucy Tappan Pierce, of Brookline, Mass. She was born in Brook- line, March 20, 1810, and died in Dorchester, Mass., February 4, 1898. Their children were: Charles Barnard, born in Newbury, Mass., January 17, 1833, died in Dorchester, March 30, 1895; George William, born in Newburyport, Mass., October 15, 1834; John Andrew, born in Newburyport, December 23, 1835; Thomas Bayley, Jr., born in Newbury- port, February 1, 1839, died in Dorchester, July 25, 1863; Feroline Pierce, born in New- buryport, December 23, 1843, died in Dor- chester, April 23, 1885.
Charles Barnard Fox married March 19,
1863, Ruth Anne Prouty, daughter of Vaniah and Ruth (Wilder) Prouty. She was born in Hanover, Mass., July 30, 1834, and died in Dorchester, August 1I, ISSI. Their chil- dren, all born in Dorchester, were: Alice, born December 27, 1863, died in Dorchester, February 14, 1867; Feroline Wilder, born May 18, 1868; Bertha Cazneau, born Decem- ber 20, 1870. He married a second time, October 31, 1887, Mary McLean, daughter of Roderick and Annie McLean, of Hunter's Mountain, Cape Breton. For an account of Colonel Fox, see the Boston Evening Tran- script, March 30, 1895. His business was real estate.
George William Fox has been connected with the America Unitarian Association in Boston since 1855, serving most of the time as assistant secretary. He married Septem- ber 16, 1863, Mary Susannah Poor, daughter of Silvanus and Eliza (Brown) Poor, of An- dover, Me., where she was born November 3, 1841. Their children, all born in Dorches- ter, are: Thomas Alfred, born July 26, 1864, who is an architect in Boston, of the firm of Fox, Jenny & Gale; Walter Silvanus, born January 16, 1868, who is in the real estate business; Mary Blake, born April 1, 1871; George Bayley, born April 1, 1871, who is in banking; John Pierce, born November 5, 1872, who was graduated from Harvard Col- lege in 1894, and is now engaged in scientific work.
John Andrew Fox is an architect in Boston. He married January 3, 1878, Josephine Clapp, daughter of Asahel and Elizabeth (Stickney) Clapp. She was born in Dorches- ter, May 15, 1854. Major Fox served in the Second Massachusetts Infantry Volunteers.
Thomas Bayley Fox, Jr., was Captain in the Second Massachusetts Infantry Volun- teers, and died of wounds received at the battle of Gettysburg.
The following are the family names of the known ancestors of Thomas Bayley Fox and Feroline Walley Pierce: Atherton, Atkinson, Baker, Bachiler (later Batchelder), Batt, Bayley, Baynton, Bird, Blake, Bright, Bum- stead, Cazneau, Cheney, Clap, Clark, Coffin, Craighead, Curtis, Cutler, Cutting, Dawes,
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Emerson, Emery, Fessenden, Ford, Folger, Franklin, Frye, Germaine, Greenway, Grant, Johnson, King, Little, Locke, Marsh, Mercer, Mills, Moody, Morrill, Mudge, Parkhurst, Kuggles, Shepard, Simpson, Smith, Story, Taylor, Thompson, Toppan (later Tappan), Turner, Wales, White (twice), Wigglesworth, Withington.
ENRY ORLANDO MARCY, A. M., M. D., LL. D., of Boston, the pio- neer of antiseptic surgery in this country, was born June 23, 1837, in Otis, Berkshire County, Mass., a son of Smith and Fanny (Gibbs) Marcy. He is a descend- ant in the sixth generation of John Marcy, who was born about the year 1662 in Limer- ick, Ireland, his father being High Sheriff of that city.
John Marcy came to New England when a young man, and joined Eliot's church in Rox- bury, Mass., March 7, 1685. Conspicuous among his posterity may be named the Hon. William L. Marcy, who was Governor of New York three terms in the thirties, Secretary of War during Polk's administration, and Secre- tary of War in that of Pierce; General Ran- dolph B. Marcy, and his brother, Erastus E. Marey, M. D., of New York City.
Of the first four generations of this family in the United States, and of another family rep- resented by the Hon. Daniel Marey of Ports- mouth, N. H., and Peter Marcy of New Or- leans, we gather the following information from an article in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register for July, 1875, by Professor Oliver Marcy, LL. D.
"The father of Daniel and Peter Marcy came to this country about 1795 from the island of Marie Galante, West Indies. His father went to that island from France. De Marcy, or simply Marcy, is now a name quite common in France and its colonies. The name appears to have come into Normandy with Rollo (.1. D. 912), thence it went to England with William the Conqueror (A. D. 1068), and became very common in Cheshire, where the orthography is now universally Massey or Massie. In this form (Massey) it is common in the English
and Irish peerage. In evidence that the pres- ent French form of the name obtained some- what in England, I find in 'The Patents of King John' (1.D). 1208) mention of one 'Radus de Marcy.'"
John Marcy, with twelve others, in April, 1686, went from Roxbury and took possession of Quatosett (Woodstock, Conn.), granted (1663) by the colony of Massachusetts to the town of Roxbury. He married Sarah Had- lock, who was born in Roxbury, December 16, 1670, a daughter of James and Sarah (Draper) Hadlock. They resided for the rest of their lives in Woodstock, where he died December 23, 1724, at the age of sixty-two years. Ilis wife died May 9, 1743, at the age of seventy- three. They were the parents of eleven chil- dren ; namely, Anna, John, James, Edward, Joseph, Benjamin, Moses, Samuel, Sarah, Ebenezer, and Elizabeth.
Joseph Marcy, son of John and Sarah Marcy, was born in Woodstock, Conn., September 18, 1697, and died in that place October 18, 1785, at the age of eighty-eight years. He mar- ried Mary Throop, a sister of the Rev. Amos Throop, who was pastor of the church in Woodstock. She died February 12, 1790, at the age of eighty-five. They had ten chil- dren : Joseph, Stephen, Esther, Nathaniel, Rebecca, Ichabod, Hadlock, Smith, Lydia, and Thomas.
Smith Marcy, son of Joseph and Mary, was born in Woodstock, Conn., October 28, 1742. He settled at Otis, Mass., where he died Au- gust 1, 1829. His wife, Patience Lawton, who was born February 15, 1744, died in Freedom, Ohio, in 1841, at the advanced age of ninety-seven. Their children were: How- land, Lawton, Thomas, the Rev. Bradford, Michael B., Patia, Mary T., and Sarah.
Thomas Marcy, son of Smith and Patience Marcy, was born in Woodstock, Conn., Febru- ary 19, 1770. He removed with his father to Otis, Mass., where he lived till 1828, when he went to Freedom, Ohio. He travelled with his own team thirty-four times (seventeen round trips) between the two places, a distance of six hundred miles (a trip one way being a six weeks' journey), or in all nineteen thou- sand miles, most of the way through an
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unsettled wilderness, for the purpose of trans- porting his neighbors and friends to the West- ern Reserve, in the settlement of which he took a very prominent part. He died in Free- dom, January 12, 1860, at the age of ninety years. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth M. Lawton, died in Freedom in 1842. They had six children: Smith, Elijah Lyon, Nancy Almira, Sally, Eliza Ann, and Thomas Melvin.
Smith Marcy, second, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Marcy and father of Dr. Marcy, was born at Otis, Mass., August 1, 1795, and died in the town of his birth, August 10, 1846, at the age of fifty-one. He was a teacher by pro- fession. He served in the War of 1812. His wife, Fanny, the Doctor's mother, was the daughter of Elijah Gibbs and grand-daughter of Israel Gibbs, both of whom served in the American Revolution, and were with General Gates at the surrender of General Burgoyne. Of earlier ancestors the following is told : "William Gibbs, of Lenham, Yorkshire, Eng- land, who for signal services obtained a grant of the King of England of a tract of land four miles square in the centre of the town of Len- ham. This William Gibbs had three sons, the eldest of whom remained at home and in- herited his father's property. The two younger sons learned the ship-carpenter's trade, and when they became of age their elder brother gave them money and they came to this coun- try, one settling on the Cape and the other at Newport, R. I. Mrs. Marcy was descended from the one who settled on the Cape, whose Christian name is not now known." Mr. and Mrs. Marcy had two children : Elizabeth, who died at the age of twenty-six without issue; and Henry Orlando, the direct subject of this sketch.
Henry Orlando Marcy fitted for college at Wilbraham Academy, received his degree of Master of Arts at Amherst, and was graduated from the Harvard Medical School in 1863. In April of the same year he was commis- sioned Assistant Surgeon of the Forty-third Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers (nine months' troops), and in November of the same year Surgeon of the first regiment of colored troops recruited in North Carolina, later
known as the Thirty-fifth United States Col- ored Troops, Colonel James C. Beecher, brother of Henry Ward Beecher, commanding. In 1864 he was appointed Medical Director of Florida, and served on the staffs of Generals Van Wyck, Potter, and Hatch, resigning his commission in June, 1865, his last special ser- vice being the sanitary renovation of Charles- ton, S. C.
After the close of the war Dr. Marcy entered upon the practice of medicine in Cambridge. In the spring of 1869 he went to Berlin, Germany, and spent a year at the university as a special student of Professors Martin and Vir- chow. He afterward familiarized himself with the hospital service of the different Euro- pean cities, spending the summer in London and in Edinburgh, where he became the first American pupil of Professor, now Lord, Lis- ter. Convinced of the correctness of his teach- ing, he immediately, upon returning to the United States, devoted himself to the introduc- tion of the antiseptic methods of wound treat- ment. To this end he equipped a laboratory, obtained the services of competent assistants, and devoted ten years to the continuous study of micro-organisms found in wounds, their cul- tivation in various media, their reproduction in animals, etc., publishing from time to time the results of these observations. He made a series of investigations, extending over a period of two years, upon the repair processes of osseous structures. Rabbits were used for experimental study, the animals being exam- ined at selected dates, until a complete series was secured, showing the intermediate proc- esses of repair. He was assisted by Surgeon- general Holt, and after many experiments the injection apparatus now generally used was devised by them in 1878.
In 1870 Dr. Marcy familiarized hinself with the practice of Professor Lister in the ligation of arteries in continuity by the use of the buried catgut ligature. Instituting a series of laboratory studies, burying sutures in various animals, and studying the resulting histological conditions, he demonstrated that catgut and the tendons of animals aseptically buried in aseptic wounds were invariably followed by primary union; that the foreign
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material thus buried was surrounded with leu- ocytes and invaded by them; that little by little vascularity followed, thus the suture ! cing replaced in large degree by a band of Irving connective tissue. Dr. Marcy pub- : hed the result of these investigations, and a Insiderable number of new operations were Revised as the result of such suturing.
Having demonstrated the inherent defects of cityut as a suture material in ISSo, after a careful study of the connective-tissue structures et a large number of animals, his researches in comparative anatomy led to the examination of the tendons of the tail of the kangaroo. These have been found superior to any other material tor sutures, and are in general use.
In ISSo Dr. Marcy established a private hospital in Cambridge for the treatment of surgical diseases, in order to demonstrate the value of the modern surgical technique. This is continued to the present, and it is here that he has worked out in the larger share the methods of wound treatment contributed to the profession.
To Dr. Marcy is undoubtedly due the credit of introducing into America the methods of antiseptic wound treatment; and it is a well- known fact that his original studies greatly improved upon the same, and contributed largely in placing them upon their present scientific basis. His own best contribution to surgery thus far may be said to have been "the introduction and establishment of the value of the buried animal suture," whose importance is appreciated by every aseptic operator. "The operations most generally accepted of his especial teaching are the closure of all aseptic wounds in layers without drainage, and the reconstruction of the inguinal canal for the cure of hernia, which latter operation was not possible until the introduction of the buried suture."
Dr. Marey was married October 14, 1863, to Sarah E. Wendell, a daughter of George andl Frances (White) Wendell, of Great Falls, N. Il. They reside at 18o Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. They have two children : William Wendell, born in Cambridge, Mass., in 1868; and Henry Orlando, Jr., born in Cambridge in 1871. The latter, a graduate of
Harvard Medical College, recently finished a two years' course at the Roosevelt Hospital in New York City as assistant surgeon, and is now assisting his father in his profession.
Dr. Marcy participated in the Seventh In- ternational Medical Congress, London, 1881, and was president of the section in gynaecology of the Ninth International Medical Congress, Washington, D.C., 1887. He is a member of the American Medical Association, was vice- president in 1879, chairman of the section in obstetrics in 1882, a member of the Judicial Council, 1886-89; was elected president in 1891, and presided over the Detroit meeting, June, 1892. He is also a member of the American Academy of Medicine, of which he was president in 1884, also of various other medical and scientific organizations both in Europe and in America.
The Wesleyan University in 1887 conferred upon Dr. Marcy the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. He has made numerous valuable contributions to the medical literature of the day, and a list of his works may be found in "Physicians and Surgeons of America," to which we are indebted for much of the fore- going biographical sketch.
BENEZER CURTIS, formerly a promi- nent business man of Dorchester, was born in Milton, July 13, 1808, son of Joseph and Hannah Curtis. His father, who was probably a native of Milton, died while serving in the American army during the War of 1812, at Fort Independence; and his mother soon followed her husband to the grave, leaving behind two children, thus early made orphans, namely: Abigail, who became the wife of William Dexter Chandler; and Ebenezer, the subject of this sketch.
Ebenezer Curtis was brought up by his aunt, Mrs. llenry Clapp. When old enough to work, he learned the baker's trade, which he followed for some time; but subsequently he engaged in the coal and wood business, and continued to carry it on for the rest of his life, his death taking place on June 24, 1877, when he was sixty-nine years old.
He was married on November 23, 1829,
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to Miss Susan Weld Preston, daughter of Edward and Rebecca (Weld) Preston, of Dor- chester. Her father was a son of John Preston and grandson of Edward Preston, first, who bought a mill privilege in Dorchester in 1757, operated a fulling-mill a number of years, and about 1770 established a chocolate mill. Ed- ward Preston, first, in his will left his mills to his son John, Sr., grandfather of Mrs. Curtis. John Preston, Sr., was succeeded by his sons Edward and John, Jr., who carried on the chocolate business for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Ebenezer Curtis resided on Mill Street, Harrison Square, on the homestead of Mrs. Curtis's father. They were the parents of two children, namely: Susan Clarrisa, who is now the widow of William H. Pierce, her husband having died in 1896; and William D. C. Curtis, of whom a separate sketch fol- lows. Mrs. Curtis is still living, and enjoys a remarkable degree of_ mental and physical vigor, having never, to the best of her recol- lection, been sick cnough during her life to require the services of a physician. She is now ninety years old.
WILLIAM DEXTER CHANDLER CURTIS, sec- retary of the Dorchester Insurance Company, was born November 4, 1833, in the old brick house on Harrison Square, Dorchester, that was built by Elisha Withington, his parents being Ebenezer and Susan W. (Preston) Cur- tis. (See preceding sketch. ) He was edu. cated under the tuition of William T. Adams, afterward known as "Oliver Optic," and fa mous as a writer of stories for boys, complet- ing his studies in January, 1848. lle then found employment with the firm of Preston & Curtis, dealers in wood and coal, of which his father was a member, and with which he re- mained for several years. Subsequently he worked a year for the Bent & Co. Bakery; some length of time for Daniel Speer, grocer, at Neponset ; also for several years after leav- ing the grocery store was foreman and sur- veyor of lumber for M. S. Southworth & Co. of Neponset, and later with Laban Pratt for a year or more in the same business; and then for seven years he was business manager of the American Railway Times, John A. Haven,
editor. Entering the employ of the Dorches- ter Insurance Company March 1, 1868. as clerk, he worked his way up through the dif- ferent offices until reaching his present posi- tion as secretary of the company, the duties of which he assumed in February, 1890. Mr. Curtis served as a Justice of the Peace for twenty-one years up to 1899, and was again appointed with the additional authority to solemnize marriages. In 1879 he was ap- pointed clerk in charge of the sub-postal sta- tion at Neponset. A Democrat in politics. he was the first clerk of Ward Twenty-four. Boston, after the annexation of Dorchester: and he also ran for the common council, but was defeated by three votes by H. N. Sawyer.
lle was married November 8, 1854. to Miss Elizabeth Bishop Bowles, of North Livermore. Me., daughter of Luke and Rebecca ( Leavitt) Bowles. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis have two chil- dren: Susan Weld, born August 18, 1855. now the wife of F. E. Gilcrease; and Lottie Rebecca, born May 1, 1865.
Mr. William D. C. Curtis is a charter mem- ber of Boston Lodge, K. of H .; of Temple Lodge, A. O. U. W .; also of Neponset Coun- cil, Home Circle; a l'ast Grand of Neponset Lodge, I. O. O. F .; and a member of the I. O. O. F. Relief Association of Dorchester. He was one of the incorporators of the Old Dorchester Club, the Minot Club, and the Codman Club.
ULIUS ERASTUS RUGG, superin- tendent of transportation of the Boston Elevated Railroad, was born at Fitz- william, N. H., December 28, 1838, son of William Stickney and Clarissa (Saw- telle) Rugg. He is a descendant of John Rugg, who died in Lancaster, Mass., about 1696. This early progenitor of the family was twice married. His first wife, Martha Pres- cott, and their twin children died in 1655. He married second, May 4, 1660, Hannah Prescott, by whom he had eight children : John, Jr. ; Mercy; Thomas; Joseph ; Hannah ; Rebecca; Daniel, born in 1678; Jonathan.
Mr. Rugg's ancestor four generations re- moved was Amos Rugg, probably the Amos.
1
JULIUS E. RUGG.
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wn of Daniel Rugg, baptized January 20, 1;16-17, who married Mary Burpee, Decem- !er 29, 1741, their intention of marriage hav- Ing been entered in September, 1741.
Amos's son Thomas, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born at Lancaster, Muss., January 27, 1743. He married Eunice Stickney, daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Fisk) Stickney, of Rowley, Mass. She died some years later, leaving two children; and he married for his second wife, after May 31, 1770, the date of the declaration of their in- tentions, Mchitable Houghton. A resident for some time of Sterling, he removed thence to Winchendon, and while a resident of that town served in the Continental army in the Revolutionary War. About 1790 he removed to Rindge, N. H., where he died December 29, ISII. His second wife bore him seven children.
Thomas Rugg, second, eldest child of Thomas and Eunice Rugg, was born at Lan- caster, Mass., May 28, 1765. He married June 6, 1787, Elizabeth Norcross, of Rindge, N. H., daughter of Lieutenant Page Norcross, and settled on the farm of his wife's parents. Like his father, he was a soldier of the Revolu- tion, entering the army when a mere lad, and serving during the last years of the war. He died November 8, 1846, in his eighty-first year. His wife died April 9, 1851, aged eighty-one years. They had ten children, William Stickney being the ninth child and fifth son.
William Stickney Rugg was born at Rindge, N. H., March 8, 1807. Before the days of express companies he engaged in the transportation of merchandise between Fitz- william and Boston, having twelve horses and two teams, but gave up that business in 1838 on account of ill health, and went to Rindge, where he lived many years as an invalid, en- during his hard lot with great fortitude and resignation. He held the rank of Captain in the State militia. His death took place April 30, 1874. Ilis wife, Clarissa, whom he mar- ried July 30, 1835, was born in Rindge, De- cember 24, 1814, being a daughter of Solomon and Rebecca (Dwinnell) Sawtelle, of that place. Her father was a whip-maker, mak-
ing the leather whips used in driving oxen in those days. He was also a cobbler and farmer. Captain William S. and Clarissa (Sawtelle) Rugg had eight children; namely, Elvira J., Julius E., William H., Clara F., Herbert N., Albert N. and Alfred A. (twins), and Frederick Waldo. Elvira is now the widow of William A. Hale, of Rindge, and the mother of two children - Alfred A. and Erwin A. William H. served in the Federal army during the Civil War as a member of the Sixth New Hampshire Volunteers, and died at the age of nineteen at Annapolis, Md., as the result of hardships and exposure encountered in his army experience. Clara F. is the wife of Fos- ter E. Beaman, of Roxbury, Mass., and has one child, Clara Mabel. Herbert N. married Addie Cushing, of Fitchburg, and has one child, Harrison C. Albert and Alfred both died at the age of two years. Frederick W. married Luella Billings, of Fitchburg, and has one child, Robert B.
Julius E. Rugg, after attending school for some time in Rindge, went at the age of fif- teen to Ashby, Mass., to learn the trade of making wooden pails and tubs, and worked at this occupation after becoming a journeyman until reaching the age of twenty-one. At the same time he continued his studies, and when eighteen years old left the county high school to teach school in the winter, working at his trade during the spring and summer. In 1863 he came to Chelsea, Mass., and for a year was employed as a conductor on the Lynn & Boston Railroad. Being then given a position in the office of the company as receiver, he served in that capacity for three years; and then, in 1867, he was appointed superintendent of the road. He held this office till 1872, when he received the appointment of superintendent of the Highland Street Railway Company, so re- maining for a period of sixteen years, or up to 1SS8. In that year he went to Minneapolis, Minn., and for one year was manager of the Minneapolis Street Railway. From Minneap- olis he went to Pittsburg, Pa., where for seven years he was superintendent of the Citizens' Traction Company. Returning at the end of that time to Boston, he became general super- intendent in this city of the West End Rail-
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