USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Roxbury > Eliot memorial : sketches historical and biographical of the Eliot Church and Society > Part 20
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7. TIMOTHY R. NUTE, M.D.
A son of Captain James Nute, and born in Mad- bury, New Hampshire, June 22, 1819. He was a pupil at Gilmanton Academy; taught school in Newmarket; studied medicine with Dr. Isaac W. Lougee, in Alton, and at the Dartmouth Medical School. He established himself in practice at Roxbury, 1850, and early the next year joined the Eliot Church, bringing a letter from Newmarket, New Hampshire. Fourteen years later (1865) he removed to Chicago, where he died of angina pectoris, March 10, 1879.
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8. BENJAMIN MANN, M.D.
Richard Mann of Mayflower memory settled on what still bears the name Mann Hill in Scituate. From him, in the sixth generation, came our Dr. Mann, who was born at Randolph, Massachusetts, March 31, 1814. He graduated from Amherst College with the class of 1837, and began medical study under Dr. Ebenezer Alden in his native town, pursuing studies afterwards with Drs. Perry and Bowditch in Boston. He also attended lectures in the Harvard Medical School, from which his degree of M. D. was received in 1840.
He began practice in Foxborough, where he re- ceived a call and settlement, in some sense as is the case with a pastor, prominent men in the town agreeing to make up a certain sum if his income came short. That, however, did not occur. In the course of twelve years practice extended to adjoining towns, and made too large demands upon his strength. Hence his removal to Rox- bury (1852), where he continued in professional occupation till his death in Brooklyn, New York, on a return trip from Florida. At the age of eighteen Dr. Mann became a communicant in the First Church of Randolph. In Foxborough he led the choir in Sunday services, and was much endeared to the people. On removing from the town an ovation was tendered him. In his connec- tion with the Eliot Church he was esteemed as a Chris- tian man, and for a wide circle of patients he was " The beloved physician."
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9. FRANCIS H. DAVENPORT, M.D.
Dr. Davenport hails from Boston, Roxbury District, where he was born March 27, 1851, a son of Mr. Henry Davenport, who was for some years Clerk of the Eliot Church. Our Latin School gave him preparation for college. Williams College gave his A. B. with the class of 1870, and the Harvard Medical School his degree of M. D. in 1874. Gynecology is his specialty. In that department he is achieving distinction, having been suc- cessively Assistant, Instructor, and now Assistant Pro- fessor in the Harvard Medical School. He has been Phy- sician to St. Luke's Hospital for convalescents, etc., and is at the present time Assistant Surgeon to the Free Hospital for Women. In 1889 he appeared as the author of a Manual on one class of diseases.
Dr. Davenport is a son, as above stated, of the late Mr. Henry Davenport, who died January 24, 1898, at the residence of his son-in-law, Dr. Clement Cleveland in New York City. He attained the age of eighty-seven. Seven years before that he retired from business connec- tion with the Pacific Mills, of which company he had been an officer for nearly forty years. Mr. Henry Daven- port was one of the original members of the Boston Genealogical Society, and Vice-President of the Numis- matic Society.
IO. ROBERT BELL, M.D.
Dr. Bell's birthplace was Alnwick, the well-known seat of the Dukes of Northumberland, "The Hotspur Percys." His grandfather, Robert Bell, going from Glas-
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gow, settled in Alnwick, was a devoted friend of the Free Church, and a successful manufacturer. Dr. Bell's early education was in our Roxbury schools, and he had from boyhood a strong desire to be a physician, a desire fos- tered partly by the fact that a cousin of his had become a prominent practitioner in Glasgow, the ancestral city. Dr. Bell, being the eldest child in a large family, assisted in the education of the younger members till they had graduated at the High School. He entered Phillips A Academy, Andover, and graduated there in 1879. full course at the Harvard Medical School was immedi- ately commenced, and the degree of M. D. secured in 1884. Out of a class of eighty he was one of the five successful candidates for appointment as Home Physician to the Boston Lying-in Hospital, and two full years of clinic experience was of great value. Then followed three years of practice at Roxbury. In 1887 he entered on practice in Medway. It was a large and a hard service. Dr. Bell had never been rugged; the heaviest of domestic bereavements contributed to failure of health; and a severe bronchial asthma necessitated an entire with- drawment from professional practice.
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CHAPTER 3 XXII.
ARTISTS.
IT was not due to our public school system, however excellent, that certain earlier members of the Eliot Church had their thoughts turned to art, and had their taste cultivated. In those days schoolrooms were as bare of decoration as if all the pupils were expected to be blind. It seems not to have occurred to committees and teachers that among the elements in every human being is a capacity for discerning the beautiful in form and color- ing; that any course of education is defective which fails to contemplate this source of refining culture, and which fails to provide for it early. While Boston and its en- virons took comparative lead in the introduction of sing- ing as a branch in our public schools, it was not till 1870 that any organized and effective movement was made in the direction now referred to. That was a pioneer move- ment, preceding by ten years the association for a similar purpose in London, of which Ruskin was president and Matthew Arnold one of the Vice Presidents. Many of our public school buildings have now been redeemed from former barrenness. Church architecture and domestic architecture, with their interior appointments, not to speak of other evidences of improved taste, already show a gratifying advance on the right line.
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I. SAMUEL LANCASTER GERRY.
Mr. Gerry, like many others in the congregation, came of Puritan stock. Some of his ancestors were en- gaged in the colonial wars; and his grandfather was in the Lexington engagement, 1755, as well as in later Rev- olutionary engagements. Mr. Gerry was born in Boston, March 10, 1813. A taste for drawing was developed in boyhood, and his earlier art productions were miniatures on ivory. Then followed portraits in oil colors, exhibiting peculiar softness and delicacy of flesh tints. Notwithstand- ing success and pecuniary profit in that line, he turned to landscape painting. More than two-score summers were spent at the White Mountains, and his pencil per- formed much the same service for that region as did the pen of Rev. Starr King. A four years' study in Europe (1850-1854) brought him into acquaintance with various eminent artists, among whom were our Hiram Powers and Horatio Greenough. Other visits abroad were also made, one of two years (1873-1874), with a part of his family. Mr. Gerry was one of the founders of the Boston Art Club, and was repeatedly chosen its President. He lec- tured on art in Boston and at Wheaton Academy, as well as elsewhere. Articles from his pen were often con- tributed to leading journals or magazines.
Mr. Gerry did not have the benefit of a religious training in early life, and up to about thirty years of age entertained erroneous and skeptical views. But a careful reading of the Bible dispelled those notions, and
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he was led into the light as a penitent and humble be- liever in Jesus Christ, the sole Saviour from sin. He was a more than usually devout and conscientious as well as cultured man. He discountenanced theater-going, and would not have his children learn to dance. Having removed his relation to the Walnut Avenue Church he furnished a hymn for the dedication of their place of worship, which is above the average of such contributions. One specimen will show how happy his remarks often were at devotional meetings :
" In the autumn we miss some of the fair colors of the new foliage of the earlier seasons, but if the hues are more somber, the vistas open, and we can see further, for the blasts that strew the earth with fallen leaves clear away the obstructions to our field of vision, and the dis- tant scenes become unveiled. So it is in the autumn of life." Mr. Gerry's death was a peaceful one, and took place April 26, 1891.
2. MRS. VICTORIA ADELAIDE ROOT.
Mrs. Root was one of Mr. S. L. Gerry's pupils. A shaded romance attaches to her early life. The parents came from England; and the title for a tract of land which the father purchased in Illinois proved to be value- less. The mother, a delicate London-born woman, died; and soon after the father was killed in a steamboat ex- plosion on the Mississippi River, leaving two little orphan daughters. They were adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Artemas
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Ward, who died of cholera in 1849. Their only daughter, Miss Patience P. Ward, being thus, like the two sisters by adoption, also now an orphan, kindly took the place of mother to them. She afterwards purchased a house in Roxbury, near that of the late Dr. Rufus Anderson, and with the older of the two daughters joined the Eliot Church (1864).
Mrs. Root attended school in New York and else- where; and before coming to Roxbury had taken lessons in art. She began painting and sold her pictures. In 1871 she went to Europe and studied a year in Florence. After that she entered Julien's atelier in Paris, and was favored with the criticisms of professors of Beaux Arts, at the same time working from cast and from life, as well as copying in the Louvre and Luxembourg. A copy by her of Teniers was bought by a sister of the late John Bright, M. P.
Before going to Europe Mrs. Root had had classes in painting; and removing to Chicago had two large popular classes most of the time for five years. She took up china decorating with success, and sold over six hundred pieces. She wrote on art for the Chicago Times and other papers. But the eyes gave out; and being obliged to suspend for the most part both painting and writing, has removed, on account of health, to Florida.
3. MISS EMILY PERCY MANN.
The elder daughter of Dr. Benjamin Mann made public profession of faith in 1857. A taste and stimulus
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for art came from the mother, who was familiar with palette and brush. Miss Mann's first systematic study of art began in the Normal Art School of Boston, where she took examinations in perspective and geometry, and in all free-hand studies. Water-color study was pursued under Mr. Ross Turner, in whose summer sketching class she was for four years an assistant. Later came engagement with a class of professional artists under Mr. Arthur W. Dow.
Miss Mann had, for many years, summer out-of-door classes in Kennebunkport and Portland, teaching also, during the winter, in her studio, as well as in Boston private schools. Her most marked success was in decora- tive work from chrysanthemums, Japanese paper and a treatment somewhat after Japanese style being employed. Work in water-color landscape and flowers might be seen at the exhibitions in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York, as well as elsewhere. It was a gratifying tes- timonial to her skill that at the Water-Color Exhibition in the city last named, three years ago, a picture of hers was the first one sold, the purchaser being a member of the jury. Miss Mann died at Framingham, October 18, 1899.
4. MR. FRANK THAYER MERRILL.
The earliest New England ancestor on the father's side was Nathaniel Merrill, who came to this country shortly after 1630, and was of French Huguenot origin, Merle being the original form of the name. The mother
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of Mr. Frank Merrill's father was of German extraction, and her father was an officer in the Continental army under Washington at Valley Forge. Mr. Merrill's own mother, Sarah Alden, a descendant in the seventh gen- eration from John Alden of the " Mayflower," was a member of Mr. S. H. Walley's Bible Class in the Eliot Sunday School. She had an unusual love for art, and a decided ability in that line, and this is one of innumerable cases in which the mother reappears in the son.
Mr. Merrill's art studies began in the Drawing School of the Lowell Institute, and were continued in the school connected with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. His productions - and they are a marked success - have been confined, for the most part, to the illustra- tion of books and magazines, with occasional work in water-colors. A tour of five months in Europe was of much value as a source of instruction and inspiration. Mr. Merrill joined the Eliot Church in 1866. In the Walnut Avenue Church he has held the office of Deacon, Superintendent of the Sabbath School, as well as other positions.
CHAPTER XXIII.
DEAF-MUTES.
OF this class there have been several members. Very few of the congregation are conversant with the sign- language; and as communication by writing is slow, per- sonal acquaintance has not been general nor intimate. But the individuals now referred to have uniformly attended church on sacramental occasions; have been much respected, and a deeper interest in them has been felt than could be easily expressed.
No class in the community who labor under natural infirmities awaken prompter sympathy. The number of such in the whole country is supposed to be not far from fifty thousand, and the increase is larger propor- tionately than that of the entire population. In the United States there are sixty-three public and sixteen private or denominational schools for this class, which have a total average attendance of about ten thousand pupils. The oldest of these institutions, founded in 1817, is the one at Hartford, Connecticut. Most of the public schools are maintained, free of charge, at State expense.
A considerable number of the deaf become members of different churches, the larger number being Episco- palians, as the liturgical form of worship is better suited
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to their condition. There is one Roman Catholic mission in behalf of mutes who adhere to that faith.
In our economic world this class are generally doing well, being, in the main, industrious and self-supporting, as farmers, mechanics, and the like. There have been instances of success in different branches of art, and a few cases of success in the professions - ministry, law, architecture, and engineering. Gallaudet College, Wash- ington, District of Columbia, has an enviable place as the only institution of the same grade, for this class, in the world. It is supported by our national government, and receives students from every part of the country.
One of the well-known and justly distinguished mutes was John Carlin, a miniature painter, whose work ranked among the best. Another was Rev. Henry W. Syle, a student of Cambridge, England, who took his degree of A. B. from Yale by passing, at one time, a full examina- tion in writing on all the studies of the four-years' course. He held a responsible position in the United States mint at Philadelphia; and became rector of the All Souls' Church for the deaf in that city. Mr. H. Humphrey Moore, a native of Philadelphia, has for many years been one of the leading artists in Paris. Mr. Douglas Tilden, of San Francisco, studied sculpture in the city last named, and since his return has produced more than one credit- able work.
The names of Laura Bridgman and the wonderful Helen Keller, suffering from blindness in addition to deafness, are widely known.
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ELIOT MEMORIAL.
During the period under review deaf-mutes to the number of six were welcomed to our fellowship, and not- withstanding their silence, have been valued members. So far as is known they "Walked worthy of the vocation wherewith they were called," and a very tender interest was felt in them. The silent pastoral visits at their homes are remembered as among the most noteworthy of former years.
I. JONATHAN P. MARSH.
The oldest son of Rev. Frederick Marsh. His father was, for over two-score years (1809-1851), a highly valued pastor of the church in Winchester, Connecticut, and was an occasional visitor at my father's house. Among his ancestors was the man who hid the Colonial Charter in an oak tree, when Andros was in Hartford. This son Jonathan was born in Winchester, April 26, 1814. Owing to a severe sickness before two years of age, he lost the sense of hearing. Miss Z. P. Grant, afterwards a dis- tinguished educator associated with the Rev. Joseph Emer- son, taught him drawing and writing. From thirteen onward he was, for six years, at the well known school in Hartford, of which Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet was founder and then the principal. He afterwards wrought at his trade as cabinetmaker and piano-maker in that city; also in New York City, Boston, and elsewhere. In the course of a revival in his father's church he became greatly distressed about his spiritual state, and many times
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inquired, "How shall I repent of my sins?" Pardon and peace came at length through the discovery of Christ's atoning merits, and in 1838 he joined the Brick Church, New York, Dr. Gardiner Spring, pastor. Some distress- ing spiritual struggles were afterwards experienced; but turning the eye of faith to Christ as Saviour, he then tes- tified, " How beautiful is the holiness and glory of God." " Abba, Father" was his heart's cry; and giving himself up to God in Christ cheerfully for life, he had foretastes of heaven.
Mr. and Mrs. Marsh became members of the Eliot Church in 1851. On coming to Boston he started a Bible Class of Deaf-Mutes, as there was at that time no other provision for their public instruction and worship. The vestry of Park Street Church, and then one of the rooms in the Mount Vernon Church were placed at their service. The class increased in number till there was an average attendance of over thirty. There came a season (1857-58) of special religious interest, when seven indi- viduals expressed the hope of a saving change. In 1862 the " Boston Deaf-Mute Christians' Association " was or- ganized; and during all those years Mr. Marsh was much respected as a consistent and useful Christian man. After residence here and labors of about thirty years, Mr. Marsh removed to Connecticut, and later to Illinois; but health having failed, the family were welcomed again (1897) to their former church home with us. His two daughters married mutes, and the children of one follow their parents
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as regards their infirmity, while the children in the other family have the sense of hearing.
At eighty-four years of age, and after sixty years of unblemished church membership, Mr. Marsh fell asleep in Jesus (March 2, 1898) to awake where the tongue of the dumb shall sing.
2. MRS. PAULINE P. MARSH.
A native of Douglass, Massachusetts (1817), and edu- cated in Hartford at the same time as Mr. Marsh. After graduation and before marriage she had a private pupil in Rhinebeck, New York, and then one in New Bedford, Massachusetts, who labored under the same infirmity as herself. Marriage having taken place in 1840, the fifty- fifth anniversary came January 24, 1895, and was duly observed by friends. Some of those who were not able to be personally present wrote congratulatory letters, with expressions of warm friendship and deep respect. One fellow pupil at Hartford wrote :
" You did a great deal of good at the Asylum by giving religious lectures to the pupils at different times, as well as by undoubted Christian character." Rev. Thomas Gallaudet, from New York, said :
" I have watched your course during your long lives and have always esteemed you most highly for your con- sistent Christian character. You have set good and wholesome examples. You have exerted elevating and purifying influences from affectionate and cheerful hearts.
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You have made the religion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ a living reality. My dear father and mother always loved you and often spoke of their regard for you. I remember you in my early life when you were pupils at the American Asylum in Hartford, and your pleasant, bright faces were imprinted on my memory in such a way that they are fresh and clearly defined today. I re- member my visits to you in Boston; I have met you at conventions and other gatherings of deaf-mutes, and have always admired your gracious manners and intelligent expressions of thoughts and feelings. The good seeds which you have sown so faithfully and perseveringly have yielded abundant fruit." Mrs. Marsh was greatly affected by the death of her husband, and only three months after- wards followed him to the home on high.
3. MRS. PAULINE MARSH BOWES.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Marsh all labored un- der the same infirmity as their parents. Their only son, J. Frederick, died in boyhood, aged fifteen years. Cath- arine B., the older of two daughters, spent nine years at the Hartford School, and in 1867 married Mr. Adam Acheson. There is something noticeably impressive and even pathetic in pastoral calls on such families at which not a word is spoken ; and so, too, at funeral services.
The second daughter, Pauline M., married Mr. Bowes, and is now a grandmother living in Chicago. She was born May 21, 1845, and spent eight years in the in-
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stitution at Hartford where her parents were educated. Examination for membership in the Eliot Church was conducted in writing, November, 1866. She had then entertained the Christian hope for six months. She had previously tried, at different times, to be a Christian and to do what the Bible requires, but soon forgot all. At length came conviction of sin, and the felt need of a Saviour. Among her written statements are these :
" Felt that I was a lost sinner; prayed to Jesus Christ as never before; prayed many times a day; felt no interest in worldly things. By and by relief came to my burdened soul; love to Jesus sprang up; thought of him all day long. O, I love him indeed !"
4. MR. WILLIAM LYNDE.
Was born at Saybrook, Connecticut, October 11, 1823. His earliest known ancestor was Enoch Lynde, a London merchant, who died 1636. Simon, a grandson of the latter, came to Boston in 1650, and became Assistant Justice of the Court of Pleas and Sessions; dying, 1680, his remains were committed to a tomb in the Granary Burying Ground. One of his grandsons, Joseph, married Ann Lord of Say- brook, Connecticut. Their son William graduated from Yale College, 1760, and married Rebecca, daughter of Rev. William Hart, of Saybrook. William, a grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Hart, was the friend now in mind.
When six months old, scarlet fever deprived him of hearing. Entering the Hartford Asylum for Deaf-Mutes
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at ten years of age, he spent five and a half years there, and graduated with honor. For thirty-six years he was employed by Chickering & Sons in their piano manu- factory ; also thirteen years by Hallet & Davis. At one time when that business was dull, Mr. Lynde had em- ployment at the Watertown Arsenal, walking six miles from Roxbury each way for eighteen months, and was obliged to be at work by seven o'clock in the morning. That was just at the beginning of our Civil War; and on account of pressure of business, he was required to appear for work on Sundays, or be discharged. He re- fused to work on the Lord's Day. After two Sundays he was allowed to return, his religious scruples being respected.
The sketch of Mr. J. R. Marsh makes mention of religious interest in his Bible Class (1857-58). Owing to influences in that class, to Mr. Marsh's private labor, and to religious reading, Mr. Lynde, who had been mostly indifferent before, became very thoughtful, indeed, very anxious regarding his spiritual condition. His conviction of sin was unusually deep. He could speak only of "mountains of sin." When received to the Eliot Church (1861) he stated in writing :
" While kneeling before God and praying for needed grace, Jesus Christ was manifested to my inner soul. I looked unto Him the Crucified, and the black mountain of my sin disappeared and I felt the love of God with peace. Feel now that He is ever near me; that He is
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ever merciful and full of grace. Feel myself helpless, and must depend on Him. My special desire is that He may increase my poor faith. The fourteenth chapter of John is my favorite comfort. I rejoice to be present at sac- ramental services; no matter as to my depravity or deaf- ness, our Jesus is ever with us."
It is gratifying that he should be able to say, "I do not feel sad at being deprived of the sense of hearing, but grateful for saving grace through our Lord Jesus Christ." While living at West Roxbury, for two years he walked to Boston on Sundays to conduct a meeting for the mutes, as he had scruples about patronizing pub- lic conveyances on that day. He was a constant student of the Bible, and there were very few passages to which he could not turn at once without the aid of a con- cordance.
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