Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Boston and eastern Massachusetts, Part 18

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 768

USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Boston and eastern Massachusetts > Part 18

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In 1841 Mr. Emerson's first volume of essays was published, and republished in Eng- land, winning for him high reputation there as well as in the United States. In 1847 he lec- tured in various places in England on "Repre- sentative Men," and in London on "The Mind and Manners of the Nineteenth Century," and also lectured in Scotland, where he was most

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cordially received. On his return home he lec- tured on "Characteristics of the English Peo- ple." He was among the first contributors to The Atlantic Monthly at its founding. In 1860 he warmly espoused the anti-slavery cause ; in January, 1861, took a prominent part in the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society; and in February, 1862, delivered an anti-slavery address in Washing- ton, on "American Civilization," which was heard by Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet, and next day the President made his personal acquaint- ance and the two held a long conference on the subject of slavery. From 1868 to 1870 he lectured at Harvard on "The Natural His- tory of the Intellect." In 1872 he lost many valuable papers, including the sermons of his father. by the burning of his house, and in this disaster contracted a cold and sustained a shock from which he never recovered. He delivered the last address he ever wrote, April 19, 1875, on the one hundredth anniversary of the Concord fight, at the unveiling of French's statue, "The Minute-man." In 1879 he lectured on "Memory," before the Concord School of Philosophy, and the following year delivered his one hundredth lecture before the Concord Lyceum, on "New England Life and Letters." He was an overseer of Harvard College, 1867-79 ; a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; a member of the Amer- ican Philosophical Society, and the Massachu- setts Historical Society. He received the de- gree of LL. D. from Harvard College in 1866.

Mr. Emerson married, September, 1829, Ellen L. Tucker, who died in February, 1832. He married second, September, 1835, Lydia Jackson, daughter of Charles Jackson, and a descendant of Rev. John Cotton. He died in Concord, Massachusetts, April 27, 1882.

James Russell Lowell, one of LOWELL America's most distinguished authors and who has left an enduring mark upon American literature and thought, was born in Cambridge, Massachu- setts, February 22, 1819, and came of an ex- cellent ancestry.

He was descended from Percival Lowell, who came from Bristol, England, in 1639, and settled in Newbury. His father, Rev. Charles Lowell, was born in Boston, August 15, 1782, son of Judge John and Rebecca ( Russell ) Tyng Lowell, and grandson of Rev. John and Sarah (Champney ) Lowell and of Judge James and Katherine (Graves) Russell, these generations numbering among their members

named, distinguished clergymen and lawyers and jurists.

Charles Lowell was graduated from Har- vard College A. B. 1800, A. M. 1803; studied theology in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1802-04; was made a fellow of Harvard, 1818; and re- ceived from the same institution the degree of S. T. D. in 1823. After completing his theo- logical course in Edinburgh he traveled for a year in Europe. He was installed pastor of the West Congregational Church, Boston, Jan- uary 1, 1806, and served in that capacity fifty- five years. His health failing, in 1837, Dr. Cyrus A. Bartol became his associate, and Dr. Lowell traveled for three years in Europe and the Holy Land. He was secretary of the Massachusetts Historical Society; a corres- ponding member of the Archaeological Society of Athens : and a founder and member of the Society of Northern Antiquarians of Copen- hagen. His published works included: "Ser- mons.' 1855; "Practical Sermons," 1855; "Meditations for the Afflicted, Sick and Dying:" "Devotional Exercises for Commu- nicants." He was married, October 2, 1806, to Harriet Bracket, daughter of Keith and Mary ( Traill ) Spence, of Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire, and sister of Captain Robert Traill Spence, U. S. N. The Rev. Dr. Charles Lowell died in Cambridge, January 20, 1861.

James Russell Lowell prepared for college at the boarding school of William Wells, Cam- bridge, and graduated from Harvard College A. B. 1838; LL. B. 18440; and A. M. 1841. He received the following honorary degrees : From Oxford University, D. C. L. 1873; from the University of Cambridge, LL. D., 1874; and the latter degree also from St. Andrews, Edinburgh, and Harvard, 1884; and Bologna, 1888. On January 2, 1884, he was elected Lord Rector of the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. He was an overseer of Harvard, 1887-91 ; a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; a member of the Mass- achusetts Historical Society, the American Philosophical Society, and the Royal Academy of Spain ; and a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Society of Literature of London. In all these bodies he enjoyed a unique distinction, and in Europe his talents commanded the highest admiration.

Mr. Lowell was devoted to letters from the first. While in college he edited Harvardiana. After his graduation he opened a law office in Boston, but had no inclination for the profes- sion, and gave his time to literature, writing numerous pieces of verse which were publish-

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ed in magazines, and were put into book form in 1841, his first published volume. In 1842 he brought out the Pioneer magazine, which was shortlived. A pronounced Abolitionist, he was a regular contributor to the Liberty Bell and he afterward became corresponding editor of the Anti-Slavery Standard. In 1846 his famous "Bigelow Papers" appeared in the Boston Courier and became famous from the otttset, and exerted a powerful influence upon the political thought of the day. These were satirical poems in the Yankee dialect and were eagerly read, not only for their peculiar- ity of expression, but for their underlying phil- osophy. He was now a somewhat prolific writer, principally upon political topics, and through the columns of the Dial, the Demo- cratic Review and the Massachusetts Quar- terly. He spent about a year in Europe in 1851-52. In 1855 he succeeded Henry W. Longfellow as Smith professor of French and Spanish languages, literature and belles lettres at Harvard, serving until 1886, and was uni- versity lecturer 1863-64. He was also editor of the Atlantic Monthly 1857-62, and joint editor with Charles Eliot Norton of the North American Review, 1863-72. He was active in the organization of the Republican party in 1856. In 1876 he was a presidential elector from Massachusetts. In 1877 he was appointed minister to Spain by President Hayes, and in 1880 was made minister to the court of St. James, England, serving as such until 1885. During his residence in England he was highly honored, delivering many addresses, and being the orator on the occasion of the unveiling of the bust of Coleridge in Westminster Abbey, in May, 1885. In these various efforts he dis- played a breadth of scholarship, originality of thought, elegance of expression and depth of feeling, which proved a revelation to Old World litterateurs. He was a devoted student during all his absences from this country, and in 1887 delivered before the Lowell Institute, Boston, a course of lectures on the English dramatists. On his return home he retired to his country seat, "Elmwood," on the Charles river, Cambridge, and devoted himself to study and literature, continuing his lectures at Har- vard. He edited the poetical works of Mar- vell Donne, Keats, Wordsworth and Shelly for the "Collection of British Poets," by Pro- fessor Francis J. Childs, of Harvard. His published works include : "Class Poem," 1838: "A Year's Life," 1841; "A Legend of Brit- tany, and Other Miscellaneous Poems and Sonnets," 1844; "Vision of Sir Launfal."

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1845; "Conversations on Some of the Old Poets," 1845; "Poems," 1848; "The Bigelow Papers," 1848, and a second series, 1867; "A Fable for Critics," 1848; "Poems," two vol- umes, 1849, and two volumes under same title, 1854; "Poetical Works," two volumes, 1858; "Mason and Slidell, a Yankee Idyl," 1862; "Fireside Travels," 1864; "The Presi- dent's Policy," 1864: "Under the Willows, and Other Poems," 1869; "Among My Books," 1870; "My Study Windows," 1871; "The Courtin'," 1874: "Three Memorial Poems," 1876: "Democracy, and Other Addresses," 1887 ; his "American Ideas for English Read- ers," "Latest Literary Essays and Addresses," and "Old English Dramatists," were published posthomously in 1892. At the time of his death he was engaged on a "Life of Haw- thorne." His last published poem, "My Book," appeared in the New York Ledger, in Decem- ber. 1890. He died in Cambridge, August 12, I891. He was married, in 1844, to Maria White, of Watertown, Massachusetts, who died in 1853. In 1857 he was married to Frances Dunlap, a niece of Governor Robert P. Dunlap, of Maine. His life work is com- memorated in "James Russell Lowell : a Biog- raphy." by Horace E. Scudder, two volumes, 1901. In 1898 a part of his estate-Elmwood -was purchased by the Lowell Memorial Park Fund, nearly forty thousand dollars of the purchase price being obtained by popular subscription.

HOLMES

Oliver Wendell Holmes, splen- didly equipped as a medical practitioner and instructor. is

best known and most highly esteemed for his literary accomplishments. As "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," and "The Professor," he is more enjoyed than he was a half-century ago. He was born in Cambridge, Massachu- setts, August 29, 1809, son of Rev. Abiel and Sarah (Wendell) Holmes. He was a de- scendant of John Holmes, who settled at Woodstock, Connecticut, in 1686, and of Evert Jansen Wendell, who emigrated from Emden, East Friesland, Holland, and settled at Albany. New York, about 1640. His paternal grandfather. Dr. David Holmes, was a captain in the colonial army in the French and Indian war, and subsequently served as surgeon in the revolutionary army.

Rev. Abiel Holmes, father of Oliver Wen- dell Holmes, born in Woodstock, Connecticut. December 24. 1763. was graduated from Yale College in 1733; was a tutor there, 1786-87,

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while pursuing theological studies ; he received the honorary degrees of A. M. from Harvard, 1792: D. D. from Edinburgh University, 1805 : and LL. D. from Allegheny ( Pennsylvania ) College, 1822. He was pastor of the Congre- gational church at Midway, Georgia, 1787-91. and of the First Parish, Cambridge, 1792- 1832. He was a fellow of the American Acad- emy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the American Philosophical Society. He wrote various works: "Stephen Pannenius;" "The Mohegan Indians :" "John Lathrop: a Biog- raphy ;" "Life of President Stiles;" "Annals of America," two volumes: a volume of poems, and various contributions to the "Col- lections of the Massachusetts Historical Soci- ety." He died at Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 4. 1837. He married, in 1790, Mary Stiles, daughter of President Ezra Stiles, of Yale College : and (second ), March 26, 1801, Sarah, daughter of Hon. Oliver Wendell, of Boston. Their son,

Oliver Wendell Holmes, began his education in private schools, and in his fifteenth year had as classmates Richard Henry Dana, Mar- garet Fuller, and Alfred Lee, who was after- ward Bishop of Delaware. He was sent to Phillips Academy, in the hope that he would incline to a ministerial life, but the reverse was the case, and he cherished decided Unitarian sentiments-a marked contrast to the stern Calvinism of his father. While a student in the Academy he gave the first evidence of his literary temperament, producing a translation of Virgil's "Aeneid." Entering Harvard Col- lege, he was graduated therefrom in 1829, in the same class with William H. Channing, Professor Benjamin Pierce, James Freeman Clarke, the Rev. S. F. Smith, and Benjamin R. Curtis : and having as fellow students, though not in the same class, Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner and John Lothrop Motley. He was a frequent contributor to college publications. wrote and delivered the commencement poem, and was one among sixteen of his class whose scholarship admitted them to the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. For one year he attended the Dane Law School, and during this period wrote the famous apostrophe to "Old Ironsides" -- the frigate "Constitution," then threatened with breaking-up by the navy department, and which his stirring verse saved from an igno- minious end.

Disinclined to law, after one year's study he began preparation for a medical career, in Dr. James Jackson's private medical school,

and in 1833 visited England and France, ob- serving hospital practice. Returning to Cam- bridge in 1835. he received his degree from the Harvard Medical School the next year, and at once entered upon practice, having re- ceived three of the Boylston prizes for medical dissertations. He was professor of anatomy and physiology at Dartmouth College, 1838- 40, and the following year located in Boston. In 1843 he published his essay on "The Conta- giousness of Puerpural Fever" --- the announce- ment of his own original and valuable discov- ery, which, while now accepted by the entire profession, then aroused bitter controversy. In 1847 he became Parkman professor of anatomy and physiology at Harvard Medical School, besides occasionally giving instruction in micro- scopy, psychology and kindred subjects; and in the year indicated he retired from practice and became dean of the medical school, which position he occupied until 1853. As a class room lecturer he was a great favorite, and was able to hold the close attention of his auditors even after they were well nigh exhausted by pre- vious study and attendance upon lectures. Hle resigned his professorship in 1882, and was retired as professor emeritus-a unique dis- tinction from Harvard. He gave to his pro- fession several works of permanent value ; "Lectures on Homeopathy and its Kindred Delusions." 1842; "Report on Medical Litera- ture." 1848; "Currents and Countercurrents in Medical Science," 1861; "Borderland in Some Provinces of Medical Science," 1862; and with Dr. Jacob Bigelow he prepared Mar- shall Hall's "Theory and Practice of Medi- cine," 1839.

Ranking high as a medical practitioner and teacher, Dr. Holmes' great fame and his strong hold upon the American heart, down to the present time, rests upon his work as an essay- ist and poet. In the first year of his medical career he gave out his first volume, comprising forty-five miscellaneous poems. In 1852 he delivered in several cities a course of lectures on "The English Poets of the Nineteenth Cen- tury." In 1857 he became one of the founders of The Atlantic Monthly, he giving it that name, and beginning in it his delightful con- versational papers, "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," and in which were embodied some of his best poems. This was so favorably received that it was followed by "The Pro- fessor at the Breakfast Table," 1859; and in 1872 by "The Poet at the Breakfast Table." He contributed to The Atlantic Monthly the serial novels: "Elsie Venner," 1861; "The

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OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

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Guardian Angel," 1867 ; "A Mortal Antipathy," 1885 ; besides, "Our Hundred Days in Europe," 1887 ; and "Over the Teacups," 1890. He was longer connected with that periodical than was any other writer. On December 3, 1879, the editors gave him a breakfast in honor of his seventieth birthday, on which occasion he read a poem written therefor, "The Iron Gate." In addition to those before mentioned, his pub- lished works included, "Soundings from the Atlantic," 1864; "Mechanism in Thought and Morals," 1871; "Memoir of John Lothrop Motley," 1879; "Memoir of Ralph Waldo Em-

erson," 1884; "Before the Curfew," 1888;

verse : "Uriana," 1846; "Astrea," 1850; "Songs in Many Keys," 1861 : "Songs of Many Seasons." 1875; "The Iron Gate, and Other Poems." 1880. llis poems were afterward collected into three volumes under the title of "Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Wen- dell Holmes," by John Torrey Morse, Jr., 1896 ; and Emma E. Brown wrote a "Life of Holmes."

Dr. Holmes died in Boston, October 7, 1894, and he was buried at Mount Auburn. He married, June 15, 1840, Amelia Lee, daughter of Associate Justice Charles Jackson, of Bos- ton, of the supreme judicial court. They settled in Boston, and their three children were born at their home in Montgomery place, afterward Bosworth street: Oliver Wendell, born March 8, 1841, of whom further ; Amelia Lee, died in 1889; and Edward Jackson, died in 1884. Mrs. Holmes died in 1888.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, son of Dr. Oliver Wendell and Amelia Lee ( Jackson) Holmes, referred to above, was educated in Boston schools and Harvard University, from which he was graduated in 1861, (being class poet), when twenty years of age. When he was graduated he was a member of the Fourth Battalion of Infantry, at Fort Independence, in the first year of the civil war. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the Twen- tieth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, and participated in the engagements at Balls Bluff, Virginia ; Antietam, Maryland; and Marye's Heights. Virginia, being severely wounded in the first named action. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel in 1863, but the regiment being depleted below the minimum, he could not be mustered into service as of that rank. From January 29, 1864, to July 17, following. he served as aide-de-camp with the rank of captain on the staff of General Horatio G. Wright. He was graduated from Harvard Law School in 1866, and the following year

was admitted to the bar and entered upon prac- tice in Boston. He was instructor in consti- tutional law in Harvard Law School, 1870-71 ; edited The American Law Review, 1870-73; lectured on common law before the Lowell Institute, 1880; was professor of law at Har- vard Law School, 1882-83; justice of the su- preme court of Massachusetts, 1882-99. and in August of the latter year succeeded the de- ceased Chief Justice Walbridge A. Field. He edited "Kent's Commentaries," 1873; and is author of "The Common Law," 1881; and "Speeches," 1891, 1896; and has contributed to various professional journals. He received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Yale Col- lege in 1886, and from Harvard College in 1895 ; and was elected a member of the Massa- chusetts Historical Society, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was married, June 17, 1872, to Fanny Dix- well, daughter of Epes S. Dixwell, of Boston.

BUTLER

Nicholas Butler, immigrant an- cestor, of Eastwell, England, a

yeoman, according to his state-

ment when coming to America, with his wife Joyce, three children and five servants, came from Sandwich, England, before June 9, 1637, and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He was a proprietor before September 10, 1637. Their names appear on the passenger list of the ship "Hercules," sailing June, 1637. He was admitted a freeman March 4, 1638-9, and is called "gentleman" on the records, a posi- tion one might suppose belonged to him from the number of servants. He was a town officer and leading citizen in Dorchester. He removed to Martha's Vineyard in 1651, when he gave a power of attorney to his son John for sale of lands, etc. He sold land in Roxbury in 1652. He died at Edgartown, Martha's Vine- yard. August 13, 1671. The will of Joyce, his widow, mentions her grandchildren John and Thomas Butler, Mary Athearn, and Han- nah Chadduck and son Henry. Children: I. Rev. Henry, schoolmaster of Dorchester in 1652, proposed for minister at Uncatie, Eng- land. 1656; settled at Seoul, Somerset, until August 24, 1662, later at Williamfray, five miles from Frome ; persecuted by authorities. 2. John, mentioned below. 3. Lydia, married May 19, 1647, John Minot, of Dorchester.

( II) Captain John Butler, son of Nicholas. Butler, was born in England, and he or an infant son John was baptized September 22, 1645. In 1658 he was constable at Edgartown, whither he removed with his father's family-

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The records show that his brother Henry owed him certain moneys. He was captain of the military company in 1654-5. He married Mary ---- -. He died in 1658.

(III) John Butler, son of John Butler (2), was born in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, in 1653. He made his will November 10, 1733. at the age of eighty. He was a constable in 1692. He married Priscilla Norton, daughter of Nicholas and Elizabeth Norton. They re- sided at Martha's Vineyard. Children: I. Henry, married Sarah 2. John, Jr .. married December 16, 1708, Elizabeth Dag- gett, daughter of Captain Thomas Daggett. 3. Thomas, born about 1680: married Septem- ber 18, 1702, Anne Torrey, of Weymouth, who died October 1, 1735, aged about fifty- one. 4. Nicholas, born at Martha's Vineyard ; married September 5. 1726, Sarah Ripley : second, Thankful Marchant. 5. Samuel, mar- ried, after 1712, Elizabeth ( Clay) Stanbridge, widow of Samuel Stanbridge ; died December 23, 1768; he died February 24, 1765. 5. Joyce, married November 20, 1705, Joseph Newcomb. 6. Onesimus. 7. Simeon, married, 1712, Han- nah Cheney. 8. Zephaniah, died September 15, 1721 ; married Thankful Daggett. 9. Ma- lachi, mentioned below. 10. Priscilla : mar- ried ; in 1748 was widow of Thomas Snow. II. Gamaliel : married Sarah Chase: he died February 24, 1765, aged seventy-four.

(IV) Malachi Butler, son of John Butler (3). was born about 1700, at Martha's Vineyard. He bought a lot of his father, or was given a tract adjoining the place of his brother John, March 24, 1721-2, about the time of his marriage. After 1733 and before 1745 he removed to Windham, Connecticut, and in the latter year. then being of Windham, deeded to his nephew Shubael Butler half the pew he owned with his brother Gamaliel. In 1758 he was settled in Woodbury, Connecticut, and that year deeded his property in Martha's Vineyard to John Pease. These deeds were recently dis- covered in a search since General B. F. But- ler died, and were published by his daughter. Mrs. Adelbert Ames. General Butler and all the other descendants had confused Malachi with an Irish family of Butler in the vicinity. many of whom have been distinguished. especially in New York State. In 1757 Ma- lachi Butler had a guardian appointed, being ill and "partly insane." His son Benjamin graduated at Harvard in 1752, and settled in Nottingham, New Hampshire, while Zephaniah was in the Connecticut troops in the French war in 1757 and 1758. Malachi married

Jemima Daggett, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth ( Hawes) Daggett, of Yarmouth. Thomas, who died August 25. 1726, was son of Thomas Daggett and Hannah ( Mayhew) Daggett; Hannah Meyhew, born April 15, 1635, was daughter of Governor Thomas May- hew. Thomas was the son of Thomas and Bath- sheba Daggett, the pioneers. Children of Ma- lachi and Jemima Butler: 1. Thankful, bap- tized at Edgartown, January 20, 1723. 2. Susanna, baptized December 20, 1724. 3. Zephaniah, baptized at Edgartown, January 15. 1727-8: mentioned below. 4. Rev. Benja- min, born April 9, 1729 : baptized May 4, 1729; died December 29, 1804: married, May, 1753. Dorcas Abbott, who was born May 11, 1729. and died April 19. 1789 ; his farm is still owned by lineal discendants at Nottingham, New Hampshire. 5. Margery, baptized July 18, 1731. 6. Silas, baptized at Edgartown, Novem- ber 11, 1733; settled in New York. 7. Solo- mon, removed to New York. thence to South Carolina, where he left issue. 8. Lydia. 9. Marv.

(V) Captain Zephaniah Butler, son of Ma- lachi Butler (4), was born in January. 1728; baptized in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, January 15, 1827-8. He went with his father to Windham, thence to Woodbury. He went to Quebec in the army of General Wolfe in the French and Indian war, and General B. F. Butler's family has the powder horn he car- ried, engraved with his name, and the date April 22. 1758. He was at the battles of Louisburg and Quebec. He was also a soldier in the Revolution, a private in Captain Na- than Sanborn's company, in the regiment of Colonel Thomas Tash, raised to reinforce the Continental army in New York, September, 1776 : also in Captain Amos Morrill's company, Colonel John Stark's regiment, in 1777. Both he and his son Benjamin, who was afterward on the staff of his uncle, Colonel Joseph Cil- ley, were in Captain Nathan Sanborn's com- pany at the battle of Bunker Hill, as was also the second son, Enoch. After the war he was a captain of militia. Zephaniah Butler was a school teacher and farmer. He settled near his brother Benjamin, the minister, and was called the "school-master." He married Abi- gail Cilley, daughter of General Joseph Cil- ley. She was born in 1740, died in 1824. He died in 1800. Children : 1. Benjamin. 2. Enoch. 3. John, mentioned below.

(VI) Captain John Butler, son of Captain Zephaniah Butler (5), born at Nottingham, New Hampshire, May 17, 1782: died March,

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Boston and eastern Massachusetts, Part 18

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918 Publication date: 1908 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 768

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 768