USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Boston and eastern Massachusetts > Part 25
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Governor Endecott has frequently been rep- resented as "rude and uncultivated, inexper- ienced in the passions of men and untouched by any of the finer feelings and sympathies of our nature." Stern, inflexible and uncom- promising, particularly towards those who differed with him in religious matters, his great firmness and decision have often been misconstrued into "grovelling wilfulness and unbending obstinacy." That he was a man of good intellectual endowments and mental cul- ture, and that he possessed a fearless and inde- pendent spirit which well fitted him for the various duties he was called upon to perform, is very certain. But his highest claim to dis- tinction rests upon the fact that he was a suc- cessful leader of the Pilgrims or Puritans, and his name is so closely associated with the first settlement of the country, and with whose carly history his own is so closely interwoven, that the learned and reverend Dr. Bentley, of Salem, in a letter to the elder Adams, says, "above all others he deserves the name of The Father of New England." (Moore, in his "Lives of the Governors," etc.)
The first wife of Governor John Endecott was Anna Gouer, who accompanied him to New England in 1628, and who died childless in 1629. He married, second, August 17, 1630, Elizabeth Gibson. of Cambridge, Eng- land, who bore him two children: I. John. born about 1632; 2. Zerubbabel, born in 1635. "The property of Gov. Endecott's widow not being sufficient for her support, the general court in 1671 granted her an annuity of 30 pounds during her widowhood. This was an indication of the public respect both for her and her deceased husband." (Felt's "Annals of Salem.")
(II) John Endecott, elder son of Governor John Endecott and Elizabeth Gibson, his sec- ond wife, was born in Salem about 1632, and died in Boston in 1667, leaving no children.
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He went to Boston with his father in 1644, and was admitted freeman there in 1655. In the year last mentioned he married Elizabeth, daughter of Jeremiah Howchins (sometimes written Houchin). She survived him, and married for her second husband Rev. James Allen, pastor at one time of the First Church in Boston.
(II) Dr. Zerubbabel Endecott, younger son of Governor John and Elizabeth (Gibson ) Endecott, born in Salem, 1635, died there March 27, 1684. He was admitted freeman in 1665, and was by profession a physician. His elder brother John having died without chil- dren, all of the Endicotts who claim descent from Governor John Endecott are also de- scendants of Dr. Zerubbabel Endecott. By his will, dated November 23, 1683, (in which his christian name is written Zerobabel and also Zerubabel) Dr. Endecott devised to his two eldest surviving sons, John and Samuel, the old homestead of his father in that part of Salem which is now Danvers, and which was called the "Orchard." To his sons Zerubbabel, Benjamin and Joseph he left a tract of five hundred fifty-five acres of land which had been granted by the general court to his father, on the Ipswich river, in Topsfield (now Boxford) to be divided equally between them, with the provision that if either died without issue his part should revert to the survivors. The governor ( Endecott) had a summer place there at Middleton, between Topsfield and Danvers. This historic house is located on what was known as the "new road," which runs from Howe's Station in Middleton to the town of Topsfield. His five daughters inherited an island of about two acres near Marblehead (called Cotta island) with other bequests. He married, in 1654, Mary Smith, daughter of Samuel Smith, and sister of Sarah Smith, who married William Browne, of the well known Salem family of that name. She died in 1677, having borne her husband ten children. He married second, Mrs. Eliz- abeth Newman, widow of Rev. Antipas New- man, of Wenham, and daughter of Governor John Winthrop of Connecticut. Children of Dr. Zerubbabel and Mary (Smith) Endecott : I. John, born 1657, died 1694. He was a phiy- sician, and a man of splendid educational attainments. He spent some time in London, England, and was educated there. Felt in his "Annals of Salem" says of Dr. John Ende- cott that he was "active, useful and respected." As part of his inheritance under his father's will he received from the testator "al my In-
struments and bookes both of phisicke and Chirurgery." He married, in London, the bap- tismal name of his wife being Anna. She died leaving two children-a son, Robert Edwards, died without issue; he owned a part of the Orchard farm and lived there; he married, November 24, 1720, Elizabeth Phillips, and died soon after his marriage; his widow afterward married his cousin, Zerubabbel Endecott. Anna, the daughter of John and Anna Endecott, born in 1693, married De- cember 20, 1711, Samuel Endecott, her cousin. After the death of his wife Dr. Endecott came with his children to New England and lived in Salem. 2. Samuel, born 1659; (see post). 3. Zerubbabel, born February 14. 1664, died in Topsfield, 1706. He lived in Topsfield, on land inherited from his father. The christian name of his wife was Grace, and by her he had six children: i. Zerubbabel, married May I, 1723, the widow of his cousin Robert; ii. Grace, married Samuel Killum (Kellum) of Wilmington ; iii. Mehitable, married John Hart, of Lynn; iv. Elizabeth, married John Perkins, of Ipswich; v. Phebe, married Ebe- nezer Jones: vi. Hannah, who died single. 4. Benjamin, born 1665, died 1735. In 1715 he lived in Topsfield, on lands devised him by his father. The first name of his wife was Eliz- abeth ; no children. 5. Mary, born 1667: mar- ried August 2, 1685. Isaac Williams, of Salem. 6. Joseph, born 1672 (baptized July 17), died May. 1747. He went from Salem to New Jersey, and in his will mentions himself as "of North Hampton, county of Burlington, in West Jersey, in the government of New York, yeoman." His wife's baptismal name was Hannah, and by her he had two sons- John and Joseph, and two daughters-Ann (Gillam) and Elizabeth (Deloraine). 7. Sarah, born 1673; married William Browne, of Salem. 8. Elizabeth, born 1675; married Nathaniel Gilbert of Boston. 9. Hannah, born 1676; married Edward Gaskill. IO. Mehitable, born 1677, died single, 1698; left her property to sister Elizabeth.
(III) Samuel Endecott, second son and child of Dr. Zerubbabel and Mary (Smith) Endecott, born in Salem, 1659. died 1694. He lived on the Orchard farm. In 1684 he mar- ried Hannah Felton, who was baptized June 20, 1663. She was a daughter of Nathaniel Felton, senior, of Salem, who was born in England about 1615. came to Salem 1633, and died July 30, 1705. His wife was Mary Skel- ton, daughter of Rev. Samuel Skelton, the first minister of Salem. She died May 8,
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1701. After the death of Samuel Endecott his widow Hannah married, second, Thorn- dike Procter, youngest child of John Procter by his first wife. John Procter was executed for witchcraft in Salem, August 19, 1692. Samuel and Hannah ( Felton ) Endecott had children: 1. John, born October 18, 1685, died before his father. 2. Samuel, born August 30, 1687. (See post ). 3. Ruth, born 1689: mar- ried July 17, 1710, Martin Herrick, son of Joseph and Mary Herrick, and grandson of Henry Herrick, the immigrant. 4. Hannah, born 1691 ; married April 3. 1712, Benjamin Porter. son of Israel Porter. and grandson of Jolin Porter, who bought "Skelton's neck" from the children of Rev. Samuel Skelton, first min- ister of Salem.
(IV) Captain Samuel Endicott, second son and child of Samuel and Hannah (Felton ) Endecott, born in Salem, August 30, 1687, died in Danvers, in May, 1766, aged seventy- nine years. In 1694, after the death of his father, the name Endicott in Salem and its vicinity was borne by a single person, a boy then seven years old. In 1736 Captain Sam- uel Endicott was one of a committee of four (the others being Thorndike Procter, John Felton and Daniel Marble ) chosen to erect a school "in ye quarter of ye parish." His name appears frequently in the town records, and it is evident that he was a man of consid- erable influence in the town. He married, in Salem, December 20, 1711, Anne Endecott, his cousin, born 1693. daughter of Dr. John Endecott. She died in May, 1723, and he married second, February, 1724, Mrs. Marga- ret Foster, a widow whose family name was Pratt. By his first wife Captain Endicott had five children, and seven by his second wife: I. John, born April 29, 1713; (see post). 2. Sarah, born September 19, 1715. died before 1719. 3. Samuel Jr., born March 12, 1717, died 1773; married, 1752, Mary Putnam; six children. 4. Sarah, born Janu- ary 13, 1720; married Dr. Benjamin Jones, born 1716. 5. Robert, born 1721 ; drowned when a boy. 6. Margaret (twin), born De- cember, 1724; married June 30, 1743, Hobart Clark. 7. Hannalı (twin ), born December, 1724; married September, 1769, Francis Nourse. 8. Ann, born November, 1727 ; mar- ried December, 1761, Thomas Andrews. 9. Elias, born December, 1729: married Eunice Andrews ; six children. 10. Joseph, born Feb- ruary, 1731; married first. Putnam ; second, Sarah Hathorne. II. Lydia, born 1734; married Peter Putnam. 12. Ruth, born
1739, died 1828; married December 19, 1765, Joseph Dole.
(V) John Endicott, eldest child of Captain Samuel and Anna ( Endicott) Endicott, born April 29, 1713, died in 1783, aged seventy years. IFe owned and lived on the old Or- chard farm, "the farm with the Endicott pear tree." He married, May 18, 1738, Elizabethi Jacobs, who died in August, 1809. She was a woman of great determination of character, and it is related of her that on the day of the battle of Bunker Hill, Colonel Timothy Pick- ering halted his regiment for a few minutes in front of the old South meeting-house in Danvers, and such was her impatience at the delay that she walked straight up to the com- mander and said, "Why on earth don't you march? Don't you hear the guns at Charles- town ?"
Elizabeth Jacobs, who was baptized Septem- ber 17, 1729, was a daughter of John Jacobs, born September 18, 1679, died in 1764, and lived in the old Jacobs homestead in Salem village. He was a member of the First church in Salem and later with his brother George was one of the petitioners for the South Dan- vers church in 1710-11, then called the middle precinct. He was a substantial landholder. He married first, Abigail second,
Lydia John Jacobs was a son of George Jacobs, who also lived on the old family homestead, and died there before 1718. Ile married, September 12, 1674, Re- becca Frost, and both he and his wife and their daughter Margaret suffered persecution under the accusation of witchcraft. Upon being accused he fled, and his wife and daugh- ter remained and were imprisoned, but were subsequently released. George Jacobs was the eldest son of George Jacobs, of Salem, who also was charged with the heresy of witchcraft. He was tried, condemned, and executed in 1692, when he was more than eighty years old and so decrepit that he walk- ed only with the support of two canes. His trial was conducted without the slightest regard for legal propriety or the rules of evi- dence ; and his principal accuser was his own granddaughter Margaret, who was so terri- fied by imprisonment and the threats of those in authority that in order to escape punish- ment herself she testified against her grand- father, although she afterward declared that she had no knowledge of the solemnity of an oath or what might be the consequences of her evidence.
John and Elizabeth (Jacobs) Endicott had
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children: 1. John Jr., born 1739, died March, 1816; married Martha, daughter of Samuel Putnam, of Salem ; seven sons and five daughters. 2. Elizabeth, born 1741, died young. 3. William, born 1742 ; married, No- vember, 1767, Damaris Osborn ; one son, Wil- liam Endicott Jr., born 1769. 4. Robert, born October 29, 1756; (see post ).
(VI) Robert Endicott, youngest child of John and Elizabeth (Jacobs) Endicott, born in Danvers, October 29, 1756, died in Beverly, March 6, 1819, having spent the greater part of his life in the latter town, where he was a tailor. He married, November 1, 1781, Mary Holt, born in Danvers, October 3, 1761, died in Beverly, January, 1850, daughter of Rev. Nathan Holt and Sarah Abbot his wife. He graduated from Harvard College in 1757; was invited in 1758 to settle in Danvers, and was ordained pastor of the Second church there January 3, 1759, succeeding Rev. Mr. Prescott. His ministry covered a period of thirty-five years, and terminated only with his death in 1792. Rev. Nathan Holt was a son of Nicholas and Mary (Manning) Holt, grandson of Nicholas and Mary (Russel) Holt, and great-grandson of Nicholas Holt, of Andover, Massachusetts, by his first wife, Elizabeth Nicholas Holt came in the "James" from London in 1635, and was one of the first settlers of Newbury, Massachu- setts. Robert and Mary (Holt) Endicott had children : I. Mary, born July 9, 1782, died 1813; married John Ellingwood. 2. Robert, born May 5, 1785, died August, 1813; unmar- ried. 3. Nathan, born July 31, 1788, died July, 1816; unmarried. 4. Samuel, born July 18, 1793. 5. William, born March II, 1799; ( see post ).
(VII) William Endicott, youngest child of Robert and Mary (Holt) Endicott, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, ånd spent his en- tire life in that town and subsequent city. He lived to attain to within two months of a full hundred years, survived all of his associates in business and social life, and enjoyed the pleas- ant distinction of being the oldest man in the annals of the town. When about fifty years old his health became much impaired and it was remarked among his friends that he prob- ably would not live much longer.
As a boy he was sent to the town school, but when about fifteen years old he was given employment as clerk in the general store kept by Robert Rantoul, whose daughter Mr. Endi- cott afterward married. In the course of a few years he acquired a partnership interest
in the business of his former employer, and for the next forty years was proprietor of what has been mentioned as one of the largest mercantile houses in the state outside of the large cities and one of the first general mer- chandize stores in New England. His stock included the goods and wares now kept in modern department stores and he also had a drug store in connection with the business. For many years his establishment was the center of trade for all of the towns around Beverly, and as he was a man of excellent judgment, a comfortable fortune was the re- ward of his endeavor in business life. Aside from his large business interests, which made constant demands upon his time, Mr. Endi- cott was for many years identified with all of the events which contributed to the pros- perity of his native village and subsequent city ; he was in some important respects a pub- lic man, and a democrat of the old school. He held various minor local offices and was elected representative from Beverly to the general court. At the time of its organization in 1867 he was elected president of the Beverly Savings Bank and held that office until 1888. He was a director and treasurer of the Fisher Charitable Society for thirty-two years, giving liberally from his own purse for the bene- volent work carried on by the society, but out- side of its organized work he made frequent charitable donations of both public and pri- vate character, the latter always being given quietly and without attracting attention to the donor. He attended church services regularly and was decidedly Unitarian in his religious views. In his advanced years, when somewhat relieved of the cares of active business, Mr. Endicott found pleasure in relating the inter- esting events of Beverly life during his boy- hood days ; and he always recalled with especial interest the naval engagement between the "Chesapeake" and the "Shannon," which took place off the Beverly coast, June 1, 1813, and which he witnessed with a glass from the roof of his father's house on Bartlett street.
September 26, 1824, William Endicott mar- ried Joanna Lovett Rantoul, born in Beverly. January 13, 1803, died while on a visit to her son in St. Louis, Missouri, June 26, 1863. Her father, Robert Rantoul, was born in Beverly November 23, 1778, and died there October 24, 1858. He established himself as an apothecary in Beverly, in June, 1796, after an apprenticeship in Salem with Dr. William Stearns and Dr. Jacob Osgood. He gradually extended his business operations as the growth
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of his town made practicable and as his own means would permit, and in the course of years he became the leading and one of the most substantial merchants of the town. Ilis son- in-law, William Endicott, after a clerkship of several years succeeded to the proprietorship of the business. On June 4. 1801. Mr. Ran- toul married Joanna Lovett, of Beverly, daughter and eldest child of John Lovett and Elizabeth Herrick. Robert Rantoul ( 1778- 1858) was the eldest of three children of Rob- ert Rantoul, the immigrant, who was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, January, 1753, arrived in Boston 1769, and went at once to Salem. He was a mariner, and in 1776-77 is mentioned as Captain Rintoul. He was in succession master of the schooners "Caty" and "Hope," the brigs "Hopewell," "Phoenix" and "De- fence," and in 1782 was captain of the ship "Iris." In her he sailed from Salem for York River in Virginia, and thence, March 4, 1783, for Mantz, France, but the "Iris" never was heard of after leaving York River. On No- vember 3, 1773. Captain Rantoul married Mary, daughter of Andrew Preston (or Pres- son ) and Mary Lambert, and by her had three
children : Robert, born November 23, 1778, died October 24, 1858; Samuel, born July 10. 1781, died at Bilboa, Spain, April 22, 1802; Polly, born July 22, 1783, died November 15, 1836; married in May, 1808, Andrew Peabody of Beverly, and they were the parents of Dr. A. P. Peabody, professor at Harvard and pre- sident of the college, pro tem.
William and Joanna Lovett ( Rantoul) En- dicott had children : 1. William, born January 4, 1826 (see post). 2. Mary Elizabeth, born July 21, 1828, lives in Beverly. 3. Robert Rantoul, born October 21, 1830, died Febru- ary 19, 1833. 4. Robert Rantoul, born March 28, 1833 (see post). 5. Charles, born Octo- ber 10, 1835. died in Detroit, Michigan, Janu- ary 18, 1896. He went west many years ago and established the firm of Newcomb, Endi- cott & Company, of Detroit, proprietors of the largest department store in Michigan. Mr. Endicott married Caroline Leach. 6. Augusta Rantoul, born November 13, 1837, died Feb- ruary 5. 1855. 7. Henry, born February 15, 1840 (see post).
(VIII) William Endicott, Jr .. eldest child of William and Joanna Lovett ( Rantoul) En- dicott, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, January 4, 1826. He received his early edu- cation in the old Beverly Academy, and when fourteen years old was given a place as clerk in his father's store in Beverly. He worked
there from 1840 to September, 1846, when he secured a position as clerk with C. F. Hovey & Co., merchants of Boston, and continued in that capacity until 1850, when he became a junior member of the firm; and he is still a member of the firm-senior member, but not its active head, his personal attention in the meantime having been directed into other channels. Although he always declined to be nominated as a candidate for public office, he has taken a lively interest in political affairs, at first as a member of the Free Soil party. As an alternate delegate from the Essex South district, he attended the convention at Phila- delphia, which nominated Fremont in 1856, the first national convention of the Republican party, which four years later by the election of Lincoln assumed control of the federal government. Of this party Mr. Endicott was an active supporter for the first twenty-five years of its existence, since which time he has not always been in agreement with its policies and should properly be classed as an independ- ent Republican. In the discussion of financial questions, currency, public debt and tariff he has frequently contributed communications to the newspapers, but he was never willing to appear as a platform speaker. In combating the proposal in 1867 to pay the five-twenty bonds in depreciated paper currency, his com- munications to the Boston Daily Advertiser, which were largely copied by papers through- out the country, were thought to have greatly influenced the formation of the sound public opinion which was expressed by the first statute of President Grant's first administra- tion, which declared that principal and interest should be paid in gold.
He was instrumental in the establishment of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, was one of the incorporators, trustee from its incorpora- tion in 1870 until his resignation in 1907, and for five years its president. For more than forty years he has been a member of the cor- poration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has added largely to its funds by his active interest in obtaining public sub- scriptions, as well as by liberal contributions of his own. For nearly forty years he was a member of the investment committee of the Suffolk Savings Bank, and for seventeen years its president : of the New England Trust Com- pany, president for twenty-seven years ; a trustee of the Massachusetts General Hospital for twenty-two years; either treasurer or trustee of the Perkins Institution and Massa- . chusetts School for the Blind for twenty years ;
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treasurer of the permanent fund of the Bos- ton Young Men's Christian Union for twenty- five years. He has been president of several western railroads, of which the most import- ant was the Burlington & Missouri River Rail- road in Nebraska, which was consolidated in 1880 with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, at which date Mr. Endicott became a director in the latter road, serving for twenty- two years until its acquirement in 1902 by two northwestern roads.
Many other engagements of similar nature might be named but these will suffice to indi- cate that Mr. Endicott has been willing to de- vote a considerable portion of his long life to what may be denominated as quasi public duties. He was appointed by Governor Ames as one of the commissioners, with Governor Long and the late Benjamin D. Whitcomb, for building the Massachusetts state house ex- tension, and by the justices of the supreme judicial court as one of the "Managers" of the fund left by Benjamin Franklin to the city of Boston, and which is to be expended in the erection of the Franklin Union building. He is a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, the Historic-Genealogical Society, and various other similar organizations. In 1868 he re- ceived from Williams College the honorary degree of A. M., and in 1888 from Harvard University.
On March 3, 1857, William Endicott mar- ried Annie Thorndike Nourse, widow of John F. Nourse of Boston. Mrs. Endicott died February 29, 1876. Of this marriage three children were born: I. Annie Thorndike, born August 10, 1860, died April 17, 1862. 2. Clara Thorndike, born January 21, 1862, lives with her father. 3. William, Jr., born April 18, 1865, married June 7, 1889, Helen South- worth Shaw, daughter of Dr. Benjamin S. and Amelia Shaw ; no issue. He is a partner in the firm of Kidder, Peabody & Company ; resides in Boston.
(VIII) Robert Rantoul Endicott, third son and fourth child of William and Joanna Lov- ett (Rantoul) Endicott, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, March 28, 1833, and in one capacity and another has been closely identi- fied with the life of his native town and city for a period of full three score years. His education was gained in the Beverly schools and academy, and after leaving the academy he began working in his father's store. On January 1, 1859, he entered upon the active career which brought him in such close asso -.
ciation with the business history of Beverly, having succeeded to the business for many years previously conducted by his father, and continued it with the same substantial results which rewarded the efforts of his father and grandfather until 1886, when he gave up active business. In November, 1862, Mr. Endicott was elected from Beverly to the lower house of the general court, and donated his salary to the Beverly public library. June 20, 1867, he was commissioned justice of the peace and held that office for the following thirty years. In 1867 he became a member of the board of trustees of the Public Library; in 1868 was member of the Beverly Board of Health; March 9, 1869, was elected parish treas- urer of the Unitarian church. serving in that capacity twelve years, then resigned; May 1, 1888, succeeded his father as pres- ident of the Beverly Savings Bank, which office he still holds. For many years Mr. Endicott has been a member of the Uni- tarian church, was treasurer of its Sun- day school fund for twenty-one years and superintendent of the school for seven years. For five years he served as selectman of Bev- erly previous to its incorporation as a city. He has been a trustee of the Fisher Charitable Society (organized in 1810) for a full quarter century and is its present secretary. In many other respects he has taken a commendable interest in the institutions of his city, and every measure proposed for the welfare of the municipality and its people has found in him an earnest supporter and generous donor. He enjoys the pleasures of travel, both domestic and foreign, and during the year 1900 he visited several European countries. His great- est pleasure is found in the congenial asso- ciations of home life, where his acquaintance is large and friends are numerous, and where he is held in high esteem. His home is a seat of comfort and generous hospitality.
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