USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Boston and eastern Massachusetts > Part 32
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(III) Thomas Kendall, son of Thomas and Ruth ( Blodgett ) Kendall, was born May 19. 1677, in Woburn. He moved to Lexington, and later to Framingham, Massachusetts. He married, November 7, 1701, Sarah Cheever, died 1761, daughter of Rev. Thomas Cheever, and granddaughter of Ezekiel Cheever, who came to Boston in 1637 and was the famous master of the Boston Latin school.
(IV) Thomas Kendall, son of Thomas and Sarah (Cheever ) Kendall, born July 30. 1704. in Framingham, removed to Hopkinton, was a carpenter, served in the French and Indian war, and died from a wound from his own broadaxe, date unknown. He married Mary Curtis, born December 29, 1710, died 1747, in Hopkinton, daughter of Ephraim Curtis, a noted Indian fighter. Children, born in Hopkinton, were: 1. Abner, Jonathan and Thomas. These children were reared by their grandmother, Sarah (Cheever) Kendall, of Framingham, both their parents dying during the early childhood of the children. Abner is supposed to have gone to Vermont. Thomas entered Dartmouth College from Framingham, 1769-70, graduated as Master of Arts, and be- came a minister.
(\') Jonathan Kendall, son of Thomas and Mary (Curtis) Kendall, born January 29, 1743, died July 8, 1817. He came to Athol, about 1762, and cleared up the land on Chest- nut Hill and there built a log house. He was probably a private in Captain Joseph Allen's company of minute-men, Colonel Doolittle's regiment, which marched on the alarm of April 19. 1775, service seven days. He also enlisted April 26, 1775, in Captain Abel Wilder's com- pany, Colonel Ephraim Doolittle's regiment, for eight months. Muster roll on file, also re- ceipt for pay signed by him June 26, 1775.
Also appears in a pay roll of Captain John Mellin's company which marched from Fitz- william and towns adjoining to reinforce the garrison at Ticonderoga on an alarm. He en- listed July 3. 1777. discharged July 11, 1777. He married, January 23. 1765, Annie Oliver, born March 17, 1742, died November 3, 1824. Her parents went from Scotland to Ireland, and thence to America in 1735. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kendall were buried on Chestnut Hill, Athol.
(VI) Captain John Kendall, son of Jona- than and Annie ( Oliver ) Kendall, born July 9, 1772, on the old homestead on Chestnut Hill. Athol, died March 12, 1840. He was captain of a battalion of cavalry, Second Brig- age, Seventh Division of militia, 1801. He married, 1796, Susanna Smith, born Febru- ary 2, 1773, died June 1, 1827, daughter of William and Katherine Smith. Children : Jonathan, Stephen, Wyman, Annie, Joab, Lydia, Ozi, John, Maria and Susanna.
(VII) Ozi Kendall, son of Captain John and Susanna ( Smith) Kendall, was born in the old Kendall homestead on Chestnut Hill. September 13, 1810, died November 16, 1884. He was apprenticed as a bootmaker in early life. He founded the firm of O. Kendall & Company in Athol, 1837, and followed the business of bootmaking throughout the active years of his life. He married, May 8, 1834, Fannie A. Ainsworth, born November 3, 1813, died September 6, 1886, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth ( Hammond) Ainsworth. Chil- dren: George Nelson and Helen Frances Kendall.
(VIII) Helen Frances Kendall, daughter of Ozi and Fannie A. ( Ainsworth) Kendall, born July 10, 1841, married, October 5. 1864, Rev. Alonzo Sanderson, as stated above.
The old tradition that the New DUMMER England Dummers are de- scended from Norman an- cestors who went into England with William the Conqueror, A. D. 1066, seems well founded. and antiquarians have traced the descendants from that time to the more modern period of westward emigration with reasonable cer- tainty ; and with complete accuracy the family is easily traced through all generations sub- sequent to the beginning of the twelfth cen- tury, although during the interval of five cen- turies which preceded the immigration to New England the family name was subjected to various modifications in respect to ortho- graphy, and appears as Dumer, Dumere, Dum-
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mer, Dumar, Domer, Dommer, etc. The name, too, seems to have found lodgement in some parts of Germany, and appears there after the accepted modern English spelling, Dummer, while in France it is written Dummar, and given the accent peculiar to the people of that republic.
( I) Richard Dummer, immigrant ancestor of the branch of the Dummer family here treated, was born at Bishopstoke, England, in 1599, and came to New England in the ship "Whale," which arrived at Boston on May 26, 1632. In 1633 he was settled in the planta- tion of Roxbury, built a mill there, and soon took the prominent position in the affairs of the town and colony to which he was entitled by reason of his means, his influence and his evident high character. In 1635 he was chosen assistant, an office of especial dignity, carrying magisterial authority as well as a voice in the governmental affairs of the colony. He sat in the general court at Newbury during the first year of his incumbency of office, and in the same year it was ordered that a consider- able tract of land be set off for him near the falls in the plantation at Newbury. In 1636 he was again made assistant, and the same year removed to Newbury and soon after- ward was chosen treasurer of the colony. About this time he and Henry Woodman be- came involved in the controversy with Rev. Mr. Parker, and also having allied himself to Sir Henry Vane, who was overthrown by Win- throp, he fell under the displeasure of the court on account of what was called his here- tical beliefs, and therefore was shorn of his military office as captain in the service against the Pequots, deposed as assistant and magis- trate, and was disarmed of his gun and sword. Unconscious of wrongful act or intent, Mr. Dummer was nevertheless humiliated by the summary action of the general court and soon afterward departed for England. However, in 1638. he returned to New England in the "Bevis," in company with Stephen Dummer. his brother, and Thomas Dummer, his nephew, the former of whom remained only a few years, leaving a daughter Jane who afterward became the wife of Henry Sewall and was the progenitor of two families noted in later years, the Sewalls and the Longfellows. Richard Dummer acquired large tracts of land and doubtless was one of the richest men in the colony.
He died in Newbury, December 14. 1679, aged about eighty years, and besides his pos- sessions in lands and other property, he also
possessed the confidence and esteem of all men by whom he was known. The baptismal name of his first wife was Mary, who bore him two children. In 1640 he married for his second wife the widow Frances Burr, and by her had three children. Ilis eldest son, Shubael Dum- mer, bern 1636, entered the gospel ministry, but when in the prime of his useful life was killed by Indians, in 1692. He married Lydia Alcott. William Dummer, second child of Richard the immigrant, born 1636, died young. Jeremiah Dummer, third child of Richard, and eldest by his second marriage, was born in 1643, and married Ann Atwater, of Boston. Samuel, their eldest child. was born 1073, and (lied 1737. Ann, their only daughter, was born 1674, and died 1764. William, their third child, was born 1677, and was lieutenant- governor of the province of Massachusetts 1722 to 1728, 1729 and 1730 inclusive. lle married Katherine, daughter of Governor Joseph Dudley. Jeremiah, their youngest child, was born 1681, and was agent in Eng- land for the American colonies. Hannah Dum- mer, only daughter of Richard Dummer, was born in 1647, and became the wife of the Rev. James Allen, minister of the First Church, Boston.
( 11) Captain Richard Dummer, Esq., youngest son and child of Richard Dummer the immigrant, was born in Newbury, Massa- chusetts, January 1, 1650, was made freeman there in 1677, and died July 4. 1689. He mar- ried, November 2, 1673. Elizabeth Appleton, daughter of John Appleton of Ipswich ; chil- dren : 1. Hannah, born 1674. 2. John, 1676. 3. Richard, 1680. 4. Elizabeth, 1682. 5. Na- thaniel, 1684. 6. Shubael, 1686.
(111) Captain Nathaniel Dummer, son of Captain Richard and Elizabeth (Appleton ) Dummer, born in Newbury, Massachusetts, November 9. 1684, died there February 27. 1767. Like his father and grandfather he was a man of much prominence. He married, 1719. Sarah Moody, daughter of Thomas and Judith ( Hale) Moody. Mr. Moody was one of the incorporators and a member of the board of trustees of Dummer academy. Na- thaniel and Sarah ( Moody ) Dummer had chil- (Iren : 1. Mehitable, born 1720. 2. Richard, 1721. 3. Nathaniel, 1724. 4. Shubael, 1726. 5. Sarah, 1728. 6. Elizabeth, 1731. 7. Wil- liam, 1734. 8. Samuel, 1736.
(IV ) Samuel Dummer, son of Nathaniel and Sarah ( Moody) Dummer, born in New- bury. July 25, 1736, died there June 13, 1824. He was a soklier of the French and Indian.
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war, as a private in Captain Samuel Gerrish's company that went to Nova Scotia in 1760. May 16, 1765, he married Eunice Noyes, daughter of Joshua and Sarah Noyes; chil- dren: 1. John, born 1765. 2. Sarah, 1767. 3. Daniel, 1771. 4. Mehitable, 1773. 5. Eunice. 6. Joshua, 1777. 7. Samuel, 1782.
(V) Samuel Dummer, son of Samuel and Eunice ( Noyes) Dummer, born in Newbury, January 27, 1782, died in Rowley, Massachu- setts, July 8, 1867. He was a cabinet maker by trade, an excellent workman in his time, and many articles of household furniture which were the result of his handicraft are still to be seen in various old houses in Newbury. Dur- ing the war of 1812-15 he served as a private in Captain Merrill's company. He owned and operated a grist and carding mill at Byfield, and still later bought out the old Pearson grist and snuff mill at Rowley, and moved there with his family. His wife was Johanna, daughter of Deacon Samuel Tenney, of West Newbury, and of whom it is said that he drove a powder wagon at the battle of Bunker Hill. Samuel and Johanna (Tenney ) Dummer had children: 1. Sarah, born 1816. 2. Sophia, 1819. 3. Abbie, 1823. 4. Samuel, 1825. 5. John, 1827. 6. Nathaniel, 1829.
(VI) Nathaniel Noyes Dummer, youngest child of Samuel and Johanna (Tenney ) Dum- mer, was born March 25, 1829. He attended Dummer Academy under Masters Adams and Durant. He was naturally of a mechanical turn of mind, and invented many of the things used at the mill where he spent much of his time with his father. At the time there were two mills where the present Glen mills stand, one on either side of the river. On the north side stood a typical old time grist mill with long sloping roof coming almost to the ground. The stones of granite, six feet in diameter were driven by a thirty-foot undershot water wheel. On the south side the mill was used for grinding snuff and there also was machin- ery for carding rolls for the people round about who wove their own cloth. At the age of eighteen years Mr. Dummer made a jig saw and used it on his own account for saw- ing felloes for carriage wheels. About this time his cousin, John Dummer, rebuilt the grist mill in order to experiment with a new mill and water wheel. Although he had been successful at Waltham as superintendent of the water wheel and pattern department of the Boston and Waltham Manufacturing Com- pany, and afterwards in developing the water power at Lowell, yet this particular wheel was
a failure. In 1851 Mr. Dummer went to New- port, New Hampshire, and in company with his sister's husband, Albert S. Adams, bought a saw and grist mill of Reuben Call. They at once rebuilt the mill, established new machin- ery, and built up an extensive business in lum- ber and grain. He ground the first carload of grain brought to Newport, and while there he originated the cereal package idea and put a wheat mill graham flour on the market in five- pound packages. This was the beginning of that which afterward became his life work of placing before the people the best cereals in an attractive and convenient form. The small packages for cereals have been adopted by nearly every mill in the country.
In 1853 Mr. Dummer visited Madison, Wis- consin, in search of work in a flour mill, but not meeting with the success he had hoped for, he returned to Newport and in 1854 sawed out the timber and patterns for buckets for a new water-wheel and hauled them to Row- ley on a sled. This wheel was set up and found to be an improvement on all other wheels then known, grinding three times as fast as the old one. In connection with this it is related that the elder Dummer would not express an opinion regarding the wheel in the course of its construction, seeming to care nothing whatever about it; and although ap- parently he showed no interest, yet when all others were away he would examine the work carefully and when the wheel was ready for the water to be turned on he was at hand. Nathaniel asked his father to tend the hopper and look after the mill and he would try his water-wheel. The water was let on and it furnished so much power that the elderly miller had all he could do tending the mill. He soon asked that the wheel be stopped, and he went to the house and remarked to his wife that "he guessed the boy had done it." That is all he was known to say about it then or afterward.
In 1858, the old homestead not presenting the fresh and tasty appearance which the young man wished in view of his approaching marriage, he built over the house, remodelling it completely, and as soon as that was accomp- lished to his taste he brought to it his bride, Julia A. Ames, only daughter of Dr. Joseph N. Ames, of Ipswich. About this time he erected the flour mill and began making family flour. All the grain used had to be brought from Newburyport, where it had come by vessel, and yet with all this disadvantage his business increased and the demand for meal
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Joseph Se , hummer
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and flour was so great that he leased a store- house in Newburyport. Within a year he could not grind fast enough to satisfy the de- mands of the trade at his Rowley mill, so he rented a brick building on Water street, below the old custom house (the mill destroyed by fire some years ago ), put in steam power and mills, and laid a track down the wharf to bring grain direct to the mill. The mill started well, but the water for the boilers failed, and al- though many ways were tried it could not be procured. Several other misfortunes coming at the same time, he left Newburyport and devoted his whole attention to the Glen mills. In 1869 he refitted the flour mill with new and improved machinery and made a quality of flour which found a ready sale. In 1874 he entirely refitted the corn mill, replacing all the stones with mills of a better pattern, and much of the cleaning and other machinery is of Mr. Dummer's own invention, for he was a mill- wright as well as miller. The first bushel of "Golden Corn Meal" (one of his specialties ) was put upon the market in that year. Soon afterward he became satisfied of the import- ance of entire wheat flour as a food and again remodelled his flour mill; and after much ex- perimenting produced an entire wheat flour which contained all the essential elements of the wheat reduced to a uniform fineness. In 1880, the water power in the summer months not proving adequate for the increasing busi- ness, steam was added as auxiliary to the water power. Since that time the manufac- ture of other cereal foods has been added so that the mills now produce a long list of staple and fancy breadstuffs. This business is now incorporated under the laws of the state of Massachusetts as the Glen Mills Cereal Com- pany, and besides the mills to which allusion has been made, Mr. Dummer for many years owned and operated a saw and planing mill two miles above the other mill on the same stream. To make a market for some of his lumber he bought a tract of land in George- town and erected a number of houses, which he afterward sold. Mr. Dummer was also successful in his efforts to reclaim old pasture and swamp land, making several spears of grass to grow where none grew before. When well past seventy-six years of age he bought an eighty-six acre tract of swamp and pasture land, and in eighteen months had twenty-one acres producing two and one-half tons of hay to the acre.
Mr. Dummer died July 8, 1907. On the day he was fatally stricken he superintended the
raising of a large hay barn which was to be erected after his own plans. He always was a man of intense energy and perseverance, and was never more at ease than when directing the work of a large number of employees. He was liberal and public spirited and ever ready to take part in any movement which had for its end the welfare of the town and its people. He was a member of the Congregational church and was a Mason. He married first. in 1858. Julia \. Ames, who died in 1870. having borne her husband two children. Joseph Newell and Carrie S. Dummer. In 1878 he married Elizabeth M. Newhall, daughter of Joshua L. Newhall, of Newburyport. One child. William Dummer, was born of this mar- riage.
(VII) Joseph Newell Dummer, son of Na- thaniel Noyes and Julia A. ( Ames) Dummer. was born February 19, 1861, and for a full quarter century has been actively identified with the best interests and history of his native town and county. He acquired his education at Old Dummer Academy, and now is a mem- ber and secretary of the board of trustees of that famous institution. He early became inter- ested in the work of the Massachusetts Sun- day-school Association, and from 1892 to 1807 was its field secretary; and as its first field secretary he originated the district plan of work which has been found so successful, and which in its origin, operation and results is superior to that of perhaps any other state. From 1899 to 1904 he was field secretary of the New Hampshire Sunday-school Associa- tion, but in the year last mentioned gave up his work in that state on account of his father's failing health, returned to his home in Rowley and has since devoted his attention to the bus- iness enterprises established by his father. He is now president of the Glen Mills Cereal Company, which operates the extensive cereal mill in Rowley and the entire wheat flour mill in Newburyport.
Besides his connection with the corporation of Dummer Academy and the field secretary- ship of the Massachusetts Sunday School Association, Mr. Dummer is clerk of the By- field Congregational Church, clerk and treas- urer of the Byfield Cemetery Association, sec- retary of the Essex County Young Men's Christian Association, and for several years has been a member of the school com- mittee in Rowley. He is a member of Charles C. Dane Lodge. F. and A. M .: King Cyrus Chapter. R. A. M .: Newbury- port Commandery. K T. ; and of Masconomet
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Lodge, I. O. O. F., and is also a member of Quascacunquen Grange, P. of H. He is an occasional contributor to the press, and has an excellent reputation as a speaker on the lec- ture platform. His "History of Byfield Parish," which is published, shows something of Mr. Dummer's literary capacity and his accuracy as a historian. He married, August 13, 1883, Sarah Wheelwright, daughter of Isaac W. Wheelwright, of Newbury, and a descendant of Rev. John Wheelwright, who was exiled from Boston with his sister-in-law, Ann Hutchinson, both of whom were charged with promulgating heretical doctrines. Mr. and Mrs. Dummer have one adopted daughter. Gladys Burrage Dummer, born July 10, 1897.
"But the liberal deviseth liberal things, And by liberal things shall he stand."
These words were
DUMMER ACADEMY spoken by Rev.
Moses Parsons, the parish minister of Byfield, at the for- mal opening of the academy, February 28, 1763 ; and for "liberal things" Dummer Acad- emy has continued to stand for one hundred and forty-five years.
After a century and two score years of use- ful existence the academy was referred to by President Eliot of Harvard, in these words : "Here is an academy founded by an enlight- ened man in the eighteenth century, which has a large estate in a beautiful and healthy region, an excellent course of study, an admirable principal with devoted assistants, and moderate fees. It provides three or four communities with a good classical day-school : and it is also a trustworthy boarding school for boys from a distance."
About the time Lieutenant Governor Dum- mer devised his entire estate in Newbury to trustees with directions "that the whole of ye rents, issues and profits thereof, shall in the first place be appropriated laid out & expended in the erecting building & finishing a Grammar School house", the town was one of the most prosperous in the province, being second only to Boston in size and progressiveness. It was noted for culture and refinement, and its con- siderable display of wealth. This popularity, due in part to large shipping interests at the mouth of the Merrimac river, must have given the inhabitants the assurance that Newbury would continue to be one of the wealthiest and most cultured towns in the province ; and this may have been one of the reasons that im- pelled William Dummer to choose his farm as
a site for an educational institution rather than the estate he owned in School street in Bos- ton. The governor's Newbury farm com- prised about 330 acres and was a part of a tract of land granted by the general court in 1635 to his grandfather. Richard Dummer, under the order that "a convenient quantity of land be set out within the bounds of Newbury for the keeping of the cattle that came over in the Dutch ships this year, and to belong to the owners of said cattle." That part of the estate now known as the academy farm was given to William Dummer in 1713 by his father Jeremiah, and may have been intended as a wedding gift, for he soon afterward mar- ried Katherine, daughter of Governor Dudley. A few years later William Dummer became lieutenant-governor, held that office from 1716 to 1730, and that of acting governor from 1723 to 1728 and from 1729 to 1730.
The mansion house is supposed to have been built about the time of his marriage, and one writer speaks of the visit of Governor Shute and President Leverett of Harvard to the newly appointed lieutenant-governor while journeying from Boston to Portsmouth, and of their being "finely entertained that night." Mrs. Dummer was a woman of rare accom- plishments and charming manners, and these qualities combined with her known benevo- lence and piety undoubtedly had an influence in molding the character of her husband. He was highly respected, even by the colonists, nearly all of whom were opposed to officials appointed by the crown. Cotton Mather, who was antagonistic to a royal governor, wrote "we are Inexpressibly Happy in our L'Gover- nor's wise and Good Administration." Such then was the quality of the man who gave his entire property in Newbury for the mainte- nance of a grammar school in that town. The original building was a one-story frame struc- ture about twenty feet square, and it still stands near the academy grounds, and with- out doubt is the oldest academy building in this country, and one around which cluster thousands of fond memories and interesting historical associations. And this too was the first school of its kind founded in Massachu- setts. for previous to 1763 grammar was taught only in the Latin and Greek classics. In his will the founder stated "it is my will that no Scholar be admitted into said school but such as can read English well," thus giving it the character of a school of secondary rather of elementary education.
The institution was incorporated in 1782
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under the title of "The Trustees of Dummer Academy in the County of Essex." The first master was Samuel Moody, of York, Maine, a graduate of Harvard, 1746, a man of marked eccentricities, yet withal an excellent discipli- marian and capable pedagogue. He stood faithfully at the master's desk from 1763 to 1790, and during his principalship 526 boys sat under his instruction. Many of them afterward attained high positions in the civil and military history of our commonwealth, and others sat in the halls of our national con- gress. There was Samuel Osgood, a captain at Lexington, and Major McClary, who fell at Bunker Hill: Captain John Glover and Ebenezer Cleaveland. of Colonel John Glover's famous regiment of Marblehead men ; Samuel Tenney, congressman : Rufus King, one of the framers of the declaration of independence and a military officer of rank: Samuel Hinck- ley, who was wounded at White Plains : Tobias Lear, Washington's private secretary ; Captain Longfellow, of the forces organized for the suppression of Daniel Shays' rebellious hosts. In the same general category may be recalled the names of Theophilus Parsons and Samuel Sewall, both of whom filled the high office of chief justice of our supreme judicial court, and fifteen at least of Master Moody's boys sat in either the continental or the federal con- gress. Among educators of distinguished prominence there may be mentioned President Samuel Webber of Harvard, Professor William Ingalls of Brown, Professor John Smith of Dartmouth, Professor David Tappan of Har- vard, and Samuel Phillips, founder of the famous academies at Andover and Exeter, and who also was a member of the provincial con- gress and at one time lieutenant governor of Massachusetts.
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