Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Boston and eastern Massachusetts, Part 8

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 8


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ernor's council, 1771-1774 ; chief justice of the court of common pleas, delegate in 1778 to the constitutional convention, and served in the provincial congress. Children born in Salis- bury: 1. Benjamin, born January 20, 1739. see forward. 2. Caleb, baptized September 23. 1750, died unmarried.


(V) Benjamin Cushing, son of Hon. Caleb Cushing (4), born at Salisbury, Massachu- setts, baptized there, January 20, 1739, mar- ried December 17, 1767, Hannah Haseltine, born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, December 12, 1732, daughter of Nathaniel and Abigail ( Tenney) Haseltine. He resided at Salisbury and later removed to Newburyport. Children, all except first, born at Salisbury: 1. Hannah, born at Haverhill, New Hampshire, March 30, 1769, died young. 2. Caleb, born May 21, 1770, died at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 4, 1820, married December 14, 1793, Margaret Hoover, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who died July 18, 1847. 3. Mary, born May II. 1772, died young. 4. Benjamin, born June 21. 1776, died young. 5. John Newmarch, born May 18, 1779, see forward. 6. Nathaniel, born July 29, 1782, died at sea. 7. Mary, born March 22, 1789. died June 13, 1836, married Benjamin Bodily.


(VI) John Newmarch Cushing, son of Ben- jamin Cushing (5), born at Salisbury, Massa- chusetts, May 18, 1779, died at Newburyport. Massachusetts, January 5. 1849, married first, April 1, 1799, Lydia Dow, of Salisbury, died November 6, 1810, married second, Elizabeth Johnson, daughter of Nicholas Johnson, of Newburyport, Massachusetts ; shipmaster, shipowner, and merchant. Children by first wife: 1. Caleb, born January 17, 1800, sce forward. 2. Lydia, born August 13, 1805, died April 21, 1851. Children by second wife: 3. Mary Ann, born March 4, 1816, died August 31, 1831. 4. Philip Johnson, born December II, 1818, died September 29, 1846. 5. John Newmarch, born October 21, 1820, married. May 16, 1843, Mary Lawrence, who died Au- gust 2, 1898. 6. William, born August 10. 1823. died October 16, 1875, married first. September 23. 1847, Sarah Moody Stone, of Newburyport, who died June 26, 1863, married second, May 29, 1866, Ellen M. Holbrook, of Jamaica Plain. 7. Sarah Chickering, born Au- gust 10, 1823, died May 9, 1826. 8. Elizabeth, born July 23, 1826, died September 19, 1828.


(VII) Honorable Caleb Cushing, son of John Newmarch Cushing (6), born at Salis- bury, Massachusetts, January 17, 1800, died January 2, 1879, married November 23, 1824.


Caroline Elizabeth Wilde, born April 26, 1802, (lied August 28, 1832, daughter of Judge Sam- tel S. and Eunice (Cobb) Wilde. H. C. 1817.


NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.


Whatever charm the career of Nathaniel Hawthorne may offer to the public as a master of romance in the field of literary art almost exclusively his own, it is conceded universally that the facts of his life offer little opportunity for the biographer. He was a native of the old town of Salem, was born on Independence Day, July 4, 1804, and died at Plymouth, New Hampshire, May 18, 1864. One well known biographer considers that his work is therefore his record, and the procession of his ideas as successfully formed in the pages of his books are his only satisfactory and everlasting mon- ument. His character owes much to heredity. His ancestors were of the established Puritan stock in an ancient seaport town, and some of them as a matter of course were seafaring men. His early days were particularly un- eventful. His education was obtained at his birthplace and at Bowdoin College, Maine, where in 1825 he was graduated. Among his early instructors and his classmates were sev- eral distinguished men: Dr. Joseph E. Wor- cester, the lexicographer, John S. C. Abbott, George B. Cheever, Jonathan Cilley, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, President Franklin Pierce, Calvin Ellis Stowe, and others. In early life he lived with his mother in the woods of Raymond. Maine, for a period of one year, but after he left college he returned to Salem to live. For twelve years following he was a recluse, and read or wrote by night or day as suited his fancy. He published his first story at his own expense, and only a few hundred copies of this early production were sold. He did considerable stated work for various publications anonymously between 1830 and 1836, but in 1837 he collected the first series of "Twice-Told Tales," followed in 1845 by the second, both in 1851 being re- issued together. After 1850 his works and his popularity increased. In 1850 his second novel, "The Scarlet Letter." was issued, and undoubtedly it is the best known and remark- able work of his wonderful genius. The anal- ysis of his writings and their titles is not the object of this article. As a distinguished writer has said, they all bear the mark in com- mon of being early products of the dry New England air : incorporating myths and mys- teries of old Massachusetts, including chapters of the fanciful, bathed in a misty moonshiny


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light, completely neglecting the usual sources of emotion. His most touching peculiarity was his aloofness; he was outside of every- thing, an alien everywhere-on the surface- the surface of the soul and the edge of the tragedy-he preferred to remain.


His life is very briefly written. In 1839 he received through influential friends an ap- pointment to a small place in the Boston cus- tom house. In 1841 he spent a few months in the Brook Farm community. He was married in 1842, and lived at Concord till 1846, when he obtained a position in the Salem custom house, and returned there to live. He also resided for two years at Lenox, Massachusetts. In 1853 he was appointed consul to Liverpool, and he resided afterwards for about seven years in England, France and Italy. Ile re- turned to the United States in 1860 and resided again at Concord. Early in the year 1864 his health began rapidly to fail, and in May, 1864, he went with ex-President Pierce to the White Mountains, and when they reached Plymouth, New Hampshire, May 18, Hawthorne died in his sleep.


The impressions of his contemporaries in Salem regarding him are interesting. He led among them a quiet and secluded life, charac- terized by shyness in school, and inconspicu- ousness in college. His earliest literary work was anonymous, and he was first supposed by his readers to be a woman, who possessed among other qualities, great delicacy of fancy. The volume of "Twice-Told Tales" first brought him a recognized position in the liter- ary world and an enthusiastic welcome. His various official positions were conferred solely for his merit as an author. The supernatural element in his work he allowed nothing to interfere with. His love for personal solitude was his ruling passion. He had no fondness for social pleasures, and never entered into them.


"These our actors,


As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air;


And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind." .


ANCESTRY .- William Hathorne (I), of Salem, Massachusetts, was a son of William and Sara Hathorn of Binfield, Berkshire, Eng- land : he was born about 1607, died at Salem, Massachusetts, 1681, in his seventy-fourth year ; wife Anne. He came to this country


with the Winthrop company in 1630, and set- tled first at Dorchester, where he appears prominently until 1636, when he removed to Salem. He was for many years a deputy, was elected speaker a number of times, and elected assistant from 1662 to 1679. He was one of the most able, energetic, and widely influential men in New England in his day ; was commis- sioned captain in 1646, and major before 1656. His will dated February 17, 1679-80, probated June 28, 1681, mentions Ann as sole executrix ; names William and Samuel and Abigail, chil- dren of his son Eleazer Hathorne, late deceas- ed : his son John, of Salem ; his son William, who was then lately deceased, to whom he con- firms a bequest to William's widow Sarah ; his grandchild Jervice Helwyde, then in Europe ; his daughter Sarah Coaker's two eldest sons by her husband Coaker, the remainder of his grandchildren ; his son-in-law, Israel Porter was also mentioned. Children: 1. A daugh- ter, married - Helwise. 2. Sarah, born March 11, 1634-5, died February 8, 1688; mar- ried April 13, 1665, Joseph Coker, of New- bury, Massachusetts. 3. Eleazer, born August 1, 1637, married August 28, 1663, Abigail Curwen. 4. Nathaniel, born August 11, 1639. 5. John, born August 5, 1641. see forward. 6. Anna, born December 12, 1643, married Janu- ary 27, 1664-5, Joseph Porter, of Salem, who died December 12, 1714. 7. William, born April 1, 1643, died July 14, 1676; married Sarah Ruck, who married second, Rev. George Burroughs, of Salem. 8. Elizabeth, born July 3. 1649. married November 20. 1672, Israel Porter, of Salem, who died November, 1706.


( II) Colonel John Hathorn, son of Captain William Hathorn ( I ), born at Salem, Massa- chusetts. August 5, 1641, died May 10, 1717, aged seventy-six years; married March 22, 1674-5, Ruth Gardner, baptized April 2, 1665, daughter of Lieutenant George and Elizabeth Gardner, of Salem. He was distinguished both in civil and military affairs: a captain in the war with the eastern Indians. colonel of a reg- iment, and chief commander of a military ex- pedition in 1606 ; deputy, 1683 : assistant, with one brief exception, from 1684 to 1711 ; judge, etc. Children: 1. John, born January 10, 1675. 2. Nathaniel, born November 25, 1678. died before 1712, married Sarah -; he removed to Gosport, England. His widow married second, Nathaniel Satall of Gosport, England. 3. Ebenezer, of London, England, 1726. 4. Joseph, baptized June, 1691 ; see for- ward. 5. Ruth, baptized September, 1694, married James Putnam ; died at Danvers, Feb-


Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University.


The Wayside. Hawthorne's Home, Concord.


"Oak Knoll." Home of John G. Whittier, Danvers.


BOSTON AND EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS.


House of Seven Gables, Salem.


39


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ruary 20, 1769, in the 75th year of her age. 6. Benjamin.


(III) Joseph Hathorne, son of John Hat- horne (2), born at Salem, Massachusetts, bap- tized June, 1691, died 1762; married June 30, 1715, Sarah Bowditch, born January 10, 1695-6, died March, 1761, daughter of Captain William and Mary ( Gardner ) Bowditch, of Salem. Children: 1. William, born February 20, 1715-16, married March 29, 1741, Mary Touzell. 2. Joseph, baptized May 4, 1718. 3. John baptized May 22, 1719, died February 6, 1750; married Susanna Touzell. 4. Sarah, baptized June 27, 1722, married Daniel Cheever, of Salem. 5. Ebenezer, baptized De- cember 26, 1725. 6. Daniel, see forward. 7. Ruth, died June, 1801, married September 30, 1762, Captain David Ropes, of Salem, who died May 28, 1782.


(IV) Daniel Hathorne, son of Joseph Hat- horne (3), born at Salem, Massachusetts, died 1795; married October 21, 1756, - Rachel Phelps, born June 1. 1734, daughter of Jona- than and Judith (Cox) Phelps, of Beverly. Children : 1. Rachel, born July 25, 1757, mar- ried Simon Forrester. 2. Daniel, born June 23, 1759, died March 13. 1763. 3. Sarah, born May 11, 1763, married John Crowninshield. 4. Eunice, born October 4, 1766, married Febru- ary 5, 1788, Aaron Porter, who died at Dan- vers, Massachusetts, December 3, 1843. 5. Daniel, born July 25, 1768, died at sea, 1805, unmarried. 6. Judith, born April 17, 1770, married March 2. 1792, George Archer. 7. Nathaniel, born May 19, 1775, see forward. 8. Ruth, born January 20, 1778.


(V) Captain Nathaniel Hathorne, son of Daniel Hathorne (4), born at Salem, Massa- chusetts, May 19, 1775, died at Surinam, 1808; married Elizabeth Clark Manning, born Sep- tember 6, 1780, died July 31, 1849, daughter of Richard and Miriam (Lord) Manning, of Ips- wich. Children: I. Elizabeth Manning, born March 7, 1802. 2. Nathaniel, born July 4. 1804, see forward. 3. Maria Louisa, born Jan- uary 9, 1808, lost in steamer "Henry Clay," burned on the Hudson river, July 27, 1852.


(VI) Nathaniel Hawthorne, son of Captain Nathaniel Hathorne (5), born at Salem, Mass- achusetts, July 4, 1804, died at Plymouth, New Hampshire, May 19, 1864; married at Salem, July 9, 1842, Sophia Amelia Peabody, born September 21, 1809, died at London, England, February 26, 1871, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Palmer) Peabody, of Salem and Boston, Massachusetts. Children : I. Una, born at Concord, Massachusetts, March 3,


1844, died in England, 1887, unmarried. 2. Julian, born at Boston, Massachusetts, June 22, 1846. 3. Rose, born at Lenox, Massachusetts, May, 1850, married George Parsons Lathrop.


JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.


John Greenleaf Whittier, of Amesbury, Massachusetts, was born in Haverhill, Massa- chusetts, December 17, 1807, and died in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, September 7. 1892. He was descended from Thomas Whittier (or Whittle) of Salisbury, Newbury, and Haverhill, Massachusetts, through Joseph 2, Joseph 3, and John 4 Whittier, his father, who married Abigail Hussey, daughter of Joseph Hussey, of Somersworth, New Hamp- shire.


He was a famous American poet. "A Quaker in religion, he was remarkable for his consistency and the purity of his life ; he was one of the earliest and most influential aboli- tionists, several times mobbed for his opin- ions. He was at different periods editor of several journals, among them ( 1838-40) the Pennsylvania Freeman, an abolition publica- tion, and the leading contributor to the Wash- ington National Era, 1847-59. He was a member of the Massachusetts legislature, 1835-36, and one of the secretaries of the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836. He took great interest in politics. His home, after 1840, was at Amesbury, Massachusetts.


"Among his best-known poems are: "Skip- per Ireson's Ride," 1860: "My Playmate," 1860: "Barbara Frietchie," 1863; "Laus Deo," 1865: "My Birthday," "Snowbound," 1866 ; "Mand Muller." 1866: "The Tent on the Beach," 1867, and "The Eternal Goodness." "Perhaps no other of our poets, not even Longfellow, has so reached the popular heart." (Library of the World's Best Literature. )


An estimate by a writer in the above work states : His work depends for its appreciation to an unusual degree on an understanding of his life and character. Others of his contem- poraries need little explanation. Whittier was born of simple farming folk ; his formal edu- cation was merely that of the district school and country academy and he had no experi- ence of foreign travel. He sprang from the soil of New England, and possessed to the full the virtues and defects of his ancestry and environment, and he represents, and with suc- cess, the most winning side of country life in his native district. Until he was twenty his educational advantages were very ordinary. He attended for a short time the Haverhill


John Glohellen


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Academy. For a year he was employed in a Boston printing house, and there edited a paper. For another year he was editor of a journal in Hartford. The papers with which he was connected were not those of the gen- eral sort, but were special publications devoted to such subjects as temperance and anti-slav- ery. With very few exceptions his days were spent in Essex County, and his early life, as well as his later, was free from affectation, and in the first of it full of effort and disci- pline, a life in which the outer world of cities was unrealized.


The birthplace of Mr. Whittier is standing in that part of Haverhill, which is near the boundary line of the present town of Merri- mac. Its antiquity, aside from its connection with the notable poet, is its principal attraction. The front of the house remains as originally built, with unimportant changes in the way of repairs. The house was built about the year 1688, by Thomas Whittier, the ancestor who left England in 1638, at the age of eighteen. and settled in Salisbury about 1640, and thence removed to Haverhill in 1648, first living in a log hut which he built and occu- pied until the erection of the house above men- tioned, which was about half a mile distant from his former residence.


ANCESTRY .- Thomas Whittier (I), of Salisbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts, born about 1620 or 1622, died at Haverhill, Novem- ber 28, 1696; married Ruth Green (alias Rolfe?) who died his widow. July, 1710. He was of Haverhill in 1647. Among those who came with him to this country were his uncles John and Henry Rolfe, and a distant relative, Ruth Green, whom he afterwards married, and whose name appears in every subsequent generation. Children: 1. Mary, born October 9. 1647, died July 29, 1698; married September 21. 1666, Benjamin Page, of Haverhill. 2. John, born December 23. 1649; married Jan- nary 14, 1685-6, Mary Hoyt, of Haverhill. 3. Ruth, born November 6, 1651, died December 16, 1719 : married April 20, 1675, Joseph True, of Salisbury. 4. Thomas, born January 12. 1653-4, died October 17, 1728. 5. Susanna, born March 27. 1656, died February 15. 1726-7 : married July 15, 1674. Jacob Morrill, of Salisbury. 6. Nathaniel, born August II. 1658, died July 18, 1722 ; married first, August 26, 1685, Mrs. Mary Osgood, who died May II, 1705 ; married second, June, 1710. widow Mary Ring, who died July 19, 1742. 7. Han- nah, born September 10, 1760; married May 30, 1683, Edward Young. 8. Richard, born


June 27, 1663, died March 3, 1725-6. 9. Eliz- abeth, born November 21, 1666; married June 22, 1699, James Sanders, Jr., of Amesbury, Massachusetts. 10. Joseph, born May 8, 1669. see forward.


(II ) Joseph Whittier, son of Thomas Whit- tier (1), born in Massachusetts, May 8, 1669. died December 25, 1740; married May 24. 1694. Mary Peasley, born July 14, 1672. daughter of Joseph and Ruth (Barnard) Peasley. For four generations nearly all of his descendants retained their connection more or less closely with the Society of Friends. Children: 1. Elizabeth, born September 19, 1695: married November 24. 1721, Abner Chase. 2. Green, born March 13, 1696-7 ; mar- ried (published November 3, 1719) Hannah Chase. 3. Joseph, born April 2, 1699, died young. 4. Ruth, born July 31. 1701 ; married January 1, 1722-3. Benjamin Greeley. 5. Rich- ard, born September 20, 1703. 6. Ebenezer. born December 29, 1704; married June 23. 1730. Judith Willett. 7. Hannah, born June 2. 1707, married November 25. 1725, Stephen Badger. 8. Susannah, born July 25. 1709; presumably married, May 8, 1734, Joseph Weed, Jr. 9. Joseph, born March 21. 1716-17, see forward.


( H11) Joseph Whittier, son of Joseph Whit- tier (2), born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, March 21. 1716-17, died October 10, 1796; married July 12, 1739. Sarah Greenleaf, born March 5. 1716, died at Haverhill, Massachu- setts, March 17, 1807. daughter of Nathaniel and Judith ( Coffin) Greenleaf, of Newbury, Massachusetts. He remained on the ancestral farm of his ancestors, which passed to the son John. Children: 1. Stephen, born April 6. 1740, died April 17. 1740. 2. Thomas, born July 29, 1742, died August 13. 1742. 3. Ruth, boru December 26, 1743, died December 27. 1743. 4. Obadiah, born January 22, 1745, died October 3. 1754. 5. Mary, born February 2, 1747. died September 5, 1802, unmarried. 6. Joseph, born September 14, 1750, died Septem- ber 21, 1754. 7. Nathaniel, born July 13. 1753. died at Hollis, Maine, January, 1839, unmar- ried. 8. Joseph, born September 20, 1755. died February 20, 1833 ; married Mary Chase. of Deering, New Hampshire, who married second, 1835, Jonathan Taylor, of Biddeford. Maine, and married third, - - Hanson. 9. Obadiah, born September 2, 1758, died at Dover, New Hampshire, July 28, 1814: mar- ried December 17. 1786, Sarah Austin, of Dover, New Hampshire. 10. John, born No- vember 22, 1760 : see forward. It. Moses, born


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December 20, 1762, died January 23, 1824, un- married.


(IV) John Whittier, son of Joseph Whit- tier (3), born at Haverhill, November 22, 1760, died June 11, 1830 ; married October 3, 1804, Abigail Hussey, born September 3, 1779, died December 27, 1857, daughter of Samuel and Merey ( Evans ) Hussey, of Somersworth, now Rollinsford, New Hampshire. He was several times elected a selectman of the town of Haverhill. This point is of interest in ref- erence to the male line of the ancestry of the Poet. Thomas ( I) Whittier was 49 years old when his son Joseph was born, and he lived to be seventy-six. Joseph (2) was forty-seven years old when his son Joseph (3) was born, and he died at the age of seventy. The second Joseph or Joseph (3) was forty-five years old when John (4) was born, and he lived to be eighty. John (4) was in his forty-eighth year when John Greenleaf (5) the Poet, was born, and he lived to be nearly seventy. Although each Whittier in this list lived to a good old age, they passed away without having seen their grandsons in this particular line. Chil- dren: 1. Mary, born September 3. 1806, died January 17, 1860 ; married Jacob Caldwell. 2. John Greenleaf, born December 17, 1807. died at Hampton, New Hampshire, September 7. 1892. 3. Matthew Franklin, born July 4, 1812, died January 7, 1883 ; married first, August 4. 1836, Abigail R. Poyen, who died at Portland, Maine, March 27. 1841 ; children: i. Joseph Poyen, died August 15, 1838. ii. Sarah, died March 13, 1841. Married second, Jane E. Vaughan, of St. John, New Brunswick, born April 27, 1819; children : iii. Charles Frank- lin, born December 8, 1843. iv. Elizabeth Hus- sey, born August 10, 1845 ; married Samuel T. Pickard. v. Alice Greenleaf, born February 19, 1848 ; married Wilbur Berry. 4. Elizabeth Hussey. born December 7, 1815, died at Ames- bury, September 3, 1864.


ANNE BRADSTREET.


Anne Bradstreet, distinguished as the ear- liest poet of her sex in America, though a native of England, was a person who by repu- tation and residence conferred honor upon the New England county of Essex, and is worthy of a brief notice in these pages. She was the daughter of Governor Thomas Dudley and the wife of Governor Simon Bradstreet. She was born in the year 1612-13, probably at Northampton, England. Of her youth but little is known, and from what is left in her own writing leads to the belief that she was reli-


giously brought up according to the Puritan standards of that time. When she was about sixteen she had the small pox. She was mar- ried at about that age, and came to this coun- try. Her husband was the son of a minister of the Nonconformist order in the old coun- try. In 1635 she became a resident of Ips- wich, but there are no particulars of import- ance regarding her stay in that town, and the exact year when she removed to Andover is not known, but it is presumable that the latter removal was before the year 1644. The por- tion of the town where she settled was that now called by the name of North Andover. Her husband's house there was burned to the ground in July, 1666: and it is supposed to have been followed by a second, in which she died in September, 1672. This house, which was the residence of her son, Dudley Brad- street, is still standing.


Her poems were first published in London, in 1650, under the title of "The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America." She appears to have had from her birth a very delicate con- stitution, and was troubled at one time with lameness and subject to frequent attacks of sickness, to fevers, and fits of fainting. She was the mother of eight children, four sons and four daughters, all but one of whom sur- vived her. Of her opinions, she regarded health as the reward of virtue, and her various maladies as tokens of the divine displeasure. She says her religious belief was at times shaken ; but she believed that her doubts and fears were exaggerated by her tender con- science. Her children were constantly in her mind; and for them she committed to writing many of her thoughts and experiences, espec- ially religious. Her poetic similes refer much to domestic life and the bringing up of chil- dren, and among her own offspring she notes the most diverse traits of character ; some of them were obedient and easily governed, while others were unruly and headstrong. She de- rived satisfaction from the virtues of some, and deplored the failings of others. Her mar- ried life was happy, but she continuously dwelt in her thoughts on the great ills to which humanity is subject. By the burning of her house at Andover. in July, 1666, her papers. books, and other things of great value, were destroyed. Her son wrote that his father's loss by this fire was over eight hundred books, including those of the son and many of the son's clothes, in his case to at least the value of fifty or sixty pounds.


Thus from what is derived from Mrs. Brad-


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street's works, one can see that the world of 1666 was not much different from that of 1908 in its experience of domestic trials. The fact of her being able to compose anything of a lit- erary order, was in her day a wonder compared with such things now. She was, however, living in a new country, scarcely yet settled, and that she even was exposed to criticism on the part of her neighbors for studying and writing so much, is evident from these lines of hers :




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