USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Boston and eastern Massachusetts > Part 9
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"I am obnoxious to each carping tongue Who says my hand a needle better fits."
She died of a consumption, and a statement of her sad condition in the last stages of the disease is preserved in the handwriting of her son. It is supposed, as her burial place is not known at Andover, that she may have been buried in her father's tomb at Roxbury.
In 1678. after her death, a second edition of her "Poems" was brought out in Boston. Her descendants have been very numerous, "and many of them have more than made up by the excellence of their writings for whatever beauty or spirit hers may have lacked." Among these were Dr. William E. Channing; Rev. Joseph Buckminster, of Portsmouth ; his son, Rev. J. S. Buckminster ; and his daughter, Mrs. Eliza B. Lee ; Richard H. Dana, the poet, and his son R. H. Dana, Jr. ; Dr. Oliver Wen- dell Holmes : Wendell Phillips ; and Mrs. Eliza G. Thornton, of Saco, Maine, whose verses were once esteemed. Her husband married a second wife, and his death occurred at Salem, March 27, 1697, at the age of ninety-four.
An example of Mrs. Bradstreet's style in her lighter mood is given in some lines upon the burning of her house, July 10, 1666.
"When by the Ruines oft I past, My sorrowing eyes aside did cast, And here and there the places spye Where oft I sate, and long did lye.
"Here stood that Trunk, and there that chest; There lay that store I counted best: My pleasant things in ashes lye, And them behold no more shall 1. Under thy roof no guest shall sitt, Nor at Thy Table eat a bitt.
"No pleasant tale shall 'ere be told Nor things recounted done of old. No Candle 'ere shall shine in Thee. Nor bridegroom's voice ere heard shall be. In silence ever shalt thou lye; Adieu, Adieu; All's vanity."
AUTHORITY .- "The Works of Anne Brad- street in Prose and Verse," edited by John
Harvard Ellis. Charlestown: Abram E. Cut- ter. 1867.
ANCESTRY .- Thomas Dudley ( 1), Governor of Massachusetts, was born at Northampton, in England in 1576 or 1577 (the only son of Captain Roger Dudley, who was killed in bat- tle about 1586). He was thus early in life an orphan, having a sister, concerning whom, as well as his mother, nothing is known. His mother was probably of a religious family and he became a noted Puritan. He was sent to school by a charitable lady, and while still young became a page in the family of William Lord Compton, afterwards Earl of Northamp- ton. The further career of Governor Thomas Dudley is a matter of general history. Chil- dren: 1. Samuel, born in Northamptonshire, England, about 1610, died February 10, 1683. He was married three times, became the settled minister at Exeter, New Hampshire, and had in all eighteen children. He married first Mary, daughter of Governor John Winthrop ; second, Mary Byley, sister of Henry Byley; and third, Elizabeth 2. Anne, mar- ried Governor Bradstreet: see forward. 3. Patience; died February 8, 1690; married Major-General Daniel Denison ; and had two children. 4. Sarah, baptized July 23, 1620, at Sempringham, England; died November 3. 1659 ; married before June 9. 1639. Benjamin Keayne, of Boston (son of Captain Robert Keayne ) from whom she was divorced in 1647. and had a daughter named Anna, the wife of Edward Lane, and later of Nicholas Paige. The mother afterwards married Thomas Pacy. 5. Mercy, born September 27. 1621, died July 1, 1601 : married Rev. John Woodbridge and had twelve children. 6. Dorothy ; died Febru- ary 27, 1643. His first wife Dorothy, a gen- tlewoman of good family and estate, died De- cember 27, 1643, and was buried in the family tomb at Roxbury. Her family name and pedi- gree have not been preserved. She was sixty- one years old, and had had five children, one son and four daughters, all of whom married and had children before her decease. It is remarkable that so little should be definitely known concerning a family so distinguished.
By his second wife Governor Dudley had : 7. Deborah, born February 27, 1644-5; died unmarried, November 1, 1683. 8. Joseph, born September 23, 1647; died April 2, 1720. He married Rebecca, daughter of Edward Tyng, became Governor of Massachusetts, Lieuten- ant-Governor of the Isle of Wight, and first chief-justice of New York. He had thirteen children, one of whom, Paul, was attorney-
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general, and afterwards chief-justice of Mass- achusetts, fellow of the Royal Society, and founder of the Dudleian Lectures at Harvard College. 9. Paul, born September 8, 1650, died December 1, 1681 ; married Mary, daugh- ter of Governor John Leverett, and had three children.
(II) Anne (Dudley) Bradstreet, the popu- lar poetess of her time, daughter of Thomas Dudley (1), was born 1612-13; was married when about sixteen to Simon Bradstreet, and (lied September 16, 1672. Eight children: I. Samuel, (H. C. 1653), and died August, 1682. He was in England, 1657-1661, a physician in Boston ; and removed afterwards to the island of Jamaica, where he died. He was twice married : first to Mercy, daughter of William Tyng by whom he had five children, only one of whom survived him, and second to a wife, whose name is unknown. Her three children were living with their grandfather Governor Bradstreet, at the time of the latter's death. 2. Dorothy ; died February 26, 1672; married June 25. 1654, Rev. Seaborn Cotton (son of Rev. John Cotton, of Boston) and had nine children. Her husband was pastor of the church at Hampton, New Hampshire. 3. Sarah, married first Richard Hubbard, of Ips- wich, by whom she had five children, and sec- ond Major Samuel Ward, of Marblehead. 4. Simon, born at Ipswich, September 28, 1640 (H. C. 1660) died 1683. Went to New Lon- don, Connecticut, in 1666, and was ordained pastor of the church there October 5, 1670, married at Newbury, October 2, 1667, Lucy (his cousin) daughter of Rev. John Wood- bridge, and had five children. 5. Hannah, died 1707, married June 14, 1659, Andrew Wiggin, of Exeter, New Hampshire, and had five sons and five daughters. 6. Mercy, died October 5. 1715 (68th year) married October 31, 1672, Major Nathaniel Wade, of Medford, and had eight children. 7. Dudley, born -, 1648, died November 13, 1702, married November 12, 1673, Ann Wood, widow of Theodore Price. He was a prominent man in Andover, and had three children. 8. John, born July 22, 1652, died January II, 1718, married June II, 1677. Sarah, daughter of Rev. William Per- kins. He was a resident of Topsfield, and had five children.
MANASSEH CUTLER.
Manasseh Cutler, third child and elder son of Hezekiah Cutler, a farmer of Killingly, Connecticut, and grandson of John and Hannah (Snow) Cutler, of Lexington, Mass-
achusetts, and Killingly, was born in what is now Thompson, on May 28, 1742, and bap- tized on May 30 at the Thompson church. His mother was Susanna, daughter of Deacon Hanniel Clark, of Killingly. He was prepared for college by the Rev. Aaron Brown, of North Killingly.
During the winter after graduation he taught school in Dedham, Massachusetts, where he became engaged to Mary, eldest daughter of the Rev. Thomas Balch, of that town, and of Mary (Sumner ) Balch. He then accepted a proposal from an aunt of Miss Balch's who had been recently left a widow, to go to Edgar- town, on Martha's Vineyard, and take charge of a business which she owned there.
On September 7, 1766, he was married, and at once removed to Edgartown, and continued as a merchant for three years. In the mean- time he was admitted to the bar, 1767, but subsequently he began the study of theology by himself, and in November, 1769, he re- moved with his family to Dedham, to continue his studies under his father-in-law's direction. In May, 1770, he was called to settle in Dou- glas, in Worcester County, where he had been preaching for some time, but this call he de- clined. In February, 1771, he began to preach in the Third Parish of Ipswich, Massachusetts,. called Ipswich Hamlet, and in May he was in- vited to settle as their pastor. He accepted the call on June 9, and was ordained on September II. Mr. Balch preaching the sermon.
During the Revolution his work was twice interrupted by invitations to serve in the army as chaplain ; and he was thus absent for four months in 1775, and for one month in 1778. In the latter part of 1778 he undertook the study of medicine with Dr. Elisha Whitney, one of his parishioners, and was able thereby to add somewhat to a scanty income. As early as his college days he had begun to take a deep interest in natural science, and about 1780 he applied himself especially to the study of bot- any, in which he became a proficient. From the time of his settlement in Ipswich he had had occasional pupils in his house, and in 1782 he opened a boarding-school which was con- tinued (except during temporary absences) with success for thirty-five years.
Owing to the difficulties of providing for his family, in the disturbed state of things after the Revolution, he had serious thoughts of re- moving to the West: and it thus came about that in March, 1786, he united with other Massachusetts citizens in the formation of the Ohio Company, to promote a settlement in the
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Western territory. He threw himself with such ardor into the business of securing sub- scriptions, that he was appointed at the annual meeting in March, 1787, one of three directors who were instructed to apply to Congress for the purchase of lands. His success in inducing Congress to pass the memorable ordinance under which the Northwest Territory was set- tled is a part of the history of the nation. For the next five or six years he was much en- grossed in promoting the development of the Ohio Company. In 1793 he was the chairman of a committee which obtained from the State government the incorporation of Ipswich llamlet as the town of Hamilton. He was an ardent Federalist, and as such was sent as a representative to the general court of Massa- chusetts in the spring of 1800. In November, 1800, he was elected a representative in the United States congress. He held this office for four years, and then declined a second re- election on account of long-continued and in- creasing ill-health. After his retirement he devoted himself exclusively to his ministerial duties which he retained until his death.
In person he was tall and portly, and in manners courtly and dignified. His portrait, painted by Frothingham in 1820, is engraved in his published life. The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by Yale College in 1791. After twenty-four years of suffering from asthma, which finally terminated in consumption, he died in Hamilton, on July 28, 1823, in his eighty-second year. The dis- course delivered at his funeral by the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Wadsworth, of Danvers, was published. His wife died suddenly in Hamil- ton on November 2, 1815, in her seventy-fifth year. They had five sons (one of whom died in infancy) and three daughters. The third son was graduated at Harvard College in 1793. The Rev. Rufus P. Cutler was a grand- SOD.
One has said of him that his mind was alto- gether of the practical cast, and that in mat- ters of mere theory and speculation he took but little interest. He himself . published a number of works and his life, journals, and correspondence have been published in two volumes by his grandchildren, William Parker Cutler and Julia Perkins Cutler, at Cincinnati, 1888 .*
ANCESTRY .- James Cutler (1), of Water- town, and Cambridge Farms, now Lexington, Massachusetts, died at the latter place July 17.
1694, aged eighty-eight years, married first, Anna - who was buried September 30, 1644; married second, March 9, 1645, Mrs. Mary King, widow of Thomas King, of Water- town, who died December 7, 1654; and mar- ried third, about 1662, Phebe Page, daughter of John Page, of Watertown. Children: 1. James, born at Watertown. November 6, 1635; see forward. 2. Hannah, born at Watertown, July 26. 1638, married John Winter, who died at Cambridge Farms, December 15, 1690. 3. Elizabeth, born at Watertown, January II, 1640, died December 30, 1644. 4. Mary, born at Watertown. April 29. 1644, married John Collar. 5. Elizabeth, born at Watertown, July 20, 1646, married John Parmenter, third, of Sudbury, Massachusetts. 6. Thomas, born about 1648, died at Lexington, July 13. 1722. married Abigail 7. Sarahı, died at Weston, Massachusetts, January 17, 1744. aged eighty-nine years. Married 1673, Thomas Waite, of Cambridge Farms. 8. Joanna, born - -, died November 26, 1703, married June 19, 1680, Philip Russell, of Cambridge Farms. 9. John, born at Cambridge Farms, March 19. 1663, died September 21, 1714; married Jan- uary 1, 1694, Mary Stearns, who died Febru- ary 24, 1733-4. 10. Samuel, born at Cambridge Farms, November 8, 1664. 11. Jemima, died March 15. 1744: married September 22. 1697. Zerubbabel Snow, of Woburn, Massachusetts. 12. Phche.
(11) James Cutler, son of James Cutler (1), born at Watertown, Massachusetts, November 6. 1635, died at Cambridge Farms, now Lex- ington, Massachusetts, July 31, 1685 ; married June 15, 1665, Mrs. Lydia ( Moore ) Wright, born June 24, 1643, died at Sudbury, Massa- chusetts, November 23, 1723, daughter of John and Elizabeth Moore, and widow of Samuel Wright of Sudbury, Massachusetts. Children: 1. James, born July 12, 1666, died February 1, 1690-1. 2. Ann, born April 20, 1669: married September 26, 1688, Richard Bloss of Watertown. 3. Joseph, born May 2. 1672, died at Waltham, Massachusetts, 1715: married Hannah , who married second. Joseph Smith ; she died at Waltham, February 26, 1735. 4. Samuel, born May 2. 1672, was living in 1727. 5. John, born April 14. 1675. see forward. 6. Thomas, born December 15. 1677, died at Western, now Warren, Massa- chusetts, December 23, 1759, aged eighty-two years, married first, Sarah Stone of Lexington, who died January 10, 1750, aged sixty-nine, and married second, April 10, 1751, Mrs. Lydia ( Bowman) Simonds, of Lexington. 7.
*The above sketch is abridged from Dexter's "Yale Biographies," vol. iii. pp. 112-117.
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Elizabeth, born March 14, 1681. 8. Isaac, born 1684, died at Killingly, Connecticut, June 18, 1758, aged seventy-four years, gravestone, married, Sarah -- -, who died June, 1763, aged seventy-five years.
(III) John Cutler, son of James Cutler (2), born at Cambridge Farms, now Lexington, Massachusetts, April 14, 1675, died at Kil- lingly, Connecticut, after 1727, married Feb- ruary 6, 1700, Hannah Snow, born at Woburn, Massachusetts, June 6, 1677. daughter of John and Hannah ( Green ) Snow ; she presum- ably married second, November 2, 1736, Elea- zer Bateman, of Killingly, Connecticut. Chil- dren : I. Hannah, baptized at Lexington, No- vember, 1701 : married Doctor Holmes, of Woodstock, Connecticut. 2. Mary, baptized at Lexington, July 4, 1703 ; married, October 29, 1730, Joseph Bacon, Jr., of Woodstock. Connecticut. 3. Seth, baptized at Lexington, July 7. 1705, died at Windham, Connecticut, February 9, 1751 ; married October 22, 1734. Elizabeth Babcock. 4. Timothy, baptized at Lexington, July 7, 1705, died at Windham, Connecticut, about 1736; married March 17. 1733, Elizabeth Leavens, of Killingly, Connec- ticut. 5. Hezekiah, baptized at Lexington, April 20, 1707, see forward. 6. Dinah, bap- tized at Lexington. September 4, 1709. 7. Jemima, baptized at Lexington, May 27, 1711 ; married April 19, 1731, Benjamin Corbin, of Woodstock, Connecticut. 8. Uriah, baptized at Lexington, March 29, 1713, died at Morris- town, New Jersey, 1793; married first, Miss Caulfield : married second, about 1772, Mrs. Whitehead. 9. Abigail, baptized at Killingly, July 22, 1716. 10. Sarah, baptized at Killingly, July 22, 1716. 11. Hannah, baptized at Kil- lingly, July 22, 1716. 12. Patience, baptized at Killingly, September 1, 1717. 13. Keziah, bap- tized at Killingly, July 19, 1719."
(IV) Hezekiah Cutler, son of John Cutler (3), born at Lexington, Massachusetts, bap- tized there, April 20, 1707, died at Killingly, Connecticut, October 4, 1792 ; married De- cember 5. 1734, Susanna Clark, who died April 8, 1774, in her sixty-second year : married sec- ond, Mrs. Abigail Robbins, who was buried at Killingly, Connecticut, 1791, aged seventy-two years. Children born at Killingly, Connecti- cut, were: 1. Mehitable, born April 1. 1737 : married October 10, 1758, Simeon Lee. 2. Hannah, baptized December 24, 1738, died young. 3. Manasseh, born May 3, 1742, see forward. 4. Ephraim, born November 13, 1744, died May 21, 1766, unmarried. 5. Hannah, born December 5, 1747, died December 25, 1753.
(V) Reverend Manasseh Cutler, son of Hezekiah Cutler (4), born at Killingly, Con- necticut, May 13, 1742, died at Hamilton, Massachusetts, July 28, 1823; married Octo- ber 8, 1766, Mary Balch, who died at Hamil- ton, November 3, 1815, aged seventy-three years, daughter of Rev. Thomas and Mary (Sumner) Balch, of Dedham, Massachusetts. Children : I. Ephraim, born at Edgartown, Massachusetts, April 13, 1767, died at Warren, Ohio, July 8, 1853; married first, April 8, 1787. Leah Atwood, of Killingly, Connecticut, who died November 4, 1807 ; and married sec- ond, April 13, 1808, Sally Parker, a native of Newburyport, Massachusetts, who died June 30, 1846. 2. Jervis, born at Martha's Vine- yard Massachusetts, September 19. 1768, died at Evansville. Indiana, June 25, 1846; married first, March 22, 1794, Philadelphia Cargill, of Pomfret, Connecticut, who died October 6, 1820; married second, Mrs. Elizabeth S. ( Frazier ) Chandler, of Evansville, Indiana. 3. Mary, born May 3. 1771, died September, 1836; married, 1794, Doctor Joseph Torrey. 4. Charles, born March 26, 1773, died in Ohio, September 17, 1805, unmarried. (H. C. 1793.) 5. Lavinia, born August 6, 1775, died March, 1823 ; married October 9, 1800, Captain Jacob Berry, who died February 7, 1812, resided at Beverly, Massachusetts. 6. Temple, born April IO, 1778, died same year. 7. Elizabeth, born July 4, 1779, died April 22, 1854 ; married June 13, 1802, Fitch Poole, of Danvers, Massachu- setts, who died January 28, 1838. 8. Temple, born February 24, 1782, died at Hamilton, Massachusetts, November 5, 1857; married first, October 7, 1805. Sophia Brown, who died September 4. 1822, and married second, 1823. Mrs. Hannah ( Appleton ) Smith.
GEORGE DOWNING.
Sir George Downing was the son of Eman- tel Downing, of Salem, Massachusetts, who married. April 10, 1622, Lucy, sister of Gov- ernor John Winthrop. He was probably born in London, England, in 1625. In 1636 he was at school "at Maidstone in Kent." He arrived in New England with his parents in 1638, prob- ably early in October. He pursued his studies under the Rev. John Fiske, for many years an instructor in Salem. He was also under the influence of Hugh Peters, who married his aunt, and to whose church in Salem his par- ents belonged. Upham says he "spent his later youth and opening manhood on Salem Farms." He was the first graduate from Salem, after which he engaged in teaching, and
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pursued the study of divinity. In the summer of 1645, at the age of twenty, he "went in a ship to the West Indies to instruct the sea- men." Probably he took this method to pay the expense of his voyage. He proceeded by way of "Newfoundland, and to Christophers, and Barbadoes, and Nevis," and was requested to preach in all these places, but continued to England, where he was called to be a preacher in Colonel John Okey's regiment, in the army of Sir Thomas Fairfax. When not more than twenty-five years of age, Downing had risen so fast as to have become a confidential member of Cromwell's staff, and one of the most im- portant correspondents and advisers of Parlia- ment. September 3. 1651, he was at the battle of Worcester. As early as April 13, 1652, lie held the important position of scoutmaster- general to the army in Scotland. In 1655. being secretary to Thurloe, who was Crom- well's secretary of state, he was sent to the Duke of Savoy to remonstrate against the per- secution of the Waldenses in Piedmont. He was chosen member of Parliament in 1656 for the Protector's purposes. Besides engaging in all other important business of the House, he took the lead in questions of revenue and trade.
"A Narrative of the Late Parliament." pub- lished in 1657. records him as receiving £365 per annum as scoutmaster-general. £500 as one of the tellers in the exchequer ; in all £865 per annum. It is said he had the pay of a troop of horse captain. In 1657 he was ap- pointed by Cromwell minister to Holland, with a salary of {1,100. He was elected burgess for Morpeth, in Northumberland, to serve in the parliament which convened at Westmin- ster, May 8, 1661. In the intervals of parlia- ment he returned to his employments at the Hague. In March, 1662, he procured the arrest of John Okey. Miles Corbet, and John Barkstead, three of the judges who had con- demned Charles the First. There are reasons for supposing him to have been the author of the policy developed in the British Navigation Act, which was initiated October 9. 1651, and advanced by another act in 1660. This act made England the great naval power of the world.
July 1. 1663. Downing was created a baronet by the title of Sir George Downing of East Hatley, Cambridgeshire, knight, where his estate was called the largest in the county. In 1667. he was chosen secretary of the new com- missioners of the treasury. He labored indus- triously to increase the revenue and enlarge
the resources of the country. In 1671 he went to Holland, to take the place of Sir William Temple. He returned from Holland, where he was sent as ambassador, before his time. and accordingly was sent to the Tower ; but was soon released and restored to royal favor. He was one of the three commissioners of the customs in London, who, under date of July 9. 1678. prepared the rigid instructions for "Edward Randolph, Collector, Surveyor, and Searcher, of his Majestie's Customs in New England." He died in 1684.
Downing married in 1654, Frances Howard, who was descended from the fourth Duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded by Queen Eliza- beth for tenderness to Mary Queen of Scots. She died July 10, 1683. Their eldest son, George. was teller in the Exchequer in 1680.
Downing Street, Whitehall, was named after Sir George Downing, secretary of the treas- ury, when the office of lord treasurer was put in commission ( May, 1667). on the death of Lord Southampton.
Sir George Downing was a member of the class of 1642. the first class which was grad- uated from Harvard College. His grandson, who died in 1749. a little more than a hundred years after this time, bequeathed a large estate, first to relatives, and afterwards, if they died without lawful issue, for the building of a college at Cambridge. After a half century's opposition and litigation, it was chartered Sep- tember 22, 1800, and the magnificent Downing College was erected with funds which were said to amount to one hundred and fifty thou- sand pounds .*
ELBRIDGE GERRY.
Elbridge Gerry, who was governor of Mass- achusetts from May, 18to. to May, 1812, and vice-president of the United States from March 4, 1813, until November 23. 1814, when he suddenly expired, as he was about to enter the senate chamber at Washington for the per- formance of his official duties, was a native of Marblehead, where his birth is recorded as occurring on the 17th of July. 1744. son of Thomas and Elizabeth. The son, Elbridge Gerry, was graduated at Harvard College in 1762, and later was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
For many years he was a resident of the town of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was respected as one of the most eminent citi- zens, in spite of differences of political opinion
*The above notice is abridged from Sibley's "Har- vard Graduates," vol. i. pp. 28-51.
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between himself and the majority of his fel- low citizens. The embargo of 1809, followed by an open declaration of war against Great Britain in June, 1812, caused Cambridge to suffer during the next two or three years its full proportion in the general stagnation of business ; as a new port it did not recover from the blight which had fallen upon it-the name of Cambridgeport (now anything but a port ) coming as a relic of this period. Hence grass grew in the streets of the seaports, and ships rotted at the wharves. A very decided major- ity of the voters of Cambridge (if not else- where in New England) were politically op- posed to the war and smarted under the losses and inconveniences resulting from it, but not- withstanding the lack of enthusiasm for its support, companies when called into service for the defence of the State responded punc- tually to the call. Thus, in the case of Mr. Gerry, it is said, that neither their affection for the man, nor their regard for his high political position, could overcome their detesta- tion of the war, of which he was an advocate and defender, nor induce them to volunteer their persons or their property in its behalf. (See Paige's "History of Cambridge," pp. 192- 193).
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