Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I, Part 121

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 924

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In 1857-58 he was in Europe with his family, principally in Paris and London, with many excursions. With accomplished skill in draught- ing and etching, his pencil was ever busy in sketching all the objects of special interest, and his descriptions are illustrated by a mass of drawings, more or less perfected.

He was connected as consulting engineer with many more modern works, the most im- portant, perhaps, being the Boston, Hartford. and Eric railroad. His journals show how fully every interval between these public works was improved. Hle was skilled in all family, horticultural, and agricultural labors, and his pen was ever busy in his own affairs, or for the service of friends.

George R. Baldwin married, December 6, 1837, the stepdaughter of his brother, Loammi Baldwin, namely, Catherine Richardson Beck- ford, daughter of Captain Thomas and Cath- erine ( Wilder) Beckford, of Charlestown,

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Massachusetts. Mrs. Baldwin died in Woburn, February 5. 1873. aged sixty years. They had one child, a daughter, now Mrs. Catherine R. Griffith, and residing in Quebec, Canada.

(By Arthur G. Loring.)

Benjamin Thompson, better RUMFORD known as Count Rumford, was a great-great-great-grandson of James Thompson, one of the original settlers of Woburn, and prominent among those who early fixed their residence in that part of that town, which is now known as North Woburn. The same difficulty which meets not a few who search in vain for the details of the old Eng- lish history of their ancestors, meets us at the outset, says the family historian, in regard to him :- but little is known of his English ante- cendents, except that he was born in 1593; married a wife whose only name known to us was Elizabeth ; had three sons and one daugh- ter. all born in England, and early in 1630, when he was thirty-seven years of age joined the company, who, under the lead of Governor John Winthrop landed in New England during that year. The tradition is that James Thomp- son landed at Salem in the early part of June.

The numerous individuals bearing this almost universal name may be considered as befogging the subject, and therefore, in spite of vigilant research, it seems to be impossible to ascertain the place of his birth. Absolute proof is lack- ing up to the present date on the subject. It may be that he belonged to the numerous re- lated families of Thompsons in London and several of the nearest counties around that metropolis. These families embraced a num- ber that were eminent in the intellectual, social, and religious world, including a number who received the order of knighthood. The coats- of-arms of some of them, though differing slightly, are essentially the same. James Thomp- son first located himself at Charlestown, where he and wife were admitted to membership in the church at that place, August 31, 1633. He was admitted a freeman later in the same year. In December, 1640, he was one of thirty-two who subscribed the town orders or by-laws for Woburn. This town was incorporated in 1642, and he was chosen a member of the broad of selectmen and served the town in that office with occasional brief intervals for about twenty years. He held also various minor offices. He was twice married. His first wife, Elizabeth, dying November 13, 1643, he married, Febru- ary 15, 1644, Susannah Blodgett, widow of Thomas Blodgett. of Cambridge. She died

February 10, 1661. Children : 1. James, died January 24, 1647, an unmarried young man. 2. Simon, married Mary Converse ( Edward, I). 3. Olive, married, September 3, 1650. John Cutler, and died before her father's death. 4. Jona- than, see forward.

James Thompson died 1682, at the age of eighty-nine years. His will, dated the last day of February, 1681 (meaning, of course, 1681- 2), speaks of him as being greatly stricken in years ; names his son, Jonathan Thompson, the only child of his then living; Sarah Rednap and Hannah Horn ( sisters ), his grandchildren ; John Cutler and Susannah Logee (or Logan), his grandchildren, and his son Jonathan's six children (not given by name ), James Thomp- son, "my grandchild," and John Sheldon, Sen- ior ( who married his son Simon's widow ) ; his son Jonathan he appoints his executor ; Sam- uel Blodgett, Senior, and John Mousall, over- seers, and he gave Mr. Blodgett "Mr. Rogers his book," and Mr. Mousall, "a pair of new . gloves."

(II) Jonathan Thompson, son of James Thompson, born in England: died at Wo- burn, October 20, 1691; married, November 28, 1685, Susanna Blodgett (Thomas), died February 6, 1697-8, a daughter of his father's second wife who bore her mother's name. He inherited his father's homestead. He was the first male teacher ever employed under the authority of the town of Woburn. He was also in subsequent years a constable and town sexton. Children : 1. Susannah, born July 4. 1661 : married, March 7, 1700, Abraham Rob- erts, of Reading. 2. Jonathan, born September 28, 1663; see forward. 3. James, born 1666, died young. 4. James, born June 27, 1667; married. October 22. 1695, Sarah Trask. 5. Sarah, born June 1, 1670: married, April II, 1692, John Swan. 6. Simon, born June 15. 1673: married, December 12, 1700, Anna Butterfield. 7. Ebenezer. born August 18, 1676, died February 19, 1697-8, unmarried.

(III) Jonathan (2) Thompson, son of Jona- than (1). Thompson, born September 28. 1663 : died 1748: married Frances Whitmore, daugh- ter of Francis Whitmore, of Cambridge. He was a resident of Woburn, in the part now North Woburn. Children: I. Jonathan, born February 9, 1689-90 : married first, September 3. 1713. Phebe Carter, of Woburn ; married second. Abiail Fowle, of Woburn. 2. Hannah, born January 28, 1691-92: married Josiah Pierce. 3. Joseph, born October 20, 1694 ; mar- ried. December 30, 1718, Sarah Bradshaw, of Medford. 4. James. born November 14. 1696;

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married Mary Hancock, of Lexington. 5. Sus- annah, born July 6, 1699; married, March 21, 1722, Benjamin Mead. 6. Ebenezer, born March 30, 1701 ; see forward. 7. Mary, born August 18, 1703 ; married first, William Cow- dry, of Reading ; married second, January 20, 1736-7, Captain Isaac Hartwell, of Oxford. 8. Samuel, born September 8, 1705; married Ruth Wright, of Woburn. 9. Patience, born October 25, 1713; married Timothy Lamson, of Concord. 10. Esther, married, 1740, Amos Lamson. II. Jabez, married, November 13, 1735. Lydia Snow. 12. Daniel, died young.

(IV) Ebenezer Thompson, son of Jonathan (2) Thompson, born March 30, 1701; died 1755; married, September 27. 1728, Hannah Converse, born May 10, 1706, daughter of Cap- tain Robert and Mary (Sawyer ) Converse, of Woburn. He was captain of the local mili- tia company designated as the second foot company of the second regiment of Middlesex county, of which regiment Eleazer Tyng, Esq., was colonel. Thompson's commission was dated July 3. 1753. He occupied the house now standing, known as the Rumford birth- place. Children: 1. Benjamin, born Novem- ber 27. 1729: see forward. 2. Ebenezer, born September 15. 1731, graduated Harvard Col- lege, 1752, and became the pastor of the church at York. Maine, where he died unmarried in 1755. 3. Hannah, born September 21, 1734. married, March 8, 1753, Benjamin Flagg, of Woburn. 4. Hiram, born May 17, 1743 ; mar- ried. February 3, 1767, Bridget Snow, of Wo- burn.

(V ) Benjamin ( 2) Thompson, son of Captain Ebenezer Thompson, born November 27. 1729, died November 7. 1755 ; married, May 30, 1752. Ruth Simonds, born October 10, 1730, died at Baldwin, Maine, June 18, 1811, daughter of Lieutenant James and Mary ( Fowle) Simonds ; she married second, Janu- ary 1. 1756, Josiah Pierce, of Woburn. Ben- jamin Thompson died before completing his twenty-sixth year, and resided in the house of his father, now known as the Rumford birthplace. His gravestone is standing in the first burial ground of Woburn. Child : I. Ben- jamin, born March 26, 1753 ; see forward.

(VI) Benjamin Thompson, son of Benja- min Thompson, born March 26. 1753: died in Paris, France, August 21, 1814; married first, November, 1772, or December 25, 1772, Sarah ( Walker ) Rolfe, widow of Benjamin Rolfe, and daughter of Reverend Timothy and Ennice ( Burbeen) Walker, of Rumford, now Concord, New Hampshire ; she was born An-

gust 6, 1739, and died January 19, 1792. He married second, October 24, 1805, Marie Anne Pierrette (Paulze) Lavoisier, born at Mont- brison, January 20, 1758, died at Paris, Feb- ruary 10, 1836, daughter of M. Paulze, farmer- general of the finances, and widow of Antonie Laurent Lavoisier, the famous chemist and dis- coverer of oxygen. Child : I. Sarah, born October 18, 1774 (?), died at Concord, New Hampshire, December 2, 1852.

His Simonds ancestry is this: I. James Simonds, of Concord and Woburn, whose sec- ond wife' was Judith ( Phippen) Hayward, to whom he was married, January 18, 1643-4. Their son, 2. James Simonds, born at Woburn, November 1, 1658, died September 15, 1717 : married, December 29, 1685, Susanna Blodgett (Samuel 2, Thomas I), died February 9, 1714- 15. Their son. 3. Lieutenant James Simonds, born November 1, 1686, died July 30, 1775, in his eighty-ninth year; married, June 17, 1714, Mary Fowle (Captain James 3, Lieu- tenant James 2, George I ), born June 18, 1689, died March 9, 1762. Their daughter, Ruth Simonds, born October 10, 1730; married, May 30, 1752, Benjamin Thompson (5), and was the mother of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford.

His Converse ancestry is this: Deacon Ed- ward Converse, of Woburn, son of Allen Con- verse. was the father of Lieutenant James Converse, who died at Woburn, May 10, 1715, aged ninety-five years : married first, October 24, 1643. Anna Long, of Charlestown (Rob- ert ), born about 1625, died August 10, 1691. Their son, Major James Converse, born No- vember 16, 1645. died July 8, 1706; married, January 1, 1669, Hannah Carter (Captain John), born January 19, 1651, who married second. November 22, 1708, Henry Summers, of Charlestown. Their son Captain Robert Converse, born December 29, 1677, died July 20, 1736: married. December 19, 1698, Mary Sawyer, daughter of Joshua and Sarah ( Wright-Potter ) Sawyer. Their daughter, Hannah Converse, born May 10, 1706 ; married. September 27. 1728, Ebenezer Thompson (4).

(By William R. Cutter.)

So much has been written RUMFORD concerning the life of Count Rumford that the principal events in the career'of this remarkable man may be summarized in a cursory manner geograph- ically for the sake of convenient reference. paying particular attention in passing, to a few facts or incidents that are not generally known.

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Replica of Statue of Count Rumford (Benjamin Thompson) on Grounds of Woburn Public Library.

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AT WOBURN .- Woburn was the place of his birth. Aside from the date of the event and the names of his parents, and the facts that his father died soon after the birth of his distin- guished son, and that his mother soon married again, almost nothing is actually known of his early childhood. He was brought up in the residence of his stepfather, Josiah Pierce ; attended the Woburn grammar school, kept by the celebrated master. John Fowle : was a play- mate with younger members of the Baldwin family. his stepfather's opposite neighbors : attended scientific lectures at Harvard College with Loammi Baldwin, later famous as a col- onel under Washington in the revolutionary war and a projector of the Middlesex Canal and as the namesake of the Baldwin apple.

Dr. George E. Ellis, the author of the only standard "Life of Count Rumford" ( Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, with notices of his daughter. By George E. Ellis. Published for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston )* mentions Rum- ford as dependent on his own exertions, with- out inherited means, or patronage; or even good fortune : and while this may be to some extent true of his early life in Woburn, it was not true of his later life. Likewise it must be ad- mitted that he had in his early, as he had in his later life, a lack of that rigid purity of principle, which, as even Dr. Ellis admits, would not insure with propriety all his domestic relations being the subject of exact record. The cause of these failings in virtue is referred to the in- fluences he encountered on foreign soil, and to foreign customs in such matters which pre- vailed in his day.

The emblazoned diploma of arms which he received in his thirty-first year from the King of England when he became a knight, states in dignified terms that he was the "son of Benja- min Thompson, late of the Province of Massa- chusetts Bay, in New England, Gent : deceased, and one of the most ancient families in North America : that his ancestors have

*"The Life of Rumford by Prof. James Renwick" (Spark's Biography, 2nd ser., vol. V.) is the next considerable American performance on the subject. Professor Renwick expresses obligation for the use of a manuscript belonging to Josiah Plerce, half- brother of Count Rumford, entitled by its author "Outlines of the Family, Infancy and Childhood of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford." This manu- seript was in existence in 1845, but its present whereabouts is to us unknown. Josiah Pierce, half brother of Count Rumford, married Phebe, daughter of Daniel and Phebe (Snow) Thompson, of Woburn. His wife's father was killed In the battle of Lex- Ingion and Concord, April 19, 1775. For an account of their children see "Thompson Memorial" ( Boston, 1887), p. 50. This branch of the Pierce family were among the founders of the present town of Rum- ford. Maine.

ever lived in reputable situations in that coun- try where he was born, and have hitherto used the arms of the ancient and respectable family of Thompson, of the county of York, from a constant tradition that they derived their de- scent from that source.'

He was born, it is said, in the west end of the house now standing at North Woburn, and generally known by the name of the Rumford birthplace. His widowed mother was remar- ried when he was three years old, and his step- father took his new wife and her child to another house not far distant, but long since removed, which stood opposite, as before said, the present Baldwin mansion.

The fact which has been stated, praticularly in France, that the child's stepfather banished him from his house in his infancy, whether this information be gotten from Count Rum- ford himself or not. must be taken with much allowance for the exuberance of the French imagination. For it was contrary to the usual New England character and contrary to the re- gard which Count Rumford afterwards showed to his mother and her children born of Joseph Pierce. That his early life was always smooth we do not pretend to assert, but that any ex- cessive cruel treatment was given the child, that we deny. Making allowance for over- colored statement, a few facts from the Count's lips are here advanced :

"If the death of my father had not contrary to the order of nature, preceded that of my grandfather, who gave all his property to my uncle, his second son, I should have lived and (lied an American husbandman. Shortly after the death of my father, my mother contracted a second marriage which proved for her a source of misfortune. A tyrannical husband took me away from my grandfather's house with her. I was then a child ; my grandfather, who survived my father only a few months, left me but a very slender subsistence. I was then launched at the right time upon a world which was almost strange to me, and I was obliged to form the habit of thinking and act- ing for myself and of depending on myself for a livelihood.

"My ideas were not yet fixed; one project succeeded another, and perhaps I should have acquired a habit of indecision and inconsist- ency, perhaps I should have been poor and un- happy all my life, if a woman had not loved me,- if she had not given me a subsistence, a lome, an independent fortune."

Anticipating a little, we continue : "I mar- ried, or rather, I was married, at the age of

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nineteen. I espoused the widow of a Colonel Rolfe, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Walker, a highly respectable minister, and one of the first settlers of Rumford. He was already con- nected with my family. He heartily approved of the choice of his daughter, and he himself united our destinies. This excellent man be- came sincerely attached to me : he directed my studies, he formed my taste, and my position was in every respect the most agreeable that could possible be imagined."

It is admitted by Baron Cuvier that Rum- ford had informed him himself that he would have probably remained in the modest condi- tion of his ancestors if the little fortune which they had to leave him had not been lost during his infancy. Thus a misfortune in early life, as in many other cases was the cause of his subsequent reputation. His grandfather, from whom he had everything to expect, had given all he possessed to a younger son, leaving his grandson almost penniless. This and the loss of his father and the second marriage of his mother, and his so stated removal from her care. leads to the conclusion that "Nothing could be more likely than such a destitute con- dition to induce a premature display of talent."

These statements and imputations resting apparently upon positive assertions made by himself, however, leave room for supposing that his eulogists, being both of them French- men. may have erred in a matter of sentiment, by exaggerated expressions. (Ellis, Life, p. IO). Common reputation gives him an excel- lent mother, who never neglected him, but ap- pears to have treated him with a redoubled love. His own letters to her, when in a state of popular celebrity, comfort and affluence abroad. in her later years, are full of affection and tender regard. The alleged tyranny of his stepfather finds no statement on the part of the new husband's descendants as a reason for the justification of any charges of that kind. The stepfather appears to be in every aspect of the case a kind and faithful husband and took his wife's child with her to a new home, as already shown. The eldest son by her sec- ond marriage grew up with the Count as a playmate and in after life as a correspondent, and a son of this half-brother never heard any- thing from his father that would warrant an imputation of ill treatment.

It is not to be doubted from his insistent will during life, that he exercised the patience and sympathy of his friends somewhat severely, and by, perhaps, at the outset, a determined unwillingness to apply himself to any routine

and rewarding work in accordance with their old-fashioned New England ideas.

It is evident from the handwriting of the Count when he was only thirteen years of age, and from the spelling and the almost faultless grammatical expressions in his letters and com- positions before he had reached manhood, and from his skill in accounts that he had not only remarkable native powers, but had been the subject of careful and thorough training. Credit for this is given to his village teacher, Master John Fowle, a graduate of Harvard College in 1747. a man of unusually good reputation in this line of work. The handwriting of Rum- ford was clear, strong and elegant in his youth, and it remained so through his life, and it has been asserted that the mode of instruction through which young Rumford and his con- temporaries passed afforded a superior train- ing with more signal results than was realized later under more elaborate provisions for ele- mentary education. Rumford indicated from his earliest years an intense mental inclination for things scientific in their nature, and showed a particular ardor for mathematics, and his leisure was devoted to the manufacture of in- genious mechanical contrivances leading early in his career to an interest in the deeper princi- ples of mechanics and natural philosophy, as it was then understood.

It is said of him that he was for a time a pupil in a school at Byfield, under the charge of a relative ; that he was, when eleven years old. put under the care of an able teacher in Medford, named Hill; that in 1766 he was apprenticed to a Mr. John Appleton, of Salem, an importer of foreign goods, and a bill for goods bought from his store and receipted by Rumford when he was only fourteen years old is remarkable for grace of penmanship, mer- cantile style, and business-like signature. But his career in Salem is to be treated separately, and we pass on to a later date in Woburn.

In 1771 young Rumford began the study of medicine with Dr. John Hay, of Woburn. He appears to have been a boarder in his house from December 15, 1770, to June 15, 1772. Dr. Hay lived on the estate now known as the Kim- ball estate. 732 Main street, Central Square, and his house at a later date was called the "Black House," and was standing as late as 1854. Dr. Hay returned about 1780 to his native town of Reading, where his father was also a physician. While boarding at Dr. Hay's, Rumford attended Mr. Winthrop's lectures at Cambridge ( 1771) and from December 9, 1771, to February 5, 1772, he was keeping school at

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Wilmington. In March and April, 1772, he was doing the same. And in June, 1772, he was absent for the part of a week at Bradford, probably arranging for work of a similar kind, as he is credited with having been a teacher there.

The following is an account of the division of his time while a student at Dr. Hays: "From eleven at night to six in the morning, sleep. At six, arise, and wash my hands and face. From six to eight, morning, exercise one-half and study one half the time. Eight to ten A. M., breakfast, attend prayers. From ten to twelve, study all the time. From twelve to one, dine. From one to four, study constantly. From four to five, relieve my mind by some diversions or exercises. From five till bedtime, follow what my inclination leads me, whether it be to go abroad, or stay at home and read either anatomy, physic, or chemistry, or any book 1 want to peruse." His studies while at Dr. Hay's were divided into days. The list was anatomy, physic, surgery, chemistry and the materia medica.

The above data are taken from minutes made by Rumford himself at the time. Through the influence of Baldwin he obtained with his friend the privilege of attending Professor Winthrop's lectures at Cambridge, neither young man being a regular student at the college there. It is said that they walked to and from the place to their homes at Woburn, and were in the habit of repeating the experiments witnessed, with rude apparatus of their own contrivance, at their homes afterward.

The exact time when Rumford taught school in Bradford is not definitely stated, but it was some time in the year 1772. His experience here led to his being appointed in the same year to the mastership of a school in Concord, New Hampshire, then known as a town by the name of Rumford ; but his arrival there was followed by his speedy marriage.

It is our intention to ignore the various tradi- tions which have befogged the actions of Count Rumford in Woburn about the time of the battle of Lexington and Concord, April 19. 1775, and present only an extract from a letter of that time which has a very pointed reference to him in connection with his arrest on that date, while he was at his mother Pierce's house in North Woburn, by a military company of the town when he was confined there by an ill- ness, probably the one he mentions in his letter of October 1, 1775, which we have quoted else- where. He said, "I came out of Boston a few days before the affair at Lexington," having

"enjoyed, since I left Boston a very indifferent share of health." It is supposed then that he took refuge at his mother's, and was ill there on the day of April 19, as before hinted. The quotation from the other letter mentioned is here presented. It is an autograph letter from Major Josiah Johnson to James Fowle, Esq., dated September 9, 1775, both influential men of middle life in the then town of Woburn:"

"The town of Woburn upon the shortest notice mustered and marched 180 brave men. well equipped, for the assistance and relief of their distressed brethren at Concord, whither the Ministerial troops had stolen their march for the destruction of our magazine there de- posited, whose heroic deeds under the prudent conduct of Captain Jonathan Fox and others (on the emergency of the 19th of April last) greatly added to the glorious achievements of that memorable day. Though we don't find this Captain Fox justly charged with the illboding conduct of promoting the escape of a supposed enemy that day captivated and com- mitted to safekeeping by the heroism of others, whose worthy deeds justly entitled them to a much better fortune; a fact notoriously re- gretted."*

His release is credited and probably correctly to the influence of his friend Baldwin. He had his trial later. Woburn is only five miles from Lexington, and hesitation on the part of any man to go to the field on Lexington's battle- day was, under the excitement which prevailed, a dangerous thing to display. It is commonly believed that every able-bodied Woburn man was present in the engagement, and the excuses of the few left, who did not go, were rigidly inquired into, and Rumford's case among the rest. The appearance of a militia company before his house on the evening of that day and its object, is clearly explained by the letter which we have quoted. Rumford was indeed favored by having influential friends through- out the whole of his career.

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I, Part 121

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 924

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 924