Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I, Part 123

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

USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 123

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Cuvier's remarks, above referred to, were more fully as follows: "But it must be con- fessed that he exhibited in conversation and intercouse, and in all his demeanor, a feeling which would seem most extraordinary in a man who was always so well treated by others, and who had himself done so much good to others. It was as if while he had been render-

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ing all these services to his fellow-men he had no real love or regard for them. It would appear as if the vile passions which he. had observed in the miserable objects committed to his care, or those other passions, not less vile, which his success and fame had excited among his rivals, had imbittered him towards human nature. So he thought it was not wise or good to intrust to men in the mass the care of their own well-being. The right, which seems so natural to them, of judging whether they are wisely governed, appeared to him to be a fictitious fancy born of false notions of enlightenment. His views of slavery were nearly the same as those of a plantation-owner. He regarded the government of China as com- ing nearest to perfection, because in giving over the people to the absolute control of their only intelligent men. and in lifting each of those who belonged to this hierarchy on the scale according to the degree of his intelligence, it made, so to speak, so many millions of arms the passive organs of the will of a few sound heads-a notion which I state without pretend- ing in the slightest degree to approve it, and which, as we know, would be poorly calculated to find prevalence among European nations.

"M. de Rumford had canse for learning by his own experience that it is not so easy in the West as it is in China to induce other people to consent to be only arms ; and that no one is so well prepared to turn these arms of others to his own service as is one who has reduced them to subjection to himself. An empire such as he conceived would not have been more difficult for him to manage than were his bar- racks and poorhouses. He relied wholly on the principle of rigid system and order. He called order the necessary auxiliary of genius, the only possible instrument for securing any sub- stantial good, and in fact almost a subordinate deity, for the government of this lower world."

De Candolle, the Swiss botanist, said of Rumford's personal appearance in later life : "The sight of him very much reduced our enthusiasm. We found him a dry, precise man, who spoke of beneficence as a sort of discipline, and of the poor as we had never dared to speak of vagabonds." Speaking of Rumford's sec- ond wife, he said: "I had relations with each of them, and never saw a more bizarre connec- tion. Rumford was cold, calm, obstinate, egotis- tic, prodigiously occupied with the material element of life and the very smallest inventions of detail. He wanted his chimneys, lamps, coffee pots, windows, made after a certain pat-

tern, and he contradicted his wife a thousand times a day about the household management." Here we draw the veil. Another has said : "We enter into labors of Count Rumford every day of our lives, without knowing it or think- ing of him." Professor John Tyndall said : "Men find pleasure in exercising the powers they possess, and Rumford possessed, in its highest and strongest form, the power of organ- ization.

Baldwin says of his friend: "He laudably resolved not to sacrifice his bright talents to the monotonous occupations of domestic life. The world had higher charms for him. This ambition was to rise in the estimation of man- kind by his usefulness. With a mind suscepti- ble to impressions from every quarter, he could not fix his attention upon any uniform line of conduct when young, and from this cause alone, a want of regularity in his behavior, impres- sions unfavorable to his character as a patriot were made upon the minds of his acquaintance at Concord. The people in their zeal for the American cause were too apt to construe in- difference into a determined attachment to the British interest. Believing that the benevolent plans which he afterwards adopted could never be executed but under the fostering hand of well-directed power, he sought a field for the exercise of his goodness and ingenuity where they could be executed and where there was the most obvious demand."

Count Rumford says himself in one of his essays: "It certainly required some courage and perhaps no small share of enthusiasm, to stand forth the voluntary champion of the public good. Again he says: "I am not un- acquainted with the manners of the age. I have lived much in the world, and have studied mankind attentively. 1 am fully aware of all the difficulties I have to encounter in the pur- snit of the great object to which 1 have de- voted myself."

Count Rumford, at the beginning of one of his Essays entitled "An Account of an Estab- lishment for the Poor at Munich," says of himself: "Among the vicissitudes of a life checkered by a great variety of incidents, and in which I have been called upon to act in many interesting scenes, I have had an oppor- tunity of employing my attention upon a sub- ject of great importance-a subject intimately and inseparably connected with the happiness and well-doing of all civil societies, and which from its nature cannot fail to interest every benevolent mind: it is the providing for the

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wants of the poor, and securing their happiness and comfort by the introduction of order and industry among them."

Jean Rivoire, the immigrant an-

REVERE cestor of the Revere family of Massachusetts, belonged to the ancient and distinguished family of Rivoires or De Rivoires, of Romagnieu, France. They were Huguenots and some of the family fled from France during the Catholic Inquisition. He married Magdelaine Malaperge. Children : I. Simon, eldest son, was a refugee from France : went first to Holland and afterwards settled in the Isle of Guernsey, Great Britain ; took with him the coat-of-arms of the family. on a silver seal; and these arms were after- wards registered in the French Heraldry Book, in London, at the Herald's Office. 2. Apollos. 3. Isaac, mentioned below.

( II ) Isaac Rivoire, son of Jean Rivoire, was born about 1670 in France ; married. in 1694. Serenne Lambert. They had several children, one of whom was named Apollos. The follow- ing account of his birth was written in the family Bible by the father and a copy of it sent to Colonel Paul Revere, Boston, by Mat- thias Rivoire, a second cousin, of Martel, near St. Foy. France. "Apollos Rivoire, or son, was born the thirtieth of November. 1702, about ten o'clock at Night and was baptized at Rian- caud, France, Apollos Rivoire, my brother, was his Godfather and Anne Maulmon my sister- in-law his Godmother. He set out for Guern- sey the 21st of November, 1715." According to the late General Joseph Warren Revere, Apollos, the father of the famous Paul Revere, became the true heir and lineal representative of his brother. Simon de Rivoire, and the American branch of the family, consequently, is the legal heir at the present day. All the other heirs having become extinct, the Amer- ican family would inherit the titles and estates if any now remained to inherit.

( III) Apollos Rivoire, son of Isaac Rivoire, was born in Riancaud, France, November 30, 1702. As stated above he set out for the Isle of Guernsey, November 21, 1715, and must have reached the home of his uncle by the time his birthday arrived. He was then thirteen and was apprenticed to his Uncle Simond who soon afterwards sent the boy to Boston, Mass- achusetts, with instructions to his correspond- ents to have him learn the goldsmith's trade, agreeing to defray all expenses. He learned his trade of John Cony, of Boston, who died August 20, 1722. Revere's "time," valued at

forty pounds, was paid for, as shown by the settlement of Cony's estate. During the year 1723 he returned to Guernsey on a visit to his relatives, but determined to make his home in Boston and soon came back. He established himself in the business of a gold and silver- smith, and modified his name to suit the de- mands of English tongues, to Paul Revere. But for many years the surname was variously spelled in the public records. "Reverie" and "Revear" being common. About May, 1730, he "removed from Captain Pitt's at the Town Dock to the north end over against Colonel Hutchinson's." This house was on North street, now Hanover, opposite Clark street. near the corner of Love lane, now Tileston street. He was a member of the New Brick or "Cockerel" Church, so called from the cockerel weather vane which is still in service on the Shepherd Memorial Church, Cambridge. Sam- ples of his handiwork have been preserved. A silver tankard owned now or lately by Mrs. William H. Emery, of Newton, Massachusetts, was made about 1747 for Rebecca Goodwill. whose name and the date are engraved on it.

After he had been in business a few years he married, June 19, 1729, Deborah Hitchborn, who was born in Boston, January 29, 1704. She died in May 1777 ; he died July 22, 1754. Children: 1. Deborah, baptized February 27, 1731-32. 2. Paul, born December 21, 1734; mentioned below. 3. Frances, born July, 1736, baptized July 18. 4. Thomas, baptized August 27. 1738, died young. 5. Thomas, baptized January 13. 1739-40. 6. John, baptized Octo- ber II. 1741. 7. Mary. baptized July 13, 1743. 8. Elizabeth (twin), baptized July 13, 1743, died young. 9. Elizabeth, baptized January 20. 1744-45. There were twelve in all.

( IV) Colonel Paul Revere. son of Paul Re- vere ( Apollos Rivoire), was born in Boston, December 21. 1734, and was baptized Decem- ber 22. 1734. the following day. He received his education from the famous Master Tileston at the North grammar school. and then entered his father's shop to learn the trade of gold- smith and silversmith. He had much natural ability in designing and drawing and became a prominent engraver. He taught himself the art of engraving on copper. His early plates, of course, were crude in detail. but they were forceful and expressive, and his later work was characterized by a considerable degree of artistic merit and elegance. His unique abili- ties show to the best advantage in his craft of which he was a master. His services to the colonies in the struggle for independence and

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afterward by his skill as an engraver and artisan were as important, perhaps, as his mili- tary achievements, to the cause of liberty. One of his triumphs for the American cause was the manufacture of gunpowder at Canton, Massachusetts, when the only source of supply was in the vicinity of Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, the proprietor of which was hostile to the establishment of Revere's plant. He suc- ceeded, however, and thus greatly strengthened the resources of the Northern army. He was also employed by the government to oversee the casting and manufacture of cannon, to en- grave and print the notes issued in the place of money by Congress and by the state of Massachusetts. In addition to his shop, he established an important hardware store on Essex street, opposite the site of the famous Liberty Tree that was the centre of much of the patriotic demonstration of pre-revolution- ary times. There was apparently no limit to the variety of work successfully essayed by Revere, for it is shown on abundant testimony that in his younger days he practiced with much skill the making and inserting of artificial teeth, an art that he learned of an English dentist temporarily located in Boston, and he also designed many of the frames that sur- rounded the paintings of his friend, Copley. These were, however, but incidents in compari- son with the bolder undertakings of later years. In 1789 he established an iron foundry of con- si lerable capacity and in 1792 began to cast church bells, the first of which, still in exis- tence, was for the Second Church of Boston. Ile cast many bells. of which some are still in use in old parish churches of Massachusetts. He took his son, Joseph Warren Revere, into business with him. Brass cannon and many kinds of metal work needed for the building and equipment of the ships of the navy were manufactured for the government. He in- vented a process of treating copper that en- abled him to hammer and roll it while heated, this greatly facilitating the manufacture of the bolts and spikes used in his work. In many respects the most important of all his enter- prises was that of rolling copper into large sheets, established in 1800, aided by the United States government to the extent of ten thous- and dollars, to be repaid in sheet copper. It was the first copper rolling mill in the country. The plates were made in this mill for the boilers of Robert Fulton's steamboat and for the sheathing of many men-of-war. In 1828 the business was incorporated as the Revere

Copper Company and under this name still continues and prospers.

He is best known perhaps for his part in the events preceding the battle of Lexington and Concord. The martial spirit that stirred him to such a degree in later life asserted itself first on the occasion of the campaign against the French in Canada in 1756, and he was at that time commissioned second lieutenant of artil- lery by Governor Shirley and attached to the expedition against Crown Point under the com- mand of General John Winslow. His service in this campaign, however, proved uneventful, and he returned some six months later to his business. From this time his allegiance to royal authority steadily waned. He became a prominent Whig leader in Boston. He was popular among his fellow patriots in the secret organization known as the Sons of Liberty. The meetings were conducted with great se- crecy, chiefly at the Green Dragon tavern, and measures of importance taken to resist the en- croachments of the British authority on the rights that the colonies had enjoyed for a cen- tury or more. Revere was intrusted with the execution of many important affairs, often bearing dispatches of importance between the committees of safety and correspondence that virtually organized and carried on the revolu- tion itself. He was prominent at the time of the Stamp Act troubles, and he designed and published a number of famous cartoons and caricatures. His views of the landing of Brit- ish troops in Boston and of the Boston massa- cre had a large influence on the public mind. In pursuance of the non-importation agree- ment the citizens of Boston took steps to pre- vent the landing of the cargo of the ship "Dartmouth." November 29, 1773 ; Revere him- self was one of the guard of twenty-five ap- pointed to carry out the vote of a public meet- ing provided that "the tea should not be land- ed," and he was one of the leaders of the Tea Party. December 16, 1773. That was the first act of open rebellion against the government ; the port of Boston was closed and Revere pro- ceeded to New York and Philadelphia to secure the co-operation of the other colonies, and he took an important part in organizing the first confederacy of the provinces effected in 1774. He made two more trips to the city of Phila- delphia bearing messages from the Provincial congress of Massachusetts, as the re-organized general court was known. In Boston the situa- tion was becoming critical. Dr. Joseph War- ren sent for Revere, April 18, 1775, to tell him

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that the British troops were gathering on the Boston Common and that he feared for the safety of Hancock and Adams who were at Lexington whither he believed the British were preparing to go in quest of military stores. Re- vere undertook to warn the country; received his signal that the expedition was making a start; rode through Medford to Lexington. The other messenger, William Dawes, arrived half an hour later and the two messengers pro- ceeded together to Concord and were soon joined by Dr. Prescott. They were suprised by British officers who had been patrolling the road : Dawes and Revere were captured, while the more fortunate Prescott, who knew the country better, made his escape and warned Concord: the alarm spreading thence in every direction through all the colonies. The pris- oners were closely questioned and threatened, but suffered no actual violence and, during the excitement following a volley from the Lex- ington militia as they drew near Lexington, the prisoners were abandoned. He helped rescue the papers of Mr. Hancock from the Clark house, and while they were getting the trunk out of the house encountered the enemy but got away safely. Longfellow's poem has made Revere's ride one of the classic adventures of American history. Revere made his home in Charlestown and after some weeks his wife and family joined him there. He made other perilous trips for the Whigs to New York and Philadelphia. After the Evacuation in 1776, Washington employed Revere to repair the abandoned guns at Castle William, now Fort Independence, and he succeeded by inventing a new kind of carriage, ren lere ! necessary by the fact that the British had broken the trun- nions from the guns. In July he was com- missioned major of a regiment raised for the defense of town and harbor: in November lieutenant-colonel in a regiment of state artil- lery, performing many important duties, in- cluding the transfer from Boston to Worcester, August. 1777. of a body of several hundred prisoners captured at Bennington by Stark. He took part with his regiment in the first campaign in Rhode Island, and was several times in command of Castle William, incident- ally presiding at many courts martial. His service in defence of Boston harbor was oner- ous and, despite adverse conditions, he stead- fastly fulfilled his duties and endeavored to make the best of the situation. On June 26, 1779, Colonel Revere was ordered to prepare one hundred men of his command to go with the expedition known as the Penobscot Expedi-

tion to attack the British at Maja-Bagaduce, now Castine, Maine. The expedition ended in disaster to the American forces, and one unfortunate result of it was a quarrel between Colonel Revere and a captain of marines, re- sulting in Revere's removal from the service, until he obtained a hearing at a court-martial in 1781 when he was completely vindicated and acquitted of blame. It was a matter of great regret to Revere that his service was restricted to the state ; he hoped and endeavored to obtain a place in the Continental army. He exerted his influence in favor of the adoption of the Federal constitution when its fate seemed doubtful in Massachusetts.

The varied interests of his business and mili- tary career did not prevent him from cultivat- ing the social side of life. He was the first entered apprentice received into Saint Andrew's Lodge of Free Masons in Boston, and ten years later, in 1770, he was elected its master. He was one of the organizers of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and was its grand master from 1794 to 1797. In this capacity he assisted Governor Samuel Adams at the laying of the cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House, July 4, 1795, and delivered an address on the occasion. In 1783 Saint Andrew's Lodge was divided upon the question of re- maining under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, which had chartered it, and also the Grand Lodge, or of affiliating with the latter. Twenty-nine members favored the old arrangement, while twenty-three, in- cluding Revere, desired to change. The minor- ity withdrew and formed the Rising States Lodge, September, 1784. with Paul Revere its first master. He made jewels for these lodges and made and engraved elaborate certificates of membership and notification cards. At the death of General Washington he was made one of a committee of three to write a letter of con- dolence to the widow and ask her for a lock of Washington's hair. This request was granted and Revere made a golden urn about four inches in height for the relic. Through corre- spondence he cultivated the acquaintance of his relatives in Guernsey and France, and many of the letters have been preserved. He was the chief founder of the Massachusetts Char- itable Mechanic Association in 1795 and was its first president from 1795 to 1799, when he declined re-election, although his interest in its affairs was undiminished.

Forty years old when he rode on the mid- night alarm, Paul Revere gave the best years of his life to his country. After the revolu-

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tion and the period of struggle to organize a government Revere received the unqualified respect and honor that he deserved, while his own industry and skill provided him with a competency that enabled him to live well, to educate a large family of children and finally to leave them in comfortable circumstances. He died May 10, 1818, and was buried in the Granary Burial Grounds, Boston, where are also the graves of his friends, John Hancock and Samuel Adams.

He married, August 17, 1757, Sarah Orne, who died May, 1773. He married (second) October 10, 1773. Rachel Walker, born in Bos- ton. December 27, 1745, died June 19, 1815. The children of Paul and Sarah Revere : I. Deborah, born April 3, 1758; died January 3, 1797 : married Amos Lincoln. 2. Paul, born January 6, 1760; mentioned below. 3. Sarah, born January 3. 1762 ; married, March 20, 1788, John Bradford; she died July 5, 1791. 4 Mary, born March 31, 1764; died April 30. 1765. 5. Frances, born February 19, 1766; died June 9. 1799 ; married Stevens. 6. Mary, born March 19, 1768 ; died August, 1853 ; married Jedediah Lincoln. 7. Elizabeth, born December 5. 1770: married Amos Lincoln, whose first wife was her sister. 8. Hannah, born December 15, 1772; died September 19, 1773. Children of Paul and Rachel Revere: 9. Joshua, born December 7, 1774: died about 1792. 10. John, born June 10, 1776; died June 27, 1776. 11. Joseph Warren, born April 30, 1777; died October 12, 1868; succeeded his father in business ; a prominent citizen of Bos- ton. 12. Lucy, born May 15, 1780: died July 9. 1780. 13. Harriet, born July 24, 1783 ; died June 27, 1860. 14. John, born December 25, 1784; died March 1786. 15. Maria, born July 4. 1785 : died August 22, 1847 : married Joseph Balestier. 16. John, born March 27, 1787; died April 30. 1847.

(V) Paul Revere, son of Colonel Paul Re- vere, was born in Boston, January 6, 1760. Hc was educated in Boston schools and associated with his father in business. He resided in Boston and Canton, where his father lived dur- ing his latter years in the summer months. He died January 16, 1813, before his father, aged fifty-three years. He married Chil- dren : Sarah, mentioned below : Paul. George, Rachel. Mary, Deborah, Harriet.

(VI) Sally or Saralı Revere, daughter of Paul Revere, was born in Boston about 1785. Married, February 13, 1806. David Curtis ; set- tled in Boston. Children : David Revere, Mary Revere, Caroline Revere, George Revere,

Charles Revere, Henry Revere, Edward Alex- ander Revere, mentioned below.

(VII) Edward Alexander Revere Curtis, son of David and Sallie (Revere) Curtis, was born in Boston, February 22, 1822, the year that Boston was incorporated as a city. Like his brothers and sisters, he carried the name to remind him of his mother's family. He was educated in the public schools of his native city. He started a type foundry when a young man, and founded a large and prosperous business. His foundry was located on Congress street, Boston, until it was destroyed during the Great Fire of 1872. His was the last building burned. He resumed business afterwards on Federal street and continued until his death in 1889. He made his home for many years in Somer- ville, and was universally respected and esteem- ed by his townsmen there. He served in the common council of Somerville and also in the board of aldermen. He was a Republican in politics. He belonged to the Soley Lodge of Free Masons and to the Webcowit Club. He married Caroline Pruden, daughter of Israel R. and Caroline (Gulliver ) Pruden. Children : I. Flora. 2. Emma, married Frank W. Cole. 3. Paul Revere, died aged three years. 4. Mabel, died aged three months. 5. Grace, died aged eleven months. 6. Frederick Revere, unmar- ried.

The name of Longfellow

LONGFELLOW is found in the records of Yorkshire, England, as

far back as 1486 and appears under the vari- ous spellings of Langfellay, Lang fellowe, Lang- fellow and Longfellow. The first of the name was James Langfellay, of Otley. In 1510 Sir Peter Langfellowe was a vicar of Calverley. It is well established, by tradition and by docu- ments, that the ancestors of Henry Wads- worth Longfellow, Maine's most distinguished son, were in Horsforth. In 1625 we find Ed- ward Longfellow, perhaps from Ilkley, pur- chasing "Upper House," in Horsforth, and in 1647 he makes over his house and lands to his son William. This William was a well-to-do clothier who lived in Upper House, and, be- sides, possessed three other houses or cottages (being taxed for "4 hearthis"), with gardens, closes, crofts, etc. He had two sons, Nathan and William, and four or five daughters. Will- iam was baptized at Guiseley ( the parish church of Horsforthi), on October 20, 1650.

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I, Part 123

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