Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I, Part 20

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 20

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

(VII) William, son of Samuel (I) Ather- ton, married Mary Edwards Dwight. She resides at 144 Commonwealth avenue, Boston. Children : 1. Mary Louise, died June, 1908. 2. Frederick William, graduated at Andover, 1882 ; Harvard, 1886; resides in New York. 3. Edward Dwight, resides at Pottstown, Penn- sylvania ; musician ; studied theory and compo- sition in Munich and Berlin, Germany, three years, and published many vocal and instru- mental selections. 4. Percy Lee, graduate of Boston Latin School, Phillips Andover (1899) and Harvard ( 1903).

Thomas Betts, immigrant ances-

BETTS tor, was born in England in 1618, and came to New England as early as 1639. He was one of the founders of Guilford, Connecticut. He was given a home lot of an acre and a half, in the first division of land in 1640, one of the most desirable lots in the town, being situated next that of the minister, Mr. Whitfield, on a rising ground, before which the plain stretched as far as the sound. He had also seven other tracts of land containing about fifty acres. He took the freeman's oath, August 14, 1645. He married Mary ---. Opinions differ as to whether he came to Guilford from Milford or Wethers- field, Connecticut. On November 17. 1657. he sold his "out lands" to Henry Kingsnorth, and three days later he sold his home lot to George Highland. He removed to Milford, Connecticut, where he lived until 1660. In

that year he purchased the home lots of Nathaniel Eli and Ralph Keeler, in Norwalk, on the east side of the Norwalk river, later selling half of it. He is called a planter. He was admitted a freeman, October 13, 1664, and received a grant of land in Norwalk. In February, 1672, he appears in the census as having the largest family in the town. His name is prominent in certain church contro- versies in 1678. Appealing to the general court to decide for them on the location of the new meeting house, they being unable to settle the matter, the court recommended that they "solemnly commit the decision of this con- troversy to the wise dispose of the Most High, by a lott." He was one of the petitioners for the town of Wilton, in 1672, but may have never lived there. He occupied the "Round seat" in the meeting house. He died in 1688, aged seventy years. His will was dated May 4, 1688. Among his possessions were "four boxes of books." Children, born in Guilford : I. Thomas, 1644, died 1717. 2. Mary, 1646. 3. John, June 20, 1650, married Sarah - ; died about 1730. 4. Hannah, November 22, 1652. 5. Stephen, May 10, 1655. 6. Daniel, October 4, 1657, mentioned below. Born in Milford: 7. Samuel, April 4, 1660. 8. James, born in Norwalk early in 1663, died July 6, 1753. "aged ninety years and some months." II. Sarah, married, March 5, 1695-96, Joseph St. John.

( II) Daniel, son of Thomas Betts, was born in Guilford, Connecticut, October 4, 1657, died at Wilton, Connecticut, February 8, 1758. He received a part of his father's estate by will, and purchased, January II, 1685, the home lot and house of John Hoyt. He made other purchases later in Wilton. He was one of a committee in 1726 to choose the minister, and occupied the "forelong seat" in the meeting house. He married, December, 1692, Deborah Taylor, born June 1, 1671, died about 1751, daughter of Thomas and Rebecca ( Ketcham) Taylor. Children: 1. Deborah, born October 24, 1693. 2. Rebecca, August 4, 1696, married, January 10, 1721-22, Samuel Crumman. 3. Daniel, May 2, 1699, mentioned below.

(III) Daniel (2), son of Daniel (1) Betts, was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, May 2, 1699, died in Wilton, July 10, 1783. A stone marks his grave in the Wilton cemetery. He lived in the south part of the "Kent farm" which had been bought by his father, and con- veyed to the son by decd April 7, 1748. He married Saralı Comstock, born March 25, 1707, died January 18, 1781, daughter of Cap-

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tain Samuel Comstock, and granddaughter of Hon. Christopher Comstock, and also of Rev. Thomas Hanford, the first clergyman of Nor- walk. She and her husband were admitted to the church February 13, 1732. He served on the school committee in 1762, and was also moderator of town meeting in 1777. During the march of the British forces upon Danbury in 1777 he was taken prisoner, but was soon released. Children: I. Josiah, born March 8, 1726. 2. Sarah, March 8, 1726 (twin), mar- ried Josiah Burchard. 3. Daniel, June 28, 1728. died October 8, 1820. 4. Hannah, May 12, 1730, married, November 20, 1750, Ezra Gregory. 5. Samuel Comstock, March 2, 1732, mentioned below. 6. Elizabeth, married, Jan- uary 25, 1764, Zachariah Mead; died March, 1818. 7. Jesse, born December, 1734, died October 6, 1742. 8. Ruth, February, 1737, died October 2, 1742. 9. Abijah, baptized July 13. 1740. married Mary Betts : died December 30. 1817. 10. Timothy, baptized May 8, 1743. II. Lydia, baptized June 29, 1745, died 1746. 12. Deborah, baptized June 5, 1748, died April 15. 1774, unmarried. 13. Reuben, baptized July 1. 1753. 14. Elijah.

(IV) Samuel Comstock, son of Daniel Betts, was born at Norwalk, March 2, 1732, died in Richmond, Massachusetts, May 16, 1823. He lived in Wilton until he was thirty-five years old, and he and his wife were admitted to the church there March 9, 1755. He generally signed his name Comstock Betts. He was a member of the second company of the ninth regiment of foot companies, in September, 1767. In October, 1767, he removed to Rich- mond, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, arriv- ing there November 2. He owned a large amount of land in that town. It is related of him that even in his latter years it was his custom to ride about his farms on horseback, overseeing the work, still wearing the costume of revolutionary period. He was of command- ing figure, over six feet tall. He was ninety- two years old when he died. His will was dated March 8, 1823. His son, Comstock, was excluded from the will on account of his be- coming a Quaker. He married (first) June 5, 1754, Mary Taylor, born December 3, 1731, died September II, 1807, daughter of Reuben Taylor. He married ( second) her sister, Adah, widow of Elijah Betts. She died February 9. 1831, aged eighty-four. Children, all by first wife: 1. . Mary, born May 1, 1755, died December 1I, 1831; married (first) Watrous; (second) Asa Parmelee. 2. Joel, May 4, 1756, died April 5, 1790, unmarried.

3. Aaron, September 16, 1757, died April 3, 1833. 4. Preserved, August 12, 1759, married, January 16, 1791, Elizabeth Eliot ; died Febru- ary 1, 1818. 5. Uriah, February 25, 1761, mentioned below. 6. Comstock, November 19, 1762, died December 18, 1845, unmarried. 7. Zebulon, August 12, 1764, died November 27, 1828. 8. Lydia, August 2, 1766, died Novem- ber 22, 1861. 9. Enoch, May 4, 1768, died June 6, 1822. 10. Amos, September 25, 1770, died unmarried October, 1793. II. Daniel, August 22, 1772, died March 8, 1792, unmar- ried.

(V) Uriah, son of Samuel Comstock Betts, was born February 25, 1761, died August 10, 1841. He was in the revolution, serving in nearly the whole of the war. He was in Cap- tain Nathan Gilbert's company, Colonel John Mead's regiment, in 1777; also a member of Colonel Samuel Whaley's regiment. Four of his brothers were in the revolution also. A portrait of Uriah Betts from an oil painting by Catlin, the Indian painter, is in the posses- sion of his descendants. About 1840 he re- moved to Newburgh, New York, where he died. He married (first) October 14, 1783, Sarah Rosseter, born August 28, 1763, died June 11, 1796, daughter of Hon. Nathan Rosseter, of Richmond, and granddaughter of Hon. Josiah Rosseter, of Guilford, Connecti- cut. He married (second) September 22, 1796, Rebecca Rosseter, born June 29, 1774, sister of his first wife. He married (third) at Wilton, April 21, 1833, Lucy Betts, born October 22, 1787, died July, 1882, daughter of Elijah Betts. Children of first wife : 1. Juliana (twin), born September 5, 1784. 2. Julia (twin), September 5, 1784. 3. Samuel Rosseter, June 8, 1786, mentioned below. 4. Son, born and died December 7, 1790. 4. Sarah Maria, March 29, 1796. Children of second wife: 5. Amanda E., February 5, 1799, died October 17, 1857. 6. Frederic J., July 2, 1803. 7. Nathan Comstock, November 18, 1809, died July, 1882.

(VI) Judge Samuel Rosseter, son of Uriah Betts, was born June 8, 1786, died November 3. 1868. He attended the public schools and prepared for college at Lenox Academy, Lenox, Massachusetts, and he was the first graduate of this academy to graduate from college. He en- tered Williams College in 1802 and graduated in 1806. In 1830 he received the honorary degree of LL. D. from his alma mater. Soon after graduating from college he was admitted to the bar and began to practice law at Monti- cello, Sullivan county, New York. He took a

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leading place among the lawyers of that county and was prominent in public life. In 1815 he was elected to congress and served one term. Afterward he removed to Newburgh, Orange county, New York. In 1823 he was appointed circuit judge of the supreme court of New York and held that office until 1827 when he was appointed by President John Quincy Adams, judge of the United States district court for the southern district of New York, and continued in that office until 1867, when being nearly eighty-three years of age he re- signed, removing to New Haven, Connecticut, where he died November 3. 1868. Through- out his long term of service on the bench he presided with such dignity, courtesy, pro- fundity of legal knowledge and patience of investigation that he came to be regarded as almost infallible in his decisions. To him be- longs the high honor of having in a great degree formulated and codified the maritime laws of the United States. The complicated rules of salvage, general arrearages, wages of seamen, freighting contracts, charts, insur- ance, and prizes, owe their present well- ordered system to Judge Betts. During the first twenty years of his connection with the district court there was never an appeal from his decisions, and his opinions in his own court on maritime questions and in the circuit court on patents, have been uniformly upheld. In 1838 he published a standard work on "Ad- miralty Practice."

The following tribute to Judge Betts was paid in court November 5. 1868, by Hon. E. C. Benedict : "He came to this city from the country, where he had been eminent at the bar, and for some years Circuit Judge. He came, therefore, with great familiarity with the legal questions which occupied courts of common law, but with little acquaintance with those which an Admiralty Court must feel. When he came here there was almost no busi- ness in the court. It did not then sit a week, where it now sits a month. Thus he had leisure to familiarize himself with the law of Ad- miralty, and he soon became one of the most learned judges of that branch of the law. As time went on the business of the court in- creased, and his business in Admiralty became far more extended than that of any other judge that ever sat on the bench. He, more than any other man, formed the admiralty system of the United States. When he came to the bench the British view of jurisdiction of the Admiralty prevailed. He devoted himself to that branch of the law in the spirit which be-

longed to it of old, and which has since been adopted by the jurists and courts of this coun- try, and his views have prevailed everywhere, though at first they were a novelty. His deci- sions were always characterized by acuteness, learning and research. If they had been care- fully reported they would have built up for him a reputation which would have been like that which the Chancery decisions gave to Lord Stowell. But in those days the news- papers were not as they are now volumes of report, and Judge Betts always seemed not entirely satisfied with the form of his deci- sions, and was reluctant to publish them until he had given them a more perfect finish, and after I was appointed reporter of the Court, many years ago, I did not succeed in getting him to prepare them, before his greatly in- creased labors by the bankrupt Act of 1840 prevented his giving any attention to it, and the idea was abandoned, until its importance was destroyed by reports of other Courts. Judge Betts was a man of urbanity and kind- ness to all who practiced before him. All who practiced in his Court, young or old, always felt that they had had full opportunity to be heard, and that they had been treated with uniform kindness and courtesy-an excellent quality in a judge. We can hardly realize in these days, when changes of judges are so frequent, what it was to have a judge upon the bench forty years, as he was. He reached great age and gave to us all of the results of a quiet and uniformly industrious life, of moral and domestic virtue."

He married, November 4, 1816, Caroline A. Dewey, daughter of Hon. Daniel Dewey, of Northampton. Children: 1. Maria Caroline, born August 15, 1818, married, July 12, 1842, James W. Metcalf. 2. Charles Dewey, July 6, 1820, died unmarried January 16, 1845. 3. Frances Julia, November 28, 1822, married William Hillhouse. 4. George Frederic, June 14, 1827, mentioned below. 5. Emily, October 7, 1830.

(\'11) George Frederic, son of Judge Samuel R. Betts, was born June 14, 1827. He graduated from Williams College in 1844 and studied at the Harvard Law School the next two years. He entered upon the practice of his profession in Newburgh, New York, in 1850. He was appointed clerk of the United States district court in 1855 and held that office until 1873. lle was lieutenant colonel of Hawkin's Zouaves in the civil war, and was with that regiment at the capture of Roanoke Island, February 8, 1862. He married, No-

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vember 19. 1851. Ellen Porter, step-daughter of Hon. Charles Stoddard, of Boston. Chil- dren: I. Mary, born March 23, 1853. died July 7. 1855. 2. Samuel Rosseter, November 5. 1854, member of the firm of Betts, Sheffield Bentley & Betts, patent lawyers, 120 Broad- way. New York City. 3. Amy Ellen, Septem- ber 6. 1858. married. December 22, 1883, John Addison Porter : three children : Constance Elaine Porter, born August 25, 1885; Agnes ; Josephine Earl. 4. Fanny Johnson, January 29. 1867. married Wolcott Howe Johnson ( see Johnson VIII ). 5. Georgiana. November 13, 1868.

This name has been spelled Ex-

DEXTER cester, Dexcestre. Dexetier, Dectier, deExon. deExonia. de Exter. In England it was a family of great antiquity and of the peerage. It was a Devon- shire family, its chief seat being at Carrick- dexter. Richard de Excester was governor general and chief justice of Ireland in 1269. The heraldic bearings were: Or a tree, pend- ant therefrom two weights. The leading Dex- ters in America have been Samuel Dexter, the colonial statesman; Franklin B. Dexter, edu- cator and author ; Rev. Dr. Henry M. Dexter ; Henry Dexter, the sculptor.

(I) The Rev. Gregory Dexter was born at Olney, Northamptonshire, in 1610, learned the printer's trade in London and with a printer by the name of Coleman kept a sta- tioner's store. He was a Baptist preacher and the first transatlantic correspondent of Roger Williams of the Providence plantations. Greg- ory printed the first edition of "Roger's Dic- tionary of the Indian Language" in 1643, a report of which is in the first volume of the Rhode Island Historical Societies reports. On Roger William's second visit to America Greg- ory Dexter came with him. He was one of the parties named in the charter and an assist- ant under authority granted in the charter. He was town clerk. He was the fourth pastor of the Baptist church and was very successful in this field of labor. He did not receive any salary for his services, but earned his living by the cultivation of land and the sweat of his brow as the Bible enjoins. He was the best printer in New England though he did not regularly persue this calling ; he nevertheless assisted Mr. Samuel Greene in Boston about some printing at the young college at Cam- bridge, Harvard. Mr. Dexter printed with his own hands the first almanac for Rhode Island. He was a very devout man, connected

every day events with an over ruling Provi- dence. He was never known to laugh and rarely smiled. He was a good penman, had a fair knowledge of Latin and his services were much in demand in the young colony where mediocrity prevailed and few could write their own name. His advice was frequently sought in the stormy period of the struggling planta- tion. He attempted nothing in which he did not succeed. His first house was built of logs and was destroyed by the Indians, and the second one was near where William Rea after- wards lived. He died in 1700 and was interred a short distance from the junction of North Main and Benefit streets on Constitution Hill. The name of his wife was Abigail. Their chil- dren were: Stephen, born 1647, James, 1650, John (mentioned below ). Abigail, 1655 ; Peleg, 1658.

(II) John, third son of Rev. Gregory and Abigail Dexter, was born in Providence, 1652. He settled on land owned by his father on what is now the Pawtucket turnpike, a little north of Hampton lane. It was owned by his descendants up to fifty years ago. He was the mainstay of his father in his old age of depend- ence and feebleness. He filled many public stations and always acceptably. He was elected twenty-one times to the general assembly and held some military commissions. After his death his widow married Governor Joseph Jencks. The name of his wife was Alice and they had the following children : Stephen, born 1689; James (mentioned below ) ; John, 1692; Mary, 1694 ; Abigail, 1696 ; Sarah, 1698 ; Phebe, 1700; Anna, 1702; Alice, 1705.

(III) James, the second son of John and Alice Dexter, was born in Providence, 1691. He was a farmer and resided on the east side of Scott's pond now Smithfield. He was a man of good abilities and considerable influ- ence. He was in the general assembly in 17II- 13-17, and was the youngest member ever elected thereto. He married Mary Whipple, born in Providence, 1692, and she was the mother of John, born 1718; James (men- tioned below) ; David, 1722; Anna, 1723; Mary, 1725; Hopestill, 1727.

(IV) James (2), second son of James (I) and Mary (Whipple) Dexter, was born in Cumberland, Rhode Island, 1720. He was a farmer. He married Althea, daughter of T. Walker, of Seekonk, Massachusetts. Chil- dren by this union: Hope, born 1747 ; James, 1749; Huldah, 1750; Olive, 1752; Marcy, 1754; Simeon, 1756; Eseck, 1758; Benjamin G., 1760; Nancy, 1761 ; Althea, 1764; Lucina,

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1766; Timothy W., who is the subject of the next paragraph.

(V) Timothy W., youngest son of James (2) and Althea (Walker ) Dexter, was born in Cumberland, 1768. He was a farmer. He married Sarah Messenger, of Wrentham, Massachusetts, born in 1770. Their children were: James M., born 1804; Benjamin G., 1805; Eseck (referred to in the next para- graph) : Sarah Ann, 1814.

(VI) Eseck, third son of Timothy W. and Sarah ( Messenger) Dexter, was born in Cum- berland, 1807, died in Fond du Lac, Wiscon- sin. He lived in Boston and Brookfield, Mass- achusetts, Troy, New Hampshire, and at Fond du Lac. He married Elizabeth F. Hammond, of Seekonk. Their children were: Francis and Ferdinand A.

(VII) Ferdinand A., son of Eseck and Elizabeth F. (Hammond) Dexter, was born in Boston, and went to Fond du Lac with his parents when a mere child. After the death of his father he came east and lived in Brook- field. He was a painter by trade. He served in the civil war and was killed at the battle of Ball's Bluff. The grand army post of Brook- field was named after him. He married Ros- etta Sophronia Kendall. Their children were : Albert Ferdinand, who lives in Madison, Wis- consin ; Luzerne Halburg, who lives at Sun Prarie, Wisconsin ; Jenness K., who is the sub- ject of further notice.

(VIII) Colonel Jenness Kendall, youngest son of Ferdinand A. and Rosetta S. (Ken- dall) . Dexter, was born in North Brookfield. He lived at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and at Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was educated at a Philadelphia military school and the Naval Academy at Annapolis to which he was appointed by President Grant. He came to Springfield, Massachusetts, and became a mem- ber of the firm of Dexter & Bowles, who deal in paper makers supplies. He is a Republican and served on Governor. Bates military staff with the rank of lieutenant colonel, after- wards colonel. He served in the navy during the Spanish-American war, having been one of the first to enter the service, having been called by the government with three others, all naval graduates, to go to Philadelphia to inspect some vessels, among which was the old "Monitor," desired for use in the approaching war. This was in the beginning of April, 1898 ; he served until October following, being one of the last to retire from the service. He is one of the governor's trustees of the Hospital Cottage for Children at Baldwinsville, Massa-

chusetts. He was the founder and for twelve years the commander of Company H, Massa- chusetts Naval Brigade. He is president of the Republican Club, vice-president of Nayas- set Club, having been the prime mover in the erection of its present beautiful home, and member of the Board of Trade. He is a mem- ber of the South Congregational Church, and masonically related. He is one of the most enterprising citizens of Springfield, always ready to promote anything for the welfare of the city. He married Henrietta Bailey, daugh- ter of Philip Wilcox, whose ancestry is traced herein. Children: 1. Ernest Jenness, born in Holyoke, August 21, 1876, a graduate of the high school, now general agent for western Massachusetts of the Fidelity and Casualty Insurance Company of New York ; he married, June 17, 1908, Margery Augusta, daughter of Dexter Cooley, of Wets Warren, Massachu- setts. 2. Philip Wilcox, born August 6, 1880, died in infancy. 3. Courtland W., born No- vember 6, 1883. died March 3, 1902.

(The Wilcox Line).

Here is a family that has always exerted a large influence in public affairs in the nation, state and municipality. It runs to politicians, statesmen and jurists. The motherland of the Wilcox family is around Berlin, Meriden, Middletown and Farmington in the state of Connecticut, and about every Wilcox in the United States traces his line back to that spot of earth which to them is a mecca. The grave- yards there are dotted thick with Wilcox head- stones. Among those of distinction may be mentioned Lloyd Wheaton Bowers, solicitor general of the United States under President Taft. Others of note were the Hon. Leonard Wilcox, chief justice of New Hampshire, and the Hon. Preston B. Plumb, United States senator from Kansas.

(I) Daniel Wilcox came from England in 1632 and settled first at Middletown, Connecti- cut, moving thence to Berlin, that state.

(II) Daniel (2), son of Daniel ( 1) Wilcox, lived at Berlin. He had nineteen children and at his death left two hundred and eighty-two children, grandchildren and great-grandchil- dren. He died a nonagenarian and on his tombstone is this inscription.

"I gave this ground, I am laid here first, Soon my remains will turn to dust; A stranger panse as you pass by As I am now soon you must be."

(1V) Stephen, grandson of Daniel (2) Wil- cox, gave each of his sons a farm and built a

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house on each. These farms are now in pos- session of his descendants. He was in the revolution.

(V) Stephen (2), son of Stephen (1) Wil- cox, married Lucy Plumb; child, Philip.

(VI) Philip, son of Stephen (2) and Lucy (Plumb) Wilcox, was born in East Berlin, Connecticut, September 21, 1800, died in Springfield in 1842. He came to Springfield in 1823 and started a tinware store on State street. The Wilcoxs were the first to manu- facture stoves in Springfield. Mr. Wilcox was very much interested in the construction of the Boston and Albany railroad. He was interested in all enterprises tending to build up and beautify Springfield. He was a mem- ber of the Hampden Mechanics' Association, and of the South Congregational Church of which he was one of the original trustees and to which he gave liberally for the erection of the church edifice and to other eleemosynary work. In his death in middle life Springfield lost one of its enterprising and esteemed citi- zens, a man of the strictest integrity in all his business relations and uniformly respected by all who knew him. He married Eliza, daugh- ter of Bani Parmalee, of Middletown, Con- necticut. Her grandmother was Esther Burr whose line is taken up in this work. Children : I. William L., married Emily Collins. 2. Eliza P., married Charles M. Lee. 3. John P., mar- ried (first) Hattie Russell; (second) Nettie Willis. 4. Henrietta Bailey, married Jenness K. Dexter.

(The Burr Line).

Pride of lineage is most commendatory. It is old as the race itself. The genesical record is full of filial references. Mohammed and Confucius inculcate the principle repeatedly of respecting ones forebears. One of the most solemn oaths taken in the East is that sworn to by the tombs of ancestors. A Scotch loves to boast that his fathers fed their "flocks on the grampian hills." It is from such feelings of reverence for the past that genealogy has become an applied science. Names imprisoned in Domesday Book, known only to the monkish antiquary, or names relegated to the cobwebbed sanctums of the vital statician, are now circu- lated as popular literature. It is said that there is not a village in Normandy that has not surnamed a family in England. To the village of Beur in the Netherlands the family of Burr owes its name. It is an important and honored family and has played a conspicious part in the political, ecclesiastical and educa- tional affairs of the nation.

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I, Part 20

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