Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I, Part 36

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 36

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(VI) Perley, son of Thomas Truesdell, was born at Monson, Massachusetts, in 1771, died there October 2, 1843. He was a farmer. He married (first) Anna -; (second) No- vember 24. 1805, Polly Stimson, of Monson. Children of first wife, born at Monson : I. Laura, August 12, 1798, died February 15, 1805. 2. Cyrus Stimson, July 13, 1800, died February 9, 1805. 3. Serapta, June 23, 1802, married, December 6, 1821, Boystic Anderson. 4. Marcus, October 28, 1804, died young. Children of second wife: 5. Perley, October 14. 1806, married (intention dated April 7, 1832) Samantha Stimson, of Palmer. 6. Joseph, July 21, 1810, died March 3, 1827. 7. Marcus, May 29, 1813, married (intention dated August 14, 1838) Isabelle W. Smith, of Ware. 8. Cyrus, August 3, 1815, mentioned below. 9. Lucius E., May 18, 1818, married (intention dated September 27, 1840) Lucy B. Perry. 10. William Harrison, April 21, 1820. II. Austin, April 16, 1822. 12. Warren, April 16, 1824. 13. Orren, December 26, 1826.

(VII) Cyrus, son of Perley Truesdell, was born in Monson, August 3, 1815. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, and was one of the most prominent and propcrous farmers of that section. He was an upright, carnest, conscientious man, a use- ful citizen, member of the Congregational church of Monson. He married (first ) (inten- tions dated April 14, 1841) Phebe W. Hast- ings, of Palmer, died November 5, 1855, daughter of Rosal Hastings. He married

(second) Mary Webber, of Holland, Massa- chusetts. She died January 12, 1901. He died December 4, 1885. Children of first wife: I. Erskine H., born February 21, 1848, mentioned below. 2. Merrill, born March, 1846, died in 1869. 3. Estella, April, 1850. Child of second wife: 4. Charles, died in childhood.

(VIII) Erskine Hastings, son of Cyrus Truesdell, was born in Monson, February 21, 1848. He attended the public schools of his native town and Monson Academy. At the age of twenty-two he was employed in the meat and provision trade at Springfield, Mass- achusetts, and continued until the winter of 1873 when he came to Palmer, working in the same line of business. In 1889 he started in business on his own account in Palmer and has taken rank among the leading business men of the town. He is a member of Palmer Lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 190, and of the Business Men's Social Club of Palmer. He is independent in politics. In religion he is a Unitarian. He married, in 1876, Jennie M. Angell, born at Ware, died May 12, 1901, daughter of Benjamin and Maria Angell.

STEARNS Five hundred years ago, more or less, when the population of England had become suffi- ciently dense to make surnames necessary, some Englishman assumed the name of Sterne. He may have taken it from the sign of the Sterne, or starling, (which is the symbol of industry ), which he displayed in front of his place of business, or it may have been taken from some event in which a starling was con- cerned ; but of this there is no means or record knowing.

In England the name was, as it seems still is, spelled Sterne, two notable instances of which are Richard Sterne, Lord Archbishop of York, and Lawrence Sterne, the distin- guished novelist, author of "Tristam Shandy" and other works; but in America it is spelled Stearns, Sternes, Sterns or Starns, and Starnes, the last two forms being distinctly southern. The changes probably commenced in the pronounciation, and extended to the writing of the name, which in Winthrop's journal and in the early town and county records of Massachusetts appears as Sterne.

In every instance where the lineage of this family has been traced back, it has been to one of the following: Isaac, Charles or Nathaniel. What relationship existed between the three is not known. Isaac in his will calls

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Charles "My kinsman." It is noticeable, how- ever, that all three named their sons, Isaac, Samuel and John, while the sons of Isaac named their sons Nathaniel. The belief is entertained by many of the Stearns descend- ants that three Sterne brothers, Isaac, Daniel and Shubael, came to America together, that Daniel died unmarried, or without issue; that Shubael and wife left two sons, Charles and Nathaniel, to the care of their uncle, Isaac. Research in England has thus far failed to find parents, brothers or sisters of Isaac Stearns, the emigrant from England.

In the genealogy of the Stearns family, pub- lished in 1901, over eleven thousand persons were mentioned. Among these were two hun- dred and thirty-two graduates of colleges, universities, etc; eighty-three clergymen, eighty physicians; fifty-nine lawyers, twelve principals of academies and high schools; twelve professors of colleges; one chancellor of a state university ; one dean of a divinity school; three presidents of colleges; one sup- erintendent of instruction (Argentine Re- public) ; eleven authors; five editors; one bishop of Pennsylvania ; one general manager of railroads ; one president of railroads ; one president of a telegraph company ; twenty farmers ; two governors ; three lieutenant-gov- ernors; two secretaries of state; eleven state senators; thirty-six colonial or state repre- sentatives; two speakers of the house; two supreme court judges ; five mayors ; two gen- erals; twenty-two colonels; eleven majors ; fifty-six captains ; and one hundred and eighty- two private soldiers.

(I) Charles Stearns, the immigrant, was admitted freeman May 6, 1646, at Salem. On March 15, 1648, he bought of Edward Lamb, of Watertown, a house and eight acres of land, and three other lots. On the same day he purchased of John Fiske six acres of upland. Isaac Stearns, in his will dated June 14, 1661, mentions Charles Stearns as "my kinsman," and bequeaths him ten pounds. Samuel Hosier also bequeathed to him ten pounds. but without stating any relationship. January 6, 1681, he was elected constable, or tax gatherer of Watertown, but refused to take the oath; and the same year he sold his land in Watertown to his son, Samuel. It is supposed that soon after this, Charles Stearns with his son, Shubael, moved to that part of Lynn called Lynn End, now the town of Lynn- field. Charles Stearns married Hannah, whose surnames does not appear. She died in Water- town, June 30, 1651, and was buried July 2,

1651. He married (second) June 22, 1654, Rebecca Gibson, daughter of John and Re- becca Gibson, of Cambridge. The births of the first two children of Charles and Re- becca are recorded in Cambridge, but she was a member of the Watertown church, February, 1689. The seven children of this marriage were: Samuel, Shubael, John, Isaac, Charles, Rebecca and Martha.

(II) Shubael, second son of Charles and Rebecca (Gibson) Stearns, was born Septem- ber 20, 1655, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Narragansett expedi- tion. After marriage he settled in Lynn, prob- ably near the border of Reading. No record of his marriage has been discovered, but "Mary Upton of Reading, Massachusetts, married Shubael Stearns of Lynn," whether this Shubael or a descendant is not known. Samuel Trail, aged ninety-five and upwards, testified that he remembered Shubael Stearns of Lynn, who came from Watertown, and was in the army. Shubael's will dated November 19, 1733, was proved September 2, 1734. He had nine children: Shubael, Samuel, Hannah, Mary, John, Ebenezer, Martha, Eleanor and Rebecca.

(III) Samuel, son of Shubael and Mary (Upton) Stearns, was born September 12, 1685. He removed about 1715 to Sutton, where his son Thomas was born, then he re- turned to Lynn, where he died suddenly De- cember 20, 1759, aged seventy-four years. He married (first) (intentions of marriage pub- lished April 7, 1711) Sarah Burnap, daughter of a Scotch minister of Marblehead. She died August 6, 1724, and he married (second) April 14, 1725, Tabitha Bryant, of Reading, who died December 13. 1758. Seven children were born of the first wife: Timothy, Samuel, Sarah, Thomas, Rebecca, Isaac and Benjamin.

(IV) Thomas, third son of Samuel and Sarah (Burnap) Stearns, was born in Sutton, December 22, 1717. His first and second chil- dren were born in Lynn, the next seven in Lunenburg. Leaving the latter place, he re- sided in Fitchburg a short time, and then went to Leominster where he died February 5, 1811, eminent for his christian virtues. He belonged to Captain Samuel Hunt's company from Au- gust 13 to December 13, 1755. He married, November 4, 1740, Lydia Mansfield, daughter of Daniel Mansfield. She died February 26, 1791. They had eleven children: Thomas (died young), Lydia (died young), Sarah, Thomas, Daniel, Lydia, Charles, Sarah, Re- becca, Timothy and Anna.

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(V) Rev. Charles (2), fourth son of Thomas and Lydia ( Mansfield) Stearns, was born July 19, 1753, in Lunenburg. He grad- uated at Harvard College in 1773; received the degree of D. D. from Harvard in 1810; was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in Lincoln, November 7, 1781, and died there July 26, 1826. He was also preceptor of the noted Liberal School in Lincoln, "Dr. Charles Stearns was in the University over forty-five years, preached his last sermon the first Sunday in July, 1826, and died on the twenty-sixth of the same month. His monument was erected by the town which was then one parish. He was a man of high ability, deeply reverenced by his people ; a man who refused to enter into the controversy be- tween Trinitarian and Unitarian Congrega- tionalists, exchanging freely with those of both opinions until his death. The following ex- tract from 'The Gambrel-roofed House,' by Oliver Wendell Holmes, speaks for itself :

"'The middle-aged and young men have left comparatively faint impressions on my memory, but how grandly the procession of the old clergymen who filled our pulpit from time to time and passed the day under our roof, marches before my closed eyes! At their head, the most venerable, David Osgood, the majestic minister of Medford, with mas- sive front and shaggy, overshadowing eye- brows ; following in the train, mild-eyed John Foster of Brighton, with the lambent aurora of a smile above his pleasant mouth which not even the "Sabbath" could subdue to the true Levitical aspect ; and bulky Charles Stearns of Lincoln, author of "The Ladies' Philosophy of Love." A Poem, 1797. (How I stared at him, he was the first living person ever pointed out to me as a poet !) ; and Thaddeus Mason Harris of Dorchester.'" Mr. Stearns was a scholar of high attainments, and was offered the presidency of Harvard College, but de- clined it, regarding it as his duty to remain with his parish in Lincoln, which was then paying him a salary of four hundred dollars a year. He married, January 7, 1782, Sus- anna Cowdry, of Reading, by whom he had six sons and five daughters : Susannah, Charles, Thomas, Julia, Sarah, Elizabeth Frances, Will- iam Lawrence, Daniel Mansfield, Rebecca, Samuel and Edwin.

(VI) Rev. William Lawrence, third son of Rev. Charles (2) and Susanna (Cowdry) Stearns, was born October 30, 1793, at Lin- coln, and was a twin brother of Daniel Mans-

field Stearns. He graduated from Harvard University in 1820; studied divinity with his father, and was licensed to preach in 1823; ordained and installed in Stoughton, Novem- ber, 1827; dismissed from Stoughton in 1831, and installed at Rowe, January, 1833. He was also pastor of the Unitarian church at Pembroke. After his health failed, he made his home with his son George M. in Chicopee, where he died May 28, 1857. George M. Stearns described his father as a "fine scholar and metaphysician. He was abstracted and mild in his nature-a man living much more in the world of his thoughts and studies than that of the life close about him." He married, June 5, 1828, Mary Monroe, born September 12, 1803, daughter of Isaac and Grace ( Bige- low) Monroe, of Lincoln, and sister of his twin brother's wife. She died March 23, 1900. She was a very worthy woman and also passed her declining years an honored and loved mem- ber of her son George's household, but died at the residence of her son Albert B. at Cam- bridge, Massachusetts. Four children were born of this marriage: William Henry, George Monroe, Mary Monroe and Albert Bige- low.

(VII) Hon. George Monroe, second son of Rev. William L. and Mary ( Monroe ) Stearns, was born April 18, 1831, at Stoughton, and died in Brookline, December 31, 1894. While he was yet an infant his father moved to Rowe. He was a wide-awake, active boy, full of fun and mischief, the traditional minister's son, the delight and torment of his parents. He was always a student in spite of his abounding spirits, for which his splendid health was largely responsible, and soon ab- sorbed all that the schools of Rowe could teach him. He attended the academy at Shel- burne Falls, Massachusetts, then attended Harvard Law School and went from there about 1849, while considerably under his majority, to study law in the Chicopee office of John Wells, a young lawyer only fairly settled in practice, but afterward a justice of the Massachusetts supreme court, and himself from Rowe. In April, 1852, when past his twenty-first birthday, Mr. Stearns was ad- mitted to the bar, and at once formed a part- nership with Judge Wells which lasted until Judge Wells moved his office to Springfield some years later. Mr. Stearns continued his office in Chicopee several years, and then also removed to Springfield, where he formed a partnership with the late E. D. Beach, and afterward was associated with Judge M. P.

George mesteams

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Knowlton for some years, and also with Charles L. Long. The office in Springfield was continued until 1878, when it was removed back to Chicopee, where it remained until Mr. Stearns transferred his home to Brookline, a few months before his death. With regard to Mr. Stearns characteristics as a lawyer, his standing at the bar, his method of preparing cases and presenting them to courts and jury, his professional brethren and intimate asso- ciates will be quoted farther on. It is agreed among them all that he was easily at the head of the local bar, and that his methods were as thorough as they were original. No one could try a case as George Stearns could, especially before a jury, and attempts to imi- tate him usually ended in absurd and disastrous failures. He might have sat upon the bench of either of our higher courts had he chosen, for he was offered a judgeship more than once. Of the man himself, his home life in Chicopee, and the place he filled in the affection and regard of his friends and townsmen there is a great deal that might be said. It is within the truth to say that since his marriage, May 17, 1855, to Emily C. Goodnow, who was his schoolmate at Shelburne Falls, in that year, his home life was almost an ideal one. She was born in Princeton, Massachusetts, March 4, 1833, daughter of Erasmus D. and Caroline B. (Bullard) Goodnow, both natives of Massa- chusetts. Mr. Stearns' home was the most attractive place in the world to him, and the home side was the richest and best side of his nature, and nothing else brought out the choicest treasures of his mind and heart as freely as contact with his family and intimate friends. He was always kindly, loyal and affectionate, and a courteous and considerate host. At once after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Stearns went to live in the house on Spring- field street in Chicopee, which was their home for so many years. Two children were born to them: Mary C., born December 9, 1855, married, October 4, 1876, Frank E. Tuttle, of Chicopee, and had one child, Emily Stearns Tuttle, born July 19, 1878, an infant son de- ceased. Mary C. died January 20, 1883. Emily S., the second daughter, died at the age of twelve.

It was with the hope that a change of scene and surroundings would restore his health, or at least prolong his life and increase the comfort of its added years, that Mr. Stearns gave up his Chicopee house and removed to Brookline. The event proved that hope to be vain, for he steadily lost rather than gained

in strength, until the end came after months of suffering, borne with patience and courage, and enlivened by a hope that was never dimmed. Mr. Stearns was no lover of society in the fashionable sense, and as much as he cared for his friends he preferred to have them come to his home rather than to go himself to theirs. His intimates came to respect this preference of his, and as a consequence the Stearns house became a centre to which they were drawn by a strong attraction. These informal gatherings were what Mr. Stearns delighted in. With guests in his house or at his table, he was at his best. Then how the man would blossom out! No matter if the day in court had been a hard one, and the next day promised to be still harder, no matter if there were perplexing law questions unanswer- ed, or refractory witnesses unsubdued, his guests never knew it, nor did he seem to realize it. He gave himself to the enjoyment of the hour, which meant making his friends enjoy it. His wit would sparkle, his humor flow, story would follow story, and once in a while, when the company was suitable and the mood was on him, he would move it to tears or laughter by the paraphrase of a story or novel he had been reading. He was an omnivorous reader, but what he read was his to call to mind and use in a case in court, to point an argument before the supreme bench, or to amuse and entertain his friends. His well-known familiarity with the Bible was only in part an inheritance, or a remembrance of compulsory study in boyhood ; he never would have had that marvelous command of bibical lore had it not been for his delight in it as literature. Withal there was an undercurrent of reverence and religious sentiment in his nature, rarely given expression to, and some- times covered by a cloud of agnosticism, but never without its influence on his relations to his fellowmen, and which accounts in part at least, for his love for the Bible. Such a brief sketch as there is room for in this book, would not be complete without a word of allusion to the ability Mr. Stearns always showed as a business man, and his love for horses. As a business man he was cautious, far-sighted and honest. He could grasp the commercial bear- ings of a case, see at once into the intricacies of the management of a large manufacturing concern and deal intelligently with the ordi- nary problems, and some of the more intri- cate ones, of financial institutions. With all his caution, he had a liking for a bit of specula- tion now and then, but never risking more than

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he could well afford to lose. This speculative tendency made him the owner of all sorts of things at various times in his life, as his love of horses made him purchase animals of all bloods and values. It is proverbial that Mr. Stearns loved horses ; he made pets of them, and happy was the trotter that met his favor. It was a rare horse that was so lucky, for his requirements were high, but now and then one, like old "Calamity," or like the gray mare "Maud" that he drove so long won a perma- nent place in his affections.

Mr. Stearns was always a public man, although he held but few public offices, refus- ing over and again nominations to congress which were almost equivalent to an election, and several times declining to be his party's candidate for governor. He was always a Democrat and was elected by that party to represent Chicopee in the house of representa- tives in 1859, and he was a member of the committe which revised the public statutes of 1860. In1879 he was a member of the Senate, and the next year was chosen district attorney for the western district but resigned at the end of two years. The same year, 1872, he was a delegate to the National Democratic conven- tion at Cincinnati, where he favored the nomi- nation of Horace Greeley, and he was repeat- edly a delegate to National conventions after- wards. He was appointed United States attor- ney at Boston in 1886, but resigned in about two years. When John Quincy Adams was nominated for governor, Mr. Stearns was given the second place on the ticket, and later, when the Democrats nominated Charles Sum- ner, was nominated lieutenant-governor with him, also, but on Sumner's refusal, Mr. Stearns followed his example. He was an unflinching opponent of Butler, and refused to aid in any way the ambitions of the latter to become governor. It was a most unusual thing for Mr. Stearns to do, to refuse to make at least a single speech for the candidates of his party in a campaign, but he felt that there was a principle at stake in the Butler matter that could be better vindicated by the apparent defeat of his party than by its success, and so he refused his help. He was a most welcome and effective stump speaker, his wit, clearness of thought, and thorough grasp of his subject, with the mastery of the weak points of his opponent's record, made him an antagonist to be respected and feared. His acquaintance and friendship with public men were exten- sive, and his influence in the councils of his party was large. His advice in political matters

was constantly sought and most highly valued by party leaders and men of position and influ- ence, and it is well known that few men in the country were more cordially welcomed at the White House during the Cleveland adminis- tration than he. He was a shrewd observer, a careful student and an accurate judge of men and events. He had few axes to grind and his advice on public matters, when given, was given with the public good as its object, and so was always valuable and influential. George M. Stearns was a large minded, large hearted, and lovable man. He was strong, positive and aggressive, a man to make his personality felt wherever he went and in whatever company he found himself. He was a full man, with a mastery over the lore and technique of his profession, an intelligent grasp of a great many subjects and a rich store of experiences gathered from close contact with his fellow- men of all conditions and under a wide variety of conditions. The public knew him as a man of most original qualities, an intense, brilliant and successful lawyer, a shrewd and astute political leader ; his friends knew him as one of the most congenial and choicest spirits, full of wit and apt speech, and withal abounding in a tenderness and fine feeling that in genuine- ness and grace was almost womanly.

At a meeting of the Hampden Bar Asso- ciation, held January 1, 1895, to take action in regard to the death of Mr. Stearns, George D. Robinson, William H. Brooks, Charles L. Gardner, James B. Carroll, and William W. McClench were appointed a committee to pre- pare resolutions to present to the court, and to make necessary arrangements regarding a memorial service. Memorial exercises in the supreme judicial court at Springfield were held April 15, 1895, Justice Knowlton presiding. The resolutions prepared by the above com- mittee were presented to the court, and read by Hon. George D. Robinson of the Bar Asso- ciation as follows :

"Whereas, by a decree of the all wise judges, the Honorable George M. Stearns of Chicopee has been called from his earthly labors we, his associates of the Hampden County Bar, desiring to place upon record our sense of the great loss sustained by our association, do hereby adopt the following resolutions :

His sudden death, following so soon after his departure from our midst, brought deep and sincere sorrow to us all. The place he held in our regard and affection as the leader of this bar was casily his, by reason of the years of honorable service spent in the prac-

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tice of his profession, by his high sense of his relation to the court, by the ability and fidelity with which he discharged his duties to his clients, and by the genial, kindly, and helpful spirit he ever manifested towards his asso- ciates. Not only was he esteemed by the people of this community, for his fame as a lawyer outran city and county and state limits ; his legal opinions commanded wide respect, and his services in the trial of jury causes were frequently and eagerly sought by people from afar.

In counsel wise and clear, in the preparation of causes careful and diligent, and in the trial of them earnest, ingenious and eloquent, he early established an enviable reputation, in his chosen profession which he ever afterwards maintained with credit to himself, and honor to our association.

In public life he was an honest and trusted legislator, a just and fearless district attorney of the State, and an able, faithful, and loyal United States attorney.

The performance of the duties connected with these honorable offices increased his repu- tation and enlarged his clientage, but his fame will rest upon his ability and his character as a lawyer, upon his profound knowledge of human nature and upon his wit and his phil- osophy.

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I, Part 36

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