Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I, Part 5

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 5

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Timothy Pickering was conspicuous for the force and dignity of his character. From 1774 when the first colonial legislature assembled in Salem. Pickering politically was at the centre of events that preceded and included the revo- lution. Eminent as he was in public life, he was but one in a group of professional and business men of rare ability and great attain- ments. He was associated in his native city with educated men who were not only familiar with affairs in their own country, but also were at home in foreign lands, having much of the culture gained by travel after the usual course of education was finished. They were not provincial in the narrow sense.

It is remembered of Timothy Pickering that

*"The Porter Genealogy." p. 285. calls Mills Olcott "Honorable." Sarah Porter, wife of Mills Olcott, was a daughter of Asa Porter, by his wife Mehit- able (Crocker). Asa Porter was a loyalist. (See Sabine, p. 198). H. C. 1762. The line of Asa is John (1), Samuel (2), John (3). Benjamin (4), Moses (5), Asa (6).

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he was near-sighted and wore glasses at a period in the history of the country when such articles were uncommon, and near-sighted peo- ple having no glasses were relegated to the limbo of old age and to the realms of prema- ture uselessness. At home he was president of the county agricultural society and one of the school committee. About 1770 he published a manual of military tactics which he used in drill before the breaking out of the following war and which he applied later in a critical way to the instruction of officers superior to him in rank as the war progressed. He pub- lished an exhaustive letter on the "Conduct of the American Government towards Great Brit- ain and France," and a "Review of the Corre- spondence between President John Adams and W. Cunningham," besides other papers con- nected with his varied official service. The late George Bailey Loring says of him: "Col- onel Pickering was not only governed by a high sense of duty throughout his long career, and by strong convictions, but he also expressed himself in a nervous, vigorous style, and in controversial correspondence was a most for- midable foe. To no man is this country more indebted for its independent nationality and the strength of its institutions. He performed his service with such fearlessness and honesty that he was at times placed on the defensive ; but he now stands in the front rank of the great and pure men of the revolutionary and constitutional period in our history. In a liter- ary point of view, he has left for the imitation of those statesmen who come after him a clear and impressive style and great power of state- ment."

He is sometimes criticized for his marching from Salem, with his regiment of three hun- dred men, on April 19, 1775, in pursuit of the British troops retreating from Lexington, and failing to come up with them near Charles- town, from which he threatened to cut off their retreat. An observer on Prospect Hill, in pres- ent Somerville, saw Colonel Pickering's regi- ment on the top of Winter Hill, nearby, and the enemy being very near in Charlestown road. And Washington wrote: "For they (the Brit- ish ) had not arrived in Charlestown, under cover of their ships, half an hour, before a powerful body of men from Marblehead and Salemi was at their heels, and must, if they had happened to be up one hour sooner, inevitably have intercepted their retreat to Charlestown."*

ANCESTRY .- John Pickering (1), born in England, about 1615. died in Salem, Massa- chusetts, 1657, married, about 1636, Elizabethi

-; she married second, December 25, 1657, John Deacon, and died August 8, 1662. According to the Aspinwall Notarial Records, . under date of 1650, John Pickering of Salem owned a house near the Newgate in Coventry, county Warwick, England, which leads to the belief that he came from there or near there. Children: 1. John, see forward. 2. Jonathan, died 1729; married, March 19, 1665, Jane Cromwell. 3. Elizabeth, baptized March 3, 1644, died young. 4. Elizabeth, baptized Au- gust 31. 1645, died young.

(II) John Pickering, son of John Pickering ( 1), born at Salem, Massachusetts, 1637, died May 5, 1694, married Alice ( Flint) Bullock, widow of Henry Bullock, Junior, and daughter of William and Alice Flint. He was a lieuten- ant in Captain Samuel Appleton's company in 1675-6, and under Captain Moseley went to the rescue of Captain Lathrop's company at Bloody Brook, 1675. Children: 1. John, born 1658; see forward. 2. Jonathan, born Sep- tember 27. 1660, died young. 3. Joseph, born September 9, 1663. died young. 4. Benjamin, born January 15, 1665-6, died 1718; married, April 27, 1693, Jane Hobby. 5. Sarah, born September 7, 1668, died before 1692; married John Buttolph. 6. Edward, birth unrecorded. 7. William, born January II, 1670-1 ; married, June 19, 1695, Hannah Browne. 8. Elizabeth, born September 7, 1674: married first, before 1696, Samuel Nichols ; married second, Febru- ary 22, 1698-9. James Browne. 9. Hannah, born July 2, 1677, died before July 29, 1714 : married first, Daniel King; married second, 1701. Nathaniel Beadle ; married third, Octo- ber 20. 1706. Richard Palmer.

(III) John Pickering, son of John Picker-

*On February 13, 1775. he was elected colonel of the First Regiment of Essex county militla, and received his commission from the royal govern- ment. lIe held this office sometime after he had joined the army of the United States in 1777. It is generally understood that he was present at the North Bridge when Colonel Leslie attempted to capture the cannon that were stored on the North Field, Salem: and the accounts of the affair printed In the "Essex Gazette" have been attributed to him. April 19, 1775. he led his regiment to assist the colonists on that eventful day, but arrived too late. The affray at Lexington had already taken place, and the British were on their return to Boston. when Colonel Pickering and his men reached Med- ford. Colonel Pickering's behavior on this occasion has been the subject of adverse criticism; but a careful inquiry into the facts shows clearly that his conduct was all that could be desired from a brave and careful officer. December 5. 1776. he collected a regiment of seven hundred men, who marched under his command, and went through the campaign in New York and New Jersey. The campaign ended April 1, 1777.

Colonel Pickering's reputation and his frequent visits at headquarters made so favorable Impres- sion on General Washington that he wrote him an urgent letter dated March 30, 1777, offering him the post of adjutant-general, which he declined at first, but afterwards accepted.

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ing (2), born at Salem, Massachusetts, Sep- tember 10, 1658, died there June 19, 1722 ; mar- ried, June 14, 1683, Sarah Burrell, born May 16, 1661, died December 27, 1747, daughter of John and Lois (Ivory ) Burrell, of Lynn, Mass- achusetts. Children : Lois, born May 1, 1684; died February 12, 1754; married, April 17, 1709. Timothy Orne. 2. Sarah, born July 25, 1686, died December 20, 1744; married, July 17. 1707, Joseph Hardy. 3. John, born Octo- ber 28, 1688. died September 10, 1712. 4. Mary, born May II, 1691, died July 8, 1702. 5. Ruth, born October 10. 1693, died July 27, I702. 6. Joseph, born November 29, 1695, died July 22, 1702. 7. Lydia, born March 17, 1698, died October 10, 1702. 8. Theophilus, born September 28, 1700, died October 7, 1747. 9. Timothy. born February 10, 1702-3 ; see for- ward. 10. Eunice, born October 3, 1705, died October 8, 1783; married first, December 10, 1724. Joseph Neal ; married second, April 6, 1738. William Pickering.

(IV) Timothy Pickering, son of John Pick- ering (3), born at Salem, Massachusetts, bap- tized February 14, 1702-3, died there, June 7, 1778, married. November 21, 1728, Mary Win- gate, born at Hampton, New Hampshire, June 14. 1708, died at Salem, Massachusetts, Decem- ber 12, 1784, daughter of Colonel Joshua and Mary (Lunt) Wingate. Children: 1. Sarah, born January 28, 1730, died November 21, 1826: married John Clarke. 2. Mary, born March 29, 1733, died January 30, 1805. 3. Lydia, born February 27. 1736, died October 21. 1824; married. March 15, 1758, George Williams. 4. Elizabeth, born November 12, 1737. died October 12, 1823 ; married, Novem- ber 7. 1757. John Gardner. 5. John, born March 2. 1740, died August 20, 1811. 6. Lois, born April 19, 1742, died February 4, 1815; married. 1772. John Gooll. 7. Eunice. born April 19. 1742. died January 14. 1843, in her one hundred and first year ; married, May 23, 1765, her cousin, Paine Wingate, who died in his one hundredth year. 8. Timothy, born July 6, 1745 ; see forward. 9. Lucia, born Novem- ber 12. 1747. died October 31, 1822; married, June 17. 1776, Israel Dodge.

(V) Colonel Timothy Pickering, son of Tim- cthy Pickering (4), born at Salem, Massachu- setts. July 6. 1745. died there January 29, 1829 ; married. April 8, 1776, Rebecca White, born at Bristol. England. July 18. 1754. died at Salem, Massachusetts, August 14. 1828, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth ( Miller ) White. Chil- dren: I. John, born February 2, 1777. died May 5, 1846; married, March 3, 1805, Sarah

White. 2. Timothy, born October 1, 1779, died May 14, 1807; married, December 29, 1804, Lurena Cole. 3. Henry, born October 8, 1781, died May 8, 1838. 4. Charles, born May 25, 1784, died May 12, 1796. 5. William, born February 16, 1786, died June 16, 1814. 6. Ed- ward, born September 12, 1787, died October 10, 1793. 7. George, born August 7, 1789, died April 23, 1826. 8. Octavius, born September 2, 1791, died October 29, 1868; married, Decem- ber 29. 1836, Jane Pratt. '9. Mary, born No- vember 21, 1793, died March 22, 1863; mar- ried, April 12, 1813, Benjamin Ropes Nichols. IO. Elizabeth, born November 21, 1793, died August 11, 1819; married, August 12, 1816, Hammond Dorsey.

NATHANIEL BOWDITCH.

Nathaniel Bowditch was born in Salem, March 26, 1773, and died in Boston, March 16, 1838. He began life in the forecastle of an East Indiaman, and a recent writer has said of him : "Nathaniel Bowditch everybody has heard of who ever smelled salt water. He was famous both on sea and shore. His fame was so ex- tensive and stable that even his contemporaries who used his "Navigator," and worked out their problems by use of his tables, often thought of him as being as ancient and famous as Sir Isaac Newton. After his marine experi- ence was over he lived as a quiet business man in Salem, not especially conspicuous in a place and at a time when firstrate attainments and achievements were expected of many men in many modes of action." In Salem he was president of the Essex Fire and Marine Insur- ance Company. Therefore in an intellectual point of view his career is one of the most re- markable and admirable records in history.

The present writer holds in his hand a bound volume of pamphlets, entitled by its former owner "Bowditch's Eulogies." The volume was formerly the property of Eliza S. Quincy, a daughter of an eminent president of Harvard University, and contains her autograph. Their titles are "A Discourse on the Life and Char- acter" of Dr. Bowditch, by Alexander Young (Boston, 1838), 114 pp. A "Eulogy," by John Pickering ( Boston, 1838), 101 pp. ; and another "Eulogy" by Daniel Appleton White ( Salem, 1838), 72 pp.

His parents were Habakkuk and Mary In- gersoll Bowditch. His ancestors for three gen- erations were shipmasters, and his father on retiring from that mode of hard industry, car- ried on the trade of a cooper, by which he gained a precarious subsistence for a family of

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seven children, of which Nathaniel was the fourth. He sailed on his first voyage, at the age of twenty-two, on January 11, 1795, in the capacity of captain's clerk, and was absent a year. In 1800, at the age of twenty-three, he issued the first edition of his "New American Practical Navigator," a work which has been of immense service to the nautical and com- mercial interests of this country. By this single act, without doing anything more, he would have conferred a lasting obligation upon his native land. "The Practical Navigator," to the time of his death, was never superseded He learned the French and Spanish languages without any instructor. Subsequently in life he acquired the German and the Italian. In 1790 he began to study Latin in order to read mathemetical works in that language. Having quitted the sea in 1840 he became the president of the marine insurance company in Salem, which we have already mentioned, and retained that office until 1823, when he was elected to a high position in another insurance company, and removed to Boston at the age of fifty, and spent in that city the last fifteen years of his life. He was eminently a self-taught and self- made man. He became one of the greatest scientific men of his age. He was a contempla- tive, recluse student, and, at the same time, an active public man. At the same time he was one of the most skilful of financiers. He trans- lated and commented on La Place "Mecanique Celeste :" the first volume in 1829, the second volume in 1832, and the third volume in 1834; of about one thousand pages each, quarto ; the fourth and last was incomplete at his decease.

On October 28, 1800, he married his cousin, Mary Ingersoll, as his second wife, daughter of Jonathan and Mary Hodges Ingersoll ; she was born December 4, 1781, and died in Boston, April 17, 1834. By his second marriage he had eight children, six of whom ( four sons and two daughters ) survived him. His first wife was Elizabeth Boardman, daughter of Francis Boardman, married, March 25, 1798; she died while he was absent on a voyage, at the age of eighteen years.

Nine years of his life were spent in five voy- ages upon the sea ( four of them to the East Indies). He was the author of many scientific articles described by John Pickering, who ven- tures the remark that the mere mechanical bulk of Dr. Bowditch's work exhibits an amount of actual labor "that astonishes us."

Daniel Appleton White (in 1838) speaking to the inhabitants of Salem, states, that "some of you remember him at school, as an active,

bright boy, and uncommonly fond of the study of arithmetic . .... his genius for the mathe- matics then began to manifest itself." . and this before the age of ten, when he quitted the school, because of the obligation to go to work. At the age of fifteen he made a manu- script almanac for the year 1790, complete in all its parts ; and so onward."

The names of Dr. Bowditch's brothers and sisters were Mary (who married), Habakkuk, Elizabeth, William (who died in 1799, aged 23), Samuel and Lois ( the last named was un- married, and died about 1808). Five of this number died before the age of twenty-three, and the eldest of them died in 1808, at the age of forty-two. The mother of Dr. Bowditch was a daughter of Nathaniel Ingersoll, and his ancestors were all inhabitants of Salem, where the first was William Bowditch, who, with his wife Sarah, came from England among the early settlers. Their son William was collector of the port of Salem for the colonial govern- ment. He died suddenly in 1681, leaving a widow named Sarah, and an only son named William, who was married to Mary, a daughter of Thomas Gardner. This third William was a respectable merchant, and for many years a representative to the general court. He had been a shipmaster. Among his children was Joseph, who was a man of note in his day, and Ebenezer, the grandfather of Dr. Bowditch, who in 1723 married Mary, daughter of John Turner, an opulent merchant, long a member of the Province Council. Dr. Nathaniel Bow- ditch's father and grandfather were both re- spectable shipmasters. (D. A. White).

ANCESTRY .- William Bowditch (1), was ad- mitted an inhabitant of Salem, Massachusetts, November 20, 1639. His wife Sarah joined the church at Salem, May 10, 1640. Mr. Bow- ditch had a grant of ten acres of land, January 23, 1642, and had another grant of thirty acres. on October 13, 1649. Mr. Bowditch is said to have come to Salem from Devonshire, Eng- land. Children : 1. William, born about 1640; see forward. 2. Nathaniel, baptized February 12, 1642-3. Nathaniel Bowditch, of Newport, Rhode Island, sold land in Salem, in 1674.

( 11) William Bowditch, son of William Bow- ditch ( r), born at Salem, Massachusetts, about 1640, died before November 12, 1681 ; was a merchant at Salem, and collector of customs at the port of Salem ; married Sarah -; she was living in 1703. Child: 1. William, see forward.

(III) Captain William Bowditch, son of William Bowditch (2), born at Salem, Massa-

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chusetts, September, 1663, died May 28, 1728, married. August 30, 1688, Mary Gardner, born February 14, 1669-70, died 1724, daughter of Lieutenant Thomas and Mary ( Porter ) Gard- ner, of Salem. He was a sea captain and a merchant, a selectman, deputy to the general court, 1712-13. and held other offices of trust, and was a prominent citizen of Salem. He and his wife are both buried in the Charter street burying ground. Children : I. Mary, born August 2, 1689, died October 2, 1689. 2. Will- iam, born October 31. 1690, died October 12, 1706. 3. Mary, born December 18, 1693, died February, 1724; married first, September 8, 171.5, James Butler, of Boston, Massachusetts ; second, December 26, 1723, Captain Samuel Barton, of Salem. 4. Sarah, born January 10, 1696, died March. 1761; married, June 30, 1715, Joseph Hathorn, of Salem, who died June 3. 1760. 5. Thomas, born June 5, 1698, died November 30, 1702. 6. Joseph, born Au- gust 21, 1700, died October 6, 1780; married, July 25, 1725, Elizabeth Hunt, who died May 7, 1743, in her thirty-ninth year. 7. Ebenezer, born April 26. 1703; see forward. 8. Eunice, born June 8, 1705, died July 2, 1705. 9. Eunice, born March 22. 1707 ; married, December 12, 1728, William Hunt, of Salem. 10. Daniel, born June 19. 1709, died about 1730. 11. Will- iam, born February 1, 1713, died November I, 1715.

(IV) Captain Ebenezer Bowditch, son of Captain William Bowditch (3), born at Salem, Massachusetts, April 26, 1703, died February 2, 1768, aged sixty-four ; married, August 15, 1728, Mary Turner, born November 1, 1706, died May 1, 1785, daughter of Colonel John and Mary ( Kitchen) Turner, of Salem. Chil- dren: 1. Ebenezer, born September 28, 1729, died August 3. 1771 ; married, July 17, 1755, Elizabeth Gilman, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, who died February II, 1824, aged ninety-two years. 2. John, born April 3. 1732; married, July 12. 1759. Mary Carlton, of Salem. 3. Thomas, born about 1734, died July 29, 1808, aged seventy-four years ; married. April 21. 1760, Sarah Bancroft, of Lynn, Massachusetts, who died February 26, 1808, aged sixty-six years. 4. William, died December 29, 1752, aged eighteen years. 5. Habakkuk, baptized March 5, 1737-8; see forward. 6. Mary, died April 22. 1757, aged fifteen years.

(V) Captain Habakkuk Bowditch, son of Captain Ebenezer Bowditch (4), born at Salem, Massachusetts, baptized March 5, 1737-8, died July 28. 1798: married, July 23, 1765, Mary Ingersoll, daughter of Captain Nathaniel and

Bethia (Gardner ) Ingersoll, of Salem. Chil- dren: 1. Mary, baptized March 30, 1766, died 1808; married Captain David Martin. 2. Ha- bakkuk, baptized May 15, 1768. 3. Elizabeth, baptized May 19, 1771. 4. Nathaniel, born March 26, 1773 ; see forward. 5. Samuel In- gersoll, baptized September 12, 1779. 6. Will- iam, baptized September 12, 1779, died 1799. 7. Lois, baptized April 1, 1781 ; married Cap- tain Joseph Bowditch.

(VI) Nathaniel Bowditch, son of Captain Habakkuk Bowditch (5), born at Salem, Mass- achusetts, March 26, 1773, died at Boston, Massachusetts, March 16, 1838; married first, March 25, 1798, Elizabeth Boardman, daughter of Captain Francis and Mary ( Hodges ) Board- man, who died October 18, 1798, aged nineteen years ; married second, October 28, 1800, his cousin, Mary Ingersoll, born December 4, 1781, died April 17, 1834, daughter of Jonathan and Mary ( Hodges) Ingersoll, of Windsor, Ver- mont. Children by second wife: I. Nathaniel Ingersoll, born at Salem, January 17, 1805. died in Brookline, Massachusetts, April 16, 1861. (H. C. 1822). Married, April 23, 1835, Elizabeth B. Francis. 2. Jonathan Ingersoll, married Lucy Orne Nichols. 3. Henry Inger- soll. born at Salem, August 9, 1808, died Janu- ary 14. 1892. (H. C., 1828). 4. Charles Inger- soll, died February 21, 1820. 5. Son, died young. 6. Mary Ingersoll. 7. William Inger- soll. (H. C., 1838). 8. Elizabeth Boardman Ingersoll.

NATHAN DANE.

Nathan Dane was born at Ipswich, in the parish of that town called the Hamlet, now the separate town of Hamilton, December 29, 1752. His ancestor John Dane came from England before 1641 and from him Nathan was de- scended by John (2). John (3). Daniel (4). Daniel (5). the last of whom married Abigail Burnham, the mother of Nathan.

He worked on a farm until he was twenty- one, when he prepared himself for college, and entered Harvard, and was graduated there in 1778. He then taught school and studied law, and began practice in Beverly, where he resided until his death, February 15, 1835. He was a representative to the general court of Massa- chusetts, 1782-85 ; member of Congress, 1785- 87 : and of the Massachusetts senate five years between 1790 and 1798. He held other honors, including an appointment as justice of the court of common pleas, but resigned the place very soon. In 1814 he was a member of the Hartford convention. He was a member of

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several historical societies. In 1829 he founded the Dane law professorship in Harvard Col- lege. He was the author of "A General Abridg- ment and Digest of American Law," a work which gave him a permanent fame. But he is still better known for the connection of his name with the Ordinance of 1787, drafted by him for the government of the Northwest Territory of Ohio. In this document the spread and power of the institution of slavery was checked.

Daniel Webster in his famous "Reply to Hayne" eulogized him thus: "I paid a passing tribute of respect to a very worthy man. Mr. Dane, of Massachusetts. It so happens that he drew the ordinance of 1787 for the govern- ment of the northwest territory. A man of so much ability and so little pretence, of so great a capacity to do good and so unmixed a disposi- tion to do it for its own sake, a gentleman who had acted an important part forty years ago, in a measure the influence of which is still deeply felt, should be remembered." Webster further said: "It fixed forever the character of the population in the vast regions northwest of the Ohio, by excluding from them involuntary servitude. It impressed upon the soil itself, while it was yet a wilderness. an incapacity to bear up any other than freeman. It laid the interdict against personal servitude, in original compact. not only deeper than all local law, but deeper, also, than all local constitution."

He was notable above all his professional brethren of that time. He acquired in his youth a physical stamina by work on the farm which supported him through the unremitted labors of a long life, during sixty of which he pursued his studies.

A notice by a contemporary, Rev. Christo- · pher T. Ayer, is printed in Stone's "History of Beverly," from which are made these extracts : "llis father was a worthy and substantial farmer, and his parents respectable and excel- lent persons, of whom he always spoke with veneration and affection. They had a numer- ous family-six sons and six daughters-of whom two daughters were living ( 1843) one in her 102d year. He was remarkable for his power of long continued application to study. llis advantages of education before he was twenty-one were very small. He prepared himself for college in the short space of eight months. He studied law under the well known Judge Wetmore .* Ilis practice from the first was extensive and profitable. Through grow-

ing deafness he was induced gradually, and at length wholly to retire from it. He was ap- pointed on a committee to revise the laws of the State in 1795, and again to a smiliar duty in 1811 and 1812. He was an elector of presi- dent of the United States in 1812, and chosen in 1820 a member of the convention for revis- ing the State constitution, but on account of deafness did not take his seat. He was dis- tinguished by his ability in debate, knowledge of public business and capacity for discharging it." "We are accustomed," said Mr. Webster (in 1830). "to praise the lawgivers of antiq- uity ; we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus ; but I doubt whether one single law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of a more distinct and marked and lasting character than the ordinance of '87. That instrument was drawn by Nathan Dane, then and now a citizen of Massachusetts. It was adopted, as I think I have understood, without the slightest alteration ; and certainly it has happened to few men, to be the author of a political measure of more large and endur- ing consequence."

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I, Part 5

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