USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 66
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He was a frequent and effective speaker in the state campaign of 1895, and in the autumn of that year was nominated by the Democratic party for mayor of Boston, and elected, serving for the first two year term elections to the office having previously been annual. He was re-elected in the fall of 1897, and served until January, 1900. One of his first acts as mayor was to appoint an advisory board of leading business men who were to act with him upon large matters of business, tax- ation and finance affecting the municipality. The wisdom of this action was recognized by the leading Republican paper in these words:
"The action of Mayor Quincy in appointing seven prominent business men as a board of consultation and advice in reference to municipal matters is not a surprise to the public, as the mayor during his campaign announced his intention of organizing such a board. It is, however, due both to Mayor Quincy and to the gentlemen whom he has selected, that some acknowledgment of his wisdom in the selection he made."
He was the third Josiah Quincy elected mayor of Boston, his great-grandfather and grandfather, bearing the same name, having each filled the office with distinction in his day. His administration was signalized by the building of the South Union Station, uniting the terminals of the various railroads enter- ing the city from the south and west, and many other important public improvements. He was specially interested in the establish- ment of the system of public baths, gymnasia and playgrounds which have now grown to large dimensions in Boston, and in other pro- gressive measures for the benefit of the masses of the people.
Mr. Quincy was the Democratic candidate for governor of Massachusetts in 1901, at a time when the Republican party had for several years been carrying the state by over- whelming majorities, and had named in the person of Governor Crane a very strong and popular candidate ; he made an active canvass, advocating various progressive policies, which resulted in a substantial reduction of the Republican plurality and in materially strengthening the Democratic party. In 1906 he again served as chairman of the Demo- cratic state committee, but resigned before the opening of the fall campaign to accept the position, to which he was appointed in October of that year, of a member of the Boston Tran- sit Commission, a board of five members con- stituted by the legislature in 1894 to build subways and tunnels for rapid transit pur- poses, and he still continues to serve upon that body. In 1908 he supported Mr. Bryan for the presidency, and was appointed a member of the advisory committee of the Democratic national committee, of late years he has resumed the practice of law.
On February 17th, 1900, he was married, in London, to Mrs. Ellen (Curtis) Tyler, widow of William Royall Tyler, Harvard 1874, who at the time of his death in Novem- ber, 1897, was head-master of the Adams Academy in Quincy. From that time until the death of Mrs. Quincy which occurred at
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Biarritz, France, on January 16, 1904, Mr. Quincy made his home chiefly in London and on the continent, Mrs. Quincy's son, Royall Tyler, being a student at Harrow and Oxford. A son was born on May 15, 1903, at Biarritz, France, and was given the name of Edmund after his ancestor ten generations removed, who was the first Quincy to come to America.
Mr. Quincy returned permanently to Amer- ica in the winter of 1904, and has since resided in Boston. On November 1, 1905, he was married, in New York city, to Miss Mary Honey, daughter of Hon. Samuel R. Honey, of Newport, Rhode Island, and New York city, formerly Captain, U. S. A., lieutenant- governor of Rhode Island, mayor of New- port, and a member of the Democratic national committee.
Mr. Quincy is a member of the Union Club, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Loyal Legion, the City Clubs of Boston and New York, and various other organizations.
PRINCE From an old manuscript left by his great-uncle, Francis Prince, a prominent merchant of his time in London, England, the Rev. Thomas Prince, for many years a distinguished clergyman of Bos- ton, Massachusetts, pastor of the Old South Church, gathered the information that his great- grandfather was Rev. John Prince, rector of East Shefford, within six miles of Newbury, England, and about fifty miles from London. He was born of honorable parents, and educated at the University of Oxford. It is said of him that, though he was one of the conforming Puritans of the Church of England of those days who greatly longed for a further reform- ation, he omitted the more offensive ceremon- ies of the church as long as he lived, and in doing so found great friends to protect him. He married, about 1609, Elizabeth Tolder- bury, daughter of Dr. Tolderbury, D. D., of Oxford, by whom he had four sons and seven daughters, who all grew up, every one of them proving conscientious nonconformists, even while their parents lived, but without any breach of amity or affection. And thus they continued pretty near together till the furious and cruel Archbishop Laud dispersed them and drove the eldest son, with many others, into this country in the early days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where, though he was a young gentleman of liberal education, yet, thinking he had not made sufficient pro- gress in learning for the ministry, he applied himself to husbandry.
(II) Elder John Prince, of Hull, Massa- chusetts, eldest son of Rev. John Prince, of England, was born in East Shefford, about 1610, and was, like his father, educated at the University of Oxford, where he remained two years with a view to the ministry and the expectancy of succeeding his father as rector of East Shefford, he being a young man of eminent parts, talents and piety; but the licentiousness of the University was so grievous to him that he prevailed on his father to take him away and put him to a merchant near London Bridge with whom he lived most acceptably until 1633, when, for the sake of conscience and pure religion, he came over to New England. His ideas of church govern- ment were in conflict with those of Arch- bishop Laud, and it is said that he wrote some- thing against the church which offended that dignitary, and was obliged to flee from his displeasure and persecution, and being about to be apprehended he was conveyed secretly in a pannier on board a ship bound for New England. He was one of the first planters of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, settling in Watertown, where he married Alice Honour, May, 1637. In 1634 or 1635, at the time of the general dispersion from Boston, which was before he married, he went to Hingham, Mas- sachusetts, through having formed an acquain- tance with the Hobarts of Charlestown. Going from Hingham to Hull a few years later, he was one of the early settlers of Nantascot, in 1638, and shared in the first division of the lands of Hull, the name given to succeed Nantascot in 1644 by the general court. He was urged by the people there at that time to become their pastor but compromised by accepting the office of ruling elder, the first to occupy this exalted position, and became chief both in the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of the town. He held the office of ruling elder for nearly thirty years. The general court invested him with the power of marrying peo- ple. He was beloved by all, and his death, which occurred August 16, 1676, in the sixty- sixth year of his age, was greatly lamented. and he was held in grateful remembrance for many years thereafter for his abilities, piety, wisdom and behavior. He was a true gentle- man of the old school, and won his distinction not merely from the fact that his ancestors were among the educated and influential, or as one who had mingled with men of learning and polished manners, but rather as one whose demeanor was so perfectly and naturally courteous and proper as to give him a decided
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and marked preference among all classes. He left behind in the old world, family influence, exalted station and repose, and cast his lot among the wayfarers in the savage wilderness of the western world. Governor Thomas Prince, one of the thirty-five persons who came over in the "Fortune," valued him highly and used to call him cousin. Elder Prince married about 1670, a second time, his will, dated May 9. 1676, mentioning his wife Anna ; she was the widow of William Barstow. By his first wife only he had children, and while his will gives the names of eight, the dates of their births are not recorded, although the minutes of Rev. Peter Hobart, the first pastor of Hingham, show the dates of the baptisms of all. The will is probated in Boston, and names his two eldest sons, John and Joseph, as executors, the inventory being sworn to by John. Elder John Prince had several tracts of land granted to him by the towns of Hing- ham and Hull, the records showing in all some twenty-one acres. Fishing was the means of livelihood of the people of Hull, the town being situated on the coast. In a peti- tion addressed "To the honoured Counsell now assembled at Boston," presented March 3, 1675, and signed, with others, by John Prince, Joseph Prince, Samuel Prince and Isaac Prince, sons of Elder John, the follow- ing statement is made: "We being persons whose sole employment is fishing, and so at sea, having no lands nor cattle to maintain ourselves or families, but what we must have hitherto done by the blessing of God on our labors produced from the sea." The sons as they grew up took to the sea and became cap- tains of vessels, and most of them died in foreign parts. Children of Elder John Prince : I. John, baptized May 16, 1638; see forward. 2. Elizabeth, baptized August 9, 1640, died May 13, 1727; married, 1662, Josiah Loring of Hingham, who died February 17, 1713-14 3. Joseph, baptized February 26, 1642, died 1695; married, December 7, 1670, Joanna, daughter of Secretary Nathaniel Morton, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, from 1645 to 1685. 4. Martha, baptized August 10, 1645; married, 1674, Christopher Wheaton. 5. Job, baptized August 22, 1647, died 1694; married Rebecca Phippeny, who survived him, and married (second) John Clark. 6. Samuel, born May 16, 1649, at Boston, baptized August 19, 1649, died July 3, 1728, at Middleboro, Massachu- setts; married (first) December 9, 1674, Martha Barstow, of Hull, daughter of William Barstow. She died December 18,
1684, and he married (second ) Mercy Hinck- ley, born at Barnstable, January 31, 1662-3, died April 25, 1736, eldest daughter of Hon. Thomas Hinckley, governor of Plymouth colony. 7. Benjamin, baptized April 25, 1652. 8. Isaac, baptized July 9, 1654, died November 7, 1718; married, May 23, 1679, Mary Turner, born December 10, 1658, daughter of John Turner, of Scituate. 9. Thomas, baptized July 8, 1658; married Ruth Turner, baptized May 17, 1662, daughter of John Turner, of Scituate. John, the eldest son, died at Hull; Joseph died in 1695, at Quebec, Canada ; Job, ship-master, was lost at sea in the English Channel in 1694; Benjamin died at Jamaica ; Isaac at Boston, and Thomas, the youngest, ship-master, at Barbadoes, in 1704. Samuel lived first at Hull, and by his first wife, Martha, had three sons and two daughters. He at first went to coasting, and then applied himself to domestic trade and merchandise. After marrying his second wife, Mercy, daughter of Governor Hinckley, he removed to Sandwich, and by her had seven sons and three daughters. In 1710 he removed to Rochester, Massachusetts, where the chief part of his estate lay, he being the principal proprietor of the township and its first repre- sentative. For Sandwich and Rochester he served as representative in the great and general court nineteen times since the revolu- tion, and was oftener chosen but excused him- self from serving. He was healthy and strong in body, of a vigorous and active spirit, of a thought ful and penetrating mind, religious from youth, much improved in Scriptural knowledge, esteemed for his abilities and gifts and especially for his powers of arguing. Rev. Thomas Prince, who is remembered not only as one of Boston's most distinguished clergy- men, but also as an annalist, of whom Samuel G. Drake, the historian, says: "Nothing came from his pen that does not now possess his- torical value," was a son of Samuel Prince. Samuel died at Middleboro, at the home of his daughter Mary, wife of Rev. Peter Thatcher.
(III) John Prince, eldest son of Elder John Prince, was baptized May 6, 1638; married Rebecca, supposed to be daughter of George and Rebecca ( Phippeny) Vickery, of Hull, who were the next neighbors to Elder John Prince on the northwest. The vital records of Hull previous to about 1680 are very meagre, and there is no record of either the birth or baptism of Rebecca Vickery or of her marriage to John Prince Jr., although there are records of the births of two children of
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"John and Rebeka Prince" after 1685. In the early town records of Hull it is shown that : "There is given to John Prince, Junior, of Hull, by the inhabitants thereof, one small lott for a house lott and a garden in the lane called Marsh lane, containing eight rodd and twelve feet more or less." There was also given to "David Vickree" a small lot adjoining that of John Prince, Junior, on the east. He was probably a brother to Rebecca. John Prince, Junior, like his brothers, followed the sea. Children: I. Joseph. 2. Rebecca ; mar- ried, February 24, 1700, Joseph Benson, of Hull, and had a daughter Elizabeth, born May 5, 1720, and twin boys, Benjamin and John, born March 5, 1724, both of whom died the same year. The mother died March 9, four days after the birth of the twins. 3. John, born November 1, 1686 or 87, (the last figure is blurred and rather indistinct), see forward. 4. Experience, born January 1I, 1689; mar- ried, first, October 17, 1711, Benjamin Benson of Boston. He died in October, 1714, and she married (second) November, 1718, John Coombs.
(IV) John Prince, son of John Prince, born November 1, 1686, at Hull, died January 24, 1765, at Southold, Long Island; married Reliance Fuller, born September 8, 1691, at Barnstable. died June 5, 1761, at Southold, Long Island, daughter of Dr. John Fuller, son of Captain Matthew Fuller, who is believed to have been a son of Edward Fuller, who, with his son Samuel and his brother, Samuel Fuller, came over in the "Mayflower." Among genealogists of the Fuller family, however, there is a difference of opinion, a recent compiler denying that Captain Matthew was a son of Edward, while at the same time he gives no satisfactory evidence to the con- trary. Captain Matthew Fuller was first of Plymouth about 1640; and removed to Barn- stable in 1652, where he died in 1678. He was appointed surgeon general of the Provincial forces raised in Plymouth colony in 1673. He was sergeant under Captain Myles Standish in 1643; lieutenant at Barnstable in 1652; lieu- tenant in Captain Standish's expedition against Manhattoes colony in 1654; chairman of council of war ; lieutenant of the forces against the Saconet Indians in 1671 and captain in King Philip's war. He was one of the first purchasers of the town of Middleboro about 1662. Children of John and Reliance ( Fuller ) Prince: 1. John, born August 10, 1716; see forward. 2. Joseph, born May 10, 1718. 3. Rebecca, born September 9, 1719; married
Samuel Hutton, of Stamford, Connecticut, who died there in 1787. 4. Benjamin. 5. Samuel, born April 24, 1724. 6. Hannah, born December 13, 1728; married Samuel (or Thomas) Conklin, of Southold, Long Island, New York, born September 10, 1728, at Southold, and died there December 6, 1785.
(V) John Prince, son of John Prince, born August 10, 1716, at Barnstable, died July 23, 1786, at Boston; married, May 25, 1749, Esther Guild, born September 30, 1721, at Wrentham, Massachusetts, died July 19, 1799, "at Boston, daughter of John and Mercy (Foster ) Guild of Wrentham. He was for . many years a merchant in Boston. Children : I. John, died in infancy. 2. John, born July 22, 1751, at Boston, died June 7, 1836, at Salem, aged eighty-five years ; married (first) April 12, 1780, Mary Bayley, who died sud- denly in December, 1806, aged fifty-four years, and in November, 1816, he married his cousin, Mrs. Milly (Messinger) Waldo, widow of Major Jonathan Waldo. She was born December 18, 1763, and died at Boston, January 7, 1836, and was carried to Salem for interment. 3. Joseph, born August 24, 1753, died November 24, 1828, at Mendon, Massachusetts, aged seventy-five years ; mar- ried Sarah Bennett. 4. Thomas, born Febru- ary 28, 1756, died September 26, 1781; drowned off the Capes of Delaware. 5. David, born September 18. 1757, died September, 1760. 6. Samuel, born December 13, 1760; see forward. John, the eldest son, was brought up a mechanic, but was later educated to the ministry and was graduated at Har- vard University in 1776. He settled at Salem, as pastor of the First Church there, in 1779, and continued its pastor until his death, a period of fifty-seven years. The University conferred on him the degrees of Doctor of Divinity and Doctor of Laws. Joseph, the next younger son, went to the western country in 1789, was at Marietta, Ohio, in 1792, and at Cincinnati about 1794 and became one of the early settlers of that place, but returned to Massachusetts about 1812, purchased a farm at Mendon and died there in 1822. His wife, Sarah Bennett, died there five years later.
(VI) Samuel Prince, youngest son of John Prince, was born in Boston, December 13, 1760, died there July 21, 1816 ; married, Octo- ber 15, 1786, Sarah Ingersoll, born August 19, 1761, died July 13, 1809, daughter of Daniel and Bethiah ( Haskell) Ingersoll. He was a merchant in Boston. Children: I. Samuel,
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born July II, 1787, at Boston, died September 5, 18II, unmarried. 2. Sarah, born January 26. 1789, at Boston, died June 18, 1860, unmarried. 3. George Ingersoll, born July 9, 1791, at Boston, died August 15, 1848, at Buffalo, New York, where he had resided ten years ; married, September 8, 1816, Mary Ann Rogers, of Boston, who died May 12, 1879. They had four sons and three daughters. He was a mariner, and for many years a captain of ships sailing between southern ports and Europe. 4. Charles Augustus, born December 5, 1795, at Boston; see forward. 5. Caroline Matilda, born January 5, 1798, at Boston, died May 18. 1865; married William H. Burbeck, born May 3, 1796, died May 23. 1823. 6. John. born February 12, 1800, died February 23, 1845. 7. Elizabeth Smith, born November 2. 1803. at Boston, died November 4, 1803.
(VII) Charles Augustus Prince, son of Samuel, born December 5, 1795. died March 14. 1868, at Boston; married, May 15, 1820, at Providence, Rhode Island, Penelope Min- turn Greene, born May 3, 1798, at Providence, died August 25, 1863. at Boston ; daughter of Thomas and Waite (Comstock) Greene. He was a prominent merchant of Boston, being for fifty-four years a member of the firm of Ballard & Prince, which succeeded the firm of J. & J. Ballard, founded by John and Joseph Ballard, brothers, carpet dealers at 168 Wash- ington street and afterwards at 7 and 9 Brom- field street. This firm was the most important in its line during its business career, being large importers of foreign carpets. Mr. Prince inherited the fine characteristics of his ancestors and was highly esteemed in business circles for his straightforward dealings and gentlemanly treatment of all with whom he came in contact. Socially he enjoyed a large acquaintance among the leading men of his time. Children: 1. John Ballard, born Feb- ruary 6. 1821, at Boston; see forward. 2.
Mary Elizabeth, born February 5, 1824. 3. Louisa Frances, born August 2, 1833, died May 8, 1893, at Dedham, Massachusetts, mar- ried (first) October 27, 1857, Louis Camille Lynch, born October 7, 1832, died May 24, 1879; married (second) January 8, 1880, at Dedham, Joseph A. Laforme, born July 16, 1829, at Rheine, Prussia. By her first hus- band she had one son, George Ingersoll Lynch, born November 1, 1858, who married, Sep- tember, 1884, Ella Amelia Smith, of Wauke- gan, Illinois, born August 27, 1862.
(VIII) John Ballard Prince, only son of Charles Augustus Prince, born February 5,
1821, at Boston, died there July 21, 1901 ; married Sarah Maria Fowle, born April 4, 1826, died March 15, 1905; daughter of Charles Sigourney and Frances (Hilton) Fowle, of Boston. Charles Sigourney Fowle was son of John Fowle and Mary Parker, who was daughter of Jonas Parker, the martyr hero who was shot and then bayonetted to death by British soldiers on Lexington Common on the morning of April 19, 1775, and whose name is inscribed on the monument on Lexington Green.
John Ballard Prince was, educated in the public schools of Boston, graduating from the English high school at the age of fifteen years. From the high school he went as clerk for the firm of Shaw, Blake & Co., one of the oldest and wealthiest firms of woolen merchants of that time. At twenty-one years of age he became junior member of the firm of Smith & Sumner, and afterwards of the firm of Dorr, Balch & Prince, wholesale dry goods merchants on Milk street, Boston. This firm was succeeded by Ordway, Prince & Co., and afterwards by Prince & Post. He retired from active business in 1865. His children : I. Charles John, born June 16, 1843, at Boston, see forward. 2. Benjamin Balch, born March 3, 1846, at Boston; unmarried. 3. Edward, born January 30, 1849, at Boston, died there July 14, 1859. 4. Frederick, born August 19, 1851, at Boston, died there October 24, 1851.
(IX) Charles John Prince, son of John Ballard Prince, born June 16, 1843, at Boston ; married (first) June 3, 1869, Justine DePey- ster Cotton, daughter of Joseph H. and Arria (Coffin) Cotton, by whom he had one son, Charles Barnard, born December 1I, 1877; married, June 5, 1906, at Boston, Halldis Moller, of Christiania, Norway. They reside in Cortland, New York. Mr. Prince married (second) December 7, 1905, at St. Augustine, Florida, Oleonda Becker, born at Hamburg, Germany. They reside in Boston.
Mr. Prince was educated at the Chauncey Hall School, following which he was clerk for a short time for the firm of Page, Richardson & Co., shipping merchants. During the time of the war he entered into the firm of Lootz & Prince, commision merchants, which was succeeded by Mr. Prince in 1869, under the firm name of C. J. Prince & Co., doing busi- ness on Milk street, Boston. He was a mem- ber of the First Corps of Cadets of Boston, and the Algonquin, Country, Eastern Yacht and Boston Athletic clubs.
Through the marriage of his grandfather,
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Charles Augustus Prince, to Penelope Min- turn Greene, Mr. Prince is a direct descendant of many of the celebrities of colonial times in Rhode Island, including Governor Roger Williams, Governor Caleb Carr, Governor Joseph Jenckes, Major John Greene and Cap- tain Randall Holden. He is also descended from Captain Matthew Fuller, (see above), and, through his mother, of George Fowle, the immigrant ancestor of the well known Fowle family, who settled in Concord, Massa- chusetts, about 1637, his line being: George (1), Lieutenant James (2), Captain John (3), Cornet John (4), Jonathan (5), John (6), Charles Sigourney (7), Sarah Maria (8), (see Fowle family) ; also from Captain John Carter, of Woburn, a prominent man of his time, 1616-1692, and from Jonas Parker, the Lexington hero.
HARRIS The Welsh custom of adding to a name the father's name in possessive form to distinguish one from another of the same Christian name, was the origin of this patronymic. In the short four centuries that surnames have pre- vailed in Great Britain, time has sufficed to make many changes and modifications in the form of all classes of words, and names are no exception to the rule. In the Welsh ver- nacular, William was "David's," Harry was "John's," and David was "William's," and thus we have Davy's ( Davis), John's (Jones ), Will- iams and Harris, among the most common of the Welsh names. The Harris family, of whom this article gives some account, was among the earliest in New England, and has contributed much to the advancement of this region and of the nation, and is now found in connection with all worthy endeavor. It has been espe- cially active in the fields of invention and pioneer development. Almost every state has found the name among those of its pioneer settlers, and it has spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
(I) Thomas Harris, born in Deal, Kent county, England, died in Providence, Rhode Island, June 7, 1686. He came to America with his brother William in the ship "Lion," from Bristol, England, December 1, 1630. On August 20, 1637, or a little later, he and twelve others signed the following compact: "We, whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit the town of Providence, do promise to subject ourselves in active or passive obedience to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for public good of the body in an orderly way
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