USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 79
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Mr. Fisk married Maria Emerson, daughter of Daniel H. Ripley. Three of their children are deceased: George, died at age of eleven years; and Robert and Lena, died in infany.
Charles Abbott, son of George C. and Maria Emerson ( Ripley Fisk, born in Springfield, August 15, 1853, died at his summer home in Huntington in the Berkshire Hills. His early education was received in a private school in this city, and he afterward entered
the Massachusetts Agricultural College in Am- herst. He began his business career as an errand boy in the Wason car works in 1872, and by faithfulness and perseverance rose to higher positions. He became paymaster and was also at the head of the supply department. At the time of his death he was cashier and purchasing agent. He was a director of the Wason Car Com- pany, a director of the Fisk Paper Company of Hinsdale, New Hampshire.' He was also president of the B. L. Bragg Company. Although a firm believer in the principles of the Republican party, Mr. Fisk often acted independently in politics. He was elected to the common council from ward I in 1877, and served on the city property and enrollment committee, giving good service to the city. He belonged to the Calhoun Club and attend- ed the Third Universalist Church. Mr. Fisk was twice married, his first wife being Jennie. daughter of George A. Graves, of Springfield. One daughter, Mattie, was born to them. October 17, 1894, he married (second) Helen E. Young, daughter of E. M. Young, of Springfield, who survives him. He also leaves three children by his second marriage: Mil- dred, Florence and Helen E.
Belle R., daughter of George C. and Maria Emerson (Ripley ) Fisk, married Oliver Hyde Dickinson, June 20, 1888, and have three children: George Fisk, born July 5, 1890; Julia and Minerva, twins, born October 23, 1891. Mr. Dickinson is engaged in the seed business in Springfield. The Dickinson- Fisk nuptials was one of the swellest affairs in the "smart set" of aristocratic Springfield. The local papers and the Boston and New York journals were very profuse in their descriptions.
"The most brilliant and beautiful wedding which Springfield has seen for many years occurred at the Brightwood residence of Mr. and Mrs. George C. Fisk, Wednesday evening, when their only daughter, Miss Isabel, ( Belle R.) was united in marriage with Mr. Oliver Hyde Dickinson. The occasion bore the poetic name of a "rose wedding," the residence, Dr. Holland's Brightwood, being transformed into a bower of roseate beauty. The estate, beau- tiful in itself, was made doubly so by all that art and skill could do, the decorations being a triumph of floral art. At the back of the spacious hall was a bank of tropical plants reaching from the ground floor to the top of the balusters. The balusters were trimmed with ivy and the newel-post entirely covered with a column of La France and Pearl roses,
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surmounted by the bronze statue of Mercury upholding a cluster of gas jets. The columns supporting the Gothic arches were trimmed with ivy so arranged as to hang in pendants from the three arches. Over all this beauty came the colored lights from the dome above, which was lighted to give the brilliancy of the midday sun, making the effect something superb. In the library the fireplace was com- pletely disguised with plants and roses reach- ing to the ceiling. In the center of the room, supported on a table, was a magnificent basket of roses, four feet in diameter, and containing some 500 buds. The piazza facing the east, inclosed by bamboo-beaded portieres and filled with tropical plants, gave the appearance of a conservatory. The moonlight falling through the portieres made the beads sparkle like jewels, the effect being almost dazzling. Im- mense Japanese lanterns were hung in design from the center of the ceiling. The piazza facing the west was also inclosed by bamboo beaded portieres lighted by 100 Japanese candles, and it was here that Coenen's orches- tra gave forth music that could be heard all over the house and grounds. In the dining room the center piece was a silver epergne, three feet high, filled with choice fruits. Underneath the epergne was a floral base com- posed of roses and green with three small pyramids supporting china filled with bonbons. Other china to match that used on the table was scattered among the roses. At each end of the table were two square vases composed of roses and carnations; the vases were three feet high and resting on green bases. Both vases were filled with choice roses and spirea japonica. In the base of these vases were canary birds, whose sweet voices were a mys- tery to the guests, who could not imagine where the songsters were. The west parlor, in which the ceremony was performed, was transformed into a plateau of roses. Glass and mantelpiece were banked from the floor to the ceiling with tropical plants and roses. The frieze was festooned with smilax and roses of all colors caught up with blue bows. Across the broad opening of the exquisite bay window were floral portieres with a frieze of Marechal Niel, La France and Nephetos roses, and a dado of bride and Jacqueminot roses. The backgrounds of the portieres was com- posed of ferns and smilax, and in the center of each was the monogram "D. and F." in Pearl and La France roses. The chandelier was festooned with smilax, and with its beau- tiful glass prisms gave a charming effect."
Among the distinguished guests at this wed- ding was the Honorable Don M. Dickinson of Michigan, postmaster general in Cleveland's cabinet.
(XVI) Lucius I., second son of Thomas Trowbridge and Emily H. (Hildreth) Fisk, was born in Hinsdale in 1833, died in Spring- field, August 18, 1880. He married Evaline E. Raymond, of Ashuelot, New Hampshire, and they had no children.
(XVI) Noyes W., youngest son of Thomas Trowbridge and Emily H. (Hildreth) Fisk, was born in Hinsdale, May 15, 1839, died January 21, 1901. When thirteen years old he entered the country store of Frederick Hunt in Hinsdale as clerk. He remained with Mr. Hunt for about four years, and in 1856 went to Northampton and kept books for Thayer & Sargeant for a couple of years. Later he became bookkeeper for E. B. Haskell & Sons, grocers, in Springfield. In 1862 he enlisted in Company A of the Forty-sixth Regiment. When he had served out the term of his en- listment, he returned to Springfield and started for himself in the grocery and provision busi- ness. In 1867 he went into the manufacture of lamp-black on the corner of Chestnut and Ringgold streets, and had hardly got on the way when all his buildings were consumed by fire. In 1868 he went into partnership with his brothers in the manufacture of soap. In 1880 the Fisk Manufacturing Company was formed for manufacturing this product, of which George C. Fisk was president, Noyes W. Fisk, clerk and treasurer. The company employs nearly forty men and manufactures a larger quantity of soap than any other New England house and is among the very largest in the whole country. The principal markets for the Fisk Manufacturing Company's goods are in New England, New York, New Jersey and the Middle West. They make the popular Japanese soap. Mr. Fisk was for seven years a member of the common council from ward one and for ten years a member of the water commissioners. He was a director in the Chicopee National Bank, the Springfield Wood-working Company and the Hampden Paint Works. He was a director in the Masonic Mutual Insurance Company, a trustee of the School for Christian Workers. He was a member of the Winthrop Club, Nayassett Club and Blue Lodge of Masons and the Springfield Commandery of Knights Templar. He had passed all the various degrees in the Masonic order up to the thirty-second degree, and was one of the most ardent members of
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that order. He was one of the organizers of the Fisk Rubber Company; was member of Wilcox Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He was a member of the Memorial Congrega- tional Church. He was a lover of animals, espe- cially horses and dogs, and it was his pride to be the possessor of some of the best horses to be had. He was public-spirited in all things tending to the good of the community, and loyal in his friendships. His positions of public and financial trust show the estimation in which Mr. Fisk was held by the general and business community. August 25, 1862, he married Emeline G. Adams, of Hinsdale, daughter of Oliver and Fanny (Stearns) Adams, and they had two children: Harry G., and Grace M., who died in infancy. Harry G., married Alice B. Mayo; they have three children: Julia M., Noyes M. and Charlotte M. Harry G. is actively associated with the Fisk Rubber Company as secretary.
EATON There were persons of distinc- tion among the English families of the surname Eaton, and among the New England descendants of that ancient house in every generation from the time of the immigrant ancestor there have been men of distinction and high character equal perhaps to that of their European forbears, although on this side of the Atlantic we find none of the name who have placed their chief reliance for character and worth on the coat of arms "or a fret azure" so much as on personal en- deavor and individual achievement. The family of the Eaton surname whose pedigree is traced here, begins its history in New England with John and Anne Eaton, the former of whom is mentioned in some chronicles as John Eaton of Haverhill and in others as John Eaton of Salisbury, both of the colony of Massachusetts Bay. He came of the old English family of the same name, and while there is room for the belief that his ancestors were of the same kin with those of Sir Peter, baronet, the fact is not easily established. The immigration registers and ship's lists of passengers give no account of the departure of John Eaton and his family from England, neither is it known exactly when they arrived in this country, nor the name of the ship in which they took pass- age ; but they came, John Eaton and his wife and six children, and sat down in one of the plantations in the Massachusetts Bay colony, in or sometime previous to the year 1639.
(I) John Eaton first appears on the pro- prietors' books of Salisbury in 1639-40, and
several grants of land to him were made be- tween 1640 and 1646. A tradition which has run in the family for more than a century and a half is to the effect that he had a brother and a cousin in the colony about or soon after the time of his arrival, but the researches of more recent investigators seem to dispel the theory. One of the grants of land to John Eaton was that made on the "26th of ye 6th mo. 1640, 2 acres, more or less, for his house lotte, lying between the house lotts of Mr. Samuel Hall and Rolfe Blesdale ;" and another was his "planting lotte," granted "the 7th of the 9th mo. 1640, containing pr estimation six acres more or less, lying uppon ye great neck," and his house was built near the "great neck bridge, on the beach road." It is interesting to note in this connection that in 1890 the old home- stead property was still owned and in posses- sion of descendants of the immigrant. Later in 1646 John Eaton conveyed the property to his son John, and then moved with the other members of his family about fifteen miles up the Merrimack to Haverhill, and there spent the remaining twenty-two years of his life. In 1646 he was chosen grand juror, and also one of five prudential men of Salisbury. He was a husbandman, and the records mention that he also made staves. He died in Haverhill, October 29, 1668, aged about seventy-three years, hence he was born about 1595. He married Anne -- , about 1617, and all of their children were born in England. She died February 5, 1660, and he married second, November 20, 1661, Phebe, widow of Thomas Dow, of Newbury, Massachusetts. She died in 1672. John and Anne Eaton had children : I. John, born 1619 ; married Martha Rowland- son, of Ipswich, Massachusetts. 2. Ann, born about 1622, died in Haverhill, December 13, 1683; married June 25, 1645, Lieutenant George Brown, who married second, March 17, 1684, widow Hannah Hazen of Rowley. 3. Elizabeth, born about 1625; married De- cember 1, 1648, James Davis, of Haverhill; ten children. 4. Ruth, born about 1628; mar- ried December 9, 1656, Samuel Ingalls ; lived in Ipswich. 5. Thomas, born about 1631; married (first) Martha Kent ; (second) Eunice Singletery ; lived in Haverhill. 6. Hester, born about 1634, died young.
(II) John Eaton, eldest child of John and Anne Eaton, was born in England in 1619, and died on the old homestead in Salisbury, Massachusetts, November 1, 1682. He went to Salisbury with his father in the winter of 1639-40, and when the latter removed to
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Haverhill, in 1646, he deeded his house and property "on the neck" to his son John who lived there until his death. He was a planter and cooper, as he describes himself in his will, and he appears to have become possessed of a large estate in lands which he gave to his son, making ample provision for each, the homestead going to his eldest son John. About 1644 John Eaton married Martha, daughter of Thomas Rowlandson Sr., of Ipswich, and sister of Rev. Joseph Rowlandson, who gradu- ated from Harvard College in 1652, the only member of his class. The Rowlandsons came from England, and it is believed that they were acquainted with the Eatons before coming to this country. Martha, wife of John Eaton, survived him about thirty years, and died in July, 1712, "a woman of great age and of great excellency of character." Children : I. Hester, born August, 1645, died 1649. 2. John, born about 1646; married Mary ; lived in Salisbury. 3. Thomas, born January 17, 1647 ; married Hannah Hubbard ; lived in. Salisbury ; she was a descendant of William Hubbard, "an eminent inhabitant" of Ipswich. 4. Martha, born August 12, 1648; married (first) Benja- min Collins, of Salisbury; ( second) Philip Flanders. of Salisbury. 5. Elizabeth, born December 12, 1650; married January 7, 1673, Dr. John Groth, who was admitted to practice medicine in 1679. 6. Ann, born December 17, 1652, died June 12, 1658. 7. Sarah, born Feb- ruary 28, 1655; married May 6, 1675, Robert Downer, of Salisbury. 8. Mary, born Decem- ber 9, 1656, died January 1, 1657. 9. Samuel, born February 14. 1659; a mariner. IO. Joseph, born March 1, 1661 ; married Mary French ; lived in Salisbury. II. Ephraim, born April 12, 1663; married Mary True ; lived in Salisbury.
(III) Captain Joseph Eaton, son and tenth child of John and Martha (Rowlandson) Faton, was born in Salisbury, March 1, 1661, and died there January 13, 1743. His house was in that part of the town known as Sandy hill, where his houselot comprised three acres of land given him by his father, but he had much other land and is said to have bought and sold land quite extensively for his time, and to have gained an honest competency through his dealings. He was a joiner by trade, and built many houses and other build- ings in the town, and he also was captain of militia and a man of considerable influence in public affairs. Captain Eaton was a famous hunter and trapper, and at certain seasons of the year went with companions as far east as
Brunswick, Maine, and on his return home he would entertain his family and friends with anecdotes of his frequent excursions. These stories aroused an adventurous spirit in his sons, and three of them afterward sought their fortunes down in the wilds of Maine. They were not adventurers, however, but sturdy pioneers, men of courage and determination, Indian fighters in defense of home and family, and one of them fell a victim of Indian rapac- ity, while the son of another received a wound, and was made prisoner and carried away into captivity. In the history of Brunswick, Maine, it is written as a matter of tradition that one Jacob Eaton went there from Salisbury, Mass- achusetts, about 1680, or earlier, with one Michael Malcom, and were trappers and traders with the Indians; that they bought lands from the Indians which included the territory now comprising the town of Bruns- wick, and laid claim to title. The story is not without foundation, though essentially in- correct in many respects, and is the outgrowth of the hunting excursions which furnished recreation for Captain Eaton's hunting parties. If a put chase was made from the Indians, as might be inferred if what has been termed the "Eaton claim" had any foundation in fact, the grant doubtless was secured by Captain Eaton himself rather than his son Jacob, and at a period much later than 1680, for the cap- tain then was less than twenty years old and his son Jacob was not born until 1703. What- ever truth there may have been in the story that the Eatons ever seriously laid claim to title to the lands of Brunswick is not now known, but there is no evidence that an Indian deed was ever executed, or presented as a foundation of the so called claim ; but if family tradition be true the worthy captain possessed a sufficiently keen sense of humor to narrate to his friends the story of having acquired title to Indian lands by verbal cession, if such had been the case.
Captain Eaton married (first) December 14, 1683, Mary French, of Salisbury, who died July 12, 1726; ten children. The intentions of his second marriage were recorded in No- vember, 1726, and he married soon afterward Mary Worster (or Worcester) of Bradford, Massachusetts, who died September 2, 1759. His children, all born of his first marriage: I. John, born August 23, 1684, died December 12, 1684. 2. John, born October 18, 1685 ; married Esther Johnson, of Kingston, New Hampshire; lived in Salisbury. 3. Samuel, born December 7, 1687; married Mary Mal-
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com; removed to Brunswick, Maine. 4. Joseph, born August 14, 1690; married Mary French : lived in Newbury, Massachusetts. 5. Benjamin, born February 14, 1693; married Sarah Merrill; lived in Salisbury. 6. Moses, born May 18, 1695 ; was killed by Indians near Brunswick, Maine, 1722. 7. Mary, born April 9. 1697 : married January 14, 1715, Benjamin True, of Salisbury. 8. Nicholas, born Septem- ber 12, 1699; married Mercy Walton ; lived in Salisbury. 9. Sarah, born May 20, 1701 ; mar- ried June 30, 1726, David Buswell, of Brad- ford, Massachusetts. 10. Jacob, born April 16, 1703; married (first) Sarah Plummer ; (second) Sarah Malcom; lived in Topsham, Maine.
(IV) Samuel Eaton, third son and child of Captain Joseph Eaton and Mary French his first wife, was born in Salisbury, Decem- ber 7, 1687, and is mentioned in the history of Brunswick as having come from Salisbury "early in the last century and built a house on the corner of Bank and Maine streets." But the author of the history just mentioned is mistaken in saying of this Samuel Eaton that "one of his children Samuel, was a soldier in Fort George in 1722," for the Samuel Eaton of Fort George and the colonial wars was Samuel the elder son of Captain Joseph, and the pioneer of the family in Maine. He in- herited a love of exploration and "to gratify it he plunged into the forests of Maine and finally settled in what is now Brunswick." He is the Samuel Eaton who figured so conspic- uously in what has been called Lovewell's war, which began in 1722, and it was he whom Captain Gyles (or Giles) sent from Fort George to Colonel John Harmon at George- town, Massachusetts, with a letter tied up in an eelskin and concealed in his hair. When it was unsafe for him to travel by land he took to the water and swam, and thus reached his destination in safety. During the same war Moses Eaton, brother of Samuel, was taken prisoner (June, 1722), tortured and mutilated, and finally was carried to Point Pleasant and killed by his savage captors.
Samuel Eaton married, about 1715, Mary, daughter of John Malcom, first of Salisbury and afterward of Brunswick. John Malcom was one of the companions of Captain Joseph Eaton on his hunting expeditions from Salis- bury into Maine, and it was he who with Eaton is said to have taken part in purchasing the Indian title to what now is Brunswick, although the history of Brunswick ascribes that action to one Michael Malcom. It is not known that
John Malcom took part in the colonial wars, although one or more of his sons entered the service. The names of all of Samuel Eaton's children are not known, but it is stated (on the authority of the late Martin Eaton) that he had two sons-Enoch and Daniel; and a daughter Mary. Enoch Eaton was drowned when a boy.
(V) Daniel Eaton, son of Samuel and Mary (Malcom) Eaton, was born in Brunswick, Maine, in 1722, and through him are descend- ed many of the Brunswick Eaton families. Little is known of his family life and there is no present record by which we may learn of his marriage, the name of his wife and their children, except John. But there is a clear account of a part of the service of Daniel Eaton as a soldier of the French and Indian war. Early in May, 1757, while John Malcom and Daniel Eaton were going to Maquoit for salt hay, they were attacked by Indians. Mal- com escaped, but Eaton received a bullet wound in the wrist, was captured and taken to Canada and held there about a year. His captor was the Indian chief Sabattis, who sold his prisoner for four dollars. Many years after this event, about 1800, the old chief again visited Brunswick, met his former prisoner and was shown the mark of the bullet wound on his arm; and seeing the scar Sabattis said, "That long time ago ; war time too."
(VI) John Eaton was a son of Daniel Eaton, but other than this fact little is known of him, except that he married Jane Grant, and had children, among them sons Martin, John and David, and a daughter Jane.
(VII) Martin Eaton, son of John Eaton, was born in Brunswick, Maine, in 1796, and died in South Durham, Maine, in 1888, having attained the remarkable age of ninety-two years. He was a substantial farmer, living first in Brunswick and afterward for many years in Webster, Maine, but later returned to Brunswick in order that his children might have the benefits of the better schools of the latter town. Mr. Eaton married, April 27, 1834, Phebe Winslow, of Durham, born Janu- ary 31, 1805, daughter of William Winslow, founder of the town of Winslow, Maine, and one of the foremost men of his time in the province. Children of Martin and Phebe (Winslow ) Eaton: 1. Sarah Jane, born May 30, 1835, died June 8, 1906 ; married, October 17, 1879, George P. Day, of South Durham, Maine. 2. William Winslow, born May 20, 1836; married, July 12, 1865, Agnes H. Ma- goun. 3. Rebecca Annie, born July 18, 1837 ;
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married, April, 1878, George Richardson. 4. Abigail Stewart, born October 10, 1838, died July 13, 1839. 5. Martha Ellen, born October 8, 1839, died February 4, 1872; married, De- cember 8, 1864, James Clark. 6. Alonzo Jones, born January 10, 1841 ; a soldier of the civil war, and died August, 1905, of disabilities contracted in service ; married, March, 1861, Elizabeth M. Lyon, who died in 1906. 7. Lucinda Maria, born January 10, 1841, died November 2, 1842. 8. Edward R., born May 29, 1843 ; died October 30, 1861, while in ser- vice in the first year of the civil war.
(VIII) Dr. William Winslow Eaton, eldest son and second child of Martin and Phebe (Winslow) Eaton, was born in Webster, Maine, May 20, 1836, and for more than forty years has been prominently identified with the professional and civil life of Danvers, and of Essex county, Massachusetts. When Dr. Eaton was a boy living down in Maine his father removed from Webster to Brunswick that his children might have every opportunity to gain a better education than was afforded in the common schools in Webster, and William attended the public schools in Brunswick, and later finished the course of the high school and was graduated. But this was not enough for him for he had determined to obtain a higher education and to that end fitted him- self for college, entered Bowdoin for the classi- cal course and graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1861 ; and best of all, he accomplished this course wholly through his own persever- ing effort, maintaining himself and paying his own tuition rates from the day of matricula- tion to commencement day when the dean of the faculty handed him his coveted and hon- estly deserved diploma. In 1865 he received the degree of M. A. from the same institution. While making his course in college Dr. Eaton had begun the study of medicine under the competent preceptorship of Dr. Isaac Lincoln of Brunswick, but after graduating he taught in the Bridgton high school one year and at the same time continued his preliminary medi- cal studies more definitely than before, taking his first and second courses of lectures in 1861 and 1862 in the Maine Medical School, although for very good reason he did not receive his diploma in medicine until something like two years later. The interval of years, however, was not without value from the standpoint of practical medical and surgical experience, although for the time the young aspirant was compelled to lay aside his text books and didactic studies for the more practical surgi-
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