Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II, Part 52

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1008

USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 52

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

(VII) Deodate Lord, son of Hurlbut and Hannah (Estabrook) Swan, was born Febru- ary 23, 1799, in East Haddam. He followed the occupation of his father. His wife before marriage was Mary Eliza Wells, of Middle Haddam, by whom he had nine children.

( VIII) Deodate Lord (2), eldest son of Deodate Lord (I) and Mary Eliza (Wells) Swan, was born in East Haddam, July 24, 1824, died in Springfield, Massachusetts, April 13, 1895. At the age of eighteen he learned the carpenter's trade in Colchester, Connecti- cut, where he remained till he was twenty-two. In 1846 he became an inhabitant of Springfield, where he was employed by various builders until he went into business on his own account. He carried on building contracting for twenty- five years, during which period he built the Protestant Episcopal church in Chicopee, and over five hundred houses in Longmeadow and Springfield. After he retired from the build- ing trade he turned his attention to real estate speculation. When Mr. Swan came to Spring- field it was a small village of about five thous- and population. He foresaw that it was destined to become a flourishing city, a rail- road point, and that there would consequently be a rise in real estate values. With an insight into details which characterized his whole career he placed his investments where the greatest returns would accrue, and he thus became a rich man. He opened up Broad street, and buying the property known as Belmont heights laid out Euclid avenue and Bellview avenue. In 1873 he purchased an equal partnership in a crockery store and carried on the business under the firm name of Livermore, Swan & Company. In 1875 he took over the plant of the New England Card and Paper Company and managed it till his (leath, his three sons being associated with him. Hle cared little for politics more than to dis- charge his duties at the polls, though he was once in luced to represent his ward on the aldermanic board. To the church he devoted a good deal of his time and contributed liber- ally of his means. He was a faithful and con- sistent member of the State Street Baptist Church. He gave a lot for the erection of the

Belmont Avenue Church. At his death Spring- field lost a valued and honored citizen, the church a father in Israel, and his family a kind and loving husband and father. He mar- ried, August 22, 1850, Lydia Jane, daughter of Richard and Lydia (Martendale) Chamber- lain, of Holyoke, Massachusetts. Children : I. Ella Jennie, born October 16, 1851 (de- ceased). 2. Frank Newell, April 4, 1854; married Evangeline A. Clark, of Chester, Massachusetts. 3. Wilber Martendale, July 14, 1856; married Catherine Bemis, of Chico- pee. 4. Frederick Richard, August 29, 1859. 5. Leila Wells, March 25, 1862 ; married George K. Tapley. 6. Hobart Estabrook, May 18, 1864; died in Pasadena, California, 1886

William Colkin, the person CALKINS from whom the subjects of this sketch descend, lived in England in the time of King John, 1200, A. D. He was a man of wealth, evidently, as he founded a hospital which was named after him. He was unquestionably one of those who, sword in hand, extorted the magna charta from reluctant King John at Runingmede, June 15, 1215. Some persons claim that the line can be traced back to the Norman Con- quest, 1066, but no such record is at hand.

(I) Deacon Hugh Calkins, the earliest American ancestor of this line, was born in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales, in the year 1600, and was descended through a long line from William Colkin, named above. Hugh Calkins was a radical, in religion a non-con- formist, and living in the troublous times of Charles, the First, soon became satisfied that there were safer countries than England and Wales-for men who wished to worship God according to the dictates of their own con- sciences. Accordingly, he with his wife, Ann, and John, their son, then four years old, joined a body of emigrants called the "Welch Com- pany," and with their pastor, Rev. Richard Blinman, embarked and came to America, about 1638 or 1640. They settled first at Green's Harbor (now Marshfield) in New Plymouth colony, but religious dissentions aris- ing, Mr. Blinman, Hugh Calkins and others removed to Gloucester. Hugh Calkins became one of the first board of selectmen, and in 1650 was chosen deputy to the general court of Massachusetts Bay colony. He was chosen again in 1651, but for some reason he and others removed in that year to Connecticut colony, some say to Saybrook, but he could not have remained there long, as he was soon

adelaide a. Calkins

Marshall Calling

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in New London. The Connecticut colonial records show that Hugh Calkins was deputy at the general court from New London, May 20, 1652. In all, he served twelve times as deputy from New London. By order of the general court, held October 3, 1654, Hugh and another were appointed a committee for enlist- ing men to fight the Narragansett Indians. The records also show that he was a deputy magistrate. In 1660 he again changed his residence to the place where the city of Nor- wich now stands, then a wilderness and owned by the Mohegan Indians. Just previously a treaty had been concluded, by and between the celebrated Major Mason and others with the Mohegan chiefs, by which a tract of land nine miles square around Norwich was ceded to the whites for the sum of seventy pounds sterling. Hugh and his son, John, were of the thirty-five original proprietors. Hugh appears in the colonial records as a deputy from Nor- wich to the general court, ten times. He was an active worker there in all measures for the public good ; and also at home constantly identi- fied with public interests. He was a deacon in the first church built in Norwich. Hugh died at Norwich in 1690, at the age of ninety years. Of his wife, we know only that her name was Ann. There were two sons: John and David, and five daughters: Rebecca, Sarah, Mary, Susan and Deborah.

(II) David, second son of Hugh and Ann Calkins, was born in Gloucester, Massachu- setts ; he went with his father's family to Con- necticut and settled at New London, where he died November 25, 1717. He married Mary Bliss, daughter of Thomas Bliss, of Norwich. They had nine children: David, Anne (died young ), Jonathan, Peter, John, Mary, Joseph. Lydia and Anne.

(III) Joseph, seventh son of David and Mary (Bliss) Calkins, live 1 in Lyme, Con- necticut, where he executed a will, February 28. 1764, which was proved May 8, of the same year. In this will he mentions wife, Lucretia ; son, Joseph ; heirs of son, William ; sons, David and Jedediah, and daughters, Lucretia Hammond, Lydia and Elizabeth ; Eze- kiel and James, also sons of Joseph, are not mentioned. This is probably because they had received their portions from their father before that time and removed from the neighborhood.

(IV) James, son of Joseph and Lucretia Calkins, removed from Lyme, Connecticut, to Wilbraham, Massachusetts, where as early as 1760, he makes a deed of land to Stephen Strickland. This was four years before his

father made his will. James was a prosperous man and seems to have bought and sold vari- ous pieces of land. He is said to have been a carpenter. He married (first) Lucretia, sur- name unknown; (second) Esther Cadwell. By the first wife he had: David, Oliver, William, Mary and James. The children by Esther were : Ebenezer, Joseph, Esther, Betsey, Lucretia, Xusy and Richard.

(V) David (2), eldest child of James and Lucretia Calkins, was born in Wilbraham. He removed to Springfield, where he spent the remainder of his life. He married Chloe Col- ton, born January 1, 1766, and died May I, 1847, aged eighty-one years. Children: John, Luke. Cyrus, Lovisa, Susan, Chloe, Lovina, Erasmus, Adaline and David. John lived in Wilbraham, was a shoemaker, and much con- cerned in questions of public interest. He was a leading spirit among the local abolitionists, a conuctor on the underground railroad and a Spiritualist. He left a few thousand dollars which he donated to a socialistic organization at Hopedale, in Milford, under the leadership of Rev. Adin Ballou. He had several children. He died December 23, 1857, aged sixty-eight years.

(\'1) Luke, second son of David (2) and Chloe (Colton) Calkins, was born February 25, 1792 ; died December 6, 1866, aged seventy- five. He was a carpenter and lived in Wilbra- ham. He also owned and cultivated a small farm. He was a quiet citizen, first a Democrat and later an anti-slavery man, and a member of the Universalist church. He was a drum- mer in the militia when a member of that organization. He married, July 26, 1812, Polly Hancock, daughter of Moses and Wealthy (Bishop) Hancock (see Hancock, V). She (lied October 10, 1886, aged ninety years and five months. They had eleven children, nine of whom grew to adult age. Maria (died young ), an infant, Maria, Alanson, Louisa, Nelson, Hudson and Harrison (twins), David. Marshall and Olivia. Louisa married Ambrose Colton and is now ( 1909) living in Springfield, at the age of ninety-two. David was a physi- cian in Monson. He died in St. Louis, Mis- souri, of cholera, while traveling there, in 1855.

(VII) Dr. Marshall, youngest son of Luke and Polly (Hancock) Calkins, was born in Wilbraham, September 2, 1828. As a boy he was fond of books and study. In arithmetic he easily led his classmates in the district school, and at thirteen had mastered the text- books of the school for that study. He then wished to take up algebra, but failing to obtain

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permission of the school committee for this innovation of the common curriculum he left school, and at home, without a teacher, he pur- sued his studies alone and finished Day's Alge- bra in a single winter. Work on his father's farm was distasteful, and when assigned a task its completion was often interrupted while he abstractedly pursued, under the shade of a nearby tree, some book, habitually carried in his pocket. In the absence of public or private libraries in the immediate vicinity of his home, he obtained the loan of books from a neighbor, who was an itinerant book-seller. To pay these loans he would willingly work on holi- days, and gathered nuts and berries to sell. A young woman in the neighborhood, observ- ing his studious habits, loaned him her botany. A new field of investigation was now opened, that of trees, plants and flowers ; but the study of their variety and growth, attractive as it was, did not equal in interest the learning of their medicinal properties. In his father's family of nine living children, he had seen frequent attacks of illness, and was himself a delicate boy, and the prescriptions of the family doctor were always matters of special interest, their results being carefully looked for. The brief description of the botany seemingly re- vealed to his boyish mind in the application of remedies that before had been a mystery. His spare time was now given to searching for medicinal plants and testifying their efficiency in domestic ailments whenever permitted to do so. At fourteen years of age, he decided to become a physician, a decision which neither the different plan of his father nor the chaffing of his mother could change. By the same method that he had obtained the loan of books, he now earned money to help defray his ex- penses at Wilbraham Academy, three miles from his home, where he entered the autumn of 1845. Being impatient to begin medical study, he prevailed upon his father, before advancing far enough to enter college, to apply to a reputable physician for the privilege of reading medicine in his office preparatory to entering a medical school. The doctor pleas- antly declined taking the seventeen-year old boy as a medical student, but the following year. 1846, application to a prominent physi- cian, who was also proprietor of an infirmary, was successful, and having "bought his time" of his father for $268.00 he started on his independent and cherished plans. Assistance in the infirmary gave him practical work of real value at the bedside of the sick. After some months here, he became the private stu-

dent and a member of the family of Dr. Calvin Newton, president of the Worcester Medical College, and soon after he matriculated at that institution, where he completed its course several months before his twentieth birthday. He received a certificate stating that he had passed the necessary examinations for the de- gree of M. D., but the diploma could not legally be issued until the applicant was twenty-one years old, at which time he received it. During this period he practiced in the town of Mon- son in order to obtain the means to pursue a course of classical study in a literary college, prescribed by President Newton, himself an accomplished scholar. He entered Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, in 1850. In 1851 he changed his college relationship to that of Union College, Schenectady, New York, where he received the degree of A. B. in 1853 and A. M. in course in 1856. Later he received the degree of M. D. at Dartmouth Medical College, and took a year's course in the Pennsylvania Hospital at Philadelphia, where he resided several years. In 1860 Dr. Calkins settled in Springfield, where he soon obtained a lucrative practice. In 1862 he be- came a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, in 1869 a corresponding member of the Boston Gynecological Society; in 1872-73 was examining surgeon of the United States pension bureau ; in 1873 was appointed to the chair of physiology and microscopic anatomy in the University of Vermont, which, without changing his residence, he retained five years,' when he resigned. He was at this time made a member of the Vermont State Medical Soci- ety. Dr. Calkins is a member of the American Medical Association and of the American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science ; he was for years one of the consulting staff of physicians of the Springfield Hospital, a censor of the Hampden District Medical Society, chair- man and secretary of the Provident Dispensary. member of the Medical Board of the Union Re- lief Association, and is now emeritus physician of the Home for Friendless Women and Children, in recognition of active service ren- dered during thirty-eight years. In 1875 he visited Europe, attending the International Medical Congress at Brussels, and inspecting hospitals in England, Scotland and France. In 1883-84 he made a protracted visit to Europe, accompanied by his wife and son, and in the hospitals of London and Vienna he im- proved opportunities for close observation and personal work. With an exacting practice, Dr. Calkins has found little time for literary

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work. In 1854 he completed and published the posthumous treatise of his preceptor, Dr. Newton, entitled "Thoroac Diseases." Among his published articles are "Origin, Prevention and Treatment of Asiatic Cholera," "Report of Cases of Trichinae Spirales in Springfield," published in communications of the Massachu- setts Medical Societies, 1867; "Alkaline Sul- phites and Bisulphites," published in the trans- actions of Vermont Medical Society, 1872; "Physiological Basis of Objective Teaching," 1889, occasioned by a newspaper discussion in Springfield, where in 1889 the late method of teaching was introduced into its public schools. For social enjoyment he has had little inclina- tion and the Hampden Lodge of Free Masons and the Masonic Club are the only social organ- izations of which he is a member. His relaxa- tion from professional work has been the study of modern languages.

Dr. Calkins married, in 1855, Adelaide Au- gusta, daughter of General Ebenezer M. and Mary (Cheney ) Hosmer ( see Hosmer, VIII). She died January 2, 1909. One child was born of this union, Cheney Hosmer, whose sketch follows.

(VIII) Dr. Cheney Hosmer, only son of Dr. Marshall and Adelaide Augusta (Hos- mer ) Calkins, was born in Springfield, No- vember 11, 1860. After finishing his prelimi- nary education he read medicine for a time with his father, and then took the general medi- cal course of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, where he graduated in 1882, when he was appointed resident physician and surgeon of the Hartford Hospital. After re- maining in this position one year, he went abroad to further pursue his studies in the medical centres of Vienna and London. His study as a specialist at Vienna was under the instruction of Professor Politzer on the ear, and Professor Jaeger on the eye; and here he received special mention for skillful delicacy of manipulation. At the Royal London Cphthalmic Hospital in London, he pursued his special studies under the direction of Drs. Nettleship, Lawson, Tweedy, Gunn and Cou- per. On his return to this country, he took up residence in his native city, but continued his special studies in New York and Boston. Soon after entering into the practice of his pro- fession, he was appointed oculist and aurist to the Home for Friendless Women and Children. and later to the Provident Dispensary, and for several years was oculist and aurist to the Mercy Hospital. In method Dr. Calkins is cautious and conservative, and thereby gained

a desirable practice, Dr. Calkins is a man of popular social traits and a member of several medical and social clubs, including the Hamp- den District Medical Society, of which he served as secretary, and the New England Ophthalmological Society. He is a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. October 31, 1893, Dr. Calkins was married to Alice Haile, only daugh- ter of Ex-Lieutenant Governor William H. Haile, of Springfield. They have one son, William Haile, born January 4, 1898.

Shattuck, in his "History of

HOSMER the Town of Concord, Massa- chusetts," says that "Two of this name, Thomas and James, supposed to be brothers, from Hawkhurst, county of Kent, England, came to America. Thomas was of Cambridge, 1632, and probably removed to Connecticut, and was ancestor of Rev. Stephen, H. C., 1699, the Hon. Titus and Hon. Stephen Hosmer, all distinguished men in that state." The following sketch concerns some of the descendants of James, of Concord.

(I) Stephen Hosmer, ancestor from whom descent is directly traced in this sketch, resided in Hawkhurst, in the county of Kent, England. He was a woolen manufacturer and descended from Saxon ancestors who had lands in Dorset county from the time of Edward, the Con- fessor. In Domesday Book they are stated to have been tenants under the King. Stephen Hosmer married Catherine Iddenden, who was the mother of his children.

(II) James, son of Stephen and Catherine ( Iddenden ) Hosmer, was born at Hawkhurst, England, and died in Concord, Massachusetts, February 7, 1685. He came to America in the ship "Elizabeth" from London, in 1635, with his wife Anne, aged twenty-seven years ; two daughters, Mary, aged two years, and Ann, aged three months ; and two maids. He was a clothier by trade. He was among the first settlers of Concord, September, 1635. where he was made freeman May 17, 1637. Later children than those mentioned were James, born 1637 ; John, 1639 ; another daugh- ter, Mary, January 10, 1641, died young. The wife, Anne, died in 1641, and he married ( sec- ond) Alice (some say Ellen), to whom was born Stephen, Hannah and Mary. His third wife, Mary, died March 3, 1666.

(III) John, son of James and Anne Hos- mer, born in 1639, was a petitioner for Chelms- ford, and died, according to tradition, in Ire- land. His wife's name was Sarah Billings.

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(IV) Daniel, son of John and Sarah ( Bill- ings) Hosmer, was born in Concord, in 1714, died in 1793. He was a member of a company of average men who made an expedition to Saratoga during the revolutionary war, and rendered other military service. He married, April 12, 1739, Bethiah Conant, born in Con- cord in 1720, died February 6, 1801. She was a descendant in the fifth generation from Roger Conant, first governor of Cape Ann and Salem. She was also a great-granddaughter of Giles Corey, one of the victims of the Salem witch- craft delusion.

(V) Ensign Daniel (2), son of Daniel (I) and Bethiah (Conant) Hosmer, was born in Concord, February 5, 1746. The date of his death is unknown. He is said to have render- ed service in the revolutionary war. The fol- lowing in the record of Daniel Hosmer whose residence is given at Lincoln, as it appears in the "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution:" "Private, Capt. William Smith's company of Minute-men, Col. Abijah Pierce's regiment, which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775; service, '5 days, also receipt for advance pay, dated Cambridge, June 10, 1775; signed by said Hosmer and others belonging to Capt. William Smith's company, Col. John Nixon's regiment ; also, Private, Capt. William Smith's company, Col. John Nixon's regiment ; muster roll Aug. I, 1775; enlisted May 8, 1775; service, two months, five days ; also, receipt given to Capt. Asahel Wheeler, dated Sudbury, April 10, 1778, signed by said Hosmer, for wages, ration, etc. ; also, list of men appearing under the heading 'Hartwell Brook the first Everidge :' said Hosmer appears among men who went at the time of the taking (Gen.) Burgoyne (year not given)." Another entry : "Hosmer D'1, 2d. List of Men appearing under the healing 'Hartwell Brook the first Everidge:' said Hosmer appears among 8 months men ( no date or particulars given)." Daniel Ilosmer married, in 1768, Hannah Baker, intentions published December 10.

4 (VI) Daniel (3), son of Daniel (2) and Hannah ( Baker) Hosmer, was born in Lin- coln, Massachusetts, March 28, 1793, died in West Boylston, June 25, 1830. He married Sarah Mason, daughter of Jonas Mason. of Sterling, Massachusetts.

(VII) Ebenezer Mason, son of Daniel (3) and Sarah ( Mason) Hosmer, was born June 10, 1801, in Farmington, Maine. He removed with his parents to West Boylston, in 1817, where he died November 29, 1878. He mar-

ried (first) in 1827, Maria Beman, who soon died ; he married (second) September 19, 1830, Mary Cheney, daughter of Ebenezer and Hannah ( Plympton) Cheney. Their children were: Adelaide Augusta, see below, and Addi- son Augustus, who was a major in the civil war, was a lawyer in Washington, D. C., and in New York.

(VIII) Adelaide Augusta, only daughter of Ebenezer M. and Mary (Cheney) Hosmer, was born in West Boylston, Worcester county, May 22, 1831, died in Springfield, January 2, 1909. Her descent on the maternal side is traceable through Joseph Cheney, born 1647; Josiah Cheney, born in 1685 ; Timothy Cheney, 1726, who responded as a soldier to the Lex- ington alarm ; Ebenezer Cheney, born June 29, 1780, was her grandfather. He married, June 3, 1806, Hannah Plympton, of Medfield, who was born in 1784. She had seven children, among whom was Mary Cheney, who was the mother of Mrs. A. A. Calkins. Hannah Plympton, the grandmother, was a descendant of the Plympton family whose members were active in the colonial wars. John Plympton joined the Incorporated Artillery Company of Boston in 1763. He was appointed sergeant for active service at Deerfield when King Philip's war broke out. His home was a garri- son surrounded by palisades. He slaughtered his cattle for the sustenance of the soldiers. His son, John, joined Moseley's veteran volun- teers, and was massacred. The sergeant was taken prisoner, and with others pinioned to the ground with arms and legs extended nine nights. They released themselves only to be again taken prisoners by the Indians, after many days of sad adventure. Energetic, chivalrous and faithful unto death, Sergeant John Plympton was burned, a friend being compelled to lead him to the fatal spot in Deerfield. Adelaide A. Hosmer was edu- cated in the schools of her native town, Wil- braham Academy and Charlestown Female Seminary. In 1849 she engaged in educational work, teaching a private school in West Boyl- ston. Subsequently she continued the work with success to the year 1855, when she was married to Dr. Marshall Calkins, of Springfield ( see Calkins. VI1). In 1860 Mrs. Calkins and her husband took up their residence in Springfield, and there soon after she began the plans for a life work which was of much good to many persons in Springfield and the state. In 1865 the Home for Friendless Women and Children was organized. Mrs Calkins became a manager in 1867 and for the

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ten succeeding years was active in its work, serving on the children's committee. In 1877 she was appointed by Governor Rice one of an advisory board of three women to the State Board of Charities, and was its chairman, its duties being to inspect quarterly the Tewks- bury almshouse and the state primary and re- form schools, and report upon the same. The following year the advisory board was abolish- ed, and its members appointed as trustees of the same institutions where direct power rather than advisory could be exercised. Thereto- fore the trustees governing the state institu- tions, except those for women only, were com- posed entirely of men. Mrs. Calkins being appointed on the trustee board of the state primary and reform schools, the state primary at once engaged her most careful attention. This congregate institution, with its system of herding hundreds of children together with the fewest possible chances for the right de- velopment of mind and body, had appealed to Mrs. Calkins while a member of the advisory board as a subject for reform. In her new position she interested her associate trustees, the State Board of Charities, and the local press in the matter. As a result the manage- ment was radically changed, and by act of legislature, 1879-80, the young wards of the state between four and ten years of age might be placed at board in suitable families. Mrs. Calkins declined reappointment as a trustee in July, 1880, and accepted appointment on a newly created board of auxiliary visitors to the State Board of Charities, consisting of five women. The object of this organization was to secure voluntary women visitors in different sections of the state to visit regu- larly the dependent and delinquent children placed in families. More than fifty women en- gaged in the work, up to this time all official visitors of state children were men. Mrs. Calkins also accepted at this time the respon- sibility of beginning the work of placing young children at board in Western Massachusetts, and visiting them quarterly. In this voluntary work she continued until the summer of 1883, when the success and growth of the work necessitated the entire time of a supervising visitor, and a salaried officer being appointed, Mrs. Calkins retired.

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II, Part 52

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 1008

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1008