Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II, Part 88

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 88

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(I) Deacon Thomas Dyer, immigrant an- cestor, was born in England. The record of the Dyer family is to be found there as early as 1436. The Dyer coat-of-arms of this branch was a plain shield surmounted by a Wolf's head. Thomas Dyer came from Eng- land in 1632 and settled soon afterward in Weymouth, Massachusetts. He was admitted a freeman there May 29, 1644. He was a cloth worker by trade. He also was an innkeeper in Weymouth and was one of the leading citi- zens of his day. He was deputy to the general court in 1646 and four years afterward. He was deacon of the Weymouth church and held various town offices. He died November 3, 1676. His will was dated November 3, 1676, and proved November 13, 1676. He bequeath- ed to his wife fifty pounds and the estate of her former husband at Mcdfield. He be- queathed to his children named below, to his grandchildren, to his pastor, Mr. Samuel Tor- rcy, and to the Weymouth church. His estate was valued at two thousand, one hundred and three pounds. The widow Elizabeth in her will, datcd November 20, 1678, proved Janu- ary 31, 1678-79, bequeathed to her sons Abra- liam and John Harding, daughter Elizabeth Adams, daughter Prudence, sons Joseph Dyer and three grandchildren. Thomas Dycr mar- ried (first) Agnes Reed, who died December 4, 1667. IIc married (second) Elizabeth ( Adams) (Harding) Frary, widow succes- sively of Abraham Harding, of Mcdfield, and of John Frary, Jr. She dicd 1678-79. Chil- dren, all by first wife: 1. Mary, born July 3, 1641, married Samuel White. 2. John, July 10, 1643. 3. Thomas, 1645, died young. 4.

Abigail, 1647, died March 13, 1717-18; mar- ried Jacob Nash. 5. Sarah, 1649, married John Ruggles. 6. Thomas, May 5, 1651. 7. Joseph, November 6, 1653 (twin), married Hannah Frary. 8. Benjamin (twin), Novem- ber 6, 1653. 9. William, about 1658, mentioned below. 10. Elinor, about 1660.

(II) William, son of Deacon Thomas Dyer, was born about 1658 at Weymouth. He mar- ried Joanna Chard, born August 17, 1637. Children: I. William, born March 23, 1693, died 1750. 2. Christopher, 1701, mentioned below. 3. Joseph, married Jane Stephens. Probably others.

(III) Christopher, son of William Dyer, was born at Weymouth in 1701. He settled in the adjacent town of Abington. He married, November 27, 1725, Hannah Nash, who died. 1750, daughter of Ensign James Nash. Chil- dren : I. Mary, born 1728. 2. Hannah. 3. Christopher, mentioned below. 4. Sarah. 5. Jacob. 6. Betty. 7. James, born about 1743, died October 1, 1843, aged one hundred years ; married Mercy Small.

(IV) Lieutenant Christopher (2), son of Christopher (1) Dyer, was born about 1735-40 in Abington, Massachusetts. Children, born in Abington: 1. Bela, born 1757, soldier in the revolution ; died May, 1830, aged seventy- three ; married Ruth Hunt. 2. Joseph. 3. Christopher, mentioned below. 4. Benjamin, settled in Ashfield, Massachusetts. 5. Jesse, settled in Plainfield, Massachusetts. 6. Asa, born 1773, died February, 1851 ; married, 1801, Mehitable Chamberlain.

(V) Christopher (3), son of Lieutenant Christopher (2) Dyer, was born December 23, 1764, at Abington, Massachusetts, died May 9, 1851. He married Deborah Reed, born July 25, 1768, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Young) Reed. He and liis brother Bela built a mill for General Lincoln at Passamaquoddy river, Maine, in 1780. He was a soldier in the revolution. Children, born in Abington: I. Christopher, October 15, 1786, mentioned be- low. 2. Sally. 3. Deborah. 4. Meliitable. 5. Lucy. 6. Charles. 7. Sally. 8. Hervey. 9. Mary. 10. Samuel.

(VI) Christopher (4), son of Christopher (3) Dyer, was born October 15, 1786, dicd September 24, 1868. He married, January 10, 1810, Betsey Porter, daughter of Ebenezer Porter. Children, born at South Abington, now Whitman, Massachusetts : I. Betsey, October 20, 1811, died September 11, 1817. 2. Ebcnczer Porter, August 15, 1813, married, December 2, 1838, Esther Ann Hough, born

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October 25, 1815, died June 2, 1872, and he married (second) Lavinia C. Dyer, September 23, 1873. 3. Elizabeth Lavinia, August 16, 1817, married, April 4, 1848, Charles Cum- mings ; she died February 5, 1899. 4. Christo- pher, October 28. 1819, died November II, 1881 ; married, May 5, 1850, Almira Little- field. 5. Maria Louisa, April 9, 1821, married, April 4, 1848, Rev. Ebenezer Alden ; she died March 4, 1889, in Marshfield, Massachusetts. 6. Sally, April 15, 1823, died July 7, 1895, at Whitman, Massachusetts; married, May 21, 1843, Daniel M. Fullerton. 7. George Gus- tavus, August 20, 1825, died January 9, 1891, at Plymouth; married, November 14, 1852, Mary Ann Bartlett Sampson. 8. Edward Lor- ing, May 16, 1828, died February 12, 1864, at South Abington; married, October 22, 1850, Lavinia Crosby Gannett. 9. Francis Elihu, December 8, 1830, mentioned below. 10. Helen Amelia, April 2, 1836, died April 1, 1843.

(VII) Francis Elihu, son of Christopher (4) Dyer, was born December 8, 1830, died at South Abington, October 5, 1866; married Mary Blankinship Thomas, born June 30, 1832, died at Northampton, Massachusetts, January 6, 1884, daughter of William and Abigail (Clark) Thomas. Children : I. Adelaide Frances, born December 9, 1855, married, De- cember 9, 1879, Frederick Newton Kneeland. (See Kneeland, XIX). 2. Elizabeth Cum- mings, March 13, 1858.

Thomas Nichols, immigrant NICHOLS ancestor, was born in England, and came to this country be- fore 1655. He married, in September, 1655, at Malden, Massachusetts, Mary Moulton. He was doubtless a relative of Thomas Nichols who was a planter in the adjoining town of Cambridge before 1638, when he removed to Hingham ; had a brother George in England, who was executor of the estate of their father, Walter Nichols, clothier, late of Coggeshall, county Essex, England. James Nichols, per- haps another brother, married, April, 1660, at Malden, Mary Felt, daughter of George Felt. But Thomas Nichols removed as early as 1665 to Amesbury, and had a seat in the meeting house there in 1667 and belonged to the train band in 1680; he died before 1720. Children : I. Thomas (twin), born in Malden, January 23, 1662, probably died young. 2. Josiah (twin), January 23, 1662, died June 30, 1663. Born in Amesbury: 3. Ebenezer (daughter), August 3, 1664, married, June, 1685 or 86, Benoni Tucker. 4. Thomas, October 16, 1670,

mentioned below. 5. Samuel, May 14, 1672. 6. Rachel, February 25, 1674-75. 7. John, about 1678, married, January 1, 1701-02, Abi- gail Sargent. 8. Sarah, married, November 24, 1698, Roger Stevens.

(II) Thomas (2), son of Thomas (1) Nichols, was born in Amesbury, Massachu- settes, October 16, 1670. He was a member of the Society of Friends. His will was dated November 16, 1724, and proved December 7 following. He married (first) Jane Jamison, born February 23, 1673-74, daughter of John Jamison, who married, March 15, 1559-60, Esther Martin, daughter of George Martin, and probably granddaughter of James Martin, of Boston. Nichols married ( second) (inten- tion dated April 30, 1731) Judith Hoages, of Newbury .. Children of first wife: I. Anna, born May 1, 1794-95. married, October 23, 1718, Samuel Colby. 2. Jonathan, December 13, 1697, probably married, January 16, 1718- 19, Mary Challis. 3. Mary, October 11, 1701, married, April 10, 1718, Ralph Blaisdell, Jr. 4. Esther, September II, 1703, married, Jan- uary 24, 1723-24. Ichabod Colby. 5. Thomas, June 20, 1706. 6. David, October 26, 1709, mentioned below. 7. Rachel, March 10, 1712. 8. Stephen, November 18, 1717. Children of second wife: 9. Ebenezer, March 28, 1722. IO. Benjamin, October 8, 1723.

(III) David, son of Thomas (2) Nichols, was born at Amesbury, October 26, 1709, died 1756, lost at sea. He settled at Salem. He married, in 1730, Hannah Gaskill, born Aug- ust 16, 1709, died June 30, 1793, daughter of Samuel and Bethia (Gardner) Gaskill. Her father was born January 23, 1663, and died in 1725; her mother was born March 26, 1654, daughter of Thomas Gardner, who died in 1683, and granddaughter of Thomas Gardner, born 1592, died 1674 at Salem. Samuel Gas- kill, father of Samuel, was born September 6, 1638; married Provided Southwick, born De- cember 6, 1639, daughter of Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick. Edward Gaskill, father of Samuel, was the immigrant, a shipwright at Salem. Among their children was Ichabod, mentioned below.

(IV) Ichabod, son of David Nichols, was born in Salem, April 20, 1749, died July 2. 1839. His father died when he was young and he was apprenticed by his mother to the black- smith trade, but did not complete his time, but it is related that when business was active, he could finish an ordinary day's work before breakfast. When he was eighteen he walked from Salem to Kittery, Maine, a distance of

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sixty-two miles in fifteen hours. At the age of twenty he went to sea and soon rose to the command of one of the Derby vessels of Salem, making several successful voyages to China. During the revolution he was interested in various privateers and for that reason was read out of the Society of Friends with which his family had long been identified and of which some are still members. He joined a company of Salem merchants which was organized for a special object and tendered to General Washington. The company went to Jersey but did not engage in any fighting. On account of his service in this company, Mr. Nichols was introduced to Lafayette at the dinner given in his honor at Hamilton Hall, Salem, during his visit in 1824, at which time he was embraced by the marquis. After the revolution he removed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he occupied the house built by Governor Wentworth for his son, and still standing, at the southeast corner of Gardner street. Before 1800 he returned to Salem and entered partnership with Benjamin Hodges under the firm name of Nichols & Hodges on Union Wharf, then the principal wharf of Salem. He died at his home on the south side of Washington street, adjoining the postoffice. He subscribed a thousand dollars toward building the frigate of thirty-two guns, built according to act of congress, April 27, 1798, and named the "Essex." When he was about sixty years old he bought large tracts of land on both sides of the Salem and Boston turn- pike. It was a rocky and sterile tract, an "abomination of desolation," yet in the next twenty years he made it highly productive, yielding, as he said, six per cent, three per cent on his money and three in health. Though naturally not robust, his life was prolonged to ninety years. He was below medium height and so active that he was accustomed to lean forward when walking in order to take as long strides as possible, carrying a cane longer than would have been needed otherwise. His por- trait descended to his great-grandson, John WV. T. Nichols, of New York. In its obituary notice at the time of his death the Salem Gasctte described him as "for many years a distinguished shipmaster and merchant."

He married, in Salem, April 12, 1774, Lydia Ropes, born December 4. 1754, died February 25, 1835, daughter of Benjamin and Ruth ( Hardy ) Ropes. Children, born at Salem and Portsmouth: 1. John, born in Salem, Decem- ber 26, 1776, died at Point-a-Pitre, Guadaloupe, South America, June 8, 1798; was supercargo

of a Salem vessel. 2. George, Salem, July 4. 1778, died there October 19, 1865; married (first) a cousin, Sarah Peirce, November 22, 1801 ; she died June 22, 1835 ; he married ( sec- ond) September 29, 1836, Betsey Peirce, sister of his first wife, born March 23, 1787, died July 19, 1864. 3. Lydia Ropes, January 3, 1781, at Portsmouth, died at Cambridge, Octo- ber 22, 1868; married Benjamin Peirce, born September 30, 1778, died July 26, 1831, father of Professor Benjamin Peirce, the famous mathematician. 4. Ichabod, Jr., Portsmouth, September 17, 1782, died August 30, 1783, at Portsmouth. 5. Rev. Ichabod, Portsmouth, July 5, 1784, died at Cambridge, January 2, 1859; graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1802: minister of the First Church of Portland ( Unitarian) for more than forty years ; married (first) Dorotha Folsom Gil- man, born April 8, 1784, died April 17, 1831, who was the mother of Rev. John T. G. Nichols, for many years pastor of the Unitar- ian church at Saco, Maine, and of Dr. George Henry Nichols, of Cambridge, a prominent physician of that city ; married (second) Mar- tha S. Higginson, half-sister of Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson. 6. Benjamin Ropes, May 18, 1786, mentioned below. 7. Charlotte, Portsmouth, November 26, 1788, died March 29, 1872; married, March 10, 1811, Charles Sanders, born in Salem, May 2, 1783, died April 7, 1864; steward of Harvard College, donor of Sanders Theatre in Memorial Hall, Harvard University; a man of wealth dis- tinguished by his beneficence. 8. Henry, July 21, 1791, Portsmouth, died there October 28, 1791. 9. Henry, December 18, 1793, at Salem, died at Roxbury, Massachusetts, January 27, 1871 : married ( first ) February 7, 1822, Sarah H. Ropes, who died suddenly in 1826 without issue ; married (second ) October 30, 1850, Re- becca Ann Thayer, died without issue. 10. Joseph Peirce, Salem, February 10, 1795, died in Lima, South America, unmarried, October 28, 1823. 11. David, February 1, 1797, Salem, died there May 19, 1814, unmarried.

(\') Benjamin Ropes, son of Ichabod Nichols, was born at Portsmouth, May 18, 1786, baptized at Salem, August 13, 1798, died April 30, 1848. He came from Portsmouth to Salem with the family when he was seven years old; graduated from Harvard College with distinction in the class of 1804: (A. M. Harvard) studied law and established himself in practice in Salem. He was elected town clerk, and while in that office put the ancient records of the town in admirable order. He

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was appointed by the general court in 1818 to arrange the records of the Plymouth Colony and a large part of the work was performed by him. Seventeen volumes of the copied records, made by him, are preserved in the state archives. In 1824 he removed to Boston where he lived and practiced the remainder of his life, achieving success at the bar. In 1825 he was employed by the corporation of Har- vard College to arrange and systematize the college accounts. He was elected a trustee of the Edward Hopkins charity and pursued a long and laborious investigation of the title to a large tract of land in Hopkinton and Upton, Massachusetts. He was a trustee of this charity until June 30. 1831, and treasurer from May 3. 1838, to April 30, 1848, being succeeded by his son, Benjamin White Nichols, and in 1871 by his grandson, Charles Picker- ing Bowditch. He was solicitor of the Boston & Lowell Railroad Company, and at one time clerk of the Boston & Providence Railroad Company : treasurer of the Proprietors of Mill Pond Wharf, Boston ; president and attorney of the South Cove Corporation, in which his services were very important at the time of its financial embarrassment. He was director and attorney of the Suffolk Bank of Boston ; direc- tor of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insur- ance Company ; member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He was distinguished by his energy, industry and thoroughness as well as by his learning and sagacity. He married, April 12, 1813, Mary Pickering, born Novem- ber 21, 1793, died March 22, 1863, (see Pick- ering family), daughter of Colonel Timothy and Rebecca (White) Pickering. Her child- hood was spent in Philadelphia, Beverly, Dan- vers and Wenham, and she was educated in the private school of Rev. Dr. Anderson. In 1854 she came to West Roxbury, after the death of her husband, and lived there the remainder of her life. She gave much clerical assistance to her husband in her younger days. In 1835-37 she went with him to South Caro- lina and Georgia before the railroads were built, and in 1857-58 traveled extensively, sometimes on horseback, with her sons and two daughters in Europe. She was gentle and affectionate, a devoted wife and mother, of great energy and activity, fond of literature and of exceptional abilities. Children, born at Salem: I. Mary, born March 8, 1814, died April 3, 1814. 2. Lucy Orne, June 23, 1816, died April 24, 1883; married, May 25, 1836, Jonathan Ingersoll Bowditch, born October 15, 1806, died February 19, 1889, a prominent

East India merchant ; president of the Amer- ican Insurance Company from 1836 to 1864 and director until 1884; director, member of the financial committee and actuary of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Com- pany ; member of the corporation of the Mass- achusetts Institute of Technology. 3. Char- lotte E., August 29, 1821, died July 29, 1840. 4. Benjamin White, April 7, 1823, graduate of Harvard College in 1842, of the Harvard Law School in 1845 (A. M. Harvard) ; has devoted himself to literature and the management of his property ; resides at 10 Chestnut street, Boston. 5. Mary Pickering, Boston, January 29, 1829, good German linguist; translated from German to English the work entitled "Piano and Song" ( 1875) by F. Wieck, father of Clara Schumann, the celebrated pianist and wife of Robert Schumann, the composer ; also made a metrical translation from the middle- high German into English of the medieval epic poem of Gudrun ( 1889) ; assisted her nephew, Charles Pickering Bowditch, in the publication of the sheets of the Pickering genealogy for which she collected much data, preparing copy for the printer and reading the proofsheets. (In many respects the Pickering Genealogy is the most beautiful and exhaustive genealogical work published in this country). 6. Elizabeth Pickering, January 29, 1829, twin sister of Mary Pickering, married Rev. Cyrus Frederick Knight, afterwards made bishop of Milwaukee, graduate of Burlington College, New Jersey, and of the General Theological Seminary ; ordained in 1855 at Germantown, Pennsyl- vania ; rector of St. Mark's Protestant Epis- copal Church of Boston, of St. James Church of Hartford, Connecticut ; of St. James Church at Lancaster, Pennsylvania; from March 26, 1889, to the time of his death bishop of Mil- waukee : he was the son of Cyrus and Lucy (Prince) Smith, of Marblehead, but he changed his name to Knight; he was born March, 1831, died June 8, 1891 ; his widow resides in Milwaukee; children: i. Mary Knight, born January 28, 1865; ii. Herbert Knight, April 15, 1866, died in Panama of yellow fever when a young man, unmarried ; iii. Arthur Knight, May I, 1867, now in busi- ness in Milwaukee; iv. Margaret, May 23. 1869, married Charles Sprague Forsyth, born December 24, 1861 ; children: Elizabeth Pick- ering, born December 26, 1891 ; John, Febru- ary 17, 1893; Laura Becker, September 14, 1894, died August 1, 1895 ; Margaret Knight, July 30, 1896; William Herbert, June 8, 1900; Charles Sprague, August 13, 1903 ; v. Elizabeth

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Knight, August 4, 1871, resides with her mother in Milwaukee.

The Pickering family is

PICKERING ancient and honorable in England. The coat-of-arms

which is used by the American family is: Ermine a lion rampant ; crest : A demi lion. The simplicity of these arms shows their an- tiquity.

(I) John Pickering, immigrant ancestor, was born in England in 1615. He owned a house at Newgate, Coventry, England. Family tradition says that he came to America from Yorkshire, England. He resided in Ipswich, Massachusetts, from 1634 to 1637, and re- moved to Salem, February 7, 1636-37. He was a carpenter by trade and had the contract to build the meeting house in 1639. He also built a bridge at the Townsend. He had sev- eral grants of land and bought land also of Emanuel Downing, which still remains in the family. His house was partly built in 1651, and one of the chimney backs, dated 1660, is in the Essex Institute at Salem. This chim- ney-back, built of cast iron, is quite artistic, and is one of the most interesting relics of early Salem. He died in 1657. His will was dated July 30, 1655, and proved July 1, 1657. He married, in 1636, Elizabeth Chil- dren : I. John, mentioned below. 2. Jonathan, born 1639, shipwright; married, March 19, 1685, Jane Cromwell. 3. Elizabeth, died young. 4. Elizabeth.

(II) Lieutenant John (2), son of John (I) Pickering, was born in Salem in 1637. He was admitted to the Salem church in 1684 and both he and his wife were admitted to full communion, April 1, 1694. He inherited the homestead. He was selectman and constable in 1664. In 1669 he was on a committee to run the Lynn line. In 1675 he was ensign at the battle of Bloody Brook at Deerfield, and was distinguished for military service. He was a lieutenant of Captain Appleton's com- pany, not Moseley's, as is sometimes stated. He had a grant of land at Casco Bay in 1680 from the general court, probably on account of his military service. He died May 5, 1694, and his gravestone is standing in the Broad street burying ground. His will was dated May 3 and proved May 21, 1694. He married Alice ( Flint) Bullock, daughter of William Flint and widow of Henry Bullock, Jr. By her first husband she had two children, John and Alice Bullock. She died October 5, 1700. Children: 1. John, mentioned below. 2. Jon-

athan, born September 27, 1660, died young. 3. Joseph, September 9, 1663, probably died young. 4. Benjamin, January 15, 1665-66. 5. Sarah, September 7, 1668, married John Buttolph. 6. Edward, mentioned in the will. 7. William, shipmaster ; March 9, 1672-73, married Hannah Brown. 8. Elizabeth, Sep- tember 7, 1674, married Samuel Nichols; (sec- ond) James Brome. 9. Hannah, July 2, 1677, married Daniel King; (second) Nathaniel Beadle : (third) Richard Palmer.

(III) John (3), son of Lieutenant John (2) Pickering, was born in Salem and died there June 19, 1722, aged sixty-four, though the date is given incorrectly as June 9, 1732, on his gravestone. He was a farmer at Salem on his father's homestead and a prominent citi- zen. He was selectman in 1711-16-18; repre- sentative to the general court, 1714-16. He joined the First Church, December 16, 1688. His will was dated November 20, 1721, and proved July 19, 1722. He deposed May 27, 1720, that he was nearly sixty-two years old. His seal bore a lion rampant. Felt, the his- troian, says "his death was a loss to the com- munity." He married, June 14, 1683, Sarah Burrill, born at Lynn, May 16, 1661, died De- cember 27, 1747, daughter of John and Lois (Ivory) Burrill, and granddaughter of George and Mary Burrill, of Lynn. According to the gravestone, she died December 27, 1714, but that date was wrong, as she was certainly liv- ing in 1722 and the records show that she died December 27, 1747. Children: I. Lois, mar- ried, April 7, 1709, Timothy Orne. 2. Sarah, mentioned below. 3. John, born October 28, 1688, died September 10, 1712. 4. Mary, May II, 1691, died July 8, 1702. 5. Ruth, October IO, 1693, died July 27, 1702. 6. Joseph, No- vember 29, 1695, died July 22, 1702. 7. Lydia, March 17, 1698, died November 14, 1702. 8. Theophilus, September 28, 1700, died Octo- ber 7, 1747. 9. Timothy, mentioned below. 10. Eunice, November 3, 1705, died November 8, 1783; married (first) December 10, 1724, Joseph Neal; (second) April 6, 1738, William Pickering, born August 3, 1700.

(IV) Deacon Timothy, son of John (3) Pickering, was born in Salem, February 10, 1702-03, baptized there February 14, 1702-03. He was a farmer in his native town. He was originally a member of the first church under Rev. Samuel Fiske, and later of society found- ed by Mr. Fiske after his dismissal from his first pastorate, now known as the Tabernacle Church. He became deacon of the Tabernacle Church. He did not favor the separation of

Timothy Filtering

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the colonies from the mother country, but helped to the extent of his ability after the out- break of the revolutionary war. He was mod- erator in 1770; subscribed money in July, 1776, to enable the town committee to hire soldiers to be levied to reinforce the northern army. In a memorandum book of his son, Colonel Timothy Pickering, this tribute to Deacon Pickering is found: "The tenor of my father's life was directed by his opinions of the equal rights of all mankind. Hence the dishonest or improper conduct of the men possessed of power or wealth was censured without reserve, while he was disposed to apologize for the poor and uninformed. All his actions showed that he deemed virtue alone entitled to respect. He used often to repeat the words of Solo- mon-'The fear of man bringeth a snare.' In- vincibly pursuing the calls of rigid justice, he always complained of the wrong done to widows and orphans and salary men, who were deeply injured by the depreciation of paper money of the province of Massachusetts, an injury which he thought the province bound in justice to repair and which he urged upon all who fell in his way who had any influence in the affairs of government. The emancipations of the enslaved Africans was another favorite topic which he dwelt upon whilst he lived and he lived long enough to see it beginning to take place in fact in the Province of Massachu- setts, after the completion of the late Revolu- tion which ended in the establishment of the independence of the United States. It was not until the constitution of Massachusetts was new modeled in 1780 that in that state slavery was abolished, the judges of the Supreme Court pronouncing that all men held in slavery, dwelling within that state, were by the consti- tution, made free, grounding their opinion on the first clause of the Declaration of Rights- 'All men are born free and equal.'" He died June 7, 1778, and was buried in the Broad street burial ground, opposite the family man- sion. The gravestones of himself and wife are standing. His will was dated July 5, 1778, and proved July 15, 1778.

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II, Part 88

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