Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume III, Part 17

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 986

USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 17

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(I) Robert Eyricke, of Houghton, England, is the earliest of the name to whom kinship is confidently traced in a direct line. He lived in 1450, had a wife Agnes, and children, Robert, and Thomas next mentioned.

(II) Thomas Eyrick, gentleman, of Hough- ton, died 1518. He settled in Leicester, and is the first of the name on the books of the corporation, where he is recorded as a member of that body in 1511. His will dated August 25, 1517, was proved at Leicester, and he was buried in St. Martin's Church in the same city. His children were: Nicholas, John and Eliz- abeth.

(III) John, second son of Thomas Eyrick, was born in 1513, died April 2, 1589, at Lei- cester. In St. Martin's Church is a part thereof called "Heyrick's Chancel," used as a place of burial long ago by this family. On the tomb- stone of John Heyrick, Esq., and Mary Bond his wife, is found the following epitaph : "Here lieth the body of John Heyrick, late of this parish, who departed this life 2d of Aprill, 1589, being about the age of seventy-six. He did marry Marie, daughter of John Bond of Wardende, in the Countie of Warwicke, Esquire, and did live with the said Mary, in one house, full fifty-two yeares ; and in all that time, never buried man, woman, or child, though they were sometimes twenty in house- hold. He had yssue by said Marie, 5 sonnes and seven daughters. The said John was Mayor of this town in anno 1559, and again in anno 1572. The said Marie departed this life ye 8th day of December, 1611, being of the age of ninety-seven years. She did see before her departure, of her children, and her chil- dren's children, and their children to the num- ber of 142." Their children were: Ursula, Agnes, Robert, Mary, Nicholas, Elizabeth.

Helen, Thomas, Christiana, John, William and Alice.

(IV) Sir William, fifth son of John and Mary (Bond) Herrick, was born 1557, bap- tized December 9, 1562, and died March 2, 1653. He was apprenticed in 1573 or 1574 to his brother Nicholas, who was a goldsmith in London; and on the death of the latter, in 1592, "his real successor in the goldsmith's business in Cheapside was his younger brother and former apprentice, William." The trade of goldsmith was then one of the most lucra- tive and honorable that an Englishman could follow. It meant much more than dealing in jewelry and trinkets. The old Goldsmith's Guild had the exclusive power of coining money, and to its members belonged especially that irregular sort of banking, which, before it was assigned to a particular class of traders, was often resorted to by great merchants like Whittington and Gresham. The goldsmiths, whose ships were generally in Cheapside, were great money lenders and money changers. They were something between the pawnbrokers and bankers of modern times. Among the gold- smiths of this sort, in the time of Queen Eliz- abeth, William Herrick came to be the most eminent. The Queen herself was one of his best customers, employing Gresham, Ducket, and others, to conduct. her foreign monetary business, she went to Herrick for the small loans and minor bargains to which she very often had a resort. So high was Elizabeth's opinion of Herrick, that she once sent him as ambassador to the Sultan of Turkey. And as a reward for his singular diplomatic success he was appointed to a lucrative position in the Exchequor, which he held through the remainder of this and the following reign of James. His title was that of principal jeweler or teller to the crown. On Easter Tuesday, in 1605, says an envious letter writer of the time, "one Master William Herrick, a gold- 'smith in Cheapside, was knighted for making a hole in the great diamond the King did wear. The party little expected the honor; but he did his work so well as won the King to an extraordinary liking of it." In the same year he again entered parliament as a member for Leicester. He was also chosen alderman of Farrington Without, but from this office, as well as from employment as sheriff of Lon- don, he was afterwards excused on payment of £300, "in respect," as it was said "that the said Sir William is the King's sworn servant, and can not so necessarily afford the daily service

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as behoveth." During the next dozen years or more, Sir William Herrick was in almost daily service of the court. Great sums of moncy were lent by him to the King in formal ways for public and private uses ; and he also lent much money in the less regular ways of personal friendships. "Since my being teller," he wrote in a petition dated 1616, "I have lent his Majesty divers great sums of money gratis, which none of my fellows ever did, to my loss and disadvantage of at least £3,000." He was a rich man, and found good use for his riches in charitable works and schemes for local improvement in Leicester and its neigh- borhood. In that vicinity, at his fine estate of Beau Manor Park, he seems to have settled down, as a retired merchant of great wealth, in or near the year 1624. There he lived splen- didly and happily, dealing kindly with his tenants, and winning their hearts, love and estcem. He lived in well-employed retirement for nearly thirty years. He married, 1596, Joan, daughter of Richard May, Esq., of Lon- don, and his wife Mary, daughter of a Mr. Hilderson, of Devonshire, born 1578. died July 3, 1645. She was famous in her day for her piety and her beauty. They had twelve children: William, Robert, Richard, Thomas, Elizabeth (died young), Henry, Roger, John, Mary, Martha, Dorothy and Elizabeth.

(V) Henry, son of Sir William and Joan (May) Herrick, whose name was sometimes written Hencrie Hireck, Hericke or Herrick, was born at Beau Manor, county of Leicester, England, in 1604. He was named by com- mand of the unfortunate Prince Henry, eld- est son of James I. His sponsors were Sir David Murray, Sir John Spillman and Lady Aston. Various circumstances lead to the belief that this Henry Herrick settled in Salem, Massachusetts, though there is no positive and direct proof of it: Upham in his "Salem Witchcraft" says: "Henry Herrick who purchased the Cherry Hill farm of Alford was the fifth son of Sir William Herrick, of Beau Manor Park, in the parish of Lough- borough, in the county of Leicester, England. He came first to Virginia and then to Salem. He was accompanied to America by another emigrant from Loughborough, named Cleve- land. Herrick became a member of the First Church at Salem in 1629, and his wife Edith about the same time." Another states : "Henry Herrick settled on 'Cape-Ann-Side' of Bass River ( now Beverly ), on which his farm was bounded. He purchased several farms at Birch Plains and Cherry Hill, on which he

settled his sons Zacharie, Ephraim, Joseph and John." He was a husbandman in easy circum- stances, but undistinguished by wealth, or by civil rank or influence in the colony. He was a very good and honest dissenter from the established church and the friend of Higgin- son, who had been a dissenting minister in Leicester. Mr. Herrick and his wife Editha were among the thirty who founded the first church in Salem, in 1639; and on the organiza- tion of the new parish, on "Ryal-Syde," 1667, they, with their sons and their sons' wives, were among the founders of the first church in Beverly, also. But there are reasons to suspect that neither Henry nor his sons were at all times, and in all things quite as submis- sive to the spiritual powers of their day as they should have been. On the records of Essex county is an entry like this: "Henerie Hericke and Edith, his wife, are fined IOS. and II s. for costs of Coort for aiding and comforting an excommunicated person, con- trary to order." He married Editha, daughter of Hugh Larkin, of Salem, who was born 1614, and was living 1674, and they are said to have had twelve sons and several daughters. Seven sons and a daughter survived their father and are named in his will. They were: Thomas, Zacharie, Ephraim, Henry, Joseph, Elizabeth, John and Benjamin.

(VI) Henry (2), fourth son of Henry and Editha (Larkin) Herrick, was baptized Janu- ary 16, 1640, died in June, 1702. He inherited the Homestcading, at lower Beverly, a pleas- ant and valuable farm a part of which remain- ed in the ownership and possession of the family until about 1850. He served as a juror at the witchcraft trials in Salem, in 1602. His first wife's maiden name is thought to have been Lydia Woodbury. By her he had five children: Lydia, Joseph, Elizabeth, Samuel and Jonathan. He married ( second) 1690, Sarah, widow of John Giddings, of Gloucester, who died in 1711:

(VII) Jonathan, youngest child of Henry (2) and Lydia ( Woodbury) Herrick, was baptized in 1672, dicd in 1724. He resided in Beverly whence he removed to Concord, where he had considerable property, in mills &c. He married (first ) October 28, 1696, Elizabeth Dodge, born in 1672, died March 13, 1712, daughter of William Dodge. Their children were : Elizabeth, William. Hannah, Rebecca, Jonathan and Lydia. He married ( second) September 13, 1713, Bethia Conant, of Bev- erly, by whom he had: Israel, a son, Mary, Lucy, and Joseph, next mentioned.

James Herick

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(VIII) Joseph, youngest child of Jonathan and Bethia (Conant) Herrick, was born in 1720, died March 16, 1795. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, bought a farm in Groton, in 1744, and sold to Josiah Conant in 1746. He then lived in Townsend, Vermont, and finally settled in Brattleborough, in that state. He married, in 1742, Lois Cutler, of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, who died August 5, 1812, aged ninety-two. Their children were : Jonathan. Joseph, Shadrach, Lois, Amos, Abner, Bethiah and Mary.

(IX) Jonathan (2), eldest child of Joseph and Lois (Cutler ) Herrick, was born Septem- ber 26. 1743, died October 1828, in Brattle- borough, Vermont. He married, 1770. Mehit- able French, born March 16, 1751, died March 29, 1836. They had twelve children, as fol- lows: Jonathan, Lydia, Mehitable, Elizabeth, John, Edith, Nathaniel, Joseph, Seth, Eliza- beth Lucinda and Asa.

(X) Nathaniel, son of Jonathan (2) and Mehitable (French) Herrick, was born in Brattleborough, March 7, 1782, died October 2. 1853. He was a farmer and resided at Dummerston, in Windham county. He mar- ried (first) 1806, Lydia Eastman, born March 27, 1784, died February 19, 1825. Their chil- dren were: Esther, Harriet, Nancy, James and John. He married (second) January, 1826, Widow Anna Tenney, by whom he had: Jonathan Tenney, Lydia Eastman and Nathaniel.

(XI) Rev. James, son of Nathaniel and Lydia (Eastman) Herrick, was born in Broome, Province of Quebec, where his par- ents were temporarily residing, March 19, 1814, died in Brattleborough, Vermont, Decem- ber 1, 1891, after an attack of heart disease lasting but a short time. Early in his life the family returned to the West Village in Brattle- borough, and there he received the beginning of his education. His later childhood he spent in Newfane and West Dummerston. Deter- mining on a more complete education he im- proved his opportunity as a youth to study at Brattleborough Academy. It was necessary for him to teach a district school in the winter that he might pay his way in preparation for college, and some of the time he boarded two miles away, but that was not an insuperable hardship for one of his vigor and stalwart purpose. One who knew him well, Rev. Mr. Grout, wrote of him: "He was eminently diligent, faithful, successful in all his studies, and was noted for his regular punctual attend- ance, upon every recitation and other engage-

ment or duty." While he was in his academy course he first united with the Congregational church, on confession of his faith, being then twenty years of age. After the completion of his preparatory course he entered Williams College in 1837 and graduated in 1841. He taught school a year in Brattleborough, after which he entered Andover Theological Semi- nary, from which he graduated in 1845. In this course he steadily looked forward to foreign mission work, to which he had given himself body and soul. He was ordained as a missionary, October 8, 1845, and November 12, 1845, accompanied by his young wife, he set sail for the far-off land of India, the land that was to be the scene of his great life work. He went to Madura, South India, where he entered earnestly into his work, being sup- ported by the American Board Commissioners of Foreign Missions. In 1864, after sixteen years service there, he returned to this country with his family and remained three years. He then returned with his wife and two sons and resided in India till 1883. Then on account of impaired health he left the scene of his labors, where thirty-seven years before his missionary work began, and spent his last years at Brattleborough. His heart was con- secrated to his task as a missionary and he loved the poor people to whom he had given his best years, and he was often heard to say that he would gladly go back to that land and die. Mr. Herrick's devotion to the cause of foreign missions was ever sturdy, warm and strong, and did not abate when failing health compelled him to leave the field. His eminent natural fitness for such a work was seen in part, in his naturally strong constitution, and general good health. But for these, the heavy strain of mission work in such a field as that of India, would have made his days few and feeble instead of active and useful, as he was until his death. The last Sabbath of his life was an illustration of his constant. purpose. He then performed his religious duties in their order as far as his strength would allow. He attended the morning church service ; then the Sabbath school ; then the Young People's meeting ; and there he had to stop, not because he wanted to, but because he must. His Sab- bath duties were only a portion of his work. He did much that was pastoral through the week ; visiting the aged, the sick, the deserted. the desolate and afflicted. He corresponded much with christian workers and those whom he could comfort and cheer. He let his light shine among his neighbors and in society, and

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he was able in advancing the cause of Christ on earth. He would counsel for the welfare of the church and community, giving his views with elearness and cogeney, yet with eare- fulness, lest he should offend and spoil the work. "One would search far to find a better illustration among men of what it is to follow the Lord with singleness of heart in all Chris- tian life." The distinguishing features of his character were christian faith, love, sincerity and fidelity. At the last commencement of Williams College previous to his death he had the great joy of meeting there some of the few remaining classmates on the fiftieth anni- versary of their graduation. He was fond of musie, a fine singer, often led the choir, and was always ready to give himself body and soul, spirit and understanding also, to the ser- viee of song, whenever duty or privilege open- ed the way.

James Herriek married, November 2, 1845, Elizabeth Hopkins Crosby, of West Brattle- borough. She was born January 27, 1817, died September 23, 1900. Her parents were Thomas and Katherine (Burt) Crosby. The children of this marriage were: A daughter, Mary Elizabeth. Catherine Harriet, de- ceased ; James Frederick, Catherine Lydia, William Henry, Emily Jane, Joseph T., Ellen Maria and David Scudder. All were born in India. Four died in India and were buried there. Of the six who sur- vived their father, James Frederick, born June 14, 1851, graduated from Williams College, 1875, was for several years on the staff of the Springfield Republican, and was later eonneeted with the New York World. The second son, William H., born January 24, 1855, is a frontier missionary and is stationed in Utah. Joseph T. is mentioned at length below. The youngest son, David Seudder, born Mareh 29, 1863, graduated at Williams College in 1884, and taught in India several years. Subsequently he fitted for missionary work in Union Theologieal Seminary. Mary Elizabeth, born October 2, 1847, married John H. Dunklee and resides in the West Village, and with her resided her parents in their old age, the constant objeets of her care and over- sight. Emily Jane, born June 16, 1857, married Rev. George E. Martin, now of Lowell, Mass- achusetts.

(XII) Dr. Joseph Thomas, son of Rev. James and Elizabeth II. (Crosby) Herriek, was born in the city of Maruda, South India, August 17, 1859. He resided with his parents until they visited their home in New England

in 1864, when he aeeompanied them, making the voyage from Madras to London on the sailing packet "Renown," one of the Green line of ships. This vessel had as passengers a regiment of English soldiers returning from service in India. It made the voyage around the Cape of Good Hope, as all ships were then compelled to do, and took three months to complete it. After staying two years at Brattleborough, Vermont, he returned with his parents to India, making the passage from London to Madras on the ship "Isabella." After his return he remained six years in India, where his primary instruction was given him by his mother. In 1872 he returned to Amer- ica with Rev. William B. Capron, on the steam- ship "Vieeroy," of the Green line, passing through the Suez Canal, which had recently been completed. In each instanee the voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York was made on one of the steamers of the Cunard line. On arriving in America he went to Newton, Massachusetts, where he resided at the Missionary Home, and attended the eom- mon schools till he was sixteen years of age. He then entered the St. Johnsbury Academy at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, from which he graduated in 1880. He then entered the med- ical department of the University of the City of New York where he took the degree of Doetor of Medicine in 1883. The succeeding year and a half he was resident physician and surgeon in the almshouse and work house at Blackwell's Island, where he had the benefits of a busy practice and a widely extended ex- perience which greatly added to his knowledge of medieine and surgery and fitted him for his private practice. In 1885 Dr. Herrick settled in Springfield, Massachusetts, and began praetice which he carried on suceessfully until 1897, when he gave it up in order to take eare of the large property interests of which he has the man- agement. For some time he was assistant sur- gcon of the Second Regiment, Massachusetts State Militia, and also visiting physician of the Springfield Hospital. He is a member of the Hampden District Medieal Society, the Spring- field Medical Club, the Massachusetts Medieal Society, and the American Medical Society. Although domestic in his tastes and habits, he maintains membership in the Nyasset Club, the Winthrop Club, the Country Club, the Hyan- nisport Country Club, the Automobile Club of Springfield, and the St. Bernard Fishing Club of Quebec. In polities he is a Republican. He is a member of Hope Congregational Church, member of its parish committee and chairman

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of its music committee. In 1905, accompanied by his wife and son, he visited the British Isles and made a quite thorough trip through the four kingdoms. He has also visited the Paci- fic slope, the southern states and parts of Can- ada, and in the year 1907-08 traveled twenty thousand miles by automobile. September 8, 1886, Dr. Joseph T. Herrick married Mary Florence Fairbanks, (see Fairbanks VIII) who was born July 26, 1859, daughter of Col- onel Franklin and Frances A. (Clapp) Fair- banks, of St. Johnsbury, Vermont. She was educated in the public schools and at Miss Porter's school of Farmington, Connecticut. They have one son, Paul Fairbanks, born July 19, 1887, who graduated from Monson Acad- emy in 1908, and is now a member of the class of 1912, Trinity College.

(The Fairbanks Line).

Nearly all persons in the United States bear- ing the name of Fairbanks or Fairbank, except by marriage, are related by direct descent from Jonathan, the first, while there are many who take a justifiable pride in tracing their lineage back to mothers born to the inheritance. The immigrant often wrote his name Fairbanke, and occasionally ffayerbanke. In his will and the inventory of his property there appears the variations ffarbanke, ffarebanks, Fair- bancke. Among the members of this ancient family are many who have distinguished them- selves in the professions, in business and in politics, and one has filled the office of vice- president of the United States; another has been governor of a state, and many have been notable in the arts and industries ; among the latter those of the later generations of the present line.

(I) Jonathan Fairbanks came from Sow- erby in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Eng- land, to Boston, Massachusetts, in the year 1633, and in 1636 settled in Dedham, where he first built the noted "Old Fairbanks House," which is still standing as an ancient landmark, the oldest dwelling in New England which for the same period of time has been continuously owned and occupied by the builder and his lineal descendants. He was one of the earliest settlers of Dedham, which was established 1636, and signed the covenant, March 23, 1637. Before 1637 Jonathan Fairbanks had been granted at least one of the twelve-acre lots into which the first allotment was divided, with four acres of swamp land, for the same year he received as his proportion of a further allot- ment four acres of "Swamp" land, this addi-

tional grant being made on account of the swampy condition of a portion of the first grant. In 1638 he was appointed with others "to measure out those polls of meadow which adjoin to men's lots, and to mete out so much meadow in several parcels as is allotted unto every man according to the grant made unto them." In 1638 he was allowed six acres more, which was later exchanged for other land ; and at other times following he received vari- ous small grants. He was admitted townsman and signed the covenant in 1654. He died in Dedham, December 5, 1668. His wife's name was Grace Lee. She died "28th 10 Mo. 1673." Their children were all born in England, as follows : John, George, Mary, Susan, Jonas and Jonathan.

(II) Captain George, second son of Jona- than and Grace ( Lee ) Fairbanks, came with his parents from England. He resided in Dedham until about 1657, when he removed to the southern part of Sherborn (afterward Medway and now Mills), where he was the first settler. In 1648 he owned some land and a dwelling house in Dedham.' In that year he received a grant of a small parcel of land "as it lye against the side of his own yard for an enlargement and to set a Barne upon it." In Medfield, afterward Medway, he established a homestead which remained in the family name for several generations. His dwelling was the famous stone house near the northern border of Bogestow pond in the eastern part of the town, which is now included within the limits of the town of Mills, incorporated in 1885. This house was originally a garrison house, built by the residents of Bogestow farms unit- edly as a place of refuge and defence, to which they could flee in times of danger from the attacks of hostile Indians. It was sixty-five or seventy feet long, and two stories high. The walls were built of flat stones laid in clay mor- tar. It had a double row of port holes on the sides, and was lined with heavy oak plank. The stones have all been carried away, and the spot where the building stood is unmarked. In 1662 George, with thirteen of his neighbors, signed the first petition for the incorporation of Sherborn. Again in 1674 he and twelve others signed a second petition which was suc- cessful, and by an act of the general court the petitioners and twenty more of such as they might consent to receive as inhabitants, were constituted proprietors of lands now compris- ing Sherborn, Holliston, and large districts of Framingham and Ashland. After the forma- tion of the town he seems to have been an

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active citizen, engaged in public affairs. For four years he was selectman, and was chosen on a committee to engage and settle a minister. He was also a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He was drowned January 10, 1682. He was a man of sterling character, and a model pioneer. His descendants are found in almost every state of the Union, and in Canada and Nova Scotia. George Fairbanks married, "the 26 of the 8 mo., 1646," Mary Adams, of Dedham, who died August II, 17II, in Mendon, Massachu- setts, probably at the home of her son-in-law, William Holbrook. The children of George and Mary were: Mary, George, Samuel, Eliesur, Jonas, Jonathan and Margaret.

(III) Eliesur, third son of Captain George and Mary ( Adams) Fairbanks, was born "the 8 of the 4 mo., 1665," and lived in Sherborn. In 1679 he drew a home lot of eighteen acres on the main street in Sherborn, adjoining Peter's Hill. He was selectman in 1703. The baptismal name of his wife was Martha. There is no record of the death of either of them. Their children were: Mary, Martha, Lydia, Margaret, Mercy, and Eliesur, next mentioned.

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume III, Part 17

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 986

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 986