Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume III, Part 33

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 33

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).

'The Chamberlain Line).

This family traces its history back to an ancestor who settled in the primeval forests of Massachusetts when the oldest in that colony was only twenty-one years old. The self- reliant and energetic spirit of this ancestor is still strong in the Chamberlains of the present time.

(1) Edmund Chamberlain, immigrant an- cestor, settled at Woburn, Massachusetts, and

removed about 1655 to Chelmsford. He drew land at New Roxbury ( Woodstock, Connecti- cut ), lot No. 56, and his son Edmund settled there. Edmund Chamberlain married, at Rox- bury, Massachusetts, January 4, 1647, Mary Turner, probably sister of John Turner. She died in Roxbury, December 7, 1669, at the house of Samuel Ruggles, of Roxbury. He married (second) at Malden, June 22, 1670, Hannah Burden. The children of Edmund or Edward (the names were used interchange- ably) Chamberlain by his first wife were: Mary, baptized at Roxbury, April 16, 1648; Sarah, born December 18, 1649; Edmund, May 30, 1656; Jacob, October 5, 1658. The children of Edmund Chamberlain, by second wife, born or recorded as born at Malden, were: Susanna, born June 16, 1671, died 1672; Ebenezer, 1672, died 1672; Susanna, married, November 14, 1693, John Tucker- man, of Boston ; Edmund, January 31, 1676.

(II) Edmund (2), son of Edmund (I) and Hannah ( Burden) Chamberlain, was born Jan- uary 31, 1676, at Malden, Massachusetts, and about 1686 removed with his parents to New Roxbury, (Woodstock), Connecticut, where he was married November 21, 1699, by Rev. Josiah Dwight, to Elizabeth Bartholomew, probably daughter of William Bartholomew. After her husband's death she married Joseph Wright, of Andover, Massachusetts, Decem- ber 5, 1737; she died in 1746. Their chil- dren were: Edmund, born August 23, 1700; Elizabeth, March 6, 1702; William, February 23, 1704; John, married Hannah Bowen, De- cember 30, 1725; Peter ; Mary ; Hannah, Jan- uary 2, 1721.

(III) Edmund (3), eldest son of Edmund (2) and Elizabeth ( Bartholomew) Chamber- lain, was born August 23, 1700, at Woodstock, Connecticut, where he was chosen deacon of the church in 1725, and in 1761 was still liv- ing. He married, January 5, 1734, Sarah Wright, who died December 27, 1783, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Amos Throop, of Woodstock. Their children were : William, baptized November 17, 1734; Abiel; William, baptized March 22, 1741 ; Edmund, baptized March 20, 1743; he served as ser- geant in the revolution.

(IV) Abiel, son of Edmund (3) and Sarah (Wright ) Chamberlain, was born December 20, 1736, at Woodstock, Connecticut, died January 12, 1820. He served in the revolution, in 1776, being clerk in Captain Jonathan Morris's com- pany, Eleventh regiment, Connecticut militia, from Woodstock. About 1760 he married

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Grace Ainsworth, of West Woodstock, born June 1, 1743, died January 10, 1788, and their children were: Abiel; Zevia, married Bial Allard and moved to Saratoga, New York; Eunice and Olive, twins, born in 1777, the for- mer of whom married Mr. Walker, and the latter died unmarried March 7, 1868; Sylvia, born 1764, died unmarried March 16, 1822; Polly, married Mr. Warner; Betsey, married Mr. Hibbard : Willoughby, married

Foster ; Huldah, married Mr. Waters ; Jemima, married Mr. Coombs; Nathan Ainsworth, served in the war of 1812, married Polly Goodell about 1820; William, married Betsy Tucker, about 1819.

(V) Abiel (2), son of Abiel (I) and Grace (Ainsworth) Chamberlain, was born Novem- ber 19, 1774, at Woodstock, Connecticut, died September 23, 1846. He married, September 30, 1802, Salome, daughter of Abel Child, fifth in descent from Benjamin Child, the original settler in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1630; she was born July 8, 1781, and died January 29, 1850. Their children were: Rens- selaer, born November 19, 1804, died unmar- ried, August 20, 1829; Electa, October II, 1806, died unmarried September 7, 1844; Emeline, July 12, 1808, died July 16, 1824; Abel Child; John Newton, May 26, 1812, died February 21, 1880; Rebekah, born October 4, 1813, married Hervey Plimpton, and died April 27, 1903; George, November, 1819, was living in Woodstock, Maine, in 1892; Alvan, October 2, 1821, married, March 29, 1851, Sarah Holdrich Elliott, and died January I, 1866; Samuel, November 10, 1822, lived in New Haven, died April 4, 1894.

(VI) Abel Child, second son of Abiel (2) and Salome (Child) Chamberlain, was born January 6, 1811, at Woodstock, Connecticut, and died July 18, 1885. He married, Sep- tember 16, 1835, in Woodstock, Angeline Atwood Hosmer, daughter of Ephraim and Sally (Palmer ) Hosmer, born November 20, 1812, died March 3, 1880. Ephraim Hosmer ( who took part in the war of 1812 from New London) was the son of Abel, he son of Ephraim, he son of James and Elizabeth Hos- mer, probably original settlers, and Sally Palmer was sixth in descent from Thomas Palmer, the original settler of Rowley, Massa- chusetts, in 1639. Abel Child Chamberlain's children were: I. Myron Newton, born Sep- tember 6, 1836, died January 10, 1899; mar- ried, January 15, 1867, Julia Denison. 2. Sarah Hosmer. 3. Hannah Maria, February 6, 1847. 4. George Rensselaer, August 18,

1849, married, June 11, 1874, M. Anna Par- sons. 5. James Henry Percival, July 11, 1854, died May 31, 1895; married Hattie Louise Riley.

(VII) Sarah Hosmer, daughter of Abel Child and Angeline Atwood ( Hosmer) Cham- berlain, was born August 20, 1840, married, June 13, 1866, James Louis Johnson. (See Johnson VIII). She is a daughter of the American Revolution, becoming a member in 1894.

SMITH The early immigrants to New England were mostly artisans and many of them men of little learning. That they were possessed of strong characters is evidenced in a thousand ways to the student of history. While the pen was an awkward instrument to many of them, they were industrious and conquered the wilder- ness, establishing the foundation of the civili- zation which we enjoy. Among the most use- ful men in the colonies were the Smiths, who made all the nails used in the construction of buildings, and nearly every implement of every sort employed in the rude life of the pioneers. A century previous the country people in England had taken surnames, and it feel out that many who were smiths by occupation took the word for a patronymic. In the midst of these, where christian names are oft re- peated, it had been difficult to trace a line of descent in many cases.

The Hon. John Cotton Smith, governor of Connecticut, and his two celebrated sons, Rev. John Cotton Smith and Rev. Roland Cotton Smith, rectors in the Protestant Episcopal church, were of this line.

(I) Rev. Henry Smith was born in England and came to this country. Savage says he died in 1643 in Wethersfield, Connecticut. He was with Rev. Thomas Hooker, who led his peo- ple from Watertown, Massachusetts, to Con- necticut in 1636. They traversed the wilder- ness, guided by a compass, to Hartford, with no covers but the heavens ; no lodging but the ground. They carried their packs on their backs and their arms in their hands. Rev. Henry became the first minister of Wethers- field. The name of his wife has never been authoritatively ascertained. Children : Samuel, James, Preserved, Ichabod and Ebenezer.

(II) Ebenezer, youngest son of Rev. Henry Smith, was probably born in England and came to America with his father and brothers. The name of his wife was Sarah (surname unknown. ).

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(III) Ebenezer (2), son of Ebenezer (I) and Sarah Smith, was born April 2, 1699, died September 15, 1720. Children: Nathaniel, born March 3, 1701; Johanna, January 8, 1703; Jonathan, August 1, 1705; Dorcas, No- vember 19, 1707; Mary, March 26, 1710, who died in infancy ; Mary, July 24, 1713.

(IV) Nathaniel, eldest son of Ebenezer (2) Smith, was born March 3, 1701, married Mercy (surname unknown). Their children: Nathaniel, born May 22, 1729; Mercy, Christ- mas day, 1731 ; Rhoda, October 23, 1732.

(V) Nathaniel (2), eldest son of Nathaniel (I) and Mercy Smith, was born as above in Sheffield, Connecticut. He resided in Sandis- field, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, in Rupert, Vermont, and Pawlet, an adjoining town. In 1799 he removed to Orwell, that state, and in 1802 to St. Armand, Province of Quebec, Canada. He was temperate, indus- trious, economical, with a good common school education, and he taught school occasionally even when advanced in years. He possessed good general information, was remarkable for his conversational powers and a great lover of children. He never made any profession of religion, yet he was strict in performing family devotion and very strict in teaching his children the catechism. He married Sarah MacCartee, February 15, 1750, and she died at Rupert in 1778. The next year he married Sarah Douglas, who died in 1799. She was the daughter of Domini Douglas, who was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1732. His parents, of Scotch descent, died when he was but six or seven years old, leaving him to the care of an adult brother, who from motives which Domini never fully understood placed him on board a merchant vessel when he was only eight years old, providing him extremely well with clothing. The captain made much of him, carried him first to Amsterdam and from there to Providence, Rhode Island. Near this place he left Domini with orders to have him kept at school until his return; providing for his support for several months but the captain never returned. The lad now nine or ten years of age was kept at school until the funds left for his support had been long exhausted, and no claim being made on him, the authorities of the place bound him as an apprentice to a farmer by the name of Wheaton, in the town of Seekonk, Massa- chusetts, in which family he grew up to man- hood, engaged as a volunteer in the old French war and served two or three campaigns be- tween Albany and Crown Point He settled

as a farmer at New Milford, where he resided twenty-six years, served several campaigns as minute or militia man in the revolutionary war. He raised a large family of children. In the course of the war he sold his farm for continental bills, which depreciated nearly to nothing in his hands. In 1785-86 he removed with most or all of his children to Shoreham, Vermont, where he purchased a new farm, cleared it up and where he remained (with a short exception) until his death at the age of seventy-five, 1807. By the two marriages Nathaniel had fifteen children; nine by the first and six by the second: Nathaniel, born January 31, 1751 ; Reuben, February 9, 1753; William, June 12, 1755; Jehiel, April 21, 1757; Eliphalet, November 16, 1759; Pliny, Decem- ber 19, 1761 ; Oliver, May 8, 1764; Cynthia, April 16, 1766; Sarah, July 21, 1768; Orange, July 7, 1781 ; Homer, August 21, 1782 ; Lyman, March 30, 1784; Hannah, January 5, 1786; Noble, December 30, 1787; and Harvey D., November 9, 1789.

(VI) Rev. Homer, son of Nathaniel (2) and Sarah (Douglas) Smith, was born at Pawlet, August 21, 1782, died October 12, 1837. He went with his father when very young to St. Armand, Canada East, where he resided. He was very religious and was active and useful in church. He was licensed and ordained as a Baptist minister, preaching in the neighborhood on the Sabbath, mostly without recompense, and working hard on his farm the other six days, and by his un- remitting toil, thrift and prudence, he ac- quired a competency for those days. He mar- ried Carolyn, born in Canada, daughter of Stephen Bush, of Orwell, Vermont ; children : Esther, born May 19, 1802; Alta Maria, No- vember 18, 1809: Carolyn, December 16, 1816; Harvey D., November 28, 1819; Sarah. The mother died April 28, 1832, and he con- tracted a second marriage with Abigail Ayers ; children : Harriet Murdock, born January 20, 1834, married, July 14, 1852, Avery Jackson Smith, who was the son of Benjamin Howard and Carolyn Jackson Smith. Avery Jackson Smith was born in Gouverneur, New York, where he spent his early life. He was gradu- ated from Union College, and for a time taught school in Central New York state. He then went into the insurance business and became carly an agent for the Massachusetts Mutual Company of Springfield. He lived for a time in New York and later in Baltimore, and in 1870 was elected secretary of the Massachusetts Mutual Company and came to live in the city

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of Springfield. He held this office until 1881, when he was succeeded by John A. Hall, presi- dent of the company. Since that time Mr. Smith has been associated with a number of local enterprises. He was at one time treas- urer of the Springfield Printing Company, and trustee of the Springfield Glue and Emery Wheel Company and of Hyde, Ayer & Co. Later he was for a short period president of the Springfield Assurance Company. He then served some seven years as manager of the Densmore Typewriter Company, resigning to take a position in the Taber-Prang Company. For some little time past he had been in the investment business, recently being associated with the Commonwealth Securities Company. He was at one time connected with the First Church. Mr. Smith was a business man of the old-fashioned school, quiet, dignified and exact in his methods, and exceedingly upright in all of his dealings. Although naturally of a reserved disposition, he had close friends among the older men of the city, and had established especially intimate relations among the members of the club, to which he had for some time belonged. He died July 28, 1903.

SMITH The father of the principal sub- ject of the following sketch, William Smith, was a native of England, whence he removed to Closeburn, Scotland, only about twenty miles from the north boundary of England. There he was killed by a fall from his horse. He married Janet Mackenzie, daughter of John Mac- Kenzie, of Dumfries. After the death of her husband she returned to her father's house in Dumfries, where she continued to reside. She was a woman of attractive personality and of superior intellectuality, and was interested particularly in antiquarian research. She was deeply loved by her son who made as many as sixteen or eighteen trips to Scotland to visit her, and usually passed a month at her house on each visit. She died August 31, 1891, being then eighty years old. She and her ancestors for generations are buried in the cemetery of the kirk at Closeburn.

John MacKenzie, only son of William and Janet (Mackenzie) Smith, was born in Close- burn, Dumfries, Scotland, September 25, 1841, and died in Springfield, Massachusetts, Decem- ber 12, 1898. He attended school at Wallace Hall in his native place, and at the age of four- teen began an apprenticeship in the dry goods store of a Mr. Scott, provost of Dumfries. He worked there four years, and then went

to a wholesale dry goods house in Glasgow, from which in 1860 he came to this country. His first four years in America were spent in the employ of George Trumbull, whose store was at the corner of Washington and Winter streets in Boston. In 1865 he settled in Spring- field, and entered into partnership with A. B. Forbes, buying out John T. Rockwood. Their business occupied a small store on the corner, where Forbes & Wallace are now in business. From 1870 to 1874 Mr. Smith was interested with A. B. Wallace in the firm of Smith & Wallace, at Pittsfield. In the latter year Mr. Smith had a flattering offer of the business of Churchill & Watson, on Washington street. He gave up his interests in Springfield and Pittsfield, sold his share in the store in the latter city to A. B. Wallace, and the new ven- ture started in Boston under the firm name of Churchill, Gilchrist, Smith & Company. Mr. Smith remained in this three years, and two years more in the firm of Smith & Watson, of Boston. In 1879 he returned to Springfield with Peter Murray, and started the firm of Smith & Murray on the corner where the busi- ness is still carried on, in a small store with a frontage of forty feet on Main street and a depth of one hundred feet. Since that time the concern has grown until it now occupies the five-story building fronting one hundred feet on Main street, and running back one hundred and fifty on Court street. The firm also conducted a store under the name of Smith, Murray & Company, at Bridgeport, and is interested in several smaller establish- ments in the towns and cities of Western Massachusetts. Mr. Smith was president of the Alaska Manufacturing Company, director in the First National Bank and the Taber- Prang Company, and a member of the Board of Trade. He was a thirty-second degree Mason, and a member of the Nyasset Club and the St. Andrew's Society of Boston. He at- tended Christ's Episcopal Church. He was an honorable and successful business man, a good citizen, and a kindly and benevolent man. From a small beginning, he has with his partner, Peter Murray, built up one of the largest mercantile enterprises in Springfield. Mr. Smith took a friendly interest in the young men who had been his employes and the firm aided many of them with its backing to start stores of their own. He also gave largely to the poor, both in Springfield and in Closeburn. leaving at his death a fund, the interest of which goes to the poor of the latter city. He was unusually devoted to his home, the old

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Phelps homestead. His home life was ex- tremely pleasant. and his well-kept place was one of the attractions of Springfield. He was a lover of good horses and in fact of animal pets of all kinds, of which he had many on his place. He took much pleasure in driving, and his stables were models. Outside his home Mr. Smith had formed some warm ties, having made friends especially among Scotchmen. He numbered among these Andrew Carnegie, whom he entertained at the time of his visit to Springfield, in 1896. John M. Smith mar- ried, in Springfield, November 13, 1867: Adelaide G. Phelps, born February 8, 1841, daughter of Charles and Frances A. ( Am- blairde) Phelps, of Springfield. (See Phelps VI). They had two children: I. Josephine Amblairde. born November 18, 1868, in Springfield, resides with her mother. 2. Adelaide Phelps, January 17, 1873, married, December 5, 1900, Dr. William Henry Pom- eroy, of Springfield, born August 19, 1857.

PHELPS There seems to be no available information on this side of the Atlantic relative to the English ancestors of this family. Thus far no colonial record has been discovered which mentions their place of abode or their position in society, but there is some reason for believing that they were of the gentry. Three emigrants, Henry, Nicholas, and Edward Phelps, pre- sumably brothers, came to New England from London in the ship "Hercules" (Captain John Kidder), which arrived April 16, 1634, and as cach married and had posterity, three distinct families were therefore established. Several of this name in America, both men and women. have attained prominence through their intel- lectual superiority. Those about to be refer- red to are a branch of the family established by Henry.

(1) Henry Phelps, the immigrant, was born in England and died in Salem, Massachusetts. He came to Salem from London in the ship "Hercules" in 1634 and was made a freeman March 13, 1639. Savage says he "married 1652 Hannah Bassett, but as second wife in my opinion, for there is some probability that he had married a daughter of Thomas Tres- ler, by whom he had a son John, remembered in the will of his grandmother."

(II) Jolin, only son of Henry and

(Tresler) Phelps, was born at Salem about 1640. The date and place of his death are not known. He married Widow Abigail. Upton, by whom he had : Abigail, John,

Henry, Joseph, Abigail, Samuel and Hannah.

(III) Henry (2), second son of John and Abigail (Upton) Phelps, was born in Salem, April 3, 1673, and died in Reading, January 21, 1722. He married, December, 1706, Rachel Guppy, by whom he had five children or more.

(IV) Henry (3), fifth child of Henry (2) and Rachel (Guppy) Phelps, was born about 1720, at Reading, and died about 1797. In early life he lived in Beverly, where he mar- ried and where his first child was born. About 1750 he removed to Sutton, where five more children were born, and he continued to live there the greater part of his life. He mar- ried, July 11, 1745, Sarah Rounday, of Bev- erly, who was born January 22, 1729, in Beverly. and died about 1794. She was the daughter of Benjamin and Charity (Stone) Rounday. Their children were: Henry, Ebenezer, Azor, Mary and John.

(V) Azor, third son of Henry (3) and Sarah (Rounday) Phelps, was born in Sut- ton, Massachusetts, October 13, 1761, and died in Shrewsbury, April 2, 1837. He was a revo- lutionary soldier, and the following is his record: Azor Phelps, private, Captain Ben- jamin Alton's company. Colonel John Rand's regiment ; enlisted July 9, 1780, three days preceding march; discharged October 10, 1780 : service three months, twelve days, in- cluding travel (one hundred and ninety miles ) home; regiment raised for three months ser- vice at West Point ; roll sworn to at Charlton ; also, order on Henry Gardner, treasurer, pay- able to John Harbach Jr., dated Sutton, March 3, 1782, signed by said Phelps, for wages, &c., for three months service at West Point in Cap- tain Benjamin Alton's company, Colonel John Rand's regiment, in 1780. He was a farmer and blacksmith, and in the latter employment made scythes and other farming implements. He settled first in Millbury, removing thence to Worcester, and about 1816 to Shrewsbury. He died of hernia caused by the kick of a horse. He married (first) November 16, 1784. Mrs. Mary (Tenney) Holman, born April 4. 1761, died October 6, 1814, daughter of Daniel and Rebecca (Dickinson) Tenney. He married (second) December 4, 1815, Mrs. Dolly ( Makepiece) Dresser. She was born September 18, 1799, died October 22, 1869, at Madison, Indiana. Her first husband was Harvey Dresser. After the death of Azor Phelps she married (third) December 4, 1838, John Frink, of Palmer. Azor and wife are buried in the lot of Henry Phelps, Rural cem- etery, in Worcester. The children by the first

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marriage were: Polly (Mary), Sarah, Azor (died young), Susan, Azor Rounday, Charles, Nancy Dickinson; by second wife, born at Worcester: George Makepiece, Dolly and Henry.

(VI) Charles, third son of Azor and Mary (Tenney) (Holman) Phelps, was born August 5, 1800, in Sutton, and died at the residence of his son-in-law E. S. Alexander, in Chicago, Illinois. August 25, 1872, and was buried in Springfield. He married (first) October 27, 1824, Mary Ann Martha Amblairde, born in 1802, died October 22, 1828. He married (second) February 12, 1834, Frances An- toinette Amblairde, born October 1I, 18II, in Boston, died June 2, 1894, in Springfield. She was a daughter of James and Sophia G. Am- blairde, of Boston. Of the first marriage there

was one child, a daughter, who died young. Of the second marriage there were three children: 1. Joseph Richard Van Zant, born January 13, 1835, died December 25, 1836. 2. Josephine Antoinette, born De- cember 13, 1836, died August 23, 1908, at Albany, New York ; she married (first) Sep- tember 13, 1857, in Springfield, Elijah S. Alexander, of Chicago, Illinois, who was born 1834, and died in Chicago, February 23, 1886; (second) November, 1887, E. H. Waldron, who died in Chicago in 1896. 3. Adelaide Gabrielle, born February 8, 1841, in Spring- field, married, November 13, 1867, John Mackenzie Smith, in Springfield. (See Smith ).

Mention of this family is

BOWLES found in records of times long past one name "Bolls" is found in the Roll of the Butte Abbey as given by Hollingshead. Duchesne from a charter in that Abbey, gives a list of the conquerors in England under William of Normandy among whose names appear that "Bools." The names of Boll, Bol, Bole and Bolle occur frequently in Domesday Book. One family of Bolles, of long standing in the county of Lincoln, was resident there so early as the reign of Henry III, when Alaire, or Alaine Bolle, of Swines- head, was Lord of Swineshead and Bole Hall in the county of Lincoln. Its principal seat seems to have been Bolle Hall, in Swineshead, until the close of the reign of Edward IV (A. D. 1483) where the elder branch of the Bolleses became settled at Hough, near Alford in Lincolnshire, while a younger branch estab- lished itself at Goosberkirke, now Goosberton, in the same county, and from this younger

branch descended the baronets of Scampton, Lincolnshire. The American Bolleses, of whom some account follows, are doubtless descended from this stock, though there is no record of their English descent.

(I) Joseph Bolles was the first of the name who came from England to America, but the precise time and place of his arrival have not been ascertained. He first appears of record in 1640, when he was engaged in trade at Winter Harbor, near the mouth of the Saco river, then in the Province of Maine. The records of the general court of Maine, 1640, contain this passage: "Joseph Bolles, hath presented to the Grand Inquest Thomas Heard for being drunk *

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume III, Part 33

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