Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume III, Part 69

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 69


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).


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1866. Later he shipped in the "Andes" from Glasgow around Cape Horn to Valparaiso, South America, and from there to Iquique and Piscagua, northern coast of Chile, and back to New York. On November 28, 1868, he left Belfast in the "Cornwallis," of Windsor, Nova Scotia, and arrived in Boston, March 6, 1869, after a voyage of ninety-six days.


He then went to Franklin, Massachusetts, where an uncle lived, and there settled down for life. His wife reached Franklin, June 28, 1869, and together they began their first home. After four years, during which time he worked as a painter for Woodman Blake, he went into the painting business for himself. For thirty- five years he carried on the business success- fully. At the end of that time he retired, and the business was taken up by his sons. Mr. Hutchinson invested largely in real estate, and has built many houses for investment, some of which formed the nucleus of the village known as Hutchinsonville. In politics he is a Republi- can, and for a time served on the police force of the town. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In religion he is an earnest Methodist, having been a member of the church in Franklin for thirty-five years, and he has served in various offices of the church. He enjoys the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.


He married, as aforesaid, July 27, 1865, Mary Davey, born at Carrickfergus, Ireland, March 15, 1844, daughter of John and Jane (Lindy) Davey, of that place ; her father was a seafaring man. Children : I. John Davey, born December 12, 1866, married (first) Feb- ruary 28, 1887, Jennie Everett Hood, who died March 17, 1890; married (second) February 3, 1892, Jessie Ann Ewen ; children : i. Charles Edward, born November 30, 1887; ii. John Davey, born July 19, 1892; iii. Mabel, born March 8, 1899. 2. William Robinson, born August 27, 1869, died March 20, 1874. 3. George Robinson, born September 30, 1872, died April 14, 1874. 4. Joseph Thompson, born January 5, 1874, married, October 26, 1898, Florence Merriam Pherson ; children : i. Hazel Marion, born August 31, 1899, died June 14, 1903; ii. Gladys Marian, born Janu- ary II, 1905. 5. Jennie Davis, born January 8, 1876, married, April 19, 1906, Lee Clark Abbott, son of Joseph and Sarah M. (Clark) Abbott ; children : i. Esther Mary, born April 21, 1907; ii. Joseph Raymond, born June 19, 1908. 6. Benjamin Short, born February I, 1878, married, October 18, 1905, Nina Ada Smith ; children : i. Burnelle Smith, born No-


vember 5, 1906; ii. Barbara Lucille, born June 19, 1908. 7. James Hood, born May 14, 1880, died August 29, 1881. 8. Mary Elizabeth, born July 4, 1882. 9. Charles Bassett, born June 16, 1885.


This surname dates back to SAMPSON the first use of surnames, and is of ancient origin. It is of the same class as Thompson and Johnson, de- noting relationship. Most of the Sampsons (or Samsons), as the name often appears in America, are descended from Henry and Abram Sampson, of Duxbury, who are sup- posed to have been brothers. Henry came in the "Mayflower," with the family of his uncle, Edward Tilley. He was made freeman Janu- ary 5, 1835-36, and was a volunteer for the Pequot war, 1637. He resided in Duxbury. He married Ann Plummer, and he died De- cember 24, 1684.


(I) Abram, probably brother of Henry Sampson, came some time after him, prob- ably in 1629 or 1630. He settled in Dux- bury, and was on the list of those able to bear arms in 1643. He was one of the original grantees of the town of Bridgewater, 1645, all of whom resided in Duxbury, but he did not remove there. He was surveyor of highways, 1648; constable, 1653 ; was admitted freeman, 1654. He died after 1686. He married a daughter of Lieutenant Samuel Nash, of Dux- bury. Children : 1. Samuel, born about 1646; see forward. 2. George, about 1655; married Elizabeth 3. Abraham, about 1655: married Sarah Standish. 4. Isaac, born 1660; settled in Plympton ; married Lydia Standish. Probably other children.


(II) Samuel, son of Abram Sampson, was born in Duxbury, in 1640. He resided in Dux- bury, and was killed in King Philip's war. His inventory was dated June 28, 1678. As "the children were small and the estate little," the court assigned the property, valued at a little more than twenty-seven pounds, to the widow, except one acre to be reserved for the sons. He married Esther ,who married (second) John Soule, son of George Soule, who came in the "Mayflower." She died Sep- tember 12, 1733, aged ninety-five years. Chil- dren of Samuel and Esther Sampson: 1. Sam- uel, born 1670; see forward. 2. Ichabod, about 1675; lived in Duxbury, 1710.


(III) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1) Samp- son, was born in 1670, and died in September, I744. He settled in Middleborough, and was a member of the First Church. He was one


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of the first fifty purchasers, March, 1717, of the first parish burying ground. His will, dated August 31, 1744, proved September 20, 1744, bequeathed to children mentioned below, and to Ruth, daughter of his son Obadiah. He married Mercy, daughter of Obadiah Eddy, of Middleborough, granddaughter of Samuel Eddy. Children: 1. Obadiah, married Mary Soule. 2. Gershom, married Bethiah Clark. 3. Ichabod; see forward. 4. Esther, married Abraham Borden, of Middleborough, removed to Strafford, Connecticut. 5. Mary, married lsacher Fuller.


(IV) Ichabod, son of Samuel (2) Samp- son, was born in Middleborough, in 1710. He resided in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He mar- ried, 1733, Mercy Savery, of Plymouth. Chil- dren, born there: I. Thomas, January 15. 1734-5 : married Mercy 2. Mercy, October 8, 1736. 3. Esther, August 24, 1738. 4. Elnathan, April 12, 1742. 5. Samuel, April 2, 1745. 6. Ichabod; see forward.


(V) Ichabod (2), son of Ichabod (I) Sampson, was born about 1750 in or near Ply- mouth. He was a soldier in the revolution, sergeant in Second Duxbury company, Lieu- tenant Nathan Sampson, Colonel Thomas Lothrop's regiment, in Rhode Island; also sergeant in Captain David Nye's company, Fourth Plymouth county regiment; also in Captain David Nye's company (second Ware- ham), Colonel Sprout's regiment, in Rhode Island alarms, 1776-77-89; in 1778 was ser- geant for a time in Captain Calvin Partridge's company, Colonel Abinijah Stearns's regiment. In some cases he is called "Jr." but there is no evidence that there were two of that name in service.


(V1) Joseph, son of Ichabod (2) Sampson, was born in 1785, at Wareham, and died at Middleborough, aged eighty-two. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and late in life a pensioner, and drew one hundred and fifty acres of land in the west. He married Leonice Magoun, born in Pembroke, died in Middle- borough, aged ninety-four (both buried in Middleborough), daughter of Aaron and Mary (Church) Magoun, granddaughter of David and Rachel (Soule) Magoun, and through her grandmother a descendant of "Mayflower" stock. Children : I. Luther, born July 26, 1797. He was a clothier ; re- moved to Wayne, Maine, where he resided until 1862; resided in Corinna, Maine, until 1871, when he returned to Corinna; in 1874 he removed to Burlington, Vermont, where he died November 7, 1886. He married, April


30, 1830, Mary Church Thomas, of Marsh- field ; she died at Corinna, June 25, aged sixty- nine years; she and her husband are both buried at Marshfield, Massachusetts. Their only child, Mary C., married, March 16, 1871, Jerome W. Goodell ; they reside in Burlington, Vermont, where he is a granite and stone worker; no children. 2. Mary Church, born March 16, 1799; married Solomon Leonard ; died February 22, 1819, at Middleborough, and buried there; no issue. 3. Aaron, born February 10, 1801 ; married, January 22, 1826, Jane Williams, of Chiltonville, Massachusetts, born May 29, 1804; resided at Wareham, where both died and are buried; children: i. Mary Church, married, October 15, 1846, William C. Davis; ii. Leonice, born January 27, 1829, married, January 17, 1852, Joseph Homer, of East Dennis, Massachusetts, who died September 1, 1855, and she married (sec- ond) November, 1861, Nathan Clark ; he died April 29, 1871, and she died April 10, 1891 ; iii. Jane Williams, born May 19, 1832, lives at Wareham, unmarried ; iv. Joseph Luther, born February 5, 1837, married Kate Murphy, and died in Manchester, Virginia, April 4, 1887 ; v. Phebe Holmes, married William Torrance, of Scotland, March 17, 1866, and died July 10, 1869. 4. Joseph, born January 28, 1803, died December 31, 1827, in Middleborough ; unmarried. 5. Thomas, born July 18, 1805, died in Louisiana, of yellow fever, September 2, 1828; unmarried. 6. Unnamed daughter, born December 6, 1807, died eleven days old. 7. Samuel Breck, born February 1, 1810, died in Wareham, January 22, 1877, buried in Mid- dleborough, at cemetery called Thomas Town; unmarried. 8. Ichabod, see forward.


(VII) Ichabod (3), son of Joseph Samp- son, was born in Middleborough, June 15, 1812. He was a farmer and trader on the paternal farm, carrying produce to Plymouth ; later he was a teamster, having charge of the handling of brick for the Bridgewater Iron Company, known as Lazelle, Perkins & Com- pany. He later returned to the old home- stead and took care of his father until the father's death, March 11, 1856, during which time lie was engaged in buying and selling cattle, farming, etc. He married, in Middle- borough, September 21, 1834, Hannah Morse, born in Carver, Massachusetts, February I, 1807, died at Braintree, September 26, 1885. Husband and wife are both buried in Middle- borough. Children: 1. Ruth S., born August 17, 1835, died at Rockland, June 18, 1908; married Frank N. Lawrence, of Rockland :


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child, Hattie. 2. Josephus, mentioned below. 3. Thomas, born May 7, 1840; remained on the homestead until 1870, when he came to Braintree ; married (first) Melinda Shaw, of Carver ; (second) Martha Jane Hobart ; chil- dren of first wife: i. Ichabod Thomas, born March 31, 1861, died November 1, 1867; ii. Samuel Breck, born August 1, 1865, letter carrier, Brockton; iii. Aldebert Williams, born October 20, 1868, died June 10, 1870; chil- dren of second wife: i. Frederick T., born December 19, 1873, clerk in Boston custom house, unmarried; ii. George F., born Decem- ber 20, 1877, real estate agent, Braintree, mar- ried, June 20, 1908, Mabel Mellen.


(VIII) Josephus, son of Ichabod (3) Sampson, was born at Middleborough, April 29, 1837. He attended the public schools of his native town, and Pierce Academy for one term of eleven weeks. From his boyhood he worked with his father on the farm, and when the father died he and his brother Thomas managed the farm for two years. He came to Braintree July 26, 1858, learned the trade of butcher in the employ of Elisha Morse, and later was with Samuel Strong French nearly four years. He engaged in the meat and pro- vision business on his own account July 15, 1862. He bought and slaughtered the cattle, having a well equipped slaughter house. He also sold meat and provisions from wagons until 1903, when he relinquished this branch of the business, still continuing to the present time his slaughter house. He is also inter- ested in the cultivation of cranberries. He is a prominent Methodist. He joined the Metho- dist church at South Braintree, June 4, 1882, and at the same time was interested in a small society at East Braintree, organized by people from Carver. He was elected superintendent of the Sunday school at East Braintree, June 18, 1882, and served in that capacity for twenty years, and also filled a vacancy for nine months. The Methodist church at South Braintree, formerly the Baptist church, was destroyed by fire November 17, 1883. Mr. Sampson was active in raising the fund for rebuilding, and was the largest contributor. The new church on the old site was dedicated October 12, 1884. In 1891, under Presiding Elder S. O. Benton, the society at East Brain- tree was formed, and a church built and dedi- cated, and Mr. Sampson was again the largest contributor to the building fund. He has been a member of Delta Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Weymouth, (now removed to Braintree), for thirty-nine years, and was


formerly a member of Pantalpha Royal Arch Chapter, but has withdrawn from it. He is a member of Puritan Lodge of Odd Fellows, Braintree, and of Braintree Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, of which he has been master. He has supported the Republican party from the time of its organization. He is keenly interested in town affairs; was one of the committee of five to erect the Braintree gram- mar and high school building; also one of building committee to erect the Perkins school at East Braintree, and of the committees to remodel the Union school building and the Pond school building of Braintree.


Mr. Sampson married (first) January 25, 1868, Ruth Ann French, born in South Brain- tree, died at Braintree, May 7, 1869, aged twenty-nine years eight months, daughter of Waldo French. He married (second) Feb- ruary 3, 1875, Mary E. French, sister of his first wife. Child of first wife: Everett F., born 1869, died September 4, 1869, aged four months twenty-six days. Child of second wife : Ruth Gladys, born September 15, 1879, mar- ried James Miller ; children : Delma M. and Doaris Miller.


CALL This family, indigenous to the soil of Massachusetts, has been con- tent to dwell in the land of its birth, where it has maintained its supremacy for mercantile honor and probity. The lure of the broad prairies did not appeal to it. What was good enough for the sire was good enough for the son. The Calls were ever militant, and in those war-wrung years of the country's grim birth, the Calls were on the firing line. They are a people who have been sacredly mindful of their obligations, and the word of a Call was always considered "as good as a bond." They are a truth-loving. truth-telling race, "whereof the memory of man runneth not the contrary." They were Sabbath-revering, who walked humbly with their God. It is from fair-minded stock like this that the old Bay State has drawn its good citizenry, and obtained a prestige as an exult- ant and triumphant commonwealth; a citi- zenry jealous of its vested rights, and inalien- able liberties, and obedient to the laws. In its original elements, the Calls were Welsh, who flocked into England at some remote period of history, and there grew to be quite influ- ential. A court armor with a crest is one of the honors it is said to have gained. The crest is the highest part of the ornaments of a shield of arms. Its origin is probably more ancient


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than that of other heraldic bearings, since even the heroes of the Iliad are described as wear- ing "crested helms." They were honorable distinctions conferred upon the officers only, and not upon the men. The right to wear them was esteemed a very high honor in the early days of heraldry, because they could be only acquired by those who had as knights seen actual service in the field. Court armor became hereditary in the reign of Henry III., and it was about this time that crests began to be worn by knights, They are thus of purely military origin. Women can neither bear, inherit nor transmit them.


(1) Thomas Call, tilemaker, embarked for America in 1636, being from Feversham, Kent .. He was admitted as an inhabitant of Charlestown in 1637, and lived near the ferry at Mystic side. He petitioned for leave to sell refreshments. He had a house in Southfield, a garden plot in Middle Row, four acres in Linefield, a cow common, and five acres of woodland in Mystic field. The surname of his wife was Bennett, and he married (second) Joanne Shepherdson, who died January 30, 1660. Children : Thomas, John, Mary and Elizabeth.


( I) AAmos Call was born in 1759, and one of the men raised to reinforce the Continental army, and was from the Charlestown Thomas, though line is unrun. His age was twenty- one, stature five feet nine inches, complexion light. He arrived at Springfield, Massachu- setts. July 9, 1780, and marched to camp under command of Captain Daniel Shay. It was said he was afterward concerned in Shay's rebellion. but a soldier who follows his captain is in some sense justified. Shay was captain of his company in the revolution. Before we finally condemn the men who participated in this unfortunate affair, we must consider fully the state of society then, the evils of which they complained, the burden of debts and taxes under which they staggered, the methods by which justice was administered, and the dilatoriness of the courts. Inflammable lead- ers were more to blame than the populace.


( II ) Isaiah, son of Amos Call, was born in Springfield, May 6, 1786, and died there May 8. 1860. He married, August 8, 1810, Cynthia Bliss.


( 111) Amos (2), son of Isaiah and Cyn- thia ( Bliss ) Call, born in Springfield, January 4. 1814, died there August 30, 1888. He was bred to merchandise, and became a member of the hardware firm of Bemis & Call. During the war of the revolution the Bemis & Call


Hardware and Tool Company did a large busi- ness in the manufacture of harness traces for the United States Government. In 1856-57- 58-59-60 Mr. Call was assistant engineer of the fire department, and was alderman from the sixth ward in 1861-67-68-75, and he was a member of the First Baptist Church, of Springfield, and was very active in church work and served as a deacon for several years. He was a Mason of Knight Templar grade. He married Ruhema Chapin Skeele, born June 23, 1815, and died May 14, 1892. They cele- brated their golden wedding May 16, 1888. Children: I. Charles Amos, see forward. 2. Edmund Skeele, born March 17, 1841 ; died August 16, 1843. 3. Margaret Pease, born June 15, 1846 ; died young. 4. George Norton, born August 7, 1844; married Ella E. Clark, and died March 13, 1885. 5. Ruhema Chapin, born August 6, 1851 ; married Addison Howard Watson.


(IV) Charles Amos, eldest son of Amos and Ruhema (Skeele ) Call, was born in Spring- field, June 3, 1839, and died there November 6, 1898. He was taught the rudiments in the public schools, and became superintendent of Bemis & Call's Hardware and Tool Company. In 1864 he started a small retail grocery, and in 1888 his business had so increased that he purchased a large granite block on State street, now occupied by his son. He was elected a member of the common council in 1866, and was on the committee to meet President John- son and Secretary Seward when they officially visited the city. In 1882 he was made alder- man from his ward, to which he was thrice re-elected, officiating as president of the board in 1885. In 1888 he was elected to the house of representatives, and again in 1889, serving on the committee on banks and banking, of which he was made chairman. When in the legislature he cast his vote for George F. Hoar, at his first election to the senate. This was a move on the part of some who were anxious to overthrow the influence of General Butler in Massachusetts politics, and Senator Bout- well owed his defeat for re-election as much to the fact of his friendship for General Butler as anything else. Mr. Call belonged to Ros- well Lee Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Morning Star Chapter, and Spring- field Commandery. He belonged to the Win- throp, Nayasset, and the Masonic clubs. He married Eugenia Louise Stillman; (see Still- man ).


(V) Arthur Amos, son of Charles Amos and Engenia (Stillman) Call, was born in


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Springfield, June 1, 1868. He attended the public schools in Springfield, and at an early age went into his father's store as a clerk, working himself up through the various grades, and upon the death of his father he succeeded to the business, that of a retail grocer. Mr. Call is one of the foremost grocery merchants in Springfield, and commands a large city trade. He is masonically related, and a mem- ber of the Springfield Cammandery. He at- tends the First Congregational church, is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Nayasset, Winthrop and Masonic clubs. He married, in 1891, Helen Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Ryder. Children : Charles Still- man, born May 27, 1896; Eugenia Louise, December 15, 1903.


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LANGTRY Albert Perkins Langtry, edi- tor and publisher of the Springfield Union, was born in Wakefield, Massachusetts, July 27, 1860, and was educated there in the public schools. He began his career as a commercial traveler, representing the firm of C. L. Jones & Com- pany, of Boston, soap manufacturers. He had been in this business six years when he was induced by newspaper friends, with whom he was visiting in New York City, to accept a position as reporter on the Brooklyn Union- Argus, afterwards the Brooklyn Union. He found the work congenial and demonstrated his ability as a reporter. After he left the Union he was a reporter on the staff of the Brooklyn Times for three years and manager and Long Island editor of the Times for the en- suing five years. In 1890 he came to Spring- field. Massachusetts, as business manager of the Springfield Union. A few years later he came into control of the Union which has be- come a valuable property under his manage- ment. The newspaper has been enlarged from time to time and the plant greatly improved. Few newspapers outside of the metropolitan districts have so large a plant. The Union has recently installed a Goss sextuple perfecting press, and has a battery of ten linotype machines. In a field in which competition is exceed ingly able and strong, Mr. Langtry has built up the circulation and standing of the Union until it ranks second to none in western and central Massachusetts. Mr. Langtry is a prominent and influential Republican, and his newspaper has been one of the bulwarks of the Republican party for the past fifteen years. He has been a member of he Republi- can state committee for a number of years,


has been secretary for two years. He has been delegate to various nominating conventions of his party. He is a member of Roswell Lee Lodge of Free Masons ; of the Nayasset, Win- throp and Reality clubs, of Springfield.


He married, August 3, 1886, Sarah Cowing Spear, born January 16, 1862, daughter of George A. and Annretta (Harper) Spear, of West Roxbury, Massachusetts (see Spear sketch). Mr. and Mrs. Langtry have no chil- dren.


The late Samuel Cordis Nor-


NORCROSS cross, of Cambridge, was a descendant in the eighth generation from Jeremiah Norcross, who came from England in 1638 and settled in Water- town, Massachusetts. One of the descendants of the immigrant ancestor was Elijah Nor- cross, who married Catherine Marrow and they were the parents of Leonard Norcross, father of Samuel C. Norcross, of whom see forward.


Leonard Norcross was born in Readfield, Maine, June 18, 1798, on the second farm from the Winthrop line, on the west side of Maranocook lake or pond, died at Dixfield, Maine, March 10, 1865. His father died when he was three years old, and he lived with his mother until he was nine, when he was appren- ticed to a farmer by the name of Randall, who was a hard master and the boy suffered greatly from lack of proper food and clothing and in other ways, and at the end of three years, not being able to bear it any longer, he left his oppressor and went to live with Colonel Sprague, of Greene, whose wife was a sister of Mrs. Norcross, and he made his home there for the following four years. In this family he received kind treatment, had a congenial and happy home, an opportunity to attend school some, and learned the trade of a mill- wright, developing the mechanical genius for which he became conspicuous in after life. He then went to Brunswick and worked awhile in the lumber mills there, and during his spare time improved himself along educational lines by reading and study. The winter after he was seventeen he lived with his mother at East Winthrop, and attended school in what was called the Fairbank's school district. The following winter he taught school, an occupa- tion which he continued to follow during the winter season for many years. From Win- throp he moved to Livermore, and was there engaged in milling and farming business, build- ing a saw mill on the river about half a mile


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above Livermore Falls. During this time he also took out his two first patents ; one a stone- dressing machine, the other a machine for making wrought nails. After his removal to Dixfield he gave considerable time to inven- tions of different kinds and took out several patents. Among these were a spinning wheel, a stump machine, and he invented the thresh- ing machine and separator which was patented in the name of Hiram A. Pitts, of Winthrop, and which was so extensively used for many years. He was wrongfully defrauded of his rights in this patent. In 1829 he began to study on the greatest of all his inventions, the Submarine Diving Dress, which he finally got patented in 1834. The patent deed bears the signature of Andrew Jackson, then president of the United States, and B. F. Butler, secre- tary of state. With this dress after it was patented Mr. Norcross visited Boston, New York, Philadelphia and several other cities, going as far south as Norfolk, Virginia, and giving exhibitions of it in the rivers and har- bors by going under the water, in some instances walking on the bottom a distance of two miles and remaining for two hours. A few men with small capital were ready to take hold of it, and a company was formed in Bos- ton to operate with it in raising sunken vessels and in recovering property from wrecks and in various other ways, but they either lacked the means or the enterprise to make a success of it, and but very little was done. Mr. Norcross was at great expense of time and money in perfecting and exhibiting this invention, but he never realized more than a few hundred dollars from it. The dress was later used ex- tensively throughout the world. The United States government made great use of it during the war of the rebellion, and it saved the coun- try many millions of dollars. During the last part of his life Mr. Norcross devoted more attention to the building of mills than to patents. Ile was a deacon of the Congregational church in Dixfield, which office he was filling at the time of his decease. In politics he was first a Whig and later a Republican. Mr. Norcross married Deborah Nelson, born in Winthrop, March 30, 1798, died November 14. 1876, daughter of the Rev. Elias Nelson, a Calvinist Baptist preacher of considerable ability, who was afterward pastor of the Baptist church on Jay Hill for many years. Children: 1. Sarah Elizabeth, born in Livermore, May 26, 1821. 2. Elias Nelson, Livermore, July 1, 1822. 3. Mary Matilda, Livermore, November 13, 1823. 4. Leonard Marcellus, Livermore, October 21,




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