Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume IV, Part 105

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 886

USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume IV > Part 105

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A few years later Mr. Fowle returned with his family to New York City and for several years was engaged in chartering vessels and taking freight and passengers to many parts of the world, his office being at No. 97 Pine street. About four days before he was to set sail on one of his voyages, a man came into his office and inquired the cost of a passage to Tunis, and on being informed by Mr. Fowle he said it would take about all the money he had and leave him little on which to live after his arrival there, whereupon Mr. Fowle offered to let him live on the vessel without extra charge in the meantime. The next evening Mr. Fowle and the man were walking along Broadway and stopped in front of a house to listen to a woman who was playing upon a piano and singing. One of the songs was "Home, Sweet Home," and as the woman finished singing it the man turned to Mr. Fowle and remarked : "I wonder what the woman would say if she knew that the author of that piece was standing out here listening to it." After Mr. Fowle could find words to express his astonishment at discover- ing that his companion was John Howard Payne, the latter explained how he came to write the song. "There were four of us boys," he said, "who were accustomed to meet at an eating saloon, and one night while there one of the boys suggested that we try to write a song about home. We drew lots and the task fell to me to write it, and what that woman has just sung was the result of my effort." Payne had been appointed United States consul to Tunis, and was then about

to set sail for his post of duty. Mr. George WV. Fowle, of Jamaica Plain, Boston, a son of Mr. George M. Fowle, upon whose author- ity the writer of this sketch has related the above story, has a couple of autograph letters at his home written by Payne to Mr. Fowle from Tunis.

George M. Fowle removed from New York to Boston about 1834 and there engaged in the same business as in New York. About 1849 he went to Woburn, Massachusetts, to engage in newspaper work with his sons, John A. and George W. Fowle, and resided there about six years, returning to West Roxbury in 1855, where he resided during the remainder of his life. He was attacked with pneumonia while on a visit to his son, Samuel A. Fowle, at Arlington, Massachusetts, and died after a few days' illness, November 26, 1874. Chil- dren: I. George Washington, born at New York, July 9, 1821 : see forward. 2. Infant, deceased. 3. John Allen, born at Westfield, New York, March 25. 1824; lost his life in a fire which burned Mr. Fowle's home at West- field, December 3, 1825. 4. John Allen, born at Boston, April 4, 1826; married (first) at Boston, April 9, 1851, Adeline Frances Gif- ford,, born at Falmouth, Massachusetts, June 15. 1829, died at Jamaica Plain, Boston, Feb- ruary 26, 1861, daughter of Christopher and Eliza ( Adams) Gifford; married ( second) Elida R. Rumsey, at Washington, D. C .; chil- dren by wife Adeline : i. John Allen Jr., born at Woburn, Massachusetts, April 24, 1852, died at Oakland, California, about 1898, leav- ing a widow and three children; ii. Edward Gifford, born at Boston, November 23, 1857. died there April 19, 1858; iii. Addie Gifford, born at Boston, December 25, 1859: unmar- ried. Children by wife Elida R. : iv. Florence Howard, born at Brooklyn, New York; mar- ried at Boston, December 25, 1889. William Jefferson Parker Jr., born at Boston, son of William Jefferson and Jessie D. Parker, of Boston; v. Edward Rumsey, born at Brook- lyn. New York, February 2, 1872; vi. James Walter Rumsey, born at Boston, July 22, 1878, died at Rochester, New York, March 12, 1900. 5. Samuel Abbott, born February 3. 1830, died October 13, 1831. 6. Samuel Ab- bott, born at New York City, June 21, 1832 : married (first) at Woburn, Massachusetts, November 25, 1856, Mary Wittemore Cutter, born at Woburn, November 18, 1834, died at West Cambridge (now Arlington) Massachu- setts, July 21, 1856, daughter of Dr. Benja- min and Mary (Whittemore) Cutter, of Wo-

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burn ; married (second) December 26, 1866, at Arlington, Massachusetts, Harriet Russell Adams, born at Lexington, May 8, 1835, died at Arlington, April 1, 1873, daughter of Amos and Rebecca ( Whittemore) Adams; married (third) at Lexington, April 21, 1875, Mary Frances Russell, born at Bellows Falls, Ver- mont, daughter of Warren Edmund and Sarah Ann (Richards) Russell, of Lexington ; chil- dren by first wife: i. Mary Emma, born at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Febru- ary 16, 1858; unmarried; ii. Margaret Lord, born at Charlottetown, August 1, 1860; mar- ried, January 12, 1887, George W. W. Sears, of Boston. Children by second wife: iii. Samuel Abbott Jr., born at Arlington, April 1, 1868, died there in infancy ; iv. Elsie May, born at Arlington, October 26, 1870, died there January 5, 1875; v. and vi. William Adams and George Makepeace, twins, born at Arling- ton, March 26, 1873; William Adams died May 26, 1874; George Makepeace is living at Arlington, unmarried. Children of , third wife: vii. Josephine Russell, born at Arl- ington, April 1, 1876; unmarried; viii. Elliot Russell, born at Arlington, September 22, 1878; married at Boston, May 15, 1907, Ber- tha A. Bushby, born at Lynn, Massachusetts, daughter of Warren and Ada F. (Hall) Bushby ; ix. Grace Elizabeth, born at Arling- ton, April 9, 1883; unmarried. Samuel Ab- bott Fowle was for many years proprietor of the Arlington Grain and Drug Mills.

(VII) George Washington, son of George Makepeace Fowle, was born in New York, July 9, 1821. Married at Boston, Thanks- giving day, November 27, 1845, Eliza Dudley, born at Lexington, Massachusetts, March 23, 1818, died at Jamaica Plain, Boston, January 15, 1905, aged eighty-six years ten months, daughter of John and Esther Eliza (Smith) Dudley, of Lancaster, and sister of Brigadier General Nathan A. M. Dudley, U. S. A., now retired. George W. Fowle has always taken a deep interest in the general affairs of life. and with faculties still good, mind alert and memory retentive, even at the great age of nearly eighty-nine years, he is enabled to re- call and relate many interesting incidents that have occurred during his long life. As a child he was held in the arms of General Lafayette at the reception given at Westfield, New York, to that distinguished friend of our country. He has a vivid impression of the ravages of the cholera which spread from England through New York in 1832 and continued its scourge down through the states, and even as

far as Central America. This was when he was only eleven years of age, but he recalls even now the sight of the death teams going by his home in New York City, loaded with bodies of the victims of this terrible plague. He knew William Lloyd Garrison and saw him mobbed in the streets of Boston, and in later years stood with him at the corner of Washington and State streets and watched the First regiment of colored soldiers go to the civil war under command of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. He saw John Wilkes Booth standing in the rear of his house three days before Lincoln was assassinated. Booth had been at a social gathering at Brookline the night before, which was also attended by Ben- jamin T. Stevenson, a neighbor of Mr. Fowles, and had told Mr. Stevenson that he must get back to Washington at once to look after some mining interests. As it was then too late to start, Mr. Stevenson invited Booth to stay over night at his home in Jamaica Plain, which he did, and left for Washington the next day. It was on that morning that Mr. Fowle saw the two men standing together, and Mr. Stevenson greeted him as he passed them. Three days later came the shocking news that President Lincoln had been shot, and that day Mr. Fowle met his neighbor again, who informed him that it was Mr. Booth who was standing with him that morn- ing as Mr. Fowle passed. Mr. Stevenson ex- pressed his great astonishment at the sad news, as during the time that Booth was with him he had not once mentioned the name of Lin- coln, and it was hard to believe that Booth, his guest, and Booth, the assassin, were one and the same person.

Mr. Fowle was a bookbinder in Boston in his early business career and had a shop next to William Lloyd Garrison's offices. In 1844 he re- mnoved to Woburn, where he had purchased a printing and stationery business. He was lo- cated first in Wade Block, on the northwest- erly side of Main street, but after a few years he purchased the Wood Tavern property on the opposite side of the street and erected a frame building which is still in existence and was quite good-sized for those days, and there he established the first and which for many years continued to be the only book store in Woburn. He added book publishing and binding, and in 1851 founded the Woburn Journal, a weekly newspaper, still published by George A. Hobbs. The office and editorial rooms were on the second floor. In the news- paper venture he was joined by his brother,

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John A. Fowle, who became editor, the firm name being Fowle & Brother. The first issue of the Woburn Journal was dated October 18, 1851. The brothers dissolved partnership April 1, 1853, George W. Fowle continuing the printing and publishing business on his own account, together with the book and sta- tionery store. At this time Mr. Fowle's father, George M. Fowle, was announced as editor. A year later Mr. Fowle determined on the advice of his physician to dispose of his business on account of rapidly failing health caused by too close application and confinement. He engaged with two young men to take charge of the paper, and the title was changed to Middlesex Journal in order to broaden its field. Mr. Fowle then took a trip to the Provinces for his health, and while there found a customer for his plant-John J. Pippy, of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, who bought out the whole of Mr. Fowle's business interests in June, 1854, and the latter removed to West Roxbury, now Jamaica Plain, the following year, to the sec- tion near where his grandfather had lived half a century before. There he erected a com- modious dwelling, now No. 214 Chestnut ave- nue, where he has resided ever since. He has occupied himself in the erection of dwellings for sale and rent, and has thereby secured a competency, as well as regaining his health by being in the open air. He has built about thirty houses in all, and has been an important factor in the building up of that section.

He is a well-known figure in Jamaica Plain, and is respected by every one. In 1855 Mr. Fowle disposed of his real estate in Woburn to the Woburn Bank Corporation, which erected just north of Fowle's Block the fine brick building which has since been occupied by this corporation and its successors. Mr. Fowle is the only charter member of the Boylston Congregational Church, which he was active in organizing about forty years ago and of which he was treasurer for a number of years and has been a deacon for twenty-six years. In 1905 the society tendered him a reception in observance of his residence of half a cen- tury in that district, and on that occasion he was presented with a gold-headed ebony cane. About a quarter of a century ago he was treasurer for nearly nine years of the Massa- chusetts Horticultural Society of Boston, and for the past eleven years has been vice-presi- dent of the Boston Industrial home, a tempo- rary non-sectarian relief and rescue home for unfortunates. located at the corner of Davis

street and Harrison avenue. In politics he is a Republican, but never aspired to public office.

Mr. Fowle has an adopted son, George H. Fowle, born December 10, 1874; married, January 10, 1900, at Boston, Lilian Robinson, born in Bristol, England, daughter of William and Fanny (Hobbs) Robinson. They have children, born in Boston: Norman Robinson, August 13, 1900, and Constance Lilian, Janu- ary 19, 1903.

The members of the Dwight DWIGHT family have been very widely noted for their love of liberty, their belief in progress, and their readiness to adopt new ideas looking to the continued ad- vancement of humanity and civilization. Many of the men of this family are remarkable for their natural executive ability under what- soever conditions may confront them, whether in material concerns or matters affecting the higher interests of the community.

(I) John Dwight, the common ancestor, came with his wife, Hannah, and daughter, Hannah, and two sons, Timothy and John, from Dedham, England, to America in the latter part of 1634 or the beginning of the year 1635. He settled in the town of Dedham, Massachusetts, where he is found of record September 1, 1635, the day of the first town meeting held by twelve persons who consti- tuted it. He was a well-to-do farmer, the sec- ond man of wealth in the town, and was emi- nently useful in the community. He is de- scribed in the town records of Dedham as "having were publicly useful" and "a great peacemaker." He was selectman for sixteen years, 1639-55, and was one of the founders of the Church of Christ, which was formed in Dedham in 1638. His wife, Hannah, died September 5, 1656, and he married (second) a Mrs. Elizabeth Ripley. He died February 3, 1660. His children, all born of the first wife, were: Hannah, Timothy, John, Mary, and Sarah.

(II) Captain Timothy, elder son of John and Hannah Dwight, was born 1629, in Eng- land, and came to America with his father and settled in Dedham, where he was made a free- man in 1655, was for ten years town clerk, selectman for twenty-five years ( 1664-89), and a representative of the town to the general court 1691-2. In his younger years he was cornet of a troop, and afterward a captain of foot. He went out ten times against the In- dians, nine of whom he killed or took prisoner

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-such was the predatory warfare that they kept up against the town. It is recorded of Captain Dwight that "he inherited the estate and virtues of his father, and added to both." He is thus described in the church records: "Timothy Dwight, Esq., a gentleman truly serious and godly, one of an excellent spirit, peaceable, generous, charitable, and a great promoter of the true interests of the Church and town." He married (first) November II. 1651, Sarah Sibley, who died May 29, 1652. He married (second) May 3, 1653, Sarah, daughter of Michael Powell, who died June 27, 1664, and their children were: Timothy, Sarah (died young), John. He married (third) January 9, 1665, Anna, daughter of Rev. Henry Flint of Braintree, Massachu- setts, who was born September 11, 1643, and died January 29, 1686. Of this marriage were born ten children, namely: Josiah (died young), Nathaniel, Samuel (died young). Rev. Josiah, Seth, Anna, Captain Henry, Michael, Daniel and Jabez. He married ( fourth) Jan- uary 7, 1687, Mrs. Mary Edwind of Reading, Massachusetts, a widow, who died without issue, August 30, 1688. He married (fifth) July 31, 1690, Esther Fisher, daughter of Hon. Daniel Fisher. She died January 30, 1691, and he married (sixth) February 1, 1692, Bethiah Moss, who died February 6, 1718, without issue. He died full of age and hon- ors January 31, 1718.

(III) Justice Nathaniel, fourth son of Cap- tain Timothy Dwight, and second child of his third wife, Anna Flint, was born November 20, 1666, in Dedham, and removed to Hat- field, same colony, and about 1695 located in Northampton, where he passed the remaining sixteen years of his life. He was a farmer and trader, a justice of the peace, and surveyor of lands on a large scale. He was a man of considerable wealth and large influence. Like his father, grandfather and many of his de- scendants, he was decidedly religious in thought and conduct. He married, December 9, 1693, Mehitable, daughter of Colonel Sam- nel and Mehitable (Crow) Partridge, of Hatfield, born August 26, 1675, died October 19, 1756. He died November 7, 1711, at West Springfield, Massachusetts, while there on busi- ness, and was buried there. His widow sur- vived him forty-five years, and died at North- ampton. Children : Colonel Timothy, Captain Samuel, Mehitable (died young), Rev. Daniel, Seth, Elihu and Abiah (twins), Mehitable, Jonathan, Anna, and Captain Nathaniel.

(IV) Colonel Timothy (2), eldest child of

Justice Nathaniel and Mehitable ( Partridge) Dwight, was born October 19, 1694, in Hat- field, and died April 30, 1771, in Northampton, where he passed his active life, and was a lawyer of eminence, respected for his talents and manly worth. He was possessed of ample means, and was much in the public service, being several years consecutively selectman, judge of probate, and judge (1737-41 and 1748-57) of the county court of Hampshire county (then including Berkshire county), and part of the time chief justice. He was also for many years representative of the town in the general court, and was colonel of militia. He was often designated "Colonel," "Sur- veyor" and "Esquire." He discouraged liti- gation in every way, and persuaded many of those who came to him with cases to settle them before referees, as is much the custom of to-day. So great was his influence in this direction that at the end of his life it was a pleasant remembrance to him that during the years of his legal practice not one inhabitant of the town sued another at law. He was at all times an active and earnest discourager of evil men and evil things in the community and an ardent promoter of everything good. He married, August II, 1716, Experience, daughter of Lieutenant John and Mehitable ( Pomeroy) King, born April 7. 1693, died December 15, 1763. Children: Eleanor, Ga- maliel (died young), Gamaliel and Timothy. (V) Major Timothy (3), youngest child of Colonel Timothy (2) and Experience (King) Dwight, was born May 27, 1726, at Fort Dum- mer. Vermont, and died June 10, 1777, near Natchez, Mississippi. Born away from home, it was also his fate to die thus. He graduated at Yale in 1774, and was destined by his father's wish to be a lawyer. He possessed the good qualities of his father, with milder disposition and more engaging manners. The legal profession seemed to him to offer many temptations, and being unwilling to enter it he became a merchant in Northampton. He was successively selectman (1760-74), town re- corder (1760-75), register of probate and judge of the court of common pleas sixteen years ( 1758-74), succeeding his father, who resigned in 1757. The records of Northamp- ton show the issue of the first warrant in 1751 and very few until after 1760, when Timothy Dwight Jr. was chosen town clerk. He was more particular and systematic than his prede- cessors, and recorded the warrants. He was also for many years representative to the gen- eral court. In accepting his office as judge.

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he had sworn fealty to the British government, and when the revolution came he did not feel that he could break his oath nor would he take up arms against the colonies. He was a loy- alist on Christian principle, yet thoroughly pa- triotic in his feelings. He undertook to solve the problem by removing to neutral ground. He purchased a tract of land extending for twenty miles or more from the mouth of the Big Black river to Natchez, and taking com- mand of it for himself and his widowed sis- ter, Mrs. Eleanor Lyman, he sought to found an industrial and religious colony. In the spring of 1776, with his sons, Sereno and Jonathan, and his sister and her children, he set out for Natchez, and paid for the entire purchase at the outset. It is said that he took along a barrel of silver coin. Unlike his father, he was a man of large frame, six feet four inches in height, and of good proportions and great strength, but the exposures and hardships in that malarial climate broke him down, and he died June 10, 1777, about two months after the death of his sister. Their unknown graves are there, in what was then an unbroken wilderness. He left about three hundred acres of land at Northampton, be- side other valuable property, to his family. He married, November 8, 1750 (ceremony performed by his father, "Esquire" Timothy Dwight ), Mary, daughter of Rev. Jonathan and Sarah ( Pierpont). Edwards, born April 4, 1734, died February 28, 1807. Children : Timothy, Sereno Edwards, Erastus, Jonathan Edwards, Sarah, Mary, Theodore, Maurice, William, Fidelia, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Cecil, and Henry Edwin. Timothy became presi- dent of Yale College; Maurice was a physi- cian : and Nathaniel was a clergyman and physician.

(VI) Hon. Theodore, fifth son of Major -Timothy (3) and Mary (Edwards) Dwight, was born December 15, 1764, in Northamp- ton, and died June 12, 1846, in New York. He was in his twelfth year when his father went to Natchez, never to return, and the re- «luced family fortunes compelled him to begin an independent struggle at a very early age. With his younger brothers he worked at farm- ing and attended a district school near by, taught by "Master King." The accident of a broken wrist which was so badly set by an ignorant surgeon as to incapacitate him for manual labor, turned his attention from agri- cultural pursuits to the law, which he pur- sued in the office of his cousin, Pierpont Ed- wards, in New Haven: He established him-

self in practice at Haddam, Connecticut, whence he removed in 1791 to Hartford, and for twenty-four years pursued his profession with marked success. While at Hartford he edited the Connecticut Mirror and the Hart- ford Courant. In 1806 he was chosen to fill a vacancy in the national house of representa- tives made by the resignation of John Cotton Smith, and soon entered into combat with John Randolph, proving himself an even match for the latter in wit and irony. He refused to be a candidate for election to the same seat, but was six years (1809-15) a member of the council of state at home. He was secretary of the celebrated Hartford Convention, which met in his home city December 15, 1814, and in 1833 published the "History of the Hart- ford Convention." In 1815 he gave up his law practice and moved to Albany, New York, and established there the Daily Advertiser, the first number issued September 25, that year. In February, 1817, he removed to New York City and established the New York Daily Advertiser, which he managed with suc- cess until 1836. It subsequently passed into the New York Express, a journal widely dif- fering in politics from his cherished opinions and aims. He was the author of "The Life and Character of Thomas Jefferson." He re- tained his powers to the last, and died of the debility of old age. He married, September 9, 1792, Abigail, daughter of Richard and Mary (Wright ) Alsop, the lastnamed a daugh- ter of Joseph and Henrietta (Gilbert) Wright. She was born November 18, 1765, and died April 2, 1846, preceding her husband in death by a little over two months. Children: Mary Alsop, Theodore (died young), Theodore and William Richard.

(VII) William Richard, youngest child of Theodore and Abigail (Alsop) Dwight, was born January 26, 1798, in Hartford, and died June 8, 1864, in Brooklyn, New York. He began business life as a merchant, and after- ward became a partner with his father and brother in the publication of the New York Daily Advertiser. For twenty-five years he was an officer in various banking institutions, beginning as teller of the Hanover Bank. His tastes were literary, and he amused him- self often by writing poetry for his friends. With a fondness for music and art, he ac- cumulated a valuable collection of antiques. He was deacon of the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, and one of a band of seventy-two to form the South Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn in 1842. For many years

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he was deacon of that society, was a ruling elder and stated clerk of the session, being also very active in promoting the interests of the Sunday school. His personal character was above reproach and his disposition most lovable. He married, September 25, 1826, Mary Warren, daughter of Rev. John and Elizabeth (Mellen) Fiske, the last named a daughter of Colonel Mellen, who was officer of the day at the execution of Major Andre. Children : Elizabeth Fiske (died young), Julia Porter. Elizabeth Fiske, George Spring, Mary Edwards and Sarah Mellen.

(VIII) Mary Edwards, third daughter of William Richard and Mary W. (Fiske) Dwight, was born August 19, 1838, in Brook- lyn, and married, September 17, 1862, William. son of Samuel and Abby ( Pope) Atherton, of Boston, Massachusetts (see below).

ATHERTON The Atherton family of England has its seat in Lan- cashire. In their manorial estate the town of Atherton lies ten miles northwest of Manchester. This section in- cludes rich coal mines, quarries and iron works, and is the wealthiest cotton manufact- uring district in the world. The family had immense possessions, and was one of the wealthiest of the commoners of England. Its coat-of-arms: Gules, three sparrow hawks, argent ; crest: A swan, argent. Another crest : On a perch a hawk billed, proper. These arms hang in the private chapel of the Athertons in the parish church of Leigh, in the family vault.

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume IV, Part 105

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 886

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 886