Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume IV, Part 43

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 43

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).

Dr. Thomas Green joined the First Baptist Church at Boston, November 7, 1731. But in 1735 he was dismissed from that church to take part in forming another church at Sut- ton, the parent-church of his denomination in Worcester county, and the fourth Baptist

church in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. On September 28, 1737, he and Benjamin Marsh were ordained as pastors of this Sutton church. One year later to a day, the Leicester families of the congregation erected a church of their own at Greenville (in Leicester), the eighth Baptist church in Massachusetts, and Dr. Thomas Green, who was a charter member of both the Sutton and the Leicester church, was chosen the first pastor of the new church, and he remained its pastor for almost thirty- five years. In a historical discourse delivered at the Greenville church in 1888, on the one hun- dred and fifieth anniversary of its foundation, the Rev. Hiram C. Estes, D. D., its pastor, says of the church-building, "that Dr. Green was the principal proprietor of the house; that its grounds were given by him, and its frame was raised and covered at his expense." "While he was preaching on Sunday," says Hon. An- drew H. Green on the same anniversary, "at his home across the way the pot was kept boil- ing to supply the needed sustenance to the little flock which came from all directions to attend upon his ministrations." During his ministry in Leicester, he baptized more than a thousand persons. In "Rippon's Register" he is spoken of as "eminent for his useful labors in the gospel ministry." His preaching was not con- fined to his own parish; he was widely known as Elder Green. In 1756, Rev. Isaac Backus, the Baptist annalist in New England, held a meeting with Mr. Green's church, and made the following entry in his diary: "I can but admire how the Doctor (Thomas Green) is able to get along as he does, having a great deal of farming business to manage, multitudes of sick to care for, several opportunities to in- struct in the art of physic, and a church to care for and watch over ; yet in the midst of all he seems to keep religion uppermost-to hold his mind bent upon divine things-and to be very bold in Christian conversation with all sorts of people." Dr. Estes said, in his discourse above quoted, that "Dr. Green lived three lives and did the work of three men in one. He was a man of business, active, energetic and success- ful. * * He was also a noted physician. * He was a preacher of the gospel quite as eminent in this as in his other spheres of life."

Dr. Green's homestead was next beyond the river from the Baptist church on the road to Charlton, where his grandson, Samuel Green, afterwards kept a tavern. He died August 19, 1773, at the age of seventy-four years. His wife Martha died June 20, 1780. They

2316

MASSACHUSETTS.

were buried in the churchyard at Greenville, but their remains were removed to the Rural Cemetery in Worcester by Dr. John Green (7), a descendant, where the graves are suit- ably marked. The children of Thomas and Martha Green were: 1. Samuel, born in Lei- cester, 1726; married Zerviah Dana; (sec- ond) Widow Fish. 2. Martha, born at Leices- ter, April 23, 1727 ; married, about 1753, Rob- ert Craig, born December 10, 1726; he died October 13, 1805; she died September 17, 1801 ; Craig studied medicine under Dr. Green, but returned to the manufacture of spinning wheels instead of practicing; they had nine children. 3. Isaac, married Sarah Howe. 4. Thomas L., born 1733; married Hannah Fox; married (second) Anna Hovey. 5. John, re- ferred to below. 6. Solomon, married Eliza- beth Page. 7. Elizabeth, married (first) Dan- iel Hovey; (second) January 16, 1776, Rev. Benjamin Foster (Yale, 1774; Brown, D. D., 1792), who succeeded Rev. Thomas Green as pastor of the Baptist church at Leicester ; re- moved to Newport, Rhode Island, thence to Gold Street Church, New York City, where he died of yellow fever in 1798.

"Dr. Thomas Green," says Samuel S. Green in his biography of the late Andrew H. Green, "bought the homestead in Worcester which forms the nucleus of the extensive and beau- tifully situated estate on Green Hill, lately owned by Andrew H. Green. This is one of the finest gentlemen's places in that neighbor- hood, contains over five hundred acres of field and forest and water, and has lately become a part of the park system of the city of Wor- cester. The deed was given by Thomas Adams to Thomas Green, of Leicester, dated May 28, 1754, in consideration of 330 pounds." His son John appears to have married and gone to Green Hill to live, about the year 1757, when he came of age. The tradition of the family is that Thomas located his son on the hill re- mote from Worcester village that he might be protected by distance from the temptations of the town. At Dr. Thomas Green's death, August 19, 1773, his entire estate passing through the probate office was appraised at 4,495 pounds, equivalent very nearly to $22,- 477 ; an estate said to have been larger than any that had been entered at the probate office in Worcester previous to his death.

(V) Dr. John, fifth child of Dr. and Rev. Thomas (3) Green, was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, August 14, 1736. He married (first) Mary Osgood, of Worcester, apparently

just as he came of age, in 1757. She was born August 31, 1740, died September 5, 1761. He married (second) apparently in 1762, Mary Ruggles, daughter of Brigadier-General Timo- thy Ruggles, of Sandwich, afterwards of Hard- wick, Massachusetts. Mary was born in Sand- wich, or Cape Cod, in 1740, and died in Wor- cester, June 16, 1814, aged seventy-four years. Dr. John Green studied medicine with his father, in company with many other students. On coming of age he moved to Worcester and built his house upon the eminence at the north end of Worcester which came to be known as Green Hill. Here he lived for his whole life. He was very successful from the first. He adopted the practice of watching over his patients like a nurse, day and night, if re- quired. He became even more famous as a physician and surgeon than his distinguished father. His son, grandson, great-grandson and great-great-grandson, all of the same name and title of Dr. John Green, have also attained unusual eminence in the same profession. No better evidence of inherited aptitude and skill in medicine and surgery could be shown. Dr. John Green instructed many students, as his father had done. At first he had his office at the house on Green Hill, but later in a small wooden structure on Main street, on the orgi- nal site of the Five Cent Savings Bank build- ing. At that time there were but seven houses on Main street between the Common and Lin- coln Square. William Lincoln, in his "History of Worcester," written in 1836, says: "Tradi- tion bears ample though very general testimony to his worth. Fortunate adaptation of natural capacity to professional pursuits gave an ex- tensive circuit of employment and high reputa- tion. Habits of accurate observation, the action of vigorous intellect, and the results of experi- ence, seem to have supplied the place of that learning deriving its acquirements from the deductions of others through the medium of books. Enjoying great esteem for skill and fidelity, hospitality and benevolence secured personal regard." Dr. Samuel B. Woodward writes of Dr. Green: "An earnest patriot he was in 1773 a member (and the only medical member) of the American Political Society, which was formed 'on account of the grievous burdens of the times' and did so much to bring about that change of public sentiment which expelled the adherents of the Crown. He took a prominent part in all the Revolutionary pro- ceedings, and in 1777 was sent as representa- tive to the general court. In 1778 and 1779

2317

MASSACHUSETTS.

he was town treasurer and in 1780 one of the selectmen, the only physician who ever held that office in Worcester."

The father of Dr. Green's second wife, Gen- eral Timothy Ruggles, of Hardwick, was a distinguished lawyer, judge, statesman and soldier. He was opposed, however, to the revolution, and is called by historians "Massa- chusetts' great loyalist." Hon. Andrew H. Green, of New York, a descendant, had a biography of General Ruggles published. Dr. John Green died in Worcester, October 29, 1799, at the age of sixty-three. All his chil- dren were born on Green Hill, Worcester, the first three being the children of Mary Osgood, the first wife, and the last ten being the chil- dren of Mary Ruggles, his second wife: I. John, born April 1, 1758, died September 20, 1761. 2. Mary, November 27, 1759, died Feb- ruary 15, 1759-60. 3. Thomas, January 3, 1761 ; married, October 8, 1782, Salome Bar- stow, of Sutton. 4. John, March 18, 1763; married Nancy Barber, of Worcester. 5. Tim- othy, January 9, 1765; married Mary Martin, of Providence, Rhode Island. 6. Samuel, May IO, 1767; married Widow Tillinghast ; (sec- ond) Waring. 7. Elijah Dix, born July 4, 1769; never married ; he was a grad- uate of Brown, 1792; practiced medicine at Charleston. South Carolina; died September 21, 1795. 8. Mary, April 30, 1772 ; never mar- ried; she died at the home of her brother, Samuel, in Columbia, South Carolina, Septem- ber 24, 1824. 9. Elizabeth, July 31, 1774; un- married ; she died at Green Hill, February 3, 1854, aged eighty ; lived chiefly with her brother Timothy in New York City. 10. William Eli- jah, referred to below. II. Meltiah, July 28. 1779, died unmarried, December, 1800, of yellow fever, at St. Bartholomew, West Indies ; was a resident of Jamaica. 12. Bourne, born December 15, 1781, died unmarried, August, 1806, at sea ; was engaged in commerce. 13. Isaac, September 4, 1784, died September 9, 1807, while a member of the sophomore class of Columbia College, New York.

(VI) William Elijah, son of Dr. John and Mary (Ruggles) Green, was born on Green Hill, January 31, 1777, died there July 27, 1865. He was graduated at Brown Uni- versity in 1798. He succeeded his father in the ownership of the homestead on Green Hill, comprising then two hundred acres. He studied law under Judge Edward Bangs, with whom and with whose son, Edward D. Bangs, he was associated in practice for some years afterwards. He was an original member of

the First Baptist Society of Worcester, but late in life became identified with the Uni- versalists. He will be remembered for the earnest work he did for temperance and the public schools of Worcester. He was for many years captain of the Worcester Light In- fantry, and was a volunteer in the war of 1812. He was one of the foremost promoters of the Blackstone Canal, and never lost an oppor- tunity to help advance the interests of his native town. It has been said of him that he was a man of great geniality and cheerful- ness ; affable to men of all conditions, highly respected and very popular. In his later years, William E. Green withdrew from the practice of law and spent his time in the de- velopment of his estate on Green Hill. While this estate has been brought to its present per- fection by his sons, Andrew H. Green and Martin Green-the latter one of whom resided there thirty-two years-Green Hill has been for one hundred and fifty years an attractive spot, a gentleman's estate, suggesting the old English homes rather than the farms of New England. The original house, to which An- drew H. Green added a fine modern structure by cutting the old house in two and putting a new section between the front and rear, is ap- proached by Green Lane, an old country road. It has a museum of family heirlooms and rel- ics. In itself it is one of the choicest inheri- tances of the early settlers of Worcester. What is called the Green Hill Book originated September 15, 1861, when the ten children of William E. Green, the old "Squire," met to- gether for the first time since their childhood, and this meeting proved also the last gather- ing of the family as a whole. At that time Oliver B. Green came from Chicago; John P. Green was at home on a visit from Copiapo, Chili, where he lived forty years; Mary R., Lucy M. and Andrew H. came from New York; and Martin from Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Some interesting portrait groups of the fam- ily were taken and are preserved in the Green Hill Book, a large folio record book, in which an account of this reunion was entered, and in which records of interest to the family, in- cluding notices of visits, have since been kept. It is illustrated with photographs of several generations of the family ; has clippings from newspapers containing obituaries and other family items.

Mr. Green died July 27, 1865, in the same room at Green Hill in which he was born- at the age of eighty-eight years. He was mar- ried four times ; first to Abigail Nelson, daugh-

iv-36

2318

MASSACHUSETTS.

ter of Josiah Nelson, of Milford, who bore him one child, William Nelson Green. Second to Lucy Merriam, daughter of Deacon Joseph Merriam, of Grafton, who bore him one child. Lucy Merriam Green. Third to Julia Plimp- ton, daughter of Oliver Plimpton, Esq., of that part of Sturbridge now known as South- bridge, Massachusetts. She had nine children. Fourth to Elizabeth D. Collins, a widow. No children. Children of William E. Green were: I. William Nelson, born at Milford, Massachusetts, February 23, 1804, died De- cember 6, 1870. He was judge of the police court of Worcester. 2. Lucy Merriam, born at Grafton, November 12, 1810. She was for a great many years the joint owner with her sister, Mary Ruggles Green, of a young ladies school at No. I Fifth avenue, New York City, which they made famous; unmarried; her brother, Andrew H. Green, a bachelor, lived with these two sisters and helped them con- duct their business affairs; she died May 8, 1893, at Worcester. 3. Mary Ruggles, born in Worcester, June 29, 1814; married Carl W. Knudsen, born in Denmark, 1818, died in South Norwalk, Connecticut, February 27, 1894. She was a teacher and joint proprietor with her sister, Lucy M., of the young ladies' school in New York City ; she died March 17, 1894. 4. Julia Elizabeth, born in Worcester, February 2, 1816, died August 5, 1880 ; she lived at home with her parents; was a teacher ; never mar- ried. 5. Lydia Plimpton, born at Worcester, August 4, 1817, died August 27, 1818. 6. John Plimpton, born in Worcester, January 19, 1819; became a physician, practiced in New York and lived in China and South America. 7. Andrew Haswell, born in Worcester, Octo- ber 6, 1820, a prominent lawyer in New York City, associated in practice with Hon. Samuel J. Tilden ; president of the board of education ; commissioner of Central Park and a comptroll- er of New York City. 8. Samuel Fiske, born in Worcester, October 10, 1822, a physician and missionary in Ceylon. 9. Lydia Plimpton. born at Worcester, March 18, 1824; lived at the old home on Green Hill; died there Sep- tember 7, 1869. 10. Oliver Bourne, born at Worcester, January 1, 1826; married, August 28, 1855, Louisa Pomeroy, of Stanstead, Can- ada ; a prominent civil engineer at Chicago. Illinois. 11. Martin, referred to below.

(VII) Martin, son of William E. Green, was born in Worcester, April 24, 1828. The room in which he was born at the homestead at Green Hill is the same in which his father was born and died, and in which his ten

brothers and sisters were born. He received his education in the old school at the corner of Summer and Thomas streets, when Warren Lazell was the teacher of the English depart- ment and Charles Thurber of the Latin de- partment. He took a course at Little Blue Seminary at Farmington, Maine. His father intended to have him go to college, but he was attracted to the profession in which his brother Oliver B. was making good progress, and he started his career as civil engineer as chainman in the survey for the Hudson River railroad, where his brother was also employed. He was promoted rapidly and became a pro- ficient civil engineer. When the survey was completed to Greenbush, he returned to the old home at Green Hill, but went to work for the Worcester & Nashua Railroad Company. When the work was done on the Nashua road he accepted a position with the Pennsylvania Coal Company railroad. He was occupied here for three years in surveying and building gravity railroads in Luzerne county, Pennsyl- vania. When the work was done he was offered the superintendency of the road. He returned to Worcester but was called to take the position of division engineer on the New York & Harlem railroad. He was in charge of the construction of the line from Millerton to Copake. When the work was done he was selected as chief engineer for the Lebanon Springs Railroad Company. This road was to run from Chatham, New York, to Benning- ton, Vermont, through a rough and hilly coun- try and presented some difficult engineering problems. The work was left unfinished 011 account of the financial troubles of the rail- roads involved in the great frauds of Robert Schuyler, who had been president of sixteen railroad companies.

Mr. Green was then appointed chief engi- neer of the Missippi Central railroad, whichi had been begun all along the two hundred and sixty-seven miles of its length, and was left by his predecessor .in the greatest dis- order and confusion. Some sections he found built a one-fourth mile out of the proper course, so that it taxed his resources to build curves and schemes to save the work already done. He found the engineering force grossly incompetent. When he left this railroad was substantially complete, but so anxious werc the planters, who were directors of the road. and the president to keep him that they offered what was at that time a very large salary, 20,- 000 a year, to remain. And after he had ac- tually left, they sent a delegation to New York

Martinlqueen

2319

MASSACHUSETTS.

to see him, and another to Chicago to try to persuade him to come back. No stronger testimony to the value of his work as a rail- road engineer need be cited. To his natural gift for this kind of work he added great phy- sical strength and vigor, and he gave all his energy to the performance of the work, what- ever it might be, that he had in hand. The Mississippi Central is now a part of the Illi- nois Central railroad. As first constructed by Mr. Green it ran from the junction with the Memphis & Charleston railroad, six miles north of the Tennesee line to Canton and Jack- son, Mississippi. It was a very important railroad in the southern interests. He had the honor to run the first locomotive ever run in the state of Mississippi.

Although Mr. Green received offers of po- sitions as chief engineer from three other rail- roads, he persisted in his purpose when leaving Mississippi and went to Chicago, where he was employed first to study the question of a tun- nel under the Chicago river, to gather statis- tics and make plans. He proceeded with the work of building the Chicago tunnel and re- mained with the work until the coffer dams were built. He then went into business on his own account as contractor and dredger. At that time one of the prime necessities of commercial Chicago was the widening and deepening of Chicago river and the construc- tion of proper wharves for shipping. He had the contracts for the dredging of the river from the lake to the old Rush street bridge. He took out the old government light houses and government barracks and the old fort. The river was made about five times its orig- inal width. He also improved the north branch of the river as far as Ward's rolling mill. and the south branch for about twelve miles. He was in Chicago in its first great period of development, and of that work he took a large and important part. In 1867 he sold his Chicago business and went to Pesh- tigo, Wisconsin, for the Peshtigo Lumber Company, in which William B. Ogden was in- terested, with whom Mr. Green was associated during much of his active business life. This company owned one hundred and seventy-six thousand acres of lumber land. As manager of this vast property he had to erect saw mills and grist mills and build two large ships for the lumber trade. He was in Peshtigo three years. He built the ship canal at Benton Har- bor, Michigan. This canal gave steamships access to Benton in the heart of the peach country. He opened a line of boats and when

the work was completed his line took during the season forty thousand baskets to Chicago every night. Besides his steamship line he built and owned saw and grist mills at Benton Harbor.

Before the great fire in Chicago he returned and was interested with his brother in the con- tracting business. The fire caused him to overwork and break down. On May 23, 1872, by advice of his physician, he returned to Green Hill, Worcester, Massachusetts, to rest and recuperate. The life in Worcester at- tracted him and he remained here, developing the Green Hill estate to its present state. He removed, November 13, 1905, to No. 974 Pleasant street, where he has since lived. At the present time ( 1909) he is actively engaged in superintending his financial affairs and real estate. Mr. Green has never cared to join secret societies and clubs. He is a member of Central Congregational Church, Worcester. He served three years on the Worcester park board, and for about three years on the board of trustees of the State Lunatic Asylum at Westboro, Massachusetts.

Mr. Green married December 25, 1859, Mary Frances Stewart, of the New York Stewart family. She was born in New York City, De- cember 25, 1821, died at No. 4 Melville street, Worcester, April 20, 1905. Children: Will- iam Ogden, referred to below. Samuel Mar- tin, referred to below.

(VIII) William Ogden, son of Martin Green, was born in Chicago, Illinois, Septem- ber 26, 1860. He was educated at the Wor- cester Polytechnic Institute. He went to work first in an electric light factory at New Britain, Connecticut, then for the Merrick Thread Company, Holyoke, Massachusetts. From there he went as a manager for a silk mill at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He put it into first class condition and left it highly pros- perous to take charge of the Peshtigo Lumber Company in Wisconsin, for which his father was manager years before. Andrew H. Green, as trustee of the estate of the late Will- iam B. Ogden, represented the owners, but Mrs. Ogden herself made frequent visits to the property and paid Mr. Green high compli- ments on the reformation he brought about and the improvement effected. By his advice the property was sold and he wound up its complicated affairs in a manner so pleasing to the directors that they made him a present of $10,000 at their last meeting as a testimonial of their satisfaction. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

2320

MASSACHUSETTS.

He is now a member of the firm of Ogden. Sheldon & Company, one of the most impor- tant real estate broker firms in Chicago. He married, October 20, 1891, Josephine Poole Giles, at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Their children, all of whom were born in Chicago, are: William Stewart, born November 7, 1893: Andrew Haswell, May 10, 1896; Lu- cretia Poole, June 19, 1899.

(VIII) Samuel Martin, son of Martin Green, was born at Benton Harbor, Michigan. April 13, 1864. He was graduated at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. His first po- sition was with Frederick E. Reed, the manu- facturer of machinery, Worcester, Massachu- setts, for whom he designed and draughted various tools. He also designed the interlocking switches on the railroad viaduct in Worcester. He next went to Buffalo to work for Noyes & Company, millers. When his brother, Will- iam Ogden Green, left the Merrick Thread Company, where he was the engineer in charge of the plant, the management desired him to remain, but took the younger brother in his place on his recommendation. Although young and inexperienced Samuel M. Green made good. He successfully completed the big mill, one hundred and twenty-five by five hundred feet. He remained with the Merrick Thread Company until the trust was formed, when he was chosen engineer-in-chief for the new management, the American Thread Com- pany. He has charge of all the changes and new construction of the company. At the present time, at Ilion, New York, he is recon- structing and building a two million dollar plant, and the old mills are all receiving mod- ern equipment of machinery and power. He has recently constructed at Waukegan, Illinois. a large factory for the United States Envelope Company. His chief office is at Holyoke, Massachusetts, and his residence is at Spring- field, Massachusetts. He also rebuilt the car- tridge factory at Bridgeport, Connecticut. He is a member of the American Society of Me- chanical Engineers. He married, at Holyoke, June 18, 1890, Ida Mckown, of that . city. Children : Mildred, born September 27, 1895, in Holyoke ; Lydia, born June 2, 1902, in Holy- oke.

TABOR (11) Philip (2), son of Philip (1) Tabor or Taber, (q. v.), was born about 1648, at Yarmouth. He was a farmer, and resided at Dartmouth, where his children were born. Children: I. Mary, born January 28, 1670. 2. Sarah, March 26, 1671.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume IV, Part 43

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