USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Groton historical series. A collection of papers relating to the history of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, Vol III > Part 19
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The new family residence was in Groton, Massachusetts, a pros- perous town of Middlesex County, distant some thirty miles from Boston, and at that time principally devoted to agriculture. The house and grounds had been fitted up with much care and expense by Samuel Dana, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. The white mansion, situated upon a gradual eminence, looked compla- cently upon the blue Wachusett, Monadnock, and Peterborough Hills. It was quite attractive to childish eyes, its ample front bathed in the sunlight, seeming, on approach, to expand into a smile of welcome (page 20). .
Soon after the family's arrival at their new home, Margaret Fuller writes to the Reverend Dr. Frederic Henry Hedge, as appears in her Life, by Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson : --
I highly enjoy being surrounded with new and beautiful natural objects. My eyes and my soul were so weary of Cambridge scenery, my heart would not give access to a summer feeling there. The evenings lately have been those of Paradise, and I have been very happy in them. The people here much more agreeable than in most country towns ; there is no vulgarity of manners, but little of feeling, and I hear no gossip (pages 43, 44).
While a resident of Groton Mr. Fuller did not wholly re- tire from active business, for his clients still sought him out and led him occasionally into the courts. After a short ill- ness he died at his home, on October 1, 1835, and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery at Cambridge. Among my ear- liest recollections as a boy is attending his funeral in company with my father.
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Mr. Fuller had two sons, who followed in his professional footsteps, - his eldest son Eugene and Richard Frederic, who both are noticed in this Number.
For an account of the Fuller family, see " The New Eng- land Historical and Genealogical Register " (XIII. 351-363) for October, 1859.
LUTHER LAWRENCE was the eldest child of Major Samuel and Susanna (Parker) Lawrence, and born at Groton, on September 28, 1778. His father had been an officer in the Revolutionary Army, but resigned his commission on Sep- tember 12, 1778, a short time before the birth of the son. Luther began to attend school at Groton Academy in the year 1794, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1801. Among his classmates were Tyler Bigelow, Thomas Bond, James Abbot Cummings, Timothy Fuller, Dr. Joseph Mansfield, Stephen Minot, and William Bant Sullivan, all either natives of Groton or at some time residents of the town. . He began the study of law under the tuition of the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, whose sister he afterward married. After his admission to the bar in June, 1804, he opened an office in his native town, where he soon gained a large practice. On June 2, 1805, he was married to Lucy, daughter of Colonel Timothy and Anna (Andrews) Bigelow, of Worcester; and one son and four daughters were born to them, of whom Mrs. Anna Maria (Lawrence) Seaver, of Rutland, Vermont, is the last survivor. After his marriage he lived in the house at the corner of derrore and Main Streets, just north of the site of the Baptist Meeting-house ; and here his eldest child, Mrs. Seaver, was born. When his preceptor and brother-in- law, Mr. Bigelow, removed from Groton to Medford in the year 1806, Mr. Lawrence took possession of his dwelling. It was situated on Main Street, nearly opposite to the site of the Town House, though it has since been moved away. He continued to live in the Bigelow house until November, ISII, when he removed to the one, then just built, immedi- ately south of the old house, and now owned by Mrs. Eliel Shumway.
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During twelve years, from 1812 to 1822, both inclusive, and in 1830, Mr. Lawrence represented the town of Groton in the lower branch of the Legislature; and in 1822 he was the Speaker of that body. On October 16, 1820, he was chosen a delegate to the Convention for altering the Constitution of Massachusetts. In 1811 he was chosen a Trustee of Groton Academy, which position he held until the day of his death. While a resident of Groton he always took a deep interest in the affairs of the town, and on all occasions he was both willing and ready to serve his neighbors in a private or public capacity. While a law student he interested himself much in military matters, and joined the South Company, of which Mr. Bigelow was the Captain. At that time there were, beside the Groton Artillery Company, two other mili- tary companies in the town, known respectively as the North Company and the South Company, of which the former was made up of Democrats, and the latter of Federalists. The young men of the neighborhood, ambitious of political prefer- ment, were very sure to join one or the other of these com- mands. Mr. Lawrence succeeded Mr. Bigelow as the Captain of the company ; and I have been told by persons who remem- ber those times that he was an excellent officer and a strict disciplinarian. For some references to these companies, see the first volume of this Historical Series, No. VII. (page 8), and No. VIII. (pages 6 and 7).
The town of Lowell was incorporated on March 1, 1826, and its rapid growth attracted a population not only from the neighborhood but from distant places. In the spring of 1831 Mr. Lawrence removed to the new town, where his brothers had large interests in the manufacturing companies, which were the cause of its prosperity. He soon acquired a wide and lucrative practice, in which Elisha Glidden, Esq., was asso- ciated with him as a law-partner. He was one of the original Directors of the Railroad Bank organized in the year 1831, and the first President of that institution, holding the office at the time of his death. On March 5, 1838, he was chosen Mayor of the city, and the next year re-chosen with but little opposition. On April 1, 1839, he entered upon the duties of
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his office for the second term ; but soon his career was sud- denly ended. While showing one of the buildings forming a part of the Middlesex Mills to his friend and kinsman, Tyler Bigelow, Esq., of Watertown, he was killed, on April 17, 1839, by falling into a wheel-pit. His head struck against a cast-iron wheel, and death ensued in a few minutes. The news spread rapidly throughout the city, and carried sadness to every heart ; and a special session of the City Council was called the same evening, when appropriate action was taken on the melancholy event. The family declined a public fu- neral ; and the remains were buried in his native town. I distinctly remember that the funeral procession was met at the Common and followed to the Old Burying Ground by a large concourse of people, irrespective of age or sex, while the bells of the village tolled their solemn knell.
The following announcement of his death is found in the " Daily Centinel and Gazette " (Boston), April 18, 1839: -
MELANCHOLY EVENT.
It is our painful duty, to announce the sudden death of the Hon. LUTHER LAWRENCE, Mayor of Lowell, in that city, yesterday fore- noon, about eleven o'clock. Having occasion to examine some operations of workmen, at the Middlesex Mills, and standing at the moment on verge of the wheel-pit, he made a false step and fell into the pit, about twenty feet down. The fall proved fatal. - He was taken up insensible, and died in about fifteen minutes.
This melancholy event created a general gloom in Lowell, and produced much sensation in this city, yesterday afternoon. Mr. Lawrence was formerly Speaker of our House of Representatives, and was extensively known and appreciated throughout the State, as one of our most intelligent and valuable citizens. As Mayor of Lowell, for the present and past years, he was faithful and efficient, and his death is universally lamented.
The Reverend Henry Adolph Miles preached a sermon on Mr. Lawrence's death, at the South Congregational Church in Lowell, on April 21, 1839, which was afterward printed. A sketch of Mr. Lawrence is given in the " Contributions of
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the Old Residents' Historical Association" (I. 139-141), under the heading of "The Mayors of Lowell."
BENJAMIN MARK FARLEY was a son of Benjamin and Lucy (Fletcher) Farley, and born, on April 8, 1783, in that part of Ilollis, New Hampshire, which was afterward set off to Brookline. Hle was fitted for college at New Ipswich Acad- emy, now known as Appleton Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1804. He then began the study of law in the office of the Honorable Abijah Bigelow, of Leominster. While living in that town, by an Act of the Legislature passed on February 27, 1807, his name was changed from Mark Farley to Benjamin Mark Farley. After his admission to the bar he opened an office in Hollis, where he resided, with the exception of three or four years, until 1855, when he removed to Boston. Occupying a position of large influence among his fellow-townsmen, he never failed to use it for their interest and welfare. He was chosen a repre- sentative to the New Hampshire Legislature from the town of Hollis in 1814, and with the exception of five years continued to hold the office until 1829. Ile served as a member of the School Committee for twenty-five years. In his profes- sion he stood at the head of the Hillsborough bar, and for several years was President of the Hillsborough County Bar. From 1833 to 1843 he was a Trustee of Groton Academy.
In the spring of 1834 Mr. Farley removed from Hollis to Groton, where he occupied an office in connection with his brother George Frederick. He lived in the house, next south of the office, which he had built during the previous year. In the autumn of 1837 he returned to Hollis; and his son-in-law, the Reverend Dudley Phelps, who was then settled as a minister over the Union Congregational Church, and just married, took the same dwelling, and occupied it. It is now owned by Colonel Daniel Needham.
In the year 1855 he left Ilollis and went to Boston, where he resided with another son-in-law, George Bancroft, in Shaw- mut Avenue, though he did not engage in active practice, as he had acquired an ample competence from his profession.
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He died, on September 16, 1865, at Lunenburg, where he had been passing the summer, and was buried, on September 20, at Hollis. A Funeral Discourse was preached on the occasion by the Reverend Pliny Butts Day, and afterward published,
Mr. Farley was married, at Leominster, on September 26, 1805, first, to Lucretia, daughter of the Reverend Francis and Sarah (Gibson) Gardner, of Leominster, who died on April 28, 1819, aged 35 years ; and at Pepperell, on Septem- ber 17, 1828, secondly, to Mrs. Lucretia ( Bullard) Parker, daughter of the Reverend John and Elizabeth (Adams) Bul- lard, of Pepperell, and widow of Samuel Parker. The first wife was one of twin sisters, born on June 18, 1783, - the other twin being Lucinda, who died at Leominster, on April 17, 1826. The second wife died at No. 32 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, on February 26, 1862, aged 79 years and 8 months.
SAMUEL FARNSWORTH was the eldest child of Levi and Abigail (Harrington) Farnsworth, and born at Shirley, on April 16, 1783. He was attending school at Groton Academy in the year 1803, and studied law probably in the office of Judge Dana at Groton. He was admitted to the Middlesex bar in October, 1817, and, according to " The Massachusetts Register and United States Calendar for the Year of our Lord 1816," and the eight succeeding annual issues of the publication, he was an attorney at Groton, either of the Cir- cuit Court of Common Pleas or of the Supreme Judicial Court, during that period, although probably not a resident of the town for all those years. Hle afterward went to Tusca- loosa, Alabama, where he is said to have ended his days. Mr. Farnsworth was a descendant of Jonathan, the youngest married son of Matthias, who was an early settler of the town.
ABRAHAM MOORE was a son of Dr. Abraham and Sarah (Johnson) Moore, and born at Bolton, on January 5, 1785. He graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1806, and studied law under the tuition of the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, of Groton ; and soon after his admission to the bar,
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he established himself as a lawyer in the town. On July 4, ISOS, he delivered an address at Groton on the occasion of a celebration which took place under the auspices of the Fed- eralists. For an account of the affair, see Volume II. of this Historical Series (pages 384-386). On January 31, 1812, he was appointed postmaster, and acted in that capacity until the summer of 1815, when he removed to Boston. His office was situated near Hall's tavern, on the site of the north end of Gerrish's block, as it stood until recently ; and the post-office was kept in the same place.
Mr. Moore was married about the year 1809 to a clever young actress from England, who was known professionally as Mrs. Woodbam. John Bernard, an Englishman and the author of a book entitled " Retrospections of America, 1797- ISII" (New York, 1887), in describing a trip to Canada in the year ISIO, says : -
At Groton we made our first halt in order to pay a visit of a few hours to Mrs. [Mary] Moore (late Mrs. Woodham), who, with her new husband, a solicitor, had retired from all the cares and allure- ments of the world to this secluded village. Pleased as I was to see her happiness, I confess that it surprised me, considering that a few months before all her pleasure had seemed to centre in her profession (pages 345, 346).
Mrs. Moore's maiden name was Mills, and Mr. Moore was her third husband. She had been married, first, to a Mr. Barnard, by whom she had a son; and, secondly, to Mr. Woodham. The son's name was William, and he attended school at Groton Academy in 1809. I have heard it said that he became a scene-painter, and that he died many years ago. Mrs. Moore's mother before her marriage was Susanna Cun- ningham, and she also had had three husbands, named, respec- tively, Dalrymple, Mills, and Cunningham, - all Scotchmen. An interesting account of these various family ramifications is found in " The New-England Historical and Genealogical Register " (XXVI. 47) for January, 1872.
Mr. and Mrs. Moore were blessed with three children, -a son born on May 7, 1810, who died in carly infancy (see
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" Groton Epitaphs," page 135) ; Mary Frances, who married, on November 23, 1829, John Cochran Park, Esq., in Boston, where she died, on February 8, 1852, aged 40 years, 7 months, and 27 days; and Susan Varnum, who married Granville Mears, and died in Boston, on November 15, 1883, aged 68 years. All these children were born at Groton.
I do not know the date of Mrs. Moore's death ; but Mr. Moore was married, on September 19, 1819, in Boston, sec- ondly, to Eliza, daughter of Isaac and Eliza Durell, who died on January 19, 1858, aged 65 years. The husband also died in Boston four years previously, on January 30, 1854.
During the last war with England Mr. Moore occupied the house built by Dr. Oliver Prescott, at the southerly end of Main Street. At that period it was one of those hospitable mansions where Lieutenant Chase used occasionally to march his recruits in order to refresh the inner man, as mentioned in the first volume of this Historical Series (No. VIII. page 6). Mr. Moore was a man of military tastes, fond of the good things of this life, who always took great pleasure in entertaining his friends. He afterward lived in the dwelling just south of the First Parish Meeting-house, which was bought in the summer of 1836 by the Trustees of Groton Academy. His style of living was beyond his means, and just before leaving the town he made a grand failure. His creditors levied upon the estate, and nothing was saved from the financial wreck. Mrs. Moore went back to the stage, and died soon afterward ; she is still remembered by a few persons who speak of her in terms of great kindness and respect. Colonel William War- land Clapp, in his " Record of the Boston Stage " (Boston, 1853), says : --
In 1816 two actresses of merit made their appearance. Mrs. Moore, formerly Mrs. Woodham, who has many descendants, highly respected in society, still living in this city, was an interesting actress, and her Lady Teasle was an admirable impersonation (page 145).
ABRAHAM ANDREWS was a son of Solomon and Sarah (Bradford) Andrews, - the eldest of nine children, -- and was
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born at Hillsborough, New Hampshire, on December 14, 1786. In the year 1802 or 1803 his father removed to the adjoining town of Windsor, where he died on March 29, 1840; and his mother died at Warner in the same State, on November 16, 1856. The son pursued his preparatory studies, first, under the tuition of his maternal uncle, the Reverend Ephraim Putnam Bradford, of New Boston, New Hampshire, and later at Phillips Exeter Academy. He graduated at Dartmouth College in the Class of ISU1, which, at the com- pletion of their college course, contained fifty-five members, of whom ten were either natives of Groton or at some time in their lives residents of the town. Immediately afterward he began to read law in the office of the Honorable Clifton Claggett, of Amherst, New Hampshire, where he remained until the following October, when he engaged in teaching at Brighton, now a part of Boston, and continued in that calling till April, 1813. Hle then resumed the study of law, entering the office of Aaron Flint, Esq., of Mount Vernon, New Hampshire, where he remained for several months, when he took charge of a public school in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Endowed with a natural aptitude for giving instruction, he met with remarkable success in his chosen profession, which from this time forward continued to be that of a teacher. During most of this period he was Head Master of the Bow- doin School for girls in Boston, where there were annually not less than five hundred scholars. In the spring of 1855, after a service of more than thirty years in connection with this school, he resigned the mastership, and bought a place in Groton, situated on Farmers' Row, near the western end of the Broad Meadow Road. Here he lived for ten years, respected and honored, when he removed to Charlestown, where he died on March 7, 1869. While a resident of Groton, he took an active interest in the schools of the town, and for seven years was a member of the School Committee.
On April 30, 1821, Mr. Andrews was married, first, to Eliza Rhoades, eldest child of Captain Benjamin and Hannah (Rhoades) Swift, of Charlestown, who was born on April 14, 1797, and died on October 2, 1829; and, on November 14,
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1830, secondly, to Caroline Swift (a sister of his first wife), who was born on May 29, 1807, and died on April 20, IS82.
GEORGE FREDERICK FARLEY was a son of Benjamin and Lucy (Fletcher) Farley, of Brookline, New Hampshire, and born at Dunstable, Massachusetts, on April 5, 1793, while his mother was on a visit at her father's house. He fitted for college at Westford Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1816. After leaving Cambridge he began the study of law with his brother Benjamin Mark Farley, at Brookline, New Hampshire, and later with the Honorable Luther Lawrence at Groton. He was admitted to the Middlesex bar in June, 1820, and soon afterward opened an office at New Ipswich, where he practised his profession until 1831, when he removed to Groton. Here he remained till his death, though during the last few years of his life he had an office in Boston and Charlestown, but not simulta- neously, as well as one at home. He was a good lawyer, an acute logician, and an able man. See the second volume of this Historical Series (pages 325-328), for an account of Mr. Farley, where an estimate of his character is given by Governor Boutwell.
Mr. Farley was married at Ashby, on November 25, 1823, to Lucy, daughter of John and Lucy (Hubbard) Rice. His wife was born in that town on March 1, 1799, and died at Groton on September 1, 1854. On August 24, 1836, he was chosen a Trustee of Groton Academy, now known as Law- rence Academy, and on July 18, 1854, was elected President of the Board, which position he held until the time of his death. Ile died at Groton on November 8, 1855; and two days later the members of the Middlesex bar met in Lowell and passed resolutions, expressing their sympathy with the bereaved family and lamenting the loss to the legal profession caused by his decease.
Mr. Farley was considered one of the most eminent and successful lawyers not only in the County, but in the Common- wealth, and yet to-day his career at the bar is little more than
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a faint tradition or recollection. Among the students who read law in his office at Groton may be mentioned : John Parker Bullard (H. C. 1829), James Dana (H. C. 1830), Frederick Augustus Worcester (II. C. 1831), Eugene Fuller (H. C. 1834), Giles Henry Whitney (II. C. 1837), Edwin Coburn (Amh. C. 1841), John Quincy Adams Griffin, William Haughton Richards (Y. C. 1850), John Spaulding (Y. C. 1846), and his son-in-law, Edward Albert Kelly.
The late Honorable John Appleton, of Bangor, Maine, Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court in that State, studied law in the office of Mr. Farley, while he was living at New Ipswich.
WILLIAM LAWRENCE CHAPLIN was the youngest child of the Reverend Daniel and Susanna (Prescott) Chaplin, and born at Groton, on October 27, 1796. He began to attend school at Groton Academy in the year 1804, then under the preceptorship of Mr. Butler, and entered Harvard College in the autumn of 1819. His name appears in the annual cata- logue of that institution for four successive years, but he did not graduate. He stood well in his class, and excelled particularly in Latin; and his leaving had no connection either with his rank or deportment. A " rebellion " broke out in the college during his Senior year, when thirty-four of his classmates were dismissed, but he was not in any way implicated. Mr. Chaplin studied law with Judge Dana, of Groton, and was admitted to the Middlesex bar in June, 1829, but he practised his profession for only two or three years. He had an office for a short time in his native town, but nowhere else.
In the early days of the anti-slavery agitation, Mr. Chaplin was a prominent Abolitionist. On August 8, 1850, he was thrown into prison at Washington, D. C., and treated with great cruelty and indignity, for helping two run-away slaves to escape who belonged to Messrs. Toombs and Stephens, representatives in Congress from Georgia. He was subse- quently given up to the Maryland authorities, and then con- fined in the jail at Rockville, the shire-town of Montgomery
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County, where he received much kindness. It happened, for- tunately for him, that the sheriff of this county was a Christian gentleman, and the jailer a man of good feelings. He was finally released on very heavy bail, provided by his friends, and of course forfeited by him under their advice. A pam- phlet was printed soon afterward, giving a full history of the affair, entitled : The Case | of | William L. Chaplin ; | being | an Appeal | to all | Respecters of Law and Justice | against | the cruel and oppressive treatment to which, un- der color | of legal proceedings, he has been subjected, in the | District of Columbia and the State of | Maryland.|| Boston : Published by the Chaplin Committee, 1851. Octavo, pages 54.
The following extract is taken from the pamphlet : -
Thus, after an imprisonment of six weeks at Washington, and of thirteen weeks more at Rockville, was Mr. Chaplin delivered out of the hands of the Philistines ; not, however, till his friends had paid for him the enormous ransom of $25,000 (page 49).
On August 12, 1851, he was married at Glen Haven, New York, to Theodosia, daughter of Deacon Elias and Betsey (Green) Gilbert, of Richmond, Ontario County, New York ; and they had two children, -- Harriet Lawrence, born on De- cember 5, 1852, and died on December 21, 1861; and Theo- dosia Gilbert, born on April 11, 1855, who is married to the Reverend Frederick John Clegg Walton, now of Englewood, Illinois. Mrs. Chaplin died at Glen Haven, on April 17, 1855, soon after the birth of her second child; and she is said to have been a woman lovely in character and noble in purpose. During Mr. Chaplin's imprisonment she never lost heart or hope, but bore up bravely under the cruel hardship. Her husband survived her sixteen years, and died at Cortland, Cortland County, New York, on April 28, 1871. In speaking of Mr. Chaplin, the Reverend John Todd, D. D., the colleague and successor of his father at Groton, writes : -
He was the youngest son, - the staff of the old man's age. He relinquished all hopes and openings in his profession, - the law, - that he might comfort and support his aged parents on their way to
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