USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Groton historical series. A collection of papers relating to the history of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, Vol IV > Part 30
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
Dr. Miles Spaulding (33) died at Groton, after a long illness, on October 16, 1896.
Dr. Noah Torrey (53) died at South Braintree, on May 9, 1897.
Dr. David Stockbridge White (67) died in Charlestown, on May 28, 1894.
Dr. Luther Franklin Locke (72) died in Nashua, New Hamp- shire, on February 14, 189.4.
405
DR. OLIVER PRESCOTT.
Dr. Isaac Newton Kerlin (72) died at Elwyn, Pennsylvania, on October 25, 1893 ; and his wife at the same place, less than a year previously, on December 30, 1892.
Dr. Charles Amory (73) died in Dorchester, where for some years he had been living, on February to, 1898, at the advanced age of 89 years and 9 months.
Dr. Frederic Augustus Sawyer (86) died at Wareham, on Febru- ary 10, 1895.
Dr. Albert Milo Shattuck (411) graduated at the Dartmouth Medical School in the Class of 1895. He has since passed a year abroad in the study of his profession, and has now (May, 1898) established himself in Worcester.
GEORGE THOMAS LITTLE, an only son of John and Edna Maria (Woodward) Little, was born at Groton, on November 24, 1877. He graduated at Lawrence Academy in 1897, and is now ( 1898) attending a course of medical studies at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Boston.
DR. OLIVER PRESCOTT.
THE following sketch of Dr. Prescott is taken from the second volume of " A Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions, with occasional Notes. By Rev. Timothy Alden, A.M." (New York, 1814). The clergyman, alluded to in the note, was the Reverend Daniel Chaplin, D.D., minister of Groton for nearly half a century. In some respects the account supplements the sketch of Dr. Prescott printed in the third volume (pages 4-9) of this Historical Series.
GROTON, MASS.
299. Erected to the memory of the hon. OLIVER PRESCOTT, esquire, M.D. A.A.S. M.M.S.S. who departed this life, 17 November, A. D. 1804, aged 73 years, 6 months, and 9 days ; also, of
Mrs. LYDIA PRESCOTT, consort of the above said Oliver Prescott, and daughter of the late David Baldwin, esq. of Sudbury, who died, 27 Sept. A. D. 1798, aged 62 years, 11 months, and it days.
406
DR. OLIVER PRESCOTT.
Note. - The following sketch of the character of the hon. judge Prescott is drawn, principally, from a sermon, delivered, on the sabbath succeeding his interment, by a very respectable and worthy clergyman, who had enjoyed a long and intimate personal acquain- tance with him, and who had the means of correct information.
He was born at Groton, Massachusetts, 27 April 1731. His father was the hon. Benjamin Prescott, of the same town, a very distinguished statesman, who died, 3 August 1738, in the 43 year of his age, when the subject of this article was about 7 years old. His mother was Abigail, daughter of the hon. Thomas Oliver, of Cam- bridge, a near relation of the provincial governour of that name. She died at Groton, 13 September, 1765, in the 69 year of her age. Judge Prescott was educated at Harvard university, Cambridge, where he received his first degree in 1750. During the course of his collegiate studies he acquired and supported a distinguished character, not only for the regularity of his behaviour, but for his great literary attainments ; and this has been the case ever since that period. Accordingly, he was early noticed and his name enrolled as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Soon after receiving his baccalaureate he commenced the study of physick under the tuition of doctor Roby, of Sudbury, a disciple of the celebrated Boerhaave. His distinguished professional acquire- ments, his prompt and unremitting attention to his patients, his peculiarly tender and pleasant manner of treating them in their distress, his moderate charges, and forbearance towards the poor and the general success, which attended his practice, operated to render him, for nearly half a century, one of the most popular, while he was, unquestionably, one of the most eminent and useful physicians in the commonwealth. As an instrument in the hand of Providence, he saved the lives of thousands. His high standing, among his brethren of the faculty, gave him a place in the Massa- chusetts Medical Society at the time of its institution. He was also an honorary fellow of several Medical Societies out of the commonwealth. He was likewise president of the Middlesex Medical Society, and, many years previous to his death, received from Harvard university the honorary degree of doctor of physick.
As a husband, he was affectionate, tender, generous, and conde- scending. He commenced the care of a family with regularity and constantly maintained domestick religion to the close of life. As a father, he was pleasant, affable, and liberal. His children, ten were born to him, although but two sons and two daughters survive,
407
DR. OLIVER PRESCOTT.
were his glory ; and, to make them virtuous, respectable, useful, and happy, was his persevering endeavour. Hle, therefore, took unwearied pains to furnish their minds with knowledge, to estab- lish in them the habits of probity, benevolence, justice, and virtue, and to encourage them to laudable pursuits. Ilis domesticks experienced, in his treatment of them, the kindness of a parent more, than the severity and rigid justice of a master.
Having with his consort, on entering the connubial state, made a publick profession of religion, he was a conspicuous, influential, and useful member of the church at Groton, and contributed much to its peace, regularity, and reputation.
Judge Prescott was active in whatever he undertook, upright in all his dealings, remarkable, at once, for suavity and dignity of manners, and justly possessed, and in an eminent degree, the con- fidence of his fellow-countrymen, wherever known. Hence in his native town, he held, for many years, several of the most important offices, and from his sound judgment, wonderful address, and facility of transacting business, was extremely useful. He re- garded schools and the education of the rising generation as highly interesting to the community, and being a trustee of the academy in Groton he was its patron and benefactor, employing his exten- sive influence to promote its reputation and usefulness.
We find him also connected at one period of his life with mili- tary men. He was first appointed major of a regiment; soon after, he rose to the office of brigadier general, and then to that of major general. In these honourable offices he improved his talents for the publick good and with eminent success.
For many years he held the commission of justice of the peace throughout the commonwealth, and was very respectable and useful as a magistrate. His care and exertions were steadily directed to the due operation of government and the good order of the com- munity. He was a patriot of the old school, "which like old wine is preferable to the new." He took an early and decided part in the revolution ; assisted cheerfully and largely in the defence of our national rights ; and had his influence in forming the govern- ment into its present shape, the invariable assertor and defender of which he uniformly was to the close of his active life. He did much to suppress a dangerous insurrection, which, in 1786, threat- ened the liberties of our country with ruin, constantly and strenu- ously supported the independence of his native state, and always disdained the idea of subjection to any other in the union, no less, than to a foreign power.
408
STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1853.
We must follow him to the chambers of the legislature, where he had a seat, for a period, as a member of the supreme executive coun- cil, and exerted the popular and active talents, which he possessed, to promote the publick happiness. He was also chosen a member of the board of war, in 1779. On the death of that great and good man, the hon. John Winthrop, L.L.D. S.R.S. he was appointed his successor in the office of judge of probate for the county of Middlesex. In this important station he acquitted him- self to the general satisfaction of those, who did business in his court. He always appeared desirous to dispatch business, and prevent, as far as he consistently could, the accumulation of cost. In this department, it was evident to all acquainted with his punc- tuality, correctness, and condescension to the poor and ignorant, he exceeded most in the same office.
Ile was very industrious. Ilis active powers and disposition were such as have seldom been surpassed. Business, books, and ingenious conversation were all the amusements he required. He was hospitable and publick spirited in an uncommon degree. He was not only distinguished, but almost unrivalled, for his urbanity and politeness. He possessed much social affection. His wit was pleasant, his imagination lively ; and his wish to please in com- pany, a striking trait in his character to the last. His facetious, sportive manner of conversation, united to a great fund of in- formation and learning, rendered him peculiarly captivating to the young, until the close of his life. Ilis colloquial talents made him a pleasing companion, notwithstanding his hearing was, many of the last years of his life, imperfect ; and fortitude was not an inconsiderable quality of his mind. In a word, justice requires that his name should be enrolled with the distinguished worthies of this country. (Pages 58-63.)
STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1853.
OUR fellow-townsman, Mr. Boutwell, was one of the fore- most leaders in the State Constitutional Convention of 1853; and his recollections of that body are full of historical interest and value. At my request he has prepared the following paper, for which I am under great obligations to him:
409
STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1853.
GROTON, MASS., September 28, 1897.
TO THE HONORABLE SAMUEL A. GREEN :
MY DEAR SIR, - It is not altogether agreeable to me to comply with your verbal request for a sketch of my connection with and services in the Constitutional Convention of 1853, for use in your valuable Historical Series relating to the town of Groton.
If I attempt to meet the demand that you thus make upon me I must speak of myself, and in violation of a rule which all should observe, the aged as well as the young, - a good rule, beyond ques- tion. It was laid down by Demosthenes, it was violated occasion- ally by him, and it was disregarded utterly by Cicero. Thus I find some ancient authority for the course on which I now venture. As I had some part in the proceedings and events which gave rise to the Convention, my sketch would be imperfect if I were to omit all reference to those proceedings and. events. The controversy over slavery, which wrought a division in the Whig and Democratic parties as early as the year 1848, led to a reorganization of parties in 1849, under the name of Whig, Democratic, and Free Soil parties, respectively. Of these the Whig party was the largest, but from 1849 to 1853 it was not able to command a majority vote in the State, and at that time a majority vote was required in all elections. There was a substantial agreement between the Democratic and Free Soil parties upon the leading question, of State politics. Of these questions a secret ballot law and the division of counties for the election of senators, and the division of cities for the election of representatives, were the chief. Under the law then existing the county of Middlesex, for example, elected six senators, and each year all were of the same party. Boston was a Whig city, and each year it chose forty-six members of the House on one ballot and always of the Whig party. What is now the system of elections was demanded by the Democratic and Free Soil parties. The change was resisted by the Whig party. In 1849 I was nom- inated by the Democratic party for the office of Governor, and a resolution was adopted denouncing the system of slavery. In that year coalitions were formed in some of the counties and in cities and towns between Democrats and Free Soilers, which demon- strated the possibility of taking the State out of the hands of the Whig party, if the coalitions could be made universal. This was accomplished in 1850, and in 1851 I became Governor by the vote of the Legislature, and Mr. Sumner was elected to the United States
410
STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1853.
Senate. It was the necessity of the situation that the two offices should be filled, and the necessity was not less mandatory that one of the places should be filled by a Democrat, and the other by a member of the Free Soil party. There were expectations and conjectures, no doubt, but until the Legislature assembled in 1851 no one knew what the arrangement would be. I am sure that I had no assurance that either place would be assigned to me. The leaders of the Free Soil party were resolute in demanding the place in the Senate, so that their views on the subject of slavery might be there set forth, and there were many Democrats who pre- ferred the control of the State. I was not consulted, and I am confident that Mr. Sumner was not consulted.
The coalition had control of the State for the political years of 1851 and 1852. An act was passed which provided for a secret ballot, and by another act the question of a Constitutional Con- vention was submitted to the voters of the State. In March, 1853, an election was held for the choice of delegates. A majority of the delegates elected were members of the Democratic and Free Soil parties. It was provided in the statute which authorized the Convention that a constituency might elect its delegate from any part of the State. A number of delegates, about ten (10) in all, represented towns in which they did not reside. Of these I men- tion Sumner, Burlingame, Dana, Hallett, Griswold, and Phinney.
I was a candidate in Groton. I was defeated, and a Whig, Mr. John G. Park, was elected. The town had sustained the Demo- cratic party from the year 1846, and my defeat was attributed to my action in signing a prohibitory liquor law in 1852. Mr. Wilson had been apprehensive of a defeat in his own town, Natick, and he had therefore secured a nomination in the town of Berlin. Ile was elected in both towns. When the Convention met he took his seat for Natick, and the seat for Berlin became vacant. The Convention ordered an election in Berlin, and I was chosen in that town by a unanimous vote. I took my seat in the Convention on the thirtieth of May. It was the twentieth day of the session.
The Convention was engaged upon a proposition for the aboli- tion of the Executive Council. Its author was Mr. Hallett. He was supported by Governor Morton, and the indications were that the project would receive the votes of the coalition members, gen- erally. I was of the opinion that the Council was an important branch of the government. The Whig members were friendly to the Council. I undertook to stem the movement against the Coun-
411
STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1853.
cil by a proposition to reduce the number to eight and to divide the State into eight districts, each district to elect one member by a popular vote. This plan received the support of the Convention, and by an amendment to the Constitution it is now the law of the State.
For the moment my action seemed unfortunate, as Hallett and some others of my party friends were much embittered against me.
Mr. Hallett's friendship for me was again disturbed by my oppo- sition to a second and his. only other pet scheme. He had been deeply interested in the Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island. The Supreme Court of the United States had given a decision adverse to the views of Mr. Hallett, he having been counsel for the sup- porters of Dorr, who had attempted to overthrow by force the gov- ernment then existing. Mr. Hallett introduced a proposition by which it was provided that it should be constitutional to overthrow by force the constitutional government of Massachusetts which the Convention was then attempting to set up.
Such a proposition could only have proceeded from a very peculiar mental organization. That organization was the unfor- tunate possession of Mr. Hallett. He did not perceive that his proposition was at once unwise and impracticable. Indeed, to him it was both wise and practicable. His obliquities were mental rather than moral, and this view is a charitable, and, probably, it is a just exposition of his illogical publie career.
The two great subjects of debate and of anxious thought were the representative system and the tenure of the judicial office.
It was my earnest purpose to preserve town representation, and in the debate I made two elaborate speeches. It was then and upon that subject that I encountered Mr. Choate for the first time. He was a supporter, and, of course the leading advocate, in favor of the district system.
The Convention adhered to town representation in a modified form. The proposition was defeated by the vote of Boston, which gave a majority against the new Constitution of about one thousand in excess of the negative majority of the entire State.
More serious difficulties, even, were encountered in the attempt to change the tenure of judges, and no inconsiderable portion of the Convention favored an elective judiciary. To that project I was opposed. By the cooperation of a number of the members of the coalition party with the Whigs the proposition was defeated. Next, a proposition was submitted by Mr. Knowlton of Worcester, to
412
STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1853.
continue the appointment in the Executive Department, limiting the tenure to seven years. After an amendment had been agreed to extending the term to ten years, the proposition was adopted.
With some misgivings I assented to the compromise. The attempt to change the tenure of the judges was a grave mistake, and it was the efficient cause of the defeat of the work of the Con- vention. Beyond this error the defeat of the new Constitution was made certain by the course of Bishop Fitzpatrick of the Catholic Church. For many years the Irish population of Boston had acted with the Democratic party. Upon the question of calling a Con- vention the adverse majority in Suffolk had been 2,800 only, but upon the question of ratifying the work of the Convention the adverse majority was nearly six thousand. To this result the influence of Bishop Fitzpatrick had contributed essentially. His reason he did not disguise. Portions of Boston were under the control of the Irish. A division of the city would open to them seats in the House and the Senate. The Bishop deprecated their entrance into active, personal politics. Hence he used his in- fluence against the new Constitution. Such was his frank state- ment when the contest was over.
About the twentieth of June, when I had been a member of the Convention for twenty days only, General Banks said to me that it was the wish of our friends that I should move for a com- mittee to prepare the Constitution for submission to the people. At that time the thought of such a movement had not occurred to me. The committee was appointed upon my motion, and, accord- ing to usage, I was placed at the head of it, and from that time I had in my own hands, very largely, the direction of the business of the Convention. As is usual, the work of the committee fell upon a few members. In this case the working members were Richard H. Dana, Jr., and myself. Marcus Morton, Jr., a volun- teer, was a valuable aid. After considerable experience in other places I can say that the preparation of the new Constitution was the most exacting labor of my life. The committee were to deal with the. Constitution of 1780, with the thirteen amendments that had been adopted previous to 1853, and with thirty-five changes in the Constitution that had been agreed to by the Convention. The practical problem was this : -
(1) To eliminate from the Constitution of 1780 all that had been annulled by the thirteen amendments.
(2) To eliminate from the Constitution of 1786, and from each of.
413
STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1853.
the thirteen amendments, all the provisions that would be annulled by the adoption of the thirty-five changes that had been agreed to by the Convention.
(3) To furnish constitutional language for the new features that were to be incorporated in the Constitution.
(4) To arrange the matter of the new Constitution and to repro- duce the instrument, divided upon topics and into chapters and articles.
All the work under the first two heads was done by myself. The language was so much the subject of criticism and of rewriting that the responsibility for item three cannot be put upon any one. The same may be said of the work under item four, although that work was unimportant comparatively.
The copy of the Constitution which was used by me in making the eliminations is still in my possession. .
It is to be observed that the Convention did not furnish language in which the amendments that had been agreed to were to be expressed in the new Constitution.
The resolutions, as adopted, were in the form following :
" Resolved, That it is expedient so to alter and amend the Con- stitution as to provide for a periodical division of the Common- wealth into equal districts on the basis of population."
This form was observed in all the results reached by the Con- vention.
The Convention had named the first day of August as the day of adjournment, and the serious work of preparing the Constitution was entered upon about the 15th day of July. The Committee as a body, consisting of thirteen members, took no part in the prep- aration of the Constitution. It sanctioned the work as it had been done by Mr. Dana, Mr. Morton, and myself.
As my constant presence in the Convention was required, the work imposed upon me as chairman of the Committee was per- formed in the mornings, in the evenings, and during the recesses. Thus the days from the early morning until ten o'clock at night were given to labor and without thought of eating or drinking. At ten o'clock I ate a hearty supper and then retired, always getting a sound sleep, whatever might have been the work of the day preceding.
In the last fifteen days of the session the projet of the Constitu- tion was printed for proof-reading and for corrections twenty-four times. The record shows that there were but few changes made
414
SIMON ROGERS AND ELIZABETH PARKER.
by the Convention, and those were formal and unimportant; and never in the canvass that followed was the suggestion made that the proposed Constitution failed to represent the mind and purpose of the Convention.
The Address to the People of the State was written by me on the last day of the Convention, August 1, 1853, and, as 1 now recall the events of that day, it was not submitted to the Com- mittee, although the members, by individual action, authorized me to make the report.
On the same day and upon the motion of Mr. Frank W. Bird, of Walpole, the Convention adopted the following order : -
"Ordered, That the resolves contained in Document No. 128, and the Address to the People signed by the President and Secretaries, be printed in connection with the copies of the Revised Constitution ordered to be printed for distribution ; and that thirty-five thou- sand additional copies of said Constitution, with the resolves and Address, be printed for distribution, in accordance with the orders already adopted."
The Convention adjourned at ten minutes before two o'clock on the morning of August 2.
The work as a whole was rejected by the voters of the State, but the mind and purpose of the Convention have been expressed during the forty-four years now ended, in the many amendments that have been engrafted upon the Constitution of 1780.
Very respectfully, GEO. S. BOUTWELL.
SIMON ROGERS AND ELIZABETH PARKER.
SOME years ago, when I was trying to find out the given name of one Rogers, of Concord, who married Elizabeth Parker, of Groton, I applied to Mr. George Tolman, of Con- cord, who is the recognized authority on all genealogical matters pertaining to that town. In answer to my queries he kindly wrote me, under date of November 4, 1887, as follows :
There is no record here of the marriage of - Rogers and Elizabeth Parker, nor of the "intention." I find, however, that (1) Elizabeth, wife of Simon Rogers died 2 Oct. 1794, aged 34
415
LIST OF MARRIAGES.
years, according to the church records; (2) Simon Rogers and Abigail Buttrick were married 25 March, 1797; and (3) Simon Rogers, aged 40, died 1 June, 1797. There is no record of any children being born to Simon Rogers by either wife, but I think that he left a son Luke. "Mary, daughter of widow Abigail Rogers was baptized " in 1798.
Simon Rogers was son of Daniel and Mary. His birth is not recorded, but the baptismal entry makes the fact sure. (1) Mary, daughter of Daniel and Mary Rogers was born 12 May, 1759 ; (2) Widow Mary Rogers owned the covenant 17 August, 1760; and (3) Simon and Mary, children of Mary, widow of Daniel Rogers were baptized 5 October, 1760.
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.