Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 70

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 824

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I > Part 70

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he was buried in the Gray and Blake tomb, No. 74, at the Granary burying ground.

His children were: I. Ann, born May 8, 1725, married, November 6. 1746, Thomas Andrews, house- wright, died in Boston, June 2, 1752, aged thirty- five years (Granary burying ground inscription). 2. Increase, born October 28, 1726, married, April 18. 1754, Ann Crafts, and married (second), Decem- ber 7. 1762, Elizabeth Bridge. 3. Edward, born July 9, 1728, married, October 24, 1751, Rebecca Hallowell. 4. James, born March 20, 1730, living 1774. 5. Harrison, born September 10, 1731. 6. Wil- liam, born September 14, 1732, married in Boston, March 26, 1770, Dorcas Ward. 7. Hannah, born September 9, 1733, married 1752. Colonel Thomas Dawes. S. Susannah, born October 14, 1734, mar- ried, 1755, Captain Caleb Prince. 9. John, born June 22, 1736, married in Boston, June 28, 1757, Anne Clarage; was a tinplate worker. 10. Thomas, born January 14, 1737-8. 11. Benjamin, born May 9, 1739, married, August 17, 1763, Elizabeth Harris. 12. Joseph, born July 5. 1740, married, December 3. 1761, Sarah Dawes. 13. Nathaniel, born September 28, 1741, died October 15, 1741. 14. Ellis Gray, born

September 9, 1743, married, August 23, 1778, Jane Cook. 15. Mary, born August 17, 1745, married, . March 1, 1770, in Boston, Simon Whipple, had three children. 16. Sarah, born August 18, 1746, mar- ried Joseph Bachelder, of Chelsea, Massachusetts.

(V) Increase Blake, son of Increase Blake (4), was born in Boston, October 28, 1726, married there, April 18, 1754. Anne Crafts, daughter of Thomas and Anne (White) Crafts, who was born in Boston, January 10, 1734, and died March 21, 1762, aged twenty-eight. A few years ago a grave stone in- scribed with her name and date of death was found on Boston Common. He married (second), Decem- ber 7. 1762, Elizabeth Bridge, perhaps daughter of Ebenezer and Mary Bridge. of Boston, born 1731. She died of small pox in Worcester, November 22, 1792, aged sixty-one years, and was buried in a pas- ture in the northern part of the city near what is now Nelson place. An obituary notice in the Spy of December. 1792, refers to her as "one of the noblest women earth was ever blessed with. A liv- ing Christian."

Mr. Blake was a tinplate worker in Boston, hav- ing a shop on King street, now State street, near the old State House. He is said to have supplied the Provincial troops with canteens, cartridge boxes and the like, but refusing to make them for the British troops was driven from town. His wife was equally patriotic. Her bible, which is in pos- session of Mrs. E. A. Knowlton of Rochester, Min- nesota, gives evidence of an encounter she had with a British soldier. One day when sitting in front of her door reading her Bible she was asked by a soldier as he passed what she was reading. She replied "the story of the cross," upon which he answered that he would fix her Bible so she would always remember the cross and with his sword he made a deep cut across the page through many leaves. The story has several forms as it has been handed down, but the Bible, the cut and the sword of the British soldier are undoubted realities. When forced to leave Boston, just after the Battle of Bunker Hill, he removed his wife and seven children to Worcester, sacrificing nearly all of his Boston property. He opened a shop in Worcester at Lin- coln square and worked at his trade. In 1780 and for a number of years he was jailer or gaoler. He died in Worcester. February 28, 1795. His estate was appraised for forty-two pounds and proved to be insolvent. The claims amounted to $91.49, the net assets were only eleven shillings, six and a half

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pence-$1.92-to be divided. Twelve of his children were born in Boston, the thirteenth at Worcester.

His children by his first wife were: Anne, born August 9, 1755, died December 6, 1760; Thomas, born December 20, 1756, died in infancy; William, born March 12, 1758, died September 7, 1759; Eliza- beth, died March 7, 1760; James, died January 22, 1762; James, born January 29, 1762, married, July 14, 1784, Rebecca Cunningham. The children of his second wife were: Mary, born November 5, 1763, married, September 15, 1797, Andrew Tufts; Persis, born March 31, 1765, married, December 8, 1790, Samuel Case; Thomas Dawes, born October 23, 1768, married, January 3, 1802, Martha Norton; Ebenezer, born May 31, 1771, supposed to have been lost at sea; Sarah, born November 25, 1772, living 1795; Susanna, born April 4, 1774, married, August 3, 1800, George Anson Howes; Dorothy, born June 15, 1781, in Worcester, no further record of her.

(V1) Dr. Thomas Dawes Blake, son of Increase Blake (5), was born in Boston, October 23, 1768. He married, January 3, 1802, Martha Norton, daugh- ter of Cornelius and Lydia (Claghorn) Norton, of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, who was born there May 1, 1786, and died September 30, 1873, at Farm- ington, Maine. Mr. Blake spent his early days in Worcester and attended Dr. Payson's celebrated school, from which he graduated with the highest honors of his class. He practiced for a short time as a physician at Petersham, Massachusetts, but in 1799 settled at Farmington Falls, Maine. He was a ripe scholar and to quote the history of Farming- ton, "possessed of those strong virtues acquired dur- ing the troublous times in which his early life was spent." He died in Farmington, Maine, November 20, 1849.

His children, all born at Farmington, were: Cordelia, born April 19, 1804, died May 24, 1808; Adeline, born September 16, 1806, married, April 9, 1835, John F. W. Gould; Martha, born November 12, 1808 married, April 27, 1828, David C. Morrill, son of David and Lucinda (Woods) Morrill, who was born December 4, 1804, and died June 12, 1877, she died January 22, 1895, lived at Farmington; Thomas Dawes, born February 4, 1811, married, May 13, 1841, Hannah D. Norton; Increase, born December 8, 1812, married, September 26, 1844, Sarah Farns- worth; Cornelius N., born February 8, 1815, died August 29, 1827; Ebenezer Norton, born July 30, 1817, married, February 16, 1843, Harriet Cummings ; George Fordyce, born May 20, 1819, married (first), January 1, 1845, Sarah S. Skinner ; married (second) December 24, 1857, Martha J. Skinner; Jotham Sewall, born February 6, 1821, died March 5, 1881 ; Freeman Norton, born June 1, 1822, married Helen S. Baker.

(VII) George Fordyce Blake, son of Dr. Thomas Blake (6), was born May 20, 1819, at Farmington, Mainc. He married (first) at Lynnfield, Massa- chusetts, January 1, 1845, Sarah Silver Skinner, daughter of William and Lucy (Aborn) Skinner, who was born at Lynnfield, June 18, 1821, and died in Boston, October 14, 1856. He married (second) at North Sandwich, Massachusetts, December 24, 1857, Martha J. Skinner, sister of his first wife, who was born at Lynnfield, June 24, 1835, and died in Boston, June 2, 1897.

Mr. Blake began his business career at an early age and before he was thirty he held a responsible position as mechanical engineer at the Cambridge brick yards. His mechanical skill led him to devise several useful inventions, among which was a water meter which brought his name into public promi- nence. His greatest achievement, however, was the Blake steam pump, which he devised originally for

use in his own business. This pump was so suc- cessful that he devoted most of his energies to its manufacture and improvement. He must be counted as one of the great mechanical inventors of the nineteenth century. Unlike many of them he reaped richly of the fruit of his invention. The Blake pump is now manufactured by a corporation known as the George F. . Blake Manufacturing Company. Mr. Blake made his home at various times in Cambridge, Medford, Belmont and lastly in Boston, where he died July 22, 1905. He had two children by his first wife and four by his second.

His children were: Thomas Dawes, born Oc- tober 25, 1847, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, mar- ried, May 18, 1870, Susan P. Symounds, four chil- dren; Sara Augusta, born December 6, 1853, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, married, October 21, 1885, at Belmont, Massachusetts, Roland H. Boutwell, son of Rodney C. and Nancy J. Boutwell ; she died at Belmont, February 27, 1891, no children; George Fordyce, born February 9, 1859, at Medford, Massa- chusetts, married, April 29, 1885, Carrie H. Turner ; Grace Bertha, born August 30, 1863, at Medford, died there February 29, 1868; Jennie Maria, born April 29, 1869, at Medford, married at Boston, April 17, 1895, Arthur Stoddard Johnson, son of Samuel and Mary (Stoddard) Johnson, who was born in Boston, June 4. 1863, has three children; Alice Nor- ton, born July 6, 1872, at Belmont, resided at Bos- ton, Massachusetts; married James M. Newell, June 6, 1901, one child.

(VIII) George Fordyce Blake, son of George Fordyce Blake (7), was born at Medford, Massa- chusetts, February 9, 1859. He was educated in the public schools of his native town. He attended the Warren Academy at Woburn, where he prepared for admission to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and entered in the class of 1879. He made a trip around the world in 1880. During the next four years he was a draughtsman in the office of the Blake Manufacturing Company, of which his father was the president. He was also connected with the Knowles pump works as draughtsman. His father was also president of this company.

He engaged in business on his own account Feb- ruary 28, 1884, when he formed a partnership under the firm name of Blake, Boutwell & Co., to deal in iron and steel at Worcester, Massachusetts. In October, 1891, the firm became George F. Blake, Jr., & Company. In May, 1893, the business of the company was extended by the addition of an iron mill at Wareham, Massachusetts, and a store in Boston. Mr. Blake has numerous other interests and connections. Since 1896 he has been the senior partner in the firm of Blake, Sampson & Co., dealers in wood and coal, in Worcester. He is a director of the Worcester Trust Company, the State Mutual Life Assurance Company, and the Callahan Supply Company. He was a director of the Central National Bank, which was absorbed by the Worcester Trust Company. He is a trustee of the Worcester County Institution for Savings. He was for three years a director of the Providence & Worcester Railroad, now owned by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company. He is a trustee of the Worcester Insane Asylum and Hospital, ap- pointed by Governor Bates to fill out the unfinished term of Philip W. Moen, a director and vice-presi- dent of the Worcester Cold Storage Company. He is a member of the Worcester Board of Trade, the Home Market Club, the Worcester Club, the Com- monwealth Club, the Quinsigamond Boat Club, of which he was for two years president; the Tatnuck Country Club, the Exchange Club, Boston ; the Tech- nology Club, Boston; the Calumet Club, New York;

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and Grafton Country Club. Mr. Blake's home is on Lincoln street, Worcester, and he has a beautiful summer place on Salisbury street, Worcester, where he indulges a taste for farm life at its best: He has traveled extensively both for business and for pleas- ure.

He married, April 29, 1885, at Newton, Massa-' chusetts. Carrie Howard Turner, daughter of Job A. Turner, treasurer of the George F. Blake Manu- facturing Company and of the Knowles Pump Works. Her mother was Vesta Howard. Mrs. Blake was born April 19, 1861, in Boston. Their children are: Fordyce Turner, born February 10, 1889; Vesta Carolyn, born March 31, 1896.

COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS. The Col- lege of the Holy Cross, founded in the year 1843, by the Rt. Reverend Benedict Joseph Fenwick, second Bishop of Boston, is the oldest Catholic College in New England. The most cherished wish of Bishop Fenwick was to establish in his diocese an institu- tion which should furnish a secular education of the highest grade, and at the same time thoroughly imbne its students with the principles of the Catholic faith. He was aided in his first steps to realize this desire by the generosity of the Rev. James Fitton, of Boston, who, in 1840, had erected on Pakachoag Hill, or Hill of the Pleasant Springs, near Wor- cester, the Seminary of Mount St. James. This building, with nearly sixty acres of land. Father Fitton presented to the Bishop in 1842. The fact that the site was given for the purpose was not the only consideration that induced the Bishop to erect his college there. The location is ideal for an in- stitution of this kind. There is a magnificent view of the city of Worcester to the north. Beyond the city is Mount Wachusett, amid the clustering hills of Central Massachusetts, and in every direction the scenery is the finest that nature affords. It is true that from the Bancroft Tower, from the summit of Newton Hill or from Green Hill one gets equally beautiful scenery, but none better. There could be no more picturesque site to display the architectural simplicity of Holy Cross; there could be no location in Worcester offering more natural beauty to the eye of teacher and student.

The Bishop organized the first classes in the Semi- nary of Mount St. James November 2, 1843. He had called the Fathers of the Society of Jesus to take care of the new college. The college building was completed and occupied January 13, 1844. The cornerstone was laid June 21, 1843, by Bishop Fen- wick. The first annual exhibition was held July 29, 1844. Bishop Fenwick died August 10, 1846, just as his great work was fairly under way. At his own request he was buried in the college ceme- tery. A few days before his death he gave to the Fathers in charge of the college the legal title to the property.

On the afternoon of July 14, 1852, eight days before Commencement, fire broke out in the main building, and it was burned down. This disaster was so serious that the very existence of the college was threatened, but Rt. Rev. John B. Fitzpatrick, the Bishop of Boston, determined that the institu- tion, which had been established by his predecessor, should not perish. He began the work of rebuilding and October 3, 1853, a larger and better college building was ready for the students, and the college resumed its functions as before. A class of students who had entered in 1843 and 1844 had advanced to Philosophy, by which name the senior year was then known, and were ready for graduation in 1849. The college antthorities, therefore, applied to the leg- islature to be incorporated. Their petition was not

granted, and it was not until the close of the civil war, which effectually eliminated the sectarian pre- judices at Beacon Hill, in 1865, that the charter was granted by the general court. While the action of the Massachusetts legislature prevented the confer- ring of degrees that had been rightfully carned at Holy Cross, an arrangement was made, so that · Georgetown College in the District of Columbia con- ferred the degrees carned at the Worcester institu- tion until the Act of Incorporation was passed in 1865. How the faculty and students bore their dis- appointment at this time may be judged from the testimony of His Excellency Alexander H. Bullock, who said at the Commencement in 1868 that he had been deeply impressed by the manner in which the friends of the college hid all signs of their dis- appointment in failing to get the charter, and ex- hibited a patience which, under such circumstances, he should hardly have dared to expect from many Christian denominations. It was during the civil war that the college, besides having become dear to the Catholics of New England, attracted the favor- able notice and support of many of their non-Catho- lic brethren. Gov. John A. Andrew visited and in- spected the college during the school term of 1862, and presided at the annual Commencement that year. On that occasion he spoke in the highest ternis of the college, and the sincerity of his praise was shown by his constant friendship for the col- lege at every opportunity. The charter was signed by the governor March 24, 1865. It gave the college the right to confer such degrees as are conferred bv other colleges in the state, except medical de- grees, and placed Holy Cross on an equal footing in the stattites of the Commonwealth with Harvard, Amherst, Williams, Tufts and other colleges. Per- haps the Holy Cross degrees mean more to the grad- nate now than they would if the charter had not been withheld for a time. In this connection the college acknowledges its indebtedness to the late Hon. Alexander H. Bullock, of Worcester, who, while Speaker of the House, offered to present the petition for a charter, and while governor of the state pre- sided at three successive Commencements.

The college buildings have been vastly improved and greatly enlarged in the past twenty-five years. In 1875 the esat wing of the main building was raised and extended. This wing, which was the only part of the building not destroyed by the fire of 1852, gave place in time to a structure one hun- dred and twelve feet long, with an easterly frontage of ninety feet. On the first story is the refectory; on the second the study hall; on the upper floor the chapel. Adjoining this wing on the southeast cor- ner is the infirmary. A later and more modern structure, known as the O'Kane building, was com- pleted in 1895, and formally opened in September of that year. It contains the gymnasium, 50x139 feet. one of the largest and most complete in New England. On the third floor is Fenwick hall, an auditorium for public lectures, debates, meetings, assemblies of students, etc. A new dormitory build- ing, alumni hall, with one hundred rooms for stud- ents, was completed in the fall of 1905.

The system of education is the one in use in all the colleges of the Society of Jesus, and is guided b- the principles laid down in the famous "Ratio Studiorum." This body of rules and suggestions has been elaborated by centuries of experience, and has been judged worthy of attentive study and hearty approbation by the ablest scholars. The col- lege announces that instead of abolishing prescribed studies and increasing elective courses it advocates a wise, deliberate and prudent selection by men whose profession is education; and not an unwise.

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sudden and rash choice by inexperienced youths just entering on the process of education. "It is not a system of ever-changing theory and doubtful ex- periment, but one on which have been built the char- acters of the world's best scholars and statesmen for centuries. It meets the demand for modern improvement by wise adaptation and readjustment. The natural sciences and modern languages are by no means overlooked or neglected in this system, but the ancient languages and their literatures are still retained as prescribed studies and, with mathematics and philosophy, form the 'essential trinity of courses' which Professor Ladd, of Yale considers 'abso- lutely necessary for a truly liberal education.'"

The college has an excellent library. In every department the college has grown rapidly in the past few years. Nearly a thousand bachelors of arts have been graduated in the college of the Holy Cross. In the athletic world Holy Cross more than holds her own with colleges of her size. The pres- ent officers of the college are: President, Rev. Joseph F. Hanselman; vice-president, Rev. Joseph H. Hann; chaplain, Rev. Albert R. Peters; treas- urer, Rev. Patrick A. McQuillan ; prefect of studies, Rev. Thomas E. Murphy ; prefect of discipline, Rev. Fernand A. Rousseau. There are sixteen instructors in the college and thirty in the preparatory depart- ment besides the faculty.

REV. JOSEPH FRANCIS HANSELMAN. (1) Henry ,Hanselman, father of Rev. Joseph Francis Hanselman, of the Society of Jesus, and president of the College of the Holy Cross at Worcester, was born in the Canton of St. Gall, Switzerland, October 16, 1828. He was a paper manufacturer, and in 1847 came to this country, in the interests of his firm, to establish a paper mill, first in Philadelphia and then in New York city, butt the undertaking was not successful. Later he engaged in various com- mercial enterprises successfully in Brooklyn and New York city. The later years of his life he was en- gaged in the real estate business in Brooklyn, where he won the respect and confidence of his fellow citi- zens. He was interested in public affairs and held various offices in the city government of Brooklyn. Shortly before he died he was tendered the nomina- tion for city auditor, but his health was failing and he had to decline the honor. He was a Democrat. He was originally a Protestant in his religious be- liefs and affiliations, but was converted to Catholi- cisin after he came to America. While in search of the same sect to which he belonged in Switzerland, he found such a conflicting array of various denomi- nations in America that he began to doubt whether God's truth, which ought to be the same everywhere, could consistently be found in all the sects alike. His investigations led him into the Catholic Church. Ile died October 17, 1884, in Brooklyn, New York.

He married Margaret Jacobs. She was born near Treves in Rhenish Prussia, November 30, 1830. She emigrated to this country in 1849, and lived be- fore as well as after her marriage in New York city and Brooklyn. She died December 28, 1904.

(II) Joseph Francis Hanselman, son of Henry Hanselman (1). was born in Brooklyn, New York, October 28, 1856. He received his early education in the parochial school. He studied the classics under private tutors and fitted for college. He entered St. Vincent's College, near Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he was a student for two years. He completed his collegiate education at St. Francis Xavier's College, in New York city and was graduated with the degree of A. B. in the class of 1877. He studied theology in the Grand Seminary, Montreal, in 1877 and 1878. On September 7, 1878, he entered the novitiate of

the Society of Jesus at Manresa, West Park, New York. In 1880 he went to Frederick, Maryland, to review his classical studies at the Jesuit Normal school. He spent three more years at Woodstock, Maryland, in the study of philosophy. From 1884 to 1888 inclusive he was professor of the classics at St. Peter's College, Jersey City, New Jersey, and . during the college year, 1888-9 he taught philosophy and mathematics in St. John's College, Fordham, New York city. After three years more of study at Woodstock, Maryland, he was ordained there in June, 1892, but remained in the study of theology until 1893. During the years 1893 to 1897, inclusive, he was prefect of studies and discipline at Holy Cross, Worcester. Then he spent another year at Frederick in the study of ascetic theology. He re- turned to the College of the Holy Cross and was prefect of discipline in 1898-99, 1900-01. He became president of the college, August 24, 1901, and has since held the position. During his administration the college has enjoyed the utmost prosperity. It has been difficult to accommodate all the students who have sought admission.

WILLIAM PHINEHAS SEARLS.

Robert Searls (1), the pioneer ancestor of William Phinehas Searls, late of Worcester, Massachusetts, and of a number of families in Massachusetts and Connecti- cut, was born in England, in Dorchester, if the family tradition is correct. The date of his birth was about 1640. He married in 1660, Deborah ", and about the same time came to this coun- try, settling in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Other Searles or Searle pioneers preceded him. Many of the Searles families are descended from John Searles, of Springfield, Massachusetts, who was there as early as 1637, and from Philip Searl of Roxbury, Massachusetts. The name is variously spelled in the early records, but the descendants of Robert Searls, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, have maintained the spelling, Searls, in all the generations, except for occasional variations of individuals.

Robert Searls was admitted an inhabitant of Dor- chester June 9, 1662. His wife died March 2, 1713-4, at Dorchester. The town record of his death notes that he was "town clerk for many years." Doubt- less the completeness of the early records in Dor- chester, relating to the Searls family, is due to the fact that for sixteen years he himself kept the record as town clerk. He died, at Dorchester, Feb- ruary 7, 1717. He signed the Dorchester petition to the King in 1664. He owned twelve acres in the "Great Lots" in 1668. The children of Robert and Deborah Searls were: Nathaniel, born in Dorches- ter, June 9, 1662. baptized there April 5. 1668; mar- ried, 1694, Sarah, daughter of John Rogers and Elizabeth Peabody, and great-granddaughter of Thomas Rogers of the "Mayflower"; Salter (a pe- culiar family name found in almost every family of Robert Searls' descendants. There were several pioneers of this name. William Salter, of Boston, left a large family of children and was in Boston . as early as 1638), born June 26, 1664, died April 8, 1690; baptized at Dorchester Church, April 5, 1668; Esbon (given Edna in some accounts), born February 24, 1669, died young; Robert, (see for- ward) ; Esbon, born March 18, 1674; Deborah, born April 4, 1677; Jabez, born March 13, 1679, married Thankful Topliff, April 9, 1702, at Dorchester, and had a large family of children there; she died May 1, 1747; he died July 31, 1724.

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Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 70

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 824

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 824