Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 8

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 8

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Mr. Bullock's other interests are extensive. He is president of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad Company; vice-president of the Worcester Con- solidated Street Railroad Company; president of the Worcester Railways and Investment Company ; trustee and member of the board of investment of the Worcester County Institution for Savings; di- rector of the Providence & Worcester Railroad Company ; director of the Boston & Albany Rail- road Company; director of the Worcester Gaslight Company; director of the Worcester National Bank ; director of the Worcester Trust Company; director of the Railways anl Lighting Company of Boston ; director of the State Street Trust Company of Bos- ton: director of the American Loan and Trust Company of Boston. He was a commissioner at large to tlie Columbian exposition at Chi- cago 111 1893, appointed by the president of the United States. He has been chairman of the directors of the Public Library. He was formerly trustee of the State Lunatic Hos- pital at Worcester. He is a member of the Ameri- can Antiquarian Society and of The Worcester Society of Antiquity. He is a member of the Tat- nuck Country Club, Commonwealth Club, Worcester Club, Harvard Club of New York, University Club of New York, Somerset Club of Boston and of the Union Club of Boston. He attends the First Uni- tarian church. He is a Republican. He resides in a handsome brownstone house at 48 Elm street, built by Governor Bullock. By a singular coin- cidence the former residence of Governor Lincoln is directly across Elm street. Mr. Bullock has a beautiful country home near Mt. Wachusett, in the town of Princeton.

He married Mary Chandler, daughter of Dr. George and Josephine (Rose) Chandler, of Wor- cester, October 4, 1871. Their children, all of whom were born in Worcester, were: Chandler, born August 24, 1872; Alexander Hamilton, November 7, 1875; Augustus George, Jr., April 20, 1880, died April 29. 1880; Rockwood Hoar, August 21, 1881. (IX) Chandler Bullock married, October, 1900, Mabel Richardson, daughter of George Richardson, of Worcester. Their children are: Margaret, born in Worcester, December 22, 1901; Josephine Rose, born June 21, 1904. He is a lawyer practicing in Worcester.

(IX) Alexander Hamilton Bullock married Florence Armsby, widow of McClellan, June, 1902. His wife has a daughter Beulah by her first marriage. He is a lawyer practicing in Worcester.

(IX) Rockwood Hoar Bullock married Eliza- beth Bliss Dewey, daughter of Francis H. Dewey, of Worcester, June 8, 1905.

Barnet Bullock was the fifth generation from Richard Bullock. the emigrant ancestor. He was born in the west part of Royalston, June 9, 1798, and during his active life followed the business of a merchant in that town. He held for a long time the commission of justice of the peace, doing most of the public business in that line in the town for many years, besides filling various responsible town offices. He was town clerk from 1837 to 1847; selectman, 1840, 1844 and 1845, and representative to the general court in 1843 and 1841. One of the oldest and most prominent citizens of Royalston, he died September 1, 1884, being the last survivor of the four sons of Hugh Bullock, who came from

Rehoboth and settled in Royalston during the revolu- tion. lle married, November 27, 1828, Lucy New- ton. daughter of Nathan Brigham Newton. Their children were Calvin, born September 21, 1829, died March 5, 1870; Brigham Newton, born April 6, 1831, died February 20, 1906; Barnet Ellis, born March 22, 1833; Lucy Lee, born May 25, 1835, died September 18, 1882; Elizabeth Candace, born Octo- ber 16, 1838, died March 24, 1843; Charles Stuart, born January 20, 1841; James Frederick, born July 21, 1842, died May 28, 1870; Mary Elizabeth, born December 18, 1847, died March 21, 1869.

Brigham Newton Bullock was the second son of Barnet Bullock, and was born in Royalston, April 6, 1831. He spent his early life in his native town, where he attended the common schools. February 24, 1847, at the age of sixteen, he started out in life by entering the employment of Joseph Esta- brook, who kept a country store and the postoffice. He remained with Mr. Estabrook until the fall of 1851, when for a short time he attended the fall term of the high school, kept by Crandall Bros. On October 20 of the same year he left Royals- ton and the high school to enter the passenger de- partment of the office of the Vermont & Massa- chusetts Railroad in Fitchburg, where he remained until January, 1874. He then went to Boston, where he was cashier of the Boston, Hartford & Erie Railroad from March, 1874, until August, 1874. From there he went to the Home Savings Bank, Boston, August 6, 1874, as treasurer, and remained until February 27. 1882, when he returned to Fitch- burg and entered the Fitchburg National Bank as cashier, holding that office until he was made presi- dent in 1888, and as an active working president he served the bank for the remainder of his life. Under his administration its affairs were conducted with great success, and its resources largely increased.

His acknowledged ability as a financier led the trustees of the Fitchburg Savings Bank to secure his services as treasurer. when a vacancy occurred in that office in July, 1894, and he remained treas- urer, to their great satisfaction, until the law separating national and savings banks went into effect in 1904, when he was chosen chairman of the board of investment, and in that capacity was able to give to the bank the benefit of his valuable over- sight and experience while he lived. In addition to the responsibilities of the conduct of these two large financial institutions, to which he gave most of his time and attention, he served as a director in the Fitchburg Railroad Company, in the Fitch- burg Mutual Fire Insurance Company. in the Grant Yarn Company, and in the Simonds Manufacturing Company of Fitchburg. He was a member of the First (Unitarian) Parish.

Mr. Bullock was not only a successful financier, but a man of sterling character, and to all the re- sponsibilities which he assumed he honestly and faithfully devoted himself. His "word was as good as his bond." He would have nothing superficial. The whole structure of every institution which he managed must be thoroughly sound and strong from its very foundation ; and so he left them. Not only was he a strong, practical man of business, firm in his convictions, and just in all his dealings, but he also had a heart sensitive to all needs of humanity and the beautiful in art and nature. He was a devoted husband and father, and a faithful friend and a genial companion to all who enjoyed his intimate acquaintance. He always retained his af- fection for his native town of Royalston, and spent a portion of each summer in that beautiful hill town of Massachusetts. He was of the best product of the New England country town.

Brigham N. Bullock married, November 13, 1888,

WORCESTER COUNTY

Flora Belle Ripley, of Fitchburg. She survives her husband, who died in Boston, February 20, 1906. Their only child is Richard Bullock, born May 3, 1892.

THE GREEN FAMILY. (I) Thomas Green was the ancestor of the Green family of Worcester, to which belong Samuel Swett Green, librarian of the Free Public Library; Martin Green, a civil engineer and contractor ; and James Green, a lawyer, of Worcester; Oliver Bourne Green, a civil engineer and contractor, of Chicago: Dr. John Green and Dr. John Green, Jr., both oculists, of St. Louis; the late Andrew Haswell Green, "Father of Greater New York:" and many others, both of the sur- name of Green and of other surnames.

Thomas Green was born in England in about the year 1600, according to a deposition which he made August 16, 1662. A Thomas Green, who prob- ably was his son, came over to Massachusetts, at the age of fifteen, in the "Planter," which sailed from England April 2, 1635. The same name and age appear also in the "Hopewell," which sailed the next day, and are believed to represent the same Thomas Green, Jr. Preceding the list of passen- gers in the "Planter," is a certificate which states that Thomas Green came from St. Albans. Hertford- shire. It seems likely that Thomas Green, senior, came to New England at the same time, or a little earlier, and settled at Lynn and Ipswich. He was living at Lady Moody's farm at Lynn about 1646. The Green "Genealogieal Sketch," which was published before some of these facts were dis- covered in the records, states that he probably removed from Ipswich to Malden in 1649 or 1650. He was certainly in Malden, October 28, 1651, when his wife Elizabeth and his daughter Elizabeth signed a petition to the general court. He had a farm of sixty-three acres in the northern part of Malden. He was one of the leading citizens, serving re- peatedly on the grand jury, and in 1658 as a select- man of Malden.

When the "Genealogical Sketch of the Descend- ants of Thomas Green (e) of Malden, Mass., by Samuel S. Green of Providence, R. I.," was written, there were "reasons for supposing that Thomas Green, senior, came from Leicestershire, but no proofs of the fact." If the suggestion that Thomas Green who came over in the "Planter" was his son, is well grounded, the home of the family would seem to have been at St. Albans.

The first wife of Thomas Green, senior, Eliza- beth, whom he married in England, was the mother of all his children. She died August 22. 1658. He married secondly, Frances Cook, September 5, 1659. She was born in 1608, married first to Isaac Wheeler. secondly to Richard Cook, who died October 1.4, 1658. She had children by the first two husbands : none by the third, Thomas Green. Thomas Green (I) died December 19, 1667. His will. dated No- vember 12, 1667, was proved January 15, 1667-8. In it he mentions five sons. five daughters and his wife. The homestead was situate in that part of Malden which is now included in Melrose and Wakefield. The children of Thomas and Elizabeth Green were :

I. Elizabeth, born about 1628.

2. Thomas, born in 1620 (if it is true, as the ship-records sav. that he was fifteen years old when he sailed [in 1635.]: but ages in these lists of emigrants are not to be relied on). He married Rebecca Hills, 1653. [See his sketch later, "Thomas (II)."]

3. John, born in England about 1632, according to the Genealogy; married to Sarah Wheeler, De-

cember 18, 1660. (Church records give birth of John, son of Thomas, Sr., January 25, 1658).

4. Mary, born in England about 1633; married before 1656 to Capt. John Waite, who was select- inan seven years, and representative to the general court, 1666 to 1684.

5. William, born about 1635; married first to Elizabeth Wheeler ; married secondly to Isabel ( Farmer ) Blood.

6. Henry, born 1638; married January 1I, 1671-2.

7. Samuel, born March, 1645: married first, 1666, to Mary Cook; secondly, to Susanna

8. Hannah, born 1647; married November 5, 1666, to Joseph Richardson, of Woburn, Mass. She died May 20, 1721.

9. Martha, born 1650.

10. Doreas, born in Malden, May I, 1653: mar- ried January II, 1671-2, to James Barrett of Malden, who was born April 6, 1644. She died 1682; he died 1694.

(II) Thomas Green, son of Thomas Green (I), was born in England 1620,-if the record of the list of passengers of the ship "Planter" which sailed April 2, 1635, or the "Hopewell," which sailed the next day, is correct. He claimed to be fifteen years old then. He married in 1653, or before, Rebecca Hills, daughter of Joseph Hills, of Malden, later of Newbury, Massachusetts. (See sketch Joseph Hills family in this work.) Rebecca's mother was Rose Dunster, a sister of Rev. Henry Dunster, first president of Harvard College. Thomas Green (2) settled in Malden. He was a farmer, was admitted a freeman, May 31, 1670, and died February 13, 1671-2. His will was dated the same day, and proved April 2, 1672. His widow, Rebecca, died June 6. 1674. The inventory of her estate was filed March 4, 1674-5, by her son-in-law, Thomas Newell. The children of Thomas and Rebecca Green were:

I. Rebecca, born 1654; married to Thomas Newell, of Lynn, 1674.

2. Thomas, born February, 1655-6; died April 15, 1674. Hannah, born October 16, 1658; died March 25, 1659.

4. Hannah, born February 24. 1659-60; married August 26, 1677, to John Vinton, of Malden, and later of Woburn, Massachusetts.

5. Samuel, born October 5. 1670; married to Elizabeth Upham, about 1692.

(III) Captain Samuel Green, the only son of Thomas (2) and. Rebecca Hills Green who came to full age, was born October 5, 1670. He was one of the principal men in Leicester or Strawberry Hill, where he settled in 1717. The town was granted February 10. 1713-14. and Capt. Samuel Green was on the committee with Col. William Dud- ley of Roxbury and others to settle it. He owned three lots of forty acres each, and two of thirty each, in the town of Leicester, and was highly respected and very influential. The vicinity of his old home- stead, now a village, is called after him, Green- ville. He built a house, grist mill and saw mill. At the first town meeting of which there is any record, he was elected moderator, first selectman and grand juror, and he held like offices in the town of Leicester the remainder of his life. Governor Washburn, in his history, calls him a prominent man. and he is honored as one of the pioneers. He also owned land in Hardwick, Massachusetts. He was always called Captain, a rank he won at Malden, and he was the first captain of the Leicester com- pany of militia. Capt. Samuel Green married Eliza- beth, daughter of Lient. Phinehas Upham, of Wor- cester. a son of Deacon John Upham, who had ar-

WORCESTER COUNTY

rived from England, September 2, 1635, settled at Weymouth, Massachusetts, moved to Malden about 1650, and was one of the original proprietors of Quinsigamond. His son Phinehas Upham settled in Worcester in April, 1675. After the Indians had destroyed the first white settlements at Mendon, Brookfield and Worcester, Lieut. Upham fought bravely in the battle of Narraganset Fort, Decem- ber 19. 1675, where he was mortally wounded. Capt. Samuel Green died January 2, 1735-6. His will was made at Malden just before he came to Leicester to settle, April 18, 1717, and it was proved Febru- ary 5, 1735-6. His wife died at Leicester, prob- ably in 1761. Their children were :

I. Elizabeth, born April 4, 1693, married to Thomas Richardson of Malden.

2. Rebecca, born April 4, 1695, married to Samnel Baldwin. (According to Malden records the first two were twins, born April 4, 1695).

3. Ruth, married to Joshua Nichols.

4. Thomas, born 1699. married to Martha Lynde in Malden, January 13, 1725-6.

5. Lydia, married to her cousin, Abiathar Vin- ton of Malden, April 30, 1723. He resided in Brain- tree a year or two after his marriage, then settled in Leicester, where he lived until his death in 1740. His widow Lydia married secondly, January 15, 1746. Samuel Stower, of Leicester, a native of Malden.

6. Bathsheba, married to Elisha Nevins.

7. Abigail, married to Henry King.

8. Any (Anna?), married to Ebenezer Lamb. (IV) Dr. Thomas Green, son of Capt. Samuel Green (3), was born in Malden in 1699. He mar- ried. January 13, 1725-6. Martha Lynde, daughter of Capt. John Lynde by his third wife, Judith Worth, widow of Joses Bucknam of Malden. Martha Lynde was born July 6, 1700. Before Capt. Samuel Green removed his family to Leicester, in 1717, he and his son Thomas had driven some cattle from Malden to the site of their new home. preparatory to moving the family. Thomas was left at Leicester in charge of the cattle, while his father returned to Malden. While there alone the boy was attacked with fever and became very ill. In his weak state he lay in a sort of cave made by an overhanging rock on a little stream, and secured food by milking a cow which he induced to come to him frequently by tying her calf to a tree near the cave. At length two of his former neighbors at Malden, who had come on horseback to look after their cattle, found him, but refused to take him home. They notified his father, however, who went at once to his relief. and got him home on horseback after a painful journey of four days.

Thomas Green's attention was early turned to the study of medicine. His impluse in this direction is said to have come from two English ship-sur- geons-it is even said they were pardoned buc- caneers,-who lived in his father's house at Leicester, taught young Thomas with interest and lent him medical books. He grew to be friendly with the Indians and learned from them the curative proper- ties of native herbs. As the settlement grew his medical practice extended over a wider field and even into Rhode Island and Connecticut. Many young men came to him for instruction in medi- cine: he is said to have taught one hundred and twenty-three medical students. The very slight facts which have come down to us about Dr. Thomas Green's study and practice of medicine show him to have been the most prominent practitioner of the country doctors of his time; but these facts are especially interesting because he was the first of a long line of famous physicians and surgeons. His

son, grandson and great-grandson, each named John Green, were each of them the most distinguished physician in Worcester county; while Dr. John Green of St. Louis, the descendant of Thomas in the next generation, is now the foremost eye-surgeon in the Mississippi Valley; and his son Dr. John Green, Jr., also of St. Louis, is already a prominent and successful practitioner in the same specialty of medicine. Five generations of Dr. John Greens go back to Dr. Thomas Green as their progenitor and their forerunner in the noble art of improving the health of man.

Dr. Thomas Green (4) 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 Sutton, 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 Leices- ter 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 150th anniversary of its foundation, the Rev. Hiram C. Estes, D. D., its pastor, says of the church- building, "that Dr. Green was the principal pro- prietor 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," said Hon. Andrew H. Green on the same anni- versary, "at his home across the way the pot was kept boiling 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 per- sons. In "Rippon's Register" he is spoken of as "eminent for his useful labors in the gospel inin- istry." His preaching was not confined 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 instruct in the art of physic, and a church to care for and watch over; yet in the midst of all he seems to keep re- ligion uppermost-to hold his mind bent upon divine things-and to be very bold in Christian conver- sation 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 successful. * * * He was also a noted phy- sician1 ; * *

* and 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, after- wards kept a tavern. He died August 19, 1773, at the age of seventy-four years. His wife Martha died June 20, 1780. They were buried in the church- yard 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:

WORCESTER COUNTY

I. Samuel, born in Leicester 1726; married to Zerviah Dana; married secondly to Widow Fish. 2. Martha, born at Leicester April 23, 1727, married about 1753 to Robert Craig (born Decem- ber 10, 1726; he died October 13, 1805) ; she died September 17. 1801; Craig studied medicine under Dr. Thomas Green, but returned to the manufacture of spinning wheels instead of practicing; they had nine children.

. 3. Isaac, married to Sarah Howe.

4. Thomas L., born 1733, married to Hannah Fox; married secondly to Anna Hovey.

5. John, born in Leicester August 14, 1736, mar- ried to Mary Osgood, and secondly to Mary Ruggles.

6. Solomon, married to Elizabeth Page.

7. Elizabeth, married first, to Daniel Hovey ; married secondly, January 16, 1776. to Rev. Benja- min Foster (Yale 1774; Brown DD. 1792), who succeeded Rev. Thomas Green as pastor of the Baptist church at Leicester; removed 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 beautifully situated estate on Green Hill, lately owned by Andrew H. Green. This is one of the finest gentlemen's places in that neighborhood, 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 Worcester. The deed was given by Thomas Adams to Thomas Green of Leicester, dated May 28, 1754, in con- sideration 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 this hill remote from Worcester village that he might be protected by distance from the tempta- tions 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 Green, fifth child of Dr. and Rev. Thomas Green (4), 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, and died September 5. 1761. He married secondly apparently in 1762, Mary Ruggles, daugh- ter of Brig. Gen. Timothy Ruggles, of Sandwich, afterwards of Hardwick, Massachusetts. Mary was born in Sandwich, on Cape Cod, in 1740, and died in Worcester. 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. IIe adopted the practice of watch- ing over his patients like a nurse, day and night, if required. He became even more famous as a phy- sician 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 in- herited 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 original site of the Five Cent Savings Bank build- ing. At that time there were but seven houses on Main street between the Common and Lincoln Square. William Lincoln, in his "History of Wor- cester," writing in 1836, says: "Tradition bears ample though very general testimony to his worth. Fortunate adaptation of natural capacity to pro- fessional pursuits gave an extensive circuit of em- ployment and high reputation. Habits of accurate observation, the action of vigorous intellect, and the results of experience, 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 fidel- ity, hospitality and benevolence secured personal re- gard." Dr. Samuel B. Woodward writes of Dr. Green : "An earnest patriot, he was in 1773 a mem- ber (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 senti- ment which expelled the adherents of the Crown. He took a prominent part in all the Revolutionary proceedings, and in 1777 was sent as representative to the general court. In 1778 and 1779 he was town treasurer and in 17So one of the selectmen, the only physician who ever held that office" in Worcester.

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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 8

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