Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. II, Part 28

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 732


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. II > Part 28


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).


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Mr. Parker is a man who has made much of his opportunities in life, and has devoted much time to deep study and extensive reading of all of the best literature, this being one of his greatest pleas- ures. He owns a beautiful home at corner of Main and Lawrence streets, and is one of the first intil of the town. He is a member of the Congregational Brethren church. A Republican in politics, having been chosen a delegate to various conventions, was representative to general court in 1883, was 011 committee on military affairs, selectman, 1800. lle has been tristee of Public Library for years, also trustee of Public Library building, trustee of Cush- ing Academy at present. Chairman of civic com- mittee of the town of Ashburnham. He was di rector of the First National Bank of Ashburnham during its existence, also trustee of the Worcester North Savings Institution of Fitchburg. He is a member of Sergeant Plunkett Post, No. 184, Grand Army of the Republic, and was post commander for two years. He served thirteen years, 1800 to 1879, in Tenth Regiment, Rice Guards, Massachu- setts Volunteer Militia, as captain of Company E, seven years, a local company of militia at Ash- burnham.


He married, August 23. 1866, Josephine M1. Whitney, born August 23, 1843, daughter of llon. Ohio Whitney, Jr., born June 9, 1813, died February 6, 1879, and Mary R. (Brooks) Whitney, born Oc- tober 1. 1818. They have no children.


(VII) Frank Hannibal Parker, son of Jesse Parker (6), was born in Ashburnham, Massachu- setts, February 6, 1854. He was educated there in the common schools. At the age of seventeen he entered the employ of his brother as clerk in luis general store at Ashburnham, and remained four years. The firm was then Parker & Whitney, the junior partner being Ohio Whitney. father-in-law of Captain Walter O. Parker. Mr. Whitney's inter-


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ests were bought by Frank H. Parker and the firm name then became Parker Brothers. He remained a partner in this very successful business at Ash- burnham until 1891, when he removed to Winchen- don, having bought the business of W. A. Sanford & Co., formerly of H. J. Tottingham, established by him about 1865, and has since conducted a general dry goods store on Front street, the largest between Fitchburg and Keene. He also carries in stock car- pets, cloaks, fine china and small wares. He is a director in the Co-operative Bank and director in the Savings Bank of Winchendon. JIe was treas- urer for a number of years of the Congregational church at Ashburnham. He is now a member of the Church of the Unity ( Unitarian) at Winchen- don. He is a Republican in politics and been dele- gate to senatorial conventions in his district.


He is a prominent Free Mason. He was made a master Mason in Artisan Lodge, at Winchendon, February 28, 1893, and has been worshipful master. He was district deputy grand master in 1904-05. He was exalted to the North Star, Royal Arch Chapter, at Winchendon, June 5. 1893, and was its high priest 1896-97-98, re-elected again September 10, 1906. He was district deputy grand high priest for the district in 1902 and 1903. He received his Templar degree in Ivanhoe Commandery of Gard- ner, Massachusetts, but is at present a member of Jerusalem Commandery of Fitchburg. He is at present president of the Past Masters' Association of the twelfth Masonic district. He belongs to Watatic Tribe of Red Men, also Royal Acanum.


He married, January 24, 1877, Florence O. Mer- riam, of Ashburnham, born October, 1853, daughter of Phillip and Helen (Smallpiece) Merriam, of Ashburnham. Her father was the proprietor of a general store. Children of Frank H. and Florence O. Parker were: Lena Florence, born April 29, 1882, graduate of Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, now a teacher in the Murdock high school at Winchendon. Alden Merriam, born Au- gust 22, 1884, graduate of the Norwich University at Northfield, Vermont; at present with Brown, Dur- rtll & Co., of Boston, dealers in small wares.


WESTON FAMILY. John Weston (I), was the immigrant ancestor of the Weston family of Winchendon, Massachusetts, to which Elliot Irving and Karl Ephraim Weston belong. According to an affidavit that he made in 1685, he was born in 1631. He came to New England and landed in Salem about 1644 from Buckinghamshire, England, at the age of thirteen; he was a stowaway and his mother whom he left in England, was a widow. lle died in 1723, aged "over ninety." He was a member of the First Church of Salem in 1648. He removed to the neighboring town of Reading in 1652. in the section now Wakefield. His land adjoined the meeting house square on the south- cast part of Reading pond and extended south. He is said to have been a very pious and industrious


married, 1653, Sarah Fitch, daughter of Zachariah Fitch, of Reading, one of the earliest pioneer settlers. They had eight children: John, see forward: Samuel, born 1655. married Abigail --: Sarah, baptized May 10, 1657: Elizabeth, baptized October 28, 1663: Stephen, born 1667, was the ancestor of the Winchendon family: Thomas, born 1670, married Elizabeth and had five sons : they had also two daughters, names unknown.


(II) John Weston, son of John Weston (1), was born at Reading, Massachusetts, in 1661. He settled in Reading and married Mary Bryant of that towns Their children were: John, born 1685,


was killed in the war in 1707: Abraham, 1687, died 1765, unmarried ; Samuel, 1689; Mary, 1691 ; Stephen, see forward; Zachariah, 1695; James, 1697; Benjamin, 1698; Jeremiah, 1700; Timothy, 1702; Timothy 2d, 1704, removed to Concord, Massachusetts, with his brother Stephen; Jona- than, 1705; Sarah, 1707; John, 1709.


(III) Stephen Weston, son of John Weston (2), was born in Reading, Massachusetts, 1692. Ile removed to Concord about 1726. The name was more generally spelled Wesson in Concord, though that spelling was common in all branches of the family in the early records. He was one of the founders of the Lincoln church in His brother Timothy was also a charter member. Stephen was the first treasurer elected in 1746. The church was formally organized August 18, 1747. He married Hannah - Their children were : Stephen, Jr., born about 1725; Sarah, born in Con- cord, November II, 1727; Benjamin, born June 30, 1734. died August 20, 1735: Hepsibah, born April 3. 1743, at Concord. There were probably other children born in Lincoln.


(IV) Stephen Weston, Jr., eldest son of Stephen Weston (3), was born about 1725 in Reading or vicinity. He lived in that part of Concord set off as Lincoln, and joined the Lincoln church by pro- fession of faith in 1750. He married Lydia Bill- ing, at Concord, November 27, 1746. The births of his first three children are on the Concord records. Children were: Lydia, born 1747. at Con- cord: Elizabeth, born April 8, 1750; Hannah, born June 2, 1752: Stephen, see forward.


(V) Stephen Weston, son of Stephen Weston (4), was born in Lincoln, Massachusetts, March 22, 1761. He removed to Winchendon at the time of his marriage, settling in the western part of the town on what was called Tallow hill. His home- stead is the one now occupied by George Bos- worth. He was one of the first to embrace the Methodist Episcopal faith. The first meetings in the town were in his house from 1800 until the church was built in 1807. He was one of the committee in charge of building the church and he himself gave the land. The committee consisted of William Poland, Stephen Weston, Silas Warner, William Crane, Barzillai Martin. The deed is dated 1809. He was a shoemaker as well as farmer and is called a cordwainer in this deed of land to the church. He bought of Gardner Wilder two hundred and twenty-seven acres in Royalston Leg, later part of Winchendon. in 1704. He deeded the farm on which he had lived for "a great num- ber of years." to his son just before his death. The homestead included ninety-one acres of land at that time and was bounded by land of Captain Joseph Robbins. James Taylor, Levi Brooks and Samuel Brown.


He married, March 31, 1784. Susan Whitney, horn at Stow, Massachusetts, October II, 1766, daughter of Daniel Whitney, born in Stow, Feb- ruary 13. 1720, married, 1744, Dorothy Goss. of Lancaster. His line back to the pioneer John Whit- nev was: Daniel (IV), Richard (III), Richard (TI), John (I). (See Whitney Family). Chil- dren of Stephen and Susan ( Whitney) Weston were: Stephen, Jr., born November 30. 1785, died August 6, 1840; Sukey, born November 16. 1788, died May 28, 1867; married Ephraim Fairbanks, died December 4, 1864. aged seventy-eight ; Ware- ham, born December 1. 1790: George, Wareham, was the father of eleven children: George, died September 15, 1800: Daniel B., born October 20, 1800, died in Iowa between 1865 and 1869; Elizabeth, horn March 6. 1803, died May 24, 1854, unmar-


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ried; Ephraim W., see forward; Eleazer P., born June 24, 1808, died June 12, 1874.


(V) Ephraim W. Weston, ninth child of Stephen Weston (5), was born at Winchendon, Massachusetts, December 27, 1805. He attended the district schools there in his youth and worked on his father's farm. After he left the farm he was the proprietor of a livery stable in Winchen- don, and also was postmaster there for a number of years. In 1850 he formed a partnership with Levi N. Fairbank for the manufacture of wooden- ware at Athol, Massachusetts. Owing to ill-health he retired at the end of two years. He died Oc- tober 29, 1854. He was a man of very strict re- ligious views. When he kept the stable he refused to let his horses and carriages on Sundays. He married, November 27, 1833, Roxana Chaplin, born October 18, 1812, daughter of Moses and Martha (Bent) Chaplin, of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. Her father was a farmer. They had one son, Irv- ing Ephraim, see forward.


(VII) Irving Ephraim Weston, son of Ephraim W. Weston (6), was born at Winchendon, May II, 1835, on the old Weston homestead in the western part of the town. He attended what was known as the west school and the Winchendon Academy in his native town, also Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Massachusetts. He began work as confidential clerk for Captain Ephraim Murdock. After a few years he formed a partnership with Washington Whitney for the manufacture of wooden-ware. At the end of two years his part- ner withdrew and Mr. Weston continued the busi- ness alone until his death, May 10, 18So. Once his plant was nearly all destroyed by fire, and noth- ing but the utmost courage and perseverance saved him from financial disaster. He was a Republican in politics and served nine years on the school committee, exhibiting the greatest interest in the schools. He made an admirable and conscientious public servant. He was an active member of the North Congregational society and was organist for many years. He was a gifted musician. He was for a long time the treasurer of the Winchendon Savings Bank.


He married at Sullivan, New Hampshire, Sep- tember 1, 1859, Harriet L. A. Mason, born January 18, 1834, daughter of Rufus and Prudence ( Woods) Mason. of Sullivan. Her father was a farmer, captain of the militia company and representative in the legislature. Children of Irving Ephraim and Harriet L. A. Weston were: Osgood Irving, born November 7, 1861, died October 18, 1862; Helen Mason, born July II, 1864, died September 2. 1900: Edith Harriet, born May 12, 1866, mar- ried William P. Andrews, of Salem, Massachu- setts ; Elliot Irving, see forward; Karl Ephraim, unmarried, see forward.


( VIII) Elliot Irving Weston fourth child of Irving Ephraim Weston (7), was born at Win- chendon, Massachusetts, December 18, 1868. He attended the public and high schools there, fitting at Worcester Academy for the Worcester Poly- technic Institue. Although he passed his entrance examination he had to forego the higher education to go into business. He entered the wholesale paper business in which he has continued to the present time. He resides in Boston. He is a mem- ber of the North Congregational parish of Win- chendon. In politics he is a Republican. He is unmarried.


( VHI) Karl Ephraim Weston, fifth child of Irving Ephraim Weston (7), was born in Win- chendon, October 7, 1874. He attended the public schools, graduating from the Murdock high school


in his native town in 1892. He entered Williams College the same year and was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1896. Ile entered the American School of Archaeology at Rome in the following autumn. While there he studied under Professor Warren, formerly of Johns Hopkins Uni- versity at Baltimore, Maryland, but now of Har- vard. After a year Professor Warren assigned to Mr. Weston the task of copying the manuscript of Terrence, including the illustrations of the play of the Phormio. This work of Mr. Weston has since been reproduced in the "Harvard Studies." After returning to America Mr. Weston taught school at Tarrytown, New York, and in the boys' school in Prohibition Park, Staten Island. Then he went to Baltimore as private tutor and con- tinued his studies in Spanish and modern lan- guages at Johns Hopkins. In 1901 he was ap- pointed an instructor in Williams College. After four years of teaching there he was promoted to a professorship, and given a leave of absence for two years which he spent in study abroad. The years he devoted to the study of French, Italian and Spanish, taking full courses at the Sorbonne and College De France in Paris.


COLBURN FAMILY. Edward Colburn (1), the immigrant ancestor of Mrs. James B. Gallup, of Leominster, Massachusetts, was born in 1618 in England. He came to America with his brother Robert, who was ten years older than he, in the ship "Defence" in 1635. Some of the Colburns of Leominster and many of those in Worcester county trace their descent to Nathaniel Colburn,


of Dedham, Massachusetts, but no known connec- tion exists between the Dedham pioneer and these two under consideration. Robert and Edward Col- burn both settled at Ipswich and Robert remained there. Robert and his wife both deposed in 1668 that they were sixty years old; he died May 2, 1685, leaving a son Robert and probably other chil- dren. Edward Colburn was one of the pioneer settlers of Chelmsford. Massachusetts, which was set off from Concord in 1652.


(II) Robert Colburn, son of Edward Colburn (I), was probably born about 1645 at Ipswich. He was brought up at Chelmsford, whither his father went in the early fifties. He married Mary Bishop, daughter of Edward Bishop, who settled in Salem 1640 or earlier. She was baptized as Salem, Oc- tober 12, 1651. Robert Colburn died at Concord, June 7, 1701. Among other children of Robert and Mary Colburn were : Nathaniel, of whom later ; William, married, February 29, 1715-6, Mar- garet French and had children-Robert, born Jan- uary 16, 1716-7; Keziah, October 27, 1721 ; Jemima, June 15, 1724: William, December 5, 1726.


(III) Nathaniel Colburn, son of Robert Col- burn (2), was born at Chelmsford or Concord about 1700. He married about 1720, Dorcas Jones, of Concord, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Nathaniel and Mary Jones, of Concord, where she was born January 17. 1703-4. He removed to Leominster about 1750 and bought a farm in the south part of the town. He deeded half of this farm to his son John, March 15, 1765. Four of his sons were soldiers in the revolution. John was sergeant at arms in the Leominster company on the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775; sergeant of a company raised to re-inforce the army of General Gates at Saratoga in 1777. Ebenezer was a lieutenant in the company of Captain Jabez Keep and the regiment of Colonel Jonathan Smith. Again he was first lieutenant in 1776 and 1777 in Captain Nathaniel Carter's company, Colonel Abijah


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Stearns' regiment. Nathan and Jonathan Colburn were soldiers in the Leominster companies.


The children of Nathaniel and Dorcas Jones were: Nathaniel, born January 19, 1722-3, mar- ried Tabitha Headley ; Ebenezer, November 10, 1724. died June 7, 1828: Dorcas, September 1, 1726; Mary, April 12, 1729, died November 6, 1740; Ebc- nezer, September 17, 1731; Sarah, May 8, 1734; John (twin), July 10, 1736, died August 4. 1736; Jonathan (twin), July 10, 1736, married Sarah Harvey; John, August 3. 1738, of whom later : Mary, October 4, 1742; Nathan, November 18, 1744; Hannah, July 20. 1747.


(IV) John Colburn, son of Nathaniel Colburn (3). was born at Concord. Massachusetts. August 3. 1738. He removed with his parents to the southern part of Leominster about 1750. He was a soldier in the revolution, sergeant in Captain Nathaniel Carter's company, Colonel Abiiah Stearns' regiment. His brother Ebenezer was first lieutenant of the same company. John Colburn was later in Lieutenant Samuel Stickney's com- pany, Colonel Abijalı Stearns' regiment. and marched to reinforce General Gates in 1777. He lived on the homestead in the south part of Leo- minster. Ile deeded it to his sons Elnathan and Joseph, March 5, 1804. He married Anna Darby, of Harvard. Massachusetts, Their children were: Joseph, of whom later; Elnathan, Nathan,


(V) Joseph Colburn, son of John Colburn (4). was born in Leominster, Massachusetts, November IO. 1779. He married Relief Gibson. Their chil- dren were: Jacob, of whom later; Ann, Polly, Joseph, John. Alvin, Charles.


(\]) Jacob Colburn, son of Joseph Colburn (5), was born at Leominster, Massachusetts, May 23. 1806. He was educated there in the public schools and learned the trade of comb manufac- turing of James 11. Carter. He went into business on his own account in 1840 at Leominster and for a quarter of a century was an extensive and suc- cessful manufacturer. Ile spent his whole life in Leominster and was identified with many of its interests. He enjoyed the affection as well as the respect of his neighbors.


He married, April 25, 1831. Ilannah Spaulding, daughter of - and Betsey (Heald) Spauld- ing, the eighth of eleven children. Her father was thrown upon his own resources by the death of his father when he was but twelve years old, but he managed to secure a good education and even taught school for several terms. Her grand- father was Joseph Spaulding and her grandmother Bridget Crosby, daughter of Robert Crosby, a na- tive of New Ipswich, New Hampshire. Hannah's great-grandfather was Jacob Spaulding, of Chelms- ford. Jacob Colburn died July 7. 1805. The chil- dren of Jacob and Hannah Colburn were: Sarah F., married (second) James B. Gallup, of whom latter; Charles A., born July 20. 1837: Mary A., October 30, 1843, married Franklin S. Blake.


(V11) Sarah F. Colburn, daughter of Jacob Colburn (6). was born in Leominster, Massachu- setts, November 20. 1833. She was educated there in the public schools. She married (first) David Shapley and lived in Wilmington. Delaware. Hc died August 12. 1872. She married (second) as his third wife James B. Gallup. Mrs. Gallup is active in church and charitable work. She has served on the board of visitors and the working committee of the Soldiers Aid Society, and is now serving her second term as one of the overseers of the poor of the town of Leominster.


James B. Gallup was born in the village of Clayville, town of Foster, Rhode Island, July 28,


1821. He received the usual common school edu- cation of his day and learned the comb-making trade. At the age of eighteen years he removed to Leominster, where there were many comb fac- tories and worked at his trade, first for Jonas Colburn and later for G. & A. Morse. He went into business in partnership with Calvin B. Cook in Northborough, Massachusetts, in the manufac- ture of combs. He also engaged in various other enterprises on his own account. He did a profit- able business buying and selling wood-lots in Leo- minster before the war. He was associated in business also with Samuel Woodward and later with B. F. Blodgett, making horn goods. When the partnership with Philander Woodbury was dis- solved, which lasted several years, the Union Comb Company was formed and Mr. Gallup was president and a large stockholder. The plant of this company was destroyed by fire in 1872 and the business was wound up. A new company was formed and Mr. Gallup became its president. Its business grew and prospered greatly. He was at the head of the Union Comb Company until his death, August 31, 1884. His home was on Lan- caster street, Leominster. Ile was a man of kindly, generous nature, fond of his home and devoted to his business.


lle married, first). 1840. Orissa Wheelock ; (second) Dorothy Wheelock, sister of his first wife: (third) Sarah F., daughter of Jacob and Hannah ( Spaulding) Colburn, mentioned above. His only child was by his first marriage, George H. Gallup, born at Leominster, one of the first volunteers from Leominster in the civil war, and who died in the service of illness contracted in the army.


CLARY FAMILY. Daniel McClary, the immi- grant ancestor of Samuel Heald Clary, of Wor- cester, came to New England with the early exodus of Scotch from north of Ireland. He settled first in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, where a number of Scotch made their home. He was a proprietor and tax payer there from 1740 to 1750. He died there about 1751. His widow Catherine removed to New Ipswich, New Hampshire.


(II) Daniel Clary, son of Daniel McClary (1), was a young man when the family removed to New Ipswich, where he settled and died in 1780, leaving a family of young children. He was a soldier in the revolution. He married, about 1765. Catherine Taggart, daughter of John Taggart, who lived in Petersborough and Sharon until 1797, when he removed to Dublin, New Hampshire, where he died in 1813.


(III) Daniel Clary, son of Daniel Clary (2), was born at New Ipswich, New Hampshire, in 1774. His father died when he was about six years old and he went to Peterborough. Now Hampshire. to live with his grandfather. John Taggart. The family moved to Dublin, New Hampshire, about 1797, and Clary became a pioneer settler at Jackson, Maine. with his family, about 1800. He had a large farm and became a pros- perous, highly respected and esteemed citizen. NIrs. Clary was an earnest Methodist in religion. Dan- iel Clary married Persis Morse. Their children: Betsey, Daniel, John, see forward; Catherine, Abby, AAshley, Martha.


(IX) John Clary, son of Daniel Clary (3), was born at Jackson, Maine. September 16, 1813, died in California, October 5, 1852, aged thirty-nine years. He was educated in the country school of his native town. When a young man he started in business with a general store at Lincoln, Maine.


.. IULLIC LIB


Joseph Hill


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WORCESTER COUNTY


He was an active and prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Married Sybell Heald, daughter of Samuel Heald. After her death she married (second) Alonzo Whitcomb, of Worcester, December 14, 1658.


(V) Samuel Ileald Clary, son of John Clary (4), was born in Lincoln, Maine, June 9, 1851. His father died when he was a year old and he went to live with his grandfather, Samuel Heald, in Troy, Maine, until 1858, when he came to Worcester with his mother, who had married (sec- ond) Alonzo Whitcomb, of that city. He attended the schools in Troy also the Worcester public schools, leaving the high school in his junior year to take a clerkship in the Worcester Safe Deposit and Trust Company, an institution just organized, May, 1869. At first the business of the company was confined to the renting of safe deposit vaults, but in- 1870 it entered upon the banking business and Mr. Clary became teller, and in 1886 assistant secretary. The company was well managed and its business grew rapidly and constantly. The original capital was $200,000, which was increased to $500,000, and the name was shortened in 1904 to the present form, Worcester Trust Company. Mr. Clary was elected treasurer of the company in 1891, a position he has since held. He is the only officer of the company who has been with it since its organization. He has seen it grow from nothing until it is the largest banking institution in the county, the largest in the state outside of Boston, and he has taken an active part in this great development. He is a director and clerk of the Whitcomb-Blaisdell Machine Tool Company. He is a member of the Quinsigamond Boat Club. the Worcester Club and the Tatnuck Country Club. He is a member of All Saints Pro- testant Episcopal parish. In politics he is a Repub- lican, but has never aspired to or held public office. He married, January 21, 1886, Ellen Olive Thayer, daughter of Edward D. Thayer. (See Thayer Family sketch). Their children are : Ernest Thayer, born in Worcester, March 1, 1887; Eleanor, born in Worcester, August 2, 1892.


JOSEPH HILL. Valentine Hill (1). the im- migrant ancestor of Joseph Hill, of Winchendon, Massachusetts, was born in England, probably in London. He was an early settler in Boston, where he was admitted to the church June 12, 1636. He was a mercer or merchant from London, the records say. He was a prominent and well-to-do citizen, chief owner of a large wharf property. He was ad- mitted a freeman May 13, 1640, proprietor. town officer and deacon (with Jacob Eliot). He was selectman in 1643-44-45-46, deputy to the general court 1652-53-54-55-57. He bought land at Oyster Bay, then Dover. now Durham, New Hampshire, before 1649 and removed thither. He died in Oyster Bay in 1662. Savage calls him a man of great public spirit. In the settlement of the estate his widow employed Joseph Hill, of Malden, as attorney, suggesting some relationship between these two prominent Hill immigrants. But there were also several others of this name at Dover, possibly also relatives of Valentine Hill. John Hill, founder of a large family in New Hampshire and Maine, settled first in Plymouth, Massachu- setts, removed to Boston in 1630, was admitted a freeman there March 18, 1642, was a grantee of Nashuay, died in 1647, leaving a son John who settled in Dover on land inherited from his father. All things considered it seems that there must have been relationship between John Hill, of Dover and Boston. Joseph Hill, of Malden, and Valentine Hill, of Boston and Dover.




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