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

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 70

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While Colonel Williams was on the staff, the governor general of Canada paid a visit to Boston to assist in the celebration of the completion of the railroad between the United States and Canada. It was called the Railroad Jubilee. The reception to the distinguished visitor took place in a tent erected on the Common, and Colonel Williams was seated at the side of the governor during the banquet. There was a great ball in honor of the Canadians and a trip down the harbor. Colonel Williams re- calls with pleasure the festivities in which he par- ticipated as one of the representatives of the com- monwealth. Daniel Webster died during Governor Boutwell's administration and a great public funeral was held in Boston. Colonel Williams is believed to be the only state official living now who partici- pated in the event.

Colonel Williams represented his district in the Democratic national convention of 1868, at Balti- more, at which Greeley was nominated by the Demo- crats with the forlorn hope that the strength of the Republican party might be broken by pitting a Re- publican, formerly of tremendous influence, against General Grant. Colonel Williams tells of a typical southern gentleman, who was the largest slave- holder in the south before the war, who felt that the nomination of Greeley was a pretty bitter pill for his party to swallow. And that feeling made Greeley the least popular of any presidential candi- date of a great political party.

Colonel Williams made the acquaintance of Ban- croft Davis, who became a diplomat of distinction. He was a student in the law office of Mr. Davis's firm, Hartshorn & Davis, in Worcester. Davis was the son of the former governor and senator. When Lawrence was .minister to England Bancroft was secretary of the American Legation. His full name was John Chandler Bancroft, but he was commonly known as Bancroft, being a nephew of George Ban- croft. the historian. Davis was minister to Germany to succeed his uncle, and later under President Grant's administration he was assistant secretary of state.

Colonel Williams has not been active in the Democratic organization during the past ten years. The last position in which he served his party was that of chairman of the Worcester city committee. As a political leader he will be remembered as one

of the men who led the forces that demolished the Whig party and caused its dismemberment. Even the name disappeared in a few years from the political calendar of the country. Colonel Williams has taken an active part in municipal affairs. He was on the school board in 1848-52-61-63-70-74. He was on the committee on high schools with the late Philip L. Moen and recalls the romance that re- stilted in the second marriage of Mr. Moen. The bride was a high school teacher of French. She was the mother of three children by this marriage. Her son, the late lamented Philip W. Moen, took his father's place in the social, charitable and busi- ness interests of the city. Colonel Williams was a member of the board of alderman in 1853-54, and was city solicitor in 1876.

Colonel Williams' father left a large estate, the greater portion of which was located in Williams- ville. His brother built the finest house in the town on the old homestead, but December 27, 1904, all the buildings were destroyed by fire. In the house were many heirlooms, old books and furniture that could not be replaced, and the loss of these the family feels keenly. Colonel Williams resides at 26 Cedar street, Worcester.

Colonel Williams married, June 29, 1852, Esther Kendall Houghton, of Barre. She was the daugh- ter of Luke and Harriet (Caldwell) Houghton. He married (second) Harriet Ann, daughter of Hard- ing P. and Sally ( Caldwell) Woods, of Barre. His children, all by his first wife, are: I. Henry Hough- ton, born June 8, 1854, graduated from Harvard College (A. B., 1874). He was a student only in his father's office and was examined for admission to the bar in May, 1876. He passed a successful examination by Congressman Rice and Mr. William T. Harlow, assistant clerk of courts of the county, and filed his petition for admission to the bar the following June, but later in the month was acci- dentally drowned while rowing in Lake Quinsiga- mond. That this young man was one of unusually brilliant parts, for whom were entertained the brightest expectations, is attested by the estimation in which he was held by men of eminence and far beyond his own age. Hon. George F. Hoar, United States senator, spoke of him in a letter of con- dolence to Colonel Williams: "I am sure that our long acquaintance gives me the right to tell you of my great sorrow and sympathy in the loss of your noble and promising boy. I did not know him per- sonally, but l had seen his fine and manly bearing, and knew how well everybody spoke of him, and can understand how much you must have depended on him for the comfort and pleasure of the rest of your life." And also Charles Devens, Jr., United States judicial court, spoke of him as follows: "I had known him somewhat in connection with some pro- fessional matters and he seemed to me a most promising young man and everything that a father's heart could desire." 2. Harriet Caldwell, born July 14, 1856. 3. Esther May, born October 29, 1858. 4. Alice Maude, born October 31, 1860, died August 18, 1861. Esther May Williams married Wesley G. Carr, of Keene, New Hampshire, an attorney, re- siding in Washington, D. C., and Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania. Their children are: William Austin Carr, born January, 1893, died in June, 1893; Houghton Carr, born September 30, 1895; and Wesley G. Carr, born August 29, 1898.

REV. CHARLES H. DALRYMPLE. The Dalrymple family is of Scotch origin. Before the year 1300 the family was well established in Scot- land in Ayrshire, Berwickshire, Wigtonshire, pos- sessing the carldoms of Dumfries and Stair; the vis-

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countcy and barony of Dalrymple; the lordships of Glenluce, Newliston and Stranraer. In 1689. ac- cording to Macaulay, the historian, the most in- fluential man in Scotland was Sir James Dalrymple, of Stair. He says: "The person by whose advice William appears at this time chiefly guided as to Scotch politics was a Scotchman of great abilities and attainments, Sir James Dalrymple, of Stair, the founder of a family eminently distinguished at the bar, on the bench, in the senate, in diplomacy, in arms and in letters, but distinguished also by mis- fortunes and misdeeds which have furnished poets and novelists with material for the darkest and most heartrending tales. Already Sir James had been in mourning for more than one strange and terrible death. One of his sons had died by poison. One of his daughters had poniarded her bridegroom on the wedding night. One of his grandsons had in hoyish sport been slain by another. Savage libelers asserted and some of the superstitious vulgar be- lieved, that calamities so portentous were the con- sequences of some connection between the unhappy race and the powers of darkness. Sir James had a wry neck, and he was reproached with this mis- fortune as if it had been a crime and was told that it marked him out as a man doomed for the gallows. His wife, a woman of great ability, art and spirit, was popularly nicknamed the Witch of Endor. It was gravely said that she had cast fearful spells on those whom she hated and that she had been seen in the likeness of a rat seated on the cloth of state by the side of the Lord High Com- missioner. The man, however, over whose roof so many curses appeared to hang, did not, as far as we can now judge, fall short of that very low standard of morality which was generally attained by politicians of his age and nation. In force of mind and extent of knowledge he was superior to them all.

"In his youth he had borne arms; he had then been a professor of philosophy; he had then studied law and had become by general acknowledgment the greatest jurist that his country had produced. In the days of the Protectorate he had been a judge. After the Restoration he had made his peace with the royal family, had sat in the privy council, and had presided with unrivaled ability in the court of sessions. He had doubtless borne a share in many unjustifiable acts, but there were limits which he never passed. He had a wonderful power of giving to any proposition, which it suited him to maintain a plausible aspect of legality and even of justice, and this power he frequently abused. But he was not, like many of those among whom he lived, impudently and unscrupulously servile. Shame or conscience generally restrained him from com- mitting any bad action for which his rare ingenuity could not frame a specious defense, and he was seldom in his place at the council board when any- thing outrageously unjust or cruel was to be done. His moderation at length gave offense to the court He was deprived of his high office and found him- self in so disagreeable a situation that he retired to Holland. There he employed himself in correct- ing the great work on jurisprudence, which has preserved his memory fresh down to our own time. In his banishment he tried to gain the favor of his fellow-exiles, who naturally regarded him with sus- picion. He protested, and perhaps with truth, that his hands were pure from the blood of the perse- cuted Covenanters. He made a high profession of religion, prayed much and observed weekly days of fasting and humiliation. He even consented, after much hesitation, to assist with his advice and his credit the unfortunate enterprise of Argyle. When that enterprise failed, a prosecution was instituted

at Edinburgh against Dalrymple, and his estates would doubtless have been confiscated, had they not been saved by an artifice which subsequently be- came common among the politicians of Scotland. His eldest son and heir apparent, John, took the side of the government, supported the dispensing power, declared against the test and accepted the place of Lord Advocate.

"The services of the younger Dalrymple were re- warded by a remission of the forfeiture which the offenses of the elder had incurred. Those ser- vices, indeed, were not to be despised for Sir John, though inferior to his father in depth and extent of legal learning, was no common man. His knowl- edge was great and various, his parts were quick, and his eloquence was singularly ready and graceful. To sanctity he made no pretensions. Indeed, Epis- copalians and Presbyterians agreed in regarding him as little better than an atheist. During some months, Sir John at Edinburgh affected to condemn the dis- loyalty of his unhappy parent Sir James, and Sir James at Leyden told his Puritan friends how deep- ly he lamented the wicked compliance of his un- happy child, Sir John. The revolution came on and the son promptly changed sides and co-operated ably and zcalously with his father. Sir James es- tablished himself in London for the purpose of giving advice to William on Scotch affairs. Sir John's post was in the parliament house at Edin- burgh. The ablest of Scottish politicians and de- baters, Sir John Dalrymple, was appointed Lord Advocate. His father Sir James, the greatest of Scottish jurists, was placed at the head of the Court of Sessions." Any ancestry increases geometric- ally for every generation. The number of my great- grandparents at that time must have been 128, so Sir James was the one found by the genealogist of the 128 lot. It would be interesting to know how my account would stand could I know them all. The evil and good of Sir James is a small part. Then a poor dependent may have taken the name for aught anybody knows and even that one one- hundred-twenty-eighth of noble blood may not run in my veins.

The origin of the name is given in at least three different ways. The author of one of the brief genealogies of the American family states that the family was from France, the name being De la Rumple. He says the family went to Scotland 1450 to 1500 and the name was modified to Dalrymple. The statement lacks proof entirely. Hanna in his very able work on "The Scotch Irish" says: "An- other Scotch territorial name. Dalrymple, is said to be derived from the Gaelic dail-a-chruimpuill, the vale of the crooked pool, the village of that name in Ayrshire lying on a bend or turn of the "honny Doon," which, however, is not a pool. but a river. Gazeteers and statistical writers in Scot- land appear to have a partiality for Gaelic deriva- tions, and when one has been hit upon in any case -- and in most cases in the Lowlands they are mere guess work-they follow each other like a flock of sheep, taking things for granted. without inquiry and without thought. The name is Saxon, and not Gaelic, being derived from the words dahl and hrympel from the rumpled appearance of the locality itself. the surface of the parish of Dalrymple being composed of numerous rising grounds or little mounds or knolls."

(I) John Dalrymple, the immigrant ancestor of Rev. Charles H. Dalrymple. of Millbury, Massachu- setts, was a Scotch Presbyterian. He came from Londonderry. Ireland, with other Scotch-Irish, but it is doubtful if he was born in Ireland. The family came from Scotland to Ireland, but seems to have gained no foothold there, as the name does not

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appear at the present time in Ireland. John Dal- rymple was doubtless of the same stock as the family mentioned by Macaulay. John Dalrymple came to America in 1774 with his wife and three children and settled in Nova Scotia, near what is now the town of Windsor. His children were: James S., born 1767, see forward; Ina, married - Sene- right and they have many descendants living in Nova Scotia ; a son, who was drowned, according to tra- dition, while crossing Cubiquid Bay on horseback with a load of chairs, at the ford two miles from Truro.

(11) James S. Dalrymple, son of John Dalrymple (1), was born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1767, and came to Nova Scotia with his father. He was also a Presbyterian. He removed from Windsor to Kennetcook, travelling on foot through the wilder- ness. His farm is about one mile up the river from the railroad station of Kennetcook. He married -, who came with her family from the United States at the time of the revolution with other loyal- ists. All his four sons were farmers and helped clear the land. At that time moose and bear were plentiful and many stories of sport with big game are told in the family. Once a fox ran into the Dalrymple house in broad daylight and was killed hy the mother of Captain A. T. Dalrymple. Chil- dren of James Dalrymple: I. Eunice, married --- Ettenger, is a widow residing in Hants county, Nova Scotia, where she lived all her mar- ried life and her son William runs the farm: she has sons in the United States. 2. John Anthony, see forward. 3. Jacob, born about 1832, unmarried, was a mariner, left New York in brig "Defiance" for Aspin- wall, April 8, 1857, chief mate, and neither crew nor ship was ever heard from. 4. Letitia, born May 7, 1834, married Cowan; she is a widow, re- sides with her only son, J. H. Cowan, in Glenburn, Maine, on the farm where she has lived since her marriage. 5. Alfred T., born November 7, 1836, married (first) -, who died November. 1899; married (second), August, 1903, Mrs. Mckenzie; was a sea captain and followed the sea forty years, now of Truro, Nova Scotia; while master was em- ployed by Osmond O'Brien & Co., Noel, Nova Scotia, removed from Noel to Truro. Alfred T. was himself a ship owner and in a partnership, probably. His children are-Joseph Milan, died on passage from New York to Ireland. buried at War- ren Point ; son. buried in Burncoat burying ground ; Nessie, married Rev. F. E. Barrett, of Huntsport Methodist church ; J. Whitney, master of the cable ship "Viking." caring for the telegraph cable on the Amazon river. South America (the cable extends a thousand miles up river from Para and the break- ing of the river bank often damages the cable) ; Joseph Chapman, born at sea, is a machinist, works at his trade at or near Montreal, Canada; Lucy May. teacher in Truro public school: Charlotte F., resides with parents: Edward A., about to take second trin west on the harvest excursion, August, 1906. 6. James, born 1838. 7. Lois, born 1840, drowned with her husband, Captain Arnold Wehb, and all hands on bark "H. M. Paint" on passage from Boston to Liverpool, 1866. 8. Melinda, drowned while trying to pass a headland with a horse and wagon. the tide being too high, November 16, 1868; horn December 24. 1848. She was after supplies for her approaching wedding. o. Mary, married Richard Faulkner and had eight children.

(III) John Anthony Dalrymple, son of James Dalrymple (2), was born April 27, 1829, and died at Boston, June 28, 1896. Ile was a teamster for many years in Boston. He removed from Noel. where he was a class leader in the Methodist Epis-

copal church, to Mount Desert Island. He married Susan W. Richardson. Their children: I. Charles H., see forward. 2. William, drowned at City Point, aged nineteen years. 3. Lena, now Mrs. Fred Childs, mother of two children. 4. Amy F., for a number of years professor in Art Department of Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, now has an art studio in Malden. 5. Dr. Alfred Tomlinson, a grad- uate of Mt. Herman School of Medicine of Boston University, practicing in South Boston. 6. Susan, wife of W. S. Watson, of Lowell, has three chil- dren; he closed a three years' term in governor's council a year ago. 7. John Montgomery. 8. Fran- ces W., attended Bradford Academy, where she was the leader in athletics as well as scholarship, win- ning the gold prize at her graduation ; she was prin- cipal of school at Careyville, Massachusetts, now assistant principal of the Brockton public schools.

(IV) Rev. Charles H. Dalrymple, son of John Anthony (3), was born at East Boston, Massa- chusetts, August 3, 1856. He attended the public schools of South Boston, graduating from the Bige- low grammar school of South Boston. He then began to study for the ministry in the Theological School of Boston University. From there he went to Boston Latin School. He began his ministry in the New England southern conference, but after a few years was transferred from Osterville, Massa- chusetts, to Weeping Water, Nebraska. He itiner- ated in Nebraska from Christmas, 1887, to Sep- tember, 1898, when he was transferred back to the New England conference. In April, 1903, he with- drew from the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church and then took a special course of study in Theology at Harvard College. He was in business at Lowell, Massachusetts, with brother-in-law, W. S. Watson, for a season for the purpose of acquir- ing a knowledge of the business. He was settled November 17, 1905, as pastor of the Unitarian church at Millbury, Massachusetts, his present pastorate.

He married Miss Delia M. Eaton, who was born at Chaplin, Connecticut, July 10, 1859, the daughter of Isaac Lester and Sarah ( Sherman) Eaton. She was a student at Mount Holyoke Seminary. Her father was head selectman of his town for many years, and prominent in financial circles. She is granddaughter of Isaac and Maria (Butler) Eaton, who lived at Chaplin, Connecticut, descendants of an old Puritan family. Mrs. Dalrymple has one brother, Horace Eaton, who married Bertha Miner, of Fairfax, Vermont, and they have three sons- Lester. Alfred and Ralph.

Children of Rev. Charles H. and Delia M. (Eaton) Dalrymple are: I. Alfred C., born Decem- ber 1, 1885, died October 8, 1891, in Bennett Ne- braska. 2. John L., born May 23. 1888, died Octo- ber 11, 1891, in Bennett, Nebraska. 3. Esther H., born May 7. 1890, student in the Millbury high school. 4. Evelyn S., born February II, 1892, stud- ent in the high school. 5. John R., born March 13, 1895. 6. Horace, born December 11. 1896, died July 29. 1897, in Western, Nebraska. 7. Horace E., born July 24, 1898. 8. Willard J. Young, born March 20, 1901. Rev. Charles H. Dalrymple spent eleven years of his ministry in Nebraska. Here all his children were born but the eldest and youngest.

LOVELL FAMILY. Thomas Lovell (1), the immigrant ancestor of Russell Buckman Lovell, of Billbury, Massachusetts, was born in Dublin, Ire- land. about 1620. He deposed that he came from Dublin. Ireland, where he had lived in the house with William and Rebecca Bacon in 1639, the year that he emigrated. He was a currier by trade. He was first of Salem, Massachusetts, then of Ipswich,

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where he was a proprietor of the town in 1647. He must have been a freeman and member of the Puri- tan church, because he was a selectman of the town of Ipswich in 1680 and 1692. He signed the list

loyalist petition in 1666 and is on

of voters in

1679. He was summarily

dis-

missed as selectman for political reasons : "He hath been" the record relates, "with Mr. Mason about compliance and being one of the selectmen it hath been made to appear that he hath suggested to some as if it were best to comply with him, which is as has been declared, a betrayal of trust com- mitted to him." Captain John Appleton was elected in his place. He recovered the confidence of his townsmen later and was again elected to office. He had a share and a half in Plum Island in 1664. He was in his eighty-seventh year in 1707. His will was proved January 2, 1709-10. Children of Thomas and Ann Lovell were: Alexander, born May 29, 1657, died aged two years: Nathaniel, born March 28, 1658; Thomas, Jr., see forward ; Elizabeth, mar- ried Perkins : Margaret, married Ed- wards (See page 383 of Waters's History of Ips- wich.) ; Hannah, married - Dutch; Mary, mar- ried Downton.

(II) Thomas Lovell, son of Thomas Lovell (1), was born in Ipswich, February 2, 1649, and died there August II, 1718. aged sixty-eight years, six months, nine days, according to his gravestone in the old burying ground. He inherited from his father the family homestead, except the shop of his brother Alexander, and settled in Ipswich. He was sealer of leather in Ipswich in 1697-98, and doubt- less a tanner by trade. He was called junior in the records of 1698. He had a seat as well as his father in the Ipswich meeting house in 1700. He was fined for absence from meeting in 1671. He prob- ablv moved from town some time between 1675 and 1695, or about these dates, and his children were not born in Ipswich, at least they are not found on the public records there. He had a son Thomas, Jr., see forward.

(IV) Thomas Lovell, son of Thomas Lovell (2), was born about 1690. He was brought up in Ips- wich, where his father lived. Shortly after his father's death he removed to Sutton, Massachu- setts, and settled there. His name appears first on the records in 1722. He married Martha Herrick. of a well known Boxford family. Their children, born at Sutton, were: Esther, born March 27, 1717, married Holyoke Putnam: Thomas, June 17, 1719. see forward; Martha, January 7. 1722, died August 14. 1723: Ruth, January 16, 1724, married William Waite: Elizabeth, September 23. 1726, married Joshua Carter : George, June 28, 1729.

(V) Thomas Lovell, second child of Thomas Lovell (4). of Ipswich, was born June 17. 1719, in Sutton, Massachusetts, where his parents were among the early settlers. He settled on land of his father and married Eunice Putnam, of another well known old family of Sutton. Their children, all born in that town, were: Sarah, born August 22, 1744, married Josiah Waite; John, August 8. 1746; Ezra, March 29, 1749, see forward; Eunice, October 2, 1751.

(VI) Ezra Lovell, son of Thomas Lovell (5), was born in Sutton, Massachusetts, March 29, 1749, and died in Millbury an adjoining town, August 14. 1821. He was a soldier in the revolution, corporal in Captain Andrew Eliot's company. Colonel Learned's regiment, on the Lexington Alarm, April 19. 1775. He was sergeant in Captain Isaac Bol- ster's company. Colonel Ebenezer Learned's regi- ment. August. 1775. He became second lieutenant in Cantain Abijah Burbank's company. the thirteenth (Fifth Sutton company) in the Fifth Worcester

regiment, March 20, 1776; he was lieutenant in the same company, Colonel Jonathan Holman's regi- ment, in the Rhode Island campaign in 1776. He was lieutenant in 1777, marching with his company to re-inforce the northern army which defeated Burgoyne ; in Captain Andrew Eliot's company ; Col- onel Jonathan Holman's regiment. He afterward had the rank of captain, a title by which he was known the remainder of his life. He was a farmer in Millbury during his later days.

He married Mary Jennison, a widow, who died January 3, 1844, aged eighty-seven years. His chil- dren, all born in Sutton, were: Elias, January 12, 1778, married Betsey Pierce ; settled in Millbury, where their son Elias was born January 22. 1804; Polly (Mary), February 17, 1779; Ludia, June 5, 1782: Ezra, Jr., July 8, 1787, see forward.

(VII) Ezra Lovell, Jr., son of Captain Ezra Lovell (6), was born in Sutton, July 8, 1787. He settled at Oxford and later at Millbury. He mar- ried (first) Polly Phelps, who died in Millbury, September 21, 1814. He married ( second), October 29, 1815, Olive Jennison, of Millbury. The children of Ezra and Polly Lovell were: Mary Phelps, born in Millbury, September 13. 1812: Charles Herrick, January 20, 1814. The children of Ezra and Olive Lovell were: William Austin, November 28, 1816; Russell Buckman, Millbury, September 21. 1822, see forward; Sophia, May 30, 1826; Ann Maria, June 19, 1830.

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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. II, Part 70

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

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