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

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 8


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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(II) Joseph Curtis, youngest son of Henry and Mary ( Guy) Curtis, born July 17, 1647, married Abigail, daughter of John Grout, of Sudbury, where he resided, Their children were: Abigail, born March 2, 1678-79: Ephraim, September 4. 1680: Mary, December 25, 1686; Joseph, July 15, 1689.


( III) Ephraim Curtis, eldest son of Joseph, mar- ried, May 10, 1705, Mary Stone, in Sudbury, where he died November 17, 1759. She died February 22, 1761. Their children were: Ephraim, born July 15. 1706; John, September 10, 1707, see forward;


Mary, December 29, 1710; Susannah, September 9, 1714; Joseph, December 22, 1721; Samuel, June I, 1724.


(IV) Captain John Curtis, born September 10, 1707, son of Ephraim Curtis, passed his youthful days in Sudbury. December 10, 1735, his father, Ephraim Curtis, of Sudbury, for love, good will and affection toward his dutiful son. John Curtis, of Worcester, deeded to him a "certain parcel of up- land and swamp ground in Worcester," consisting of one hundred and forty acres, part of a farm of two hundred and fifty acres formerly granted to Thomas Noyes. Mr. Curtis married, June 4, 1729, Rebeckah Waite, in Sudbury. She was the mother of his children. She died March 24, 1755. He mar- ried ( second), November 13, 1755. Elizabeth Rob- bins, widow of Daniel Robbins, and daughter of Rev. John Prentice, of Lancaster. This John Curtis appears to have been the first of the Curtis family to become a permanent settler in Worcester, and there is no doubt but that he came at a compara- tively early age to care for his father's property and interest in the settlement. The first John Curtis mentioned in the proprietors' records of Worcester was the brother of the first Ephraim, who sold half of his Noyes claim to this brother John, but not being able to confirm the title was obliged to pay his brother John forty pounds lawful money for damages, and also pay the costs of a suit brought to recover the same. The date under which this John Curtis first appears in the town records of Worcester is March 15. 1730-31, when at a town meeting he was elected to serve as one of the sur- veyors of highways. He was living in Worcester before his marriage, as the record of that event in Sudbury states. His first child was born in Sud- bury and the second in Worcester.


Mr. Curtis was an active and influential citizen of the town, occupying various public offices. He was a captain and commanded a company in the French and Indian war. He was for many years a popular hotel keeper, and a leading member of the church, his house being a favorite stopping place for ministers as they passed to and fro, no charge being made to that class of citizens. Mr. Caleb Wall says of him: "He is described as a small, short man, very proud, always on his dignity, and, as his memory is preserved a splendid horseman, in which capacity he shone to advantage mounted on a spirited steed. He married Elizabeth Prentice, daughter of Rev. John Prentice, minister at Lan- caster from 1708 to 1748, and with her on a pillion behind him, dressed in a bright scarlet cloak, with her arm around him, we have the picture of Cap- tain John Curtis." He says also: "He was sadly missed from the pew which he had so long and so punctually occupied in the Old South (pew No. 61 on the plan), the floor of which had to be raised six inches by planks in order to bring his head on a level with the rest of the congregation." Mr. Curtis died June 29, 1797, in his ninetieth year, and his widow Elizabeth died November 14, 1802.


Their children were: Jonathan, born August 9, 1729, died January 4, 1732-33; John, May 13 of 19, 1731; Jonathan, May 15, 1733; Sarah, January 27, 1730-37: Elizabeth, December 28, 1738; William, February 8, 1740, died April 16, 1749; Rebekah, November 5, 1742, died October 4, 1745: Joseph, October 31, 1744, died September 20, 1745; James, September 8, 1746; Mary, October 3. 1747; Sarah, August 28, 1749; William, January 29, 1750; Joseph, March 21, 1752; Tyler, April 28, 1753. William and Joseph served in the revolutionary war.


(V) John Curtis, Jr., born May 19, 1731, mar- ried Elizabeth Heywood, May 15, 1755. He died


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December 13, 1768, leaving the following children : Rebecca, born February 13, 1756, wife of T. A. Merrick ; Elizabeth, February 26, 1758, wife of Sam- uel Jamison ; John, November 14, 1760; David, Jan- uary 30, 1703, married Susannah Stone, December 5, 1791, and his son George was father of George William Curtis, the distinguished orator and scholar ; Nathaniel, August 18, 1705; Dorothy, July 26, 1767, married David Craige, of Wethersfield, Connecticut. (V) Tyler Curtis, youngest son of Captain John Curtis, born April 28, 1753, married, September 5. 1776, Lydia Chamberlain, and resided on the Curtis homestead in Worcester, where he died April 16, 1807. His widow died October 5, 1841, aged eighty- six years. Their children were: Tyler, born Feb- ruary 15, 1777, died May 23. 1777; Rebecca, July 20, 1778; Jolin, April 5, 1781, died September 14, 1783; John, December 23, 1783; Sally, April 2, 1786, died July 24. 1788; Dolly, August 25, 1788, died January 20, 1791 ; Elizabeth, May 17. 1791; Na- thaniel, August 29, 1793; Samuel, June 12, 1796, died May 17, ISII; Tyler, February 29, ISO1, died March 17, 1842.


(VI) John Curtis, born December 23. 1783, mar- ried, March 16, 1807, Nancy Stowell, daughter of Captain Thomas Stowell, the clothier of Worces- ter, and granddaughter of Cornelius Stowell, who came from Watertown, also a clothier. John Curtis died August 3, 1826. Their children were: George Thomas Stowell, born September 22, 1808; Tyler Prentice, June 16, 1810; Sarah Ann, June 7, 1812; Harriet Newell, September 4, 1814, died June 24, 1818: John Edwin, October 11, 1816.


(VIL) Tyler Prentice Curtis, eldest son of John and Nancy ( Stowell) Curtis, born June 16, 1810, married Amelia Riley, daughter of Calvin and Eunice (Miller) Riley, of Alton, Illinois, and a lineal descendant of John Riley, who came with wife Grace to Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1645, being an early settler in that town, where he died in 1674, and where Grace, his widow, died November 28, 1703. The Riley name is given among the names of Planters of Colonies of Connecticut and New Haven previous to the Union, 1665. The line to Amelia is continued through the son, Lieutenant Isaac Riley, born 1670, Nathaniel, Asher, Calvin, the father of Amelia. Mr. Curtis lived on the old Curtis farm all his life. He died June 16, 1896. Their childen were: Kate, born December 9, 1848, died at the age of two years; John D., June 12, 1850, mar- ried Clara Nash; Kate, September 29, 1852, married William T. Brown; William C., December 14, 1854, who now lives on the original farm.


(VII) John Edwin Curtis, youngest son of John and Nancy (Stowell) Curtis, was born October 11, 1816, on the old Curtis estate which has been held by the family from one generation to another suc- cessively since 1670, and is at present (1906) owned and occupied by the family. John E. Curtis, when a young man, went west and became engaged in the mercantile trade. He married, May 26, 1841, Amelia Riley, born in Middletown, Connecticut, 1822. John Edwin Curtis died in St. Louis, Missouri, October 14, 1843, at the age of twenty-seven years, leaving two children : Elnora, born March 14, 1842, married Jared Whitman, and died June 6, 1889; Edwin P., February 18, 1844. The widow, Amelia (Riley) Curtis, married, February 18, 1846, Tyler Prentice Curtis, brother of John Edwin Curtis.


(VIII) Edwin P. Curtis, only son of John Ed- win and Amelia Curtis, was born February 18, 1844, in St. Louis, Missouri. He was educated in the Worcester public schools and the Worcester Acad- emy. For two years he remained at home, after which he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and during the


civil war served in the quartermaster's department. Returning to Worcester in 1864, he entered the business of A. P. Richardson, manufacturer of agri- cultural implements; afterwards the A. P. Richard- son Company, then incorporated later under the name of Richardson Manufacturing Company, in which business he has since continued, becoming secretary, director, and afterwards president and treasurer, the latter offices he holds at the present time.


Mr. Curtis married, January 1, 1868, Harriet, daughter of Walter and Mary (Hlyde) Bigelow, of Worcester, a lineal descendant of David Bigelow, who took a prominent part in Worcester affairs during the revolutionary war, and a brother of Colonel Timothy Bigelow, the town's most noted patriot of that period. She also traces a line of descent from Jonas Rice, the earliest permanent settler of Worcester, and to Phynias Heywood, Deacon William Trowbridge, early settlers of the town, and to Samuel Hyde, of Newton, who was a lineal descendant in the fourth generation from Deacon Samuel Hyde, born 1610, and embarked in the ship "Jonathan" at London, England, for Boston, April, 1639. He was the second settler in Cam- bridge Village about 1640. He died September 12, 1689, leaving a will stating that he owned a farne of one hundred and twenty-four acres in Water- town, Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis have one daughter, Elnora Whitman Curtis, who after attending the schools in Worcester, and the Burn- ham school, Northampton, entered Smith College, from which institution she graduated in the class, of 1892.


HANSON FAMILY. John Hanson, father of Charles F. Hanson and Sven E. Hanson, of Wor- cester, was a native of Uddevalla, Sweden, where he lived all his life. He married Anna C. Hanson. Their children, all born at Uddevalla, were: I. Dana M., born 1840, married James Sargent, of Bel- mont, Massachusetts, and they have-Edith Sar- gent, Mabel Sargent, Nellie Sargent, Frank Sar- gent. 2. Johanna E., died when fifteen years old. 3. Charles F., born September 9, 1849, see forward. 4. John A., born December 9, 1852, married Anna H. Astrom and they have four children-Adolph, Godfrid, Annie, Jacob. 5. Sven E., born September 16, 1855, see forward. 6. Richard, born September 4. 1859, died September 4, 1860. 7. Fredrika E., born June 12, 1865, married Eric Forsstedt and they had two sons, Herbert and Stanislaus Forsstedt; she died 1901.


Charles F. Hanson was born in Uddevalla, Sweden, September 9, 1849. He came to this coun- try in 1865 and was first employed in the piano busi- ness by Paul N. Humphrey, of Boston. After work- ing in Boston three years he came to Worcester, and from 1868 to 1870 was with the firm of S. R. Leland & Son. He started in business for himself after leaving Mr. Leland's employ and opened a store in 1878. He removed to the store in Mechanics. Hall building in 1885. He built up a large trade. in pianos, organs and music and became one of the leading dealers of the city. In April, 1906, he re- moved to his present location in the Thule building. Main street. He was one of the prime movers in the organization which built this magnificent build- ing for the Swedish societies and interests of Wor- cester. He is a member of Thule Lodge, Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the First Universalist Church, Svea Gille and Royal Arcanum. Mr. Hanson is the composer of a num- ber of successful operas and selections. He re- ceived the permission of the King of Sweden to


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dedicate to him the opera "Fridjof and Ingeborg," which was successfully produced in Chicago and in which his daughter, Lillian Hanson Gray, took the title role. It was also presented one week at the Worcester Theatre. It received the favorable notice of the musical critics and attracted the attention of the musical world.


Mr. Ilanson married, November 27, 1867, Eliza Ann Hazall, daughter of Charles and Ann ( Palmer) Hazall, of English birth. Their children: I. Lillian, born November 8, 1868, married, June 28, 1898, C. Albert Gray and has one child, Carl Albert Gray, born December 12, 1900; she is a prominent teacher of vocal music in Worcester. 2. Charles Arthur, born March 9, 1873. 3. Flora May, born 1875, died March 8, 1888. 4. Frederick Theodore, born June 12, 1876, died November 8, 1904.


Sven E. Hanson, brother of Charles F. Hanson, was born in Uddevalla, Sweden, September 16, 1855, and received his education in the public schools of his native town. He came to America August 9, 1881, and located in the city of Worcester. In 1882 he opened an office in Worcester for the sale of steamship tickets. Many Swedish people had already made their homes in that city and many thousands have come since. His place of business has been for many years at 241 Main street. Hle represents all the principal trans-Atlantic lines. He is a Re- publican in politics and a Swedish Lutheran in re- ligion. He is a member of Thule Lodge, Odd Fel- lows, in which he has held all the offices in suc- cession and is now a past grand. He is a member also of the Conquest Council, Royal Arcanum, and of the Svea Gille and Massasoit Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men.


He married, July 19, 1861, Clara W. Anderson. Their children: I. Edward, born March 5, 1888, at- tended Worcester high school one year, draughts- man at the works of the Standard Plunger Elevator Company. 2. Axel, born March 29. 1890, class of 1907 in Worcester high school. 3. Rudolph, born April 16, 1892. 4. Martha, born October 5, 1896. 5. Ragnhild, born April 8, 1900.


JOHN FRANCIS BICKNELL. Zachary Bick- nell (1) and Agnes his wife sailed from England in the spring of 1635. He was forty-five years of age, and his wife thirty-seven. The entire family at this time consisted of Zachary, his wife Agnes, their son Jolin (eleven years of age) and John Kitchen, a servant, aged twenty-three years. This family group formed a part of the company of Eng- lish emigrants that came with the Rev. Joseph Hull, and were permitted to settle at Weymouth, Massa- chusetts. Zachary Bicknell died within about a year after his arrival at Weymouth, not, however, until he had built a house and established a home, embrac- ing twenty acres of unfenced land. His widow soon married Richard Rockett (or Rockwood), and the home of the Bicknells was sold to William Reade. (II) John, born in 1624, the only son of Zachary Bicknell, married (first) Mary, who bore him Mary, Jolin and Naomi. She died March 25, 1657-8. and he married (second) Mary Porter. They had Ruth, Joanna, Experience, Zachary, Elizabeth, Thomas, Hannah, and Mary.


(III) Zachary, born February 7, 1667-8, in Wey- mouth, married Hannah Smith, November 14. 1692. Their children were: Zachary, Hannah, James, Mary, Peter, and Joshua.


(IV) Peter, born in Barrington, Rhode Island, 1706; married Rachel and had: Peter, born Jan- uary II, 1736; died young: Rachel, born December 9, 1737, died 1752; Peter, born July 24, 1745; Asa, born April 13, 1747; Amey, born 1752; and Amos.


(V) Asa married in Barrington, Elizabeth Low, June 25, 1769. Their children were: Asa, died aged sixteen years; Otis, died aged twenty-two years; Releaf; John Wilson; William; Elizabeth; Benja- min; Ellery; Asa; and Francis.


(VI) John Wilson, born April 10, 1780, in Bar- rington, married Keziah Paine, April 14, 1805. She was the daughter of Peleg and Joanna ( Vial) Paine, of Seekout, where he died August 25, 1837, aged eighty-five years. Mr. Paine served as sergeant in Captain Joseph Franklin's (Rehoboth) company, Colonel John Daggett's regiment ; he entered service January 7, 1778, and was discharged March 31, 1778. He enlisted again July 30, 1778, and was dis- charged September 10, 1778. He served in Captain Isaac Hix's company, Colonel Josiah Whiting's Bristol county regiment. When a mere lad he be- came enamored with the life of a sailor, and began making voyages as boy before the mast, continuing the seafaring life for nearly thirty years, and pass- ing through the various stages of promotion to the rank of captain. He made voyages to the West Indies, to both the east and west coast of Africa, and to China, was twice shipwrecked. About the year 1817, he removed his family from Barrington, Rhode Island, where they had made their home dur- ing his voyages, to Canterbury, Connecticut, where he kept a hotel; after remaining here about four years he removed to Canaan, Vermont, where he purchased a farm. Twenty-two years later he sold this farm, and with his family, now grown to man- hood and womanhood, emigrated to the then new state of Wisconsin, settling in what is now Beloit, Rock county, where he died in 1859. Mr. Bicknell was a prominent Mason, having taken the capitular degrees, and filled the office of grand high priest, and while visiting various places in Wisconsin, for the purpose of establishing and instructing certain chapters, contracted a severe cold which terminated in pneumonia, causing his death. Children were: George Wilson, born November 7. 1807; Amanda, November 18, 1809; Otis Paine, June 10, 1813; Ed- win, July 18, 1814; Almira Paine, June 1, 1816; Charles H., March 7, 1818; Andrew H., February 6, 1820; Martha Wilson, April 19, 1822; Anna Mariah, April 19, 1825: Rebecca Warren, adopted daughter. (VII) George Wilson Bicknell was born in Bar- rington, Rhode Island. After receiving the ad- vantages of the schools of his native town, he went to Providence, where he learned the trade of a jeweler and silversmith, and for a few years fol- lowed that occupation in the city of Providence. His life liere brought him in daily contact with the family of Dr. Jacob Fuller, an uncle by mar- riage, the Doctor having married Abigail Paine, a sister of Mr. Bicknell's mother. The associations formed here were of the most pleasant and bene- ficial character. Through the influence emanating from this home he resolved to enter the medical profession, and for several years much of his spare time was occupied in studying medical authorities and reciting to his uncle. It was his custom, while engaged in his trade, to have an open book on the bench before him, that he might pursue his medical studies while at work. Having secured his right to practice medicine, he took a full course in dentistry. Confident that he was now well qualified to embark in his newly chosen profession, and learn- ing of the intention of his father and the remainder of his family (then residing in Canaan, Vermont) to emigrate to the western country, he went to Ver- mont and joined the New England Emigrating Company, which included his father's family, and located at a place in Wisconsin, on Rock river, now known as Beloit. After a residence here of three


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or four years, Dr. Bicknell went further west, locat- ing in Potosi, in Grant county. Before leaving Beloit he had written to Miss Abigail Rawson, of Mendon, Massachusetts, that he was now ready to have her join him in his western home, and accord- ing to previous plans Miss Rawson left her Men- don home for Wisconsin, traveling by stage, canal boat and steamboat to Chicago, where Dr. Bick- nell met her. They proceeded on to Beloit, and the marriage ceremony was performed at the home of Mr. R. T. Crane. On the death of Dr. Horace White, with whom Dr. Bicknell had been asso- ciated while in Beloit, the people there urged him to return to them, which he did about 1847. In 1849 he, with several others, made the overland trip to California, returning to Beloit in 1852. When the civil war came, he enlisted and received a commis- sion as surgeon in the Twenty-second Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers. The severe strain incident to a large practice in this sparsely settled country during the ten years passed in Beloit, had gradually been undermining a once vigorous constitution, and the further exposure of camp life at the front be- gan to develop symptoms of a serious nature within himself, causing his resignation and return to Beloit. But there followed him soon after a commission as acting assistant surgeon, U. S. A., at Camp Doug- las, Chicago, Illinois. He continued his services in charge of this camp until it was about to be de- serted, when he again resigned his commission and returned to take up his private practice in Beloit, when he died June 16, 1870. His wife died Decem- ber 26, 1867. He was a very skillful and therefore successful practitioner, and was thoroughly devoted to his profession, enjoying the confidence of all who knew him as their family physician. Their children : George Wilson, born August 17, 1843, at Potosi, died 1892; John Francis, November 8, 1846, at Potosi; Maria, in Beloit, died in infancy; Hattie, in Beloit, died in infancy ; Frederick, in Beloit, died aged two and one-half years; Mary Augusta, May 4, 1858, at Beloit, married Richard J. Burdge, Es- quire of Beloit, where they now reside.


(VIII) John Francis Bicknell, the second son of Dr. George W. Bicknell, received his early educa- tion in the public schools of Beloit, and in the preparatory department of Beloit College. When about to enter upon his collegiate course, in re- sponse to the call of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, for more men to fight the bat- tles for the preservation of the Union, Mr. Bick- nell enlisted in a company of nine months men. At the close of his term of service he returned to his home in Beloit, and subsequently entered the employ of a firm engaged in the hardware business in Chi- cago. After the great fire in that city, which oc- curred in October, 1871, he went to the state of Kansas and took up wild land. Being discouraged by the tardy development of the country, he sold his claim and returned to Chicago, and in the sum- mer of 1872 came to Worcester, Massachusetts, and entered the employ of E. B. Crane & Company, dealers in lumber, as bookkeeper. In 1879 he was given an interest in the business, succeeding to the place in the firm of William S. Perry, who retired. In June, 1882, Mr. Bicknell withdrew from this firm, and engaged in the lumber trade on his own account, soon building up a large trade and conducting a successful business, in which he continued to the time of his death, November 15, 1899.


June 16, 1875, he married Hattie M., daughter of Joseph W. and Nancy Harrington (Gibbs) Spring, of Weston, Massachusetts, the ceremony being per- formed by Rev. William W. Adams, D. D., at the home of the latter in Fall River, Massachusetts.


On returning from their wedding trip they made their home with Mrs. Bicknell's mother, at No. 5 Seaver street, Worcester, where they remained until Mr. Bicknell built a fine residence, No. 910 Main street, where he died, leaving one child, Roscoe Gibbs Bicknell, born December 11, 1881, who re- ceived his early education in the Worcester schools, and after taking a two years' course at the Worces- ter Academy entered Dean Academy, at Franklin, Massachusetts, graduating with the class of 1900. He immediately succeeded to the business left by his- father. He was married January 25, 1905, to Har- riet West Kellough, of Boston, and resides in Worcester.


3 JOHN HOLDEN. Richard Holden (1), the immigrant ancestor of John Holden, of Worcester, was born in England in 1609. He came to this conn- try in the ship "Francis," sailing from Ipswich, England, April 30, 1834, and settling first at Ips- wich, Massachusetts, where he was a land owner. His brother Justinian, who was born in 1611, came over a year later and settled in Watertown, Massa- chusetts, whither Richard Holden removed soon after. Justinian removed to Cambridge; Richard to Woburn. where he was a proprietor in 1658; he had been a proprietor of Watertown as early as 1642, owning a lot adjoining his brother's; he sold in 1655 to J. Sherman. He was admitted a freeman May 6, 1657. Richard Holden resided at Cambridge and finally in 1656-57 at Groton, where he had nine hundred and seventy-five acres of land in the north- tarly part of the town, now Shirley, part of which was lately occupied by Porter Kittridge. His land be- gan on the west bank of the Nashua near Beaver Pond, extending north. He lived with his son Stephen, to whom he gave his real estate March 23, 1691. He then called himself "aged, infirm and a widower." He died at Groton, March 1, 1696; his wife died at Watertown, December 6, 1681. The records show his name spelt variously Holden, Houl- den, Houlding and Holder.


He married, 1640, Martha Fosdick, daughter of Stephen Fosdick, of Charlestown. Their children : Stephen, born July 19, 1642, killed by fall from tree at Groton, 1658; Justinian, born 1644; son James set- tled in Worcester; Martha, born January 15, 1645-46, married Thomas Boyden; Samuel, settled in Groton and Stoneham, married Anna -, who died June 18, 1731; Mary, married Thomas Williams; Sarah, married, December 20, 1677, Gershom Swan; Eliza- beth, Thomas, John, died young; John, born 1657; Stephen, born about 1658, see forward.


(II) Stephen Holden, son of Richard Holden (1), was born in Watertown, about 1658. He went to Groton with his father and his brother Justinian in 1656 or 1657. During the interruption caused in the colony by King Philip's war, he went to Charles- town or Woburn and several of his children settled in Charlestown. Stephen returned to Groton and died there about 1715. His estate was divided among his heirs, March 19, 1718-19; and the widow's estate was divided among the same heirs, January 30, 1737. The children of Stephen and Hannah IIol- den: John, had children born at Charlestown; Stephen, Jr., married Sarah Cresy ; Nathaniel, Will- iam, Simon, blacksmith, married Abigail and had ten children born at Charlestown; Jonathan, Benjamin, see forward; Rachel, Hannah, Sarah, Nehemiah.




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