USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 58
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Nathaniel (2) Peck, the father of Nathaniel (3), was born at Hingham, Massachusetts, and was baptized there, October 31, 1641 ; he removed from there with his father's family to Rehoboth, now a part of Barrington, Rhode Island. He settled on lands purchased from Indian sachem, Osamquin, and his son Wam- setta. Nathaniel (2) Peck was buried . Aug- ust 12, 1676, and his wife Deliverance, May I, 1675. He left three children including Nathaniel (3) Peck. He was the fifth son of Joseph (I) Peck, the ancestor who was baptized in Beccles, Suffolk county, England, April 30, 1587. Joseph (I) was the son of Robert Peck, being a descendant in the twenty-first generation from John Peck, of Belton, Yorkshire, England. Joseph Peck settled at Hingham, Norfolk county, England. In 1638 he and other Puritans with his brother, Rev. Robert Peck, their pastor, fled from the persecution of the church to this country. They came over in the ship "Dili- gent," of Ipswich. He appears, says his genealogist, to have belonged to that class in England known as gentlemen or gentry, en- titled to coat armor, etc., who ranked next to baronets. He remained at Hingham, Massa-
Augustus P. flaske
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chusetts, seven years, when he removed to Seekonk. He was one of the principal men there, as he had been in Hingham, as well as one of the wealthiest. He died December 23, 1663, in the seventy-seventh year of his age.
(IX) Augustus Peck Clarke, the son of Seth Darling and Fanny (Peck) Clarke, de- scendant of the foregoing ancestors, was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, September 24, 1833. In boyhood he saw considerable of country life, attending the schools where his parents resided, in Providence and Bristol counties, in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, with opportunities in early manhood of being a teacher of some of the various grades of instruction demanded for public education. He completed his classical course in the prepar- atory University School of Providence and entered Brown University with advanced stu- dies, in September, 1856, and afterward re- ceived the degree of A.M. in the class of 1861. Before leaving college he began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. Lewis L. Miller, of Providence, who at that time was by far the most eminent surgeon and physician of Rhode Island, and entering the Harvard Medical School he graduated there with the degree of M. D. in the class of 1862. In the autumn of 1861, after an examination as to his professional qualifications by a medical board at Albany, New York, he was appointed assistant surgeon of the Sixth New York Cav- alry and immediately entered the military serv- ice. He served with the Army of the Potomac in the Peninsular Campaign, conducted by General McClellan in 1862. He was at the siege at Yorktown, Virginia, and in the sub- sequent engagements including those of Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mill and Peach Or- chard, and in that concatenation of battles lasting seven days, fought in the swamps of the Chickahominy. At the battle of Savage's Station, Virginia, June 29, 1862, he was made prisoner with some six thousand wounded that were not able to be removed from the great hospitals established at that place. Dr. Clarke was allowed, however, to continue his profes- sional service as surgeon with the wounded and thus remained with them until all were exchanged. On May 5, 1863, he was pro- moted to the rank of full surgeon of the same regiment and served likewise in all the opera- tions of the cavalry, assisting in the Gettys- burg campaign and movements that led to the success of that battle. He also served with the cavalry corps in the Rappahannock cam- paign and in other operations of the Army of the Potomac undertaken by General Meade
during that year. At the opening of the cam- paign of General Grant, who was at that time head of all the armies, in the spring of 1864, Dr. Clarke was appointed surgeon-in-chief of the Second Brigade of the First Cavalry Divi- sion, the most important of the cavalry Gen- eral Sheridan had under his command, for the battles in the Wilderness, and for invading the enemy's lines of communication with Rich- mond and the outer works of that stronghold. Dr. Clarke was also present at the battles of Trevillian Station, Winchester, and Cedar Creek, where the cavalry won for themselves and for Sheridan immortal fame. During the campaign of 1864-65, he was appointed sur- geon-in-chief of all the First Cavalry Division and accompanied General Sheridan in his co- lossal raid from Winchester to Petersburg, and in all the other engagements, until the surren- der of the enemy at Appomattox, Virginia, April 9, 1865. His arduous duties were con- tinued until the Division was disbanded, July I, 1865. During this service of four years, Dr. Clarke participated in eighty-two battles and engagements. He was frequently compliment- ed in orders and reports made by his superior officers, who recommended him for brevet appointments as lieutenant-colonel and as colonel, "for faithful and meritorious conduct, during his term of service." He also won the following recommendation :
"HEADQUARTERS IST CAV. DIVISION, "SHERIDAN'S CAV., July 1, 1865. "HON. E. M. STANTON,
"Secretary of War, "Sir : *
* Surgeon Augustus P.
Clarke served on my Staff as Surgeon-in- Chief of Brigade, for two years, and in the closing campaign as Surgeon-in-Chief of Divi- sion.
"In the hour of battle he was always at the front, attending to the care and removal of the wounded and freely exposed himself when duty required. He was known as one of the most efficient officers of the Medical Staff of the Army."
("Signed) THOMAS C. DEVIN, "Brevet Major General Vols."
After the completion of his military service in 1865 Dr. Clarke travelled abroad and spent much time in the various medical schools and hospitals in London, Paris, Leipzig, and in other great medical centres for the purpose of fitting himself more particularly for obstetrical, gyne- cological and surgical work. Upon his return in 1866 he removed to Cambridge, where he
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soon established a reputation in the general practice of medicine, in which he has since continued. He is a member of the Massachu- setts Medical Society and has been a member of its council. He has been an active member in the Gynecological Society of Boston and was its president in 1891-92; member of the American Academy of Medicine and was the chairman of the committee of arrangements for its meeting in Boston, 1906; member of the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and of the American Public Health Association. He is a member of the American Medical Association, of which he was a vice-president in 1895-96, and a delegate from that body to the British Medical Associa- tion in England, 1890, and chairman of the Section on Physiology, 1896-97; member of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, member of the Boston Medical Library Association. He is one of the found- ers of the Cambridge Society for Medical Im- provement and was its secretary from 1869 to 1875. He was also a member of the Ninth International Medical Congress at Washing- ton, D. C., in 1887, of the Tenth Inter- national Medical Congress at Berlin, Germany, in 1890, of the eleventh at Rome, Italy, in 1894, and of the twelfth at Moscow, Russia, in 1897, and was chosen honorary president of the section on Gynecology of the Moscow Congress. He was member of the committee to organize the Pan-American Medical Congress, comprising the medical profession of the Western Hemisphere and was chosen vice-president of that body for 1893; he was also vice-president of the same Con- gress held in Mexico, F. D., 1896. He is member of the Cambridge Club and was di- rector of that influential body for 1897. He was president, in 1890-91, of the Cambridge Art Circle, once a most vigorous and influen- tial art society. He is a charter member of Post 56, Grand Army of the Republic, a mem- ber of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and was a member of its board of officers for Massachusetts, 1895-96, member of the Brown Alumni Association and of the Harvard Medical Alumni Association, member of the New England Historic-Genea- logical Society and member of the Society of Sons of the American Revolution. In order to assist in the medical education of women until other and larger facilities for women could be had, he accepted the position of pro- fessor of Gynecology and Abdominal Surgery, 1893, and the position of Dean of the Faculty, 1894, of the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons, and served in these capacities until 1900, when he resigned. He was member of the Cambridge city council, 1871-73-74, for the last year an alderman; and during his service in the city council was chairman of the department of health and member of the com- mittee on finance, on police, and on other im- portant committees, but declined further politi- cal office. He has been member of various fraternal orders, Cambridge Lodge of Odd Fellows, Amicable Lodge of Free and Ac- cepted Masons, Cambridge Royal Arch Chap- ter, Boston Council of Royal and Select Masters, Boston Lafayette Lodge of Perfec- tion, Boston Commandery, Knights Templar ; member of the Baptist church, and has served on the standing and other committees.
Dr. Clarke still enjoys a high reputation in general practice, though he has for a long time been especially engaged in the practice of the more important branches of surgery and gynecology. He is a man of great and varied interests in life, wide information and broad mind. He is particularly fond of mod- ern languages, more especially, Spanish, French and German; the knowledge of these he fortunately acquired during his early years. After the close of the Medical Congress in Berlin, he travelled with his wife and daugh- ters through the continent, including London and the British Isles, Edinburgh, Paris, and Vienna, visiting not only the hospitals and col- leges in the larger cities, but the art galleries and other points of interest. He has also travelled quite extensively in Russia, as also in the United States and in the Dominion of Canada, and in the Republic of Mexico. While pursuing, in 1865-66, medical studies under Messieurs Lemaire, of Paris, Crede of Leipzig, Germany, and Sir James Young Simpson, of Edinburgh, he became deeply impressed with the importance of carrying on successful surgical work by adhering more strictly to antiseptic measures, which had been to some extent previously employed for the treatment of wounds incident to the cavalry service during the war 1861-65. He thus be- came one of the earliest advocates of this method of procedure in this country. Dr. Clarke is noted for his scholarly productions and for his facile pen. In the midst of the multitudinous duties of his professional work, he has been able to make important researches relating to gynecology and abdominal surgery. He is the author of more than two hundred technical papers on medical subjects, many of which have required a large amount of re- search and study and have been read before
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various medical societies and medical con- gresses and published in the leading medical journals, and many have been translated into foreign publications. His specialty has been obstetrics and gynecology, in which he is one of the leading authorities. He has also con- tributed to the Cambridge newspapers and furnished various periodical sketches of his foreign travels. He wrote "A Visit to Pom- peii and Vesuvius," in the Cambridge Chroni- cle in 1892; "A Cavalry Surgeon's Experi- ence in the Battle of the Wilderness," pub- lished in the United Service Magazine, 1894, "Closing Battle of the Late War," Cambridge Tribune, May 30, 1884, "Historical Sketch" of the part taken at the battle at Gettysburg by his regiment of cavalry, which was the first to meet and to arrest the movements of the combined forces of the Confederate armies on that historic field, July 1-3, 1863. This was written for the New York Monument Com- mission for the Battlefields of Gettysburg and Chattanooga and published in Vol. 3, of the report of the Commission, 1900. "A Tribute (a poem) to Dr. Morrill Wyman," on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of his practice, 1887. "A Tribute (poem) to the Memory of Dr. John B. Taylor," read at the Cambridge Club at the annual dinner at Young's Hotel and published in the Cam- bridge Press, 1889. Also a poem which he read on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Cambridge Society for Medical Improvement, published in the Cambridge Tribune, 1893. "Clarke's Kindred Genealogies," 1896. "Book of Poems," 1896. Also a volume, 1905, of Transactions of the Gynecological Society of Poston, from notes taken while secretary 1901 to 1905.
Dr. Clarke married, October 23, 1861, Mary Hannah Gray, herself an author and poet of note, daughter of Gideon and Hannah (Orne) Gray, descendant through her father in the seventh generation of Edward Gray, Ply- mouth, who married Mary Winslow, daughter of Mary Chilton, of the "Mayflower" fame, and the eighth in descent from George Soule, who was also a passenger of the "Mayflower," 1620. Edward Gray was also the ancestor of Robert Gray, the discoverer, who sailed in his ship "Columbia," of Boston, the first merchant- man flying the Stars and Stripes to visit the northwest coast of America and the first to circumnavigate the world. Mrs. Clarke died May 30, 1892. By this union he had two daughters, Inez Louise Clarke, born June 26, 1868, a graduate of Radcliffe College, 1891, and of Tufts Medical School, 1904, and
Genevieve Clarke, born February 14, 1870, educated in the same collegiate institutions. They are members of the Massachusetts Medi- cal Society and of the American Academy of Medicine, and are in the practice of the profes- sion.
SMALL The Smalls of England, prior to the colonization of America, were for the most part residents of Dartmouth in Devonshire, and records show that prominent men of the name were living there in the reign of Edward III. There is evidence that they were related to the Cham- pernownes, descendants of the ancient Byzan- tine kings and a powerful Devonshire family in the time of Queen Elizabeth; also to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh. The American Smalls are the posterity of at least five emigrants, all of whom are supposed to have come from Dartmouth between the years 1632 and 1640. Three of these were named John, and the others were William and Edward. William settled in Virginia, while the others located in New England, and it is more than probable that some of them, if not all, were nearly re- lated to each other. One of the Johns settled on Cape Cod, and with others founded the town of Eastham. The particular branch of the family about to be considered is descended from Edward.
About the year 1672, Edward Small came to New England with a company of colonists under the auspices of his kinsman, Sir Ferdi- nando Gorges, and proceeded to develop the Gorges patent in Maine. It is believed that Edward was a brother of the John Small who settled in Eastham. Edward and his associ- ates founded the town of Piscataqua, covering a large area which was subsequently divided into four townships-Kittery, Eliot, Berwick and South Berwick. He was a magistrate there in 1645, but two years later sold a por- tion of his land and left Piscataqua, probably going to Dover, New Hampshire. There are some reasons for believing that he eventually returned to England. His two sons, Edward and Francis, who accompanied him from the mother country, remained in Piscataqua ; and Edward, who was the eldest, resided at one time in Dover.
Captain Francis Small, youngest son of the senior Edward, was born in England in 1620, and was named for his kinsman, Captain Fran- cis Champernowne. In 1648 he was a resident of Dover, but previous to 1657 he removed to
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Falmouth, Maine, and in July of the latter year he purchased of an Indian chief, Scittery- gusset, a large tract of land called Capisic, ly- ing in the immediate vicinity of Portland. In 1663 he acted as attorney for the people of Falmouth in some of their governmental dis- putes, and Cape Small Point was named for him. In 1668 he was residing in Kittery. He was probably the first white man to explore what was known as the Ossipee lands, and traded quite extensively with the Indians, es- tablishing a trading post at what is now Cor- nish, Maine, and, having sold them goods on credit, they determined to kill him in order to avoid payment. The chief, who was un- able to control his people, informed Small of the plot, and he escaped. This same chief fol- lowed him to Kittery, and made good the losses he had sustained by selling to him for a nominal sum the entire Ossipee tract con- sisting of two hundred and fifty thousand acres. The deed of this tract, which was exe- cuted November 28, 1668, is now in the pos- session of Captain Francis Small's descend- ant, Lauriston W. Small, the family historian. At the breaking-out of the Indian wars in the latter part of the seventeenth century, Captain Small placed his interests in the hands of his son, Samuel, and with the rest of his family went to Truro, Cape Cod, for the purpose, no doubt, of joining his uncle. In 1711 he con- veyed the Ossipee tract to his son, Samuel, and his death occurred at Truro, or Province- town, at the age of about ninety-three years. In Maine he was known as the "great land owner." The Christian name of his wife was Elizabeth, and her family name was probably Leighton. His children were Edward, Fran- cis, Samuel, Benjamin, Daniel and Elizabeth.
Samuel Small, son of Captain Francis and Elizabeth Small, was born at Kittery in 1666. He spent his entire life in the vicinity of his birthplace, and was living in 1737. He mar- ried Mrs. Elizabeth Chadbourne, nee Heard, daughter of James Heard, and widow of James Chadbourne. He received from his father the title to the Ossipee tract, as prev- iously stated, and was therefore in easy cir- cumstances. His children were: Elizabeth, Samuel and Joseph.
Deacon Samuel Small, second child and eldest son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Heard- Chadbourne) Small, was born in Kittery, April 17, 1700. Prior to his majority he set- tled in Scarboro, Maine, where he spent the remainder of his life, and what is now known as the Robinson house, standing near the Black Point Cemetery, is supposed to have
been his dwelling place. He was the first dea- con of the Congregational church organized in 1728. When the Ossipee tract was divided into townships, one of them was named Fran- cisburgh in honor of the redoubtable Captain who acquired it from the friendly chieftain, but the settlers saw fit to change it to Cornish. Deacon Small was chosen town clerk of Scar- boro in 1727, and with the exception of one year (1775) when he was busy making prep- arations for the Revolutionary war, he re- tained that office until 1779, a period of over fifty years. He was exceedingly patriotic, and the town record books of the Revolution- ary period contained in his handwriting a copy of the Declaration of Independence. When seventy-eight years old he was chair- man of the local committee of correspond- ence, inspection and safety, and when seven- ty-nine he served upon the committee which went to Cambridge to participate in organiz- ing the state of Massachusetts. He frequent- ly served as a selectman, also as moderator at town meetings, acting in that capacity for the last time when eighty-six, and his last service on a town committee was performed at the age of ninety years. The date of his death does not appear in the records at hand. Prior to his sixteenth birthday he was married, in Kittery, to Ann Hatch, and their children were: Samuel, Anna, John, Joshua, Elizabeth, Sarah, Benjamin, James and Mary.
Major John Small, third child and eldest son of Deacon Samuel and Anna (Hatch) Small, was born in Scarboro, January 19, 1722. When a young man he became an of- ficer in the colonial forces under the crown, was subsequently detailed as surveyor in the employ of the government, and made a number of important surveys which are now on rec- ord at Alfred and Portland. In 1762 while surveying a military road from the waters of the Kennebec river to Quebec, he was acci- dentally killed by one of his command who mistook his military hat for the nose of a bear. April 1, 1748, he was married in Scar- boro to Sarah Atkins, who died prior to Octo- ber 12, 1752, when he was again married in Falmouth to the beautiful Mary McKenney (called the fairy-born) who was widely known both for her unusually attractive personal ap- pearance and her many rare accomplish- ments. Major Small was the father of eight children: John and Edward, who were of his first union ; Zaccheus, Francis, Henry, Daniel and Rachel (twins), and Dorcas. His widow married for her second husband a Mr. Has- kins, by whom she had a daughter Sally, Her
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last years were spent with her son, Henry Small, in Limington, Maine.
Henry Small, son of Major John and Mary (McKenney) Small, was born in Scarboro, October 29, 1757. Left fatherless at the age of five years, he grew to manhood in his na- tive town and was eduated by his mother. When eighteen years old he received news of the battle of Lexington, while at church on Sunday morning, and immediately entering the Continental service he remained in the army some three years. In 1787 he settled in Limington, where an uncle was then living, and selecting land west of Shaving Hill, which his great-great-grandfather received from the Indian chief, he domiciled his family in an old hunting camp while he constructed a more substantial dwelling. Here he cleared a large farm, undergoing the drudgery and privations common to the pioneer, but he was industrious and thrifty, and his latter years were spent in comparative ease and comfort. Changes in the location of highways twice compelled him to erect new residences in or- der to avoid being isolated from his neighbors and the centre of population. June 16, 1778, he was married, in Scarboro, to Elizabeth Van Dam, who was born in that town, No- vember 23, 1758, and was a woman of unus- ual ability and superior mental capacity. When she left her comfortable home to enter the wilderness as the wife of a pioneer, she boasted that some day she would return for a visit driving a pair of horses. Most ably and faithfully did she assist her husband through the struggle for prosperity, and when at length circumstances permitted she drove triumphantly back to Scarboro in a new yel- low sleigh drawn by a pair of speedy animals with all the necessary accoutrements, includ- ing two laprobes and two strings of bells. Henry Small died November 9, 1826, and his wife died June 13, 1841. On June 5, 1849, their remains were removed to the family tomb, which had been constructed on the site of the cellar of their original pioneer home in Limington. They were the parents of twelve children: Abigail, Mary, John, Francis, Hum- phrey, Elizabeth, Fanny, Sally, Dorcas, Hen- ry, Theodosia and Joseph.
Francis Small, second son and fourth child of Henry and Elizabeth (Van Dam) Small, was born in Limington. He was a farmer and a stone-mason, and about the year 1844 he removed from Limington to Windham, Maine. In his religious faith he was a Con- gregationalist. He married Dolly Libby, a native of Limington, and had a family of ten
children, of whom the only one now living is Amanda, who is the wife of James M. Allen and resided in Westbrook, Maine. The others were: Sophronia, Otis, Martha, Abigail, Ly- dia, Mary Ann, Francis, Louisa and Charles Freeman.
Charles Freeman Small, ninth child and youngest son of Francis and Dolly (Libby) Small, was born in Limington, June 10, 1830. His education was acquired in the public schools, and at the age of eighteen years he entered mercantile pursuits as a clerk in his brother's grocery store in Boston, continuing in that capacity for several years. Having acquired a good knowledge of the business, he established himself in trade on Pinckney street, in the aristocratic Beacon Hill district, about 1865, and for a period of thirty years conducted an extensive provision business, which proved highly successful. In 1895 he retired from active business pursuits, and spent the remaining years of his life in rest and recreation at his pleasant home in Mal- den, where he had established his residence some twenty years previous. His death oc- curred August 20, 1903. In politics he was a Republican, but never participated actively in public affairs. His religious affiliations were with the Universalists.
Mr. Small was married, in Boston, in 1858, to Miss Mary Livermore Glover, who was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, Au- gust 6, 1837, daughter of Ephraim Terry and Mary W. (Sleeper) Glover. Mrs. Small is a descendant in the ninth generation of Thom- as and Margery (Deane) Glover, the English ancestor of most of the Glovers in America, and an account of the early history of the family in the mother country will be found in an article on the Dyer family which ap- pears elsewhere in this work. Her first an- cestors in America were Henry and Abigail Glover, the former of whom was the third son of Thomas and Margery. Henry was born in the parish of Rainhill, town of Pres- cott, Lancashire, in 1603, emigrated to New England in 1642, accompanied by his family, and settled in that part of Dedham, Massa- chusetts, which is now Medfield. He was made a freeman in Dedham, received several grants of lands, and died there in 1665. His younger children were born in Medfield, but their names are not in the town records, with the exception of his son Henry.
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