USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 20
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(VII) Henry Harrison Leathe, son o Josiah Leathe (6), was born in Woburn, Sep- tember 27, 1848, and died in Woburn, January 6, 1908. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, graduating from the high school in 1867. After graduation he entered the employ of E. Cummings & Company, tan- ners and curriers, at their store in Boston, in
the capacity of bookkeeper for one year, and subsequently became associated with the firm of J. O. Cummings & Company, of Boston and Woburn, for eight years. Later he re- moved to Albion, New York, where for six years he acted as bookkeeper and paymaster for Lane, Pierce & Company, tanners and curriers. He subsequently returned to Boston, where he was head bookkeeper for the same firm for two years, when it dissolved, and a new firm was formed under the name of A. & E. Lane, with which he remained for two years. In the meantime the Pierces established a new plant at Olean, New York, which was con- ducted under the name of James and W. P. Pierce & Company, and Mr. Leathe was ad- mitted as a partner, having charge of the Bos- ton office. Later the firm was incorporated, and Mr. Leathe became a director and vice- president. The house disposes of its products in Boston, with salesrooms at 44 South street. Mr. Leathe resided in Woburn, at No. 3 Fran- ces street. He was a member of the Unitarian church there, and served on its parish commit- tee. He was a Republican in politics, and served as delegate in various representative, senatorial and state conventions. He was a member of Mount Horeb Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; of Baldwin Council, No. 618, Royal Arcanum, of which he was a past regent; of the American Order of United Workmen; the Pilgrim Fathers; the Ameri- can Order of Fraternal Helpers; and of the Mishawam Club and of the Towanda Club, of both of which he was an ex-president. He was a life member of the American Unitarian Association, and a member of the Rumford Historical Association, the New England Shoe and Leather Association, and a member of the Woburn Five Cents Savings Bank corpora- tion. He also served as justice of the peace. In his youth he was for three years a mem- ber of the military company known as the Woburn Mechanics' Phalanx, now known as Company G, Fifth Massachusetts Regiment, National Guard.
Mr. Leathe married, March 1, 1870, Aman- da Augusta Johnson, born April 8, 1849, daughter of John and Eliza (Butman) John- son, of Woburn. Their children are: I. Ethel May, born May 12, 1872, died August 30, 1874. 2. Edith Marion, born November 6, 1875, married, June 19, 1900, James Hous- ton Linnell, of Woburn. 3. Fred Elmer, born September 2, 1877, now assistant treasurer of the Pierce Company, associated with his fa- ther. 4. Dora Johnson, born August 5, 1879.
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5. Ida Amanda, born April 8, 1881, died De- cember 25, 1889. 6. Maude Evelyn, born June 7, 1883. 7. Henry Harrison, born December 4, 1889.
LAMSON William Lamson or Lambton came from Durham county, England, where the Lambtons are still in the possession of an estate dating back to 1350, with the ships sent out by Mat- thew Cradock, the first governor of the Mass- achusetts Company, to establish fishing and trading posts on the Atlantic coast of the col- ony. Through his agent he employed his cap- ital in not only fishing and trading, but also in shipbuilding, notably at Medford, and his fishing villages became Marblehead and Ips- wich. Although Governor Cradock never came to New England, he proposed on July 28, 1629, to transfer the government of the set- tlers to the settlements, and the proposition was adopted the following month. In March, 1633, John Winthrop, Jr., with twelve others, began the settlement on the common land called Aggawam, which on August 5, 1634, was named Ipswich from that part from which so many of the settlers had departed. Some of the Ipswich settlers became "straightened" and obtained leave to "sit down" at Quasca- cunquen, which became the town of Newbury, May 6, 1635, and the' same year the settlement known as Wassoguscus was formally reorgan- ized as a plantation, and on Septembr 2, 1635, became the town of Weymouth.
When William Lamson came to the colony in 1637 he followed the business of husband- man. He was made freeman, May 17, 1637, commoner in 1641, and was one of Major Denison's subscribers in 1648. He died in Ipswich, February 1, 1658, and the inventory of his estate was dated ninth month, 1661. He married Sarah ( Ayers).( ?). Children : I. John, born 1642, married Martha Perkins. 2. Sar- ah, born 1644, married Cornelius . Brown. 3. Phoebe, born 1646, married John Towne. 4. Samuel, born 1648, married Mary Nichols. 5. Mary, born 1652, probably married Thomas Payne. 6. Hannah, born 1654, married Harry Collins. 7. Nathaniel, born November, 1656. 8. Joseph, born October, 1658, married (first) Elizabeth Mitchell; (second), Mrs. Hannah Welch; (third) Dorothy Monsell, and lived in Charlestown, Massachusetts.
(II) John Lamson, son of William Lamson (I), was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, 1642. His will was recorded June 23, 1717.
He married Martha, daughter of Deacon Thomas and Phoebe (Gould) Perkins, in Ipswich, Massachusetts, December 17, 1668- 69. Their children were: I. John, born No- vember 21, 1669, married Abigail Adams. 2. Phoebe, born August 16, 1673, married The- ophilus Fiske. 3. William, born August 19, 1675, married Lydia Porter. 4. Martha, born March 21, 1677, married Benjamin Bixby. 5. Thomas, born January 3, 1682, married (first) Abigail Faulkner; (second) Sarah Ridge; (third) Ruth Bowles. 6. Sarah, born .1683, married Paul Faulkner. 7. Samuel, born Feb- ruary 25, 1684, married Mary Edwards.
(III) William Lamson, second son of John Lamson (2), was born in Ipswich, Massachu- setts, August 19, 1675. Married Lydia, daugh- ter of John and Lydia (Herrick) Porter ; mar- riage notice published at Wenham, Massachu- setts, October 26, 1706. Their children were: I. William, born at Ipswich, Massachusetts, March 1, 1708, married Joanna Tuttle. 2. Benjamin, born April 8, 1710, married Sarah Cummings. 3. Lydia, born September 21, 1713, married Benjamin Fairfield. 4. Sam- uel, born April 22, 1716, married probably Catherine Folsom, at Exeter, New Hampshire. 5. Joseph, born December 28, 1718; see for- ward. 6. Jonathan, born August 13, 1720, married Anna Dane. 7. Mary, born Septem- ber, 1728, married Thomas Haley.
(IV) Joseph Lamson, fourth son of Wil- liam Lamson (3), was born in Hamilton, Massachusetts, which was a part of Ipswich, December 28, 1718. He settled at Exeter, about 1740, as he bought land there in 1741 ; he was known as "King Weaver." He mar- ried (first), at Wenham, Massachusetts, Me- hitable Batchelder, daughter of John and Han- nah (Tarbox) Batchelder, November 4, 1740; married (second) Pernal Giddings, at Exeter, New Hampshire, September 7, 1747. They had a son, Joseph Jr., see forward.
(V) Joseph Lamson, Jr., son of Joseph Lamson (4), married April 29, 1769, at Exe- ter, New Hampshire, Rachel Sanborn, daugh- ter of Captain Caleb and Mehitable (Weare) Sanborn. Their children, born at Exeter, New Hampshire, were: I. Joseph, born November 7, 1770, married Susanna Folsom. 2. Mehi- table, born October 6, 1773, died October 27, 1777. 3. Polly, born August 9, 1775, died July 28, 1792. 4. Caleb, born June 29, 1778, see forward. 5. Asa, born January 7, 1783, mar- ried Margaret Brown. 6. John, born Decem- ber 8, 1785, married Nancy, daughter of Jabez and Lydia (Philbrick) Dodge, at Exeter, New
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Hampshire, September 15, 18II. Children : i. Jabez Dodge, born at Exeter, New Hamp- shire, June 18, 1812, married Cybil L. Shat- tuck. ii. Joseph Sanborn, born at Exeter, New Hampshire, August 27, 1815, married Eunice E. Winslow, children: Joseph Harrison, born Exeter, New Hampshire, July 29, 1840, a prominent photographer at Portland, Maine ; married Annie Sweeney; Isabel, born Augus- ta, Maine, February 5, 1843, married Josiah Packard; George Albert, born Augusta, Maine, October 16, 1845, died September, 1846; Charles Henry, born Augusta, Maine, September 17, 1847, married Elizabeth H. Cox; he is a jeweller of Portland, Maine, and the inventor of the Lamson Kite; Frank Pierce, born Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 19, 1851, well known as F. Lamson-Scribner, formerly head of the Department of Agros- tology, Department of Agriculture, Washing- ton, D. C .; married Ella Augusta Newmarch. iii. Asa Brown, born Exeter, New Hampshire, June 27, 1818, a well-known potter of Exeter ; married (first) Mary A. Carr; married (sec- ond) Irene R. Fellowes; his children were: Rufus, born May 20, 1844, a prominent man in Portland, Maine; married (first) Emma Kimball; (second) Ella C. Douglas; Mar- garet, born May 14, 1846, died October 21, 1847; Maragaret Ann, born November 12, 1848, married Jesse Dolloff ; Mary Abbie, born August 3, 1852, married Charles S. Dodge; Sarah Elizabeth, born September 27, 1854, died July 21, 1858; Frank Hudson, born April 21, 1859, married Carrie E. James; Annie Belle, born August 18, 1861, married George F. Lord; the births of these children occurred at Exeter, New Hampshire. 7. Rufus, born 1790.
(VI) Caleb Lamson, the second son of Jo- seph Lamson, Jr. (5), was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, January 29, 1778, died 1812. He married Abigail, daughter of Aquila and Anna ( Moulton) Chase, at Newbury, Mass- achusetts, July 15, 1802. She was born in Parsonfield, Maine, August 7, 1781, died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 17, 1848. Their children were: I. Mary Ann, born March 18, 1804, married Jeremiah Greenleaf. 2. William Caleb, born October 25, 1805, died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 23, 1862. Married, December 25, 1844, Sarah Ann Sto- well, of Worcester, Massachusetts. Thei: children were: Charles Henry, born in Wor- cester, Massachusetts, September 15, 1848, married, November 2, 1893, Elizabeth S. Nicholson. Arthur Franklin, born March 28,
1854, married Elizabeth F. York, and their children are: Maud Elizabeth, born January 22, 1876; Henry Arthur, April 8, 1877 ; Her- bert William, February 8, 1879, died 1879; Frank William, November 14, 1880; Nellie Ethel, December 1, 1887; Walter Edward, July 28, 1891. All the children born in Cam- bridge but the youngest, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, where the family resid- ed. 3. Joseph Moulton, born in Newbury, Massachusetts, September 26, 1807, died at Saint Croix, West India Islands, March 31, 1838. He married Mrs. Sarah Leveridge- Davis, and their children were: Abigail Ann Leveridge, born in New York, July 18, 1830, married (first) Robert Dedell; (second) Wilson Small, a prominent citizen, of New York; John William Leveridge, born Novem- ber 20, 1831, died July 21, 1851 ; Joseph Moul- ton, Jr., born September 7, 1833, died May 8, 1834; Mary Jane, born April 21, 1835, mar- ried John H. Eddy; Joseph Benjamin Lever- idge, born March 2, 1838, died April 5, 1839. 4. Rufus, born October 2, 1809, see forward.
(VII) Rufus Lamson, son of Caleb Lam- son (6), was born in Newbury, Massachu- setts, October 2, 1809. He removed to Cam- bridge where he was an apprentice under Franklin Sawyer, a mason and builder, and in 1831 began building on his own account. He became a large holder of real estate, and he provided homes for respectable mechanics and clerks where they could live apart from the din and confusion of the congested city, and yet be in close touch with their business places. To such he was a friend and benefactor and exercised over them a fatherly care, and by his liberal treatment the relation of landlord and tenant was one of mutual advantage and pleasing intercourse. The citizens of Cam- bridge elected him a member of the common council in 1859, and again in 1877, for a term of two years, and he also served as assessor for the city for twenty-two years. He was elected president of the Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Company in 1873, having al- ways served the corporation as a director and as a large patron. He affiliated fraternally with the Masonic Order, being a member of Amicable Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He was a member of the Univer- salist Church of Cambridge, a member of the early Volunteer Fire Department, and during the Civil war was one of the "Home Guards." He died at his home in Cambridge, July 13, 1879, and in conformity with his ex-
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pressed wishes was buried from the Universal- ist church with Masonic honors.
Rufus Lamson married at Boston, on Thanksgiving Eve, 1832, Mary Jane Butler, daughter of John and Jane (Brookings) But- ler, and their children are: I. Rufus William, born September 29, 1833, see forward. 2. Jo- seph Butler, born March 3, 1837, died 1840. 3. Eveline, born 1839, died 1840. 4. George Warren, born February 17, 1841. He enlisted in 1861, in the first company that was raised in Cambridge and later served in the navy three years on the "Ino." He died May 29, 1879. 5. Mary Jane, born February 12, 1844, married George C. Currier, of the well-known firm of Bradley & Currier, manufacturers of sash, doors and blinds, of New York; their children are: Mabel Lamson, married Austin Pres- singer, a lawyer of New York, and Edwin Bradley, married Irene T. Platt, who is de- ceased. Their children: Edwin Bradley, born June 3, 1894; Jane Currier, January 8, 1903. 6. Asa Caleb, born December 27, 1848, see forward.
(VIII) Rufus William Lamson, son of Rufus Lamson (7), was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 29, 1833. He was a mason builder and contractor in Cambridge, and assisted his father in the building of many structures of that city. He removed about June, 1893, to the village of Elkins in New London, New Hampshire, where he still re- sides on his farm. He is a member of King Solomon Lodge, No. 14, Free and Accepted Masons, of Elkins, New Hampshire; Cam- bridge Lodge, No. 13, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Charles River Encampment, No. 22, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; St. Omer Lodge, No. 9, Knights of Pythias, all of Cambridge; Cambridge Veteran Fire Association. He married Cyrene Dam Eaton, and their children are: I. William George, born November 23, 1860. 2. Albert Henry, born October 21, 1862, see forward. 3. Charles Allen, born November 25, 1865, mar- ried Mary A. Goodhue, a prominent physician of Elkins, New Hampshire; their children are : Donald Charles, born February 7, 1895; Dorathea, September 5, 1905; Seth Albert, October 24, 1907, born in Elkins, New Hamp- shire. 4. Rufus Edward, born July 1, 1868. 5. Gertrude Eaton, born July 11, 1875, married Frederic Elwin Everett, September 12, 1900. Children: Craig Lamson, born February 19, 1903, died January, 1906. Douglas Newton, born April 3, 1905. Barbara, born April I,
1907. 6. Ernest Eugene, born September 16, 1877, died August 31, 1880.
(VIII) Asa Caleb Lamson, son of Rufus Lamson (7), was born in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, December 27, 1848. He was edu- cated in the public schools of Cambridge and at Eaton's Commercial College, Boston. His first business position was with the wholesale boot and shoe and sole leather house of Hol- brook & Hobart, 71 Kilby street, Boston, and he remained with that firm for six years. In 1864 he enlisted for ninety days emergency ser- vice in the United States Volunteers, being a member of the Twelfth Unattached Massachu- setts Volunteers, his company being commanded by Captain Walcott, of Cambridge. In 1868 he was employed by Utley & Boynton, wholesale dealers in butter, cheese and eggs, at 53 Com- mercial street, Boston, and in 1872 he resign- ed this position to join Samuel A. King in the wholesale butter, cheese and egg commission business, under the firm name of Lamson & King, 43 North Market street, Boston. In 1874 the firm removed to larger quarters on the corner of Commercial and Chatham streets. The business prospered, and in 1879 Mr. Lamson withdrew, owing to the death of his father, which gave to him the care of his large estates, and to this business he added a general real estate agency. Mr. Lamson is a member of the Masonic fraternity, being affiliated with Amicable Lodge, of Cambridge; St. Andrew's Chapter, Boston; Boston Coun- cil, Joseph Warren Commandery, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and Aleppo Temple, Order of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Royal Arcanum, and of the Pilgrim Fathers. His religious affiliation is with the Universalist denomination, in which church he was brought up from childhood.
Mr. Lamson married, June 26, 1891, Eliz- abeth H., daughter of William Wirt and Irene H. (Stewart) Virgin, of Peru, Maine. They have one child, Florine, an adopted daughter, whom they sent to Paris, France, where she was taught the French language and received instruction in art and literature. In 1908 Mr. Lamson completed on Massachusetts avenue, Cambridge, a modern apartment house at a cost of over one hundred thousand dollars, which he named The Lamson.
(IX) Albert Henry Lamson, second son of Rufus William Lamson (8), was born ยท in Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 21, 1862. He attended the Cambridge schools, and after completing his studies engaged in mercantile pursuits, and is now the superintendent of the
RUFUS LAMSON
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Legal Process Company of Boston, with offices in the Old South building. He is a member of Cambridge Lodge, No. 13, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; past high priest of Tri-Mount Encampment, No. 2, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Boston; past major grand of Canton Shawmont, No. 1, Patriarchs Militant, of Boston ; past master of King Sol- omon Lodge, No. 14, Free and Accepted Masons, of Elkins, New Hampshire; St. Paul's Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Bos- ton; Columbia Council, Royal and Select Masters, of Claremont, New Hampshire ; Sul- livan Commandery, Knights Templar, of Claremont, New Hampshire ; Alpha Lodge of Perfection ; Ariel Chapter, P. of J .; Acacia Chapter of Rose Croix, all of Concord, New Hampshire; New Hampshire Consistory, S. P. R. S., thirty-second degree, of Nashua, New Hampshire; past patron of Martha Chapter, No. 34, Order of Eastern Star, of Elkins, New Hampshire ; past grand patron of Grand Chap- ter, Order of Eastern Star, of New Hamp- shire; Bektash Temple, Ancient Accepted Order Nobles Mystic Shrine of Concord, New Hampshire. He has been a member of Han- del-Haydn Society of Boston for more than twenty years, member of the New Hampshire Sons of the American Revolution, Concord, New Hampshire, New Hampshire Genealogi- cal Society of Dover, New Hampshire, mem- ber of Topsfield Historical Society of Tops- field, Massachusetts, and one of the charter members of Piscataqua Pioneers, a historical and genealogical society of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, serving in the capacity of secre- tary from its organization. Mr. Lamson was married to Mary Ella Weeks, of Cambridge, at Elkins, New Hampshire, December 22, 1897. She died at Cambridge, September 6, I906.
WILEY The Wiley family is one of the oldest in Reading, it having been identified with that town for more than two hundred and fifty years, and while many of them have established homes elsewhere, a goodly number have preferred to remain close to the original family seat.
Timothy Wiley, who was admitted a free- man in Reading in 1640, is supposed to have been a son of John, who was residing there at the same time, and both were probably immi- grants from England. Timothy's wife, whose Christian name was Elizabeth, died in 1662, and his death occurred in 1672. Their children
were: Benjamin, Elizabeth, Timothy, Susan and Sarah. All of the Reading Wileys are descended from these settlers.
Ira Wiley, born in South Reading, (now Wakefield) 1802, was an extensive real estate owner, and a prominent resident of that town. He died in 1887. He married Lucetta Gerry, of Stoneham, born 1802, and died 1851. They were the parents of ten children: I. Ira, Jr., born 1826, died 1877; married Hannah New- hall; died 1870. 2. Louisa Rebecca, born 1827, died 1892; married J. Francis Harts- horne. 3. Augusta L., born 1829, died 1852; married Henry Brown. 4. James Madison, born 1831, died 1897; married Amanda M. Stowell, born 1831, died 1896. 5. Lucella O., born 1833, died 1836. 6. William Henry, born 1836, died 1894; married Sarah Lucy Eaton, born 1849. 7. Charles L., born 1837, died 1839. 8. Emily, born 1841, died 1843. 9. Francella, born 1845, died 1862. 10. Mar- cella, born 1846, died 1848.
PEBBLES The family of Pebbles or Pee- bles was prominent in Scot- land before 1296. The family name is taken from the town where the family has its seat, Pebbles or Peebleshire, Scotland. Several of the family appeared on the famous Ragman's Roll, the first list of Scottish nobil- ity that has been preserved. The term, "Rag- man Roll" had its origin, says Hanna, in good- humored banter, and far from being intended in any way to wound Scottish susceptibility, was a merry allusion to what in the middle ages was a famous diversion of the ladies. Ragman, or King Rageman, was a game much affected in Anglo-Norman society in the thir- teenth century-a number of characters, good, bad and indifferent, were written in couplets consecutively on a sheet of parchment. To each character a string was attached, having a piece of wax or metal at the tip. This sheet when rolled up was called a Ragman's Roll ; each person playing drew a character by pull- ing a string, which he or she maintained for the remainder of the evening. When the Scot- tish baronage swore fealty to Edward I. of England at Berwick in 1291, their names were written down in French by Edward's Norman scribes, and the seals of such as had them were attached to the sheet by small strips of parch- ment. The rolls containing the signatures, when made up with a mass of seals dependent from them, had each much the appearance of this game of Ragman; and that name having
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probably been given it jokingly by some of the young courtiers in attendance, has stuck to this important state paper ever since. By far the greater number of signatures was obtained on the occasion of Edward's progress through Scotland in 1296. Among the signers were Frere Thomas, master de la meson de la Seinte Croice de Peebles, Peebleshire. (Brother Thomas of the House of the Holy Cross of Peebles) ; John visaire del Eglise de Peebles ; La Communaute de Peebles. The family has been prominent not only in the early Roman Catholic Church before the Reformation, but later in the Scotch-Presbyterian church. Dr. Robert Peebles was canon of Glasgow in 1322 and lord great chamberlain of Scotland. John Peebles was archdeacon of St. Andrews; in 1377 lord chancellor of Scotland. William Peebles of Peebles was a member of the Scotch parliament in 1468; William Peebles, of Pender, Lanarkshire, in 1544 and Oliver Peebles, of Perthshire, in 1572, 1590 and 1597. In 1322 Lord William of Peebles, prior of the Monastery of Melrose, Scotland, was killed by the English and his body cast forth upon the high altar.
The first of the name to go from Scotland to Ireland, and the probable ancestor of the American family of Peebles mentioned below, was Rev. Thomas Peebles or Pebbles, who before 1642 was chaplain or minister to the Scottish regiment of Colonel Eglinston, and went with the regiment to Ireland. In 1641 twenty thousand English Protestants and a hundred thousand Scotchmen had been settled and granted confiscated lands in Ulster Pro- vince, Ireland. Many English emigrated to Ireland from 1610 to 1640 and came to New England, and a century later their grandsons and descendants furnished the second great body of immigrants to the American colonies after the famous siege of Londonderry. Thomas Peebles was one of the leaders in the Scotch Presbyterian church in Ireland. When the first Presbytery was formed with only five ministers and four ruling elders June 10, 1642, he was elected clerk and held the position until his death, thirty years afterward. He was probably born as early as 1600. In 1646 he became the minister of Dundonald and Holy- rood. This Presbytery grew rapidly. When the tables were turned and his sect was per- secuted, Rev. Thomas Peebles, of Dundonald, Presbytery of Downs, was on the list of eject- ed ministers in Ulster in 1661. In the same list appears the name of Rev. Hugh Peebles, of Lifford, possibly his son. Nine of the
name were grantees of land or holders of land in Ireland. In 1890 the name seemed to have disappeared from Ireland, though the name Peoples, a family of which lives in Donegal, is probably a corrupt spelling of this surname. The spelling in the early records varies widely, some of the forms given by ingenious clerks are: Peebles, Pebbles, Pebbels, Peibols, Pay- bols, Pibbles, Peabols, and as many more.
(I) Robert Pebbles, the immigrant, was born in Ulster Province, north of Ireland, about 1680. He came with his wife and sev- eral children among the first Scotch-Presby- terians who accepted the invitation of Gov- ernor Shute to come to New England. Of the first hundred families which came in the fall of 1718 many settled in Worcester. Robert Pebbles was one of the leading men in 1722 and there is every reason to think that he was among the pioneers in this remarkable emigra- tion. These Scotch settlers at first worshiped in the old garrison house at the north end of Worcester. When they attempted to build a church a mob tore it down to the disgrace of the town. But on better acquaintance the Scotch affiliated with their English neighbors, and Robert Pebbles with others attended the Old South Church. In 1724 he was assigned the fifth seat in the meeting house under the right of Palmer ( from whom he bought his farm). He was prominent in town affairs; was hogreeve in 1722, fenceviewer in 1723-24, tythingman in 1725, all important offices in the pioneer days. In 1725 he was in such favor that he served on a committee to pre- vent cattle and horses not belonging to land- owners from being brought to town. He was highway surveyor in 1726 and field driver 1726-27, declined the office of constable in 1728-29, but accepted it in 1732-36-37. As constable he had the duty of "warning" out of town all newcomers, a rather disgraceful method of keeping out possible paupers and those of other religious opinions. When the meeting house was seated May 30, 1733, Rob- ert Pebbles was placed up among the leaders and pillars of the church in the second seat in the body of the church, while his two grown sons, Patrick and John, were given seats in the second pew in the long gallery. It is evident that the clan feeling was not all gone, how- ever, for most of the prominent Scotch were together in the second pew, also in the third and fifth, while the English were mostly in pews by themselves. Not entirely, however, for many of the Scotch had already married into the English families.
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