USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 49
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(III) John Nesmith, son of Thomas Nes- mith (2), was born at Windham, New Hamp- shire, March 29, 1762. He married Lucy Martin, daughter of Captain Jacob Martin. He succeeded his father on the Nesmith homestead in Windham and with him lived his mother. The farm consisted of some four hundred acres, a part of which is still owned by his descendants. The old house was torn down a few years ago; it had seven- teen rooms with a store attached and a large hall connected with it which was a famous place for dances and other social gatherings of a century ago. Mr. Nesmith kept a general store and prospered. He had just returned from Newburyport, where he had been to purchase goods, when he was taken with his last sickness and died in a few days, at the age of forty-four years, February 20, 1806. His wife was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, November 17, 1765, and died at her daughter's Mrs. John Patten's, in Derry, February 20, 1837. She possessed remarkable business ability. Though lame and obliged to use a crutch she was able to perform more work than most women. Her portrait, now in pos- session of descendants, pictures a face beau- tiful in expression and of strongly marked character. With the aid of her sons she car- ried on the store for a few years until her second marriage in 1813 to Deacon Daniel Mc- Keen, of Derry. She took her two younger chil- dren with her to her new home, the others re- maining on the' homestead with the grand- mother. After the death of Deacon McKeen, November 4, 1820, she returned to her old home where she lived until near the end of life. Children, born at Windham: I. Colonel Jacob Martin, born September 20, 1786, resided at Windham; died January 21, 1863. 2. Thomas, born September 7, 1788, mentioned below. 3. Betsey, born April 30, 1791, died January 18, 1836; married Alexander Park. 4. John, born August 3, 1793, mentioned be- low. 5. James Wilson, born May 28, 1796, married Eliza G. Parker; resided at Derry, died April 29, 1881. 6. Lucy, born November 13, 1798, married, December 3, 1829, John Patten, who was born October 15, 1798, and died December 19, .1866; farmer at Derry ;
she died April 22, 1848. 7. Annis, born Jan- uary 16, 1801, married, December 27, 1827, William Davidson; ' settled in Pike, New York; she died March 31, 1877. 8. George Reid, born March 14, 1803, resided at Wis- coy, New York; died August 21, 1882. 9. Jonathan Wallace, born October 28, 1805, married Mary Manton, of Providence, Rhode Island; settled in New York City in commis- sion business ; died in Somerville, Massachu- setts, November 2, 1847.
(IV) Colonel Thomas Nesmith, son of John Nesmith (3), was born in Windham, September 7, 1788. He attended the district schools of his native place and the academy at Derry, now known as the Pinkerton Acad- emy, then taught by Samuel Burnham. After the death of his father he helped his mother carry on the business. In 1810 he went into business for himself, buying the home-made thread of the farmer's wives, had it made into cloth and sold the linen in Lynn, Massachu- setts, and in other large towns. Five years later, having saved some six thousand dollars, he hired a room of Robert Clark, near the meeting house in Windham, and in partner- ship with his brother John, opened a general store. He was active in town affairs and served as town clerk of Windham in 1821. In 1822 James Nesmith took the store at Windham, and Thomas and John removed to Derry where they carried on a general store in the house formerly occupied by Patterson & Choate. John Nesmith went to New York City and entered the commission business. He was soon joined by Thomas, but they soon decided to locate in Lowell and purchased the Livermore estate there. Thomas Nesmith de- voted the remainder of his life to the man- agement of his investments, the Lowell real estate proving the basis of a large fortune. An old friend wrote of him: "To great dili- gence he through life added sound judgment and forethought, which produced very re- markable results of gain with small percentage of loss. He accumulated a large estate, but only by regular business transactions. He defrauded no man and left no enemies. His integrity was not questioned and his moral and courteous bearing made him a pattern man in business affairs, a good citizen and neigh- bor, a gentleman in social life." When he went to Lowell manufacturing corporations and city institutions were just assuming tangi- ble form. He was a member of the city gov- ernment the first two years of its existence and helped to forward many enterprises then
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struggling to get ahead. In the War of 1812 he was a soldier, drafted from Windham and was enlisted September 15, 1814, for three months; was third lieutenant in Captain Na- thaniel Bradley's company, stationed at Ports- mouth, New Hampshire. In May, 1820, he was appointed colonel of the Eighth Regi- ment of New Hampshire militia. He was charitable in life and generous in his public bequests in his will. He founded the Nes- mith public library at Windham, and to the deserving poor of Lowell he left the income of the Nesmith Fund of twenty-five thousand dollars, now in the hands of trustees and doing noble work year after year. He died in Lowell, July 31, 1870.
He married, May 20, 1832, Lucinda Fay, born at Lebanon, New Hampshire, June 12, 1810, daughter of Winslow and Betsey (Col- burn) Fay. She was educated at Miss Grant's School at Ipswich Massachusetts. She was the principal of the Adams Female Seminary at Derry. She died at Lowell, December 18, 1852. Children: I. Lucinda C., born July 15, 1834, died August 5, 1834. 2. Lucy Eliza- beth, born May II, 1838, resided at Lowell. 3. Mary Manton, born February 18, 1841, died November 24, 1848. 4. Maria Louisa born July 18, 1844, married, December 6, 1875, Walter H. McDaniels, son of John; she died August 29, 1876. 5. Henrietta Wash- burn, born June 8, 1846, married, September 28, 1870, Edward Hastings, son of Henry and Sarah (Marchant) Hastings, and she died November 27, 1881; resided at Lowell; chil- dren : Ethel, born October 31, 1871 ; Henri- etta Nesmith, born January 25, 1877.
(IV) Lieutenant-Governor John Nesmith, son of John Nesmith (3), was born in Wind- ham, August 3, 1793. Till his twenty-ninth year he was intimately connected with the his- tory of his native town and mingled actively in its affairs. He was prominent in politics early in life ; was town treasurer in 1819 and 1820 and representative to the general court in 1821. In 1822 he removed to Derry, for- merly a part of the town of Londonderry. He commenced life a comparatively poor boy and had only the education of the common schools of his day. At the age of fourteen he became clerk in the general store formerly conducted by his father and served an apprenticeship of five years. When he was nineteen years old he and his elder brother Thomas started in business on their own account in a general store at Windham. They prospered and as soon as their cash capital and enlarged credit
would warrant the adventure they removed to New York City and built up a large and highly profitable trade. In 1831, foreseeing the fu- ture importance of Lowell, Massachusetts, as a manufacturing centre, the brothers settled in that city. Lowell is not far from their na- tive town; doubtless their love for the old New Hampshire hills influenced their selection of a location as well as their personal knowledge of the town and its vast possibilities as a man- ufacturing place. They invested largely in real estate and identified themselves with every movement and measure calculated to develop the town or increase its prosperity. They were leaders in enterprise and progress, shrewd and farsighted men of affairs. John Nesmith became interested in the manufacture of blankets, flannels, printing cloths, sheetings and other textile fabrics and that became eventually his principal vocation. He became agent or part owner in mills in Lowell, Dra- cut, Chelmsford, Hookset and other places, and managed those enterprises with almost unvarying and uninterrupted success. He was also a large stockholder in the Merrimack Woolen Mills Company. Appreciating more than any other man the natural advantages of the water powers which have made Lowell what she is, he bethought himself of securing the supply of water in Winnepesaukee and Squam lakes in New Hampshire as reservoirs for the Lowell Mills in dry seasons and letting the water into the Merrimac river when need- ed by artificial canals. This brilliant concep- tion was at first scouted by the manufacturers along the river, but Mr. Nesmith, satisfied that they would eventually require the water, bought the right to use both these lakes for the purpose and before long the manufactur- ers had to buy of him at a handsome profit.
Mr. Nesmith was the first to discern the natural fitness of the site now occupied by the flourishing city of Lawrence on the Merrimac river for a manufacturing point, and made large purchases of land on both sides of the river, securing also the necessary charter to control the water power. About 1844 his bold scheme attracted the attention it deserved from from Boston capitalists, and factories be- gan to rise at Lawrence as if by magic, and that prosperous city has amply vindicated the wisdom of its real founder, John Nesmith. He bought the Gedney estate at Belvidere. Lowell, with its large mansion house, the Old Yellow House, as it was called, erected in 1750. He laid out several streets, giving his name to one of them. His purchase being
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made soon after the formation of the Merri- mack Manufacturing Company, he sold the property to good advantage. While carrying on these varied and arduous undertakings Mr. Nesmith still found time to devote to mechan- ical study and experiment. Several of his discoveries and inventions were of great im- portance and value-among others the well- known machines for making wire fence and shawl fringe.
Though naturally averse to mingling in politics, and never stooping to the acts by which popularity is often won, he was elect- ed to various offices in the city government of Lowell, where his sound practical sense and extraordinary business capacity were acknowl- edged and appreciated by his townsmen of both parties. Like most anti-slavery men he joined the Republican party when it was form- ed, and he was a presidential elector from his state in the college that choose Abraham Lin- coln president both in 1861 and 1865. He contributed freely of his means to assist the anti-slavery movement. He was elected lieu- tenant-governor of Massachusetts on the ticket with Governor John A. Andrew in 1862 and declined a re-election the following year. He was afterward appointed United States collector of internal revenue for his district, an office in which a zealous and active man could give tangible support to the government in its hour of greatest need by discovering the taxable property and preventing adroit evasions. He filled the position ably and creditably until his resignation only twelve days before he died.
Mr. Nesmith's attachment to the principles of his party was that of the moralist rather than that of the partisan, and he never lost the respect and confidence of either friends or opponents in political affairs. The temper- ance movement in Massachusetts early en- gaged his hearty support and liberal contrib- utions, and he was for some years president of the State Alliance. From the large fortune acquired by his tact and industry, he made generous donations to many objects of char- ity and benevolence which won his sympathy, and was invariably kind and hospitable to his friends and neighbors. In his home he was especially affectionate and charming. He made in his will handsome provision for the care, support and education of the indigent blind of New Hampshire, a foundation known as the Nesmith Fund; and also provided a pub- lic park in the town of Franklin, New Hamp- shire.
He married, June, 1825, Mary Ann Bell, daughter of Samuel Bell, of Chester, New Hampshire. She died at St. Augustine, Flori- da, February 26, 1831, aged twenty-eight years, leaving two children. He married (second), Eliza Thom Bell, daughter of John Bell, also of Chester. She died at Lowell, September 4, 1836, aged thirty years, leaving two children. He married (third), October 19, 1840, Harriet Rebecca Mansur, daughter of Aaron Mansur, of Lowell. She was born July 4, 1816, and resided in Lowell. Chil- dren of John and Mary Ann Nesmith: I. John, died young. 2. Lucy Anne, died young. Children of John and Eliza T .: 3. John, died young. 4. Eliza Jane Bell, born August 19, 1836, married, December 4, 1873, John Bell Bouton, of Concord, New Hampshire; author and newspaper editor, New York. Children of John and Harriet R .: 5. Harriet Bell, born August 16, 1841, married, October 29, 1868, Horace B. Coburn, of Lowell, merchant; she died March 1, 1871. 6. Mary, born April 26, 1843, resides at Lowell. 7. Isabel, born Oc- tober 1, 1844, married, October 1, 1872, Fred- erick T. Greenhalge. (See Greenhalge family sketch ). 8. John, died young. 9. Julia Dal- ton, born February 1, 1848, married, January 31, 1894, Thomas Parker Ivy, of Georgia. IO. Rebecca, died young. 11. Arthur, died young. 12. William, died young. 13. James F., born January 27, 1856, died July 25, 1898. James E. Nesmith, poet, publisher of three books: the "Life of Governor Greenhalge," and two volumes of verse, "Philoclites," and "Monadnock, and Other Poems." He was one of the most promising of the younger Ameri- can poets. A sonnet to Michael Angelo is quoted in Steadman's Anthology" and "Mon- adnock" in Douglas Sladen's "The Younger American Poets." 14. Joseph Aaron, born March 25, 1857, mentioned below.
(V) Joseph Aaron Nesmith, son of Lieu- tenant-Governor John Nesmith (4), was born at Lowell, Massachusetts. March 25, 1857. He received his early education in the public and high schools of Lowell, and at Exeter, New Hampshire, fitting there for college. He graduated from Harvard University in 1881. He resides in Lowell. In politics Mr. Nesmith is a Republican, but has never been active in party affairs nor sought public office. He attends the Unitarian church. He is president of the Art Asso- ciation of Lowell, and has interested himself in all that pertains to the development of a true artistic taste in his native city. He has
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painted many pictures, especially of the fine scenery of Conway, New Hampshire, where he spends the summer in his country home. He has held several highly successful exhibi- tions of his work both in Lowell and Boston.
He married, at Lowell, June 10, 1891, Louise A. Barker, daughter of Horace R. and Martha M. Barker. Her father for thirty- four years carried on an extensive business in steam and gas fitting in Lowell and vicinity and amassed a large fortune. He was a mem- ber of the board of alderman from 1877 to 1879; director of the Merchants' National Bank; president of the board of trustees of the Lowell cemetery; died September 8, 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Nesmith have four children : Harriet Louise, Katherine B., Joseph Warren, Mary.
REED The name of Reed is found not only in England where it has been common from the time surnames came in use and as a clan name before that time, but in Ireland, Scotland, and various countries on the continent of Europe. The name at present is spelled generally in three ways-Reed, Reid and Reade. The genealogy of the Read family of Kent, England, dates back to 1139 to Brianus de Rede of Morpeth on the Wensback river in the north of Eng- land.
(I) Thomas Reed, progenitor, according to the genealogy, as living in Berkshire, England, in 1575, at Barton Court. He married Ann, the daughter of Thomas Hoo, of the Hoo, in the county of Hertford.
(II) Thomas Reed or Read, son of Thom- as Reed (I), also lived at Barton; married Mary Stonehouse, of Little Peckham, county Kent, and at Radley. He was clerk of the Green Cloth.
(III) Thomas Reed, son of Thomas Reed (2), was knighted. He married Mary, daugh- ter of Sir John Brocket, of Brocket Hall, in Hertfordshire. Children : Thomas, John, James. All three were baronets. Also two daughters.
(IV) Thomas Reed, son of Sir Thomas Reed (3), married Mary, daughter of Thomas Cornwall, lord of Shropshire. Children : Compton, Edward, and three sons believed to be Thomas, William and John who came to America. Edward and Compton had families in England and their descendants have been distinguished.
(V) William Reed, supposed to be son of
Thomas and Mary Reed, of Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, was born in England in 1587, and was the oldest of the immigrants of this surname. He sailed from London in the ship "Defence" in July, 1635, Captain Edward Fostick, and arrived in Boston the same year with his wife, who was Mabel Kendall, born in 1605. They had with them children : George, born 1629. Ralph, born 1630. Jus- tice, afterward called Abigail, born 1633. Mr. Reed settled first in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He was made freeman March 4, 1638. In August, 1639, he sold his real estate in Dor- chester to Thomas Clark and removed to Scit- uate, where he was constable in 1644. His wife made the journey to Dorchester on horseback in 1644 to have her infant son Is- rael baptized. William Reed removed to Muddy River (Brookline), having bought of Esdras Reed, said to have been his brother, a farm granted by the town of Boston, and he lived there until 1648 when he bought a farm in Woburn of Nicholas Davis, of Charles- town, and removed thither. He is the ances- tor of the Woburn, Lexington, Bedford and Burlington Reads; the ancestor of most of the Reeds in Maine. He returned to England finally and died at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1656. A letter of administration was taken out by his widow under Oliver Cromwell. She re- turned to America and after administering the estate married Henry Summers, of Wo- burn, November 21, 1660. She survived her second husband and lived with her son George at the time of her death, June 5, 1690, in her eighty-sixth year. Children of William and Mabel Reed : I. George, born 1629, men- tioned below. 2. Ralph; born 1630, married Mary Pierce, daughter of Anthony Pierce, of Watertown. 3. Abigail, born 1633, married Francis Wyman. 4. Bethia, born in America, married John Johnson. 5. Israel, born 1642, married Mary Kendall, daughter of Francis. 6. Sarah, married, September 10, 1662, Sam- uel Walker. 7. Rebecca, married Joseph Winn.
(VI) George Reed, son of William Reed (5), was born in England in 1629. He bought a farm in Woburn of Rebecca Terrace, No -. vember 7, 1651, and settled there. This farm was lately owned by Nathan Blanchard and is now within the limits of Burlington. He be- came a large landholder and wealthy, giving farms to his sons in what is now Woburn, Burlington and Lexington. He was for many years deacon of the church in Woburn. He died February 21, 1706, in his seventy-eighth
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year. He married (first), August 4, 1651, Elizabeth Jennison, daughter of Robert, of Watertown. She died February 26, 1665. He married (second), November 9, 1665, Hannah Rockwell, of Charlestown. Children of George and Elizabeth : I. Elizabeth, born July 29, 1653, married December 15, 1675, David Fiske, of Watertown. 2. Twins, born No- vember 14, 1654, died unnamed. 3. Samuel, born April 29, 1656, married, April 19, 1679, Elizabeth Munsal. 4. Abigail, born June 27, 1658, married, September 18, 1694, Nathaniel Richardson. 5. George, born September 14, 1660, married, February 18, 1684, Abigail Pierce. 6. William, born September 22, 1662, married, May 24, 1686, Abigail Kendall. 7. Sarah, born February 12, 1665. 8. Hannah, born February 12, 1669. 9. John, born March 18, 1671, married, June 10, 1697, Ruth John- son. 10. Mary, born June 15, 1674, married, in 1697, Matthew Johnson. II. Timothy, born October 20. 1678, mentioned below. 12. Thomas, born July 15, 1682, married, Febru- ary I, 1704, Sarah Sawyer.
(VII) Timothy Reed, son of George Reed (6), was born in Woburn, October 20, 1678. His father gave him a farm of forty acres in Woburn Great Lots, in the third and fourth ranges, March 15, 1700. This place was lately owned by Mr. Duren, whose mother was a lin- eal descendant of Timothy Reed. Mr. Reed also owned land in Hodge's Hole. He died October 17, 1758. He married his cousin, Persis Kendall, who died September 16, 1748. Children, born in. Woburn: I. Persis, born July 31, 17II, married, February 20, 1738, Jonathan. Gray. 2. Timothy, born in 1713, married Huldah 3. Jacob, born Jan- uary 31, 1714, mentioned below. 4. Jonathan, born May 19, 1718, married, February 26, 1739, Kersey Converse. 5. Alice, born March 24, 1720. 6. Amos, born July 1, 1722. 7. Ezekiel, born August 1, 1728.
(VIII) Jacob Reed, son of Timothy Reed (7), was born in Woburn, January 31, 1714. Married Elizabeth French, of Billerica, June 19. 1741. He remained on the homestead with his father and inherited it after his father's death. He died July 20, 1804; his wife Elizabeth died August 7, 18II, aged eighty-nine years. Children, born in Woburn : I. Jacob, born April 30, 1745, died December 30, 1770. 2. Reuben, born March 2, 1747. 3. Joseph, born in 1748. 4. Amos. 5. Eliz- abeth, born April 18, 1750. 6. Sarah, born July 25, 1752. 7. Isaac, mentioned below.
(IX) Isaac Reed, son of Jacob Reed (8).
was born in Woburn, August 9, 1756, and died there April 20, 1848, aged ninety-two years, three months. He was a soldier in the Revo- lution, a private in Captain Samuel Belknap's company, and marched to Concord and Cam- bridge, April 19, 1775. He belonged to the Train Band of the First Woburn company under Captain Josiah Johnson, serving in 1775. He seems also to have been a private in Captain Cadwalader Ford's company, Colonel Brook's regiment of guards, from November 4, 1777, to April 3, 1778, at Fort No. 2, Cam- bridge. He married, April 27, 1780, Susanna Munroe, daughter of William Munroe, of Lexington. They settled in Lexington, where she died October 15, 1829, aged seventy-five years. Children, born in Lexington : I. Isaac, born January 12, 1781, died October 29, 1853; married Elizabeth Munroe; lived in Lexington. 2. Susan, born October 16, 1782. 3. William, born March 14, 1785, died De- cember 30, 1851. 4. Oliver, born August 4, 1787, died September 1, 1833; married Sarah Thayer. 5. Thomas, born January 18, 1790, died February 10, 1829 ; married Relief Pratt. 6. Reuben, born March 25, 1792, mentioned below. 7. Hugh Maxwell, born December 23, 1793, died April 18, 1822, unmarried. 8. Enos, born August 21, 1796, married Sarah Gardner.
(X) Reuben Reed, son of Isaac Reed (9), was born in Lexington, March 25, 1792, and died there March 4, 1864. He received his education in the common schools, and worked for his father and his Uncle Reuben with whom he lived from early youth. After his uncle's death in 1800 he continued to run the farm for the widow until her death in 1817. The farm came to him and he followed farm- ing on this place during his active life. His farm consisted of one hundred and sixty-five acres. He had excellent orchards and manu- factured cider extensively; his cider mill is still standing on the homestead in Lexington.
He married (first), December 8, 1819, Sally Hutchinson Russell, who was born January 17, 1796, in Cambridge, and died August 2, 1822. He married (second), February 26, 1824, Mary (Polly) Haskell Willard, who was born October 15, 1791, and died February II, 1860, daughter of Joel and Polly (Has- kell) Willard, of Harvard, Massachusetts. Her father, Joel, was born April 28, 1765, son of Lemuel and Hannah ( Haskell) Willard. Lemuel was born July 28, 1725, son of Joseph and Elizabeth ( Tarbell) Willard. Joseph, born 1685, was son of Henry and
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Mary (Lakin) Willard, of Lancaster, Massa- chusetts. The Willards were among the founders of Lancaster. Child of Reuben and Sally Hutchinson (Russell) Reed: I. Reu- ben, Jr., born February 5, 1821, died June 22, 1822. Children of Reuben and Mary Haskell (Willard) Reed: 2. Reuben Willard, born January 12, 1825, died in Orwell, Vermont ; married, October 26, 1854, Georgianna Augusta Ferrin, of Charlestown, Massachu- setts; children: i. Emma Georgianna, born November 10, 1856, married, October 28, 1903, Allston Pineo; ii. Mary Hattie, Septem- ber 7, 1859; iii. Lizzie Virginia, April 27, 1866. 3. Josiah Haskell, born February 12, 1827, mentioned below.
(XI) Josiah Haskell Reed, son of Reuben Reed (10), was born at Lexington, February 12, 1827, died March 22, 1890. He attended the public schools of his native town until six- teen years of age, and worked on his father's farm until he came of age. He took over the milk route that his father had estab- lished in the adjacent town of Charlestown, now in Boston. He carried on this milk bus- iness for a period of twenty-five years. In 1870 he disposed of the business to George Wellington and Robert Miner, of Somerville, and returned to the old homestead in Lexing- ton, of which he and his brother became the owners at the death of their father in 1864. They sold ninety acres of the old farm in 1870 and in 1872 Josiah built a house opposite the homestead and made his home there until 1882, when he sold it to William E. Litchfield, who sold it to its present owner, Charles B. Patch. At that time Josiah bought out the in- terests of his brother, Reuben W. Reed, and went to live in the homestead and began mar- ket gardening, in which he was successfully occupied to the time of his death. Modest and unassuming in his manner, he was natur- ally jovial and witty, and was a man of many friends. Moderate and conservative in his views, he was tolerant of the opinions of other men and lived in harmony with his neighbors, having their esteem in an unusual degree. In religion he was a Unitarian ; in politics a Re- publican. He was a trustee of the Lexington Savings Bank.
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