Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume IV, Part 2

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 912

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume IV > Part 2

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Mr. Mingo married, February 21, 1884, Frances Fuller, born in Malden, Massachu- setts, January 3, 1858, daughter of Edward and Martha (Waitt) Fuller, of Malden (see sketches of Waitt and Fuller families here- with). They have no children.

FULLER

Lieutenant Thomas Fuller, the immigrant ancestor, was a proprietor of Woburn, Massa-

chusetts, in 1640. He was a blacksmith by trade. He had a grant of meadow land at

Ragg Rock in 1648, also of swamp land De- cember 28, 1648. He signed a petition in 1664 to the general court for a grant of land. He was sergeant in 1656, and lieutenant in 1685, and selectman in 1663, 1664 and 1685. He left Woburn for Salem Village about 1664 and returned in 1684, when he married his second wife. After her death he returned again to Salem Village (Danvers) and mar- ried his third wife. He married first, June 13, 1643, Elizabeth Tidd, daughter of John Tidd. He married second, August 25, 1684, Sarah (Nutt) Wyman, died May 24, 1688, daughter of Myles Nutt, and widow of John Wyman. He married third, Hannah who died abroad. She survived her husband and returned to Woburn, and resided with her daughters, who gave bonds to support her, June 21, 1697. His will was dated June 9, 1698, and proved July 4, 1698. He be- queathed to daughters Elizabeth Dean, Ruth Wilkins, Deborah Shaw; to sons Thomas, Jacob and Benjamin, and to his grandchil- dren. Children: I. Thomas, born April 30, 1644. 2. Elizabeth, born September 12, 1645; married Joseph Dean, and resided at Con- cord. 3. Ruth, born May 17, 1645; married first, Wheeler; second, Wil- kins. 4. Deborah, born May 12, 1650; mar-

ried Shaw. 5. John, born March I, 1652-3. 6. Jacob, born May 14, 1655; men- tioned below. 7. Joseph, born August 8, 1658; died young. 8. Benjamin, born April 15, 1660. 9. Samuel, born May 9, 1662; died young.

(II) Jacob Fuller, son of Thomas Fuller (I), was born May 14, 1655. Children: I. Mary, married Whipple. 2. Eliza- beth, married Fish, and had nine chil- dren. 3. Edward, mentioned below. 4. Sarah, married Fish, and had eight children. 5. Jacob, born 1700; married Abi- gail Holton; died October 17, 1767.

(III) Edward Fuller, son of Jacob Fuller (2), was born about 1695. He married Quarles. Children: I. Josiah. 2. Edward, mentioned below. 3. Ephraim. 4. Israel. 5. Mary. 6. Sarah. 7. Benjamin.

(IV) Edward Fuller, son of Edward Fuller (3), was born about 1726, and resided in Mal- den, Massachusetts. He married Sarah

Children, born at Malden. I. Jona- than, born June 16, 1746; mentioned below. 2. Sarah, born February 9, 1748. 3. Mary, born July 27, 1750. 4. Lois, born April 6, 1752. 5. Mercy, born April 28, 1754; mar- ried John Robbins. 6. Huldah, born January I, 1757.

Major Philips. V. Mingo

Edward Huller

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(V) Jonathan Fuller, son of Edward Fuller (4), was born at Malden, June 16, 1746. He resided in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and was a soldier in the Revolution from that town, in Captain Samuel Sprague's company, on the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775. Children: I. Josiah, born 1791, died at Malden, 1834, aged forty-three; married Sally 2. Charles, mentioned below.

(VI) Charles Fuller, son or nephew of Jonathan Fuller (5), was born at Leominster, about 1795. He settled at Malden, but was a resident of Chelsea, according to the record at the time of his marriage to Jane Blodgett, March 14, 1824. She was a native of Linden. Children, born at Malden: I. Charles, Jr., married, May 29, 1849, Elizabeth Luke. 2. Edward, see forward. 3. Mary Jane, wife of Samuel Neagles, of Malden.

(VII) Edward Fuller, son of Charles Fuller (6), was born in Malden, Massachusetts, No- vember 8, 1828, died December 17, 1904. He was educated in the old school on Rockwell's ledge, and Twin school on Walnut street, completing his studies at the old engine house on Laurel street, Maplewood. He began his active career by working at shoemaking, after which he engaged in the milk business at Lynn, remaining at it fifteen years. He still retained his residence at the old homestead on North Broadway. He took an important part in the public affairs of Maplewood and Malden, serving ten years as selectman, twelve years as superintendent of streets, during which time the first street was graded, and was also elected assessor, but declined to serve. He was a constant attendant of the Maplewood Methodist church, having been a trustee of the first church when it was built. He married Martha Ann Waite, born March 13, 1832, in Malden, Massachusetts, daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah (Neagles) Waite, and a descendant of Michael Neagles, a Revolution- ary soldier. Their children were: I. Charles Edward, born November 10, 1855, died De- cember 28, 1904; married, April 18, 1903, Anna Grace Jacobs. 2. M. Frances, wife of Philip V. Mingo, aforementioned. 3. Grace R., born June 18, 1864; married, December 10, 1896, Benjamin P. Bill, of Springfield, Massachusetts ; children : Charles Dana, born May 23, 1898; Benjamin P., Jr., November 21, 1899.

Mr. and Mrs. Fuller celebrated the golden anniversary of their marriage, May 25. 1903. They were assisted in receiving by their daugh- ters, and were the recipients of many beautiful presents of gold, silver, decorated china and

flowers. A social time was enjoyed during the evening, which included the reading of an original poem written for the occasion by an intimate friend of Mr. and Mrs. Fuller, which was as follows :

1853-1903.

To Mr. and Mrs. Edward Fuller.

Spring hath its south wind and the mellowing earth, The blooming bough and flutter of the leaves, And summer hath its labor and its mirth, But autumn binds the sheaves.

Dawn brings the gladness and awakening thought, The quickened heart-throb and the will to roam; Noon brings us nearer to the things we sought, But twilight brings us home.

Even so with you, dear friends, this time is best, Good was the past, in which ye twain did prove Sorrow that leads to gladness, toil to rest, And love begetting love.

Yet this better, when ye sit to view

Your own past lives made beautiful by care, While children's children at your feet renew The youth ye once did share.

Lo, how the love ye planted long ago Hath sprung and grown around you without end, Love of the kinsmen, love of those ye knew, Of child, and wife and friend.

And may the coming years with rich increase Bloom 'round you in the paths your feet have trod, Until you waken in the radiant peace Of the harvest time of God.

Samuel Waitt, of Wethersfield, WAITT county Essex, England, was the progenitor of the Malden and probably of the Ipswich branches of the Waitt family in America. He married Mary Ward, of Rivenhall, county Essex, England. Accord- ing to the Candler manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, London, she was the daughter of the Rev. John and Susanna Ward, of Haverhill, county Suffolk, England. Children: I. Mary, married Robert Lord, afterwards clerk of the court and register of deeds in Essex county, New England ; she died August 21, 1683, aged seventy-nine years. 2. Samuel, married Helen Crosse. 3. John, born about 1618; mentioned below. 4. Joseph, married Margaret Law- rence, daughter of Matthew Lawrence; was preacher at Ipswich, England, and rector of Sproughton, county Suffolk, England. 5. Anne, married Philip Bill, who settled in Ips- wich and removed to New London, Connecti- cut. 6. Thomas, an early settler of Ipswich, Massachusetts. 7. Susan, married Red- ington in New England. 8. Abigail. 9. Sarah.

(II) Captain John Waitt, son of Samuel Waitt, was born about 1618, and was the im- migrant ancestor. He came with his father- in-law, Joseph Hills, to New England in the ship "Susan and Ellen," from London, in 1638, and was an early settler at Mystic Side (Mal-

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den), where he bought a house and land of Martha Coyte, widow, in 1644. He was ad- mitted to the church in Charlestown, January II, 1646-7, and was admitted a freeman May 26, 1647. He was allowed four pounds eigh- teen shillings "for his writing one booke of the lawes and for finding paper for both bookes." This was the manuscript of the celebrated Massachusetts laws of 1648, compiled and per- fected by Joseph Hills, the first body of laws established by authority in New England. After the incorporation of Malden in 1649, he became a leader in its civil and religious life. He was a stout supporter of Rev. Marmaduke Matthews in the strife which followed his un- happy settlement. He was town clerk and selectman for many years, captain of the train band, commissioner to end small causes, in 1666 he succeeded Joseph Hills as deputy to the general court, and represented the town eighteen years. In 1675 he was in the de- tachment which King Philip was ordered to take to the rendezvous of Major Pynchon, at Marlborough, and in certain contingencies was to take command of a company in active service. In 1680 he was appointed member of a committee to revise the laws, his labor with which in 1647 and his long experience as a legislator had doubtless made him famil- iar. He was identified with the popular party, and was one of the faction denounced by Ed- ward Randolph in his "Articles of High Mis- demeanor." With Deputy Governor Stough- ton and others, in 1681, he was chosen to pre- pare papers for the agents in England and "to .do therein as in their wisdom they shall see meet for the end proposed." He was a meni- ber of the committee to correspond with and to provide with them. He received the nom- ination for the magistracy in 1683, and in 1684 was chosen speaker of the house of dep- uties. A little later he became blind and re- tired from public life. He died September 26, 1693, aged seventy-five years.

He married first in England, Mary Hills,. daughter of Joseph and Rose Hills. She died November 25, 1674, and he married second, August 4, 1675, Sarah Parker of Chelmsford, who died January 13, 1707-8, aged eighty- one. Children, all by the first wife: I. John. 2. Joseph, mentioned below. 3. Samuel, born October II, 1650. 4. Mary, born August 31, 1653; died August 9, 1657. 5. Hannah, born September 9, 1656; married October II, 1676, William Buckman, of Malden. 6. Mehitable, born September 15, 1658; married Deliver- ance Parkman, of Salem, son of Elias Park- man. 7. Thomas, born September 1, 1660. 8.

Rebecca, born November 22, 1662; married March 31, 1681, Jonathan Tufts, son of Peter Tufts. 9. Sarah, married April 25, 1684, Na- thaniel Stone, of Sudbury. 10. Nathaniel, born May 27, 1667.

(III) Joseph Waitt, son of John Waitt (2), was born about 1645, and resided at Malden, Massachusetts. He was admitted freeman in 1690 and died in 1692. He married first, Au- gust 7, 1672, Hannah Oakes, born in Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, May 4, 1657, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Oakes. He married second, October 24, 1688, Mercy Tufts, daugh- ter of Peter and Mary (Pierce) Tufts. She married second, June II, 1694, Lemuel Jen- kins, of Malden, and died July 19, 1736. Chil- dren : I. Joseph, born about 1675. 2. Thomas, born about 1679. 3. Peter, born January 20, 1689-90. 4. Jonathan, born February 24, 1691-2; mentioned below.

(IV) Jonathan Waitt, son of Joseph Waitt (3), was born at Malden, Massachusetts, Feb- ruary 24, 1691-2. He resided at East Malden. until the fall of 1716, when he removed to Lynn, near the Chelsea line (now Saugus). He died in 1775. He married first, November 20, 1712, Elizabeth Pratt, born 1694-5, died March 10, 1714-5, daughter of John Pratt, of Malden. He married second, September 26, 1716, Abigail Waitt, widow of William Waitt, who died before her husband. Children: I. Jonathan, married at Lynn, July 10, 1739, Hannah Hawkes ; was living in 1775. 2. Eliz- abeth, intention of marriage with Deacon Ben- jamin Brintnall, of Chelsea, published March 7, 174I. 3. Ezra, mentioned below.

(V) Ezra Waitt, son of Jonathan Waitt (4), married at Lynn, Massachusetts, March 8, 1752, Sarah Hawkes, and died in 1765. His widow married second Dagge. They had one son, Ezra, born about 1755, mentioned below.

(VI) Ezra Waitt, son of Ezra Waitt (5), was born about 1755, and died July 2, 1831. He was a soldier in the Revolution, in Cap- tain Edward Burbeck's company, Colonel Richard Gridley's regiment (artillery) in 1775, and also in Captain Newhall's company in 1776. He resided in Lynn, but removed to East Malden, where he died. He married at Lynn, May 15, 1778, Sarah Hutchinson, who died at Malden, September 27, 1839, aged eighty-two. Children, born at Malden: I. William, born December 7, 1783. 2. John, born January 15, 1785. 3. Nathaniel, born December 21, 1787; mentioned below. 4. Sarah, born May 28, 1790. 5. Jonathan, born. July 10, 1792. 6. David, born May 5, 1795.

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(VII) Nathaniel Waitt, son of Ezra Waitt (6), was born at Malden, Massachusetts, De- cember 21, 1787. He married, September 15, 1814, Sarah Neagles, of Malden. Children: born at Malden: I. Sarah, born March 9, 1815. 2. Harriet, born July 19, 1816. 3. Nathaniel, born March 4, 1818. 4. Elizabeth, born January 14, 1819. 5. Michael, born May 21, 1822. 6. Joanna, born September 28, 1824. 7. Ephraim Buck, born November 14, 1827. 8. Caroline Brown, born April 20, 1830. 9. Martha Ann, born March 13, 1832; married Edward Fuller (see sketch of Fuller family herewith). 10. George Wayland, born May II, 1834. II. Charles Wallace, born September 8, 1836.

The statement that the Rev. Jabez FOX Fox, of Woburn, was descended from John Fox, the martyrologist, was given currency in print in 1814 by Rev. Timothy Alden, a descendant, who copied into his work a latinized notice of John Fox (1517- 1587) whom he called a "learned and remote ancestry," of Rev. Jabez Fox. This theory does not seem feasible and its form was in a way exploded as long ago as 1829, when John Farmer, the genealogist, struck it a severe blow by stating that the martyrologist was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, 1517, and left two sons, Thomas, who was fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and Samuel, fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, who wrote his father's life. Besides there were two men named Thomas Fox among the early settlers of Massachusetts, one of Cambridge, admitted freeman in 1638, and the other of Concord, so called, admitted a freeman of the colony in 1644. It does not appear that either of these were grandsons of John Fox, the annalist, and they were too nearly contemporaneous with the children and grandchildren of that worthy to be of that stock. Savage, in 1860, speaks of Jabez, probably the only child of Thomas of Cambridge, and the only one "to bear up the uncertain traditionary honor ascribed to him, of descent from the author of the Book of Martyrs."

It may be remarked in passing that while the Fox family are numerous in England and possess some eminent members, there is a family of Fox in Ireland, and the statement current in the Woburn family and of which, there is no doubt is that John Fox, born 1704, son of Rev. John Fox, went to Ireland in early life to live with a wealthy relative, has some bearing on this subject, and that the

Fox family who have been eminent for so many generations in New England may have come from that part of the British Kingdom.

(I) Thomas Fox, of Concord and Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, died at Cambridge, April 25, 1693, aged eighty-five years. Mar- ried (first) Rebecca , who died at Con- cord, May II, 1647; married (second), in 1650, (marriage contract dated May 24, 1650) Ellen Green, widow of Percival Green, of Cambridge, who died May 27, 1682, aged eighty-two; married (third), April 24, 1683, Elizabeth Chadwick, widow of Charles Chad- wick, of Watertown, who died February 22, 1684-85; married (fourth), December 16, 1685, Rebecca Wyeth, widow of Nicholas Wyeth, of Cambridge, and formerly widow of Thomas Andrew, of Cambridge. She died his widow in 1698. Thomas Fox moved from Concord to Cambridge, where in 1652, and repeatedly afterwards, he was selectman and resided in Holmes place, midway between its northeasterly angle and North avenue until the house was destroyed by fire about 1681- 82. With the exception of a very short resi- dence in Watertown, he afterward probably occupied the estate on the east side of Holmes place, subsequently owned by Stew- ard Hastings and still later by Abiel Holmes. Child by first wife: Jabez, born at Concord, about 1647. See forward.

(II) Rev. Jabez Fox, son of Thomas Fox (i), born at Concord, 1647, died at Boston, February 28, 1702-03, aged fifty-six years. He married Judith Rayner, daughter of Rev. John and Frances (Clark) Rayner, of Plym- outh, Massachusetts, and Dover, New Hampshire. She married (second) Colonel Jonathan Tyng, of Dunstable, and died his widow, June 5, 1736, "in ye 99th year of her Age." Gravestone at Woburn. Jabez Fox, M. A., the only child of his parents, was bap- tized at Concord, where he was born in 1647, the year in which his mother died. His part at Commencement on taking his second de- gree is noticed by Sibley, ii, 164. He was a member of the class of Harvard College 1665. His part noticed by Sibley is a skeleton of "Questions in Philosophy," a discussion held at Commencement. To part 3, "Is all good necessarily communicative of itself?" Jabez Fox replies in the affirmative. A translation of the theme of his remarks from the original Latin is as follows: "Good is apparent or superficial: everything good is pleasant. Use- ful things do not always spread abroad bless- ings, but often evils; but the greatest good which truly through itself scatters the high

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est blessing is good from essential goodness. Whatever the cause such is the effect (or, more freely, the effect depends upon the cause); and hence the many good things which flow from a good treasure house." He was made a freeman, or voter, in 1667. He began to preach and was married, when, in 1678, he was invited to Woburn as a colleague pastor with Thomas Carter for one year. When the year had nearly expired he received a call from the inhabitants with a liberal sal- ary for those times. The call stated that he was "to be their minister for his life time." Thomas Carter died September 5, 1684, and the day of Jabez Fox's ordination as Carter's colleague is not recorded, but it is supposed to be shortly after his call, or sometime in November, 1679. The town agreed to build him a house, which was accordingly done. This house was a large one, and was occupied by him and his son, his successor in the min- istry, at Woburn, for about seventy-six years. It stood a long time after this period, and the writer has seen persons who remembered it.

Jabez Fox had undoubtedly the confidence and affections of his parishioners through life. His salary, as with other country min- isters, was commonly in arrears, and once to the amount of seventy pounds. This was cer- tainly unfair, but it may be blamed upon the pressure and poverty of those times. It was also due to the want of skill in managing fi- nancial affairs. Thus his life as a country minister was for the greater part an unhappy one, so far as money was concerned, and this state of affairs was still worse in the case of his son, as is shown in the sketch of that in- dividual. He also was engaged in the latter part of his life to teach the children of the town to write, and also to give instruction in grammar to such as needed it. But in neith- er of these engagements is there any mention of compensation, nor any record of receiving any; the object of the town being to evade the penalty of disobeying a law providing for a grammar school, and probably humbled by past experience in collecting money of the town he demanded nothing. It is probable also that he smoked tobacco, and he and two others in order to raise some of their own, were once gently reprimanded by the select- man for their illegal conduct in taking a small piece of land belonging to the highway for that purpose. He died of the small pox on the Sabbath, in the forenoon, in Boston, Feb- ruary 28, 1702-03, and was buried in Woburn, where his gravestone is still standing. He was aged fifty-six, and had been pastor of the

Woburn church twenty-three years. His widow, after a second marriage, died in her ninety-ninth year: her epitaph saying of her that she was a "woman of most exemplary virtue and piety ; rich in grace, ripe for glory." The town voted to pay her husband's salary for 1703, he dying when but four months of the year had expired. It is not known that he published anything. An abstract of two of his sermons have been printed. His resi- dence was in a part of the lot now occupied by the Woburn Public Library. Children: I. John, born at Cambridge, May 10, 1678, see forward. 2. Thomas, born at Woburn, July 6, 1680, died July 10, 1680. 3. Thomas, born November 13, 1681. 4. Jabez, born Decem- ber 2, 1684, married, March 8, 1705, Hannah Burroughs, daughter of Rev. George Bur- roughs. 5. Judith, born June 19, 1690, died 1690.

(III) Rev. John Fox, son of Rev. Jabez Fox (2), born at Cambridge, May 10, 1678, died at Woburn, December 12, 1756, aged seventy-nine years. He married Mary Tyng, who died at Woburn, February, 1764, daugh- ter of Hon. Edward and Elizabeth (Clark) Tyng, of Boston.

John Fox, M. A., was connected through his wife with some of the most prominent families in Massachusetts, at a time when the aristocracy in the Province was a power. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1698, and from 1700 to 1703, the time of his father's death, he was master of the grammar school in Woburn. He was next invited to become his father's successor as pastor of the church. He was ordained October 4, 1703, and re- tained the position of pastor until his death, December 12, 1756, in his seventy-eighth year. Long before the end of his ministry his health became impaired and he was often unable to preach. For fifteen years also before his death he was totally blind. It is said that not- withstanding these obstacles to his usefulness, he occasionally preached in public, and often instructed the youth of the parish in their re- ligious duties, who used to resort to his house for this purpose. This house was the same that was occupied by his father, and built by the town, and it stood on a site directly in front of the present Woburn Public Library building. His widow survived him about eight years, but no stone was ever erected to designate the spote of either his or her inter- ment. Rev. Timothy Alden, their great- grandson, who visited Woburn about 1814, is also authority for this statement concerning the gravestones. Alden was pastor of a

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church in Newark, New Jersey, president of a college, and author of the celebrated "Al- den's Epitaphs." Mr. Fox during his pastor- ate of the Woburn church had two colleagues. The first. Edward Jackson, ordained August I, 1729, died in office, September 24, 1754. The second, Josiah Sherman, ordained at Woburn, January 28, 1756, was dismissed from his charge at his own request, April II, 1775. The lack of harmony between Mr. Jackson and himself from the beginning of their connection resulted in a controversy, which for bitterness and hatred between the parties on both sides has rarely been equalled in New England. While its origin was ac- counted obscure, it is now plain from docu- ments which we will not cite that Mr. Fox was not primarily to blame. The same trou- bles about his salary which had afflicted his father were his also, only worse. The com- munity was oppressed by poverty, and had besides two ministers on its hands, when one was more than it could afford to support. One of them was elderly and ill, with a large family to provide for, and incapable of doing his full share of work. The other was young, unmarried, and ambitious, and not discreet with his tongue. The temperament of the in the town which desired the young minister latter was peculiar and he was also extrava- gant in his personal expenditure, and being single there were certain important families for a son-in-law. This added to the compli- cations. Charles Walker, of Concord, New Hampshire, who made researches in Woburn. about 1830, has left on record the fact that Miss Esther Poole, the only daughter of Jon- athan Poole, Esquire, of Woburn, whose wife (Mrs. Poole) was sole heiress of Colonel Eleazer Flagg, formed a "mutual attachment" for Joseph Burbeen, Mr. Walker's ancestor. The Pooles, however, disapproved of the match, wishing to have their daughter Esther married to Rev. Edward Jackson, who had then been settled about eight years as a col- league to the Rev. John Fox. The young couple finding their wishes likely to be thwarted, mounted their horses and fled to New Hampshire, where they were married October 8, 1736. So much for Mr. Walker. A very rare pamphlet published in 1750, and another still older printed in 1740, shows the bitterness of the long controversy which fol- lowed. In the former pamphlet is presented an exorbitant bill of Edward Jackson's against Jonathan Poole for sundries furnished during the period of his residence with the latter. This bill was aired in court. The Poole fam-

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Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume IV, Part 2

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed Publication date: 1908 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 912

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 912