USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Historical sketch of the town of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1622-1884 > Part 15
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Rev. Jonathan French, who was born in Braintree, Jan. 30, 1740. Dr. Richards died Jan. 25, 1755, at the age of forty-one.
DR. DANIEL FRENCH. - It is believed, on good au- thority, that Dr. French was born in Hingham about the year 1720,1 although the precise date cannot be estab- lished. The town records show his intention of mar- riage, Oct. 28, 1744. He married Mary Lane, of Hingham, and had nine children.
Children: -
I. ZETHAN, born in Weymouth, Aug. 4, 1745.
II. BETTY, baptized in Weymouth, Dec. 18, 1748 ; married Ichabod Pratt, June 5, 1773.
III. JOEL, baptized in Weymouth, Nov. 25, 1750; married Elizabeth Hobart, Sept. 20, 1793.
IV. SAMUEL, born in Weymouth, Dec. 12, 1753.
V. BELA, born in Weymouth, June 1, 1755.
VI. MARY, born in Weymouth, June 7, 1758.
VII. LYDIA, born in Weymouth, Feb. 19, 1761.
VIII. CECILIA, born in Weymouth, April 7, 1763.
IX. STEPHEN, born in Weymouth, Sept. 30, 1765.
He lived in East Weymouth, on the site of the house recently occupied by the late Samuel French, his grand- son, on Commercial Street, nearly opposite the foot of Grant Street. The present building is the third one built on the same spot. The death of the doctor, ac-
'Dr. Daniel French, son of Stephen and Abigail (Beale-French, was born in Hingham, date not on record. He was grandson of Capt. Stephen French, who was one of the most prominent men of Weymouth, and resided on what, until quite recently, was known as the Tufts place, on the corner of East and Green Streets, North Weymouth, and great-grand- son of Stephen French, the first settler of the name in that town. The family estate of the father of Dr. Daniel was upon both sides of the town line of Weymouth and Hingham, and he probably had dwellings in both towns; hence the confusion in the records. He was published Nov. 30, 1740, to Ruth Stowell, of Hingham, who died Aug. 6, 1742, without issue. He afterwards married Mary Lane, Jan. 3, 1745.
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cording to reliable private record, occurred in 1775, suddenly, while he was crossing a field near his house to visit a patient, at the age of about fifty-five.
DR. LAZARUS ANDREWS BEALE. - Dr. Ebenezer Alden, in his History of the Medical Profession in Nor- folk County, says, " The next physician in Weymouth, after Rev. Mr. Thacher, of whom any tradition remains, was Dr. Beale. He is said to have resided in the North Parish, near the Hingham line." Dr. Alden evidently did not have any definite knowledge of him, and what little knowledge he did have seems to have been ob- tained from Dr. Richards - Benjamin probably - and was traditional.
There was a Dr. Lazarus Beale, born probably about 1753, son of Deacon Lazarus Beale and Ruth, his wife, grandson of Lazarus and Susanna Beale, great-grand- son of Jeremiah Beale and great-great-grandson of John, the progenitor of the family in America.
Competent authority - Solomon Lincoln and George Lincoln - asserts that Dr. Beale, at one time, " lived in Newton, where he married Lydia Wheat. It is thought he afterwards moved to Hingham, as the records of that town show that two children were there born to him, viz .: -
I. MARTHA, born July 10, 1765.
II. DANIEL, born Sept. 27, 1767.
" The 'Cohasset Precinct ' records establish the birth of these and also of
ALPHEUS, born June 1, 1770.
LUSITANUS, born Sept. 15, 1772."
It is the opinion of Solomon J. Beale, Esq., that after the birth of the last child he removed to Weymouth from Cohasset. Nothing very definite can be estab- lished concerning him.
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Dr. Richards asserts that he sustained a " good char- acter as a citizen and physician."
It will be remembered that the house once occupied by Lazarus Beale, grandfather of the present Elias S. Beals, Esq., is still standing (1884) near the junction of Commercial and Essex Streets, North Weymouth, and is now owned and, till recently, was occupied by Mr. Martin Goodman.
The town records indicate the death of Lazarus A. Beale, Nov. 23, 1822, aged sixty-nine years.1
DR. COTTON TUFTS. - Hon. Cotton Tufts, A. M., M. D., M. M. S., A. A. S., was born in Medford, Mass., May 31, 1731. Peter Tufts, his great-grandfather was one of the first settlers of that town, and was its representative at the General Court about 1684. He had a son, Captain Peter, whose son Simon was born Jan. 31, 1700. This son received a liberal education, graduating from Harvard College in 1724, studied medicine and practised in his native town, where he held several positions of trust.
This Dr. Simon Tufts had two sons, - Dr. Simon Tufts, Jr., who succeeded to his father's practice and occupied the old homestead; and Dr. Cotton Tufts, the subject of this sketch. In the fourteenth year of his age, Cotton was admitted a member of Harvard College, graduated in 1749, and took his second degree in 1752. After graduation he taught school successfully, for a
1 The above record is evidently greatly confused. If Lazarus A. was born, as his death record asserts, in 1753, he could not have been the father of the children attributed to him in Hingham and Cohasset. By the Weymouth record he was married Oct. 29, 1776, to Bethiah Lewis who died Aug. 5, 1809, aged forty-nine years. Children: -
I. LYDIA, born in Weymouth, June 10, 1782.
II. ELIZABETH, born in Weymouth, July 11, 1785.
III. LEWIS, born in Weymouth, Oct. 13, 1793.
IV. ELIAS, born in Weymouthı, Nov. 13, 1796.
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time, and then turned his attention to the study of medi- cine, which he pursued under the direction of his elder brother. He graduated in due course, and shortly after- wards settled in Weymouth. As a practitioner of med- icine he was faithful, considerate, courteous, kind and sympathetic. His professional labors in his early and meridian life were extended and exacting. They were not confined to his own immediate territory, but were sought for and freely given to those at a distance. He labored for the spiritual as well as the temporal good of his patients. Even in his more advanced age, while engrossed with other cares and duties, he still found time to aid his professional brethren in difficult cases and to give a kind word of advice and cheer to the younger physicians around him. He was one of the original members of the Massachusetts Medical Society, was chosen vice-president and in due course of time became president, which office he held from 1787 to 1793, discharging the duties of that office in an efficient and acceptable manner. In social life he was distin- guished by urbanity of manner and courteous address. in conversation he was pleasant, interesting, and instruc- tive. In the domestic circle he was the pleasant com- panion, the instructive friend, the kind husband and father. During the Revolutionary war his ardor, activity and zeal in the public service were conspicuous on many occasions.
He was an exemplary Christian, and for more than forty years was deacon of the Old North Church in Weymouth. He was one of the trustees of Derby Academy, Hingham, and for several years president of the board. He was president of a society for moral reform, - probably a temperance organization, - then existing. He was an honored member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He was for many years State senator, and in that
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position was firm, patriotic and influential. Hc was appointed a member of the convention for adopting the Constitution of the United States. As was remarked by the Rev. Jacob Norton, his pastor, in his funcral sermon, "he was a man of general erudition and attain- ment to no inconsiderable eminence. His researches were various and extended, judicious and accurate. He was an ardent Federalist, and happy had it been for our country in times past had its citizens in general been Federalists, or, to usc a more appropriate term, Federal Republicans of this description."
No physician ever settled in Weymouth acquired a more extended and enviable reputation than Dr. Cotton Tufts. A man of strong character by nature, cultured and educated under the most refining influences, his power was felt by all the community in which he dwelt.
He stood before them the urbanc, old-school gentle- man, the type of which has long since died out from among us, he being, perhaps, its latest representative.
Like a faithful servant, his duties all done, he rests from his labors, and his works do follow him.
He died Dec. 8, 1815, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. His residence was very near the spot on which now stands the house of the Hon. James Hum- phrey, near the depot, North Weymouth. He married, first, Dec. 2, 1755, Lucy Quincy, of Braintree (now Quincy), by whom he had one child: -
COTTON, born in Weymouth, Aug. 4, 1752.
Mrs. Lucy Tufts died Oct. 30, 1783, aet. 56 years; and Oct. 22, 1789, Dr. Tufts married, second, Mrs. Susanna Warner, of Gloucester.
DR. JAMES TORREY was born in Ashford, Conn., in 1756. His first employment was tanning of hides. He afterwards studied medicine, and began its practice in
.
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Lebanon, Conn. He then removed to Nantucket, and continued to practise in his profession there. There he married Deborah Fitch, daughter of Gorham Fitch, of Nantucket. He served six weeks as surgeon's mate in the war of the Revolution. He was also at one time surgeon of the Second Regiment, First Brigade, First Division, Massachusetts Militia. His commission was dated Sept. 3, 1800. His discharge bore the date June 16, 1812.
He removed to South Weymouth in the year 1783, and settled on a spot at or near the corner of Pleasant and Union Streets.
He is described as " a small man, with a dark com- plexion, hazel eyes, and a very strong hand to pull out teeth." Dr. Torrey was the seventh of seven sons, and like all seventh sons, in those days, was supposed to have peculiar, not to say miraculous, powers in curing " king's evil," by the laying on of hands or "touch," though in his latter days he entirely discontinued this kind of treatment. He was, however, particularly suc- cessful, as it is said, in this disease and also in " throat- ail," and had patients from Boston and other places, who boarded in his family to receive treatment.
For more than thirty years he was the only physician in South Weymouth, where he acquired a fair business. He died Dec. 16, 1817, aged sixty-one years. He left seven children : - 1
I. JAMES GORHAM, born in Lebanon, Conn., Jan. 17, 1779, who married Susan White.
II. SARAH, born in Nantucket, Aug. 23, 1783, who married Elijah Bates.
1 Dr. James Torrey was the son of James and Sarah (Nash-Torrey, born in Ashford, Conn., after the removal of his father from Abington, Mass. He was the son of Deacon Micajah and Sarah Torrey, grand- son of Deacon Micajah and Susanna Torrey, and great-grandson of Captain William Torrey, who settled in Weymouth in 1640, and becam one of its most distinguished citizens. He was the celebrated "clerk of the deputies " for many years.
13
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SKETCH OF WEYMOUTH.
III. SUSAN, born in Weymouth, Nov. 10, 1785, who married Amos Merritt.
IV. REUBEN (Rev.), born in Weymouth, April 3, 1789, who settled in Connecticut.
V. NANCY, born in Weymouth, Sept. 10, 1790, who married Amos Merritt (his second wife).
VI. LUCINDA, born in Weymouth, June 4, 1793, who married Edward Blanchard.
VII. LAVINIA, born in Weymouth, March 25, 1795, who married Reuben Burrell.
VIII. A boy, not named and not recorded.
DR. THOMAS VINSON' was successor to Dr. Torrey and for a time contemporary with him. But few par- ticulars in regard to him can be ascertained. He was born, June 8, 1756, and died probably about 1840. He lived in South Weymouth, on the spot now occupied by Mr. Edward Rosenfelds' new house. He was at one time colonel in the Revolutionary army. He is said to have been a learned man and acquired a large practice, but eventually became dissipated.
DR. JAMES LOVELL? was born Jan. 1, 1768. He lived in an ancient but, for his time, imposing house on Neck Street, North Weymouth, near the junction of this
1 Col. Thomas Vinson, son of John and Sarah (Colson-Vinson, was born in Weymouth, June 8, 1756, and died Jan. 12, 1841, at the age of eighty-five years. He was the descendant of an old and prominent family in the town which sprung from London and came here in the latter half of the sev- enteenth century. He was a mathematician of no mean ability, and made the calculations for almanacs for several years. He married, Jan. 27, 1782, Hannah, dau. of Samueland Elizabeth (Shaw-Holbrook, born in Weymouth in 1760, and died Nov. 28, 1788, aged twenty-eight years and six months. Children: -
I. WARREN, born in Weymouth, Sept. or Oct. 5, 1782.
II. SUSANNA, born in Weymouth, June 1, 1784.
III. BETSEY, born in Weymouth, Dec. 25, 1785.
IV. THOMAS WARREN, born in Weymouth, Nov. 28, 1788.
2 Dr. James Lovell was son of General Solomon and Hannah (Pittey- Lovell, and a descendant of Robert Lovell, who came to Wcymouth in 1635, with Rev. Joseph Hull. He inherited his father's homestead and one of the finest properties of that time in the town.
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street with Green Street. He was born, lived and died in this house, and his remains were buried in the family tomb, which was demolished when the road was made to Pilgrim Wharf some years since, when they were removed to the old North Cemetery and finally placed there in the family tomb. He was the son of General Solomon Lovell, the commander of the land forces in the Penobscot expedition, whose original journal con- stitutes the first published document of the Weymouth Historical Society. He married, Nov. 8, 1798, Widow Winch, whose maiden name was Priscilla Ford. He entered Harvard College, but before completing the course of study left to go " down East " to attend to a vessel belonging to his father. He studied medicine with Dr. Thaxter, of Hingham. He did not enjoy its practice or pursue it to any great extent, as he was wealthy and was much engaged on his farm and in town business. He died April 8, 1820. He had no child.
DR. NOAH FIFIELD was the son of Ebenezer and Mary (Sanborn-Fifield, and was born at East Kingston, N. H., July 22, 1783. He studied medicine under the direction of his uncle, Dr. William Sanborn, of Fal- mouth, Me., and afterwards pursued his studies under the care of Dr. Nathan McKingstry, a Scotch surgeon of Newburgh, Vt. He attended medical lectures at Boston, in 1804. The next year, 1805, he commenced the practice of medicine in Maine, but soon returned and settled in Weymouth, June 12, 1806. He was welcomed cordially by the venerable Cotton Tufts, who took a great interest in him, and advised and befriended him in his youthful days. He was for sixty years a physician in this village of his adoption, and won for himself a high character for ability.
Dr. Howe, his contemporary for many years, says of him: " As a citizen and a neighbor it is believed that
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he sustained a character above reproach. As a physi- cian he brought to the aid of his patients a sound and vigorous mind, well stored with professional knowledge and an aptness in the investigation of disease which rendered his opinions of great value to the sick and of great weight with the members of his profession." He was a man of sound judgment, few words, and dignified in his bearing. He was successful in his profession pecuniarily, believing that the physician, like every other person who depends for his support upon his profes- sional or mechanical efforts, is worthy of a just and honest remuneration for his exertions, and that he should not be defrauded of them in the one case more than in the other. He was earnestly engaged in the temperance reform and labored for its success.
He was admitted a fellow of the Massachusetts Medi- cal Society in 1807, and was for several years one of its councillors. In his latter days he relinquished entirely his practice and resided for a few years with his son in Dorchester. When quite advanced in life, he married Hannah Cranch Bond (date of publishment June 16, 1820), and they were the parents of three children: -
. I. GEORGE FORDYCE, born April, 1822 ; died Nov. 15, 1846.
II. MARY S., born March 27, 1824 ; died Aug. 17, 1845.
III. WILLIAM C. B., born Aug. 27, 1828.
He died Oct. 21, 1867, and was buried from the old church, where he used to attend services, in the family lot in the village cemetery, Weymouth, aged eighty-four years. His wife was born in Portland, Me., April 13, 1787, and died in Dorchester, Mass., March 8, 1870, aged eighty-two years and ten months, and was buried by the side of her husband.
HON. DR. APPLETON HOWE, major-general Massa- chusetts Volunteer Militia, was the son of Rev. Nathan- iel and Olive Howe, of Hopkinton, Mass. He was born
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in that town, Nov. 26, 1792. He was fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, and entered Harvard Col- lege in 1811, graduating therefrom in 1815. He stud- ied medicine at the Harvard Medical School, under the supervision of Dr. John C. Warren, receiving his diploma in 1819. He received a formal invitation from the citizens of South Weymouth, through a committee of twelve of the leading men in the place, to settle with them "in the practice of physic and surgery." He came to Weymouth in September of 1819, and for forty-seven years had no associate and scarcely a com- petitor. For the last three years he was associated to some extent with Dr. Tower. In the fiftieth year of his practice he withdrew from active medical work, but still occasionally went out in consultation.
Dr. Howe was a man of great physical as well as mental power, and performed to the last an amount of labor that very few of the younger members of the profession were able to do.
He had the happy faculty of taking things easily, which enabled him to rest when not actively engaged, though surrounded by exciting circumstances; yet he was always careful of the welfare of his patients, caring for them assiduously by night and by day.
He held many distinguished positions in military life. He was a member, and for some time commander, of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He was chosen surgeon of the Second Regiment, First Brigade, Second Division, of the Massachusetts Mili- tia; also adjutant and colonel of the same. He was brigadier of the First Brigade, and afterwards major- general of First Division of Massachusetts Militia.
He also received civic honors, and was senator from Norfolk County during the years 1841, 1842, 1843.
He was a member of the school committee for many years, and for some time its chairman, and upon his
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resignation received a formal vote of thanks from the town.
He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and at one time president of the Norfolk District Medical Society. He was an ardent sym- pathizer with the anti-slavery movement from its in- ception. When, in order to do honor to the memory of an officer of the army from Massachusetts, who fell in the Mexican war, he was requested to order the officers of the First Division of militia, of which he was then commander, to attend the funeral, he refused to comply, because he considered the object of that war to be the extension of slavery. In consequence of this refusal, he received the severest reproaches and con- demnations of the pro-slavery party at the North, and the maledictions and reviling of the slave-holding powers at the South, sent to him in letters of the foulest and most scurrilous character.
It may be interesting to know that in his early days he taught school in various places; among them, in the "Iron works district," Braintree, and boarded at Colonel Minot Thayer's; and through the influence of this gen- tleman he was introduced to the notice of the citizens of South Weymouth.
He married for his first wife, shortly after coming to town, Dec. 12, 1821, Harriet, daughter of Eliphalet and Anna Loud, who was born in Weymouth, Feb. 8, 1795, and died Nov. 16, 1848, in her fifty-fourth year, without issuc. After her death he married Eliza, daughter of Joseph and Thankful (Bates-Loud, of the North vil- lage, born May 9, 1812, who, with one daughter, still survives. The issue of this marriage was one daughter and one son, viz .: -
I. HATTIE, born Dec. 18, 1852.
II. APPLETON L., born Feb. 20, 1854; died Nov. 23, 1856.
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He died in his own home, Columbia Street, South Weymouth, Oct. 10, 1870, and was buried in the family lot in the Highland Cemetery.
DR. JACOB RICHARDS was the son of Jacob and Lydia (Colson-Richards. He was born in Weymouth, June 24, 1795. He obtained his early education in the public schools of Weymouth, fitted for college and entered Brown University in 1820, receiving his degree, A. B., in 1824.
During the winter months, while in college and even after he graduated, he taught school to gain his support. He studied medicine under the direction of Dr. J. C. Warren, of Boston, and, after receiving his diploma, set- tled in Hanover, Mass., about 1833. He was admitted a fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1840.
He removed to Weymouth in 1856, where he re- mained for one year, residing in the house now occu- pied by F. W. Lewis, Esq. He then removed to East Braintree, where he lived till his death.
He married, 1834, Elizabeth Gardner Wolcott, daugh- ter of Rev. Calvin Wolcott, rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Hanover, Mass. Their children were as follows: -
I. AUGUSTUS J., born Sept. 20, 1835.
II. GEORGE C., born Jan. 18, 1838.
III. SARAH ANN, born Feb. 5, 1840.
IV. SUSANNAH LINCOLN, born Sept. 20, 1843.
V. MARY GARDNER, born April 1, 1846.
He died Jan. 2, 1861, and lies buried in the Ashland Cemetery.
DR. DAVID TORREY was the son of Deacon Samuel and Dolly (Blanchard-Torrey, and brother of Noah Torrey, Esq., of South Weymouth. He was born June 29, 1793. He obtained his preparatory education in the Weymouth schools, and graduated from Brown
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University in 1819. In 1823 he married Maria Still- man Balsh, of Boston. He practised for a time in Holbrook, and in Hanover, and removed to South Weymouth in 1840, remaining there until 1855, when he removed to Joliet, Ill. While in Weymouth he lived on Union Street, in a house belonging to the estate of Mr. Orren Shaw. He died in Joliet, Aug. 14, 1870.
Their children are: -
I. MARY J., born Oct 23, 1825.
II. SAMUEL S., born June 14, 1827 ; died July 2, 1882.
III. CHARLOTTE I., born Feb. 23, 1829.
IV. DAVID F., born Feb. 24, 1831 ; died Aug. 15, 1853.
V. EDWARD M., born Nov. 15, 1855.
DR. TIMOTHY GORDON was not very dissimilar in his personal characteristics, mental and physical, from his contemporaries, Drs. Howe and Fifield. A man of strong convictions, weighing carefully those matters which demanded his consideration, and when his opin- ion was once formed, so tenacious and uncompromising that no earthly power could turn him from the course which he believed to be right. He was born at New- bury, Mass., March 10, 1795. It is believed he was prepared for college at Exeter, N. H., and he received his degree, A. M., from Amherst in 1868. He obtained his M. D. from Bowdoin in 1825. He came to Wey- mouth in the same year, and continued here in practice for twelve years, residing at North Weymouth, in the house now occupied by Henry A. Nash, Esq. He then removed to Plymouth, where he remained till his death, Nov. 5, 1877.
He married, May 12, 1825, Jane Binney Jones, of Hingham, daughter of Solomon Jones, and had two children : -
I. SOLOMON J., born at Weymouth, Sept. 24, 1826.
II. TIMOTHY, born at Weymouth, April 16, 1836 ; died April 19, 1836.
1
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DR. JOSEPH DORR came to Weymouth in 1836. He remained here but a very short time. He did not own real estate here, but boarded with Captain Hervey Cushing, North Weymouth. He married the widow of Mr. Robert Bicknell, sold out his practice to Dr. Learned and removed to Philadelphia, Pa., where he died some years since. His widow survives him, and is a resident of that city. They had no children.
DR. EBENEZER TURELL LEARNED succeeded Dr. Dorr. He was born in Gardner, Mass., July 19, 1812. He had the usual common-school education, and pursued his more advanced studies under private instruction. He received his medical education partly in the Medical Department of Dartmouth College and partly in the Harvard Medical School. He received his M. D. in 1836, and came to Weymouth the same year. He pur- sued his profession in the North village for ten years, and then, in 1846, removed to Fall River, where he still resides, broken down in health and entirely unable to attend to professional duties. For some years he was one of the councillors of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and for two years president of the Bristol South District Society. He married Mary Matilda White, of Ashburnham, Mass., May 14, 1835. Their children are: -
I. SARAH M., born Sept. 19, 1836.
II. SUSAN T., born Nov. 4, 1839.
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