USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Watertown > Historical sketches of Watertown, Massachusetts > Part 26
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In the First Parish, familiarly known as the Unitarian Society, he has for many years been moderator of its annual meetings, has always kept up an interest in its doings, has contributed liberally to its support, was greatly interested in the erection of the Unitarian Building for Sunday-school, for society and social uses, for which he solicited and obtained considerable contributions, and to the erec- tion and planning of which he gave most thorough and constant attention.
Dr. David T. Huckins was born the 24th of Feb., 1819, at Meredith, N. H. He did not pass through the regular undergraduate course at college, but is a graduate of the Medical Department of Dartmouth, at Hanover, N. H. He has practiced to some ex- tent as a regular physician, but has been better known for the many years of his residence in this town as a dentist. He has filled several important public offices. He was a member of the School Committee of the town in 1850, 1851 and in 1852-the year when it was decided to abolish the old district school system and establish a High School,-1853, 1855, 1856, 1857, 1865, 1866, 1867 and 1868. He was a member of the
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first Board of Trustees of Public Library in 1868, and its treasurer.
He is known in scientific circles for his large and fine collection of shells.
Dr. Luther B. Morse was born in Rochester, Vt., iu 1820, August 4th. He taught public school for six years in his native State, prepared for college at semi- naries in Castleton, Brandon and Montpelier, Vt. On account of poor health in early manhood, did not pursue a college course, but attended medical lec- tures at Dartmouth College, at the Vermont Medical College at Woodstock, and at the New York Univer- sity. He graduated in his native State at Vermont Medical College in 1845, and established himself in his professiou at Lowell, Mass. During his residence here he was city physician for two or three years, a director of the City Public Library, a member of the School Committee, and represented the city in the Legislature in the years 1853 and 1854.
He came to Watertown in 1862 and has had exten- sive practice during his residence in town. He was a member &f the School Committee in 1864-67 and in 1878, was town physician for a number of years, and a member of the Board of Health for one year. In 1863, after the second disaster at Bull Run, he, with thirty-three other Massachusetts surgeons and physi- cians, responded within thirty-six hours and reported themselves ready for duty at Washington for that special service.
While in Lowell and in Watertown he has been an active member of the Orthodox Church, holding the office of deacon for thirty-eight years.
Dr. Julian A. Mead was born in West Acton, Mass., in 1856 ; was fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Exeter, N. H .; graduated at Harvard College in 1878, and from Harvard Medical School in 1881, and spent two years in Europe at the Universities of Leipsic, Vienna and Paris in fitting himself for his professiou.
He came to Watertown in November, 1883, to assist Dr. Alfred Hosmer, whose practice in this and the neighboring towns had become too extensive for one man ; and since the illness of Dr. Hosmer in Decem- ber, 1888, he has succeeded to a large part of his prac- tice.
The present Board of Health was originated by him, and he was its first presiding officer, and, with Law- yer Sullivan, framed the rules and regulations which govern the board. In 1883 he was appointed by Gov- ernor Robinson a medical examiner for Middlesex County, which office he still holds. He was for three years assistant surgeon, and for two years surgeon of the Fifth Regiment, under Col. Bancroft.
Outside of his profession he has taken quite a promi- nent position, having served on the School Committee of the town for six years, for the last five of which he has been chairman. He is a member of the parish committee of the First Parish, and for two years has been the president of the Unitarian Club of this town. He is the member of the Wednesday Club,
and a member of the standing committee of the His- torical Society of Watertown.
Other physicians in town at present are Michael J. Kelley, Geo. A. Tower, E. True Aldrich, Charles S. Emerson, S. Adelaide Hall and W. S. Beaumont.
OLD RESIDENTS .- Mr. Samuel Walker was born in Langdon, New Hampshire, February 9, 1818. His father, Mr. Gilson Walker, a farmer of five or six hundred acres, raising large numbers of sheep with other stock, hay and grain, found time to serve his town for over thirty years as town treasurer. He was a son of Abel Walker, of Shirley, Massachusetts, whose father, Samuel, one of the eighty who responded to the Lexington alarm on the 19th of April, 1775, an enterprising citizen, treasurer of Shirley for a dozen years, was the great-grandson of Samuel Walker, sr., of Woburn, who was born in England in 1615, came with his father, Captain Richard Walker, to find a home in Lynn, in 1630.
Mr. Samuel Walker, the subject of our sketch, thus preceded by an honorable and trusted ancestry, some of whom distinguished themselves as pioneers in the settlement of New Hampshire, notably of Charles- town and Langdon, came to Boston in 1843, when he was twenty-five years old, and to Watertown for a home in 1854. He was at first engaged in the sale of country produce, say till 1859, since which time he has been engaged in the manufacture and sale of coal-oils. He was the second to import coal from Scotland-Downer was the first-for the manufacture of oil, before the discovery of the oil fields of Western Pennsylvania, which quickly supplied the market with crude petroleum. This had to be distilled and purified and prepared for use, a work for which the previous manufacture had led the way, but it soon came to revolutionize the artificial means of illumin- ating our homes and our shops, our factories and our streets, and in time, as it already cooks our food, will come to be the source of heat for steam-boilers and . locomotives, as in Russia, and will probably drive our dynamos for all electrical work.
Walker's high-test white oil, like Pratt's astral oil, is one of the best for illuminating purposes.
Mr. Walker has served the town of his adoption as selectman in 1877, 1878 and 1879; has represented the towns of Watertown and Belmont in the Great and General Court in 1881 and 1882. He was one of the benefactors of the Free Public Library in 1883, giving the sum of $4,500 towards the new building while disclaiming any patriotic or charitable motives, giving it, as he said, as "an investment in improve- ments to his own home." This fronts on the beau- tiful lawn surrounding the library building, but is separated by a dense line of trees, a street and the railway. He can see this lawn in summer, as any one in town can see it, by going around to the street in front of it.
Robbins and Curtis Family.1-" Mr. James Robbins
1 Compiled by Miss Martha Robbins.
-
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was a prominent and much respected citizen of Wa- tertown, who carried on various branches of manu- facturing, and was also interested in a country store. He died in 1810. He left a widow and a numerous family of children, with but a small estate, for in the later years of his life he was not very prosperous."
"He owned and lived in a large, old- fashioned house which stood on the bank of the river near the 'Square,' and just at the entrance of ' Watertown Bridge,'-an ancient bridge that led toward Newton."
He was a son of Mr. Solomon Robbins, who lived in Brighton.
Mr. James Robbins had three wives. His first wife's name was Warren, his second, Capen ; his third Lois White, sister of Jonas White. By his first mar- riage there were two children-Sarah and Ann Rob- bins. Sarah married Israel Cook. Ann married Francis Faulkner, who had a chocolate-mill that stood on the Island in Watertown. Then he removed to Billerica and established woolen-mills, which his de- scendants still own and carry on.
The children by the second marriage were Josiah, Lydia and Jonathan Robbins. Josiah was a man of considerable information, through travel and study acquiring different languages. A good part of his life was spent in Trinidad, where he married the daughter of an English officer. In the declining years of his life he lived in Carrollton, Kentucky, where he and; his wife died. From Mr. James Robbins' last marriage there were nine children. Lois Robbins, Martha, James, George and Isaac Robbins, were the only ones who grew to womanhood and manhood. Of these, Lois Robbins, the eldest of the nine chil- dren, married Captain Benjamin Curtis, the son of Dr. Curtis, of Boston. "Of this marriage there were two children, -Benjamin Robbins Curtis (see portrait on opposite page), born Nov. 4, 1809, and George Ticknor Curtis, born Nov. 28, 1812." Capt. Curtis died while his children were in their infancy. To their mother were they indebted for all they attained. Un- tiring in her devotion, counting upon their success, if by persistent effort and self-denial it could be attained, she had the reward in her old age of seeing all her hopes realized, both sons going through college with honors and excelling as lawyers - Benjamin being made judge of the Supreme Court; George distin- guished in law and literature. In the celebrated Dred Scott case, Judge Curtis will ever be associated as deciding that the negro was not a " chattel ;" but a citizen.
"The dissenting opinion of Judge Curtis, in the Dred Scott case, was greatly praised throughout the Northern States for the clear, learned and able man- ner in which it maintained the capacity of free per- sons of color to be ' citizens' within the meaning of the Judiciary Act, and for the power with which he asserted the authority of Congress to exclude slavery from the Territories."
" The first religions impressions of any man of dis-
tinction are an important item in an account of his life and character. Through life he was a man of very strong religious feelings and principles. They were derived partly from his mother and partly from the Unitarian influences which surrounded his youth."
"From his mother he was taught his sense of re- sponsibility to God, and ' the fear of God was the only fear under which he ever acted.'"
" His mind was enriched by learning, but not over- laid by it ; and to aim to appear learned was as foreign to his nature as any other form of pretence."
He began his professional career in Boston in 1834. " His moral sentiments and convictions were very strong ; but they lay deep beneath the surface, form- ing, like conscience, the unseen and silent guide of life."
" In his boyhood he spent much of his time with his ureles, James, George and Isaac. They were all engaged in a manufacturing business. But the eldest, Mr. James Robbins, was very fond of farming, and was a good amateur farmer. Through him, his agri- cultural tastes were imbibed in his boyhood, in the rural scenes of his native place and on his uncle's lands."
In the impeachment trial of President Johnson, Judge Curtis was regarded as " the one man in the country, by the President, Cabinet and his friends, who might possibly stay what they regarded as an attempt to crush the constitutional independence of a co-ordinate department of the government." To him they appealed. 'Twas decided according to the Constitution there should be a "trial," that the Senate should be a Court, the members of which should be under the sanction ofan oath or affirmation, and there should bea "judgment." By constitutional provision, and by established precedents, the accused was entitled to "the assistance of counsel for his defence. " In the selection of counsel to defend the President, the first name suggested was that of Judge Curtis, and accepted in full Cabinet, and emphatically by the President himself." "Judge Curtis had no personal acquaintance with Mr. Johnson, no interest in his political or personal fortunes, nothing but a sense of duty to lead him to accept the responsible position of leading counsel for the defence on this great trial." "It involved serious pecuniary sacrifices, for the President was unable to offer the smallest compensation, and Judge Curtis had a very lucrative practice." "The President had nothing to which to appeal in the mind of his advocate, but a conscious- ness that he might be able to do a service to his country, and this was sufficient." " The impeachment trial began before the Senate, on the 30th of March, 1868, the Chief Justice of the United States presid- ing." " It was believed that a large majority of the Senators were bitterly hostile to the President." Judge Curtis was to open the defence. He shared the anxiety that was felt by others on account of the hostility of so many of the Senators to the President;
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but when he rose to speak he manifested no solicitude was one of the members of the celebrated " Boston Tea Party," 1776), and remained on the farm with his father. In those days the ranches of Nebraska and Colorado were unknown, but Mr. White did a large business in cattle-raising on the farms of Petersham, Hubbardston, Princeton and other towns within fifty whatever. He knew that he could place the defence of the President upon unanswerable grounds of law, and that, when this had been done, his acquittal would depend entirely upon there being a sufficient number of the hostile Senators who were capable of rising above party and acting for their country. "That i miles of Boston. In company with Boston merchants Judge Curtis rendered a great public service, that he exported large quantities of beef to the West In- dies, and in this way acquired a handsome fortune.
when he had coneluded his address to the Senators, the acquittal of the President was substantially secured, and that nothing needed to be added to an argument which had exhausted the case, is the con- enrrent testimony of most of those who were present, or who have read the trial."
" He died in Newport, September 15, 1874. In Dr. Robbins' Memoir, read before the Massachusetts Ilistorical Society, is the following tribute to his character. "It does not admit of denial that Mr. Curtis' character bore that genuine stamp of great- ness which cannot be counterfeited or disputed, the test of which is the spontaneous recognition and homage of men. Everywhere, and at all times, on the bench, at the bar, in every assembly, whether large or small, in the most select company, and in general society, his presence was impressive and commanding. No man, however great, could look down upon him. Very few could feel themselves to be his peers. Most men, even those of a high order of mind and eharac- ter, instinctively acknowledged his supremacy."
" In one thing surely it will be allowed that he was great ; for throughout life he had been mindful of the prayer, and had received its answer, 'So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.' "
White Family .- One of the prominent men in Watertown in the early part of the century was Mr. Jonas White, who owned a large farm on which was a lovely wooded hill, which is now standing and is still called White's Hill.
Mr. White, on May 2, 1749, married Luey Stearns, and had four sons and one daughter. The daughter married Hon. Levi Thaxter, a lawyer in the town, and their son, Levi L. Thaxter, who died in the year 1884, was well-known in the literary cireles of Boston and Cambridge, as a man of culture and refinement, and also a very fine reader of the poetry of Robert Browning. His wife, Mrs. Celia Thaxter, is now one of the most prominent literary women in the country, being a beautiful writer of both prose and poetry.
Three of Mr. White's sons died at an early age. William, a young man of great promise, entered Har- vard College in the year 1807, but never graduated, as there was a rebellion in his elass, and all left or were expelled. He is said to have been a brilliant talker and a delightful companion. Jonas studied medicine but in consequence of an accident, gave up practicing. He died unmarried, as did both William A. and Josiah. Abijah, the eldest son, married Miss Ann Maria Howard (a daughter of Samuel Howard, who
He had six daughters and one son, William Abijah, who graduated at Cambridge in 1838, in the class with James R. Lowell, William W. Story (the sculptor), Nathan Hale, and other men of note.
William was of a most benevolent and philan- thropie disposition, and did a great work in Water- town in promoting the temperance cause. So much respected was he that, on his return to Watertown after a long absence, a publie reception was given him, and a silver cup presented, as an expression of respect and affection from the citizens. He was also very prominent in the abolition movement. He died in 1856.
Luey, the eldest daughter, married George Richard- son, whose father lived in the fine house which was afterwards converted into the Nonantum House at Newton. One of the daughters, Ann Maria, married James Russell Lowell, the poet, but she did not live long after her marriage. William Abijah married Harriet Sturgis. Lois Lilly married Dr. Estes Howe, of Cambridge. Mary Greene married Charles Wyllis Elliott, from Connecticut. Agnes Howard married Arthur Lithgow Devens. Caroline Gilman married Montgomery Davis Parker.
The old house, from which the most generous hos- pitality was dispensed by Mrs. White, who was beloved and respected by every one who knew her, is still standing in the village street, just beyond the park.
The Coolidge Family.1-This family is of great antiquity, traceable as far back as Edward the First (1300). The name was spelled in various ways, there being no fixed orthographic rules, and the mode was governed mostly by the sound. The practice derived from the Normans, in the tenth or eleventh century, of giving surnames from manors or localities, pre- vailed. William de Coulinge appeared in the roll of the hundreds as holder of lands in Cambridgeshire. The de was generally dropped from surnames about the time of Henry Sixth (before 1450).
The branch of the family from which those in this country descended was settled in Cambridgeshire, was of the landed gentry, and of great respectability. They adopted the name as now usually spelled.
JOHN, the youngest son of William Coolidge, of Cottenham, Cambridge County, England (baptized September 16, 1604), was perhaps one of the first settlers of Watertown, in 1630, although the date of his arrival has not been ascertained. He was admitted
1 By Austin J. Coolidge, H. C., 1847, and member N. E. H. & G. Society.
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freeman May 25, 1636, but that fact does not disprove a much earlier arrival, as none were admitted free- men until they became members of the church, yet were eligible to office upon taking the oath of fidelity, without admission either as church-members or free- men.
The homestead of John Coolidge was upon the highlands at the northwesterly side of Fresh Pond, and he acquired other lands in different localities. He was representative to the General Court in 1658, selectman thirteen times between 1638 and 1682, and was often engaged in the settlement of estates. His will, dated Nov. 19, 1681, was proved June 16, 1691. He died May 7, 1691, aged eighty-eight years, and bis wife, Mary (whose origin is unknown), died Aug. 22, 1691, aged eighty- eight years. In the ancient graveyard, under a stately elm, near the corner of Arlington and Mount Auburn Streets, two modest head -- tones of slate, about two feet in height, mark the burial spot of the united head of the family in America.
Their children were sons, John, probably born in England about 1630; Simon, born 1632; Stephen, born October 28, 1639; Obadiah, born April 15, 1642; Nathaniel, probably born 1644-45; Jonathan, born March 10, 1646-47 ; daughters, (probably) Elizabeth, born about 1634-35; and Mary, born October 14, 1637. Their father's will omits from mention son Obadiah, who died 1663, unmarried, and Elizabeth, who married Gilbert Crackbone, of Cambridge, June 17, 1656, and, after Crackbone's death, in January, 1671-72, married Richard Robbins, March 26, 1673, and died without issue, probably before date of her father's will. Mary married Isaac Mixer, Jr., and left daughters Sarah and Mary, remembered by the ancestor. Stephen married, but died in 1711 without issue, and his estate descended to his brothers and sister Mary's children. Thus, of the eight children, the perpetuation of the Coolidge name depended upon the four sons, John, Simon, Nathaniel and Jonathan. These men were among the most respectable citizens and left a numerous progeny. John had fourteen children (among them two pairs of twins); Simon had eight, Nathaniel had thirteen, and Jonathan had seven children, averaging more than ten each.
JOHN, the oldest son,1 was connected with operations in fortifying Brookfield, in King Philip's War in 1676, and was selectman six times between 1684 and 1690. There came very early among the settlers of Watertown, a feeling that there was not room for the population ; hence, migrations began. Many of the descendants of this man are found among the settlers of Sherburne, Natick and adjoining parts of Middelesex County. His son, Lieut. Richard, was representative of Water- town in 1722, and selectman eleven times from 1711 to 1728. Samuel, Richard's son was a graduate of
Harvard College in 1724, librarian in 1732, and chaplain at Castle Island. Other descendants-John, born 1753, was soldier in the Revolution ; Nathaniel kept a public-house at south side of Watertown bridge, from 1764 to 1770, and was selectman in 1777-78; Grace, daughter of Joseph, of Sherburne, married Joseph Ware, father of Ashur Ware, Harvard College, 1804, LL.D., Bowdoin, 1837, and judge of District Court United States for Maine; Carlos Coolidge was a graduate of Middlebury College, 1811, and was Governor of Vermont.
SIMON, the second son of the settler, appears to have been the progenitor, so far as is known, of all of the name now residing in Watertown, and of the larger proportion of the family here in preceding years. Some of his descendants in the period from 1780 to 1795 migrated to the region of Maine now called Jay and Livermore, and became numerous from that point eastward to Hallowell and Augusta, and southward to Portland. His son Joseph became one of the leading men in Cambridge, and was deacon of the church. The daughter of Joseph (Rebecca) married Rev. Edw. Wigglesworth, first Hollis Pro- fessor of Divinity in Harvard College ; son Stephen, graduate Harvard College, 1724; daughter Mary, married Rev. Samuel Porter, graduate Harvard Col- lege, 1730, and minister of the church in Sherburne.
SIMON, grandson of Simon, born 1704, purchased, in 1728, lands along what is now Grove Street. The house where he lived, demolished before the present century, was a short distance beyond the house known to the present generation as the old Coolidge house, which stood, until within three or four years, opposite to the residence of the late Deacon John Coolidge. The house second named may have been in existence prior to the purchase referred to.
Here lived Simon's eldest son, JOSEPH, born 1730, who was killed by the British troops April 19, 1775. The tradition is, that he was ploughing at the " Vine- yard " in the early morning-heard of the march of the King's troops, put up his cattle, took his gun, went to the village, fell in with a small company has- tening forward from Needham, and, heing more fa- miliar with the way, acted as guide. This small body of men met and was fired upon by the British flank guard at the high rocks in the edge of Lexington. Joseph Coolidge fell ! One hundred years after, the family erected a monument in memory of the event in the ancient grave-yard near the place of his burial, and near the spot also where he heard his country's call. Commemorative exercises were held on Dec- oration Day, May 30, 1875, a more genial day than the 19th of April had proved to be, whose wintry blasts contrasted strangely with the heat of that .day a century before. JOSHUA, the eldest son of this man of Lexington fame, helped on the earth-works at Dorchester Heights, where Washington's position suddenly induced the British to leave Boston. The grandsons, Joshua, Josiah, David and John, were
1 Bood connects John, the grandson of the settler, with King Philip's War, but he was then only fourteen years old; Stephen, a son of the settler, was also a soldier in that war.
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large land-holders, and among the best citizens of the generation just departed. A representative man, prominent among those still worthily sustaining the reputation of the family, is JOSHUA COOLIDGE, olde-t of the great-grandsons, who has served the town well in the arts of peace, on its School Board, and for many years a trustee of the Public Library.
NATHANIEL, the third son of the settler, was select- man in 1677 and 1692. He became owner of the wear and the fishery at the bridge, and of the tract between the river and Mill Creek. the mill and the dam, where now are the Hollingsworth & Whitney Paper-Mills, the Lewando Dye-House, and the Walk- er & Pratt foundry ; also purchased extensive tracts elsewhere, among them a fifty-acre lot, ninety-three acres and one hundred and seventeen acres, lying possibly on both sides of Mt. Auburn Street, some- where between Garfield Street and East Watertown. Among his descendants were great-grandsons Sam- uel, graduated Harvard College 1769, a distinguished classical teacher, and his brother, COL. MOSES COOL- IDGE. selectman in 1777, 1792. Persons still living remember his homestead, on what is known as the Frazer place, at East Watertown. Cornelius, a son of Col. Moses, was graduated Harvard College 1798, and a merchant in Boston. Gen. Jonathan Coolidge, of Waltham, selectman from 1791 to 1807, was a great-grandson. David Hill Coolidge, lawyer in Boston, is also a descendant.
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