History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1890, Part 35

Author: Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York : Blake
Number of Pages: 1292

USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1890 > Part 35

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Seth O. Ellis, born in 1822, is a son of Stephen, whose father, Frank, was a son of Frank Ellis. His mother was Hannah Raymond. He was a carpenter and builder until 1856, and since that time has been a machinist and plumber. In 1845 he was married to Eliza- beth Bennet. They have five children: Rose, Lizzie M., Stephen, Calvin and Charles H. B. They lost three children.

John C. C. Ellis, born in 1835, is a brother of Seth O. Ellis men- tioned above. He has been a blacksmith at Sandwich since 1853. He was married in 1857 to Eudora L. Godfrey, who died in 1877. Their children were: Carrie E. (born September 18, 1859, died June 7, 1864), William H. C., John F. and Mary E. He was married in June, 1879, to his present wife, Melissa M. Thurston, by whom he has one .son, Forest T. Mr. Ellis is a member of DeWitt Clinton Lodge.

Russell Fish, born in 1818, is a son of Silas, and grandson of Silas Fish. His mother was Keziah, daughter of Ebenezer Nye. Mr. Fish was a teacher until thirty years of age, and since that time has been

...

308

HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

a farmer. He was married in 1848 to Caroline C., daughter of Samuel Hunt, and has two children -- George R. and Arvilla M. Mr. Fish is a member of the Sandwich Methodist Episcopal church.

Henry W. Goodspeed, born in South Sandwich, is a son of Thomas, grandson of Walley, and great-grandson of Joseph Goodspeed. His mother was Lucy, daughter of John Howland. Mr. Goodspeed is a farmer. He has two sisters living-Sylvia and Lucy -- and a brother and sister deceased-Walley and Celia. He was married in 1874 to Mercy C. Chadwick, and has two daughters-Celia W. and Ida F.

CHARLES BASCOM HALL" was born in Sandwich, September 3, 1830, and died in the same town in the house where he was born, January 27, 1881, in the fifty-first year of his age. He was the only child of Jonathan Bascom Hall and Clarissa Sears, both of the lower Cape, who came early in their married life to Sandwich and were always counted among the most thrifty and respectable of the townsfolk. The Halls have been always men of business thrift and integrity, and come of good Pilgrim stock. Jonathan B. was a son of Jonathan Hall and Abigal Bascom. Abigal Bascom was sister of Rev. Jonathan Bascom, born in 1740 at Lebanon, Conn., graduated at Yale College, 1764, and settled at Orleans, 1772; where after a pastorate of thirty-five years, "an able minister, devoted to his work with pious heart, of a happy disposition, somewhat facetious, always kind." he died 1807. There has never been better blood on the Cape than the Sears', as the suc- cess of the family in literature and business in the country at large proves.

These facts of ancestry undoubtedly furnish the key to the unique and pronounced, and to say truth, the unusual character of their de- scendant, Charles Bascom Hall. The strain of his ancestry was strong upon him all his life. The writer of this memoir remembers him at seven years of age, as a red-cheeked, cheery boy, with large, brown eyes; lively, happy, always with some humorous joke behind his smile, and with a native good humor which kept peace with all his school- mates, unless under some sharp wrong which he was never backward in resenting in the fashion of sturdy and self-respecting boyhood. In his case, as his life showed, "the boy was father to the man." The events of a life, so gentle, and withal so useful as Mr. Hall's, are easily recorded, and in this case they all agree in revealing the nature of the man behind them. Educated both in the public schools of Sandwich and in the private seminary of Rev. Frederick Freeman, he entered at sixteen, as a clerk, the store of which he was soon afterwards owner, as he remained until his death. It was outwardly a drug store. It became, more and more, an office where he transacted a large and varied business. For twelve years he was postmaster, under both the

*By Rev. N. H. Chamberlain.

309

TOWN OF SANDWICH.

Pierce and Buchanan administrations; for many years justice of the peace, notary public, pension agent, the first treasurer of the Sand- wich Savings Bank, a director in the Barnstable County Fire Insur- ance Company. These public trusts unmistakably show in their num- ber the strength of the public confidence in his business integrity and ability. Another proof of the deep-rooted and abiding confidence of his fellow citizens in his public usefulness and integrity is found in the fact that though differing from the majority of them in his poli- tics, they elected him moderator of their March town meeting for nearly twenty years, an office which he filled with much dignity and success in the dispatch of town business. Two other facts in his citi- zenship complete his official record. He was a charter member of De Witt Clinton Lodge, A. F. & A. M. He was for his lifetime an inter- ested and active member of the First (Unitarian) parish in Sandwich, and gave both time and money freely for its support. In that ancient, mystical order of free masons, with its teachings of the brotherhood of man, and the equality of the good in the presence of the Great Architect of the universe, his friendly nature found a congenial home, where he could serve others according to the ethical laws of the order. As a member of the Sandwich parish, he merely carried out the law of his own Pilgrim ancestry as stated by Rev. John Robinson in his pathetic letter to his Plymouth brethren: "Accept and follow the truth wherever it may be found," and was a Unitarian both from tra- dition and conviction.

It is a truism hardly worth repeating, that every man isindividual, with his own mental, emotional, and physical make-up in which he differs somewhat from every other man. It was exactly in this make- up that Mr. Hall was unique and individual, though he still belonged to a class, though rather a small one, as we rate and estimate men. Mr. Hall was a well rounded man with virtue all round his character- what we usually call a well-balanced man.

Many men may have either as much intellect, or as much heart, or as much conscience as he, but it rarely happens that a man has so happy an adjustment and balance of these three gifts. For instance, some men are amiable and quiet in outward behavior because they have not intellectual strength enough to be greatly provoked at anything, or heart enough to be greatly moved by distress, or conscience enough to stand bolt upright against a wrong ;- mere negative men, whose mental impotency passes for the virtue of a peaceable character. It was the nice adjustment in Mr. Hall between head, heart, and con- science which became to those who knew him such a comfort and sat- isfaction. His ability in business was saturated by his kindness of heart. To help a poor Irish woman to get news of her absent son, to help a son to send a draft across seas to his mother, or a soldier to get

310

HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

back pay from the government, these and a thousand other unpaid and generally unknown services pleased his friendly nature, and his life was full of them. But on the other hand he stood firm by his principles in church and state, and the amiability of his nature had always for comrade a clear, strong brain. He had more in him to control than many, and he controlled and portioned out his nature better than some of us. His life therefore was, as the phrase runs, in good form.

Two points more, visible in a life like his, deserve mention. Such lives are the substances out of which human civilization is always recreating itself in a constant and peaceable development of human interests and affairs. Such men are the administrators, so to speak, of society. Other men may go down to the sea in ships, or out to bat- tle fields; may travel in foreign parts; may emigrate; may amuse themselves in the ten thousand nothings of an idle life ;- fed to satiety on luxuries of the cost of which they never earned a dollar -consume the world's wealth to which they never contributed any- thing,-and die, leaving nothing but a sad memory and a handful of dust and ashes.

Men of affairs like Mr. Hall, with patient industry, toil in their stated place; advise, provide, make investments, watch over funds in trust; save property in its ten thousand forms from loss or robbery -the driving wheels of the world's economy, and rest well in honor after their toil and vigil. Such lives remind one of that famous award of King David to his followers at the brook Besor: "But as his part is that goeth down unto the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff. They shall part alike."

It was in social life, however, that Mr. Hall's kind nature best revealed itself; for though naturally modest and retiring, he was fond of his old friends and their society. In his own American home, in that nursery of the best of our people. that powerful offset against public wrangle and corruption in high places, he was all that a good man should be, with less of human infirmity than most men show-a good husband and father, as in public life he was a good and useful citizen. He married, in 1855, Charlotte E. Lapham of Sandwich, and left one daughter. This memoir, while mention- ing the public loss and public sorrow, veils with silence the sacred memories of private sorrows greater than those which the world ever knows. Perhaps the words of the poet might justly be applied to the harmony and quality of Mr. Hall's life.

With his fine sense of right And truth's directness, meeting each occasion Straight as a line of light.

Among the gentlest of all human natures

١ -

الدولية جية

David N Golway

311

TOWN OF SANDWICH.

He joined to courage strong

And love outreaching to our dear Lord's creatures With sturdy hate of wrong.

Tender as woman: manliness and sweetness In him were so allied

That they who judged him by his strength or kindness Saw but a single side.

William Hamblin was born in 1818 and died in 1874. He was de- scended from Thomas', Thomas", Reuben3, Elkanah', James3, James ?. James Hamblin1, who came from England, and settled in Barnstable prior to 1640. Mr. Hamblin was a farmer, and resided near Spring Hill. He was married in 1844 to Rebecca K., daughter of William Atkins. They had three children-two sons, who died, and a daugh- ter, Ida F., who now occupies the homestead with her mother.

Elijah Hancock was born in 1820 in Boston, and resided for forty years in West Bridgewater. In September, 1876, he came to Sand- wich, and has since had charge of the town farm. He served in the war of the rebellion, in Company K, Third Massachusetts Volunteers. He was married in 1841 to Hannah E. Pool, who died in 1859, leaving three children: Elizabeth MI., Ella A. and Adaline S. He was mar- ried in June, 1860, to Julia H. Briggs, by whom he has one child, Julia A. He is a member of Charles Chipman Post, G. A. R.

George Hartwell, son of Hiram J. Hartwell, and grandson of Ste- phen Hartwell, was born in 1836 in Philadelphia, Pa. He has been a book-keeper, with the exception of a few years, when he was a mer- chant at Sandwich. He came to Sandwich in 1867, where he has since lived. Since February, 1882, he has been book-keeper for I. N. Keith. at Sagamore. He was selectman two years as a democrat. He was married in 1868 to Isabella G., daughter of Charles H. Chapouile, born in Boston in 1848. They have four children: Corinne, George, Han- nah and Norman.

DAVID N. HOLWAY .- Among the fifty families, who, after the first ten were the primitive settlers at Sandwich, came Joseph Holway, whose descendants since have, in every generation to the present time, been identified with the best interests of the town. Most of them have resided in the eastern portion of the town, near where, in 1637, their common ancestor secured a home. As a rule they have been tillers of the soil, and have from the first, been earnest adhe- rents of the Society of Friends. The name-sometimes written Holly-is frequently found among the officers of the town, and in the seventh generation from the pioneer we find David N. Holway, born 1839, attaining to a prominence which sheds luster upon this family name, and reflects credit upon the town which has sent out so many successful men. His father was Daniel Holway, who was born Sep- tember 2, 1800, and died in the May following his fifty-eighth birth-

-1

312

HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

day. Daniel's wife was Lydia, daughter of Stephen Nichols of Vas- salboro, Me. She was a woman of remarkable characteristics physi- cally, mentally and spiritually. Daniel's parents were Stephen and Reliance (Allen) Holway. Stephen was the son of Barnabas and Elizabeth Holway. Barnabas' father, Gideon, was a son of Joseph, and grandson of Joseph, the pioneer.

Such was the ancestry of David N. Holway, who as the oldest son had, added to the advantages of the Sandwich schools, a thorough training in the Friends' school at Providence, R. I. For six years after attaining his majority he labored as a teacher, and in 1866 and 1867 was chairman of the school board of Sandwich. In June, 1866, as special agent of the Provident Life and Trust Company of Phila- delphia, he began that remarkable career as a life insurance man, which is to-day the basis of his business prominence. He went to New York, in July, 1868, as the company's general agent, and trav- eled extensively through that State until 1873. In June of that year he became attached, as special, to the home office in Philadelphia, where he remained until 1878. Up to this time his promotions and success must be attributed to his inherent qualities of head and heart. At this time the company saw the need, in their New England busi- ness, of a manager who, himself a Yankee, might the better under- stand the special requirements of the Boston office. He was offered the position, and with G. C. Hoag, under the firm name of Hoag & Holway, became, in June, 1878, the company's representative in New England. Upon the death of Mr. Hoag, in 1886, Mr. Holway assumed the sole management of the general agency, the business of which has grown to large proportions under his care.

He has long been a thorough student of the principles and practice of life insurance, and his literary attainments have been indicated by several valuable treatises on the subject. One issued in 1885, entitled The World of Life Assurance, and another, entitled The Science of Life Assurance, which was delivered as an address in 1886 before a scien- tific class in Boston, have reached large editions. Early in 1887 he published, under a copyright, The Progress of Life Insurance in the World-1860-1887; giving two accurate tables of the amount in force, and amount of new business issued each five years throughout the world. He has since supplemented it, and it is now quoted every- where as authority. In November, 1888, he wrote Endowments-a scholarly exposition of the theory of that class of insurance, of which work forty-three thousand copies have already been issued. His po- sition in the insurance world was fittingly recognized in February, 1890, by his election to the presidency of the Boston Life Under- writers' Association-the pioneer organization of the United States, now numbering nearly one hundred members.

TOWN OF SANDWICH.

313

While pleasantly situated in the business world, Mr. Holway is equally favored in his domestic relations. His wife. Emeline J., whom he married in 1860, is a daughter of Captain Joseph Mitchell. Their three children are: Harlan P., E. Florence and John F. Holway. Mr. Holway has been a resident, since 1880, of the Dorchester dis- trict of Boston.

Augustus Holway, son of Alva, and grandson of Stephen Holway, was born in 1840. His mother was Lydia Freeman. He is a farmer. He served in the war of the rebellion nine months in Company D, Forty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers. He was married in 1863 to Helen F. Nye. They have one son, Jerome R., who was married in 1887 to Ella F. Ellis, and has one son, George A. Mr. Holway is a member of Charles Chipman Post, G. A. R. He is a member of East Sandwich Grange, P. of H., of which his son is also a member.

Barnabas Holway was born in 1819, and is the youngest of five children of Barnabas Holway, and a grandson of Barnabas Holway. His mother was Hannah Gifford. He has been a boat builder and farmer, and owns and occupies the farm where his father lived. He was married to Mary Ann, daughter of James Dillingham. She died in 1882. Mr. Holway is a member of the Friends' society of Sandwich.

Isaac W. Holway, born in 1856, is the only child of Joseph W6., who was descended from John', Barnabas, Gideon3, Joseph2, Joseph Hol- way'. His mother was Ruth F., daughter of James Ellison. Mr. Holway is a farmer. He was married in 1SS1 to Rosie J., daughter of William H. Morton.

Stephen Holway was the eldest son of Stephen Holway. He was married to Abbie W., daughter of Joseph and Deborah (Wing) Hoxie. Mr. and Mrs. Holway are both deceased. They had eight children, six of whom are living: George N., Deborah W., Lucy M., Edward W., Hepsibah W. and Lizzie A. The family are of the Friends' faith.

Thomas E. Holway', born in 1844, is a son of Russell', Stephens, Barnabas', Gideon', Joseph', Joseph Holway1. His mother was Caro- line Eldred, who died in 1867, leaving four children: Emily M. (Mrs. Alden C. Taylor, died in 1882), Thomas E., Frank R. and Joshua E. Mr. Holway was in the war of the rebellion in Company D, Forty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers, from September. 1862, to July, 1863. He was in the shoe business in Lynn from 1863 to 1868, and since that time has been a fruit and vegetable commission merchant in Boston. He was married in 1870 to Octavia S. Dundar, and has one daughter, Alice E. He is a member of Charles Chipman Post, G. A. R.

Edward B. Howland, son of Gustavus Howland, was born March 29, 1852. In 1869 he began to learn the machinist trade at Taunton, Mass., and in 1872 began work with the Taunton Tack Company, where he remained until 1879. In 1880 he started the Bay State tack

-------

314

HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

works at Sandwich, where he now lives. He is vice-president of the Sandwich Co-operative Bank, also trustee of Bay View Cemetery As- sociation. He was married in 1874 to Ellen F. Fuller, and has two children: George W. and Estella A. Mr. Howland is a member of De Witt Clinton Lodge, A. F. & A. M.

Gustavus Howland' was born June 20, 1823. He is one of ten chil- dren of Ellis Howland3, Lemuel', Ebenezer Howland'. His mother was Fear Crowell. He has been a contractor and builder for about fifty years. Since 1857 he has kept a lumber yard at Sandwich. In 1848 he was married to Clarissa Hatch, by whom he has had four chil- dren: Mary A., Edward B., Oscar and Frank L. Mr. Howland is a member of the Sandwich Congregational church.

Joseph Howland, born in 1819, is a son of James and Martha (Hop- kins) Howland, and grandson of David Howland. He is a farmer and owns and occupies his father's homestead. He was married in 1855 to Mrs. Sarah B. Worth, daughter of David and Hannah ( Bates) Greene, and granddaughter of Lemuel Greene. Mr. Howland is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Marston's Mills, and is a phohibi- tionist.

Nelson Howlands, born in 1855, is a son of Solomon C'., Ellis3, Lem- uel“, Ebenezer1. His mother was Adelia F. Hatch. Mr. Howland is a machinist by trade. He worked several years in Taunton, and since 1880 has worked in Sandwich. He was married in 1880 to Ada, daugh- ter of Ronald Macdonald. They have one daughter, Mary A.

Orrin H. Howland, born in 1854, is the eldest son of Freeman H., and he a son of James Howland. His mother was Love D. Fish. He has been a hardware merchant at Sandwich since 1876, and had been clerk and tinsmith here five years prior to that. He was married in 1879 to Sara C. Drew.

JOSEPH HOXIE is the sixth in lineal descent from Lodowick Hoxie, one of the proprietors of Sandwich. Just when Lodowick came to this town is not known: but the records of the town present his name in 1658 as one of the proprietors whose lands were bounded for rec- ord in the proper book. In 1661 he is again mentioned as refusing to assist Marshal Barlow, in the shameful arrests of that day, for which he was fined by the court at Plymouth. From such ancestry Joseph Hoxie came, and is a worthy and respected representative.

Lodowick's children were: Solomon, Gideon, Hezekiah, John, Joseph, Bathsheba and Content. Gideon's children were: Joseph, Simeon and Gideon. Of this number Joseph married Mary Clark of Rhode Island. Their children were: Clark, Barnabas, Cornelius and Mary. Barnabas Hoxie married Hannah Gifford of Spring Hill. Mass. Their children were: Gideon, Lodowick, Kezia, Christopher, Joseph, Mercy, Chloe and Mary. Of these, Joseph the youngest son, married

Jasaft Hexain

PRINT.

E MENSTAJT. & Y.

315

TOWN OF SANDWICH.

Deborah Wing of Sandwich town, and they became the parents of the subject of this sketch. Their children were: Hepsibah, Joseph, Abi- gail and Newell. Hepsibah married Daniel Swift of Falmouth, and died there in 1858. Abigail married Stephen Holway, jr., of Spring Hill, where she died September 24, 1859. Newell is mentioned more fully in chapter X.

Joseph, the only survivor of this generation was born October 29, 1798, at East Sandwich. He received a limited education from the common schools of the day, and assisted his father on the farm during his boyhood. In 1816. he went to Lynn to learn the details of the shoe trade, and in 1818 opened a shoe manufactory and store at East Sandwich. In 1822 he was in business in Sandwich village a few months. The same year he returned to East Sandwich, purchased the home of the late Joseph Nye and erected a building for a store and manufactory near the pond on the south side of the county road. This building stood opposite the old grist mill or, perhaps more prop- erly, opposite the present Grange Hall, and has been removed to the west of the house, where it still stands. In this primitive building Joseph Hoxie made the first morocco, kid and cloth shoes, in Barnsta- ble county. He took apprentices and his goods were sold throughout the county as well as Martha's Vineyard. The old store still presents the array of shelves, drawers, forms and patterns used by the proprietor nearly seventy years ago, and among other things preserved by the family, is the old sign of 1822, which bears the notice " Joseph Hoxie 3d, Gentlemen & Ladies Morocco & Kid Shoe Manufactory." In 1832-33 or thereabouts. Mr. Hoxie killed a destructive wolf-one of the last on the Cape-which in the three several towns of Sandwich, Falmouth and Barnstable, in the course of three or four years was. judged to have destroyed nearly three thousand sheep.

He married, October 8, 1823, Lucy S., daughter of Stephen and Rebecca Holway, of Spring Hill. She died, and October S, 1838, he married Mary, daughter of Barnabas and Hannah Holway, of the same place. The oldest living representative of these worthy par- ents is Henry N. Hoxie, one of the head masters of Haverford Col- lege Grammar School, near Philadelphia, Penn. In 1868 he married Sarah B. Boswell of Chesterfield, Morgan county, Ohio, who died at Germantown, Philadelphia, Penn., December 31, 1883. The other children are: Eben W., merchant at Worcester, Mass .; Lucy S., at home with her father; Elizabeth W., who married Justin A. Ware of Worcester, the secretary and treasurer of the Crompton Loom Works; Hannah G., wife of Rev. Charles W. Ryder of Providence, R. I .; and Abbie N. H., wife of Benjamin D. Webber of Beverly, Mass., the eastern freight agent of the Canadian Pacific and other railroads.

316

HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

After Joseph Hoxie's second marriage his time was almost wholly occupied with his farm and the official settlement of estates, some of which were unusually important. His name is connected with the adjustment of fifty estates in his native town and the vicinity. He never desired office but took an active interest in the body politic, and by the earnest persuasion of his many friends he acceptably filled the office of postmaster fourteen years, and those of assessor, selectman, school committee and overseer of the poor for several years, and during the gubernatorial period of Governor N. P. Banks he served two terms in the state legislature. On the eighth of October. 1888, Joseph and Mary H. Hoxie celebrated their golden wedding, at which nearly one hundred persons were present, and many more sent letters of kind greeting. The presents were numerous and valuable. Within one short month after this, on the sixth of November, the beloved wife and mother departed this life, leaving her aged companion to com- plete the journey alone. Her death was keenly felt by a large circle of her neighbors and friends. From the Barnstable Patriot of Decem- ber 7, 1888, one of the various papers in which the event was noticed, we make the following extract in regard to her: " Through fifty years of her wedded life she and her husband have gathered unto them- selves and household, friends whose love once there has never failed. With a large family to claim her care and strength, she was never too engrossed with it to fail to respond to any outside call of suffering, and shutting within her own heart her own sorrow, her rejoicing and her weeping have been with those who did rejoice and with those who wept. She possessed a rare grace and ability to welcome to and entertain her friends at her home, and many a lonely, homesick one has told her of the great strength of heart gained by the kindly greeting which she never failed to give. Her life has been a benedic- tion to all who knew her intimately or socially, and she has truly been a living gospel. She hath rested from her labors and her works do follow her.'

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1890, Part 35

Author: Deyo, Simeon L., ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: New York : Blake Number of Pages: 1292

Author: Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York : Blake
Number of Pages: 1292