History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 182

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 182

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The subject of this sketch was a worthy son of such a father, and it was a family which had been promi- nent in New England. The earliest immigrant an- cestor was Thomas Bradbury, who came to New Eng- land in the year 1634 as the agent of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and after a few years' residence at Agameuti- cus, now York, Maine, settled in Salisbury, Mass., where he was long prominent in the affairs of the town, county and colony. "His hand-writing, pre- served in the colony records, has been admired for clearness, elegance and force, having no superior in our colonial archives. In every generation of his de- scendants there has been one or more prominent in public office." There are strong reasons for believing that Thomas Bradbury, of Salishury, was a son of Wymond Bradbury, of Wicken Bonant in Essex, of the same family as Sir Thomas Bradbury, who, in 1500, was mayor of London, and that his mother was a niece of Archbishop Whitgift.

Mr. Bradbury's youth was spent in his native town, where he received a good English and classical educa- tion at the public schools, and also at the Dummer Academy in the adjoining town of Newbury, while this institution was under the charge of Nehemiah Cleveland, LL.D., recently deceased. In Newbury- port he was, at one time, a pupil of Albert Pike, the poet, lawyer and confederate general, who, in his old age, is a resident of the capital of the country.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

One of his earliest schoolmates and most intimate friends was Rev. George Wildes, D.D., who was in the same class in the High School, in the Latin Depart- ment of which, under Roger S. Howard, they occu- pied neighboring desks and formed a life-long friend- ship, and Dr. Wildes said of his friend that the sight of a mathematical problem was to him an inspiration, that he was well grounded in historical studies and had a love for the English classics.

In April, 1835, in his seventeenth year, Mr. Brad- bury entered Dickinson College at Carlisle, Penna., where he studied three years, leaving college in April - 1838, after completing his junior year. On leaving college he visited Philadelphia, but soon returned to his native town, and engaged in teaching for several years.

On the 28th of August, 1843, he was married at Gloucester to Miss Sarah Ann Hayes, daughter of Daniel and Abigail (Sargent) Hayes, a lady of culti- vated tastes, who appreciated and encouraged his studies, and made his home pleasant and attractive.

In May, 1849, he went to Boston, and soon after received an appointment to the second clerkship in the State Treasury, and on the resignation of the chief clerk, in December, 1850, he was advanced to fill the vacancy. Very soon after this promotion, he engaged with Messrs. Gilmore, Blake and Ward, bankers, as their accountant, which position he held through va- rious changes of the firm to the summer of the year 1868. when his interest in the house ceased, and he retired with a competent fortune. Mr. Bradbury's tastes and attainments fitted him for the banking busi- ness, and he applied himself assiduously to its duties, but during his leisure hours he cultivated his liter- ary tastes, his favorite reading, his history and belles- lettres.

Joseph E. Brown, Esq., of New York, who was in the banking-house with him, wrote the following, which characterizes him in his business :

" Mr. Bradbury's mine was eminently of a mathematical and ana- lytical cast ; and in almost every conversation and discussion, whether upon literature, art, science, or religion, the tendency 'to analyze was apparent. Mr. Blake used to say frequently, that Mr. Bradbury under- stood the relations of figures better than any man he knew ; and the fa- eility he displayed in mathematical calculation was surprising. The following incident will illustrate. On one occasion, the State of Massa- chusetts, being about to issue a new loan, submitted, through the State Treasurer, certain questions, the answers to which involved some very nice calculations. In order to secure accuracy in the matter, Mr. Blake handed the questions to three clerks, Mr. Bradbury, Mr. Harris and my- eelf, and requested that we work out the problems independently. The following morning Mr. Harris and myself appeared each with a formid- able bundle of paper containing our calculations. Mr. Bradbury, how- ever, quietly took from his pocket two half sheets of note paper, on which he had worked out, by the use of logarithms, the problems which had cost his junior clerks quires of paper and the midnight oil. He had frequent recourse to algebraic solutions of problems.

"On one occasion, the examination of a foreign account, embracing many hundreds of items, resulted in a discrepancy of just one penny. I think Mr. Bradbury and myself devoted the greater part of ten days to a vuin search for the error, so that finally, utterly vexed and out of pa- tience, I threw down the account declaring that I would pursue the matter no further. I remember distinctly the noruffled manner of our friend on taking up the account and saying, "Joseph, the error is some-

where, and can be found." He quietly, and I need hardly say success- fully, continued the examinations."

In September, 1868, Mr. Bradbury, accompanied by his wife, took passage for Europe. They travelled in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, the Ty- rol, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. In London they met his friend and correspondent, the late Hor- atio G. Somerby, Esq., like himself a native of New- buryport, who was of much assistance in directing them to the points of interest to be visited, and in whose society they spent many pleasant evenings during their stay in that city. Soon after Mr. Brad- bury's arrival, he obtained, through Mr. Somerby, a reader's ticket at the British Museum, and, at a later period, to the department of Literary Inquiry in the principal registry of Her Majesty's Court of Probate, commonly called Doctors' Commons. After he had become weary with sight-seeing, he spent much time in historical and genealogical research at these two institutions.

While at London he made several excursions into the country, especially to places where his ancestors lived or which had a special interest to Americans,- Boston, in Lincolnshire, and Wicken Bonant, in Essex, where his emigrant ancestor is supposed to have been born.

On the ISth of November, 1868, Mr. Bradbury left London, and the same evening arrived in Paris, where he remained till the following spring, and then returned to London. On the 31st of August he again left London on a brief tour. After travelling a few weeks in Ireland and Scotland he returned to Eng- land, arriving in York on the 23d of September. As several of the early settlers of Essex County, from whom he had descended, came from Yorkshire, he remained there nearly a week, employing much of his time in genealogical researches. From York he went to Hull, and also visited other places in the country of genealogical interest to an Essex man, and on his way to London he spent one day in Oxford.

The following winter he visited the continent and saw Rome and Naples, and ascended Vesuvius, re- turning to England in the autumn. In the spring of 1870 a lameness came upon him which at first he did not suppose to be serious, but it was more than the sprain which he considered it, and resulted in the necessity of amputating his foot.

He returned to this country in July, 1871, and re- sided in Boston till the next spring, when he pur- chased an estate in Ipswich, where he resided till his death. His residence was near the summit of Town Hill, from which the fine view is obtained, which his friend, the Rev. Mr. Nason, paints in such vivid colors. Here he died on Tuesday morning, March 21, 1876, in his fifty-eighthi year, leaving a widow but no children.

In his will he left one thousand dollars to his na- tive city, for the benefit of its public library, and two thousand dollars and certain stock securities to the

yours Truly I. S. Rust

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New England Historic Genealogical Society. Both these bequests have been funded and named "The Bradbury Fund."

Mr. Bradbury was admitted a resident member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, April 11, 1858, and in 1863 he made himself a life- member. From 1863 to 1867 he served on the com- mittee on finance, and from 1867 to 1870 was one of the board of directors. In 1860 his eminent fitness for the position induced the nominating committee to tender him the office of treasurer, and he took the matter into consideration, but finally decided that he would not have the requisite leisure to perform the duties of the office. He was also a member of the Prince Society of Boston, and the Essex Institute of Salem.

Mr. Bradbury published "The Bennet Family of Ipswich," and "The Whitgift-Bradbury Family," " A Memoir of Horatio Gates Somerby," and a nnm- ber of shorter articles in the Historical and Genealogical Register. No better summing up of the character and tastes of Mr. Bradbury can be given than that of his friend, Charles W. Tuttle, Esq., who has himself since died, and who was a man of rare discrimina- tion though ardent in his friendships. Mr. Tuttle says :

"I became acquainted with the late Mr. Bradbury while I was living in Newburyport about twenty years ago. His intelligence, frankness, and gentle manners attracted me to him at once ; and I saw much of bim after I came to Boston, where he was then living.

" While he was familiar with a wide range of subjects, being a con- stant reader, there were two on which he most frequently disconrsed with me. Of astronomy he had considerable knowledge, having been drawn to that science hy his early fondness for mathematics. He watched its progress with more than ordinary interest, and wae ac- quainted with the names and discoveriee of the great observers through- out the world.

" But bis chief delight and interest were in the history and antiqni- ties of New England. He had a keen relish for antiquarian research, and never lost an opportunity to add to his stock of this kind of infor- mation. He was as familiar as one could well be with the local history of both banks of the Merrimac River where the early settlements were made. His ancestors for six and seven generations had lived and died there, and he knew the history of each generation with marvellous accuracy and fullness. He had gathered local traditions and exam- ined ancient records till he was master of the history and genealogy of all, or nearly all, of the old families between Haverbill and Plumb Island.

" In these researches he was careful and exact beyond any one I ever knew. A result was carefully weighed, and only the bigbest degree of probable evidence would satisfy him of its being true. This fastidions- ness, the consequence of mathematical training, prevented his quickly arriving at results satisfactory to him, and giving to the world many things he had undertaken. A retentive and exact memory greatly facil- itated his investigations.

"While in England, and suffering from severe lameness, he found time to write several letters giving me information which he had copied from ancient records, of persons of my surname who had died there in the fure part of the seventeenth century, and telling me of his wander- ings in that merry land. These letters show how ardently he was pur- sniog his inquiries, and how thoroughly he was enjoying his rambles among the venerable antiquities of England, especially any connected with our New England forefathers.

" Mr. Bradbury was a man of large practical common sense. There was no petty jealousy in his composition. He was serene under all circumstances. He loved peace and minded his own affairs. I reinem- her, with mingled feelings of pleasure and sadness, how cheerful and happy he was in his pleasant bome in Boston where he always was

when not at his office ; how he made every one welcome there, and how like a benediction his politeness and hospitality were. I am sure all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance revere bis memory."

RICHARD SUTTON RUST, A.M., D.D., LL.D.1

Mr. Rust is one of the most energetic, enthusiastic and successful ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church; and in the varied official positions to which he has been called has rendered valuable service and exhibited rare executive ability in the administration of affairs intrusted to his care. He was born in Ips- wich, Mass., September 12, 1815. His mother, from whom he inherited many of his traits of character, was a woman of deep piety and superior attainments, the daughter of Richard Sutton, distingnished among his townsmen for integrity, independence and intel- ligence. He was left an orphan, his father dying when he was eight years old, and his mother when he was ten, leaving him no patrimony bnt a parent- age spotless and revered. One of his uncles, residing in Portsmouth, N. H., gave him a year's schooling, where he first formed a taste for study, which never forsook him. Another uncle gave him a home till he was fourteen, during which time he was compelled to work hard npon a farm, with only three months' schooling each winter. He was then apprenticed to learn a cabinet-maker's trade, and at the end of three years, yearning for school and more congenial pur- snits, purchased the balance of the apprenticeship, and entered Phillips' Academy, Andover, Mass., to prepare for college.

While at Andover, the distinguished abolition lec- . turer, George Thompson, of England, visited Phil- lips' Academy and lectured to the students on sla- very. With his wonderful eloquence, wit and logic the students were charmed, and a large number of them became abolitionists and formed an anti-slavery society. The teachers were displeased at this action, and required the students to leave the anti-slavery society or the academy. Nearly one hundred of them, rather than to give np their principles and rights, left the school; some went into the anti-sla- very field as lecturers, and others to institutions where freedom of thought and speech conld be en- joyed. Young Rust, with several others, went to Canaan, N. H., where an academy had been estah- lished npon liberal principles, and where young men and women of color were allowed to enter and enjoy the advantages of culture. So bitter was the oppo- sition to this school, because it extended its privi- leges alike to all without distinction of color, that the mandate went forth that it must be broken up, and the farmers in the vicinity, with a hundred yokes of oxen, drew the academy more than a mile out of town into the woods and broke up the school !

Our young friend finished his preparatory studies at the Wilbraham Academy, and in 1837 entered the

1 From the Ohio Encyclopedia.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., where he was graduated in 1841, and received the degree of Master of Arts in 1844. In 1859 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from the Wes- leyan University at Delaware, Ohio. While in col- lege he paid his expenses by teaching and lecturing winters. He was one of the first anti-slavery lec- turers in Connecticut, and in New Haven County was mobbed repeatedly while delivering lectures against slavery. He aided the ladies in organizing the First Anti-Slavery Fair at Hartford, Conn., and published for that occasion "Freedom's Gift," an annual of anti-slavery poems and prose. The great anti-slavery struggle reached its height as he came to his manhood, and he did valiant service in the good cause, and was a pioneer in the Methodist Episcopal Church in this grand conflict. In 1842 he was principal of Ellington School, Connecticut; in 1843, principal of Middletown High School. In 1844 he joined the New England Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was stationed at Springfield, Mass .; in 1846 he was stationed at Worcester, Mass.

During the next five years Mr. Rust passed through one of the most interesting periods of his life. He originated and published the "American Pulpit," was transferred to the New Hampshire Con- ference, was principal of the New Hampshire Con- ference Seminary and Female College, and was elected State Commissioner of Common Schools for New Hampshire for three years. He delivered pop-

· ular lectures on education all over the State, awa- kened the deepest interest in the schools, assailed with wit, sarcasm and invectives the miserable old school-houses, and did a grand work in introducing into New Hampshire good school-honses, teachers' institutes and an improved system of common-school education.

In 1859 Dr. Rust was transferred from the scenes of his early struggles and triumphs to the Cincinnati Conference. The name and character of the man preceded him in the West, and he was at once wel- comed to active service in the leading enterprises of the church. He was four years president of the Wil- berforce University, at Xenia, Ohio, after which he became pastor of Morris Chapel, Cincinnati, where he was elected president of the Wesleyan Female College, Cincinnati, where he remained until the old college was sold and vacated, and the school was suspended until the new college could be erected. He was corresponding secretary of the Western Freedmen's Aid Commission, and in connection with Bishops Clark and Walden, aided in the organiza- tion of the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for the last twenty years has been its corresponding secretary, and has discharged its duties with such marked efficiency and ability as to meet the highest commendation of the whole church. The society under the administration of

Dr. Rust, has established and sustained iu central locations in the South thirty institutions of learning, styled seminaries, colleges or nniversities, for the training of teachers and preachers for the elevation of this long-neglected race, so lately admitted to all the rights and duties of American citizens. For the successful management of this important educational work, the subject of this sketch, by his deep, long, life interest in this people, his attainments as a scholar, his previous experience as an educator and shrewd business habits, was pre-eminently fitted, and the results achieved by this society have exceeded the highest anticipations of its friends.

Dr. Rust was successful as a pastor, a fine writer and an impressive preacher ; pre-eminent as an edu- cator, possessing great power over the young of awa- kening them to high and noble purpose; and there are but few men in this country who have aided in educating so many of her youth who now fill impor- tant positions in society and wield so great influence for Christ and the right. In his boyhood he espoused the canse of the slave, labored for his emancipation, and his mature life, attainments and ample means are consecrated to the preparation of this emanci- pated people for the appropriate discharge of the important duties imposed upon them by freedom, so that liberty may prove a blessing rather than a curse to them. As a Christian philanthropist, he has done his noblest work, and for this by a grateful people he will be held in remembrance.

The society is now, under the supervision of Dr. Rust, establishing a system of schools for the benefit of whites similar to what it has done for the colored people. Little Rock and Chattanooga Universities and ten seminaries as feeders have been established and superintended by the Freedman's Aid Society, and the venerable Dr. Rust still remains as the efficient administrator of its affairs.

COL. YORICK G. HURD, M.D.

Col. Hurd was the eldest son of Col. Smith and Mchitable (Emerson) Hurd, and was born in Lemps- ter, Sullivan County, N. H., February 17, 1827.

In the early days of the settlement of the town of Lempster, Uzzel (or "Squire," as he was best known) and his brother, Shubael Hurd, made settlement.

Shubael and his wife coming on horseback from Connecticut to the farm, which is still retained in the family. He was the first deacon of the First Congre- gational Church, organized November 13, 1781, and was widely known as "Deacon Hurd."

As a fruit of the second marriage of Deacon Hurd with Mrs. Smith (nce Ames, and one of the Fisher Ames family), two sons were born, viz: Smith and Justus (physician).

The former husband of Mrs. Hurd was Robert Smith, of Peterboro, N. H. (a brother of Judge Jere- miah Smith), to whom were born three sons, viz : Robert, Stephen and Jesse (physician) Smith.

Eng ª by A H Fostchie

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Col. Smith Hurd, son of Shubael, was born in Lempster, N. H., in 1804, and married Mehitable Emerson.

Col. Hurd died in March, 1877, but his wife is still living, at the age of eighty-three and in the enjoy- ment of good health.

Col. Smith Hurd was very prominent in town affairs, holding various offices of trust and responsi- bility with marked fidelity. He was captain of a Volunteer Rifle Company, which had quite a local reputation, and he was subsequently colonel of the Twenty-seventh Regiment, New Hampshire Militia.

Yorick G. Hurd, M.D., the eldest son of Col. Smith and Mehitable (Emerson) Hurd, was eminently a self- made man, having in early life attended the District School, when three months of winter teaching was made to suffice for the year.

After one fall term at the academy, at the age of seventeen he commenced school teaching, working upon the farm when not engaged in study.

One term he attended the Hancock Literary and Scientific Institution, and was then employed as a teacher at Dublin, N. H., where he attracted the at- tention of that ripe scholar, Rev. L. W. Leonard, D.D., who invited him to his residence for study and rendered him every possible assistance.

By the advice of Dr. Leonard Mr. Hurd com- menced the study of medicine with Dr. Albert Smith, of Peterboro, N. H., professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in Dartmouth College March, 1850, teaching the public Grammar School in the winter and the Pine Grove Academy in the spring and au- tnmn for three years, attending one course of Medical Lectures at Woodstock, Vt., and two courses at Dart- mouth, graduating November, 1853, proceeding im- mediately to Amesbury, Essex County, Mass., where he commenced the practice of medicine, soon secur- ing a large and remunerative practice.

During his long residence here he was for several years a member of the school committee, and by his constant and untiring efforts materially aided in the establishment of the present high state of efficiency and success of the public schools of the town.

On the breaking out of the Civil War the military spirit, inherited from his father, caused him to enter fully into the spirit of the North, and in September, 1862, he was appointed post surgeon at Camp Lander, Wenham, Mass., and in December Sth following, was appointed surgeon of the Forty-eighth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, following its fortunes to New Orleans, where he was assigned to the First Bri- gade, First Division of the Nineteenth Army. Corps, where he remained until June 20, 1863, when by order of Gen. Auger, commanding the First Division, he was detached and sent to Baton Rouge, La., in charge of the division hospitals, and sick and wounded offi- cers in quarters about Baton Rouge.

Returning home with the regiment at the expiration of its term of service, Dr. Hurd was reported to Sur-

geon General Dale, of this State, as being the best regimental surgeon in the division ; certain it is that his regiment had the smallest sick-list and the fewest deaths from disease of any in the corps to which it was attached.

The practice of his profession was resumed imme- diately on his return from the service of his country, and the various and responsible official positions to which he was successively chosen, attest to the high esteem in which he was held by the community.

In 1865 and again in 1866 he was chosen a member of the Massachusetts Senate, and in January, 1866, while a member of the Senate, was appointed super- intendent of the Essex County House of Correction and Insane Asylum at Ipswich.

Immediately upon the assumption of the duties of the responsible position of superintendent of the house of correction he instituted such reforms in its management as secured a state of quiet and good order among those placed in his charge as had never been known in the previous history of the institution, which by his even-tempered management he was able to preserve so long as the institution was under his su- pervision.

His management of the insane soon attracted at- tention, and for many years he was the consulting authority in all parts of the country, and was often called in the courts as an expert in insane cases.

Dr. Hurd continued in the position of superintend- ent of these institutions until January, 1887, resigning his charge at the close of a service of twenty-one years

In 1867 he was appointed medical director of Divis- ion Ma-sachusetts Volunteer Militia, with the rank of colonel on the staff of Major General Benjamin F. Butler, serving in that capacity eight years.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 182

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1538

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538