History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 126

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 126

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On July 12, 1848, while walking down State Street, in Boston, he stepped from the sidewalk, in order to cross the way, when a wagon, coming along rapidly, knocked him down, and injured himn so severely that he died in the course of a few hours.

Dr. Mansfield and Dr. Bancroft were the last phy- sicians of the town, who, while visiting patients, used to ride on horseback with saddle-bags, although they also drove much in sulkies. In early days, owing to bad roads, physicians on their professional rounds were in the habit of riding, and it was near the be- ginning of the present century, in this neighborhood, that the sulky, or covered gig, came into fashion among them. At the present time the four-wheeled buggy solely is used by physicians.

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Dr. Joshua Green was a son of Joshua and Mary (Mosley) Green, and born at Wendell, on October 8, 1797. He attended school at the academies in New Salem, Westfield and Milton, and graduated at Har- vard College in the class of 1818. He studied medi- cine in the office of Dr. John Collins Warren, of Bos- ton, and took the degree of M.D. at the Harvard Medical School in the year 1821. Soon after taking this degree he was appointed apothecary at the Massachusetts General Hospital, then just opened for the reception of patients, where he remained for one year. At that time the apothecary, in addition to his own duties, performed those of the house- physician and the house-surgeon. In March, 1823, Dr. Green began to practice his profession at Sunder- land, and on January 5, 1824, was married to Eliza, daughter of Major Samuel and Susanna (Parker) Lawrence, of Groton. His wife was born on March 13, 1796, and died on August 20, 1874. During a winter of his college course he taught a district school at Groton, now known as the Moors School, and boarded in the family of Major Lawrence, who lived on Farmers' Row.

In the spring of 1825 Dr. Green removed to Gro- ton, where he continued the practice of medicine, but after about ten years, owing to ill health, he gradually gave up his profession. In the year 1832 a pulmon- ary hemorrhage compelled him to pass a winter in the island of Cuba, where to a fair degree he regained his health. He joined the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1826, and for many years was one of its councillors. He represented the town in the Legis- lature during the years 1836 and 1837, and was one of the trustees of Lawrence Academy from 1831 to 1867, and during most of this time either the secre- tary or the president of the board. On the seventy- fourth anniversary of his birth (October 8, 1871) he had a paralytic stroke, from the effects of which he never fully recovered. After the death of his wife he went to live with his only daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Lawrence (Green-Kendall) Swan, at Morristown, New Jersey, where he died on June 5, 1875.

Dr. Micah Eldredge was a son of Hezekiah and Abigail (Whiton) Eldredge, and born at Ashford, Connecticut, on May 24, 1776. He studied medicine with an elder brother, Dr. Hezekiah Eldredge, and in 1798 began the practice of his profession at Dunstable, where he resided for inany ycars, living first on one side of the State linc and then on the other. On October 1, 1797, Dr. Eldredge was married to Sally, daughter of Tilly and Abigail (Hale) But- trick, of Princeton. In 1826 he removed to Groton, where he remained for two years, when he established himself at Dunstable, New Hampshire, (now Nashua). The honorary degree of M.D. was conferred npon him by Dartmouth College in 1841. He died at Milford, New Hampshire, on July 2, 1849, and was buried in the Hollis Street Cemetery at Nashna.

Dr. Jacob Williams was a son of Jacob and Han-

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

nah (Sheple) Williams, and born at Groton on July 16, 1789. About the year 1816 he was practicing med- icine at the Gilmanton Iron Works, New Hampshire, and in June, 1822, he was married to Irene Locke, of Epsom. In the year 1828 he returned to his native town and established himself as a physician; and while here his wife died on March 11, 1831. During the next year he was married, secondly, to Betsey Wakefield, of Kennebunk, Maine. He remained at Groton until the year 1835, when he removed to Ken- sington, New Hampshire, where he died on July 7, 1857.

Dr. James Wilson was a son of the Honorable Abiel and Abigail (Putnam) Wilson, and born at Wilton, N. H., December 4, 1796, on the farm where his great- grandfather, Jacob Putnam, began a settlement in the year 1739. He studied medicine under the tuition of Dr. John Wallace, of Milford, New Hampshire, and graduated at the Dartmouth Medical School in the class of 1821. He was practicing his profession at Boston in the early part of 1825, as his name appears in the directory of that year, and he removed to Gro- ton near the beginning of 1828. He was married, in February of that year, to Elizabeth P. Wilson, of Bos- ton, a daughter of the city crier; and he came here under the patronage of Dr. Amos Bancroft, who de- sired some respite from a large practice, and acted as his sponsor in the community. After living at Groton during two years he returned to Boston and passed a brief period, and then removed to New York, where he remained for a short time. Soon af- terward he went to Cuba, where he spent the remain- der of his days, and died in Matanzas on November 23, 1868.

Dr. George Stearns was the youngest child of Eph- raim and Molly (Gilman) Stearns, and born at Wal- pole, New Hampshire, on May 10, 1802. He gradu- ated at the Harvard Medical School in the class of 1827, and began the practice of his profession in Bos- ton, where he remained about three years, when he settled at Groton. He was married, on July 2, 1868, to Mrs. Ann (Moulton) Gilson, widow of Joshua Gil- son, of Groton. Dr. Stearus was the last survivor of thirteen children, and died on March 7, 1882, at which time he was the oldest physician in the town.

the Harvard Medical School, and began the practice of his profession in Boston, where he remained until the year 1832, when he removed to his native town. On March 21, 1823, Dr. Farnsworth was married to Mrs. Mary (Bourne) Webber, widow of Captain Seth Webber, of Boston. He died in Roxbury on July 31, 1861, and his wife in Boston, on October 27, 1828, aged thirty-seven years.

Dr. Amos Bigelow Bancroft was a son of Dr. Amos and Sarah (Bass) Bancroft, and born at Groton on April 3, 1811. He graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1831, and at the Harvard Medical School in 1834. He began the practice of his profession at Groton in connection with his father ; and on June 11, 1840, was married to Marietta, daughter of Nathan and India (Emerson) Shepley, of Pepperell. Dr. Ban- croft remained in town until the spring of 1853, when hre removed to Charlestown, where for more than ten years he was physician to the State Prison. Under the administration of Gen. Grant he was appointed superintendent and surgeon in charge of the Marine Hospital at Chelsea, which position he held from Au- gust 1, 1869, to June 30, 1877, when he took up his residence in Boston. While traveling abroad with his family he died in Florence, Italy, on November . 8, 1879, much lameuted by a wide circle of friends and patients at home,-leaving a widow and two daughters to mourn his loss.

Dr. Abel Hervey Wilder was a native of Winchen- don, where he was boru on June 16, 1801. He was a, son of Levi and Grace (Wilder) Divoll; but by an Act of the Legislature on February 7, 1812, his name was changed from Hervey Divoll to Abel Hervey Wilder, keeping the surname of his mother. He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical School in the class of 1828, and begau to practice his profession at Temple, New Hampshire. On February 29, 1828, he was married at New Ipswich, New Hampshire, to Mary, daughter of Ephraim and Elizabeth (Bent) Brown, a native of Lincoln.

Dr. Wilder subsequently removed to Pepperell, and in the year 1836 came to Groton, where he had the management of an institution for the treatment of nervous diseases. He continued to live here until the death of his wife, which took place on February 12, 1843, when he removed to Pittsfield. After leav- ing Groton he was married for the second time ; and after a residence in different parts of the country, he died at Bloomfield, New Jersey, on January 2, 1864.

Dr. Amos Farnsworth was a son of Major Amos and Elizabeth (Rockwood) Farnsworth, and born at Gro- ton on August 30,'1788. He studied his profession with Dr. Calvin Thomas, of Tyngsborough, and with Dr. John Collins Warren, of Boston, but before his Dr. James Merrill Cummings was a son of Jacob Abbot and Elizabeth (Merrill) Cummings, and born in Boston on July 27, 1810. He graduated at Bow- doin College in the class of 1830, and at the Bowdoin Medical School in 1834. On November 4, 1835, he was married to Sarah Thurston Phillips, daughter of Joel and Sarah Phillips (Thurston) Hall, of Portland, Maine. In the spring of 1842 Dr. Cummings came to Groton and bought out the establishuient of Dr. graduation he was commissioned as surgeon's mate in the Fourth Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, on April 14, 1812, just before war was declared by the United States with Great Britain; and two months later, on June 15th, his regiment left South Boston for Burlington, Vermont, for service on the frontier. He remained with the Fourth Infantry during thirteen months, when he resigned his commission ou May 14, 1813. During the following summer he graduated at | Wilder, which he conducted for four years; and in

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the spring of 1846 he removed to Salem, where he re- mained for four years, when he settled in Portland, where he died on July 20, 1883. His widow died on January 29, 1890, at the advanced age of eighty-five years.

Dr. Rufus Shackford, a son of Captain Samuel and Hannah (Currier) Shackford, was born at Chester, New Hampshire, on December 17, 1816; studied medicine under the tuition of Dr. Cuminings, and graduated at the Harvard Medical School in the class of 1845. He practiced for a brief period at Groton in the office of his preceptor, after which he lived in Lowell for a short time, when he removed to Port- land, Maine, where he is now in practice.

Dr. Norman Smith was a son of Jesse and Nabby (Kittredge) Smith, and born at Mount Vernon, New Hampshire, on October 13, 1811. He graduated at the Vermont Medical College, Woodstock, in the class of 1843, and began to practice mediciue at Gro- ton, where he passed his whole professional life, with the exception of four years spent in Nashua, New Hampshire. In April, 1861, at the outbreak of the Rebellion, he went out as surgeon of the Sixth Massa- chusetts Militia Regiment, and was with that famous organization on its march through Baltimore aud during its first campaign of three months. He was a member of the Union Congregational Church, and prominent in all matters connected with the welfare of the town. His death took place at his farm on Common Street, on May 24, 1888, and the funeral, on May 28th, was conducted under Masonic rites.

Dr. Smith was married, first, on May 3, 1838, to Harriet, daughter of John and Lydia Sleeper, of Francestown, New Hampshire, who died on Septem- ber 2, 1839 ; secondly, on November 6, 1843, to Mari- ett Sleeper, a sister of his first wife, who died on July 6, 1846; thirdly, on September 22, 1847, to Abigail Maria, daughter of Ephraim and Sarah (King) Brown, of Wilton, New Hampshire, who died on July 17, 1852; fourthly, on September 12, 1853, to Sarah Young, daughter of Solomon and Dorcas (Hop- kins) Frost, who died on December 4, 1856, and, fifthly and lastly, on September 11, 1866, to Mrs. Mary Jane (King) Lee, daughter of Daniel and Re- becca (Parmenter) King, of Rutland, Massachusetts.

Dr. Lemuel Fuller was a son of Dr. Lemuel and Mary (Shepherd) Fuller, and born at Marlborough, on April 2, 1811. He graduated at the Vermont Medical College, Woodstock, in the class of 1844, and came to Groton from Harvard in the year 1847. On June 6, 1841, he was married to Catherine Palli- seur, daughter of Francis and Maria Foster (Palliseur) Barrett, of Concord. Dr. Fuller left Groton in 1850, and died at Harvard during a temporary visit from home February 11, 1864. During the last ten years of his life he lived at North Weymouth.

Dr. Miles Spaulding was a son of Captain Isaac and Lucy (Emery) Spaulding, and born at Townsend, on April 4, 1819. He graduated at the Berkshire ' never married.

Medical Institution, Pittsfield, in the class of 1842, and he soon afterward established himself at Dunsta- ble, where he remained uutil the year 1851, when he removed to Groton. Dr. Spaulding was married, first, on January 12, 1848, to Sophia Louisa, daughter of Aaron and Lucinda (Munson) Miller, of New Haven, Connecticut, who died on September 4, 1852; and, secondly, on August 27, 1863, to Mary Mehetable, only child of Stephen and Mary (Kilborn-Frenchi) Stickuey. He still lives at Groton, the senior physi- cian of the town.

Dr. Peter Pineo is a son of Peter and Sarah (Stead- man) Pineo, and was born at Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, on March 6, 1825. He graduated at the Bowdoin Medical School in the class of 1847, and was married in Boston, on May 8, 1850, to Elizabeth, daughter of Kendall and Betsey (Hill) Crosby. In the spring of 1853 he came to Groton, where he remained for two years, after which time he removed to Quechiec, a village in the town of Hartford, Vermont. On June 11, 1861, he was commissioned as surgeon of the Ninth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, and soon afterward was promoted to a brigade surgeoncy, which office was abolished on July 2, 1862, by an Act of Congress, when officers of that rank became surgeons of United States Volunteers. On February 9, 1863, he was made medical inspector United States Army, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and he served with distinction until the end of the war. At the present time he is a resident of Boston.

Dr. Kendall Davis was a son of Joseph and Han- nah Davis, and born at New Ipswich, New Hamp- shire, on December 4, 1802. According to the State Register of the years 1847-50, he was then living at Groton, where he practiced for a short time. From this town he went to Athol, and died at Templeton on September 20, 1875.

Dr. Richard Upton Piper is a son of Samuel and Mary (Folsom) Piper, and was born at Stratham, New Hampshire. He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical School in the class of 1840, and began the practice of his profession at Portland, Maine, where he was married, on November 8, 1841, to Elizabetlı Frances Folsom, a native of Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire. In the year 1864 he came to Groton and re- mained five years, though without engaging in the active practice of medicine. He afterward lived in Chicago, but is now a resident of Washington. He is an author of some note, having written a work cn- titled "Operative Surgery Illustrated," and another on " The Trees of America."

Dr. Joseph Franklin Coolidge was a son of Charles and Nancy (Spaulding) Coolidge, and born at West- minster on Sept. 11, 1837. He graduated at the Har- vard Medical School in the class of 1862, and in the year 1864 came to Groton, where he remained until his death, which took place on June 1, 1865. Dr. Coolidge was one of a family of ten children, and was

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Dr. William Ambrose Webster was the only son of William Gordon and Susan (Ambrose) Webster, and born nt Rochester, New Hampshire, June 13, 1830. He graduated at the Medical School of the Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y., in the spring of 1862. Soon after graduation, on July 1, 1862, he was commissioned as surgeon of the Ninth New Hamp- shire Volunteers, which left for the scat of war on August 25, 1862, and he continued in that capacity until January 5, 1865, when he was honorably dis- charged. In September of that ycar he came to Gro- top, where he remained during three years, when he removed to Westford. He dicd in Manchester, N. H., on February 8, 1887. Dr. Webster was twice married,-first, in August, 1851, to Mary Anne Kaime, of Pittsfield, N. H., aud secondly, on August 9, 1858, to Marion M. Ladd, of Middlesex, Vt. By the first marriage two daughters were born, who both are now living, and by the second marriage one daughter, Susan Marion Webster, was born at Groton on June 25, 1866, but she died before her father.

Dr. David Roscoe Steere is a son of Scott and Mary (Mathewson) Steere, and was born at Lisbon, Connec- ticut, April 27, 1847. He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical School in the class of 1871, and, after gradu- ation, practiced for a few months at Savoy. In July, 1872, he came to Groton, where he has since re- mained ; and in the year 1878 he built the house, at the corner of Main and Church Streets, which he now occupies. On June 18, 1873, Dr. Steere was mar- ried to Adelia, daughter of Jephtha and Betsey (Boyn- ton) Hartwell.

Dr. Edward Hubbard Winslow was a son of the Reverend Hubbard and Susan Ward (Cutler) Wins- low, and born in Boston on Dec. 26, 1835. He was married, on Sept. 1, 1859, to Helen H. Ayer, of Mont- vale, Me., and in the early spring of 1875 came to Groton, where he remained about two years. Dr. Winslow died in New York on Oct. 16, 1873.

Dr. George Washington Stearns is a son of Paul and Lucy (Kneeland) Stearns, and was born at Reading, Vermont, on Dec. 25, 1814. His mother was a sister of Abner Kneeland, the preacher and author. He took his medical degree first in March, 1857, at Penn Medical University, Philadelphia, and secondly, in 1858, at the Hahnemann Medical College, in the same city. In the spring of 1878 Dr. Stearns canie to Gro- ton from Marblehead, and in November, 1882, re- moved to Holliston, where he remained a few years, when he went to Holyoke, of which city he is now a resident. He was married, first, on May 8, 1838, at South Yarmouth, to Sylvia Crowell, and secondly, on July 19, 1877, at New Bedford, to Julia Amanda, daughter of Cyrus and Eliza Eastman (Cottrell) Ware.

Dr. William Barnard Warren is a son of Noailles Lafayette and Mary (Barnard) Warren, and was born at Leominster on Nov. 16, 1853. He graduated at the Medical Department of the University of the

City of New York in the class of 1881, having pre- viously attended a course of lectures in 1879 at the Dartmouth Medical School. In December, 1882, he came to Groton and established himself in practice, where he now remains. Dr. Warren was married at Groton on Oct. 31, 1883, to Ardelia Temple, daughter of Thomas Haines and Relief (Cummings) Smith, of Boston.

Dr. Marion Zachariah Putnam is a son of John and Sophia (Weaver) Putnam, and was born at Mount Sterling, Illinois, on August 14, 1844. In the ycar 1870 he graduated at the Medical Department of the Northwestern University, Chicago, and began to practice in his native town. On September 9, 1880, Dr. Putnam was married to Harriet Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Thomas Spencer and Harriet Heyward (Law- ton) Farnsworth, of Groton. About the year 1883 he came to this town from Lowell, where he had resided for a short period. He lives on Pleasant Street, but has retired from the active practice of his profession.

The Fitchburg Railroad was first opened to public travel, through the southerly part of Groton, on De- cember 30, 1844; and the Peterborough and Shirley Railroad, under the management of the Fitchburg company, was opened during the year 1847. The Woreester and Nashua Railroad was operated for reg- ular business, through its entire length, on December 18, 1848, though the section from Groton Junction to Clinton had been previously opcned on July 3, 1848, and from Clinton to Worcester on November 22d; and the Stony Brook began its operations on July 1, 1848. Soon after these interconnections were made, a village sprang up in the neighborhood, which became popu- larly known as the " Junction," though by the Post- Office Department at Washington it was officially called " South Groton." On March 1, 1861, the name of the post-office was changed by the Department from South Groton to Groton Junction. This settlement, growing in numbers, after a while was set off from the parent town, and, by an act of the Legislature on February 14, 1871, incorporated as a distinct town- ship, under the name of Ayer. After this date, there- fore, the list of physicians, so far as they relate to the Junction, and their biographical sketches, will cease.

Dr. Ebenezer Willis was a son of John and Nancy (Spriggens) Willis, and born at Newmarket, New Hampshire, on January 26, 1815. He was married at Exeter, on July 23, 1836, to Mary Frances, daughter of Benjamin and Mary Seavey (Neal) Batchelder. Dr. Willis came to Groton Junction in March, 1849, and was the pioneer physician of the place. He died at Ayer on May 10, 1890.

Dr. John Quincy Adams McCollester is a son of Silas and Achsah (Holman) McCollester, and was born at Marlborough, New Hampshire, on May 3, 1831. He took his degree of M.D. from the Jeffersou Medical School in March, 1856. Dr. McCollester was married, first, on May 6, 1856, to Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Anna (Longley) Hazen, of

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Shirley, who died on May 5, 1858; and, secondly, on August 9, 1859, to Georgianna Lydia, daughter of Daniel and Lydia (Fisk) Hunt, of Groton. During the War of the Rebellion he was the surgeon of the Fifty-third Regiment Massachusetts Militia, having been commissioned on December 1, 1862, and mus- tered out of the service on September 2, 1863. He is now a resident of Waltham.

Dr. Edson Champion Chamberlin, a native of Thet- ford, Vermont, came to Groton Junction in the sum- mer of 1859 and remained one year. He graduated at the Worcester Medical Institution on June 20, 1854. He was married to Mary A. Pierce, of South- bury, Connecticut, where he died on January 26, 1877, aged fifty-six years.

Dr. Gibson Smith came to Groton Junction from the State of Maine about the year 1866. He was an "eclectic " physician and a spiritualist, and died at Ayer on September 26, 1885, aged seventy years.

Dr. John Eleazer Parsons is a son of John and Rosalinda Davis (Robbins) Parsons, and was born at Harrison, Maine, on November 20, 1835. He gradu- ated at the Harvard Medical School in the class of 1863; and on March 18th of the same year was com- missioned as assistant surgeon of the Twenty-eighth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, but for disability was discharged on July 30, 1863. Dr. Parsons next served as acting assistant surgeon, United States Navy from October 10, 1863, to December 10, 1866, when he resigned. During the last week of Decem- ber, 1866, he came to the village of Groton Junction (Ayer), where he is still living.

Dr. Benjamin Hall Hartwell is a son of Benjamin Franklin and Emma (Whitman) Hartwell, and was born at Acton February 27, 1845. He received his early education at Lawrence Academy, Groton, of which institution he is now one of the trustees, and graduated at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadel- phia, on March 7, 1868. In the early spring of 1869 Dr. Hartwell came to Groton Junction (Ayer), where he still resides, having filled many prominent posi- tions of trust and usefulness. He was married, on September 10, 1879, to Helen Emily, daughter of Major Eusebius Siisby and Mary Jane (Shattuck) Clark.

Dr. James Moody Moore was a son of Dr. Ebenezer Giles and Eliza Sarah (Hidden) Moore, and born at Wells, Maine, on June 20, 1832. He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical School in the class of 1860, and in May of that year came to Groton Junction, where he remained until April, 1861. Dr. Moore then removed to Concord, New Hampshire, his father's home, where he died on February 3, 1870.

A LIST OF REPRESENTATIVES to the General Court, from the colonial period to the present time, with the dates of their election and terms of service ; including also the names of certain other officers- 1672-1887.

The Assistants of Massachusetts, sometimes called

Magistrates, were the forerunners of the Provincial Council and the State Seuate. They were few in number, and, in point of dignity and honor, next to the Governor and the Deputy-Governor. Major Simon Willard, the only citizen of the town who ever held the office, became a resident in the year 1672, remov- ing here from Lancaster at that time. He was first chosen to the position in 1654, when living at Con- cord.

COURT OF ASSISTANTS.

Date of first Election. Term of Service.

May 3, 1654 . . Major Simon Willard .

. 1672-1676

(Died in office on April 24, 1676.)

SENATE.

October 26, 1780 . Honorable James Prescott 1780-1784, 1786

June 1, 1797 . Honorable Timothy Bigelow 1797-1800

May 6, 1805 . . Honorable Samuel Dana . . 1805-1812, 1817 (Mr. Daua was president of the hody during the years 1807, 1811 and 1812.) November 13, 1837 . Honorable Stuart James Park 1838, 1839

January 9, 1851 . . . Honorable John Boynton 1851

November 13, 1854 . Honorable Ahijah Edwin Hildreth . 1855

November 5, 1867 . . Honorable Daniel Needham . 1868, 1869 November 8, 1887 . . Honorable Moses Poor Palmer . 1888-1890

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 126

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1226

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226