History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 151

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 151

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judicious project ever in view, notwithstanding all the disadvantages under which he labored, he ae- quired a valuable fund of knowledge. To classical knowledge, indeed, he made no pretensions, having never learned any other language than the English. In the art of reasoning he was expert, and deeply read in the philosophy of the mind ; he appeared to possess those branches of science systematically, and to meet any man on equal grounds of dispute. He never suffered himself to dispute with heat or acri- mony. His objeet was to state points fairly, and ana- lyze them aeeurately, with the single view of discov- ering truth. Those who at any time complained of his manner of treating subjeets used generally to say he was too attentive to the niceties of logie and meta- physics ; i. e., he examined his subjeet too minutely and aeeurately. If this be a fault, it must be con- fessed it is one in which disputants are not aceus- tomed to err. In one instance, then, it may be ex- cused. Or, rather, should it not be commended as a virtue ? He had a competent share of mathematical knowledge. This he must have obtained without any living preceptor, his own genius excepted. In theol- ogy he was not merely eonversant, but deeply versed in the science. He not only knew his duty as a Christian, but was acquainted with the different sehools-knew their characteristie opinions, their modes of defending them, and their points of eontro- versy one with another. Few men could more ably defend their own sentiments, or treat with more can- dor the arguments and opinions of others. He held truth without persecuting error. He strenuously maintained his own faith, yet discovered no animosity towards those who opposed him."

" It was truly astonishing that without a regular in- stitution he could comprehend, so far as he did, the principles of natural philosophy. He attained to the great, leading principles of the Newtonian sys- tem, and looked through Nature to the great God and Father of all."

Eleazer Brooks, born September 10, 1726, was the son of Job and Elizabeth (Flagg) Brooks, and a de- seendant of the fourth generation from Captain Thomas Brooks, one of the first settlers of Concord. He married, August 4, 1763, Mary Taylor, of Con- eord. She died July 4, 1769, and he married, seeond, May 27, 1777, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Stoddard) Greenough, of Boston.

General Brooks died November 9, 1806, and was buried on the 11th with military honors. Mrs. Elizabeth (Greenough) Brooks died December 25, 1825. They had two children,-Eleazer (Dea.), born July 10, 1778, died, uumarried, in Burton, Ill., Octo- ber 11, 1860; Elizabeth, born December 26, 1780, married, November 20, 1800, Edmund Wheeler, Jr., and died in Lincoln December 12, 1860.

And the writer knows of no fitter time or place to record the virtues of this worthy daughter of a dis- tinguished sire, or one more worthy of a grateful trib-

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ute to her memory-a woman who did a large amount of gratnitous watching and nursing; wise to advise and strong to help,-

"Both in the natal and the mortal hour,"

putting the first and the last dress on more new- breathing and breathless forms than any other person in the town ever did ; always a grateful presence in the sick-room, most of all when friends gathered round-

" In trembling hope and surging fear, The white- winged angels bovering near."

And she was but a specimen of those sainted mothers and grandmothers of departed days who were help- meets for their husbands-who nourished and brought np large families of children, their sons being their jewels and their daughters their crowns of glory,- who carded and spun, wove and knit, from the wool and flax grown on the farm, garments for themselves and their families,-who had no servants and but lit- tle help, except that of their own or their neighbors' danghters,-who had no vacations or outings, except to get np a little earlier in the morning and work a little later at night in the hottest season, to alleviate the labors of their husbands and sons in the haying and harvest time,-who toiled patiently six days in the week, prepared their Sunday dinners on Saturday and went to meeting twice on the Sabbath-not to exhibit new bonnets and artistic dresses, but to wor- ship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

GEORGE F. WESTON.

George Fiske Weston, son of Colonel Calvin and Eliza Ann (Fiske) Weston, born October 27, 1839, fitted for college in the High School in Lincoln and Phillips Academy, and graduated as A.B. at Harvard University in 1860. Immediately after graduating he commenced the study of law, a profession to which his tastes had strongly inclined him from boyhood, and had nearly completed his professional studies when he enlisted in the Forty-fourth Regiment Mas- sachusetts Volunteers, and was mnstered into service September 12, 1862, and went with his regiment- then commanded by Colonel Francis L. Lee-to Newbern, N. C., and was in the expeditions to Tar- borough and Gold,borough in November and Decem- ber following. He was commissioned by Governor Andrew, March 4, 1863, second lieutenant in the Eighteenth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, and, after a brief visit to his home, joined his regi- ment in Virginia.

The history of his military career is modestly and truthfully told by a comrade and classmate: "Lieu- tenant Weston was one of the many who left a home and loving friends to serve his country. But the cir- cumstances which attended his enlistment were not of an ordinary character. Devoted for many years to academic studies, he graduated at Harvard in 1860, and immediately entered upon the study of law, a pro-

fession in which his peculiarly quick, shrewd and penetrating intellect promised him undoubted success. It was whilst he was in the midst of his legal studies that the call for our nine months' volunteers was made. With hardly a moment's hesitation he decided to enlist, abandoning the professional work in which he had become deeply interested, and in which he had made great progress, to serve in the ranks of the Forty-fourth Massachusetts.

"There were probably very few in the regiment to whom the unavoidable discomforts and annoyances of a private's life were more thoroughly distasteful than to Lieutenant Weston ; and yet through them all his disposition remained unchanged. He was always the light of the company,-genial, bright and kind,-making the barracks ring with laughter at the brilliant sallies of his wit, and enlivening the march with his ever-ready and delightful humor. And all this with a bearing habitually respectful to his officers and a conscientious discharge of all his duties as a soldier. Ever kind and considerate as well as cheerful, he gained at once both the affection and admiration of his comrades, and his name was the constant theme for the liveliest expressions of affection and regret after he had left the Forty-fourth Regiment for the Eighteenth.

"Physically delicate, he was exposed, on the expe- ditions of the army corps, to the greatest suffering and fatigue, all of which he bore with a fortitude truly wonderful,-his mind, by the sheer force of his energy and courage, sustaining him when his body had become quite disabled.

"In March he decided to accept the offer of a com- mission in the Eighteenth Massachusetts Volunteers, deliberately entering upon a longer term of service, and again postponing his entrance upon his favorite pursuits. He was with his regiment at Chancellors- ville and Gettysburg, and was in command of a company at the battle of Rappahannock Station, where he was wounded. The same qualities that had distinguished him as a private soldier marked his career as an officer. He was always thoroughly kind, cool and brave, patient in suffering and bold before danger.

"In mind, Lieutenant Weston was as we have de- scribed him,-quick, penetrating and shrewd. In his disposition he was thoroughly modest and adverse to display, preferring rather to be underrated than over- rated, even by his most intimate friends. It would, indeed, be impossible to do justice to so noble and beautiful a nature by any enumeration or description of the fine traits of his character; but one quality certainly gave the key-note of his disposition, and was especially associated with him by his friends : his rare geniality of soul, which sprung from a sunny, warm and loving heart, and which brightened the lives of all who lived with him. His memory will be cherished tenderly by all who loved, and they are all who knew him, and his heroic death is at once their grief and their glory."

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Lieutenant Weston inherited the instincts of vir- tue, valor and patriotismn. His grandfather, Nathan Weston, was a soldier in the regiment commanded by Colonel Thomas Gardner, who was killed in the battle of Bunker Hill, and was quartermaster in the same regiment, afterwards under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel William Bond, who died at Mount Independence, August 31, 1776. His grandmother, Mrs. Anna (Fox) Weston, was a descendant of the martyrologist. His father was a colonel in the mil- itia in the piping times of peace, and his mother a great-granddaughter of Thomas and Rebecca (John- son) Garfield, the ancestors of the President. " Who," said General Garfield, in his eulogy on General Thomas, "shall estimate the effect of these latent forces, enfolded in the spirit of a new-born child,- forces that may date back centuries and find their origin in the life and thought and deeds of remote ancestors,-forces the germs of which, enveloped in the awful mystery of life, have been transmitted si- lently from generation to generation."

HON. CHAMBERS RUSSELL.

Hon. Chambers Russell, son of Hon. Daniel and Rebecca (Chambers) Russell, was born in Charlestown July 4, 1713, and graduated in Harvard College in 1731. His maternal grandfather, Hon. Charles Chambers, by his will devised to his grandson, Cham- bers Russell, his farm in Concord (now Lincoln), and he came into possession of it and came to reside here before 1740.

He was appointed in 1747 a judge of the Court of Admiralty and a judge of the Superior Court in in 1752. He represented the town of Concord in the Colonial Legislature three years. But failing of a re-election in 1753, he turned his influence and that of his wealthy friends to secure the incorporation of the town of Lincoln and was successful. According to tradition the town was named by him for the home of his ancestors in England. After the incorporation ofthe town he was elected representative several times; in 1759 he was chosen to the Council and was a mem- ber of that body several years. When he declined serving as representative, the town voted not to send. He seems to have been the pride of the town, and the town his pet. He not only paid the highest tax in the precinct and town, but was distinguished for generous acts of public and private benevolence. Some glimpses of the man may be seen in the follow- ing extracts from the town records :

May 5, 1765, "To act on the article referred from the last town-meeting to the next meeting, which was To see what the town will give Timothy Weston and Samuel Farrar, a committee chosen by the town to petition the Great and General Court for relief under the heavy burden of an additional tax levied on the town in the year 1762. Dismissed on Judge Russell's promising to pay said Committee."

" July 10, 1766, Paid Mr. Joseph Willard three pounds for his boarding while he kept the School in the Southwest part of the town. Judge Russell being please to give him his board."

Hon. Chambers Russell married Mary Wainwright, and died in England November 24, 1767. Mrs. Mary (Wainwright) Russell died iu Lincoln, August 13, 1762.

GEORGE G. TARBELL.

George Grosvenor Tarbell was a son of Dr. Grosve- nor and Mrs. Thankful (Hoar) Tarbell, born in Lin- coln, June 10, 1807. His father was a physician of good repute and his mother a lady of more than ordinary refinement and intelligence. In addition to his professional business, hisfather owned and carried on a fine farm. There is no better place to train the young to habits of industry aud virtue, or where they can be so securely kept from the temptations of idle- ness and dissipation, or where the physical, intel- lectual and moral capacities can better be developed than on a farm. He attended the district schools of Lincoln until he was sixteen years old, and was a pupil in the Concord Academy two or three terms in 1823.

In his school-boy days he was distinguished for his manly and correct deportment, his attention to his studies, and "his politeness," as a lady schoolmate testifies,-traits of character which he carried with him all through his long and useful life. At the age of seventeen he entered the store of his uncle, Mr. Abi- jah H. Pierce, then a grocer in Cambridgeport, where he remained until he attained his majority, learning all the details of the business from store-sweep to head clerk, and acquiring what is of more consequence to success in life, a correct knowledge of human nature.

After attaining his majority he entered into part- nership with Mr. Francis Dana Kidder and was suc- cessful in business for several years. In 1842 he went to Lexington, Kentucky, and entered into partner- ship with his brother-in-law, Mr. Stephen Swift. But the atmosphere of slavery was not congenial to his tastes, and in 1847 he returned to Boston, and estab- lished the commercial house of Tarbell & Dana, of which he remained the senior member until his re- tirement from business in 1865.

All through life he was the same polite, sociable, companionable, considerate and agreeable man, never aspiring to lead the muititude or lord it over men, but always --

"Nobly ambitious well to rule The empire of his soul."

His eye might flash with fire, or his face turn white with indignation, without his losing for a moment the control of his temper or tonguc. He was as hon- est and upright in dealing with the assessors of taxcs as with his brother or bosom friend. One anecdote may reveal the man. One May day, in couversation

George G. Jakhell

Seo. J. Bernal

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with the assessors, he stated that he owned certain property which he thought was not taxable in Lin- coln. "Oh, yes," said the assessor, "that property is taxable in Lincoln." "Do you think so ?" queried Mr. Tarbell. "Yes, I am confident I am right." " I'll see and let you know," said Mr. T. A week afterwards he came and said smilingly to the assessor, " You were right and I was wrong, and I want you to tax me for that property. I wish to be taxed for everything I have that is taxable."

If any one wants to know human nature from its serene heights to its grovelings, let him be an assessor of taxes for a quarter of a century.

In what estimation Mr. Tarbell was held by the merchants and business men of Boston may be learned from the following note from Rev. Dr. Hale, in whose church Mr. Tarbell was a constant wor- shiper :

" BOSTON. April 28, 1890.

" My dear Mr. Wheeler,-What yon know of Mr. Tarbell gives you a perfect key to what, I suppose, yon do not know so much-his life in Boston.

"There has been none of the merchants of the city who was more thoroughly respected, and I might fairly say loved, among those who knew him. And th's makes a large circle, for he was a public-spirited man, ready to take his share in anything that was going forward. He was an interested member of our congregation for I do not know how many years-always after I knew the church until he removed to Lincoln. And, indeed, after that time I used to receive the most kindly notes of remembrance from him. Asyon know, he was a man of pro- fonnd religions sentiments, although not perhaps much given to what is called religions conversation. His heart was open to every one in distress, and his judgment so good that the impulses of his heart could be relied upon. I am very glad to hear that you are preparing some per- manent record of the life of such a man. I am sure that his example has not been withont its fruit among the young men who grew up knowing how he discharged his daily dnty.

"I am always truly yours, "Enw. E. HALE."

What Mr. Tarbell was as a neighbor and friend no one knows better than the writer. From his schoolboy's days for nearly sixty years he had busi- ness transactions with Mr. Tarbell, and knows him to have been an upright and reliable man, and after he. retired from business and came to reside in Lincoln Mr. Tarbell was his near neighbor and obliging friend, and he never went to him for any favor, whether it was for the loan of a dollar or a thousand, or suretyship for twice ten thousand, or for a contri- bution for any charitable, political or religious pur- pose, and was met with a refusal or put off to a more convenient season. He never sounded his trumpet before men, or let his left hand know what his right hand gave in charity. Yet it is believed his benevo- lence was large and well considered, and doubtless many pounds of sugar and tea and barrels of flour went to the homes of the needy of which no record was ever made, save in the hearts of the grateful re- cipients and the Book of Life. And all his works and deeds of charity were done unostentatiously, noise- lessly, "as the fragrance. of flowers ascends on the wings of the morning, or the moonbeams descend on the mantle of night."

But the crowning grace and glory of Mr. Tarbell's

life was the erection of the Lincoln Public Library. At first he decided to leave the town a sum of money to build a library, but afterwards concluded to erect the edifice himself, thus avoiding all contention about the location or construction of the building. He purchased a site for and began the construction of the library in the summer of 1883. The building was finished in the spring and summer of the follow- ing year, and dedicated August 5, 1884. The princi- pal address was delivered by a cousin of Mr. Tarbell, Hon. George F. Hoar, of Worcester, a Senator in Congress, whose father was a native of Lincoln. In- teresting letters from Hon. George Bancroft and Dr. Andrew P. Peabody were incorporated into the ad- dress, and suitable mention was made of Mrs. Eliza (Rotch) Farrar, who bequeathed her books to the town to form a nucleus for a library.

And long may it remain an ornament to our vil- lage, a blessing to all the people of the town, an ever- increasing inheritance of wisdom and knowledge, a lasting monument to the wisdom and worth of the founder, more enduring than marble, most glorious among the monuments of the land, save those that rise on the fields where tyranny and slavery were slain, or hallow the heights where independence was born.

Mr. George G. Tarbell died unmarried in Lincoln December 23, 1889, and his brother, Mr. Charles Lee Tarbell, died the following day. They had resided under the same roof, making one family, for twenty- four years, aud were buried at one funeral service. "They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided."

GEORGE F. BEMIS.

Mr. George F. Bemis, son of Amos and Susanna (Fiske) Bemis, was born in Lincoln, July 19, 1809, and learned the rudiments of knowledge in the pub- lic schools of his native town. He passed the danger- ous periods of youth in the healthful and invigorating labors of a farm, and subsequently taught district schools two or three winters. When about 20 years old he went to Amherst, where he learned the trade of a printer.

In 1834 he went to Concord, Mass., where he printed and published The Yeoman's Gazette for eight or nine years, but the paper was not a financial success. About 1843 he went to Boston, and with the assist- ance of his brothers-in-law, Messrs. Oliver Hastings and Abel Wheeler, established a printing-office which did a large business for the times, printing the Puri- tan Recorder, Christian Register, Massachusetts Ploughman, and other weeklies, first leasing and afterwards owning the building on School Street, now occupied by Charles A. Smith & Co. About twenty years ago he gave up the printing business and en- gaged in real estate transactions, where he laid the foundations of his prosperity.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

His last investment in real estate was erccting, in company with Mr. E. F. Waters, the Boston Daily Advertiser Building. Afterwards he purchased Mr. Waters' interest in the edifice, and later on sold it to a company. Since selling that estate he has invested his wealth chiefly in copper stocks.

In 1864 he returned to his native town and contin- ued to reside here until his death, taking a lively interest in its churches and schools and in its young people, with whom lie was a great favorite, mingling in their amusements and entertainments until he was more than eighty years old,-enjoying an abundance of wealth, and possessing a heart which found its own bliss in seeing others blest.

In 1883 he purchased upwards of ten acres of land adjoining the old Revolutionary burying-ground, and presented it to the town, thus providing a cemetery sufficient for the needs of the town for centuries.

By his last will and testament, executed two days before his death, he bequeathed to the town $30,000, the income of which is to be used to provide an an- nual course of public lectures of an instructive and elevating character, and $20,000 to build a new town- hall, in which shall be a room or hall of sufficient eapacity and proper construction for public lectures, and for seating an audience of such size as would naturally attend such lectures in the town.

Mr. Bemis also bequeathed to the Congregational Church in Lincoln $5000 towards building a new church edifice, to be used by the church for the pur- pose of a building fund whenever they see fit to re- build.

All honor to the men who honor themselves by their deeds of generous and thoughtful benevolence ; who build the libraries which hold the tomes con- taining the recorded wisdom of the bygone centuries, and provide the halls where the present and future generations may learn from living lips the ever-in- creasing unfoldings of wisdom and knowledge, of science and philosophy; and provide cemeteries where the forms of the loved and departed may be laid to rest amid the serene beauties of nature,-the sighing of the winds, the song of birds, and sweetness of flowers,-reposing till the trumpet of the arch- angel shall sound, and the earth and the heavens be no more.

WILLIAM FRANCIS WHEELER.1

On the 11th of March, 1812, unto Charles and Julia (Stearns) Wheeler, the latter being a daughter of Rev. Charles Stearns, D.D., second minister of Lincoln, was born a son, the subject of this biographical sketch. If among the numerous and varied incarna- tions of the genius of industry, other manifestations have been circumstantially more conspicuous, few have been more perfect, permanent or persistent. At the proper time he was christened by his grandfather,

Rev. Dr. Stearns; consequently, in the fear and ad- mnonition of the Lord, he immediately commenced upon an industrious, honest and successful agricul- tural career. His education was principally obtained in the district school of his native village, supple- mented by a few terms in the academies of Concord and Northfield, institutions similar to the high schools of our time. That he made commendable use of these limited advantages is evidenced in the fact that at the age of eighteen he began to teach. For thirteen winters, from 1830 to 1843, this was his vocation, viz .: two terms on Cape Cod, two in Concord, one in Acton, one in Charlestown, two in Sudbury and five in Lincoln. The summer vacations were devoted to recuperation by freely indulging in those wholesome recreations which unremitting labor on a farm so lib- erally supplies, and of which poets, snugly ensconced in upholstered chairs, so blithely sing. In those times rainy days, on which hired men were permitted to rest and boys to go a-fishing, were devoted by Mr. Wheeler to practical labor for the temperance cause; by working what in these latter days is becoming more and more a miracle, viz., the changing of cider into pure and unadulterated vinegar, which has lat- terly become the most profitable product of the farm. While he was engaged in teaching on the Cape he contracted a more agreeable and continuous engage- ment with Miss Hannah Crowell Paddock, daughter of Judah and Mary (Crowell) Paddock, which culmi- nated in marriage October 4, 1838. This harmonious union, which lasted nearly twenty years, was severed by the death of Mrs. Wheeler April 21, 1858. She left one son, Charles Stearns Wheeler, who is treasurer of the town of Lincoln and a member of the State Legis - lature. He lives at the old homestead on the farm which belonged to his ancestors previous to 1680, since when it has been divided and sub-divided among their descendants many times, but has all been recovered and many acres added thereto during Mr. William F. Wheeler's time. On the 16th of October, 1864, Mr. Wheeler was married to his present wife, Martha Jane, daughter of Rev. Morrill and Hannah Dean Allen, of Pembroke. They removed from the farm to a cottage on the road to Concord and near the centre of the village, from which Mr. Wheeler, now seventy-eight years old, walks over a hill from which on a clear day over thirty towns are visible to the old farm, where he enjoys himself hugely at his old vaca- tion pastimes, varied by the entertainment of his thrce grandchildren. The saying "If you want anything done, apply to a busy person," has always been amply verified by Mr. Wheeler. A very dear friend writes of him as follows: Perhaps no native of the town, living or dead, has been prompted to perform the last offices for and help lay away in their narrow beds so many of its inhabitants; and possibly there is not an- other to whom so many have entrusted their property and commended their wives and little ones at the hour of death. The demand upon an individual for

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 151

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