History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 187

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 187


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).


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Solomon Hager married Luey Ann Fuller, of Ver- mont, and they had three daughters, of whom one died young. Helen R. married George W. Kimball and went to St. Louis, where he was counected with Simmons Hardware Company. Mr. Kimball died very suddenly in 1889 while boarding in Swampscott, Mass. Lucy Ann married John H. White, of Chi- cago.


George Hager married Sally Mead, of Boxboroughi. Sarah is unmarried and lives in town. Phinehas, who took the name of Phinelas A., went to Oberlin, Ohio, to attend seliool. He, with a number of others, went out from Oberlin to found Olivet College, Michigan. He married Polly J. Edsell, of Olivet, for his first


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wife, and they had five children, all of whom died in childhood. His second wife was Mrs. Sabra White, of Otsego, Michigan. He enlisted from Otsego, and entered Company B, Nineteenth Regiment Michigan Infantry, in August, 1862. He was first sergeant of his company and acted as captain for quite a long time. He was in Libby Prison at one time, but was released on parole. He was killed August 7, 1864, near Atlanta, in Sherman's March from Atlanta to the Sea.


Mary Hager married Benjamin K. Barnard and set- tled in Harvard. They had five children, of whom three, John, Sarah and Mary, are now living. John married Nellie Green, and lives in Worcester ; Sarah married William Puffer, buried her husband, and re- sides at home ; Mary married W. J. D. Ewart, and also lives in Worcester. The oldest son, Charles, died when about a year old, and the youngest, Charles Wesley, a student at Lawrence Academy, Groton, died when a little more than seventeen.


Benjamin Stowe Hager married Elizabeth Blanchard, of Boxborough, and resides on the Captain Ephraim Whitcomb place. They had seven children : Phinehas, who died when eight years of age : Mary E., who re- sides at home ; Simon B., George H., Benjamin O., John M. and Sarah C., who died when a year and a half old. Simon B. Hager married Lucie C. Gilson, of Littleton, and is settled on the Whitman Wether- bee place. George H. Hager married Florence E. Albee, of Clinton, and with his brother, Benjamin O. Hager, is engaged in the grocery business in Clinton ; and John M. Hager married Mattie L. Coan, of Som- erville, and resides in that place.


Daniel Hager married Maria H. Nottage, of Stark, Maine, and went to Kansas, where they remained eight years. They were the parents of five children, of whom four are living. They are now settled in Wendell, Massachusetts.


The first Phinehas Hagar served throughout the Revolutionary War. He, with others, came up from Weston, crossed the Concord River in a boat, and joined in the fight at Concord Bridge ; and he was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, at Yorktown. Mr. Solomon Hager served as Superintending School Committee in 1839, and was chosen representative from Boxborough in 1840 and 1841. Mr. George Hager was selectman for a number of years, and Benjamin S. has held that position, also that of town treasurer for four years. Mr. Benjamin S. Hager is deeply interested in the prosperity of the Congrega- tional Church, and for years has labored earnestly and faithfully for its advancement. His oldest son is a deacon of that church.


I am indebted to Mr. Herbert Nelson Hayward, of Watertown, Massachusetts, formerly of Boxborough, for information regarding the Hayward family, nearly all of which has been selected from the "Genealogy of the Hayward Family," which he is preparing at the present time.


"George Heaward," or Hayward, and his wife


Mary (American ancestors of the Boxborough Hay- wards), were one of the "about twelve families " that Rev. Peter Bulkeley, of Odell, England, and Simon Willard, a merchant of Horsmonden, County of Kent, brought with them, embarking from London May 9, 1635, in the ship "Susan and Ellen " (Captain Edward Paine, of Wapping, England), and settled at Musketaquid (Concord, Massachusetts) in the fall of 1635. He was one of the first settlers of Concord, and had an allotment of land from the first division of lands of the original grant, by the General Court, of six miles of land square, where he built a house and barn. In 1664 he built a saw-mill, afterward a corn-mill, at what is still known as Hayward's Mills. His full name has appeared in ancient records, in ad- dition to that above, as Gog Heaward, Georg He- ward, George Heyward, Georg Heyward, George Hei- ward, George Heywood and Geo. Howard, but Savage in his "Genealogical Dictionary " says, "he wrote his name Heaward." Georg Heaward and wife are quite likely a branch of the Hayward, alias Haward, or Howard family, that early settled on the Isle of Hart- rey, in the northeast part of Kent County, England. This Hayward family were a branch of the very an- cient and original family of Havard or Hayward, alias Havert, Heyward, Haward, Howard, of Wales, where the earliest records of the Norman ancestor, who, it is said, came in the eleventh century from Havre de Grace, the sea-port town of Normandy in the north- ern part of France, are found to be.


"Joseph ; heaward," or hayward, as he signed his name to his will, was the second son of Georg Hea- ward, of Concord, Massachusetts. He was born in 1643, and married for his first wife, Hannah Hosmer, of Concord, and for the second, Elizabeth Treadway, of Watertown; Simeon hayward, of Concord, sixth son of Joseph and Elizabeth hayward, born in 1683, married Rebecca Hartwell, of Concord, in 1705. Dea- con Samuel Hayward, of Acton, second son of Sim- eon hayward, or Hayward, and Rebecca (Hartwell) Hayward, of Concord, born in 1713, married, in 1739, Mary Stevens. Paul Hayward, of Boxborough, Mass- achusetts, second son of Deacon Samuel and Mary (Stevens) Hayward, of Acton, born 1745, married Anna White, of Acton, in 1768, and settled on the farın now owned by Mrs. Eliza A. Hayward. He died May 16, 1825, aged seventy-nine. They had a family of ten children : Anna, Deacon Paul, Sarah, Mather, Elizabeth, James, Susanna, Ebenezer, Mary and Esquire Samuel Hayward. Anna married Moses Whitcomb ; Deacon Paul married Lucy Whitcomb ; Sarah married Reuben Graham ; Mather married Lucy Page, of Bedford ; Elizabeth married (1) Gates, (2) Whitcomb, of Littleton; James married Eunice Wood, of Boxborough ; Susanna married Moses Hart- well, of Littleton ; Ebenezer married Polly Wether- bee; Mary married (1) John Wood, (2) Jonathan Nource, of Boxborough ; Esq. Samuel married Sophia Stevens, of Marlborough.


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Deacon Paul and Lucy (Whitcomb) Hayward had fourteen children : Paul, Lucy, Ephraim, Joel, James, John, Stevens, Samuel, Hannah, Eliza Ann, Joseph, and three who died young. Paul, Ephraim Joel, James, John, and Samuel all settled in Ashby, Mass. ; Lucy married Jolin Kimball, of Littleton ; Stevens married Harriet Johnson ; Hannah died at the age of 24; Eliza A., married (1) Ebenezer W. Hayward, (2) Col. John Whitcomb, both of Box- borough ; and Deacon Joseph married (1) Catherine W. Wellington, (2) Mrs. Ellen A. Bezanson, of Chelsea.


James Hayward, who married Harriet Foster and settled in Ashby, had one son, Joel Foster, who mar- ried Sarah E. Webber, of Ashby, by whom he had eight children : Cornelia A., who married Granville Veasie, of Boxborough ; Cordelia E., who died young ; James P. Stevens, Joel Foster, Minnie, Martha J., and Roland. Joel Foster Hayward, Sr., was born in Ashby, and previous to coming to Boxborough lived in Acton, where for ten years he was deacon of the Congregational Church. He has served the town as superintendent of schools, also as selectman.


Deacon Joseph and Catherine (Wellington) Hay- ward had two children, Joseph Warren and Lucie Helena. J. Warren married Margaret A. V. Hutch- ins, of Carlisle, and Lucie H. married Edgar C. Mead, of Boxborough. J. Warren Hayward has served the town as selectman and assessor for several ycars. His father, Joseph Hayward, was deacon of the Congregational Church in Boxborough for twenty-six years. He died June 22, 1888.


James and Eunice (Wood) Hayward were the par- ents of nine children : Eunice, Susannah, James Wood, John (who died when twenty-six years of age), Stevens, Lucy Anna, Paul (who died at the age of twenty), and two who died in childhood. Eunice married Emery Fairbanks ; Susannah married Sewell Fairbanks ; James Wood married Hannah E. Conant, of Acton, Mass .; Stevens married Charlotte Conant, of Acton, who was eighth in descent from Roger Con- ant, who was first Colonial Governor of the Massa- chusetts Bay Colony at Cape Ann, in 1624; Lucy Anna married Thomas Burbeck, of Acton, buried her hus- band in 1870, and is now living with her brother, Ste- vens Hayward, in Boxborough. "James Hayward," says William S. Wood in his " Wood Genealogy," " was named for his uncle, James Hayward, of Acton, Massachusetts, who fell at Lexington, April 19, 1775, the day of the Concord fight." He was said to have been an excellent man and universally esteemed by those who knew him. He was for a number of years selcetman, assessor and highway surveyor of Box- borough. Capt. James Wood Hayward, his son, re- sides in West Acton, Massachusetts. Hc has been active and enterprising, and is a prominent man in his town.


Stevens and Charlotte (Conant) Hayward were the parents of five children : Charles HI., who died in


infancy ; Herbert N., J. Quincy, Clara S. and Lottic M. Herbert married Sarah P. Baldwin, of Waltham, and resides in Watertown, Massachusetts. J. Quincy, a graduate of Amherst, class of 1882, is unmarried, and is at present engaged on the staff of the Bunker Hill Times, Boston. Clara S. married Charles L. Woodward, of Landgrove, Vermont, and resides in Boxborough, and Lottie M. married Charles V. Mc- Clenathan, of West Rindge, New Hampshire. Stevens Hayward received an academic education, taught school in Boxborough and Acton, and finally settled on his father's farm, where he has lived most of his life. He was a member of the Boxborough Light In- fantry Company when it existed, and has been school committee and highway surveyor of Boxborough.


Ebenezer and Polly (Wetherbee) Hayward had seven children : Ebenezer W., Dea. Albert, Mary, Franklin, Susanna, Anna and Paul. Hon. Paul Hayward married Alice M. Balcom, of Sudbury, Massachusetts, and they were the parents of four children : Alice P. who died in infancy ; Florence M., Albert H., and Cally H. Florence M. married Maurice G. Cochrane, of Melrose, Massachusetts. Albert. A. is master mechanic of the Thomson-Hous- ton Electric Company, of all work on the West End Street Railway System, Boston, and he is also pur- chasing agent for the same company. Hon. Paul Hayward resided on his father's homestead for many years. He was school committee and deacon of the Congregational Church for a long time. He had the honor of being sent representative from Boxborough in 1871, and he served in the late Civil War for nearly two years. On account of the sickness and suffering he experienced while in his country's service, he was granted in 1885 an invalid pension. He removed from Boxborough to Reading, Massachusetts, in 1864, thence to Melrose Highlands in 1879. In 1887 he went to Los Angeles, California, and entered the employ of the Los Angeles Electric Street Railway as a conductor. He is now temporarily residing there.


Esquire Samuel Hayward and Sophia, his wife, were the parents of five children. He lies in the lower burying-ground in Boxborough, and his only son, Samuel Henry, is also buried there.


Deacon M. E. Wood, in his centennial speech, said of the six Hayward sons who removed to Ashby : "They and their descendants cxert a large influence in all that pertains to the welfare of the town, both agricultural and educational. In all the work of the church they are generous supporters ; one of them at his death left a generous bequest, that these blessings might be perpetuated." The obituary notice of their mother is worthy of note : " This aged Christian was a pattern of industry, kindness, mcekness, patience and picty. For three-score and six years she was a consistent member of the Congregational Church in Boxborough ; her eleven children joined the church of their mother and two of them became deacons iu it after their father."


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Thomas Blanchard and his son George, born 1616, . came from near Andover, England, in the year 1639, on the ship " Jonathan," and settled in Charlestown (now Malden), Mass. Joseph, son of George Blan- chard, horn 1654, married Hannah Shepard. Joseph, son of Joseph and Hannah (Shepard) Blanchard, born May 7, 1686, married Elizabeth Whittemore, and in 1717 or 1718 moved from Charlestown, " through the Indian paths," to Littleton,-that part of Littleton which is now Boxborough, -and settled on the John Blanchard farm. They had two chil- dren, Jemima, horn Dec. 21, 1721, and Simon, born Oct. 6, 1728. Jemima was unmarried and died in 1790, aged sixty-nine years. Simon married Sarah and they were the parents of four children, among whom were Calvin, born February 27, 1754, and Lu- ther, born June 4, 1756, the brothers whose names have become familiar to us through their participation in the fight at the old North Bridge, Concord, in 1775. Calvin married Abigail Reed, of Westford. The fore- going information with regard to this branch of the early Blanchards was obtained from Mr. George D. Blanchard, of Malden, Mass., who has been engaged for several years in collecting genealogical records of the Blanchard family.


Calvin and Abigail (Reed) Blanchard were the parents of nine children,-Abigail, Calvin, Luther, Simon, Jemima, who died in infancy, Joseph, Lucy, John and Susannah. Abigail married Reuben Hart- well, of Shirley ; Calvin married (1) Hannah Hoar, (2) Nancy Warren, both of Littleton. Calvin and Hannah (Hoar) Blanchard, had five children of whom two died in infancy. Jemima, their oldest child, married Mr. Parker, the father of James A. Parker, formerly of Littleton. Luther Blanchard was unmar- ried and resided with his brother John, at the old homestead, until his death, at the age of seventy. Simon married for his first wife Martha Shattuck, of Littleton ; for his second, Mary Keyes, of Westford, and for the third Mrs. Hannah Preston, of Box- borough ; Joseph married Louisa Marshall, of Tewks- bury ; Lucy married Amos Day, of Shirley ; John married Margaret Burheck, of Westford, and Susannah married Abner Wheeler, of Acton ; they had eight children. Mr. Wheeler died young, and his widow afterward married Pelatiah Brooks, of Acton. They had one child. Mrs. Brooks died in Shirley.


Simon Blanchard (1784-1867) and Martha Shat- tuck, his wife, settled on the estate where Mr. Her- bert Blanchard now lives, and were the parents of two children, Simon and Martha. Simon married Eliza- beth Dix Fletcher for his first wife, and they had three children-William, Ellen Ann and Elizabeth Fletcher. William married Nettie M. Stacy, of Stod- dard, and after his death, she, with her two children, Arthur W. and Gracie M., returned to her former home. Ellen Ann married Calvin N. Holbrook, and they, with their three boys, reside in Littleton. They buried one little girl in childhood. Elizabeth


Fletcher married Amasa Knowlton, of Acton, and, with their three children, reside in that place. Simon Blanchard married Susan Wheeler, daughter of Ab- ner Wheeler, for his second wife.


Martha Blanchard married Samuel Sawin, of Stow, and of their five children, one died in infancy ; Sam- uel Dexter1 married Caroline Elizabeth Simonds, and their only child, Charles Dexter, is a physician in Charlestown ; John Travis married Sarah Whitney Sawyer, of Bolton, and they had four children, of whom two are living; Martha Maria married Marcus Morton Raymond, of Boxborough, and of their three daughters, one, Nellie Morton, died young, and the other two, Carrie 2 and Ella, reside in Somerville, the present residence of their father, and the place where their mother died. Simon Blanchard Sawin died at the age of twenty-seven.


Simon Blanchard and Mary (Keyes), his second wife, were the parents of nine children : Joseph K., Sarah, Mary Ann, Luke, Elizabeth, Caroline, John, and two who died in early childhood. Joseph K. married Mary Culver, of Boston, and they had eight children : Mary Eliza, Phoebe Ann, and Joseph Her- mon, who died in childhood, Emily Frances, Caroline Augusta, Calvin Herbert and Willard and Warren, twins. Emily Frances married Ephraim Raymond, and resides in Somerville. They have buried one child and have six living. The two old- est children are married. Augusta Raymond married Mr. William H. Forbush, and they, with their four children, are settled on one of the old Wetherbee places in Boxborough. The next daughter, Hattic, married Ernest Bezanson, and resides in Charlestown. Caroline Augusta Blanchard married Richard Y. Nelson, and resides in town. They have huried one little daughter, and have three children living. Cal- vin Herbert married Sarah Lauder, and is settled on the old place where his father and grandfather lived before him. They have buried one child, and have four living. Willard Blanchard married Jennie Furbush, of Maine, and they had three children, of whom one died in infancy. Willard Blanchard has been dead about eight years, and Jennie (Forbush) Blanchard died about two years ago. Warren Blan- chard married Nellie Wehber, and of their five chil- dren, only three are living. They reside in South- boro'.


Sarah Blanchard married Leonard Chandler, of Princeton, and of their six children, two died young. The oldest daughter, Sarah Frances, married Henry Hobbs, of Princeton ; Ella Jane is unmarried, and re- sides in Cambridge; Leonard married Hattie Stew- art, and they, with their three children, reside in Somerville; John is unmarried, and remains at home.


Mary Ann Blanchard married James Fisher Sawin, and lives in Natick. Only four of their eight chil-


1 Samuel Dexter Sawin has died since the writing of this history.


2 Carrie married Mr. Alonzo B. Cushing, June 18, 1890.


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dren are living : Simon Blanchard, Phares N., Mar- tha and Lizzie Ida. Simon Blanchard Sawin mar- ried Alice Leland, of Sherburne, and they have four children. Phares N., Martha and Lizzie Ida remain at home.


Luke Blanchard married Jerusha Vose, of Prince- ton. They buried two children in early childhood, and their youngest daughter, Mary Alice, when twenty- one years of age. Annie and Arthur reside at home with their parents, in West Acton.


Caroline Blanchard married Simeon Wetherbee, of Boxborough, and they have eight children : M. Llew- ellyn, Allie V., Ellis, Burt L., Mary K., Arthur H., Ella F. and Carrie B. Llewellyn is married and liv- ing in Boston; Allie married Morton Raymond, of Somerville, and they have one son, John Raymond; Ellis married Annie R. Cowdrie, of Boxborough, and they, with their three children, reside in Harvard; Burt L. is in business in Boston ; Mary K. married George M. Whitcomb, of Charlestown, and resides in that place ; Arthur H.1 remains at home ; Ella F. is teaching in Harvard, and Carrie B. is attending school at Ashburnham.


John Blanchard married Anna M. Snow, and they are settled in Lawrence. They have buried one child, and the remaining daughter, Lillian, is at home preparing herself for a teacher.


Joseph and Louisa (Marshall) Blanchard settled on the Reed farm, and were the parents of seven chil- dren : Joseph, Marshall, Henderson, Solon, Abby Ann, Mary Louisa and Calvin. Joseph, Henderson and Mary Louisa are all married and living in the West. Joseph is a physician. Marshall married Charlotte Reed, of West Acton, and died in Califor- nia. He left one child. Solon is married, and living in Weymouth. Abby Ann married Eliab Reed, and died on the Reed farm, leaving one child. Calvin is unmarried, and lives near Weymouth.


John and Margaret (Burbeck) Blanchard had eight children : Myron, Abbie, Charles, Clara, Etta, Lucy A., George and Louisa M. Myron died in childhood ; Abbie married Mr. N. E. Whitcomb, of Boxborough, and they have two sons, Arthur M. and Waldo E .; Clara is living with an uncle in Saleni; Etta is en- gaged in book-keeping in Charlestown ; Lucy A. married Mr. George H. Decosta, and they, with their two children, reside at West Acton ; Charles is mar- ried, and settled in Eden, Dakota; George remains at home, and Louisa M. is in Boston. Mr. John Blan- chard died at the old homestead about a year ago, at the advanced age of ninty-five years.


The first Calvin Blanchard was in the whole Revo- lutionary War. He was at the battle of Bunker Hill on the 17th of June, 1775, and was in some other en- gagements during the war. He was one of those who helped to build the forts on Dorchester Heights, the


building of which caused the British troops to leave Boston. He lived to return home and settle on a . farm, that is at the present time, and has always been, in the possession of the Blanchards. He was killed by the fall of a tree, January 2, 1800.


Joseph K. Blanchard has been interested in the welfare of both the church and the town. He served as Superintending School Committee, selectman, as- sessor and auditor for several years, and was an earn- est and efficient member of the Congregational Church for over fifty years. He died in 1888, aged seventy-three. His wife, Mary (Culver) Blanchard died about eight years ago.


Luke Blanchard was constable for a good many years. He settled in West Acton, but does business in Boston as a commission merchant. He is also largely interested in real estate in different places. His son, Arthur Blanchard, is a butcher and cattle- trader at West Acton.


So far back as we can trace them, there seems to have been three Wetherbee families settled in town, though perhaps could we trace the line a little far- ther, we should find,-what is supposed to be the case,-that there were only two families originaily, and that the heads of these were brothers. Phinehas Wetherbee, whose father, John Wetherbee, was here as early as 1717 or 1727, settled on the farm where Silas Hoar now lives, and was ancestor of the line of Silas, Simeon, Norman and probably Charles Weth- erbee. This farm has been in possession of the Wetherbee family from very early times, and descend- ants of the eighth, ninth and tenth generations, in the persons of Mrs. Lucy (Wetherbee) Hoar, her daugh- ter, Mrs. Mercy (Hoar) Wetherbee, and the children of Mr. Charles T. Wetherbee and Mercy (Hoar) Wetherbee, are now occupying the old homestead. The house now standing was built more than 150 years ago. There are old deeds and wills of the time of Queen Anne in possession of the present family. A remote ancestor of the family, becoming alarmed lest he should in some way lose his wealth, is said to have hidden a large sum of money upon the estate. The story has been handed down from one to another and later generations have sought for the rumored wealth, but, although at one time the sum of $30 or $40 was found in a drill-hole in a rock, with a bullet placed over it, nothing more has ever been discovered.


Silas and Betty Wetherbee were tlie great-grand- parents of Mrs. Lucy (Wetherbee) Hoar-wife of Silas Hoar-who is the oldest living representative of this branch of the Wetherbee family now living in town. Her grandparents were Simeon and Mary (Robbins) Wetherbee, and her parents Silas and Mary Wetherbee. The first Silas Wetherbee gave the meeting-house lot in 1775; he was much inter- ested in bothlı church and district, when they were in their infancy. He was selectman in 1783. Silas and Mary were the parents of fourteen children : Simcon, born November 4, 1800; Stillman, Audrew, Silas


1 Arthur H. married Miss Nellie Mentzer, of Harvard, September 24, 1890, and is settled on the home farm in Boxborough.


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Whitman, born February 16, 1806 ; Daniel, Emory, Mary Ann, Susannah Lowell, Solomon Taylor, who died young; John Robbins, Lucy, born June 21, 1820, and Clarissa, her twiu, who died in infancy, Eliza Jane Brewer, and Mercy Randall. Simeon married Persis Whitney ; Stillman married Elizabeth Sargent, of Stow, and their only daughter married Simeon Green, of Harvard ; Andrew married Mary Sargent and settled in town. Of their eight children only four are now living. Augustine resides in Acton, and his widowed mother, Mrs. Mary (Sargent) Weth- erbbee, is living in Hubbardston, Massachusetts. Silas Whitman married Mary Sargent, sister of Eliza- beth, and went to Stow, afterwards settled in Box- borough. He died about six years ago ; his wife died several years before, and of their eight children only two are now living, Mrs. Jane E. Tuttle and Stillman Wetherbee, of Acton. Daniel married Nancy Bulk- eley and had no children ; Emory married Hannah Dyer, of Lowell. He died young, leaving no chil- dren. She lived to the age of eighty years, and died in the autumn of 1889. Mary Ann married George Dolby and went away from town ; Susannah Lowell married Thomas Johnston, of Boston, and they had one child. Mr. Johnston died a few months ago.1 John Robbins Wetherbee married Nancy Goodwin, of Boxborough, and settled in Bolton. They have eight children. Lucy married Mr. Silas Hoar and settled on the old homestead place where seven gen- erations of the Wetherbee family had lived before her. They have an only daughter, Mercy, who married Charles T. Wetherbee-of another branch of the Wetherbee family-and they have three children. Eliza Jane Brewer married William Eaton, of Clin- ton, and they have three children. Mercy Randall married Stillman Houghton, of Worcester. They have one son.




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