USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1 > Part 56
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THE ELKS
Although there are but two lodges of Elks in Norfolk County, the order has in late years become one of the most prominent of the fraternal societies. It was first started as a social club in New York City in 1865, under the name of "Jolly Corks." The name is said to have been proposed by Charles Vivian, a young Englishman, who was one of the most active participants in the club festivities.
In the winter of 1867-68, some one proposed that the club be used as the nucleus of a fraternal order. Then the objection was raised that the name "Jolly Corks," while proper for a local club, was not sufficiently dignified for a fraternal society. A committee was therefore appointed to select a suitable name and prepare a ritual. In the course of its labors, the committee chanced to visit Barnum's Museum, where the members of it saw an elk and learned something of that animal's habits. The name "Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks" was then proposed and adopted.
New York Lodge, No. I, was organized on February 16, 1868, and for about three years was the only one in the country. On March 10, 1871, it was incor- porated as a grand lodge, with power to establish subordinate lodges in cities having a population of five thousand or more. The second lodge was instituted in Philadelphia, soon after the incorporation of the grand lodge. On April 18, 1876, the third lodge was instituted at San Francisco. From that time the growth of the order has been rapid, until now there is scarcely a city in the United States with the requisite population that has not its Elks' Club. In 1915 there were nearly half a million members.
During the early history of the Elks the convivial feature was prominent, but in more recent years it has been subordinated to the cultivation of a fraternal spirit and to charitable work. The motto of the order is: "The faults of our brothers we write upon the sands; their virtues upon the tablets of love and memory." The initials "B. P. O. E." are sometimes said to stand for "Best People on Earth." The two lodges in Norfolk County are: Brookline, No. 886, and Quincy, No. 943. Both are prosperous and have good quarters for social intercourse and lodge work.
MISCELLANEOUS SOCIETIES
The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic society, and the Ancient Order of Hibernians are both strong in Norfolk County, especially in Cohasset, Dedham, Braintree, Quincy and Weymouth. In each of the last two towns there are four divisions of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. This order is also represented in Needham, Brookline, Stoughton and a few of the other towns of the county.
Of the minor fraternal societies, in which the insurance feature is prominent, the Improved Order of Red Men has lodges at Needham, Norwood, Cohasset, Quincy and Stoughton; the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Dedham, Foxboro, Needham, Braintree, Franklin and some of the other towns; a few lodges of the Knights of Honor are still in existence, though this order is not as prominent as it was a quarter of a century or so ago; the Loyal Order of Moose is represented in several of the towns, as are the Sons of Veterans, the .
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Daughters of the American Revolution, the Heptasophs, and the Patrons of Husbandry.
In each of the principal towns there are one or more social and literary clubs, some of which are composed exclusively of men and others exclusively of women. The work of these clubs consists of the study of some favorite author, or the discussion of some current topic, though in some of them the social feature is predominant. Among these clubs may be mentioned the Brookline, Dedham and Franklin Country clubs, each of which owns a modern club house; the Dedham Canoe and Boat Club ; the Wollaston and Needham Golf clubs ; the Nor- folk, Weymouth, Wessagusset and Old Colony clubs, of Weymouth; the Chick- atawabut, Fortnightly and Vernon clubs, of Stoughton; the Needham Unitarian Club : the Quincy Yacht Club ; the Copeland, Robert Emmet, Rod and Gun and Women's clubs, of Quincy ; the Monday Club, of Needham, and the Veteran Firemen's associations of Cohasset and Stoughton.
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BIRTHPLACES OF JOHN ADAMS AND JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, QUINCY
CHAPTER LI
ILLUSTRIOUS SONS
JOHN ADAMS-JOHN QUINCY ADAMS-JOHN HANCOCK-PAUL REVERE-FISHER AMES-HORACE MANN-WILLIAM T. ADAMS-ELEAZAR SMITH-WILLIAM M. THAYER-ALBERT D. RICHARDSON-HANNAH ADAMS-MARY E. WILKINS FREE- MAN-A LITERARY GROUP.
Shakespeare tells us that "Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." In every community there are certain individuals who, through accident of birth, through their own efforts, or through some fortunate combination of circumstances, rise above their fellow-men in the professions, in literary pursuits, as great inventors or in the political arena. Norfolk County has a number of these "Illustrious Sons," who have helped to shape the nation's destiny and add lustre to its history. Norfolk is the only county in the United States that can claim the distinction of being the birthplace of two presidents of the United States-John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams.
JOHN ADAMS
John Adams was born in that part of Braintree now Quincy on October 19, 1735, the eldest son of John and Susanna (Boylston) Adams. After suitable preparation he entered Harvard and graduated as a member of the class of 1755. His first intention was to study for the ministry, but not being in full sympathy with the orthodox views regarding election and reprobation, he decided upon the law as his profession. While preparing himself for the bar, he taught school at Worcester, and in 1758 was admitted to practice. In 1761 he heard James Otis deliver his famous address on "Writs of Assistance," of which he afterward said : "American independence was then and there born." Such an influence did this address have on Mr. Adams that when the tory government offered him the position of advocate-general in 1763, he declined the honor. In 1764 he married Abigail Smith, a granddaughter of Col. John Quincy, and about this time pub- lished his "Essay on Canon and Feudal Law."
The passage of the Stamp Act in March, 1765, brought Mr. Adams promi- nently into politics for the first time. He drew up the petition in the Town of Braintree and procured the signatures of a number of the leading citizens, instructing their representatives in relation to the stamps. On December 18, 1765, the Town of Boston employed him to appear with Gridley and Otis before the governor and council in support of his memorial. This introduced him to the people of Boston and in 1768 he opened a law office in that city. In the
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trial of the British soldiers for the Boston Massacre in 1770, he was employed as counsel for the defense, which rendered him unpopular with certain people, but these soon learned that his patriotic sentiments had not been affected by such employment, and the same year he was elected as a member of the General Court. On June 17, 1774, he was chairman of the Faneuil Hall meeting called to protest against the Boston Port Bill, and he was one of the five delegates sent from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress which met at Philadelphia the follow- ing September.
During the winter of 1774-75, under the pseudonym of "Novanglus," he pub- lished a series of essays on the rights of the colonists that attracted wide attention. He was the first to propose the name of George Washington as commander-in- chief of the American armies, and on June 7, 1776, he seconded Richard Henry Lee's motion in the Continental Congress "that these colonies are and of right ought to be independent states." Four days later he was appointed as one of the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson afterward declared Mr. Adams to be "the ablest advocate and champion of independence on the floor of the house."
Mr. Adams was made chairman of the board of war in June, 1776; was commissioner to France in 1777; was a member of the Massachusetts Constitu- tional Convention in 1779 : was appointed minister to England in 1788 ; was elected Vice President on the ticket with Washington and was inaugurated in 1789; was the federalist candidate for President in 1796 and was elected, but was defeated by Jefferson in 1800. He then retired from public life and died at Quincy on July 4, 1826, just fifty years after he signed the Declaration of Independence.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
On July II, 1767, a son was born to John and Abigail Adams in the Town of Braintree. He was named John Quincy, after his father and maternal grand- father. When he was about ten years of age he accompanied his father to France and attended school in Paris. In 1787 he graduated at Harvard, after which he studied law with Theophilus Parsons, of Newburyport, and in 1790 was admitted to the bar. The next year he published the "Boston Centinel," and under the name of "Publicola" wrote a number of articles to show the fallacies of French political reformers. Later he wrote several essays in support of the neutrality of the United States in the war between England and France. In 1794 President Washington appointed him minister to Holland, and in July, 1797, he married Louisa C., daughter of Joshua Johnson, then the American consul at London. In February before his marriage, Washington wrote to John Adams: "I give it as my undivided opinion that your son is the most valuable public character we have abroad."
In 1797 he was appointed minister to Berlin, from which post he was recalled in 1801. In March, 1803, he was elected to the United States senate as a fed- eralist. While in the senate he supported the Embargo Act, which caused him to lose standing with the federalist party and he became a democrat. He resigned his seat in the senate in March, 1808, because he was not in harmony with the administration, and in March, 1809, President Madison appointed him minister to Russia. While in that country he was offered the appointment of
DOROTHY QUINCY HOUSE, QUINCY
OLD ADAMS MANSION, QUINCY Occupied by two presidents of the United States and other distinguished members of the Adams family.
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associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, but declined. In 1813 he was one of the commissioners to negotiate a treaty with Great Britain; was appointed minister to England in 1815; was selected for secretary of state by President James Monroe in 1817 and became a member of the cabinet; was elected President in 1824, and was a candidate for reelection in 1828, but was defeated by Andrew Jackson.
. Mr. Adams reappeared in public life in 1830 as a member of Congress and represented his district in the lower house of the National Legislature for seven- teen years. On February 21, 1848, he was stricken with paralysis, while in his seat in Congress, and died on the 23d. During the latter part of his life he was known as "Old Man Eloquent."
JOHN HANCOCK
Almost every American school boy is familiar with the firm, bold signature of John Hancock in the fac simile copies of the Declaration of Independence. John Hancock was a native of Norfolk County. He was born on January 12, 1737, a son of John and Mary Hancock. His father was at that time pastor of the First Church in Braintree (now Quincy) and lived in a house where the Adams Academy was afterward built. In 1754 John graduated at Harvard and in 1769 at Yale. It is said that he was "just an ordinary scholar." In 1776, three years before he received his degree from Yale College, he was elected to the Provincial Legislature. There he met James Otis, Samuel Adams and others of that class, and when the time came for a struggle with the mother country Mr. Hancock was well prepared to take an active part. He was chosen a delegate to the First Provincial Congress, which met at Concord, and was next elected to the Con- tinental Congress, of which he was the second president. When the British crown offered general amnesty to the "American rebels," Mr. Hancock and Samuel Adams were not included in the offer, for the reason that their work in behalf of independence had been more than usually effective.
Mr. Hancock was the first governor of Massachusetts under the constitution of 1780, and held the office for five years. In 1787 he was again elected governor and remained in the office until his death at Quincy on October 8, 1793.
PAUL REVERE
Although not a native of the county, Paul Revere was for a number of years a resident and actively identified with Norfolk affairs. He was born in Boston on June 1, 1735, of French ancestry, the first of his family coming to America as the result of the Edict of Nantes. He took part in the French and Indian war and in 1774 was a member of the Suffolk Congress, which first met at the Doty Tavern, in what is now the Town of Canton. He carried a copy of the "Suffolk Resolves" on horseback to Philadelphia and presented it to the Con- tinental Congress. His midnight ride on the night of April 18, 1775, to warn the people of the movements of the British soldiery has been immortalized in Long- fellow's poem.
Paul Revere's father was a goldsmith and brought his son up to that trade. He also became a skillful engraver on copper. It is said that the first powder
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mill in the colonies was established by him. In 1801 he located in Canton and laid the foundation of the Revere Copper Company, under the firm name of "Paul Revere & Son." Here he cast bells and cannon. His death occurred on May 10, 1818.
FISHER AMES
Fisher Ames, lawyer, statesman and patriot, was a son of Dr. Nathaniel Ames and was born in Dedham on April 9, 1758, in a house which stood on the lot now occupied by the registry building. In 1770, soon after he had passed his twelfth birthday anniversary, he entered Harvard College, where he graduated in 1774. One of his biographers says: "He was too young during his college course to master the sciences then taught, but he was remarkably attentive to his studies and his mind was quick and accurate. He excelled in the classics and literary exercises. His declamations were remarkable for their energy and propriety, and he sometimes spoke an original theme and wrote some verses. He had a poetic imagination, which he showed in his prose writings afterward, but he never confessed to being a poet."
After his graduation, on account of his youth and the outbreak of the Revo- lution, he did not begin his professional studies for several years, occupying his time in teaching school, though he participated in some military expeditions to places in Massachusetts and on the Rhode Island frontier. He studied law with William Tudor of Boston, and in 1781 was admitted to the bar. At the time of Shay's Rebellion, Mr. Ames wrote a number of essays upon the questions that then agitated the people of the state. These essays were published in the Inde- pendent Chronicle and brought him in touch with prominent public men, which marked the beginning of his public career. In 1788 he was a delegate to the con- vention for ratifying the Federal Constitution, and the same year was elected to the Legislature. His speeches in the convention and the Legislature, as well as his essays, led to his election to Congress from the Suffolk district, which office he held during the entire eight years of Washington's administration.
In 1791 he began the practice of law in Boston and the next year married Frances, daughter of John Worthington, of Springfield. When Norfolk County was established in 1793, he returned to his native town and opened a law office in Dedham, on the corner of the meeting house common, not far from the "Pillar of Liberty." His health began to fail in 1795, and although he continued in prac- tice to some extent, the trial of ordinary cases became more and more irksome to him and he gradually withdrew, devoting his time to his farm and to politics. His fame as a lawyer is overshadowed by his eminence as a statesman and political writer. He was a federalist of the Jay and Hamilton type, and as a member of Congress during the formative period of the Government assisted in the enactment of laws the effects of which are still felt by the people of the United States. He died at Dedham on July 4, 1808.
HORACE MANN
Stretching away from the village of Franklin toward Wrentham is a tract of country known as "Mann's Plain." Here on May 4, 1796, was born Horace
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Mann, son of Thomas and Mary (Stanley) Mann, from whom the plain takes its name. In September, 1816, Horace entered the sophomore class of Brown University and graduated there in 1819. He then entered the law office of Josiah J. Fiske at Wrentham as a student. Before he had fully prepared himself for admission to the bar, Brown University offered him the position of tutor of Greek and Latin, which he accepted and remained with that institution for about two years. He then attended the law school at Litchfield, Connecticut, and com- pleted his legal studies with James Richardson at Dedham. In December, 1823, he was admitted to the bar, and in 1826 as an attorney before the Court of Com- mon Pleas. In 1827 he was admitted before the Supreme Judicial Court. In the latter year he was elected to represent Dedham in the General Court and continued to serve the town in that capacity until 1832. He also served as moderator of several town meetings and as a member of the school committee.
On May 27, 1837, in accordance with a law passed by the General Court, Governor Everett appointed the eight members of the Board of Education, one of whom was Horace Mann, then president of the State Senate. On June 29th he was made secretary of the board, an office he held for eleven years. The death of John Quincy Adams on February 23, 1848, left a vacancy in Con- gress, to which Mr. Mann was elected on the 3d of April following. He served three terms in Congress and on September 15, 1852, was elected president of Antioch College, which had just been established at Yellow Springs, Ohio. He remained at the head of this institution until his death on August 2, 1859.
Mr. Mann was twice married. On September 29, 1830, he married Miss Charlotte Messer, daughter of the president of Brown University. She died in August, 1832, and on May 1, 1843, he married Mary T. Peabody of Boston.
WILLIAM T. ADAMS
William Taylor Adams, better known to the American people as "Oliver Optic," was born in the Town of Medway on July 30, 1822. After acquiring a good education he taught for many years in the Boston public schools. Under the pseudonym of "Oliver Optic" he was a voluminous writer of juvenile fiction, his works numbering over one hundred volumes in all. These stories were pub- lished in series, among them being the "Army and Navy," "Boat Club," "Great Western," "Sailor Boy," "Starry Flag." "Lake Shore" and "Yacht Club" stories. His books are healthy in tone, dealing with athletic and out-door sports, calcu- lated to stimulate a liking for wholesome amusement, and all teach in greater or less degree the lessons of loyalty and patriotism. During the latter years of his life, Mr. Adams was a magazine editor. His death occurred on March 27, 1897.
ELEAZAR SMITH
While not an "Illustrious Son" in the sense of being a great statesman, author or military commander, Eleazar Smith left his impress upon his native county through his inventions, some of which are still in use in manufacturing processes. He was born in Medfield in 1755, a grandson of that Samuel Smith who was left for dead by the Indians, while an infant, at the burning of the town in 1676. Although his opportunity to acquire an education was limited, he was a
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great reader and had an excellent memory. He became well versed in astronomy and botany, and especially well informed in chemistry and mechanics. As a boy he gave proof of his inventive ability by constructing many ingenious con- trivances. At the age of fifteen years he made a watch "that would go and keep time," his only tools being a pocket knife, a three-cornered file and .a pair of compasses. This watch he presented to Doctor Wight of Medway, who assisted him to procure better tools for repairing and making clocks.
Mr. Smith's father was not in sympathy with his bent of mind and frequently charged him with "fooling away his time when he ought to be at work." While a soldier in the Continental army in the Revolution, he repaired a watch for one of the soldiers with his penknife. This came near getting him into trouble. Counterfeit coins were in circulation about the camp at Saratoga, and the inge- nuity he displayed in repairing the watch led some to assert that he was the author of the counterfeit money. His greatest invention in early life was a machine for making pins. He also constructed some useful machines for making straw braids and bonnets, an industry that was then just gaining a foothold in Norfolk County. Machines for making combs, tacks, nails, etc., were turned out from his workshop, but the greatest of all his inventions was the machine for setting card teeth, which revolutionized the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods. But, like other inventive geniuses, he was not of that turn of mind to realize wealth from his inventions, which were appropriated by designing persons, so that he died in 1836 comparatively poor.
WILLIAM M. THAYER
Another son of Norfolk County whose "fame has gone abroad over the land" was Rev. William Makepeace Thayer, of Franklin. He was educated for the ministry and was for years a forceful and successful preacher, but his greatest claim to fame is in his works as an author. It has been said of him that "he was a prolific writer, a master of terse, vigorous English, with a peculiar power of arresting attention and clinching his points." His best known works are the "Bob- bin Boy," "Poor Boy and Merchant Prince," "From Log Cabin to White House" and "From Tannery to White House," which in turn tell the story of Gen. Na- thaniel P. Banks, A. T. Stewart, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. His "Marvels of Our New West," "Success and Its Achievers," "Tact, Push and Principle," have found their way into many libraries and homes, and some of his works have been translated into foreign languages. Mr. Thayer died in Franklin near the close of the Nineteenth Century.
ALBERT D. RICHARDSON
At the time of the War of 1861-65, Albert D. Richardson, a native of Frank- lin, was the celebrated war correspondent of the New York Tribune. He was captured and confined for about twenty months in Confederate prisons before he was able to effect his escape. Among his works are "The Secret Service," "The Field, the Dungeon and the Escape," "Four Years in Secessia," "Beyond the Mississippi" and "Our New States and Territories." Mr. Richardson edited Horace Greeley's "American Conflict," a "Personal History of Gen. U. S.
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STETSON HALL AND SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, RANDOLPH
HOME OF MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN, RANDOLPH
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Grant," and some other works of note. Some years after the close of the war he was shot in the Tribune office by a man named McFarlane and his remains were brought to Franklin for interment. His brother, the late Rev. Charles A. Richardson, also a native of Franklin, was for years the editor of the Con- gregationalist.
HANNAII ADAMS
A story is told of a minister who, in making use of the term "mankind," explained that "Mankind is intended to embrace womankind." Applying that theory to Norfolk County, it may be well to include a few of the "Illustrious Daughters" along with the "Illustrious Sons." First of these is Hannah Adams, the historian, who was born in Medfield on October 2, 1755. She was in the fifth generation from Lieut. Henry Adams, one of the pioneers of the town, who was killed in the doorway of his house on the morning of February 21, 1636, when the Indians burned and sacked Medfield. Hannah's grandfather, Thomas Adams, inherited a part of the tract of land granted to his ancestor, and about 1715 built the house in which she was born.
Hannah Adams was the first American woman whose literary ability was generally recognized. With a delicate constitution from her earliest childhood, she did not mingle with other children in the usual sports, and as a result grew excessively timid and averse to appearing in company. Deemed physically unable to attend school, she received her first teaching from her mother. After her mother's death in 1767, she read a great variety of books in her father's library. She was passionately fond of poetry, and when she grew older she earned a little income from teaching some young men, who were preparing for the min- istry, the elements of Greek and Latin. One of the young men had a book of extracts from "Broughton's Dictionary of Religions," and the perusal of this book shaped the after career of Hannah Adams. Dissatisfied with the lack of candor displayed on the part of some of the authors, she determined to make a compilation of her own, but with no thought of ever having it published. When it was completed a difficulty arose in finding some one to print it, unless 400 subscriptions were obtained in advance. With great labor and the assistance of her father and friends, the required number was finally secured, and in 1784 her "View of Religious Opinions" was published by B. Edes & Sons of Boston. Her "History of New England" was published in 1799; "Evidences of Chris- tianity," in 1801, and her "History of the Jews," in 1812. She was also the author of other works, chiefly on religious topics. The latter years of her life were spent in Brookline, where she died on December 15, 1832.
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