History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 113

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 113

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

his health failing, and after a prolonged leave of ab- Mitchell, and there were born to them twelve chil- sence, in 1876 he resigned his official duties, and , dren, eight sons and four daughters.

returned to Massachusetts, where he died, as stated.

His first wife died at Needham, April 22, 1850. | born in Bridgewater, Mass., July 18, 1785. When Nov. 28, 1850, he married Clementina Augusta Dimick, daughter of Jacob Dimick, of Quechee, Vt. She died in Washington in February, 1865. Sept. 19, 1866, he married, at New Orleans, Sarah Beaumont Millard, daughter of Alfred Millard. By his first wife he had eleven children, nine of whom have survived him.

Mr. Whitaker was a man of pure life, was fond of books, and his mind was well stored and cultured. He wrote with force and elegance, and his advantages of voice, person, and manner rendered him an ex- tremely effective public speaker. Misfortunes never affected his amiability, or diminished his faith in human kind. He has left to his descendants an honored name, and earned the lasting regard of his townsmen.

GALEN ORR.

Hugh Orr, the first American ancestor of Galen Orr, was born in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scot- | located on the " Mill Dam." At Newton Lower land, Jan. 2, 1715. He was " educated a gunsmith and house-lock filer." He came to America June 17, 1740, and, after a temporary stop at Easton, set- tled in East Bridgewater, where he lived until the time of his death, Dec. 6, 1798. He married Mary Bass, daughter of Capt. Jonathan Bass, of Bridgewater, Aug. 4, 1742. " Hon. Hugh Orr, Esq.," as he is styled in certain resolutions passed by the General Court of Massachusetts, May 2, 1787, very soon after he came to East Bridgewater, established iron- works there and commenced the manufacture of scythes and axes. He was engaged just before the Revolu- | turer of Needham, and the husband of Lydia A. is tion in the manufacture of fire-arms, and at the com- mencement of that war produced the first cannon made in this country by boring from the solid cast- ing. Shortly after the Revolutionary war he was a member of the Massachusetts Senate. He was also instrumental in the introduction of cotton machinery into this country, and the first machines for carding, roving, and spinning cotton made in the United States were constructed at his works in East Bridge- water. He had ten children, two sons and eight daughters.

Thomas Orr, the eldest son of Hugh Orr, Jr., was quite a young man he obtained employment in Need- ham, and there met Rachel Bullen, of that town, whom he afterwards married. About the year 1812 he removed with his family to Shirley, Mass., where he died March 14, 1819, leaving a widow and six children, the eldest twelve years and the youngest ten months old, without adequate means of support. Necessity compelled the mother to place the older children under the care of relatives and friends, and returning with her two younger children to Need- ham, she endeavored to provide for her own and their support.

Galen Orr, whose portrait is here given, was the fifth child of Thomas and Rachel (Bullen) Orr. He was born in Shirley, Mass., Dec. 9, 1815. His early life was spent on a farm, with only such advantages for education as the public schools of that day afforded. Being obliged to rely upon his own resources to gain a livelihood, he learned the trade of nail-cutting, and worked at it in the towns of Braintree and Dover, Mass., and also in Boston, at the large works then Falls he worked as a blacksmith and machinist, gain- ing knowledge and experience which were of great value to him in the business which he afterwards established. In the year 1837 he married Mary Ann Smith, daughter of Luther Smith, of Needham, and settled in that town. The children by this marriage were Galen, Jr., born July 3, 1838, and died Feb. 8, 1883; Mary E., born Feb. 11, 1840 ; Lydia A., born April 25, 1842; and Isabella A., born Nov. 8, 1844. Galen, Jr., married Henrietta Childs. The husband of Mary E. is Edgar H. Bowers, a manufac-

Emery Grover, a lawyer in active practice at the Suffolk bar. In 1839, Mr. Orr commenced the man- ufacture of blind hinges and fastenings, which he continued until his death, taking into partnership, in 1872, his son-in-law, Edgar HI. Bowers. About 1850 he purchased the mill privilege on Rosemary Street, in Needham, and engaged in the manufacture of cot- ton batting, which business he continued for some six years, when he sold the machinery to be removed from the mill. In 1857 he formed a copartnership with his cousin, Thaddeus Bullen, of Haverhill, Mass., and fitted up the mill for the manufacture of tacks and finishing nails ; but this business proving unrenumera- tive, at the end of a year and a half the partner-

Hugh Orr, Jr., who was the tenth child and the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Bridgewater, Mass., July 26, 1766, and lived there until his death, June 2, 1851. Hle married Sylvia | ship was dissolved and its affairs closed. In 1860 he

Galen Grr

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NEEDHAM.

established a grist-mill, and for about six years dealt | bors and townsmen in matters touching both public quite largely in flour and grain. Mr. Orr's early and private interests, and his judgment was always trusted. His kindness of heart and sympathy with the unfortunate were remarkable, and no deserving person ever appealed to him in vain if it was in his political affiliations were with the Democratic party, but upon the organization of the Free-Soil party he was among the first to join its numbers, and he con- tinued in it until the formation of the Republican party, | power to assist.

with which he acted up to the time of his death. Al- though not a member of any church, he was always interested in the institutions of religion and contri- buted liberally for their support. When the Congre- gational society of Needham was formed he assisted '

in its organization and attended that church, with his | Sept. 29, 1778; son of Jacob and Jerusha (Tucker) family, as long as his health permitted. He was espe- cially fond of church music, and gave liberally of his time and means to develop an interest in and to support that part of public worship. He was a mem- ber of the board of selectmen and overseers of the poor of the town of Needham for the year 1855, and after- wards for eight consecutive years from 1858 to 1865, During the war of the Rebellion he was chairman of the board, performing the arduous duties which at that trying time devolved upon such officers with untiring energy and in a manner which left no room to doubt his entire devotion to the cause of his country and the interests of those who went to defend and preserve its institutions. In 1872 he was again elected selectman and overseer of the poor, and served as chairman ; he was re-elected in 1873, but declined to accept. In 1864 he was a member of the State Legislature, representing the Fourteenth Norfolk District, then composed of the towns of Needham, Medfield, and Dover. He was elected special commissioner for the county of Norfolk for the term of three years from Jan. 1, 1869, and served in that capacity. In 1871 he was elected | county commissioner, and continued in that office by re-election until the close of the year 1879. In 1874 he was elected president of the Needham Savings- Bank, which position he occupied until the closing of the bank in 1879, when he and the treasurer, Emery Grover, Esq., were appointed receivers. Under the re- Politically, Mr. Lyon was originally a Jeffersonian Democrat, later a member of the Free-Soil party, and was a stanch member of the Republican party from its organization to the day of his death. ceivership the depositors have been paid in full. The beginning of the year 1880 found him in failing health, and he withdrew from active life and spent the re. mainder of his days quietly at his home in Needham, where he died March 4, 1881.

Mr. Orr was a man of much strength of character, active and energetic, of great firmness and keen fore- sight, and although lacking the advantages of early education which many of his associates enjoyed, was able to raise himself to a position of influence and | honor in the community which he held to the last. His counsel and advice were frequently sought by neigh-

ELISHA LYON.

Elisha Lyon, for more than sixty years one of the honored citizens of Needham, was born in Milton, Lyon. He remained in his native town until sixteen years of age, when he went to Roxbury and com- menced working at the hatter's trade. In conse- quence of the death of his employer soon after, he left Roxbury and, going to Dedham, entered the employ of Reuben Guild, with whom he completed his apprenticeship as a hatter. At the age of twenty- and was re-elected in 1866, but declined to serve longer. | one he removed to Needham and commenced the man- ufacture of hats, which he carried on successfully for nearly forty years. His factory was destroyed by fire in 1834, and being then fifty-six years of age, Mr. Lyon concluded not to rebuild, but to pass the balance of his life in comparative retirement from active busi- ness.

Dec. 18, 1800, he united in marriage with Sally Brown, who died June 6, 1807 ; their children were Sally B., born May 28, 1801 ; Louisa, born April 11, 1803; and Lemuel, Feb. 2, 1806.

Oct. 31, 1809, Mr. Lyon married Polly Brown, sister of his former wife, and their family were as follows : Joshua B., born Oct. 25, 1810 ; Mary Ann, born Nov. 7, 1814; Elisha Hiram, born Feb. 11, 1818; and Hannah, born Feb. 19, 1820; all living except Joshua B. Mrs. Lyon died Sept. 6, 1867. Mr. Elisha H. Lyon [who incorporates the accom- panying portrait as a tribute to the memory of his father] and his sister, Hannah, reside on the old home- stead where they were born.

Possessed of a taste and an ability for the discharge of public duties, a judgment well balanced and al- most uniformly correct in its results, and an integrity of character that was never touched by whisper or reflection ; it is not strange that he was selected by his fellow-citizens as one fitted to assume and admin- ister public trusts in a variety of town relations. He never shrank from the duties of citizenship, and served his town faithfully and well, and discharged the duties

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of the various positions to which he was called to the entire satisfaction of his fellow-citizens. He was a representative to the General Court in 1816, 1839, and 1840 ; selectman fifteen years, and for seven of those years chairman of the board; town treasurer from 1839 to 1852 inclusive. He was one of the superintending school committee four years ; he was also a member of the local or district committee for several years ; assessor three years; and being fre- quently chosen moderator of town meetings. For a period of nearly thirty years he rendered valuable services on various committees, appointed from time to time to consider town matters. He was commissioned justice of the peace in 1824. In 1814 he was the commander of East Militia Company of the town, and although not called into service, the company was ready to march for the defense of the country at a minute's warning, the alarm to be given by the ringing of the bell.

Personally, Elisha Lyon represented the best type of that pure, firm, straightforward, stalwart, Saxon virtue, which has proven New England's best inherit- ance from the mother-country. In religious faith he was a Unitarian, and a firm believer in both the jus- tice and goodness of the Deity. And so by holiness in life, and godliness in walk, he sought to be judged rather than by any show of the mere ceremonials of profession. He was a member of the First Church of Needham, and from Sept. 1, 1826, to May 19, 1849, a deacon. He was also on standing committee many years. Later in life he attended the Orthodox Church at the " Plains," and was chosen a deacon, but declined the office.

Elisha Lyon was essentially a self-made man. Early in life he learned that the way to success was by no royal road, but was open to stout hearts and willing hands. He gained nothing by mere luck, but every- thing by perseverance and well-digested plans, and the intelligent application of his energies to the end in view. He was a kind neighbor, and one of Needham's most honored citizens. He died May 14, 1862, aged eighty-three years, seven months, and fifteen days.

REV. DANIEL KIMBALL.

Rev. Daniel Kimball was the oldest son of Daniel and Elizabeth ('Tenney) Kimball, and was born in Bradford, Mass., July 3, 1778. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers of that town, and his father was one of the largest and most successful farmers of the place, highly esteemed by his townsmen, filling various offices of trust and honor, and taking a deep

interest in his country's cause in her struggle for inde- pendence. His mother was of a devout, religious tem- perament, endowed with a large share of native intel- ligence improved by reading, and with her husband devoted to the education and moral improvement of her children. In common with his brothers and sisters (ten in number) Daniel inherited a robust physical frame, a cheerfulness of temperament, and a love of labor which made his services of great value to his father, whom he assisted on the farm, attending the district school in winter to the age of sixteen. Early showing a taste for study, he then, with his father's permission, went to the academy in the neighboring town of Atkinson, N. H., and there fitted for college, entering Harvard at the age of eighteen. He gradu- ated with distinction in the class of 1800, numbering among his classmates Washington Allston, Dr. Charles Lowell, Chief Justice Shaw, Rev. Joseph S. Buck- minster, and other noted men with whom he main- tained intimate and pleasant relations during life.

After leaving college Mr. Kimball taught school for a year or two, and then returned to Cambridge as a theological student under the direction of Dr. Tap- pan Hollis, professor of Divinity, and was approbated and commenced preaching in 1803. The same year he delivered the Latin valedictory on taking the de- gree of Master of Arts, and was appointed tutor in Latin at Harvard, which office he held two years ; and after spending two or three years more in theological study and preaching, and declining several offers to settle over a parish, he accepted a call from the trus- tees of Derby Academy in Hingham to take the office of preceptor, and entered upon its duties in 1808. On March 22d, of the same year, he was married to Miss Betsey Gage, of Bradford, daughter of Peter and Mary (Webster) Gage, and granddaughter of Major Benjamin Gage, an officer in the French war and in the American army of the Revolution.

Mr. Kimball remained in Hingham for eighteen years, discharging his duties as preceptor with ex- emplary fidelity, taking private pupils into his family, and often called to officiate in vacant pulpits and in ministerial duties. Strictly conscientious in all that he did, he was not one to neglect any duty or to esteem it irksome. His heart was in his work. His pupils felt the influence of his faithfulness, and went from his hands thoroughly prepared for college and other pursuits, and strengthened in their moral character by the example and precepts of their instructor. So ex- act was he in the preparation of his pupils for college that not one offered by him during his whole course of teaching (over forty years) ever failed of admission. Many lads afterwards eminent in various walks of life

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MEDWAY.

were his pupils, and it may be mentioned as an evi- dence of the esteem in which he was held in Hing- ham and vicinity that John Quincy Adams, who was his steadfast friend, on going abroad as minister to Russia, placed his two sons, George Washington and John, under his care.

In order to qualify himself more fully for ministerial work, Mr. Kimball was ordained as an evangelist, while at Hingham, by the Plymouth Association, Dec. 17, 1817.

In the spring of 1826, Mr. Kimball purchased a farm in Needham, then a very retired country town, and opened a boarding- and day-school for youth of both sexes. His oldest son, Daniel, fitted for college, but died before entering. Both the others entered and graduated at Harvard, having been fitted for col- lege by their father. His daughters assisted both in the school and the cares of the household.

Upon taking up his residence in Needham, Mr. Kimball at once identified himself with the interests of the town, and labored in every way for its temporal and spiritual advancement. He was a member of the school committee for twenty-three years and chair- | man of the board most of that time, and wrote valu- able and suggestive reports. He also assisted in the formation of the American Institute of Instruction, | and had been at the time of his death for twenty-seven years one of its vice-presidents. He was often ap- pointed on committees in town-matters, and in 1846 represented the town in the State Legislature.

After a life of temperance and activity old age found him with a still vigorous intellect, and with a sufficient degree of physical energy to enjoy that pe- riod which by many is anticipated with dread, and he retained his calmness and cheerfulness to the last. He died at Needham Jan. 17, 1862, aged eighty-three years and six months.

Mrs. Kimball survived her husband several years, and died at Needham Nov. 11, 1873, aged eighty-nine years and ten months. Their children were nine in number, and were all born in Hingham :

Elizabeth Tenney, born March 23, 1810; died in Boston April 2, 1833.

Harriet Webster, born Dec. 1, 1812 ; married John M. Washburn, Esq. ; resides in Lancaster, Mass.

Daniel, born Oct. 1, 1814; died in Needham Dec. 17, 1827.

Benjamin Gage, born May 5, 1816 ; married Miss Emeline F. Smith, and resides in Edgartown, Mass. | Merrimack and three miles to the south of the Charles

Mary Jane, born Oct. 19, 1817; married Hon. James Ritchie ; resides in Hyde Park.

Henry Colman, born Feb. 25, 1820 ; married Miss Harriet C. Fisher, and resides in Stoughton, Mass.

Charles David Tenney, born Sept. 6, 1821 ; died in Hingham, July 24, 1822.

Charlotte Sophia, born July 31, 1823 ; married J. C. Hoadley, Esq .; died at Lancaster, June 12, 1848. Clara Anna, born Jan. 7, 1825 ; died in Needham, Dec. 25, 1847.

CHAPTER XLIV.

MEDWAY.

BY E. O. JAMESON.

MEDWAY is not one of the very ancient towns of the commonwealth. Its municipal history reaches back only one hundred and seventy years. It was constituted of that part of Medfield which was located west and north of the river Charles.,

The early Indian history, the laying out of farms, the building of roads, and the first settlement of the territory now embraced in the town of Medway are identified with the history of Medfield. The larger part of Medway, along the west bank of the river Charles, is country which the Indians called Boggas- tow, the western section lying southward of Win- nekenning (the smile of the Great Spirit) Lake, now Winthrop Pond, the Indians named Mucksquirtt. The eastern and southern boundaries of Medway are the river which Capt. John Smith in 1614 named the Massachusetts, but soon after called the Charles, in honor of Charles I. of England.

All the region west of the Charles River was once under the dominion of the Nipmuck Indians, but some years prior to King Philip's war the Nipmucks be- came divided into several smaller independent tribes, and Boggastow fell to the possession of a smail_tribe known as the Naticks, whose chief was John Awash- amog.

The patent granted to John Endicott in 1628, who, with his company of immigrants, settled Salem, ' embraced within its extreme southern boundary the larger part of the territory included in the present town of Medway. This appears in the description given in the grant, as follows: "That part of New England lying between three miles to the north of the

River, and every part thereof in the Massachusetts Bay and in length between the described breadth from the Atlantic Ocean to the South Sea."

For some years after this Patent was issued all the

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

region west of the Charles was held by the Massa- | from this day, Octob. 23, 1649, and Capt. Keaine, Mr. Edward chusetts Colony as " country land," unincorporated Jackson, and the Surveyor Gennerall are appointed to lay it out | at any time, Dedham giving them a weekes warning." and ungranted to settlers.

The earliest intimation that the white man's civili- ' zation was about to lay her hand upon the vast wil- derness on the west side of the river Charles was given in 1643, when the General Court of Massachu- setts Bay granted to the Rev. John Allyne, the first minister of Dedham, in consideration of some public service rendered, two hundred acres of wild land lying in the forest beyond the west bounds of that town.

In 1649 Capt. Robert Kayne received a Grant of one thousand and seventy-four acres, bounded south by Rev. Mr. Allyne's grant, and in 1652 other grants were made to Nicholas Wood, Thomas Holbrook, Hopestill Layland, and his son, Henry Layland, all of Dorchester, Mass. Their lands lying adjacent and near to that granted to Rev. Mr. Allyne.

These several grants constituted " The Farms," so called, largely embraced in the present town of Sher- born. The single grant made to Rev. Mr. Allyne is easily identified as located in the extreme northeast part of the present town of Medway, land lying be- tween Boggastow Brook and the southern boundary | of the town of Sherborn. It was on this tract of land that the earliest settlement within the limits of Med- way was made. Here the first white man appeared on the scene, and became an actual settler in 1657. Meanwhile the town of Medfield had been established by an act of the General Court, and a considerable settlement made on the wide plain to the eastward from the river Charles.

The incorporation of Medfield came about in this wise : certain citizens of Dedham conceived the idea of having a new township established which should embrace the western portion of Dedham, and an ad- ditional section of meadow and wild lands on the west side of Charles River.

Accordingly, on the request of petitioners the town of Dedham made a grant of " so much land within the west end of the bounds of Dedham, next Bog- gastow, as is or may be contained within the extent of three miles east and west, and four miles north and south." This territory constitutes the present town of Medfield.

A petition was then sent to the General Court for a grant of land west of the river. The answer to this petition is recorded as follows :

" In answer to a petition of the inhabitants of Dedham for a parcell of upland and meadow adjoining to their line, to make a village of, in quantity four miles south and north, and three miles east and west, because they are straightened at their doores by other towns and rocky lands, &c. Their request is graunted, so as they erect a distinct village thereupon within one year

Under date of May 22, 1650, the following record appears :

" Whereas, there was a graunt made by the Generall Court at a session of the Sth month of 1649 unto the inhabitants of Dedham in answer to petition of theires for enlargement of the village theire, as by the said graunt may more fully appeare, this graunt so made was laid out by Captaine Robert Keaine and Mr. Edward Jackson, who have subscribed it with theire hands in manner and forme followinge, vizt: beginninge at a small hill or iland in the meddow on the west side of Charles river, and run- ninge from thence about full west three miles, and then turninge a South line, ended at Charles river at three miles and a quar- ter. This line beinge then shorter than by the graunt it was al- lowed to be, but accepted by the grauntees. The said river is appointed to be the bounds from that place to the place where the first lyne began. This Court doth approve of this returne of the psons above mentioned concerninge the bound of the said village, & in answer to the request of the inhabitants of Ded- ham, doe order that it shall be called Meadfield."

It appears from these records that the survey was made to the satisfaction of all parties, and that under date of May 22, 1650, the General Court established the new township and ordered it to be called " Mead- field."

The grant thus made on the west side of the river Charles, when Medfield became incorporated after- wards, constituted a considerable part of Medway, and was known as the " Old Grant." This territory is em- braced in East Medway, Roekville, and Medway Vil- lage. The first thirteen house-lots in Medfield were laid out June 19, 1650, on the plain east of the river, and the following year the grantees erected houses and removed from Dedham, making the date of the actual settlement of Medfield the year 1651. Dedham sur- rendered its jurisdiction Jan. 11, 1651, and the May following the town of Medfield was recognized by the General Court in the following act :

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 113

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534