History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 155

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 155

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The Rev. John Taylor, after preaching several months, was invited to settle here, and was ordained on the 13th of November, 1728. Mr. Foxcroft, of the Old South Church, Boston, preached the ordina- tion sermon, which is in print.

Mr. Taylor was born in Boston in 1704, and was the son of Mr. John Taylor, who came to Boston from Wales in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Mr. Taylor, the elder, married Ann Wins- low, the daughter of Edward Winslow, of the Pilgrim family. (She survived her son, and died in Milton in 1773, at the advanced age of ninety-five years.) Shortly after the birth of the Rev. Mr. Taylor, his parents removed to the island of Jamaica, where they had four more children, viz .: Col. William Taylor, whose descendants are still with us, and three daugh- ters. Mr. Taylor, the father, died in Jamaica, and his widow, with her young family, returned to her native country. She educated her son John at Har vard College, where he graduated in 1721, in the class with Dr. Charles Chauncy, with whom he kept up an intimate friendship until his death. Two years after his settlement here he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, of Portsmouth, N. H. They had three sons and one daughter. Mrs. Taylor died in 1735, at the early age of twenty-seven years, and some years afterwards Mr. Taylor married the sister of his first wife, Miss Dorothy Rogers, who survived her husband. Mr. Taylor left three sons and one daughter, Mrs. Ann Gilman, of Exeter.

Mr. Taylor died here in 1750, at the age of forty- six years.

The births of his children, as recorded in the Mil-

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ton records, are,-John, born in 1731; Nathaniel, born in 1734; William, born in 1735; and Ann, his only daughter, born in 1732, married Nicholas Gil- man, of Exeter, State treasurer of New Hampshire, parents of Governor John Taylor Gilman, Nicholas Gilman, of the United States Senate from 1805 to 1814, and Nathaniel Gilman, of the Senate of New Hampshire.

The new inhabitants referred to at this time were the Governor of the province, Jonathan Belcher; the provincial treasurer, Mr. Foye; Col. Joseph Gooch, James Smith, Thomas Hutchinson, and others. I presume this movement was caused in a great degree by the uncertain condition of the Massachusetts cur- rency, which rendered real estate investments de- sirable for capitalists. The Indian wars, and more particularly the wars with our French neighbors, who possessed the present British provinces of Nova Scotia and Canada,-wars precipitated upon the New Eng- land colonies by the complications of European politics rather than any direct cause of quarrel be- tween the contending parties,-had involved the province in great indebtedness, which was followed by the usual expedients of paper promises. The precious metals had entirely vanished, and the whole currency consisted of provincial bills, for which no redemption was provided. Within ten years, ending with 1728, their value had fallen one-half, and a pros- pect of further depreciation was in full view. None of these parties continue among us by their posterity at the present day, but their improvements are still visible, and their presence here added value to prop- erty, gave additional importance to our community, and they require a slight notice on this occasion.

Jonathan Belcher, the son of Andrew Belcher, a rich merchant of Boston, was born there in 1681. He was educated with care, and graduated at Har- vard College in 1699. An exemplary youth, and the chief hope of his father, after leaving college he trav- eled abroad, and spent six years in visiting various parts of Europe, and during this time made the ac- quaintance of a young Hanoverian prince, who after- wards became king of England as George II., a cir- cumstance which influenced Belcher's subsequent fortunes.1 He came home, and busied himself in his father's mercantile operations. In 1706 he mar- ried the daughter of William Partridge, Lieutenant- Governor of the provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, who then resided at Piscataqua, now Portsmouth. The newspapers contained a long de-

scription of the wedding. His father died in 1717, having been many years member of the Council, and Jonathan is immediately chosen to fill his place, in- herits his fortune, and invests largely in lands in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut. About the year 1727 he purchased a considerable landed prop- erty here of Thomas Holman and Samuel Kinsley (the present Rowe estate). Soon after this he was sent to England, as agent of the province, to adjust several important matters. In his absence occurred the death of Governor Burnet, at Boston ; and Bel- cher, being in London, obtained the appointment of Governor of Massachusetts, and arrived at Boston with his commission in 1730.2 His administration continued eleven years, and needs no comment, as it is a part of the provincial history. He soon began his improvements here, built his house, and laid out his grounds, much under the supervision of Col. Samuel Swift, second son of Deacon Thomas Swift. His style of living differed very much from the or- dinary mode of life here. His official position and fortune justified the maintenance of a large retinue of servants and equipages, and entertaining much company from abroad." His public duties prevented him from spending much time here, and the man- agement of his property devolved mainly upon his son Andrew.

Governor Belcher was removed from his office in 1741, principally by the influence of a powerful party, known as the Land Bank projectors, whose schemes he opposed. He was afterwards appointed Governor of New Jersey, where he died, in 1756, after a service of ten or twelve years. He was the founder and pro- moter of Princeton University in that State, and President Burr preached his funeral sermon, wherein his virtues are highly exalted, and his valuable ser- vices in relation to the institution fully stated. His son Andrew continued in occupation of the family

2 Governor Belcher seems to have had no dislike to a little pa- rade, although he is usually described as a very humble Christian gentleman. He came from England in the " Blandford" frigate, his expected arrival having previously been announced, and great preparations made at Boston for his reception. Dr. Isaac Watts, the poet, an intimate friend of Belcher, wrote an ode of some ten verses on the occasion, which was printed in the News-Letter. I recollect two lines of them, which I saw in a newspaper many years ago.

3 In May, 1740, Governor Belcher's servant ran away, and was thus advertised :

" The Governour's Negro Juba having absented himself, it is desired whoever may find him would convey him home. He had on when he went away a Gold laced Hat, a Cinnamon coloured Coat, with large flat brass Buttons, and cuffed with red Cloth, a dark coloured Waste-coat edged with a worsted Lace, leather Breeches, yarn Stockings, a pair of trimmed Pumps, with a very large pair of flowered Brass Buckles."

1 At this time he formed an intimacy with Dr. Isaac Watts, the poet, with whom he kept up a continued correspondence till the death of the latter, in 1748.

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property in Milton many years, and often represented tion, both in military and civil departments. He in- terceded with the favorites of Governor Shirley, in this place, to procure him the commission of colonel the town in the Legislature ; he died here in 1771.1 In 1776 the Belcher house was burned. It was then occupied by the two Mrs. Belchers,-the Governor's ' in the regiment of militia, and an election for repre- widow, an elderly lady, and Andrew's widow, much younger, -both without children. They took refuge during the winter with their friend, Mrs. Forbes, then living at Brush Hill. Madam B. died soon after, and the younger lady returned to England. The estate then passed into the hands of John Rowe, Esq., a large capitalist of Boston.

Mr. William Foye bought his property here of the Daniels family, in 1728. He was a native of Boston, son of a Huguenot Frenchman, was about fifty years of age when he came here, and had before employed himself in commerce. About this time he was elected treasurer of the province, and filled that station dur- ing part of Governor Belcher's term. He died here about 1759, at an advanced age, leaving a widow and daughter, both of whom lived to a great age ; also a son William, noticed among the college graduates. The daughter, Miss Elizabeth Foye, died here in 1807, in her ninetieth year. Dr. Samuel Gardiner, who practiced physic here before the Revolution, married Mr. Foye's granddaughter, Miss Mary Cooper.

sentative of the town in the General Court. He promised to build a steeple to their church at his own expense. Assiduous importunity was employed with the Governor to procure him the command of the regiment, but this could not be obtained without cashiering the colonel then in possession. Col. John Quincy had been in public life from his early youth, had been nearly twenty years Speaker of the House, and many years member of the Council, and was as much esteemed and respected as any man in the Province. He was not only an experienced and ven- erated statesman, but a man of letters, taste, and sense. Governor Shirley was prevailed on, with great difficulty, to perform the operation of dismissing so faithful a servant of the public, and adopting one of so equivocal a character, and he said, some years afterwards, that nothing he had ever done in his ad- ministration had given him so much pain as removing so venerable a magistrate and officer as Col. Quincy. But the church party had insisted upon it so peremp- torily that he could not avoid it,-probably he dreaded their remonstrances to the Archbishop of Canterbury. These facts were current at the time Gooch was ap- pointed colonel and Quincy dismissed.

Col. Joseph Gooch came to Milton, from Braintree, about the year 1740. He bought land of the Miller family, built the Churchill house on Milton Hill, and lived here some thirty years. The best account of Thomas Hutchinson, the last provincial Governor of Massachusetts, was long an inhabitant of Milton, and, until the political storm which preceded the Rev- olution began, was held in great esteem by all his neighbors and friends here. He was the son of Col. Thomas Hutchinson, a rich merchant of Boston, of great liberality and public spirit, and many years of the Council. Thomas (2d) was born in 1711, was carefully educated, and graduated at Harvard in 1727. At first he employed himself in mercantile business, but soon wearied of this pursuit, and betook himself to the study of law and politics. He was first chosen a member of the House of Representatives in the year 1737, and selectman of Boston in 1738. About this time, 1739, his father died, leaving him an am- him I have seen is in the diary of President John Adams (no friend of Gooch, certainly), being part of a letter written to Jonathan Mason. "Joseph Gooch," he writes, "a native, I believe, of Boston, had a considerable property, and was reputed to be very rich. He had been educated at the Temple, in England, and returned to Boston to practice law, but had very little success. He had been a man of pleas- ure, and bore the indelible marks of it on his face to the grave. He was extremely ambitious, and the Rev. Mr. Niles, of Braintree, who was well acquainted with him, told me he was the most passionate man he ever knew. Not succeeding much at the bar in Bos- ton, he had recourse to religion to assist him; he joined the Old South Church, to avail himself of the | ple property. He had married Miss Margaret Sand- influence of the sisterhood and set up for represen- tative of the town of Boston, but failed ; and disap- pointed of his hopes in law and politics, he renounced the city, came up to Braintree, hired a house, turned churchman, and set himself to intriguing for promo-

ford, of Newport, the year before. In 1740 he was employed to go to England upon public business relating to our currency. He continued to represent the town of Boston in the House nine years, during three of which he filled the Speaker's chair. He was distinguished for eloquence and industry in the House, and soon acquired extensive influence. He was chosen into the Council in 1750, and became judge of probate for Suffolk County. In 1760 he

1 His second son, Jonathan, graduated at Harvard College in 1728, went to England and studied law at the Temple, resided some years in England, and afterwards served as Governor and chief justice of Nova Scotia, where he died in 1776.

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

was appointed chief justice of the colony and Lieu- tenant-Governor. Governor Bernard left the colony in 1769, and the duties of Governor then devolved upon Mr. Hutchinson. He received the commission of Governor the following year, and held this office until 1774, when he embarked for England, leaving his native land forever.

HIe purchased, in 1743, of Joseph Belcher's heirs, one hundred acres of land on Milton Hill, and built the house now occupied by the Russell family, and resided there a large part of the time for thirty years. Ile was very fond of rural pursuits, especially garden- ing, and, being active in his habits, was often seen helping his gardener in removing plants and grafting trees, and his social habits led him into friendly re- lations with most of the inhabitants. After. the mob invaded his house in Boston, in 1765, he spent most of his time here.

The greatest service Governor Hutchinson ren- dered to the public was in writing the " History of Massachusetts," which is the most reliable source of information on that subject existing, and will per- petuate his name long after his political errors have been forgotten. He had many active enemies among representing his errors, and not seldom in amplifying them. He certainly staked everything on the losing side, was exiled from his native land, and his large property was confiscated. He died at Brompton, near London, before the war ended, aged sixty-nine years, and his numerous posterity are still living in England. His life was exemplary, and his private character unimpeachable.

from England, three years after he left here, wherein he says, " I have advantages here beyond most of the Americans, but I prefer natale solum to all other, and yet hope I may settle peaceably again at Unquety Hill. I hope to live to see not only my Milton neigh- bors, but the people of the province in general, con- vinced that I have ever sincerely aimed at their true interest, etc."

James Smith bought, in 1734, of the heirs of Samuel Trescott, George Sumner, and others, several tracts of land at Brush Hill, adjoining the Dorches- ter Church lands, and built his house (the same now occupied by J. M. Robbins), and made many expen- sive improvements. Smith was a large capitalist of Boston, at that time about forty-six years of age, and had made great additions to his fortune by the busi- ness of refining sugar. His sugar-house stood next below Brattle Street Church, in Boston, and was the building occupied by Dalrymple's regiment in 1769 and 1770, known in history as Smith's or Murray's barracks, whence Capt. Preston's company proceeded to State Street at the massacre of March 5th. He lived at Brush Hill most of the time for thirty-five years. He had no children. His wife, who survived

the leaders of the Revolution, who were never weary of | him, was Miss Elizabeth Murray, a Scotch lady of the Philiphaugh family in Selkirkshire. He died in 1769. Drake, in his " History of Boston," has the following notice : " On the 3d of August, Mr. James Smith died at his seat at Brush Hill, Milton, at the age of eighty-one; had been many years a sugar re- finer in Boston, and his remains were brought into town and buried from the house of James Murray, Esq., in Queen Street." In the Boston Gazette of Among his personal effects, confiscated and taken from his house on Milton Hill, which were conveyed to Col. Taylor's barn and sold publicly, were found a large mass of his private letters and papers, which were sold by the finder to the State of Massachusetts for fifty pounds, and now are bound in several large folio volumes at the State-House (said to been dis- covered by the purchaser of some feather beds, in which they were concealed). Feb. 4, 1769, is the following : "Last Thursday was married at Brush Hill (seat of James Smith, Esq.), in Milton, Rev. Jno. Forbes, of St. Augustine, to Miss Dolly Murray, daughter of Hon. James Murray, Esq., of Boston." Mr. Murray was the brother of Mrs. Smith, and resided some thirty years in Caro- lina as a planter, and was a member of the Council of that province. In 1765, having lost his wife and [ several children, he moved to Boston with his two surviving daughters, afterwards Mrs. Forbes and Mrs. E. HI. Robbins. Murray became executor to Smith's will. Mr. Smith gave his whole property to his widow, who married Mr. Ralph Inman, of Cambridge, in 1771, on which occasion she gave her Milton prop- erty to her two nieces.

Governor Hutchinson was accused of grasping and monopolizing public offices ; but his nomination as chief justice was made at the solicitation of most of the prominent lawyers of the province, and his judicial career was highly successful, as he had, it was said, a remarkable power in clearly stating cases to the juries; and he actually refused, for some time, Oxenbridge Thatcher, Jr., who has already been alluded to, in speaking of his father, merits further notice. Born at Milton in 1720, he graduated at Harvard College in 1738, and studied law with Jere- the commission of Governor, on account of the ap- proaching troubles, and finally yielded to the solici- tations of the ministry, who kept the place vacant, waiting his decision. I have a letter written by him . miah Gridley, attorney-general of the province ; estab-

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lished himself at Boston, and rose to distinction in his profession very soon. He was gentle in his man- ners, but very eloquent. He soon enlisted in politics, and was one of the early movers in the Revolutionary struggle, although his life ended before his views were realized. Mr. Adams, in describing the great case ; of Writs of Assistance, against the application of

which circumstance occasioned an entire change in his career. He applied himself to study, entered col- lege at an advanced standing, and graduated in 1737. Robert Auchmuty, the eminent judge and admiralty lawyer, befriended him, instructed him in his profes- sion, and gave him his daughter in marriage. He soon rose to eminence, and took the first rank in his which Otis and Thatcher were engaged in 1761, says, | profession. He figured in law and politics about " Then and there was the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then and there the child Independence was born." - Thatcher died of consumption, in 1765, at the early age of forty-five years. twenty years in Massachusetts. John Adams, in describing the court before whom was argued the case of " Writs of Assistance," by Otis and Thatcher, thus describes Pratt : "In a corner of the room must be placed wit, sense, imagination, genius, pathos, Samuel Swift, second son of Col. Samuel Swift, of Milton, was born here in 1715; graduated at Cam- bridge in 1735, and many years practiced law in Boston. President Adams speaks of him often in his diary. He says, in 1766, " Spent the evening at Sam. Adams' very socially with brother Swift." Again, in 1812, in a letter to William Wirt, who was writing the life of Patrick Henry, he says, " Among the illustrious men who were agents in the Revolu- tion must be remembered the name of Samuel Swift." He died at Boston, in 1775, I believe unmarried. reason, prudence, eloquence, learning, science, and immense reading, hung by the shoulders on two crutches, covered with a cloth great-coat, in the per- son of Mr. Pratt." He was nominated chief justice of New York, where his consummate ability secured him the esteem of all parties. He died there in 1763, aged fifty-four. In 1755 he purchased one hundred and fifty acres of land at Milton Hill, and erected the house recently taken down by Mr. Brooks. His short and busy life left little time to enjoy his Milton property. His only child, Isabella, married Samuel Welles, of Boston, whose family held the property some seventy years.

Nathaniel Tucker, youngest son of Capt. Samuel Tucker, of Scotch Woods, was born there in 1725, and graduated at Harvard in 1744. He studied for the ministry, and settled in New Jersey, where he married, and very early died, in 1748. He had a posthumous son, Nathaniel, born in 1748, who, with his mother, came to Massachusetts not long after. The widow became the wife of Samuel Davenport, of this town, and the son married a Miss Dalton, of Boston, and was the father of Richard D. and Nathaniel Tucker. He died here in 1776.

Seth Adams, the son of Edward Adams, Jr., was born here in 1713; graduated at Harvard in 1733, and died at his father's house in 1736, aged twenty- three years.

William Foye, Jr., son of Treasurer Foye, born at Boston in 1716, was graduated at Harvard in 1735, went to Nova Scotia before his father's death, where his relative, Jonathan Belcher, afterwards chief jus- tice, was settled. He became colonel of militia, and provost-marshal of Halifax, which office he held twenty-two years. He died there in 1771.

Joseph Gooch, the only son of Col. Gooch, was born in 1728, and graduated in 1747. After his father's death, Dr. Pierce says, he moved to Vermont, where he devoted his life to agricultural pursuits, and died there in 1811, aged eighty-three.

Benjamin Pratt was born of humble parents, and after attaining adult age, by an accident lost his leg,

The latter half of the eighteenth century was a very eventful era of Massachusetts history, and the occurrences of that time essentially affected this town. It embraced the Seven Years' war, known with us as the old French war, ending in the treaty of Paris in 1763. Then followed the long agitation preceding the Revolution, which ended by the occurrence at Lexington, the Fort Sumter of the Revolution. Then the long and bloody struggle, which ended at the treaty of Versailles in 1783, acknowledging the national independence, followed by the period of ex- haustion of five years, which preceded the adoption of the Constitution, when we finally took rank in the great family of civilized nations. During this period of thirty years the town added nothing to its material wealth and very little to its population, the whole in- crease not exceeding one hundred persons. There were also other causes for the stationary condition of the town. The province, which had from the begin- ning held large tracts of unoccupied lands in the west- ern counties of Worcester, Hampshire, and Berkshire, made large grants to soldiers and to the heirs of those fallen in the Indian and French wars, and also large sales to speculators. These regions were filled up by men from the eastern towns. The aggregate popula- tion of the province showed a respectable increase, but not the eastern section. A frightful draft was

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

made upon our population by the wars with the enough are forthcoming, and the provincial treasurer can furnish paper promises without stint. Joseph Vose was chosen colonel of this district militia regi- ment in November, 1774. On the 27th of May, 1775, after the affair at Lexington, Col. Vose collects, in Milton and Dorchester, a posse of fifty or sixty men, rushes down the harbor and burns the light- house, destroying all the hay at Nantasket and on the islands, much to the annoyance of Gen. Gage, who, besides twelve regiments of soldiers, had some thou- sands of horses to feed in the town, entirely sur- rounded by provincial troops. French. Massachusetts was regarded by England as a sort of Switzerland, where men were raised to fight the battles of others. Levies of five or six thousand soldiers upon a small population of two hundred thousand occurred every few years. Every one of the old families of this town will find some of their members among the victims of these struggles. When Governor Bernard called for a levy of six thousand men to accompany Lord Howe to Ticon- deroga in 1758, a country representative is reported to have made this short speech : " Whenever an Englishman has his toe trodden on in France, Massa- Col. Vose was soon appointed lieutenant-colonel in the Twenty-fifth (Greaton's) Regiment, employed in | the siege of Boston till the evacuation of the town chusetts must send half a dozen regiments to Canada to avenge the insult. I am heartily sick of this thing." On the same occasion a committee of the | in March, 1776. He was then ordered to Canada, House reported : "The whole world knows the ben- under Gen. Thomas, where the year was passed. In the spring of 1777 his regiment joined Washington's army in New Jersey. Col. Vose returned home sick, in charge of the surgeon's mate, and after some weeks, having entirely recovered, returned to the army, and was promoted to colonel of the regiment. efits derived to Great Britain from the loyalty of the Colonies, and from the efforts of this Province in particular, which, for more than a century past, has been wading in blood and laden with the expenses of repelling the common enemy, without which efforts Great Britain at this day would have no Colonies to Col. Vose served faithfully all the war, was present at the siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Corn- wallis, October, 1781, and in the corps of Lafayette, who writes to Washington in commendation of Col. Vose's services on this occasion. After the peace he returned home, exchanged the sword for the plow- share, and spent the long evening of his life upon his native farm. defend." No coercion was requisite. More men offered on this occasion than were called for, Maj. Stephen Miller and others of this town among the number. The expedition was so popular that the province of Massachusetts erected a very costly mar- ble monument in Westminster Abbey to Lord Howe, killed on the occasion. Massachusetts had also sent troops to the Spanish Main with Admiral Vernon, in 1741, to capture the city of Carthagena, and also with the Earl of Albemarle to Cuba, to capture the city of Havana, in 1762.

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 155

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