History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 164

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 164

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In Milton, where for many years he has resided,

Mr. Pierce has always taken an active part in public affairs. He was the originator of the public library, of which he has been a trustee since its organization. He gave, in 1879, the address at the dedication of the new town house, and in 1882 delivered the ad- dress at the dedication of the new town house in Stoughton, his native town.

Mr. Pierce has several times visited Europe, where he has made extensive journeys, and has had the ad- vantage of personal intercourse with scholars and pub- lic men, to whose acquaintance his writings and ser- vices were an introduction. His life has been a busy one, and although yet in his prime, with apparently many years of usefulness and honor before him, he has nearly realized in himself the ideal conception of the duty of the scholar to humanity, so finely por- trayed in his address at Brown University in 1880. Sincere and loyal to his personal and political associ- ates, he has ever been true to his convictions of truth and duty. A graceful, earnest, and convincing orator, a clear, forcible, and polished writer, of marvelous in- dustry and exhaustive power of research, few men of his age have accomplished so much work of varied character and importance. Much of his time from early manhood has been devoted to the interests of humanity, as illustrated in his long service in the political movement against slavery, in his work for freedmen, and in his connection with efforts for the improvement of prison administration and kindred reforms.

LIEUT. HUNTINGTON FROTHINGHAM WOLCOTT.

The name of Huntington Frothingham Wolcott, although he died before he had reached the age of twenty years, will be long remembered by many. He came of a family which had rendered public and conspicuous service to the country for two centuries, and almost as a boy he heard and heeded the call which summoned him to bear his part in preserving the nation his ancestors had helped to found.

Henry Wolcott, who emigrated from England and was the ancestor of the family in this country, was the son of John Wolcott, of Tolland, in Somerset- shire, England, and was baptized in the adjoining parish of Lydiard St. Lawrence, Dec. 6, 1578. He married, Jan. 19, 1606, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Saunders, of Lydiard St. Lawrence. He held a good estate in lands, as the title-deeds still in existence show, and was already passed middle life when, " to avoid the persecution of those times against dis- senters," he emigrated to New England, sailing, with

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

his wife and three oldest sons, from Plymouth, Eng. | Lower House of the first General Assembly held in land, on the 20th of March, 1630, in the ship " Mary Connecticut. In 1643 he was elected a member of and John," of four hundred tons burden, Capt. | the House of Magistrates, as the present Senate was Squeb, master, in a company numbering one hundred then styled, and to this office he was annually re- elected during life. In the year 1640 he appears to have visited England, where, by the decease of his elder brother without issue, he had inherited the family estate, and it was probably in the same year that he brought to this country his two daughters and his son Simon, whom he had left as children in Eng- land until the family should become settled in their new home. He died May 30, 1655. and forty souls. They " came by the good hand of the Lord through the deeps comfortably, having preaching or expounding of the word of God every day, for ten weeks together," and arrived at Nan- tasket May 30, 1630. One of their number, Capt. Roger Clap, thus describes their landing: " When we came to Nantasket, Capt. Squeb, who was captain of that great ship of four hundred tons, would not bring us into Charles River, as he was bound to do, Simon Wolcott was admitted a freeman in 1654, - at the age of thirty years, and Oct. 17, 1661, he married Martha Pitkin, sister of William Pitkin, attorney general and treasurer of the colony. In 1671 he sold his estate in Windsor, and moved to Simsbury, where he had received from the General Court a grant of land, and where, in 1674, he was chosen a townsman or selectman, and was appointed I to command the train-band, a position of danger and responsibility, as this was a frontier settlement, and King Philip's war was then raging. In 1675 the town was destroyed by the Indians, and Simon Wol- cott returned to Windsor, having lost all his property in this unhappy enterprise. He died Sept. 11, 1687, his death being hastened, according to his son's ac- count, "by gloomy anticipations of the oppression and suffering which awaited the colonists under the coming administration of Sir Edmund Andros." but put us ashore and our goods on Nantasket Point, and left us to shift for ourselves, in a forlorn place in this wilderness. But, as it pleased God, we got a boat of some old planters, and laded her with goods ; and some able men, well armed, went in her unto Charlestown, where we found some wigwams and one house, and in the house there was a man which had a boiled bass, but no bread that we see. But we did eat of his bass, and then went up Charles River until the river grew narrow and shallow; and there we landed our goods, with much labor and toil, the bank being steep ; and, night coming on, we were informed that there were hard by us three hundred Indians. . . . In the morning some of the Indians came and stood at a distance off, looking at us, but came not near us. But, when they had been a while in view, some of them came and held out a great bass toward us, so we sent a man with a biscuit, and changed the cake for the bass. Afterwards they supplied us with bass, ex- changing a bass for a biscuit-cake, and were very friendly unto us. . . . In our beginning many were in great straits for want of provisions for themselves and their little ones. Oh ! the hunger that many suffered, and saw no hope in an eye of reason to be | supplied, only by clams, and mussels, and fish. We did quickly build boats, and some went a-fishing. But bread was with many a very scarce thing, and flesh of all kinds as scarce."

Such was the landing of this company of " very Godly and religious people" upon the bleak and bar- ren coast of Massachusetts two hundred and fifty years ago. The name of Henry Wolcott appears in the first list of freemen made in Boston, Oct. 19, 1630. He received a grant of land in Dorchester, a part of his estate being within the present limits of the town of Milton, but in 1635, in the face of in- credible hardship and suffering, he moved to Windsor, Conn., with a considerable number of the Dorchester settlers. In 1637 he was elected a member of the committee, twelve in number, which constituted the his age.

His youngest son, Roger, was born Jan. 4, 1679, and married, Dec. 3, 1702, Sarah Drake, of Windsor. He says in his autobiography, "I never was a scholar in any school a day in my life;" but he so well im- proved his slender opportunities for education that his mind was early well stored with varied learning. He was chosen selectman in 1707, and two years after was elected a representative in the General Assembly. In 1710 he " was put on the Bench of Justices," and in 1714 he was chosen into the Council. He was appointed judge of the County Court in 1721, and judge of the Superior Court in 1732, of which court he afterwards became the chief justice. He was chosen Deputy Governor in 1741. In 1745 he re- ceived a commission as major-general, and was second in command under Sir William Pepperell in the famous Louisburg expedition. From 1750 until 1754 he held the office of Governor of the colony. He wrote and published a volume of " Poetical Medi- tations," more remarkable for their tone of piety and patriotism than for their rhythmic melody or smooth versification. He died in the eighty-ninth year of

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MILTON.

His son, Oliver Wolcott, was born Nov. 20, 1726. He was graduated at Yale College in 1747, and mar- ried, Jan. 21, 1755, Lorraine, daughter of Capt. Daniel Collins, of Guilford. He settled in Litchfield, and was chosen representative of the town in the General Assembly. From 1774 to 1786 he was an assistant or councillor. He was chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the county, and was for many years judge of the Court of Probate for the district of Litchfield. He served in the militia in every grade of office from that of captain to that of major-general. He was chosen a member of the Continental Congress, and in July, 1775, was ap- pointed by that body one of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs, a trust of great importance, its object being to induce the Indian nations to remain neutral during the war. In 1776 he signed his name to the Declaration of Independence, and from then until 1783 he was constantly engaged, either in Congress or in the field, in furthering the national cause. From 1786 to 1796 he was annually elected Lieu- tenant-Governor, and in the latter year he was chosen Governor, which office he held at the time of his death, which' came upon his seventy-first birthday, Dec. 1, 1797. His Alma Mater, Yale College, con- ferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. Such is a brief and imperfect record of the public services rendered to his country during a time of danger and doubt by Oliver Wolcott.

The youngest son of Oliver Wolcott was Frederick

1 Wolcott, who was born Nov. 2, 1767. He was gradu- ated at Yale College in 1786, with the first honors of his class, and at commencement delivered the saluta- tory oration in Latin. He married, Oct. 12, 1800, Betsey, daughter of Col. Joshua Huntington, of Nor- wich. She came of a family renowned in the annals of the State. Her grandfather, Gen. Jabez Hunting_ ton (Yale College, 1741) consecrated his wealth to the cause of independence, and was appointed major- general of the entire State force. Three of her uncles attained the rank of general in the service of their country, and the name of Huntington was for gener- ations honorably known in the military and civil his- tory of the State and nation. Frederick Wolcott was appointed clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in i 1793, and in 1798 clerk of the Superior Court of Litchfield County. He was a representative in the General Assembly, and in 1808 he was chosen a Presidential elector. From 1810 to 1823 he was a member of the State Senate. In 1796 he was ap- pointed judge of probate, and this office he held until his death, a period of over forty years. He was twice offered a nomination for the office of Governor by the

party in power, but these nominations he declined, partly on account of his health and partly because through life he was little covetous of high office or of popular applause. A man of magnificent physique, of high literary attainments, of sterling integrity, re- spected and beloved by all, his memory is still cher- ished in the town where he passed his useful and honorable life. He died May 28, 1837, at the age of seventy years.

Oliver Wolcott, Jr., an older brother of Frederick Wolcott, succeeded Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury in the cabinet of Washington, whose intimate friend he was, and, after leaving, in 1800, the cabinet of John Adams, he was for ten years Governor of Connecticut, as had been his father and grandfather before him. He was one of the leading Federalists when that party embraced the foremost intellects of the day, and added new lustre to the name he bore.

J. Huntington Wolcott, the oldest son of Frederick Wolcott, was born in Litchfield, Aug. 29, 1804. He was early compelled to seek his livelihood, and coming to Boston with no capital save his own manhood and a name not unknown in the history of his country, he entered the employ of the distinguished mercantile house of A. & A. Lawrence & Co., in which firm, while still a young man, he became a partner. This firm bore a leading part in the development of the great manufacturing and commercial enterprises of New England, and, until its dissolution, its reputation was unsurpassed for probity, sagacity, and energy. To these interests Mr. Wolcott gave much of the active work of his life, and the added population and wealth which they have brought to New England are due in great measure to the men who had the fore- sight to perceive that the prosperity and power of Massachusetts, as compared with her sister States, can be maintained only by her higher skill in diversified industry. During the war of the Rebellion, Mr. Wol- cott was treasurer of the Boston Sanitary Commission, and has always exhibited an example of public-spirited and liberal citizenship. He married, Nov. 12, 1844, Cornelia, daughter of Samuel Frothingham, of Boston, whose ancestors, living for generations in Charlestown, belonged to the old Puritan stock of New England. She died in little more than five years after her mar- riage, and Mr. Wolcott married as his second wife her sister, Harriet Frothingham.

In 1851, Mr. Wolcott bought an estate in Milton, and thus, after the lapse of two hundred and twenty years, became a citizen of the town in which his great- great-great-grandfather had first settled, after landing from the voyage of seventy days in the year 1630.

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

From such ancestors was Huntington Frothingham various other occasions." The surrender of Lee at Appomattox brought to an end this great civil war, and the grand review of the victorious army at Wash- Wolcott descended, and to them, perhaps, he owed in part the impulse which led him to give his young life freely to his country. Born in Boston, Feb. 4, 1846, | ington celebrated the nation's restored unity and the he passed seven months of each year of his boyhood death of secession as a possible doctrine in American politics. In this review Lieut. Wolcott took part with the command to which he was attached ; and some who saw him on that memorable occasion wrote after his death, which was so soon to follow, " It was impossible not to notice particularly young Lieut. Huntington Wolcott with his manly bearing and inspired face." "He seemed the impersonation of one's ideal of noble youth." The painter, William M. Hunt, who has reflected honor upon American art, and who knew him well, wrote after his death, " He combined the character of the lovely boy and noble and devoted patriot and soldier in a more striking manner than any one I have ever known." in Milton, and his strong love of nature and of country life made this the home to which his affec- tions always turned. As he passed from childhood into youth the unusual beauty and strength of his character were manifest to all who knew him. Of a physique of rare vigor and grace, of a pure and re- fined spirit, of a charm and dignity of manner which impressed themselves upon all,-a leader in all athletic sports, a good rider and boxer,-of a manly and gen- erous nature, he was admired and beloved by all who knew him, whether they were his associates and com- panions at school, or the poor whose sufferings he was ever ready to alleviate.

The opening of the war of the Rebellion found him a boy of only fifteen years ; but as the conflict went on with varying fortune to the national cause, his nature was stirred to its lowest depths by the national call to arms, and he was eager to throw himself into the struggle which maintained the unity of the nation and abolished the disgrace of slavery. He was for two or three years commander of the battalion of his school, whose efficiency in drill and evolution received the high praise of Governor Andrew, and of the mili- tary officers who were from time to time invited to review it. He studied carefully and thoroughly many works on military drill and tactics, and made himself an expert swordsman and a practised shot with the rifle and revolver. His earnest wish to bear his part in the conflict for national existence grew in intensity, and before he had reached the age of nine- teen years he received from Governor John A. An- drew a commission as second lieutenant in the Second Regiment of Massachusetts Cavalry, and was ap- pointed aide to Maj .- Gen. Alfred Gibbs. He passed some weeks in the military camp at Readville, thus becoming familiar with the routine of camp duty and discipline. In March, 1865, he joined the staff to

command of Gen. Sheridan, and he thus took part in the toilsome and brilliant campaign which resulted in cutting off Lee's retreat from Richmond, and com- pelled his surrender to Gen. Grant's force. These were weeks of arduous marching and constant fight- ing. Lieut. Wolcott took his place side by side with veterans in the war, and his energy, coolness, and gallantry under fire elicited the special notice of his commanding officer at the battles of Dinwiddie Court- House, Five Forks, Clover Hill, " April 9th," and " on | 1790.

But on the very eve of that day of national re- joicing his system succumbed to the insidious hold of camp fever, contracted during his few brief weeks of arduous and exhausting service, and although ten- derly transported to his boyhood's home in Milton, which he loved so well, he died June 9, 1865, in the prime of his manhood, at the age of nineteen years and four months. A few weeks before he went to the front he had said, " I should be glad to die for my country," and this joy was given him, to lead a pure and unsullied life, and to die in the service of the nation to which he owed an inherited loyalty so fervid and strong. His memory will not soon fade from the recollection of those who knew him, and is perpetuated upon the memorial tablet in the town hall of Milton, and in the title of the Grand Army post of the town which has chosen his name to des- ignate its organization.

NATHAN C. MARTIN.

A history of the town of Milton would be incom- plete that did not contain the name of Nathan Cook which he had been assigned, which was a part of the | Martin. Owing to circumstances beyond control we are unable to present our readers with a portrait, which we doubly regret, as in his younger days he was noted as being the handsomest man in Norfolk County.

He was a noble specimen of manhood, portly and | of regular features, very prepossessing in appearance, and in manner most courtly and genial.

Ile was the son of Henry and Mary (Sessions) Martin, and was born in Woodstock, Conn., Oct. 25,

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BROOKLINE.

His early education was such only as was afforded was somewhat remarkable, in all of which he served by the common schools of his native town, which at . with credit to himself, and with satisfaction to the that period were kept only during the winter months. public. His opportunities, therefore, for instruction were small, He was postmaster of Milton for thirty-seven years, judge of the District Court, major of the First Regi- ment Massachusetts Militia, deacon of the Third Religious Society of Dorchester (of whose choir he was leader for nearly thirty years), town clerk of Mil- ton, and a member of the school committee. but such as they were he improved, so that by close application and study, and with scarcely any instruction, except what he himself was able to glean from books, he became a successful teacher, not only of the grammar school but in the teaching of music, and also of penmanship, his success was marked ; schools for the instruction in those branches being taught by him not only in Milton, but in many of the surrounding towns.

At the early age of seventeen he was employed to teach one of the public schools in his native town. In a very brief period his reputation as a teacher became so marked that in the following year a com- mittee from the town of Holland, Mass., waited upon him with a request to him to take charge of a school in that town. Leaving the paternal dwelling in 1808, he took up his residence in Holland, where he taught some two years with good success.

Coming to Dorchester in 1810, to visit a townsman of his native place who was teaching there, he was offered a position as teacher of a school at the Lower Mills Village (so called), which, upon accepting, he immediately entered with energy upon the work before him, teaching some seven years in the town with such success that upon his resignation the school committee gave him the highest praise possible by the statement that " for excellence in their studies, and for good deportment, his school outranked any other school in the town."

In the early days of the temperance movement he enrolled himself as an ardent worker in the cause, and was for many years prominent in his efforts for the suppression of the evils resulting from the traffic in intoxicating liquors, delivering addresses in many places, etc. His sound sense made him a believer in moral as opposed to legal suasion, and as he believed so he taught.

He left not riches, founded no professorship, en- dowed no institute of learning, but his whole life was spent in the service of his fellow-men. He died Aug. 26, 1864, leaving a name which will ever be honor- ably inscribed in the annals of the town.

CHAPTER LXIX.

BROOKLINE.

BY BRADFORD KINGMAN.

Topography of the Town .- Brookline is the most unique and picturesque town in the vicinity of In the year 1817, having resigned his position as teacher, he opened a store in Milton for the sale of general merchandise, which business he so ably con- ducted that his friend, Mr. Benjamin Bussey (at that period the richest man in Massachusetts), invited him to accept of a partnership with him in conducting a business enterprise in the city of Boston ; but the offer, though a very advantageous one (one which, if accepted, was reasonably sure to bring him a com- petency), was declined. He seemed to have had no desire for riches, but rather, caring naught for wealth, offered daily invocations to the Lord " more of his grace than goods to lend." the metropolis of New England. It lies in the ex- treme northeast corner of Norfolk County, in latitude 42º 19' 32" north, and longitude 71° 00' 7" west of Greenwich, and was bounded on the northeast by Charles River, on Cambridge and Boston, about one and one-half miles. In 1855 the northerly part of the town bordering on the river was ceded to Boston, so that the northerly bounds as now situated are the south side of Brighton Avenue and the east side of St. Mary's Street. On the east it bounds the Back Bay territory of Boston, about one-half mile, and southeast by Boston (formerly Roxbury) about two and a quarter miles, and on West Roxbury about two His passion for study commencing in early life was continued through middle age, and with such diligence that probably no man in the town-albeit there were and three-quarter miles ; on the southwest it is bounded by West Roxbury, about three-quarters of a mile, and on Newton about one mile; on the northwest it is many that were college bred-had a more intimate | bounded by Newton about three-quarters of a mile, knowledge of the English classics.

and on Brighton nearly two miles. It runs northeast and southwest about four and three-tenths miles, and

The number of important official positions held by him, fairly thrust upon him by his fellow-townsmen, southeast and northwest about one and two-thirds

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

miles. Previous to the setting off the northerly por- tion of the town the territory comprised four thousand six hundred and ninety-five acres ; since that time it contains four thousand three hundred acres, or about seven square miles, and has forty miles of roads.

Hills .- Brookline is not what might be termed an elevated township, but like most towns near the sea- shore the land gradually rises from the water to the interior till it reaches the highest point, which is Lyman's, or Cabot's, Hill, which is three hundred and thirty-six feet above high-water mark.

That portion of the town included in Corey, As- pinwall, Fisher, and Gardner Hills, and the territory south and west from a line formed by Boylston Street, from Hammond Street to the junction of Boylston and Heath Streets, and Chestnut Hill Avenue, thence across to corner of Dudley and Warren Streets, near Robert C. Winthrop's entrance or gateway, and from this point to Boston line, near Rockwood Street, ex- cepting the vicinity of Hammond Street, and between Hammond Street and Newton line, and the South Street district, embraces about one-third of the area of the whole town, and is over one hundred and ninety feet above high-water mark.

Among the highest elevations in the town are Lyman's Hill, so called, situated between Boylston and Heath Streets, on the south of Boylston and north of Heath Streets. On the east, at a short dis- tance, is the residence of Hon. Theodore Lyman, M.C., and formerly the home of his late father, Gen. Theodore Lyman,-a magnificent residence, with a lawn and location bearing a strong resemblance to many of the country-seats of distinguished men in England.

On the southerly side of the hill, known as the | picturesque sheets of water, with the unequaled drives

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 164

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