History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 186

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 186

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THOMAS PARSONS.

Thomas Parsons was born in Boston, Mass., July 25, 1816. He was the son of Charles Chauncy and Judith (Parsons) Parsons. His grandfather was Chief Justice Theophilus Parsons, of Newburyport, Mass., who married Elizabeth Greenleaf. The mother of Thomas Parsons was the daughter of Capt. Thomas and Judith (Kinsman) Parsons.

In 1850, Mr. Parsons purchased the estate known as the "Cabot Farm" and " Amory Place," upon which was an old house, which he removed in 1852, and erected a house upon the same site, where he now

Cence

Firmas Parsons

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BROOKLINE.

resides most of the time, passing the summer months in Mattapoisett, his residence running to the water's edge.

The subject of this sketch is a lineal descendant, on both his father and mother's side, from Rev. John Robinson, of Leyden. As an heirloom he has a side- board in his possession brought over to this country His grandson, Ebenezer Davis, a blacksmith, made large purchases of lands in various places and settled upon the Brookline property, which he purchased in 1746 of Thomas Cotton, of Windham, Conn., for £4500. This estate of ninety-five acres was sepa- rately described in three lots, and embraced the prin- by a son of the Rev. John Robinson. Mr. Parsons was educated in the common schools of Boston, and fitted for college in the Public Latin School of Bos- ton ; entered Harvard College at the age of fourteen years, but owing to ill health was obliged to leave with only a partial course. He then entered the | cipal portion of what is now the village of Brookline. counting-room of Benjamin Rich & Son, East India Ebenezer Davis died in 1776; his will was pro- bated March 4th of the same year. Although he had disposed of considerable real estate, what he left is worth recording, as his inventory indicates the value of lands in this county at that period : merchants, where he served his term of apprentice- ship, and then entered into business with his father, who was a merchant and owner of freighting ships, where he remained till 1865. He is at present inter- ested in many corporations. He is president and " House, Land and one half the other Build- ) ings on Easterly side of Cambridge Road £1660 and the Hill pasture on the Northerly side of said road, apprized at .. director of the " Lyman Mill," at Holyoke, Mass. He became a resident of Brookline in 1848, and has always taken a great interest in the welfare of the town. He House, Land &c lying southwardly and ad-) joining Watertown Road, with one half ! the buildings on the other side of the 1222 Road, the House excepted. has been selectman for sixteen years, many years chair- man, member of the school committee the same num- Four and a half acres salt-marsh. 15 Four acres of salt marsh in the Great Marsh ... 40 ber of years, acting as chairman of the same. He was an original member of the "Brookline Public Thirty Eight Acres of land bought of Mary } 550 Winchester Library," and is now one of the trustees. Most of A tract of Land in Troublesome Swamp (so-) . called) the time he has been president of the same. He rep- A House, Farm and other buildings in Rox- ) 60 1000 burv. resented the town in the Legislature for six years, 112 A Wood-lot in Roxbury serving on the Finance Committee five years. He was Two Acres Salt Marsh in Roxbury. 20 a member of the Committee on the Revision of the A wood lot in Newton bought of John Ham- } A Wood-lot in Needham 66 138. 4d. 175 mond. Revised Statutes in 1859, on the Valuation Committee in 1860. Appointed on the Board of Prison Com- Another in ditto. Three & one half Acres. 52 10s. A Farm in Newton under the improvement of 400 A House, Land and other buildings in the ) Town of Waltham under the Improve- } 306 138. 4d. ment of Mr. Matthias Collins. Mr. Joseph White .. missioners by Governor Rice, and again by Governor Talbot, and chairman of the same for six years. In 1854 he was appointed as justice of the peace.

In 1847 he married Martha Watson, daughter of Henry P. and Charlotte (Bicknell) Franklin. Mr. Franklin was a merchant and wealthy manufacturer in Providence. The children of Mr. Parsons are Elizabeth, Theophilus (a graduate of Harvard Col- lage, 1870, now engaged in manufacturing in Holyoke, | Mass.), Charlotte, and Lucy.

THE DAVIS FAMILY OF BROOKLINE.

BY W. E. WEBSTER.

The New England progenitor of this family was William Davis, who came from Wales in his early youth and settled in Roxbury, where he was married three times. He was a member of the Apostle Eliot's

church, as were his wives and most of his children. He died Dec. 9, 1683, and was buried on the 11th, as appears by John Eliot's record, in the possession of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society ; the date is erroneously given as the 22d December in the Report of the Record Commissioners of Boston.

Total Real Estate, value .. £5709 168. 8d.

Two items of his personal estate were, “ A Silver Tankard, valued at £18 13s. 4d. and Six Hives of Bees, valued at £3 15s."

This tankard is still in the possession of the family (the bees are not). On the curve of the handle, in ac- cordance with the custom of the olden time, appear the husband's and wife's initials with that of the D

family, thus, E + S, meaning Ebenezer and Sarah Davis. It bears the stamp of " J. Hurd," the famous goldsmith of Boston, whose daughter married Mr. Walley, and was the grandmother of Wendell Phil- lips. A son, Nathaniel Hurd, succeeded his father ; he also struck his stamp upon it, simply the word " Hurd." He was an artist of great taste in heraldic engraving, and by a mistake not uncommon at that

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

time, engraved another family's armorial bearings

died in the same town, Feb. 23, 1875. About the upon this tankard,-that of the Davisons, instead of | year 1825, Mr. Davis entered the employment of the the Davis family of Carmathan, Wales. An impres- sion of the Davis family seal is upon the will of Icha- bod Davis, in registry of deeds in Suffolk County, A.D. 1754,-he was son of the original immigrant, whose will has been lost,-this was observed by J. C. J. Brown, of the Committee on Heraldry of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, while making an examination of the heraldry on wills in Suffolk Probate Court.

Ebenezer Davis' will was quite long, and very par- ticular in relation to the division and distribution of the estate, and very regardful of all his descendants. His daughters, Hannah, Sarah, and Elizabeth, were the wives respectively of Matthias Collins, Joseph White, and Joseph Craft. In a codicil he gives his " Negro man Sambo his freedom."

To Ebenezer Davis, his grandson,-who was the | Stearns, Sarah Comstock, Laura Wood (Mrs. T. R. grandfather of the subject of this sketch,-he gave the first item on the inventory, until his sister Sarah was twenty-one years of age, when she was to have two hundred pounds ; and the real estate was to be equally divided between brother and sister ; but Eben and Benjamin, another grandson, were to have the woodlands in Cambridge, Brookline, Newton, and Needham. The distribution to other children and grandchildren is not specified here, as this refers only to the line of Robert Sharp Davis.

A great-grandson of the Ebenezer Davis who set- tled in Brookline was named Robert Sharp Davis. This Robert Sharp had the following-named children, a brief sketch of whom will here be given : Samuel Craft, Robert Sharp, Phineas Stearns, Sarah, and Lucy.

well-known publishing firm of Crocker & Brewster, of Boston, a firm which remained the same, both in style and partners, for more than half a century. After remaining a few years with Crocker & Brewster, he became a partner in the firm of Lincoln, Edmands & Co., and in 1835 succeeded them. From that time he carried on the business of publishing school-books in Boston with uninterrupted success until his death, -a period of forty years lacking a few days. Among his most prominent publications were the mathemati- cal works of the eminent author, Benjamin Greenleaf, books which are believed to have been in more uni- versal use than any similar works ever published. In 1837, Mr. Davis married Mary Shannon, of Ports- mouth, N. H., by whom he had the following chil- dren : Mary Shannon (Mrs. W. E. Webster), Lucy Shewell), Caroline Elizabeth, and Langdon Shannon, who married Hélène Bartlett O'Leary, Nov. 9, 1880.

Phineas Stearns Davis (named for his great-grand- father, who was one of the famous Boston tea-party) was born in Brookline. For many years he was con- nected in business with his brother Robert. He was an active member of the militia for more than twenty years, holding various commissions, including that of brigadier-general. At the breaking out of the war for the suppression of the Southern Rebellion, Gen. Davis, after serving several months upon a commission for the examination of candidates for positions in the military service, accepted the command of the Thirty- ninth Regiment, in which position he served with distinction until July 11, 1864, when he was killed by a rebel shell in front of Petersburg, Va. He was a brave and patriotic man and an accomplished officer.

Samuel Craft Davis was born in Brookline, Feb. 18, 1809, and died in Boston, Oct. 15, 1882. In . April 26, 1847, he married Elizabeth Lambert, by 1834, Mr. Davis went to St. Louis, where he estab- whom he had the following-named children : Nannie Sophia, Charles Lambert, Elizabeth Lambert (Mrs. A. J. Ward), and Agnes Andrews. lished the well-known dry-goods importing and job- bing house of Samuel C. Davis & Co., in which he remained the senior partner until his death. He was Sarah Davis was born in Brookline, Sept. 24, 1812; married Rev. Grover Smith Comstock, June 24, 1834; had the following children : Lucy D., Oliver C. (who was killed in the war for the Union), Robert Stearns, and Grover Samuel. Mrs. Comstock went to Burmah as a missionary and died there. an industrious and sagacious man, and eminently suc- cessful merchant. In 1840, Mr. Davis married Caro- line Tilden, of Brookline, by whom he had the follow- ing children : Samuel Craft, a lawyer, born March 10, 1842 ; died Oct. 10, 1874; John Tilden, born Sept. 13, 1844 ; now a partner in the house of S. C. Davis Lucy Stearns Davis was born in Brookline, Jan. 26, 1816; married Daniel H. Rogers, Sept. 21, 1843; had the following children : Sarah C., Clara Lavinia, Elizabeth S., Mary D. & Co. ; also one son and one daughter who died in in- fancy. Samuel Craft Davis, Jr., married Sarah Shurt- leff Shaw, of Boston, June 19, 1866; John Tilden Davis married Maria Jane Filley, Feb. 20, 1867.

The Davis family are descended in a maternal line from Robert Sharp, a youth of twenty, who came

Robert Sharp Davis, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, was born in Brookline, Jan. 1, 1811, and ' from England in the ship " Abigail," in 1635.

Polakof. Javier.

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BROOKLINE.

Robert Sharp stopped a while at Braintree, then at Brookline," soon to be published. He is also a fre- quent contributor to magazines and newspapers. In October, 1870, he started the first newspaper ever Rehoboth, and in 1650, with Peter Aspinwall, he purchased the large farm of William Colburn, at Muddy River. By his wife Abigail he had one son, | published in the town of Brookline, known as the John, born March 12, 1643, and two daughters, Brookline Transcript, of which he was the editor and proprietor for over two years. Among his con- tributions are the " Memoir of the Late Deacon Lewis Bradford," of Plympton, Mass., " History of An- dover," published in the " History of Essex County," also " History of North Andover" in the same work. Abigail and Mary. John married Martha, daughter of Robert Vose, of Dorchester (Milton). John was a valiant soldier in King Philip's war, and was killed in the Sudbury fight, while lieutenant in Capt. Wads- worth's company, in April, 1676. His widow married Joseph Buckminster, from whom the distinguished Mr. Kingman married Susan Bradford, daughter of Capt. Thomas and Susanna (Bradford) Ellis, of Plympton, Mass., Jan. 1, 1852, a direct descendant of Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth, Mass., in the eighth generation. They had one daughter, Carrie Parker, born July 15, 1858; died Sept. 18, 1859. persons of that name were descended. John Sharp had a son Robert, who perished in an expedition against the Indians in Canada. This Robert had a son Robert, who was a thrifty man, and became a large landholder in Brookline. He died in 1765, leaving a son, Robert, and four daughters. The fourth Robert married Sarah Payson, of Roxbury, by whom he had ten children, and from one of these children (Lucy), who married into the Davis family, was GEORGE BATY BLAKE. descended Robert Sharp Davis, the subject of this sketch.

BRADFORD KINGMAN.

Bradford Kingman is the son of Josiah Washburn and Mary (Packard) Kingman ; was born in that portion of the town of North Bridgewater (now Brockton) called " Campello," Jan. 5, 1831 ; came to Brookline, May 1, 1856. He is a lineal descendant in the seventh generation from Henry Kingman, an early settler of Weymouth, Mass., who came from Weymouth, England, in 1635. After the usual course of study in the common schools of his native village he attended the Adelphian Academy, under the charge of Messrs. Silas L. & L. F. C. Loomis, in the central village, and afterwards in the Williston Seminary at East Hampton, Mass. Studied law with Lyman Mason, Esq., of Boston ; attended lectures of the late Professor Emery Washburn, at Harvard Col- lege ; and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in Boston April 21, 1863. Appointed justice of the peace by Governor Andrew, Jan. 22, 1864; and was trial justice for criminal cases for Norfolk County several years, notary public for the same county, and is now an attorney- and counselor-at-law, resident of Brook- line. He is also commissioner of deeds for several New England and Western States.

In addition to the duties pertaining to the legal profession, Mr. Kingman has given much attention to the study of local history. In 1866 he published a " History of North Bridgewater, Massachusetts," pp. 696, and is engaged in preparing a " History of

The branch of the Blake family from which the subject of this sketch descended was first established in New England in the person of William Blake (a near relative of the famous English admiral, Robert Blake), who landed at Nantasket, May 30, 1630, and soon after fixed his residence at Dorchester, Mass., in that part now called Milton.

George Baty Blake, the youngest of nine children of John Welland and Abigail (Jones) Blake, was born at Brattleborough, Vt., May 19, 1808.

His grandfather, Joseph Blake (born Feb. 5, 1739 ; died July 21, 1818), was a lieutenant in the army at an early age, and saw some service at Crown Point. He married for his first wife Deborah, daughter of Samuel Smith, a physician of Sandwich, Mass., her mother, Bethiah Chipman, being reported by tradi- tion to be a direct descendant of John Carver, the first Governor of Plymouth Colony.

His father, John Welland Blake, Esq., a lawyer by profession, was one of the early settlers at Brattle- borough, having established his residence there in 1790. He was one of the first postmasters in this place, represented the town in the State Legislature, and was at one time a large owner of real estate in the vicinity.

He married, May 24, 1790, Abigail, daughter of Judge Daniel Jones, of Hinsdale, N. H. She died Dec. 14, 1808, within a few months after George's birth, and his father Oct. 27, 1818.

George, thus early left an orphan, was nursed and cared for during his infancy in the family of Maj. Stephen Greenleaf, a highly-respected citizen in the West Village of Brattleborough, and in after-years

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

he held the memory of this estimable man and his family in grateful remembrance.

Subsequently he lived at the homestead until the age of thirteen. His eldest sister, Anna Sophia, who, in 1814, married Henry Cabot, son of Hon. George Cabot, of Boston, had charge of the household during George's childhood, until her removal to Boston upon her marriage, and there lived until her death, in 1845. Mrs. Cabot is well remembered in Boston society of the time for her personal charms and winning social graces.

After the death of his father, George was for a few years particularly under the charge of his brother, John Rice Blake. These brothers long survived the other children, and were for twenty years or more partners in the banking business, which George undertook about the year 1850, in Boston, and to which the energies of the remaining years of his life were chiefly given.

Although George's father had been at one time a man of considerable wealth for the period, at his death the family were left quite poor, so that when Mr. Dickerman, a dry-goods dealer from Boston, who chanced to see George, then a lad of thirteen, in Brattleborough, offered him a place in his store, the family gladly availed themselves of the offer, and the boy went to Boston.

He lived at first with his sister, Mrs. Cabot, in High Street, Boston, and for two or three years re- ceived from his brother John and this sister fifty dollars a year, which was the only pecuniary help he ever received.

He was in Mr. Dickerman's employ a few years, and went thence to his brother-in-law, Edward Clarke, of the firm of Edward Clarke & Co., dry-goods im- porters, and before he was twenty-one years of age Mr. Clarke took him into the firm as partner, and he | went at once to England to buy goods. From this time, in 1828, he was constantly going to England and the continent of Europe in the pursuance of his business, making many acquaintances and some life- long friendships.

Among others, he thus became acquainted with the late George Peabody, at that time a buyer of dry-goods for his Baltimore firm, and afterward long resident in London, with whom Mr. Blake continued in warm relations of friendship until Mr. Peabody's death, and for several years their respective firms had extensive business relations.

May 24, 1833, Mr. Blake married his cousin, Anna Hull, daughter of Joshua Blake, of Boston, a promi- nent and successful merchant, doing business with the Mediterranean ports.

father's house in Winthrop Place, by the Rev. F. W. P. Greenwood, of King's Chapel, at which church Mr. Blake then, and during his whole life, attended service, acting for several years as vestryman, and always taking a deep and lively interest in the church and its several clergymen.

During his earlier visits in England, Mr. Blake made the acquaintance of Richard Cobden, the dis- tinguished English statesman, then, about the year 1835, partner in a cotton-printing establishment near Manchester, where he had built up a prosperous business. Mr. Blake at this time bought goods of Mr. Cobden, and had a great admiration for the qualities which later won him such distinction as a legislator and political economist.

Mr. Blake gave full adherence to Mr. Cobden's free-trade views, and was always of the opinion that for any country customs duties were only to be justified by the need of revenue. He recognized, however, for the United States that reform in this direction, in justice to large vested interests, must be somewhat gradual; but he looked confidently to absolute free trade as the true policy for all nations, and he believed that, under such a free interchange of commodities, the United States would soon become cotton manu- facturers for the world.

Mr. Blake had nine children, of whom the first two died in infancy, and the seventh, Henry Jones Blake, died Oct. 11, 1880. He served as lieutenant in the United States navy during the war of the Rebellion, and had an excellent record in the important engage- ments in which he participated.

The youngest son, John Welland Blake, bearing the name of his paternal grandfather, died in 1861, aged nearly fifteen years.

The other children, three sons and two daughters, are still surviving in the year 1884, and all the sons were for years partners in their father's firms in Bos- ton, New York, and London.

This business is still continued by the sons and their associates, selected by Mr. Blake, essentially as established by him.

Mr. Blake, after leaving the firm of Edward Clarke & Co., formed a copartnership for the importa- tion of dry-goods with Mr. William Almy, under the firm-name of Almy, Blake & Co., and during this time, and subsequently, he continued his frequent passages to Europe, having crossed the Atlantic up- wards of eighty times during his life.

He next formed a copartnership with the late David Nevins and Edward II. R. Lyman, under the firm- name of George B. Blake & Co., also importers of

They were married at her | dry-goods. Mr. Lyman still survives, being a resi-

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BROOKLINE.

dent of Brooklyn, N. Y., and has recently retired from active business after a long and most successful mercantile career in connection with the well-known firm of Messrs. A. A. Low & Brothers, of New York, in the China trade.

About the year 1846, Mr. Blake's health, which had always been delicate, failing him, he was obliged to retire from active business, and in the spring of 1847 he bought an estate in Brookline, near Boston, where he resided during the remainder of his life, excepting the winters of the last few years; these were passed at his home in Boston.

During this three or four years' interval in his active business career, Mr. Blake became a director in the Boston and Worcester Railroad Company, and took a most active interest in the affairs of that cor- poration, giving much of his time and energy to the development of its growing business. He was one of the very earliest to favor and promote the joining of this railroad with the Western Railroad.

The first steps taken by this corporation towards a rail connection with East Boston were chiefly insti- gated by Mr. Blake, at a time when few foresaw the prospective growth of the export trade from the West, which his sagacity enabled him to anticipate.

The construction of the Brookline Branch of the Boston and Worcester Railroad was also largely due to his energy and foresight.

In 1850, Mr. Blake associated himself with Mr. Addison Gilmore, president of the Western (now Boston and Albany) Railroad, and Mr. George Cabot Ward, son of Thomas G. Ward, Boston agent of

Messrs. Baring Brothers & Co., of London, for the , ations, the Bank of England having suddenly advanced prosecution of a foreign and domestic banking busi- ness. The firm-name was Gilmore, Blake & Ward. ' Mr. Gilmore dying very suddenly shortly after this | Messrs. Baring, through whom the loan was success- firm was established, the name was changed to Blake, fully negotiated. Ward & Co., and later to Blake, Howe & Co.

At this time his brother, John Rice Blake, came from Brattleborough and joined him as a partner, the firm-name being later changed to Blake Brothers & Co., the three eldest sons joining as partners about the year 1860.

One of the leading aims of Mr. Blake throughout his business career was to advance in every possible way the commercial interests of Boston. He was largely instrumental in securing and maintaining the regular visits of the Cunard steamers to that port.

During the civil war he was always most warmly interested in the preservation of the Union, and ac- tively aided, both with his purse and by personal ser- vice, the Sanitary Commission and other organizations for the relief and welfare of the soldiers.

Originally a Whig in politics, and voting for Henry Clay in the Presidential election, Mr. Blake early sym- pathized in the views of Garrison, Sumner, and the others who looked upon African slavery in the United States as a barbarism.

With many other law-abiding citizens of Massachu- setts, his sense of justice was shocked by the enforce- ment of the fugitive-slave law in Boston in returning Anthony Burns to servitude. He endeavored to pre- vent this, by offering, through a friend, to buy Burns of his owner, who then refused to sell his property at any price.

When the State of Massachusetts was rapidly for- warding troops for the suppression of the Rebellion, and was incurring a large debt for bounties and other war expenses, the money market had become exceed- ingly active, so that the State, for providing money on their notes having a few months to run, paid as high as twelve per cent. per annum.

At this time it became necessary for funding its indebtedness that the State should promptly secure some three or four millions of dollars. This was finally done by a sale to Mr. Blake's firm, by Gov- ernor Andrew and his Council, of three millions of dollars of five per cent. sterling bonds, and Mr. Blake was appointed by the State authorities agent for the State, with authority to domiciliate the loan with either of several London banking firms selected by him, foremost among whom were the Messrs. Baring and Rothschild.

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 186

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