History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 21

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 21

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DEDHAM.

William F. Cheney became the minister in charge in August, 1876. The parish was organized May 1, 1877, under the name of the " Church of the Good Shepherd," and the Rev. Mr. Cheney was chosen rector, which office he continues to hold. The parish was admitted into union with the convention of the Episcopal Church, in the diocese of Massachusetts, in May, 1878. Besides the liberal gifts of the church and land by Mr. Chickering, the parish has received, or is entitled to receive, other bequests from his widow, the late Mrs. Lucy Lee Chickering, and from his sisters. dollars appropriated for the purpose. The land was purchased and proceedings taken to perfect the title to a portion, the reversion of which belonged to Harvard College under Statute 1877, Chapter 99. A topo- graphical plan was made by Mr. Ernest W. Bowditch, landscape gardener, of the whole tract. The name given by the town was " Brookdale Cemetery." The care and control of the cemetery was given to three commissioners appointed annually by the selectmen. A receiving-tomb was built, a portion of the land graded, and lots laid out. In 1880 the town set apart a portion of the cemetery for the exclusive use of such Between the years 1870 and 1875, a small number of houses was built upon lands owned and divided into lots by Alonzo B. Wentworth, about a mile and a half south of the court-house on Washington Street, and along the line of the New York and New Eng- land Railroad. It has a post-office and railway Roman Catholic residents of Dedham as may purchase lots therein. The expense of improving this beauti- ful cemetery has thus far been met by the sale of lots, and, notwithstanding the differences of opinion which existed respecting its purchase, the people of the town quite generally have a feeling of pride and satisfaction station, and these are known by the name of Islington. | in the possession of a rural cemetery so attractive and accessible.

In 1882, a Congregational Church was gathered here, having for its pastor the Rev. C. B. Smith, of Medford. In the same year a small but tasteful church was erected for this society at the junction of East and Washington Streets.

In 1875, a new school-house for the Colburn School at West Dedham, with a hall on the third floor, was built by the town at a cost of about twelve thousand five hundred dollars. This is one of the best school-houses of the town, and is an example of the great advancement made in school architecture during the last twenty-five years.

The necessity for a new cemetery had been appar- ent for many years, and in 1876 the town appointed a committee to consider and report what action should be taken concerning the purchase of a suitable tract of land for that purpose. The majority of that com- mittee made a report recommending the purchase of a tract containing about forty-three and one-half acres, bounded by Mother Brook, East and Harvard Streets. At the April meeting, 1877, this report

was presented and recommitted, with instructions to obtain the prices of the lands. At an adjourned meeting, held April 16th, the committee reported, recommending the purchase of a portion of the lands. The town voted to adopt the recommendation by one majority, and then reconsidered the vote. At another adjourned meeting, it was voted not to purchase said lands, and another committee was appointed. That committee made a printed report at a meeting held Oct. 20, 1877, but not recommending any particular lot. It was then voted to purchase thirty-nine acres, more or less, of the lands recommended by the former committee, and a sum not exceeding twelve thousand | termed its incorporation.

It was not until April, 1878, that the town adopted a common seal. It was then voted "that the town hereby adopts and establishes a common seal, with the following device, to wit: In the centre of the foreground a shield, upon which is inscribed the rep- resentation of an ancient oak ; on the right of the background, the representation of a factory building ; on the left, the implements of agriculture ; above, the sword and scales of justice; and beneath, in a scroll, the motto, CONTENTMENT ; in the upper semicircle of the border, THE TOWN OF DEDHAM, and in the lower semicircle, PLANTATION BEGUN 1635, INCOR- PORATED 1636; and that said common seal, when executed, remain in the custody of the town clerk."

This design originated with a member of the Ded- ham Historical Society, who first submitted it to a committee of that society appointed for the purpose, and it having received the approval of the society, it. was presented to the town for adoption. The design and seal were made by Henry Mitchell, of Boston.

The oak upon the shield was intended to represent the Avery oak, a well-known landmark, and one of the original forest-trees of the town. The mill and the implements of agriculture signify that Dedham is both a manufacturing and an agricultural town. The scales and sword, signify that Dedham is the seat of justice, where the laws are administered and executed. The motto-CONTENTMENT-is the name first given to the settlement. The legend in the border gives the date when the General Court first ordered the planta- tion, and also the date of the grant giving the settle- ment the name of Dedham, which properly may be

HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Here this history of Dedham reaches its natural conclusion. In the retrospect of nearly two hundred and fifty years, we have endeavored to trace the : transitions which have taken place from one period to another. The most impressive fact of history is | the unnoted and gradual change which is constantly in operation. Probably there are few communities which have experienced less changes than the people of Dedham since the time of its settlement. They have been remarkable for the stability of their char- acter. For nearly two centuries they were mainly sturdy farmers, well informed in public affairs, jealous of encroachment upon their political rights, ready to maintain their opinions, and unfriendly to innova- tions. While, during the last half-century, these characteristics have been gradually modified by changes of occupations and a wider intercourse with men, still it cannot be said that the spirit which animated the fathers has not in some degree descended to the children. Many of the old families have entirely disappeared and are now disappearing. Not many new ones have permanently occupied their places since the beginning of the present century. The greatest change in the inhabitants has doubtless been effected by the establishment of the woolen-mills at East Dedham, where the operatives live only for a time and then make room for others. But numerically these constitute a considerable proportion of the inhabitants. The local business of Dedham, except in the woolen-mills, has substantially passed away. The sessions of the courts, and the transaction of other public business at the shire-town of the county, still bring people to Dedham from elsewhere. But these come by one railway train only to leave by the next departing train. The hotels, once the centres of social life and gayety, have disappeared. Dedham village is mainly a place of residence for those whose business is in Boston. These constitute the main body of its most valued citizens, and upon them and upon the interest which they may take in its local affairs, must chiefly depend its future char- acter and prosperity. Dedham has become simply a suburban town in the immediate vicinity of the great city of Boston. It should be the effort of its people to make it a desirable place of residence for all who may come there to live, by actively maintaining its churches, its schools, its public library, and other public institutions, its moral and social character, its local town government, and every undertaking made to elevate or alleviate the condition of its people.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOHN BULLARD.

This branch of the Bullard family traces its an- cestry in this country to William Bullard, who was probably the oldest Puritan of the name who settled in New England. He was born in 1594 and arrived here in 1635, and is spoken of as " a man of charac- ter and consideration," and a " distinguished Puri- tan." He probably first settled in Watertown, and subsequently became one of the planters of Dedham. He was the fifty-third signer of her social compact, and is found among the first to whom her lands were assigned, and on whom taxes were imposed. The line of descent is as follows: William (1), Isaac (2), William (3), Isaac (4), Isaac (5), John (6), William (7). Isaac (2) was entered on the records of Ded- ham in 1651, and in 1652 and 1653 was taxed above the average of her citizens. He married Ann Wight in 1655, and resided in Dedham. William (3) lived upon the present Bullard homestead in Dedham, and in 1697 married Elizabeth Avery. He was spoken of as " an insatiate lover of real estate," and carefully preserved ancient papers. He owned lands in Dedham, Walpole, Sutton, Upton, Sherborn Dividends (Douglass), Natick, and Charlestown, and was one of the great land-owners of the colony.

Isaac (4) was a coroner, and received in 1731 from his father, William, a deed of the homestead in Dedham. He married Mary Dean in 1731-32. Isaac (5) was born July 10, 1744, married Patience Baker in 1766, and died June 18, 1808. He in- | herited the ancient homestead, and erected in 1787 a house (near the site of the original one) which gave place in 1856 to the present stone-house.

He was a man of intelligence and sterling worth, much employed in the transaction of public business, being often placed on important committees with his friend and neighbor, Fisher Ames. He long served the ancient church of Dedham as deacon, and was for many years returned a representative to the Gen- eral Court, and annually elected treasurer of Norfolk County from its organization in 1793 until his death in 1808.

John (6), whose portrait accompanies this memoir, was born in Dedham, Jan. 9, 1773, married Lucy Richards in 1802, and died Feb. 25, 1852. He in- herited the Bullard mansion in Dedham, and suc- ceeded his father in the regard and confidence of the citizens of Norfolk County, manifested in his election to the office of county treasurer on the death of his

John Bullard

Thomas Barrowy

1.13.13 abrech

DEDHAM.

father ; and so acceptable were his services, and so highly was he esteemed as a man, that amidst all the violence of religious and political feeling, and the changes of office, he was, by the annual voice of the county, continued in this responsible position from 1808 to 1852, a period of forty-four years; father and son having held the office fifty-nine years, from universally esteemed, and his death was a public loss. His children were Maria, born May 4, 1803, married H. F. Spear, M. D., resided in Dedham and Brook- lyn, N. Y., and died in 1863; John, born Jan. 2, 1807, married Jane E. McKillup, resided in Brook- lyn, N. Y., and died Jan. 13, 1881 ; Lewis, born Aug. 13, 1810, an iron and steel merchant in Boston, died April 13, 1881 ; and William, born April 20, 1816, married, in 1841, Mary R. Henderson, died Sept. 28, 1879.

John and William carried on together a successful business in hides and leather in New York City ; William returned to Dedham in 1856, and thereafter took an active interest in its banking institutions and in the improvement of the town. To his efforts, with those of others, it is indebted for the " Memorial Hall" and the upper or " cart" bridge.

William only of this generation had children, who are Wm. M., born Jan. 13, 1842; John R., born March 3, 1846 ; Lewis H., born Dec. 21, 1848, and Mary, born Feb. 18, 1855.

THOMAS BARROWS.

Mr. Barrows was born in Middleboro', Plymouth Co., in the year 1795. In his youth he lived at home, assisting his father in the cultivation of his farm until 1812, when he entered a cotton-mill as an operative, where he continued for two years. From there he went to Wrentham, in this county, where he engaged in the same capacity for a time, from whence he was called back to his native town to take the superintendence of the mill in which he first commenced his labors. Here he remained five years, and then took charge of a mill in Halifax, Mass., until his removal to Dedham, in 1825, to act as agent of Benjamin Bussey and George H. Kuhn, in the manufacture of broadcloths. In 1842 the mills passed into the hands of Mr. Edmunds. In 1847, Gardner Colby became a partner with Ed- munds, Mr. Barrows continuing his position as agent up to 1864, when he retired, and the mills were sold to the Merchants' Woolen Company. Soon after Mr. Barrows purchased the mill of the Norfolk Manu- | gave witness to her, because she delivered the poor

facturing Company, on Milton Street, to which he made large additions and improved machinery, and began again the manufacture of woolens on his own account. His success varied with the times. In 1872, owing to his advanced age and the depression of the woolen business, he was induced to sell his mill to Mr. Harding, and retired from business with his the incorporation of the county to 1852. He was i fortune materially reduced.

Mr. Barrows married, early in life, Mrs. Elizabeth Bosworth, of Halifax, Mass., by whom he had four children, two sons and two daughters. The latter only are living,-Elizabeth, wife of Col. Stone, of Dedham, and Sarah, wife of C. H. Miller, of Jamaica Plain.

Mr. Barrows was one of the many instances of a poor lad acquiring wealth and high social positio through a long course of honorable toil.

REV. SAMUEL BRAZER BABCOCK, D.D.

Samuel Brazer Babcock was the son of Mr. Samuel Howe Babcock, and was born in Boston, Sept. 17, A.D. 1807. His early education was commenced at the academy in Milton, but afterwards completed in the English High School in Boston. He was a mem- ber of the first class of 1821, and officiated as chap- lain at the semi-centennial celebration. He pursued his classical studies at Claremont, N. H., under the Rev. James B. Howe, the father of the present Bishop of South Carolina.

He entered Harvard University in 1826, and grad- uated in 1830. He pursued his theological studies at first under the Rev. Alonzo Potter, then the rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Boston, and after- ward completed the same in the Episcopal Theologi- cal Seminary at Cambridge, Mass. In 1832 he was ordained a deacon by Bishop Griswold. During that year he first came to reside in Dedham. On the 9th day of October of the same year he was married to Miss Emmeline Foxcroft, the daughter of Mr. Fran- cis Augustus Foxcroft, of Boston. She was a woman of refined taste and excellent judgment, and proved to be a true and valuable helper to him through his long and arduous ministry, not only in domestic and social life, but also in the discharge of his parish duties. By her kindness of heart and gentleness of manner, and her many charitable ministrations to the desti- tute and afflicted, she well deserved the epitaph in- scribed upon the monument under the shadow of tho church she so much loved,-" When the ear heard her then it blessed her, and when the eye saw her it

HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

that cried, the fatherless, and those who had none to help them."

In 1833 he was advanced to the priesthood, and appears in the Convention as minister of St. Paul's Church, Dedham, but does not report himself as rector until the Convention of 1834. In principle he was a stanch churchman, but he was truly catholic in spirit. His habitual cheerfulness of spirit and kind- liness of manner made him eminently successful in his visitations to the sick and sorrowful. In his pul- pit ministrations he did not present the gospel truths in forms of gloom. He taught no hopeless reproba- tion of the sinner. If he showed him the enormity of his guilt, he also pointed out a sure way of escape through the redemption of Jesus Christ. Believing in the holy Scriptures as the word of God, and accept- ing the creed of the church as its sure warranty, he indulged in no vain speculations. With the whole sincerity of his nature he himself rested, and he taught his people to rest, in the grand simplicity of the truth as it is in Jesus.

In 1833, when he first took full charge of the | parish, all its affairs were in a most unpromising condition. The old church building itself hardly presented decent accommodations for the proper celebration of divine service. The parishioners were few in number, and had not been accustomed to de- vote much of their worldly wealth towards the support of the church; in fact, everything, both temporal and spiritual, had fallen into a most lamentable condition, and to all human appearance everything looked dark and discouraging. But he, by his cheerful disposition and his patient and untiring energy, gradually taught his people to hope for better things. Under his wise management his parish increased in stability and influence year by year. This growth continued to increase till in 1845 1 he induced his old parishioners, and many new ones who had become members during his ministry, to make liberal subscriptions for the erection of a new church, and with the valuable aid which he obtained from churchmen outside of his own parish he suc- ceeded in raising sufficient funds to build a new and beautiful church, costing over seven thousand dollars. By the contributions of friends and the timely aid of the faithful women of his parish the church was duly furnished. It was consecrated Jan. 15, 1846. He now seemed to have reached the result for which he | board when the high school was established.

had prayed and labored for so many years, and his heart was satisfied.

For upwards of ten years afterward the temporal and spiritual interests of his parish were in a pros- perous condition, and he lived and labored joyously

among his beloved people. But this prosperity was not permitted to continue. He was soon to meet a new and severe trial of his faith.

On a cold Sunday morning in December, 1856, the beautiful church he so much loved suddenly disap- peared in flames.

But the faithful servant of God did not yield to discouragement. On that same Sunday morning, while the flames were consuming the church, he celebrated, in another place temporarily prepared for the purpose, the holy communion, to strengthen the souls and encourage the hearts of his sorrowful parishioners.

When the time for action arrived he was ready, heart and hand, to aid in raising means for rebuilding the sanctuary. He was always full of hope, and he never doubted the success of the enterprise. By his own faith and zeal, and the energy and liberality of his parishioners, the sorrow for the loss of the former church was soon changed to joy.

In its place there arose a new fire-proof stone church of much larger dimensions. This church, when the tower was finished and the spire erected in 1869, cost over thirty thousand dollars. It was duly consecrated June 17, A.D. 1858.

After this time, during the remainder of his min- istry, his life seemed to be almost entirely free from trouble and anxiety.

Sometimes the indications of failing health admon- ished him of the necessity of temporary relief from his pastoral labors, but the interests of his church continued to flourish, and he enjoyed the strong and undivided affection of his people. He had calls to other fields of labor, but he chose rather to remain in the parish he so much loved, and among the people with whom he had so long dwelt. So great was his attachment to this, his only parish, that he was never willing to spend his vacation where he could not readily answer any call for his pastoral services.

Thus he continued to grow in the love and rever- ence of his own people, and the high estimation of all who knew him.

His influence was by no means confined to the limits of his own parish. He did much for the educational interests of the town of Dedham. He was for a long time an active and influential member of the school committee, and was chairman of the

He was the most active and influential agent in establishing the parishes at Wrentham and Hyde | Park, and devoted much time and labor towards the accomplishment of the work.

He was four years secretary of the Diocesan Board

6. Burgess

DEDHAM.

of Missions ; nineteen years he was treasurer of the Diocesan Convention, and was president of the Stand- ing Committee from 1868 to 1873, the time of his death. He was specially interested in the Society for the Relief of Aged and Indigent Clergymen of the Diocese, and spared no efforts to enforce upon church- men the claims of this excellent charity.

He was for many years a member of the General Board of Missions from Massachusetts, and twice a delegate to the General Convention.

In 1870 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Columbia College, New York, and the same year the same degree from Griswold College, Iowa.

Three years afterward, on a pleasant autumnal Monday morning, he went into the city, apparently in his usual health, to attend a meeting of the clergy, and, while drafting a resolution, he was suddenly seized by an attack of apoplexy, from the effects of which he died in Boston, Oct. 25, A.D. 1873.

His remains were brought to Dedham, and in the succeeding week, in the presence of his family rela- tives and his many friends, were quietly laid to rest where he had always desired to be-under the shadow of his own church, and near the grave of the sainted Griswold.

Thus ended the comparatively long and useful life of one who was distinguished, not as a sensational or popular preacher, but as an earnest, devoted Christian minister, who was found faithful even unto death, and who now inherits the unfading crown of an endless life.

REV. EBENEZER BURGESS, D.D.

BY REV. A. C. THOMPSON.

Thomas Burgess and Dorothy, his wife, of Pilgrim memory, who arrived at Salem, Mass., about the year 1630, afterwards removed within the limits of Ply- mouth Colony, and were among the original members of the church formed at Sandwich in 1638. Thomas Burgess was a prominent man in that place, becoming a large landholder, filling various offices, being in his later years called Goodman Burgess, and dying in 1685, at the age of eighty-two. His descendants number at the present time several thousands, and are scattered throughout the country from Maine to California. In some branches of the family the name has been gradually changed into Burghess, Burges, Burgis, Borgis, Burge, and Burg.

The Rev. Ebenezer Burgess, who belonged to the sixth generation from the forenamed Thomas, was the son of Prince Burgess and Martha Crowell. He was |

the ninth of eleven children, and was born in Ware- ham, April 1, 1790. The homestead which descended from Ebenezer of the third generation still belongs to the family, as is also the case with the patriarchal estate of the Pilgrim Thomas, in Sandwich. The parents of Dr. Burgess, no less than remoter ancestors, possessed to a marked degree the better traits and habits of early New England, as regards piety, indus- try, thrift, and public spirit. At the home in Ware- ham influences were peculiarly suited to the cultiva- tion of reverence, truthfulness, self-restraint, energy, and methodical ways. Domestic worship, morning and evening, was a truly hallowed season, and the Sabbath, strictly kept, was a day of elevated religious enjoyment. At eighteen years of age (April 24, 1808) Dr. Burgess publicly expressed the hope that he had been savingly renewed, made profession of faith in Christ, and' entered into fellowship with the church of his fathers.

His fifteenth year found him master of a grammar school in his native town ; and entering Brown Uni- versity a year in advance, he graduated (1809) with honor. Though among the younger members, he was inferior to none of them in propriety of conduct, diligence in study, or extent of attainments,1 and was by all regarded as among the very first in the class for scholarship. Immediately upon graduation he was chosen principal of the University Grammar School. From the year 1811 to 1813 he was a tutor in the college. After spending some time in theolog- ical study with Dr. Emmons, at Franklin, he entered the Middle Class of the Andover Theological Semi- nary, and graduated in 1815. His only surviving classmate, the Rev. Herman Halsey, now (1884) ninety-one years of age, writes with his own hand: " In scholarship he was accounted the leading mem- ber of his class ; his character as a Christian was of the higher type ; as a man, modest and dignified, as Į a companion, amiable, unpretending, courteous, gen- erous."

Having completed his studies at Andover, he became Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the University of Vermont. That was the period of reorganization of the University. It had been closed, and the buildings had been occupied by our general government during the war of 1812-15 with Great Britain. A rival institution had, in the mean time, diverted to itself the current of students ; political intrigues hindered resuscitation ; and after two years of waiting for prosperity which did not return till some time later, Dr. Burgess was the more ready to

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 21

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