History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 23

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 23

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His connection with his parish continued till Oct. 29, 1860,-forty-two years from the time of his settlement,-when his resignation, offered a little while before, took effect. After his retirement he still retained a lively interest in the affairs of the | parish, taking part in the instruction of the Sunday- school, and holding himself ready to aid his successor and his people whenever his assistance was desired.

He married, in 1825, Frances Fidelia Ward, daughter of Artemus Ward, who was a long time chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He

1 Attorney-General es. Dublin, New Hampshire Rep., vol. xxxviii. p. 459. Dr. Lamson testified fully for the defendant in this case, but the court, in their decision, held that such evi- dence was not admissible, and that the meaning of the word Congregational should be determined by the court as a question of law, reference being made to historical works and other works of authority.

brat Terelands

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had a slight attack the preceding year,-an attack so slight that its true character was hardly recognized at the time.

The following is a list of the publications of Dr. Lamson :

Sermons, 12mo, pp. 424. 1857.

The Church of the First Three Centuries ; or, Notices of the Lives and Opinions of some of the Early Fathers, with special reference to the Doctrine of the Trinity : illustrating its late origin and gradual formation. Svo, pp. 352. 1860.

Second edition of the same, revised and enlarged ; edited by Ezra Abbot. 8vo, pp. 410. 1865.

An edition of this work, with additional notes by Henry Ierson, was published by the British and Foreign Unitarian Association. London. 1875.

Pamphlets .- Sermon on the Adaptation of Chris- tianity. 1825.

Remarks on the Genius and Writings of Soame Jenyns, and on the Internal Evidences of Christianity. 1826.

Sermon preached at the Ordination of Rev. Charles C. Sewall, at Danvers. 1827

Discourse at the Dedication of Bethlehem Chapel, Augusta, Me. 1827.

Discourse on the Validity of Congregational Ordi- nation (Dudleian Lecture). 1834.

Sermon on the Sin against the Holy Ghost. 1835.

A History of the First Church and Parish in Dedham, in three Discourses, delivered Nov. 29 and Dec. 2, 1838. Published in 1839.

A Discourse delivered on the day of the National Fast, on occasion of the death of President Harrison. 1841.

Congregationalism. A Discourse delivered before the Massachusetts Convention of Congregational Ministers. 1846.

The Memory of John Robinson. A Discourse de- livered at Dedham, Sunday, Dec. 21, 1851.

Impressions of Men and Things Abroad. A Ser- mon preached at Dedham, Sept. 11, 1853, after an absence of some months in Europe.

Agricultural Life in some of its Intellectual Aspects. An Address delivered before the Norfolk Agricultural Society, Sept. 30, 1857.

A Sermon preached Oct. 31, 1858, the Sunday after the Fortieth Anniversary of his Ordination.

A Discourse preached Oct. 28, 1860, on Resign-| ing the Pastoral Charge of the First Church and Parish in Dedham, after a Ministry of Forty-two , tion of this business that he gradually withdrew from Years.

Funeral Sermons .- On Ebenezer Fisher, Jr. 1847. On Mrs. Mary Dean. 1851.

On Rev. John White. 1852.

On John Endicott. 1857.

On Hon. James Richardson. 1858.

Tracts (Unitarian) .- On the Doctrine of Two Natures in Jesus Christ. First Series, No. 20. (Re- printed in England.)

On the Foundation of our Confidence in the Saviour. First Series, No. 89. (Reprint of Sermon at Ordination of C. C. Sewall.)

On Earnestness in Religion. First Series, No. 188. What is Unitarianism ? First Series, No. 202. (Reprint, after revision, of the article on " Unitarian Congregationalists," in Rupp's "History of all the Religious Denominations in the United States.")

IRA CLEVELAND.

Ira Cleveland was born in the town of Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Mass., Feb. 1, 1802. When four years old he moved with his father, Ira Cleveland, to a farm in Milford, Worcester County, and was occu- pied in attending school and in assisting his father in agricultural pursuits until he entered college. He prepared at a private academy in Mendon, entered Brown University in September, 1821, and graduated in 1825 valedictorian of his class. Soon after leaving his Alma Mater he began to study law at Marlboro', Mass., and in 1828 came to Dedham and entered the office of the Hon. Horace Mann, where he was engaged in attending law lectures and preparing for admission to the bar. During the December term of the Court of Common Pleas, in 1829, he was duly admitted as an attorney-at-law, and in the usual course a counsellor in that and the Supreme Judicial Court. The ten years which followed were given ex- clusively to his law practice, which by his industry and wisdom increased until he received a goodly share of the business of the county, and held a satisfactory position as an advocate. He always had a high re- gard for the justice and equity of the several legal tribunals and the integrity of their officers, but at the same time he was never disposed to favor litigation, and in most cases advised his clients to adjust their disputes by private agreement, rather than have re- course to an expensive and extended process by law.

Mr. Cleveland, in 1840, was connected with the Dedham and Norfolk County Mutual Insurance Com- panies, and became so much engaged with the prosecu- the bar. He was also appointed public administrator, which office he held forty-two years. At the present writing, although in his eighty-second year, he is ac-

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tively engaged with the above-named corporations, as president of one and treasurer of both.

In the spring of 1837, Mr. Cleveland married Miss Frances M. Whitney, daughter of Major T. P. Whitney, of Wrentham. His wedded life was brief. He buried his wife and infant daughter in the year following. In his intense bereavement he found a deeply sympathizing friend in the Rev. Dr. Babcock, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. He was affectionately taken into his family and provided with a home, where he remained until it was broken by death, a period of forty-three years. He now resides in the family of the present rector, the Rev. Arthur M. Backus.

Elder John White, the ancestor of Joseph W. Clark on his mother's side, was one of the first set- tlers of Cambridge, of Hartford, and of Hadley, Mass. Mr. Cleveland, soon after coming to Dedham, in- terested himself and others in beautifying the streets and squares of the village. Many ornamental trees were planted in various quarters, and the village cemetery changed from a dilapidated condition to one of order and attractiveness. He was a passenger in the ship " Lyon," which sailed from England June 22, 1632. She brought one hundred and twenty-three passengers, thirty-three adult males, including John White. The General Court had assigned the town of Cambridge-then called Newtowne- for their settlement, together with His more excellent labors have been in behalf of St. Paul's Church. He became a member of the | church in 1838. The same year he was elected warden and a delegate to the Diocesan Convention of Massachusetts, and has acted constantly in these | the company of Rev. Thomas Hooker, who had ar- rived a short time before and made a temporary settle- ment at Braintree. Here John White found his first home in this Western world. His home-lot, with his dwelling-house, was on a street called Cow-Yard Row. capacities until the present time. His gifts to the | This home-lot with about thirty acres farming land parish have been generous and frequent. He was : was early allotted to him, and in August, 1633, the actively engaged in forwarding the execution of the town granted him three-fourths of an acre more for a cow-yard. Gore Hall, the beautiful library building of Harvard University, probably now graces this cow- yard. church building which was constructed in 1845, costing seven thousand dollars. After this church was burned, his efficient help enabled the parish to build the present beautiful stone edifice, at an expense The location and quantity of his allotments indicate that in his contributions to the common stock he was in a middle place, neither among the wealthier nor poorer class. of over thirty thousand dollars. The sum donated by him to assist in these two cases was greater than thirteen thousand dollars. He was largely instru- mental in erecting the costly monument to the memory In February, 1635, the town made its first election of a board of seven men " to do the business of the whole town." They were then called Townsmen or selectmen. John White was one of the number chosen. Soon after the Rev. Mr. Hooker and his people began to feel straitened in their accommo- dations, and determined to look out for a new home. They selected the valley of the Connecticut, and having obtained the reluctant consent of the govern- ment of Massachusetts, in June, 1636, the main body 1 of the company effected their removal. of the late Bishop Griswold which stands on the north side of the church ; and, together with Joseph W. Clarke, Esq., placed the beautiful testimonial in marble, which stands near it, to the memory of his cherished friend and rector, Rev. Samuel B. Babcock. In 1881 he added to his constantly increasing bene- factions the gift of a chime of ten bells, the largest weighing three thousand and fifty pounds, at a cost of over five thousand dollars. In 1882 the gratitude of the parish was called for again through the offer to decorate the interior of the church at an expense of more than three thousand dollars. The acceptance of this gift enabled him to fulfill his heart's desire, and to make glorious that object upon which his affec- tion was set, viz., the House of God.

Mr. Cleveland, although weighted with the burdens of over fourscore years, is wonderfully active and

well preserved. His life has been unostentatious, yet not devoid of strength and earnestness. Intensity of purpose and persevering devotion are his prevailing characteristics. These, with his benevolence and generosity, will make him ever to be venerated, and his name one which his friends and associates will ever delight to honor.

JOSEPH W. CLARK.

Trumbull, the historian, says in his graphic narra- tive, " About a hundred men, women, and children traveled more than one hundred miles through a tedious and tractless wilderness to Hartford. They had no guide but their compass over mountains and rivers, through swamps and thickets, with no covering but the heavens ; they drove one hundred and sixty

lospin (1 Clark

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head of cattle and subsisted on the milk of the cows. Mrs. Hooker was borne on a litter through the wil- derness." In the records of Hartford, John White appears as one of the original one hundred proprietors. His home-lot was on what is now Governor Street ; only eighteen of the original had a larger share than ' his. Here he was chosen one of the board of " Orderers," as the selectmen were called. Little is known of his private life except that he was a frugal and industrious farmer, careful in securing for his children a good education.

Dissensions soon arose in the church between the , nished for his work was our John White.

minister and Elder Goodwin, and it was determined by the elder and his following to found a new colony. On the 18th of April, 1659, sixty persons signed an agreement to remove to Hadley. John White's name being fifth on the list, indicates that he was one of the leaders in this important step. The town record of Hadley says, "This plantation by the engagers did on the 9th of November, chuse by vote six per- sons (John White being one of them) to order all publick occasions that conscerns the good of the plan- tation for the yeare ensuing." The margin of the record calls this the first choice of " Townsmen."

Thus were laid the foundations of Hadley,-the frontier settlement of that day,-looking out towards the northwest, north, northeast, and east on the boundless forest and its savage Indian occupants. John White's share in the common enterprise was one hundred and fifty pounds, the highest share being represented by two hundred pounds. He at once took an active part in the affairs of the town, and was sent a number of times as deputy or rep- resentative to the General Court at Boston. As evi- dence of his good report among the brethren, he was one of the " messengers" from Hadley when the church at Northampton was gathered, in the year 1661.

After 1670 his name does not appear in the records, he having returned to Hartford. A new church was formed there, and he was chosen elder in it. The home of twenty-three years of the vigor of his life retained a strong hold on his affections, and it needed only the attraction of a church formed after his idea of a perfect Scripture model to win him back to his early home. His life was prolonged to a good old age, and in the winter of 1683-84 he rested from his labors.

His good sense and sound judgment are attested by the nature of the services his fellow-citizens sought from him. Each of the three important towns in which he lived received his aid in management of its prudential affairs.

The capacity to discharge the duties of a townsman

as well as those of representative to the colonial Legislature was in that day an indispensable pre- requisite to the appointment. The office of ruling elder in the church, which he held during the last ten or twelve years of his life, was one of great in- fluence and importance; it was designed to relieve the pastor of a considerable part of the responsibility attending the government and discipline of the church. It required a grave and discreet man, one who had earned a good report of those without and within the church. Such a one in all respects fur-

To be the descendant of one whose qualifications caused him to be called to these various duties in the church and in the State, and who has discharged them well, is a matter of just pride.

His descendants should abundantly honor the an- cestor in whose footsteps they may so safely walk.

Joseph W. Clark was born in Easthampton, Mass., Sept. 16, 1810. He was the seventh generation in descent from " the Most Worshipful William Clarke, Esq." (as the record has it), who died in Northampton, July 19, 1690, aged eighty-one. He was born in England in 1609, and sailed from Plymouth with his family in 1630, in the ship " Mary and John," for Boston, a few weeks before that dis- tinguished company of fifteen hundred, headed by John Winthrop, afterwards Governor, in a fleet of thirteen vessels, from the Isle of Wight for Salem. He settled first with the Dorchester colony, where he remained till 1659, when he was induced to join the Northampton colony, which was made up in good part by his companions on the voyage from England, particularly his lifelong friend, Elder John Strong.

These two worthies were perhaps equally con- spicuous in stamping their unbending Puritan princi- ples upon this frontier colony. Two years later, viz., in 1661, at the organization of a train-band or militia company of sixty men, the number being incomplete, and not large enough to entitle them to a captain, William Clarke was chosen the highest officer, viz., " lieutenant,"-at that time considered a most impor- tant position, securing to him ever after the dis- tinguishing title of Lieut. Clarke.

He held other important positions,-as representa- tive to the General Court at Boston, and for more than twenty years one of the selectmen. He was one of the judges of the County Court, held alternately at Northampton and Springfield. He was mentioned, moreover, as one of the seven pillars on which, with the first minister, the church there was originally constituted.

The descendants of this godly man number many

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thousands, some of whom, even of the ninth genera- tion, are active to-day in the affairs of church and state in most of the States of the Union.

He settled on a twelve-acre lot on what is now Elm Street, there being no street till long afterwards.

The President Seelye place is part of this lot, and through the long period of over two hundred and twenty years some part of these twelve acres has con- tinued in possession of Lieut. William's descendants. In point of longevity and rapid increase, this is prob- ably the most remarkable family ever reared in the town.

he was admitted as partner with his brother in the new firm of E. W. Clark & Bro. A few years later the concern established itself in Boston, and in 1836 E. W. Clark removed to Philadelphia and founded the house of E. W. Clark & Co., which is continued to-day by the children of the two succeeding gen- erations, and enjoys deservedly a high position there. Joseph W. remained in Boston, under the style of J. W. Clark & Co. From these two parent houses in Philadelphia and Boston sprang E. W. Clark, Dodge & Co., of New York ; E. W. Clark & Bros., of St. Louis ; Clark's Exchange Bank, of Springfield, Ill. ; and E. W. Clark, Brothers & Farnum, of New Orleans.

The record shows that the sixth child of Lieut. William had eleven children ; one died in early life, three lived to be above seventy, three above eighty, In 1834 he married Eleanor Arnold Jackson, daughter of Nathan W. Jackson, of Providence, R. I. The first seven years of married life they lived in Boston, and three children were born there, viz. : Ran- dolph Marshall, Agnes White, and Eleanor Jackson. In 1840 he bought a beautiful residence on Blue Hill, in Milton, where three children were born,-Mary Frances, Annie Crawford, and Susan Goodman. Five years later he removed to Dedham, and since that time -thirty-nine years ago-he has lived there. Here and four above ninety. Of these, six were sons, and each lived with the wife of his youth more than fifty years. Governor Caleb Strong says they were all living within his memory, all were respectable, and in good circumstances. One of the sons, Lieut. Ebenezer, who lived near the President Seelye place, attained the age of ninety-nine. At his death, in 1781, there had sprung from the original pair, as stated by President Dwight, of Yale College, eleven hundred and forty-five persons, of whom nine hundred , Carrie Ward, the youngest child, was born. She died and sixty were then living. When it is remembered that all this relates simply to one of Lieut. William's sons, viz., Deacon John and his posterity, some faint idea may be formed as to the multitude of his de- scendants, which it is estimated would number not less than thirty thousand. His tomb and monument may be seen in the old cemetery at Northampton. in Boston in 1872. Randolph Marshall married, in 1863, Mary Vinton, daughter of Rev. A. H. Vinton, of St. Mark's Church, New York City. He died Sept. 11, 1872, in Dedham, leaving two daughters, who, with their mother, live in Boston. Agnes White married, in 1859, Charles Van Brunt, of Dedham, son of Commodore Van Brunt, of the United States navy. Mary Frances married, in 1863, Dr. Courtland Hop- pin, of Providence, R. I. He died in 1876, leaving three children. Annie Crawford married, in 1867, Edward Sturgis Grew. They have four children and live in Boston. He is partner in the commission house of Lawrence & Co., successors to the eminent firm of the last generation of A. & A. Lawrence & Co. Susan Goodman married, in 1867, Gustav Stell- wag, a German merchant, who lives in New York.

Asahel Clarke, the fifth in descent from Lieut. William, was born Feb. 17, 1737, was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary army, and died in Easthampton, on his eighty-fifth birthday, in 1822. He married Submit Clapp, who died in 1818. They had twelve children. The sixth son, Bohan, was born in 1772, and died at Cambridge in 1846. He married, in 1802, Polly White (J. W. Clark's mother), of Had- ley. She died in Romeo, Mich., October, 1868. They had four sons and two daughters.

In Dedham Mr. Clark took an active interest in all local improvements. He was the chief promoter

When Joseph was eight years old his father re- moved to Northampton, having bought the mill , of the Dedham and Hyde Park Gas Company some thirty years ago, and has for many years been presi- dent of the corporation. More recently the people are indebted to Mr. Clark, with two or three enter-

property on Mill River with the homestead on South Street. Here he had only the advantages of a com- mon-school education till 1825, when he went to Providence to live with his brother, Enoch White, | prising citizens, for perhaps the greatest boon that has ever been conferred upon the town, the water- works, giving an ample supply of pure spring water for all domestic and fire purposes. But for his pecu- niary aid and influence it is not probable that this

who had established a banking-house there as a branch of the eminent firm of S. & M. Allen & Co., of Philadelphia and New York, who had also similar branches in many of the Southern and West- ern cities. In 1829, before he was twenty years old, " would have been accomplished perhaps for many

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years. From his earliest residence in town he has been intimately identified with St. Paul's Episcopal Parish, under the rectorship of his early and constant friend, Rev. Samuel B. Babcock, D.D. He was for many years junior warden, with his friend Ira Cleve- land as senior. He was a liberal contributor in all the departments of church and parish work. He was frequently chosen delegate to the diocesan con- vention.

Soon after the treaty with the Indians, by which the upper peninsula of Michigan was ceded to the United States when the vast wealth of the mineral deposits began to be known and appreciated, he be- came greatly interested in these lands, and has since that time been identified with the wonderful devel- opment of that region which has added so vastly to the national wealth, and has become one of the lead- ing sources of copper supply for the world, while this wilderness of ice and snow has been converted into a vigorous and thrifty commonwealth, with schools and churches, and the accompaniments of civilization as found in the Eastern States. He was one of the original proprietors of the land which made up the Calumet and Hecla mines when they were entered at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre under the land department of the United States government. This is probably the richest copper-mining property ever developed in the annals of mining. The present valua- tion is about twenty-five million dollars, while an equal amount has been divided in money to the shareholders, aggregating little less than fifty million dollars. He is president of the St. Mary's Canal Mineral Land Company. This was the largest land company in the United States up to the time when the enormous sub- sidies for railroad building began to work. This grant was for seven hundred and fifty thousand acres from the United States government to the State of Michigan for the purpose of building a canal round the Falls of St. Mary's at the outlet of Lake Superior, and its completion opened to the world the vast commerce of that inland ocean. Now, since the Northern Pa- cific Railroad is extended to Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean, the mind can hardly grasp the magni- tude of the interests involved. He is president of the Osceola Consolidated Mines, a legitimate and conser- vative company, which has been successfully worked some ten years, and in the past seven years has paid regular dividends aggregating about one million dollars to the shareholders. For more than forty years he has been one of the managers and treasurer of the " Episcopal Clerical Fund," a chartered society for the relief of aged and indigent clergymen, and a liberal contributor to its funds. In 1881 he made

a gift of ten thousand dollars as a memorial to his son, who was for many years greatly interested in its beneficent work. This fund is known as the " Randolph Marshall Clark Memorial Fund." He is one of the board of trustees of donations to the Protestant Episcopal Church, and has been for forty- five years. He has traveled quite extensively at home and abroad, has made ten voyages across the Atlantic, made an extended tour through Norway and Sweden and Continental Europe. From Stockholm he crossed the Baltic through Finland to Petersburg and Mos- cow to Novgorod, at the head of navigation on the Volga; then down that river and the Don by the Sea of Azof and the Straits of Kertch into the Black Sea, visiting Sevastopol, Balaklava, and the intensely in- teresting fields of the great strife of France and Eng- land against Russia in 1854-55, returning, via Odessa and Galatz, up the Danube through Hungary and Austria. He also visited Cuba soon after the bloody termination of the Lopez expedition, having for its object the invasion and revolution of that island.

The sudden death of Randolph Marshall was a severe shock to his father, and made him nearly for- get his interests in matters of daily life. But he soon resumed the management of his affairs, which since his protracted absence in Europe he had almost wholly placed in his son's hands by unlimited power of attorney. His early education was under the eye of his pastor, Dr. Babcock, of Dedham ; then he went to Churchill's military school, at Sing Sing, N. Y., where he prepared for Harvard University. He graduated with honor in the class of 1855. Then he spent some years in travel and study, and entered into mercantile life as treasurer of a factory in which his father was largely interested. The church of his choice in which he was reared carried the affections and convictions of his manhood. He was a devout churchman.

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 23

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