History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 185

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706

USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 185

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In 1798 he erected in East Bridgewater village the house now owned and occupied by Henry Hobart. The grounds were laid out by himself in a tasteful manner, and were much admired by the passing traveler.

Capt. Ezra Kingman, son of Capt. David and Abi- gail (Hall) Kingman, was born in East Bridgewater, Aug. 15, 1756, and married Nov. 14, 1782, Susanna, daughter of Peter and Susanna (Keith) Whitman. Their children were Susanna, Nathan, Hannah, Ezra, Melzar, Charlotte, and Caroline. He was a merchant in East Bridgewater. About 1785 he built a store on Central Street, near the common, where Luke Worces- ter now lives, and continued in trade there till about 1820. He was a correct business man, and was one of the selectmen of Bridgewater for twenty years. He was also for many years clerk and treasurer of the East Parish. It was said of him that he was ever seeking to advance the best interests of the town.

He was commissioned adjutant of the Third Regi- ment, First Brigade, in 1781, and captain of the militia in 1793. He represented Bridgewater at the General Court in 1812 and 1816. Like his father before him, he was much interested in church music, and was for several years chorister of the parish. He was a forbearing man, of gentle manners, and tem-

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HISTORY OF EAST BRIDGEWATER.

David Kingman, son of Capt. David and Abigail (Hall) Kingman, was born in East Bridgewater, Nov. 27, 1763. He married Elizabeth Smith, of Mendon, Mass., and had one son, George G., and eight daugh- ters .- Sophia, Eliza, Mary, Nabby, Jane, Lucy, Su- sanna, and Frances. He was a very active business man, and engaged in ship-building at Hanover Four Corners. In that village he crected, in 17SS, a store and a house which has been used as a hotel for many vears. He was also engaged in ship-building at Bel- fast. Me. After the decease of Rev. Samuel Angier, of East Bridgewater, he purchased the Angier house and gronnds, took down the old " manse," which large dwelling-house and several other buildings.

He died April 27, 1812, aged forty years. A few years after his decease the buildings were all removed, and the house with some additions is now the Hyland House in Bridgewater village.

perate in all things. He died Jan. 24, 1831, aged seventy-four. of Hon. Nahum Mitchell. This proved a valuable position for the young student. In 1796, Mr. Whit- man was induced to go to the new State of Kentucky to establish claims to certain tracts of land belonging to persons in this part of the country. He performned the whole journey to Kentucky on horseback, and having remained a year and successfully accomplished the object of his journey, returned to Massachusetts in the same manner as he went. He was admitted to the Plymouth bar early in 1799, and in April of the same year started on horseback for Turner in the State of Maine, where he commenced the practice of law, but seeing a better opening in the town of New Gloucester, Me., removed there and opened an office in the following September. He married Oct. 31, had stood for more than eighty years, and erected a : 1799, Hannah, daughter of Cushing Mitchell, of

East Bridgewater, and sister of his legal instructor. While a resident of New Gloucester he was held in great respect, and his business continued to thrive and increase. In January, 1807, he established him- self in Portland, Me. In this new and much larger field he found abundant exercise for his legal talents. His discernment, calmness, and candor gave him as an advocate much power in the courts. He rendered great service to the merchants in establishing their claims under the treaty of the United States with Spain in 1819, and that with France in 1831.

- Hon. Ezekiel Whitman was born March 9, 1776, and was the only son of Josiah and Sarah (Sturte- vant) Whitman. His birthplace was a house which stood not far from Elmwood (formerly Joppa) bridge, and but a few feet from the residence of Irving Bates. His father died when the child was two years old, leaving the mother with little means to support her Among the many students who enjoyed his in- structions were the late Hon. Simon Greenleaf and the late ex-Governor Parris, of Maine. He was elected a representative in Congress four times, viz., in 1808, 1816, 1818, 1820. In 1815 he was a mem- ber of the Executive Council of Massachusetts. In 1816 he was a member of the convention held at Brunswick, Me., to consider the question of the separation of Maine from Massachusetts. While a member of Congress, in 1819, the important question was debated whether Missouri should be admitted a State with a clause in the bill prohibiting slavery. Mr. Whitman recorded his testimony in favor of the restriction. After Maine became a State he was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor. two children. When the boy was seven years of age, on his mother's second marriage (to Jacob Mitchell), his unele, Rev. Levi Whitman, of Wellfleet, kindly received him into his family, and instructed him and treated him with a tenderness Judge Whitman always remembered with the deepest gratitude. His coolness and fearlessness of spirit were manifested when, while he was a small boy, during freshets on the Joppa River, the low bridge affording but an insecure pas- sage over the swollen stream for foot passengers, he would mount a horse and take one passenger after another aeross. At the age of fourteen he began preparation for college under the instruction of Rev. Kilborn Whitman, of Pembroke, and after fifteen months of preparation was admitted a student of On the 4th of February, 1822, Mr. Whitman was appointed by Governor Parris chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the State of Maine, and in December, 1841, he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court, which office he held until his resignation in October, 1848, having served in the capacity of judge more than twenty-six years. His wife died suddenly, after a sickness of a few hours, March 28, 1852, and in the following October he returned to pass the remnant of his days among the Brown University, in 1791. At intervals, during his college course, he taught school in Mansfield and elsewhere in order to eke out his seanty means of support. After graduating, in 1795, finding himself almost entirely destitute of funds, he was for a while disheartened, but was soon encouraged to commenee the study of the law, and accordingly entered the office of Benjamin Whitman, Esq., at Hanover Four Corners. Remaining there but a little while, he re- turned to his native town and read law in the office ! scenes of his childhood, "free," as he said, " to

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breathe his own native air on his own ground." Herc, always temperate and quict in all his habits, he calmly awaited the change of worlds, which came to him at the great age of ninety ycars and four months, Aug. 1, 1866.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

HON. JAMES H. MITCHELL.

Hon. James H. Mitchell was born in East Bridge- water, Nov. 18, 1812, and died June 30, 1872. He was the youngest son of Hon. Nahum Mitchell, au- thor of the " History of Bridgewater," and Nabby, his wife, who was a daughter of Gen. Sylvanus Lazell.

Mr. Mitchell was educated at the public schools of his native town, and at the academies at Bridgewater and Exeter, N. H., and at a very early age he entered into business on his own account. He was engaged in trade at Pensacola, Fla., as a member of a firm, before he was of age. He afterwards settled in busi- ness at Bangor, Me., where he remained several years. In 1833 he married Harriet Lavinia Angier, of Bel- fast, Me., a daughter of John Angicr, who was a son of Hon. Oakes Angier, a distinguished lawyer, who lived in West Bridgewater, who was a son of Rev. John Angier, the first minister of the East Parish of Bridgewater. Mr. Mitchell, while still a young man, went into business in Philadelphia as a partner in the firm of Hathaway & Co., coal merchants. This firm did a large commission business for the leading mines in Pennsylvania. After that firm was dissolved, Mr. Mitchell continued the business for several years alone. His trade being largely with New England, in 1850, he removed to his native town, and purchased the estate which had been owned and oceupied by Rev. John Angier, and by his son and successor in the pastoratc, Rev. Samuel Angier, where he con- tinued to reside until his death.

Mr. Mitchell opened his office at 92 State Street, Boston, where he conducted a large, successful, and profitable business for more than twenty years. He was constant and untiring in his devotion to business, and during the whole period of his residence in East Bridgewater, so long as health permitted, his habit was to go by the first, or 7 A.M., train to Boston, re- turning by the last, or 5 P.M. His experience in business had been considerable. Hc had enjoyed good fortune, and had been overwhelmed by misfor- tune, and understood well that success depended on industry, economy, and constant attention to business,

Having but a slender fortune, and a large and depend- ent family, his devotion to business was an imperative duty, and he allowed nothing to interfere with it ; but that duty discharged, all his time and all his thoughts were devoted to his home, his family, and friends, and no man ever performed his duty to wife and chil- dren with greater tenderness and fidelity than he, and when, in the midst of a useful and apparently vigor- ous life, he suddenly faltercd, languished, and died, a shadow fell upon that household which was never lifted. His wife survived him only a few months, and died March 16, 1873. He was a man of the most correct habits, given to no excesscs in speech or conduct ; and yet of social and generous nature, and accustomed to dispense a liberal hospitality, and to extend a warm and hearty welcome to his home and table to all comers.

Mrs. Mitchell was a lady of rare personal beauty and of singular simplieity and purity of character. Their life in Philadelphia had been such as to give them great social advantages, and their home had been one of great attraction. During their residence there they formed the personal acquaintance and friendship of many of the most distinguished persons of the county in public and professional life. Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate were among their frequent guests, and their respect and regard for their host and hostess were testified by choice tokens and gifts, which are treasured with pride and affection by their children.

Mrs. Mitchell was a lady of great refinement and of pure tastes, and a great lover and constant reader of the best current literature, both secular and religious. Mr. Mitchell shared with her in these tastes, and, though unable to devote much time to their cultiva- tion and enjoyment, he never failed to foster and en- courage them in his family. Theirs was a model home, the centre of affection, culture, and taste, and none ever visited it without pleasure, and few left it without regret.

As a citizen he was publie-spirited and enterprising, ready at all times to do his share to promote the best interests of the town and community.

The church of their choice, the old society of their ancestors, was an objeet of their warmest affection, and their house was always open to entertain visiting or exchanging elergymen of their denomination. No better expression ean be given of the esteem in which Mr. Mitchell was held than that found in a letter written at the time of his death to Mrs. Mitchell by that distinguished Unitarian divine, Rev. F .. H. Hedge, D.D., who had been their pastor when they lived in Bangor, and a frequcut visitor afterwards at

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their house, both in Philadelphia and East Bridge- water :

" BROOKLINE, July 4. 1872.

" MY DEAR MRS. MITCHELL,-Since I could not be present at Mr. Mitchell's funeral, I must write to say how profoundly I sympathize with you in your bereavement. I think of you a great deal in these days. and knowing you as well as I do. I feel that the loss of a husband on whom you and all your fam- ily depended so much must be a terrible blow. I recall the time of our first acquaintance in Bangor, when you were both young, and I, too, had the greater part of my life before me. I was then impressed with Mr. Mitchell's vigor and his strong affection for you, and all my subsequent acquaintance has deep- ened that impression.

" He was certainly a true and faithful stay of his family,- one who felt the responsibilities of husband and father, and en- deavored to do full justice to those relations. He was also one who felt his obligations as a citizen. He did what in him lay to promote the best interests of the church and town with which he was connected by hereditary ties and affections. I rejoiced to witness, after his removal to Bridgewater, his growth in manliness, usefulness, and public spirit. His career as a public man has been very honorable; he has trodden in the footsteps of a father whom he revered and whom all re- vered; he has worthily fulfilled his calling, and leaves behind him a name of which his children may be proud, and which will be to you a precious legacy.

" I know how your heart must bleed with this affliction, and mine bleeds with you and for you. Mr. Mitchell was my friend of many years, and one to whom-though our spheres were so different-I felt a sincere and warm attachment. I hope, my dear friend, that you will find comfort in the thought that these bereavements are not the work of chance, but ordi- nations of infinite wisdom and love, and these separations are not forever. Yours, I know, will be the sorrow with the up- ward, and not the downward, look.

"May your children be a blessing to you, and may all divine consolations attend you.

" Your faithful friend, "F. H. HEDGE."

Mr. Mitchell held numerous public offices, although he never for a moment sought or would have accepted any public position which endangered or seriously in- terfered with his regularly-established private business, which he regarded as the sheet anchor of his hopes, upon which the happiness of himself and family de- pended. No public office within the gift of the people would have yielded him the income which his business furnished and his necessities demanded.

in political controversy. He was, however, an active Republican from the organization of that party to the day of his death. During the period of the war of the Rebellion of 1861, he and his patriotic wife were foremost in good words and works in promoting the Union cause. Nothing which patriotism or charity demanded of them was left undone.

Their children were the following :

Henry Hedge, married Mary Texanna Whitehurst, of Norfolk, Va.

Grace Webster, married Horace Parker Chandler, Esq., of Boston.

Helen Angier, married Thomas B. Hedge, of Plym- outh. She is now a widow.

Sophia Ripley, married Frederick Westwood, of England.

Jennet Orr, married Charles W. Copeland, of West Bridgewater.

William Davis, born 1853; died 1871.

Lavinia Hathaway, married Theodore W. Stead- man, now of Omaha, Neb.

CHARLES WESCOTT HARRIS.

Charles Wescott Harris was born in Smithfield, R. I., Aug. 12, 1822. He was the son of Handy Harris and Abigail Kent. The father began life as a Methodist preacher, but early entered a medical college in New York, from which he graduated and then entered upon the homeopathic practice of medicine, spend- ing a large part of his life in the town of Yarmouth, Barnstable Co.

The subject of this sketch early in life developed a love for the profession of his father. He entered the New York Homoeopathic College about 1846, and graduated from it after a full term of study. He began practice in the city of Taunton, Bristol Co., with Dr. Barrows, remaining there, however, but a short time.

From the time of his removal from Taunton till August, 1851, he practiced in Wareham, Plymouth Co., but he then returned to Taunton, where he re- mained till July, 1854. His many patients in Ware- ham at this time induced him to return to theni, and the next ten years he was a resident of that town, accumulating, during this period, a large and lucra- tive practice, which extended into all the adjoining towns. His circuit here was a very extensive one, making it necessary to ride many hours every day. The severity of his professional labors began to ad-

He was one of the electors of Massachusetts in 1860, and had the distinguished honor of being the messenger who carried the electoral vote of Massa- chusetts, cast for Abraham Lincoln, to Washington, ; in January, 1861. He was twice elected to the Mas- sachusetts Senate, serving in the years 1862 and 1863. He was one of the inspectors of the State Almshouse, at Bridgewater, almost constantly from its establish- ment to his death, and took a deep interest in the success of the institution. Mr. Mitchell was not by nature a partisan, and was never inclined to engage i monish him by the recurrence of a physical infirmity,

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

from which he had for years suffered more or less, that he must give up so large a practice, or at least seek one which did not require such severe exposure to the weather. Accordingly in 1864 he removed to the city of Providence, where he remained two years, long before the end of which he found his energies again overtaxed by his professional work.

In the year 1866 he removed to East Bridgewater, Plymouth Co., where he settled upon the homestead of his wife, Lucinda K. Keith, whom he had married in 1850. He was greatly devoted to agricultural and horticultural pursuits, and it had been one of the fondest dreams of his life that he might some day be permitted to lay aside his professional cares and gain health and pleasure in indulging in these occupa- tions. Adding by purchase to the bounds of the farm, he soon made it attractive and interesting to all; but he was not long allowed to enjoy this mode of life.

He was a physician whom patients sought, and here he was soon sought out by those who adopt his methods of practice. His experience at Wareham was soon repeated, and long before his death, which occurred May 24, 1884, his business had become very extensive. He had patients in nearly all the surround- ing towns.

Besides being a skillful and safe physician, he was possessed of a most enviable disposition ; gentle as a woman, kind-hearted, sympathetic, and generous, his features always lighted by a pleasant smile, his ap- pearance in the sick-chamber was most welcome to the suffering victim of disease. The expressions of love and esteem from the numerous throng of relatives and friends which gathered about his grave on that mild day in May was a more eloquent testimonial to his goodness and his merits than any words of eulogy which we can write or utter.

Dr. Harris was a devoted member of the Union Orthodox Church in East Bridgewater during his residence in that town, and was also a member of Satucket Lodge of Masons, in the same town.

His wife, Lucinda, with whom he lived happily and as a devoted husband, died in January, 1881.

JAMES SIDNEY ALLEN.

Hon. James Sidney Allen, son of Sidney Allen and Mehitabel Dyer Bates, daughter of Moses Bates, of East Bridgewater, was born in East Bridgewater, July 3, 1831. His boyhood was passed in his native town, where he received the educational advantages afforded by the common schools of that

day. Industry was one of his marked character- istics, and at the early age of seventeen years he had arrived at that proficiency which cnabled him to command a man's wages in the tack-factory and also in making shoes. From that time until twenty years of age he made shoes for various manufacturers. Then he commenced in a small way on his own ac- count in West Bridgewater, and from that time to the present, except three years (1852-55), he has been manufacturing. He continued the business in East Bridgewater until 1872, when he erected a factory in Brockton, and has since carried on the business in that city. In the beginning of the business in East Bridgewater the production was small and but few persons were employed. It has increased until at the present time the annual production amounts to nearly three hundred thousand dollars, and one hundred and fifty hands are employed. Mr. Allen resided in West Bridgewater four years, from 1848 to 1853, when he went to Campello and remained nearly two years, and then returned to his native town, where he now re- sides.

Oct. 6, 1852, he united in marriage with Mary Porter Churchill, daughter of Deacon Charles Churchill, of West Bridgewater. Two children sur- vive, viz., Dr. Bradford Allen, now a practicing physician in Brockton, and Louise, who was born in 1865. Dr. Allen was born Jan. 23, 1857. He graduated from Amherst College in 1878, and from the Harvard Medical College in 1882, and completed his medical studies abroad, at Vienna, Berlin, and at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, one of the cele- brated institutions of Europe.

Mr. Allen's wife died in 1870, and in 1871 he married Alice, daughter of Josiah Richards, Esq., of West Bridgewater. She was a teacher in Bridgewater Normal School. Their family consists of three chil- dren, viz., Lyman Richards, born 1873; James Sid- ney, Jr., 1876; and Elbert Grover, 1879.

Mr. Allen has ever been thoroughly identified with the interests of his native town and county, and all measures tending to advance the welfare of either have found in him an earnest advocate. He has been called to many positions of trust and responsibility. He has been selectman and on the school committee of East Bridgewater, representative in the Legisla- ture in 1864 and again in 1871, and for two terms, 1882 and 1883, was senator from the Plymouth Second District. He is a member of the Union Congregational Church at East Bridgewater.

James S. allen

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HISTORY OF EAST BRIDGEWATER.

HON. WILLARD PHILLIPS.

Hon. Willard Phillips, son of Joseph Phillips, was born in East Bridgewater, Dec. 19, 1784, but as his family removed to Hampshire County while he was a child. the most of his youth was passed in different towns of that locality. one of which was Cummington, where he lived several years. Up to the age of nine- teen he enjoyed no advantages of education, except the common district schools of that neighborhood, but had profited so well by their instructions that at eighteen he taught a school in the neighboring town of Goshen. At nineteen, having for a few months taught a second school at Chesterfield, he began studying Latin under the instruction of his friend and townsman. Calvin Briggs, a medical student at that time with Dr. Bryant, the father of our great poet, William Cullen Bryant.

Having decided. in spite of many obstacles, to enter Harvard College, Mr. Phillips studied and resided for some time with James Thomas, Esq., of East Bridge- water ; afterwards studied with Rev. Mr. Niles, of Abington, completing his preparatory course at Bridgewater Academy, then under the care of Rich- ard Sanger, who had been tutor at Harvard. After more than two years alternate study and school- keeping, in 1806, he was admitted a student at Harvard. After graduating, he taught for a time in Boston, which calling he gave up on being appointed

to a tutorship at Harvard. During intervals of his duties there he studied law, and on resigning his position as tutor entered the law-office of Benjamin Gorham, of Boston, as junior partner. . In 1825 and 1826 he was representative to the General Court. From 1839 to 1847 he was judge of probate for Suf- folk County, giving up the practice of law in 1845. In 1843 he became president of the American Life Insurance Company, holding the office until 1865. Judge Phillips is known as author of valuable works, both political and legal. For several years he was both editor and publisher of the American Jurist. From 1837 to 1841 he was one of the commissioners appointed by Governor Everett for reducing "the law of crimes and punishments to a systematic code." He wrote several articles in the " Encyclopaedia Americana," and, with Edward Pickering, edited the first American edition of " Collyer on Partner- ship."

Judge Phillips married, June 12, 1833, Hannah Brackett Hill, daughter of Hon. Aaron and Hannah (Quincy) Hill. Mr. Hill was for many years post- master of Boston. His wife died Feb. 25, 1837. He married, Sept. 3, 1838, her sister, Harriet Hill. Judge Phillips died at his residence in Cambridge on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 1873, at the age of eighty-eight years. His only surviving child is Willard Quincy Phillips, Esq., a son of the first marriage.

HISTORY OF WEST BRIDGEWATER.

CHAPTER I.

GEOGRAPHICAL - TOPOGRAPHICAL - ECCLESIAS- TICAL.

The First Settlements - First Congregational Society - Old Meeting-Houses ~ Rev. James Keith - His Ministry - The Old House of Rev. James Keith-Its Location, etc .- In- ventory of Rev. James Keith-Baptist Church-The New Jerusalem Society-Methodist Church.

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 185

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1706

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706