USA > Massachusetts > History of the Military company of the Massachusetts, now called the Ancient and honorable artillery company of Massachusetts. 1637-1888, Vol. II > Part 52
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At a meeting of the Company at which this report was made it was warmly debated, and, on motion of Lieut .- Col. Daniel Messinger (1792), was recommitted for further inquiry, etc. ; but the report was never brought up afterward.
Monday, Sept. 7, the Company paraded in uniform, under command of Major Benjamin Russell (1788) ; also on Monday, Oct. 5.
On the latter occasion the Company marched to Medford, where they encamped for the night, and performed all those exercises which a body of soldiers would have been required to perform. Brig .- Gen. Boyd, of the United States Army, accommodated them with tents for the occasion. On the next morning they commenced their march for Boston, and while on the road were invited by Gen. Derby and Abraham Truro, Esq., to partake of refreshments provided at their country-seats. The Company arrived in Boston in due time, no accident having occurred to mar the pleasure of their fall parade.
Rev. Eliphalet Porter, of Roxbury, delivered the Artillery election sermon in 1812. He was the son of a clergyman, and was born in North Bridgewater, in 1758. In October, 1801, he married Martha Ruggles, of Dorchester. He was prepared for college by his father, and graduated at Harvard College in 1777. He then pursued the study of divinity. He was ordained to the gospel ministry, and installed as the pastor of the First Church, in Roxbury, Oct. 2, 1782. At the time he began his ministry there had been a vacancy in that pulpit for seven years, in consequence of the destruction and distress occasioned by the war.
Rev. Eliphalet Porter. AUTHORITY : Drake's Hist. of Roxbury.
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Jan. 14, 1801, he delivered a eulogy in memory of George Washington, which was afterward published. In 1810 he preached the annual sermon before the Convention of Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts, and he espoused the Unitarian side of the controversy. July 7, 1830, Rev. George Putnam became his colleague. Rev. Mr. Porter died at Roxbury, Dec. 7, 1833, and his remains were placed in the parish tomb.
1813. The officers of the Artillery Company elected in 1813 were : Jonathan Whitney (1797), captain ; Jacob Hall (1802), lieutenant ; Caswell Beal (1806), ensign. John Roulstone (1812) was first sergeant ; Abraham Wood (1810), second sergeant ; Edward Gray (1810), third sergeant ; James Hooper (1810), fourth sergeant ; George Blanchard (1794), treasurer ; Dexter Dana (1798), clerk, and Samuel Todd (1786), armorer.
The members of the Artillery Company recruited in 1813 were : George Barrell, John Blunt, Samuel B. Ford, John L. Phillips, Henry Spear, John Tarbell, Daniel Wise.
George Barrell (1813), trader, of Boston, was probably a son of George and Mary (Edes) Barrell, of Charlestown. He held the position of ensign in the Charlestown militia. "He had the peculiar talent of magnifying this subaltern office [ensign's] by the splendor of his dress, his vast consequence to the militia, and his never conde- scending to notice officers of less grade than a brigadier-general. He unfortunately was superseded, and removed to the South." He retired from the Artillery Company in 1813.
John Blunt (1813), grocer, of Boston, is not known to have been identified with the militia, and never held office in the Artillery Company. He was honorably dis- charged from the Company, July 15, 1816, and immediately after removed to the West.
Samuel B. Ford (1813), merchant, of Boston, was born in Wilmington, in 1785. He was paymaster of the Second Regiment, Third Brigade, First Division, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, in 1813 and 1814, and captain in the same in 1815. He never held office in the Artillery Company. He died on the passage from South Carolina to Boston, Aug. 23, 1821, aged thirty-six years.
John L. Phillips (1813), painter, of Boston, son of Samuel and Mehitable (Lillie) Phillips, was born March 22, 1781. He was a descendant of Major William Phillips (1644), of Boston and Saco. Lieut. Phillips (1813) married, Oct. 25, 1804, Sally Tector, who died March 25, 1831. He was " a very industrious, intelligent, and sub- stantial mechanic"; a member of the common council of Boston, from Ward 11, in 1832 ; a member of Hollis Street Church, and a representative from Boston to the General Court. He was third sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1816, and a lieu- tenant in 1820. He became a member of The Massachusetts Lodge, A. F. and A. M., Jan. 31, 1817 ; of St. Paul's Chapter, Feb. 23, 1819, and of Boston Commandery, Knights Templars, Jan. 19, 1825. He died in Boston, Jan. 9, 1867.
George Barrell (1813). AUTHORITY: Whit-
John L. Phillips (1813). AUTHORITY : man's Hist. A. and H. A. Company, Ed. 1842.
Whitman's Hist. A. and H. A. Company, Ed. 1842.
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Henry Spear (1813) was a printer in Boston. He was honorably discharged from the Company, April 11, 1817, and he died in New York City, in August, 1828, aged thirty-nine years.
John Tarbell (1813), deputy-sheriff, of Cambridge, was brigadier-general of the First Brigade, Second Division, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, from 1827 to 1834 inclusive. He was made an honorary member of the Artillery Company, May 22, 1819, and was discharged, at his own request, April 23, 1832. He never held office in the Artillery Company.
Daniel Wise (1813) was a cordwainer, and afterward innkeeper, in Boston. His shoe shop was at No. 11 Congress Street. He was fourth sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1815.
Monday evening, March 29, 1813, the Company met for exercise and business, when it was voted that a committee of five should be appointed to take into considera- tion the subject of admitting members into the Company " who do not hold, or have not held, commissions in the militia." Gen. Arnold Welles (1811), Major Benjamin Russell (1788), Lieut .- Col. George Sullivan (1811), Major George Blanchard (1794), and Lieut .- Col. Peter Osgood (1797) were appointed said committee.
Friday, April 9, the Artillery Company paraded under command of Gen. Welles (1811), " Monday being inconvenient on account of the annual election of governor and senators." Rev. John Andrews, of Newburyport, was elected to deliver the next anni- versary sermon.
April 12, a drill-meeting of the Company was held, when it was announced that Rev. Mr. Andrews declined to preach the election sermon. Rev. Joseph Mckean, professor of oratory in Harvard University, was then chosen to deliver the sermon.
At a meeting for drill, held April 19, the declination of Rev. Mr. Mckean, on account of ill health, was reported to the Company. Rev. John Pierce, of Brookline, was then elected for that duty. The committee appointed March 29 also reported, viz. :
"Your committee have carefully examined the ancient charter, and the practice of the Company under the same from its first establishment to the present time ; and the result of this investigation is, that the charter imposes no restraint on the Company in their freely receiving as members all such persons as they may see cause to admit, and the records prove that at every period of its existence a large proportion of its most active and useful members have consisted of those who have not held commissions, but who have by their exertions in its cause, and their martial spirit, most essentially con- tributed to its welfare and honor.
" To confirm this idea, suggested by the committee, they will quote several passages from the records. The first article of the charter states 'that Robert Keayne [1637], merchant, Nathaniel Duncan [1638], merchant, Robert Sedgwick [1637], gentleman, William Spencer [1637], merchant, and such others as they have already joined with them, and such as they shall from time to time take into their Company, shall be called The Military Company of the Massachusetts.' The third article states : 'None of the said Military Company, except such as shall be officers of any other train-band in any particular town, shall be bound to give attendance upon their ordinary trainings.' In the preamble of the order, established at the revival, Sept. 2, 1700, the Company is
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termed 'a nursery for training up soldiers in military discipline, capable for, and that they have been improved in, service for the King and country.' The fourteenth article of these orders states 'that every soldier belonging to the Company, not under obliga- tion to any of the- companies of militia in Boston, shall, for every day he omits or neglects to appear in arms in said Company, pay one shilling fine; and the officers of other companies in Boston that do or may belong to this Company shall be liable to the same fine.' The fifteenth article : 'It is further agreed, not only by former grants, but with the consent of the several commanders of the militia of Boston, that out of the several companies of the town of Boston, there may be listed forty soldiers, and no more, belonging to said companies, which shall be excused from any fine or penalty on common training, always provided they appear on each of the Artillery training days, or, for default, to pay six shillings fine for the use of the Company.' The seventeenth article : 'That if any of the forty persons that shall be accepted by the Company, and are excused from common trainings, be chosen into any place that excuses them from training in the other military companies, they shall then, if they continue in the Artillery Company, be no longer under the penalty of six shillings for non-appearance, but liable to the fine of one shilling as others under the like circumstances, and that others may be admitted in their room to make up the number of forty as aforesaid.' 'April 6, 1761, at a meeting of the Company, voted, that when any person offers himself for admittance, he shall be publicly proposed, and stand candidate one term, that so none may be admitted but persons of good repute, who are able and willing to attend on training days, and bear their part of the expense.' 'Voted, that the members of the Company duly attend to their duty on training days, study for peace, unity, and good order among themselves, that so they may encourage the officers of the militia and other suitable persons to join them, and support the credit and usefulness of the Company, always keeping to those good and wholesome rules by which the Company has subsisted for one hundred and twenty-three years.' 'At a meeting April 2, 1791, voted, that the fine for absence on muster days be six shillings, to be paid by every member without dis- tinction, except that such members as are militia officers be exempted, when their duty to the public calls their attention to the militia.' Vote sixth, at the same meeting : 'Any member not complying with these regulations, and so continuing for the space of one year, shall no longer be considered a member, and his nanie shall be returned by the clerk to the commanding officer of the militia in the district or ward to which he may belong, that no one may escape military duty.'
" The principle being conclusively established that the original design in the first establishment of the Company, and its invariable usage since, has been to admit all such as, in the sober judgment of a prescribed majority of its members, were calculated to promote its interest and honor, the committee are therefore unanimously of opinion that it would prove neither expedient nor beneficial for the Company to venture to deviate by any new and untried experiment, from a path that has proved to them, through a tract of time, so safe and prosperous, and more especially at a moment when they are united and happy, and in as flourishing a state as perhaps at any period which has preceded it."
The foregoing report was unanimously accepted.
A drill was held Monday evening, April 26, 1813, and on Monday, May 3, the Company paraded at Faneuil Hall, marched to the Common for drill, and returned.
May 17, 24, and 31, meetings for exercise were held.
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On Monday, June 7, the day being the anniversary of the election of officers, the Company paraded at Faneuil Hall at nine o'clock A. M., in uniform, under the command of Major Benjamin Russell (1788), their captain; received the governor and other guests at the State House, and escorted them to the " New Brick," so called, or First Church, in Chauncy Place, where the sermon was delivered by Rev. John Pierce, of Brookline. An elegant entertainment was provided in Faneuil Hall. While seated at the tables a violent storm arose, and the rain fell in torrents. At five o'clock P. M., the weather remaining inclement, the Company retired to the galleries, and the invited guests to the ante-rooms, while the tables were removed. The guests and Company then returned to the floor of the Hall, and the governor was seated in the chair of state in front of the selectmen's seats. Marching and standing salutes were paid him, and such evolutions performed as the space would permit, after which the election of officers for the ensuing year was held. The customary resignation of badges and investment of new officers then took place. The storm was so severe that the governor declined to be escorted by the Company to his residence, and returned to his home in a private carriage.
Aug. 23 and 30 the Company met for drills.
Monday, Sept. 6, the Company paraded as usual, and Sept. 20 and 27 held meetings for exercise.
Monday, Oct. 3, 1813, the Company paraded, in uniform complete, exercised on the Common, "and on their return to the Hall, they marched to the residence of Hon. John C. Jones, Esq., in Hanover Street, with whom Oliver H. Perry, the hero of Lake Erie, dined that day, and paid the gallant commodore the usual marching and standing salutes, and fired three volleys in honor of him who captured the whole naval force of the British on Lake Erie on the 10th of September last, after a most sanguinary and desperate battle. The Company, highly elated with having paid this small tribute of respect to so modest, yet so brave, an officer, returned to the Hall, and partook of a collation, prepared for the occasion, and thus closed the duties of the year."
Rev. John Andrews, of Newburyport, was invited to deliver the Artillery election sermon in 1813. He was a son of Joseph and Hannah (Richmond) Andrews, and was born in Hingham, March 3, 1764. He graduated at Harvard College in 1786. He married, Sept. 8, 1789, Margaret Wigglesworth, of Cambridge. Dec. 10, 1788, he settled over the Third Church in Newbury (now First Church in Newburyport), as colleague with Rev. Thomas Cary. The last named died Nov. 24, 1808, when Mr. Andrews became sole pastor. He continued in that relation until May 1, 1830, when he resigned. Rev. Mr. Andrews died in 1845.
Rev. Joseph Mckean, of Harvard University, Cambridge, was invited to deliver the Artillery election sermon in 1813. He declined to accept the invitation. He had been invited ten years before to deliver the anniversary sermon, but declined, on account of ill health. See page 322.
Rev. John Pierce, D. D., delivered the Artillery election sermon in 1813. He was a son of John and Sarah (Blake) Pierce, and was born in Dorchester, Mass., July
Rev. John Pierce, D. D. AUTHORITIES : Hists. of Dorchester; Sprague's Annals of American Pulpit.
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14, 1773. He was descended through both parents from Puritan ancestors, who came over from Dorchester, England, at an early period, and were among the first settlers of the town of Dorchester, Mass., so that most of the old families of that place (and several members of the Artillery Company) were in some way connected with him.
Though fitted for college in a common school, he took high rank as a scholar, and was second only to Judge Charles Jackson. Mr. Pierce graduated from Harvard College in 1793, when the second English oration was assigned to him. Immediately after graduation he was employed as a tutor in the college. Among those whom he instructed were William E. Channing and Mr. Story, afterward judge. Mr. Pierce studied for the ministry with the Rev. Dr. Harris, who delivered the Artillery election sermon in 1805, and was pastor of the church which Mr. Pierce's father attended. Mr. Pierce received a unanimous call from the church in Brookline, Mass., to settle as its pastor. He accepted, and was installed March 15, 1797. He continued in this relation until his decease, which occurred Aug. 24, 1849. He was deeply interested in his native town, and was an authority as to its history, a devoted friend of Harvard College, and its secretary for many years.
1814. The officers of the Artillery Company elected in 1814 were : William Howe (1806), captain ; George Welles (1807), lieutenant ; Levi Melcher (1802), ensign. Benjamin Loring (1810) was first sergeant; John Dodd, Jr. (1810), second sergeant ; James B. Marston (1810), third sergeant; Thomas Wells (1811), fourth sergeant; George Blanchard (1794), treasurer; Dexter Dana (1798), clerk, and Samuel Todd (1786), armorer.
The members of the Artillery Company recruited in 1814 were : Levi Bartlett, William Coffin, Charles A. Dennett, William Eager, Heman Fay, Charles C. Gay, Lusher Gay, Ebenezer Goodrich, Christopher Gore, Ethan A. Greenwood, Benjamin Huntington, Samuel W. Kendall, John Kendrick, John M. Marston, Eleazer Nichols, Jonas Prouty, Thomas Robinson, Charles Spencer, Asa Taylor, Asa Tisdale, John Tyler, Samuel K. White.
Levi Bartlett (1814), merchant, of Boston, was born in Salisbury, N. H., June 3, 1784. He married, Dec. 19, 1814, Clarissa, daughter of Hon. Timothy Walker, of Con- cord, N. H. She died Oct. 28, 1845.
In 1813 he came to Boston, and soon entered into a partnership with Calvin Bruce, under the firm name of Bartlett & Bruce, for the transaction of the grocery business, at No. 3 Ann Street. At the end of two years, Mr. Bruce retired. In 1816, Mr. Bartlett (1814) admitted Aaron Woodman as a partner, and continued the same business under the firm name of Bartlett & Woodman, on Long Wharf and South Market Street. It was dissolved, at the end of nine years, by the death of Mr. Woodman, and Ebenezer T. Farrington was received as a partner, under the name of Levi Bartlett & Co. This firm was located near the head of Long Wharf, and continued until the death of Mr. Bartlett (1814). For more than half a century, he was well known and highly respected by the business community of Boston as an upright and successful merchant.
He became a member of St. Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter, July 3, 1817, and held Levi Bartlett (1814). AUTHORITY : Whitman's Hist. A. and H. A. Company, Ed. 1842.
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the office of treasurer from 1821 to 1828. He was a representative in the General Court ; was third sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1817, and its treasurer in 1824 and 1825. He died June 21, 1864, aged eighty years.
William Coffin (1814) was probably the same William Coffin who joined the Artil- lery Company in 1806. He was honorably discharged by the Company in 1815.
Charles A. Dennett (1814), merchant, of Boston, was of the firm of Bailey & Dennett, located at No. 27 Central Wharf, and engaged in the West India goods business. He was discharged from the Company, at his own request, in 1815.
William Eager (1814), merchant, of Boston, did business at No. 18 Central Wharf, and resided in Hartford Place. June 14, 1814, by act of the Legislature, his name, Welcome Eager, was changed to William Eager.
Heman Fay (1814) was a grocer of Boston. In 1820 he resided on Wiltshire Street. He paraded with the Company in 1822, and was discharged May 6, 1833.
Charles C. Gay (1814), of Cambridge, attained the grade of ensign in the militia. He was discharged from the Artillery Company in 1815, and died in St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 26, 1820.
Lusher Gay (1814), merchant, of Cambridge, son of Willard and Sarah (Colburn) Gay, was born in Dedham, Oct. 27, 1788, and died in Troy, N. Y., Sept. 3, 1850. He married, April 22, 1811, Fanny Ellis, of Dedham, by whom he had five children. She was born April 22, 1789, and died Sept. 10, 1851. He became colonel of the Cambridge regiment (First Regiment, First Brigade, Third Division) in 1822, having served for several years in the State militia, and was first lieutenant of the Artillery Company in 1822. He was engaged in business for a few years in Cambridge, but in 1829 removed to Troy, N. Y., where he became the proprietor of the first line of sailing packets established between Troy and Boston. His son, Willard (born Dec. 16, 1817; died April 21, 1891), was president of the National State Bank, of Troy, N. Y.
Capt. Lusher Gay (1814) joined the Artillery Company in 1814, and was discharged in 1815; he rejoined it Oct. 6, 1817, and was honorably discharged April 19, 1824.
Ebenezer Goodrich (1814), organ builder, of Boston, was third sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1820. He died at Boston, May 13, 1841, aged fifty-eight years.
Christopher Gore (1814), painter, of Boston, son of Samuel (1786) and Mary (Pierce) Gore, was born in Boston, June 27, 1787. He married, (1) May 30, 1820, Rosella Ransom and (2) Lydia (Ransom) Goudey. He had two daughters by his first wife, and one by his second. He was a nephew of Christopher Gore, governor of Massachusetts. He was ensign in the Third Regiment, Third Brigade, First Division, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, from 1812 to 1816 inclusive, and lieutenant from 1817 to 1819 inclusive ; also, first sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1817, and ensign in 1821.
Lusher Gay (1814). AUTHORITIES: Dedham Records; Whitman's Hist. A. and H. A. Company, Ed. 1842; Mass. Military Rolls.
Christopher Gore (1814). AUTHORITIES : Boston Records; Gore Family, by Mr. Whitmore; Mass. Military Rolls.
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Ethan Allen Greenwood (1814), lawyer and portrait painter, of Boston, son of Moses and Betsey (Dunlap) Greenwood, was born in Hubbardston, May 27, 1779, where he died, May 2, 1856. His father moved from Holden to Hubbardston about 1770; his mother was born in Cherry Valley, N. Y., and at the age of four years was rescued from the Indians, who murdered her parents and burned their house. Mr. Greenwood (1814) worked on his father's farm until he was nineteen years of age. In 1798 he studied under the tutorship of Rev. Joseph Russell, of Princeton, and in December of that year entered the academy at New Salem. He taught school winters, and April 15, 1800, entered Leicester Academy to fit for college, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1806. He made his first effort in portrait painting Oct. 16, 1801, and he added in his diary, "Succeeded better than I expected the first day." After graduation he studied law with Solomon Strong, but never practised much. He devoted himself to portrait painting, and became successful and deservedly popular in New England.
Feb. 12, 1812, he was elected a director in, and clerk of, the Linum Spinner Company, a corporation organized to manufacture linen by machinery. He continued to hold these places until Feb. 1, 1819, when the last records of the company were made. Mr. Greenwood (1814) and Alexander Dustin then held a majority of the stock. On the 14th of July, 1818, he opened the New England Museum, at No. 76 Court Street, corner of Cornhill, and established branches in Portland and Provi- dence. He continued in this business until 1840, when his losses compelled him to abandon it.
About 1830 he moved to Hubbardston, took possession of the old homestead, and resided there until his decease. He carried on a farm, kept a hotel, and was justice of the peace. In 1853, when seventy-four years of age, he journeyed to Pennsylvania, thence to Canada, St. Louis, and New Orleans, where he spent the winter. He extended his travels into Mexico and Tampico. He returned by the way of the Atlantic States. He kept a diary daily from 1798 to February, 1856. He was an enterprising man, genial, public spirited, well read, popular, and of uncommonly fine presence. From 1833 to 1850 he did very much in improving the appearance of Hubbardston village, by remodelling houses, setting out trees, etc. He was a member of the board of selectmen of that town in 1833, representative to the General Court in 1833 and 1834, and senator in 1836 and 1837. He was second sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1818. Mr. Greenwood (1814) became a member of St. Paul's Chapter, May 8, 1819.
In the winter of 1829 he married Caroline Carter Warren, by whom he had a son and a daughter, the latter of whom married William L. Russell, of Hub- bardston.
Benjamin Huntington (1814), broker, of Boston, was born June 1, 1789. He married Caroline, daughter of Peter Dolliver, of Boston. She died in New York City, Dec. 13, 1852. He began business as a broker in Exchange Street, Boston, and con- tinued in that occupation until his decease, in June, 1832. He was naturally of a military turn, " every inch a soldier," and, from the lowest office in a company, he passed by regular promotions to the position of lieutenant-colonel of the Boston regiment. He was ensign in 1813, lieutenant in 1814, captain from 1815 to 1817, major in 1818, lieu- tenant-colonel from 1819 to 1821; also, fourth sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1817.
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