USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Dorchester > History of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts > Part 34
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5th, 1733. (Her sister Elizabeth m. Rev. James Stone, of Holliston, in 1731 .* ) " How many child- ren he had," continues Mr. M., " I cannot tell ; more, I believe, than are recorded here. I can find only- Mary, b. Nov. 22d, 1734, d. Feb. 10, 1735 ; Phil- lips, b. Jan. 18, 1736 ; Samuel, b. April 26, 1738; George, b. Dec. 27, 1741, d. Jan. 31, 1742 ; George, b. May 24, 1744; John, b. Jan. 6, 1746; Seth, b. Sept. 30, 1758.1 Mr. Payson died January 22d, 1778," having been in the ministry there more than forty-seven years.
Mr. Merrick further writes: " I hardly ever knew a man occupying a public place so long, of whom so little was known. There are no traditions extant of his manners, appearance, or mode of preaching. The house in which he lived is still occupied, pretty much in form and looks as it might have been a half century or more ago."
Four of his sons were settled ministers, viz .: - Phillips, who graduated at Harvard College in 1754, was ordained at Chelsea the 26th of October, 1757, died the 11th of January, 1801; Samuel, who gra- duated at Harvard College in 1758, was ordained at Lunenburg in September, 1762, but died of an atrophy in February, 1763, aged 24 ;¿ John, who graduated at Harvard College in 1764, was ordained at Fitchburg, as their first minister, the 27th of Jan-
* See Barry's " Framingham," p. 415.
+ As there is a wide interval between the births of the last two child- ren, Seth may have been the son of a second wife.
# The town of Lunenburg " voted to give to Miss Elizabeth Stearns (affianced to Rev. Mr. Payson) a neat, handsome suit of mourning."
58
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uary, 1768, died the 18th of May, 1804; Seth, who graduated at Harvard College in 1777, was ordained at Rindge, N. H., the 4th of December, 1782, died the 26th of February, 1820-the father of Rev. Ed- ward Payson, D.D., minister of Portland, who was born the 25th of July, 1783, graduated at Harvard College in 1803, was ordained the 16th of Decem- ber, 1807, died 22d of October, 1827. Two of the above sons of Phillips Payson, Sen., viz., Phillips and Seth, had the degree of D.D. conferred on them.
SAMUEL MOSELEY, son of Ebenezer and Hannah, was born in Dorchester the 15th of August, 1708; graduated at Harvard College in 1729; taught the school the same year for £50 5s .; was ordained the second pastor of the church in Windham Village, now Hampton, Conn. ; was successor of the Rev. William Billings, whose widow, Bethiah (Otis) Bil- lings, he married the 4th of July, 1734. She died the 29th of May, 1750. Their children were-Eli- zabeth, Samuel, Ebenezer, Mary, John. His second wife was Mrs. Mary Gaylord, whom he married the 1st of April, 1752. Their children were-William, Abigail, .William, Elizabeth, Sarah.
Ebenezer, father of Rev. Samuel (born the 4th of September, 1673), was a son of Thomas and Mary (Lawrence) Moseley, who were married the 28th of October, 1658. She was a daughter of Thomas Lawrence, of Hingham.
Rev. Samuel Moseley died in Hampton, Conn., the 26th of July, 1791, in the 83d year of his age,
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and the 57th of his ministry, after a painful confine- ment of nine years from a paralytic shock.
Rev. James Cogswell, D. D., of Windham, preached a discourse at the funeral of Mr. Moseley, from Rev. iv. 17 .*
SUPPLY CLAP, son of Samuel and Mary (Paul) Clap, was born in Dorchester the 1st of June, 1711 ; graduated at Harvard College in 1731. In his diary he says, "July 19, 1733, I began my third year to keep school." His salary, this season, was £55 15s. " Feb. 13, 1734. Tailer and Clap kept school for me."
He commenced preaching the 20th of May, 1733, and was admitted to the church in Dorchester the following August. His first sermon was preached at the Castle (where his great-grandfather, Roger Clap, once commanded), as were also the most of those that he preached that year. In 1734, he preached at Roxbury three months, from March 31st to June 30th, inclusive. On the 15th of December, 1734, he commenced as a candidate at Woburn, second parish, now Burlington, and on the follow- ing March received a call to settle with them as their minister. This call was accepted, at first, " upon conditions ; " afterwards in full, the 25th of August, 1735. He was ordained, as the first minister of Burlington, on the 29th of October following. August 11th, 1737, he married Martha Fowle,
* See N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg., vol. 7, p. 329 ; Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. 9, p. 186.
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who was a daughter of the then wife of Mr. Sam- uel Walker, one of the deacons of his church. They had three children - Martha, Supply and Samuel.
Mr. Clap was a man of feeble health ; to benefit which, he frequently took short excursions abroad, often visiting Dorchester and Boston. He delighted to attend the Thursday lecture. On one of these occasions he makes a record of the following memo- rable incident :-
" Sept. 1740. The Revª Mr. Whitefield, in the afternoon at 3 o'clock, was to preach at ye New South, in Boston. The meeting-house being very much crowded, there was suddenly an outcry, as if ye Gal- lery was falling. I being under said Gallery, hastened out, stood at ye door; immediately there was such thronging out, that yey trampled one another under feet. Some jumped out of ye Galleries into ye seats below, some out of ye Windows. I helped clear the way at ye door, till they got so squeezed together in ye porch, till I could get no more out. So that I with others were forced to cry out to the pressing multitude to make way back. After ye space of 5 or 6 minutes such way was made back, that we could help the distressed out. Many were taken up for dead, but being blooded chiefly recovered. Three died upon ye spot, and two more a day or two after. As awful a sight (I think) as ever I beheld. May God sanctify it to me, & the rest of the Spectators.
"N. B. The Galleries were afterward examined, and there appeared no danger."
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Mr. Clap died the 28th of December, 1747, aged 36 years, 6 months and 28 days .*
NOAH CLAP. He taught the school at various times, from 1735 to 1769-some eighteen or twenty years in all. His salary in 1735 was £60; in 1750 and '51, £270 old tenor, or £36 lawful money; in 1767, at the rate of £40 per annum.
JOSIAH PIERCE was a son of Samuel and Abigail Pierce, of that part of Woburn which is now Bur- lington, where he was born, July 13th, 1708 ; gradu- ated at Harvard College in 1735 ; taught the school about 1738; went to Hadley, in this State, early in 1743, and was hired to keep the Grammar and Eng- lish school in that town the same year-was to in- struct in Latin and Greek, in reading, writing and arithmetic. He kept the school in Hadley twelve years, from 1743 to 1755 ; and again six years, from 1760 to 1766.
During this time, and long after, he preached in Hadley, and in various other towns, when the minis- ter was sick or the pulpit vacant from some other cause. Sometimes he supplied a pulpit three or four months in succession, but was never settled, and probably never had a call to settle. Mr. Pierce was esteemed a very good man, and sound in the faith, but is said to have been uninteresting as a preacher.
* Chiefly from material furnished by Rev. Samuel Sewall, of Bur- lington.
+ For an account of Mr. Clap, see page 356.
-
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He was a representative from the town, Justice and Town Clerk, and was engaged in farming to some extent after the year 1760. He was a good penman, accurate in his accounts, and left several inter- leaved almanacks. Mr. P. was an ardent whig in the Revolution. He married, in 1743, Miriam Cook, daughter of Samuel Cook, and sister of Rev. Samuel Cook, of West Cambridge. They had six children .*
Mr. Pierce died the 10th of February, 1788, aged 79.
PHILIP CURTIS was son of Samuel and Hannah Curtis, of Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, where he was born, October 4th, 1717. He was admitted into Harvard College in July, 1734, and was the first of the name in that institution. He took his degree in 1738; was admitted into church fellowship, Jan- uary 6th, 1739 ; studied divinity with Mr. Bowman, of Dorchester, and kept school in this town two years. He preached his first sermon in Stoughton- ham, now Sharon, in the month of May, 1741, and was ordained to the ministry in that place, January 5th, 1742. His salary was £60 per annum. He had the use of a meadow, and was supplied with wood. On this slender stipend, with the income of a small farm, he brought up a large family, and, dur- ing the war of the Revolution, liberally educated one of his sons. He married Elizabeth Bass, of Dor- chester, September 6th, 1744. She was a sister of the celebrated Bishop Bass, of Newburyport. They
Letter from Sylvester Judd, Esq., of Northampton.
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had six children. His wife died May 24th, 1752, aged 32 years. He married Elizabeth Randall, of Sharon, October 31st, 1754; by this connection there were five sons. As Mr. Curtis taught his own children, he opened a school, gratuitously, for the children of his parishioners, and occasionally fitted scholars for the College. The children of Commo- dore Loring (who married his sister) were all edu- cated by him. The late Christopher Gore, Esq., was also his pupil. After the war, his people purposed to build a new church, but their means were insuffi- cient. He contributed his mite to their help, by giving up one quarter's salary. He also gave an acre of land through the middle of his farm, to ac- commodate them with a nearer road to the meeting. His sight was remarkably clear, so that he never wore glasses. He preached till a few months before his decease, which event occurred November 22d, 1797, in his 81st year. During his ministry, Mr. Curtis baptized 926 persons, and married 315 couple. There were 403 deaths in his parish, and 264 were added to the church. Elizabeth Curtis, his second wife, died at Sharon, March 11th, 1823, at the advanced age of 91 years. Three of his sons served in the war of the Revolution. His eldest son, Samuel, was a surgeon on board of a privateer called
the Boston, commanded by Capt. Manly. This ves- sel was captured by the British in 1777. Philip, another son, was stationed at West Point. He serv- ed one year under the immediate command of Col. Kosciuszko. Being a wheelwright by trade, it was his particular business to repair carriages, though
.
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he was first engaged, with most of his company, in making a bomb-proof barrack, on Fort Putnam. They had a large pair of wheels, seven feet in height, by which they hoisted the cannon into the fort, and when Arnold the traitor was there, he dismounted them down upon the flats .*
THOMAS JONES, son of Ebenezer and Waitstill Jones, was born at Dorchester the 20th of April, 1721 ; graduated at Harvard College in 1741; taught the school this year-for the first quarter at the rate of £85 per annum, for the next three months at the rate of £95, probably old tenor money ; he taught also in 1742. He was ordained as second pastor of the church in Burlington (then a precinct of Woburn) the 2d of January, 1751. Rev. Supply Clap was his predecessor. Mr. Jones married Miss Abigail Wis- wall, of Dorchester, September 5th, 1751, by whom he had three children, viz. - Lucy, afterwards wife of Rev. Joseph Lee, of Royalston ; Martha, wife of his successor, Rev. John Marrett, and mother · of the wife of Rev. Samuel Sewall, who is a succes- sor to Mr. M. and the fourth minister of Burlington ; Mary, who married Mr. Edward Walker, of B., and was the mother of Lois Wiswall Walker, wife of her mother's cousin, John Flavel Pierce, of Dorchester.
Mr. Jones died suddenly in an apoplectic fit, the 13th of March, 1774. " He was seized with this his last illness that morning in the midst of divine ser- vice, in the meeting-house, conveyed home, and there
* From a communication by Miss Catharine P. Curtis, of Jamaica
Plain.
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died at the going down of the sun, much lamented by his people." His widow was living at the time of the ordination of Rev. Mr. Sewall (13th of April, 1814), but died a few weeks after, at the ripe age of 90, in consequence of a fall she had on the 12th of that month.
" The house I live in," says the last mentioned clergyman, in 1857, "was purchased by Mr. Jones soon after his ordination-was his dwelling while he lived-the abode of his widow till her decease, and also of her son and daughter Marrett; so that it has been a ministerial abode above a century. And it is a memorable house, as the place of refuge to Hancock and Samuel Adams on the 19th of April, 1775."*
EDWARD BASS, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Breck) Bass, of Dorchester, and great-great-grand- son of Samuel and Ann Bass, of Roxbury, was born in Dorchester, Nov. 23d, 1726. He entered Harvard College at the early age of thirteen, and graduated in 1744. From the time of taking his first degree till he received that of Master of Arts, he was en- gaged in keeping school-a part of the time in Dor- chester-and also occupied himself in such studies as would qualify him for his contemplated profes- sion. From 1747 to 1751, he resided at the College, making progress in theological studies and occasion- ally supplying vacant pulpits in the Congregational churches. In 1751, he was chosen assistant minis-
Letter from Rev. Samuel Sewall.
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ter of St. Paul's Church (Episcopal) in Newbury- port, and in 1752 went to England, where, on the 24th of May, of the same year, he was ordained by Dr. Thomas Sherlock, then Bishop of London. In the autumn of the same year, he returned to New England, and soon after took charge of the church in Newbury, at that time vacant by the death of Rev. Matthias Plant. He married Sarah Beck, Sep- tember 19th, 1754. She died on the 9th of May, 1789. In July of that year, the University of Penn- sylvania conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. On the 18th of November following (1789), he married Mercy Phillips, who died, his widow, January 15th, 1842, in her 87th year. In 1796, he was elected the first bishop of Massachu- setts, and was consecrated to that office in Christ Church, Philadelphia, the 7th of May, 1797, by the bishops of the Episcopal churches in Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland. The Episcopal churches of Rhode Island afterwards elected him as their bishop, as did those also of New Hampshire, in 1803, the year of his decease. He died on the 10th of September, aged 77, after an illness of but two days. He was a man of profound knowledge, accomplished and exemplary. He was also noted for his good humor and wit. The following anecdotes have been
related of him. At the time of his second marriage he was 63 years of age ; his wife Mercy was 34. Some of his people expressed their astonishment at his marrying so young a woman. The bishop re- plied, " I will have Mercy and not sacrifice." When asked why he did not settle in his native town, he
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answered, facetiously, that " the waters of Dorches- ter were not deep enough for a bass to swim in, and therefore he came to the Merrimac." He had no children.
JAMES HUMPHREY, son of Jonas, who was the son of Hopestill, the son of Elder James, the son of Jonas Humphrey, was born in Dorchester the 20th of March, 1722; graduated at Harvard College in 1744; taught the school in 1748; and was ordained the first minister of Pequoiag, now Athol, Novem- ber 7th, 1750. On the 9th of November, 1751, he married Esther Wiswall, of Dorchester, " a lady of high respectability and much energy of charac- ter," who lived to an advanced age, respected and beloved by the people of Athol. Mr. Humphrey commenced his labors at that place under very try- ing circumstances. Being a frontier town, it was greatly exposed to the incursions of the Indians. It was necessary to station sentinels at the entrance of the church, on the Sabbath, to avoid a surprise from " their devouring enemy, whilst others were wor- shipping God within."* For three successive years " did the first minister of Pequoiag carry his wea- pons of defence into his pulpit, and preach with his gun by his side."t After having served the church and people of Athol faithfully upwards of thirty-one · years, at his own request he was dismissed, Febru-
* Mr. Humphrey's MS., quoted in Rev. S. F. Clarke's Centennial Dis- course, preached at Athol, Sept. 9th, 1850.
+ Clarke's Discourse.
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ary 13th, 1782. He remained, however, in the town till the time of his decease, which took place on the 8th of May, 1796, in the 75th year of his age. His widow died on the 8th of March, 1822, aged 94.
PELATIAH GLOVER, son of Nathaniel Glover, Jr. and Rachel (Marsh), was born in Dorchester, April 2d, 1716-a descendant in a direct line from John Glover. He married Mary Crehore in June, 1740. They had two daughters, one of whom (Rachel) mar- ried William Blake, of Boston, the 29th of Novem- ber, 1767. Mr. Lemuel Blake, of Boston, son of William and Rachel, is the only descendant now (1858) living, having attained the age of 83 years. In 1756, the subject of this notice was appointed by the town of Dorchester to keep school for " Squantum and the Farms." Possibly he may have taught at other times and places not designated by our record. He is said to have been a suttler to the army, and furnished from his own store provisions for the soldiers in the French war, which was de- clared in the year 1756. He died in Dorchester, of lung fever, April 3d, 1770, aged 54 .*
JAMES BAKER, of the fourth generation from Richard and Faith Baker, was the son of James and Priscilla Baker, born at Dorchester, September 5th, 1739. The traits of mind and character which he
* From material furnished by Miss Anna Glover, of Dorchester, who has collected much information relative to the Glover family.
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displayed in youth, induced his parents to fit him for the ministry. He graduated at Harvard Col- lege in 1760, and soon after studied divinity with the Rev. Jonathan Bowman, the then minister of Dorchester, and his future father-in-law. After hav- ing gone through with the requisite studies, which were somewhat retarded by his spending time in teaching school, he entered upon the duties of the ministry. He soon found that his humility and dif- fidence prevented him from discharging the duties of a minister in a manner satisfactory to himself; he therefore abandoned that profession and entered upon the study of medicine, keeping schools at in- tervals until he commenced the practice of medi- cine. Not fancying the latter calling, he turned his attention to merchandise, and followed it for some time. Seeing an opening in the chocolate business, he gave up store-keeping, and, in 1780, commenced the manufacture of chocolate. He established a business which has been successfully carried on by his descendants for several generations, and connected with it a name so favorably known to the present day. By strict attention to his affairs, and judicious investments in government securities, in a few years he acquired a competency, when he retired from active business engagements. He married Lydia Bowman, the daughter of the minister of Dorchester, by whom he had one son and two daughters. At the age of sixty, he relinquished his entire business to his son Edmund, and spent the evening of his days in reading, meditation, and the practice of those christian virtues which endeared him, and his mem-
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ory, to a large circle of acquaintance. He survived his wife about eight years, and died January 2, 1825.
DANIEL LEEDS, the son of Hopestill and Sarah (Clap) Leeds, and a descendant in the fourth gene- ration from Richard, was born in Dorchester on the 28th of May, 1739, and graduated at Harvard College in the year 1761. He married Abigail Gore, of Roxbury, December 30th, 1762. The ceremony was performed at her grandfather's, in Cambridge, by the Rev. Mr. Appleton. They com- menced housekeeping in a building now standing on Bowdoin Street, nearly opposite the residence of Nahum Capen, Esq. In this house their son Daniel was born. Afterwards, Mr. Leeds moved to the Lower Mills village, where it is believed he built a house now occupied by Mr. William Bowman. Ten of their eleven children were born there, among whom was Benjamin Bass Leeds, the father of a large and respectable family. "Master Leeds," it is said, taught school in town about fifteen years- probably the most, if not all of that time, on " Meet- ing-house Hill." He departed this life on Artillery Election day, Monday, June 7th, 1790, aged 51 years. He attended worship the day previous, in his usual health. A disorder in his head occasioned his death.
WILLIAM BOWMAN, the son of Rev. Jonathan and Hannah (Hancock) Bowman, grandson of Joseph and Phebe, who was the son of Francis and Martha (Sherman) Bowman, the son of Nathaniel and Anne, of Watertown, afterwards of Lexington, was born
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Jan. 8th, 1744; graduated at Harvard College in 1764 ; taught the school in 1765; was afterwards Town Clerk in Roxbury, and a Justice of the Peace. He married, June 5th, 1777, Lucy Sumner (born June 29th, 1751), daughter of Increase and Sarah (Sharp) Sumner, of Roxbury, and sister of Gov. Sumner. Mr. Bowman died in Dorchester, March 21st, 1818. He had three children-Jonathan, Wil- liam and Henry. They all died unmarried. William was a captain in Col. Miller's regiment, so distin- guished in the war of 1812 .*
SAMUEL COOLIDGE, the famous instructor, son of Samuel and Ruth (Clarke) Coolidge, and the fourth in descent from John, of Watertown, was born in W., August 8th, 1751. He graduated at Harvard Col- lege in 1769, in which year, at the age of eighteen, he appears to have commenced teaching school in Dorchester. He taught, subsequently, at various times, closing in 1789, the year previous to his death. He was of the board of Selectmen and Assessors ten successive years, from 1780 to 1789, inclusive, and for the last four years their chairman ; was Town Clerk and Treasurer in 1787 and '88, be- ing a successful competitor with Noah Clap, who for thirty-eight continuous years preceded him in both offices, and for ten years succeeded him as Town Clerk. Mr. Coolidge was also Treasurer for 1789. He was noted for his beautiful penmanship; was distinguished for his abilities as a teacher, and for
* See Hist. and Gen. Reg., vol. 8, p. 128n.
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his high classical attainments. He married Eliza- beth, daughter of Thomas Tileston, by whom he had three children, who died young. He deceased Feb- ruary 28th, 1790. His widow for some years taught a school for small children in the town. On the 6th of May, 1802, she married his brother, Col. Moses Coolidge, of Watertown. She was his fourth wife. Moses was the father of Cornelius, a former well- known citizen of Dorchester, now deceased .*
SAMUEL PIERCE, son of Samuel and Abigail (Mose- ley), grandson of John and Abigail (Thompson), great-grandson of Thomas and Mary (Proctor), great- great-grandson of Robert and Ann (Greenway) Pierce, was born in Dorchester, March 25th, 1739. He married Elizabeth Howe, of Dorchester, October 24th, 1765. They had five children. He was a colonel in the militia, and died June 4th, 1815, aged 76. In his diary (see page 363 of this work), he says that he began to keep school on the 1st of February, 1773, at "£3 5s. per week."
ONESIPHORUS TILESTON, born in Boston, April 28th, 1755 ; graduated at Harvard College in 1774 ; taught the school about the year 1775 ; died Octo- ber 6th, 1809.
EDWARD HUTCHINSON ROBBINS, son of Rev. Na- thaniel Robbins, of Milton, was born February 19th, 1758. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of
* See Bond's History of Watertown.
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Judge Edward and Lydia ( Foster) Hutchinson. She was a descendant, in the fourth generation, from the celebrated Mrs. Ann Hutchinson. He graduated at Harvard College in 1775 ; married Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Hon. James Murray, of Boston. They had several children, one of whom is the Hon. James Murray Robbins, of Milton. Soon after taking his degree, Mr. Robbins applied himself to the study of the law, with the eminent Oakes Angier, Esq., of Bridgewater. Having finished his studies, he com- menced the practice of his profession in his native town. He was chosen a representative from Milton in 1781, and Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1793, which office he held for nine successive years. In 1802, and for some years afterwards, he was Lieut. Governor of the State. He was subsequently engaged in public business as Commissioner of the Land Office ; was one of the committee of defence, &c. He was a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of many other useful and benevolent institutions. On the decease of Hon. William Heath, in 1814, he was appointed Judge of Probate for the County of Norfolk, which office he held until his death, which occurred in Milton, December 29th, 1829. Hon. Sherman Le- land, of Roxbury, his successor, died November 19th, 1853, and was succeeded by his son, William S. Leland, Esq. In the summer of 1858, the law pass- ed into effect, uniting the Courts of Probate and In- solvency. Hon. George White, of Quincy, was then inducted into the office of Judge of Probate and Insolvency for the County of Norfolk.
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