USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Sutton > History of the town of Sutton, Massachusetts, from 1704 to 1876, including Grafton until 1735, Millbury until 1813 and parts of Northbridge, Upton and Auburn > Part 54
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Lieutenant in Capt. - 's company of Col. Larned's regi- ment, and it was that regiment which entered Boston first after its evacuation by the British troops, March 17, 1776. Soon after this he was appointed commissary, with the title of captain, which position he held till the close of the war. Soon after the close of the war he was appointed deputy sheriff, which position he held several years.
At that time the law was such that you could take all that a man had, and then put him in prison and keep him there, I think as long as you were willing to pay his board. He was accustomed, when sent to attach a person's property, if he thought him honest and willing to pay, to become bail for him and so give him time ; but he did that one time too many, and for a man who grossly deceived and then abused him.
The account of it, as the writer has often heard it related by his children, is as follows : He was sent to Uxbridge to attach the property of a man for a large amount; the man told him his circumstances and what he could do if he could have a little time in which to turn himself, in such an artless manner as to win his confidence, and he either failed to make the attachment, or became his bail, and so became responsi- ble for the debt. He then disposed of his property as soon as possible, and instead of paying his debts as he agreed, put the money in his pocket and left for parts unknown. This brought the debt upon the sheriff, and it was so large as to take everything he had, and he was compelled to leave the farm upon which he was born, and where he had lived more than fifty years, with just those few articles of house- hold furniture which the law at that time allowed. But the worst remains to be told. After a time he heard of this man as living in or near Albany, New York, in good circum- stances. Thinking if he could see him he would be willing to pay at least some of the claim, he procured a horse and on horseback started for Albany, where, after a wearisome journey, he arrived one day just at night. He put up at the tavern, intending to call upon the man in the morning, who, upon inquiry, he learned resided near there, but what was his surprise when on coming down the next morning he was arrested for debt due this very man, his horse attached,
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and himself hurried off to jail, because being a stranger he had no one to be bail for him. In vain were all his remon- strances that he owed the man nothing, there was the claim. He asked to see the man; the man came, and if any one was in hearing would assert the genuineness of his claim, but when alone would say to him whenever you will give me a receipt in full of all demands to date, I will obtain your release, and not till then. This he refused to do, hoping to see some one from this way by whom he could get word home, it being before the days of post-offices. He requested the tavern keeper to inform him of any such arrival, but after waiting a long time, and hearing nothing, he made up his mind the tavern keeper was in collusion with the man he came to see, and that to hold out longer would be useless. He at the end of two months gave the desired receipt, obtained his release and started for home, where in due time he arrived, so broken down both in body and mind as never to attempt doing anything more, and in a short time died at the age of fifty-eight years.
He had ten children, six sons and four daughters, all of whom survived him, as follows; Sarah, b. Aug. 29, 1758; m. Bazaleel Gleason, Nov. 1, 1779; Jonathan, b. Aug. 27, 1760; m. Mrs. Lucy Blanchard, Jan. 13, 1792; Eliza- beth, b. Oct. 13, 1762; m. Asahel Flint; Edmund, b. Sept. 18, 1764; m. Polly Mellen ; John, jr., b. Sept. 22, 1766; m. Tamar Putnam, Mar. 17, 1785; Sim- eon, b. Nov. 8, 1770; d. unmarried, Feb. 28, 1797; Solomon, b. Sept. 15, 1772; m. Sarah Phelps, Apr. 7, 1810; Tarrant, b. Aug. 17, 1774; m. Betsey Morse, July 20, 1802; Polly, b. Aug. 7, 1776; d. unmarried, Feb. 21, 1861; Patty, b. May 30, 1779; m. Turner Rawson, Dec. 30, 1805.
Sarah, when first married, lived where her grandfather settled. This cir- cumstance I have often heard related: She was confined with her first child at the time of the great snow storm in 1780. The services of a midwife being required, and it being impossible to move with a team, the men of the neigh- borhood put on snow-shoes, took a hand-sled, and went after a Mrs. Dudley, living on the place now owned and occupied by Mr. Sullivan Newton, near Wilkinsonville, and brought her there in that way, a distance of five miles Afterwards the family removed to Braintree, Vermont, when that town was first settled, where he died. After his death she married a man by the name of Briggs, and went to reside in Rochester, New Hampshire, where he belonged. That is the last information the writer has of her. Their children removed to Ohio, when that was the far west, since which time all trace of them has been lost.
V. Jonathan was three times married ; for his first wife Mrs. Lucy Blanchard (maiden name Lilley), Jan. 13, 1792; his second, Eliza Whittaker, May 18, 1811; his third, Elizabeth Crawford of Oakham, in 1815. He lived ever after
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his marriage, until within three or four years of his death, on the place where Solomon Severy now lives, in the house built by his grandfather.
He was a very large, strong man, and besides carrying on the farm, used to team from Boston to Sutton and vicinity nearly all his life, much of the time owning two teams, driving one himself and employing a man to drive the other. He died April 1, 1827, aged sixty-six years.
When he married his first wife, who was the widow of Thomas Blanchard, she had one child named Lucy. She married Amos Stockwell, by whom she had two children, Thomas Blanchard and Amos Wright, both of whom were graduates of Amherst College. The former fitted for the ministry, but died before accepting a charge; a profound scholar and earnest christian worker, deeply lamented by all who knew him. The latter was a lawyer by profes- sion ; married October 4, 1836, Susan L. B. March, daughter of Jacob March, by whom he had three children: two sons and one daughter. He practiced for a time in Worcester and then removed to Chicopee, where he resided until his death, which occurred March 10, 1853, at the age of forty-four years. The paper that chronicled his death said of him, among other things, that "In him his political friends have lost a faithful sentinel; the church, a warm and devoted member; this village, a citizen always alive to its interests; his social circle, a generous heart; the poor, a ready, willing helper; and the place in which he was best known and loved, his family, a devoted husband and indul- gent father." The daughter died soon after her father, quite young. His oldest son, Thomas B., a graduate of Brown University, now resides in Prov- idence, Rhode Island, where he is State Superintendent of schools. His mother makes her home with him.
Their youngest son, Francis Munroe, now resides in Framingham, where he is assistant cashier of the bank. I speak of them in this connection because they were always so closely identified with the King family.
Jonathan and Lucy King's children were: 1, Lucina, b. July 19, 1792; m. Amos Merriam, Mar. 13, 1818; 2, Rufus, b. Oct. 30, 1793; d. unmarried, Mar. 8, 1813; 3, Otis, b. Apr. 4, 1795; m. Eliza Jane Wheeler, Sept. 1827; 4, Ira, b. June 9, 1797; m. Lucy Sargent, Feb. 21, 1827; 5, Sylvia, b. July 30, 1799; . m. Otis Adams, May 1822; 6, Betsey, b. Feb. 22, 1801; m. Joshua Hutchin- son, Jan. 4, 1822; 7, Melinda, b. Mar. 23, 1803; m. John A. Nichols, 1826.
Jonathan and Eliza King's children were: 1, Lucy Lilley, b. Feb. 21, 1812; m. Arnold Allen, May 1, 1832; 2, Elvesta Henderson, b. June 23, 1813; m. Charles Parmenter, Dec. 31, 1846; 3, Mary Eliza, b. Oct. 15, 1814; m. David F. Parmenter, Oct. 9, 1845.
By his last wife : Harriet Amelia, b. May 7, 1818; d. Aug. 13 of the same year. The history of each, so far as is known, is as follows:
Lucina married her husband from Oxford; he was a farmer, and after their marriage resided in Sutton. He was one of those men of whom we have too few at the present day, who never owned a farm but to improve it. They had two children, viz: Rufus King and Lucy Elizabeth. Mrs. M. died August 1844; her husband, November 4, 1875.
Rufus K. married Eliza Ann Clement of Worcester, March 13, 1845. He resided, after his marriage, for several years on the farm with his father. About 1860, his health becoming so delicate as to disqualify him for such hard labor, he felt compelled to sell. While here he was elected several times to offices of trust and responsibility by the town, and by the first Baptist church as one of its deacons.
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After selling his farm he removed to Millbury, where he has been engaged in business nearly all the time since. They had four children, viz: Fred. H. C., b. Mar. 15, 1846; m. Martha A. Smith of Millbury, Dec. 1, 1870; Lucina King, b. Dec. 9, 1848; m. F. L. Durkee of Ashford, Ct., June 9, 1871.
After her marriage they resided in Worcester until her death, which occurred Feb. 23, 1872. She left one son : Charles Albert, b. Oct. 9, 1852; d. Dec. 17 of the same year. Henry Trowbridge, b. May 18, 1855, resides with his parents.
Lucy E. married Cornelius Case of Hartland, Ct., where she went to reside. He lived but a few months. Soon after the close of the war, she went to Atlanta, Ga., as a teacher of freedmen, a position which she still holds.
. Otis, before his marriage, settled in Sherbrooke, Canada. His wife was from Oxford, N. H. In connection with his brother, Ira, he carried on an extensive business, and accumulated a handsome property. They sold out and dissolved partnership about 1837 or 1838, when he came to Lynn and purchased the hotel then known as the Railroad House, which he kept for a number of years; finally, selling out, he bought the place then known as the Mineral Springs Hotel in that town. This place he sold a few months before his death, in 1846, to the Roman Catholics, in which to found a school, as they said. He died Feb. 28, 1847. He left one son, Henry Otis, who, in a few years after his father's death, went to reside in New York. When the rebel- lion broke out he enlisted in the army, but since the close of the war none of his relatives, so far as I know, have ever heard from him.
Ira married his wife from Fitzwilliam, N. H. Leaving Sherbrooke with his brother Otis, he purchased a farm and other property in Barnstead, Stall_ stead County, Province of Quebec, where he died, leaving a wife and six children, viz. : Lucy Maria, Ira Otis, Susan Amelia, Eliza Jane, Frederick Orville and Mary Lucina; all of whom are married and live in that vicinity, being "the Queen's most loyal subjects," except the youngest son, who lives in Boston, Charlestown district. The mother is still living with her oldest son on the homestead.
Sylvia married in Grafton. Her husband was a farmer in good circumstances, holding many offices of trust and honor in his native town. He was for many years one of the county commissioners, much of the time their chairman, and deacon of the Evangelical Congregational church in Grafton. He died May 4, 1860, much respected. She is still living in Grafton. They had five children, viz. : Charles Otis, John Quincy, Andrew Hunt, Sylvia King and Henry Harrington; they have all married. The oldest son lives in Oakham; the second son died before his father; the others are all living, I think, in Chicago, Ill.
Betsey married her husband from Royalston; he was a farmer. They had three children : Orville King, Otis Adams and Elizabeth; though not gradu- ates of any college, they were all well educated.
Orville K. was for a long time connected with the State Reform school at Westboro'-at one time its superintendent; he is now, and has been for a number of years, superintendent of the Colored Orphan asylum, New York City. He married while in Westboro'.
Otis A. is married, is a lawyer by profession, and resides in Chicago.
Elizabeth married A. P. Stone of Piermont, N. H., at one time preceptor of the academy in Millbury. Afterwards teacher in Plymouth, Mass., and Port- land, Me. ; but at present superintendent of schools in Springfield in this State.
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Melinda married her husband from Sherbrooke, Canada; I think he was a merchant. They had one son, George King, who resides in Grafton, where he is married and has a family. Her husband died when their son was quite young. In 1849 she married William French of Kingston, R. I., with whom she lived until his death, when she returned to Grafton, where she died Mar. 1, 1869.
Lucy Lilley married her husband at North Brookfield, where she lived until his death, Oct. 15, 1839; when she went to live with her brother, Otis, at Lynn, where she married the second time to Samuel Johnson, a native of Canada; after residing a few years in Salem, they removed to Waterville, Province of Quebec, where they still live. They have no children.
Elvesta H. married her husband from Holden. At the time of their marriage he was living in Philadelphia; after a few years they came to live on his father's farm in Holden. Subsequently he sold out in Holden, and bought a farm in Oakham, where they now reside. They have two children, viz. : Mary Melinda, at present a school teacher in Worcester, and George Albert, at present residing in Chicago, Ill.
Mary E. married her husband from Holden; he was a farmer in good cir- cumstances. After a few years he sold out and went into business in Worcester; his health failing him, in consequence of an accident by which he came near losing his life, he gave up business and moved on to a farm in Oak- ham, where they now reside. They have three children, viz. : Helen Elvesta, wife of James Myron Kennan of Rutland, Edward Franklin and Jonathan King.
Elizabeth, after her marriage, went to reside in Braintree, Vt., where she died, leaving no children, Aug. 1802.
Edmund studied medicine, and after his marriage went to reside in Great Barrington, where he practised but a short time, when he was afflicted with what was then known as king's evil. He returned to his father's, where he died Dec. 31, 1789.
John, jr., after his marriage, lived for a time in Sutton, and then moved to Ward (now Auburn), where his wife died Dec. 6, 1819; after which he' went to reside with his daughter in Phillipston, where he died Mar. 14, 1824. They had three children, viz. : Tamar, born July 7, 1785; John, jr., Feb. 7, 1787, and James.
Tamar married Moses Bancroft of Sutton in 1806. Soon after their marriage they removed to Phillipston, where they resided ever after. She died Mar. 27, 1827. They had eleven children, viz .: Hannah King, b. Mar. 3, 1807; Julia Putnam, b. Aug. 1, 1808; Freeman Tainter, b. May 20, 1811, and d. May 1812; Janette, b. May 7, 1813, and died the 18th of the same month; Lucy Stanley, b. June 27, 1815; John Austin, b. Mar. 30, 1817; James Hiram, b. Feb. 15, 1819, and d. Oct. 11, 1838; Lorey Freeman, b. Aug. 10, 1820; Moses Jerome, b. Feb. 22, 1823; Joseph Rasselas, b. Nov. 13, 1824, and Henry Lawton, b. Jan. 18, 1827.
Hannah King m. Aaron Sanborn, by whom she had eight children. One son is a prominent lawyer in New York City; another is teller in a bank in Brooklyn, N. Y .; and a son-in-law is in one of the departments at Washington. The others, I think, are all dead. Mr. and Mrs. Sanborn are both dead.
Julia P. married Daniel P. Livermore of Millbury. They had three children, one son and two daughters. The daughters died when young ladies; and the son, Anson G., resides on the place where his parents lived and died.
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Lucy S. married Francis Nickerson of Provincetown; they resided in Worcester for several years, where he died Jan. 29, 1872. After his death she married George F. Farley, with whom she still resides. She has no chil- dren.
John A. married Caroline G. Bates of Phillipston, by whom he had six children; three of whom are still living with their father in Worcester. His wife died Sept. 1856. In 1872, Jan. 24, he married for his second wife Mrs. Harriet C. Rich, by whom he has two children.
Lorey F. resides at South Worcester. He has had three wives; by the first he has one son, who is keeping hotel in New Bedford ; by the second, one son, who is a machinist and resides in Boston; by his third, two daughters. Mr. B. is the inventor of the street sprinkler now extensively used in nearly every city in the Union ; also of other important inventions.
Joseph R. married Harriet Damon of Lancaster; they had two children. After her death he married Mrs. Eva Humphrey, by whom he had two chil- dren; he resides in Sutton. Henry L. has had four wives; he formerly lived in Worcester, but now resides with his last wife in Lodi, Wis .; he had four children by his third wife, and two by his last, all of whom at present reside with their father. John went quite young to reside with one of his mother's brothers, who emigrated to Warren, Pa., taking John with him; there he married, Aug. 15, 1811, Betsey Gilston; accumulated property, and reared a large family. One of his sons, James E. King, is a practising physician in Buffalo, N. Y. ; he married Sarah M. Kendall of Pembroke, N. H. James married Mary Jacobs of Millbury; soon after his marriage he went south, where he was drowned by the capsizing of the boat while crossing a river. His widow married Rev. Caleb B. Elliot, with whom she lived many years. She died a few years since, in Millbury, leaving no children.
Simeon (never married) was injured by the fall of a tree while at work in the woods in Paxton, causing his death in a day or two after, at the age of twenty- . six years.
Solomon's first wife died December 4, 1810, having been married but about eight months. He married for his second wife Mrs. Ruth Thompson (maiden name Cummings), September 1812, by whom he had two children: Solomon Dexter, born December 15, 1813, and Sarah Phelps, born September 21, 1819. Solomon D. married April 16, 1837, Julia Ann Hall, daughter of Oliver Hall. They had four children : Solomon, born April 16, 1838, and died October 12, 1860, aged 22 years; Simeon Edmund, born March 4th, 1844; married Emma A. Barnes of Millbury, November 22, 1870. They reside at present in West Millbury. Henry Hall, born March 20, 1856, and Sarah Jane, born Sept. 14, 1857, both of whom still live with their parents in Sutton.
Sarah Phelps never married; she died while on a visit to Philadelphia, Pa., February 13, 1857, aged thirty-seven years.
When Solomon married his second wife she was the widow of Jeremy Thompson, and had one son named Linus, who married Rachel Searles, by whom he had three children, two of whom died young; the other, a very promising young man, died at the age of nineteen of hemorrhage of the lungs. Mr. Thompson died September 1, 1867, at the age of sixty-five years. His widow is still living in Sutton.
Solomon and his wife were both killed by lightning, July 5, 1835, aged sixty- three and fifty-seven years respectively.
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TOWN OF SUTTON.
Tarrant, after his marriage, resided in Sutton and had seven children, viz: Sukey, b. Oct. 28, 1803; d. Feb. 7, 1804; Sumner Barstow, b. Sept. 25, 1805; Lucy Morse, b. Nov. 24, 1806; Nathaniel Gibbs, b. Apr. 21, 1809; Turner Rawson, b. Jan. 20, 1812; Tarrant Franklin, b. May 1, 1815; Eliza, b. Dec. 1, 1818.
He died August 5, 1825. His wife survived him many years and died Jan. 20, 1857.
Sumner B ._ married December 21, 1830, Julia Ann Whiting, daughter of Paul Whiting. She died June 22, 1832. After her death he married Nov. 21, 1833, Mary, sister of his first wife, with whom he lived till her death, Oct. 13, 1871. Having no children, they adopted, in 1835, Mary Tamar, daughter of Samuel and Tamar (Searles) Fuller. She married Joseph H. Nason and lives near her father King. She has one son, Edward Sumner Nason.
In 1845 Mr. King was chosen deacon of the first Congregational church, which office he still holds.
Lucy M. never married, but lived with her mother until :her death; soon after, becoming insane, she was taken to the insane hospital, where she died May 7, 1863, aged fifty-six.
Nathaniel G. married, November 11, 1834, Eveline Morse, daughter of Sam- uel Morse, and moved on the place built by his uncle, Dea. John Morse, and where he still resides with his son, his wife having died March 25, 1863. They had four children, viz: Loraine E., Lavinia C., George Samuel and Eveline.
Lavinia C. married, December 27, 1855, Frederick H. Hastings of Brainerd, New York. She died July 27, 1861, leaving one daughter.
In the spring of 1863 Mr. Hastings married Loraine E., by whom he had several children. After his death she came to live in Amherst, where she now resides.
George S. married Mary Emma Howard, August 8, 1866, and lives on the place formerly occupied by his father. He has two children : Chester Howard and Emma Eveline.
Eveline married Frederick A. Stockwell and resides in Webster, where he is engaged as merchant in connection with the Slaters.
Turner R. never married. He emigrated to Illinois more than forty years since, where, for a long time, he was in the employ of the government as land agent, with his home in Springfield. He now resides in McLean, in that State, where he is engaged in agriculture.
Franklin T. also went to Illinois when quite a young man, and was present at the riot which resulted in the death of Lovejoy, with whom he was inti- mately connected in anti-slavery work, and, but for presence of mind, would have shared his fate. He has been twice married and has had two children. His only son was drowned a few years since. He is a physician and resides in Galesburg, Illinois.
Eliza married Richard Sandford of Oxford, September 23, 1835. He was a merchant, but has retired from business. They have one daughter named Helen, who married a Mr. Clark, by whom she has children.
Polly never married. She was greatly beloved by all her connections and filled an important place in many of their families. She was a consistent and exemplary Christian. The last twenty-three years of her life she made her home in the family of the writer. She died February 21, 1861, at the age of eighty-four years, six months and fourteen days.
Patty, after her marriage with Mr. Rawson, went to Grafton to reside. He lived but a few years, After his death she married Phineas Leland, father of
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the late Col. Joshua Leland. After her husband's death she remained on the place with his son, for whom she entertained great respect, till a few years before her death, when she went to reside in Holden in the house with her niece, Mrs. D. F. Parmenter, where she died October 14, 1864, aged eighty- five years, four months and fourteen days.
KING- WILLIAM KING BRANCH.
William3 (John2, William1), m. 1st, Hannah Cook, June 4, 1695; m. 2d, Rebekah Wakefield.
He was one of the original settlers in the town. His name is entered as the owner of lot number nineteen, of the four thousand acres, subsequently known as the Whiting place ; he also became one of the proprietors of the town. In the drawing of the one hundred acre lots, August 20, 1716, it seems he was the owner of one five hundred acre right, and drew lot number thirty-five. The survey of this lot is recorded June 1718.
His name appears on the record of the first town meeting, December 1718, as one of a committee for building the meeting-house. He was one of the most prominent and wealthy of the first settlers. He died in November 1748.
His children, of whom anything is known, were William, Isaac and Henry. Isaac died unmarried. Deacon Leland says that William came, with a mulatto man, before the father, and began clearing the land. He was soon taken sick and died-the first white person who died in town; and was buried in the burying ground near the meeting-house.
Henry4 (William8, John2, William1), m. Abigail Green, sister of Dr. Thomas Green of Leicester. Captain Henry King was much in public life; was many times a representative in the legislature, and was also sent as a delegate to the provincial congress. Ch .- 1, William, b. Oct. 27, 1734; d. Dec. 3, 1825; 2, Samuel, b. Feb. 28, 1736; d. at Fort Edward in 1757 or 1758; 3, John, b. Nov. 1, 1737; m. Sarah Wiswell of Newtown; 4, Lydia, b. June 17, 1739; m. James Greenwood, July 5, 1759; 5, Abigail, b. Feb. 7, 1741; m. Samuel God- dard of Worcester, May 22, 1760; 6, Hannah, b. Feb. 22, 1743; d. young; 7, Tamar, b. Sept. 16, 1744; m. John Carriel, Dec. 12, 1765; 8, Mehetable, b. Oct. 19, 1746; died young; 9, Henry, b. May 9, 1748; m. Prudence Dudley, June 18, 1772; 10, Elizabeth, b. Apr. 26, 1750; m. Samuel Goddard of Graf- ton, May 25, 1769.
William5 (Henry4, William8, John2, William1), m. Silence Dwight of Ded- ham, Mar. 29, 1759; she d. May 4, 1798. Ch .- 1, Samuel, b. July 22, 1760; d. in Smithfield, Pa., Oct. 1, 1812; 2, Isaac, b. Sept. 17, 1762; d. Nov. 8, 1859; 3, Daniel, b. Nov. 6, 1764; m. Lucy Woodbury, Apr. 30, 1789; d. Apr. 1833;
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