USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Memorials of the dead in Boston; containing exact transcripts of inscriptions on the sepulchral monuments in the King's Chapel burial ground, in the city of Boston. > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15
Brinlep.
225
longer. The summons to go hence came not to him unwel- come, nor found him unprepared. The eross of Christ was his all-sufficient hope, the sole refuge to which he elung. His memory will be long venerated and blessed ; his virtues, may they be imitated and cherished !"
THOMAS BRINLEY,
third son of Francis Brinley, of Newport, was born there, November 24th, 1764; married, February 26th, 1823, to Mary Townsend, who was born February 10, 1769. He died at Newport, November 5th, 1851, at the age of 87. Ile was remarkable for activity, checrfulness, and high sense of honor. Ilis widow still survives.
CATHARINE BRINLEY,
daughter of Franeis, of Newport, was born September 5th, 1759 ; she married Dr. John Field, surgeon of the British army, on the 8th of July, 1778; and died at Jamaica, Decem- ber 5th, 1734, without issue.
DEBORAH BRINLEY, .
second daughter of Francis, was born March Ist, 1761 ; mar- ried the Rev. Daniel Fogg, an Episcopal elergyman, of Brook- lyn, Connecticut, December 2d, 1794; died there, September Sth, 1846, aged 85. Four children survive: Hon. Francis Brinley Fogg, of Nashville, Tenn., married Mary Rutledge, daughter of the Hon. Edward Rutledge, of Charleston, S. C .; Edward Brinley Fogg, married a granddaughter of Col. l'ut- nam ; Aleph Fogg; and Godfrey Malbone Fogg, Esq., of Nashville, Tenn.
ELIZABETH BRINLEY,
third daughter of Francis, of Newport, was born June Ist, 1763 ; married William Littlefieldl, captain in the army of the United States, and aid to Gen. Greene, March 10th, 1785.
226
Brinlep.
She died August 19, 1822, aged 59. Their only surviving child is William Littlefield, Esq., of Newport.
EDWARD BRINLEY,
third son of Col. Francis Brinley, of Roxbury, was born August 7th, 1730; was married by the Rev. Samuel Checkley to Sarah, danghter of Thomas Tyler, of Boston, March 24, 1702. He died October 23d, 1809, aged 79. Ilis wife died December 3d, 1803, aged 66. Their children were,
Ist. Sarah, born December 12, 1762; married Theodore Jones, October 27, 1785; died December 26, 1788, without issue. She was celebrated for her beauty and poetic talent.
2d. William, born May 9th, 1764; died January 30th, 1836, aged 72; unmarried.
3d. Elward, born October 16, 1765; died December 20, 1823, aged 57 ; unmarried.
4th. Thomas, born June 24, 1767 ; died young.
5th. Deborah, died young.
6th. Fran. 'a, born March 26, 1772; married Elizabeth Henshaw Harris (who was born April 15, 1770), in the sum- mer of 1795. The former died March 1, 1838, aged 66; the latter, March 8, 1814, aged 44. There are three surviving children, Sarah, Francis and Edward; a daughter, Catha- rine Putnam, born March 20, 1805, died May 31st, 1817, aged 12. By a second marriage there were two children, Maria Louisa and Charles Henry ; the latter only survives.
Tth. George, born October 24th, 1774; married Catharine, daughter of Col. Daniel Putnam, of Brooklyn, Connecticut, April 30th, 1805. She died October 2d, 1842. Their surviv- ing children are Elizabeth, George, Anne, Emily Malbone, l'utnam and Edward.
NATHANIEL BRINLEY,
fourth son of Col. Francis Brinley, of Roxbury, was born in 1733. He married his cousin, Catharine Cradock, and resided in South-street, Boston, where he remained during the Revo-
227
Brinlen.
lution, though he was an addresser of General Gage in 1775. Hle subsequently exchanged his estate in Boston for one in Tyngsborough, in the county of Middlesex, where he died, February 10, 1814, aged 81. Ilis wife died April 3d, 1807, aged 75. They left but one child,
ROBERT BRINLEY, ESQ.,
who was born at Roxbury, September 27th, 1774; married Elizabeth Pitts (born July 28th, 1780), daughter of the Hon. John Pitts, of Boston, and granddaughter of Judge Tyng, of Tyngsborough, September 10th, 1803. They reside at Tyngs- borough, having one son, Nathaniel Brinley, Esq.
DEBORAH BRINLEY,
daughter of Col. Franeis Brinley, of Roxbury, married Col. John Murray, who removed to Nova Scotia, at the time of the Revolution. She died there, without issue.
CATHARINE BRINLEY,
the second daughter of Col. Francis Brinley, of Roxbury, born in 1724, married the Hon. Godfrey Malbone, of Newport, R. I. She died Nov. 28th, 1795, aged 71. Mr. Malbone was born September 3d, 1724; died November 12th, 1785, aged 61. They were without children.
GEORGE BRINLEY,
fifth and youngest son of Col. Francis Brinley, of Roxbury, removed to Halifax at the time of the Revolution. IIc became Commissary-general of the British troops in North America. He married a sister of Sir John Wentworth, by whom he had three sons and one daughter :
Ist. Thomas, who was a colonel in the British army, and with Sir John Moore in Spain. He died while in command of his regiment in the West Indies, unmarried. - 2. Wentworth, who was a barrister at law in London, where he died, unmarried.
228
Tassail.
3. William, who was an officer in the British army. He died at Halifax, leaving a widow and one daughter. The former subsequently married the Hon. Mr. Archibald, of Hali- fax, Master of the Rolls.
4th. Mary, who married Mr. Moody, au eminent merchant in London. While driving out, her carriage came in collision with another, the pole of which was forced through the side of that in which she was, and struck her with such force as to cause her death. Her daughter is the present distinguished authoress, Mrs. Gore ; of whom Leigh Hunt said, in his Auto- biography, "I rejoice in republications of wise aud witty Mrs. Gore, secing she makes us wait for something new."
F. B.
VASSALL. (p. 13S.)
The Vassall family is of French origin, and has been traced back in France to the eleventh century. From it descended " the gallant John Vassall, an alderman of London, who, in 1588, at his own expense, fitted out and commanded two ships of war, with which he joined the royal navy to oppose the Spanish Armada." Ile had two sons, William and Samuel, both of whom were among the original patentees of Massa- chusetts, in 1628. The former, William Vassall, Esq., first came to New England in 1630 with Governor Winthrop, and in 1034 settled at Scituate. In 1646 he returned to England, went thence to Barbadoes, where he died in 1655. He left daughters married in this country. His son, Captain John Vassall, sold his estate at Scituate, in 1661, and removed, it is supposed, to the West Indies also.
Samuel, the brother of William, remained in England. Ile was a merchant in London, an alderman, and in 1640 and 1641 a member of Parliament. In the year 1766, his great- grandson, Florentius Vassall, of Jamaica, caused a monument to be erected in honor of him, in King's Chapel, Boston. It is recorded thereon that "he was one of the largest sub-
Vassall.
229
seribers to raise money against the rebels in Ireland ; a steady and undaunted assertor of the liberties of England in 1628 ; the first who boldly refused to submit to the tax of tonnage and poundage, an unconstitutional claim of the Crown, arbi- trarily imposed ; for which (to the ruin of his family) his goods were seized, and his person imprisoned by the Star Chamber Court. The Parliament, in July, 1641, voted him £10445.12.2 for his damages, and resolved that he should be further considered for his personal sufferings ; but the rage of the times, and the neglect of proper applications since, have left his family only the honor of that vote and resolution."
He had a son John, who purchased large tracts of land in Jamaica, and settled there, having married Anne, the dangh- ter of John Lewis, Esq., an English resident at Genoa. The children of John and Anne Vassall were a son (from whom descended Florentius, the above-named great-grandson of Samuel), who remained in the West Indies, and Leonard, who came here and settled at Quincy.
Majer Leonard Vassall married a Miss Gale, and had four sons, Lewis, John, William, and Henry, all of whom, except the last, were graduates of Harvard College, respectively in the years 1728, 1732, and 1733. Ile had a daughter Susanna, who was married to George Ruggles, Esq., of Cambridge, and another daughter, who became the wife of Lieutenant-Gor- ernor Thomas Oliver.
Lewis died at Quiney, Sept. 15, 1743, leaving a son, Lewis, who graduated in 1760, and died abroad, before Angust, 1785.
Colonel John, the second son of Major Leonard Vassall, lived in Cambridge, where he built two large houses, one which he gave to his brother Henry, and the other which he ovupied himself, and where he died Nov. 27, 1747. His wife was Elizabeth, the daughter of Lieutenant-Governor Spencer Phipps, of Cambridge. They had a son, Jolm, and daughters, Ruth, Elizabeth, and Lucy.
William Vassall, Esq., the third son of Leonard, resided in Boston, and also part of the time in Cambridge, in the house
20
230
Vassall.
lately occupied by Dr. B. Waterhouse. Mr. G. Whitney states that he was sheriff of Middlesex county. He went to England before the Revolution, and did not return. llis son William also left the country forever in 1,72, in company with the son of Governor Hutchinson.
Colonel Henry Vassall, of Cambridge, the youngest son of Major L. Vassall, was married to Miss Penelope Royall, of Boston, in 1741. Ile lived in the respectable mansion, his brother's gift, now occupied by Samuel Batcheller, Esq. His only child and danghter, Elizabeth, became the wife of Dr. Charles Russell, who went to the West Indies in 1775, and died, a refugee, at Antigua, May 27, 1780. Colonel Henry Vassall died in Cambridge, March 17, 1769.
Major Jolin Vassall, of Cambridge, the son of Colonel John, and grandson of Major L. Vassall, of Quincy, graduated at Harvard College in 1757. Hle, as well as his father, was an offieer in the militia, and held a commission of justice of the peace in the county. He married Elizabeth, the sister of Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Oliver, and had five sons and two daughters ; namely, John, Spencer Thomas, Thomas Oliver, Robert Oliver, Leonard, Elizabeth, and Mary. The second son, Spencer .Thomas Vassall, rose to the rauk of Lieu- tenant-Colonel in the British army, was mortally wounded at the storming of Monte Video, and died Feb. 7, 1807, aged 40. His remains were carried to England, and interred in St. Paul's Church, Bristol, where a monument, designed by Flax- man, and an inscription, partly from the pen of Mrs. Opie, perpetuate the memory of his bravery. Major Vassall, who took a very active part with the Loyalists, was compelled to leave the country, as well as others of the family, all of whom held the same political sentiments. It is said, "Ilis loyalty went so far, that he would not use on his arms the family motto, sape pro rege, semper pro republica." He died suddenly at Clifton, near Bath, England, Oct. 2, 1797. Madam Vassall, his widow, also died at Clifton, March 31, 1807. The estates of the family were confiscated, and the noble
251
Isaiah Doane.
mansion of Major Vassall, in Cambridge, became. successively, General Washington's head-quarters, the residence of Andrew Cragie, Esq., and of his reliet, the late Madam Cragie, of Joseph E. Worcester, Esq., and, lastly, the home of Professor Ilenry W. Longfellow.
The Vassall family has ever been distinguished for enter- prise, magnanimity, and noble bearing. If some of this name were not only often, but always, for their king, it must be admitted that they made as great sacrifices to loyalty as did their forefathers to liberty. - Harris' Cambridge Epitaphs.
Major Leonard Vassall's second wife was Phoebe Pen- hallow, daughter of Samuel Penhallow, Esq., and Mary Cutts, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Major L. Vassall and Phobe Penhallow had an only child, Anne Vassall, born April 1735; she married John Borland, Esq., of Boston.
W.
ISAIAH DOANE. (p. 70.)
Isaiah Doane was the son of Colonel Elisha Doane, mer- chant, of Wellfleet, descended from the Puritans. He was educated at Harvard University : married Hannah Bartlett, of Plymouth, likewise descended from the Puritans.
The following tribute to his character was written by a friend who knew him well :
1-05. On the 22d of April departed this life, in the 52d year of his age, Isaiah Doane. In his family he was a tender basband, an affectionate father, and kind master. He was a philanthropist ; his property and personal services were never denied to those who needed them ; his sympathy was without calenlation.
As president of the board of health (an office without emol- ument) his benevolence had a large scope ; and how faithfully ard .hverfully he attended to the calls of that station the pub- lie, who know, need not be reminded. It is supposed that the seeds of his fatal sickness were sown by his application to
232
33noch Brown.
those duties in the summer of 1798, when the yellow fever raged in Boston. He was called " the poor man's friend ; " and well did he merit the appellation.
His wife survived him nine years.
Mrs. Hannah Bartlett Doane, widow of the late Isaiah Deane, who lies near him in the tomb, died 22d April, 1814. " Her life was marked by every trait that adorns the female character, - by active virtue, by unsullied purity. She lived beloved and respected. With conscientious integrity has she performed her duties, and now we trust she has ascended to receive the reward of the righteous in the "hosom of her Father and her God."
They left a large family of children ; their eldest son was the late Samuel B. Doane," and their youngest the late Dr. George B. Doane.
Their grandsons were the late Professor John Doane Wells,* and the late Rev. George W. Wells,* and Dr. A. Sidney Doane,* who recently died at Staten Island, N. Y., so deeply Limented. D.
ENOCH BROWN. (p. 128.)
Tomb No. 16, near the centre of King's Chapel Burial- ground.
This tomb was the joint property of Mr. Enoch Brown and Capt. Henry Prentice, prior to 1790, and is now the property of E. Hasket Derby, Esq., of Boston, a lincal descendant, on the mother's side, from Mr. Brown.
In this tomb repose the ashes of Mr. Brown, a native of Attleborough, Mass., where he was born, about the year 1750. He was the son of a respectable farmer in that town, and one of five brothers, - Enoch, John, Philemon, Nathaniel and Lemuel. The tradition of the family is, that he came early
* Buried at Mt. Auburn; also three infant children of Dr. A. Sidney Doane.
-
Bnoch Brown.
233
to Boston, with a Bible in one hand and a half-erown in the other; showed much energy and enterprise, and became a prominent merchant. During the war, he removed his store to Watertown Bridge ; subsequently returned to Boston, visited Europe, embarked in the importing business, and made large investments in real estate. Hle was noted for his bener- olence and polished manners, and acquired a large property, owning at his death estates in Hanover-street, Garden-Court- street, and four acres on Mount Vernon, just above Louisburg- square. He died in the prime of life, at the age of 40, about 1789. Mr. Brown married Abigail Kendrick, of Newton, who survived him a few years, and married, for her second husband, Capt. Jonathan Freeman, lost, soon after, on his return from France. Mrs. Brown died a few months after him, and was buried in the above tomb. Her mother, whose maiden name was Anne Dana, survived her many years, and attained to more than ninety years. She lived to converse with her great-grandchildren. The Kendricks of Newton are descended from this lady.
Enoch Brown, at his death, left three daughters him sur- viving, namely :
Lucy, born January 221, 1771 ; married, June 10th, 1,97, to General Elias Hasket Derby, of Salem. She still survives, at the advanced age of 81, and now resides in Centre-street, Roxbury. Her husband, General Derby, was distinguished for his enterprise and liberality ; he was one of the founders of the India trade, one of the first who imported the merino sheep, and he commenced the manufacture of broadeloth in New England during the late war with England. He was born January 10th, 1766; died at Londonderry, N. H., Sop- tember 16th, 1826. Ile left two sons, Elias Hasket and John C., and four daughters, Lney Aun, Harriet E., Augusta and Eleanor. His eldest son, E. Hasket Derby, Esq., resides in Boston.
The second daughter of Enoch Brown, who is also interred in the same tomb, was Nancy, born May 22d, 1772; married
20%
234
mon. Oliver wendell.
Capt. George Lane, 1797, and subsequently, in 1806, General Arnold Welles. She died in 1819. Gen. Welles was many years president of the Mass. Fire and Marine Insurance Com- pany, and commanded the Boston brigade during the last war with England. Three other children of Mr. Brown died in childhood ; one daughter, however, Harriet, born 1784, sur- vived him, and died, unmarried, 1797. Her ashes rest in the same tomb. E. II. D.
HON. OLIVER WENDELL. (p. 14-4.)
Judge Oliver Wendell, whose name this tomb bears, was the son of Hou. Jacob Wendell. He was born in Boston, March 5, 1733, and died at Cambridge, January 15, 1818.
After finishing his education at Harvard College, he entered into mercantile business with his father, from whose experi- ence and counsels he may have derived no less benefit than from his stock in trade.
lle was in the consultations of the early patriots of the American Revolution, and contributed to the acquisition and maintenance of the liberty and independence of the common- wealth and country. After the constitution was settled, he was often a member of the senate and of the council, in the government of the commonwealth. During his public life. he was judge of probate for the county of Suffolk ; president of Union Bank ; a fellow of the corporation of Harvard College ; president of the Society for propagating the Gospel among the Indians and others in North America ; and a trustee of Phil- lips Academy, Andover. Retiring from the city, he spent several of his last years in Cambridge, where he died, Janu- ary 15, 1818, aged 85. Ilis remains were deposited in the family tomb, in the Chapel Burial-ground, in Boston.
To the publie notice of his death was annexed the following sketch of his character, written in the council-chamber at the state-house, on the reception of the intelligence of his death, by a highly respected friend (President Quincy), who, by long
235
mon. Oliver Wendell
intercourse with him, in public and private life, was a coul- petent judge of his character. "In all relations of life, as a man, citizen, and magistrate, Judge Wendell was distin- guished for uncommon urbanity of manners, and unimpeach- able integrity of conduct. During the course of a long life, he had been successively called to fill many high and responsible offices. The punctuality and precision with which he fulfilled all the duties connected with them were highly exemplary. Full of years, he has descended to the grave, regretted and beloved by all who knew him ; happy in the consciousness of a life well spent, and rejoicing in the prospect of felicity in a future state, of which a firin faith in his Redeemer gave him the assurance."
Judge Wendell married, in 1762, Mary, a daughter of Edward Jackson, who graduated at Harvard College 1726, married Dorothy Quincy, and was a merchant of Boston. (He was the son of Jonathan Jackson, who was a brazier and nail- maker, and married Mary Salter, March 26, 1700; lived in Boston, and left quite a large estate. lle was the son of Jonathan, who married Elizabeth -, and settled in Bos- ton. He was born in England, and was the son of Edward, born in 1602, who emigrated from White Chapel, a parish in London, to this country, about 1642, took the freeman's oath, May 1645, and in 1646 purchased of Gov. Bradstreet a farm of five hundred acres of land in that part of Cambridge which is now Newton, for #140. For his second wife he married, March 14, 1648, Elizabeth Oliver, widow of Rev. John Oliver, the first minister of Rumney Marsh (Chelsea), and daughter of John Newgate, of Boston. Hle was one of the most respect- able men of the colony, and was much engaged in public life. He died July 17, 1681, aged 79.) Judge Wendell had several children, most of whom died young. Oliver and Edward never married, and have deceased. Sarah married the Rev. Dr. Abiel Holmes, of Cambridge, by whom she had five chil- dren, namely : 1. Mary Jackson, who married Usher Parsons, M. D., of Providence, R. I. ; 2. Ann Susan, who married Rev.
236
mon. Oliver Wendell.
Charles W. Upham, of Salem ; 3. Sarah Lathrop, who died 1812, aged six years ; 4. Oliver Wendell Holmes, M. D., of Boston, the poet, who married Amelia Lee Jackson, daughter of Hon. Charles Jackson, of Boston ; and, 5. John Holmes, an attorney at law, living in Cambridge.
The Wendell family is of German origin. EVERT JANSEN WENDELL came from Embuen, in East Friesland, in Hanover, about 1645, and settled in Albany, State of New York, where he died, 1709, æ. 88 years. Ile left two children, one of whom died without issue ; the other, JOHN WENDELL (who died in Albany, November 1691, æ. 44), married, first, Marilla Jellese, by whom he had two children, Elsee Wendell and Mary Wendell ; by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Major Abraham STAATS, he had nine children, all born in Albany.
Ist. Abraham, born at Albany, Dec. 27, 1678 ; settled as a merchant in Boston, where he died, September 28, 1734, leav- ing issue, 1. John, who settled as a merchant in Boston, lived on the corner of Court and Tremont streets, and married (Nov., 1724) Elizabeth, daughter of Judge Edmund Quincy, and died December 15, 1762, æ. 60. One of their sons, John, born September 11, 1732, was graduated at Harvard College 1750, removed to Portsmouth, and died there, April 26, 1808, leaving issue. One of their daughters, Sarah, born May 1, 1745, married John Gerry, Esq., of Marblehead, and died Feh- ruary 12, 1804, leaving issue, one of whom, Sarah, married Azor Orne, Esq. 2. Elizabeth, who married (April 15, 1725) Edmund Quincy, son of Judge E. Quincy, and died November 1769. One of their daughters was Dorothy, wife of Gov. John Hancock.
2d. Susanna, married Goose Van Rensalear.
3d. Catalina, married Barent Sanders.
4th. Elizabeth, married Henry Van Rensalear.
5th. John.
6th. Ephraim.
7th. Isaac, who, perhaps, settled and died in Boston, about
237
mon. Oliber TWendell.
1762, having married a Bangs; but possibly it was Isaae, a nephew of this one.
8th. Sarah.
Oth. JACOB, born in Albany, August 5, 1001 ; settled in Boston, where he soon became one of the most successful and wealthiest merchants. He was of the governor's coun- cil from about 1737 to 1750, and after ; colonel of the Boston regiment as early as 1742, and in 1733 director of the first banking institution in the province. He died September 7, 1761, at his house in School-street, opposite King's Chapel, and yet standing.
This Hon. Jacob Wendell married, "at the house of Mr. John Mieo, in Boston, August 12, 1714," Miss Sarah Oliver (horn at Cambridge, September 4, 1696, died in Boston, July 22, 1762). Miss Oliver was the daughter of Dr. James Oli- ver, of Cambridge (born in Boston, March 19, 1658; was graduated Harvard College, 1680; died April 8, 1703), and Merey, his wife. (Her maiden name was Mercy Bradstreet ; born in Boston, November 20, 1667; died at Cambridge, March 20, 1710. Her father was Dr. Samuel Bradstreet, son of Gov. Bradstreet and Ann Dudley. Her mother, the first wife of Dr. Samuel Bradstreet, was Mercy Ting, daughter of William Ting and Elizabeth Coytmore, born 13 January, 1642, died September 6, 1669.)
The children of Hon. Jacob Wendell and Sarah Oliver were all born in Boston, as follows :
1. Jacob, born September 4, 1,15 ; married Elizabeth Hunt, we believe, and died November 27, 1753.
2. Elizabeth, born January 20, 1719 ; married Richard Wi- bird, of Portsmouth.
3. Sarah, born March 3, 1721; married John Hunt, and, second, --- Hewes.
4. Merey, born April 10, 1722 ; married Nathaniel Oliver.
5. Mary, born January 14, 1724; married Samuel Sewail, and died January 21, 1746.
238
mon. Oliber @Wendell.
6. Katherine, born June 18, 1726 ; married William Cooper, town clerk of Boston.
7. John Mico, born May 30, 1723 ; married Catherine Brat- tle, and died about 1774.
8. Ann, born December 7, 1730; married John Penhallow, of Portsmouth.
9. Oliver, born March 5, 1733 (see above, Judge Oliver Wendell).
10. Abraham, born November 2, 1735.
11. Susannah, born June 15, 1737 ; died unmarried.
12. Margarett, born Monday, August 20, 1739 ; she married (June 12, 1760) William Phillips, of Boston, and, surviving her husband, died February 27, 1823. She had three chil- dren, who lived to maturity :
1. Margaret, born May 25, 1762; married Judge Samuel Cooper, and died at Andover, February 19, 1844.
2. Sarah, born April 6th, 1765; the first wife of Deacon Mark Newman, of Andover.
3. JouN PHILLIPS, born November 26, 1770 ; was graduated Harvard College, 1788 ; was the FIRST MAYOR of Boston, 1822; and died May 20, 1823.
We will add that Evert Jansen Wendell, the first-named progenitor of the family, was, _1. D. 1656, the Regerendo Dijaken of the Dutch Church in Albany ; and his arms, as given on page 144, a ship riding at her two anchors, were stained on nine panes of glass in the east window of the church. The " Albany Argus " of July 29, 1823, contained a sketch of this family, which still exists at Albany, numerous and wealthy.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.