USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Milton > The history of Milton, Mass., 1640 to 1877 > Part 54
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546
HISTORY OF MILTON.
Captain Lillie was presented with a sword by Washington, and also with one by LaFayette, which is in the possession of his grandson, the Hon. Henry L. Pierce.
A monument was in 1868 erected to his memory, in the West Point Cemetery, by his grandchildren John and Daniel C. Lillie.
REV. JOHN MILLER.
He was the son of Samuel Miller, Jr., and Rebecca Minot, born in Milton, at the Miller house, on Adams street, 1733. He graduated at Harvard in 1752, and was ordained to the ministry at Brunswick, Me., in 1762, where he remained for many years. He died in Boston, Jan. 25, 1789, during a tem- porary absence from his parish for the benefit of his health.
JAMES MURRAY ROBBINS.
Nathaniel Robbins and Mary Brazier, his wife, came from Scotland about 1670, and settled in Cambridge, where he died in 1719, aged seventy years. They had eight children.
The fifth child, Nathaniel, was born Feb. 28, 1677, and mar- ried Hannah Chandler; they moved to Charlestown about 1700, living there thirty years, and then moved to Cambridge, where he died in 1741, aged sixty-four years; his wife died in 1738, aged forty-four years. They had nine children.
Thomas Robbins, the third child and the great-grandfather of James M. Robbins, was born Aug. 11, 1703, and died in Lex- ington June 30, 1791, aged eighty-eight years. He married, first, Ruth Johnson, who died June 27, 1737, aged thirty-five years ; and, second, Exene Jackson. He had thirteen children, six born in Cambridge and seven in Lexington.
Rev. Nathaniel Robbins, the second son of Thomas and grand- father of James M. Robbins, was born in West Cambridge in 1726. Here he passed his youth and fitted for college. He graduated at Harvard in the class of 1747. He completed his theological studies at Cambridge, under the direction of Rev. Samuel Cook, of his native parish.
On the 13th of February, 1751, Nathaniel Robbins, in the twenty-fourth year of his age, was ordained pastor of the Church of Milton, and died among the people of his first and only charge, May 19, 1795, aged sixty-nine years, after a pastorate of nearly forty-five years. In 1775 he married Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Hon. Edward Hutchinson, of Boston, brother of Gov. Thomas Hutchinson's father. Her father for many years was Judge of Probate for Suffolk County, and was treasurer of Harvard College from 1726 until his death in 1752.
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NOTED MEN AND WOMEN.
Mr. Robbins had two sons and one daughter. The daughter died Aug. 31, 1786, unmarried, at the age of twenty-seven years. His youngest son, Nathaniel Johnson, was a graduate of Harvard in 1784, and died May 7, 1799, aged thirty-three years.
The wife of Mr. Robbins and the companion of his labors died May 2, 1793, aged sixty-two years.
His life in Milton is fully related under "Ministers of Milton."
Lieut .- Gov. Edward Hutchinson Robbins, the eldest son of Rev. Nathaniel, and father of James M., was born in Milton, 1757 ; graduated at Harvard in 1775, and died Dec. 29, 1829. He rose to distinction at the bar, but was chiefly engaged in the service of the State. More particular reference is made to him under " Lawyers of Milton."
James Murray Robbins was born June 30, 1796, at the " Churchill house," on Milton hill, then owned by his father. He attended school for years at Milton Academy, which his father was mainly instrumental in establishing, and of which he was the only president, through a period of thirty-two years, till his death. To this office James M. Robbins was elected in 1840, and he continued to hold the same until his resignation, by reason of feeble health, in 1884.
At the age of fifteen he entered the counting-room of Messrs. James and Thomas HI. Perkins, of Boston, and acquired a knowledge of mercantile pursuits. For two years he made voyages as supercargo to the West Indies and the Baltic in their employ. Subsequently he engaged with his brother, Dr. Edward H. Robbins, in the manufacture and sale of woollens ; and for a year and a half he was employed by the woollen- dealers of New England as their agent for the purchase of wool in Germany.
In the year 1814 he was connected with the American Con- sulate at Hamburg, Germany, as deputy ; on one occasion sign- ing a passport for our former citizen, the late Charles R. Dagen. In his official capacity at Hamburg, acting in the absence of his superior, Hon. John Murray Forbes, and when but nineteen years of age, he represented the United States, with the invited delegates of all foreign governments, at the civic banquet given to Prince Blücher and his victorious troops; on their return from Waterloo.
While on his way to Germany he was captured by a British cruiser and taken into Southampton, but was released on ac- count of his youth.
When quite a young man he rode on horseback through the whole of Dorsetshire, exploring the old town of Dorchester and other homes of our first settlers. Here, perhaps, began that
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HISTORY OF MILTON.
taste for antiquarian research which was continued through life, until his mind became a storehouse of the garnered treasures of other days and other men. He was the author of the first six chapters of the " History of Dorchester." He was the chosen orator at the bi-centennial celebration of Milton, 1862, furnish- ing material in the address then delivered which will ever remain the substratum of Milton history. In 1884 he was ap- pointed by the town one of a committee to write and publish the history of Milton. Since that time this work has been in progress, and before the prostration of his powers all the man- uscript prepared passed under his inspection and received his approval. The general plan of the work is in accordance with his suggestions, but its completion, we deeply regret, he is not spared to join in.
Mr. Robbins filled several offices of trust connected with the State, and often served on important committees in the town. He represented the town at the General Court in 1837 and 1860; he was chosen State senator for this district in 1842. At the opening of Milton Public Library in 1871 Mr. Robbins was chosen president of the Board of Trustees, which office he re- tained by annual reëlection till his death. Although not so much in public life as his immediate ancestors, he had a work to perform, which was done in a quiet way. He was always approachable to those needing advice and assistance, and his wise counsel and helpful words and deeds have lifted many a heavy burden. He was loyal to his native town, and interested in all things touch- ing the welfare of his fellow-citizens. Good judgment and a somewhat conservative view of men and things led him to oppose extravagant notions and thoughtless expenditure. But his advice was sought and accepted by the town in all matters of general interest.
Mr. Robbins married Frances Mary Harris Oct. 7, 1835. She died Feb. 20, 1870. She was an excellent woman, of earnest purpose and life.
The following obituary notice of Mrs. Robbins is from the pen of Wendell Phillips : -
Frances Mary Robbins, wife of Hon. James M. Robbins, of Milton, Mass., was one of our former co-workers in the anti-slavery cause, and one of the earliest of the slave's friends. Her interest in this and kindred reforms sprung from the noblest motives and moulded to higher pur- pose what was always an earnest life. Faithful in every relation, she was especially self-sacrificing in her labors with the Church; while fearing God, she feared not the face of man. Though priest and people were not waked to Christian life by her appeals, they were stirred to profound rev- erence for a true woman, and for a zealous, outspoken life whose real influence other eyes than man's alone can measure.
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NOTED MEN AND WOMEN.
Mr. Robbins died Monday, Nov. 2, 1885, at the ripe age of eighty-nine years and four months, being the last of his genera- tion. His funeral occurred on the following Wednesday at the homestead on Brush Hill. This last service was attended by a large concourse of kindred and townsmen, the aged and the young, " sorrowing most of all that they should see his face no more." As the procession moved along, the church bells tolled a parting knell, and the remains of our beloved and honored citizen were deposited with his kindred, till the " voice of the archangel and the trump of God."
JONATHAN RUSSELL, LL.D.
Jonathan Russell was son of Thomas Russell, born in Provi- dence, R.I., 1771; graduated at Brown University, 1791, with the highest honors of his class, and died at Milton, Mass., Feb. 16, 1832. Educated in the legal profession, and admitted to the bar, he early embarked in commercial pursuits, and was subse- quently prominent in political affairs. Consul to France in the time of Napoleon Bonaparte; during several years minister- plenipotentiary at Stockholm, and one of the five commissioners who negotiated the treaty of Ghent,1 in 1814. His ability and endowments found signal occasion for exercise in his diplomatic correspondence while in Paris, London, and Stockholm. The commissioners to treat for peace, in accordance with the con- current action of the Senate in January, 1814, were Albert Gallatin, James A. Bayard, John Quincy Adams, Jonathan Rus- sell, and Henry Clay. Of these, Clay and Russell sailed from New York on their mission on 23d February, with instructions to insist upon a cessation, on the part of the British, of the degrading practices of search and impressment of seamen. Although the treaty of peace did not secure to the Americans that immunity from search and impressment which they sought, and not all the concessions which the administration had hoped to attain, yet it brought with it the boon of peace and many public advantages, - advantages to be derived from its provi- sions for final settlement of boundaries, the exclusive right to the navigation of the Mississippi river, while it curtailed some important privileges which the mariners of New England
1 At the negotiation of the treaty of Ghent, a proviso was agreed upon that all vessels and places taken after that date should be given up. One of the English commissioners remarked : " Then we shall have to surrender New Orleans to you." Jonathan Russell is said to have replied, "You have not yet got it."-" Well," responded the commissioner, " with such a force as we have sent there, and with so small a force as you have to oppose us, it is almost certain that we have taken it, - why do you think otherwise ? "-" Because General Jackson is there," was the reply.
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HISTORY OF MILTON.
had heretofore enjoyed on the shores of the Gulf of St. Law- rence.
It subserved the interests of humanity in securing the cooper- ation of the two nations in efforts to suppress the inhuman traffic in slaves.
The military operations had disturbed, in a degree, our rela- tions with Canada, and the treaty tended to a permanent recog- nition of our national independence and the guaranty of our free institutions.
During the period of Mr. Russell's agency in our foreign affairs, the unsettled condition which prevailed in regard to European policy was attended with extraordinary trials and discouragement in the conduct of our national affairs, and devolved unusual responsibilities upon our ministers and com- missioners at foreign courts.
Mr. Russell was Minister to Sweden and Norway, January 18, 1814-October 16, 1818.
On his return to this country he settled at Mendon, Mass., and was a representative from Massachusetts, in the seventeenth Congress as a Democrat, defeating Benjamin Adams, Federalist, serving from Dec. 3, 1821, to March 3, 1823. He filled other high and responsible stations, and performed their duties with marked ability. He was well versed in political science, and a vigorous, versatile, and graceful writer in his style of composi- tion ; but his tastes inclined to political affairs, and he left few records of his varied intellectual gifts other than such as are found in his diplomatic correspondence. He pronounced an oration in the Baptist meeting-house in Providence, R.I., on the anniversary of American Independence, 4th July, 1800, which had the rare fortune of reaching more than twenty edi- tions. The late George R. Russell, of Roxbury, also distin- guished for his talents, was his son. Members of the family are resident at the "Governor Hutchinson place," Milton Hill, a place which has long been noted for the residence of families of local distinction or renown.
ANNA STONE.
Anna Stone, long known in the musical world as the dis- tinguished singer, was the daughter of Joshua Stone and Ruth Shaw Sumner. Her father was engaged with Lewis and Alpheus Babcock in the piano business, from its first start in Milton. Her mother was the daughter of David Sumner, who lived in Canton avenue, in the west part of the town. She was brought up and nurtured in the very atmosphere of music. For thirteen
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NOTED MEN AND WOMEN.
years her mother, also a noted singer, was engaged at Dr. Chan- ning's church, in Boston, while her father was organist at the same church. From such a parentage, and with such surround- ings, the child inherited a taste for music, and grew up a natural singer. When only two years old she surprised her parents and friends by her opening powers of voice and melody. This con- tinued to develop in the progress of years under constant cult- ure, until the rich and fully-matured voice charmed the musical gatherings, twenty, thirty, and forty years ago.
For a score of years she sang with the Handel and Haydn Society. She was the leading singer at the Trinity Church, gratefully remembered by many worshippers there. The citi- zens of Milton, who have in former years enjoyed her musical powers, are glad to recognize her connection by parentage with this town.
REV. EBENEZER TUCKER.
He was the son of Ebenezer and Mary Tucker; born in Milton, 1763 ; graduated at Harvard College, 1783 ; and died at the home of his son-in-law, Timothy Tucker, Jan. 14, 1848, aged eighty-five years. He was buried in Heath. . He was a minister in Gerry, now Phillipston, till his failing health obliged him to relinquish his profession. After residing elsewhere for nearly sixty years he returned to his native place to spend his last days with his daughter.
REV. ELIJAH W. TUCKER.
He was the son of Atherton and Joanne Tucker; born in Dorchester. When ten years of age his father moved to Milton, to the house of his brother, now owned by John Welch, near Robbins street. He learned of his brother William the trade of a chaise-maker, but soon decided to devote himself to the ministry, with the foreign mission work in view. He gradu- ated at Brown University, studied theology at Andover, and was ordained at New Market, N.H. From there he went to Chatham, on the Cape, and then to Northfield, Conn., where he died in August, 1866.
REV. JOSIAH TUCKER.
He was born in Milton, June 4, 1791, and was the son of Samuel Tucker the third, and descendant, in the sixth gener- ation, from Robert Tucker, of Weymouth, 1639, and Milton, 1662. He married Esther Wadsworth, of Milton. He entered
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HISTORY OF MILTON.
the Theological Seminary at Andover at the age of twenty- eight, and on the completion of his studies, in the service of the Maine Missionary Society, he commenced preaching in the town of Madison. Here, by persistent and self-denying labor, he succeeded in establishing a church, over which he was settled as pastor May 10, 1826. He remained at Madison about sixteen years, and then removed to Bingham. Subsequently he labored in North Orange, Mass., where he formed a church and became its pastor. In 1844 he resumed his chosen mission- ary work in Maine, and continued in this work until his mental powers began to fail.
In 1852 he removed with his family to Taunton, Mass., where he died Sept. 9, 1856.
He was of a sanguine, ardent temperament, full of love and zeal, and eminently successful in the fields of labor which he occupied.
It was the original purpose and the sanguine hope of Mr. Tucker to become a missionary to the Sandwich Islands ; circumstances afterwards caused him to change his purpose. One of his sons is now established as physician at Honolulu.
HON. ROGER VOSE.
He was the son of Robert Vose, of Milton; born in 1763. He graduated at Harvard College in 1790, in the class with Josiah Quincy. He applied himself to the study of law, and attained distinction at the bar. His professional life was passed at Walpole, N.H., where he died, in 1841, aged seventy- eight years. He was a member of the national Congress from his district in New Hampshire for two terms.
MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
In order to place on our Milton annals a truthful sketch of the life and works of our most respected and honored friend and authoress, Mrs. Whitney, a note of inquiry was addressed to her, which, by good fortune, secured from her graceful pen the following bit of autobiography, here inserted without change : -
WILTON, N.H., October 15, 1886.
DEAR DR. TEELE, - My daughter has just written me that several weeks ago you gave her a message for me, requesting some outline of my Milton life. As this includes all my mature years, and my work in them, I sup- pose I am fairly a Miltonian, though born and educated in Boston.
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NOTED MEN AND WOMEN.
I certainly feel honored by your intent to mention me in your Milton Annals ; but as my history is simply that of my book-writing, and the man- agement of my household, the materials are easily summed up in such few details as have already appeared in certain biographical and literary dic- tionaries.
I came to Milton as the wife of Mr. Whitney, in 1843, being then nine- teen years old. Within the year previous my father, Mr. Enoch Train, had built a house in Dorchester for a summer home, but which became, eventu- ally, his permanent residence. An illness which he suffered in the earlier part of the first winter, that of 42-3, kept us out of town, and brought us more fully into the neighboring society, of which the result was my acquaintance with the Whitney family, and my marriage the next Novem- ber. In the first year of our marriage Mr. Whitney built the house now occupied by Mr. Samuel Gannett, at the junction of Canton and Randolph avennes, and my father fitted it up for our home. We lived there seventeen years, and our four children, of whom one died in infancy, were born there. In 1860 Mr. Whitney bought the house we now live in from Mr. Charles Barnard, and had it removed from the head of Vose's lane, to where it now stands, on Canton avenne. When it was ready for occupancy we decided to use it for ourselves, and so came to Milton Centre, which has been our home for twenty-five years, although for long times together we have been absent, since our children married and went elsewhere.
All my book-work, except the first little venture, in publication of " Mother Goose for Grown Folks," has been done at what we call " Elm Corner," or since we came here; and here have centred all my busiest and most absorbing cares and interests. I sometimes say that my life has had two distinct periods or histories, that with my family of children, and that with my family of books ; but they are pretty well mingled, and identical, after all.
I did not give my time to book-making until my youngest child was about eight years old ; and then I came into it gradually, led by circum- stances, and the encouragement received. After "Mother Goose" canie out, I was urged by my publisher to write a story, and " Boys of Chequas- set " followed ; a six weeks' chronicle, based on what my own boy furnished me with, in his first pursuit of ornithology, in the collecting and study of birds' eggs. Then, at further solicitation, I wrote " Faith Gartney," and found myself fairly embarked. The "Gayworthys " came next, and was published, and well received in England, where all my subsequent books have likewise been brought out, simultaneously with their issue in this country. I should except in this statement the smaller volumes of poems, etc., " A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life"; "Patience Strong's Out- ings "; "We Girls "; " Hitherto "; "Real Folks"; "Other Girls "; " Sights and Insights "; "Odd or Even "; "Bonnyborough "; with " Pan- sies," a volume of verse ; " Just How," a key to the cook book; " Home- spun Yarns"; and "Holy Tides," a volume of religious poems for the seven seasons of the Christian year, complete the list, I believe, as it now stands. I have in press another little book of verse, " Daffodils," a com- panion and supplement to " Pansies."
I do not know whether these details are precisely what you want, but I have stated them in their order, that you may make any reference you please with due understanding. More personal matters, as you are not writing biographies, you do not want.
I am, with most cordial esteem and regard,
Yours truly, ADELINE D. T. WHITNEY.
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HISTORY OF MILTON.
MOSES WHITNEY.
Moses Whitney was born in Spring street, West Roxbury, on the 20th of January, 1775. He was the youngest of the six children of Jacob Whitney and Rachel Whiting, daughter of Nathaniel Whiting, of the same place. In 1787 he went to Blue Hill, Milton, to learn the leather business. He married, April 14, 1797, Miss Rebecca Dunbar, of Milton ; and, second, about 1825, Mrs. Mary Kittredge, widow of Dr. Thomas Kit- tredge, of Gloucester ; she outlived him several years, dying in Milton, 1865.
He commenced business in 1796, moved to Dorchester in 1797, and removed to Milton in 1805. He purchased the " Rising Sun " estate in 1806, and the Nancy Paine estate in 1809, extending from the Old Plymouth road to the Neponset river. He enlarged the wharf and built a tan-house in 1810. In 1819 he built the Whitney house, on Milton Hill, and pur- chased Swift's wharf, at the same time in part filling up the dock between the wharves. After this the lumber and wool business was carried on extensively by him for twenty years. He was in active business for sixty-three years, not including his apprenticeship. He was appointed postmaster in Milton, 1805, resigned, 1816; captain of militia, 1816; colonel, 1821. He was afterwards brigadier-general of first brigade, first divi- sion, Massachusetts militia. He died in his house, on Milton Hill, Dec. 23, 1859; on the 20th of the following January he would have been eighty-five years old.
EARLY FAMILIES.
ADAMS FAMILY.
Henry Adams, the ancestor of a numerous family in this country, came to Mt. Wollaston, now Quincy, but originally a part of Boston. He was accompanied to New England by eight sons : Henry (born 1604), Samuel, Thomas, Peter, Edward, Jonathan, John, and Joseph (born 1626). Edward, Jonathan, Peter, and Henry settled in Medfield, Mass. Samuel and another brother went to Chelmsford, and one returned to Eng- land. Joseph remained at Braintree.
From Joseph, the youngest son of Henry Adams, senior, sprang Samuel Adams, the distinguished patriot of revolution- ary times ; also, President John Adams, President John Quincy Adams, and their distinguished posterity.
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EARLY FAMILIES.
From Edward, the fifth son of Henry Adams, senior, sprang the early Adams family of Milton.
Edward Adams emigrated to New England with his father and brothers. He was born in England in 1620. He was an ensign in the early wars, and died in 1705; his wife, Lydia, died in 1706. Edward and Lydia had the following children :
1. Lydia, b. July 12, 1653. 8. Mehitable, b. March 20, 1665.
2. Jonathan, b. April 4, 1655. 9. Elisha, b. Aug. 25, 1666.
3. John, b. Feb. 8, 1657. 10. Edward, b. June 28, 1668.
4. Eliashab, b. Feb. 18, 1659. 11. Bethia, b. April 12, 1671. Died.
5. Sarah, b. March 29, 1660. 12. Bethia, b. Aug. 18, 1672.
6. James, b. Jan. 4, 1662. 13. Abigail, b. June 26, 1674.
7. Henry, b. Oct. 29, 1663. 14. Miriam, b. Feb. 26, 1675.
John Adams, the second son of Edward, was born in Brain- tree Feb. 8, 1657. He removed to, and settled as a farmer in, Medfield. He had the following children : -
1. Thomas. 4. Abraham. 7. Eleazer.
2. Jeremiah. 5. John. 8. Daniel.
3. Phineas. 6. Edward, b. 1683. 9. Obediah.
Edward, the sixth son of John Adams, was born in Medfield in 1683; he removed to Milton, and married Rachel Saunders, of Braintree, Sept. 11, 1706 ; his wife, Rachel, died Nov. 14, 1727, and he married Sarah Brackett Feb. 5, 1729. Children of Edward and Rachel Adams : -
1. Edward, died in infancy. 6. Samuel, b. March 5, 1718 ; d. April
2. John, b. Feb. 26, 1709. 10, 1718.
3. Rachel, b. June 17, 1711. 7. Patience, b. Aug. 7, 1720 ; d. Aug. 20, 1720.
4. Seth, b. Sept. 30, 1713.
5. Nathan, b. March 28, 1716.
John, the second son of Edward and Rachel Adams, was born in Milton Feb. 26, 1709, and married Sarah Swift May 18, 1730. She was the daughter of Col. Samuel Swift, of Milton. Their children were : -
1. Samuel, b. Jan. 26, 1731; d. Feb. 18, 1731. Feb. 5, 1748.
7. Eliphalet, b. Feb. 23, 1743; d.
2. Rachel, b. Feb. 18, 1732. 8. Judith, b. Nov. 24, 1746.
3. John, 9. Lemuel, b. Dec. 1, 1748.
4. Andrew,1 b. Aug. 12, 1735. 10. Sarah, b. March 31, 1752 ; d. Jan.
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