USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Milton > The history of Milton, Mass., 1640 to 1877 > Part 58
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James Gardner Vose, the youngest child of Col. Josiah H. Vose, was born March 6, 1830. He was graduated at Yale College in 1851. His first field of labor in the ministry was with the church in Greenfield, Mass. He was soon appointed to the professorship of rhetoric and oratory in Amherst Col- lege ; this position he resigned, after a few years, to engage again in his chosen profession. In 1866 he was settled over the Beneficent Church, in Providence, R.I., where he now is. Dr. Vose is a member of the Cincinnati through his father. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Brown University.
Thomas Vose line.
The branch of the family residing at Brush Hill and on Canton avenue, near Atherton street, descended from the line of Thomas, son of Robert. Thomas, the son of Thomas, had Edward, who settled at the foot of Brush Hill, nearly opposite the residence of the late Elijah Tucker, where the old cellar was seen within a few years. This land remained in the family until 1882. Edward was the father of Robert, who married Abigail Sumner, of Milton. He was father of Benjamin, born in Milton 1744, died April 13, 1815. He married Esther Sumner, of Milton, and may have obtained through her, in addition to his paternal inheritance, a portion of the Sumner land, which, on the westerly side of Robbins street, in 1747, was bounded by Canton avenue, Brush Hill road, and New lane. Benjamin was the father of Jesse, born 1783, and Jesse was the father of Joshua Whiting, Jesse, and Benjamin C., who, or their children, now own and occupy the land.
Capt. Thomas Vose, born March 12, 1707, was the fourth son of Thomas and Hannah Vose ; he married Patience, the third daughter and fifth child of Joseph and Rhuama Billings; she was born March 4, 1700, and died March 27, 1760. He lived on Canton avenue, near Atherton street. Their children were : -
Daniel, b. Feb. 20, 1741; m. Rachel Smith Nov. 11, 1762; he d. Dec. 7,1807.
Rhuama, b. May 17, 1743 ; m. Josiah Vose.
Peter, b. July 2, 1745, Eli, b. Feb. 18, 1747, Patience, b. Sept. 12, 1750,
Unmarried.
Hannah, b. July 13, 1756,
Daniel Vose and Rachel Smith's children were :
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HISTORY OF MILTON.
Patience, b. Aug. 14, 1763; m. Amos Holbrook Oct. 7, 1783; she d. March 17, 1789.
Elizabeth, b. Oct. 20, 1767 ; m. S John Lillie, Edmund Baker ; d. March 28, 1843.
Fanny.
Daniel T., b. May 17, 1779 ; d. May 29, 1837.
Edmund J. Baker is the son of Edmund Baker and Elizabeth Vose.
Jesse Pierce married Elizabeth S. Lillie, the daughter of John Lillie and Elizabeth Vose. The Hon. Henry L. and Edward L. Pierce are their sons.
The only child of Dr. Amos Holbrook and Patience Vose was Clarissa, who married Henry Gardner, the father of Gov- ernor Gardner.
INDIVIDUALS OF THE VOSE FAMILY WHO WENT FROM MILTON AND SETTLED IN MAINE.
Seth, the son of Jonathan, and grandson of Thomas and Hannah, born January 4, 1733-4; went to Thomaston and Cushing.
Jesse, son of Jonathan, and grandson of Thomas and Hannah, born March 3, 1742-3; went to Sandy river; died at Kingfield.
Thomas, a brother of Jesse, born May 8, 1753 ; married Sarah George ; went to Thomaston with General Knox.
Soloman, son of Joseph, and grandson of Elijah and Sarah, born July 22, 1768; went to Augusta.
William, son of William, and grandson of William and Abigail, born April 12, 1778; settled in Portland.
Thomas, the son of Thomas, and grandson of Thomas and Abigail, born September 27, 1765; went to Robbinston.
Peter Thacher, son of Thomas, and grandson of Robert and Abigail, born September 4, 1769; went to Augusta, but re- turned to Massachusetts.
Spencer, son of Jonathan, and grandson of Jonathan and Mary, born September 2, 1758; went to Thomaston.
David, son of David, and grandson of David and Mehitable, went to Concord, Mass., and went from there to Hampden or Thomaston.
Charles, or Robert Charles, the son of Samuel, and grandson of Robert and Miriam, born June 14, 1783, and went to Augusta, and died there.
Josiah H., son of Joseph, and grandson of Elijah and Sarah, born August 8, 1784; went to Augusta; from there into
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EARLY FAMILIES.
the regular army, and died a colonel in parade at New Orleans.
Lewis, son of Lemuel, and grandson of Jonathan and Mary Vose, born April 3, 1763; was a soldier in the Revolutionary war; marched to some of the camps on the Hudson river, and up the Mohawk river to the German Flats; was honorably dis- charged, and returned to his native town, and was a saddler for many years ; married Sally Jones, of Brookline, in 1792; was an ensign, lieutenant, and captain in the militia of Massachu- setts ; had two sons and a daughter ; all died unmarried. His daughter Sarah was born October, 1805, and died October 11,1883. By her will she left about $7,000 to the Milton Public Library ; and to the ministers and deacons of the First Congregational Church in Milton, as a charity fund, to take effect at the death of a cousin and her husband, property estimated to be worth $7,000.
WADSWORTH FAMILY.
Capt. Samuel Wadsworth was the son of Christopher and Grace Wadsworth, of Duxbury. Christopher was the common ancestor of the Maine and Massachusetts Wadsworths. It is believed that he came from England in the ship "Lion," which arrived at Boston Sept. 16, 1632, and settled at Duxbury, the same year, near the residence of Miles Standish.
We find Christopher Wadsworth's name in the first record of freemen in the Plymouth Colony in 1633, and he is recorded as being taxed the same year ; his name is appended to a will as a witness with William Bradford, the second governor of Plym- outh Colony, under date of Sept. 16, 1633. In 1636 he was chosen one of eight to revise the ordinances of the colony, and served many years as representative and in other places of trust. A part of his estate is now in the possession of his descendants of the same name.
Capt. Samuel Wadsworth was born in Duxbury, and moved to Milton, then a part of Dorchester, about 1656. He took the freeman's oath in 1668. The first time his name appears in the records of Dorchester is in 1661, when he was appointed with others to view the fence in the common cornfield. He took an active part in the formation of the new town of Milton in 1662; he was also active in church and town affairs, his name appearing oftener on the town records the last few years of his life than any other, as selectman and as attorney for the town in collecting debts, and in defending the town in suits brought against it before the Court. See his history in "King Philip's War."
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HISTORY OF MILTON.
In conveyances he is spoken of first as carpenter, then as yeoman, and last as captain. One deed, dated Sept. 9, 1680, to heirs of Capt. S. Wadsworth, reads as follows : -
Capt. Roger Clap of Castle Island in the Massachusetts Bay in New England and Joane his wife in consideration of a valuable sumie of lawful money of New England to them in hand formerly paid by Capt Samuel Wadsworth of Milton in the aforesd Colony of Massachusetts Bay in New England Deced in his life time the receipt whereof they do hereby acknowl- edge, and themselves fully satisfied and contented, have given, granted, bargained, sold, aliened, enfeoffed and confirmed unto Abigail Wadsworth Relic, widow of s'd Sam'l Wadsworth, and to the heirs of s'd Saml Wads- worth a certain parcel of land &c.
Capt. Samuel Wadsworth was father of seven children, six sons and a daughter : -
Ebenezer, b. 1660 ; d. Aug. 1, 1717, aged fifty-seven yrs. He was deacon of the Milton church. He had four children, - three sons and a daughter. George, the youngest grandson of Capt. Samuel, b. in 1699, was ensign in Captain Goffe's company of colonial troops at the siege of Havana in 1740. Christopher, b. in 1661; unmarried ; d. 1687.
Timothy, b. in 1662, was a carpenter and gunmaker. He had four chil- dren, two sons, and two daughters. Recompense, the youngest son, grad- uated at Harvard College in 1708, and was Master of the Grammar School in Boston ; d. 1713. Timothy moved to Newport, R.I., and died there.
Hon. Joseph, b. 1667 ; d. 1750. He was much in public life ; was treas- urer of Boston for many years. He had one son and three daughters.
Rev. Benjamin, b. 1670, graduated at Harvard, 1690. He was ordained minister of the First Church in Boston, Sept. 8, 1696 ; was made President of Harvard College July 7, 1725, and died March 16, 1734. He married Ruth Curwin, of Salem, but left no children.
Abigail, b. 1672 ; m. Andrew Boardman, of Cambridge.
Deacon John, of Milton, b. 1674 ; d. 1734. He was the Milton Represen- tative at the General Court 1717-1725-26 and 1732-33. He married Eliza- beth Vose and had twelve children. It is from him that the branch of the family now occupying the old homestead in Milton is descended.
Deacon John Wadsworth was associated with Manasseh Tucker, Samuel Miller, and Moses Belcher, 1711, in the pur- chase of the "Blue Hill Lands," fifteen hundred acres of which were annexed to Milton in 1712.
His eldest son, Rev. John, born 1703, graduated at Harvard 1723. He was ordained at Canterbury Sept. 17, 1728, settled in Palmer, Mass., and finally moved to Coos, N.H. He died in Milton June 15, 1766, aged sixty-three years.
Deacon Benjamin Wadsworth, second son of Deacon John, born in Milton 1707 ; married Esther Tucker in 1735, and died Oct. 17, 1771, aged sixty-four years. He had ten children. He built a house about the time of his marriage, which is still stand-
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EARLY FAMILIES.
ing on Wadsworth Hill, Milton. Only two of his sons lived to manhood.
One of these, Rev. Benjamin, was born 1751; graduated at Harvard 1769, and was ordained in Danvers, Mass., 1773, where he died in 1826, in the fifty-fourth year of his ministry, aged seventy-five. He was honored with the degree of S.T.D. in 1816. He published a sermon preached at the ordination of Josiah Badcock, 1783 ; two Thanksgiving sermons, 1795-96, and a dedication sermon, 1807.
His second daughter married Hon. John Ruggles, of Milton.
John, eldest son of Deacon Benjamin, was born in 1739; mar- ried Katherine Bullard, and had five children.
He was one of the minute-men in 1775, and started with his company for the battle-field at Lexington, but was unable to proceed, being then in ill-health. He died the same year, aged thirty-six, leaving a widow and four small children, all too young to take part in the war that followed ; but his patriotic widow sent her team to transport the fascines for the fortifica- tion of Dorchester Heights.
Three of John's sons settled in Milton, and divided the old homestead between them. Joseph, the eldest, was a blacksmith. Benjamin, the second son, was a wheelwright and plough-maker. Wooden ploughs only were made in those days. The Wads- worth plough became famous not only in Milton, but in all adjoining towns.
Deacon William, the third son, was a cabinet-maker.
The only representatives of the family left in Milton are Charles Wadsworth, residing on Randolph avenue, and Capt. Edwin D. Wadsworth, both of the sixth generation from Capt. Samuel.
Captain Wadsworth lives on the original Wadsworth estate, and near his residence is the house built by Deacon Benjamin, grandson of Capt. Samuel, one hundred and fifty years ago.
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HISTORY OF MILTON.
CHAPTER XVIII.
FLOWERS, TREES, BIRDS.
FLOWERS OF MILTON.
A T that charming season
" When spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil ; "
when every breeze is balmy with health, and every shower comes down laden with plenty, and every voice from the thicket is music ; when the soft dews of Hermon glisten on every spire of grass, and trembling leaf, and opening flower, the observing eye may discern within our borders, by the wayside, and by the rivulet, in field and in glen, a fulness and richness of floral beauty unsurpassed in any section.
Words cannot paint the scene which the Creating Hand spreads out before all his children, year by year, in the open book of nature; but from this charming display we may learn that God loves beauty and fragrance, and would have us love them.
While we would fain linger in these spring-bejewelled paths, and note every opening flower, we can only, as we rapidly pass along, glance at a few, not overlooking the modest among the showy. The wild flora of Milton is rich in common varieties, while some rare species may be claimed as native to our soil.
LIVERWORT [Anemone Hepatica]. - On the lower wooded slopes of the Blue Hills, after a few mild days in April, may be found abundant specimens of the Liverwort.
It is one of the first and most interesting of our plants, send- ing up among the dry forest leaves a slender, hairy stem, with a purple, sometimes nearly white, blossom. Removing the covering the trees have dropped upon it, the liver-shaped leaves are seen that give name to the flower. These survive the cold season, and help to keep the plant alive ready to welcome the return of spring. Having finished their winter's watch they perish, and give place to the next, which shall perform the same office the next season of cold.
3LCTION OF BLUE HILL RIVER
FLOWERS OFME
ILTON
knowabank where-on the wild thyme blows, Where ox-lips and the nodding violets grow; Quite over-canopied with lush woodbine, With sweet muck roses and with eglantine; MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM"
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FLOWERS.
These are found also in the grove of the William M. Hunt estate, near the West schoolhouse, and at East Milton, near the quarries of the Granite Railway Company.
WOOD ANEMONE [Anemone Nemorosa]. - At the same time, or earlier, the roadsides and hedges show here and there the single white or purplish Wood Anemone, the wind-flower of the Greeks; so called, says Gray, because "the flower was thought to open only when the wind blows."
RUE ANEMONE [Anemonella Thalictroides]. - In the same localities, sometimes side by side with this, its cousin, the Rue Anemone may be seen, though much more rarely. It has a delicate umbel of star-shaped, white, rarely pinkish, flowers. It is to be noted that the prevailing color of our earliest flowers is white.
HOUSTONIA, or INNOCENCE [Houstonia Coerulea]. - About the fifteenth of April, in favorable seasons, the open fields under cultivation display patches of this delicate flower. This is always a favorite with young flower-seekers, the abundance of its yellow-eyed blossoms making it certain they will fill their baskets.
Bigelow, in his " Plants of Boston," says: "The long-leaved Houstonia (Houstonia purpurea, var. longifolia) is found in dry soils at Blue Hills in Milton." In giving localities where he has observed our native plants this author refers to no town, except Roxbury, more frequently than Milton, -a proof that our flora was noticed as abundant years ago by one who was famil- iar with the flowers in their haunts in all Eastern Massa- chusetts.
VIOLET. - The Violet family is represented in Milton by at least twelve of our native species.
Bigelow, already referred to, speaks of their changeableness, owing to situation, time of flowering, humidity, and drought; so that one species is liable to be mistaken for another, inas- much as most of the violets are in flower at the same season. By the wayside, on the sunny slopes of hills, at the foot of isolated forest trees, and in secluded woodlands and fields, where no eye but the insect or bird will see them, they love to dwell.
In May or June in their chosen haunts may be found the Lance-leaved Violet [V. Lanceolata], the Sweet-scented White [V. Blanda] both of which are fragrant, the latter distinctly so; the Birdfoot [V. Pedata] ; the Hoodleaved [V. Cucullata], so very common and various in its growth and especially in its color, being, as Gray says, " deep or pale violet - blue or purple, sometimes nearly white, or variegated with white;" the Dog-
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HISTORY OF MILTON.
violet [V. Canina]; the Arrow-leaved [V. Sagittata]; the Primrose-leaved [V. Primulc-folia].
Then there is our only Yellow Violet [V. Pubescens], which blossoms in low grounds from April to October.
Viola Odorata, the sweet violet of Europe, is also found grow- ing spontaneously in the grounds about the churches, having evidently strayed from a neighboring garden.
DANDELION [ Taraxicum Officinale]. - How do the eyes of childhood and age gladden at the sight of the first Dandelion ! Its golden circlet appears complete before we suspect it has awakened from its winter sleep, and the whole household is summoned to the sunny spot to welcome the herald of the domestic flowers. It seems like the reflection of God's smile upon his children.
" Dear common flower that grow'st beside the way, Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold."
BLOODROOT [Sanguinaria Canadensis]. - This plant has been discovered lately on the line of the old road running from Randolph avenue, near the residence of D. W. Tucker. The root is surcharged with a red-orange juice, from which arises its name. The flowers are white and handsome.
LADY'S SLIPPER [ Cypripedium Acaule]. - On the banks of the Neponset, at Mattapan, nearly opposite Mr. S. A. Burt's house, and also near Quarry street, and in the meadows near Williams avenue, grows the unique Lady's Slipper.
No one who has once read a good description would fail to recognize this plant at once, without analysis. Two large oval, downy, plaited leaves starting from the same point in the earth, separate as they grow, and send up, as if from their clasp, a single stem, at the top of which is the drooping blossom, look- ing, for all the world, as though it might be the wreck of a fairy balloon, with a slit the whole length of its purple silk covering. The botanist, however, tells you this is not properly the flower, but only the petal enlarged and inflated into this singular shape. The Indian called it Moccasin Flower. Some know it as the Whip-poor-will Moccasin.
WILD COLUMBINE [Aquilegia Canadensis]. - On the dry hills and pastures, along the sides, and in the seams in the rocks, the Wild Columbine hangs out on the ends of slender branches, its pendulous flowers scarlet without and yellow within. It has five petals, that resemble straight horns alternating with the sepals, and their rich stores offer a tempting bait to the honey- loving insects.
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FLOWERS.
The bumble-bee, like a miner, bores for them from without. The Ruby-throat, our only humming bird, knows where the Columbine grows, and, poised on rapid wing, he settles himself beneath the flower, remaining almost motionless, like a pendant jewel, until he has rifled all the sweets, when he darts, like an arrow, to the next, until his repast is finished.
FORGET-ME-NOT [Myosotis laxa]. - Almost any time from June to October the lover of flowers may find on the Jason Reed estate, or near Central avenue, another prize in the Forget- me-not. Why a plant, whose generic name means a "mouse's ear," and whose former name was "Scorpion Grass," should ever have been chosen for remembrance in a sentimental way, is not apparent. But this pale blue blossom with its yellow eye, that now so long has borne this charming name, will attract us to its haunts ; and young and old will pronounce this new, sweet name with a thrill of joy as long as our tongue is spoken.
" The bright-eyed flow'ret of the brook - Hope's gentle gem, - the sweet Forget-me-not."
NODDING TRILLIUM [Trillium Cernuum]. - In the woods on the estate of the late Williamn M. Hunt, the artist, and also on the Rotch estate, grows this singular flower. Its simple blossom always nods, or bends down, so as to hide itself beneath the three large roundish leaves.
NORTHERN CALLA [Calla Palustris]. - On the south side of Canton avenue, nearly opposite the Center schoolhouse, are found two plants somewhat rare in the vicinity. One of them, it is believed, grows nowhere else for miles around. One is the Northern Calla, the American species allied to the popular Egyptian Calla of our dwellings. It grows near the little stream just east of where it flows, under Canton avenue, and within half-a-dozen steps of the road. Its creeping root-stock, as large as the finger, sends up a profusion of smooth, heart- shaped leaves, from the midst of which the nearly round stem rises, bearing the blossomn, white within, somewhat like the house Calla, but much smaller. The root is acrid, like that of the Arum, but loses its pungency on drying. Linnæus says, "The Laplanders use it for making bread."
The other plant found in various parts of the same meadow, and also along the wet edges of Mattapan street, is the
BUCK BEAN [Menyanthes Trifoliata]. - This is one of the most delicate and beautiful flowers. The root penetrates the bog earth to a great distance horizontally, intersected with joints at each half-inch, from which arise the leaves with three oval somewhat fleshy leaflets.
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HISTORY OF MILTON.
The flower stalk, nearly a foot high, bears a conical cluster of funnel-shaped flowers, white, with the least tinge of pink, their upper surface densely covered with minute fibers, which might be imagined the cotton of the fairies.
ARETHUSA [Arethusa Bulbosa]. - Gray places this among the rare plants. It is abundant in some of our wet meadows in May and June. In the low land between Canton avenue and the ice-pond, and also on Blue Hill avenue, near Mrs. Hemmen- way's pond, it will always reward your search. The erect, smooth stem, leafless in young specimens, bears at its top a single sweet-scented flower, rarely two, of a bright rose-purple, so clear that it seems like woven sunbeams, the five petals taking somewhat the form of an open mouth, curving to one side, and having the lip curled, and bearded in the middle, and its purple variegated with gold and white.
CLEMATIS [Clematis Virginiana]. - In August the Clematis is in blossom. Bigelow says: "It is very abundant on the banks of the Neponset river, Milton." He might now add, "and in all sections of the town." It is a hardy, climbing vine, the stems of its leaves winding around the bushes over which it grows. These are flecked all over with its numerous cymes of white. It is most remarkable, however, when in fruit. The long, feathery, coiled-up tails of its seeds resemble tufts of wool.
Another name for the plant is "Traveller's Joy." Such, indeed, it proves in its wild and graceful festooning of hedge and wall along the dusty thoroughfare. Its other common name is said to have been given by Queen Elizabeth when she saw one of the species imported to England. " Let it be called ' Virgin's Bower,' she said, "for young maidens will delight to sit beneath its pleasant shade."
GOLDENROD [Solidago Canadensis]. ASTER [Aster Laevis]. - The Goldenrods and Asters, blooming at the same time, mingle their showy colors, and all over our town bedeck high- way and field with brightness and beauty.
" Along the roadside, like the flowers of gold, That tawny Incas for their gardens wrought, Heavy with sunshine droops the goldenrod."
" And crowding close along the way, The purple Asters blossom free ; In full profusion far and wide, They fill the path on every side, In loose confusion multiplied To endless harmony."
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FLOWERS.
FRINGED GENTIAN [ Gentiana Crinita]. - In the low mead- ows, at the base of the Blue Hills, late in September and October, the beautiful Fringed Gentian may be seen.
" Those blossoms bright with autumn dew, And colored with the heaven's own blue."
It is quite rare here. The flower is of a deep purple, fringed at the top, sometimes almost twisted, but always of a nearly square tubular opening. It might almost seem that in this late-comer nature was bidding good-by to the flower-seeker till the next spring shall begin the new display.
There is one, however, that blossoms still later, it is the
WITCH HAZEL [Hamamelis Virginica]. - It grows in damp woods, and may be found among the maples opposite the Cen- ter schoolhouse, unless recently cut away. It is a small, bushy tree, sending up a number of oblique trunks, sometimes of the size of a man's arm. Along the smaller branches the sessile flowers are seen, about three together, of a golden yellow. They are the last of a "beauteous sisterhood, the gentle race of flowers," and they remain till the last autumn leaves have fallen ; yes, far into the coldest season, when the winding-sheet of snow is upon the ground, as if they would stay till they could report to the next race of plants what transpired in their win- ter's sleep.
FLOWERING SHRUBS AND TREES.
BARBERRY [Berberis Vulgaris]. - No description of our flora would pass by the Barberry. Few shrubs are more com- mon along our highway and on gravelly soil, and scarcely any more beautiful. The branches are armed with triple thorns, sharper than any needle. The yellow flowers appear in June in hanging clusters. These show a degree of irritability hardly exceeded by the sensitive plant itself. When the flower is fully open the stamens are seen spread out on the inside of the corolla. If now the filament is touched with a spire of grass, or a pin, it instantly contracts and throws the pollen swiftly against the stigma. The abundant clusters of blossoms, suc- ceeded in the autumn by its deep-red berries, place this among our prettiest shrubs.
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