Ivers Family of Dedham, MA

IVERS (New Bedford family). The name Ivers seems one uncommon in New England annals and the family by no means numerous. At Dedham are fragmentary records of the Ivers family name, but nothing of an early date.

William and Gregory Ivers, brothers, appear in Boston in the early part of the eighteenth century. They are said to have come about 1720 with the pioneer Scotch settlers from the North of Ireland. William Ivers married in Boston April 28, 1724, Jane Barber, the ceremony being performed by a Presbyterian minister. Jane Ivers died at Boston in 1789; her will, made April 29, 1776, proved April 13, 1789, Capt. Job Prince, executor, mentions sons James and Thomas, probably the only ones living at the date of making the will.

William Ivers (2), son of William, married (intentions published Dec. 28, 1750) Sarah Flagg, of Boston.

Samuel Ivers, son of William (2), married at Boston April 11, 1784, Mary Brazier, and (second) Aug. 9, 1807, Mary Nanning (or Manning).

Samuel Ivers (2), son of Samuel, born in Boston Feb. 26, 1795, married March 28, 1819, Caroline Fuller, born March 6, 1802. He died March 10, 1869, and she, May 20, 1853. Both are buried at the First Parish church, Dedham. Their children were:

1. George, born Dec. 31, 1819, married Dee. 29, 1844, Eunice White, of Kennebunkport, Maine, and had children
   1. Isabelle
   2. Caroline
   3. George
   4. Another
2. William H., born April 30, 1822, married April 18, 1845, Lucy J. Allen, and had children
   1. William H.
   2. Lucy Adelaide
   3. Charles Francis
   4. Jane Amelia
3. Caroline, born June 14, 1825, married Oct. 19, 1848, James A. Hunnewell, and had children
   1. James W.
   2. Fred A.
   3. Frank May
   4. Henry Allen
   5. Carrie M.
   6. Edith V.
4. Samuel, born June 14, 1828, is mentioned below
5. Francis, born Feb. 28, 1831, died in April, 1893, married Sarah Porter, and had children
   1. Grace A. Haywood
   2. Frank
   3. Carrie Cogswell
6. Warren married Jennie Lovejoy

Samuel Ivers (2) received his preliminary education in the public schools of Boston, and when a young man went to Dedham, where he lived a number of years, later removing to Cambridge and finally to Somerville, Mass., where he died. He was a carpenter and cabinetmaker, and became a contractor and builder. In his later years he was engaged in the retail furniture business.

Samuel Ivers (3), son of Samuel (2), was born in Dedham, Mass., June 14, 1828. He was educated in the schools of his native town, and also in the Washington grammar school of Roxbury, to which place his parents removed during his boyhood. Upon his leaving the Washington school, at about the age of sixteen, the family again moved, this time to Cambridge, and young Ivers entered the dry goods store of Ivers & Campbell, his oldest brother being a member of the firm, then located on Hanover street, and there he acquired his first knowledge of the business world. The firm sold out after he had been with them about a year, and he located in New Bedford, where for a year he clerked in the dry goods store of a Mr. Shaw. Then he engaged as clerk with Nehemiah Leonard in the sperm and whale oil commission and candle manufacturing business. A few years later he was taken into partnership, the firm name becoming N. Leonard & Co., and this association held till the death of Mr. Leonard, in 1869. For some time previous to Mr. Leonard’s death Mr. Ivers had practically the sole charge of the business on account of the feeble health of the former, and he continued it alone for several years afterward. He was also executor and trustee of the estate of Mr. Leonard, which was valued at upward of $100,000. In 1880 Mr. Ivers, with three others, took up the southern Massachusetts territory and organized the Southern Massachusetts Telephone Company, with a capital of $30,000 (increased with the growth of business from time to time until it reached $600,000), of which he was made treasurer and clerk. About the same time he was one of the organizers of the Williams Manufacturing Company, with a capital of $200,000, and one of a number who organized the New Bedford Opera House Company with a capital of $50,000, and built the Opera House, becoming treasurer and clerk of both of the corporations. The New Bedford Theatre building is owned by the New Bedford Opera House Company, which, when the new theatre was erected, increased the capital stock to $100,000.

Subsequently Mr. Ivers was elected treasurer and clerk of the Clarks Cove Guano Company, capital between $700,000 and $800,000. After four or five years of service in these several positions he resigned the treasurership of the Guano Company and soon after that of the Williams Manufacturing Company, the business of the telephone company having increased to such an extent that he could not comfortably attend to the duties of all of them. He was at the time of his death still treasurer and clerk of the Opera House Company and a director of the New England Telephone Company, treasurer of several smaller enterprises, director in several companies of which he had been treasurer, trustee of several estates and trustee of the Five Cents Savings Bank, of which latter he was one of the original incorporators.

In politics he was always a Republican, at times more interested in political movements than others, especially when local matters of importance were issues. He had been a member of the Republican city committee at different times and its chairman or treasurer a number of times. He had held a few local offices, and at one time, during his absence from home and without his knowledge, he was nominated for representative in the Legislature. That he was not elected gave him much gratification, as he had always preferred business to public station. He had been asked repeatedly to be a candidate for the common council, the board of aldermen, and for the mayoralty, but in all such cases positively declined. He had been long prominent in the North Congregational Church and was treasurer of the Sunday school for about fifteen years. He was a member of the Wamsutta Club, one of the few who started and organized it, and its treasurer for fifteen years, and he was a member of the New Bedford Board of Trade.

Mr. Ivers married (first) Oct. 29, 1851, Jane Frances Tobey, daughter of Jonathan and Hannah (Sears) Tobey. She died early in 1853, and he married (second) late in 1855 Elizabeth Perkins, daughter of John Perkins. She died in 1885. By his first marriage there was one daughter, Ella Frances, who makes her home in New Bedford. To the second marriage was also born a daughter, Lizzie Perkins, who died Oct. 30, 1883. Mr. Ivers died at his home in New Bedford Nov. 24, 1905. He was a man of strong personality. Though receiving in his youth only such school advantages as were accorded to the average young man of the time, he made the most of his opportunities. He was fond of books, and was a student of Shakespeare. His mental activities were varied and analytical, and in his more mature years was developed that creative faculty for organization and promotion. In his private life he was a kind husband and father, and in his citizenship an example for young and old alike.