This Boston – East Bridgewater Chandler family, the head of which was the late Hon. Peleg Whitman Chandler, long one of the leading counselors of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and one of a family of lawyers, comes of a Massachusetts-Maine branch of the ancient Duxbury family whose progenitor was Edmund Chandler. The branch just alluded to for several generations at New Gloucester and Bangor, Maine, and at Boston in this Commonwealth, has been one of liberal education, college-bred men, men who have adorned the legal profession, and it has allied itself through generations with a number of the ancient and first families of the Old Colony.
Here in East Bridgewater the family is represented by one of the sons of Horace Parker Chandler, Esq., of Boston, and grandson of the distinguished late Hon. Peleg Whitman Chandler of that city. This East Bridgewater citizen, Cleaveland Angier Chandler, is in the midst of the activities of this section. He may justly take pride in the careers of his long line of Massachusetts forbears, in the many of them connected as patriots with that memorable struggle of the Colonies for independence, among whom were Peleg Chandler, member of the Committee of Safety of New Gloucester, Maine, 1778-1783; Hugh Orr, appointed on the Committee for Plymouth county, Mass., to raise men for New York and Canada, employed to make arms, and under whose superintendence a foundry was erected for casting cannon; Oakes Angier, who signed the Association Test at Bridgewater; Isaac Parsons, captain, Colonel Prince’s regiment, May 2 — Dec. 31, 1780, service at the eastward; Edward Howard, who signed the Association Test, 1776; Parker Cleaveland, who served as chaplain at several stations during the Revolution, notably Cambridge, in Connecticut and on the Hudson; Parker Cleaveland, Jr., sergeant, Col. Paul D. Sergeant’s 16th Massachusetts regiment, May 22 — July 31, 1775; Ephraim Hathaway, captain 3d company, 2d Bristol County regiment, April 26, 1776, captain, Colonel Pope’s regiment, service at Rhode Island on the alarm of Dec. 8, 1776, captain, Col. Thomas Carpenter’s regiment, July 20, 1777, to Aug. 24, 1777, service in Rhode Island; Sylvanus Lazel, private, Captain Orr’s company, Col. John Bailley’s regiment, at Lexington alarm, private, Capt. David Kingman’s company, Col. Edward Mitchell’s regiment, alarm Squantum, March, 1776; Edward Mitchell, colonel, 3d Plymouth County regiment, Aug. 31, 1775, same regiment Feb. 7, 1776, same for service at Bristol, Rhode Island, Dec. 8, 1776.
There follows in chronological order from Edmund Chandler, the first American ancestor of this branch of American Chandlers, and in detail the family history and genealogy.
(I) Edmund Chandler appears an inhabitant of Duxbury, where he was made a freeman in 1633. He was constable of the town in 1636-37. His death occurred in 1662. In his will, proved June 4, 1662, he mentions children:
- Samuel Chandler
- Benjamin Chandler
- Joseph Chandler
- Sarah Chandler
- Ann Chandler
- Mary Chandler
- Ruth Chandler
(II) Joseph Chandler, son of Edmund, married and had children:
- John Chandler, who married Sarah Weston
- Joseph Chandler
- Edmund Chandler
- Benjamin Chandler
(III) Joseph Chandler (2), son of Joseph, married in 1701, Martha Hunt, and their children were born as follows:
- Philip Chandler, born in 1702
- Mary Chandler, born in 1704
- Joshua Chandler, born in 1706
- Zachariah Chandler, born in 1708
- Edmund Chandler, born in 1710
- Ebenezer Chandler, born in 1712
- Sarah Chandler, born in 1714
- Martha Chandler, born in 1716
- Jonathan Chandler, born in 1718
- Judah Chandler, born in 1720
(IV) Philip Chandler, son of Joseph (2), born in 1702, married in 1725 Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Phillips, and lived in Duxbury. Their children were:
- Nathan Chandler, born in 1726
- Betty Chandler, born in 1728
- Perez Chandler, born in 1730
- Esther Chandler, twin born in 1732
- Martha Chandler, twin, born in 1732
- Peleg Chandler, born in 1735
- Philip Chandler, born in 1738; married Christian, daughter of Blaney Phillip
- Asa Chandler, born in 1743
- Mary Chandler, born in 1744
- Elijah Chandler, born in 1747
(V) Peleg Chandler, son of Philip and Rebecca (Phillips) Chandler, born April 27, 1735, in Duxbury, Mass., married at North Yarmouth, Maine, Dec. 9, 1762, Sarah, daughter of Barnabas Winslow, who was a direct descendant of Kenelm Winslow, who with his brother Josiah, both brothers of Gov. Edward Winslow, came from Droitwitch, Worcestershire, England, probably in 1629, at least were here Jan. 1, 1632-33, when Kenelm was made a freeman. He removed from Plymouth to Marshfield about 1641.
After their marriage Mr. Peleg Chandler and wife removed from North Yarmouth, Maine, to New Gloucester, in that State, a distance of some fifteen miles, being conveyed thither in an oxcart, the first wheeled vehicle that had been used to perform that journey. Mr. and Mrs. Chandler were two of the five members who composed the first Orthodox Congregational Church in the town. Both died in New Gloucester, he Aug. 24, 1819, and she in 1823. Their children, all born in New Gloucester, were:
- Mercy Chandler, born Sept. 16, 1763, married Fisher Hatch
- Sarah Chandler, born Dec. 13, 1765, died in 1776
- Philip Chandler, born May 23, 1767, married Deborah Hewett and second, Jane Moody, of Portland, Maine
- Martha Chandler, born Aug. 12, 1769, married Capt. Isaac Parsons
- Peleg Chandler, born July 26, 1771, died in 1773
- Peleg Chandler (2) was born Sept. 9, 1773
- George Washington Chandler, born Dec. 7, 1775, died Feb. 9, 1778
- Sarah Chandler, born June 27, 1778, died Dec. 3, 1780
- Salome Chandler, born Sept. 22, 1783, married Dexter Bearce
- Samuel Chandler, born Aug. 11, 1785, died in September, 1785
(VI) Peleg Chandler (2), son of Peleg, born Sept. 9, 1773, in New Gloucester, Maine, married there Dec. 7, 1797, Esther, born Jan. 18, 1775, in New Gloucester, daughter of Col. Isaac Parsons,