Ancestors of William P. Whitman of Brockton, MA

William S. Whitman

WILLIAM P. WHITMAN, president and treasurer of the well-known shoe manufacturing concern of the Whitman & Keith Company, of Brockton, and one of that city’s successful and progressive business men, as was his father before him, is a descendant of distinguished and historic New England ancestry. Mr. Whitman is a direct descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, of the “Mayflower,” 1620; of Rev. James Keith, the first ordained minister of Bridgewater; and of John Whitman, who settled in Weymouth, Mass., as early as 1638, from whom descended many persons eminent in professional life and otherwise, among them Dr. Marcus Whitman, who saved the vast territory of Oregon to the United States; Hon. Ezekiel Whitman, for many years chief justice of the Superior and Supreme courts of the State of Maine; and Hon. William E. Russell, twice governor of Massachusetts.

Ancestors of Horace Alden Keith of Brockton, MA

Horace Alden Keith

Horace Alden Keith, founder of the Brockton Webbing Company, one of the successful and thriving industries of Brockton, and one of that city’s enterprising and progressive business men, is a descendant on both his paternal and maternal sides of historic old New England ancestry. Mr. Keith was born in West Bridgewater May 25, 1862, eldest son of the late Henry Snell and Thalia (Alden) Keith. The ancestral line of the branch of the Keith family in this country to which Horace Alden Keith belongs, and which follows, is given in chronological order from the first American ancestor. Rev. James Keith, born in 1644, was educated in Aberdeen, Scotland (as tradition says at the expense of a maiden aunt), where he was graduated likely from Marischal College, his name appearing on the roll of 1657, said college having been founded by George, the fifth Earl of Keith Marischal, in 1593. At the age of eighteen years he emigrated to this country, arriving at Boston in 1662. He was introduced to the church at Bridgewater by Dr. Increase Mather, and became settled as the minister of the Bridgewater Church Feb. 18, 1664. Rev. James Keith passed away in West Bridgewater July 23, 1719, aged seventy-six years, having labored in the ministry of the town for fifty-six years.

Descendants of Charles Keith of Bridgewater, Massachusetts

Rev. James Keith

For the ancestry of Charles Keith, please see Descendants of Rev. James Keith of Bridgewater, Massachusetts (VI) Charles Keith, son of Benjamin, was born Aug. 8, 1794, and married Dec. 8, 1817, Mehitable Perkins, born March 23, 1795, daughter of Josiah and Anna (Reynolds) Perkins, of North Bridgewater, both of whom were descendants of historic old New England families. To this union were born children as follows: Damaris Williams Keith, born Oct. 8, 1818, married Vinal Lyon, of North Bridgewater, where she died Charles Perkins Keith, born June 20, 1820, is mentioned below Anna Reynolds Keith, born Nov. 11, 1822, … Read more

Ancestry of the Embert Howard Family of Brockton Massachusetts

Embert Howard

EMBERT HOWARD, long one of the most successful business men of Brockton, of which city he is also one of the foremost citizens, is a worthy representative of a family which has historic identity with the earliest settling of New England. For two hundred and sixty and more years the family bearing this name has dwelt in the Bridgewaters and in the region of country thereabouts, the posterity of John Haward, who was one of the early settlers of Duxbury, Mass. The genealogy following traces the line in chronological order from this immigrant ancestor.

Ancestry of Charles Oliver Emerson of Brockton and Rockland, Massachusetts

Charles Oliver Emerson, treasurer of the Emerson Shoe Company, of Rockland, Mass., one who has been prominently identified with the shoe manufacturing industry for a number of years, is a native of what at the time of his birth, July 14, 1856, was known as the town of North Bridgewater, now the city of Brockton, Mass., where he resides. He is a son of the late John Oliver Emerson and his wife, Caroline Augusta Packard, and is descended from historic old New England ancestry on both the paternal and maternal sides.