Foxboro Massachusetts Genealogy

Descendants of Thomas Boyden of Bridgewater, MA

BOYDEN (Walpole-Bridgewater family). For a half century – for fifty and more years: – the name Boyden has stood in the town of Bridgewater, Mass., as a synonym for the highest type of useful, ennobling and elevating citizenship, as exemplified in the life of the now venerable principal emeritus of the Bridgewater State Normal School, Prof. Albert Gardner Boyden, who for the long period of fifty and more years has been identified as student, teacher and principal with the noted institution of learning alluded to, and has reared a son who has taken up the work so recently laid down … Read more

Genealogy of the Rhodes Family of Taunton Massachusetts

Through much of the century but recently closed and on into this has dwelt in Taunton and New Bedford, Mass., a family bearing the name of Rhodes. Reference is made to some of the descendants of the late Stephen and Anna Daniels (Carpenter) Rhodes, whose birthplaces were Dedham and Foxboro, Mass., respectively. Their son, Stephen Rhodes (4), became the head of the Taunton family, several members of which in succeeding generations have given a good account of themselves in the business and social life of their community, rising to useful and substantial citizenship, and as well to responsible public trust. The names of Hon. Stephen H. Rhodes, of Boston, late president of the John Hancock Insurance Company, who for years was prominent in the activities of Taunton, a member of the board of aldermen some forty years ago, and mayor of the city for one or two years; his brother, the present John Corey Rhodes, one of the best known manufacturers of southeastern Massachusetts; another brother, the present Marcus Morton Rhodes, Esq., who for perhaps a half century or more has been actively engaged in business in Taunton, and the greater part of the period as a senior member of the firm or corporation of M. M. Rhodes & Sons Company, and at one time one of the board of water commissioners of the city; the latter’s son, George Holbrook Rhodes, long a partner and stockholder of the firm and corporation just alluded to, and for years its treasurer, many years in succession a member of the common council of Taunton and for a number of years president of that body; John Bird Rhodes, son of John Corey Rhodes, chief executive of John C. Rhodes & Co., Inc., of New Bedford; and perhaps others as well, ever stand out prominently in the annals of Taunton.

Hartshorne-Hartshorn Family of Taunton, Massachussetts

One branch of the earlier Reading Hartshorne family, and the one to which this article is more especially directed, found its way into what is now the town of Foxboro, Mass., and a later generation removed to Taunton, Mass., where the name has long been representative of substantial men and women and useful citizenship. Reference is made to some of the posterity of Jeremiah Hartshorne, who was of Foxboro prior to the Revolution, and maybe the Jeremiah whom records of Reading show connected with lengthy service in that struggle. Notably at Taunton have lived and figured in its social and business life the late Charles Warren and George F., sons of the late Jesse Hartshorne, and of a still later generation the late George Trumbull Hartshorne, a liberally educated gentleman, who for a period was an instructor in his alma mater – Harvard – and later an analytic chemist of his native city, in fine, a cultured gentleman prominent in the social life of Taunton.

Descendants of Francis Brayton of Fall River, MA

BRAYTON. The first in America by this name, one Francis Brayton, came from England to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where, in 1643, he was received as an inhabitant, in 1655, became a freeman, and to him nearly if not all the Braytons of New England trace their origin. He early entered into the political life of the country, serving as a member of the General Court of Commissioners for the Colony, for many years as member of the Rhode Island General Assembly, and frequently during the later generations his descendants have held positions of responsibility and trust in the public offices … Read more

Ancestors of Alexander Holmes of Kingston, MA

The family of Alexander Holmes of Kingston, MA is one of long and honorable standing in New England, and there the branch is represented by the family of the late Alexander Holmes, who for years was president of the Old Colony and Fall River Railroad. Across the water in old England the Holmes family history reaches back to the year 1066, when one John Holmes, the founder of the Holmes family, is credited with being a volunteer in the army of William, Duke of Normandy.