Middleboro Massachusetts Genealogy – Page 2 of 3

Knowles Family of New Bedford, MA

The family bearing this name in New Bedford, where it is one of nearly one hundred years’ standing one, too, of prominence and wealth, is a branch of the ancient Knowles family of the town of Eastham, Barnstable county, this Commonwealth. Reference is made to some of the descendants of the brothers Thomas and James H. Knowles of Eastham, several of whose sons – at least two of the former and one of the latter – in their earlier manhood cast their lot with the people of New Bedford. The firm of Thomas Knowles & Co. for many years was one of the greatest engaged in the whale fishery business in New Bedford; and its members in turn have been succeeded in business by younger generations who have most worthily worn the family name and sustained its reputation; and today the name continues of record in and about the city of their birth connected prominently with many of the most extensive commercial establishments and banking institutions of the locality.

Descendants of Rev. James Keith in Bridgewater, Massachusetts

The Keith family is one of the oldest of southeastern Massachusetts. Its founder in America was Rev. James Keith, born in 1644, who came to America, landing in Boston in 1662. He became minister of the Bridgewater Church, where he administered to the spiritual needs of the people for half a century. He died July 23, 1719. He was twice married. His first wife was Susannah Edson, daughter of Deacon Samuel Edson.

Descendants of Benjamin S. Atwood of Whitman, MA

Benjamin S. Atwood, the well-known box manufacturer of Whitman, Mass., was one of the best known men in Plymouth county, and as a business man and as a soldier stood high in the estimation of all who know him. He was born in the town of Carver, Plymouth county, June 25, 1840. The Atwood family of which Benjamin S. Atwood is a descendant is an old and prominent family of Plymouth Colony. The founder was John Wood, who came to Plymouth in 1643, and was later known as John Atwood – a spelling of the name that has been retained to the present time.

Genealogy of Edward A. Gammons of Wareham, MA

EDWARD A. GAMMONS of Wareham, well-known citizen and banker, is a native of that section of the State, born in South Wareham Jan. 15, 1842, son of William and Deborah Bryant (Gallt) Gammons. The Gammons family is supposed to be of English origin, and is found in many parts of New England. The name has been variously spelled – Gammons, Gammon, Gamon, Gamons and Gamans. One Philip Gammon, a fisherman, of Casco, and later of Portsmouth, N. H., was married prior to 1690, his wife being the eldest daughter of John Parrott; and there was Robert Gammon, of Pemoquid, who … Read more

Washburn Genealogy of Bridgewater Massachusetts

Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts

John Washburn, first of the name here, was an early settler in New England, and was a resident of Duxbury, Mass., before 1632, in which year he had an action in court against Edward Doten. He was named in the assessment of taxes in 1633, and in 1634 bought a place from Edward Bonparse known as “Eagle’s Nest.” He and his two sons, John and Philip, were included with those able to bear arms in 1643. He and his son John were original proprietors of Bridgewater, and they with the son Philip settled in the town as early as 1665. He died in Bridgewater before 1670.

Descendants of John Washburn of Duxbury, MA

The Washburn name in this country is a distinguished one. Perhaps it is as yet only a tradition that John Washburn, the ancestor of the Washburns here considered, was he who first served as secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Several governors of our States have borne the Washburn name and at one and the same time four of the name occupied seats in the United States Congress. And the branch of the Massachusetts Washburns seated in Middleboro and vicinity have borne no small part in the annals of the Old Colony and later Commonwealth. Capt. Amos Washburn was in command of a company in the American Revolution; one of his sons, a graduate of Harvard, was a talented lawyer at Middleboro; Edward Washburn, brother of Capt. Amos, was another patriot in the Continental army; and his son, Gen. Abiel Washburn, was one of the leading men of his time in Middleboro, the acknowledged leader of the Federal party, and for thirty-six years held commissions through the different grades of office in the State militia; while Luther, Cyrus and the late Bradford Sumner Washburn, in turn, were substantial citizens of the town, and the latter’s son, Judge Nathan Washburn, lawyer and present Justice of the Courts of Plymouth county, is giving a good account of himself.

Descendants of Hon. Horatio Leonard Cushman of Taunton, MA

CUSHMAN (Taunton family). The Cushman family of Taunton here briefly reviewed, the family and lineage of the late Hon. Horatio Leonard Cushman, long one of the leading citizens and substantial men of Taunton, at one time the city’s chief executive officer, and who had served most efficiently in both branches of the city government, as alderman and councilman, and who in turn has been followed by his son, Seth Leonard Cushman, Esq., who for many years has been president of the Bristol County National Bank, is a branch of the family bearing the name of ancient Plymouth, which with its … Read more

Cushman Family of Acushnet, MA

For perhaps fifty years there has lived in what is now Acushnet and figured largely in the industrial life of the locality a branch of the ancient and historic Cushman family of the Old Colony, in the immediate family of the late Emery Cushman, whose early life was passed in Duxbury; himself the founder of an enterprise here in which he was succeeded by his son and the latter by his sons, all of whom contributed through the manufacturing plant to the material progress and welfare of their locality.

It will be remembered that Robert Cushman was one of the most active and influential men in all of the preliminary movements of the Pilgrims in going to Leyden and thence to New England, he the ancestor of the Cushman family here in question, the marriage of whose son into the Howland family further identifies it with the “Mayflower” party.

There follows the history and genealogy of this Acushnet Cushman family in chronological order from this first American ancestor.

Stetson Family of Bridgewater, MA

The Stetson family of Bridgewater is one of the oldest and most prominent in that section of the State, and it has for upward of two centuries been identified with the manufacturing interests of the town, its representatives being the founders of the iron industry of Bridgewater. Especial reference is made to Capt. Abisha Stetson, who was one of the first to engage in the iron business; his son, Nahum Stetson, whose name was a household word in his native town, and who by his great foresight, enterprise and progressive ideas built up the great Bridgewater Iron Works; and the latter’s sons and grandsons, all men of substance and good citizenship.

Descendants of Lucius Reed, of Abington, Massachusetts

Lucius Reed, of Abington, Mass., was a descendant of (I) William Reade, who came to this country in the vessel “Assurance de Lo” in 1635, fifteen years after the arrival of the “Mayflower,” and settled in Weymouth, Mass. The line is through his son William Reed, who married Esther Thompson, of Middleboro, whose mother was Mary Cooke, daughter of Francis Cooke, who landed in 1620, from the “Mayflower.”

History of Middleboro Massachusetts

An historical sketch about Middleboro, Plymouth County, Massachusetts as abstracted from the Plymouth County Directory and Historical Register of 1867. Includes a list of the men from Middleboro who gave their life during the Revolutionary War.

Biography of Maj. Herbert Allyne Clark

Maj. Herbert Allyne Clark (deceased), of Attleboro, Mass., who in recent years was Regimental Quartermaster of the United States Volunteer Army, and a man widely known, was the only surviving son of Samuel W. and Charity H. (Cushman) Clark, and was born in Middleboro, Mass., Feb. 22, 1859.

Ancestry of Herbert Isam Mitchell of Brockton, MA

The family bearing the name of Mitchell is one of the oldest in the New World, its progenitor being Experience Mitchell, who came over in 1623 in the “Ann,” and from that time to the present the records of various towns of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, chiefly Plymouth, Duxbury and the Bridgewaters, bear mute testimony of the prominence in peace and war of the members of the family in the different generations, and the present head of the family in Brockton, Isam Mitchell, president of Isam Mitchell & Co., lumber dealers and contractors, and his son, the late Herbert Isam Mitchell, active in business with his father and prominent in fraternal circles, have proved themselves firm in purpose and able in business.

Descendants of Rev. James Keith of Bridgewater, MA

The name Keith has been a conspicuous one in the history of this Commonwealth since the first interior settlement was made, and the descendants of this time-honored family have been prominently identified with the development and growth of this community from the time of the ordination of the first minister of the settlement – Rev. James Keith, in 1664 – down to the present time, covering a period of nearly 250 years. This article is to treat particularly of the branch of descendants of Rev. James Keith to which belonged the late Simeon Cary Keith, who was an honored citizen of West Bridgewater, and his three sons, Warren R. Keith, who is president of the Independent Oil Company, of Brockton; Edward H. Keith, who is ex-mayor of the city of Brockton, and general inspector of the George E. Keith Company’s shoe factories; and S. Elliott Keith, who was a foreman in the extensive shoe manufacturing plant of the George E. Keith Company for a number of years and is now secretary of the Independent Oil Company. The ancestry of this branch of the family follows in chronological order.

Genealogy of the Eldridge Family of Taunton, Massachusetts

Some four generations of this surname have lived in Taunton through the past hundred years, a branch of the ancient Cape Cod Eldridge family. Reference is made to some of the posterity of Eli Eldridge, whose son, Eli Henry, and the latter’s sons, John Henry and Capt. Albert Stanley Eldridge, all either together or in turn have been identified with one of the solid industries of the city – one of their own founding and fostering and developing, which has come to be an important factor in Taunton history. This was the britannia establishment of Eldridge & Co., whose promoters and owners have long been men of substance and prominent in Taunton’s social and business life.

Edmund Weston Genealogy

Edmund Weston Genealogy: The descendants of Edmund Weston of Duxbury Massachusetts for several generations.

Dwelly Family of Fall River, MA

DWELLY (Fall River family). The name Dwelly is an uncommon one and the family not numerous in New England annals. The Fall River Dwelly family is a branch of the Rhode Island family and it of the Scituate (Mass.) family, the immediate Fall River family here considered being that of Dr. Jerome Dwelly, who for some threescore or more years has administered to the ailments of humanity in and about Fall River, where he has most surely been to this people the “beloved physician” and one of the city’s substantial men. In the succeeding generation, one of his sons – … Read more

Copeland Family of Easton, MA

COPELAND (Whitman family). The family bearing this name is one of long and honorable standing in southeastern Massachusetts. Early at Braintree, then at Bridgewater, and for generations in the town of Easton, this Easton-Whitman branch of the earlier Braintree stock has for several generations been one of Easton’s leading families, and more recently – a later generation – in the new town of Whitman, formerly South Abington. Reference is made to the forefathers of the present George Copeland and Horatio Franklin Copeland, M. D., brothers. The latter though of Easton birth has been for nearly half a century active and … Read more

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 Everett Clinton Hall of Brockton, MA

EVERETT CLINTON HALL, wholesale grocer at Brockton, is one of that thriving city’s enterprising and progressive young business men, one who by his own efforts has risen to a position of affluence through his energy and ability to take the initiative combined with natural-born business acumen. Mr. Hall is a descendant of several of the earliest settled families of this Commonwealth, numbering among his ancestors several of the country’s most noted Pilgrims, among these being John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. The Hall family ancestry following is given in chronological order.