North Bridgewater Massachusetts

North Bridgewater Massachusetts, now known as Brockton, underwent a significant transformation in both name and character since its establishment. Initially part of the larger Bridgewater area, settled in 1656, North Bridgewater distinguished itself as a separate entity in 1821. The area’s evolution from agricultural roots to a thriving industrial hub is emblematic of the broader shifts in the 19th century American Northeast. Renamed Brockton in 1874, in honor of Captain Isaac Brock, a British army officer noted for his role in the War of 1812, the city became renowned for its shoe manufacturing, earning the moniker “Shoe City.” Brockton’s transition from North Bridgewater to its current identity reflects its dynamic response to industrialization and urbanization, positioning it as a pivotal center in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. This change encapsulated not just a shift in economic focus but also in social and community identity, mirroring the industrial growth that swept through New England during that era.

Baxendale Family of Brockton, Massachusetts

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Thomas Albert Baxendale, late of Brockton, was for a number of years successfully and prominently identified with industrial interests as a manufacturer of box toes for men’s boots and shoes. He won distinction in business circles as the founder of that branch of the shoe business in which he made his chief success – the manufacture of box toes – and was a substantial and respected citizen of the city in which his success was achieved. Mr. Baxendale was of English birth and parentage, born Feb. 29, 1840, in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, youngest child of the late Robert and Hannah (Dawson) Baxendale.

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Huet Genealogy of Brockton, Massachusetts

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Reference is here made to the branch of this family to which belonged the late Joseph Hewett, who for a period of thirty years was an honored resident of Brockton, and his posterity, numbered among whom have been men prominently identified with the business interests of the city for many years. Thomas Huet, born in 1609, was an early inhabitant of Hingham and a landholder. Probably Huet’s Cove in that vicinity took its name from him. He married (first) Elizabeth, daughter of William Chapman, who died in 1639, leaving most of his property to his daughter just named. She died May 22, 1649,” in Hingham. He married (second) Mrs. Mary Cutler, widow of John Cutler. Mr. Huet was a tailor and resided in West Hingham. He was made a freeman May 26, 1647. He died May 24, 1670, in Hingham, aged about sixty-one. His wife outlived him and removed to Charlestown.

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Descendants of Veranus Filoon of North Bridgewater, MA

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For several generation the family bearing the name of Filoon has live in Abington and North Bridgewater (now Brockton), where evidence of their thrift, solidity and respectability are manifest, and there also have lived the Bretty and Fullerton families, with which the more recent generations of the Filoons have been allied through marriage, the Brett family being one of the ancient families of the Old Colony and its progenitor an original proprietor of Bridgewater. This article is to particularly treat of the branch of the Filoon family to which belonged the late Veranus Filoon, who was long and prominently identified with the business and social circles of North Bridgewater and Brockton, and his son, the present Fred W. Filoon, who as his father’s successor is continuing the business with marked success, as well as the former’s brother, the present Henry H. Filoon, who has long been a leading and successful practicing dentist.

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Ancestry of Charles Oliver Emerson of Brockton and Rockland, Massachusetts

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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.

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Descendants of William Brett of Bridgewater, MA

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Ellis Brett, president of the Plymouth County Trust Company, of Brockton, and one of that city’s honored and respected citizens, is a worthy representative of historic New England ancestry, the Brett family having resided in this community since the first settlement of the mother town of Bridgewater, from which the town of North Bridgewater (now Brockton) was set off. Mr. Brett was born in the latter town Oct. 23, 1840, only son of Ephraim and Ruth (Copeland) Brett. The early history of the Brett family in America begins with William Brett, who came to Duxbury, Mass., in 1645, from Kent, England, and later became one of the fifty-four original proprietors and first settlers of the town of ancient Bridgewater, settling in the West parish of the town. He was an elder in the church, and often when the Rev. James Keith, the first ordained pastor of the church there, was ill, Mr. Brett preached to the people. He was a leading man in both church and town affairs, and was deputy to the General Court from the date of the in-corporation of ancient Bridgewater in 1656 to 1661. That he was well educated and intelligent is manifest from a letter to Governor Winslow, still extant, and he was much esteemed by his brethren and often employed in their secular affairs. He died Dec. 17, 1681, aged sixty-three years

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Descendants of Charles Little Hauthaway of North Bridgewater MA

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For nearly a century there have lived in North Bridgewater and Brockton representatives of an earlier family of the name in and about Boston. Reference is made to some of the descendants of Charles Little Hauthaway, who, coming from Roxbury in youth, in 1828, cast his lot with the people of North Bridgewater, where have figured most successfully three generations of the family. From members of this family it seems that the English spelling of the name is Haughtweight or Hautweight, which may be the same as the old County Suffolk English spelling Hautwat, a name still extant there. The records of a century and more ago in Boston reveal the spelling Hauthwait, one Francis Hauthwait being the owner and occupier of a dwelling “North on West street; east by John Ballard; West by Frothingham.”

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Ancestry of Loyed Ellis Chamberlain of Brockton, Massachusetts

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Conspicuous on the roll of the representative lawyers of southeastern Massachusetts appears the name of Loyed Ellis Chamberlain. In no profession is there a career more open to men of talent than in that of the law, and in no field of endeavor is there demanded a more careful preparation, a more perfect appreciation of

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Ancestry of the Embert Howard Family of Brockton Massachusetts

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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.

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Genealogy of the Fox Family of Taunton, Massachusetts

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The Connecticut-Massachusetts branch of the earlier family of this name of the old Bay State is one of long and honorable standing in New England, and as well of historic connection. The especial family here considered, and which for designation is styled the Taunton family, is that of pome of the descendants of Capt. Jabez Fox, of Berkley, Mass., one of whose sons was the late Henry Hodges Fox and the latter’s son the present Hon. William Henry Fox, lawyer and judge, who for forty and more years has been judge of the First District court of Bristol county and otherwise prominently identified with the public affairs of the city of Taunton.

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Ancestors of Warren A. Reed of Brockton Massachusetts

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The Reed family of Brockton, Mass., a leading member of which was Judge Warren A. Reed, lawyer and jurist, who for over a third of a century had been one of the foremost citizens of Brockton, and during the greater part of that long period connected with the judicial, civic and financial interests of the city, district and State, is one of long and honorable standing in this Commonwealth, and one the forerunner of which came to these shores over two hundred and fifty years ago. Many members of this historic family have given good account of themselves, and many are there who have been prominent in the history of this country. An account of the branch of the family to which Judge Reed belongs is here given in chronological order, beginning with the earliest American ancestor.

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Ancestry of Moses Adams Packard of Brockton, Massachusetts

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Moses Adams Packard, of Brockton, where he has been so long and so successfully engaged in the manufacture of shoes, is as well one of that city’s highly honored and respected citizens. Mr. Packard began life with little capital save boundless energy and a resolute purpose, and has pushed his way upward against almost every kind of obstacle until he now holds a foremost position among the leading manufacturers in this Commonwealth, vindicating the old saying, “Labor is king.” He was born Feb. 28, 1843, in New London, N. H., which was the home of his mother, while his father was a native of North Bridgewater, and a descendant of one of the old and historical families of Massachusetts.

Since its coming to this Bridgewater settlement, which was the first interior settlement of the Old Colony, as early as 1664, to the present time, for nearly two hundred and fifty years, the Packard family has been one prominent and influential in this community, and has become a most numerous family, many, too, of its members both at home and abroad having given a good account of themselves.

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Descendants of John Saxton Kent of North Bridgewater, MA

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HON. JOHN SAXTON KENT, ex-mayor of the city of Brockton, and one of that city’s leading manufacturers, is as well one of the most enterprising and progressive citizens who have made their way to success in this Commonwealth. Merit commands recognition, and the deserving find doors opening and the way growing plainer as they go

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Ancestors of Horace Alden Keith of Brockton, MA

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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.

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Ancestors of John Jay Whipple of Brockton, Massachusetts

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For nearly fifty years the name of Whipple has been one of Brockton citizenship, representing a family here of substance and exceptional prominence in the community. Reference is made to the late Ferdinand Whipple and his son, the present Hon. John Jay Whipple, who together and in turn have been among Brockton’s successful business men, the son having figured conspicuously in public affairs, filling most of the offices within the gift of his fellow citizens, among other honors having been four times elected to the mayoralty of the city of Brockton. The Whipple family is one long prominent in the country, the earlier generations having been conspicuous in Rhode Island’s Colonial period, it being a Rhode Island family.

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Ancestors of Everett Clinton Hall of Brockton, MA

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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.

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Descendants of Charles Howard, North Bridgewater, MA

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CHARLES HOWARD, founder and president of the Howard & Poster Company, one of the largest and best known shoe manufacturing concerns in this Commonwealth, and an original promoter of the Brockton Agricultural Society, of which he is also president, is one of the foremost business men and citizens of Brockton, Plymouth Co., Mass., for over

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