Pierce Family of North Bridgewater, MA

chester pierce

The Pierce families of this country are and have long been very numerous. Early in the settlement of New England came representatives from England, most of them not related, so far as now known. Among them were Abraham, of Plymouth, 1623, who became one of the original purchasers of Bridgewater in 1645; Daniel, of Newbury, blacksmith, who came from Ipswich, County of Suffolk, in 1634, aged twenty-three years; John, of Dorchester, mariner from Stepney, Middlesex, before 1631; another John, of Dorchester and Boston; John, of Watertown, 1638; Capt. Michael, of Hingham and Scituate; Richard, of Portsmouth, R. I.; Robert, of Dorchester; Thomas, of Charlestown, who was admitted to the church there in 1634; and Capt. William, of Boston, who was a distinguished shipmaster of his time.

John Gyles Captivity Narrative – Indian Captivities

St John River Map

John Gyles captivity narrative provides a stunning display of Abenaki culture and lifestyle, as it was in the 1690’s. John was 10 years old when he was taken captive in the attack on Pemaquid (Bristol Maine) and his narrative provides an accounting of his harrowing treatment by his Indian captors, as well as the three years exile with his French owners at Jemseg New Bruswick. His faith in Christ remains central in the well-being of his mind throughout his ordeal.

Howland Family of Duxbury, MA

howland

HOWLAND. Arthur and Henry Howland are believed to have come to America together and probably before 1625; they appeared in Plymouth Colony in the early days of its settlement. They were members of the Society of Friends and most of their descendants for many generations were, and many at the present time are, Friends. Arthur lived for a few years in Plymouth, then became a landholder and resident of Marshfield; while Henry, the progenitor of the Ancient Dartmouth Howland family, the branch here specially considered, lived at Duxbury. The first mention of him in New England is that made in … Read more

Hussey and Morgan Families of New Bedford MA

HUSSEY-MORGAN (New Bedford families). These families, while not among those early here, are of approximately a hundred years’ standing in this community, and with their allied connections are among the very respectable and wealthy families of the locality, the heads of two of these families here considered being the late George Hussey and Charles Wain Morgan, who were extensively engaged in whaling and shipping interests here in New Bedford through much of the first half of the nineteenth century. Here follows in detail arranged chronologically from the first American ancestor the Hussey genealogy, together with that of some of its … Read more

Descendants of John Washburn of Duxbury, MA

nathan washburn

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.

Early Indian Wars in New England

Early New England Tribes Map

The history of the settlers of New England is fraught with the troubles of Indian hostilities. This is a history of the early Indian wars in New England. In 1620, a company belonging to Mr. Robinson’s church, at Leyden, in Holland, foreseeing many inconveniences likely to increase, from the residence of English dissenters under a foreign government, and hoping to find an asylum, and a refuge from persecution in the New World, applied to King James for liberty to place themselves in some part of New England; and obtained a grant of some place about Hudson river. They set sail … Read more

Narrative of the Captivity of Nehemiah How

Fort Dummer

A Narrative of the captivity of Nehemiah How, who was taken by the Indians at the Great Meadow Fort above Fort Dummer, where he was an inhabitant, October 11th, 1745. Giving an account of what he met with in his traveling to Canada, and while he was in prison there. Together with an account of Mr. How’s death at Canada. Exceedingly valuable for the many items of exact intelligence therein recorded, relative to so many of the present inhabitants of New England, through those friends who endured the hardships of captivity in the mountain deserts and the damps of loathsome prisons. Had the author lived to have returned, and published his narrative himself, he doubtless would have made it far more valuable, but he was cut off while a prisoner, by the prison fever, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, after a captivity of one year, seven months, and fifteen days. He died May 25th, 1747, in the hospital at Quebec, after a sickness of about ten days. He was a husband and father, and greatly beloved by all who knew him.

Biography of Maj. Herbert Allyne Clark

Herbert A. 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.

Ancestors of Charles W. Milliken of Barnstable, MA

CHARLES WARREN MILLIKEN, M. D., of Barnstable, Barnstable Co., Mass., engaged as a general practitioner of medicine, has high professional and social connections which have brought him a wide acquaintance. The Millikens, though not one of the oldest Colonial families, have become allied with the posterity of the most distinguished early settlers, and the Doctor traces his line back to many whose names are suggestive of the interesting and important events of the ancient history of this region. There follows in chronological order from the first known American ancestor the genealogical and family history of his branch of the Milliken family.

New England Indians

Tribal Territories Southern New England

It is lamentable to reflect that in the primitive dealings between the venturous Europeans and aborigines of America, the kindly welcome and the hospitable reception were the part of the savage, and treachery, kidnapping, and murder too frequently that of the civilized and nominally Christian visitor. It appears to have been matter of common custom among these unscrupulous adventurers to seize by force or fraud on the persons of their simple entertainers, and to carry them off as curiosities to the distant shores of Europe. Columbus, with kindly motives, brought several of the West Indian natives to the Spanish court; … Read more

Ancestry of the Jennings Family from Fall River, Massachusetts

william h jennings

Several persons bearing the name Jennings (variously spelled) located in Massachusetts in its early settlement. Richard Jennings put himself as apprentice to Robert Bartlett, of Plymouth, in 1635, for a period of years. He is said to have lived at Sandwich, whence he moved to Bridgewater, and had a family of children. The Jennings family was long prominent and highly respected in the town of Sandwich, but in time became practically extinct there. Thomas Jennings was an early settler in Portsmouth, R. I. It is, however, the purpose to refer here to the special Fall River family of the name the head of which was the late William H. Jennings. The latter was a descendant in the seventh generation from John Jennings of Sandwich, Mass., from whom his descent is through Isaac, John, Isaac, Isaac and Andrew M. Jennings. These generations follow in the order named.

Descendants of Charles Little Hauthaway of North Bridgewater MA

Charles Morton Hauthaway

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.”

Thompson Family of Brockton, MA

Albert Cranston Thompson

Albert Cranston Thompson, a resident of Brockton, Plymouth county, for over forty years, was a citizen of proved worth in business and public life. His influence in both is a permanent factor in the city’s development, a force which dominates the policy of at least one phase of its civil administration, and his memory is cherished by the many with whom he had long sustained commercial and social relations. As the head of an important industrial concern for a period of over thirty years, as chairman for nearly ten years, up to the time of his death, of the sewerage commissioners of Brockton, as president of the Commercial Club, as an active worker in church and social organizations, he had a diversity of interests which brought him into contact with all sorts and conditions of men and broadened his life to an unusual degree. Good will and sympathy characterized his intercourse with all his fellows. As may be judged from his numerous interests and his activity in all he was a man of many accomplishments, of unusual ability, of attractive personality and un-questionable integrity. He was earnest in everything which commanded his attention and zealous in promoting the welfare of any object which appealed to him, and his executive ability and untiring energy made him an ideal worker in the different organizations of every kind with which he was connected. Mr. Thompson was a native of the county in which he passed all his life, having been born Dec. 19, 1843, in Halifax, a descendant of one of the oldest and best known families of that town. The families of Thompson and Fuller were very numerous and prominent in that region, so much so that according to tradition a public speaker once, in opening his address, instead of beginning with the customary “Ladies and Gentlemen” said “Fullers and Thompsons.” So much for their numbers. The line of descent is traced back to early Colonial days.

Ancestry of Elmer C. Packard of Brockton Massachusetts

Elmer C. Packard

For nearly two hundred and seventy-five years the Packard family has been one prominent and influential in New England, and it has become a most numerous family, too, many of whose members both at home and abroad have given a good account of themselves. Samuel Packard, the immigrant ancestor of this family, became one of the early settlers of the ancient town of Bridgewater, and all of the name who have gone from the Bridgewaters were probably descendants of his; in fact, nearly all of the name in this country can be traced to that place. The genealogical records following … Read more

1867 Plymouth Massachusetts Directory

Alexander J. rope maker, Court Alexander Samuel, carpenter, Spring Alexander Samuel L. machinist. Court Alexander Samuel T. shoemaker. Court Alien C. B. laborer, Mt. Pleasant Allen George, sea captain. South Allen Joseph, farmer. Sandwich Allen Sherman, sea captain, Warren Allen Sherman 2d, shoemaker, Warren Allen Winslow, seaman. Sandwich Andrews George F. editor O. C. Memorial, Court Arthur J. P. sea captain, Court Arthur Richard, rope maker, Court Atwood A. J. merchant, Summer Atwood A, V. sea mail. Market Atwood Edward B. watchmaker, Main Atwood E. W. jeweler. High Atwood Fred, shoemaker, Chiltonville Atwood George H. shoemaker. So. Pond Atwood J. … Read more

Early Exploration and Native Americans

De Soto and his band gave to the Choctaws at Moma Binah and the Chickasaws at Chikasahha their first lesson in the white man’s modus operandi to civilize and Christianize North American Indians; so has the same lesson been continued to be given to that unfortunate people by his white successors from that day to this, all over this continent, but which to them, was as the tones of an alarm-bell at midnight. And one hundred and twenty-three years have passed since our forefathers declared all men of every nationality to be free and equal on the soil of the North … Read more

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.

Genealogy of the Fox Family of Taunton, Massachusetts

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.

Genealogy of the Reed and Loud Families of Abington, Massachusetts

These families, Reed and Loud, allied by marriage, are still represented in the ancient town of Abington, where for three generations the Reeds have been engaged in the lumber business with other lines connected with it. Reference is made to the late Amos S. Reed, to his son, the late Maj. Edward Payson Reed, and to the present Arthur B. Reed, son of Major Reed, all active business men, prominent and influential citizens of what is now North Abington. Both the Reed and Loud were early Weymouth families, and we take up the records in order. There follows from William Reed, the immigrant ancestor of the North Abington Reed family alluded to, chronologically arranged, the genealogy of the family.