The Hazard family of Rhode Island 1635-1894 – Being a genealogy and history of the descendants of Thomas Hazard, with sketches of the worthies of this family, and anecdotes illustrative of their traits and also of the times in which they lived.
William Bowers Moison Chace, senior member of W. B. M. Chace & Co., real estate, insurance, stocks and bonds, prominently identified with manufacturing and financial concerns, his position won through his own energy, integrity and general worth, is a worthy representative of a family planted in America but a decade later than the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. He was born in Somerset, Mass., Dec. 5, 1854, and is of the ninth generation of the family in the New World.
The Fall River French family here considered springs from the early Rehoboth family of the name, and it, as will be observed further on, according to Savage, perhaps from the Dorchester family. John French, the head of the Dorchester family and the immigrant ancestor, was a native of England, born in 1612. He had land granted him at what became Braintree for five heads Feb. 24, 1639-40. He was admitted to the church in the adjoining town of Dorchester, Jan. 27, 1642, and the births of his first two children are recorded in Dorchester. He became a freeman May 29, 1639. He was active and prominent among the early settlers. His son John was born Feb. 28, 1641.
Alfred Pierce is a native of Bristol county, Mass., born in the old historic town of Rehoboth Jan. 1, 1822, son of Jeremiah and Candice (Wheeler) Pierce. This branch of the Pierce family in America is one of long standing and among the first settlers of New England. The name has been variously spelled, but the change to Pierce has been made in the last three-quarters of a century. In the Old World the members of this family have been quite prominent, and the name can be traced through a loner and distinguished line back to the days of the Norman Conquest.
The McCullough family is of Irish extraction. Patrick McCullough, grandfather of John McCullough, was a native of the parish of Altacamicussey, County Tyrone, Ireland, where he lived and died. He followed farming. He married Mary Conway, who was a native of the same county, and their son, John McCullough, was born on a farm in Altacamicussey, County Tyrone, June 15, 1821. There he grew to manhood, and what little education he received was obtained in the local school. Meantime he worked at farm labor and also obtained some knowledge of the mason’s trade. He there married about 1845 Alice Devlin, who was a native of the parish of Pallough, County Tyrone, and daughter of Michael and Annie Devlin. In the spring of 1847, with his wife and an infant son, he sailed for the New World, making the trip on a sailing vessel bound for New York. After a passage of six weeks they landed at that port, where they remained three months, during which time they lost their first-born, the infant son mentioned.
Of the first generation of the Corthell family in America there are records somewhat contradictory. Robert Corthell appears at Hingham, Mass., at the commencement of the eighteenth century. Nothing earlier of him seems to be known. He married Oct. 13, 1708, Deborah, daughter of Benjamin and Deborah Tower, his wife being born in Hingham in February, 1685. Robert Corthell died March 5, 1737-38, aged fifty-two years.
William Sturdy, as he was thenceforth known, then shipped on an American schooner lying at Leghorn, and bound for the United States. He finally landed at Beverly, Mass., June 9, 1809. From the port of Beverly he made several voyages as mate of American schooners, but finally abandoned the seas. He married in Beverly Clarissa Whittemore, who was born in that town Jan. 28, 1794. After their marriage they settled in Attleboro, Bristol county, where Mr. Sturdy bought land lying on the west shore of the Falls pond and engaged in farming until 1827. Here ten of his fourteen children were born. About that time, 1827, “the initial efforts in cotton manufacturing on the Blackstone had opened the way for the employment of minors,” and Mr. Sturdy availed himself of this opportunity because it had become impossible for him to procure a proper subsistence for his large family from his farm. In that year he sold out and removed to the Blackstone Valley, locating at Slatersville, town of North Smithfield, R. I., where he and his children found employment in the cotton mills. He later settled in Blackstone, Mass., where he died Oct. 16, 1834. He was a hardworking man, honest and upright in his dealings, and his large family of fourteen children reflected great credit on their home training. The wife and mother died Feb. 13, 1856.
The Taber family of Dartmouth and New Bedford, one of the oldest families in southeastern Massachusetts, is descended from Philip Taber, who according to Savage, was born in 1605, and died in 1672. He was at Watertown in 1634, and he contributed toward building the galley for the security of the harbor. He was made a freeman at Plymouth in 1639. In 1639-40 he was a deputy from Yarmouth, and was afterward at Martha’s Vineyard, and from 1647 to 1655 was at Edgartown, going from there to New London in 1651, but probably returning soon. He was an inhabitant of Portsmouth in February, 1655, and was a representative in Providence in 1661, the commissioners being Roger Williams, William Field, Thomas Olney, Joseph Torrey, Philip Taber and John Anthony. Later he settled in Tiverton, where his death occurred. He married Lydia Masters, of Watertown, Mass., daughter of John and Jane Masters, and his second wife, Jane, born in 1605, died in 1669.
For the past hundred years – during almost the lifetime, as it were, of Fall River and its entire industrial life – the name Slade has been continually identified with that industrial life and also prominent in other lines of effort in that great city of spindles. In 1812-13, when the real substantial pioneer establishments in the cloth making industry of Fall River were projected and completed – the Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufactory and the Fall River Manufactory – began the Slade name in this connection, Eber Slade of Somerset being one of the most prominent promoters of one of the corporations; he became its first treasurer and filled the position until in the middle twenties. William Slade of Somerset was one of the owners of the site of these first establishments, and was himself an original proprietor of the Pocasset and Watuppa Manufacturing Companies. The brothers Jonathan and William Lawton Slade were among the founders of the celebrated cotton mills of Fall River, both becoming presidents of the corporation. John Palmer Slade, another of Somerset’s sons, figured largely not only in the industrial life of the city but in other lines, becoming president of both the Shove and Laurel Lake Mills. George W. Slade, one of the “forty-niners” of the Pacific coast, was for full fifty years one of the extensive and wholesale merchants of Fall River and his name, too, is coupled with the city’s industrial life. And of younger generations one or more of the sons of some of these are at this time officially and otherwise connected with this industrial life and in other lines, notably Leonard N. and Everett N. Slade, of the firm of John P. Slade & Son, insurance and real estate; David F. Slade, member of the law firm of Slade & Borden; and Abbott E. Slade, now treasurer of the Laurel Lake Mills.
Capt. Jacob Taber, late of New Bedford, and long successfully engaged as a master mariner in the whaling industry, was a descendant of an early settled New England family. He was a direct descendant of Philip Taber, who was at Watertown in 1634, and contributed toward building the galley for the security of the harbor, was made freeman in that same year, and was later at Yarmouth among the first settlers and deputy to Plymouth, 1639-40. Still later he was at the Vineyard, and afterward at New London, Portsmouth, and at Providence and Tiverton, respectively, being a representative from Providence.
Walter Ballou, one of the representative citizens and well-known jewelry manufacturers of North Attleboro, where for upward of a half century he has been a member of the jewelry manufacturing firm of R. Blackinton & Co., is a native of the State of Rhode Island, born in the town of Cumberland Feb. 20, 1835, son of Preston and Harriet M. (Brown) Ballou. The Ballou family is among the oldest and most distinguished of Rhode Island. Of Norman-French origin, it is descended from Gunebored Ballou, who was probably a marshal in the army of William the Conqueror and took part in the memorable battle of Hastings, 1066.
SOULE (New Bedford family). The family bearing this name at New Bedford, Mass., is a branch of the Old Plymouth family, descending from George Soule, one of the “Mayflower” Pilgrims and a signer of the compact in 1620. The present head of the family is the Hon. Rufus Albertson Soule, citizen soldier, now collector of the port of New Bedford, who for many years has been a conspicuous figure in the business and political life of that place, a public servant of high and honorable service, one who as man, citizen and neighbor enjoys that popularity that comes to but few.
Emery Moore Low, former mayor of Brockton, and one of that city’s most influential and highly honored citizens, is a native of Massachusetts, born at Roxbury March 29, 1849, son of the late Nathaniel and Abigail E. H. (Clouston) Low. Emery is descended from William Low and his wife Mary, of Chelsea, Mass. They arrived in Chelsea, before 1761, on June 17th of which year he purchased of David Jenkins a “dwelling house, barn and buildings” and eighteen acres of land, which was originally a part of the Hasey farm. He bought other property in 1763, 1774 and 1778.
This branch of the Horton family has furnished to Attleboro, Mass., three generations of business men. Gideon Martin Horton, who was a well known merchant there a half century ago, and his four sons, Everett Southworth, Edwin Jackson, Gideon Martin and James Jackson Horton, all became successful jewelry manufacturers and prominent citizens. The eldest and last surviving brother, the late Maj. Everett S. Horton and his nephew, Raymond Martin Horton, were the only male representatives of the name residing there at the time of the Major’s death.
Now for well on to a century the Trafford name in Dartmouth and Fall River has been closely identified with the industrial life of that section, successive generations of the family having been manufacturers of cotton goods – the late William Bradford Trafford, long actively engaged in manufacturing in Fall River, and the founder of what became the Westport Manufacturing Company, and his sons, the present William C, Andrew E., Charles A., Allison W., Henry Lester, Perry Davis, and Bernard Walton Trafford, and it goes without saying, all have been substantial men and influential citizens of their community. From the settler Thomas Trafford and his wife Mary, the lineage of the present Trafford brothers – William C. and Andrew R. – of the Westport Manufacturing Company is through Philip, Joseph, William Bradford and William Bradford (2). These generations in such detail and family history as is obtainable and in the order given follow.
There lived at and figured prominently in the affairs of Fall River for many years and was one of the city’s most useful citizens the late Cook Borden, who most worthily wore the Borden name and sustained the family reputation, and has been followed by sons who carried forward the work he began and left, and who have been or are now active and influential in the city’s affairs – substantial men of the community. The generations from the emigrant ancestor follow somewhat in detail.
It is to the life and paternal lineage of the late William Mason of Taunton that this article is directed, he being a direct descendant from one of the old pioneers and Indian fighters of this section in its early settlement – Major John Mason, of Pequot fame, from whom William Mason’s descent is through Daniel, Peter, Japhet, Japhet Mason (2) and Amos Mason.
ROBERT THOMPSON DAVIS, M. D., late of Fall River, physician, promoter, State senator, mayor, congressman, etc., was one of the most prominent figures in the public and industrial life of Fall River, and as well one of its most widely known and wealthiest citizens. Dr. Davis was the son of John and Sarah (Thompson) Davis, and was born Aug. 28, 1823, in County Down, Province of Ulster, North of Ireland.
From its earliest history Taunton has been an important manufacturing center, from the building of the first dam on Mill river, near what became Cohasset street, and the first mill. Thomas Lincoln from Hingham became the owner of this mill in 1649, and soon after removed his family hither. As stated elsewhere he came from old England to New England in 1635, locating at Hingham. He continued proprietor of the mill about thirty-three years, when at his death his sons John and Samuel Lincoln came into possession of it. Caleb Lincoln, the farmer and miller of Westville village, was of the sixth generation in descent from Thomas Lincoln the “miller,” and it has been through his family and his descendants that the manufacturing proclivities of the earlier, family have been kept alive, and, too, in a conspicuous manner, as several of his sons and grandsons have long together and in turn been largely and successfully identified with some of the extensive manufacturing enterprises of that city of great industries – Fall River – and as well been among the substantial men and prominent citizens of that place; notably the late Jonathan Thayer Lincoln, long recognized as a man of superior business ability – to whose mechanical ingenuity and business sagacity was largely due the successful building up of the firm of Kilburn, Lincoln & Co., of which he was long a member, and of which concern later, on its incorporation, he became the executive head; and the latter’s sons Henry C. Edward and Leontine Lincoln, all of whom were reared and trained under the direction of the father in the concern, Henry C. Lincoln succeeding his father on the latter’s death to the presidency of it; while Leontine Lincoln has been for nearly forty years treasurer, and has been long identified with other extensive enterprises of Fall River.
MAJ. WILLIAM HUNT GOFF, one of Attleboro’s well known citizens and leading public men, is a native of the Old Bay State, born in the town of Rehoboth, April 10, 1845. He is a descendant of one of the oldest families of Rehoboth, where the Goffs have figured more or less prominently, as well as …
Genealogy of the Goff Family of Attleboro, Mass. Read More »
