Part 12

(35) II. Jonathan,^4 b. April 25, 1735, m. Hannah, dau. of Samuel Gyles of Salisbury, Aug. 26, 1756. They had 10 children, 4 of whom were sons, and all d. unmarried. Elisabeth^5 m. 1. Samuel Chandler. 2. John Mycall. Hannah^5 m. Abraham Jackson, and had Ellen^6 and Isaac Rand^6; the latter d. July 27, 1842, at Copenhagen, while U. S. Chargé d'Affaires, a. 37. He m. Louisa C. Carroll of Philadelphia, granddaughter of Charles Carroll of Carrolton, Md., one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

(36) III. Samuel Holden,^4 b. May 14, 1737, at Lyme, Ct., grad. H. C. 1756; in 1781 he received an honorary degree from Y. C., studied law at Lyme in the office of his uncle, Gov. Matthew Griswold, admitted to the bar in New London county, 1759, settled at Lyme, was elected Representative to the General Assembly in 1762, and successively for eighteen sessions, which brought him to the year 1774, when he received the appointment of King's Attorney, and removed to New London. In 1775 he was appointed Colonel of the sixth Connecticut regiment, and a Brigadier-General by Congress in 1776, Major-General in 1780. In 1779 he succeeded Gen. Putnam in the command of the Connecticut line of the Continental army, and served in the Revolutionary army as Major-General until the close of the war. He was an active member of the Convention of Connecticut in January, 1788, which ratified the Constitution of the United States, and was elected President of the "Society of Cincinnati" of Connecticut. In 1785 he was appointed by Congress a Commissioner to treat with the Indians at Miami. In 1788 he was appointed and commissioned by President Washington, first Judge of the North West Territory, which included the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan; and while holding that office, was, in 1789, appointed by the State of Connecticut a Commissioner to hold a treaty with the Wyandots and other tribes of Indians on Lake Erie, for extinguishing the aboriginal title to the "Connecticut Western Reserve." While returning to his residence at Marietta from this service, he was drowned by the overturning of his boat in descending the rapids of the Big Beaver river, Nov. 17, 1789, a. 52.

Gen. Parsons m. Mehetabel, dau. of Richard Mather of Lyme, (a lineal descendant of Rev. Richard Mather of Dorchester,) Sept. 10, 1761. She was b. in Lyme, March 7, 1743, d. Aug. 7, 1802, and was buried at Middletown, Ct. The children of Gen. Parsons were, 1. William Walter,^5 b. July 5, 1762, m. Esther, dau. of Thompson Phillips of Middletown, d. Jan. 24, 1801, leaving children, Esther Phillips,^6 m. to William Hammet of Bangor, and Thomas,^6 who d. young. 2. Lucia,^5 b. Nov. 8, 1761, m. Hon. Stephen Titus Hosmer, Chief-Justice of Connecticut. They had 4 sons and 6 daughters. All the sons d. young, except Oliver Ellsworth,^6 who m. Ann P. Hawes of N. York. 3. Thomas,^5 who d. young. 4. ENOCH,^5 whose biography was given in the April number of this work. He was b. Nov. 5, 1769, m. 1. Mary Wyley Sullivan, May 19, 1795. She was dau. of John Sullivan of London, and b. in Philadelphia, Nov. 9, 1772, d. at Middletown, July 2, 1807. He m. 2. Mrs. Sarah Rosecrants, dau. of Nehemiah Hubbard of Middletown, by whom he had one son, Henry Ethelbert,^6 who m. Abby C, dau. of John Welles of Ann Arbor, Michigan; and a dau., Mary Sullivan,^6 m. James, son of Robert Dickson of London, Eng., d. at Philadelphia, Dec. 15, 1841. The next of the children of Gen. Parsons was, 5. Mehetabel,^5 b. Dec. 21, 1772. m. William B. Hall, M. D., of Middletown, d. Nov. 1, 1823, a. 51, leaving, 1. William Brenton^6; 2. Samuel Holden Parsons^6 of Binghampton, N. Y. 6. Phebe,^5 b. Jan. 25, 1775. at N. London, m. Samuel Tiffen, had a dau.,^6 m. to L. T. Clark of Philadelphia. 7. Samuel Holden,^5 b. Dec. 31, 1777, m. Esther, dau. of Giles Page of Middletown, d. in the West Indies, leaving a dau., Mary Ann,^6 m. to William C. Hammet of Howland, Me. 8. Margaret Ann.^5 9. Margaret,^5 b. 1785, m. 1. Stephen Hubbard of Middletown, who settled at Champion, N. Y., where he d. 1812. 2. Alfred Lathrop^6 of Champion and W. Carthage, N. Y.

(37) IV. Thomas,^4 b. April 28, 1739, m. 1. Mary Gibson, and had one son, Jonathan G.,^5 who d. without issue. He m. 2. Sarah Sawyer of Newbury, and had, 1. Sarah,^5 m. to Gorham Parsons, late a merchant of Boston, whose father was brother to the late JUDGE THEOPHILUS PARSONS of Boston, descended from that branch of the family settled at Gloucester, Ms., the ancestor of which was Jeffrey Parsons, whose pedigree we propose to trace hereafter; 2. Ann,^5 m. Fitz-William Sargent of Gloucester, Ms.; 3. Mary,^5 m. Ignatins Sargent; 4. ----,^5 m. Samuel Torrey of Boston.

(38) V. Phebe,^4 b. at Newburyport, March 6, 1748, m. Capt. Ebenezer Lane of Boston, had no children, d. 1781.

(39) VI. Lucia,^4 b. at Newburyport, Dec. 23, 1752, m. Capt. Joseph Tappan of that place, d. there in 1815, a. 63, leaving 7 children; 1. Thomas P.^5; 2. Phebe Griswold^5; 3. Sarah^5; 4, John Pike^5; 5. Richard^5; 6. Joseph^5; and 7. Thomas Parsons.^5

(40) VII. Lydia, 4 b. April 3, 1755, m. Moses, son of Hon. Jonathan Greenleaf of Newburyport, Sept. 17, 1776, and had children. 1. Moses,^5 2. Clarina Parsons,^5 3. Ebenezer,^5 4. Simon,^5 b. Dec. 5, 1783, the distinguished attorney and professor of law in II. C., 5. Jonathan,^5 a clergyman of Brooklyn, N. Y, and author of a memoir of Rev. Jonathan Parsons in the American Quarterly Register, also of Ecclesiastical Sketches of Maine.

* * * * *

HUGH PARSONS appears on the town records of Springfield, 27. 8, (27 Oct.) 1645. How long before that he was resident there does not appear, though it is quite probable he was among the first inhabitants. Whether HUGH were a brother of Benjamin and Joseph, or what relationship he may have borne to them, nothing has yet come to our knowledge to enable us to determine; yet he was probably the older brother of those, and so we shall consider him until we are otherwise assured. Mr. Parsons married _Mary Lewis_ on the date above mentioned, by whom he had,

I. SAMUEL, b. Oct. 4, 1648, d. Oct. 4, 1649. II. JOSHUA, b. Oct. 26, 1650, d. June 4, 1651.

About this point of time began the troubles and trials of this devoted family, and here, on the Springfield town records stands the following sad entry:

"_Joshua Parsons_, son of Hugh was killed by Mary Parsons his wife, 4. 1. 1651."

Singular as it may now seem, and notwithstanding the above entry, fair and legible at this day upon the records, an attempt was soon after made to throw the cause of the death of the son upon the father, and that he had effected it by witchcraft! We will not now enlarge on this subject, as we propose to publish at some future time an article on witchcraft in our country, and its unhappy effects.

P. S. We originally intended to have given in this number the genealogy of the branch of the family of Parsons settled at Gloucester, but for want of room, and some materials, are obliged to defer it to a future one; meanwhile we hope the descendants of JEFFREY PARSONS, (the progenitor of this branch,) will forward us all the facts they possess concerning it, that it may be rendered as complete as possible. For the information of those concerned, it may be proper to state, that we have a copy of the pedigree which was in the possession of the late William Parsons, Esq., of Boston, which, though extensive as it respects the names of the descendants, is very defective in dates and names of places. In these particulars we especially want information.

ANCIENT BIBLE IN POSSESSION OF WIDOW LUCY WATERS OF SHARON, MS.

It is said that this Bible was brought from England to America by the Pilgrim Fathers, who landed from the ship Mayflower, at Plymouth, Ms., December 22, A. D. 1620.

The title-page of the Testament[23] part of this Bible is in the following words, viz.--

=NEW TESTAMENT= OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Confered diligently with the Greeke and best approved translations, in divers Languages.

Imprinted at London by the Deputies of Christopher Barker, Printer to the Queens most excellent Majesty.

=A. D. 1592.=

_Cum gratia privilegio Regiæ Maiestatis._

_Family Record in the Bible._

We Elisha Bradford and Bathshua Le-brocke, were married, September, y^e 7th, Anno Domini 1718. (?)

Account of the births, of all our children.

Our Daughter Hannah, was born April y^e 10th 1719 Joseph was born December y^e 7th day 1721 Silvanus was born July y^e 6th day 1723 Nehemiah was born July y^e 27th day 1724 Laurana was born March y^e 26th day 1726 Mary was born August y^e 1st day 1727 Elisha was born October y^e 6th day 1729 Lois was born January y^e 30th day 1730-31 Deborah[24] was born November y^e 18th day 1732 Allis was born November y^e 3d day 1734 Azenath was born September y^e 15th day 1736 Carpenter was born February y^e 7th day 1738-9 Abigail was born June y^e 20th day 1741 Chloe was born sixth day of April 1743 Content was born twenty-first day of May 1745 Content dec^d May 22 1745 Silvanus dec^d the twelfth day of July 1723

The foregoing title-page and Family Register were transcribed for and at the request of Alden Bradford, Esq., Feb. 22, 1842,

By his humble servant, WILLIAM ELLIS.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF PHYSICIANS IN ROCHESTER, N. H.

[For the account of the following medical gentlemen we are indebted to Dr. Samuel Pray.]

_Dr. James Jackson_ was the first physician who settled in Rochester. He went from Connecticut, but in what year he went and how long he lived in the town, is not known.

_Dr. James How_ was the son of Deacon How of Methuen, and brother of David How, Esq., of Haverhill, Ms. He went to Rochester about the year 1777, and practised in his profession till near the time of his death, in 1807. He was a Representative to the State Legislature several years, and was elected a member of the N. H. Medical Society in 1791, soon after the Charter was granted. He was also surgeon's mate in the army of the Revolution. He died at the age of 53.

_Dr. Samuel Pray_ was born at South Berwick, Me., July 3, 1769. He received his preparatory education at Dummer Academy, Newbury, Ms., in the years 1784, '85, and '86, studied medicine with Dr. Jacob Kittredge of Dover, three years, and commenced the practice of his profession in September, 1792, at Rochester, where he has resided about fifty-five years. He united with a number of physicians in the old County of Strafford in 1811, who constituted the Strafford District of the N. H. Medical Society, of which he was Secretary several years. He was elected a Fellow of the N. H. M. Society in 1816, and has been one of the Censors for Strafford District. Dec. 14, 1821, he was elected an Honorary Member of the Medical Society at Dartmouth College.

_Dr. Timothy F. Preston_ went to Rochester in the year 1807, and resided in town about a year, and then returned to New Ipswich, his native place.

_Dr. John Perkins_ went to Rochester in 1807, and resided there till 1815, when he moved with his family to Jaffrey. It is not known where he received his education.

_Dr. Asa Perkins_ went from Dover, his native place, to Rochester, in 1816, and resided there two years, and then returned to Dover, where he now resides. He is the son of William Perkins, who was a merchant in Dover, and who died several years since. The Doctor studied medicine with Dr. Jabez Dow of Dover. He was born April 5, 1793. Having abandoned his profession, he entered into mercantile business.

_Dr. James Farrington_ went to Rochester in August, 1818, and has resided in town, to this time [1847]. He was born at Conway, October, 1791, and is the third son, now living, of Jeremiah Farrington, late of Conway, who emigrated when a young man from Concord, N. H., and with several others formed a settlement upon the banks of the Saco river, in that section of the country then called by the Indians Pequawket, now Conway and Fryeburg; and grandson of Stephen Farrington, who was one of the first settlers of Concord, and whose wife was a sister of Jonathan and Samuel Bradley, who, with Obadiah Peters, John Bean, and John Lufkin, were massacred by the Indians, Aug. 11, 1746, between Concord and Hopkinton, and to whose memory a granite monument has been erected on the spot where the massacre was perpetrated, by their surviving relatives. He received an academic education at Fryeburg Academy, where in 1814 he was prepared to enter college. He commenced the study of medicine under the tuition of Dr. Moses Chandler of Fryeburg, Me., February, 1815, and concluded his term of study under the instruction of Dr. Jabez Dow of Dover, in February, 1818. He was examined in the science of medicine and surgery by the Censors of the N. H. Medical Society, Drs. Crosby and Pray, July 18, 1818, and commenced practice in Rochester on the 9th of August following. He is a Fellow of the N. H. Medical Society, and has been Censor and a Counsellor of the Society, and for several years President of the Strafford District Society. He has been a Representative and Senator in the State Legislature, and in 1837 was elected a member of the 25th Congress of the United States. In 1845 he was appointed by the Executive of the State one of the Trustees of the N. H. Asylum for the Insane.

Dr. Farrington was married, in 1827, to Mary D., eldest daughter of Mr. Joseph Hanson of Rochester, and has four children living; three sons and one daughter. Formerly he had students in medicine, among whom were Dr. Joseph H. Smith, now a successful practitioner in Dover, Dr. Timothy Upham, an eminent physician, late of Waterford, N. Y., and a son of the Hon. Nathaniel Upham, late of Rochester, also Dr. Alfred Upham, now a physician in the city of New York.

Dr. Farrington has had an extensive business in his profession for twenty-five years, and has performed many difficult surgical operations.

_Dr. Calvin Cutter, Dr. Theodore Wells, and a Dr. Turner_ from Massachusetts, went to Rochester and tarried a short time in 1832 and 1833, and then returned to their native towns.

_Dr. Rufus K. Pearl_ was born at Farmington, Feb. 6, 1815, attended Medical Lectures at Bowdoin and Dartmouth Colleges, and studied medicine with Dr. Wight of Gilmanton. He commenced practice in Rochester in 1840, and being out of health, he left the profession, and has gone into trade in the village of that place.

_Dr. John W. Pray_ is the son of Dr. Samuel Pray of Rochester, with whom he studied medicine. He was born in Rochester, August, 1814, attended Medical Lectures at Dartmouth College, commenced the practice of his profession in Barrington, in 1840, and continued at that place three years, when he returned to Rochester and went into practice with his father.

_Dr. Richard Russel_ moved from Great Falls village to Rochester, about the year 1841, and resided in town about three years, and then returned to Great Falls, in 1844. It is not known when he began the practice of his profession, nor what was his education.

_Dr. Jeremiah Garland_ was born at Strafford, Sept. 23, 1815, and commenced the practice of his profession at Rochester, in 1844. He attended Medical Lectures at New York, in the old medical and surgical institution, and obtained the degree of M. D. at that institution. He studied medicine with Drs. Chadbourne and Haynes of Concord.

SKETCHES OF ALUMNI AT THE DIFFERENT COLLEGES IN NEW ENGLAND.

HON. NATHAN WESTON OF AUGUSTA, ME.

JOHN WESTON, from whom the subject of this memoir is the fourth in descent, came from Buckinghamshire in England to this country, in 1644, at the age of 13. After residing a few years in Salem, he purchased a tract of land in what is now South Reading, Ms., to which he removed, and where he spent the residue of his days. He died in 1723; being more than 90 years of age. It is noted on his gravestone, that he was one of the founders of the church in Reading. A part of his estate remained in the hands of his posterity for over one hundred years. Stephen, his son, was a pious, industrious, and respectable man. He had a farm in Reading, where he died in 1753, at the age of 88.

Stephen, his son, became the owner of a farm in Wilmington, Ms. He was a leading man there, distinguished for his piety, and was for many years Deacon of the church in that town, where he died in 1776, in his 81st year. Nathan, his fifth son, was born at Wilmington, in 1740. He married Elisabeth, the mother of the subject of this Memoir. She was the daughter of Samuel Bancroft, Esq., of Reading, who represented that town for many years in the General Court, and sister of the late Rev. Dr. Bancroft of Worcester. He (Nathan) removed to that part of Hallowell which is now Augusta, in Maine, then a part of Massachusetts, in 1781. He was for several years in the State government of Massachusetts, being, at different times, a member of the House, Senate, and Council of that Commonwealth. He died in 1832, at the advanced age of nearly 93 years.

NATHAN WESTON, his son and the subject of this Memoir, was born at Hallowell, now Augusta, July 27, 1782. He pursued his studies, preparatory to his entering college, at Hallowell Academy, under the direction of the late Preceptor Moody. He was graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1803. He went immediately into the study of the law. After reading a few months with Benjamin Whitwell, Esq., of Augusta, he entered the office of George Blake, Esq., Attorney for the United States, for the Massachusetts District, at Boston, where he prosecuted his studies, until his admission to the bar, in the county of Suffolk, in July, 1806.

He soon after opened an office at Augusta, but in March, 1807, removed to New Gloucester, in the county of Cumberland, where he continued in full practice in his profession three years, representing that town in 1808, in the General Court of Massachusetts. In June, 1809, he married Paulina B., daughter of the Hon. Daniel Cony, and returned to Augusta, in March, 1810, where he now (1847) resides. He continued the practice of the law until the fall of 1811, when he was made Chief-Justice of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas for the Second Eastern Circuit of Massachusetts, in which he continued to officiate until the separation of Maine, in 1820. He then became one of the Judges of the Supreme Judicial Court, and in October, 1834, he was appointed Chief-Justice of that State, which office he held till October, 1841, when his term of office expired. In 1831, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him at Dartmouth College, and afterwards at Waterville and Bowdoin Colleges, Maine.

In February, 1825, at a general meeting of the members of both houses of the Legislature, then sitting in Portland, without distinction of party, he was with great unanimity nominated for the office of Governor, but preferring to remain on the bench, he declined the nomination.

Judge Weston has four sons; Nathan, Daniel Cony, who married Mary C. North, granddaughter of the late General William North of New York, George Melville, and Charles. The first three were educated at Bowdoin College, and are now in the practice of law; one in Augusta, one in Orono, and one in Vassalborough, in Maine. His third son, George Melville, is Attorney for the State for the county of Kennebec. Charles, his fourth son, has been a midshipman in the Navy of the United States. Of his daughters, Paulina Cony died in 1820, aged two years. Two survive, namely, Catharine Martin and Louisa Matilda.

Chief-Justice Weston is not known as the author of any published work, beyond an occasional oration or address, in his younger days; but the decisions of the Supreme Court of Maine, now extended to about twenty volumes, are filled with legal opinions drawn by him, which will remain a monument of his learning and industry.

HON. RICHARD LAW OF NEW LONDON, CT.

[This memoir was obtained through the instrumentality of Prof. Kingsley of Yale College.]

RICHARD LAW was a son of the Hon. Jonathan Law, Governor of Connecticut, and was born at Milford, on the 17th of March, 1733. He was educated at Yale College, where he was graduated in 1751, and where also he received the degree of LL. D. Immediately after graduating, he entered upon the study of the law, in the office and under the instruction of that able jurist and accomplished lawyer, the Hon. Jared Ingersoll; and after a course of studies usual at that day, he was, soon after the age of 21, admitted to the bar, at New Haven; and immediately removed, and settled at New London, where he became highly distinguished in his profession. As an advocate at the bar, his style was pure and correct, but not copious and flowing. He was distinguished more as a learned lawyer, a close logician, a fair special pleader, than an eloquent orator. His talents were better adapted to a court than a jury. He possessed a discrimination, and power of seeing and seizing the great point in the case--the point on which it must turn; and by a course of special pleadings--by drawing on the "_heartstrings of the law_," he had a faculty of presenting his point, by forming an issue in law for the decision of the court, most favorably for his client; and on such issues, from the logical structure of his mind, he was powerful. He was thoroughly read in the ancient English law authorities; and few American lawyers or jurists, of his day and age, better understood the great principles of the English common law, or could better discriminate between such of those principles as were applicable to the genius of a republican government, and such as were not, than Judge Law. Those which he adopted formed, as it respected the common law, the polestar of his judicial decisions.