ANNUAL MEETING, NOVEMBER, 1907

    THE Annual Meeting was held at the New Algonquin Club, No. 217 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, on Thursday, 21 November, 1907, at six o’clock in the afternoon, the President, George Lyman Kittredge, LL.D., in the chair.

    The Records of the last Stated Meeting were read and approved.

    The Corresponding Secretary pro tempore reported that a letter had been received from Mr. Henry Leland Chapman of Brunswick, Maine, accepting Corresponding Membership.

    The gift to the Society was reported of two medals: one from the American Philosophical Society, struck in commemoration of the celebration by that Society of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin; and one from the Cambridge Historical Society, struck in commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The gifts were gratefully accepted.

    The Annual Report of the Council was presented and read by the President.

    REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.

    In accordance with our established calendar, five Stated Meetings have been held since the twenty-first of November, 1906. We are indebted to the American Unitarian Association for a continuance of its gracious hospitality. No practicable plan has yet been conceived which provides our Society with quarters of its own.

    The Stated Meetings have been well attended and interesting. Papers have been read, and documents and other historical objects have been laid before us, in great variety. This department of our activities appears to be in excellent condition.

    The same may now be said of our Publications, thanks to the expert and indefatigable labors of the Editor. The second serial of Volume X, comprising the Transactions from December, 1905, to April, 1906, has been in the hands of members for some time. The bound volume, bringing the Transactions down through last November, is ready for distribution, but cannot be actually published because of our poverty. Meantime, a new volume of Transactions is well under way, everything being in type, including the April meeting. Volume IX, our first volume of Collections, has just appeared. Another volume of Collections is almost finished. The volume of Harvard College Records, which we owe to the generosity of one of our members, is nearly ready for the composing-room. One thing is evident, — we could publish more if we had more money.

    During the year there has been only one death among our fellowship — resident, corresponding, and honorary — that of John Eliot Sanford, which occurred on the eleventh of October at his home in Taunton. Mr. Sanford was too old and infirm to attend our meetings, but he gave practical evidence of his interest in the Society. He was a citizen of great distinction, both for his abilities and for his high standard of public duty.

    Four Resident Members have been added to the Society:

    • Arthur Lord
    • Edward Everett Hale,
    • Caleb Benjamin Tillinghast,
    • Thomas Franklin Waters.

    The name of Dennison Rogers Slade has been transferred from the Resident to the Corresponding Roll, and two other Corresponding Members have been elected:

    • Thomas Willing Balch,
    • Henry Leland Chapman.

    In conclusion, the Council begs leave to remind the Members once more that the Society has obvious and pressing needs.

    The Treasurer submitted his Annual Report, as follows:

    REPORT OF THE TREASURER.

    In compliance with the requirements of the By-Laws, the Treasurer submits his Annual Report for the year ending 18 November, 1907

    CASH ACCOUNT.

    receipts.

    Balance, 19 November, 1906

    $543.25

    Admission Fees

    $40.00

    Annual Assessments

    640.00

    Commutation of the Annual Assessment

    300.00

    Sales of the Society’s Publications

    54.19

    Cambridge Historical Society, paper sold it

    30.60

    Interest

    2,651.18

    Gift of Robert Hallowell Gardiner

    100.00

    Editor’s Salary Fund

    850.00

    Mortgages paid or assigned

    20,650.00

    Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank, amount withdrawn

    1,190.00

    $26,505.97

    $27,049.22

    disbursements.

    University Press: printing

    $702.62

    paper, 26 reams

    449.40

    $1,152.02

    A. W. Elson & Co., photogravure plates and plate printing

    315.93

    Folsom & Sunnergren, relief plates

    12.58

    Henry Mitchell, engraving

    4.50

    J. F. Sachse, making negative

    7.00

    Charles S. Bradford, making negative

    3.25

    Mary H. Rollins, Indexes of Volumes IX, X

    143.00

    Clerk hire

    127.80

    Library Bureau, Index cards

    6.75

    Stationery

    6.23

    Boston Storage Warehouse Company

    24.00

    William H. Hart, auditing

    5.00

    Albert Matthews: salary as Editor of Publications..

    1,000.00

    travelling expenses

    11.60

    Carnegie Institution, subscription for 1907 toward printing Bibliography of American Historical Writings

    50.00

    Miscellaneous incidentals

    419.60

    Deposited in Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank..

    843.22

    Mortgages on improved real estate in Boston . . . .

    21,700.00

    Interest in adjustment

    299.80

    $26,132.28

    Balance on deposit in State Street Trust Company, 18 November, 1907

    916.94

    $27,049.22

    The Funds of the Society are invested as follows:

    $549,500.00

    in First Mortgages, payable in gold coin, on improved property in Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline.

    203.22

    deposited in Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank.

    $49,703.22

    TRIAL BALANCE.

    debits.

    Cash

    $916.94

    Mortgages

    $49,500.00

    Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank

    203.22

    49,703.22

    $50,620.16

    credits.

    Income

    $916.94

    Editor’s Salary Fund

    $1,500.00

    Publication Fund

    2,700.00

    General Fund

    7,503.22

    Benjamin Apthorp Gould Memorial Fund

    10,000.00

    Edward Wheelwright Fund

    10,000.00

    Robert Charles Billings Fund

    10,000.00

    Robert Noxon Toppan Fund

    5,000.00

    Robert Charles Winthrop, Jr. Fund

    3,000.00

    $49,703.22

    $50,620.16

    Henry H. Edes,

    Treasurer.

    Boston, 18 November, 1907.

    REPORT OF THE AUDITING COMMITTEE.

    The undersigned, a Committee appointed to examine the accounts of the Treasurer of The Colonial Society of Massachusetts for the year ending 18 November, 1907, have attended to that duty and report that they find them correctly kept and properly vouched, and that proper evidence of the investments and of the balance of cash on hand has been shown to us. This examination is based on the Report of William H. Hart, Auditor.

    Waldo Lincoln,

    Arthur Lord,

    Committee.

    Boston, 20 November, 1907.

    The several Reports were accepted and referred to the Committee of Publication.561

    On behalf of the Committee appointed to nominate officers for the ensuing year, the following list of candidates was presented; and, a ballot being taken, these gentlemen were unanimously elected:

    PRESIDENT

    • HENRY LEFAVOUR

    VICE-PRESIDENTS

    • WILLIAM WATSON GOODWIN
    • MARCUS PERRIN KNOWLTON

    RECORDING SECRETARY

    • HENRY WINCHESTER CUNNINGHAM

    CORRESPONDING SECRETARY

    • JOHN NOBLE

    TREASURER

    • HENRY HERBERT EDES

    REGISTRAR

    • FREDERICK LEWIS GAY

    MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL FOR THREE YEARS

    • HENRY ERNEST WOODS

    MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL FOR TWO YEARS

    • JOHN ELIOT THAYER

    Mr. Andrew McFarland Davis offered the following appreciation of the services rendered by George Lyman Kittredge, who had declined re-election to the presidency of the Society; and it was unanimously adopted by a rising vote:

    The Colonial Society has been singularly fortunate in its selection of Presidents. Although it was obvious at the time when the Society was founded that there was room enough for such an organization in its chosen field of labor, still it was clear that without the assistance of a leader of distinction — one whose name should be a tower of strength, whose interest in the Society should inspire him to the sacrifice of his time in its behalf, and the attraction of whose personal qualities should draw to us a desirable membership — reputation could only be gained through a long period of dubious struggle.

    Benjamin Apthorp Gould, eager and earnest in our behalf, a man of international repute, blest with a host of friends among those whose names we needed upon our rolls, saved us from this period of trial and enabled us from the first to present attractions to those to whom we tendered membership, even though the Society was without traditions, without reputation, and possessed neither house, library, nor funds. Our gratitude to him for his influence and for his labor has been often expressed, but can never be over-stated through reiteration.

    His successor found the Society already possessed of reputation. Its membership was of such a character that throughout the community those interested in its work were desirous to have their names upon its rolls, and its publications had already shown that not all the working capacity of this vicinity had been monopolized by the older societies. To him was given the task to maintain the character of an established and prosperous society. How well Edward Wheelwright did this, with what urbanity and dignity he presided at our meetings, and how thoroughly his interests in the success and endurance of the Society had become a part of his life, were not only constantly apparent to his fellow-workers in the ranks of the Society while that work was going on, but became known to the world at his death through the munificent bequest which he left to us.

    There was something audacious in calling upon the busiest man in Cambridge — one who was engaged in professional work, day and night, and, if there is any intervening time between day and night, during that intervening time also — to take charge then of the affairs of the Society. True, it had by this time gained distinction. True, the position of President of the Society had secured for itself recognition as a place of honor; but still it was asking a good deal to call upon George Lyman Kittredge to abandon, even for the few hours each month required for the performance of the duties of President, the engrossing labors which pressed upon him at his home.

    Fortunately for us, he yielded to the pressure which was brought to bear upon him and brought into our midst the stimulus of an active intellect, full of energy and vivacity, which has proved helpful not only in spurring others to exertion, but has enriched our publications through communications from himself which very likely would never have been undertaken except for the direction given to his thoughts by attendance at our meetings. How much the Society owes to him, those know best who have attended our meetings and witnessed his unflagging efforts in our behalf. That these pleasant relations should be severed is a source of regret to all of us, and as a partial expression of our appreciation of his services in our behalf, it is moved:

    That the thanks of this Society are due to George Lyman Kittredge for his active, energetic, and valued services as President.

    Mr. Winthrop H. Wade spoke of the long and severe illness of the Corresponding Secretary, Mr. John Noble, of his valued services to the Society, and of the regret felt at his absence from this meeting; and on his motion, it was unanimously —

    Voted, That an expression of the sympathy of the Society and of the pleasure with which the members have learned of the improvement in his condition be sent to Mr. Noble.

    The Editor called attention to an error that had crept into the recently published Volume IX of the Society’s Publications. The Lenox Library owns a copy of the issue of the Boston News-Letter dated 13 March, 1710. On page 89 this is correctly entered; but on page 21, owing to a typographical error not detected until too late to be corrected, it is wrongly entered under date of 13 February, 1710.

    Mr. Albert Matthews made the following communication:

    At a meeting of this Society held four years ago to-day, Mr. John Noble communicated a document written in April, 1672, in which Richard Saltonstall propounded a certain person for the presidency of Harvard College to succeed Charles Chauncy, who had died February 19, 1671–72. Mr. Noble reached the conclusion that this person, though unnamed, was the Rev. John Knowles.562 On March 25, 1672, Saltonstall wrote a letter offering the presidency to Knowles.563 When, however, Dr. Leonard Hoar reached here in July, 1672, it was found that he had brought with him a letter, dated May 10, 1672, from the Rev. John Collins to Governor Leverett, which began as follows:

    I would not let this ship goe without a few lines to you, however I have little to say, saving the recommendation of the gentleman the bearer hereof, being Dr. Hoar, who is in fellowship with us, and yet more yours than ours, through his ardent desire to serve God in what worke hee will allot to him in your parts, where hee hath had his education, which in the judgment of wiser men than myselfe is thought to bee in your colledge employment, to which hee is very well qualifyed in many things. I know whatever countenance or encouragement yourselfe can give him or the magistracy he shall not want it, for I beleeve hee will deserve it and continue soe to doe.564

    Dr. Hoar was elected President July 30, and was inaugurated December 10, 1672.

    From the document I am about to communicate, it appears that on May 1, 1671 — or nearly a year before Saltonstall drew up his proposition — the Rev. John Knowles had written to the Overseers in regard to the condition of the College. While his letter, unfortunately, has apparently not been preserved, there is in the Massachusetts Archives a copy of a reply which it called forth on August 21, 1671. This reply to Knowles’s letter is addressed to nineteen ministers in England. It was known to Quincy, who writes:

    In addition to these external discouragements, the particular condition of the seminary, during the latter part of Chauncy’s presidency, was critical and apparently hopeless. Its buildings were “ruinous and almost irreparable,” “the President was aged,” “the number of scholars short of what they had been in former days.”565

    But Quincy gives no hint as to what or where the documents from which he quotes; and, so far as I have been able to ascertain, it has never been printed. Hutchinson, however, as long ago as 1769, printed a “Copy of a Letter from several dissenting Ministers in and about London to the Magistrates and Ministers in the Massachusetts-Bay.” This is dated February 5, 1671–72, and begins as follows:

    We received yours dated from Boston Aug. 21.1671. directed to many of us, which also we have severall times considered, as the providence of God hath permitted to us opportunities of meeting together.566

    This letter is signed by the following thirteen ministers: Matthew Barker (1619–1698), Thomas Brooks (1608–1680), Joseph Caryl (1602–1673), George Cokayne (1619–1691), John Collins (H. C. 1649), George Griffith, William Hooke (1600–1677), John Knowles (1600–1685), John Loder (died 1673), Philip Nye (1596–1672), John Owen (1616–1683), Anthony Palmer567 (1618–1679), and John Rowe (1626–1677).

    The letter to which the thirteen ministers sent a reply is as follows:

    Honoured, reverend, & beloved in our Lord Jesus

    When we recount the singular favour of God to his people in these utmost ends of ye earth, & wherein he hath, by a line of his admirable loving kindnesse, distinguished us from the rest of the plantations in this Western world, This is not the last in the catalogue thereof, that he hath planted such a nursery of learning amongst us, we mean the Colledge in our Cambridge, whence have sprung up so many choice plants, as by whose pleasant fruits (we hope we may say it without carnall boasting, but) through grace, the heart of God, & man hath been cheared; whence both this Land hath been in a great measure provided for as to a Supply in the Ministry, & whence also have issued forth those streams into remoter parts, that have made glad the citty of God. And allthough it hath been, partly through the poverty of the County, or what other cause, at times, languishing, & is so still, yet we have found the Lord tenderly affected for it, & stirring up ye hearts of divers in England, & elswhere, to afford noe small contribution of incourragement for it’s reviving (for all which we desire to bless the Father of Lights, & to be duely thankfull unto those worthy persons, who have not yeilded to any temptation of despising the day of small things with us) And we still find that your care of us is flourishing again for this School of the prophets with us as in part we have been informed, by a Letter directed to the Governor, & other persons of note among us wherein it is advised that the Overseers of the Colledge might be consulted with, & that the present state of the Colledge, in order to some assistance from such as are nobly disposed, may be represented to persons of speciall Interest, zeal, largnesse of heart, & singular affection to this weighty concernment of the glory of God, who may have a leading, & successfull influence thereinto; The fullness of our persuasion that your selves are persons of that character, hath occasioned this our Application to your selves in particular.

    There are three things (much honoured in the Lord) which we shall therfore take the boldnesse to acquaint you with, which have matter of affliction, & fear accompanying them to our hearts.

    1st: The ruinous, & allmost irreparable state of the Edifices, in conjunction with our inability to erect some other more capacious, & accomodate; This notwithstanding, upon a serious, & late debate, a new structure, of stone, or brick, is resolved upon,568 & that speedy preparations shall be made toward the same: The Country (we hope) may be enabled to contribute about a thousand pound, which added unto, by the favour, & beneficence of such our worthy friends as have set their affection to this so seasonable, & important designe of supporting, & advanceing the Interest of Learning, & Religion in this Willdernesse, will (we trust) in some good measure attaine the end proposed, & desired..

    2. The danger of our loosing the aged, & reverend President of the Colledge. As we cannot but acknowledge it to the praise of God, that he hath continued him, with a rich blessing, hitherunto in the service of his Generation, so neither can it be expected by himself, or us, that (in an ordinary course of providence) it should be long before he must sleep with his fathers, & receive his reward; Now to have none in view that might, as Eliazar be invested with the dignity of succession to dying Aaron (to be left destitute of one to whom in that noble race the Lamp might be delivered, when the other hath finished his course, &, is to receive his crown) your selves cannot but understand how great an exercise of afflictive thoughts of heart it doth occasion; In which respect we begg that we may be so happy as to prevail with your selves to make it your joynt Interest with us to advise & assist toward our supply, as there may be need in this case..

    3. The paucity of Scholars in the Colledge; the number of whom fallsnow far short of what hath been in former daies. It is wel known to your selves what advantage to Learning accrue’s by the multitude of persons cohabiting for Scholasticall communion, whereby to acuate the minds one of another, & other waies to promove the ends of a Colledge-Society; We have experienced noe small blessing from heaven upon the studies of those who have been hitherto trained up therein (& in that respect dare not complain) but yet were the number of Scholars much more multiplyed, we think it would render the same much more desirable, and add an higher reputation thereunto; In which respect, we shall account it a smile of providence, if any of those, in whose hearts are the waies of God, may be inclined to look this way, for the education of their children.

    But as to the premises, & what els we might suggest, we may give you a further account, by word of mouth, from our worthy friend mr Richard Saltonstall,569 than our present straits of time will permit us to commit unto this paper:

    The good Lord influence all hearts by his holy Spirit, & guide, & lead in the way that is pleasing before him! We pray that the Lord may direct your, & our hearts, more & more, into the love of God, & into the patient wayting for Christ, & that the good will of him that dwelt in the bush may abide with your selves, & us! In whom we are

    Your Servants in ye Lord & for ye Gospell

    Boston. 21. Aug. 1671

    Charles Chauncy

    John Elliott

    John Oxenbridge

    Thomas Thacher Senr

    John Mayo

    James Allen

    Samuell Danforth

    Thomas Shepard

    Increase Mather

    Richard Bellingham

    Jno. Leuerett

    Daniel Gookin

    Richard Russell

    Edward Tyng

    Thomas Danforth

    William Stoughton570

    [Endorsed]

    [Addressed]

    1. 3. 1671

    mr John Knowles letter to the overseers of the Colledge

    These

    ffor the Honord Revd & well beloved fauourers & Patrones to Learning in ye Colledge of Cambridge in New England

    21. 6. 1671

    Their Answeere

    Dcliucr

    To the Rd & Beloved mr John Knowles & Dr Leonar — Here or either of them to be Com̄unicated as abovesaid in London.

    To ye Reud & much honnrd. Doctr. Goodwin Dr Owen mr. Nye mr. Carrill mr Greenehill mr. Lockier mr Knowles mr Hooke mr Griffith mr. Brooke mr. Barker mr Cockin mr Palmer mr Rev. mr Venning mr Loather mr Mead mr Lee mr Collins & Dr. Hoare

    These prsent In London571

    Of the nineteen ministers to whom this letter is addressed, twelve — Barker, Brooks, Caryl, Cokayne, Collins, Griffith, Hooke, Knowles, Loder,572 Nye, Owen, and Palmer — had signed the letter in reply dated February 5, 1671–72. The other seven ministers were: Thomas Goodwin (1600–1680), William Greenhill (1591–1671), Leonard Hoar (H. C. 1650), Samuel Lee (1625–1691), Nicholas Lockyer (1611–1685), Matthew Mead (1630–1699), and Ralph Venning (1621–1674).

    Mr. Henry L. Chapman, a Corresponding Member, communicated a copy of an order dated 15 February, 1693–94, commanding Sir William Phips, then Governor of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, to appear before the Privy Council to answer sundry charges of illegal and arbitrary acts attributed to him. The copy which follows is taken from the original manuscript in the Bowdoin College Library.

    Wm. R.

    Trusty & well beloved we greet you well.

    It haveing been reprsented unto us by ye Lds of or Privy Council appointed a Comittee of Trade & Plantac̃ons upon ye severall complts of Jaleel Brenton573 Collr & Suveyr Genal of or Customs in N. England & Capd Richd Short late Comdr of or ffrigott ye Nonsuch That by sevrall Informations upon Oath it appears That after Seizure made by the sd Jaleel Brenton of divers goods & merchandizes to ye value of 1000lb for being imported contrary to Law into or province of ye Massachusets Bay in N England under yor Governmt you had wth abt. fifty persons attending you violently taken the same out of or storehouse at Boston in N. E. beating & evilly entreating the sd Brenton, And haveing discharged the goods from ye sd seizure you had afterwards som of them for yor own use & yt or sd Collector had been otherwise hindered & discouraged by you in ye Execuc̃on of his Duty by forbidding ye mstrs of sevrall Vessells arriving from Engl & other pts & loading ye enumerated Com̃oditys in N: Engl to swear with or sd. Collector or to produce ye Certificates to him you declaring that he had nothing to do therewith and directing them to apply themselves to a Navall Officer appointed by you for this purpose, That Capt Short had suffered divers great hardships from you by Illegall Imprisonment for the space of nine months & suspended him from ye com̄and of or sd ffriggot & yt afterwards turning him out you had appointed ye Gun̄er of or sd ship to take ye chief com̄and in his Room contrary to ye Direc̃on you had rec’d from us whereby ye next officer in ye Ship should have succeeded in yt com̄and according to ye usuall practice of ye Navy, That haveing caused him to be putt on board a merch’ Ship to be brought in Custody into England you had afterwards forbidd the mastt of ye Ship to bring him over & going on board ye sd mrchant Ship you had broken open ye Cabbin Dore & taken away by force Capt Shorts Chest with his money & cloathes leaving him without any means to come over to make his complt unto us of ye severall hardships he had suffered there until the arrivall of or Squadron under the com̄and of Sir ffra: Wheeler574 in those parts That Capt Short with or sd ffriggot ye Nonsuch haveing in April 1692 taken a ffrench ship of abt 1500lb value upon his arrivall in N. England you had caused ye sd Ship to be brought to tryall & condemned as prize before you sitting yorself as Judge abt sd condemnc̃on, But it does not appear yt any acct has been made so far for any pt. of ye sd prize or to ye seamen of ye Non-such for ye Share belonging to them That ye St Jacob of Rochell loaded with Wine & Brandy from ffrance to Canada valued at abt 9970lb haveing been taken in Augt 1692 by the Ships the Swan & the Briganteen ye Eliz: & Sarah & brought to New E: was condemned by you as prize to the Capt without reserving any pt thereof to us (notwithstanding you had many men & some great gunns & other Stores of warr to be prest and taken from french owners) for fitting out ye sd Ship Brigentine under pretense of their being imployed for or service without taking Care any satisfacon should be given to ye sd owners for ye great Gunns or Stores so taken from them Upon all wch complts Wee have thought fit to signify or Royall pleasure And we do hereby strictly require & com̄and That at ye first opportunity after yor Receipt hereof you forthwith give yor attendance here in England to answer in or privy Council ye sevrall matters of Complt above menc̃oned And to ye end all who may be fully prepared to be heard thereupon we are further pleased to direct & require that free Libty may be allowed to all persons to give their Informations & proofs upon oath relating to ye sd complts before or Trustye & well beloved Wm Stoughton Esqr or Lt Govor of or sd province of the Massachusetts Bay & or Council of or sd province, And that Authoritative Copys of all Records & Evidence of what nature soever relating thereunto be duly transmitted to us under the public seal of or sd province of ye Massachusets Bay wherein you are not to intermeddle in any other manner than by ye offering to or sd Lt. Govr & Council such proofs as you shall desire may be made before them on yorbehalf we haveing likewise signifyed or pleasure to or sd Lt. Govor that he do all that in him lys to see these or Direcc̃ons put in Execuc̃on and that he take upon him the Goverm’t of or sd province during yor absence from thence or untill or further pleasure shall be signifyed concerning ye same according to or Com̄ission & Instruc̃cons granted unto you for ye Government of or sd province, And so not doubting of yor ready obedience to ye signific̃ation of or Royall pleasure herein we bid you farewel.

    Given at or Cort. at Whitehall ye 15th day of Febry 1693/4 in ye 6th year of orreign. By his Mãty’s com̄and

    J. Trenchard.

    Mr. Henry H. Edes made the following communication:

    It is well known to many of the members that for more than sixty years the date of Judge Edmund Trowbridge’s birth has been diligently but unsuccessfully sought by historians, genealogists, and editors. The approximate date has just been discovered in a business letter written by Chief-Justice Dana to Mrs. Frances Shirley Western, in which he refers to the health and age of his uncle, Judge Trowbridge, whose wife (Mary Goffe) was aunt to Mrs. Dana. As Judge Trowbridge lived for several years, after the death of his wife, with the Chief-Justice and Mrs. Dana, there is scarcely room to doubt the accuracy of his nephew’s statement.

    Mrs. Western, to whom the letter is addressed, was the daughter of William Bollan, long the agent of the Province in London, and Frances, daughter of Governor Shirley, who died at the birth of her only child.575 During her father’s absence in London, her early childhood was spent on the Ten Hills Farm estate with her maternal aunt Harriet, who had married Robert Temple, a brother of Sir John Temple, whose son Sir Grenville Temple married Elizabeth (Watson) Russell, widow of the Hon. Thomas Russell, a son of the Hon. James Russell and nephew of Judge Chambers Russell. While living with the Temples, and when only thirteen years old, young Theodore Atkinson576 of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, fell in love with Frances Shirley; and notwithstanding her tender age his suit was encouraged by her uncle and aunt without the knowledge or consent of her father. Indignant at such conduct, Bollan removed his daughter from the care of the Temples and placed her with his friends Judge and Mrs. Trowbridge, with whom she remained until she sailed for England, in September, 1765, to join her father, who was then residing in Lisle Street, Leicester Square, London. She very soon married Charles Western of Rivenhall and of Felix Hall, Kelvedon, Essex, who died 24 July, 1771. Their eldest son, Charles Callis Western, baptized 9 August, 1767, was educated at Eton and at Cambridge, and after forty-two years’ service in Parliament in the Whig interest was created, 28 January, 1833, Baron Western of Rivenhall.

    The letter of Chief-Justice Dana follows.

    (No. 10.)

    Cambridge, Decr 6th 1789.

    Madam

    My last letter to you was of the 11th. of May, 1788, and the last I have been honoured with from you, was of the 4th. of Feby: of the same year. — In No. 7 I requested you to furnish me with a copy of your Father’s will duely authenticated in the proper office, under the seal of it; which, by the law of our government, will serve in all cases as well as the original will: and without it no suit whether real or personal can be brought in your favour. This has now become more necessary to be attended to, as we have a statute limiting actions against Executors and Administrators to three years, and near half of that time is already elapsed. And I fear an action must be instituted against the late Judge Russell’s577 Executors, upon his bond to your Father: for notwithstanding his brother,578 who is one of them, wrote you long since that “he had settled the accounts and was ready to pay you Seven hundred & Twenty five pounds lawful money” yet I have never been able to obtain more than one hundred pounds which he paid me on the 17th. of Septr. 1785, and is endorsed upon the bond, as I before informed you. Let such a copy of the will therefore be forwarded as soon as may be. I shou’d wish to know the time of your Father’s death also. In the mean time I shall not fail to press Mr. Russell to make the payment he has declared himself ready to make.

    Since my last viz. in Octr: 1788, I sold your moiety of the 58 acres in Dighton579 (or rather 56 as it proved on measuring) which [Jotham] Burt conveyed to your Father & [Henry] Laughton, at 10½ Dollrs: pr. acre, agreeably to the agreement mentioned in No. 8: and have taken the purchasers Notes of hand upon interest for the consideration being £ 88: 4: 0 lawful money. They stand bound for each other, and I am told the debt is safe.

    Nobody has yet offered to buy any of your other lands, thô I have employed some persons in the neighborhood of them to look out for purchasers.

    Your demand against the Government580 must for the reasons I formerly mentioned, remain in its present state. But the moment I see an opportunity to obtain even the interest, you may rely upon my improving it.

    Shou’d I have omitted anything about which you want information, you will be pleased to suggest it in your answer to this; which I shall hope to receive by the earliest opportunity.

    for services as agent of the Province in London. It was finally paid. See Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts, 1784–85, chap. 23 of Resolves, May Session, 1785, p. 637; ibid. 1790–91, chap. 142 of Resolves, January Session, 1790, p. 233.

    Judge Trowbridge is still living and will be eighty years of age this month.581 Both he and Mrs: Dana join me in begging your acceptance of our very sincere regards and wishes for the happiness of yourself and your children.

    I am, dear Madam, with much respect and esteem your most obedient humble servant582

    Mrs. Frances S. Western

    [Filed]

    Letter to Mrs. Western

    Decr. 6th. 1789 — No. 10.

    Sale of Dighton Lands to

    Whitmarsh, Brown & Briggs.

    The Hon. Andrew Dickson White of Ithaca, New York, was elected an Honorary Member, and Mr. Francis Philip Nash of Geneva, New York, a Corresponding Member.

    The Rev. Dr. Arthur Lawrence communicated a Memoir of Roger Wolcott, which he had been requested to prepare for publication in the Transactions.

    After the meeting was dissolved, dinner was served. The guests of the Society were the Rev. Dr. James De Normandie, the Rev. Charles Edwards Park, and Messrs. Melville Madison Bigelow, Charles John McIntire, Roger Bigelow Merriman, William Roscoe Thayer, and Julius Herbert Tuttle. Mr. Kittredge presided.

    MEMOIR OF ROGER WOLCOTT, LL.D.

    by ARTHUR LAWRENCE.

    Roger Wolcott was born in Boston on July 13, 1847. He was of English and Puritan descent, and came of a family in which loyalty to conscience and devotion to public duty have reappeared, generation after generation, with the persistency of a type.

    Henry Wolcott, the first of the name in this country, was an English gentleman of fortune, owner of Goldon Manor and of other estates near Tolland, in the county of Somerset. Those who have visited the neighborhood tell us that the beauty and charm of the place still suggest the elegant and dignified surroundings of the life of an English country gentleman, with the attraction and solid comfort which we associate with that position in life. Henry Wolcott was a devout member of the Church of England, his convictions and sympathies allying him with the Puritan element in that Church, and he finally, shortly before the accession of Archbishop Laud, cast in his lot with those who for conscience sake abandoned possessions and home, and after he was fifty years of age he emigrated to the new world. On March 20, 1630, he embarked with his wife and children on the ship Mary and John, and after a seventy days’ voyage reached Boston on May 30. He settled first at Dorchester, but not long after removed with Mr. Warham’s church to Windsor, Connecticut, in which place he became a “chief cornerstone.” In the first General Assembly held in Connecticut, in 1637, he was made a member of the lower house, and six years later became a member of the house of magistrates, to which he was annually reelected during the rest of his life.

    His son, Simon Wolcott, who was captain of the train band and one of the townsmen or selectmen of Simsbury, married Martha Pitkin, sister of the Governor of the Colony. His son, Roger Wolcott, born in 1679, was a man of distinction. He married Sarah Drake, from Plymouth, England, whose family counted among its members the famous admiral. Her mother was Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. David Clark, whose mother was Mary, daughter of Thomas Newbury of Dorchester.

    Roger Wolcott began his public career as selectman before he was thirty. In 1709 he was representative to the General Court; in 1710 a justice of the peace; in 1711 he was commissary of the American forces in the expedition against Canada; in 1714 a member of the Council; in 1721 a judge of the County Court; in 1732 a judge of the Supreme Court; in 1741 Deputy-Governor and Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court; in 1745, with the rank of Major-General, he was second in command to Sir William Pepperrell in the expedition against Cape Breton which resulted in the capture of Louisburg; in 1750 and for four successive years he was Governor of Connecticut, and in 1754 he retired from public life and devoted his leisure “to literary pursuits and to the reading of the scriptures, meditation and prayer.”

    In this first Roger Wolcott’s funeral sermon, the preacher said:

    At the head of the government Roger Wolcott was a wise and able governor: at the head of the army a general true to his King and country: on the bench a just and upright judge: and at the bar an able lawyer. In his own person he was frugal, chaste and temperate. View him at the head of his family he was a kind husband, a good father and a compassionate master. He was a steady professor of the Christian name, a constant and devout attendant upon public worship and holy ordinances. He was able to make a good figure among the learned upon almost any subject, and had a good acquaintance both with men and things. He was easy of access: no forbidding air sat upon his countenance: free, affable and unaffected in conversation he had peculiar talent in making himself agreeable to all sorts of company so far as innocency would permit. He was a man of ready wit and great humour.

    There seems to be in this description a foreshadowing of the Roger Wolcott of nearly two centuries later.

    Oliver Wolcott, son of the foregoing, commanded in early manhood a company of volunteers in the war against the French. In October, 1751, on the organization of the County of Litchfield, the Legislature appointed him the first high sheriff of the new county. He was a representative in the Legislature from 1764 to 1770; a member of the Council or Upper House from 1771 to 1786; judge of the Court of Probate from 1772 to 1795; Chief Judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1773 to 1786; a member of the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1784 (with the exception of two years), and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In the early part of the War of the Revolution he was commissioned Brigadier-General, and Congress appointed him a member of the Indian affairs for the Northern Department with General Schuyler and others. In May, 1779, he was elected by the Legislature and commissioned by Governor Trumbull Major-General of the militia of Connecticut. In this important station he rendered the country valuable service. At the same time he was a member of the Committee of Safety, and when at home was equally zealous in the affairs of the town, officiating as moderator, selectman, etc. No man in the State discharged so many and so varied public duties as he. A rather amusing and suggestive incident illustrates the patriotism and loyalty of his family. Before the Revolution an equestrian statue of George the Third stood on the Bowling Green in the city of New York. At the breaking out of the war this was overthrown by the Sons of Liberty, and the lead being highly valuable it was decided to send it to Governor Wolcott at Litchfield — that historic and beautiful town — where it was cut up and moulded into bullets by Governor Wolcott’s daughters and some of their friends.

    Oliver Wolcott, Jr., son of the last named, took part as a volunteer in several of the skirmishes which followed the attack of the British upon Danbury. He was also in Congress and served as Quartermaster in the army. In 1781 he was admitted to the bar; in 1784 he was appointed with Oliver Ellsworth a commission with full power to adjust and settle all claims of the State of Connecticut against the United States; in 1788 he was appointed Comptroller of Public Accounts; in 1789 he received from Washington the appointment of Auditor of the Treasury; in 1791 he was made Comptroller of the Treasury, and in 1795 he succeeded Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury, and then became a member of Washington’s cabinet.

    On the accession of President Adams, Mr. Wolcott tendered his resignation, which was declined; but on the overthrow of the Federalist party he again sent in his resignation, which was accepted in 1800. He was soon after nominated judge of the United States Circuit Court of the Second District and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. In 1815 he retired to his ancestral town, and for ten succeeding years was elected Governor of the State.

    Frederick Wolcott, son of Oliver Wolcott, and brother of the Secretary of the Treasury, also served his State on the bench and in the legislature. He was more than once solicited by the prevailing political party to accept a nomination as Governor, but refused his assent. He was a member of and an officer in many educational and charitable associations, a member of the corporation of Yale College, and one of the founders of what was believed to be the oldest temperance organization in the world. He married Elizabeth Huntington, an alliance which united two families of marked distinction.

    Jabez Huntington, the grandfather of Elizabeth, who had served several years as a member of the General Assembly of Connecticut, after graduation at Yale College entered into the West India trade, and by an honorable business career laid the foundation of one of the largest fortunes of the age. One recorded act of his stamps the man. At the beginning of the Revolution he was the owner of a large amount of shipping which was very greatly endangered by the rupture with the mother country; but his patriotism prevailed over his commercial and pecuniary interest, and he cheerfully sacrificed his property and consecrated himself and his family to the cause of independence. In the year 1774 he and his wife called together all the members of their family, and after an earnest supplication for divine guidance he said to his children that he and their mother had been deciding the question of duty to their country — a question which was seriously to affect their worldly circumstances and prosperity; but before a final decision which should bring them personally into an act of hostility to their “dear mother land” — he wished them personally to count the cost. Then, deliberately addressing each member of the family by name, he slowly asked the question, “are you ready to go with your parents and share our risks and our rewards?” The children unanimously pledged themselves to their country; and in the words of Gilman’s oration at the Norwich Centennial celebration, “if the annals of the Revolution record the name of any family which contributed more to that great struggle, I have yet to learn it.”

    In 1776 Jabez Huntington was appointed by the Assembly one of the two Major-Generals of the militia of the State, and the following year was appointed to the command of the entire militia of Connecticut. His son Jedediah, as Colonel in command of a regiment, joined the army at Cambridge just one week after the battle of Lexington. After the evacuation of Boston and while the American army was on the march to New York, he entertained the Commander-in-Chief at Norwich. In 1777 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, at General Washington’s request. He took part in all the active campaigns of 1776 and 1777, and endured with Washington the hardships of Valley Forge. In July, 1778, he was a member of the court martial which tried General Lee for misconduct at the battle of Monmouth, and in September sat upon the court of inquiry to which was referred the case of Major André. At a meeting of the Revolutionary officers May 10, 1783, he was appointed one of the committee of four men to draft the constitution of the Society of the Cincinnati.

    Another son, Ebenezer, went as a volunteer to Cambridge on receipt of the news of the battle of Lexington. He was appointed Brigadier-General by President John Adams on the recommendation of Washington, and was a member of Congress from 1810 to 1817. Still another brother, Zachariah, attained the rank of Major-General, and another brother, Andrew, was commissary of brigade during the Revolution, and Judge of Probate.

    Joshua Huntington, a brother of the preceding, was the father of the Elizabeth Huntington who married Frederick Wolcott. Immediately after the battle of Lexington he led, as Lieutenant, one hundred men to join General Putnam’s brigade, with which he later went to New York, where he was promoted to the rank of Colonel.

    One other ancestral strain is to be mentioned in the Wolcott family history. Through the marriage of Elizabeth Huntington the Wolcotts were descended from William Pynchon, founder of Springfield. Pynchon headed the inhabitants of Agawam in adopting a form of government and in the assumption of the right of self government, and especially of independence of the authority of Connecticut. This action led to prolonged controversy, and the position of Pynchon and the people of Agawam was finally sustained by the General Court of Massachusetts, which on June 2, 1641, adopted an elaborate paper which asserted the claim of the Massachusetts Colony to the plantation, and ordered that William Pynchon should have full power and authority to govern the inhabitants of Agawam, now Springfield, and hear and determine all causes and offences, both civil and criminal, that “reach not to life, limbs, or banishment, according to the lawes heare published.” Through the marriage also of Elizabeth Huntington, the Wolcotts are descended from Elizur Holyoke and Governor Thomas Welles.

    Governor William Leete was another of Mr. Wolcott’s ancestors.

    Joshua Huntington Wolcott, father of Governor Roger Wolcott, was the son of Frederick Wolcott and Elizabeth Huntington above named.

    It may seem as if the Wolcott genealogy had been dwelt upon at undue length; but it has been deemed worthy of such record as a conspicuous instance of a family which for more than two centuries and a half produced a remarkable succession of men, distinguished generation after generation for high character, marked ability, patriotic fervor, and aptitude for public service, exhibiting a persistent trend toward patriotic devotion and exalted service of the State, which in this generation found such high expression in the character and life of Roger Wolcott. It discloses an heredity which must be taken into large account in estimating his own traits and gifts.

    Those of us who remember the Boston of the late fifties and early sixties will recall the face and figure of J. Huntington Wolcott, the Governor’s father. It was from him that the son inherited much of his physical beauty and personal charm. Huntington Wolcott came to Boston as a very young man and entered the counting-room of the well-known firm of A. and A. Lawrence and Company. At the early age of twenty-six he was admitted to the firm, becoming eventually senior partner and so continuing until the firm was dissolved in 1865. Attractive and dignified in his appearance, kind and courteous in manner, upright and high-minded in character, he was a marked figure as he walked the streets; the impression which he made upon the writer in his boyhood days was one which has never faded from his mind.

    He married on November 12, 1844, Cornelia Frothingham, and the two sons of that marriage were Huntington and Roger, both of these being, as will be remembered, family names. Huntington was eighteen months the older. They both attended the well-known school of Mr. Epes S. Dixwell, once the head of the Boston Latin School, and who afterwards conducted a private Latin school in Boylston Place, very near the Wolcott residence. There was much personal charm about them both, and an unusual strength of brotherly affection. Stress is laid upon this fact as partly explaining the very deep and powerful influence which the example and memory of his brother had to the very end upon Roger’s life. They were school boys when the Civil War began. From its beginning the call to arms was intensely felt by the older brother. He was too young at first to enter the service, but his consuming desire was to be enabled to do so. His parents long refused their consent, but toward the end of the war they could no longer resist his appeal, and he was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Second Regiment of Massachusetts Cavalry, and served with gallantry in the Shenandoah Valley and in the closing campaign of the war. But the strain was too great. He took part in the grand review in Washington in May, but the poison of fever was already in his veins, and he came home only to die, on June 9, 1865.

    As has been already said, his life and death made an extraordinarily deep impression upon the mind and heart of his brother, an impression traceable all through his career, a potent influence in intensifying that devotion to the soldiers of a later war which was so conspicuous an element in his last years as Governor of Massachusetts.

    The young soldier’s death told heavily upon both Roger and his parents. Roger was taken for a while from school, and the family spent a year abroad, a year which in the usual course he would have spent as a freshman at Harvard, but which was passed in foreign travel and study; a part of the time was spent in England, and a visit was made to the ancient manor house and the graves of earlier Wolcotts — or rather Walcotts, as the name is more commonly known in England.

    Bishop Lawrence relates an incident which reveals, even at that age, young Wolcott’s sturdy Americanism. While in England his mother gave him a seal ring with the family coat of arms. The seal-maker called attention to the fact that the arms were identical with those of the English Walcotts. A few days later a member of the Walcott family called upon Mr. Wolcott to compare notes on the subject. Being convinced that the American branch was from his own family, he invited Roger, then a boy of seventeen, to lunch with him in order to give him copies of the family records. In the course of conversation this gentleman said, “Mr. Wolcott, if you intend to hitch onto the English branch of the family you must change the spelling of your name.” “Sir,” said Roger, “we do not intend to hitch onto any family.” “Then,” was the answer, “the purpose of this interview is misunderstood;” and the Englishman tore the records in pieces.

    Roger tramped in Switzerland, studied in Paris, and came back with renewed health to enter College as a sophomore. His college course was marked by a certain maturity of mind and depth of purpose unusual for one of his years. Not that he was unsocial or failed to enter into the diversions and pleasures of college life. He possessed a gift of humor and a social charm, a fondness for out-of-door life, and a fellowship in the varied scholarly and social interests surrounding him; but there was a certain seriousness and reserve in his character which seemed in a way to differentiate him from the common type of college student — a maturity of thought and earnestness of purpose which made him a marked man. His brother’s memory, already referred to, was a continuous and inspiring influence. He said himself, in his senior year: “I feel it more every day, that every high aspiration, every yearning after nobleness, which I sometimes feel is to be traced directly to Hunty’s influence and example; and that if there is ever to be developed in me any spark of true worth, it will be his memory that kindles it.” He was interested in history, literature, and languages. He did work on the Advocate, was an organizer of the O. K. Society, a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, and finally of the Phi Beta Kappa. At graduation he was Class Day orator, and his oration is well remembered. It was marked by a certain depth and seriousness uncommon on such occasions — a plea for enthusiasm of heart and head, prophetic of his own career. General Sherman, who was present, used to say in later years, “When shall we hear of that young man Wolcott, who spoke on Class Day?” He had a part at Commencement, his subject being the early Franciscans.

    He entered the Harvard Law School, and for a year taught French and history in the College. He passed another year in the law office of Lothrop, Bishop and Lincoln, and for two years more was at the Law School, taking his degree of Bachelor of Laws; and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1874. But he did not long yield to the exacting demands of the legal profession. He gave himself to varied interests — political, business, and philanthrophic. Love for and devotion to public service ran in his blood and urged him in the direction of his final career. He interested himself first in city elections, went to ward meetings, helped to get the vote registered, and distributed ballots at the polls. In 1876 he entered the Common Council of the City of Boston, served for three successive years and was the candidate of his party for the presidency of that board.

    But his activities were far from being confined to political matters. His business abilities were soon recognized. He was made a director in the Stark Mills, the Boston and Albany Railroad, the New England Trust Company; a trustee of the Suffolk Savings Bank, a vice-president of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company; and he declined the offer of the treasurership of a large manufacturing corporation. He was actively interested in philanthropy — a visitor of the poor of the Boston Provident Association, a member of the board of managers of the Boston Dispensary, a trustee of the Eye and Ear Infirmary, and of the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was active in the preservation of the Old South Church and a member of the Old South Corporation. He delivered a lecture in one of the Old South courses upon the historian Prescott. He was a trustee of the Boston Public Library, and was interested in the Social Science Association. He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and a resident member of this Society, to which he was elected April 19, 1893. He was also a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, toward whose objects his ancestry and traditions naturally impelled him strongly. He was an overseer of Harvard College, and a member of various visiting boards. He was a vestryman also at King’s Chapel.

    In 1881 he was elected a member of the Massachusetts Legislature and served in that capacity during the three years following. As a leader on the Republican side he was opposed to the election of Benjamin F. Butler as Governor.

    On September 2, 1872, he had been married to Miss Edith Prescott, daughter of William Gardiner Prescott and granddaughter of William Hickling Prescott the historian. There were already interesting associations between the Wolcotts and the Prescotts. As has been already said, Roger Wolcott of Connecticut was second in command to Sir William Pepperrell in the French War. William Prescott of Groton, Massachusetts, served in Nova Scotia under Sir William Pepperrell. The name of the town of Pepperell, set off from Groton and for generations after the home of the Prescotts, is an historic reminder of the fact. William Prescott, like Ebenezer Huntington, reported at Cambridge after the news of the battle of Lexington, being then a colonel of minute men. His statue stands to-day on Bunker Hill. His son was Judge William Prescott, and his son, William H. Prescott the historian, was grandfather of Miss Edith Prescott, Roger Wolcott’s wife. Her family tradition, therefore, and her own personal gifts most happily blended to bring sympathy and strength into a union and companionship which were a support and joy to his whole after career. One of their children died in infancy; the widow and five children survive.

    As early as 1883 his name had begun to be mentioned in connection with the Governorship. In the Boston Evening Transcript of July 24 of that year a letter appeared, advocating his election to that office. In 1884, about the time of his retirement from the Legislature, there came an important crisis in his political career. He had always been a thorough-going Republican, though never a narrow partisan. To him party was a means but not an end. He did not feel himself bound to acquiesce against his convictions in any mere party action. In the course of national politics Mr. Blaine received the Republican nomination for the presidency. The party had fallen, in Mr. Wolcott’s opinion, into untrustworthy hands. Mr. Blaine was to him, as to many others, the representative of an element which he distrusted. He refused, at the cost of distress to himself and his friends, to support the nomination. He still stood by the principles of, and maintained his allegiance to, the Republican party; but as a matter of conviction and conscience he cast his vote for the man who commanded his confidence, Grover Cleveland.583 The act was a strain upon the loyalty of many of his friends and political supporters. But he maintained his position and his standing as a Republican. At the next caucus his vote was protested, but he stood his ground and was sent in 1885 as an alternate delegate to the Republican State Convention, and as a delegate took part in its proceedings.

    For some five years, however, he was practically retired from public life. His father’s health was failing, and to his last years the son gave up with complete and singular devotion his own pursuits in a beautiful example of filial devotion.

    About the time of his father’s death, when he was left free to resume the activities of political life, a new movement was begun among the younger men of the party which resulted in the formation of the Republican Club of Massachusetts, and he was called to its presidency. His speech at its first public dinner in January, 1891, marked an epoch in the new life of his party and in his own career. In 1892 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor, William E. Russell, a Democrat, being Governor. It was in a way a trying position, but he bore himself with his usual courage and fairness, and commanded the respect of friends and foes alike.

    Governor Russell retired at the end of 1893. Mr. Wolcott was not at that time nominated as his successor, but was once more chosen Lieutenant-Governor, with Mr. Greenhalge as Governor. In his speech of acceptance Mr. Wolcott said:

    We pledge again our allegiance to the principles from which the Republican party has never swerved in its support. We believe in an honest and stable currency; we believe in and demand a dollar that shall not be the poorest and cheapest dollar in the world but the best dollar in the world. We believe in a tariff policy which, while it protects the American laboring man fosters and encourages American industry.

    Mr. Wolcott as Lieutenant-Governor ran ahead of Mr. Greenhalge on the ticket by 1630 votes. He continued Lieutenant-Governor until March, 1896, when Mr. Greenhalge’s death advanced him to the Governor’s chair. It has been noted as an interesting coincidence, that just a century before, in the year 1796, Oliver Wolcott, then Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut, announced to President Washington that in consequence of the death of Governor Samuel Huntington he had entered upon the office of Governor. For three years more he served, re-elected each year by large majorities. Many important matters came before him for action. A high ideal directed and dominated his course. Nothing escaped his interest or eluded his watchful and patient care. Prisons, asylums, the care of the poor, insurance, street railways, harbors and lands, parks, roads, and endless other matters came within his range and received conscientious, steady, and painstaking personal attention. In official appointments he was specially careful in leaving nothing to hearsay, in investigating personally the fitness of applicants, and he was impartial in the exercise of the power of appointment. Patient industry, sound judgment, fairness of mind, and scrupulous honor commanded the respect of the community rather than any special brilliancy of mind or showy accomplishments. He was fearless in his decisions, and regardless as concerned himself of personal consequences. He never shirked a veto or evaded a responsibility. No personal interest or desire of advancement ever deflected his judgments. Though like other men he liked popularity, he never yielded to its temptation. With him the compass always pointed true to the pole. “He stood foursquare to all the winds that blew.” And in the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens he had his reward. Each year he was re-elected by large majorities; each year he grew in the love and admiration of Massachusetts.

    Williams College gave him in 1897 the degree of LL.D.

    His presence was greatly sought at the graduating exercises of schools and colleges and he enjoyed the work. To the students of one college he said:

    We speak of college life and of entering the life that lies beyond college. That life has already begun to each one of you. There is no real dividing line. You ascend from the life of preparation to the life of achievement. If culture serve to make the feeble hermit, if it makes him the critic of the acts of others, it is of little worth.

    At Holy Cross College he said:

    If I have learned nothing else since I have held office, I have learned to believe in the American people. I have learned to believe that virtue is more common than vice, that noble manhood and womanhood have not died out from among us: I believe that God has made the law of progress, not a law of retrogression: and I urge you,young men, not to give way to pessimism. Be courageous, be hopeful: believe in the destiny of America: believe in the purpose of Almighty God and believe with all hope in the future.

    At the same (Roman Catholic) college, protesting against the word Irish-American, he said: “My friends, you will agree with me, I am sure, that the name ‘American’ gains nothing by any other word coupled with it by a hyphen.” At a meeting of the Christian Endeavor Convention, he said: “Christian Endeavor. I know of no two words in the English language that are more freighted with deep significance. — I know of no title that you could have chosen that could be more heavily weighted with blessing and divine inspiration than those two words.”

    Mr. Wolcott had a happy gift of coining phrases and uttering pithy sentences. His characterization of the men who in the other party stood for sound money as “honor Democrats,” caught the ear of the country. “There is no sanctity,” he said, “in a percentage.” Again, “The independent who prides himself upon being a total abstainer, until the day of election, from all lot or part in political movements, should be treated as those who skulk when the bugle sounds.” When the Spanish War came, Massachusetts, as at the opening of the Civil War, had already a war governor. John A. Andrew and Roger Wolcott were alike ready. No troops were better or more fully equipped than those of Massachusetts. Colonel Sohier says: “It was no accident that the Massachusetts troops were properly equipped. In December, 1896, the Adjutant General of Massachusetts was sent to Washington, by the Governor to secure the arms which enabled him to arm the Massachusetts troops. He cared for the men as they went and when they returned.” The Massachusetts troops were furnished at once and properly equipped by the Governor. On the very day after the Spanish War was declared, the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, fully armed and equipped, was sent to Fort Warren, and on May 9 it was mustered into the service of the United States, that service to date from April 26; and it is believed to have been the first regiment so mustered into service in the Spanish War. And not only that, but the sick and needy soldier was cared for by the State and by the society which the Governor formed.

    One tribute which was paid him in the Spanish War he greatly valued. In response to his message to the Legislature, asking for a war emergency fund of half a million dollars, the bill in half an hour had passed both Houses and the money was in his hands.

    He was never finer in executive force and in manly tenderness than during that war. It recalled the early associations of the Civil War and revived the intensity of feeling aroused in youth by his brother’s military service and early death, and which found opportunity for ardent expression in ministering to another generation of Massachusetts soldiers. In the person of every suffering soldier he saw his brother. No pains were too great, no labors too exhausting, in cheering and exhorting the troops as they went off, in relieving the sick and wounded, and in welcoming the survivors as they returned. Senator Lodge says:

    In all his career of distinguished public service I like best to think of Roger Wolcott as he appeared at that moment, and the recollection of that gracious, stately figure among the sick, the wounded, and the dying, bringing hope and comfort with the authority of high place and the tenderness of love, will ever be one of the cherished and beautiful memories of Massachusetts.

    In 1900 Mr. Wolcott retired from office for a well earned rest. The country would gladly have had more of his services. President McKinley offered him the post of Commissioner of the Philippines — at the time a most important one, but he felt obliged to decline it. The President also offered him the appointment of Ambassador to Italy: but that also he refused. Apart from other reasons he longed for freedom from official cares that he might enjoy and give enjoyment in that domestic life for which he was so admirably fitted and by his own earlier experiences attracted.

    He went with his family to Europe, returning at the end of six months in time to make a campaign speech at Quincy on the fifth of November, and to vote the next day for President McKinley and Governor Crane, and for the Republican party, of which he was a Presidential Elector.

    It had been hoped that he would be one of the four speakers at the centennial celebration of the national Capitol at Washington on the ninth of December. The governors of the States and the national officials were expected. But on the sixteenth of November he was taken ill with typhoid fever, and on the twenty-first of December he died. He was buried from Trinity Church, Boston, which had been offered for the services, the pastors of King’s Chapel, Boston, and the Unitarian Church of Milton officiating, and on the day before Christmas his body was laid to rest.

    On the eighteenth of April following a memorial service was held in Symphony Hall. It was a military one. The audience were escorted to their seats by members of the Governor’s staff, assisted by officers and men in full dress uniform, of the First and Second Corps of Cadets and Troop A of the National Lancers, a soldier being stationed at each door on the floor and balcony, and a detail in charge of an officer at each entrance. A representative assemblage crowded the building to its doors. The Rev. Edward Everett Hale offered prayer. Senator Lodge delivered an eloquent and beautiful address, and Mr. B. J. Lang had charge of the music. It was an impressive and memorable function.

    And so ended a brilliant and noble career. Roger Wolcott was great, first of all, because of character. “As the man is so is his strength” might well have been said of him. He had many gifts, but the man himself was best of all. He was splendidly endowed physically. Rare beauty of face and figure, a commanding presence, a strong and penetrating voice, commanded attention the moment he rose to speak. He was a good horseman and was a fine figure in the saddle. He was favored in his heredity. He had inherited gifts and traits from generations of men in whom public service and patriotic loyalty seemed an instinct. He was of gentle birth and high breeding — a gentleman to the finger tips. Any act or word that was mean or low from that very fact repelled him. His presence never checked the flow of wit or genial mirth, but it made vulgarity and indecency impossible. “A merrier man within the limit of becoming mirth,” as Shakspere says, one would not ask for. He was one of that favored class which our country so needs, who, born to the possibilities of a life of idle wealth and self indulgence, rise above the temptation and dedicate themselves to the public good. He had the love of culture and the industry and strength of purpose to make the best of his mental powers. He loved the intellectual life, but he never sacrificed to mere scholarly enjoyment the claims of patriotism or philanthropy. He was firm in purpose, strong in will, fearless in word and deed. He was fair; a believer in party, but never a partisan; strong in his own convictions, but tolerant toward the convictions of others; decided in opinion, but always ready to hear the other side; constantly ripening in judgment and growing in breadth of view, he gained in the confidence of men of all parties. Each year he grew in statesmanship, in fame, and in the love and respect of the country at large; and greater things than he had yet done were looked for from him, had he lived.

    He was a faithful member of the Unitarian Church, a regular attendant at divine service and the Holy Communion, and he strove to bring up his children, as he himself had been brought up, in the faith and fear of God.

    Senator Hoar said of him: “He was a type of character of which George Washington was a peerless example. Simple, modest, quiet, and conservative, he always reminded me in the simple beauty of his character of a beautiful, clear and flawless crystal.”

    Said Governor Greenhalge, his predecessor: “A truer servant of the people I have never found. Petty jealousy or an inordinate desire for political preferment never entered his mind. Through all the trials of a difficult year I found but one line of action on his part, and that was patriotic, business-like service to the commonwealth. He is a true son of Massachusetts, with a great record of his ancestry before him, which even as a stranger I am bound to revere.”

    But we need not multiply quotations. His record speaks for him. His memory will linger long in the hearts of the people of Massachusetts; his name will stand high on the roll of her governors — a roll of which she is justly proud. She has placed his statue in the State House among those of the men whom she has delighted to honor.

    When it was proposed to erect this memorial, a committee of citizens offered to receive subscriptions. More than ten thousand persons and organizations representing from fifteen to twenty thousand persons, within ninety days made an offering of forty thousand dollars. Then the committee asked that no more should be sent, and the books were closed.

    He had lived admired, beloved, and trusted, and when he died, as Motley reminds us was said of William of Orange, “the little children cried in the streets.”