ANNUAL MEETING, NOVEMBER, 1909

    THE Annual Meeting of the Society was held at the Algonquin Club, No. 217 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, on Monday, 22 November, 1909, at six o’clock in the afternoon, the President, Henry Lefavour, LL.D., in the chair.

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

    Mr. Abbott Lawrence Lowell of Cambridge was elected a Resident Member.

    On the recommendation of the Council, the name of the Hon. James Burrill Angell was transferred from the Corresponding Roll to the Honorary Roll.

    The Annual Report of the Council was presented and read by the Rev. Henry A. Parker.

    ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNCIL

    Since the last Annual Meeting, five Stated Meetings of the Society have been held. As we are still without a building of our own, we are again indebted to the American Unitarian Association for its continued hospitality in lending us a room for our meetings in its building on Beacon Street,—a courtesy which the Council has gratefully acknowledged.

    Since the appointment of an Editor of Publications, five years ago, six volumes have been completed, a seventh is nearing completion, and the text of an eighth is largely in type. With the material on hand we may hope to maintain, if not to increase, the rate of publication. It is obvious, however, that to accomplish this purpose a large and immediate addition to the Publication Funds is imperative; and it is also of the first importance that a permanent fund of $25,000 should be secured for the payment of the Editor’s salary, which was provided for by the liberality of some of our members for five years, now drawing to a close.

    The publication of the early Harvard College Records, made possible through the generosity of Mr. Frederick Lewis Gay, is progressing satisfactorily; and the Society has other material on hand the publication of which can be, and should be, hastened by a special contribution to our funds.

    The Society was honored by an invitation to be represented with other learned societies at the inauguration of Abbott Lawrence Lowell as the twenty-fourth President of Harvard College. Mr. Henry Herbert Edes was appointed our delegate, and at the formal reception of the delegates presented an engrossed address of salutation from this Society.

    During the year the Society has lost by death four Resident Members,—

    • John Noble,
    • Caleb Benjamin Tillinghast,
    • Arthur Lawrence,
    • Edward Everett Hale;

    one Honorary Member,—

    • Simon Newcomb;

    and two Corresponding Members,—

    • Wolcott Gibbs,
    • William Reed Huntington.

    John Noble became a member of the Society soon after its foundation and at once entered heartily into its work, contributed many valuable papers to our Transactions, and at his death was Chairman of the Committee of Publication and Corresponding Secretary. In all his relations with the Society he showed the same qualities of diligence, uprightness, and faithfulness which his associates on the Board of Overseers of Harvard College, in the Courts, and elsewhere recognized as characteristic of him. In his death, the Society has sustained an irreparable loss.

    Caleb Benjamin Tillinghast, long a picturesque figure in the streets of Boston, had an interesting career as an educator and journalist before entering the public service of the Commonwealth. Besides being a member of various boards and commissions, he was for thirty years the able Assistant Librarian and Librarian of the Massachusetts State Library and Treasurer of the Board of Education.

    Arthur Lawrence for more than a generation was rector of St. Paul’s Church, Stockbridge, and a foremost citizen of the town. After service in the Civil War on General Howard’s staff during Sherman’s march from Atlanta to the sea, and extensive travel in Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land, he entered upon his life work with a zeal which was unflagging to the end. His serious, quiet life, and cheerful, unfailing courtesy, endeared him to a wide circle of friends and always helped to make pleasanter those meetings of the Society which he was able to attend.

    Edward Everett Hale, Chaplain of the United States Senate at the time of his death, was widely known at home and abroad as teacher, minister, author, editor, and philanthropist. A leader in the formation of Chautauqua circles and Lend-a-Hand Clubs, public-spirited and active in all good works, he had long been recognized as Boston’s first citizen.

    Simon Newcomb, honored in both hemispheres, was one of the most eminent men of science this country has produced. An astronomer of the first rank, he was constantly in the service of the national government for nearly forty years. The recipient of the most distinguished honors from foreign universities and scientific societies of the highest standing, the Institute of France, and European sovereigns, he was Vice-President and Foreign Secretary of our own National Academy of Sciences and in fellowship with the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The leading universities of America also bestowed upon him the highest honors within their gift. On more than one occasion Professor Newcomb journeyed from Washington expressly to attend our annual meeting and dinner. So highly did he prize our fellowship that only a few months before his death he wrote that in any enumeration of the many honors which he had received he should place his honorary membership in the Colonial Society of Massachusetts high on the list.

    Wolcott Gibbs was a man of varied and deep learning, and a pioneer in the higher branches of physical chemistry. Descended from Oliver Wolcott, who signed the Declaration of Independence, from his son of the same name, who sat in Washington’s cabinet, and connected by marriage with William Ellery Channing, Dr. Gibbs was from his earliest childhood surrounded by a stimulating mental atmosphere which was not without its effect upon his own mental development. Bred at Columbia College, he later studied in Europe under Rammelsberg, Heinrich Rose, and Liebig, and attended courses of lectures by Laurent Dumas and Regnault. In 1863 he became Rumford Professor and Lecturer on the Application of Science to the Useful Arts at Harvard. During the War of the Rebellion he was a member of the Executive Committee of the United States Sanitary Commission, and a principal founder of the Union League Club of New York. In 1873 he was United States Commissioner to the Vienna Exposition. He was a charter member and for six years President of the National Academy of Sciences; a Fellow and Councillor of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and in fellowship with foreign scientific bodies. He was a prolific writer, and during the latter part of his career was “the most commanding figure in American chemistry.”

    William Reed Huntington, long Rector of Grace Church, New York, was an able, forceful leader, who did much for charitable work and to help towards good government.

    During the year the following Resident Members have been elected,—

    • Ogden Codman,
    • Morris Hicky Morgan,
    • Worthington Chauncey Ford,
    • William Lowell Putnam,
    • Harold Murdock;

    and the following has been elected a Corresponding Member,—

    • John Taggard Blodgett.

    Mr. Ford’s election was by transfer from the Corresponding Roll.

    Acting under Chapter IV, Article 2, of the By-laws of the Society, the Council elected the Rev. Charles Edwards Park to fill the vacancy in the office of Corresponding Secretary, the duties of which office had been for several months of Mr. John Noble’s last illness performed by Mr. Henry Ernest Woods.

    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 15 November, 1909.

    CASH ACCOUNT

    RECEIPTS

    Balance, 18 November, 1908

    $24.27

    Admission Fees

    $40.00

    Annual Assessments

    610.00

    Commutation of the Annual Assessment

    500.00

    Sales of the Society’s Publications

    54.98

    Sales of the Society’s paper

    43.02

    Interest

    2,511.65

    Mortgages, discharged or assigned

    2,800.00

    Henry H. Edes, temporary loan without interest

    100.00

    $6,659.65

    $6,683.92

    DISBURSEMENTS

    University Press, printing

    $86.33

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

    353.48

    C. S. Bradford, negative

    3.00

    F. W. Martin, engrossing

    40.00

    Clerk hire

    56.85

    Ewing W. Hamlen, stenography and typewriting

    22.75

    Hill, Smith & Co., record books and stationery

    19.85

    Boston Storage Warehouse

    24.00

    William H. Hart, auditing

    5.00

    Albert Matthews, salary as Editor of Publications

    1,000.00

    Carnegie Institution, subscription for 1908 towards Bibliography of American Historical Writings

    50.00

    Miscellaneous incidentals

    427.30

    Henry H. Edes, temporary loan without interest, repaid

    100.00

    Mortgages on improved real estate in Boston

    3,500.00

    Interest in adjustment

    76.69

    $5,765.25

    Balance on deposit in State Street Trust Company, 15 November, 1909

    918.67

    $6,683.92

    The Funds of the Society are invested as follows:

    $53,200.00

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

    5.00

    deposited in Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank.

    $53,205.00

    TRIAL BALANCE

    DEBITS

    Cash

    $918.67

    Mortgages

    $53,200.00

    Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank

    5.00

    53,205.00

    $54,123.67

    CREDITS

    Income

    $918.67

    Editor’s Salary Fund

    $250.00

    Publication Fund

    4,350.00

    General Fund

    8,605.00

    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

    Andrew McFarland Davis Fund

    2,000.00

    $53,205.00

    $54,123.67

    Henry H. Edes,

    Treasurer.

    Boston, 15 November, 1909.

    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 15 November, 1909, have attended to that duty and report that they find them correctly kept and properly vouched, and that proper evidence of the investments and the balance of cash on hand has been shown to us. This examination is based on the Report of William H. Hart, Auditor.

    Andrew McF. Davis,

    W. L. Putnam,

    Committee.

    Boston, 19 November, 1909.

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

    On behalf of the Committee appointed to nominate officers for the ensuing year, Mr. Thomas Minns presented the following list of candidates; and, a ballot having been taken, these gentlemen were unanimously elected:

    PRESIDENT

    • HENRY LEFAVOUR

    VICE-PRESIDENTS

    • WILLIAM WATSON GOODWIN
    • MARCUS PERRIN KNOWLTON

    RECORDING SECRETARY

    • HENRY WINCHESTER CUNNINGHAM

    CORRESPONDING SECRETARY

    • CHARLES EDWARDS PARK

    TREASURER

    • HENRY HERBERT EDES

    REGISTRAR

    • FREDERICK LEWIS GAY

    MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL FOR THREE YEARS

    • MORTON DEXTER

    On behalf of Mr. Charles Knowles Bolton, Mr. Albert Matthews communicated a Memoir of Caleb Benjamin Tillinghast, which Mr. Bolton 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. Dr. George Hodges, the Rev. Dr. Edward Caldwell Moore, and Messrs. Clarence Saunders Brigham, Francis Henshaw Dewey, Alfred Walter Elson, Frederick Perry Fish, Jerome Davis Greene, Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe, Arthur Pulsford, William Bernard Reid, William Roscoe Thayer, and Winslow Warren. The President presided.