Brown Family patend GBD's patternomother (Samuel Dorr) 33. [Brown Family by G.B.DORR, Susan Brown, my grandfather's second wife and my father's mother, was the daughter of Joseph Lazinby Brown, of Boston in his earlier life, of Concord later, a delight- ful old country town at that time where my grandmother and her sisters lived a free and pleasant life, of which I have a picture, come down from some old family friend, of my grandmother as a girl going out into the pasture, catching the horse left grazing there and riding him, bareback, around it. Concord, settled in 1635, is the oldest interior town in Massachusetts, and as early as the time of the Revolution had come to be one of the great centres not only of intellectual life but also of political influ- ence and power. The town lies twenty miles northwest from Boston on the Concord River, and is famous in these later days as having been the home of Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, William Ellery Channing, 'the post and others. Joseph Lazinby Brown's first ancestor in America was William Brown of Boston, of whom we know only the first name of his wife, Anne, and that they had, among Special New Collections Dept. R. Stanton Avery Genealogical 101 Society England Historic Boston, MA 02116 Newbury Street (Samuel Dorr) 34. other children, a son Benjamin, born July 2nd, 1803, who became a ship-joiner and is recorded as building himself, with his own hands, circa 1750, a home on the corner of Prince Street and Thatcher Street which, under the name of the Badger House because of its pur- chase half a century later by one Thomas Badger, still remained in sound structural condition in 1887, a tribute to the sound material and good construction put into it by its builder. The land on which this house was built was bought from Joshua Gee, a famous ship-builder of the time whose ship-yard, at the North End, bordered the Mill Pond alongside of Charlestown Ferry. The Mill Pond, which furnished early Boston with a tidal power, was orig- inally a saltmarsh bordering Charles River near its entrance but was connected also directly with Boston Harbor through Mill Creek, which joined with the marsh to make the North End virtually an island, with Copp's Hill, one of the original three hills of Boston, rising from it and dominating the entrance to Charles River. R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Dept. New England Historic Genealogical Society 101 Newbury Street Buston, MA 02116 (Samuel Dorr) 35. From the Hill Creek to Joshua Gee's ship-yard, the entire shore was taken up at an early date with wharves, warehouses and boat-yards. Ships were then Boston's chief source of wealth and means of trade, and in the construction or vessels lay one of its principal industries. A second son, Ebenezer Brown, born in 1718, is recorded as married by the Rev'd Andrew Eliot, in 1748, to Elizabeth Lazinby, daughter of Joseph Lazinby, another master ship-builder of the period. They had one son, an only child apparently, Joseph Lazinby Brown, who married Susannah Adams, and whose eldest daughter married Samuel Dorr. To follow back the Lazinby descent, the earliest of that line recorded is one Thomas Lazinby, of Boston, who married 'Mercy' in the latter part of the 17th cen- tury, and had, among other sons and daughters, Joseph, born in 1694, who was married by Dr. Cotton Mather in 1718 to Mary Proctor and had, other children apart, a daughter Elizabeth, born June 3rd, 1727, who was married by the Rev'd Andrew Eliot in 1748 to Ebenezer Brown. R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Dept. New England Historic Genealogical Society 101 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02116 (Samuel Brown) 36. Joseph Lazinby, the father of Elizabeth, was a noted builder of vessels who prospered in his trade and at his death left to Elizabeth, his youngest daughter, an estate on Middle Street, near the Old North Church, which had been purchased by him in 1724 from the estate of Hannah Green and which was Elizabeth's and her husband's home thereafter until he died, when it became that of their son, Joseph Lazinby Brown, until he moved to Concord. That Joseph Lazinby Brown inherited a fair prop- erty from his father, Ebeneser Brown, seems evident from his purchase, at an early period, of the estate on Middle Street in which he had been born and brought up from his mother and her second husband, Benjamin Eustis, the father by an earlier marriage of William Iustis, Secretary of War under Madison, and Governor of Hassachusetts. Joseph Lazinby Brown was by trade a goldsmith, as perhaps his father Ebenezer, of whom we know little beyond the records of his birth and marriage, was before him. There was a strong mechanical bent in the family, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Dept. New England Historic Genealogical Society 101 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02116 (Samuel Dorr) 37. coming from both sides and showing itself later in his grandson, Charles Hazen Dorr, who had a rare gift with his hands and loved to work with them. The work of the Boston gold and silver smiths in the latter part of the 18th century was famous. Paul Revere, who also lived at the North End, was a master craftsman but one only in a group whose work was widely sought. His father, a Huguenot refugee, had settled in Boston, at the North End, on coming to America and opened a workshop there on Prince Street, near the Old North Church, as silversmith, continued by his son, whose pieces are now so widely sought for museums and private collections. Joseph Lazinby Brown and Susannah Adams, his wife, had children: Susan, born on August 16th, 1779, in her father's house on Middle Street, who married Samuel Dorr, on December 5th, 1815, and was the mother of Susan Eliza- beth and Charles Hazen Dorr; Elizabath, born in Boston, who married Charles Hazen, for whom Charles Hazen Dorr was named; R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Dept. New England Historic Genealogical Society 101 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02116 (Samuel Dorr) 38. Nancy, born in Boston, who later married Charles Hazen, her sister having died; Mary, born in Concord, Massachusetts, who married George Gore, a ship captain; Joseph Lazinby Brown, the only son, born in Con- cord, who went on a voyage to Rio de Janeiro, married there and remained. Tracing back in turn the Adams family, from which the wife of Joseph Lazinby Brown came: There were three brothers, an old account tells, John, Hugh and Matthew Adams, "men of distinction". Hugh Adams, (great grandfather of Samuel Dorr's second wife) brought up in Boston, was graduated at Harvard College in 1697 and became a minister. Settled first at Braintree and afterwards in Chatham on Cape Cod, at Arrowsick in Maine, and elsewhere, he removed in 1717 to Durham, New Hampshire, where, making an arrangement with the town, he was settled as pastor on March 26th, 1718, his active ministry there continuing, the record shows, till 1739. Special R. Stanton Collections Avery New England Historic Dept. Genealogical 101 Newbury Society Street Boston MA 02116 (Samuel Dorr) 39. Hugh Adams married Susanna Winburn, and had, among other children, a son John, born on January 13th, 1717-18, who became a merchant in Boston and, thriving in business, married Susannah Parker, whose father lived in the house on Bowdoin Square afterwards replaced by the Boott resi- dence and subsequently by the Revere House, still, in my own early days, one of the leading hotels in Boston. Here John Adams and Susannah Parker Adams made their home and their children, Nancy and Susannah, were born, Susannah marrying Joseph Lazinby Brown. Sanuel Dorris children by his second marriage were: Susan Elizabeth Dorr, born March 11, 1819; Charles Hazen Dorr, born August 27, 1821. My father's own sister, Susan Elizabeth Dorr named for her mother, Susan Brown, and her mother's younger sister Elizabeth, Charles Hazen's first wife -- whom I came to know intimately as I grew up and who had a warm affection for me always, was a woman of rare nobility and purity of character. She never married, but devoted herself and such limited resources as she had to R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Dept. New England Historic Genealogical Society Mentury Street MA 02:116 (Samuel Dorr) 40. the care of the poor and those In need, living gracious- ly and doing acts of courtesy and kindness to her many friends. A letter that cane to my father from Col. Henry Lee after her death gives SO pleasant a word about her and of the impression that she made on others that I cannot forbear to quote it: My dear Charles, AS one of the few who remember your sister Susan and you from school-days, I am moved to write a word of synpathy with you and your wife in your sore bereavement. Confined by distance from town and by my wife's invalidism to my immediate family and our near neighbors, we were shocked by seeing your sister's death announced before we had heard of her illness. Her name called up gracious memories; my wife remem- bered her first at Mr. Clarke's bible class, while I could not remember when I first knew her - always it seemed to me. we both recalled her kind participation in our plays here, her beauty of form and face, her graceful manner, her dramatic interest, and her kind consideration for others which distinguished her under all relations. (Samuel Dorr) 41. Lost of us in our course through life make friends and foes, but I will venture to say that your sweet sis~ ter Susan inspired regard and affection in all with whom she ever held intercourse, however casual. This passing year or two years have robbed me of so many of ery friends and kin that I have got to be nervously sensitive. Your sister Susan's image, though I have so seldom seen her for several years, has haunted me ever since I read of her death lest I night have omit- ted sous occasion to acknowledge her uniform kindness, and I have thus ventured to assure you how I, among her many friends, and Liy wife also, appreciated her lovely character and your desolation. Yours truly, Henry Lee. Brookline, Mass., December 10, 1889. Colonel Lee, a gallant soldier of the Civil War and founder of Boston's leading banking firm in my younger years, Lee, Higginson & Company, held a position of high distinction in the city, and my father deeply valued this word of remembrance and recognition from him. Brown. MEMOIRS OF MEMBERS OF THE SOCIAL CIRCLE IN CONCORD SECOND SERIES FROM 1795 TO 1840 " Take my wish that your bright Social Circle on earth Forever may flourish in concord and mirth." Chas. Morris's Farewell to the Beef Steak Club, London, 1831. PRIVATELY PRINTED The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1888 MEMOIRS. MEMOIR OF JOSEPH LASINBY BROWN. BY GRINDALL REYNOLDS. ABOUT midway in the biographies of the original mem- bers of the Social Circle, which Judge Keyes so wisely added to the account of our Centennial, in a blank space I find these words, "Memoir of Joseph Brown." 'Stat no- minis umbra," - He stands the shadow of a name. That was all that could be truly said five years ago of one whom Lemuel Shattuck reported to be among the most influential of the founders of this Circle. Let me add to-day another motto, "Humentumque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram," which, translated a little freely, may be rendered, The dawn of a new century has dispersed the shadows of the old. Let us see if it is not so. (If, in this account, I enter upon a wider range of inquiry than the personal biography of the man would seem to demand, two sufficient reasons So too can be given : first, it is clearly desirable that concurrent testimony coming from different sources should establish beyond cavil the identity of our hero with the lost member of the Social Circle; second, it appears equally desirable that some account of the family and social influençes and surroundings out of which he came, or amid which he grew up, should give reality to a life which had retreated so far into the mists of the past that until recently even the bare outlines had disappeared.) To what degree I have suc- ceeded the members of the Circle must decide. Joseph Lasinby Brown was by birth and by at least three 2 MEMOIRS. JOSEPH LASINBY BROWN. 3 generations of ancestors on both sides a Boston North End ment, out of which three of our early members, Samuel boy. By trade a goldsmith, he was one of that great body Bartlett, Emerson Cogswell, and especially Joseph Lasinby of mechanics, of whom Paul Revere was the chief, who fur- Brown, came. They were surroundings such as could nished those "high sons of liberty" that met at Green hardly be found in any part of the world except in Boston, Dragon Inn, and who did more than any other class of men or in any time but the eighteenth century, - surroundings to create the Revolution. Searching the records of Suffolk which were every way adapted to make strong and inde- wills and deeds to find some traces of this man's life and pendent men and women. fortune, one is astonished at the revelation which comes to Mr. Brown was born in Boston, September 12, 1753. His him of the condition of the North End. Of the two or father, Ebenezer Brown, as we have seen, was a house- three hundred names which I have met in such researches, wright, which Webster defines to be an architect who builds with perhaps the exception of half a dozen, all were the houses. Of this father we know but little. He was thirty-five names of craftsmen; and of these half dozen the majority years old when this first and apparently only child was born, were mariners. In a circle not more than a quarter of a being nine years older than his wife. He and his brothers mile in diameter, including Prince Street and North Square, are frequently mentioned as having charge of the fire engine were literally crowded many hundreds of these sturdy work- and department at the North End. In 1774 he was one of men. Mr. Brown's father was a housewright. His grand- the bondsmen for his wife, who was an executrix of her father on the father's side was a ship-joiner. Three of his father's will. He must have died between that time and uncles followed the same trade. Two more were joiners, and 1781, for then his widow contracted a second marriage with one was a glazier. On his mother's side we count a boat- Benjamin Eustis, the father of Governor Eustis. William builder, a tailor, a tanner, a cooper, a sail-maker, and a joiner. Brown, the grandfather, indifferently termed ship-joiner and It is to be noted of this body of people that they were not shipwright, probably built small vessels. At any rate, he migratory and penniless, as many of the workmen of to-day was a successful man, and left what in 1750 must have been are. They had planted themselves permanently on the soil. considered the snug little sum of £1,700. They owned their little homes, and so had something to The mother of Mr. Brown was Elizabeth Lasinby, daugh- lose. Scarcely one of them but left, for those days, a com- ter of Joseph Lasinby. The part which this name, Lasinby, Laz fortable estate. I note in the very family we are consider- has played in the discovery of our missing member makes it ing inventories of ten persons ranging from £165 to £1,660, but just that we should take some account of the family. while a little later we have the record of $12,000, $13,000, The family tradition is, that Thomas Lasinby, an English and $20,000. You can find to-day on Prince Street, sub- mariner, was the first of the stock in this New World. In stantially unaltered, the very houses in which Mr. Brown's his will, dated April 5, 1707, he states that he is about, to grandfather and five uncles, and probably his own father, go to sea, where he undoubtedly perished shortly after, as lived, testifying how comfort followed upon industry and his will was probated ten months later, February 6, 1708. thrift. No wonder these men were full of that sturdy in- He left a house and land on Middle or Hanover Street, dependence which brooked no oppression, and sometimes next to his son Joseph's estate, valued at £750, and what broke forth into lawless violence against the oppressor. It other property does not appear. Joseph Lasinby was a man is worth while to comprehend clearly this peculiar environ- of some mark. He is generally entitled boat-builder, but 4 MEMOIRS. JOSEPH LASINBY BROWN. 5 occasionally ship-builder. This business he probably gave his grandfather and uncle Joseph Lasinby Brown was born. up in 1750, when he sold his house on Fish, now North, Nathaniel, by the early death of a son, became childless, Street, and, as the deed states, the land extending to the and remained so till his death. On the other hand, his end of the wharf. He was master of the house of correc- brother Ebenezer was the only one of the family who did tion in Boston in 1758. For many years he was appointed not purchase a house, while his shop was directly in the rear one of the visitors to examine the condition of the town, of the house of Nathaniel, who left all of his property that a position analogous to that of a member of the Board of should remain at the death of his wife to his nephew Health in our day. August IO, 1774, an old man of eighty, Joseph, then seven years old. I can conceive of no reason he made his will, in which he describes himself as Joseph why this child should be thus preferred to a score of other Lasinby, Gentleman, aged and infirm, and left his two nephews and nieces, except there was that tender relation daughters and two granddaughters five houses, of the value so likely to grow up between a childless man and a bright of $12,000. One month later he died. You will find his little boy living under his own roof. Let this pass for what tomb, with his name inscribed, and surmounted by a coat of it is worth. arms, in the Granary Burying-Ground, near the Park Street Of his schooling we can speak with more certainty. In Church. The family dates back to the Norman Conquest, Bennett Street, just back of Prince Street, stood what is now and the place of their possessions in 1086 is marked by the called the Eliot School. The building of that day was the small village of Lasinby, in Yorkshire, England. The name gift of Thomas Hutchinson, father of Governor Hutchinson, is extinct in Boston, for it is a singular instance of mortality and descendant of the celebrated Ann Hutchinson. The in the male branches that while ten sons were born in the school would probably have received the name of the giver, second generation, not one left a male descendant to suc- had not the Toryism of his son made that name so unpopu- ceed him. lar that the authorities could not venture to bestow it upon We see, then, that Joseph Lasinby Brown was of thor- any school in rebel Boston, especially upon one situated in Brown oughly respectable origin, member of a family in all its that hot-bed of the Revolution, the North End. Over this branches in comfortable circumstances. Of his early life in school presided John Tileston, one of the noted school-mas- Boston we know with certainty very little with great prob- ters of the past, " the father of good writing in Boston," as ability we can conjecture much. His grandfather, William he has been called, who ruled his little kingdom full seventy Brown, owned a lot on the north side of Prince Street, years, and died at the advanced age of ninety-one. To this about two hundred feet from Hanover Street, and separated school Joseph undoubtedly went, for there was at that time only by a narrow strip of land from the homestead of the no other public school at the North End. His father's shop first John Thoreau, where our John Thoreau, father of was not two hundred feet from the school-house, and his Henry D., was born. On the front of this lot William father's home, if I am right in the conjecture that he lived Brown built a house, now standing, which at his death, one with Nathaniel, was not more than a hundred feet farther year before his grandson's birth, fell by inheritance and pur- off. Fifty years before, the town had kindly opened, a few chase into the hands of his son Nathaniel, while the use of steps northwest, a seven-foot alley, now grandly called Ben- his shop in the rear was bequeathed to his sons Samuel and nett Avenue, but then more modestly described as "the way Ebenezer. I am strongly persuaded that in this house of that leadeth unto the school." Up this narrow lane Joseph 6 MEMOIRS. JOSEPH LASINBY BROWN. 7 must have wended his willing or unwilling way to school, kin of that sept or clan any who took to himself or herself through summer's heat and winter's cold, many a year. And apsuose not of mechanic stock. But John Adams was a if he did, he must at any rate have learned to mind his P's merchant, of a somewhat distinguished family. He was en- and q's, for Johnny Crump, as the teacher was called, was a' gaged in shipping, if we may draw an inference from the strict, though not unkindly, disciplinarian, just as good at presence of ships in the background of the fine portrait of taking a walk or going a-fishing with his boys on Thursday him by Copley, still in the possession of the family. The or Saturday afternoons as in teaching them the virtues of dates of his birth and death agree very well with the theory rod and ruler at other seasons. Mr. Brown must have re- that he was the John Adams who was the senior partner of ceived, besides, a good English education. In his boyhood Adams and Molineux, and who probably died at Guadaloupe, and youth he attended the new North Church, whose origi- November, 1795 but all this is uncertain, His residence nal founders were, as Drake says, substantial mechanics, is known to have been on the site of the present Revere and whose minister, Rev. Andrew Eliot, performed the mar- House. His father, Rev. Hugh Adams, was the eccentric riage service for his father and mother, and in good time minister of Oyster River settlement, now Durham, New baptized him. Hampshire, and was largely engaged, as many other minis- Mr. Brown is termed in legal papers both goldsmith and ters of his day appear to have been, in a prolonged fight to jeweller, from which we conclude that he manufactured with obtain from his little and poor parish his scanty salary. I his own hands articles of silver, like spoons and flagons, quote a few lines from his communication to the Great and and possibly some of gold, such as chains and seals, which General Court of New Hampshire, to show how clearly he used to hang from the fobs of substantial citizens ; while felt that he had the Lord on his side and even under his con- he kept for sale in a little front shop, as the custom was, ar- trol. He writes: "Being provoked by their unjust treat- ticles of his own making, and any knickknacks which the ment" (that of his parishioners), "he, while it was yet more plain taste and the limited means of the day demanded. Of than three months to the harvest, prayed it might not rain, whom he acquired his skill we cannot state with certainty and it rained not till three months after, when, in regard to but we may reasonably assume, of the same person that his the importunity of some friendly brethren, he appointed and schoolmate and playmate, Samuel Bartlett, learned his trade, conscientiously sanctified a church fast revening to even- "that eminent goldsmith, Mr. Samuel Minot," as Dr. Bart- ing, abstained three days from eating, drinking, or smoking lett describes him. anything and the Lord Jesus was pleased to hear in Heaven, The condition of the Boston records during the Revolu- and grant such plentiful and warm rains as recovered the tion, and several years preceding and succeeding it, in which languishing corn, grass, and fruits unto a considerable har- there are far more omissions than records, makes it impos- vest thereof." sible to fix the exact date of Mr. Brown's marriage. But his There can be no doubt that for the next seven years Mr. intention of marriage was dated September 2, 1778, and it Brown quietly followed his trade in Boston, as he is uniformly is not likely the marriage was long deferred. His wife was spoken of in legal papers as goldsmith or jeweller. The the daughter of John and Susannah Parker Adams. By this place where the young couple lived must be a matter of in- choice he disregarded the uniform custom of the Brown ference rather than certain knowledge. Joseph Lasinby, the family. Heretofore I have not found in the whole kith and grandfather, owned an estate on the corner of Middle or 8 MEMOIRS. JOSEPH LASINBY BROWN. 9 Hanover Street and Gallop's Lane. At his death, in 1774, cord, politically and financially speaking, had larger pros- it came into the possession of his daughter, Elizabeth Brown. pects than it has ever had since. From 1783 to 1787, It measured on Middle Street about fifty-nine feet, and was the question was seriously debated whether it should not be seventy-three feet deep. In the centre of it stood the man- made our State capital, with a considerable prospect of an sion, with a frontage of thirty-three feet and depth of thirty- affirmative answer, so there was a strong inducement for one five. On the southwest side of it, next to the lane, at a later seeking a new field of work to turn thither. period, some one, presumably Mr. Brown or his mother, had Nor were special reasons lacking. Samuel Bartlett had Bartlett built a.small tenement, nearly thirteen feet wide, and as deep become a prominent and trusted citizen of Concord. He as the original house, with an entrance upon the lane and to was only ten months older than Joseph Lasinby Brown. the back yard. In this tenement I think the new-married These two must have been schoolmates, playmates, probably couple set up housekeeping, for early in 1785 the husband fellow-apprentices, and through boyhood attendants at the bought this little estate of his mother, then a second time same church. All this is susceptible of well-nigh absolute married, for £120, and a few months later sold it for an ad- proof. The house in which we first find Roger Bartlett, mar- vance of £30 to Lucy Tidd. Meanwhile, as he states in a iner, Samuel's father, was on Bennett Street, not a dozen mortgage which he gave, he built a new house on the vacant rods from the carpenter's shop of Ebenezer Brown, itself a land in the northeast corner of the lot, which for "five shil- natural rendezvous for youth. Both boys went to Master lings and the love she bore him his mother had conveyed Tileston's school. Both attended Rev. Andrew Eliot's to him. This tenement was a little over thirteen feet wide church. It is therefore hardly possible to think of them and a little deeper than the other, and had some privileges of as other than friends of some degree of intimacy. Now, passing up and down the stairs of the adjoining mansion. about 1785, Mr. Bartlett, having tried his hand at shop-keep- When it was built no doubt Mr. Brown proposed permanently ing in Concord, resumed the practice of his trade there. to occupy it. Indeed, after his return to Boston in 1796, he What more likely than that he should invite his former did SO occupy it until his death, eight years later. To-day the friend to join him in his new enterprise, either as partner or three houses still stand, and can be identified. assistant ? While in Boston Joseph Lasinby Brown and Susannah his The relations of Mr. Brown to the third member of the wife had two children Elizabeth, born July 6, 1781, and trio mentioned in the report of the committee of the Circle Cognoll Nancy, born August 17, 1783. The general reasons which in 1828, Emerson Cogswell though probably not as close as might have led Mr. Brown to come to Concord are obvious with Mr. Bartlett, may have been, and probably were, some- enough. The times were hard, the hardest this country ever what intimate. We may assume that Emerson Cogswell knew. While it is clear that he did not, like most, permit lived with his parents until his marriage, and, we judge, until himself to fall into debt, as no suit was ever brought against he came from Boston to Concord, in 1774 or I775. If we him, on the other hand, he achieved no great success. In- admit this, then we must admit that during the first twenty deed, he never did, for he left at his death, free of debt, only years of Joseph Lasinby Brown's life the Cogswells, old what he received from his grandfather's estate, plus a mod- and young, lived just round the corner of Prince Street, on erate amount of furniture. It was natural, then, that he Salem Street, not twenty rods from the homes of half a should wish to try his fortune elsewhere. But in 1785, Con- dozen members of the Brown family, including Joseph IO MEMOIRS. JOSEPH LASINBY BROWN. II Lasinby's own. This, in a town constituted as Boston then was the secretary of the Circle, who made up the list of was, almost necessitated some intimacy, especially among the original members of that Circle, this mention of Mr. people in the same grade of society. Brown in his day-book as plain Joseph Brown is significant. The question has been asked, What proof have we that With this, so far as we know, all Concord mention of Mr. Mr. Brown was entitled to be called captain It is to be Brown ceases. I am confident he continued to reside for noted that the only reason for supposing that the member of some time in this town, for this reason in the Boston Direc- our Circle ever bore that title is the statement to that effect tory of 1796, prepared as late in the preceding year as pos- of the committee of 1828. Upon the records of the Circle sible, his name does not appear, while in the list of Concord he stands as plain Joseph Brown. But, assuming that state- tax-payers, made by Dr. Heywood in 1796, his name is also ment to be correct, there is no proof obtainable, as there wanting. We may conclude, then, with pretty nearly abso- are no records of the militia of Suffolk County during the lute certainty, that his tarry here was from the summer of Revolution. There is the antecedent probability that he 1785 to the spring of 1796, nearly eleven years. would be in the patriot service, from his stock and his sur- Where he lived is problematical. The only known fact roundings, and that all the influences about him would lead bearing upon it is this : February 12, 1787, he bought for him to that service, and to be promoted in it. £150 a lot of upland, containing one hundred and thirty- How long did Joseph Lasinby Brown live in Concord five rods, of Reuben Brown, saddler. This lot was on the The ten years, I think, that Samuel Bartlett was engaged in northerly side of the great road leading from Concord to the goldsmith business, from 1785 to 1795. We know he Cambridge, now called Lexington Street. It was bounded was in Boston June 8, 1785, because at that date his mother on the east by land of the heirs of Benjamin Barron, north made her first conveyance of land to him as a citizen of by land of William Kettle, a ditch being on the line, west Boston. October 6 of the same year his daughter Mary by land of heirs of John Merriam to a heap of stones near was born in Concord, and he himself, as an inhabitant of Mr. Merriam's house, and south by the great county road. that place, conveyed his newly purchased estate to Lucy Three months later this estate was deeded back for £150 to Tidd. From that date for the next seven years we have Reuben Brown and his wife Polly. This place was unques- constant evidence of his presence in Concord. In 1787 his tionably what in our day has been called the Old Dutch mother made a conveyance to him of another portion of the House," now reduced to a heap of stones. So it is clear Middle Street lot, which he mortgaged to Duncan Ingra- this Dutchhouse then in the prime of its youth, and as ham, of Concord, for £120, the deed being acknowledged large and respectable as most of its neighbors, was once before Ephraim Wood, justice of the peace, and witnessed the property of Joseph Lasinby Brown. Whether the re- by Emerson Cogswell and Joseph Bliss. In December, conveyance signified that he was sick of his bargain, or was 1787, his son, Joseph Lasinby, was born here. In 1789 and of the nature of a mortgage, SO that he occupied the dwell- 1790, as a Concord man, he recovered at law several very ing while here, there is no way to determine. I incline to considerable debts. March 5, 1792, he was elected tithing- the latter conclusion. man of Concord, and in September of that year Dr. Joseph Mr. Brown could not have been a member of the original Hunt inoculated his four children, charging two visits to Circle, but he came to Concord just as it was re-forming, Joseph Brown and two to Joseph L. Brown. As Dr. Hunt after a short interruption. A man of respectable character I 2 MEMOIRS. JOSEPH LASINBY BROWN. 13 and position, very probably with a good military record, a our grandfathers : "Died on Saturday evening last, Mr. friend of Samuel Bartlett and Emerson Cogswell, then per- Joseph L. Brown, aged fifty. His funeral will be from his sons of influence, and the very ones who started to renew late dwelling house, No. 24 Middle Street, on Wednesday the Circle, what more natural than that he should be in- next, precisely at half past three o'clock, which friends and vited to join Lemuel Shattuck, forty years after, made in relations are requested to attend without a more particular his report some mistakes as to dates, but he was right in invitation." respect to Mr. Brown's membership, and right also as to Mr. Brown left all his property for the use of his wife there being some real connection between Samuel Bartlett, Susannah, so long as she remained a widow at her death it Captain Joseph Brown, and Lieutenant Emerson Cogswell, was to be divided among his surviving children. This prop- "men of respectability, intelligence, and social habits, who erty was appraised at $4,000 for the real estate, $300 for the came from Boston." personal, and $80 for his pew in the Old South Church but Of the later years of Mr. Brown there is little to record. the real estate, when it was sold twenty years after, brought He established himself in the little house No. 24 Middle between $5,000 and $6,000. September 6, 1819, his wife Street, Boston, which he had built a dozen years before. died. Five children survived her : Joseph L. ; Nancy, after- His health must have failed about this time, as he died of a wards the second Mrs. Hazen Mary, Mrs. Gore Susan, lingering disease, and as early as the year 1800 he made his Mrs. Dorr and Elizabeth, Mrs. Hazen. will, in which he says he is of a sound disposing mind, but Very little, if anything, is known of the personal charac- weak in body." If this be true, he must have been for a teristics of Mr. Brown. That his position was a respectable time in rather straitened circumstances, and no doubt all one has been evident all along. That he received when he the savings of his earlier years went for his daily support. came to Concord no warning to depart is well-nigh proof But in August, 1800, his mother, then Mrs. Benjamin Eustis, of his financial soundness. When Reuben Brown, Emerson died, and he came into possession of the old Lasinby man- Cogswell, Deacon Parkman, Thomas Cordis, and many sion, whose rent must have made him comfortable again. other reputable citizens did, about the same time, receive In his latter years he made a change in his church rela- such a notice, we may be confident that before our fathers tions, passing from the New North to the Old South Church, received him willingly as their townsman no doubt lingered though this change involved a walk three times as long as as to the condition of his purse. That while he SO many before. It is presumed that he made this change to accom- times recovered money by lawsuits against others, no suit, modate his wife, whose family ties were, we think, in this so far as appears, was ever entered against him, is at least direction. He owned pew No. 24 in his new church. His negative evidence of his solvency, and this before he had wife joined the church in 1797, his four daughters in 1806, received anything from his grandfather's estate. and he himself, December II, 1803, just twenty-nine days The marriages which he and his family contracted also before his death. indicate that he held a good position in society. He him- On the 9th of January, 1804, he died of consumption, self, as we have seen, married into a family which for at after a very prolonged sickness. I quote in full the notice least two generations had produced men- of both commer- of his death, from the "Boston Gazette," to show how ex- cial and professional note. His mother was the second wife actly our way of doing things conforms to the custom of of Benjamin Eustis, a wealthy housewright, and father of 14 MEMOIRS. REUBEN HUNT. 15 Governor Eustis. His daughters married Charles Hazen, a near relative of General Hazen, the distinguished Revolu- Dorr tionary officer ; George Gore, a nephew of Governor Gore and Samuel Dorr, a man of highest repute in business and financial circles. All this could not have happened unless MEMOIR OF REUBEN HUNT. there had been about the home and family the atmosphere BY SIMON BROWN. of real dignity and attractiveness which drew the best peo- ple to it. Still, from my study of his life I am impressed REUBEN HUNT, son of Simon, the subject of this sketch, by the feeling that Joseph Lasinby Brown was not a person was born in this town, Concord, Mass., on the 6th of August, to make great headway in the world. 1744, according to the statement of his son, Abel Hunt, now With apparently more than usual opportunity, either from living; but according to the Genealogy of the Hunt fam- ill health or want of energy, or some other unknown reason, ily, by Mr. W. L. G. Hunt, and compiled by Mr. T. B. he certainly amassed nothing. He left at his death only Wyman, Jr., on the 25th of July, I744. The succession was what came to him from his grandfather's estate. Hardly John Hunt, contemporary with Governor Winthrop, Simon even that, for the upper corner of that estate passed out of Hunt, then Reuben Hunt. He was born in the old house, his hands in 1785, and never came back. Yet all the cir- a part of which was built by Governor Winthrop, and a part cumstances of his life, so far as ascertained, tend to confirm by Mr. John Hunt. This house stood under the large ash- the statement of the report of Mr. Shattuck, before quoted, tree which stands near the house where Mr. Edmund Hos- and prove him well fitted to become a member of any circle mer now resides. It was taken down by him in the year of gentlemen, in Concord or elsewhere. 1861, and a date in chalk was found on one of the beams With these few glimpses of a life lived so long ago, caught over the sitting-room. This date was "April, 1660." The through rifts of the mists of a century, we must be content. beam had been exposed before it was ceiled over, probably, Ere I close, let me chronicle the fact that Joseph Lasinby as the chalk marks were evidently made on a smoky sur- Brown, grandson, third of the name, curator of Memorial face. When taken down it was found ceiled over twice, and Hall in Plymouth, died February 20, 1887, and with him the was perfectly sound. name ceased to be anything but a memory. Mr. Hunt married twice : first, Rebecca Barrett, and January 10, 1888. second, Mary Taylor. In the Genealogy and in Shat- tuck's 'History of Concord" I find an epitaph, which may properly. have a place here. In the history Shattuck says Few graveyards within my knowledge have so many mon- uments on which character is drawn, as ours." The char- acter in the subjoined is drawn with peculiar force : 'In Memory of Mrs. Rebecca Hunt, consort of Lieut. Reuben Hunt, who died June 28, 1796, aged 49 years. Her vir- tues, social, conjugal, parental, and Christian, commanded respect and rejoiced acquaintance, sweetened life, consoled Ancestry World Tree Project: Haverty Page 1 of 5 Ancestry.com Welcome, Patricia I Log Out I Upgrade I My Account I Help? The largest collection of family history records on the Web Home My Ancestry Search Records Family Trees Message Boards Learning Center Shop Haverty Entries: 47107 Updated: Tue Aug 12 11:05:16 2003 Contact: William C Haverty Index I Individual Pedigree / Download GEDCOM Ahnentafel, Generation No. 1 1. George Bucknam DORR was born 29 DEC 1853. He was the son of 2. Charles Hazen DORR / and 3. Mary Gray WARD. Ahnentafel, Generation No. 2 2. Charles Hazen DORR was born 26 AUG 1821 in Boston, MA. He was the son of 4. Samuel 2 DORR and 5. Susan BROWN. 3. Mary Gray WARD. She was the daughter of 6. Thomas W. WARD. Children of Mary Gray WARD and Charles Hazen DORR are: i. William Ward DORR was born 31 JAN 1851. 1. ii. George Bucknam DORR was born 29 DEC 1853. Ahnentafel, Generation No. 3 3 4. Samuel DORR was born 23 JUN 1774 in Mendon, MA, and died 18 DEC 1844 in Boston, MA. He was the son of 8. Joseph DORR and 9. Catherine BUCKNAM. 5. Susan BROWN was born 16 AUG 1779, and died 25 FEB 1841 in Boston, MA. She was the daughter of 10. Joseph Lasinby BROWN. Children of Susan BROWN and Samuel DORR are: i. Samuel Fox DORR was born 26 AUG 1804 in Boston, MA, and died 19 OCT 1844. He http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=AHN&db=whaverty&id=113553 04/17/2004 Page 2 of 5 Ancestry World Tree Project: Haverty married Elizabeth CHIPMAN 26 MAY 1835, daughter of Charles Hazen CHIPMAN. She was born 22 NOV 1816 in Boston, MA, and died 23 APR 1865 in Paris, FRANCE. ii. George Bucknam DORR was born 23 JAN 1806 in Boston, MA. He married Joanna HOWLAND, daughter of Samuel. S. HOWLAND. She was born 16 MAR 1820, and died 5 JUL 1842 in Leamington, ENGLAND. iii. Albert Henry DORR was born 8 DEC 1807 in Boston, MA. iv. Martha Ann DORR was born 20 DEC 1809 in Boston, MA, and died in Boston, MA. She married Henry EDWARDS 4 SEP 1828. He was born 22 OCT 1798 in Boston, MA, and died in Boston, MA. V. Francis Fiske DORR was born 16 MAR 1811 in Boston, MA, and died 8 DEC 1870 in London, ENGLAND. vi. James Augustus DORR was born 8 JUN 1812 in Boston, MA, and died 18 FEB 1869 in Boston, MA. vii. Susan Elizabeth DORR was born 11 MAR 1819. 2./ viii. Charles Hazen DORR was born 26 AUG 1821 in Boston, MA. He married Mary Gray WARD 4 JUN 1850 in Boston, MA, daughter of Thomas W. WARD. 6. Thomas W. WARD was born in Boston, MA. Child of Thomas W. WARD is: 3. i. Mary Gray WARD. She married Charles Hazen DORR 4 JUN 1850 in Boston, MA, son of Samuel DORR and Susan BROWN. He was born 26 AUG 1821 in Boston, MA. Ahnentafel, Generation No. 4 8. Joseph DORR was born 24 MAY 1730 in Brookfield, MA, and died 31 OCT 1808. He was the son of 16. Joseph DORR and 17. Mary RAWSON. 9. Catherine BUCKNAM. She was the daughter of 18. Nathan BUCKRAM. Children of Catherine BUCKNAM and Joseph DORR are: i. Joseph DORR was born 10 MAR 1769, and died 25 MAR 1769. ii. Catherine DORR was born 17 AUG 1770. iii. Joseph Hawley DORR was born 20 JUL 1772, and died in Boston, MA. He married Lucy PENNIMAN. She was born in New Braintree, and died in Boston, MA. 4. iv. Samuel DORR was born 23 JUN 1774 in Mendon, MA, and died 18 DEC 1844 in Boston, MA. He married Lucy Fox TUTTLE, daughter of Joseph FOX. She was born 6 SEP 1776 in Fitchburg, MA, and died 4 JAN 1814 in Boston, MA. He married Susan BROWN 5 DEC 1815 in Boston, MA, daughter of Joseph Lasinby BROWN. She was born 16 AUG 1779, and died 25 FEB 1841 in Boston, MA. V. Sarah DORR was born 10 AUG 1776, and died 1823. She married Jonas NEWELL. He was born in North Braintree, MA. vi. Thomas Shepard DORR was born 11 NOV 1778, and died 1816. He married (Female) http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=AHN&db=whaverty&id=113553 04/17/2004 Ancestry World Tree Project: Haverty Page 3 of 5 PARSONS. vii. Mary DORR was born 7 JAN 1784, and died in Fitchburg, MA. She married Oliver FOX. He was born in Fitchburg, MA, and died in Fitchburg, MA. viii. Edward DORR was born 20 OCT 1786, and died APR 1847 in Nova Iberia, LA. 10. Joseph Lasinby BROWN was born in Boston, MA. Child of Joseph Lasinby BROWN is: 5. i. Susan BROWN was born 16 AUG 1779, and died 25 FEB 1841 in Boston, MA. She married Samuel DORR 5 DEC 1815 in Boston, MA, son of Joseph DORR and Catherine BUCKNAM. He was born 23 JUN 1774 in Mendon, MA, and died 18 DEC 1844 in Boston, MA. Ahnentafel, Generation No. 5 16. Joseph DORR was born 1690 in Roxbury, MA, and died 9 MAR 1768 in Mendon, WORCESTER, MA. He was the son of 32. Edward DOOR and 33. Elizabeth HAWLEY. 17. Mary RAWSON was born 22 JUN 1699 in Mendon, MA, and died 9 APR 1776 in Mendon, WORCESTER, MA. She was the daughter of 34. Grindal RAWSON and 35. Suzannah WILSON. Children of Mary RAWSON and Joseph DORR are: i. Mary DORR was born 6 JUN 1725, and died 10 JAN 1796. She married Moses TAFT 15 AUG 1753. He was born ABT. 1720, and died NOV 1787 in Braintree, MA. 8. ii. Joseph DORR was born 24 MAY 1730 in Brookfield, MA, and died 31 OCT 1808. He married Catherine BUCKNAM 6 DEC 1768, daughter of Nathan BUCKRAM. iii. Catherine DORR was born 8 MAR 1731/32. She married Ezekiel EMERSON 27 MAR 1760. He was born 14 FEB 1734/35 in Uxbridge, WORCESTER, MA. iv. Susannah DORR was born 4 SEP 1734 in Mendon, WORCESTER, MA, and died 21 JUN 1783 in Mendon, WORCESTER, MA. She married Amariah FROST ABT. 1779. He was born 4 OCT 1720 in Framingham, MIDDLESEX, MA, and died 14 MAR 1792 in Mendon, WORCESTER, MA. 18. Nathan BUCKRAM was born in Malden, and died 6 FEB 1795. Child of Nathan BUCKRAM is: 9. i. Catherine BUCKNAM. She married Joseph DORR 6 DEC 1768, son of Joseph DORR and Mary RAWSON. He was born 24 MAY 1730 in Brookfield, MA, and died 31 OCT 1808. Ahnentafel, Generation No. 6 04/17/2004 Ancestry World Tree Project: Haverty Page 5 of 5 17. viii. Mary RAWSON was born 22 JUN 1699 in Mendon, MA, and died 9 APR 1776 in Mendon, WORCESTER, MA. She married Joseph DORR 9 APR 1724, son of Edward DOOR and Elizabeth HAWLEY. He was born 1690 in Roxbury, MA, and died 9 MAR 1768 in Mendon, WORCESTER, MA. ix. Rachael RAWSON was born 6 SEP 1701 in Mendon (now Milford) MA, and died 1802. She married Samuel WOOD WFT Est. 1729-1763, son of Ebenezer WOOD and Rachael NICHOLS. He was born 1696 in Upton, MA, and died 1790. X. David RAWSON was born 25 OCT 1703 in Mendon, MA, and died 18 JAN 1703/04 in Mendon, MA. xi. Grindal RAWSON was born 6 SEP 1707 in Mendon, MA, and died 27 MAR 1777 in East Haddam, CN. He married Dorothy CHAUNCEY 19 MAY 1738, daughter of Isaac CHAUNCEY and Sarah (CHAUNCEY). She was born WFT Est. 1699-1721 in Amherst, MA, and died WFT Est. 1743-1810 in East Haddam, CN. xii. Elizabeth RAWSON was born 21 APR 1710 in Mendon, MA. She married Abner HAZELTINE 11 FEB 1729/30 in Mendon, Ma, son of John HAZELTINE and Abigail ROSS. He was born 19 JUN 1705 in Bradford, ESSEX, MA, and died BEF. 5 NOV 1731. She married James WOOD 8 MAR 1737/38 in Mendon, Ma. He was born ABT. 1708. Index ! Individual Pedigree | Download GEDCOM Printer Friendly Version Search Ancestry Search AWT Z Join Ancestry.com Today! Corporate Info I Affiliate Program I Privacy Statement I Contact Us Copyright © 1998-2004, MyFamily.com Inc. - Terms and Conditions om/egibin/igm.cgi?op=AHN&db=whaverty&id=I1355 04/17/2004