History of Hamilton, (Essex County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Biographies:

Manasseh Cutler, representative, was born in Killingly, Conn, May 13, 1742: son of Hezekiah and Susanna (Clark) Cutler; grandson of John and Hannah (Snow) Cutler; great-grandson of James and Lydia (Moore) Wright Cutler; and great great grandson of James and Anna Cutler of Watertown, Mass. James Cutler came to America from Norfolkshire, England, in 1634. Manasseh was prepared for college by the Rev. Aaron Brown and was graduated at Yale in 1765. He taugbt school for a year at Dedham, Mass, and married, Sept. 7, 1766, Mary, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Balch, and settled at Edgartown, Mass., as a merchant. He was admitted to the bar in 1767 and the same year began the study of theology under his father-in-law. He was installed pastor of the Congregational church at Hamlet, Ipswich, Mass., Sept. 11, 1771. He was commissioned "by order of the major part of the Massachusetts council, "chaplain of Col. Ebenezer Francis's regiment, Sept. 5, 1776, and he served until Jan. 1, 1777. In 1778 he was chaplain of General Titcomb's brigade in the unsuccessful campaign of General Sullivan against the British at Newport, R.I., and for his gallantry was presented with a horse by General Titcomb. He studied medicine to meet the needs of tbe neighborhood, and in 1779 had forty smallpox patients under his care at Wenham, Mass. In 1784, with a party, be ascended Mr. Washington and carried instruments by which he estimated its height to be 10,000 feet above sea level, an excess of 3707 feet. His party claimed to be the first to reach the summit. When twenty-seven years old he began the study of astronomy and his journal records observations at this time on the transit of Venus. He opened a neighborhood reading school in 1782 which he conducted successfully for twenty-five years, and at the some time instructed seamen in navigation and lunar observations. He also studied the flora of New England and was a correspondent of various botanists and astronomical observers in America and Europe. In 1787 he was one of the projectors of the Ohio company, organized to promote the settlement of government lands on the Ohio river, and to arrange that the bounty lands granted to officers who had served in the Revolution, should be located together. The company purchased 1,000,000 acres of land, Oct. 27, 1787, and congress added to it 500,000 acres for bad lands and incidental expenses, the arrangement being made through Dr. Cutler and Winthrop Sargent as agents of the company, who applied personally to congress, then assembled in New York city, and entered into a contract with the government for the purchase of the land. The first settlement was made on the site of Marietta by a party of fifty immigrants who left Dr. Cutler's house at Ipswich, Dec. 3, 1787, and among whom was Jervis, one of Dr. Cutler's sons, then nineteen years old. They journeyed through the wilderness 750 miles behind a large wagon drawn by oxen and marked on the canvas cover "For the Ohio at the Muskingum." They reached their destination April 7, 1788, and under the direction of Gen. Rufus Putnam rounded the first white settlement within the limits of Ohio. Dr. Cutler subsequently made the journey himself in a sulky in twenty-nine days, and remained with tbe settlers for some weeks, during which time he inspected the fortifications and mounds in the neighborhood and advanced the theory that a race more intelligent than the Indians bad erected them. He drafted the original resolution afterward framed by Nathan Dane, delegate from Massachusetts to tbe Continental congress, aud passed by that body, July 13, 1787, for the government of the territory northwest of the Ohio in which he recited "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory." In 1795 he declined the appointment of judge of the supreme court of the Ohio territory. He was elected to the state legislature of Massachusetts in May, 1800, and was a representative from Massachusetts in the 7th and 8th congresses, 1801-05. He drew up the charter of a school at Marietta, Ohio, which subsequently became Marietta college. He was elected a member of the American academy of arts and sciences in 1781, and contributed valuable scientific papers to its Proceedings. He was also a member of the American philosophical society. He received from Yale the degree of A.M. in 1769, and that of LL. D. in 1791, and from Harvard that of A.M. in 1770. He died at Hamilton, Mass., July 28, 1823.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Samuel Wheeler Moulton, representative, was born at Hamilton, Mass., Jan. 20, 1821; son of William and Mary (Lunt), grandson of Jonathan and Mary (Tarbox), and of John and Hannah (Killam), great-grandson of John and Mary (Conant), great2-grandson of James and great3-grandson of James Moulton, who came from Yarmouth, England, in 1638, settled in Salem, Mass., in 1645, and later removed to Wenham, Mass. In 1841 Samuel W. Moulton went to Kentucky; taught school there, 1841-42, and in Mississippi, 1843-45. He was married in 1844 to Mary H., daughter of Thomas and Mary Afflick, a native of Scotland, and they had no children. In 1845 he removed to Codes county, Ill., where he was admitted to the bar in 1847. He practised in Sullivan, 1847-49, and in Shelbyville after 1849, attaining eminence in his profession. He was county school commissioner, 1851-59, and a representative in the general assembly, 1853-59. In 1853, as chairman of the committee on education, he drafted a bill for a system of free schools for the state, which, after long discussion and opposition became a law. He was also active in promoting the state normal university bill which became a law in 1857. He was president of the state board of education for eighteen years; president of the board of trustees of the state reformatory for boys at Pontiac six years, and was influential in establishing the University of Illinois. His efforts in behalf of education gained for him recognition as "the father of the free school system of Illinois." He was a Buchanan presidential elector in 1856; supported Douglass for President in 1860; was elected president of the grand council of the Union League for the State of Illinois in 1863; was a Republican representative in the 39th congress, 1865-67, and a Democratic representative in the 47th and 48th congresses; 1881-85. In 1896 he repudiated the platform of the Democratic national convention and supported William McKinley for President. A life-size portrait of Mr. Moulton was presented to the county court house by the bar and citizens of Shelby county, and was unveiled June 10, 1898, with impressive ceremonies. In 1902 Mr. Moulton was still in the active practice of law in Shelbyville, Ill.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Mary Abby Dodge, author, was born at Hamilton, Mass., March 31, 1833; daughter of James Brown and Hannah (Stanwood) Dodge; granddaughter of Jonathan and Mary (Brown) Dodge, and of Isaac and Eunice (Hodgkins) Stanwood, and a descendant of William Dodge and Philip Stanwood. She was graduated at Ipswich seminary in 1850, and became assistant teacher there the same year. In 1854 she went to Hartford, Conn., as assistant in the seminary and afterward in the high school. In 1858-60 she taught in the family of Dr. Gamaliel Bailey of Washington, D.C., through whose paper, The National Era, she first became known as a writer. She wrote under the pen-name "Gail Hamilton," and became a frequent contributor to current literature. In the years 1865-72 she was one of the editors of Our Young Folks and Wood's Household Magazine. In 1870 she began to spend her winters in Washington in the family of her cousin, the Hon. James G. Blaine. She identified herself with many public questions, advocating the cause of Philip Spencer, Mrs. Maybrick, and the Armenians, and in 1877 she contributed to the New York Tribune a series of vigorous articles on civil-service reform. Her published volumes are: Country Living and Country Thinking (!862); Gala Days (1863); A New Atmosphere (1864); Stumbling Blocks (186i); Skirmishes and Sketches (1865); Red Letter Days in Applethorpe (1866); Summer Best (1866); Wool Gathering (1867); Woman's Wrongs (1868); A Battle of the Books (1870); Woman's Worth and Worthlessness (1871); Little Folk Life (1872); Child-World (1872-73); Little Folk Life Series (with Elizabeth Stoddard, 3 vols., 1874); Twelve Miles from a Lemon (1874); Nursery Noonings (1874); Sermons to the Clergy (1875); What Think Ye of Christ? (1876); First Love is Best (1877); Our Common School System (1880); Divine Guidance: Memorial of Allen W. Dodge (1881); The Insuppressible Book (1885); A Washington Bible Class (1891); English Kings in a Nutshell (1893); James G. Blaine (1895); and X Rays (1896). She died at Hamilton, Mass., Aug. 17, 1896.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Parker Pillsbury, abolitionist, was born in Hamilton, Mass., Sept. 22, 1809; son of Dea. Oliver and Anna (Smith) Pillsbury. He was brought up on his father's farm in Henniker, N.H.; and in 1830-33 resided in Lynn, Mass., but returned to Henniker in 1833 and resumed his farm work until 1835. He was graduated from Gilmanton Theological seminary, 1838; attended Andover Theological seminary, 1838-39; and was ordained to the Congregational ministry in 1839. He was stated supply at the Congregational church, London, N.H., 1839-40; abandoned the ministry in 1840; and became a member of a band of abolition lecturers, representing the New Hampshire, Massachusetts and American Antislavery societies. He delivered anti-slavery lectures in England, 1853-55; and was editor of the Herald of Freedom at Concord, N.H., in 1840 and 1845-46, and of the National Anti-Slavery Standard, New York city, in 1866. After the legal abolishment of slavery, he devoted himself to the woman suffrage cause and with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, edited The Revolution in New York city. He later became a preacher to free religious societies in Ohio, Michigan, and other western states. He was married to Sarah H., daughter of Dr. John L. and Sallie (Wilkins) Sargent. She died March 8, 1898, leaving one daughter. He is the author of Acts of the Anti-Slavery Apostles (1883) and many pamphlets on reform subjects. He died in Concord, N.H., July 7, 1898.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor