History of Cambridge, (Middlesex County) Massachusetts United States of America

CAMBRIDGE, a city and semi-capital of Middlesex county, Massachusetts, 3 miles W. N. W. from Boston, in lat. 42? 22? 21?? N., lon. 71? 7? 38?? W. It comprises Cambridge, the seat of Harvard University, East Cambridge, (formerly Lechmere Point,) Cambridgeport, about midway between Old Cambridge and Boston, and the district called North Cambridge. Old Cambridge, or Cambridge Proper, is delightfully situated in the midst of a beautiful plain, extending from Charles river. The streets are generally broad, and shaded with lofty elms. Many of the dwellings stand at considerable distances from each other, and are surrounded with spacious yards, ornamented with shrubbery and evergreens. The principal object of interest in the place is Harvard University, the oldest and best endowed collegiate institution in the United States. It was founded in 1638, and derives its name from the Rev. John Harvard, who bequeathed it a legacy of about ?780. Its funds, at the present time, amount to about $1,000,000. Besides the collegiate department proper, the university embraces a law school, a theological school, a medical college, and a department for those who wish to prepare themselves for business pursuits, without going through a classical course. The last was instituted in 1848, mainly through the efforts of the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, who bestowed upon it a munificent donation. The buildings occupied by the University are 15 in number, 14 of which are in Cambridge; the other is located in North Grove Street, Boston. The most prominent are University Hall, containing the chapel and lecture rooms; Harvard Hall, in which are the mineralogical cabinet, philosophical apparatus and a large room for declamation, adorned with the portraits of the officers and benefactors of the institution; Gore Hall, a fine granite structure, having in it the college library; and Holden Chapel, containing the anatomical museum and chemical laboratory. In addition to these, there are Divinity Hall, occupied by the theological students, and four other buildings for the accommodation of undergraduates. The institution has a botanical garden of about eight acres, stored with a choice collection of shrubs and plants, both native and exotic; and one of the most powerful telescopes in this country. The lectures to medical students are given at the Medical College in Boston. In 1852 the alumni were 6342, a greater number than of any other college in the Union. Cambridge contains 2 banks.

Biographies:

Edward Winslow Hincks, soldier, was born in Buckport. Maine, May 30, 1830. He was a printer on the Bangor Whig and Courier, 1845-49. He settled in Boston in 1849, where he studied law, and was a representative in the state legislature, 1855. He was among the first to volunteer his services for the defence of Fort Moultrie, S.C., Dec. 18, 1860, and on April 15, 1861, offered his services to Governor Andrew. The next day he reached Boston from Marblehead with three companies of volunteers, arriving in Washington, April 26,1861, where he was commissioned second lieutenant in the 2d U.S. cavalry, for having commanded the force that assisted Commodore Rodgers, April 21, 1861, in saving the frigate Constitution at Annapolis. On April 30 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 8th Massachusetts militia regiment. On May 16, 1861, he was promoted colonel of the 19th Massachusetts volunteers and commanded a brigade in Sedgwick's division of the Army of the Potomac, September, 1861, to September, 1862, taking part in all the engagements from Ball's Bluff to Antietam, when he was disabled from wounds and was forced to retire from active field service. On Nov. 29, 1862, he was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers and was on court-martial and recruiting duty, 1863-64. During March and April, 1864, he had charge of the prisoners of war at Point Lookout, Md. He joined the Army of the James in May, l864, in its campaign up the James river against Petersburg, having command of the division of colored troops, and he was left with his division at City Point. On May 12 he was moved up to Point of Rocks on the right bank of the Appomattox, where he drove back the Confederate skirmishers, fought the battle of Baylor's Farm, Va., June 15, and aided in the assault of Petersburg the next day. From October, 1864, until January, 1865, he was in command of the draft rendezvous on Hart's Island, N.Y. In January, 1865, he became the chief mustering officer for the United States in New York city. On March 13, 1865, be was brevetted brigadier-general in the regular service for gallantry at Petersburg, and major-general of volunteers for services through the war. In July, 1866, he was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the 40th U.S. infantry and during that year was governor of the National Soldiers' home, Washington, D.C. He was retired with the rank of colonel, Dec. 15, 1870, on account of wounds. He was treasurer and deputy governor of the National Soldiers' homes, Milwaukee, Wis., and Hampton, Va., 1872-80. He died at Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 14, 1894.

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

Robert Herrick, author, was born in Cambridge, Mass., April 26, 1868; son of William Augustus and Harriet (Emery) Herrick, and grandson of William Hale and Lois (Killam) Herrick, and of Joshua and Harriet (Peabody) Emery. He was graduated from Harvard college in 1890; was instructor in English at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1890-93; instructor in rhetoric at the University of Chicago, 1893-1895; and assistant professor of rhetoric at the same university from 1895. He is the author of The Man Who Wins (1897); Literary Love Letters and Other Stories (1898); The Gospel of Freedom (1898); Love's Dilemmas (1899); Composition and Rhetoric for Schools (1899); The Real World (1901); and contributions to periodicals.

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

George Livermore, antiquarian, was born in Cambridge, Mass., July 10, 1809; a descendant of John Livermore of Ipswich, England, who settled in Watertown, Mass., in 1684. He attended the academy at Deerfield, Mass., 1827-28; was employed as a clerk in Cambridgeport and other towns near Boston, 1828-38, and in 1838, in company with an older brother, engaged in the wool business in Boston. He was married Oct. 1, 1839, to Elizabeth Cunningham Odiorne of Cambridgeport. He made a collection of scarce articles of historic value; large paper editions of rare books, and one of the finest collections of Bibles in the United States, including a copy of Eliot's Indian Bible. He was a trustee of the state library of Massachusetts, 1849-65. He was elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1855 and otherlearned societies. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Harvard in 1850. He was an assistant editor of Graham's "History of the United States" (1846), and the author of numerous bibliographical and historical articles, including "New England Primer" in the Cambridge Chronicle (1849), and "Public Libraries," in the North American Review (1850). He died in Cambridge, Mass., Aug. 30, 1865.

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

Charles Sanders Peirce, scientist, was born in Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 10, 1839; son of Benjamin and Sarah Hunt (Mills) Peirce, and grandson of Benjamin Peirce, historian of Harvard college, and of Elijah Hunt Mills, U.S. senator front Massachusetts. He was graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1859, A.M., 1862, and from the Lawrence Scientific school, S.B., 1863. Entering the service of the U.S. coast survey, and in 1872 made assistant in that capacity, he undertook important investigations on the density and ellipticity of the each, on metrology, measurements of light waves, etc. His researches into logic, history of science, sensation of color and stellar photometry, are well known. He was twice married, first in 1862, to Melusina Fay , secondly to Juliette Froissy of Nancy, France. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, in 1877, and other scientific bodies admitted him to membership; Harvard college and Johns Hopkins university appointed him to lectureships on logic, and in 1869 and 1892 he delivered courses of lectures before the Lowell Institute in Boston. He is the author of: Photometric Researches (1878); frequent contributions to the Nation and other journals, and many memoirs and articles on logic, psychology, metaphysics, mathematics, gravitation, astronomy, optics, chemistry, engineering, library cataloguing and early English pronunciation; edited, with additions, "Studies in Logic by Members of the John Hopkins University" (1883), and "Liner Associative Algebra" by Benjamin Peirce (1882); contributed most of the philosophical and many other definitions in the "Century Dictionary," and wrote many articles in the "Dictionary of Psychology and Philosophy."

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

History of Cambridge, (Middlesex County) Massachusetts

Local History Notes:

Biographies: