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

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Biographies:

Hosea Hildreth, clergyman, was born in Chelmsford, Mass., Jan. 2, 1782: a descendant of Richard Hildreth, who came from Cambridge, England, to New England, in 1643. His boyhood was passed on his father's farm in Heuling, Vt., and he was graduated from Harvard in 1805. He taught school in various places, 1805-11, and was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Phillips academy. Exeter, N.H., 1811-25. In 1825 he entered the Congregational ministry as pastor of a church in Gloucester, Mass. He resigned in 1833, and the following year accepted a pulpit in Westborough, Mass. He was a prominent member and the agent of the Massachusetts Temperance society. Dartmouth college conferred upon him the honorary degree of A.M. in 1817. He is the author of several publisbed sermons. He died in Sterling, Vt., July 10, 1835.

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

Jeffries Wyman, scientist, was born in Chelmsford, Mass., Aug. 11, 1814; son of Dr. Rufus Wyman, the first physician of the McLean Insane asylum. He was graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1833, A.M. and M.D., 1837; began practice in Boston, Mass.; was demonstrator in anatomy at Harvard, 1836-37; became curator of the Lowell Institute in 1839, giving a course of lectures there on comparative anatomy and physiology, 1840-41, and a second course in 1849; continued his medical studies in Paris and London, 1841-43; was professor of anatomy and physiology in Hampden-Sidney college, Va., 1843-47, and Heresy professor of anatomy at Harvard, 1847-74. He was also a member of the faculty of the Museum of Comparative Zo?logy, which he had himself founded, and an instructor in comparative anatomy in the Lawrence Scientific school, Harvard. He was a member of the Boston Society of Natural History, its recording secretary, 1839-41, curator of various departments, and president of the society, 1856-70, leaving to this organization his rare collection in comparative anatomy; a fellow, councillor, and president (1856) of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; was named by congress a corporate member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1863; was chosen one of the original seven trustees of the Peabody museum, and also its curator, contributing to the Reports of the trustees (7 vols., 1867-74); was a member of the Linn?an society of London, of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, and of various other scientific organizations. His researches resulted in important discoveries in comparative anatomy, physiology, pal?ontology, ethnology and arch?ology. His bibliography, embracing 175 titles, includes: On the External Characters, Habits, and Osteology of the Gorilla (1847); On the Nervous System of the Bull-Frog (1853); Observations on the Development of the Skate (1865); Observations and Experiments on Living Organisms in Heated Water (1867), and Freshwater Shellmounds of the St. John's River, Florida (posthumously, 1875). See: "Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences" (Vol. II., 1886); also biographical sketches by Asa Gray, O. W. Holmes, S. Weir Mitchell, F. W. Putnam, B.G. Wilder, and a memorial sonnet by Lowell. He died in Bethlehem; N.H., Sept. 4, 1874.

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

Josiah Gardner Abbott, lawyer, was born in Chelmsford, Mass., Nov. 1, 1814, son of Caleb and Mercy(Fletcher)Abbott. His first American ancestors, George Abbott and William Fletcher, were English Puritans, who settled in Massachusetts in 1640 and 1653, respectively. In the American revolution his two grandfathers were soldiers under Prescott in the battle of Bunker Hill, and both held commissions in the army of Washington. His preparatory education was directed by Abiel Abbott, Cranmore Wallace, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was graduated from Harvard college in 1832 with high honors, the youngest of his class. Joel Adams of Chelmsford, and Nathaniel Wright of Lowell, Mass., were his instructors in law. He was admitted to the bar and began practice in Lowell in 1837. The same year he was elected to the house of representatives of his state, the youngest member of that body. He edited the Lowell Advertiser in 1840, conducting it as a democratic organ, advocating the re-election of President Van Buren. In 1842-'43 he represented the Middlesex district in the state senate, and was chairman of the judiciary and railroad committees. In 1850 he was appointed master in chancery, and served as such five years. In 1853 he was a member of the state constitutional convention from Lowell, and in 1855 was appointed one of the justices of the superior court for Suffolk county, but resigned in 1858 to take up the more profitable practice of his profession. He declined a place on the supreme court bench in 1860. In 1861, Judge Abbott removed to Boston, where he continued the practice of his profession. His part in the civil war was conspicuous for the sacrifices be made in time, money, eloquence and the services of three of his sons then on the threshold of vigorous manhood ?Edward Gardner fell at Cedar Mountain, Va., Aug. 9, 1862; Henry Livermore at the battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864, and Fletcher Morton alone returned to his father's roof. In his practice in the courts Mr. Abbott was prominent in several capital cases, in which he defended the accused with consummate skill, the proceedings having become part of the history of criminal procedure, and largely quoted as precedents. His fifty years of active practice as a lawyer connected his name with some of the most celebrated litigations of his time. In 1863-'69, and again in 1877, Mr. Abbott received the vote of the Democrats in the state legislature for United States senator. In 1874 Judge Abbott was elected to represent his district in the forty-fourth congress. His election was contested and he did not take his seat until near the close of the first session. As a member of the special committee to investigate the alleged frauds in the election of November, 1876, he visited South Carolina, and wrote the report of the committee. He was subsequently made a member of the electoral commission, and was accorded the leadership of the minority of that commission and wrote the report, not made public at the time, opposing the decision of the commission as to the contested states, Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina. His report was published in an address to the people of the United States, in the Magazine of American History for February, 1892. In 1872 he was an unsuccessful candidate of a faction of the democratic party for the governorship of Massachusetts. As a democrat, Judge Abbott was a delegate from Massachusetts to seven national conventions, and chairman of his state delegations six times. In 1862 Williams college conferred on him the degree of LL.D. He died at his home at Wellesley. Hills, near Boston, June 2, 1891.

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

Alpheus Spring Packard, educator, was born in Chelmsford, Mass., Dec. 23, 1798; son of the Rev. Hezekiah (1761-1849) and Mary (Spring) Packard; grandson of Jacob and Dorothy (Perkins) Packard, and of the Rev. Alpheus and Sarah (Frost) Spring, and a descendant of Samuel Packard, who emigrated from Windham, Norfolk county, England, to America in the Diligence in 1638, with his wife and child, and settled first in Hingham and then in West Bridgewater, Mass. Alpheus removed to Wiscasset, Maine, with his parents, in 1802; was prepared for college at Phillips' academy, Exeter, N.H., and was graduated at Bowdoin, A.B., 1816, A.M., 1819. He taught school in Gorham, Wiscasset and Bucksport, and was the principal of Hallowell Academy, Maine, 1816-19; was at Bowdoin as tutor, 1819-24; professor of ancient languages and classical literature, 1824-65, of rhetoric and oratory, 1842-45, and of natural and revealed religion, 1864-84. He was also librarian of Bowdoin, 1869-81, and acting president, 1883-84. He was first married in 1827 to Frances E., daughter of Jesse Appleton, president of Bowdoin, and secondly in 1844 to Mrs. C. W. McLellan of Portland, Me. He was ordained to the Congregational ministry, May 16, 1850, and was a frequent preacher at the college and the neighboring churches. He was an early member of the Maine Historical society, and its librarian and cabinet keeper for forty-five years. He also contributed to and jointly edited several volumes of its Collections, and was a honorary member of the Royal Historical society of London, of the New York Historical society, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the degree of D.D. from Bowdoin in 1860. He contributed to the North American Review, the Bibliotheca Sacra, and to Annals of the American Pulpit. He edited: History of Bowdoin, with Biographical Sketches (1882); Works of the Rev. Jesse Appleton with a Memoir (2 vols., 1836-37); Xenophon's Memorabilia of Socrates with English notes (1839), and published several addresses. See "Memorial: Alpheus S. Packard," by George T. Little (1886). He died at Squirrel Island, Maine, July 13, 1884.

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