History of Dedham, (Norfolk County) Massachusetts United States of America

Our database does not include an historic photo for Dedham, (Norfolk County) Massachusetts, do you have one you would like to contribute? Contact Us!

Biographies:

Ebenezer Gay, clergyman, was born in Dedham, Mass., Aug. 26, 1696. He was graduated from Harvard in 1714 and entered the Congregational ministry in 1718. He was pastor of the church of Hingham, Mass., during the rest of his life. During the Revolutionary war his sympathies were with the crown. He was married to Jerusha Bradford, granddaughter of Governor Bradford. He is referred to in Spragne's Unitartan Pulpit as the "father of Unitarianism." Harvard conferred upon him the honorary degree of S.T.D. in 1785. He was the son of Nathaniel and Lydia (Lusher) Gay and grandson of John Gay, the emigrant, who settled in Watertown in 1630. He died in Hingham, Mass., Mareh 18, 1787.

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

George Horatio Derby, soldier, was born in Dedham, Mass., April 3, 1823; son of John Barton Derby; great-grandson of Elias Hasket Derby (1739-99), the celebrated Salem shipping merchant, and a direct descendant from Roger Derby, the immigrant, who settled in Ipswich, Mass., in 1671. He was graduated at the U.S. military academy in 1846 and was commissioned 2d lieutenant of ordnance. He was transferred the same year to the topographical engineer corps and was employed in the survey of the harbor of New Bedford, Mass. He was ordered to Mexico, where he served in the siege of Vera Cruz and at the battle of Cerro Gordo, where he was wounded. For "gallant and meritorious conduct" in that battle he was brevetted 1st lieutenant. He was in the topographical office, Washington, in charge of various surveys and explorations in the west, including Minnesota Territory, 1848-49, and Texas and the Pacific coast, 1849-52. He superintended the survey of San Diego harbor, 1853-54, had charge of the military roads, and was a staff officer to the commanding general of the department of the Pacific, 1854-56. He was coast surveyor, 1856-59, and gained promotion to the rank of captain of engineers. While in charge of building lighthouses on the coasts of Florida and Alabama, 1859-60, he suffered a sunstroke which led to softening of the brain and loss of his eyesight, and he was removed to New York city. He wrote under the pen-name "John Phoenix" numerous sketches and burlesques, collected and published under the title Phoenixiana (1855); and he is also the author of The Squibob Papers (1859). He died in New York city, May 15, 1861.

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

Henry Martyn Paul, astronomer and civil engineer, was born in Dedham, Mass., June 25, 1851; son of Ebenezer and Susan (Dresser) Paul; grandson of Samuel and Martha (Crane) Paul, and of David and Hannah (Farnsworth) Dresser, and a descendant of Richard and Margery (Turner) Paul. Richard Paul emigrated from England to Boston, Mass., in 1635; was a soldier in the fort in Boston, in 1636, and one of the original proprietors of Cohannet (now Taunton), Mass., in 1637. Henry Martyn Paul was graduated at Dartmouth A.B., 1873, A.M., 1878, and at the Thayer School of Civil Engineering in 1875. He was principal assistant to Professor Quimby in the triangulation of New Hampshire, 1872-75; assistant astronomer in the naval observatory at Washington, D.C., 1875-80 observed the transit of Mercury at Dartmouth college in May, 1878, and the total solar eclipse at West Las Animas, Col., in the following July. He was married Aug. 27, 1878, to Augusta Anna, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Edgar Harkness and Mary Jane (Rice) Gray, of Washington, D.C. He was professor of astronomy in the Imperial university, Tokyo, Japan, 1880-83; assistant astronomer at the U.S. Naval observatory, Washington, 1883-97, and in 1897 was made professor of mathematics in the navy. He became a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science; one of the council of the Philosophical Society of Washington; a member of the Washington Academy of Sciences, and of the Cosmos club, and president of the Choral Society of Washington, 1896-98. He made researches in the phenomena of variable stars, and is the author of astronomical papers, published as appendices to the volumes of the Washington Observations. After 1899 he was in the bureau of yards and docks, navy department. PAUL, John. See Webb, Charles Henry.

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

Jonathan Holmes Cobb, pioneer silk culturist, was born in Sharon, Mass., July 8, 1799. He was graduated at Harvard in 1817. Becoming interested in the subject of silk culture, he began a series of experiments which resulted in the successful propagation and feeding of silk worms in the United States. The Massachusetts legislature in 1831 appropriated $600 to enable Mr. Cobb to prepare for gratuitous distribution a work on the cultivation of the mulberry tree and the culture of silk. In 1833 the U.S. congress ordered 2000 copies of the work printed for circulation by the representatives. Three years thereafter Mr. Cobb became superintendent of the New England silk company at Dedham, Mass., and this company, under a protective duty on sewing silk of forty percent, arranged to manufacture 200 pounds per week, with a capital of $50,000. Sixteen sewing silk machines were set in motion and the result was very encouraging, when in 1844 the factory was destroyed by fire. From its ashes arose the great silk industry of America, which in 1890 aggregated an annual product of over $30,000,000 worth of fabrics made from silk, and of so excellent a quality as to command a sale in foreign countries. Mr. Cobb greatly advanced the material prosperity of his adopted town, founding a newspaper and an institution for savings. His work, Manual of the Mulberry Tree and the Culture of Silk, was published in 1831. He died at Dedham, Mass., March 12, 1882.

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