History of Scituate, (Plymouth County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Biographies:

Gridley Bryant, inventor, was born at Scituate, Mass., in 1798. He was apprenticed to a builder in Boston in 1813, and in 1819 established a business of his own. He invented a portable derrick in 1823, which was first used in the construction of the U.S. bank, Boston, and in April, 1826, became the projector and engineer of the first railroad in America, used to convey the granite quarried at Quincy to Charlestown for the Bunker Hill monument, of which he was the contractor and builder. He invented the eight-wheel car, a turn-table, a switch, a turnout and other railway equipments, for which he did not obtain patents. In 1834 Ross Winans received a patent for Bryant's eight-wheel car principle, which he improved and adapted to passenger travel. This patent was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio road, and as Bryant's eight-wheel car was used on other roads litigations followed and Mr. Bryant appeared as a witness. The failure of the corporations in whose behalf he testified, to keep their promises of compensation for his disinterested services hastened his death, which occurred at Scituate, Mass., June 13, 1867.

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

Thomas Clap, educator, was born in Scituate, Mass., June 26, 1703; son of Deacon Stephen and Temperance Clap; grandson of Samuel and Hannah (Gill) Clap; and great-grandson of Thomas and Abigail Clap. He was graduated from Harvard in 1722. He then studied theology and in August, 1726, succeeded the Rev. Samuel Whiting as pastor of the church at Windham, Conn. He was especially learned in mathematics, astronomy and philosophy. He constructed the first orrery or planetarium made in America. In 1739 he was chosen president of Yale college as successor to the Rev. Elisha Williams. His people in Windham were so unwilling to part with him that the matter was referred to an ecclesiastical council, who advocated the change, and on April 2, 1740, he was formally installed in the presidency. The state legislature voted to pay an indemnity of ?53 to the people of Windham for the loss of their minister. On assuming the duties of his new office Mr. Clap at once drew up a code of laws to supersede the laws of Harvard college, which had until then been in use at Yale. These were published in 1748 in Latin, the first book published in New Haven. In 1745 he obtained a new charter for the college from the state legislature, and in 1752 a new building was erected. He next called for a new chapel which was completed in 1763 and many marked improvements were made under his administration. Whitefield's visit to New England brought some unpopularity upon President Clap, who had no sympathy with the revivalist. After several unsuccessful attempts by the trustees to secure a professor of divinity he was invited in 1753 to preach to the students in college hall. This course was objected to by the New Haven church, which claimed the college as within its parish boundaries. In 1756 a professor of divinity was chosen. Other controversies increased his unpopularity and a memorial was sent to the legislature petitioning for an examination into the college affairs. A written denial of the charges made was prepared by him and the memorial was dismissed by the legislature. In 1765 he called for the resignation of two of the tutors, who had embraced the opinions of the Sandemanians. The remaining tutor then resigned, as did the successors shortly afterward. President Clap offered his resignation in July, 1766, and after conferring the degrees in September he retired from office. He was married in 1727 to Mary, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Whitney, by whom he had two daughters: Mary, who became the wife of David Wooster, afterward major-general in the Revolutionary army, and Temperance, who was married to the Rev. Timothy Pitkin, son of Gov. William Pitkin of Connecticut. Among his publications are: An Introduction to the Study of Philosophy (1743); The Religious Constitution of Colleges, especially of Yale College, New Haven (1754); A Brief History and Vindication of the Doctrines received and established in the Churches of New Eugland, with a specimen of the New Scheme of Religion beginning to prevail (1755); An Essay on the Nature and Foundation of moral Virtue and Obligation (1765); Annals or History of Yale College (1766); and Conjectures upon the Nature and Motions of Meteors, which are above the Atmosphere (1781). He died in New Haven, Conn., Jan. 7, 1767.

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

Samuel Woodworth, poet, was born in Scituate, Mass., Jan. 13, 1784; son of Benjamin (a Revolutionary soldier) and Abigail (Bryant) Woodworth; grandson of Benjamin and Hannah (Cudworth) Woodworth and a descendant of Walter Woodworth (probably from Kent, England) and of John Bryant, the former made a freeman in Scituate, 1640, and the latter in 1639. He assisted his father on the farm; attended the district school; was subsequently tutored by the Rev. Nehemiah Thomas, who was interested in the boy's poetical talent, and later served an apprenticeship to Benjamin Russell, editor of the Columbian Sentinel of Boston, Mass., contributing verses to various periodicals under the pen name "Selim." He made an unsuccessful attempt to conduct a weekly paper in New Haven, Conn., called the Belles-Lettres Repository in 1807, abandoning the project after two months; removed to Baltimore, Md., and to New York city in 1809, where he was married, Sept. 23, 1810, to Lydia Reeder. Their son, Selim Edward, (1815-1871), commanded the Anita in the Mexican war, and the Narragansett, Pacific coast, 1865-66. Samuel Woodworth made further efforts, also futile, to establish a weekly entitled The War in 1812, and a monthly Swedenborgian magazine, The Halcyon Luminary and Theological Repository; was associate editor with George P. morris and subsequently with N. P. Willis of the New York Mirror, 1823, and also edited The Parthenon, 1829, The Casket and the Literary Gazette. He is the author of: The Champions of Freedom (2 vols., 1816); a volume of poems in 1816 and another in 1826, and of numerous dramatic compositions, among them The Forest Rose. His poems, the most famous of which is The Old Oaken Bucket, were collected by his son, Selim E. Woodworth, with a "Memoir" by George P. Morris (1861). He died in New York city, Dec. 9, 1842.

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

William Cushing, jurist, was born in Scituate, Mass., March 1, 1732; son of John and Mary (Cotton), grandson of John and Deborah (Loring), greatgrandson of John and Sarah (Hawke), and great great grandson of Matthew and Nazareth (Pitcher) Cushing, who emigrated from Hingham, England, to Hingham, Mass., in 1638. His father was chief justice of the superior court of Massachusetts before whom the British soldiers were tried for the Boston massacre, March 5, 1770. The son was graduated at Harvard in 1751, studied and practised law with Samuel Gridley, was elected attorney general of Massachusetts, and in 1768 became judge of probate of Lincoln county, Maine. In 1772 he was made judge of the superior court of Massachusetts and its chief justice in 1777, becoming the tirst chief justice of the state under the constitu tion in 1780. President Washington appointed him an associate justice of the U.S. supreme court, Sept. 27, 1789, and nominated him as cbief justice in 1798, which honor he declined. He was vice president of the state convention of 1788 that ratified the Federal constitution. He helped to found the American academy of arts and sciences, and was a fellow, 1780-1810. Yale gave him the honorary degree of A.M. in 1753, and Harvard that of LL.D. in 1785. He died in Scituate, Mass., Sept. 13, 1870.

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