History of Dorchester, (Suffolk County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Biographies:

Edward Bass, first bishop of Massachusetts, and 7th in succession in the American episcopate, was born at Dorchester, Mass., Nov. 23, 1726. He was graduated from Harvard college in 1744, and for several years occupied himself as a teacher. He was licensed as a Congregationalist preacher, but in 1752, he accepted the tenets of the established church, and in May of that year was ordained deacon at the chapel of Fulham Palace, by the bishop of London; he received his ordination as a priest at the hands of the same prelate, May 24, 1752. He was sent as a missionary to Newburyport, Mass., by the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and became incumbent of St. Paul's church. At the opening of the revolutionary war, he, in deference to the public sentiment, omitted the prayer for the King, but when the Continental Congress requested that clergymen no longer use the royal collects, he closed his church for twelve months, and did not open it even then till urged by the sight of his congregation gradually going over to the dissenters. He refused to read the Declaration of Independence in church, and called himself a "Tory, and inimical to the liberties of America," but notwithstanding his efforts to make his action clear with the society his past due stipend was refused and his name dropped from the roll. Finding him driven from the support of the society, his friends in America nominated him for bishop. The first election was not recognized, but after another attempt he was consecrated, May 7, 1797, first bishop of Massachusetts, by Bishops White, Provoost and Claggett. His jurisdiction was later extended to New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. He was awarded the degree of D.D. by the Pennsylvania university in 1789. He published several sermons and addresses, and a pamphlet on his connection with the Venerable society. He died at Newburyport, Mass., Sept. 10, 1803.

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

Charles Follen Adams, author, was born at Dorchester, Mass., April 21, 1842. He came from revolutionary ancestors, being a descendant of Samuel Adams, as well as of Hannah Dustin, of Haverhill, Mass., who is well known for her captivity with the Indians. When quite a young man he engaged in business in Boston. The civil war breaking out, he promptly enlisted, and was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. After recovering he continued to serve in the army as wardmaster in the hospital for the convalescent in Washington, D.C. In 1864 he returned to Boston and once more engaged in mercantile business. Among his published pieces his "Puzzled Dutchman" and "Leedle Yawcob Strauss" became very popular. In 1877 his stray pieces were collected into a volume, and in 1887 his "Dialect Ballads" were published and received wide commendation.

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

Edward Everett, statesman, was born in Dorchester, Mass, April 11, 1794; son of the Rov. Oliver and Lucy (Hill) Everett. He was graduated at Harvard in 1811 with first honors, having been an editor of the Harvard Lyceum during his senior year. He was tutor in Harvard, 1812-14, studied theology there, and in 1812 delivered the poem "American Poets" before the Phi Beta Kappa society. In 1813 he was installed minister of the Brattle Square (Unitarian) church in Boston, and his eloquence as a speaker placed him in the front rank in a church celebrated for its great preachers. In 1814 he was elected professor of Greek literature in Harvard, the chair having been founded that year by an unknown benefactor. The death in 1820 of Samuel Eliot discovered the founder, and the corporation named it the Eliot professorship of Greek literature. Permission was given him to visit Europe for his health and prepare himself for his professorial duties. He first visited England and was kept there until after the battle of Waterloo, when he proceeded to G?ttingen, where he spent two years in study. He went thence to Paris, then to England and Scotland, and in 1818 to Italy, where he studied the arts and literature of ancient and modern Rome. In 1819 he visited Greece, having letters of intro duction from Lord Byron. He returned to America the same year and entered upon his duties at Harvard, where he continued until 1826. He delivered a noteworthy sermon in the hall of representatives, Washington, D.C., in February, 1820. He was the editor of the North American Review, 1820-24, and thereafter was one of its valued contributors. He was married May 8, 1822, to Charlotte Gray, daughter of Peter Chardon Brooks. He was a representative from the Middlesex district in the 19th-23d congresses, 1825-35, where he supported John Quincy Adams as a national Republican and Whig. He was governor of Massachusetts, 1836-39, and was defeated in the election of 1839 by one vote out of over one hundred thousand cast. In 1840 he visited Europe and while there was appointed by President Harrison, U.S. minister to Great Britain. He was succeeded in 1845 by Lewis McLane, appointed by President Polk. He was president of Harvard college, 1846-49. He gave to the Boston public library, in 1848, 1000 volumes embracing valuable public documents of the national government from its foundation to 1840. President Fillmore appointed him secretary of state in 1852, as successor to Daniel Webster, deceased. In 1853 the legislature of Massachusetts elected him to the U.S. senate and after serving in two sessions of congress he resigned on account of ill health in May, 1854. He became interested in the plan of Miss Ann Pamela Cunningham to purchase Mount Vernon, and he delivered his oration on Washington in one hundred and twenty-two towns and cities between March 19, 1856, and June, 1859, the proceeds, over $58,000, being contributed to the fund. He also contracted with Robert Bonner to furnish fifty-two weekly articles to the New York Ledger, in consideration of which service Mr. Bonner paid $10,000 in advance to the Mount Vernon fund, the readers of the Ledger adding over $3000 to this fund by small contributions at the suggestion of Mr. Everett. He also added to the treasury of the Boston provident association and other charities in various cities of the Union $13,500, the proceeds of fifteen lectures, and by five repetitions of his lecture on the "Early Days of Benjamin Franklin," in Boston in January and February, 1859, he enriched other charitable institutions in Boston to the extent of over $4000. In 1860 he accepted the nomination for vice-president on the Constitutional Union ticket with John Bell of Tennessee as presidential candidate. The Bell and Everett electors received 590,631 votes, out of 4,662.170 cast, and the electors from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee gave the candidates thirty-nine votes. On Nov. 15, 1863, he delivered the oration at the dedication of the National cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa. In 1864 he organized a subscription for the suffering Union men of East Tennessee, which produced $100,000. His last appearance before the public was at Faneuil Hall, Boston, Jan. 9, 1865, when he spoke in behalf of the poverty-stricken residents of Savannah, Ga. He was a member of the American philosophical society and of the Massachusetts historical society; was vice-president of the American academy of arts and sciences; president of the American antiquarian society; corresponding member of the Arch?ological society of Athens, and of the Academy of moral and political science of France; honorary member of the Royal agricultural society of England, of the Royal society of London, and of the Institute of history and geography, Brazil. He received the degree of Ph.D. from G?ttingen in 1817; that of LL.D. from Yale in 1833, from Harvard in 1835, from Dublin in 1842, from Cambridge in 1842 and from Dartmouth in 1849; and that of D.C.L. from Oxford in 1843. He was overseer of Harvard, 1827-47, 1849-54 and 1862-65. The marble bust by Hiram Powers, shown in the accompanying illustration, is considered by the family far superior as a likeness to any direct photograph, painting or engraving. It was executed during Mr. Everett's residence in Florence, Italy, 1840-41 He died in Boston, Mass., Jan. 15, 1865.

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

Thaddeus William Harris, entomologist, was born in Dorchester, Mass., Nov. 12, 1795; son of the Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, minister of the first church, Dorchester. He was graduated at Harvard, A.B. in 1815, A.M., in 1818, and M.D. in 1820. He practised medicine at Milton Hill, Mass., 1820-31; was librarian of Harvard, 1831-56; originated the Harvard Students' natural history society, and gave instruction in botany and natural history to its members. He was a fellow of the American academy of arts and sciences, and a member of the Massachusetts historical society. He made a zo?logical and botanical survey of Massachusetts and catalogued 2350 species of insects. The Boston society of natural history purchased his collection of insects and the exhaustive catalogues which he had prepared with the utmost care after verifying the respective species. The legislature of Massachusetts published his report Insects Injurious to Vegetation (1841, enl. ed., 1852). He published upwards of fifty papers resulting from his research as an antiquarian. He died in Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 16, 1856.

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