John Greenleaf Whittier family ties to Daniel Webester and William Batchelder Greene

Poet John Greenleaf Whittier, U S Senator Daniel Webster, and Colonel Reverend William Batchelder Greene all related and researching their lineage. To sort out the ancestral lines, these fellows had to depend on letter writing. Whittier contacted the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) for help with his genealogy research. 
Whittier did not have the Great Migration Papers or Facebook, but correspondences show how close his queries came to mapping out the family tree.

Honorable Daniel Webster (1782-1852) son of Judge Ebenezer Webster (1739-1806) and Abigail Eastman (1739-1816). Judge Ebenezer Webster, son of Ebenezer Webster, son of Ebenezer Webster and Hannah Judkins and Susannah Bachelder (d. of Benjamin Batchelder and Susannah Page, granddaughter of Nathaniel Batcheler, son of Rev. Stephen Batchelder). Daniel Webster in writing to his son Fletcher Webster in 1840: "I believe we are all indebted to my father's mother for a large portion of the little sense and character which belongs to us. Her name was Susannah Bachelder; she was the daughter of a clergyman, and a woman of uncommon strength of understanding. For a full genealogy and background visit Janice Brown's Cow Hampshire History Blog Salisbury New Hampshire Lawyer Orator Statesman Daniel Webster (1782-1852)

William Batchelder Greene (1819-1878) son of Peter Nathaniel Greene and Susan Bachelder (d. of William Batchelder and Huldah Sanborn, d.of Deacon Benjamin Sanborn of Deerfield, NH) Photo: A carte de visite, or album card, 1861-62. He married Anna Blake Shaw (1817-1901) daughter of Robert Gould Shaw and Mary Sturgis. Some Batchelder Genealogy Nutfield Genealogy blog (search all surnames lots of information) Surname Saturday Batchelder of Hampton 

 In 1873 John Greenleaf Whittier wrote to Mr. William Batchelder Greene, of Boston, as follows:—

"My mother was a descendant of Christopher Hussey, of Hampton, N. H., who married a daughter of Rev. Stephen Bachelor, the first minister of that town.
"Daniel Webster traces his ancestry to the same pair, so Joshua Coffin informed me. Colonel W. B. Greene, of Boston, is of the same family."

letter of reply to JGW from Col. W. B. Greene: 

"Jamaica Plain, Mass., Sept. 24, 1873.

"Mr. D. B. Whittier, Danville, Vt.
"Dear Sir,—Yours of September 20 is just received, and I reply to it at once. My grandfather, on my mother's side, was the Rev. William Batchelder, of Haverhill, Mass. In the year 1838 I had a conversation, on a matter of military business, with the Hon. Daniel Webster; and, to my astonishment, Mr. Webster treated me as a kinsman. My mother afterwards explained his conduct by telling me that one of Mr. W.'s female ancestors was a Batchelder. In 1838 or 1839, or thereabouts, I met schoolmaster Joshua Coffin on a Mississippi steamboat, near Baton Rouge. The captain of the boat told me, confidentially, that Coffin was engaged in a dangerous mission respecting some slaves, and inquired whether my aid and countenance could be counted on in favor of Coffin, in case violence should be offered him. This he did because I was on the boat as a military man, and in uniform. When Coffin found he could count on me, he came and talked with me, and finally told me he had [once] been hired by Daniel Webster to go to Ipswich, and there look up Mr. W.'s ancestry. He spoke of Rev. Stephen Batchelder, of New Hampshire, and said that Daniel Webster, John G. Whittier, and myself were related by Batchelder blood. I did not feel at all ashamed of my relatives. In 1841 or 1842 Mrs. Crosby, of Hallowell, Maine, who had charge of my grandfather when he was a boy, and knew all about the family, told me that Daniel Webster was a Batchelder, that she had known his father intimately, and knew Daniel when he was a boy. At the time of my conversation with her, Aunt Crosby might have been anywhere from seventy-five to eighty-five years of age. When I was a boy, at (say) about the year 1827 or 1828, I used to go often to the house of J. G. Whittier's father, a little out of the village (now city) of Haverhill, Massachusetts. There was a Mrs. Hussey in the family, who baked the best squash pies I ever ate, and knew how to make the pine floors shine like a looking-glass.

"This is, I think, all the information, in answer to your request, that I am competent to give you.

"Yours respectfully,
"William Batchelder Greene."

In a note addressed to the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, JGW wites: "On my mother's side my grandfather was Joseph Hussey, of Somersworth, N. H.; married Mercy Evans, of Berwick, Me."

William Sloane Kennedy in his book, "John Greenleaf Whittier: His Life, Genius, and Writings," remarks on the lineage:
Some of the genealogical links connecting the Husseys of Somersworth with those of Hampton have not yet been recovered. But this much is known of the family, that in 1630 Christopher Hussey came from Dorking, Surrey, England, to Lynn, Mass. He had married, in Holland, Theodate, the daughter of the Rev. Stephen Bachiler, a Puritan minister, who had fled to that country to avoid persecution in England.

The author was told by a local antiquary in Hampton, N. H., that there is a tradition in the town that Stephen Bachiler would not let his daughter marry young Hussey unless he embraced the Puritan faith. His love was so great that he consented, and came with his bride to America, where two years later his father-in-law followed him. Stephen Bachiler came to Lynn in 1632, with six persons, his relatives and friends, who had belonged to his church in Holland, and with them he established a little independent church in Lynn. The progenitive faculty of this worthy divine must have been highly developed: he was married four times, and was dismissed from his church at Lynn on account of charges twice preferred against him by women of his congregation. The recorded dates show that both he and his son-in-law, Hussey, came to Hampton in the year 1639. The Hampton authorities had the previous year made Mr. Bachiler and Mr. Hussey each a grant of three hundred acres of land, to induce them to settle there.

When and how the Husseys became Quakers is not known to the author. But in Savage's Genealogical Dictionary, II page 507, it is recorded that as early as 1688 a certain John Hussey of Hampton was a preacher to the Quakers in Newcastle, Delaware. The mother of the poet was a devoted disciple of the Society of Friends. That she was a person of deep and tender religious nature is evident to one looking at the excellent oil-portrait of her which hangs in the little parlor at Amesbury, Massachusetts. 

Abigail Hussey Whittier Portrait From Tony Shaw blog taken at The Whittier home: John Greenleaf Whittier (again) in Amesbury, Massachusetts: Literary New England #8

The head is inclined graciously to one side, and the face wears that expression of ineffable tranquility which is always a witness to generations of Quaker ancestry. In the picture, her garments are of smooth and immaculate drab. The poet once remarked to the writer that one of the reasons why his mother removed to Amesbury, in 1840, was that she might be near the little Friends' "Meeting" in that town.

Abigail Hussey (1780-1850) daughter of Samuel Hussey (1720-1814) and Mercy Evans (1735-1796) married John Whittier (1760-1830) son of Joseph Whittier (1716-1796) and Sarah Greenleaf (1720-1762). Below is genealogy from Early Settlers of Nantucket: Their Associates and Descendants

The above mentions Webster and Greene association the Rev Stephen Batchelder storm on pages 96-98.  http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/biog/bachilertoc.htm

The newspaper clip below mentions some relics not traced yet, but any information would be appreciated.

Photo from Paul Noyes

   

Photo From Margo Reasner

                                                        

• John Greenleaf Whittier: A Biography. Francis Henry Underwood  
• The History of Salisbury, New Hampshire: From Date of Settlement to the Present Time John Jacob Dearborne
  
• Early Settlers of Nantucket: Their Associates and Descendants Lydia Swain Mitchell Hinchman 
• Online Books of William Batchelder Greene
• Batchelder, Batcheller genealogy. Descendants of Rev. Stephen Bachiler, of England who settled the town of New Hampton, N.H., and Joseph, Henry, Joshua and John Batcheller of Essex Co., Mass" 
• Vital Records of Haverhill, Massachusetts and American Ancestors.org 
• "Rev Stephen Bachiler," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1892 Lane Library
•  The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995 https://www.americanancestors.org/DB393/i/12107/61/23894420

John Parton Newburyport

               
James Parton was Born February 9 1822 in England. Died October 17, 1891 in Newburyport, MA
Parton was one of the most popular biographers in America. Some of his books Horace Greeley, Aaron Burr, Andrew Jackson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Voltaire. He authored a number of other historical works as well. Read his Revolutionary Heroes, And Other Historical Papers
His first wife, Sara Payson Willis Parton, sister of N. P. Willis, and widow of Charles H. Eldredge (who died in 1846), writer under the pen-name Fanny Fern. They were married in 1856. In 1876 Parton controversially married Ethel Eldredge, his first wife's daughter by her first husband.  Parton, James, 1822-1891. James Parton correspondence and other papers, 1831-1891: Guide.
His adopted daughter, Ethel, the daughter of Grace Eldrege (daughter of Fanny Fern’ and writer Mortimer Thomson AKA Philander Doesticks), was adopted by Parton in 1872. Ethel Parton became a famous writer of children’s books about 19th century life in Newburyport, MA, published in the 1930s and 1940s. James had two children, Hugo and Mabel. Hugo had a child James Parton (1912-2001) was founder and publisher of American Heritage.Thank you Cheryl Follanbee for furnishing more info

 

 Parton Home on High Street Newburyport MA

Personal Monday, August 2, 1869  Register (Salem, MA)

Sarah Payson Willis (1811-1872) d. of Nathaniel Willis and Hannah Parker

     

Collection Smith College Fanny Fern and Ethel Parton Papers

               


                                         Shipping News October 23 1891

Sarah Payson Willis was born in Portland, Maine, to newspaper-owner Nathaniel Willis and Hannah Parker; she was the fifth of eight siblings, including journalist Nathaniel Parker Willis. Another brother, Richard Storrs Willis, became a musician and music journalist known for writing the melody for "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear". Her other siblings were Lucy Douglas (born 1804), Louisa Harris (1807), Julia Dean (1809), Mary Perry (1813), Edward Payson (1816), and Ellen Holmes (1821).

Her father had recently become very religious after being inspired by Reverend Edward Payson of Portland's Second Congregational Church and intended to name his fifth child after him. When his fifth child turned out to be a girl, he instead decided to name her after Payson's mother, Grata Payson, though the Reverend urged the Willis to reconsider, noting that his mother never liked the name. Her name was to change often in her life throughout three marriages and with the adoption of her chosen pen name "Fanny Fern". She decided on the name because it reminded her of childhood memories of her mother picking fern leaves. She felt that this name was a better fit for her, and used it even in her personal life; eventually, most of her friends and family called her "Fanny."

Fern attended Catharine Beecher's boarding school in Hartford, Connecticut; here, although Beecher later described her as one of her "worst-behaved girls" (adding that she also "loved her the best"), she got her first taste of literary success when her compositions were published in the local newspaper.[6] She was also sent to the Saugus Female Seminary. She then returned to her parents' home, where she wrote and edited articles for her father's Christian newspapers, The Puritan Recorder and The Youth's Companion.

Fern married Charles Harrington Eldredge, a banker, in 1837, and they had three daughters: Mary Stace (1838), Grace Harrington (1841), and Ellen Willis (1844). After seven happy years, tragedy struck: Fern's mother and younger sister Ellen died early in 1844; then, in 1845, her eldest daughter Mary died of brain fever; soon afterward, her husband Charles succumbed to typhoid fever. Fern was left nearly destitute. With little help from either her father or her in-laws – and none at all from her brother Nathaniel – she and her two remaining daughters struggled to make ends meet. Her father persuaded her to remarry and she soon followed his suggestion.

Fern married Samuel P. Farrington, a merchant, in 1849. The marriage was a mistake; unable to cope with her new husband's intense jealousy, she scandalized her family by leaving him in 1851 and they were divorced two years later.Fern first published a few short satirical works in the Boston newspapers Olive Branch and True Flag. In 1852, again on her own with two daughters to support, Fern began her writing career in earnest. She sent some samples of her work using her real name to her brother, Nathaniel Willis, who rudely refused them and said that her writing was not marketable outside Boston. Her brother was proved wrong, as newspapers and periodicals in New York and elsewhere began printing the "witty and irreverent columns". She began writing a regular column in the New York newspaper Musical World and Times that year, becoming the first woman to write her own regular column; the next year, 1853, she published both Fern Leaves from Fanny's Portfolio, a selection of her more sentimental columns, and Little Ferns for Fanny's Little Friends, a children's book. The former sold 70,000 copies in its first year.

James Parton a biographer and historian, who was editing the magazine Home Journal, owned by Fern's brother Nathaniel Parker Willis, was impressed by Fern's work. He not only printed her columns but invited the author to come to New York City. When Nathaniel Willis discovered this he forbade Parton from printing any more of her work. Parton refused to obey the request and promptly resigned as editor of the magazine.

Fern's first book, Fern Leaves (1853), was a best seller. It sold 46,000 copies in the first four months, and over 70,000 copies the first year. She received ten cents a copy in royalties, enough for her to buy a house in Brooklyn, New York, and live comfortably. Just three years into her career, in 1855, she was earning $100 a week for her column in the New York Ledger, making her the highest paid columnist in the United States. Her first regular column appeared on January 5, 1856, and would run weekly, without exception, until October 12, 1872, when her last edition was printed two days after her death. Fern also wrote two novels. Her first, Ruth Hall (1854) describes her few years of happiness with Eldredge, the poverty and humiliation she endured after he died, and her struggle to achieve financial independence as a journalist. Most of the characters are thinly-veiled versions of people Fern knew, and several – those individuals who treated her uncharitably when she most needed their help, including her father, her in-laws, her brother Nathaniel, and two newspaper editors – are put in a most unflattering light. When Fern's identity was exposed shortly after the novel's publication, some critics were scandalized at this lampooning of her own relatives, and decried her lack of filial piety and her want of "womanly gentleness" in seeking revenge in this manner. The criticism wounded Fern deeply, and her second novel, Rose Clark, is less autobiographical in nature and features a conventionally sweet, gentle heroine; a secondary character, however, reenacts the debacle of Fern's marriage of convenience to Farrington.

In Fanny's Ledger column from May 10, 1856, she defended Walt Whitman when she wrote a favorable review of his controversial Leaves of Grass. In particular, she noted his fearless individualism and self-reliance, as well as his honest and "undraped" portrayal of sex and the human body. She was criticized for her admiration, but her outspoken support marked her as a champion of literature that was ahead of its time. It has been suggested that Whitman imitated her Fern Leaves in his choice of cover art for the first edition.

Sara Willis and James Parton were married in 1856. She and her husband lived in New York City with one of her two surviving children , they also raised a granddaughter, Ethel, the orphaned child of Willis's daughter Grace, who passed away in 1862.In 1859, Fern moved to a brownstone in Manhattan at what is now 303 East Eighteenth Street near Second Avenue; she would live in this house for the next 13 years until her death. Fern continued as a regular columnist for the Ledgerfor the remainder of her life. She was a suffrage supporter and in 1868 she co-founded Sorosis, New York City's pioneer woman's club. Fern battled cancer for six years and died October 10, 1872. She is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts next to her first husband. Her gravestone was inscribed simply "Fanny Fern." After her death her husband, James Parton, published Fanny Fern: A Memorial Volume

Daniel Webster's visit to John Colby

From The Friend Volume 51 Incidents and Reflections.—No. 8 An intimate friend of Daniel Webster, who spent some weeks with him at his place in Franklin, in the autumn of 1851, the year before his death, relates that one pleasant morning Webster proposed driving to Andover, a distance of about ten miles.*

* John Colby was the husband of Mr. Webster's eldest sister, who died many years before the visit here referred to. He was known as a great septic in religious matters in early life, and hence Mr. Webster's earnest desire to visit him soon after he heard of Mr. Colby's conversion.

On their "way, he said the object of his trip was to visit an old man named John Colby, who had married his half-sister. She had long been dead, and he had not seen John for forty-five years, and all interest in him had died out. He was a wild, reckless fellow when young; and though not a drinking man, and thrifty as to business, acquired the reputation of being the wickedest man in tho neighborhood, so far as swearing and impiety went. Daniel then told his friend what had impelled him to renew the long-suspended intercourse.

"Now I will give you the reason why I am to-day going up to see this John Colby. I have been told by persons who know, that, within a few years, he has become a convert to the Christian religion, and has met with that mysterious change which we call a change of "heart; in other words, he has become a constant, praying Christian. This has given me a very strong desire to have a personal interview with him, and to hear with my own ears his account of this change. For, humanly speaking, I should bavo said that his was about as hopeless a case for conversion as I could well conceive. Ho won't know me, and I shall not know him; and I don't intend to make myself known at first.

"We drove on, and reached the village,—a little, quiet place, one street running through it, a few houses scattered along here and there, with a country store, a tavern, and a post office. As we drove into this quiet, peaceable little hamlet, at midday, with hardly a sign of life noticeable, Webster accosted a lad in the street, and asked where John Colby lived.

"'That is John Colby's house,' said he, pointing to a very comfortable two-story house, with a green lawn running down to the road. We drove along towards it, and little before we reached it, making our horse secure, we left tho wagon and proceeded to the house on foot. Instead of steps leading to it, there were little flagstones laid in front of the door; and you could pass right into the house without having to stop up. The door was open. There was no occasion to knock, because, as we approached the door, tho inmates of tho room could see us. Sitting in the middle of that room was a striking figure, who proved to be John Colby. He sat facing tho door, in a very comfortably furnished farm-house room, with a little table, or what would perhaps be called a light-stand, before him. Upon it was a large, old-fashioned Scott's Family Bible, in very large print, and of course a heavy volume. It lay open, and he had evidently been reading it attentively. As we entered, he took off his spectacles and laid them upon the page of the book, and looked up at us as we approached, Webster in front. He was a man, I should think, over six feet in height, and he retained in a wonderful degree his erect and manly form, although he was eighty-five or six years old. His frame was that of a once powerful, athletic man. His head was covered with very heavy, thick, bushy hair, and it was white as wool, which added very much to the picturosqueness of his appearance. As I looked in at the door, I thought I never saw a more striking figure. He straightened himself up, but said nothing until just as we appeared at the door, when ho greeted us with,—

"'Walk in, gentlemen.'

"He then spoke to his grandchild to give us some chairs. The meeting was, I saw, a little awkward, and he looked very sharply at us, as much as to say, 'You are here, but for what I don't know: make known your business.' Webster's first salutation was,—

"This is — Colby, John Colby, is it not?'

"'That is my name, sir,' was the reply.

"' I suppose yon don't know mo,' said Webster.

"' No, sir, I don't know you; and I should like to know how you know me.'

"' I have seen you before, —Colby,' replied Webster.

'"Seen me before!' said he; 'pray, when and where?'

"' Have you no recollection of me?' asked Webster.

"'No, sir, not tho slightest;' and he looked by — Webster toward me, as if trying to remember if ho had seen me. Webster remarked,—

"' I think you never saw this gentleman before; but you have seen me.'

"Colby put the question again, when and where?

"' You married my oldest sister,' replied Webster, calling her by name. (I think it was Susannah.)

"'I married your oldest sister!' exclaimed Colby; 'who are you?'

'"lam "little Dan,"' was tho reply.

"It certainly would be impossible to describe the expression of wonder, astonishment, and half-incredulity that came over Colby's face.

"' You Daniel Webster I' said he; and he started to rise from his chair. As he did so, he stammered out some words of surprise. 'Is it possible that this is the little black lad that used to ride tho horse to water? Well, I cannot realize it!'

"Webster approached him. They embraced each other; and both wept.

"' Is it possible,' said Colby, when tho embarrassment of the first shock of recognition was past, ' that you have come up here to see me? Is this Daniel? Why, why,' said he, 'I cannot believe my senses. Now, sit down. I am glad, oh, I am so glad to see you, Daniel! I never expected to see you again. I don't know what to say. I am so glad,' ho wont on, 'that my life has been spared that I might see you. Why, Daniel, I road about you, and hear about you in all ways; sometimes some members of tho family come and tell us about you; and the newspapers tell us a great deal about you, too. Your name seems to be constantly in the newspapers. They say that you are a great man, that you are a famous man; and you can't tell how delighted I am when I hear such things. But, Daniel, the time is short,—you won't stay here long,—I want to ask you one important question. You may be a great man : are you a good man? Are you a Christian man? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? That is the only question that is worth asking or answering. Are you a Christian? You know, Daniel, what I have been: I have been one of the wickedest of men. Your poor sister, who is now in heaven, knows that. But the spirit of Christ and of Almighty God has come down and plucked me as a brand from the everlasting burning. I am here now, a monument to his grace. Oh, Daniel, I would not give what is contained within the covers of this book for all the honors that have been conferred upon men from the creation of the world until now. For what good would it do? It is all nothing, and less than nothing, if you are not a Christian, if you arc not repentant. If you do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, in sincerity and truth, all your worldly honors will sink to utter nothingness. Are you a Christian? Do you love Christ? You have not answered me.'

"All this was said in the most earnest and even vehement manner.

"'John Colby,' replied Webster, 'you have asked me a very important question, and one which should not be answered lightly. I intend to give you an answer, and one that is truthful, or I won't give you any. I hope that I am a Christian. I profess to be a Christian. But, while I say that, I wish to add,—and I say it with shame and confusion of face,—that I am not such a Christian as I wish 1 wore. I have lived in the world, surrounded by its honors and its temptations; and I am afraid, John Colby, that I am not so good a Christian as I ought to be. I am afraid I have not your faith and your hopes; but still, I hope and trust that I am a Christian, and that the same grace which has converted you, and made you an heir of salvation, will do the same for me. 1 trust it; and I also trust, John Colby,—and it won't be long before our summons will come,—that we shall meet in a better world, and meet those who have gone before us, whom wo knew, and who trusted in that same divine, free grace. It won't be long. You cannot tell, John Colby, how much delight it gave me to hear of your conversion. Tho hearing of that is what has led me here to-day. I came here to see with my own eyes, and hear with my own ears the story from a man that 1 know and remember well. What a wicked man you used to be!'

"'0 Daniel!' exclaimed John Colby, 'you don't remember how wicked I was; how ungrateful I was; how unthankful I was! I never thought of God ; I never cared for God; I was worse than the heathen. Living in a Christian land, with the light shining all around me, and the blessings of Sabbath teachings everywhere about me, I was worse than a heathen until I was arrested by the grace of Christ, and made to see my sinfulness, and to hear the voice of my Savior. Now I am only waiting to go home to Him, and to meet your sainted sister, my poor wife. And I wish, Daniel, that you might be a prayerful Christian, and I trust you are. Daniel,' he added, with deep earnestness of voice, 'will you pray with me?'

"We knelt down, and Webster offered a most touching and eloquent prayer. As soon as he had pronounced the 'Amen,' J. Colby followed in a most pathetic, stirring appeal to God. He prayed for the family, for me, and for everybody. Then we rose ; and he seemed to feel a serene happiness in having thus joined his spirit with that of Webster in prayer.

"' Now,' said he, 1 what can we give you? I don't think we have any thing that we can give you.'

"' Yes, you have,' replied Webster; 'you have something that is just what we want to eat.'

"' What is that?' asked Colby.

"' It is some bread and milk,' said Webster. 'I want a bowl of bread and milk for myself and my friend.'

"Very soon the table was set, and a white cloth spread over it; some nice bread was set upon it and some milk brought, and we sat down to the table and eat. Webster exclaimed afterward: 'Didn't it taste good? "Didn't it taste like old times?'

"The brothers-in-law soon took an affectionate leave of each other, and we left. Webster could hardly restrain his tears. When we got into tho wagon ho began to moralize.

"'I should like,' said he, 'to know what the enemies of religion would say to John Colby's conversion. There was a man as unlikely, humanly speaking, to become a Christian as any man I over saw. He was reckless, heedless, impious; never attended church, never experienced the good influence of associating with religious people. And here he has been living on in that reckless way until he has got to bean old man ; until a period of life when you naturally would not expect his habits to change: and yet he has been brought into tho condition in which we have seen him to-day,—a penitent, trusting, humble believer. Whatever people may say, nothing,' added Webster, 'can convince mo that any thing short of the grace of Almighty God could make such a change as I, with my own eyes, have witnessed in the life of John Colby."

"When we got back to Franklin, in the evening, we met John Taylor at the door. Webster called out to him:—

"'Well, John Taylor, miracles happen in these later days as well as in the days of old.'

"'What now, squire?' asked John Taylor.

"' Why, John Colby has become a Christian. If that is not a miracle, what is?'"

Opportunity is the flower of time, and as the stalk may remain when tho flower is cut off, so time may remain to us when opportunity is gone forever.

Daniel Webster's Brother-in-Law Saturday, January 23, 1886 Grand Forks Daily Herald ND

Historical Sketches. The Family of Daniel Webster Wednesday, Nov. 14, 1849 Jackson Citizen

• The life: experience and travels, of John Colby, preacher of the gospel  By John Colby 
• Webster: An Ode 1782-1852 by William Cleaver Wilkinson
• The Sunday at Home, Volume 25

Governor Anthony Colby

"He seemed to illustrate in his noble, cheerful life the effects of the companionship of the granite hills. His great heart, sparkling wit, fine physical vigor aud merry laugh made his presence a joy at all time, and welcome everywhere."

Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men Gutenberg

Anthony Colby (November 13, 1792 – July 13, 1873) is known in his native state as a typical "New Hampshire man." Born and bred among the granite hills, he seemed assimilated to them, and to illustrate in his noble, cheerful life the effects of their companionship. His great heart, sparkling wit, fine physical vigor, and merry laugh made his presence a joy at all times, and welcome everywhere. His ancestry, on his father's side, was of English, and on his mother's, of Scotch-Irish, origin. The first member of his father's family that removed to this country settled in the town of Salisbury, Mass., in 1740.

He bore the name of Anthony Colby, and was a member of the so-called "Test Association." Joseph Colby, the father of Anthony, was born in Hopkinton, N. H., near Beech Hill, in 1762. He died in 1843. Of his brothers, two, James and Nathaniel, settled in that town, and another, David, in Manchester, near the sea, in Massachusetts. During the last century, Joseph bought a portion of land under the "Masonian Grant" from Mr. Minot. Then the restriction of ownership in the state was that "all the white-pine trees be reserved for masting the ships of His Majesty's royal navy." Each town was required to set apart a portion of land for a meeting-house, and the support of the gospel ministry; for a school-house and the support of a school, as well as a military-parade ground.

Anthony Colby youth

In the organization and settlement of the town named New London, and in the needs of the settlers, both civil and religious, Joseph took an active part. He began clearing land in that part of the town now called Pleasant street, at the north end of Pleasant pond. He early established trade for himself with Newburyport and Salem. The state legislature then held its sessions in Portsmouth. Of this, he was for fourteen consecutive years a member. He was a political leader, and an uncompromising Federalist. For fifty years he was a stanch member of the Baptist church, of which Rev. Job Seamans was the first pastor, and he was for some time president of the Baptist state convention.
He married Anne Heath, a direct descendant of the Richard Kelley family, of which Judge Kelley, of Exeter, was a member. Her immediate relatives took part in the Revolutionary war. Members of the family live in Newbury, Mass. The family of Joseph Colby consisted of two sons and two daughters. The eldest daughter, Sarah, married Jonathan Herrick; the second, Judith, married Perley Burpee. Both of these daughters were settled beside him. Mrs. Burpee still survives. The two sons of Joseph Colby never left their father's household. Joseph, the eldest, spent the most of his life in the gratification of his literary tastes, and a species of journalism. Anthony, born in 1795, was of a lively disposition. A pleasant vein of humor ran through his character, making him enjoy a joke, while a native prescience led him to project himself into every kind of progress. A keen insight into the character of men gave him an almost unlimited influence over them. He never passed through college, but his faculties were broadly developed by the condition into which his genial and vivid nature led him. His father's home was so guarded and in every way provided for, that ample opportunity was afforded him to follow the pursuits and activities that were congenial to him. He married, at an early age, Mary Everett, whose modest and refined Christian character greatly influenced him. A more favored home could hardly be imagined than that in which his three children were born, and which is still held sacred by them. The steady support of a grandfather's established character, the stimulus of a popular father, joined to the affection of a devoted grandmother and the delicate influence of a lovely mother, created an atmosphere, of solid content and peace as blissful as is to be found this side of heaven.

 

His eldest son, Daniel E. Colby, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1836. He married Martha Greenwood, and now lives in the paternal home. His daughter married, in 1851, James B. Colgate, and lives in New York, as does her brother Robert, who married Mary Colgate. Robert also graduated from Dartmouth College, and studied law with Judge Perley, at Concord, N. H.
The prominent characteristics of Anthony Colby were manly self-reliance and intrepidity, joined with quick sympathy and faithfulness in friendship, which made men trust and love him. His father's identity with the state gave him a wide knowledge of its resources, industries, and inhabitants. He was interested in the affairs of the entire state, and was always ready to sacrifice the interests of his private business for those of his townsmen. There was no neighborhood or personal difficulty in which he did not willingly take the responsibility of bringing help or reconciliation. His tender sympathy, benevolence, and personal authority were sufficient to adjust the differences and rights of all who sought his assistance. He was strictly and absolutely a temperance man, never tasting spirituous liquors, and always using his influence to save young men from the use of them. His nature was many-sided enough to find some points of agreement with men whose habits differed from his own.

He established a line of stages through his native town before any system of railroads had been extended through the state. He afterwards became president of the Concord & Claremont Railroad. He possessed, in an unusual degree, an ability to create in his own brain and carry into practice business activities. He saw and felt how labor could be well applied, and, while a young man, built himself, in a part of the town then almost a forest, a grist-mill, carding and fulling mill. In 1836 he was instrumental in establishing a scythe-factory which was carried on by the use of the same water that had been used for the mills. In this enterprise he was associated with Joseph Phillips and Richard Messer, both of whom had learned the trade of scythe-making. In the vicinity there grew up directly a flourishing village.
Colby family and Mellie and James Colgate on the lawn at the "old house" at Glenwood. Mary Colby is standing on the second floor balcony; Robert Colby is standing in the yard. Seated in a grouping to the left is an unidentified maid, baby May Colby, Jessie Colby, Mellie Colgate, James Colgate, and another unidentified woman.

In politics, Mr. Colby was always conservative. He was first elected a member of the New Hampshire legislature, in 1828, and afterwards held nearly every higher office of trust in the state. Daniel Webster was his personal friend. Their fathers, who lived in the same county, only about twenty miles apart, were many years associated in the legislature, of which they were members, from Salisbury and New London. The friendship between himself, Judge Nesmith, of Franklin, and Gen. James Wilson, of Keene, was more than simple friendship,—they were delightful companions; of essentially different characteristics, the combination was perfect. Daniel Webster was their political chief, and his vacation sometimes found these men together at the Franklin "farm-house," and at the chowder parties up at the "pond."

The Phenix Hotel, under the charge of Col. Abel and Maj. Ephraim Hutchins, was the central rendezvous, where a great deal of projected statesmanship, a great deal of story telling and fruitless caucusing were indulged in, down to the revolution of 1846, when the Democrats lost their supremacy by the admission of Texas as a slave state, when John P. Hale went into the senate. Anthony Colby was then elected governor. Mr. Webster wrote him earliest congratulations. With the usual backsets of a radical change, the Whig party held the front until Mr. Webster made his Seventh-of-March speech in 1850, on the fugitive-slave bill. Following up that speech by another on the Revere-House steps, favoring the enforcement of that law, and addressed to New England men, in which he said, "Massachusetts takes no steps backward," he placed his friends in a most trying predicament.Mr. Webster and his Boston body-guard made an effort to hold the Whig party solid to his position. It could not be done. The Abolitionists stood forth in full panoply, indiscriminately and precipitately aggressive, thanking God for the fugitive-slave law, and that Daniel Webster was its promoter and defender. He wrote to Gov. Colby, urging him to stand firmly by him and help bring the public mind to this new standard. The governor was perplexed. Privately he expressed himself after this fashion: "New Hampshire men vote for the fugitive-slave law! This whole business is like crowding a hot potato down a man's throat, and then asking him to sing 'Old Hundred.'" He wrote Mr. Webster that he would do all that he could for him as a friend, although the law was odious to him.
There was held, that summer, a Baptist state convention. It was a full convention, for the churches were in a ferment, and many of them disintegrating upon the slavery issue. He was sent as a delegate from the church of which he was a member. A set of resolutions was reported, of a very violent and denunciatory character, directed against the fugitive-slave law, Mr. Webster, and both political parties, threatening expulsion and disfellowship to those members of churches who did not come out with an open and square protest upon this subject. The discussion was all one side until the advocates of the resolution had aired their opinions to their own satisfaction. Then, the governor, seeing his opportunity, quietly arose and moved an amendment to the resolution inveighing against Mr. Webster personally. He felt the fight to be a single-handed one, and would go through it alone if necessary. Presently, a candid brother seconded his amendment with a few suggestions. Other brethren applauded.

Then the storm set in from the other side, and the convention became disorderly. It was as if the better elements of New England life were in one grand convocation. This was the first public discussion of the situation. The contest was as brilliant a one, on a modified scale, as any intellectual and emotional contest that we read of. The governor's only hope of reconciliation was by settling down on his own popularity with the members of the convention, and, avoiding the principles involved, appealing to their generosity as a personal favor. With tears in his eyes and in faltering, grieving tones, he besought them most solemnly to spare his life-long friend the denunciation contained in that one resolution, and accept his amendment. The convention agreed to it. He sent a report of the proceedings, with an explanatory letter, to Mr. Webster: but he was not satisfied. There the matter dropped. These true-hearted friends saw, silently, the scepter of leadership declining in Mr. Webster's hand, and sadly lamented, what they could not prevent.

Daniel Colby 1815-1891

No Whig had held the office of governor, until the election of Anthony Colby, since the election of Gov. Bell, an interim of seventeen years. Gov. Colby being rallied upon his one-term office, said he considered his administration the most remarkable the state ever had. "Why so?" was asked; when with assumed gravity he answered: "Because I have satisfied the people in one year, and no other governor ever did that."
His spirit attached him to military life. He was early promoted to the rank of major-general. This experience turned to his account, when, during the trying years of our late war, in 1861 he was appointed adjutant-general, and subsequently provost-marshal, of New Hampshire. At this time his son Daniel E. Colby was appointed adjutant-general. The governor always alluded to this service as the saddest of his life,—to encourage and send forth to almost certain death the young men of the state whom he loved as a father. This was his last prominent office in state affairs; and so faithful was he in it, that, although nearly seventy years of age, he went often to the front to acquaint himself with the condition of the soldiers and share their hardships with them.

 

In 1850 he received from Dartmouth College the degree of A. M., and the same year was chosen one of the trustees of the college. He was interested in the best possible educational advantages of the young, and in every way promoted them. Through his energy, in a great degree, the academy in New London has arisen to its present flourishing condition. His son-in-law, James B. Colgate, of New York, has generously endowed it, and aided in placing it upon a solid basis. The trustees have conferred upon it the name of Colby Academy.
Gov. Colby's second wife, Eliza Messenger Richardson, of Boston, by her accomplishments and true Christian character embellished and enlivened his declining years, while the devotion of his children cheered the seclusion of his last days.

The Colbys and Colgates at the Colby Homestead Colby and Colgate family members at the Colby Homestead. Standing (L to R): Daniel Colby, Mellie Colgate. Seated in chairs (L to R): Jessie Colby, Martha Greenwood Colby, Eliza Avery Messenger Colby, Susan Colby Colgate. Seated on ground (L to R): May Colby, Pam (dog), Colgate Colby, James C. Colgate.

Said an illiterate woman, to strangers discussing his character in the cars, "Governor Colby carries the very demon of honesty in his face."
It was his unfailing sense of duty and trust in God that won for him the vast respect of the public, and esteem of a large circle of private friends.
Sunday evening, July 20, 1875, he died, peacefully, in the home of his father, at the age of eighty years, and was buried in the cemetery of his native town, by the side of his parents.
Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College, from the first graduation in 1771 to the present time, with a brief history of the Institution. By the Rev. George T. ChapmanGov. Colby's first wife was Mary Everett, and their son, Daniel Everett,was adjutant-general of the state militia in 1863-64. Robert Colby, the son of the Hon. Gov. Anthony and Mary (Everett) Colby, was born at New London, Sept. 30, 1823. He read law with the Hon. Ira Perley, D. C. 1822, at Concord, David Graham and George J. R. Bowdoin of N. Y. city; went into practice at South Boston, Ms; afterwards removed to N. Y. city and there remains at the bar; represented Boston in the Ms Leg. in 1851 and 1852. He married Mary, dau. of William Colgate, at N. Y. city, Feb. 23, 1854. Daniel Everett Colby, D. C. 1836, is his brother.

Robert Colby 1822-1904

Eliza on the grounds of Glenwood

Susan F Colby Colgate daughter of Anthony Colby and wife of James B. Colgate

  
1834: Anthony and Mary (Everett) Colby to Susan Farnum Colby
Mrs. Eliza Richardson Colby died at New London, N. H., July 13,1873. Daniel Colby Papers Grave of Daniel E Colby