History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

I6y HISTOBY OF 2MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
pure ; and in profession and practice, a consistent
Christian. He departed this life in peace, on the
1st of March, 1825, aged seventy-three." His son
John, a lieutenant of marines, was killed Septem-
ber 13, 1813, at Perry's victory on Lake Erie.
Other branches of the Brooks family have pro-
duced notable men. Samuel Brooks (cousin to
Caleb Brooks, father of governor John) had sous,
Thomas and Edward. The grandson of the former
was Rev. Charles Brooks, who was born and died
at Medford, a writer on many subjects, and espe-
cially noteworthy as the historian of his native town.
Edward Brooks had a son, Peter Chardon Brooks,
who acquired a large fortune in commerce at Bos-
ton, but wlio retained always a home in Medford.
His descendants have continued to reside there,
and have been generous benefactors to the town.
A nephew, William G. Brooks, was an antiquary
of some note, and was the father of four clergymen,
one of them being Rev. Phillips Brooks of Trinity
Church, Boston.
Maria (Gowen) Brooks,^ called by Southey " the
most impassioned and most imaginative of poet-
esses," was born in Medford in 1797. At fourteen
she married Mr. Brooks, a wealthy Boston mer-
chant, who had interested himself in her education.
Widowed in 1823, she went to Cuba, which sub-
sequently became her home, and where she died the Hon. Timothy Bigelow.^ Here she kept her
about 1845.
excellent school for young ladies, and here some of
Her most important work, ^ojo/«tf'^; or, The Bride her books were written. Such was the purity of
of Seven, was published in 1825, in Boston, subsequently
in London, and has recently been republished
in this country. Southey, between whom
and this gifted authoress a close friendship sub-
sisted, gave her the name of Maria del Ocvideide.
Her son. Colonel Horace Brooks, U. S. A., entered
West Point through tlie interest of Lafayette.
Rev. David Osgood, the successor of Mr. Turell,
was an author of some note ; Brooks gives the titles
of some twenty pamphlets published by him.
Rev. Convers Francis and his sister, Mrs. Lydia
Maria Child, are both to be reckoned among our
native autliors, although the former happened to be
born in a neighboring town. Tlieir father was a
Medford man, and tlie i':imily had been here for
several generations. Mrs. Child Has l)orri at Med-
ford in 1802. Her lilcvarv career began before she
was twenty, Eohi>ii„>k bein- imhlished in 1821, and
The Rebels in 1822. The eatahigue of lier ])riuted
works is too lengthy for our space, not lo men-
' Notircs of Mrs. Brooks, Mrs. Child, aiul Mrs. Hinvs.m nrr
In- tl.c Edil.ir.
'
tion contributions to newspapers, controversial es-
says, etc., which her busy pen has produced. It is
sufdcient to say that she achieved success in fiction,
biography, aesthetic literature, and what may be
termed the literature of the kitchen ; her Frugal
Housewife having had a prodigious sale. But the
governing purpose to which much — we may say
most — of Mrs. Child's literary life has been dedi-
cated was the abolition of slavery, and in this cause
her labors were unremitted until tlie day when eman-
cipation became a fact assured by the logic of eveiits.
Her Apj)eulf(jr Africans, printed in 1833, was the
first American antislavery book. From that time
this dominant motive may be traced m the long list
of Mrs. Child's publications. In 1841, in conjunc-
tion with her husband, David Lee Child, of Boston,
whom she married in 1828, she edited The Anti-
slaveri/ Standard, in New York. It should be
no small gratification to one who is now " looking
towards sunset," to know that emancipation achieved
was the legitimate result of persistent agitation and
unwavering devotion to a cause by herself and
others of a like bfe-purpose with herself. Mrs.
Child now resides in Wayland.
Mrs. Susanna Rowson, author of the once cele-
brated novel, Charlotte Temple, resided here from
1800 to 1803, in a house afterwards occupied by
her ciiaracter, that though she had been an actress
and was a novel-writer, rigid Ortliodox people, who
abhorred both, intrusted their daugliters' education
to her. Her life has been written by the Rev. Elias
Nason, a former resident of Medford.
We may also recall the fact that Rev. John Pier-
pont, also an antislavery and temperance reformer,
and a voluminous author, preached for seven years
in Medford, and died here in 1866.
Several of the clergymen who iiave been settled
here for a time have been eminent as autliors, but
none perhaps are distinctively coiniccted witii our
town. Rev. Edward B. Hall, who was born here,
spent nearly all his life in Providence, and most of
his writings are connected with liis pastorate there.
Militar/i Affairs. — Of course Medford had to
bear its share iu })roviding soldiers from its first
' S„ii uf Cilciicl Tiniclliv Hiual.iw, of Wor.'islcr, anil a lawyer
of some note. lie was born in 1707, and died in 1821. Mr.
liiiielon- served many terms in the Massachusetts legislature.
His son, John P. Bi-elow, was mayor of Boston ; his daughter,
Kalherine, married Hon. Al.hotl lawreuee. — Ed.