Untitled - citizen hylbom blog

1890 to 1893 he was a member of the board of
selectmen of Middleboro. He was connected
with the board of water commissioners -of the
town from 1885, in the capacit}' of clerk and
superintendent, a relation he sustained until
his death, and which placed him in full charge
of all matters connected with the water ser-
vice. Mr. Beals was. one of the founders of
the Middleboro public library in 187-1, and
was always identified with the growth and well-
being of this excellently managed institution.
It has a fine collection of reading matter and
one of the very handsome and nicely appointed
library buildings of New England (the gift of
Thomas S. Peirce) and to Mr. Beals's intelligence,
adaptation for work along this line, and
the interest he took in the institution, the high
character it has attained is largely due. For
many years in connection with the library as
a volunteer he performed some of the duties of
librarian, and he was one of the trustees. On
the organization of the Middleboro Cooperative
Bank in 1889 Mr. Beals was made treasurer, a
relation he sustained as long as he lived.
Mr. Beals was a member of a number of
social and other organizations. He was a member
of the Middleboro Business Men's Club, of
which he was president in 1894-96. He was a
member of the New England Water Works
acquired his preliminary education in the public
schools of his native town, was prepared for
college at the Middleboro high school, and then
entered Tufts College, from which he was graduated
In 1890. Following his graduation he
was for four years occupied as a civil engineer.
Later he became connected with the illustra-
ting department of the "Youth's Comjianion,"
in Boston. He is now the successor of his
father in the Cooperative Bank and water
works at Middleboro.
SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS 907
On Oct. 3, 1894, Mr. Beals married Ella
M., daughter of Robert T. LuCas, of Manchester,
Mass. They have had children: Austen
Lucas, born Sept. 8, 1895; and Marian, born
Jan. 5, 1898.
SYLVESTER. Charles F. Sylvester, business
man of Fall River, and George Irving
Sylvester, late of Brockton, one of the respected
citizens of that community, in which his whole
life was spent, were born in North Bridgewater
(now Brockton), sons of Frederick and
Lucia (Soule) Sylvester, and descended im
both paternal and maternal lines from historic
New England ancestry. The history of the
Sylvester family is given below, the generations,
beginning with the first known American
ancestor, being given in chronological
order.
(I) Richard Sylvester appears at Dorchester
as early as 1630, in October of which year he
made application for freemanship. He was a
proprietor there ; removed to Weymouth, being
there as early as 1633. He was fined and disfranchised
in 1638-39 for joining an attempt
at organizing a church not authorized by the
authorities. He sold his house and lot in
1640 and removed to Marshfield, where he was
Association, of which he had been vice president
; also a member of the town committee
on local history, of which he had served as
chairman, and of the New England Historic
and Genealogical Society. He was also a member
of the Royal Society of Good Fellows, and
Sons of Temperance. In religion he was a
Universalist. He died Sept. 3, 1909.
On March 18, 1863, Mr. Beals married Mary
E., daughter of Simeon W. and Betsey Leonard,
of Bridgewater, Mass. She died Feb. 20,
1871, leaving one child, Walter I^eonard. On
April 12. 1876, Mr. Beals married (second)
Harriet €. Barden, daughter of Joseph S. Barden,
of Middleboro, Massachusetts.
(IX) Walter Leonard Beals, son of Joseph
Eber and Mary E. a town officer. He was of Scituate in 1642,
and died there in 1663. He married about
1632 Naomi Torrey, and his children were:
Lydia,
(Leonard) Beals, was
born June 4, 1869, in Middleboro, Mass. He
born in 1633, who married Nathaniel
Rawlins; John, born in 1634; Peter, born in
1637; Joseph, born in 1638; Dinah, born in
1642; Elizabeth, born in 1643, who married
John Lowell; Richard, born in 1648; Naomi,
born in 1649, who married John Lowell; Israel,
born in 1651; Hester, born in 1653; Benjamin,
born in 1656. Of these, Richard Sylvester
married Hannah, daughter of "Old
James Leonard," of Taunton, was at Milton in
1678, and was probably the ancestor of the
Sylvesters of the towns of Norfolk county.
Through Israel's son Peter came some of the
Leicester (Mass.) and the New Hampshire
Sylvesters.
(II) Israel Sylvester, son of Richard, born
in 1651, married and had children: Israel,
born Sept. 23, 1675; Silence, born in 1677;
Richard, born in 1679; Lois, born in 1680:
Martha, born in 1682; Mary, born in 1683;
Elisha, born in 1685; Peter, born' in 1687;
Zebulon, born in 1689; Bathsheba, born in
1692; and Deborah, born in 1696. In 1670
the father had a house on the margin of the
second Herring brook.
(III) Israel Sylvester (2), son of Israel,
born Sept. 23, 1675, married Oct. 3, 1701,