History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield ...

Biographical Sketches. Hazeltine. 147
somewhat of that harrassing legal warfare that proved so disastrous
to the enterprise. A large and interesting gathering of his
descendants was held on the original farm, on the 28th and 29th
of July, 1880, of which a notice may be found in the Annals
of that year. See also Annals, 1630.
Hazeltine, Dr. Richard.
Do6lor Hazeltine was one of those
staid and sober gentlemen who have great weight in a community
;
whose movements, professionally and socially, are well-considered,
and who are not liable to be swayed by notions instead
of principles.
He was kind in manners, but very precise, and came to
be popularly regarded as a strait-laced old-school gentleman.
In short, he was just one of those persons who enjoy the respe6t
but not always the love of those by whom they are surrounded.
For professional dignity and propriety he was a great stickler ;
characleristic aptly illustrated by a little occurrence which took
place when Dr. Barker came here, in 1832, and which the latter
himself described to the writer in his inimitable semi-serious
way. He had located near Lynn Hotel, into the hospitable public
room of which gentlemen from all quarters of the town were
accustomed to drop, to look over the newspapers — for no dailies
were then distributed by carriers — and hear the gossip of the
day. Deacon Field, as we all called him, was the managing
spirit though not the proprietor of the establishment. He was
adlive and polite,
and indefatigable in his endeavors to make his
domain attraftive and his visitors at ease.
One morning, while Dr. Barker, who had been very kindly
received by the four or five other physicians then resident here,
was in the room, Dr. Hazeltine dropped in, and the Deacon
availed himself of the opportunity to efife6t a formal introdu6lion.
Dr. H. as soon as he heard the name of Dr. B. assumed one
of his lofty looks — and he was so tall that he could look over
the heads of most people — and without offering his hand, remarked,
" Ah, yes, I have heard of a Mister Barker coming to
Lynn, as a physician ; but having examined the Medical Society's
catalogue without finding his name I feel constrained to
withhold professional recognition till further informed." Do6i:or
Barker, naturally enough, not knowing the peculiarities of the
other, felt a little nettled, and tartly replied, " But, Dr. Hazeltine,
a