Collections (Volume 1) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1899. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... HON. SAMUEL BLODGET. THE PIONEER OF PROGRESS IN NEW ENGLAND. A SKETCH BY GEORGE WALDO BROWNE READ BEFORE THE MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION, JUNE 16, AND DEC. 15, 1897. Samuel Blodget, or Bloggett, as the name was then spelled, was born in Woburn, Mass., April 1, 1724, at a time when the American colonies; in addition to the privations and hardships of founding their scattered homes in the wilderness of a new country, were entering on the last half of what might not inappropriately be styled a Hundred Years' War, covering the. most eventful period in the history of New England from the supremacy of King Philip, in 1662, to the Conquest of Canada, which ended the French and Indians Wars and brought the Peace of Paris, in 1763. The old house in which his parents lived was torn down years ago, and no sign is left to tell where it stood, though there are sufficient records to denote nearly the site, which was on what is now known as the "Dow Farm," situated on the north side of Railroad Street, easterly from the central point of the city and a little more than five minutes' walk from the Public Library building. The Blogget estate at that time consisted of between thirty and forty acres of fertile land. If one's progenitors count for aught the subject of this biography was especially fortunate, for it is difficult to find stronger branches of ancestry than those forming the tree of THE BLODGET GENEALOGY. 1. Thomas Bloggett, who is the first of the family of whom we have a clear record, was born in Western England, probably in County of Cornwall, in 1605, married Susan or Susanna, born in 1598, and came to America in the " Increase from London," 1635, with his wife and two sons, Daniel and Samuel. He was a glover by occupation and settled at Cambridge; die...