A sketch of the Chandler family in Worcester, Massachusetts

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A SKETCH

OF THE

CHANDLER FAMILY,

IN WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

By MRS. E. O. P. STURGIS. X^t^- 0

From Proceedings of Worcester Society of Antiquity.

/

List of previous papers by the same writer, printed by the Worcester
Societj'^ of Antiquity : —

I. Old Time Cattle Show. Bulletin of Worcester Society of Antiquity,
page 104, Vol. XVI., 1898.

II. Extracts from Old Worcester Letters, Vol. XVI., 1899, page 557.

III. Old Lincoln Street. Bygone days in Worcester. 1900, Vol. XVII. ,
page 123.

IV. A Story of three Old Houses. Residences of Hon, Levi Lincoln.
Proceedings, Vol. XVII., 1900, page 134.

V. Old Worcester, No. 1, Vol. XVII., page 402, 1901. Lincoln Square.
Main and Front Streets. Prominent houses and their occupants.

VI. Old Worcester, No. 2, Vol. XVII., page 413, 1901. Main and Pleas-
ant Streets. Buildings and notable people residing there.

VII. Old Worcester, No. 3, Vol. XVII., page 470, 1901. Mam Street
residences. The Second Parish (Unitarian) Church and its parishoners,
during the pastorates of Rev. Dr. Aaron Bancroft and Rev. Dr. Alonzo
Hill. The Gardiner Chandler House and the House of Rev. Dr. Aaron
Bancroft.

VIII. Old Worcester, No. 4. Worcester, Massachusetts, about 1840, Vol.
XVIII., page 69. 1902 Chestnut Street. Pearl Street and its vicinity.
Some facts Concerning Colored People and Domestic, 3ervic^',iij*t];ie,^arly
life of Worcester. . ^ i i '. ' i .»'.*. •

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WORCESTER :

PRESS OF CHARLES HAMILTON,

No. 311 Main Street.

1903.

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A SKETCH OF THE CHANDLER FAMILY IN

WORCESTER.

" But for these lives, my life had never known
This faded vesture which it calls its own."

The founders of this family, so large and so influential
before the Revolution, were of very obscure origin and
in very humble circumstances when they landed on these
shores. William Chandler and Annice his wife came from
England in 1637 with their children and settled in Rox-
bury, Massachusetts. The family seem to have been
without any means of support, and during the long illness
of Mr. Chandler they were cared for by their neighbors
and friends, on account of their affection for him. He
died in the year 1641, '' having lived a very religious and
godly life'^ and '^ leaving a sweet memory and savor behind
him." Annice Chandler must have been an attractive
woman, for she was not only soon married to a second
husband, but to a third, and her last one evidently ex-
pected her to enter into matrimony a fourth time, for in
his ''Will," he provided that she shall have the use of his
warming pan ''only so long as she remained his widow."
Goodwife Parmenter, however, died in 1683, in full pos-
session of the warming pan, the widow of her third hus-
band.

John Chandler, a son of William, emigrated to Woodstock,
and there became a farmer in a small way, or, to use his
own words, a husbandman, for so he designates himself
in his "Will," of Woodstock, in the County of Suffolk in
the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England. He
was chosen a selectman and deacon of the church in Wood-
stock, and died in 1703, leaving a family, and property
of the value of £512. 00. 6d.

The second John Chandler, son of the first of that name.

had, before his father's death, moved to New London,
Connecticut, where he married, and in 1698 had opened
a ''house of entertainment" there. He at a later date
moved back to South Woodstock and in 1711 was chosen
representative to the General Court at Boston for several
years. I quote the following: ''After the erection of
Worcester County by an act of the Legislature of Massa-
chusetts, 2 of April, 1731, from the counties of Suffolk,
and Middlesex, the first Probate Court in Worcester County,
was held by Col. Chandler as Judge, in the meeting-house,
on the 13 of July, 1731, and the first Court of Common
Pleas and General Sessions on the 10th of August following,
by the Hon. John Chandler, of Woodstock, commissioned
June 30th, 1731, Chief Justice.'' These offices he held
until his death, as well as that of Colonel of Militia. Lincoln,
in his "History of Worcester" says, "To which stations
of civil, judicial and military honors, he rose by force of
his strong mental powers, with but slight advantages of
education," Judge John Chandler died in Woodstock,
Conn., August 10th, 1743, in his seventy-ninth year. Im-
proving on his father's worldly condition as regards prop-
erty, he leaves to his family £8,699. 16. 6d.

John Chandler the third of the name, son of the Hon.
John Chandler of Woodstock, moved to Worcester, when
the County of Worcester was formed, and he seems to
have held nearly all the offices in the town: Selectman,
Sheriff, Probate Judge, Town Treasurer, County Treasurer,
Register of Probate, Register of Deeds, Chief Judge of
County Courts, Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Repre-
sentative to the General Court, Colonel in the Militia and
a member of the Governor's Council. One of his descend-
ants writes that "he died in 1762, wealthy and full of
honors." He also adds, "The Chandlers were among the
wealthiest and most distinguished families in Worcester
County aristocracy." I have heard some of the old people
in the family say: "They, the Chandlers, ruled the roost

in Worcester County in former days," but there seems to
be no evidence that anyone of them possessed great wealth.
The Boston News Letter of August 12, 1762, says : '' Worces-
ter, Saturday August 12, 1762, departed this life the Hon.
John Chandler, Esq., of Worcester, in the 69th year of
his age; eldest son of Hon. John Chandler late of Wood-
stock, deceased." Lincoln in his ''History of Worcester,"
says, ''His talents were rather brilliant and showy, than
solid and profound, with manners highly popular, he
possessed a cheerful and joyous disposition, indulging in
jest and liilarity, and exercised liberal hospitality. While
Judge of Probate he kept open house on Court Days for
the widows and orphans who were brought to his tribunal
by concerns of business." Judge Chandler was married
to Hannah Gardiner, daughter of John Gardiner of the
Isle of Wight, in 1716, by John Mulford, Esq., their bans
being published in Woodstock, Conn. She died in Worces-
ter in 1738, aged 39 years, leaving nine children, the first
members of the Chandler family who were born and bred
in Worcester. These children through their mother were
great-great-grandchildren of "Brave Lieutenant Lion
Gardiner," as Lowell the poet calls him, one of the most
picturesque figures of the early times, and of whom it was
written after his death: "Lion Gardiner was at an early
age a God-fearing Puritan; he emigrated to New England
in the interest of Puritanism, and labored with and for
the early Puritan fathers, and justly belongs among the
founders of New England. He was singularly modest;
firm in his friendships; patient of toil; serene amidst
alarms; inflexible in faith"; and "he died in a good old
age, an old man and full of years." As an ancestor of
the Worcester family of Chandlers, though on the distaff
side, Lion Gardiner deserves more than a passing notice.
He was born in England in the days of "Good Queen
Bess, and he attained his majority during the reign of
the first English Sovereign of the House of Stuart."

6

He was a gentleman by birth, an engineer by profession,
a Dissenter in his religious opinions, an adherent of Parlia-
ment against the King, and a friend of the Puritans, who,
Lord Macaulay says, ''were the most remarkable bod}^ of
men, perhaps, which the world had ever produced." Fol-
lowing in the footsteps of many of his countrymen. Lion
Gardiner passed into the ''Low Countries," during the
reign of Charles the First and entered the service of the
Prince of Orange, "as an engineer and master of works
of fortification." While there he was approached by certain
eminent Puritans on behalf of Lords Say and Seele, Lord
Brooke, Sir Richard Saltonstall, and other "Lords and
Gentlemen '^ with an offer to go to New England to con-
struct works of fortification, and command them under
the direction of John Winthrop the Younger. The offer
was accepted, and he contracted with these gentlemen,
"for £100 per annum for a term of four years." A small
sum this seems, to remunerate him for leaving his own
country, to meet the dangers, known and unknown, and
the vicissitudes of fortune in the New World. About this
time, he went to Woerdon, in Holland, and was married
to Mary Wileenson, daughter of Derike Wileenson, and
with her and her Dutch maid he left Woerdon on the 10
July, 1635, bound for New England via. London. Leaving
Rotterdam, in the bark "Batcheler," they first entered the
port of London, after which, on the 16th of August, they
set sail for New England, but it was not until November
28th, 1635, that Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts men-
tions in his journal the arrival of a small bark sent over by
Lord Say and Seele and others, with Gardiner, "an expert
engineer, on board, and provisions of all sorts to begin
a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut river." Gardiner
remained in Boston during the winter and was engaged
by the authorities to complete the fortifications on Fort
Hill, but early in the spring he continued his journey,
arriving at his destination in March, and began the first

fortification erected in New England, which in honor of
Lord Say and Seele and Lord Brooke was called Fort
Saybrooke.

The Indians were more numerous in this vicinity than
in any other part of New England and the Pequots, Narra-
gansetts and Mohegans when not fighting among them-
selves were harassing the white settlers and attacking the
Fort, and Gardiner's time seems to have been fully occupied
in defending it from these savages and commanding puni-
tive expeditions against them. Notwithstanding every
discouragement, Gardiner remained at his post, and
fulfilled his contract to the end, his engagement having
expired in the summer of 1639. During his residence
at Saybrooke Fort, his wife and her maid remained
with him and shared with him its deprivations and dan-
gers, and here his two eldest children were born; and to
provide a permanent home for his family he bought
from a friendly Sachem an island in Long Island Sound
called Mauchouac, for which tradition says he paid,
''one large black dog, one gun, a quantity of powder
and shot, some rum, and a few Dutch blankets.'^ At a
later date however he procured a grant of the same
island from the Earl of Stirling, to whom it had been
granted by the King of England, for which he was to pay
£5, yearly. This island, called "Mauchouac" by the
Indians, ''Isle of Wight" by the English and in later years
''Gardiner's Island," has been the home now, for more
than two hundred and fifty years, of the family of that
name, contained over three thousand acres of land, and
here Gardiner removed with his family, taking with him
a number of men from the fort for farmers. Here he seems
to have led a pastoral life, breeding cattle and sheep and
keeping up a constant correspondence with the younger
Winthrop, who owned a farm on Fisher's Island, in Long
Island Sound, to whom he sells cows and sheep, and buying
of him grass seed, corn and wheat and other articles of

the same nature. In 1649, Gardiner bought a tract of
land on Long Island, and in 1653, he placed his island
in the care of farmers and removed to East Hampton,
and here he wrote his history of the Pequot Wars. ''In
the latter part of 1663, he died at the age of sixty-four.
Thus passed from earth one of the prominent figures in
the colonial history of New England." He left his property
to his wife, who died in 1665, aged sixty-four years.

The Isle of Wight now came into the possession of their
oldest son David, and from him John Gardiner, the father
of Hannah Chandler, inherited it. He died suddenly, by
accident, caused by falling from a horse at Groton, Con-
necticut, and was buried in New London in the same State,
and the following inscription is on his tombstone:

Here lyeth Buried y Body of
His Excelcy John Gardiner
Third Lord of y Isle of Wight
He was born April 19*h 1661 and
Departed this Life June 25th 1738.

One of liis descendants writes: ''John was a hearty,
active, robust man; generous and upright; sober at home
but jovial abroad, and swore sometimes; always kept a
chaplain; he was a good farmer, and made great improve-
ments in the Island. He had an expensive family of
children, and gave them for those times large portions."
It was in the lifetime of John Gardiner that Captain Kidd,
concerning whom so many romantic stories have been told,
visited the Isle of Wight. He left a ''Will," and I quote
the following from it: "To my beloved daughter Hannah
Chandler, I give and bequeath, the sum of one hundred
pounds in silver money at eight shillings the ounce Troy
Weight, to be paid to her by my executors." In another
part of this document, he directs that she should have a
portion of his personal property, such as plate, etc. "I give
and bequeath unto my granddaughter Sarah Chandler,
the sum of fifty pounds in New England money, to be paid

her by my executors when she shall have arrived at the age
of eighteen or marriage, which shall happen first.'' This
will of John Gardiner, is dated '^ 14th of December 1737, in
the eleventh year of the reign of King George the Second
over Great Britain."

Sarah Chandler was, at her grandfather's death, only
thirteen years old, and as she was my great-grandmother,
it would be interesting to know why she was selected from
among the Chandler grandchildren to receive this bequest.

The two eldest children of John and Hannah Gardiner
Chandler were daughters, named Mary and Esther. The
former married Benjamin Greene of Boston, and the latter
Rev. Thomas Clapp. John Chandler, the fourth to bear
his name, was the third child and was born in 1720; was
married twice and had sixteen children. He was Colonel
of the Worcester Regiment, and in 1757 saw active duty
in that capacity. Up to 1774 ''John Chandler's life had
been one of almost unbroken prosperity, but when the
rebellion broke out against England, his loyalist sentiments
brought him into angry opposition to popular feeUng, and
he was compelled to leave home and family and retire to
Boston." ''When Boston fell into the hands of the Conti-
nental army, he fled to Halifax and thence to London,
where he spent the rest of his life, twenty-four years."

"The Hon. John Chandler, of Worcester, whose sons
and daughters were as numerous as those of his Royal
Master, and with whose family every other leading family
of the region was proud to entwine itself by marriage
alliance, sleeps far from the town and shire of whose
honors he had almost the monoply." "He succeeded to
the military, municipal, and some of the judicial offices of
his father and grandfather, and inherited the characteristic
traits of his ancestors. He was cheerful in temperament,
engaging in manners, hospitable as a citizen, friendly and
kind as a neighbor, and industrious and enterprising as a
merchant. He was a refugee and sacrificed large posses-

10

sions, £36,190. 0, as appraised in this country by commis-
sioners here, to a chivalrous sense of loyalty. In the
schedule exhibited to the British Commissioners, appointed
to adjust the compensation to the Americans who adhered
to the royal cause, the amount of real and personal property
which was confiscated, is estimated at £11,067 and the
losses from income from office, from destruction of business
and other causes, at nearly £0000 more." So just and
moderate was this compensation ascertained to be, at a
time w^hen extravagant claims were presented by others,
that his claims were allowed in full; he was denominated
in England, ''The Honest Refugee." The Boston News
Letter of 16th October, 1760, observes: ''We hear from
AVorcester that on the evening of the 9th inst, the house
of Mr. Sheriff Chandler, and others of that town, were
beautifully illuminated on account of the success of his
Majesty's Arms in America."

"Hon. John Chandler was one of the six inhabitants of
Worcester who were included in the act of banishment,
forbidding the return of former citizens of the State, who
had joined the enemy; requiring them, if they once visited
their native country, forthwith to depart; and pronouncing
the penalty of death if they should be found a second time
within this jurisdiction." Of this list of six were his sons
Rufus and AVilliam, his brother-in-law James Putnam and
his nephew, my grandfather. Dr. Wm. Paine, who went by
the name of "The Tory Doctor," and whom the Worcester
people threatened to hang, if he ever set foot in Worcester
again. John Chandler was styled "Tory Tom," for in
those days John and Thomas were considered the same
name.

John Chandler died in London in 1800, and was buried
in Islington church-yard, and on his tombstone is inscribed*.
"Here lies the body of John Chandler Esq., formerly of
Worcester, Massachusetts Bay, North America, who died
the 26th of September A. D. 1800, in the 80th year of his

11

age." Becently a nephew of John Chandler, of the fourth
generation, made a pious pilgrimage to the grave of his
uncle, but found the church-yard had been turned, as
many other old grave yards in London have been, into a
park, the stones all being level with the ground, so there
was no trace of the grave he was in search of. This work
had been done, however, so short a time before his visit,
that the sexton was able to point out the exact spot where
it was.

John Adams, late President of the United States, says
in his diary: ''The Chandlers exercised great influence in
the County of Worcester until they took the side of govern-
ment in the Revolution, and lost their position." ''The
family of the Chandlers were well bred, agreeable people,
and I visited them as often as my school, and my studies
in the lawyer's office would admit."

I have never known the exact spot in Main street where
John Chandler's house was located, but have been told
that he owned a farm somewhere between Front and
Mechanic streets, and the following story has been con-
nected with it: The pigs were being killed, and Mrs. Chand-
ler had hanging from the crane in her kitchen fireplace
two enormous kettles of boiling water, ready for scalding
them when they were brought in, when some American
soldiers entered. She ordered them to leave at once, and
said, pointing to the kettles, or "In you go," and the
story goes that they did not delay their departure. John
Chandler attended the "Old South Meeting House," and
his pew, a wall one, was on the right-hand side of the
minister, next to the pulpit by the stairs. This pew was
directly opposite one of a friend who chose it because it ,
had a door opening under the pulpit, where he kept a
barrel of cider for "nooning use."

The eldest son of John Chandler bore his name, and
became the fifth of the name. He was born in Worcester
in 1742 and emigrated to Petersham in Worcester

12

County, where he became a successful merchant. His
house was a fine old colonial mansion, in the northern
part of the town, and is still in good preservation, and
the staircase I recall as being very handsome. Con-
nected with the house was a ''Deer Park," from which
place the deer strayed one winter when the snow was
deep enough to cover the fence w^hich surrounded it.
Mr. Chandler died in 1794, leaving five children, the oldest,
becoming the sixth John Chandler and the head of the
mercantile house of John Chandler & Brothers. An old
man in Petersham told me some years since that these
brothers had large warehouses in different parts of Worces-
ter County, one being at Petersham, and that their great
wagons used to bring a variety of goods from Boston to
these houses, and from them goods were supplied to all
the small villages in the vicinity.

The sixth John was an eccentric man and many queer
stories are told concerning him. One was that when the
interior of the church in Petersham required painting, he
offered to pay for one-half of the work, and unbeknown
to the parishioners, the work was done, and when he noti-
fied them that his share was finished, they found just
one-half of the meeting-house had been painted bright
green, and he notified them he had done his half, and they
could do the other. He took charge of the church clock,
and when the minister objected to the erratic mode in
which the timepiece was managed, he said, ''you take care
of your end of the meeting-house and I will take care of
mine." He divided his time between Boston and Petersham,
but considered the latter place his home.

The fifth John Chandler had a daughter named Lydia,
who was styled "an amiable, handsome, delightful woman."
It was said of her that "no woman in Worcester County
ever refused so many good offers of marriage as she, for
she had over forty." She married a Boston gentleman and
died in 1837, leaving two cliildren. The youngest, whom

13

I knew in her old age, possessed a portrait of her mother,
of no value as a painting, but valuable as a likeness, and
illustrative of art in New England in its day, and showing
the style of dress of the period. On her death-bed she
exacted from her niece a promise that she would destroy
this picture after her death. As a relative of this lady
whose portrait was to be destroyed, for she was my father's
second cousin, I was invited to be present at the ceremony.
Thanksgiving Day was appointed and the niece, dressed
in her best apparel, brought the portrait into the room,
where a large fire was burning, and first the frame was
made way with and then the canvas, cut into pieces, was
thrown upon the flames and the sacrifice was soon com-
plete. It was a weird proceeding, and done against the
wishes of the niece, who had put off fulfilling her promise
to her aunt so long as she could do so.

Nathaniel Chandler was another son of the fifth John
Chandler. He was born in 1773 and graduated from Har-
vard University in 1792; resided in Petersham, Worcester
County, and conducted that branch of the mercantile liouse
of John Chandler & Brothers located there, residing in
his father's house and was the last of the name to do so.
He later moved to South Lancaster, and from him the
present family in that town is descended. He died in 1852.

'^In person Mr. Chandler was of medium height and size,
his complexion was light, his features regular but marked.''
''He retained his intelligence, shrewdness, wit and dry
humor, his dignity of person and character, his marked
civility and gentlemanly bearing until the last." The last
John Chandler of Lancaster was his son, and he died a
few years since; and there are now only one son and one
daughter and five grandchildren left of the Lancaster
branch of the Chandlers, who are residents at this date.
In Petersham there are none of the name, belonging to
this family.

I remember Mr. Chandler well, for he frequently visited

14

at my father's house when I was a child and I recall how
entertaining he was as he commented on people and things.
He was one of the last people living who would be called
^'A gentleman of the old school." It is a singular fact
that, although the fourth John Chandler had sixteen
children, not a single descendant bearing his name is now
living in Worcester and only very few of those of another.
Clark Chandler was the third son of his and was employed in
the office of Register of Probate; was appointed joint
Register of Probate with Hon. Timothy Paine and held
that appointment from 1766 to 1774. He was also Town
Clerk of Worcester, from 1768 to 1775. In 1774 he brought
upon himself the just indignation of the Whig majority
of the people by entering on the town's records without
authority a protest against the Whig proceedings of the
town, and he was obliged, in presence of the inhabitants,
to blot out the obnoxious record, dipping his fingers in
ink, and drawing them over the protest. In 1775 Mr.
Chandler left Worcester, but in the same year returned'
and surrendered himself. He was committed to prison on
suspicion of having held intercourse with the enemy, but
later was permitted to go on parole, and to reside in Lan-
caster. After a time he returned to W^orcester, and kept
a store at the corner of Main and Front streets. He is
described ''as rather undersized and wore bright red small-
clothes; was odd and singular in appearance, which often
provoked the jeers and jokes of those around him, but
which he was apt to repay with compound interest." He
died in 1804.

Rufus Chandler was born in 1747, old style; he gradua-
ted at Harvard College in 1766, in a class of forty, with
the rank of the fourth in ''dignity of family." He read
law in the office of his uncle, Hon. James Putnam, in Worces-
ter, where he afterwards practiced his profession until the
courts were closed in 1774. Rufus Chandler inherited the
loyalty of his family and he left the country at the com-

15

mencement of hostilities. He was banished in 1778, and
resided in England as a private gentleman and died in
London in 1823, and his remains were laid with those of
his father's in Islington church-yard.

Gardiner Chandler was born in 1749 and became a
merchant at Hardwick. He sided with the loyalists and
left the state, and his property was confiscated and paid
into the treasury of the state. Returning to Hardwick,
however, it was voted by the town 'Hhat as Gardiner
Chandler has now made acknowledgment and says he is
sorry for his past conduct, that they will treat him as a
friend and neighbor so long as he shall behave himself
well." He was the grandfather of the late Mrs. George
T. Rice, H. G. 0. Blake and others, and a great-great-
granddaughter is still living in Worcester.

Nathaniel Chandler, born in 1750, was a lawyer in Peters-
ham and a graduate of Harvard College; a loyalist, and
at one time he commanded a volunteer corps in the Brit-
ish service. He died in Worcester in 1801, at the house
of his sister, Mrs. Sever, which stood on the spot in Elm
street, where the Lincoln House now stands.

William Chandler graduated from Harvard College in
1772, and was ranked in his class ^'No. 1, on the dignity
of his family." He was one of the ^' 18 County Gentlemen,"
who addressed Governor Gage on his departure in 1775,
and was driven, therefor, and for other acts of loyalty,
from his home. In 1776 he went to Halifax. He had
but just returned from Europe with his cousin. Dr. Wm.
Paine of Worcester, for the Massachusetts Spy, 1775, an-
nounced: ''Messrs. Chandler and Paine of this town are
arrived in vSalem from London." After the Revolution he
returned to Worcester, where he died in 1793.

The younger sons of ''Tory Tom," as he was styled in
Worcester, seem to have accepted the new order of affairs,
and abstaining from politics, to have turned their attention
to more homely and peaceful occupations. Charles Chand-

16

ler at the time of his death in 1798 was a merchant in
Worcester, under the firm of C. & S. Chandler, and seems
to have been in more than easy circumstances, owning a
large tract of land in the southern part of the town. Samuel
Chandler lived in the vicinity of Summer street and his
farm extended back to and included ''Chandler Hill."
He and his brother were among the largest land owners
and the very best farmers in Worcester. ''He was gentle-
manly, hospitable, noticed strangers; and when he lived in
a house that stood at the foot of what is now Pearl street,
Worcester, gave a ball which was long remembered. At
this ball the children were invited in the afternoon and
stayed till 6 o'clock p. m., and the adults were invited to
spend the evening." He died in 1813.

Thomas Chandler graduated from Harvard College in
1787; was a merchant in Worcester, his store being in
front of the "Town House," and he lived at the corner
of Main and Park streets. At one time while resichng
in the "Green House" a mile out on the Leicester road,
he gave a "Sillabub" party, which was long remembered
by those present. The great feature of the entertainment
was drinking "Sillabub," for the making of which the late
Mrs. John Davis, the niece of the host, gives the following
receipt: "Put port wine and sugar in a pail and milk the
cow directly on to it."

This record of the sons of "The Honest Refugee" is
only of interest and value as it represents the political
and social life in Worcester in their day and generation.
They are living pictures of that period, and in our mind's
eye we can see these men as they passed up and down
the little village street, one hundred and more years ago,
pursuing their daily avocations. We enter with them into
the "King's Arms," a tavern which stood on the northern
corner of Elm and Main streets and which was a famous
resort of the royalists, and listen to the toasts they give
as they drink to the health of the "English Sovereign,"

17

and we follow them in thought to the house of their uncle,
Gardiner Chandler, where in the large parlor the "Tories
used to gather in solemn conclave at the breaking out of
the Revolution, and we hear words of grave import, as
they began to realize the importance of the great political
dangers culminating around them.

I have referred to the few descendants of John Chandler
now living in Worcester, The late Governor Levi Lincoln
married one of his granddaughters, and one of their children
is still living, and a number of grandchildren of more re-
mote relationship.

Allusion has been made to some of the Chandlers having
graduated from Harvard College, ranking in the class
according to the ''dignity of family.'' It may not be
generally known that in the old Colonial days the graduates
were numbered in the catalogue according to their social
standing in the community and not alphabetically as they
are now, a custom which would hardly find favor in these
latter days.

An antiquarian has made the remark that in searching
for material concerning one's family, that a person in so
doing would ''find certain pious family fictions, that must
not be disturbed." This seems good advice, for it is im-
possible to investigate or verify traditions which have
been handed down for many generations, but which may
still be valuable as illustrating the period in which the
people lived of whom they are told.

Bearing this advice in mind, I relate herewith family
legends which have been handed down from one genera-
tion to another among my kinsfolk, leaving it for my
readers to determine what credence shall be attached to
them.

Gardiner Chandler was the second son and fourth child

of John and Hannah Gardiner Chandler, but as all I have

to say concerning him has been embodied in the account

of the Chandler house on Main street, I will not repeat
2

18

it here. Three of his descendants are at this date living
in Worcester, but not bearing his name.

Part II.

Sarah Chandler was the fifth child of John and Hannah
Gardiner Chandler and the third daughter. ''There were
seven of these sisters and, from their distinguished attri-
butes, were called in their day and generation 'The Seven
Stars.' She was born in the little village of Worcester
Jan'y 11, 1725, and died there in 1811 in her eighty-fifth
year. She was the little girl of thirteen years of age, to
whom her grandfather Gardiner left the fifty pounds in
silver, to the exclusion of all her brothers and sisters. In
1749, she was married to Timothy Paine, whose mother
became, after the death of her first husband, the second
wife of John Chandler, so these young people had probably
been brought up under the same roof from early childhood.

"Timothy Paine and Sarah Chandler his wife not only
feared God, but honored the King," so the old record runs.

"They belonged to families, often associated together, in
the remembrance of the present generation, as having ad-
hered, through the wavering fortunes, and final success of
the Revolution, devoted and consistently, to the British
Crown. The Chandlers were in every respect, the most
eminent family in Worcester County, and furnished many
men of distinction in its ante-revolutionary history. They
were closely allied by blood, marriage or friendship with
the aristocracy of the county and province, in which they
had extensive and unbounded sway. They had large pos-
sessions, and shared with the Paine family the entire
local influence at Worcester, but did not, like that family,
survive the shock of the Revolution, and retain a 'local
habitation and a name.' 'Their property was confiscated
and they were declared traitors.'

"The family w^as broken up; some members of it went
abroad and died there, others were scattered in this country ;

19

yet not a few of their descendants, eminent in the most
honorable pursuits, and in the highest positions in Ufe,
under different names and in various localities, represent
that ancient, honorable and once numerous race."

''Mrs. Timothy Paine, or Madam Paine as she was styled
from respect to her dignity and position, was a woman
of uncommon energy and acuteness. She was noted in
her day for her zeal in aiding, as far as was in her power,
the followers of the crown, and in defeating the plans of
the rebellious colonists. In her the King possessed a faith-
ful ally. In her hands his dignity was safe, and no insult
offered to it, in her presence, could go unavenged."

"Her wit and loyalty never shone more conspicuously
than on the following occasion: When President John
Adams was a young man, he was invited to dine with the
court and bar at the house of Judge Paine, an eminent
loyalist of Worcester. When the wine was circulating
around the table, Judge Paine gave as a toast, 'The King.'
Some of the Whigs were about to refuse to drink it, but
Mr. Adams whispered to them to comply, saying, ' we shall
have an opportunity to return the comphment.' At
length, when he was desired to give a toast, he gave,
'The Devil.' As the host was about to resent the indignity,
his wife calmed him and turned the laugh upon Mr. Adams,
by immediately exclaiming, 'My dear! As the gentleman
has been so kind as to drink to our King, let us by no
means refuse, in our turn, to drink to his.'

"Madam Paine, in passing the guard house, which stood
nearly where the old Nashua Hotel stood in Lincoln square,
heard the soldiers say, 'Let us shoot the old Tory.' She
turned round facing them and said, ' Shoot if you dare ' and
then she reported to General Knox the insult she had
received, which was not repeated."

She then lived in a house nearly opposite, on Lincoln
street. It was in the door of this house, tradition says,
she placed herself, when the Whig soldiers came to carry

20

off her loyal husband and told them they should not enter
the house except over her prostrate body. The china
dinner service used at the dinner referred to is still extant,
or was so in the lifetime of the late Miss Susan Trumbull,
who was Madam Paine 's great-granddaughter. It is very
evident, judging from the anecdotes told of my great-
grandmother, that she had inherited many of the attributes
of her great-great-grandfather, the old Indian fighter,
Lion Gardiner. There are over twenty-five descendants
of Madam Paine now living in Worcester, and a large
number elsewhere — the most noted one at the present
time being the eldest daughter of the President of the
United States, who is her grandchild in the sixth generation.
Judge Paine 's house was situated at the lower part of
Lincoln street, a little to the north of the ''Hancock Arms,"
and with the exception of the house belonging to Governor
John Hancock w^as the only one in the street. This latter
house was sold in 1781 to Gov. Levi Lincoln the elder.
The family must have been more than well off, judging
from the style of their living, and the items mentioned
in Mrs. Paine's ''Will," which she bequeathed to her chil-
dren show that her house was well furnished. "The
crimson satin bed-cover," and "the silver butter boats,"
"the china" and other articles are indicative of more than
easy circumstances. Her parlor chairs were imported
from England and are still in existence, among her descen-
dants. Her shoes with buckles, of which there were many,
were formerly at her son^s house, of English make, made
of some silk material of different colors, with very high
heels, and pointed toes, show that her style of dress was
costly. Madam Paine must have inherited money from
her father John Chandler, and when he died the widow,
the mother of Timothy Paine, had set off to her £25,505,
and besides this sum, her personal property was valued
at £611. 11. 9; her silver- ware alone was valued at £84.
11. 8. One-fifth of all this property came at her death

21

to her son Timothy. Her slave was left to Mrs. Paine.
The servants in the house were probably slaves, which I
have heard were freed. In those days the hours were
very primitive and I have heard some of the old people
in the family say that the dinner hour was eleven or twelve
o'clock, and that when Madam Paine gave her tea parties,
the company came at three or four o'clock, and, having
had supper at five, went home at sundown. Mr. and Mrs.
Paine attended the South Church, the only one in Worcester
in those days, though their children as they grew up seceded
from it and helped to found the Second Parish, and when
they passed away, they were laid in the cemetery on the
Common. When the Rural Cemetery was arranged, my
father endeavored to find their remains to have them re-
moved, but could find no trace of them.

When the late Governor Lincoln was married in 1807,
he brought his bride to the Paine house. ^'Aunt Paine's
house," Mrs. Lincoln used to call it, and as Mrs. Paine
did not die until 1811, she must have passed the last years
of her life with her son Dr. Paine, which fact would account
for her personal property being left there. Mrs. Charlotte
Bradish, the daughter of Nathaniel Paine, was born in
the ''old Paine House, by the two elm trees," in Lincoln
street, in 1788. She told me of this fact herself. She
married Timothy Paine Bradish in 1818 and died in Worces-
ter in 1866. Timothy Paine, the husband of Sarah Chand-
ler, was born in Bristol, R. I.. July 30th, 1730, and died
in Worcester July 17, 1793, aged sixty-three years. His
ancestor, Stephen Paine, of the parish of Great Ellingham,
County of Norfolk, England, emigrated, in 1638, with his
wife and three children, to America. Timothy was the
great-grandson of Stephen, whom I judge to have been of
small means, as his estate at his death was valued at only
£535; the family, like that of the Chandlers, was evidently
of humble origin, and I believe were millers in the old
country. The mother of Timothy, the widow of Hon

22

Nathaniel Paine, married the third John Chandler, the
father of Sarah whom Timothy later espoused. He came
with her to Worcester at the age of eight years. I find in
the catalogue of Harvard College that Timothy Paine be-
longed to the class of 1748, and that he was, according to
''dignity of family,^' the fifth in his class. This custom,
which seems so out of place in these latter days, of reg-
istering the students according to their social position in
the colony, was happily discontinued in 1772.

''Soon after leaving college Mr. Paine was engaged in
public affairs and the number and variety of offices which
he held exhibit the estimation in which he stood. He
was at different periods Clerk of the Courts; Register of
Deeds; Register of Probate; member of the executive
council of the Province; in 1774 he was appointed one
of his Majesty's Mandamus Councillors; Selectman and
Town Clerk; and Representative many years to the Gene-
ral Court."

"Solid talents, practical sense, candor, sincerity, abihty
and mildness were the characteristics of his life. He was
also Special Justice of the Supreme Court in 1771."

"When the appeal to arms approached, between this
country and Great Britain, many of the inhabitants of
Worcester, most distinguished for talents, influence and
honors adhered with constancy to the King. Educated
with veneration for the sovereign to whom they had sworn
fealty; indebted to his bounty for the honors and wealth
they possessed, — loyalty and gratitude aUke influenced
them to resist acts which to them seemed treasonable
and rebellious. We may respect the sincerity of motives,
attested by the sacrifice of property, the loss of power,
and all the miseries of confiscation and exile. The struggle
between the patriotism of the people, and the loyalty of
a minority, powerful in numbers, as well as talents, wealth
and influence, arrived at its crisis in Worcester, early in
1774, and terminated in the total defeat of the loyalists.

23

Among the many grievances, the vesting the government
in the dependents of the King, aggravated the irritation
and urged to acts of violence. The weight of pubUc in-
dignation fell on those appointed to office under the new
acts, and they were soon compelled to lay aside their
obnoxious honors.

''Timothy Paine, Esq., had received a commission as
one of the Mandamus Councillors. High as was the per-
sonal regard and respect for the purity of private character
of this gentleman it was controlled by the political feeling
of a period of excitement, and measures were taken to
compel his resignation of a post which was unwelcome
to himself, but which he dared not refuse, when declining
would have been construed as contempt for the authority
of the King by whom it was conferred. '^ The journals
of the day best describe his treatment by the indignant
Whigs. ''The spirit of the people was never known to
be so great since the first settlement of the colonies as
it is at this time.'' "People in the county for hundreds
of miles are prepared and determined to die or be Free."

"August 23, 1774.

"Yesterday, Mr. Paine, of Worcester was visited by
nearly 3000 people; notice was given of the intended visit
the day before, from one town to another, and though
the warning was so short, the above number collected,
and most of them entered the town before 7 o'c in the
morning. They all marched into the town in order, and
drew up on the common, and behaved admirably well;
they chose a committee of two or three men of each
company to wait upon Mr. Paine, and demand a resigna-
tion of his office as Councillor; that committee being
large, they chose, from among themselves, a sub-committee,
who went to his house, when he agreed to resign that
office, and drew up an acknowledgment, mentioning his
obligations to the county for favors done him, his sorrow

24

for taking the oath, and a promise that he never would
act in that office contrary to the charter, and after that
he came with the committee to the common, where the
people were drawn up in two bodies, making a lane between
them, through which he and the committee passed, and
read divers times as they passed along, the said acknowledg-
ment. At first one of the committee read the resignation
of Mr. Paine in his behalf. It was then insisted that he
should read it with his hat off. He hesitated and demanded
protection from the committee. Finally he complied;
and was allowed to retire to his dwelling."

Tradition says that a bull joined this procession, and
continued to bellow as it proceeded on the way, only stop-
ping when Mr. Paine began to speak. Tradition also
declares that in the excitement attendant upon this scene,
Mr. Paine's wig was either knocked off, or fell off. But as
it may be, from that day he abjured wigs, and never wore
one again. The now dishonored wig in question he gave
to one of his negro slaves, called "Worcester." "In the
earlier days of the Revolution, some American soldiers
quartered at his house repaid his perhaps too unwilling
hospitality and signified the intensity of their feelings
towards him, by cutting the throat of his full length por-
trait." This picture I remember very well and am probably
the only person who can do so. After the death of Mr.
and Mrs. Paine, it with other property of theirs was trans-
ferred to the house of his son, Dr. Wm. Paine, and always
hung over the fireplace, in what was then the dining-
room. When the house was remodelled in 1836, after Dr.
Paine's death, the picture disappeared, and I never knew
what became of it. It represented a stout gentleman,
sitting at a table on which were law books. He wore a
wig and was dressed in a suit of drab colored clothes, with
a red waistcoat. He wore knee-breeches, long stockings,
with low shoes with buckles on them and the throat of
the portrait was cut from ear to ear. Following the custom

25

of the English judges, Judge Paine used to drive to the
court house when holding court in his glass coach, which
must have been a mere form, for the court house was not
more than five minutes' walk from his house. Among
the other articles brought to Dr. Paine's house after Judge
Paine's death, was this coach, which stood in what was
called the "Chaise House" for many years. It was a
very handsome vehicle, painted outside a sage green, with
much glass and gilding about it and lined with satin of
the same color, to match the outside. It was in fairly
good repair when I remember it, and served as a play-
thing for the children of the family. I don't know what
became of it finally and I can only regret that this old
carriage, which must have been imported from England,
and my great-grandfather's portrait had not been preserved
for his descendants.

Timothy and Sarah Paine had nine children, the oldest
being William, who was born in Worcester in 1750 and
died there in April, 1833, aged eighty-three years. He
graduated at Harvard College in 1768 with the rank of
second in the class of forty-two members. In the college
catalogue of the class of 1768 I read the following:

'^William Paine A.M.; M.D. (Hon.) 1818; Fellow Am:
Acad."

One of his early instructors was John Adams, afterwards
President of the United States, who was then reading law
in the office of Hon. James Putnam at Worcester. He
began the practice of medicine in Worcester in 1771. In
that year Mr. Adams revisited Worcester after an absence
of sixteen years, and notes his impressions of his former
pupils as follows: "Here I saw many young gentlemen
who were my scholars and pupils when I kept school here.
John Chandler, Esq., of Petersham; Rufus Chandler
the lawyer ; and Dr. William Paine, who now studies physic
with Dr. Holyoke of Salem; and others, most of whom
began to learn Latin with me. Drank tea at Mr. Putnam's

26

with Mr. and Mrs. Paine, Dr. Holyoke's lady and Dr.
Billy Paine. The doctor is a very civil, agreeable, and
sensible young gentleman." Such an excellent memoir of
Dr. Paine has been so recently issued by the American
Antiquarian Society, in which the author deals so fully
with his connection with the American Revolution, that
I will not refer to it here. ''To the last he was an inflexible
loyahst in feeling. He possessed extensive professional
learning, and was equally respected as a physician and
a citizen and regained the confidence and long enjoyed
the respect and esteem of the community."

I was only seven years old when my grandfather died,
but I remember him very well. At this time he had given
up the practice of his profession, but he left his house every
morning in his old chaise with an equally old horse to
make a round of friendly visits. One of the last families
in which he practiced was that of the late Gov. Levi Lincoln,
and one of his daughters has told me with what regret
her mother received the notice from him that he would
make no more professional visits. I can see Dr. Paine
now as he walked out to the piazza, an alert, well pre-
served old gentleman, careful of his dress, which consisted
of a dark blue dress coat, and drab colored trousers, with a
bunch of seals hanging from his watch-fob, and on his
head a beaver hat of drab color. His complexion was
fair, his hair was snow white, and was brushed back from
his face and tied in a queue bound with black ribbon,
which ended with a bow of the same. His first call was
upon his daughter Mrs. Rose, who lived at the corner of
Main and School streets. Miss Rachel Rose in her letters,
refers to him as ''The Good Doctor," and I judge the
family depended on him for guidance regarding their
domestic affairs. Then there was his sister, Mrs. Bradish,
to see, who then lived in the northern part of a double
brick house, on the western side of Main street, belonging
to the Flagg family, with her three granddaughters. In

27

the south side lived Mr. EUsha Flagg, close to the bakery,
famous on public days for soft crackers, and sugar ginger-
bread. Miss Hannah Paine had married a gentleman by
the name of Bradish. The Worcester Sjyy of Oct. 21,
1772, contains the following: '^This day Ebenezer Bradish
Esq., of Cambridge, was united in the most agreeable
state of human life, to Miss Hannah Paine, daughter of
Hon. Timothy Paine, Esq., of this place — of whom it may
not be told her acquaintances, but she is one of the most de-
serving of her sex." I remember seeing this old lady
once, when she lived with her relative, Mrs. Francis Blake,
in the old Maccarty house. She died in 1841, leaving no
descendants in Worcester.

The next call would perhaps be on Mrs. Trumbull, who
lived in Trumbull square, who had married Dr. Joseph
Trumbull of Petersham. ''The Worcester S'py of February
16, 1786, announces the fact of Dr. Trumbull's marriage
to the very amiable Miss Elizabeth Paine, youngest daughter
of the Hon. Timothy Paine, Esq., of this Town." Mr.
Trumbull was a martyr to gout, and being somewhat of
an artist, painted a picture of the devil touching his toes
with red hot coals. He died in 1824. I never to my
knowledge saw this great-aunt of mine, but I went to her
funeral in the South Meeting House, she having died one
year before her brother William.

Mrs. Trumbull lived in a house, formed from the old
court house, which had been given her by her sister Sarah,
who had married a rich merchant of Boston, Mr. James
Perkins. She also gave her the share of property which
came to her under the ''Will of her father Hon. Timothy
Paine." The late George A. Trumbull was a son of Dr.
Joseph Trumbull. A great-grandchild is the only descend-
ant of Mrs. Trumbull living in Worcester.

The visits of Dr. Paine included the family of his brother
Nathaniel, and that of his cousin Mrs. Bancroft, as well
as that of Mrs. Le\d Lincoln, his kinswoman, upon whom

28

he continued to make friendly calls. His friends the
Waldos and Salisburys, former patients, were not forgotten ;
BO the old gentleman was kept busy during the early part
of the day, and after dinner he was ready for his armchair
by the wood fire, reading and dozing the afternoon away.
I recall his funeral in the church of the Second Parish,
to which I went, and seeing him laid in the old Mechanic
street Cemetery, from which he was removed with his
wife to the Rural Cemetery at a later date. There was
a light fall of snow the night j)revious, and the early spring
flowers were showing their bright colors above their white
covering.

Dr. Paine had been presented during one of his visits
to England to King George the Third and Queen Charlotte,
wearing the court dress prescribed for medical men, which
was a gray cloth coat, with silver buttons, a white satin
waistcoat, satin smallclothes, silk hose, and wearing a
sword, and a fall of lace from his cravat or collar, and
lace ruffles in the sleeves. Until recently I had this lace
in my possession. It was interesting to read some of his
letters, written as he was about leaving England with the
English army. In one of them he writes, "The Colonists
had better lay down their arms at once, for we are coming
over with an overwhelming force to destroy them." It
is not to be wondered at, that he supposed the colonists
were in no position to withstand the might and power
of Great Britain. His wife and children seemed to have
for a time remained with his father and mother while he
was in England, but finding their position in Worcester
unpleasant on account of their unpopular political opinions,
she left and went to Rhode Island. I saw a letter some
years ago written by Mr. Timothy Orne of Salem, Mrs.
Dr. Paine's father, to Judge Paine, in which he reports
the safe arrival of his daughter and family within the
*' British Lines." I suppose too they had small means,
for Levi Lincoln the elder advised that Miss Esther Paine,

29

the oldest daughter of Dr. Paine, should be put out to
service! ''The Tory Dr/s daughter" he called her. In
those days, to use an Irish phrase, ''The Lincolns and
Paines did not take tea together." The Whigs and Tories
would not meet except as enemies. Dr. Paine's letters to
his relatives in Lancaster were amusing, for he seems to
have depended on them for some of his domestic supplies,
and as a sample of the prices in those days, he writes, "If
the butter is of extra quality I am willing to pay as high
as nine pence per pound for it.'^

There seems to have been gay doings in the old Paine
house, when Sarah or, as her family called her, "Sally
Paine'' was married to Mr. Perkins. One of his sisters
writes the following:

"In case of my brother's marriage nearly eighty-nine
suns have not entirely obliterated the incidents, although
they have the dates; you have revived the memory of
my journey from Boston to Worcester, with my brother,
on the great occasion of his marriage; it was in the winter
season, and in a small open sleigh. We happened to upset
in a snow bank! This, too, with the remembrance of a
sleighing party and a dance at Leicester, with its accom-
panying jolUfication, are all the lingering memories of that
by-gone time." This marriage took place in 1786.

"Samuel Paine," the third child of Timothy and Sarah
Paine, was born in Worcester in 1753; and died in 1807
in his father's house. "His name stands forth in the
class of 1771, of Harvard College. He was as devoted a
royalist as his brother William and soon incurred the
displeasure of the patriot Whigs, and by the order of the
town was arrested and sent away to be dealt with as the
honorable congress shall think proper." In 1776, Mr.
Paine accompanied the British army from Boston to Hali-
fax and thence to England. He lived some years in London.
The enjoyment of an annual pension of £84 from the
English Government, with a patrimony not inconsiderable

30

for those days, precluded the necessity of his sharing those
sufferings and privations encountered by too many devoted
royalists in their adopted country. He was a man of
elegance and fashion in his day, and is said to have re-
sembled in person and manners the Prince of Wales of
that day, later George the Fourth. Mr. Paine in one of
his letters describes the Battle of Bunker Hill, as he wit-
nessed it from Beacon Hill and writes, ''That d — d rebel
Warren is down,'' and in another he refers to him as an
"old rascal." There were other brothers, but the only
one I remember was ''Uncle John," who lived in his father's
old house in Lincoln street, an old gray haired gentleman,
who used to call on my grandfather every day. He died
six months before Dr. Paine. I have not here referred
to the old Judge of Probate, Mr. Nathaniel Paine, for a
long notice of him was wTitten in connection with the
Chandler house on Main street.

The fourth of the seven stars and sixth child of John
and Hannah Gardiner Chandler was Hannah, of w^hom I
know nothing. She was born in 1727, married in 1750 to
Samuel AVilliams of Roxbury and died in that town in
1804. At one time Mr. and Mrs. Williams resided in
Worcester in the old Chandler house in Lincoln square.

The fifth of the family was Lucretia, who became the
third wife of Colonel John Murray of Rutland in 1761.
At this period Miss Chandler was Uving in Boston with
her brother-in-law Mr. Benjamin Greene, whose wife had
died, in the care of his house and family. There appeared
at this time in society in Boston a very handsome man
by the name of Murray, of whose antecedents people seemed
to be ignorant. He fell in love with the beautiful Miss
Chandler, as she was styled, her two portraits by Copley
seeming to bear out her right to be so called, and after
her marriage they went to Rutland to live. This is all
I can learn of her after leaving the luxurious home of her
brother-in-law and the pleasant Hfe she was leading in

31

''Boston Town," to reside in this dull little New England
village, not a desirable place of residence now, and how
much less so it must have been one hundred years and
more ago. A large household of ten children, belonging
to the first wife of Col. Murray, must have added to
her far from attractive surroundings. Here she died, but
I can find no record of the event, leaving one child, a daugh-
ter, also named Lucre tia, born in 1762, who died in 1836.
Mrs. Murray's tomb stands quite near the entrance to the
old grave-yard in Rutland, now much broken and disfig-
ured. Tradition is responsible for the story that when
the American soldiers went to arrest Col. Murray, for he
was an ardent royalist, that, not finding him, they went
to the grave of his wife and damaged her tombstone. This
is one of the ''family fictions" which should not have
been disturbed, for on investigating the affair on the spot,
I learned from the "oldest inhabitant," that this piece
of vandalism was the work of mischievous boys.

The story of the portrait of Col. Murray being shot at
by the soldiers is true, for I have seen this picture, painted
by Copley, in St. John, New Brunswick, hanging over the
sideboard in the house of the Hon. Robert L. Hazen, a
grandson of Colonel Murray. "There is a hole in the
right breast, the size of a silver dollar; and the tradition
in the family is that the party of soldiers who sought
the colonel at his house after his flight, vexed because he
eluded them, vowed they would leave their mark behind
them and so sent a bullet through the canvas." Col.
Murray is represented in a sitting position, in the dress
of a gentleman of the day, and wearing a wig.

Colonel Murray left his house in 1774, with his daughter
Lucretia, taking with them the Copley portraits of himself
and her mother, and fled to Boston. He in 1776 accom-
panied the royal army to Halifax, and from there went
to England, but after a time returned to St. John, where
he made a home with his daughter. He died in 1794,

32

and is buried in the new Rural Cemetery, over his grave
being a plain white marble monument erected to his memory.
After her father's death Miss Murray left St. John, leaving
the Copley portrait of her father behind her, with Mr.
Hazen, one of the descendants of his second wife, and
taking with her the portrait of her mother, went to Lan-
caster in Massachusetts to be with her relatives the ''Chand-
ler Family," and here she resided until her death, and
was interred in the Chandler lot in the Cemetery. She
is said to have been one of the plainest people in her per-
sonal appearance who ever lived, and that she would
stand before a looking-glass and say, "How could such a
handsome father and mother have such an ugly child as
I am.'^

Miss Murray bequeathed the portrait of her mother
to Mr. Nathaniel Chandler, and it now hangs in the old
''Chandler House" in South Lancaster, a charming por-
trait of a beautiful woman, the colors in the painting as
fresh and bright as they were more than one hundred
years ago when Copley painted her picture. The other
portrait of Mrs. Murray by Copley remained in the Green
family and I saw it just before the great Boston fire in
1872, when the building in which it was stored for the
time being was destroyed with all its contents. It was
a beautiful picture, representing Mrs. Murray sitting in an
armchair, and Gardiner Green, her little nephew, standing
by her side. This child, the cousin of Dr. Wm. Paine,
became later the famous Boston merchant and married
in England in 1800, Miss Copley, a daughter of Ehzabeth
Clarke and John Singleton Copley, the artist, and sister
of Lord Lyndhurst the Lord Chancellor of England.

There was always a mystery surrounding John Murray,
regarding who he was and where he came from, but his
descendants had some reasons for supposing that he was
one of the "Athol Family" of Scotland, the surname of
the Duke being Murray. Some years since one of Col.

33

Murray *s descendants went to ''Blair Athol," the family
seat of the Dukes of Athol, hoping to hear something
about him, and there found an old retainer of the family
who recalled the fact that a younger member of the house
had disappeared many years before, nothing ever being
heard of him again, though it was supposed he had run
away to America. When Miss Murray went to Lancaster
to reside, she had with her some amount of silver plate,
and on each piece was engraved the arms of the ''Ducal
House of Athol.'' She had small means and when she
needed money used to sell this silver, one piece at a time.
"In the grant of the town of Athol by the General Court,
the first name was that of John Murray, who probably
gave the name of his ancestral home to the new town.''
Col. Murray was very poor when he came to Rutland,
and at first "peddled about the country," and then settled
there and became a merchant. "He was a man of great
influence in his vicinity and in the town of Rutland, which
he represented many years in the General Court. On
election days his house was open to his friends; and the
good cheer dispensed free to all from his store told in his
favor at the ballot box. His wealth, social position, and
political influence, made him one of the colonial noblemen
who lived in a style that has passed away in New England.
He was in 1774 appointed by King George Third and
Lord Dartmouth 'Mandamus' Councillor; but he was not
sworn into that office, because a party of about five hundred
stanch Whigs, repaired to his house in Rutland and re-
quested him to resign his seat in the Council. These
Whigs were a portion of the company who had compelled
Judge Timothy Paine to take the same course, marching
directly to Rutland on the same day. Col. Murray left
a large estate when he fled to Boston, and in 1778 was
proscribed and banished; and in 1779, lost his extensive
property." He must have received with Mrs. Murray
some considerable amount of money.

34

Elizabeth, the sixth daughter of Judge Chandler, was
born in Worcester in 1732 and was married to Hon. James
Putnam in 1754, by Chief Justice Sewall. He belonged
to the ''Dan vers Family" of Putnam, was a graduate of
Harvard College in 1746, and commenced the practice of
law in Worcester in 1749. ''His abihty and learning soon
gave him a flood of clients." One of his associates said
of him: "Judge Putnam was an unerring lawyer, he was
never astray in his law; he was I am inclined to think,
the best lawyer in North America." "He was hke all
those connected with the 'Chandler Family' a zealous
royalist, and on the eve of the Revolution, when the govern-
ment party found itself voted down four to one in Worces-
ter, he drew up with the assistance of his wife's nephew,
Dr. William Paine, the Protest against the strong patriotic
Whig votes, and proceedings of a previous town meeting,
which protest stands ' illegibly ' expunged on the book of
the town records.

"One who had taken sides so strongly for his king could
hardly fail to receive from the excited Whigs injuries and
indignities in various ways. In 1775 Judge Putnam of
Worcester, a firm friend of government, had two fat
cows stolen and a very valuable gristmill burned and was
obliged to leave a fair estate in Worcester and return to
Boston.

"He accompanied the British army to New York and
thence he went to Halifax, and embarked for England in
1776, where he remained until the peace of 1783. In
1784 he was appointed a member of the Council of New
Brunswick and Judge of the Supreme Court of that province.
He resided in the city of St. John, and retained the office
of Judge until his death in 1789, in his sixty-fourth year;
and the tablet over his remains records not only his death,
but that of his widow, my great-great-aunt, who died in
1798, aged sixty-six years."

While in Worcester Judge Putnam lived on Main street,

35

on the corner of Park and his law office was on the opposite
side of the street. In this office John Adams, the second
president of the United States, studied law, and boarded
in the family of James Putnam, while he was keeping the
district school of the village. Mr. Adams says in his Diary,
"When asked, in 1758, to settle in Worcester as an oppo-
nent to the royalists and office-holders, the Chandlers, I
declined, with this among other reasons. That as the
Chandlers were worthy people and discharged the duties
of their offices well, I envied not their felicity and had no
desire to set myself in opposition to them, especially to
Mr. Putnam, who had married a beautiful daughter
of that family and had treated me with civility and
kindness." Mrs. Putnam was rather short in stature,
of dark complexion, and had dark hair and eyes. There
are no descendants of this family in Worcester or else-
where.

''James Putnam, the oldest son of Judge Putnam, was
born in 1756 and died in England in 1838. He was at
Harvard College in 1774; refugee in 1775; and one of the
eighteen 'Country Gentlemen' who were driven to Boston,
and who addressed Governor Gage on his departure. He
became intimate at one time with the Duke of Kent. He
was barrack master, member of his household, and was
one of the executors of his will."

The seventh daughter of Judge Chandler was Katherine,
the youngest of the family. "These ladies, from their
beauty, intelligence and social position were called 'The
Seven Stars.' " She was born in Worcester in 1735, and
married Colonel Levi Willard of Lancaster in Worcester
County. He was a merchant there under the firm of
Willard & Ward. Their house was in South Lancaster,
nearly opposite the "Chandler Mansion," standing among
the beautiful elms of that town, while the trading house
of the firm, the largest in the county of Worcester in their
day, stood a little more to the south of it, near the street.

36

Their store was also nearly opposite, a little to the south
of the house of his partner in business, Mr. Samuel Ward,
now the ''Chandler House." This trading house I sup-
pose to have been one of the depots for storing goods, to
which I have referred in connection with Petersham, from
which the local shopkeepers in the small villages in the
vicinity were supplied with what they needed for their
customers.

Mr. Willard's estate was inventoried after his 'departure
for England as a refugee at £6538, and was confiscated. He
returned in 1785. ''Mrs. Willard in her advanced years
was timid and singular about some things. One was, she
was so fearful, when about to drive, that she would get
into her chaise before the horse was harnessed in." She
and her husband were laid in the old part of the grave-
yard in South Lancaster, and a double tombstone stands
at the head of their graves. There are a number of their
descendants living, but not in Worcester County, and not
of their name. Madam Prescott, the mother of the his-
torian, William H. Prescott, once lived in the "Willard
Family," being, as a child, sent from the West Indies to
go to school, which she did in the little old brick school-
house, which I believe is still standing. There was a ghost
story connected with the Willard house. One of the sons
of Mrs. Willard left the house one morning with horse and
chaise to drive to Boston. A few days later, he was seen
towards evening driving up the avenue, not only by his
mother, but by other members of the family, going towards
the stable. As he did not make his appearance in the
house, Mrs. Willard sent someone to see where he was,
and to her amazement it was discovered that no one in
the rear of the house had seen him, and the horse and
chaise were not there. In those days it took a long time
for a letter to reach South Lancaster from Boston, but
when one arrived it announced the sudden death of Mr.

37

Willard at the very moment when he had been seen by
the family in the avenue!

Here ends my sketch of the '^ Chandler Family" in
Worcester and Worcester County, the materials of which
have been gleaned from the researches of others, mingled
with old-time stories which have been handed down from
one generation to another in the family. It is imperfect-
ly drawn, but it may serve 'Ho keep in remembrance the
names and services of this ancient and once numerous"
Tory family.

P. S. — In a former paper concerning ''Three Old Houses,"
I have referred to Mr. and Mrs. Levi Lincoln as going to
the "old Chandler House" to live after their marriage.
It seems I was misinformed, and from a reliable source I
learn that they spent some time in the old Timothy Paine
house in Lincoln street before moving to Lincoln square.

An amusing incident occurred while they were in resi-
dence here. Miss Ann Sever, the sister of Mrs. Lincoln,
was on a visit to the latter, and being in her youth con-
sidered a great beauty, had many admirers. One day
she saw one of them on whom she had not smiled approach-
ing the house, and hoping he had not seen her, she escaped
and hid in a closet under the stairs. He had seen her,
however, and meaning to punish her for escaping him,
not only called at the house, but remained to tea, and for
some time later, and it was only after his departure she
could free herself. Miss Sever married Dr. John Brazer,
a native of Worcester, and the pastor of the North Church
in Salem.

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