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List of Illustrations in "The Choate Family in America 1643-1896" by O.
E. Jameson,
Publ. Voston, 1896.
Aaron Choate, Perrytown, Ontario, p.278.
Alden Choate, Lynn, Mass., p. 139.
Arms, Bulkley, p. 234.
Arms, Choate, Traditional, p. 105.
Arms, p. 301.
Arms, Goodhue, p. 89.
Arms, Martyn, p. 300.
Arms, Rust, p. 40.
Arms, Sewall, p. 195.
Arthur L. Choate, Oshkosh, Wis., p. 259.
Augustus Choate, Rev., Salem, Mass., p. 108
Baker, Mrs. Mary, Ipswich, Mass., p. 117
Benjamin Choate, Col., Enfield, N. H., p.38
Blake, Hon. Henry N., Helena, Mont. p. 305.
Bowles, Mrs. Ida C., Gloucester, Mass., p.85.
Bridge, Choate, 1764, Ipswich, Mass., p. 34.
Bridge, Choate, 1837, Ipswich, Mass., p. 35.
Building, Choate, Winona, Minn., p. 155.
Charles, Choate, Bridgeton, Me., p. 255.
Charles F. Choate, Esq., Boston, Mass., p. 323.
Church, Groton, Boxford, England, p. xiv.
Charles H. Choate, Maltby, Wash., p.259.
Choate Island, Essex, Mass., p. 12.
Church, Steeple Bumpstead, England, p. xii.
Cleaveland, Nehemiah, Byfield, Mass., p. 28.
Cradle in which Rufus Choate was rocked, p. 39.
Daniel Choate, San Diego, Cal., p. 340.
David Choate, Deacon, Essex, Mass., p. 197.
Drug Store, Choate's, Boston, Mass., p.254
Ebenezer Choate, Bridgton, Me., p. 75.
Ebenezer Choate, Mrs., Bridgton, Me., p. 75.
Ebenezer Choate, Mrs., Ipswich, Mass., p. 60.
Fifield, Thomas H., South Bend, Ind., p. 162.
Finchfield, Essex Co., England, pp. vii, ix.
Francis Cxhoate, Esq., Salem, Mass., p. 114.
Franklin House, Saratoga, N. Y., p. 79.
George Choate, M. D., Salem, Mass., p. 214.
George F. Choate, Hon., Salem, Mass., p.318.
George I. Choate, Derry, N. H., p. 290.
Hamlin, M. D., Augustus C., Bangor, Me., p. 192.
Hammatt, Abraham, Ipswich, Mass., p. 47.
House, The Knowlton, 1691, Mass., p. 22.
Humphrey Choate, Dea., Derry, N. H., p. 177.
James Choate, Deacon, Derry, N. H., p. 176.
Jameson, E. O., Boston, Mass., p. i.
Jonathan Choate, Lansingburg, N. Y., p. 129.
Joseph Choate, Plumstead, England, p. xii.
Joseph B. Choate, Oshkosh, Wis., p. 259.
Joseph H. Choate, L. L. D., New York, p. 326.
Lathrop, Mrs. Hannah, Norwich, Conn., p. 67.
Lathrop, Rufus, Esq., Norwich, Conn., p. 67.
Leander Choate, Esq., Oshkosh, Wis., p. 257.
Lord., Esq., Nathaniel J., Salem, Mass., p.99.
Lord, L.L. D., Otis P., Salem, Mass., p. 100.
Mary E. Choate, Mrs., Bridgton, Me., p. 255.
Mary L. Choate, Miss, Lebanon, N. H., p. 171.
Mary Choate, Mrs., Ipswich, Mass., p. 59.
Mary Choate, Mrs., Perrytown, Ontario, p.278.
Nehemiah Choate, Bridgton, Me., p. 147.
Norris, Mrs, Hannah, Whitefield, Me., p. 122.
Northcote, Ipswich Road, Essex, Mass., p. 320.
Pen, The Iron, Longfellow, p. 194.
Room in which Rufus Choate was Born, p. 39.
Rufus Choate, Hon., Boston, Mass., p. 199.
Rufus M. Choate, Buffalo, N. Y., p. 355.
Seal of Robert Choate, 1722, p. 21.
Seal of Robert Fitts, 1665, p. 7.
Stephen Choate, Hon., Ipswich, Mass., p. 59.
Store, !'s, Winnona, Minn., p. 155.
Tower, Finchingfield Church, England, p. viii.
Trees, Ancestral, Bridgton, Me. p. 262.
William G. Choate, Hon., New York, p. 324.
Winfield S. Choate, Hon., Augusta, Me. p. 345.
Winthrop Mulberry Tree, Eng., p. xiv.
That picture had to have come from the Choate book, which I have. It
appears on p.199, over his autograph.
In fact, the book is full of steel litho photos. I'll send a copy of the
list later tonight.
If you want a copy of an illustration, please just ask.
'Gene
Marj Kinkade wrote:
> There is a picture o Rufus choate on ebay at
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1420698378
>
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THE CHOATES IN AMERICA.
"MR. CLAY. That, sir, is not the thing. Did you not say that you
could not, without breach of privilege and violation of parliamentary
rule, disclose your authority?
"MR. CHOATE. I insist, sir, on my right to explain what I did
say, in my own words.
"Mr. Clay requested a direct answer to the question proposed by
him.
"Mr. Choate said he would have to take the answer as he gave it to
him.
"Mr. Preston [of South Carolina] rose and called the Senators to
order.
It is enough to add that the next morning, in the Senate chamber, Mr.
Clay offered an explanation in the nature of an apology for his
rudeness. Mr. Choate harbored no feeling of resentment, and there the
matter was dropped so far as the two participants were concerned.
Choate frequently spoke of Clay with admiration for that statesman's
character and eloquence. Years after the debate, he wrote to Mr. Parker
from England, saying, "They have no Henry Clay here in this House of
Commons." That he could have answered Clay in a tone as imperious as
the latter had used is shown by his speech in the Senate, replying to
Mr. McDuffie. He preferred simply to shield Mr. Webster, as he was in
honor and friendship bound to do, by maintaining strict silence even at
the risk of being misunderstood. We should not have given the incident
this prominence had not Mr. Hugh McCullough and others made it the
ground of their opinion that Mr. Choate lacked the courage needed by a
political leader, -- as though he were forced out of public life by men
who if the truth were told, would be known to have admired and loved
him. We can believe that his language was sincere when he said, "If a
man goes much into politics with law he will have no leisure for much
cultivation and gratification of tastes." His tastes and predilections
were stronger than his political ambition, and his retirement from
public life was entirely in accordance with his desires and his plans.
It was in the Senate that Mr. Choate delivered those speeches by
which he is best known. Of the speeches on the Oregon question, on the
Annexation of Texas, the Tariff, and the United States Courts, Mr.
Parker says, "They were carefully prepared as I very well know." These
are to he found in Brown's "Life and Works of Rufus Choate." It is not
without interest for us to see how those volumes were received by the
literary critic at the time of their first publication, in 1862.
Allibone's Dictionary quotes from "The Nation" as follows: -- Two-thirds
of this collection are historical or literary addresses called forth by
special occasions; the rest are political speeches. The latter, contrary
to what would be expected, are much the best. All are disfigured by a
very bad style." We are ready to admit that if we take the style of the
ordinary literary critic as the standard, that of Rufus Choate was
flagrantly vicious; but if we hear in mind the words of Webster, "After
all, say I, he is an orator that can make me think at he thinks. and
feel as he feels," and take into account the times and the places in
which these orations were delivered, the purposes which they were
designed to accomplish and which from the lips of the speaker they were
made to accomplish, that style is found to be every way admirable. It
was, however, the orator's own. It courted no rivalry, it was proof
against the skill of the counterfeiter. It baffles all attempts to
characterize or define. In reading these addresses, however, we are
made conscious that they are the exact counterpart of the mind which
produced them. They reveal to us the working of the orator's thought,
the play of his fancy, the mood of his feeling. We choose for an
example of his work, not from those carefully prepared political
speeches which, "The Nation" has pronounced his best, but from the
Fourth of July oration delivered in the Tremont Temple, at Boston,
1858. This was his last public effort to which he came with any
preparation. We quote a few of its opening sentences: --
"It is well in our year, so busy, so secular, so discordant, there comes
one day when the word is, and when the emotion is, 'our country, our
whole country, and nothing but our country.' It is well that law -- our
only sovereign on earth -- duty, not less the daughter of God, not less
within her sphere supreme -- custom, not old alone, but honored and
useful -- memories, our hearts, have set a time in which, scythe, loom,
and anvil stilled, shops shut, wharves silent, the flag -- our flag
unrent -- the flag of our glory and commemoration waving on mast-head,
steeple, and highland, we may come together and walk hand in hand,
thoughtful, admiring, through these galleries of civil greatness; when
we may own together the spell of one hour of our history upon us all:
when faults may be forgotten, kindnesses revived, virtues remembered and
sketched unblamed; when the arrogance of reform, the excesses of reform,
the strifes of parties, the rivalries of regions, shall give place to a
wider, warmer, and juster senti- [continued next page]
Page 203
THE CHOATES IN AMERICA.
stitutional Convention of the State. It was relieved by studies
critical and profound upon questions of governmental policy. One short
visit to Europe was the only relaxation allowed, and even that brief
respite from toil was dedicated to the favorite pursuits of his youth.
The contests of the courts were engaged in as the games were entered
upon at Olympia, they were fought out as the gladiatorial combats were
fought at Rome. The rights of his clients were sacred as were the rights
of a herald of old. To secure those rights with the safeguards of law
were bent all the energies of that mind trained to bring its forces into
effective action. There was no stint of knowledge, wit, or strength.
All the stores of learning were exhausted, all the graces of speech were
displayed, all the gifts of eloquence were lavished to win Victory over
to his side. When he died it was said that "the sunlight faded from the
forum," that "his loss took from the profession its most stimulating
example, its most splendid and charming illustration."
The great reputation of Rufus Choate as an advocate was won in the
courts of law, in conducting the everyday actions of assumpsit,
contract, and debt, replevin, trover, and tort. Here was his chosen
field of activity. This was the work for which he had fitted himself,
and in which he found his delight. From the nature of the case that
reputation must be almost wholly traditional. No reports of cases
contain the arguments of counsel and if they did, they would help us
little towards realizing the impassioned ardor with which the pleadings
were made. Few of Mr. Choate's briefs have been preserved. In his
"Reminiscences." Mr. Parker devotes about a hundred pages to these
"Forensic Arguments," as he calls them, and to those pages the reader is
referred. Upon this portion of the volume its author remarks "His jury
appeals are mostly preserved only in loose MS., and can be found nowhere
else than here."
Rufus Choate was elected to the Twenty-second Congress, and he
took his seat in the House of Representatives Dec. 5, 1831. Two years
later he was re-elected to the Twenty-third Congress by an increased
majority. He served through the first session of this Congress, when he
resigned his seat and returned to the practice of his profes-sion. Thus
the term of his service in the Lower House extended from Dec. 5, 1831,
to June 30, 1834. The resignation of Mr. Choate must be regarded as
purely a matter of choice. It was in keeping with his well-known view
that the bar was the place for him. His laying aside the office does
not necessarily imply any lack of public interest or of patriotism.
There was at the time nothing in the way of his keeping the seat or
giving it up. There would he no occasion to say a word about his
retirement here had not certain persons tried to account for it as they
would account for their own withdrawal from public office. He resigned
this place as he at times declined a seat upon the bench. The claims of
his family, the strong prepossession of his mind in favor of studies
which he could not pursue in public life, appear to have determined his
action.
Once more, however, some ten years later, he entered public life
again. This time it was to serve out the unexpired term of Daniel
Webster in the Senate. Mr. Webster had entered the Cabinet of President
Harrison, and had continued to hold his portfolio under the
administration of President Tyler. This service of Mr. Choate's in the
Senate lasted from March 1, 1841, to March 3, 1845. It was in the first
year of this term, July 2, 1841, that Henry Clay and Mr. Choate came
into sharp collision in debate. The matter was in itself of trifling
importance; but it has, in these later years, been made use of to show
that the Massachusetts Senator was lacking in morel courage, -- that he
was browbeaten and cowed by the great Whig leader. The debate was upon
the Fiscal Bank Bill. Mr. Clay wanted the bill to pass without
amendment. Mr. Choate intimated that the bill, unless amended, would be
vetoed. Clay then pressed the speaker to give the source of his
information. His object was to make it appear that Mr. Webster was
using his position of confidential counsel to influence legislation
improperly. The debate may be found reported at length in the
Congressional Record of the day. We quote the closing passages of the
colloquy: --
"MR. CHOATE. I gave my conviction. The Senator from Kentucky
asked me what grounds I rested my belief upon. I replied that I had
based it on facts and deduc-tions 1 did not think proper to disclose. I
did not, in giving convictions from a belief I could not control, imply
that I had any executive authority for what I stated.
"MR. CLAY. Will the gentleman say that he did not, in answer to my
direct interrogatory, state that he could not disclose the source of his
convictions without a breach of privilege and violation of parliamentary
rule?
"Mr. Choate again attempted to explain, but was interrupted by Mr.
Clay. [continued next page]
Page 202
THE CHOATES IN AMERICA.
descent to Avernes." We may feel pretty certain that this remark was
nothing more than the recalling an identification which had been made by
him when he read Virgil in his boyhood. It was this familiar and
constant play of the imagination which made him delight in the
acquisition of learning it gave him uses for all that he acquired.
Of his student life at Hanover we get a glimpse in the
recollections of Hon. Nathan Crosby, who was his junior in college by
one year. The account is that "Mr. Choate was sociable as well as
studious, but did not care for play. He found exercise in walks over
the hills around the college, and up and down his room, while pursuing
his studies. Choate's room was of ready access to his mates, and was a
sort of centre of mirth and wit: but when sport was over he turned to
his studies, with avidity." This avidity for study explains the lack of
interest in athletic games. It was the ruling passion. To a painful
degree it accounts for the haggard look his features wore in later
years. Such tasks as the young student was then setting for himself and
was in good faith performing were too much for his strength. Before his
college course was completed it is reported that "his place in the
recitation-room was often vacant, his condition a source of anxiety and
alarm." At his graduation he was the valedictorian of his class. Mr.
Crosby describes his appearance on that occasion:
He advanced slowly and feebly, as if struggling to live and to perform
this as a last scholarly duty. Tall and emaciated, closely wrapped in
his black gown, with his black, curly hair overshadowing his sallow
features, he tremblingly saluted the trustees and officers of the
college, and proceeded in tremulous and subdued tones, with his address,
which was full of beautiful thoughts couched in chaste and elegant
language." The closing sentences of that valedictory carry with them
the impression that the speaker himself anticipated no great length of
days as his inheritance. "Go," said he, "go forward, my classmates,
with all your honors and all your hopes. You will leave me behind,
lingering or cut short in my way; but I shall carry to my grave,
however, wherever, whenever I shall be called hence, the delightful
remembrance of our joys and of our love."
The year following his graduation was spent by Mr. Choate as tutor
in the college. Professor Brown has characterized this year as being one
that was "to him, and almost equally to his pupils, a year all
sunshine." In that warm and mellow sunshine was ripened to delicately
flavored fruit the learning which he had acquired in his undergraduate
course. Or to go out from the garden upon the dusty track and taking
our language from that of the Grecian games, we may say that he had set
the pace for his running mates, and he now had a chance to watch the
keen emulation which his career had excited.
His professional studies were begun at the Dane Law School of
Harvard, in 1820, and they were continued there for the first year. In
the following year he entered the law office of William Wirt at
Washington. This step seems very likely to have been taken upon the
advice and through the good offices of his brother-in-law, Dr. Sewall,
who was then residing in that city. He there had opportunities to hear
the most eloquent advocates of the country. It is not unreasonable to
suppose that so far as his style of speaking was the result of study and
imitation of any modern models it was formed upon what he heard that
year at the nation's capital. But before the winter was over he was
recalled from that pleasant field of study and of observation by the
death of his younger brother, Washington, who died Feb. 27, 1822. Those
studies so painfully interrupted were resumed with Mr. Asa Andrews, of
Ipswich, and were later pursued with Judge Cummings, of Salem, until the
young student was admitted to the bar in September, 1823. He began the
practice of his profession at South Danvers, now Peabody, where he
remained four or five years. In these years he twice represented the
town in the Lower House of the General Court, and was one year in the
Senate. In 1825 he married Helen Olcott, the daughter of Mills Olcott,
Esq., of Hanover, N. H. This marriage was naturally the outcome of an
earlier acquaintanceship formed in the undergraduate days of his college
life. His biographer has spoken of it as being "one of the many
felicitous circumstances of Mr. Choate's early career. It brought him
sympathy, encouragement, and support."
That professional career already entered upon with success was to
be followed for almost forty years with an unflagging enthusiasm. It
was to be interrupted by few vacations other than those which he himself
described as the intervals occurring between the question of the
examining counsel and the answer of the witness. It was varied only by
terms of arduous public service in the two Houses of Congress and in the
Con- [continued next page]
Page 201
THE CHOATES IN AMERICA.
was a scholar by instinct and by the determining force of his nature."
The philosophical habit of the present time would lead one to look upon
this instinct as being a part of his inheritance. We should expect to
find its source in the character and in the lives of his ancestors. In
the direct line, on the paternal side, none of these had enjoyed the
privileges and the benefits of a liberal education. The first of the
name in this country had witnessed to his appreciation of what the value
of a collegiate course might be by leaving funds for the expenses of his
youngest child at Harvard. The older sons, from one of whom Rufus was
descended, were forced by circumstances to start in life with no such
advantage. Four generations had served the province and the town, in
civil and in military life, with faithfulness and ability. They had
employed tongue and pen upon matters of public interest. They had, no
doubt, felt keenly the want of proper training for their world. The
father had entered the Continental Army at the age of nineteen. For him
the camp was college and professional school. He left it to follow the
seas. At the birth of his son these longings had been suppressed, these
hopes had been deferred, these high views had been maintained for more
than a hundred and fifty years. They became the impelling forces of the
generation to which Rufus belonged. There had, we may well suppose,
been passed down the line from the founder of our family upon these
shores the tradition that at some time, when private needs were not too
pressing, when public demands were not too urgent, there should be some
of the lineage called to show what strength of reason, what power of
imagination, what nimbleness of fancy had been busy in the active brain
of the past. In the case of this gifted child reason, ambition, and
conscience were fused into a fine and noble enthusiasm for learning.
Had he been born into the life of ancient Greece he would have been the
darling of the Muses, bred by them to the genial pursuits of taste; but
born as he was into a Puritan family in Puritan New England, he was
named to the practice of virtues at home, at school to a knowledge of
such things as thc schools could teach. It was for him, later on, to
show to the world, in the purity of his professional life, in the
patriotism of his public service, in the wisdom of his statesmanship, in
the beauty of his own home, the high worth of the Puritan training of
his boyhood.
Rufus Choate was admitted to the Freshman Class of Dartmouth
College in the summer of 1815, before he was yet quite sixteen years of
age. His preparatory studies must have been carried on in no very
systematic way; but he had the advantage of having received from several
different teachers the best that they had to give in the way of
instruction, and this, to a boy like him, was worth much. It is
reported that he began the study of Latin, under Dr. Thomas Sewell, at
the age of ten. During the next six years his studies were continued
for a few months yearly under the direction of the minister of the
parish, Rev. Mr. Holt, or the teachers of the district school. Among
these latter was the Rev. Dr. William Cogswell, then an undergraduate.
In January of 1815, the boy was sent as a pupil to the academy in
Hampton, N. H., to finish his preparatory course. At Dartmouth he was
admitted to a class of which only two mem-bers ,were younger than he.
How the young collegian impressed his fellows may be learned from the
recollections of his associates. Dr. Boyden, of Beverly, wrote on this
point as follows: "We entered college together in 1815. He was between
fifteen and sixteen years of age, very youthful and engaging in
appearance, modest and unpreten-tious in manner. Several students,
fresh from Andover, entered at the same time.
They were more fully prepared than he, and, at the start, showed
to better advantage in their recitations. But by and by some of these
began to fall from their first estate, and it was remarked about the
same time that 'That young Choate in the corner recited remarkably
well.' Before the end of the first term he was the acknowledged leader
of the class, and he maintained that position until graduation, without
apparent difficulty. No one pretended to rival him, nor did he invite
comparison. He paid little attention to the proficiency of his
fellow-students. His talk was of eminent scholars of other countries
and of former times, and they seemed the objects of his emulation." In
this last clause we may easily discover the secret of his great
success. There were no limi-tations of his efforts simply to meet the
requirements of the college or the expectation of those about him. His
studies were carried far beyond the prescribed course. He entered the
list with the orators of Athens to compete with them for the crown.
This was he able to do by grace of that imagination ,which enabled him
to realize the proudest traditions of the past. He, unconsciously no
doubt, revealed this source of his power as a student and as an orator
to his son-in-law when, pointing to a rocky, cavernous knoll as they
were driving from Ipswich to Essex, he said. "There is the [continued
next page]
Page 200
THE CHOATES IN AMERICA.
"Memories" that a loving spirit moved them, and presided over their
work." The part which Mr. Neilson himself took in the preparation of the
work abundantly proves his own affectionate devotion to the memory of a
brother in professional life.
Rufus Choate was born on Choate Island. Chebacco Parish, the
second precinct of Ipswich, "Tuesday, October 1, 1799, at 3 o'clock, P.
M.," as the event was carefully recorded by his father in the family
Bible. This place of his, birth remained one of his homes as long as he
lived. One of his homes we say because when he was only about six
months old his father purchased a house in the village of Chebacco,
still retaining possession of the farm on the Island. The summers of
the lad were likely to be spent at the island home; the winters on the
mainland. The situation of the farmhouse is well shown in a view of the
Island presented on an earlier page. According to the writer's
recollection, the house stands facing about south by east, to speak in
the nautical language which ought to be almost our mother tongue. The
slope in front, somewhat steep. a thick-matted sward always green, runs
down fifteen or twenty rods, perhaps, to the broken bank of the creek.
There is a fringe of basswood and other native trees along the shore.
The near view is of marshes at low water, with a tidal stream winding
and broadening down to the bay. At high water all that field is as a
quiet lake. Its shelter from the sea is afforded by two bare arms of
sand, -- the Loaf, or, in the phrase of earlier times, Two-penny Loaf,
-- stretching up from the south towards Castle Neck which is extended
from the north. The whiteness of the sand of which these barriers to
the sea are formed, and the rounded heaps into which it is drifted by
the winds deceive the unaccustomed eye with the appearance of snow.
Between the two points there is left an open space through which one
looks out upon the limitless sea. The character of the scene is
sculpturesque. Its beauty consists in clearness and grace of outline in
boldness of relief, and in its setting of untarnished blue. We dwell
thus particularly upon the outlook from the home of the boy, because a
nature so sensitive as his must have received impressions from the
surroundings in his early years that went with him through life. Those
impressions were an essential part of his intellectual furnishing. They
will account for the intensity and the constancy with which he loved
the sea, for the magic of that charm which the sea always had for him.
That sensitiveness to which allusion has just now been made must
have been a marked characteristic of the boy. So much would justly be
inferred from the highly emotional nature of the man, but this point is
not left to conjecture. In Mr. Brown's "Life" is given a personal
reminiscence of his driving home the cows. "He has said that more than
once, when he had thrown away his switch, he has returned to find it,
and has carried it back. and thrown it under the tree from which he took
it, for, he said, 'Perhaps there is, after all, some yearning of nature
between them still.' " Upon only a single point should I question the
correctness of his biographer's report of this incident. I should doubt
the lad's having thrown the switch under the tree from which it had been
broken. It is more natural to conceive of him tenderly laying the twig
on the spot which it had overhung in its growth. This loving sympathy
with Nature was never lost, never weakened even, in the midst of the
engrossing cares and responsibilities of later public and professional
life. Mr. E. P. Whipple says of him, "No one ever enjoyed Nature more
intensely, but he never sojourned with her." There was marked out for
him in his childhood a life of the most strenuous intellectual effort.
These early impressions of nature, however, were to live in the memory
of the man, as appears from the remark which he made to a friend whom he
once met when on his way to take the train to Hanover, that he was going
into the country to see if the birds were still singing as sweetly as
they used to sing when he was a boy.
The training of home and of school began early with the bright,
intelligent youth. Judge Neilson has said of him that "At an age when
boys are expected to care for none of these things, he had a thirst for
knowledge, a fondness for reading, and a fine sense of the use of
words." It is reported of him that at six years of age he had "devoured
the Pilgrim's Progress," and that before he was ten he had read most of
the books in the village library. Of this earlier education the writer
just now quoted says, "Beneficent influences, acting on a delicate,
docile, susceptible, emotional nature, -- a nature easily chilled, if
not perverted, by contact with the world, -- had been at work in advance
of the schools. Thus it was that, in due time, the boy went out from
those schools mature in moral and intellectual strength, prepared to
exercise the manly patience given to his riper studies." Rev. Richard
S. Storrs also said of this Chebacco schoolboy: "He [continued next
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THE CHOATES IN AMERICA.
1643-1896
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JOHN CHOATE
AND
HIS DESCENDANTS.
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CHEBACCO, IPSWICH,
MASS.
-----------
ILLUSTRATED.
-----------
BY E. O. JAMESON,
AUTHOR OF "THE COGSWELLS IN AMERICA," "THE HISTORY OF MEDWAY,
MASS,"
ETC.
-------------
BOSTON:
ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS,
24 FRANKLIN STREET.
1896.
*************************************************
Page 199
THE CHOATES IN AMERICA.
RUFUS CHOATE.
[485]
Rufus(6) Choate (David(5), William(4), Francis(3), Thomas(2), John(1),
son of David [231] and Miriam (Foster) Choate, was born Oct. 1, 1799, in
Chebacco, Ipswich, Mass. He married, March 29, 1825, Helen Olcott,
daughter of Hon. Mills and Sarah (Porter) Olcott. She was born March
29, 1804, in Hanover, N. H. They resided in Boston, Mass. Hon. Rufus
Choate, LL. D., died July 13, 1859, in Halifax, N. S. Mrs. Choate died
Dec. 8, 1864, in Dorchester, Mass.
THE CHILDREN WERE:
CATHERINE BELL, [940] b. May 26, 1826. She died in childhood, May 24,
1830.
INFANT, [941] b. Oct. 25, 1828, and died in infancy, Oct. 25, 1828.
HELEN OLCOTT, [942] b. May 2, 1830; m. June 2, 1852, Joseph Mills Bell.
SARAH BLAKE, [943] b. Dec. 15, 1831. She died in early womanhood, March
11, 1875.
Rufus, [944] b. May 14, 1834. He died in early manhood, Jan. 15, 1866.
MIRIAM FOSTER [945] b. Oct. 2, 1835; m. Sept. 23, 1856, Edward Ellerton
Pratt.
CAROLINE, [946] b. Sept. 15, 1837. She died in childhood, Dec. 12, 1840.
Memoranda.
THE following paper was prepared by Isaac Bassett Choate, of Boston,
Mass.: --
RUFUS CHOATE, ADVOCATE.
IT was every way desirable that one who had personal recollections
of Rufus Choate should prepare this sketch of his life and character.
All the more was this the case inasmuch as the genius and the efforts of
this man contributed so largely to the history of the family. There
must yet be living many who can recall the charm of his personality and
of his eloquence. Less than twenty years ago a writer remarked "Boston
swarms to-day with admirers of Choate." The present writer was never
privileged to meet the great advocate. His eyes never watched those
rapid and forceful gestures by which the soul sought to give expression
to its passionate thoughts and feelings; his ears never drank in the
music of that voice which charmed as the fabled lyre of old. It can
only be imagined, the reluctance with which he undertakes to write.
There is but one reflection to lead him to take heart of grace in this
attempt. If those who knew the man, who saw him daily in court and at
his home, who listened to his impassioned pleadings and to his familiar
table-talk, if they despaired of being able to give us any adequate idea
of their conception of his learning, his power, his genius, his worth,
it certainly will not be expected of one who never stepped upon the
vantage ground of personal intercourse that he should be free from
misgivings in regard to his ability to bring into near and distinct view
the shining qualities of a mind so highly gifted, of a character so
nobly grand. I cannot but regret for myself the unfulfilled desire of
my youth, but no doubt those for whom I now write can draw from the
ample sources to which I am compelled to resort a better, a truer, a
nobler idea of the man than I could have conveyed had I written under
the most favorable circumstances. I recall that in the year of his death
one of his biographers, Mr. Edward C. Parker, said: "After all that
those who knew and loved Mr. Choate can do, he will be forever unknown
to those who never saw and heard him." Still later on, Mr. Edwin P.
Whipple wrote: "It is difficult for those who knew him to convey to a
younger generation, which never passed 'under the wand of the magician,'
the effect which he produced on their own minds and hearts." How then
can a writer who comes to this work as I must come, when he reads these
admissions on the part of those who wrote from within the circle of
personal friendship, -- how can he have confidence in anything except in
the benevolent indulgence of his readers?
It must be matter of profound satisfaction to us all that those
who have written worthily of this member of our family have done so with
manifest affection and esteem. They have shown us, as Mr. Whipple has
shown us, "the effect which he produced on their own minds and hearts."
I remember that Mr. Samuel Gilman Brown told me when his "Life of Rufus
Choate" was completed, in 1862, that the work had been one of interest
and love. Mr. Joseph Neilson said of the many contributors to his volume
of [continued next page]
Two photos of the bridge are in the Choate genealogy. Those who would like
digital images, please give me a buzz...
'Gene
P1TTYPAT(a)aol.com wrote:
> I have a digital photo of the bridge and I probably got it off the net. I
> can't remember now. I could email it
> Pat McAlister in AR
>
> ==============================
> Ancestry.com Genealogical Databases
> http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist2.asp
> Search over 2500 databases with one easy query!
Page 61
THE CHOATES IN AMERICA.
of Stephen Choate, late Treasurer of the County of Essex, stating that
he had received certain sums of money therein specified, in bills which
have since depreciated, and praying relief; the Treasurer of this
Commonwealth was authorised to receive these bills as money." From this
circumstance it seems not unlikely, that his term of service as
treasurer of Essex County ended in 1812.
There can he little doubt that Stephen Choate had been largely
concerned in town affairs before he took his seat as a member of the
General Court, in 1776. He continued these more local duties and
responsibilities while he served the County and the State. For many
years he was a feoffee of the grammar school of Ipswich -- an
insti-tution which was made perpetual by Act of the General Court, Feb.
14, 1787.
Hon. Charles Augustus Choate [926], a great-grandson of the Hon.
Stephen Choate, now living in Jacksonville, Fla., has in his possession
"The Book of Record of Actions Commenced agreeably to Act passed Feb'y
15th, 1787." This record covers the period from May, 1787, to July,
1790. It appears to have been kept by Stephen Choate as one of the
justices of the courts.
Mr. C. A. Choate, of Jacksonville, has also the original will of
the Hon. Stephen Choate, dated Jan. 4, 1799, giving his property to his
"beloved wife, Elizabeth, and to his children, John, Amos, Miriam,
David, Lydia (Randall), Mary (Brown), Elizabeth (Kingman), Martha
(Hodgkins), Susannah, Isaac, and Stephen; also, to Betsey Day and Sally
Potter, the daughters of his wife." It has been thought that Elizabeth,
the wife of Stephen Choate, was previously the widow of Capt. John
Potter.
[italics]Vid. History of Ipswich, Mass., p. 186.[end italics]
[end biography.]
Page 60
THE CHOATES IN AMERICA.
8, 1781, and to the effect that the General Court "ordered that the Hon.
Stephen Choate be discharged of monies received by him for articles sold
belonging to the Light House on Thatcher's Island." That this order of
the Court did not operate as a discharge in full of all responsibilities
under the commission is plain from the fact that on Feb. 9, 1784,
Stephen Choate was ordered "to pay into the Treasury the rents from
Thatcher's Island."
Since 1781, the upper House of the General Court has been called
the Senate, and its members have been chosen by the people. Essex
County was entitled to four members in this body, and Stephen Choate was
elected one of the four. He continued to serve as Senator from this
time until 1797, when he was made Councillor. To this place he was
elected by the General Court successively until 1803. Thus he gave to
the State a continuous service in the General Court from the beginning
of popular government, in 1776, until 1803, a term of twenty-seven
years.
Of the part which was borne by the Hon. Stephen Choate in the
routine business of the Legislature in these years we have space only to
follow out one matter which throws additional light upon the record of
Col. John Choate, who died in 1765. The records for Nov. 17, 1785, show
"that on petition of Stephen Choate, Esqr., setting forth that pursuant
to a grant of the Great and General Court unto the late John Choate, of
Ipswich, there was surveyed and lain out a tract of land containing two
hundred and fifty acres in Methuen, and confirmed in April, 1734; that
the said John, by his deed with warranty, sold the same to Benjamin
Greenleaf of Newbury." The petition continues to recite that when the
boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was, later, established
by survey, this tract of land was found to be within the limits of the
latter province. Of course, Greenleaf's title failed with the failure
of the original grant. He had recourse, however, under the warranty, to
the heirs of John Choate for satisfaction. They, in turn, could appeal,
as they did, to the honor of the Commonwealth to make good its intent in
the grant of 1734. In response to this call for relief, the General
Court gave to Greenleaf, or his heirs, a grant of seven hundred acres of
land, to be located in Cumberland County or Lincoln County, in the
District of Maine. The location was made in the township of New
Gloucester in Cumberland County.
This petition, presented by Stephen Choate, in 1785, calls our
attention to the
Here is to be found
a silhouette portrait
With the subtitle of
MRS. ELIZABETH
(POTTER) CHOATE,
née MARTIN, and to
its right, the following
(in continuation of the above)
[The following text appears to the right of the portrait.]
particular service of John Choate for which the original grant was made
by the Province in 1734. A reference to the records of the General
Court for that year shows that, on Feb. 8, there was presented to the
Court a "petition of Mr. John Choate, one of the Committee for North
Yarmouth, showing that he has spent much time and made many journeys in
the service of the said town, for which they are not able to make him
any sat-isfaction," etc.; and praying for a grant of two hundred and
fifty acres of land, the same to be located within the limits of the
town of Methuen. This petition was granted by the Court, and was
approved by J. Belcher, Governor.
The services to the town of North Yarmouth, re-ferred to in the
petition of John Choate, consisted in surveying the township, laying out
the lots, and selling these to settlers. It is evident that the General
Court had expected the inhabitants of the town to pay for these
services. In town meeting assembled the inhab-itants did not repudiate
the claim upon them, but they simply pleaded their inability to pay it.
In addition to his long-continued service to the State in the
capacity of Representative, Senator, and Councillor, Stephen Choate also
served the County of Essex in various offices. He was elected Treasurer
of the County in the Court of Sessions, at Salem, in 1793. For how long
[a] time he held this office the writer has no
[the following text is again at full-page width.]
data at hand for determining, but he can reach a reasonable conclusion.
The records of the General Court for 1813 show that, on Jan. 30 of that
year, "Upon the petition [continued next page]
Page 59
THE CHOATES IN AMERICA.
for the Commonwealth and not for the Province. In looking over the
records of this Court one cannot fail to observe how large a proportion
of its members had served in previous years. This circumstance alone is
enough to show how directly the govern-ment of the Province tended to
shape itself into the government of the State.
But Stephen Choate came to the General Court at this session a new
member. He had secured the confidence of his fellow-townsmen, we may
suppose, by his services
Here are profile images in silhouette format facing each other,
subtitled:
MRS. MARY (LOW) CHOATE / HON. STEPHEN CHOATE.
on the Committee of Correspondence. That their confidence was well
sustained by his action in the Court is made certain by the fact that he
was returned as representative from Ipswich the following year, 1777,
although the town sent but two members that year. He continued to
represent the town in the lower House until 1779; from that time he was
a member of the Senate.
Aug. 9, 1779, the town of Ipswich elected five delegates to the
Convention to be held at Cambridge for the purpose of framing a new
Constitution of the State. Among these delegates were Stephen Choate,
Esq., and Col. Jonathan Cogswell.
[italics]Vid. History of Essex, Mass., p.
223.[end italics]
The name of Stephen Choate first appears upon the Records of the
General Court as a member of the upper House, or Council, as it was then
called, June 6, 1780. We may note here that so full of anxiety for the
members of the Court were those days that on the Saturday preceding,
June 3, they had adjourned to meet at 8 A. M., the next morning to
consider intelligence from the army. Accordingly, the records show that
on June 4, Sabbath Day, the two Houses met at 8 A. M., and considered
letters received. Just what had detained Mr. Choate from coming to the
Council previous to June 6 can he conjectured only from the fact that on
the 5th of May preceding he was appointed "a Committee to examine into
the situation of the Light House at or near Gloucester, and make return
thereof to the Honorable Council." This was, perhaps, the very first
step towards the formation of the Lighthouse Board under the Federal
Government. On the 23d of June, 1780, the examination ordered May 5,
having been made and reported to the Council as required, "Hon. Stephen
Choate Esq was authorized, empowered, and directed, in behalf of the
State to take under his care the property of the State on Thatcher's
Island." The next entry relating to this matter is of date June
NARA has obtained microfilms of 1930 city directories which are
available for viewing. The information concerning them can be found at
the following URL.
http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/citydirs.html/
Title Page:
THE CHOATES IN AMERICA.
1643-1896
-----------
JOHN CHOATE
AND
HIS DESCENDANTS.
-----------
CHEBACCO, IPSWICH,
MASS.
-----------
ILLUSTRATED.
-----------
BY E. O. JAMESON,
AUTHOR OF "THE COGSWELLS IN AMERICA," "THE HISTORY OF MEDWAY,
MASS,"
ETC.
-------------
BOSTON:
ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS,
24 FRANKLIN STREET.
1896.
*************************************************
Page 58
STEPHEN CHOATE.
[85]
Stephen(4) Choate (Thomas(3), Thomas(2). John(1), son of Thomas
[29] and Elizabeth (Burnham) Choate, was born Nov. 1, 1727, in Chebacco,
Ipswich, Mass. He married, Nov. 23, 1751, Mary Low, daughter of David
and Susanna Low. She was born April 24, 1726, in Chebacco, Ipswich,
Mass. Mrs. Mary Choate died Aug. 22, 1769, in Ipswich, Mass., where they
resided. Mr. Choate married, June 7, 1770, 2 Mrs. Elizabeth Potter, née
Martin, daughter of Isaac and Rachel (Choate) [34] Martin; she was born
in 1739. They resided in Ipswich, Mass. Deacon Choate died Oct. 19,
1815. Mrs. Elizabeth Choate died April 29, 1814.
THE CHILDREN WERE:
STEPHEN, [217] b. Nov. 2, 1752; m. Feb. 13, 1772, Elizabeth Patch; d.
May 19, 1816.
MARY, [218] b. Sept. 3, 1754; m. Nov. 28, 1771, Nehemiah Brown; d.
ELIZABETH, [2191 b. Dec. 22, 1757; m. Dec. 31, 1786, Nathaniel Kinsman;
d. July 18, 1834.
LYDIA, [220] b. 1758; d.
MARTHA, [331] b. Aug. 14, 1760; m. Thomas Hodgkins; d. May 8, 1849.
SUSANNA, [222] b. Sept. 1, 1762; m. Jan. 1, 1789, George Choate [233];
d. Aug. 13, 1827.
JOHN, [213] b. Feb. 5, 1765; m. (1) Elisabeth Baker; m. (2) Mary
Cogswell; d. Jan. 23, 1838.
DAVID, [214] b. May 11, 1767; m. July 18, 1789, Sarah Appleton; d. 1814.
MIRIAM, [225] b. June 19, 1769. She died Aug. 25, 1850.
AMOS, [225] b. Aug. 28, 1771. He died in boyhood, Aug., 1775.
ISAAC, [227] b. Oct. 20, 1772; m. Mrs. Elizabeth (Dyer) Bradley; d.
AMOS, [228] b. Dec. 10, 1775; m. 1801, (1) Lucy Smith; m. May 26, 1833,
(2) Mehitable Neal; d. Aug. 7, 1844.
LYDIA, [229] b. Sept. 29, 1777; m. Ephraim Kendall; d. May 7, 1817.
MEMORANDA
The following paper was prepared by Isaac Bassett Choate, Ph. D.,
of Boston, Mass.: --
STEPHEN CHOATE, COUNCILLOR.
We read in the "History of Essex County," Vol. I, p. 616, that
Stephen Choate, of Ipswich, was chosen, June 29, 1774, on a Committee of
Correspondence. The peculiar services of these committees at that time
need not be set forth at length. The bare record given above enables us
to identify the good deacon of the second precinct of Ipswich with the
cause of American Independence at an early stage in the struggle between
the Colonies and England. This membership of the committee did not of
itself constitute admission to public life, but it no doubt served in
this instance as a preliminary step to the long and honorable career in
the General Court of the Province and State.
Deacon Choate entered the General Court as a representative from
Ipswich, May 29, 1776. The Court held its session of this year in
Watertown, since Boston had too recently been in the hands of the
British soldiers. Ipswich was represented for that year by five
members, and the representation of other towns was in the same
proportion. The members of this Court were the first that had been
elected in the Province without warrant of the King. It was the first
time the Court was in session
Fellow Choates
With respect to Marj's ebay post...
I had thought Marj had posted the interesting story of the Choate bridge, but
went into the archives for 1999 and retrieved the following post. It came
when the Northern Choates were making a valiant effort (but ultimately
unsuccessful) to show they were as "flawed" as we Southern horsetealing,
wife-leaving, divorcing, no will, no recorded marriage Choates (but ever
chain carrying, land buying/selling, petition sighing (a real favorite), ).
The closest they came (and it is still as far away as the moon) is actually
one of my favorite all-time anywhere "feminist" stories, but never theless
perfectly honorable...It's the second one....court order a church not be
built by men in a newly settled area (Chebacco)...wives went to neighboring
communities and recruited the "builders" technically in compliance. ..they
got in trouble.
Here are the two posts from the archives.
First the Choate Bridge:
CNIDR Isearch-cgi 1.20.06 (File: 40)
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 19:38:48 -0400
From: Carol Pierce <cp14557(a)cedarnet.org>
To: CHOATE-L(a)rootsweb.com
Message-Id: <l0311070db38c9075d4ee(a)[206.29.224.117]>
Subject: Nancy & Barefoot and Another Choate Story
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Methinks if Nancy had nailed Barefoot's feet to the floor it might have
kept him from straying.
Here's a story regarding the Choate bridge located in Ipswich, MA which is
still in use today.
A bridge committee was established in the early 1760's. Colonel John
Choate, (who was a brother of our
fifth greatgrandfather, Thomas) became the superintendent in charge of the
project. It was decided to construct a stone arch bridge. Many of the
towspeople were opposed to the plan thinking it was doomed to failure. The
bridge was completed in 1764.
Legend has it that when the bridge was finished Col. Choate appeared on a
fast horse on the far side of the
bridge and announced he would ride the horse across to prove it would not
collapse. Some of those op-
posed to the stone arch construction reasoned that since he was already
headed toward Canada he would just keep going if it fell. He gave the
order to remove the timbers supporting the arches and galloped across.
The bridge didn't fall, and in 1964 it became the first historic landmark
designated by the Massachusetts
Historical Commission. As many as 15,000 vehicles, including 18-wheel
gravel and sand trucks travel
across it each day.
______________________________
------------------------------
Then my personal favorite from Marj
CNIDR Isearch-cgi 1.20.06 (File: 25)
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 11:05:45 -0500
From: "Marjorie Kinkade" <mlk(a)mddc.com>
To: CHOATE-L(a)rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <37330F46.851E5F74(a)mddc.com>
Subject: Northern story
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854";
x-mac-creator="4D4F5353"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
John choate was the first of my line to come to America. He settled in
Ipswich-Chebacco, MA in 1643. His son married Mary Varney.
Mary's mother, Abigail (Proctor) Varney, (who would have been my 7th gt.
grandmother) is the subject of this story.
The only meeting house for these very religious people was in Ipswich.
Those in Chebacco had to walk seven miles to attend church and in 1679
they wanted to build a church in Chebacco. The Court and council of
Ipswich turned a deaf ear on the petition. Men of Chebacco decide to
build anyway and laid the sills for a new meeting house. Word got to
Ipswich and the court ordered "the men of Chebacco to desist from all
further proceedings in this matter" Anticipating conflict, the men
halted work. Abigail invited several women in and told them that the
order only said men of Chebacco must not build - she and two of her
friends - without the knowledge of their husbands rode their horses to
neighboring towns of Manchester and enlisted the aid of men there to
come to their aid. the next day these men came and the church was
built. The women were arrested and after admitting their guilt, were
released. Choate family members have continued as members of this
church (now known as the Congregational Church of Essex, MA) to the
present. They are now in the 4th church building. This story is found
in the book "Choates of America" by E.O Jameson 1896
______________________________
------------------------------
.
Hi,
**This message is being sent to the CHOATE mailing list.**
The email address that RootsWeb has for the CHOATE list admin
robdia(a)netzero.net
is bouncing, so RootsWeb is looking to make contact with the list
admin. Will the list admin please contact Andrew Billinghurst
(billingh(a)rootsweb.com) so that we know that you are still
maintaining this list and please reply quoting this message.
List members there is nothing for you to worry about and nothing for
you to do, it is probably just an email problem for the person
looking after the day-to-day management of this list. Rest assured
that this does not mean that your list is in danger.
Thanks!
Andrew Billinghurst, RootsWeb Staff
billingh(a)rootsweb.com
--
Andrew Billinghurst <billingh(a)rootsweb.com>
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