dren were: John, born in 1678; Phebe, born
in 1681 (married Edmund Freeman) ; Mercy,
born in 1685 (married John Freeman) ; Mary,
born in 1688 (married Nathaniel Freeman) ;
Elizabeth (married John Bacon).

(IV) Jghn Watson, son of Elkanah, born in
1678, married in 1715 Sarah, daughter of Dan-
iel Rogers, of Ipswich, and their children were :
John, born in 1716; and George, born in 1718.
He married (second) in 1729 Priscilla, daugh-
ter of Caleb Thomas, of Marshfield, and their
children were: William, born in 1730, and El-
kanah, born in 1732.

(V) John Watson (2), son of John, born in
1716, married in 1744, Elizabeth, daughter of
Joseph Reynolds, of Bristol, and their children
were : Elizabeth, born in 1745 (married Ed-
ward Clark, of Boston) ; John, born in 1747;
and Daniel, born in 1749.

(VI) John Watson (3), son of John (2),
born in 1747, married in 1769 Lucia, daughter
of Benjamin Marston, of Manchester, and
their children were: John, born in 1769;
George, born in 1771; Sally Marston, born in
1772; Benjamin Marston, born in 1774; Lucia,
born in 1776, who married John Taylor; Dan-
iel, born in 1779 ; William, born in 1783 ; Wins-
low, bom in 1786; and Broke.

(VII) Benjamin Marston Watson, son of
John (3), born in 1774, married in 1804 Lu-
cretia Burr, daughter of Jonathan Sturges, of
Fairfield, Conn. Their children were : Lucretia
Ann, who married Rev. Hersey B. Goodwin;
Elizabeth Miller; Benjamin Marston, bom in
1820; and Jonathan Sturges.

(VIII) Benjamin Marston Watson, son of



Benjamin Marston and Lucretia Burr (Stur-
ges) Watson, was born Jan. 18, 1820, in Ply-
mouth, Mass. He was graduated from Har-
vard College in 1839 with high honors, having
among his classmates Judge James Gore King
of New York, Rev. Edward Everett Hale, Rev.
Samuel Longfellow, Gov. Nathaniel S. Baker,
of New Hampshire, Kirk Root, George Hay-
ward and Samuel Elliot.

Mr. Watson was a great lover of nature and
decided on leading a rural life. He purchased
a large tract of wild land a mile from Ply-
mouth to which he applied his knowledge of
forestry and horticulture. He converted this
land into the charming "Hill-side" so well
known to Plymoutheans, and where he estab-
lished the "Old Colony Nurseries," and dur-
ing the larger part of his active life carried on
an extensive business, his relations in other
connections making him well kno\vn all over
the country and also at places in Europe,
whence he often made importations of choice
flowers and bulbs.

Mr. Watson was always the scholar, exceed-
ingly well read, and he wrote to some extent
for various magazines, mainly on historical sub-
jects. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry D.
Thoreau and Bronson Alcott of the Concord
School of Philosophy were intimates of his, and
often visited his home, and he was sympathtic
with advanced thought and human progress
wherever presented. Mr. Watson was a friend
to the Plymouth Public Library and it was
largely through his advice and effort, in con-
junction with the late Charles Burton and
a few others, that the beginning was made
more than forty years prior to his death of this
highly beneficial institution. Closely connected
in ancestry with the "Fathers," Mr. Watson
was a student of their character, and an ad-
mirer of their virtues, and he had been for
many years a member of the board of trustees
of the Pilgrim Society.

Mr. Watson cared little for distinction, never
holding public office or entering aggressively
into political affairs, but always in his com-
munity and elsewhere was distinguished as a
true gentleman of learning and character, ever
genial, kindly and polite, whose friendships
were sincere and whose acquaintance it was
a pleasure to possess.

In 1846 Mr. Watson married Mary Russell,
born Jan. 9, 1820, daughter of Thomas Rus-
sell ; she died Dec. 13, 1906, surviving Mr.
Watson, who had passed away Feb. 19, 1896.
They had children as follows: Benjamin Mar-
ston, born in 1848 ; Thomas Russell ; Lucretia
Sturges, born in 1851 ; Edward Winslow, born



938



SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS



Sept. 20, 1853 ; and Ellen, bom in 1856. The
daughters reside at the "Hill-side" homestead.

(IX) Benjamin Marston Watson (2),
eon of Benjamin Marston, born in 1848, was
educated in the public and high schools of
Plymouth and at Harvard University, gradu-
ating from the latter institution with the class
of 1870. Returning home at the close of his
college course he worked with his father in
the Old Colony Nurseries for some time, then
entering the Bussey Institution, Harvard, where
he took up landscape architecture, becoming
one of the foremost men in his line in the
State. He is now professor of horticulture at
the Bussey Institution, Harvard.

(IX) Thomas Russell Watson, son of
the late Benjamin Marston Watson, was born
July 18, 1850, on the homestead. After receiv-
ing his preparatory training in the common
land high schools of Plymouth (graduating
from the high school in 1869) he entered Har-
vard, from which he was graduated with the
class of 1873, with the degree of A. B. He
tetumed home after tb,e completion of his
college course and engaged in the nursery busi-
ness with his father until 1878, in which year
he went West, locating in Walton township.
Rooks Co., Kans., where he took up farming,
sheep and cattle raising, continuing thus for
a period of sixteen years, during which time
he met with fair success. But in 1894 he sold
out and returned East, settling at his old home,
Plymouth, to succeed his father in the nur-
sery and flower business, which he has since
conducted. Mr. Watson is now one of the best-
known men in his line in the State, and is
considered an authority on nursery stock, or-
namental trees, shrubbery and flowers. He is
energetic and thrifty as well as progressive, and
his long experience has enabled him to con-
tinue the business successfully, his shipments
of ornamental trees and shrubbery being made
all over the American continent, to many parts
of Europe, and to Japan, New Zealand and
India; he has over twenty acres of land under
cultivation for this particular kind of stock.
Mr. Watson has taste for his work and artistic
ideas, and his home grounds and surroundings
are eloquent of his talent in this regard. He
has followed in his father's footsteps as a stu-
dent of horticulture and kindred interests, and
has written several articles on the subject.

In July, 1901, Mr. Watson was married, at
Cambridge, Mass., to Frederica King Davis, a
native of Cambridge, daughter of Andrew M.
Davis and granddaughter of "Honest" John
Davis, a well-known governor of Massachusetts.
They have had three children: Eleanor Whit-
ney, Margery Willard and Frederica Gore.



Mr. Watson is a stanch Republican and has
always been interested in the public welfare,
being independent, however, in local affairs.
While a resident of Kansas he was quite active
in the affairs of Walton township. Rooks
county, serving several years as justice of the
peace, as school trustee, clerk of the township
and in other minor offices. He is known as a
most public-spirited citizen in Plymouth, at
present a member of the Park Commission,
and a trustee of the Plymouth Savings Bank.
He holds membership in the Pilgrim Society
of Plymouth (of which he is a trustee) and
the Old Colony Club, and is a member of the
Hasty Pudding Club of Harvard, and of the
American Association of Nurserymen.

(IX) Edward Winslow Watson, young-
est son of Benjamin Marston, born in Ply-
mouth Sept. 20, 1853, was educated in the
public and high schools of Plymouth. He
worked at home with his father until he went
West to Kansas, locating with his brother
Thomas R. in Walton township. Rooks county,
where he was engaged in ranching until 1896.
That year he returned to the old homestead,
and has been associated with his brother
Thomas in the nursery business ^ver since.
He married Anna Johnson, and has five chil-
dren : Mary Russell, Ellen Marston, Christenia,
Edward Winslow, Jr., and Benjamin Marston.

LOT PHILLIPS, box manufacturer of West
Hanover, Plymouth Co., Mass., is a well k-nown
business man and a descendant of an old Ply-
mouth county family. He was born in the
town of Hanson, Feb. 13, 1841.

This Phillips family is descended from John
Phillips, Lot Phillips tracing his line through
Samuel, Thomas, Blaney, Lot and Ezra.

(I) John Phillips (accepting Pope as au-
thority), of Duxbury, was a volunteer for the
Pequot war in 1637; a proprietor, 1640; on the
list of those able to bear arms, 1643. He
bought Oct. 19, 1639, a house in Duxbury of
Robert Mendall, for which annual payments
were to be made at Boston. He married (first)
at Marshfield, July 6, 1654, Grace Holloway,
and ( second P*March 14, 1666, Faith, widow of
Edward Doten. She died Dec. 21, 1675; made
will Dec. 12, 1675, giving her estate to her
daughters Mary, Elizabeth and Desire. He
had one child, Joseph, born last of March,
1655. He made his will Oct. 20, 1691, aged
about eighty-nine years; bequeathed to son
Samuel, and son Benjamin, and each of their
sons.

(II) Samuel Phillips, of Taunton, perhaps



SOUTHEASTJ^KN MASSACHUSETTS



929



8oa of the above, married in 1676 Widow Mary
Cobb, and their children were : Mehetabel, born
in 1676; Samuel, born in 1678; and Thomas.

(III) Thomas Phillips, of Marshfield, per-
haps son of Samuel (above), married in 1702
Rebecca, daughter of John Blaney, of Charles-
town, and their children were : Rebecca, born
in 1704 (married Philip Chandler) ; Thomas,
born in 1705; John, born in 1707; Samuel,
iDom in 1709; Blaney, born in 1711; and per-
haps Mary (who married Reuben Carver).

(IV) Blaney Phillips, of Duxbury, and
Pembroke, Mass., born in 1711, married in
1733 Christian, daughter of Christopher Wads-
worth, of Duxbury, and their children were:
Samuel, born in 1734; Blaney, born in 1736;
Samuel, born in 1738; Christian, born in 1740
(married Philip Chandler) ; Mercy, born in
1744 (married Mark Phillips) ; Alice, born in
1747 (married David Beal) ; Seth, born in
1749; Christopher, born in 1753; Lot, born
in 1755; and Betty, born in 1757.

(V) Lot Phillips, of Pembroke, born in
1755, married in 1779 Diana, daughter of
Rouse Howland, and their children were : Ezra,
born in 1779; Mehetabel, born in 1783; Lydia,
born in 1786; Sally, bom in 1788; Diana, born
in 1791; Christian Wadsworth, born in 1793;
and Blaney, born in 1797.

(VI) Ezra Phillips, of Hanson, Mass., son
of Lot and Diana (Howland) Phillips, bom
Oct. 2, 1779, in the town of Hanson, there
grew to manhood. He owned a tract of land
in that town and followed farming, making
his home there throughout life. He lived to
a ripe old age, dying July 6, 1857; he was
buried in Hanson. He was a man well known
and respected, a good citizen in every way. He
married (first) in 1808 Mehetabel, daughter of
Joseph Allen, of Bridgewater, Mass., and two
children were born to that union : Ezra, horn
Oct. 10, 1810, and Mehetabel, born in 1811,
who married Charles Beal and resided in
Turner, Maine. Mr. Phillips married for his
second wife, in 1814, Lucy, daughter of Josiah
Chamberlain, and-^hey had three children: a
son, bom in 1815,'- who died in infancy, un-
named; Lucy Pratt, born in 1821; and George,
bom in 1824. For his third wife Mr. Phillips
married, in 1833, Nabby Pratt, widow of Jon-
athan Pratt, and daughter of Mark Phillips,
of East Bridgewater. She died May 6, 1863, at
her home in Hanson, leaving one son, Lot,
who was born Feb. 13, 1841.

(VII) Lot Phillips, son of Ezra and Nabby
(Phillips) Phillips, was born in Hanson, Mass.,
and until twenty-two years of age remained
on the home place, attending the public schools

B9



and working on the farm. Of a mechanical
turn of mind, and with a taste in that direc-
tion, he learned the trade of millwright, be-
coming proficient in that occupation, at which
he continued until 1871. Feeling now like do-
ing business on his own account, he became as-
sociated with E. Y. Perry & Co., of South
Hanover, this firm being composed of E. Y.
Perry and Mr. Phillips's half-brother, Ezra
Phillips, who built for him a plant for the
manufacture of wooden boxes and the grinding
of grain, their location being in West Hanover,
Mass. ; the business was conducted under the
firm style of Lot Phillips & Co., Mr. Phillips
being given a half interest in the business
which he was to pay for out of the profits of
the business. When Mr. Phillips began busi-
ness in West Hanover it was a mere hamlet.
But owing to the extensive business this con-
cern has brought to the place ihe point has
become one of the busiest sections of the town ;
and all this through the efforts of enterprise
and public spirit of Lot Phillips & Co., for
they have been wide-awake, industrious and
progressive men. The mill business still con-
tinues to be the principal industry there and
the employees reside in comfortable homes in
the immediate yicinity, erected principally
through Mr. Phillips's energy.

Mr. Phillips started in business in a modest
way and by his own sheer pluck and good busi-
ness methods has increased the capacity of
the original plant many times,, until it is now
one of the largest box mills in this part of
Massachusetts. In addition to the mill and
box business at West Hanover he has acquired
by purchase a number of other smaller mills
in Hanover and siirrounding towns, including
the old Alahab mill, at West Hanover, and
others, in West Duxbury, East Pembroke, and
elsewhere. In 1904 the business was incor-
porated under the laws of Massachusetts, with
he following oflBcers: Lot Phillips, president;
T^red Phillips, secretary ; J. W. Hinckley, treas-
urer.

As required in his business, Mr. Phillips
deals quite extensively in real estate. He is
an experienced woodman and knows that
branch of the business thoroughly. He super-
intends personally the cutting of lumber on
his woodland, and in storm and sunshine
makes his regular trips to the woods all through
the southern Plymouth county tovras where
he has interests. He also owns a nimiber of
farms throughout the towns in the vicinity of
Hanover and elsewhere. He conducts his busi-
ness in an up-to-date and modem manner. He
is ever looking for new improvements and few



930



SOUTHEASTEEN MASSACHUSETTS



in business are more progressive than he. His
success in business is due to his careful and
shrewd management. He is square and open
in all his business dealings and his word is as
goo(.l as his bond. He has in his employ in the
neighborhood of eighty to one hundred hands
and this number is greater at certain seasons
of the year.

Mr. Phillips has become one of the most
prominent men in Hanover. He is always in-
terested in anything for the benefit of the
town of his adoption and can be relied upon
to be upon the right side of the question. His
business judgment is often sought by people
in other lines of industry. He takes much in-
terest in town meetings, and it is rarely in-
deed that he misses a meeting.

Mr. Phillips has served as a member of the
cemetery committee in Hanover for several
years and it is largely through his efforts that
the cemetery at Centre Hanover has become
one of the handsomest in this section. He is
a member of the Kockland Commercial Club
and has served on many important committees,
having served on the executive committee for
the past several years. He attends the First
Congregational Church at Centre Hanover, is
a member of the parish and has acted as treas-
urer of the parish for many years. He is a
director of the Abington & Kockland Electric
Light & Power Company, and a director and
vice president of the Rockland Trust Company,
of Rockland, of which he "was one of the in-
corporators.

Mr. Phillips is a stanch Republican, and
while he has never held any office he has served
as a member of tlie Republican town committee
and was for some time an officer of the Ply-
mouth County Republican Club, doing much
to bring that organization to the front as
one of the political powers of the State. He
has traveled extensively through this country
and has a wide acquaintance among public
men. His friends and fellow citizens, believ-
ing the people of the district were in want of
a business man to represent them in the Gen-
eral Court of Massachusetts, and believing him
to be just such a man as wanted, urged him,
in 1906, to become a candidate lor representa-
tive of the Rockland, Hanover and Hanson
district at the party caucus held in September
of that year, and, yielding to their wishes, his
name was there presented ; he was defeated by
but three votes.

On March 6, 1862, Mr. Phillips married
Sarah E. Barker, who was born in Livermore,
Maine, May 26, 1842, daughter of Lot P. and
Elizabeth (Soper) Barker, of Hanson, Mass.



To this union were born children as follows:
(1) George W., born Feb. 9, 1864, died Oct.
13, 1889. He married June 28, 1888, Edith
E. Wheeler, who was bom July 9, 1868, daugh-
ter of L. F. Wheeler, of Rockland, Mass., and
they had one child, George W., Jr., born Nov.
13, 1889. (2) Mabel G., born Dec. 11, 1866,
married Edwin T. Whiting. (3) Fred W.,
born Jan. 10, 1870, married Aug. 18, 1896,
Jane F. Drew, daughter of Thomas Drew, and
they have had three children; Elizabeth, born
June 26, 1897; Evalina D., July 24, 1900; and
Lot (2), Sept. 11, 1903. (4) Flora E., born
Nov. 20, 1871, married Frank S. Alger, editor
of the Rockland Standard. (5) Ezra Burt,
born Oct. 18, 1873, married Dec. 25, 1894,.
Mabel F. Turner, daughter of Walter F.
Turner, and they have had two children, Reta
L., born July 7, 1900, and Ezra W., born
March 6, 1906. (6) Lee, born April 8, 1879,
married April 19, 1906, Elizabeth W. Curtis,
daughter of Albert J. Curtis, and they have-
two children: Elizabeth, born May 11, 1907;
anl Hannah Curtis, born Jan. 27, 1909. (7)
Hugh, born Feb. 1, 1882, resides at home.
The mother of this family passed away in
Hanover, Mass., Jan. 9, 1907.

SANFORD (Attleboro family). For some-
two hundred years the Sanford family of what
comprised ancient Taunton and vicinity has
stood out conspicuously in the learned profes-
sions. Reference in particular is made to those
of the line of Capt. Joseph Sanford, an active
patriot of the American Revolution, four of
whose immediate family were college-bred men
and ministers of the gospel ; while many of
their posterity have followed in their foot-
steps. And now for some sixty years there has
resided in the town of Attlehoro the present
venerable Dr. Edward Sanford, a grandson of
Capt. Joseph Sanford, the patriot, whose long
life as a physician and citizen has been one of
usefulness — one that should be an incentive
and inspiration to the youth of to-day.

The Taunton records proclaim that July 1,
1713, John Sanford was married to Abigail
Pitts. These were the ancestors of the Attle-
boro family especially considered in this arti-
cle. Abigail was born in 1689 and was a
granddaughter jof Peter Pitts and Edward Bab-
bitt, of Taunton, and great-granddaughter of
Miles Tame, of Boston. Mr. Sanford died in
1747.

From this couple the lineage of the present
Dr. Edward Sanford of Attleboro is through
Lieut. George Sanford (1724-1820) and his-
wife Mary Phillips, who died in 1793; Capt.



SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS



931



Joseph Sanford (1761-1834) and his wife Eli-
nor Macomber (1763-1845), and Rev. Enoch
Sanford (1795-1890).

Since the Revolutionary period the Sanford
family in question has had such a connection
with Brown University as is unusual. It is a
matter of history that during the Revolution
University Hall was occupied as a barracks
for the Colonial troops, and while in the ser-
vice during the struggle for liberty it fell to
the lot of Capt. Joseph Sanford to be quartered
in the building for upward of a year; and in
after years he used to say with a twinkle in
his eye that he had been "through college."
He reared four sons who cited old Brown as
their alma mater. They were : Rev. James
and Rev. John, of the class of 1812 ; Rev.
Enoch, of the class of 1820; and Rev. Baalis,
of the class of 1823 ; and, as intimated in the
foregoing, a number of their posterity have
since been graduated from that institution.
Of the four sons of Tirown named, James after
his graduation studied divinity and for years
was pastor of churches of the Congregational
denomination in the States of New York and
Massachusetts; John was ordained a Congre-
gational minister in 1815, was for years an
evangelist, then pastor of churches in Massa-
chusetts; Enoch was also for many years a
pastor, and of whom more presently ; and
Baalis, a graduate of the Andover Theological
School, was for many years pastor of churches
in Massachusetts.

Rev. Enoch Sanford, D. D., son of Capt.
Joseph and Elinor (Macomber) Sanford, was
born Oct. 26, 1795, at Berkley, Mass. He was
prepared for college at Phillips Academy, An-
dover, Mass., under John Adams as principal.
He completed the preparatory course in 1816,
and then entered Brown University.; two
brothers, James and John, as stated, had pre-
ceded him at Brown, and one, Baalis, followed
him later, class of 1823 ; and all like himself
became Congregational preachers. Enoch was
graduated in 1820 and in 1821 was appointed
tutor in his alma mater, a relation he sustained
to the institution for two years, studying theol-
ogy at the same time, under the direction of
Rev. Dr. Calvin Park, then professor of moral
philosophy and metaphysics in the college. At
the time of his death he was the oldest person
who had been a teacher in the college. While
tlitor Mr. Sanford was the teacher of Rev. Dr.
Barnas Sears, president of Brown University,
1855-67, and the friendship there formed be-
tween them la«ted through life.

After completing his course of theological
study Mr. Sanford was ordained and settled as



pastor of the First Congregational Church at
Raynham, Mass. This pastorate he held for
twenty-five years. He subsequently preached at
Halifax, Wellfleet and Dighton, Mass., and for
a time was principal of the Hollis Institute, at
Braintree, Mass. His residence continued to
be at Raynham throughout his life and there
he is buried among the people of his first choice.
One of his first official acts on assuming his
pastoral charge at Raynham was the formation
of a Sunday school, not then a common insti-
tution. As he became a member of the Con-
gregational Church at Berkley, his native town,
when twelve years of age, he was at tlie time
of his death, so far as could be ascertained,
the church member of longest standing in the
State of Massachusetts.

Dr. Sanford's interest in classical and mathe-
matical studies continued without abatement
as long as he lived. For a time he annually
calculated with exactness the eclipses of the sun
and moon in advance of the calendar, and for
many years annually read Homer. His mental
clearness and vigor were unimpaired to the
last, though he was physically disabled for some
months. His final illness lasted but one week.

Dr. Sanford was the author of several local
histories, "Genealogy of the King Family," etc.
He was corresponding member of the New
York Genealogical and Biographical Society
and member of the State Historical Society of
Wisconsin. In June, 1884, the University of
the City of New York conferred on him the
honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity.

On Dec. 14, 1823, Mr. Sanford ' married
Caroline, only daughter of Capt. Solomon and
Lurane (Loud) White, of Braintree, Mass.
She died Sept. 16, 1870. Their five children
were: Edward Sanford, M. D., of Attleboro,
Mass. ; L. Augusta Sanford, now living on the
homestead at Raynham, where she ministered
faithfully and tenderly for many years to her
aged parents; Enoch W. Sanford, M. D., de-
ceased, who for three years was a member of the
class of 1856 of Brown University; Solomon
W. Sanford, who died Sept. 16,' 1872; and
Hon. Elliot Sanford, formerly of New York,
chief justice of the Supreme court of Utah
under President Cleveland.

Dr. Sanford died at his home at Raynham,
Mass., Nov. 30, 1890, at the age of ninety-five
years, one month, four days.

Dr. Edward Sanford, son of Rev. Enoch
and Caroline (White) Sanford, was born in
March, 1825, at Raynham, Bristol Co., Mass.,
and in the schools of his native place received
his early education. Later he furthered his
studies in the Bristol Academy at Taunton.



932



SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS



Deciding upon entering the medical profession
as a calling in life he was prepared for the
same at the Harvard Medical School, from