with notices of his daughter. By George E.
l-^llis. Published for the American Academy of
.Arts and Sciences. Boston)" mentions Rum-
ford as dependent on his own exertions, with-
out inherited means, or ])atronage, or even good
fortune : and while this may be to some extent
true of his early life in W'oburn. it was not
tnu- of his later life. Likewise it must be ad-
mitted that he had in his early, as he had in his
later li fe. a lack of that rigid purity of principle,
which, as even Dr. Ellis admits, would not
insure with propriet\- all his domestic relations
being the subject of exact record. The cause
of these failings in virtue is referred to the in-
fluences he encountered on foreign soil, and to
foreign customs in such matters which pre-
vailed in his day.
The emblazoned diploma of arms which he
received in his thirty-first year from the King
of I'jighmd when he became a knight, states in
dignified terms that he was the '"son oi Pienja-
min Thom])son, late of the Province of Massa-
chusetts Bay. in Xew England. Gent: deceased,
and one of the most ancient families in North
.America : . . . . that his ancestors have
••'The Life of Rumfoni hy Prof, .liuries K.-nwlik"
(Spark's RioRraphy. linrl .'^er., vol. V. > Is llie ne.\t
consWlorjibh* .Vincrioan porfoi-maru-e oti the s\il>jerl.
Professor Kenwlek expresses oliHgation for tlie tise
of a maiuiseript helongringr to .losiah Pierce, half-
brother of Count Rtimford. eiititleil !iv its author
"Outlines of the Family. Infancy ami ChlliUiooil of
Renjamin Thonti>soij. Count Ituniford." This manu-
scrl|)t was In e.\istence in ISJS. hut its present
whereabouts Is to us unkiiown. .losljih I*lerce. half
brother of Count Itumford. married }*liebe. dauKhler
of l>anlel and Phebe (Snowi Thompson, of Woburn.
His wife's father was killed in the battle of I.#x-
inRlon and Coneoril, April 13, 177r>. Por an account
of their children see "Thompson Memorial" (Hoston.
1887). p. 50. This branch of the Pierce family were
among the founders of the present town of Kiiin-
ford. Maine.
ever livecTin reputable situations in that coun-
try where he was born, and have hitherto used
the arms of the ancient and resix-ctable family
of Thomj-yson. oi the county of York, from a
constant tradition that they derived their de-
scent from that source."
He was born, it is said, in the we>t end of
the house now standing at North Woburn. and
generally known by the name of the Rumford
birthplace. Mis widowed mother was remar-
ried when he wa> three years old. and his step-
father took hi^ new wife and her child to
another house not far distant, but long since
removed, which stood opposite, as before said,
the present I laid win mansion.
The fact which has been stated, ])raticularly
in France, that the child's ste])father banished
him from his house in his infancy, whether
this information be gotten from Count Rum-
ford himself or not. must be taken with much
allowance for the exuberance of the French
imagination. l'"or it was contrary to the usual
Xew England character and contrary to the re-
gard which Count Rumford afterwards showed
to his mother and her children born of Joseph
Pierce. That his early life was always smooth
we do not pretend to assert, but that any ex-
cessive cruel treatment was gi^en the child,
that we deny. Making allowance for over-
colored statement, a few facts from the Count's
li]is are here ailvanced :
"If the death of m\- father hail not contrary
to the order of nature, preceded that of my
grandfather, who gave all his property to my
uncle, his second .son, I should have lived and
died an American husbandman. Shortly after
the death of my father, my mother contracted
a second marriage which proved for her a
source of misfortune. .\ tyrannical husband
took me away from my grandfather's house
with her. 1 was then a child : my grandfather,
who survived my father only a few months,
left me but a very slender subsistence. I was
then launched at the right time upon a world
which was almost strange to me. and I was
obliged to form the habit of thinking and act-
ing for mv>elf and of depending nii myself for
a livelihood.
"Mv ideas were not yet fixed: one project
succeeded another, and i)erhaiis 1 should have
ao|uired a habit of indecision and inconsist-
ency. perha])s I should have been poor and un-
happy all my life, if a k'oiiwii had not loved
me. — if she had not given me a subsistence, a
home, an iiide|)eiKlent ftirtune."
.Anticipating a little, we continue: "I mar-
ried, or rather. 1 was married, at the age of
MASSACH LSI-: ITS.
589
nineteen. I cs]iouse(l tlie wiilow of a Colonel
Kolfe. (laughter of tlie Rev. Mr. Walker, a
highly respectable minister, anil one of the tirst
settlers rti Kuinford. He was already con-
nected with my family. He heartily approved
of the choice of his daughter, and he himself
united our destinies. This e.xcellent man be-
came sincerely attached to me : he directed my
studies, he formed my taste, and my position
was in every respect the most agreeable that
could possible be imagined."
It is admitted by I'aron Cuvier that Kum-
ford had informed him himself that he would
have probably remaine<l in the modest condi-
tion t)f his ancestors if the little fortune which
they had to leave him had not been lost during
his infanc}'. Thus a misfortune in early life,
as in many other cases was the cause of his
.subse(|uent rei)Utation. His grandfather, from
whom he had everything to expect, had given
all he ])os8essed to a younger son. leaving his
grandson almost penniless. This and the loss
of his father and the second marriage of his
nK)ther. and his so stated removal from her
care. leads to the conclusion that "Xothing
could be more likely than such a destitute cou-
dition to induce a premature display of talent."
These statements and imputations resting
apparently upon positive assertions made by
himself, however, leave room for supjjosing
that his eulogists, being both of them French-
men, may have erred in a matter of sentiment,
bv e.xaggerated expressions. (Ellis, Life, p.
10 I. Common re|)utati<jn gives him an e.xcel-
lent mother, who never neglected him. but ap-
])ears to have treated him with a redcnibled
love. His own letters to her, when in a state
of po])ular celebrity, comfort and aftluence
abroad, in her later years, are full of affection
and tender regard. The alleged tyranny of his
stei)father finds no statement on the part of
the new husband's descendants as a reason for
the justification of any charges of that kind.
The stepfather appears to be in every as])ect
of the case a kind and faithful husband and
took his wife's child with her to a new homr,
as already shown. The eldest son by her sec-
ond marriage grew up with the Count as a
l)layniate anrl in after life as a correspondent,
an(i a son of this half-brother never heard any-
thing from his father that would warrant an
imputation of ill treatment.
It is not to be doubted from his insistent will
• luring life, that he exercised tlx' patience and
^vmpathy of his friends somewliat severely,
and by. perhaps, at the outset, a determined
unwillingness to apply himself to any routine
aud rewarding work in accurdance wilii iheir
old-fashioned .\'ew lingland ideas.
It is evident from the handwriting of the
Count when he was only thirteen years of age,
and from the spelling and the almost faultless
grannnatical expressions in his letters and com-
jjositions before he had reached manhood, and
from his skill in accounts that he had not only
remarkable native powers, hut luul been the
subject t)f careful and thorougii training. Credit
for this is given to his village teacher. .Master
John I'owle. a graduate of Harvard College in
1747. a man of unusually good reputation in
this line of work. The handwriting of Rum-
ford was clear, strong and elegant in his youth,
and it remained so through his life, aud it has
been asserted that the mode of instruction
ihrough which young Rumford and his con-
temporaries passed aftOrded a su])erior train-
ing with more signal results than was realized
later under more elaborate ])rovisions for ele-
mentary education. Rumford indicated from
his earliest years an intense mental inclination
for things scientific in their nature, and showed
a particular ardor for niathenialics. and his
leisure was devoted to the manufacture of in-
genious mechanical contrivances leading early
in his career to an interest in. the deeper princi-
])les of mechanics and natural philosopjiy. as il
was then understood.
It is said of him that he was for a time a
pupil in a school at I'.yfield. under the charge
of a relative : that he was. when eleven years
old. put under the care of an able teacher in
Medford. named Hill: that in 1766 he was
apprenticed to a Air. John .\ppleton. of Salem,
an imjjorter of foreign goods, and a bill for
goods bought from his store and receijjted by
Rumford when he was only fourteen years old
is remarkable for grace of penmanship, mer-
cantile style, and business-like signature. I'ut
his career in Salem is to be treated separately,
and we pass on to a later date in Woburn.
In 1771 yoiuig Rumford began the study of
medicine with Dr. John Hay. of Woburn. lie
ai)pears to have been a boarder in his house
from December 15, 1770, to June 15. 1772. Dr.
I lay lived on the estate now known as the Kim-
ball estate, 732 Main street. Central Square,
and his house at a later date was called the
"I'llack House," and was standing as late as
1854, Dr. Hay returned about 1780 to his
native town of Reading, where his father was
alsf> a phvsician. While boarding at Dr. Hay's,
Rumford attended Mr. Winthrop's lectures at
Cambridge C1771) and irom December 9. I77r,
to February 3, 1772. he was keeping school at
5'jo
MASSACHUSETTS.
Wilniingtcjii. In March and April, 1772, he
was (IcMiig the same. .And in June, 1772, he
was absent for the [tart of a week at Bradford,
probably arranging for work of a similar kinil,
as he is credited with having been a teacher
there.
The following is an account of the division
of his time while a student at Dr. Hays : "From
eleven at night to si.x in the morning, sleep. At
six. arise, and wash my hands and face. T'Vom
si.x to eight, morning, exercise one-half and
study one half the time. Eight to ten .A. M.,
breakfast, attend prayers. From ten to twelve,
study all the time. From twelve to one, dine.
From one to four, study constantly. From
four to five, relieve my min<l by some diversions
or exercises. From five till bedtime, follow
what my inclination leads me, whether it be to
go abroad, or stay at home and read either
anatomy, physic, or chemistry, or any book I
want to peruse." His studies while at Dr.
Hay's were divided into days. The list was
anatomy, jihysic, surgery, chemistry and the
materia medica.
The above data are taken from minutes maile
by Rum ford himself at the time. Through the
intluence of llaldwin he obtained with his friend
tlie jirivilege of attending Professor W'intlirop's
lectures at Cambridge, neither young man being
a regular student at the college there. It is
said that they walked to and from the place to
their homes at Woburn, and were in the habit
of repeating the experiments witnessed, with
rude apparatus of their own contrivance, at
their homes afterward.
The exact time when Rum ford taught school
in liradford is not definitely stated, but it was
some time in the year 1772, His experience
here led to his being appointed in the same year
u> the mastership of a school in Concord, New
I lampshire, then known as a town by the name
of Rumford : but his arrival there was followed
by his s]ieedy marriage.
It is our intention to ignore the various tradi-
tions which have befogged the actions of Count
Rumford in Woburn about the time of the
battle of Lexington and Concord, .\pril 10.
1775, and present only an extract from a letter
of tiiat time which has a very pointed reference
to him in connection with his arrest on that
date, while he was at his mother Pierce's house
in Xorth Woburn. by a military company of
the town when he was confined there by an ill-
ness, probably the one he mentions in his letter
of October i. 1775. which we have (|uoted else-
where. He said. "1 came out of P.oston a few
davs before the affair at T.exington." having
"enjoyed, since 1 left Boston a very indifferent
share of health." it is supposed then that he
took refuge at his mother's, and was ill there
on the day of April K>, as before hinftd. The
quotation from the other letter mentioned is
here presented. It is an autograph letter from
Major Josiah Johnson to James Fowle, Esq.,
dated September 9, 1775. both influential men
of middle life in the then town of Woburn:"
"The town of Woburn upon the shortest
notice mustered and marched 180 brave men.
well equipped, for the assistance and relief of
their distressed lirethren at Concord, whither
the Ministerial troops had stolen their march
for the destruction of our magazine there de-
])osited. whose heroic deeds untler the prudent
conduct of Cajjtain Jonathan l""ox and others
(on the emergency of the 19th of April last)
greatly added to the glorious achievements of
that memorable day. . . Though we don't
find this Captain P'ox justly charged with the
illboding conduct of promoting the escape of
a supposed enemy that day ca])tivated and com-
mitted to safekeeping by the heroism of others,
wlK)se worthy deeds justly entitled them to a
much better fortune ; a fact notoriously re-
gretted."*
His release is credited and probably correctly
to the intluence of his friend Baldwin. He had
his trial later. Woburn is only five miles from
Lexington, and hesitation on the part of any
man to go to the field on Lexington's battle-
(lav was, under the excitement which prevailed,
a dangerous thing to display. It is commonly
believed that every able-boilied Woburn man
was present in the engagement, and the excuses
of the few left, who did not go, were rigidly
inquired into, and Rum ford's case among the
rest. The appearance of a militia company
before his house on the evening of that day and
its object, is clearly ex))lained by the letter
which We have (|uoted. Rumford was indeed
favored by having influential friends through-
out the wiiole of liis career.
In a letter written from Woburn, May 11.
1775, he says. "Since Mrs. Thomp.son has been
.-It Wol)urn she has been very unwell, which
has prevented her coming to Concord this week
as was proposed." On May iTi. following, he
was arrested in Woburn. and his trial was ap-
pointed at the meeting-house in the first parish
of that town, on Thursday. May 18. at two
P. M. P.aUlwin states in his diary that Rum-
•In the ".Journals of the Piovlncial Coiigre.ss is
pieservetl a petition of Count Rumford in reference
to liis trial at Woburn In May. 1775. It contains
nothluK new in idea, however, beyond what we
lirosent.
MASSACIKSI-nTS.
5')i
ford was taken up. as a Tor\ . but nothing was
found against him. and the court adjourned to
the following Monilay. The final action in his
case is preserved by his friend Haldwin, in
words that show that the W'obiirn committee
having charge of the case reported that they
did not tind in any one instance that the accused
had shown a "disiiosition unfriendly to Amer-
ican Liberty." but that his general behavior
had â– "evinced the direct contrary." ( Dated
"Woburn. in the Province of .Massachusetts
I'>ay. 29th May. 1775").
It ajipears after liis release that Rumford re-
mained in this vicinity. On June 4. 1775, he
viewed the military works at Boston, in com-
l)any with Baldwin (then an .Vmerican major)
from Lechmere's F'oint, Cambridge, and on
June 13 Baldw-in reports that "Major Thomp-
son went to Woburn." He was still in this
vicinity in .\ugust. 1775. In that month he
decided t(-> (|uit the country. lie made all his
arrangements with deliberate jjreparation. .\fter
making his decision he remained tw(j months
in and about Woburn. and on October 13. 1775.
accompanied by his stepbrother, Josiah Pierce,
he started from Woburn in a country vehicle,
and drove near to the bounds of the province,
on the shore of the Xarragansett Kay. whence
young Pierce returned. Rumford was then
taken by a boat on board the ".Scarborough."
a British frigate which lay in the harbor of
.Newport.
The following apology for his unpo|>ularity
among the .\mericans at the opening of the
revolutionary war w-as written about 1847 by
a .Sc(;tchman. and published in "Chambers Mis-
cellany." (X. 5). His position comes as near
tiie truth as we shall ever know.
"The truth." says this writer, "seems to be
that not only was Thompson, as a man in com-
fortable circumstances, was fond of the con-
>ideration and oi)])orlunities of enjoyment
which they afforded him, averse to any dis-
turbance, such as a war between the colonies
;:nd the mother country would cause, but that
his con>titution and temperament, his liking
foi calm intellectual f)ursuits. disc|ualified him
from taking part in ])olitical agitation. .Many
men who have distinguished themselves in liter-
ature and science have, as a matter of principle,
kei)t themselves aloof from the controversies
and political dissensions of their time, alleging
that, however important such f|uestions might
be. it was not in discussing them that their
powers could be employefl to most advantage.
In the case of Thompson, however, who as yet
had not begun to lay claim to the character of
.1 man devoicd to scientific piusuits. his coun-
trymen thought, not altogether unreasonablv.
lliat they hail groimds of complaint. What
enipk>yment was he engaged in. tiiat he ought
to lie e.\em|)ted from tlie duty of a citizen —
that of taking interest in public affairs? So,
l>robably. the most candid and considerate of
the .\merican patriots reasoned ; and as for
the great mass of the [lopulacc, they condemned
hmi in the usual summary maimer in which
the public judges."
( "olonel P)aldwin. his intimate friend, writing
in 1805, confirms the idea of his iiidilTerence :
"I'Vom this general view of the conduct of
."^iajor Thompson and his manner of leaving
.America, some may have received unfavorable
impressions of his character. liut he had never
made politics his study and never ])erlia])s seri
ously considered the origin and progress of the
contest: and if he sought for employment
against his countrymen, he had sufficient o])-
portunities of being gratified."*
.\t Sai.icSi. — Rumford as a youth was a])-
prcnticed tn a merchant in Salem, October 14.
1706. lie li\e(l in his master's family as a
member of the household. It was here, it is
said, that he was interested in ])layingthe fiddle,
an instrument u])on which he was a skillful
performer. I Ktc lie cimtinued until about
( )ctober. 17(111. All enlightened minister, the
Rev. Thomas Barnard, gave him his friendshi])
and encouragement. .\s he says, himself. "The
father of one of my companions, a very respect-
able minister, and, besides, very enlightened
fby name Barnard) gave me his friendship,
and of his own jiromptiiig, undertook to in-
struct me. He taught me algebra, geometry,
astronomy, and even the higher mathematics.
Before the age of fourteen. 1 had made suffi-
cient progress in this class of studies to be able
without liis aid. and even without his knowl-
•The reader Is referred to the life by Profegsor
Uenwkk (Sp.irk's RIojrraphle.s ) for many particu-
lars ripardliiR Itiiinfiprir.-* lift- In Wolmrii and .Salem.
ba.Med ,'ipparontl.\- fin Ihe statements In the manu-
script of .loslah Pierce (half-lirother ) already
referred to In a previous note. These statements
are repeated In the article on Count Uumforrl In
the "Chanihers Miscellany," published about 1S47.
While very InlerestInK we have omitted them here,
because of their evidently overcolored and tradi-
tionary character. One of them was. ami the truth
of It "we do not deny, that the Woburn ineetln(r-
house was "crowded ta Us ver.v doors at the lime lils
trial was held. This meeting-house then stood on
tile present Woburn Common, and was within a
short distance of the spot where Uuinford's admir-
able statue now stands.
Itenwick's work when compared with Rumford's
memoranda i>resented In the latter work of Rills,
shows many inaccura<'les In dates, though bis state-
ments are in other respects correil. This refers to
slaiemenis of fact rexardlnp the events of his life
In America. It Is sujiposed that Itenwick used the
Important part of the Pierce manuscript and the
Ijaldwln article i{f lS(ir.. which he refers to.
592
AIASSACIU'SI-ITTS.
edge, tu calculate ami trace rightly the elements
ofa solar ecliijse. We observed it together,
and my computation was correct within four
seconds. 1 sliall never forget the intense pleas-
ure which this success alYorded me, nor the
praises which it drew from him. I had been
destined for trade, but after a short trial my
tliirst for knowledge became inextinguishable,
and 1 coidd not apply myself to anything but
ni\ favorite objects of study."
While in .Salem he had premission to make
occasional visits to W'oburn, and walked one
night from there to show his friend Baldwin
])aits of a machine he had made in the direction
of solving the principle of "jjerpetual motion."
His services to his employer at Salem becom-
ing less necessary, owing to the obstructions
imposed upon trade before the opening of the
revolutionary war, he was sent to Boston and
apprenticed to a similar business to that he
had been at Salem.
In LSosto.v. — In I'.oston he was placed as an
ajijirentice clerk with a Mr. llopiestill Capen,
a dr\-goo(ls dealer. This was in the autumn
of I/Cxj. Here he attended a I'Vench evening
school for the purpose of learning that lan-
guage, but his stay in Boston was short, owing
to the falling off in business caused by the de-
pression of the times. Dr. Ellis gives a number
of instances of Rumford's precocity during the
period of his stay in Salem and Boston, but
thev are mostly of a character of which Rum-
ford would be ashamed in his after life.*
,Vr Co.vcoKi), .\k\v IIami'siiirk. — .An im-
mature lad of nineteen, Rumford married a
wealtln- widow of thirty-three. .She had been
married when about thirty to an elderly bache-
lor of about sixty. She was the daughter of a
clergyman, and the facts of their union have
been given in the genealogy i)receding this
article. The widow's husband died December
21. 1 77 1- The date of her second marriage is
said to have l)een about November. 1772, and
it is also related that his mother's consent was
obtained in the course of a rather sensational
journey on the part of the couple to her abode
in W'oburn. I'.ut this is a matter of tradition.
.Something more definite is this: His friend
r.aldwin writes of him at this period as a i)er-
son of a "fine manly make and figure, nearly
six feet in height, of liandsome features. l)riglit
blue eyes, and dark auburn hair." He seems to
have been satisfactorv to his Concord friends
•Those Incidents are also relateil with even more
fullness of detail by Renwiok. The most Important
was his narrow esinjie from serlovis Injury and the
loss of his life In iin ixplosion of Kunpowder with
which he was pri-parliiK some fireworks for a cele-
hratlon.
a> a teacher, and in a letter from tiiete to liis
mother in W'oburn he writes, "I have had ic/)
scholars at my school, but only have seventy at
once."
Owing to the infiuence and activity of his
wife, Rumford soon shone in Xew Hampshire
ccilonia! society, and at a military review at
Hover, ten miles from I'ortsmouth, at which
both were jjresent, on the 13th of .November,
1772, he attracted the attention of the royal
governor, to wdiom he was introduced, and on
the following day was a guest at his table. The
result was a commission as major in the militia,
conferred bv the governor on the future Count.
This commission was bestowed on Rumfcjnl
over the heads of men in the line of promotion,
and resulted, for political and military reasons,
in his becoming the subject of jealous feeling
and hostile criticism. So far as is known he
was at that time devoid of both military knowl-
edge and ex]ierience. It was not so afterwards.
.And whatever may be said, it was the opinion
of the men of that day that Rumford from the
outset of his military career was at heart a
loxalist : and W'entworth. the governor to whom
he was indebted for his ri.se to military rank,