Tales of the Boylston Family

If you're related to President John Adams, you already know his mother was Susannah Boylston, daughter of Peter Boylston and Ann White. This post collects a few anecdotes about Susannah's interesting Boylston relatives. Here is a simple family tree for reference:

Thomas Boylston, b. 26 January 1644/45 in Watertown, MA, son of Thomas Boylston, m. Mary Gardner 13 December 1655 in Charlestown, MA. She was baptized 9 April 1648 in Roxbury and was the daughter of Thomas Gardner and Lucy Smith. She died 8 July 1722. His will was probated 16 December 1696.

Children:

1. Edward, m. Mary Dasset
2. Richard, b. abt. 1670; d. 25 April 1752, m. Mary Smith 
3. Abigail 
4. Peter, b. abt. 1673; d. 10 September 1743, m. Ann White (Parents of Susannah Boylston Adams) 
5. Sarah
6. Lucy 
7. Dr. Zabdiel, b. 9 March 1679; d. 1766; m. Jerusha Minot 18 January 1775/6 in Boston
   • Zabdiel, b. 10 February 1706/7, d. in England
   • John, b. 23 March 1708/9, d. 17 January 1795, England
   • Elizabeth, b. 19 December 1710
   • Jerusha, b. 5 November 1711
   • Mary, b. 1713
   • Thomas, b. 30 July 1715
   • Elizabeth, b. 4 January 1716/17, m. Gilliam Taylor 22 October 1747
   • Josiah, b. 11 July 1720
8. Mary, m. Josiah Flint
9. Rebecca, b. 15 September 1685, m. William Abbott
10. Dudley, b. abt. 1688, m. Elizabeth Gardner
11. Joanna, m. James Sandman
12. Thomas, d. 1739, m. Sarah Morecock 4 May 1715
• Nicholas
• Sarah
• Anna
• Mary b. 19 February 1722, m. 13 June 1746 Capt. Benjamin Hallowell
  • Sir Benjamin Hallowell
  • Mary Hallowell
  • Ward Nicholas Boylston
• Nathaniel
• Lucy
• Rebecca, b. 7 December 1727, d. 19 March 1798, m. as his second wife, 13 August 1773, Moses Gill, who d. 20 May 1800

Dr. Zabdiel Boylston

Did you get a smallpox vaccine when you were a youngster? Maybe you've heard of Edward Jennings. Jennings, in England, noticed that the local milkmaids who suffered the mild disease cowpox never got smallpox, and developed the idea of inoculation.

A version of this, called variolation, which involved spreading the matter from smallpox wounds onto skin that had been scratched a few times, had been in use in other parts of the world for many years before Jenner's method, but this was an uncertain practice. Although the mortality rate from smallpox diminished significantly compared to persons who had not been treated, there was still some risk. The procedure eventually gained wide acceptance in Europe.

Word of this technique reached Rev. Cotton Mather. In 1721, Boston was in the middle of a smallpox epidemic. Rev. Mather searched the city for a doctor who would try the procedure. Dr. Zabdiel Boylston was persuaded.

The people of New England were very much against this type of medicine; so much so that the doctor was in personal danger. It was popular opinion that if anyone inoculated by the Doctor should die, then the physician should be treated as a murderer. He and his family were often subjected to verbal and physical assaults when out in public. To show his confidence in the procedure, Dr. Boylston inoculated first his own children and servants. Even Rev. Mather suffered at the hands of the public. A projectile was thrown through one of his windows, and someone stated that the reverend preferred the "machination of men" to "the all-wise providence of God."

The stigma attached to inoculation stayed a long time. When John Adams, the president, had himself inoculated just before his marriage to Abigail Smith, she wrote to him, making several references to the risk he was exposed to by letting poison pass through his veins. (Later, Abigail and all the Adams children also took the inoculation.)

Dr. Zabdiel Boylston married Jerusha Minot. They had three sons and many daughters. Son John went to England and died there, having lived in London and Bath. This "John of London" was a compassionate doctor and a great help to captured American soldiers during the American Revolution.

Thomas Boylston is reported to be the richest man in his time in Massachusetts. By the time of the Revolution his estate was worth an estimated $400,000. His son Nicholas created the professorship of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard. The first to serve in this role was John Quincy Adams, a Boylston grandson. He had some issues with Harvard, and eventually agreed to the appointment, but only under the following conditions:

• He would not live in Cambridge.
• He would teach only part of the school year.
• He would not make the declaration of religious conformity required of all faculty members.
• He (not the university) would select a substitute should he need to be absent on official business
• He would continue to serve as a US Senator from Massachusetts.

Among the sisters of Nicholas Boylston were the wives of Captain Benjamin Hallowell and Lieutenant Governor Moses Gill.

Moses Gill was a hardware dealer by trade, and when he married his first wife, the daughter of Rev. Thomas Prince, he became one of the principal landowners of Worcester County, MA. He became Lieutenant Governor in 1794. Upon the death of Governor Increase Sumner in 1799, Gill became acting governor, in which capacity he served for nearly a year, when he also died, on May 20, 1800. This is the only time in Massachusetts history that the commonwealth had no governor or lieutenant governor.

When Rebecca Boylston Gill passed away in 1798, she was eulogized by Rev. Joseph Russell. He said Rebecca had been blessed with "superior mental abilities" and was "a crown to her husband, doing him good and not evil all the days of her life."

When the Gills died (Moses and Rebecca, above) their substantial property came into the possession of Rebecca's brother Nicholas (of the Harvard story.) Nicholas had no children of his own, so he adopted a son of his sister Mary and her husband (Captain Hallowell.) This son was Ward Nicholas Boylston, originally Ward Hallowell, born 22 Nov 1747 in Boston.

Ward Nicholas Boylston

His intended was named Anne Molineaux. She was the daughter of a Boston merchant named William Molineaux, who was a friend of Samuel Adams. Anne's father was a successful merchant who was also a very independent figure on many levels. "He was a Deist at the time when such believers were classified as being little better than athiests." He had a pew in Trinity Church, but didn't use it. He was fined 20 shillings for that in 1756. His neighbors were John Hancock and James Bowdoin (both future governors of Massachusetts.) He was one of the leading agitators against receipt of the tea, and he and Dr. Thomas Young were the only two prominent patriots who went to the tea party without bothering to disguise themselves. We imagine that the proposed marriage met with considerable resistance on both sides, since the groom's father was very much a Loyalist--he was in service to the King--and the bride's father was very much a Patriot. The couple clandestinely snuck away and were probably married in Portsmouth, NH since it is Gov. John Wentworth of NH who issued the marriage permit. Soon after, the couple left for Europe. The Revolution broke out while they were gone and they sought refuge in London, for it seems the couple leaned toward the Crown in their political opinions. Or at least, the husband did, anyway. The situation became difficult for Anne, and it is said to have affected her sanity. In 1779, after being deserted by her husband, she tried to go home to New England, and died on the ship. The money required to support her during the last years of her life is said to have come from her brother, William.

Captain Benjamin Hallowell is also an interesting man. He lived a long time in Roxbury, Massachusetts before the Revolution. In April 1775, after he vacated his home during the siege of Boston, it was set up as a hospital for the military camp there, against his Loyalist wishes, of course. He was the current Commissioner of Customs, and generally despised by the population. "On at least one occasion, he owed his life to the speed of his horse."

	Nicholas Boylston, portrait by Copley.
	Susanna Morecock Boylston, mother of Nicholas Boylston, Mary Boylston Hollowell,  and Rebecca Boylston Gill. Portrait by Copley.

Sources for the Anecdotes:

• Freeman, Frederick. The History Of Cape Cod: The Annals Of Barnstable County, Including The District Of Mashpee. Boston: George C. Rand & Avery, 1860, pg. 360-361. This book can be read for free at Google Books, FamilySearch, and archive.org
• Adams, Henry/Adams, John. John Adams' Book: Being notes on a record of the births, marriages, and deaths of three generations of the Adams Family, 1734 - 1807. Boston, 1934.
• Crawford, Mary C. Famous Families Of Massachusetts. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1930.
• Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Grandfather's Chair. "The Rejected Blessing". This book can be read for free at Google Books.
• Wells, Charles Chauncey. Boston's Copps Hill Burying Ground Guide. Oak Park, IL: Chauncey Park Press, 1998. "The Tea Party Guide.

Sources for the Genealogy:

• Abbot, Rev. Abiel and Abbot, Rev. Ephraim Genealogical Register of the Descendants of George Abbot of Andover. Boston, James Munroe and Company, 1847, pg. 168.
• Savage, James Genealogical Dictionary Of The First Settlers Of New England, Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Originally published Boston, 1860-1862, Vol. II, pg. 341. This book can be read online at Le Project Albion.