DESCENDANTS if JOHN AND MARY COOLIDGE of WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS 1630 ~y EMMA DOWNING COOLIDGE Chairman, Genealogical Committee of the Coolidge Family Association Author of "At the King's Pleasur-e," "The Dr-tamer," and other booh, plays and historical articles BOSTON WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING COMPANY 32 DERNE STREET Copyrighted, November, 1930, By EMMA DoWI'lt~NG CooLIDGE Thatched roofs still outline the village street of Cottenham, England, leading to the beautiful old church, as in the days of John Coolidge's youth 164 BLosso::--.1 STREET F':tTc:BBlcRO, l>{A,!11-,AQKUSETTS January 21, 1931. Mr. A. F. Donnell c/o Boston Post Boston, ~assachusetts Dear ~r. Donnell: In the Boston Post of last Sunday, January 18th, there is an article headed "Genealogy of Coolidge Family". This came to my desk this ~orning. You knJw I promised you this new edition of the Coolidge genealogy by Miss E~:,12 :80·:.T.ing Coolidge of l~ewton. I had this in my car last week w:1en in BostoE, and also yesterday, but could not find an opportunity to run ir. to see you. I rather delayed sending you this copy, hoping to have an opportunity to autograph it as~Senator~ but perhaps you will find so::ie interest in :1aving the above volume irnr:1ediately, t:i.erefore I am sending sa.'ne to you. I want to thank you again for the nice Coolidge article you wrote on Sunday, September 28th. With kind regards, I beg to remain Very truly, INTRODUCTION It is with pleasure that the author and compiler of .this record of many of the descendants of JOHN and l\fARy CooL­ maE, COLONISTS, of Watertown, Massachusetts, 1630, presents this volume in November, 1930, during the celebration of the Tercentenary of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. No more timely or appropriate moment for its compilation could have been chosen, and it has been a labor of love, and a service that she feels an honor, to be permitted to chronicle the records of her family through three hundred years in this western land, that today stands as the finest government of the world. For a family to be one of those that aided in the settlement of such a country is a fact that is of justifiable pride. This is true from two standpoints. First, in 1630, Massachusetts Bay had its first charter vested in a resident government, - a charter recognizing the wish and will of the colonists; founded and based upon the principle of self-government, which led to the forming of this country into a separate democracy. The history of that truly wonderful charter cannot be entered into here, but all who have studied it know that through it came religious freedom, political progress and the foundation of honor, steadfastness and idealism that has made America the leading force in the world today. Second, there is the more intimate and personal cause for pride, - that our family's ancestor possessed the courage, character, insight and foresight to press forward to this new land, fearing no ill, daring all peril and hardship, that his own beliefs and conscience might be upheld. JoHN COOLIDGE and his brave wife MARY left Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, Eng., to make their home in another territory of the mother country. It might be looked upon as a change of residence under the same government. Their coming to America and to l\fassachusetts Bay was not the coming of an immigrant as it is defined today. Immigration of today, as we look upon it, is the coming to this country of persons of another nationality and government, . of another tongue, of other customs and background, and having no rights of citizen­ ship, until through certain imperative steps they finally are permitted to become enfranchised. The early settlers of 4 INTRODUCTION Massachusetts Bay were most decidedly citizens of the country which owned this colony. They were of the nationality, tongue, customs and background of the owner of this land. It is well for us to ponder this fact, and to realize that our ancestor was not an immigrant! He was something far greater, far nobler, far more basic in the foundation of America. He was a COL­ ONIST, and the author knows no more impressive way to bring home the difference between these two comers to our shores - immigrant and colonist ,- than to quote the very able and compelling definition of our United States Commissioner of Immigration, Mrs. Anna C. M. Tillinghast, whose opinion, assuredly, carries authority on this point, through the very experience and knowledge of her office. She says on this question: People often say to me, ""\"\' e were all immigrants not so very long ago, and the immigrant of today has just as much right to come to the United States as did those in the early years of our history." To my mind there is a distinction between coLO:N1ST and IMMI­ GRANT. The cow:r-.~sTs came to this country when it was little more than a wilderness. They endured untold dangers, hardships and priva­ tions that they might convert that wilderness into habitable com­ munities; that they might build homes; rear families, and enact laws for their mutual protection and well-being. Because of their vision, their courage and their power of endurance these United States of America were born. Immigration, popularly spoken of today, means the movement of peoples to a country, after its government and institutions have been established, for the purpose of enjoying its opportunities and privileges without sharing the dangers which brought it into being. Such a definition establishes the right of descendants of the Colonists to feel that their ancestors made this country the safe and altogether desirable place that it is for the immigrants who today are seeking it as a haven of refuge and as a land of peace and plenty; and in that feeling the descendants of 1630, today, upon the celebration of the Tercentenary, are justified in feeling pride in a courageous ancestor, and in paying honor and tribute to those COLONISTS. It is well to be inspired by one's ancestors. Pride in them may, indeed, make one pause in the commission of some act that is unworthy the heritage. Desire to emulate may arouse slumbering ambition, and urge one forward to an equally great destiny. Pride in them that allows descendants to sit back smugly and prate of their prominence, while merely cumbering INTRODUCTION 5 the earth themselves, and even arousing disgust and ridicule on the part of their hearers, is a false pride and a bitter enemy to the ancestry that should be held in esteem by those who learn of it through these boasters. In connection with pleasure in ancestry, it is pointed out that one may ponder well the words in the paragraph preceding Chapter I - wise words dryly uttered by a thinker (the grandfather of the president of the family association, William Henry Coolidge), -TIMOTHY CooLIDGE of Natick: JT DOESN'T MATTER SO MUCH WHAT YOU THINK OF YOUR ANCESTORS AS IT DOES WHAT YOUR ANCESTORS WOULD THINK OF YOU. To go back to the compilation of this book - it has been a colossal task, and the time allowed has, indeed, been short. Your historian was authorized at the last meeting of the CooLIDGE FAMILY AssocIATION, held June 22, 1929, to com­ pile the genealogy. This meant that between July 1 and March 15, when copy should be ready to go to the printer, the records must be followed out and put down in order. It was a tremendous undertaking. Only by the co-operation of the members of the Association and of descendants of the various branches; by the co-operation of the societies and public offices holding records, could it be possible of accomplishment. Old records had to be searched; confused, missing, contradic­ tory records painfully pursued. There are bound to be errors and missing names, in spite of all endeavors. The compiler can only bespeak the indulgence, the patience of Association members if such errors there be, and their realization that she has done the best she could with what she had to do with - in many cases most incomplete. If they find information on their special line incomplete, they must ask themselves if they answered the compiler's letter of inquiry·, or if they could have given her more definite information. If they could have and did not do so, they should admit where lies the blame. If they could not, they must admit, likewise, that the compiler was probably in similar predicament as to finding the correct information. To all who have sent in information the author gives her sincere thanks. To the New England Historic and Genealog­ ical Society which has loaned books of published early records; to the Secretary of State of Massachusetts, Hon. Frederic W. Cook, and to the head of the Vital Statistics Division therein, 6 INTRODUCTION Mr. Arthur G. Hassett, both of whom graciously permitted the copying of certain records of births and marriages of Coolidges since 1850, that they might be matched into the lines from Bond's "Genealogies and History of Watertown," Temple's "History of Framingham," Morse's "Sherborn and Holliston," and vital records printed up to 1850, and a score of other printed sources, as well as into the material furnished by Association members themselves; and lastly, to Miss Helen D. Skilton of the Vital Statistics Division, especially, whose kindness and courtesy were unfailing aids, the author gives her sincere expression of gratitude. Of great value, too, was the printed genealogy of some of the descendants of the youngest son of JOHN and :MARY, - JoxATHAN CooLIDGE, - many of whom resided in Boston, this book having been compiled and privately printed in 1900 by Dr.