A Sketch of the Chandler Family in Worcester, Massachusetts
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
A S $ETC$ O $ T$E C $ A N $L E R $A MI L $ R MA C$$ TT W R ESTE SA E . IN O C , S S S $ v — 18 E . $. T RG IS . B$ MRS . o S $ $ROM$ROCEE$I NG S or WO RCESTER S OCI ET$ O $ A NTI $$IT$. b the m writ er b List of previous papers y sa e , printed y the Worcester Society of A ntiquity A I . T m . Old i e Cattle Show Bulletin of Worcester Society of ntiquity , 1 4 1 98 . 0 . 8 page , Vol XVI , 1899 557 . m . II . Ex tracts fro Old Worcester Letters , Vol XVI , , page 1 . 900 . III . Old Lincoln Street . Bygone days in Worcester . , Vol XVII , page 123 . R . $ A . I . Story of three Old Houses esidences of Hon Levi Lincoln 1 1 4 9 0 3 . $ . 0 roceedings , Vol XVII , , page 4 2 1 1 1 . 0 90 . No . V . Old Worcester , , Vol XVII , page , Lincoln Square . $ m u t . Main and $ront Streets . ro inent ho ses and their occupan s 4 1 1 1 $ 90 . N 2 . M . 3 $I . Old Worcester , o , Vol XVII , page , ain and leas b . ant Streets . Buildings and nota le people residing there 4 1 1 70 90 . Mi No . 3 . VII . Old Worcester , , Vol XVII , page , a n Street The $ $ n C arishon e rs residences . Second arish $nitaria $ hurch and its p , v r A e $r $ . R v. A $ during the pastorates of Re . aron Bancroft and lon o v $ A The G Re . r. Hill . ardiner Chandler House and the House of aron Bancroft . 4 M b 1 4 No . 8 0 . e VIII Old Worcest r, Worcester , assachusetts , a out , Vol 1 2 . $ . 69 . 90 C XVIII . , page hestnut Street earl Street and its vicinity ’ m $ n e ti e i t e o e a rl So e facts Concerning Colored eople and i r s c. Servic ; nt h y life of Worcester . 0 W O R C E S T - MI T $R E S S O $ C $ A R L E S $ A L O N , MA I N S T R E E T . N o . 3 11 19 0 3 . A SKETCH OF THE CHANDLER FAMIL$ IN WORCESTER . l my k w But for these ives , life had never no n ” n This faded vesture which it calls its ow . The founders of this family , so large and so influential before the Revolution , were of very obscure origin and in very humble circumstances when they landed on these w shores . William Chandler and Annice his ife came from England in 1637 with their children and settled in Rox bury , Massachusetts . The family seem to have been without any means of support , and during the long illness of Mr . Chandler they were cared for by their neighbors f . and friends , on account of their a fection for him He 1641 “ died in the year , having lived a very religious and godly life ” and “ leaving a sweet memory and savor behind him . Annice Chandler must have been an attractive woman , for she was not only soon married to a second her s husband , but to a third , and la t one evidently ex ec ted p her to enter into matrimony a fourth time , for in “ ” his Will , he provided that she shall have the use of his “ ” warming pan only so long as she remained his widow . 1683 Goodwife Parmenter , however , died in , in full pos of session the warming pan , the widow of her third hus band . l m John Chandler , a son of Wil iam , e igrated to Woodstock , fart ner m hi s and there became a in a s all way , or , to use a hi own words , a husbandman , for so he design tes mself “ ” ff in his Will , of Woodstock , in the County of Su olk in the Province of Massachusetts Bay , in New England . He was chosen a selectman and deacon of the church in Wood 1703 stock , and died in , leaving a family, and property 12 £5 . 6d . of the value of 00 . The second John Chandler , son of the first of that name , 4 ’ had , before his father s death , moved to New London , 1698 Connecticut , where he married , and in had opened “ ” a house of entertainment there . He at a later date moved back to South Woodstock and in 1711 was chosen representative to the General Court at Boston for several “ : years . I quote the following After the erection of Worcester County by an act of the Legislature of Massa c husetts 2 1731 f , of April , , from the counties of Su folk , n a d Middlesex , the first Probate Court in Worcester County , 1 - C0 . was held by Chandler as Judge , in the meeting house , 13 1731 on the of July , , and the first Court of Common l th Pleas and General Sessions on the 0 of August following , by the Hon . John Chandler , of Woodstock , commissioned ff 30th 1731 . June , , Chief Justice These o ices he held until his death , as well as that of Colonel of Militia . Lincoln , “ “ hi s in History of Worcester says , To which stations of civil , judicial and military honors , he rose by force of l his strong mental powers , with but s ight advantages of ” education , Judge John Chandler died in Woodstock , h 1 4 - Im n l 0t 7 3 . Con , August , , in his seventy ninth year ’ proving on his father s worldly condition as regards prop 1 ert 6 . 6d . y, he leaves to his family John Chandler the third of the name , son of the Hon . John Chandler of Woodstock , moved to Worcester , when e the County of Worcester was formed , and h seems to ff : n have held nearly all the o ices in the town Selectma , f Sheri f , Probate Judge , Town Treasurer , County Treasurer , i Register of Probate , Register of Deeds , Ch ef Judge of Re re County Courts , Judge of Court of Common Pleas , p sent ative to the General Court , Colonel in the Militia and ’ a member of the Governor s Council . One of his descend “ 1762 ants writes that he died in , wealthy and full of ” honors . He also adds , The Chandlers were among the wealthiest and most distinguished families in Worcester ” County aristocracy . I have heard some of the old people i : in the fam ly say They , the Chandlers , ruled the roost 5 in Worcester County in former days , but there seems to be no evidence that anyone of them possessed great wealth . News L etter 12 1762 : Worc es The Boston of August , , says 12 1 62 7 . ter , Saturday August , , departed this life the Hon Es 69th John Chandler , q , of Worcester , in the year of his age ; eldest son of Hon . John Chandler late of Wood ” “ ” stock , deceased . Lincoln in his History of Worcester, “ says , His talents were rather brilliant and showy , than solid and profound , with manners highly popular , he possessed a cheerful and j oyous disposition , indulging in hi jest and larity , and exercised liberal hospitality . While Judge of Probate he kept open house on Court Days for the widows and orphans who were brought to his tribunal ” by concerns of business . Judge Chandler was married to Hannah Gardiner , daughter of John Gardiner of the in 1716 Es Isle of Wight , , by John Mulford , q , their bans . Worc es being published in Woodstock , Conn She died in 1738 39 a ter in , aged years , le ving nine children , the first members of the Chandler family who were born and bred e in Worcester . These children through th ir mother were great-great-grandchi ldren of “ Brave Lieutenant Lion ” Gardiner , as Lowell the poet calls him , one of the most t picturesque figures of the early imes , and of whom it was “ written after his death : Lion Gardi ner was at an early age a God-fearing Puritan ; he emigrated to New England in the interest of Puritanism , and labored with and for the early Puritan fathers , and justly belongs among the founders of New England . He was singularly modest ; firm in his friendshi ps ; patient of toil ; serene amidst “ alarms ; inflexible in faith and he died in a good old ” age , an old man and full of years . As an ancestor of f the Worcester family of Chandlers , though on the dista f side , Lion Gardiner deserves more than a passing notice . He was born in England in the days of “ Good $ueen hi Bess , and he attained s majority during the reign of f ” the first English Sovereign of the House o Stuart . 6 He was a gentleman by birth , an engineer by profession , a Dissenter in his religious opinions , an adherent of Parlia f ment against the King , and a riend of the Puritans , who , “ Lord Macaulay says , were the most remarkable body of ” . men , perhaps , which the world had ever produced Fol lowing in the footsteps of many of his countrymen , Lion “ ” Gardiner passed into the Low Countries , during the reign of Charles the First and entered the service of the “ Prince of Orange , as an engineer and master of works ” of fortification . While there he was approached by certain eminent Puritans on behalf of Lords Say and Seele , Lord “ Brooke , Sir Richard Saltonstall , and other Lords and Gentlemen ” with an offer to go to New England to con s struct work of fortification , and command them under $ f the direction of John Winthrop the ounger .