One of a Thousand/Rantoul, Robert Samuel

 

Rantoul, Robert Samuel, son of Robert Rantoul, Jr., and Jane Elizabeth (Woodbury) Rantoul, was born in Beverly, Essex county, June 2, 1832. In 1769 his paternal ancestor, Robert Rantoul, at the age of sixteen, came to Boston from Kinross in a British man-of-war, and subsequently commanded Salem ships and was lost at sea, off Virginia capes, in the "Iris," in March, 1783. The name is traced in Kinross as far back as 1359.

His early educational training was received at the Beverly Academy and the Boston Latin school, where he prepared for college. He entered Harvard, graduating in the class of 1853, and choosing the profession of the law, was graduated from the Dane law school, Harvard University, class of 1856.

Mr. Rantoul was married in Salem, May 13, 1858, to Harriet C., daughter of David A. and Harriet C. (Price) Neal.

Mr. Rantoul represented Beverly in the lower branch of the Legislature in 1858, and the city of Salem in 1884 and '85. He was appointed by President Lincoln, in 1865, collector of the port of Salem and Beverly, and served until 1869.

He was active in bringing the water from Wenham Lake into Salem, 1863–'68; was arbitrator between the Commonwealth and the Massachusetts Historical Society in the matter of the Hutchinson papers in 1873; was orator at the centennial celebration of American independence, at Stuttgart, Würtemberg, 1876, and at the commemoration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Winthrop's landing at Salem, in 1880. He is a vice-president of the Essex Institute. He resides at Salem in the winter, and at Beverly Farms in the summer months.

Among other writings he has published the following: "Notes on Wenham Pond" (1864); "The Cod in Massachusetts History" (1865); "Address on Taking the Chair of the Essex Liberal Conference" (1869); "Port of Salem" (1870); "Notes on Old Modes of Travel" (1872); report as arbitrator between the Commonwealth and the Massachusetts Historical Society (1874); "The Essex Junto," "The Long Embargo," "The Great Topsfield Caucus of 1808" (1882); "Authenticity of the Portraits of Governor Endicott" (1883); reports to the Massachusetts Legislature against abolishing the poll-tax qualification (1885), and against the biennial amendments (1884–'5); "Material for a History of the Name and Family of Rentoul—Rintoul—Rantoul" (1885); "A Contribution to the History of the Ancient Family of Woodbury" (1887), and "The Spirit of the Early Lyceums" (1888).