Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/353

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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND
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more. With each re-reading I am struck anew with its wonderfully strong portrayals of character and the sjiarkling wit and humor that alternate so subtly with the writer's deep, pathetic insight into life's mysteries. To my mind it is the great American novel." "Vesty," as well as "Cape Cod Folks," has been recently dramatized.

In fairly rapid succession Mrs. Greene wrote "Stuart and Bamboo," "The Moral Imbeciles," and "Flood Tide." In 1902 was published by Harper & Brothers "Winslow Plain," a picture of life in a quaint New England village fifty years ago, a story "told as Mrs. Greene alone can tell it, with the brightest optimism." In this book are found some rare poetic gems. One special charm, indeed, of all this writer's works consists in the many beautiful, helpful passages—quite aside from the enthralling interest of the story itself—that one desires, to read again and again. Said a certain appreciative critic, "I never read any of Mrs. Greene's stories without longing to see all these fine, quotable extracts collected in a volume by themselves, a volume to which I could turn whenever I feel 'the blues' coming on."

Mrs. Greene is a woman of fine presence, with a face which bears beauty, merriment, and tenderness. She tells a story with exceptional skill, in a voice so rich toned and musical that it might belong to a Southerner.


SARAH ELIZABETH FIELDING, a prominent member of the Woman's Relief Corps of Somerville, is a native of Andover, Mass. The daughter of Charles Nathan and Hannah Ja(|uith (Abbot) Ingalls, she is a descendant in the ninth generation of Edmund Ingalls, who, with his brother Francis, came from England to Massachusetts in 1629, and in 1638 went to Lynn, where they had a grant of one hundred and twenty acres of land. They were among the first settlers of that now prosperous city, and were successful as farmers, stock-raisers, and tanners of leather. The home of Francis was in that part of Lynn which is now Swampscott. He finally removed to Boston, where he died, leaving no male heirs. Edmund Ingalls, as stated in Lewis's History of Lynn, was drowned in March, 1648, by falling with his horse through the old Saugus River Bridge on Boston Street. His estate was valued at one hundred and thirty-five pounds, eight shillings, ten pence.

He had nine children: and Mrs. Fielding's father descended from Henry,2 the sixth child, who had the house and lot "bought of Goodwin West" and land in what is now the city of Chelsea, Mass. Henry,2 born in 1627, married July 6, 1653, Mary Osgood, of Andover, Mass. She died in 1686, and he afterward married Sarah, widow of George Abbot. He had twelve children. The second child, Henry,3 born in December, 1656, died at Andover in 1699. He married June 6, 168S, Abigail, daughter of John Emery, Jr., of Newbury, Mass. Francis,4 their fourth child, was born in December, 1694, and died January 26, 1759. His first wife was Lydia Ingalls, his cousin, whom he married in 1719. After her death in 1743, he married Lydia Stevens, of Andover. He had eleven children. Francis,5 the fifth child, who was born January 26, 1731, and died April 3, 1795, married November 12, 1754, Eunice Jennings, and .settled in Andover. They had nine children, the fifth being Jonathan,6 who was born February 25, 1762, and died July 9, 1837. He married in 1792 Sarah Berry, of Andover. Francis,7 born August IS, 1793, the eldest of their four chiklren, dk'd at his home in North Andover in November, 1850. He married in 1815 Elizabeth Barker Foster, daughter of Nathan6 Foster, of North Andover, Mass. Nathan6 was a descendant, through Stephen,5 John,4 Ephraim,3 Abraham,2 of Reginald1 Foster, an early settler of Ijxswich, Mass. (For further particulars concerning Reginald and other Foster immigrants in colonial days, and their descendants, see " Foster Genealogy," by F. C. Pierce.) John Foster, printer, of Boston, was son of another early colonist, Hopestil1 Foster, of Dorchester; and Elizabeth Foster, who married Isaac Vergoose in 1692, was the daughter of Captain William1 Foster, of Charlestown.

The second child of Francis and Elizabeth B. (Foster) Ingalls was Charles Nathan,8 born in North Andover, Mass., July 9, 1820. Enlisting in 1861, he served in the Union army sixteen months, when he was honorably discharged