Page:The librarians of Harvard College 1667-1877.djvu/18

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12 LIBRARIANS OF HARVARD COLLEGE.


land before his ancestor, Sir Richard, settled at Watertown in New England. From the time of their setting foot in America each generation has been represented by a graduate of Harvard. Saltonstall took his first degree in 1695, followed by the master of arts degree. He was Librarian of the College in 1697-1701, and tutor in 1700-1702. The following from Judge Sewall's Diary refers to him : ' Dec r 26 [1728] Mr. Nathan 1 Saltonstall was at Lecture ; came in lately from England, with a very long and Cold passage." John Frizel of Boston, a benefactor of Harvard College, died in April, 1723. He was a merchant of wealth nnd influence, as we learn from Cotton Mather's funeral sermon. His gifts to churches and other institutions had won for him marks of gratitude from Glasgow and other cities and towns. He was one of the few men who kept a car- riage. Mr. Frizel had married Dorothy, daughter of Francis Parnel. His widow now became the wife of Mr. Saltonstall, reserving, however, the right to dispose of her own estate. In March, 1732: "Nathan 11 Salenstal Esq r Chose a Selectman in the Room of Thomas Lee, who Refused." The minutes of the Boston select- men for April 18th, 1733, have a vote " that Mr Saltonstal be desired to agree with a Printer for Printing Two Hundred Advertisements relat- ing to the Inhabitants entertaining In-mates con- trary to the Law." His duties as a selectman during the year were numerous and varied, as shown by the records. Mrs. Saltonstall died 4 April, 1733, leaving by will, among many legacies, 200 to be distributed among the poor of the town, and the further sum of twenty pounds to buy Bibles and testaments " for such poor children as their parents are not able to furnish them with." She bequeathed 300 to Harvard College, and "unto my loving hus- band the sura of five hundred pounds." Nathaniel Saltonstall died very suddenly at Woburn, 23 June, 1739. He was, said the News- Letter, in announcing his death, "a Gentleman well respected among us." and another writer said he had "a high reputation for abilities and learning."

AUTHORITIES : Boston Record commissioners, Reports, 1885, xii. 39, xiii. 240. Porter, Rambles in old Boston, p. 286. Drake, History of Boston, 1856, p. 606. Phippen, Pedigree of Saltonstall. Brazer, A discourse on the life and character of Don. Lererett Saltonstall, Salem, 1845, p. 52. Mass. hist. soc. Collections, 3d series, 1846, tx. 123. Boston S~e tc* -Letter, 28 June, 1739. Saltonstall, Memorials of the Saltonstall family, pp 21, 141 (in press; title not de- cided). Sewall, Diary, 1882, iii. 394.

1701-1702.

Anthony Stoddard, the second of the eleven children of Simeon Stoddard and nephew of Solomon Stoddard, Harvard's first Librarian, was born in Boston 24 September, 1678. He graduated in 1697, received his A.M. in 1700, and the next year (1701-1702) acted as Librarian. Moving to Boston, where he seems to have become a citizen of prominence, he held the following offices : justice of the peace, 1728-48; justice of inferior court of common pleas of Suffolk county, 1733-48 ; member of the council for the province, 1735-42. From his father, who died in 1730, a rich man for those days, he inherited considerable property. While in the council he served on several committees appointed in connection with the Spanish war and the expedition against Carthagena in 1740. His death took place 11 March, 1748. His wife, Martha, daughter of Andrew Belcher and sister of Governor Jonathan Belcher, had died just a month earlier. Of their three children, Simeon graduated from Harvard in 1726, and was "placed" first in the class. There is a [https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/51433 portrait of Anthony Stoddard] in the possession of a descendant in New York.

AITHOKITIES: Boston Erening Post, Monday, 14 March, 1748. Colman, Sermon after the funeral of Simeon Stod- dard, 1730. pp. 24. Stoddard, Chas., Anthony Stoddard and his descendants, 1865, p. 3, and Appendix, 1873, p. 129. Mass. hist. soc. Proceedings, 1881, xviii. 363-378. Prince, Sermon on the decease of Jfri. Jfartha Stoddard, 1748. pp. 24. Whitmore, Mass, civil list, 1870.

1702-1703.

Josiah Willard, the son of Samuel and his second wife, Eunice (Tyng) Willard, was born in Boston 21 June, 1681. His father was the pastor of the South Church in Boston and, from 1701 to 1707, vice-president of Harvard College. Josiah graduated in 1698, and received the degree of A.M. in 1701. During the next year he was Librarian and the three following years (1703- 1706) a tutor. He had studied for the ministry, but, "on account of an unconquerable diffidence," gave up preaching. He then made several voyages to the West Indies and to England, and at one time was in command of a ship in the London trade. He married, 24 October, 1715, Katherine Allen of Boston. She died in 1725, and the next year (7 April, 1726) he married Mrs. Hannah Clarke, who survived him. By these marriages he had ten children. In 1717, "George I. exceedingly gratified and bless'd this Province, by appointing Him our Secretary." For nearly forty years Willard filled this important position, and, says Prince in his funeral sermon, he was " a bright and most amiable Example of Care, Diligence, Integrity, Publick Spirit, Wisdom, Goodness and Generousity ; to the great Honour and Advantage, and