Bancroft Addenda with Sowther and Gilbert Notes

Bancroft Addenda
with Sowther and Gilbert Notes

by John G. Hunt, B.S.C., Arlington, Virginia

The following article is taken from: The American Genealogist, Volume 42, Number 4, pp. 210-216

In 1961 Dr. George E. McCracken (TAG, supra, 37; 154-160) developed these facts concerning Bancrofts of early New England;

• i. Thomas Bancroft, eminent poet, native of Swarkestone, Derbyshire, was alive at Bradley in that shire as late as 1658. His brothers were Ralph and John Bancroft, the latter of whom sold his land preparatory to removing to New England but died before 1639 prior to arriving in the New World; see evidence below. You sold your land, the lightlier hence to go
  ..... To foreign coasts; yet (Fates would have it so)
  ..... Did ne'er New England reach, but went with them
  ..... That journey towards New Jerusalem.
  ..... The question therefore now arises as to whether John

• ii. To be distinguished from the said John Bancroft, a certain John Barcroft, with wife Jane, was of Boston, Massachusetts in 1633; not known to have had any children, nor is there record in America of this couple after 1633.

• iii. The Widow Bancroft of Lynn, Massachusetts, 1638, was likely in 1644 of Southampton, New York; there is no evidence that her name was Jane, as has sometimes been supposed, doubtless in confusion with Jane Barcroft, above. The widow possibly had daughters that married John Stratton and Thomas Talmage, Jr., two early settlers of Long Island.

• iv. The said Widow Bancroft may have had sons John and Thomas Bancroft who were living in the Connecticut valley in the 1640's and 1650's; their sister seems to have been Anne or Hannah who married Sgt. John Griffin at Windsor, Connecticut, in 1647.

• v. In records of Dedham, Massachusetts of the year 1647, appears the name of Thomas Bancroft, then aged about 22 years; although he later removed to Lynn, there is no good reason to think him akin to the Widow Bancroft. His name, however and that of his son Ralph, conform to the theory that he was somehow related to the aforesaid poet, Thomas Bancroft.

Much of the material that Dr. McCracken reviewed had been gathered some sixty years earlier by J. Henry Lea who summarized his findings in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 56:84-87, 196 f. Most curiously, however, Mr. Lea seems to have neglected to consult the will of John Bancroft of Kings Newton, in the parish of Melbourne, Derbyshire, dated 5 Jan 1634/5 and proved 12 May following by his relict Anne (PCC 55 Sadler). Asking to be buried in the parish church of Melburne, the testator left his goods to wife Anne for life, stipulating that she should divide equally between the children, with the elder son John getting the usual double share and the other six children one share each, they not named but two of the seven children are minor sons and perhaps not yet apprenticed. And if any things shall happen to be doubtful concerning my meaning, . . . "or that my wyfe shall happen to remoue from the place where shee now dwelleth it is my mynd and will that my Ouerseers hereafter named or any two of them shall expound the said doubt and it shalbe at my said wiues pleasure to remoue and dwell wth my children where shee pleaseth pvided that shee do yt by the consent of my said ouseers or any two of them." As will be seen below, this implication of a possible moved elsewhere may be significant of plans laid before the final illness of the testator. Overseers were Henry Beighton of Ticknail, Nathaniel Sowther of Derby and John Ratcliffe of Kings Newton; witnesses were Nathaniel Sowther, Thomas Grimbold and Robte Draper [he by mark].  Sowther may have served as scrivener for the will, on which point see below.

As shown by Dr. McCracken, Mr. Lea made some wrong assumptions, the worst of which was that John Bancroft, the poet's brother, actually arrived in New England, dying soon afterwards. Both Meredith B. Colket, Jr. and Dr. McCracken reject this assumption, and with reason, for in memory of John Bancroft, his brother, are these words of the poet Thomas Bancroft, printed in 1639, and reprinted by John Nichols, History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester, (London 1804), vol. 3, pt. 2, p. *886 [sic, not 886].

Bancroft of Kings Newton, whose will we have abstracted, can have been brother to the poet, Thomas Bancroft. It must be noted that Kings Newton adjoins Swarkeston, the two being separated only by the River Trent. Moreover, the fact that the testator stipulated burial in the church seems to link him with the family of Bancroft long seated at Chellaston and Swarkeston, who in several wills abstracted by Mr. Lea, had also specified burial in their church, a privilege reserved for few persons. What seems much more meaningful, however, is the fact that Nathaniel Sowther of Derby, seemingly closest friend to the deceased John Bancroft, removed - almost immediately after Bancroft's death - to New England, where in 1636 he was given the position of Secretary to the colony of Plymouth. That Secretary Sowther of Plymouth was the Sowther of John Bancroft's will will be readily apparent from a comparison of the sign manual or cipher appended to his signature as witness to the Bancroft will with a similar signature to a 1653 deed of John and Martha Cogan of Boston where Sowther was then Notary Public. This deed is preserved in the Massachusetts Historical Society which kindly permits our reproduction of the part containing the signature.

Images of Signatures, not available here

[In an appendix hereto we add notes concerning SOWTHER.]

..... Considering the foregoing facts, we are entitled to think it possible that SOWTHER, as closest friend to John Bancroft, may have carried the latter's family to the New World in 1636 or that he may have been the instrument who made possible their removal to New England around that time. We know from the poet that his elder brother, John, who lived in any case in the immediate neighborhood of Kings Newton, had died before 1639, having planned removal to New England. It seems rather likely that it was the John Bancroft of Swarkeston who sold his lands, say in 1633, and removed to the hamlet across the river, dying there at Kings Newton before he could complete his plans to migrate from England.
..... There are bits of evidence that conform to our reconstruction of the Bancroft story. In the first place, each of the three children attributed to the Widow Bancroft in Connecticut, had a daughter Anne or Hannah and a son Nathaniel. The girls' names easily could honor, the relict of John Bancroft of Kings Newton, their supposed grandmother, while the name Nathaniel could easily have been meant to honor SOWTHER, their supposed benefactor.
..... Significantly, also, it is to be noted that Thomas Talmage, Jr., of Long Island, in 1644 named one of his sons Nathaniel (a name not earlier found in this family). Moreover, Talmage had a daughter Hannah or Anna. His position as secretary or recorder at Easthampton, L.I., ties in nicely with that of Nathaniel SOWTHER, who was, if we are right, benefactor of Talmage's supposed wife's family (see Arthur White Talmage, Talmage Genealogy, [1909], pp. 23 f.).
..... In addition, we cite a Suffolk County, Massachusetts deed of 22d da. 9th mo. 1648 (Lib. 1, ff 96), which states:
..... Mr. Robt Saltonstall of Boston (granted) to Mr.
..... Nicholas Davison of Charlston his dwelling house
..... in Windsor uppon Connecticut formerly the possession
..... of ffrancis Stiles of Windsor, and now or late in
..... the occupation of Tho. Gilbert and John Banckraft.
That Gilbert and Bancroft occupied the same house could mean little, but when in Mr. Lea's cited paper we read of acquaintance between the Bancrofts of Chellaston and Swarkeston and the Gilberts of Barrow, which adjoins Swarkeston, we may commence to think that Bancroft of the Connecticut Valley in 1648 was quite possibly from the same part of England as Thomas Gilbert, and that their forefathers can have been acquainted. This, then, is a clue that the Connecticut valley Bancrofts and Gilberts may have come from Swarkeston or vicinity. Hand in glove with the foregoing facts is the comparable relationship that seems to have existed between Nathaniel SOWTHER and the Bancroft family on the one hand and between Elder William BREWSTERof Plymouth and SOWTHER, on the other.
..... It appears obvious that the ruling elder's influence may have accounted for the immediate appointment of SOWTHER, a newcomer, as Secretary of Plymouth Colony in 1636. For the elder's son Jonathan had in 1624 married Lucretia OLDHAM of Derby, who must have known SOWTHER in that city, where he plainly seems to have been a scrivener. Indeed, it is not at all farfetched to think that Lucretia may have been closely akin to SOWTHER for here mother seems to have been that Philippa SOWTHER (daughter of John), who was baptized in the parish of All Saints, Derby, 6 July 1568 in which parish she married 17 November 1588 William OULDHAM, known to have been the father of Lucretia, aforesaid (see New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 111:242 and the manuscript parish registers of All Saints, Derby).
..... At the time of SOWTHER's arrival at Plymouth in 1636, Jonathan BREWSTER was occupying an important trading post for Plymouth on the then remote Connecticut River; see George F. Willison, Saints and Strangers, 1945 edition, pp. 296, 302; p. 347 in paperback edition (1965), which is neither a reprint nor condensation of the 1945 but a revision of it, by the author himself.
..... It is not to be thought that SOWTHER's wife (whom he had married in 1613 at Derby) would have relished the continual shepherding of the Bancroft widow and her seven children, by her busy husband. So that even if Widow Bancroft came to Plymouth, where she has not been found recorded, it is likely that she may have removed not long afterwards. Connecticut was in 1636 too unstable for a widow with children; Lynn appears to have been first stopping place and when many of that town removed to Long Island before 1650, the widow Bancroft may well have gone with them, Connecticut still not being thought too secure. Yet it is likely that some of her children found homes along the River Connecticut, perhaps through the influence of SOWTHERand his kinsfolk, the BREWSTERs The trade of young John Bancroft of Windsor, a ferryman, suggests the fondness that his supposed uncle, the poet Thomas Bancroft, had for the River Trent. We give this extract from the poet's words (Nichols, loc. cit.):

To Trent

..... Sweet River, on whose flowery margin laid
..... I with the slippery fish have often play'd
..... At fast and loose. . .
..... Bancroft descendants will perhaps wish to read what the poet said of his own parents "buried near together in Swarston church" (Nichols, ibid.):
..... Here lies a pair of peerless friends
..... Whose goodness (like a precious chain)
..... Adorn'd their souls in lives and ends;
..... Whom when Detraction's self would stain
..... She drops her tears instead of gall
..... And helps to mourn their funeral.

In tracing back the Sowther family at Derby, we find that John Sowter occurs 6 January 1498 in an extract from the court roll of the manor of Belper (Beau Repaire), Derbyshire, at Duffield, re 1 acre at Stanley (some five miles northeast of Derby - Derbyshire Charters, p. 37, no. 288). It was perhaps his son and namesake who served as churchwarden of the parish of All Saints, Derby, between 1535 and 1545 (History of the Parish of All Saints, Derby). About 1547 and again about 1554, John Sowter of Derby, plumber, and Agnes his wife, daughter of Thomas Fynymore, deceased, claimed property at Hanbury, Staffordshire, against Elizabeth Stafford and Alice her daughter, wife of John Greenwaye (Public Records Office, Lists and Indexes, 54:163; 55:95).

Perhaps a son of John and Agnes was that John Sowter whose children, baptized at All Saints, included:
Thomas Sowter, baptized April 1567
Philippa Sowter, baptized 6 July 1568, married at age 20 to William Ouldham (probably the man of that name buried at All Saints, Derby, 26 June 1636). Their daughter Lucretia, baptized 1600, married 1624 in New England (New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 111:242).

The aforesaid Thomas Sowter may well have been father of Nathaniel Sowther or Sowter of Derby, who deposed 19 October 1654 aged about 62 (Suffolk County, Massachusetts Deeds 2:85), so was born circa 1592. He married at St. Peter's, Derby, 28 March 1613, Alice Devonport. In 1634 Nathaniel Sowther was appointed overseer of the will of John Bancroft, signed the will as a witness (see above) and possibly was the scrivener who wrote out the text of the will. In 1653 he also signed as witness the Cogan deed and there are clear resemblances at least in some words between the handwriting of the Bancroft will and the Cogan deed and whatever differences are visible may obviously be the result of the natural changes in the handwriting of any man in a period of nineteen years or the conditions surrounding the production of the document.

..... For the subsequent history of Nathaniel SOWTHER in New England, see the fine article by Mrs. John E. Barclay which follows immediately. Now, however, there remains to be presented additional information tending to show the connection between Connecticut Gilberts and the part of Old England whence came, supposedly, our Connecticut Bancrofts.
..... Thomas Gilbert, named above as at Windsor, Connecticut in 1648, had sons Jonathan and Josiah who were styled kinsmen by the Widow Katharine (relict of John) Harrison of Wethersfield, Connecticut, at the time of her extended trial as a witch (Homer W. Brainard, Harold S. Gilbert and Clarence A. Torrey, The Gilbert Family, (1954), 5 f..; Henry R. Stiles, History of Wethersfield, Connecticut, 1:276, 2:416). During the trial she testified in 1670 that she had been in Connecticut nineteen years, coming directly from England (R. E. Dale, Boston Evening Transcript, 11 July 1934).
..... Earlier in the proceedings against Widow Harrison, Elizabeth, wife of Simon Smith of Thirty Miles Island testified in 1668 that "Katharine was . . . one that told fortunes . . . and also would oft speak and boast of her great familiarity with Mr. Lilly, one that told fortunes and foretold many matters that in future times were to be accomplished" (John M. Taylor, The Witchcraft Dulusion in Colonial Connecticut, (New York, 1908), p. 56. In responding to the accusation, the widow cited as witnesses, among others, both Jonathan and Josiah Gilbert - it seems clear that she was related to them.
..... Who was the Mr. Lilly named by the widow's accuser? According to the Dictionary of National Biography, William Lilly (1602-1681), noted astrologer and fortune teller was born at Diseworth, Leics. In 1620, when 18 years of age, after being educated in a school at Ashby de la Zouch near Diseworth, he removed to London where his chequered career brought him into correspondence with the King of Sweden and friendship with Elias Ashmole, the famed antiquarian and astrologer.
..... We doubt that Katharine, widow Harrison, personally knew Mr. Lilly; her first daughter Rebecca was born at Wethersfield in 1654 and it would seem that Katharine herself was not born much before 1624, if that early; yet we think it quite possible that either her husband or her kinfolk had known Lilly as a youth before Lilly left his native shire. Diseworth, his birthplace, lies about six miles from Barrow on Trent, adjoining Swarkeston, which could very well be the parish where the Gilberts of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield originated. Two men named John Harrison were testators in the early 1600's, both of Bredon (close to both Barrow and Diseworth (see British Record Society, Index to Leicestershire Wills, Vols. 27, 51).
..... Too, it must be recalled that Thomas Bancroft of Swarkeston, father of the poet, in his will in 1626, named as overseer his neighbor, Roger Gilbert of Barrow, where the Gilberts had long flourished (see New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 56: 84-87; The Genealogist, n.s., 7:138-140). The original will of Elizabeth Gilbert, spinster, late of Barrow, dated 20 March 1614 (nuncupative), now in the Public Library, Lichfield, Staffordshire, tells us that her grandsire was William Gilbert, father of her uncle Roger Gilbert whose children she named as John, Elizabeth, Francis, William, Sarah and Anne. There is even a remote chance that the latter, Anne, may have been the wife of John Bancroft who died a resident of Melbourne. Note also that Thomas Gilbert married Anne Ward, 26 June 1611, at Swarkeston.
[Editor's Note: We are happy to print Mr. Hunt's interesting speculation concerning the Bancroft origin. The newly discovered will is important and the onomastic arguments and chronology fit nicely, but it is a bit strange that the Widow Bancroft shows up first at Lynn and not at Plymouth wit the SOWTHERS.]

History of the Souther Tide Mill, Quincy, Massachusetts

Souther Tide Mill History

The following information concerning the history of the Souther Tide mill is transcribed from, Quincy History, Winter 1981 issue by the late H. Hobart Holly, a publication of the Quincy Historical Society.

Town River, Tidemills and the Quincy Canal

Amid Quincy's many historic sites, few reflect more important local history than the area where the old Quincy Canal emptied into Town River. Thousands of people pass the site daily on the Southern Artery without noting the reminders of three industrial activities that played important roles in the story of Quincy.

In 1800 this area was largely saltmarsh and meadow into which a tidal arm of the Town River extended up to the Road to the Ferry shortly to become the Hingham and Quincy Turnpike and now Washington Street. Into this tidal waterway, under a bridge for the road, flowed the Town Brook near which was the center of the settlement from 1634. Nearby on Town River was the Town Landing, a most important place from the earliest days. The saltmarsh was itself a highly valued asset; people still relied heavily on salt hay.

Starting in 1802, Ebenezer Thayer (1768-1841), a merchant of Boston and Charlestown, shortly to be of Quincy, purchased about 39 acres of land between the Road to the Ferry and Town river. On the river he built two wharves; the present Quincy Lumber Company wharf is their successor.

On June 23, 1806, the Legislature passed an act authorizing Ebenezer Thayer to build a dam across Town River "for the purpose of erecting a mill or mills on the same", that he carried out this purpose is verified by mention of the mill pond when he sold his property in 1814 to David Stetson of Charlestown. The next year, Stetson sold the property to John Souther, Jr. who carried on the several industrial activities there; he operated a shipyard, a wharf, a grist mill, a saw mill and the canal lock.

John Souther, Jr. was well established in his family's shipbuilding business in Hingham when he moved to Quincy in 1815 and built the handsome home still standing at 356 Washington Street. He and his son, John L[incoln] Souther, operated an active shipyard on Town River for nearly fifty years, building many important vessels.

In addition to the shipyard, the Southers operated the two tide mills, a grist mill and close by to the last, a saw mill. Mill Street and Pond Street still commemorate this activity. The original grist mill burned and was replaced in 1854 by the building still standing over its old raceway as part of the Quincy Lumber Company yard. The machinery has long been removed but the rugged mill building construction survives.

A sidelight on the grist mill is of interest. In present Braintree, from the days when it was Monatiquot Village and then the Middle Precinct of Old Braintree, there was a succession of mills on the Farm and Monatiquot Rivers. Present Quincy, however, the original center and then the North Precinct of the old town, is a distinct contrast. Here were operated just two stream-operated mills. The old Town grist mill operated from 1640 to the 1850s on Town Brook at Fort Square where a millstone monument commemorates it. On Furnace Brook was John Winthrop, Jr.'s Iron Furnace of 1644 which ceased operation after a short time partly because of the inadequacy of the waterpower. Thus this area had to use tide power. In addition to the Souther Mill, there were two earlier tidemills on Black's Creek.

By the 1820's, Quincy's granite quarrying industry was reaching a status of importance and transportation of the heavy material was a major concern. Economical transportation was available on sloops and schooners suitable for the purpose - like some built by John Souther, Jr. - but getting the stone to tidewater and aboard the vessels presented a problem. The solution for the West Quincy quarries was the Granite Railway of 1826 which carried the granite to Bunker Hill Wharf on the Neponset River. Concurrent with the establishment of the Granite Railway was the formation of the Quincy Canal Corporation to provide facilities for loading stone from the North Common or Quarry Street area on the granite sloops and schooners. The canal utilized the tidal portion of Town River that extended up to present Washington Street.

On 26 January 1827, John Souther, Jr. deeded to the Quincy Canal Corporation free passage through the dam which was erected by the act of Legislature of 23 June 1806. Souther to have full use of the mill pond for his mills, the lock and abutments erected by the Canal Corporation shall be kept in order by them and no more than six inches of water from the mill pond shall be used for locking vessels. Thus it is explained how mills and a canal could operate on one set of tide gates.

The Quincy Canal operated for some years but, unlike the Granite Railway, it was not a financial success and its stockholders lost heavily. The granite-loading wharves, the tow paths, the mill pond and much of the waterway have long since disappeared; but remains of the abutments and tide gate structures can be seen today near the historic tidemill building.

In 1873 the Southers sold the shipyard properties and their wharf to Wilber F. Larkin who converted it to a lumber yard. In this business it has functioned for over a century under Larkin, then Benjamin Johnson and the Johnson Lumber Company and since 1912 the Quincy Lumber Company. John L[incoln] Souther sold the dam and mills to Johnson in 1888. Thus continues the long and important industrial activity on this site in historic Quincy.

Of further note, the Brig Souther was built as a Gold Rush ship and launched in 1840 at Souther wharf next to the Tide Mills.

For information about the Souther Tide Mill (specifically), please write:

Friends of Souther Tide Mill, Inc.
Post Office Box 7412
Quincy, Massachusetts 02269-7412

For information about American Tide Mills in general, contact:
International Tide Mill Museum
John Vose Goff, Historian
Post Office Box 8655
Salem, Massachusetts 01971

"Our Hero" - Francis Lincoln Souther

"Our Hero"

Francis Lincoln Souther

Frank, as he was known by family and friends, was born in Quincy, Norfolk, Massachusetts on 27 May 1836 to John Lincoln Souther and Marcella Adams Spear. He married on 21 Jun 1857 to Frances Morton Holt, daughter of Albert Holt and Sarah Marsh Nightingale. Frances was born in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts on 30 Sep 1839 and died on 9 Nov 1903 in Quincy. Frank was killed in action during the Civil War on 10 Jun 1861 at the Battle of Big Bethel in Hampton County, Virginia. Frank and his wife Frances are buried in Mount Wollaston Cemetery in Quincy.

Together they had two beautiful daughters. Marcella Adams Souther, born 30 Oct 1858 and Annie Delight Souther, born 20 Dec 1860, both born in Quincy, Norfolk, Massachusetts.



Marcella never married and died 18 Nov 1928 in East Milton, Norfolk, Massachusetts.



Annie married twice, first to Captain Edwin Graves on 1 Dec 1881 in Quincy. She married secondly to James Edgar Moore in Brookline, Norfolk, Massachusetts on 17 Aug 1893. Annie died 26 Nov 1903 and is buried in Mount Wollaston Cemetery.

Francis enlisted for the Civil War on 16 May 1861 at Boston Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts; mustered in as a Private on 22 May 1861 and was mortally wounded at Big Bethel, Virginia on 10 Jun 1861 and died the same day after being taken to the Aquia Hospital.

Following is an article found in the Quincy Patriot Ledger, Saturday/Sunday November 3/4, 1990.

Quincy Soldier Gets Fame as First Union
Fatality in Civil War
N.E. Mysteries by Curt Norris for the Patriot Ledger

"A weathered tombstone peers at passerby from a lonely hollow facing the road in Quincy's Mount Wollaston Cemetery.

Francis L. Souther

killed at Big Bethel, Virginia

June 10, 1861

Aged 25 years

Rest Soldier Rest Thy Warfare O'er

The Battle Roll Thou'll Hear No More

Thy Duty Bravely Nobly Done

The Conflict Past, The Victory Won

Private Francis Lincoln Souther is known in some accounts as the first Union soldier killed in the Civil War. Souther, who came from a Quincy shipbuilding family, was a member of the 4th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, a three-month regiment that left Quincy on May 17, 1861. But how he came to be known as such remains a question in history.

In early June 1861, the controversial General Benjamin Butler at Fortress Monroe learned that the rebels had dug in about 12 miles away at a place called Little Bethel. And five miles farther, at a place called Big Bethel, where there was a church, they were entrenching even more firmly.

Union Troops under Brigadare General Pierce and Colonel Dunyen planned to attack Little Bethel at the break of day and then rush to overwhelm Big Bethel. As a precaution, no regiment was to make an attack without first shouting the watchword and the troops planned to wear white bands on their arms so that they could be recognize one another in the daylight.

A short distance from Little Bethel, the New York 3rd Regiment was accidently fired upon by fellow union soldiers, who mistook the head of the advancing column for Confederate Cavalry members. Ten men were wounded and two killed by the barrage. The rebels at Little Bethel heard the firing and fled with news of the action to Big Bethel.

The Union columns found the camp at Little Bethel deserted and rushed on to Big Bethel, where the rebels were expecting them. The Union troops, already disheartened by the earlier incident, found themselves preparing to attack at 10 a.m., knowing full well that they would no longer enjoy any element of surprise.

They fought for two hours, losing about 40 men, including Souther, before retreating.

It is hard to determine just how Souther, who perished at Big Bethel, became known as the first Union Soldier killed in the Civil War since we know at least two others died before he did. We can only assume that he came by the appellation because he was perhaps the first soldier killed by enemy action.

At any event, after his death, Souther's wife and two children had his remains returned to Quincy where he was interred at Mount Wollaston Cemetery, Old Section, in Lot 323, Plot 3 on 26 July 1861, his place in history apparently secure." His wife is buried in Plot 4.

From his Civil War Pension Records located the the National Archives in Washington, D.C., I have learned that the original pension that was dated 16 Nov 1861, was at a rate of $8./month (plus $2./month for each child until age 16) commencing 10 Jun 1861. Also in the file are a series of correspondence in April 1924 between the Honorable Henry Cabot Lodge and the Bureau of Records; apparently Miss Marcella A. Souther of 47 Revere Road, Quincy had requested that he ask the Bureau to return the papers that her mother had submitted to support the pension and the Bureau replied to both her and Mr. Lodge that the papers were then part of the permanent record and as such could not be returned.

One of the most touching pieces I have found concerning Francis is a letter written by his brother, Horace, from Virginia on the day that Francis died. It was transcribed from the original letter in an old scrap book compiled by Francis' daughter, Marcella. It was in the Quincy Patriot Ledger of 29 May 1935. It read as follows:

June 11, 1861

"Dear Father and Mother:

It is a sad duty that I have to perform now, that of informing you that my brother and your son is numbered with the dead. He was wounded on the field of battle yesterday and died about l8 o'clock last evening. He was perfectly conscious till the last and spoke of you both, of his wife and little ones.

The bullet passed through his right arm, through his body and out through his left arm. The following are the particulars. The day before yesterday I went to Newport News and was put on guard. During the afternoon the orders came to be ready to march at 12 o'clock at night towards a place called Old Bethel where some rebels were camped. Accordingly about 1500 men and two pieces of artillery started at the appointed time and were joined by about 2500 more from Hampton. They came in sight of the enemy's camp about 10:30 yesterday and commenced the attack. About 11 the artillery kept up a constant fire until their ammunition gave out, doing great damage to the enemy's breastworks. The Massachusetts boys then rushed into the parapets, the Quincy boys being the first and their captain the first man. Lieutenant Spear the next. Frank was amongst the first of the privates and it was there he received his wound. He had loaded his piece and fired twice and was loading the third time when the bullet struck him. He fell back into one of the Quincy boy's arms and was brought off the parapets, when some of the boys took him to carry him to the surgeon, He said, 'Put me down, boys. Let me lay, and do your duty.'

They were then ordered to retreat and they began to come into the camp at Newport News about five yesterday afternoon. Warren Spear was one of the first that came in and brought the news about Frank. He was the one that brought him off the parapets. When Captain Curtis came in he said, 'Horace, we have brought his body back to you. That is all we could do and God knows, if I could only have brought Frank back alive, I should be perfectly satisfied, for he was one of the best men in the company and fought like a tiger. He was within 10 feet of me when he fell.'

He then wrote me a pass to come down to the fort. Daniel French was with Frank all the time. He said he did not suffer but little and spoke of you all; and the chief nurse said this morning that he was a soldier, every inch of him.

It is too hard to think that he was picked out of the whole company and not another one was scratched.

Your Loving Son,

Horace"

Thus died Quincy's first and possible the Union's first soldier during the Civil War. Wrapped in an American flag, the body was sent home in a few months and buried at Mt. Wollaston Cemetery."

It is only befitting that the Square at the corners of Washington and Edison Park were dedicated in 1868 and named "Francis Lincoln Souther Square."

Note: Although his certified Death Certificate from Quincy says he died on 9 Jun 1861, I have left the date as the 10th. I believe that his own brother's letter and every newspaper article states that he died on the 10th. Frank was shot on the 9th but did not die until the next morning.

Souther Publications

Souther Families of America: Being the Descendants of Joseph Sowther of Boston, Massachusetts; including other Souther Families, by Richard Dennis Souther, (Preliminary Edition, Privately Published, North Quincy, Massachusetts, 1996) - (747 pp., 100+ photographs, references, indexed) Souther Family History: Nathaniel Souther, 1645 Plymouth Colony; Henry Souther, 1712 Virginia to 1988, by Watson Benjamin Dyer, (Privately Published, Cedartown, GA, 1988) - (423 pp., photographs, few references, un-indexed) Note: (Index for the above mentioned book, compiled by Richard Dennis Souther, 1992) Memoranda relating to Nathaniel Souther, The First Secretary of Plymouth Colony; and the Descendants of Joseph Souther, of Boston, by George Howard Souther, (H. W. Rokker Printers and Binders, 1886) - (44 pp. no references, un-indexed) Note: (Index for the above mentioned book, compiled by Richard Dennis Souther, 1991) The Souther Family, by Ruth Fothergill Mason, (Privately printed, Union, Boone County, Kentucky, 1978) (125 pp., list of references, indexed) Ancestors of Winnifred Oscar Souther: 600 Years of History and Ancestors of Mary May Souther, by Donna Lorraine (Kindt) Folk, (Privately Published, Fort Saint John, British Columbia, Canada, 1998)