9 307. Joseph, son of Jonathan and Mary, born at 9 Aug. 27, 1736, in infancy or early youth. ; died 308. Elizabeth, daughter of Jonathan and Mary, born at Sudbury [?], March 12, 1734-5; died at Sherburne, May 22, 1744. ; died 308. James, jun., son of Jonathan and Mary, born at The foregoing list completes the four generations in the male line, with marriages so far as ascertained, accompanied with a few brief notices, as promised on p. 353, and more than was promised in the "Circular." It also contains the children of Major Willard's daughters. I could have been much more full in some of the delineations within the generations to which I have here limited myself, particularly in the line of the second son of the Major; but it would have required a large increase of labor, besides swelling the volume to an unreasonable bulk. In this publication, my great object has been to preserve whatever relates to Major Willard, with his immediate ancestry and next of kin, in connection with three of the generations issuing from him; so that all living descendants, possessing the family name, may, if they desire, trace back their lineage, through their common American ancestral head, to the quiet parish of Horsmonden. 441 CHAPTER XVII. CONCLUSION. A WORD in conclusion, by way of discourse, with my multitudinous cousins, or such of them as have followed on to the end of the last chapter without tiring. Many have looked upon genealogical investigations, such as have occupied the last chapter, as of no value, because they have no relation to wealth, no affinity with present interests, no sympathy with religious or political party, and are not versed in any of the great movements of society. Of consequence, the quiet genealogist has shared the condition of his pursuits, and, where not subject to sneer, has been viewed with pity by the solid men who rule in the world of opinion, and the humble men who are not apt to cast beyond themselves, as mistaking the great issues of life, and accomplishing small ends by small means. But he has gone on diligently and without complaint, enjoying himself as much in the verification of a fact, in settling a dispute touching a name or a date, in restoring the forgotten from the rubbish of the elder day, as the merchant in planning a successful voyage, or the jurist in settling a legal principle. He has felt pleasure in the pursuit, and satisfaction in the result; for a truth has been established, whatever may be its degree of worth in human estimate.* The late Dr. John Farmer, of Concord, N.H., -a most diligent and painstaking man, in the midst of debility which would have disheartened most men, worthily led the way in his "Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England," an octavo volume published in 1829. Other laborers have followed, to some extent, in the same field; and we hope, ere long, to have the four volumes on the same subject prepared by Hon. James Savage, the careful result of his critical investigations and unremitted labors extending over many years, and a fitting crown of his earnest and enlightened work in various departments connected with our history. In one aspect, however, censure is justly administered; and that is, when the purpose of the genealogist is to feed vainglory and pamper family pride, an endeavor, it may be, to compensate personal deficiencies and degeneracies by blazoning the lustre or respectability of former generations, only the more melancholy from the contrast with the present; or when he busies himself in pursuing rank and title in the privileged circles of the Old World, where, in many instances, the bend sinister marks not merely the want of purity of blood, but it may be the far greater want of purity of character. But this is only an incidental evil, not inherent; and may be easily mixed up with the best undertakings. Let the expression, " family pride," retain its low place, as ministering to vanity; for it is not a proper expression to designate the true sentiment, which has its foundation deeper than republican institutions, even down in the depths of the nature God has given us. A regard for ancestry, as an occasion for thankfulness and an example for imitation, comes not within the category; and it may be reasonably inferred, that the man who has no respect for his ancestry is either very degenerate, or has no ancestry worthy of respect: it may be both.* But a change has taken place among us in regard to the genealogist: "the wheel is come full circle." What was diffidently essayed years since by a few, has now become the pursuit of many; so that even a town-history is not considered complete, unless it embraces a list of the early settlers, with their descendants. The genealogist has cre "In theoretical reasoning and in the eye of religion," says Sharon Turner, "the distinction of birth seems to be an unjust prejudice; . . . but the morality and merit of society is the product of very complicated and diversified motives, and is never so superabundant as to suffer uninjured the loss of any one of its incentives and supporters. The fame of an applauded ancestor has stimulated many to perform noble actions or to preserve an honorable character, and will continue so to operate while human nature exists. It creates a sentiment of honor, a dread of disgrace, a useful pride of name, which, though not universally efficient, will frequently check the vicious propensities of passion or selfishness, when reason or religion has exhorted in vain." — History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. p. 233. Philadelphia edition, 1841. : ated a public opinion in favor of his pursuit. He has awakened the sentiment which exists in a latent form in almost every breast; and we are brought into closer sympathy with former generations, no longer considering ourselves solitary, isolated beings, without looking before or after, but as links in a great chain running back through centuries, and to run down through coming centuries for all future time; and feeling, that, as we have derived qualities of head and heart from former generations through long periods of time and great diversities of persons, we are to transmit them, variously modified and combined, but still distinctive, to the remote future. Here is a great study, which we are beginning to comprehend, because we are beginning to think of it. It is not confined to any particular ranks or orders of people it is finding its expression everywhere. The most republican person, nay, the veriest democrat, whether the politician who lives on popular smiles and sails on slimy seas, or the man in private walks and in every variety of social position, feels its influence, and yields to its suggestions. Genealogical investigations have nothing in common, no starting-point, with a rude and barbarous age: they are the natural and necessary growth and result of centuries of civilization and refinement. And what an incentive to good conduct, when the true descendant can run his eye back over the serried hosts, his kindred who have preceded him, and be able to delineate virtues and gather a harvest of good examples for imitation! Then he may vow, that by no word or deed, by no base thought, shall that inheritance become corrupt in his own person, or among those who are under his control. The further we recede from our great ancestral period, increasing numbers of persons will be found busily engaged in earnest endeavor to gather up the links in their respective lines of descent, in order to connect themselves in one continuous chain reaching back to the founders of their Cisatlantic house, whether humble or illustrious. The first settlement of these shores is indissolubly con nected with a critical period in the world's history and the narrative of human liberty. This is now fully recognized. Indeed, had failure, instead of success, marked the issue of the struggle then beginning in England, the condition of the great Anglo-Saxon family might now resemble that of Continental Europe. It is right, then, to mark the era of the first settlement as the true point of departure and inquiry, - a point honorable in itself; equally so, to say the least, with the Norman invasion of England in the uncertain lights of the eleventh century, when robbery and violence, with the sword for their instrument, achieved wealth, power, and station. England was sending out her choice seed, men who showed their manhood in coming to the wilderness for their cause; who served God faithfully, and transmitted virtuous habits and a sound understanding to after-generations. With such an ancestry, no one, in whatever station in life, need fear to be discredited. He has a charter of family that becomes an abiding inheritance: he gains a vantage-ground, not boastingly, but gratefully; blessing God for his fathers in the flesh, and using their example as an incentive to his own onward and upward progress. A new and strong inducement, one daily gaining in force, is found in the approaching change in the character of our population. We were homogeneous to an extent unusual, perhaps, in any other Colonies which have grown to great States. We are so no longer. The new and foreign element in our population has no sympathy with the Puritans, either historically, by kindred association, or religious training. It is common, no doubt, to speak of this advent as, in many ways, a blessing: some statesmen have done so, and politicians have welcomed it. We are pointed to our railroads and other great works, and are triumphantly asked, How, without these people, should we have possessed these internal improvements? Certainly, it is true that material interests have been hastened to their results by this accession to our population. But this is a low and unworthy view of the subject material interests are not the only or the |