Rev John Lothrop



My 9th Great Grandfather

"John Lothrop, my 9th great great grandfather, was baptized in Etton, 20 Dec. 1584. a He entered first Christ Church, College, Oxford for according to Foster's "Alumni Oxonienses" John Lothroppe of Yorkshire aged sixteen years, was admitted a pleb of Christ Church 15 Oct. 1602. Thence he went to Cambridge, where according to Venn's Alumni Cantabrigienses, John  was baptized at Etton, Yorkshire, 20 Dec. 1584.


"Rev. John Lothrop soon located in Egerton, 48 miles southeast from London, as curate of the parish there. To this living he was appointed about 1611 by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul. It was probably his first and only parish charge as a minister of the English Church. Here Mr. Lothrop labored faithfully as long as his judgment could approve the ritual and government of the Church. But when he could no longer do this, we find him conscientiously renouncing his orders and asserting the right of still fulfilling a ministry to which his heart and his conscience had called him."

"Accordingly in 1623 his decision was made and he espoused the cause of the Independents. For being independent in thought he was arrested 22 Apr. 1632 and put in jail, along with a group of 24 others. In the old Clink prison, in Newgate, and in the Gatehouse, there men lingered for months. In the Spring of 1634, all but Mr. Lothrop were released on bail; he, their leader, the chief offender, was deemed too dangerous to be set at liberty."

"During the time he was in prison, a fatal illness was preying on his wife and bringing her fast to her end. Her name was Hannah House. "In New England's Memorials" by Nathaniel Morton, published in 1669, he says -- "His wife fell sick, of which sickness she died. He procured liberty of the bishop to visit his wife before her death, and commended her to God by prayer, who soon gave up the ghost.

At his return to prison, his poor children, being many, repaired to the bishop at Lambeth and made known unto him their miserable condition by reason of their good father's being continued in close durance, who commiserated their condition so far as to grant him liberty, who soon after came over unto New England".

"He embarked for Boston with about 30 others of his church and arrived there September 18, 1634, in the ship "Griffin" the 27th of the same month he proceeded with his friends to Scituate, MA. The Lothrop Bible was brought to America aboard the “Griffin” in 1634 by the Reverend John Lothrop, who became one of Barnstable’s first ministers and a famous preacher. During the voyage, while at evening devotions, the Reverend Lothrop spilled hot candle wax on the open book which burned through several pages, causing holes about the size of a shilling.  Before landing, he carefully repaired most of the damaged paper and filled in the missing text from memory. A few of the holes in the pages remain."  (The Bible is on display at the Barnstable Library.)

"On reaching Boston  he found already the preparations begun to welcome him to a new home in Scituate.  He settled at Scituate, was granted a farm and is where he started a church and Barnstable, being the first minister who preached at either place."

"Before 14 June 1635 he had taken a second wife. She was Anne Hammond, daughter of William Hammond, of Lavenham, England and Watertown, Mass.; she was baptized in Lavenham 14 July 1616." (I descend from their son Barnabas.)

Barnstable Home/Library

While there differences arose between him and the people on the question of baptism and he removed to Barnstable, where he had a house lot granted him. He died in Barnstable 8 Nov. 1653.

Children of Rev. John Lothrop and Hannah House (second generation);--
i. Jane, bp. 29 Sept. 1614 ; m. Samuel Fuller.
ii. Anne, bp. 12 May 1616 ; d. 30 Apr. 1617.
iii. John, bp. 22 Feb. 1617/8 ; d.y.
iv. Barbara, bp. 321 Oct. 1619 ; m. John Emerson.
v. Thomas, b. ; m. Sarah (Larned) Ewer, widow.
vi. Samuel, b. ; m. Elizabeth Scudder.
vii. Joseph, b. ab. 1624 ; m. Mary Ansell.
viii. Benjamin, b. ; m. Martha ________.
In Scituate, by second wife, Anne Hammond:--
+ ix. Barnabas, bp. 6 June 1636 ; m. Susanna Clark.
x. ______ child ; d. 30 July 1638, inf.
In Barnstable, by second wife, Anne Hammond:--
xi. Abigail, bp. 2 Nov. 1639 ; m. James Clark
xii. Bathsheba, bp. 27 Feb. 1641 ; m. Alexander Marsh.
xiii. John, bp. 9 Feb. 1644 ; m. Mary Cobb.
xiv. _______ child, b. 25 Jan. 1649 ; d. inf.

Rev. John Lothrop is an accepted ancestor for the Society of Colonial Dames - "Lothrop, Rev. John (1584-1653) Scituate and Barnstable, Mass. Queen's College, Cambridge, A.B. 1606, A.M. 1609. Minister at Scituate 1634-1639; and at Barnstable 1639-1653."

Christmas Past

Kathryn Smith Lockhard

I can’t help but get a little sentimental over the Christmas' of yesterday.  It brings back the memories of being a child excited about all the bright presents under the tree with my name on them.  Bright colorful paper and bows that just delighted my eyes and tickled me down to my toes.

It was a great time, Christmas Eve gathering together with all my aunts, uncles, siblings and parents, too.  Cousins, there were many, and we filled the room as we sat on the floor with legs folded.  The gifts were passed out by the oldest of children who could read and be the most responsible not to drop perhaps a breakable gift.

When it came time to open the presents we had to wait our turn for tradition dictated the order was from the youngest child to the oldest adult.

At the end of the evening my parents would load the car with all the loot my sisters and I received. On the ride home we watched the skies for Santa and his reindeer.  Almost always we just knew we saw him.

Christmas morning the number one rule was to run to my mother and get her out of bed. She wanted to be part of watching her children’s delighted faces when we spied our gifts located beneath our stockings.  We could always count on finding an onion in our stockings.  It meant we had to try harder to be good during the next year.

I had turned 13-years-old, that September and it would be the last year I believed in Santa. Sad that childhood years end so quickly.  But that final Christmas when I believed, I told my mother I wanted tangerine lipstick.  She told me I was too young for lipstick.  But come Christmas morning in my stocking guess what I found?  You guessed it, tangerine lipstick.  I exclaimed to my mother, “ See, Santa thinks I’m old enough.”

Accidental Amputation

As it was written in the Middleboro Gazette newspaper:
Loses part of three fingers in sawing mishap 9/20/1912

Carl Z Pierce

Carl Zachariah Pierce, my great grandfather, was born in 1872.   He was a handsome young man who played baseball on the Middleboro, MA town league.  In 1897 at the age of 25 he married 16 year old, Mary Catherine Wilbur just before Christmas.   Six weeks later, on February 2nd, she gave birth to their daughter, my grandmother, Mary Ann.

According to divorce records, the marriage ended in April 1909 due to gross and confirmed habits of intoxication that began on or about December 1, 1898. 

This addiction held on tightly for the rest of his life, causing many confrontations with police and acquaintances.  It also caused him to not only lose his job in his father's hardware store but also caused him many health problems. 

In 1912, Carl was earning money by sawing blocks of ice out of the Carver pond in Bridgewater.  The pond sat at the bottom of hill surrounded by trees and accessible only by a path from the road.   One day while Carl was sawing out a block of ice he accidently amputated part of three fingers.

Carl Z. Pierce died on July 29, 1927 at the age of 55 of a root canal pharysurgical abscess, myocarditis acute while incarcerated at the Bridgewater State Hospital for alcoholism. Myocarditis is an inflammatory disease of the heart muscle (myocardium).  He died from inflammation of the heart muscle caused by an infection, namely his abscessed tooth.

He is buried at Hillside Cemetery, Auburn Street, Bridgewater, MA. He has no marker but was told he rests to the right of his daughter, Mary Ann.

Sisters Cora and Grace



Cora Ella Pierce

Cora Ella Pierce was born in Middleboro in 1866. She was the second-born child of Thomas Warren Pierce and Mary Ann Besse.  Cora played the piano and became a teacher of singing. 

On June 6, 1888 at the age of 22 she married Eben Algar Richmond.  They rented an apartment that her parents owned located just behind their house.  They had one child, a son, Lysandra born on Nov 17, 1892.  For the next 23 years you catch a glimpse of her teaching others to sing.

When Thomas Warren Pierce died, Eben took over managing his father-in-law's business, the Pierce Hardware Store.  Family folklore tells us that Eben became despondent over Thomas' death.  Eben committed suicide on January 11, 1911. 

From this date on we see her very active in her music.  She put on chamber concerts that were reported as being highly pleasing.  Cora moved her studio to the Pierce Co. building where she arranged four concerts.  She put together a series of chamber concerts and sold season tickets.  At one time she conducted a summer concert series in Cotuit, Massachusetts.  In Yarmouth, MA, she had a quartet perform.  She entered the NE Conservatory of Music.  She was offered and accepted a position from a girl’s college in Maryland.   In 1913, she was enjoying teaching at Acadia College, in Nova Scotia.

Grace Gordon Pierce

Her sister, Grace Gordon Pierce, the fifth and last child was born in 1884.    Just as all her siblings before her, she too became involved in the world of music.  She was a vocal teacher and also played piano.  Grace became the Supervisor of Music for the State of Massachusetts.

 Grace was engaged to marry to a Mr. George Howard Ristine of Philadelphia, PA, who worked in a financial firm with his brother.

 A big affair was held at Cushing Hall were sixty women were in attendance. A barn dance was held in a most unusual celebration where half the women dressed in men's attire.  The symbolic pumpkin with burlesque and vines with an engagement ring attached on each leaf.  The bride occupied the first inside leaf.  For whatever the reason, the wedding never took place and Grace remained single for the rest of her life.

Grace went to work with her father in the hardware store and became very involved in the business.  Grace was the only woman at the NE Hardware Convention Association meeting.  From time-to-time she would sing at these conventions. Grace became the son Thomas needed.  His one and only son, Carl, an alcoholic, was unable to fulfill that roll. 

 Being financially able, like the rest of her siblings, she bought herself a roadster.  When her father died in 1910, she was the executor of her father's will.  As sole owner of the Pierce Hardware Store she sold it in January of 1913, but she returned to work there in May of that same year.

One entire summer she sang at the church in Marion, MA. She was a soloist at the Brockton Women's Club. Grace sang at the Bridgewater High School graduation in June of 1914. 

The pictures of the girls you may note are very similar.  The pictures were part of the advertising to promote a Minstrel Show the sisters produced together.