Rev John Lothrop



My 9th Great Grandfather

Rev. John Lothrop, my 9^th great grandfather was born in England in 1854 to a prestigious family.  He was educated at Oxford and then Cambridge University. Upon graduation he was ordained a Deacon in the Church of England.

Years later his views began to shift toward Protestant views. During the 17^th Century it was crime to practice anything but the Church of England. This put himself at odds with the King on the topic of religious freedom.  This put Lothrop subject to severe punishment.

He was arrested and imprisoned in 1632 under terrible conditions and treatment. Two years later he was released on the condition he remove himself to the New World. He set sail on the Griffin along with 30 of his followers, arriving in Boston in 1634.

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 Sturgis Library in Barnstable, MA

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.