The Boston Brahmin or Boston elite are members of Boston's traditional upper class. They form an integral part of the historic core of the East Coast establishment, along with other wealthy families of Philadelphia, New York City, Virginia and Charleston. They are often associated with the distinctive Boston Brahmin accent, Harvard University, and traditional Anglo-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English colonists, such as those who came to America on the Mayflower or the Arbella, are often considered to be the most representative of the Boston Brahmins.
The term was coined by the physician and writer Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in an 1860 article in the Atlantic Monthly. The term Brahmin refers to the highest ranking caste of people in the traditional caste system in India. In the United States, it has been applied to the old, wealthy New England families of British Protestant origin which were influential in the development of American institutions and culture.
The term effectively underscores the strong conviction of the New England gentry that they were a people set apart by destiny to guide the American experiment as their ancestors had played a leading role in founding it. The term also illustrates the erudite and exclusive nature of the New England gentry as perceived by outsiders, and may also refer to their interest in Eastern religions, fostered perhaps by the impact in the 19th century of the transcendentalist writings of New England literary icons such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman, and the enlightened appeal of Universalist Unitarian movements of the same period.
The nature of the Brahmins is hinted at by the doggerel "Boston Toast" by Holy Cross alumnus John Collins Bossidy:
And this is good old Boston,The home of the
bean and the
cod,Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots,And the Cabots talk only to God.
While some 19th-century Brahmin families of large fortune were of bourgeois origin, others were of aristocratic origin. The new families were often the first to seek, in typically British fashion, suitable marriage alliances with those old aristocratic New England families that were descended from landowners in England to elevate and cement their social standing. The Winthrops, Dudleys, Saltonstalls, Winslows, and Lymans (descended from English magistrates, gentry, and aristocracy) were, by and large, happy with this arrangement. All of Boston's "Brahmin elite", therefore, maintained the received culture of the old English gentry, including cultivating the personal excellence that they imagined maintained the distinction between gentlemen and freemen, and between women and ladies. They saw it as their duty to maintain what they defined as high standards of excellence, duty, and restraint. Cultivated, urbane, and dignified, a Boston Brahmin was supposed to be the very essence of enlightened aristocracy. The ideal Brahmin was not only wealthy, but displayed what was considered suitable personal virtues and character traits.
The Brahmin was expected to maintain the customary English reserve in his dress, manner, and deportment, cultivate the arts, support charities such as hospitals and colleges, and assume the role of community leader. Although the ideal called on him to transcend commonplace business values, in practice many found the thrill of economic success quite attractive. The Brahmins warned each other against avarice and insisted upon personal responsibility. Scandal and divorce were unacceptable. The total system was buttressed by the strong extended family ties present in Boston society. Young men attended the same prep schools, colleges, and private clubs, and heirs married heiresses. Family not only served as an economic asset, but also as a means of moral restraint. Most belong to the Unitarian or Episcopal churches, although some were Congregationalists or Methodists. Politically they were successively Federalists, Whigs, and Republicans. They were marked by their manners and once distinctive elocution, the Boston Brahmin accent, a version of the New England accent. Their distinctive Anglo-American manner of dress has been much imitated and is the foundation of the style now informally known as preppy. Many of the Brahmin families trace their ancestry back to the original 17th- and 18th-century colonial ruling class consisting of Massachusetts governors and magistrates, Harvard presidents, distinguished clergy and fellows of the Royal Society of London (a leading scientific body), while others entered New England aristocratic society during the 19th century with their profits from commerce and trade, often marrying into established Brahmin families such as the Welds, Saltonstalls, Lymans, Sargents, Emersons, Winslows, Warrens and Winthrops.
Adams Family
Samuel Adams (1722–1803): Founding FatherJohn Adams (1735–1826): Founding Father and second President of the United States, husband of Abigail Smith Adams (1744–1818)John Quincy Adams (1767–1848): sixth President of the United StatesCharles Francis Adams, Sr. (1807–1886): Ambassador, U.S. congressmanCharles Francis Adams, Jr. (1835–1915): Civil War generalJohn Quincy Adams II (1833–1894): lawyer, politicianCharles Francis Adams III (1866–1954): U.S. Secretary of the NavyCharles Francis Adams IV (1910–1999): industrialist, first president of RaytheonHenry Brooks Adams (1838–1918): authorBrooks Adams (1848–1927): historianIvers Whitney Adams (1838–1914): founder of the oldest continuously playing professional baseball team, the Boston Red StockingsAmory Family
John Amory Lowell (1798–1881): merchantThomas Coffin Amory (1812–1889): lawyer, authorThomas Jonathan Coffin Amory (1828–1864): Civil War generalErnest Amory Codman (1869–1940): surgeonCleveland Amory (1917–1998): authorAppleton Family
Patrilineal line:
Daniel Appleton (1785–1849): publisherFrances Appleton (d. 1861): wife of Henry Wadsworth LongfellowGeorge Swett Appleton (1821–1878): publisherJane Means Appleton Pierce (1806–1863): wife of U.S. President Franklin Pierce, was First Lady of the United States from 1853 to 1857Jesse Appleton (1772–1819): second president of Bowdoin CollegeJohn Appleton (1816–1864): assistant Secretary of State, diplomat, U.S. congressmanJohn Appleton: Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial CourtJohn F. Appleton: lawyer and Union colonel in the American Civil WarJohn James Appleton (1789–1864): ambassadorNathan Appleton (1771–1861): U.S. congressman and merchantNathaniel Appleton (1693–1784): Congregational ministerSamuel Appleton (1625–1696): military and government leader in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts BaySamuel Appleton (1766–1853): merchant and philanthropistThomas Gold Appleton (1812–1884): writer and art patronWilliam Appleton (1786–1862): U.S. congressmanWilliam Henry Appleton (1814–1899): publisherWilliam Sumner Appleton (1874–1947): philanthropistOther notable relatives:
Thomas Storrow Brown (1803–1888): journalist, writer, orator, and revolutionary in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec)Edward Augustus Holyoke (1728–1829): educator and physicianAlice Mary Longfellow (1850–1928): philanthropist and preservationistErnest Wadsworth Longfellow (1845–1921): artistAlpheus Spring Packard (1839–1905): entomologist and palaeontologistWilliam Alfred Packard (1830–1909): classical scholarCharles Storrow Williams (1827–?): Director of Railroad Transportation for the Confederate States of AmericaEdward H. Williams (1824–1899): physician and railroad executiveBacon Family
Robert Bacon (1860–1919): U.S. Secretary of StateRobert L. Bacon (1884–1938): U.S. congressmanGaspar G. Bacon (1886–1947): politicianGaspar G. Bacon, Jr. (1914–1943): actorBates family
Originally from Boston and Britain:
Benjamin Bates I (c.1651–1710); merchant banker, family patriarchBenjamin Bates II (c.1716 – 1820); member of the Hell Fire Club, revolutionaryFrederick Bates (1777–1825); politicianJames Woodson Bates (1788–1846); judgeJoshua Bates (financier); Barings Bank partner, managed many Brahmin family fortunes, advised Adams family on Court protocolEdward Bates (1793–1869); U.S. Attorney GeneralBenjamin Bates IV (1808–1878); philanthropist, namesake and benefactor of Bates CollegeBoylston Family
Thomas Boylston (b. 1644): doctor, family patriarchZabdiel Boylston (1679–1766): physicianWard Nicholas Boylston (1747–1828): benefactor, Harvard UniversityBradlee Family
Direct line:
Nathan Bradley I: earliest known member born in America, in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1631Samuel Bradlee: constable of Dorchester, MassachusettsNathaniel Bradlee: Boston Tea Party participant, member of Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic AssociationJosiah Bradlee I: Boston Tea Party participant; m. Hannah PutnamJosiah Bradlee III (Harvard): m. Alice CrowninsheldFrederick Josiah Bradlee I (Harvard): Director of the Boston BankFrederick Josiah Bradlee, Jr. (Harvard-1915): on the first All-American football team at Harvard; m. Chevalier Josephine de GersdorffFrederick Josiah Bradlee III: Broadway actor, authorBenjamin Crowninshield Bradlee (1921–2014) (Harvard-1942): Chief Executive Editor of The Washington PostSamuel Bradlee, Jr.: lieutenant colonel during the American Revolutionary WarThomas Bradlee: Boston Tea Party participant; member of Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association; Member of the St. Andrews Lodge of FreemasonsDavid Bradlee: Boston Tea Party participant; Captain in the Continental Army, member of the St. Andrews Lodge of FreemasonsSarah Bradlee: "Mother of the Boston Tea Party"Chaffee Family
Originally of Hingham, Massachusetts:
Thomas Chaffee (1610–1683), businessman and landownerJonathon Chaffee (1678–1766), businessman and landownerMatthew Chaffee (1657–1723), Boston landownerAdna Romanza Chaffee (1842–1914): U.S. generalAdna R. Chaffee, Jr. (1884–1941): U.S. generalZechariah Chafee (1885–1957): philosopher, civil libertarianJohn Chafee (1922–1999): U.S. senatorLincoln Chafee (b. 1953): former U.S. senator, former Rhode Island governor, 2016 U.S. presidential candidate for the Democratic partyChoate Family
Rufus Choate (1799–1859): U.S. senatorGeorge C. S. Choate (1827–1896): founder of Choate Sanitarium, Pleasantville, New YorkJoseph Hodges Choate (1832–1917): lawyer, diplomatWilliam Gardner Choate (1830–1920): U.S. federal judge, founder of Choate Rosemary HallSarah Choate Sears (1858–1935): art patronRobert B. Choate, Jr. (1924–2009): businessmanElizabeth Choate Spykman (1896–1965): writerCoffin Family
Originally of Newbury and Nantucket:
Tristram Coffin (1604–1681): colonist, original owner of NantucketWilliam Coffin (1699–1775): merchant, co-founder of Trinity ChurchSir Isaac Coffin (1759–1839): naval officerCharles E. Coffin (1841–1912): industrialist, U.S. congressmanCharles A. Coffin (1844–1926): industrialist, co-founder of General ElectricHenry Coffin Nevins (1843–1892): industrialistJohn Coffin Jones, Sr. (1750–1820): Speaker of the Massachusetts House of RepresentativesJohn Coffin Jones, Jr. (1796–1861): U.S. Minister to HawaiiThomas Coffin Amory (1812–1889): lawyer, authorThomas Jonathan Coffin Amory (1828–1864): Civil War generalT. Jefferson Coolidge (1831–1920), Financier, industrialist, and civic leaderJohn Coolidge (1906–2000): businessman; son of U.S. President Calvin CoolidgeArchibald Cary Coolidge (1866–1928): educatorJohn Coolidge Adams (b. 1947): composerJohn Gardner Coolidge (1863–1936): U.S. ambassadorCharles A. Coolidge (1844–1926): U.S. Army generalJohn Cooper (1609–1669): colonistSamuel Cooper (1725–1783): clergymanSamuel D. Cooper, Jr. (1750–1824): revolutionarySamuel D. Cooper III (1778–1853): trade merchantPriscilla Cooper Tyler (1816–1889): First Lady of the United StatesTheodore Cooper (1839–1919): civil engineerFrederic Taber Cooper (1864–1937): writerCrowninshield Family
Johann Casper Richter von Kronenscheldt: colonistJacob Crowninshield (1770–1808): U.S. congressmanArent S. Crowninshield (1843–1908): U.S. Navy admiralCaspar Crowninshield (1837–1897): Union Army generalBenjamin William Crowninshield (1837–1892): Union Army colonelFrederic Crowninshield (1845–1918): first president of the National Society of Mural PaintersBenjamin Williams Crowninshield (1772–1851): 5th U.S. Secretary of NavyFrank Crowninshield (1872–1947): creator and editor of Vanity FairBowdin Bradlee Crowninshield (1867–1948): American naval architectDescendants by marriage:
William Crowninshield Endicott (1826–1900): 5th U.S. Secretary of WarFrederick Josiah Bradlee, Jr. (1892–1970): on the first All-American football team (from Harvard)Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee (1921–2014): Editor-in-chief of The Washington PostQuinn Crowninshield Bradlee (b. 1982): founder and CEO of FriendsOfQuinn.comCushing Family
Originally of Hingham, Massachusetts:
Caleb Cushing (1800–1879): U.S. congressman and Attorney GeneralJohn Perkins Cushing (1787–1862): China trade merchant, investorThomas Cushing (1725–1788): statesman, revolutionaryWilliam Cushing (1732–1810): U.S. Supreme Court justiceHarvey Cushing (1869–1939): neurosurgeonDescendant by marriage:
Albert Cushing Read (1887–1967): naval officerDana Family
Richard Dana (1699–1772): colonial Boston politicianFrancis Dana (1743–1811): revolutionaryRichard Henry Dana, Sr. (1787–1879): lawyer, authorRichard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815–1882): lawyer, author (Two Years Before the Mast)Delano Family
Columbus Delano (1809–1896): U.S. Secretary of the InteriorJane Delano (1862–1919): founder of the American Red Cross Nursing ServicePaul Delano (1745–1842): naval officerFranklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945): President of the United StatesFrederic A. Delano (1863-1953): civic reformer and railroad presidentDudley Family
Thomas Dudley (1576–1653): Governor of Massachusetts, a founder of Harvard CollegeAnne Dudley Bradstreet (1612–1672): first American poet, wife of Royal Governor Simon BradstreetJoseph Dudley (1647–1720): Royal Governor of Massachusetts, President of the Dominion of New England, Chief Justice of New York, Member of Parliament, Lt. Governor of the Isle of WightPaul Dudley (1675–1751): Chief Justice of Massachusetts, member of the Royal Society, founder of the Dudleian lectures at HarvardPaul Dudley Sargent (1745–1828): Army colonel and Revolutionary War heroDudley Saltonstall (1738–1796): Naval commodore during the Revolution and successful privateerDwight Family
Timothy Dwight IV (1752–1817): president of Yale UniversityJoseph Dwight (1703–1765): lawyer, French and Indian War veteranJames Dwight Dana (1813–1895): geologistEliot Family
Charles William Eliot (1834–1926): president of Harvard UniversityCharles Eliot (1859–1897): landscape architectSamuel A. Eliot II (1862–1950): president of the American Unitarian AssociationWilliam Greenleaf Eliot (1811–1887): educator, Unitarian minister, and civic leaderHenry Ware Eliot (1843–1919) industrialist and philanthropist, co-founder of Washington UniversityT. S. Eliot (1888–1965): poet and winner of the 1948 Nobel Prize for LiteratureSamuel Eliot Morison (1887–1976): maritime authorTheodore Lyman Eliot (1928-...), diplomatCharles Eliot Norton (1827–1908): authorEmerson Family
Rev. William Emerson (1769–1811): clergyman; m. Ruth Haskins EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882): poet; m. Lydia Jackson EmersonEndicott Family
Salem:
William Crowninshield Endicott (1826–1900): U.S. Secretary of WarDedham:
Augustus Bradford Endicott (1818–1910): politicianPhilip Endicott Young (1885–1955): industrialistHenry Bradford Endicott (1853–1920): industrialistHenry Wendell Endicott (1880–1954)Fabens FamilyOf Marblehead and Salem:
William Fabens (1810–1883): lawyer, member of Assembly, SenateWilliam Chandler Fabens (1843–1903): Lynn attorney, namesake of Fabens BuildingSamuel Augustus Fabens (1813–1899): master mariner in the East India and California tradeFrancis Alfred Fabens (1814–1872): mercantile businessman, San Francisco judge, attorneyJoseph Warren Fabens (1821–1875): U.S. Consul at Cayenne, businessman, Envoy Extraordinary of the Dominican RepublicGeorge Wilson Fabens (1857–1939): attorney, land commissioner and superintendent of Southern Pacific Railroad, namesake of Fabens, TexasForbes Family
John Murray Forbes (1813–1898): industrialistJohn Forbes Kerry (b. 1943): United States Secretary of State, senator from Massachusetts (1985–2013)Elliot Forbes (1917–2006): conductor and musicologistRobert Bennet Forbes (1804–1889): sea captain, China merchant, ship owner, writerGardner Family
Originally of Essex county:
Samuel Pickering Gardner (1767–1843): merchantJohn Lowell Gardner (1808–1884): merchantJohn Lowell Gardner II (1837–1898): merchantAugustus P. Gardner (1865–1918): U.S. congressmanJonathan Gillett (1609–1677): colonistEdward Bates Gillett (1817–1899): AttorneyFrederick Huntington Gillett (1851–1935): 37th Speaker of the United States House of RepresentativesArthur Lincoln Gillett (1859–1938): clergymanMark Healey (1791–1872): originally of New Hampshire, merchant and first president of the Merchant's BankCaroline Wells Healey (1822–1912), writer, feminist, and abolitionistCharles Henry Appleton Dall (1816–1886), first Unitarian minister to IndiaWilliam Healey Dall (1845–1912), malacologist, paleontologist, and explorer of AlaskaHolmes Family
Abiel Holmes (1763–1837): clergymanOliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894): doctor, authorOliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935): U.S. Supreme Court justiceJackson Family
Edward Jackson (1708–1757): colonist; m. Dorothy Quincy JacksonJonathan Jackson (1743–1810): merchant, revolutionary; m. Hannah Tracy JacksonCharles Jackson (1775–1855): Massachusetts Supreme Court justiceAmelia Lee Jackson, who married Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. abovePatrick Tracy Jackson (1780–1847): co-founder of the Boston Manufacturing CompanyHannah Jackson: wife of Francis Cabot LowellLydia Jackson: wife of Ralph Waldo EmersonLawrence Family
Samuel Lawrence (d. 1827): revolutionaryAmos Lawrence (1786–1852): merchantAmos Adams Lawrence (1814–1886): abolitionistWilliam Lawrence (1850–1941): Episcopal bishopWilliam Appleton Lawrence (1889–1963): Episcopal bishopFrederic C. Lawrence (1899–1989): Episcopal bishopAbbott Lawrence (1792–1855): U.S. congressman, founder of Lawrence, MassachusettsLuther Lawrence (d. 1839): politicianDescendant by marriage: Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1856–1943): president of Harvard University
Lodge Family
John Ellerton Lodge, married Anna CabotHenry Cabot Lodge (1850–1924): U.S. senatorGeorge Cabot Lodge (1873–1909): poetHenry Cabot Lodge Jr. (1902–1985): U.S. senator, U.S. Ambassador to the United NationsGeorge Cabot Lodge II (b. 1927): Harvard Business School professor, 1962 U.S. Senate candidate from Massachusetts against Edward M. KennedyHenry Sears Lodge (b. 1930)John Davis Lodge (1903–1985): 79th governor of Connecticut, U.S. ambassadorRichard Lyman (1580–1640): a founder of Hartford, Connecticut; cousin of Lord Mayor of London Sir John Lyman of the Lyman Baronets of EnglandRoswell Lyman: China trade merchant, had an interest in The Ann & HopeTheodore Lyman (1753–1839): China trade merchant, commissioned Samuel McIntire to build one of New England's finest country houses, The ValeTheodore Lyman II (1792–1849): brigadier general of militia, Massachusetts state representative, mayor of BostonTheodore Lyman III (1833–1897): natural scientist, aide-de-camp to Major General Meade during the American Civil War, and United States congressman from MassachusettsTheodore Lyman IV (1874–1954): director of Jefferson Physics Lab, Harvard; eponym of the Lyman series of spectral lines. The crater Lyman on the far side of the Moon is named after him, as is the Lyman Physics Building at Harvard.George Williams Lyman (1786–1880): developed textile mills, director of the Boston and Lowell Railroad and the Columbian Bank, president of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company. His first wife was Elizabeth Gray Otis, the daughter of Harrison Gray Otis (U.S. senator and mayor of Boston) and Sally Foster Otis, prominent Bostonians who built a noted Federal-style mansion still standing.Arthur T. Lyman (1832–1915), and his sisters Sarah (Mrs. Philip H. Sears) and Lydia (Mrs. Robert Treat Paine)Arthur T. Lyman, Jr. (1861–1933): married Susan Cabot. Director and officer of textile manufacturing companies and the Massachusetts Life Insurance Company. Board member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Waltham Hospital. He was active in politics as president of the Democratic Club of Massachusetts, chairman of the State Democratic Committee.Minot Family
Charles Sedgwick Minot (1852–1914): anatomistGeorge Richards Minot (1885–1950): winner of the Nobel Prize in MedicineHenry Davis Minot (1859–1890): ornithologistSusan Minot (b. 1956): authorNorcross Family
Original from Watertown, Massachusetts
Otis Norcross (1811–1882): mayor of BostonEleanor Norcross (1854–1923): artistOtis Family
James Otis, Jr. (1725–1783): revolutionaryMercy Otis Warren (1728–1814): playwright, revolutionarySamuel Allyne Otis (1740–1814): politicianHarrison Gray Otis (1765–1848): U.S. senator, mayor of BostonParkman Family
Samuel Parkman (1751–1824): investorGeorge Parkman (1790–1849): philanthropist, victim of a highly publicized murderFrancis Parkman, Jr. (1823–1893): historianPeabody
Peabody Family
Catherine Endicott Peabody (1808–1833)Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1804–1894): American educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United StatesEndicott Peabody (1857–1944): Episcopal priest and founder of the Groton School for BoysEndicott "Chubb" Peabody (1920–1997): governor of MassachusettsGeorge Peabody (1795–1869): entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the House of Morgan and the Peabody InstituteJoseph Peabody (1757–1844): merchant, shipowner, and philanthropist whose company sailed clipper ships in the Old China Trade from its base in Salem, MassachusettsMary Tyler Peabody Mann (1806–1887): American authorNathaniel Peabody (1774–1855)Richard R. Peabody (1892–1936): author of The Common Sense of Drinking, a major influence on Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill WilsonSophia Amelia Peabody Hawthorne (1809–1871): painter, illustrator, and wife of American author Nathaniel HawthornePerkins Family
James Perkins (1761–1822): founder of the Boston Athenaeum, pioneer of the China trade, merchant, philanthropistThomas Handasyd Perkins (1764–1854): merchant, philanthropistCharles Perkins (1823–1886): art historian, philanthropist, founder of the Museum of Fine ArtsEdward Perkins (1856–1905): constitutional lawyerMaxwell Perkins (1884–1947): literary editor of Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and F. Scott FitzgeraldPhillips Family
Christopher H. Phillips (1920–2008): politician and diplomatSamuel Phillips, Jr. (1752–1802): politician, founder of Phillips AcademyJohn Phillips (1719–1795): educator, founder of Phillips Exeter AcademyJohn Sanborn Phillips (1861-1949): publisher of McClure's MagazineWendell Phillips (1811–1884): abolitionistWilliam Phillips (1920–2008): diplomatOther notable relatives:
Samuel Phillips Huntington (1927-2008): Harvard Political Science Professor and Author; grandson of John Sanborn PhillipsCharles F. Brush (1849-1929): inventor and philanthropistBill Gates (1955-): billionaire software pioneer and philanthropistPutnam Family
James Putnam (1725–1789): last attorney general in Massachusetts before American Revolution; judge and politician in New BrunswickJames Putnam (1756–1838): Canadian politicianIsrael Putnam (1718–1790): American army general during the Revolutionary WarWilliam Lowell Putnam (1861–1924) and Elizabeth Lowell PutnamGeorge P. Putnam (1887–1950): publisher, explorer, husband of Amelia EarhartKatherine L. Putnam (1890–1983): wife of Harvey Hollister BundyRoger Lowell Putnam (1893–1972): politician, businessmanQuincy Family
Edmund Quincy (1602–1636): settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1633Josiah Quincy II (1744–1775): lawyer, revolutionaryJosiah Quincy III (1772–1864): U.S. congressman, mayor of Boston, president of HarvardDorothy Quincy Hancock: wife of John HancockAbigail Smith Adams (1744–1818): wife of John AdamsJohn Quincy Adams (1767–1848): President of the United StatesRice Family
Originally of Sudbury, Massachusetts:
Deacon Edmund Rice (1594–1663): colonistAlexander Hamilton Rice (1818–1895): industrialist, mayor of Boston, governor of Massachusetts, U.S. congressmanAlexander Hamilton Rice, Jr. (1875–1956): physician, geographer and explorerAmericus Vespucius Rice (1835–1904): general, U.S. congressmanEdmund Rice (1842–1906): U.S. Army general, Medal of Honor recipientEdmund Rice (1819–1889): U.S. congressmanHenry Mower Rice (1816–1894): U.S. senatorLuther Rice (1783–1836): Baptist clergyman, missionary to IndiaThomas Rice (1768–1854): U.S. congressmanWilliam Marsh Rice (1816–1900): businessman, founder of Rice UniversityWilliam North Rice (1845–1928): geologist, educatorWilliam Whitney Rice (1826–1896): U.S. congressmanWilliam B. Rice (1840–1909): industrialist, philanthropistSaltonstall Family
Leverett Saltonstall I (1783–1845): politician, educatorLeverett Saltonstall (1892–1979): U.S. senatorWilliam L. Saltonstall (1927–2009): politicianPhilip Saltonstall Weld (1915–1984): World War II commando, environmentalistColonel Epes Sargent (1690–1762): colonel of militia before the Revolution and a justice of the general session court for more than 30 yearsPaul Dudley Sargent (1745–1828): Revolutionary officer, one of the founding overseers of Bowdoin CollegeHarrison Tweed (1885–1969): lawyer and civic leaderTweed Roosevelt (1942–): great-grandson of President Theodore RooseveltJohn Sargent (1750–1824): Loyalist officer during the American RevolutionWinthrop Sargent (1753–1820): patriot, governor, politician, and writer; member of the Federalist PartyJudith Sargent Murray (1751–1820): feminist, essayist, playwright, and poet; her home is the Sargent House MuseumDaniel Sargent, Sr. (1730–1806): merchant, owned Sargent's Wharf in BostonDaniel Sargent (1764–1842): merchant, politicianDaniel Sargent Curtis (1825–1908): lawyer, banker, trustee of the BPL, owner of Palazzo BarbaroHenry Sargent (1770–1845): painter and military manHenry Winthrop Sargent (1810–1882): horticulturist and landscape gardenerLucius Manlius Sargent (1786–1867): author, antiquarian, and temperance advocateHorace Binney Sargent (1821–1908): Civil War general, politicianJohn Singer Sargent (1856–1925): artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation"Charles Sprague Sargent (1841–1927): botanist, first director of Harvard University's Arnold ArboretumWinthrop Sargent Gilman (1808–1884): head of the banking house of Gilman, Son & Co. in New York CityEpes Sargent (1813–1880): editor, poet and playwrightFrancis W. Sargent (1915–1998): 64th governor of MassachusettsBenjamin Crowninshield Bradlee (1921–2014) (Harvard-1942): editor of The Washington PostFrances Sargent Osgood (1811–1850): poet, one of the most popular women writers during her timeAnna Maria Wells (née Foster; ca. 1794–1868): early American poet and writer for childrenSears Family
Richard Sears (1610–1676): colonistDavid Sears II (1787–1871): philanthropist, merchant, landownerClara Endicott Sears (1863–1960): author, philanthropistMason Sears (1899–1973): politician and ambassadorEmily Sears: wife of Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.John W. Sears (1930–2014): politicianTarbox Family
John Tarbox (1645–1674): colonistJohn K. Tarbox (1838–1887): U.S. congressmanIncrease N. Tarbox (1815–1888): authorThayer Family
Nathaniel Thayer, Jr. (1808-1883): Financier, Philanthropist. One of the most generous citizens of Boston.Nathaniel Thayer, III (1851-1911): BankerBayard Thayer (1862-1916): Millionaire Sportsman. Noted HorticulturistEugene Van Rensselaer Thayer (1855-1907): Financier and CapitalistEugene Van Rensselaer Thayer, Jr. (1881-1937): Banker, BusinessmanThorndike Family
Israel Thorndike (1755–1832): merchant, politicianAugustus Thorndike (1896–1986): physicianGeorge Thorndike Angell (1823–1909): lawyer, philanthropistTudor Family
William Tudor (1750–1819): lawyer, politician, founder of the Massachusetts Historical SocietyWilliam Tudor (1779–1830): cofounder of the North American Review and the Boston AthenaeumFrederic Tudor (1783–1864): Boston's "Ice King", founder of the Tudor Ice CompanyTasha Tudor (1915–2008): illustrator and author of children's booksRichard Warren (1578–1628): London merchant, Mayflower passengerJames Warren (1726–1808): Army general, paymaster of American Army, president of Massachusetts CongressMercy Otis Warren (1728–1814): playwright, historian, pioneer feminist, revolutionaryJoseph Warren (1741–1775): major-general, hero/martyr of Bunker Hill, president of Massachusetts Congress, sent Paul Revere on his famous midnight rideJohn Warren (1753–1815): founder of Harvard Medical School, surgeon at Bunker Hill, co-founder of the Massachusetts Medical SocietyJohn Collins Warren (1778–1856): surgeon, gave first public demonstration of surgical anesthesia, a founder of The New England Journal of Medicine, president of the American Medical Association, founding dean of Harvard Medical School, and a founder of Massachusetts General HospitalWinslow Warren (1838–1930): American attorney who served as Collector of Customs for the Port of Boston during the second administration of Grover ClevelandJohn Collins Warren Jr. (1842–1947): surgeon and president of the American Surgical AssociationCharles Warren (1868–1954): lawyer and legal scholar who won a Pulitzer Prize for his book The Supreme Court in United States HistoryWeld Family
Thomas Weld (born c. 1600): colonist, Puritan ministerWilliam Gordon Weld (1775–1825): merchantWilliam Fletcher Weld (1800–1881): merchant, philanthropistEzra Greenleaf Weld (1801–1874): daguerreotypistTheodore Dwight Weld (1803–1895): abolitionistStephen Minot Weld (1806–1867): politician, educatorGeorge Walker Weld (1840–1905): philanthropistStephen Minot Weld, Jr. (1842–1920): Civil War generalCharles Goddard Weld (1857–1911): philanthropistIsabel Weld Perkins (1877–1948): philanthropistPhilip Saltonstall Weld (1915–1984): World War II commando, environmentalistTuesday Weld (b. 1943): actressWilliam Weld (b. 1945): governor of Massachusetts, 2016 Libertarian Party Vice Presidential CandidateWigglesworth Family
Michael Wigglesworth (1631–1705): colonist, clergymanEdward Wigglesworth (1693–1765): clergyman, educatorRichard B. Wigglesworth (1891–1960): U.S. congressmanWinthrop Family
John Winthrop (1588–1649): governor of Massachusetts Bay ColonyLucy Winthrop Downing, mother of diplomat Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet, founder of New York, of Downing Street, London, and ultimately of Downing College, Cambridge UK. Lucy's letter to her brother Governor Winthrop provided the impetus for the founding of Harvard College.John Winthrop the Younger (1606–1676): governor of ConnecticutFitz-John Winthrop (1637–1711): governor of ConnecticutJohn Winthrop: married Anne Dudley, granddaughter of Thomas DudleyJohn Winthrop (1714–1779): acting president of Harvard, pioneer of American scienceThomas Lindall Winthrop (1760–1841): lieutenant governor of MassachusettsRobert Charles Winthrop (1809–1894): lawyer, politician, philanthropist
