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File:1768 BostonCommon byChristianRemick.png
A 1768 illustration of Boston Common in Colonial Boston, home to many Boston Brahmin

The Boston Brahmins are members of Boston's historic upper class.<ref name="PBS">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> From the late 19th century through the mid-20th century, they were often associated with a cultivated New England accent,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Harvard University,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Anglicanism,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and traditional British-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English colonists are typically considered to be the most representative of the Boston Brahmins.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> They are considered White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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EtymologyEdit

File:Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr c1879.jpg
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., who coined the phrase "Brahmin" in a January 1860 article he authored for The Atlantic Monthly.

The phrase "Brahmin Caste of New England" was first coined by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., a physician and writer, in a January 1860 article in The Atlantic Monthly.<ref>Template:Cite book It was part of a series of articles that eventually became his novel Elsie Venner, and the first chapter of the novel was about the Brahmin caste.</ref> The term is derived from the chief priestly caste in the Hindu caste system. The appropriated term became a shorthand to refer to the old wealthy and elite New England families of traditionally British Protestant origin that became influential in the development of American institutions and culture. The influence of the old American gentry has been reduced in modern times, but some vestiges remain, primarily in the institutions and the ideals that they championed in their heyday.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

CharacteristicsEdit

File:Benjamin Crowninshield (captain).jpg
The typical dress of the Boston elite, Template:Circa.
File:Beacon Hill and Massachusetts State House P1010887.jpg
Beacon Hill, a preeminent neighborhood for Boston Brahmin located near the Massachusetts State House in Boston.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The nature of the Brahmins is referenced in the doggerel "Boston Toast" by Holy Cross alumnus John Collins Bossidy:

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Many 19th-century Brahmin families of large fortune were of common origin; fewer were of an 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 land-owners 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 ladies and women. 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The ideal Brahmin was not only wealthy, but displayed what was considered suitable personal virtues and character traits.

The Brahmin were expected to maintain the customary English reserve in dress, manner, and deportment, and cultivate the arts, support charities such as hospitals and colleges, and assume the role of community leaders.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp 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. This culture was buttressed by the strong extended family ties present in Boston society. Young men attended the same prep schools, colleges, and private clubs,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and heirs married heiresses. Family not only served as an economic asset, but also as a means of moral restraint.

Most belonged to the Unitarian or Episcopal churches,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> although some were Congregationalists or Methodists.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Politically, they were successively Federalists, Whigs, and Republicans. They were marked by their manners and once distinctive elocution. 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.<ref name="slate">Template:Cite news</ref>

List of Boston Brahmin familiesEdit

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File:Robert L Bacon.jpg
Robert L. Bacon, U.S. Congressman and attorney.
File:Benjamin E Bates founder of Bates College.jpg
Benjamin Bates, philanthropist, business magnate, and namesake of Bates College.
File:COOLIDGE, JOHN LCCN2016860932.jpg
John Coolidge, railroad executive and son of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge.
File:Thomas Cushing, Member of Continental Congress.jpg
Thomas Cushing, Massachusetts colonial speaker of the house.
File:Cabotlodgenationalportrait.jpg
Henry Cabot Lodge, American statesmen and congressman.
File:Peabodyg.png
George Peabody, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder of the House of Morgan and the Peabody Institute.
File:Charles Callahan Perkins.png
Charles C. Perkins, art historian, philanthropist, and founder of the Museum of Fine Arts.
File:David Sears.jpg
David Sears, businessman and philanthropist.
File:JosephWarrenByCopley.jpeg
Joseph Warren, Major general and physician.

AdamsEdit

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AmoryEdit

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AppletonEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Patrilineal line:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Other notable relatives:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

BaconEdit

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BatesEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Originally from Boston and Britain:

BoylstonEdit

Boylston Family

BradleeEdit

Bradlee Family Direct line:<ref name="Boston Tea Party Participant">Sarah Bradlee Fulton</ref><ref name="Mother of the Boston Tea Party">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="David Bradlee">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Nathan Bradley I, earliest known member born in America, in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1631.
  • Samuel Bradlee, constable of Dorchester, Massachusetts.
    • Nathaniel Bradlee, Boston Tea Party participant, member of Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association.
    • Josiah Bradlee I, Boston Tea Party participant; m. Hannah Putnam.
    • Joseph Putnam Bradlee (1783–1838), Commander of the New England Guards, chairman of the State Central Committee, Director and then President of the Boston City Council.
    • Samuel Bradlee Jr., lieutenant colonel during the American Revolutionary War.
    • Thomas Bradlee, Boston Tea Party participant; member of Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association; Member of the St. Andrews Lodge of Freemasons.
    • David Bradlee, Boston Tea Party participant; Captain in the Continental Army, member of the St. Andrews Lodge of Freemasons.
    • Sarah Bradlee, "Mother of the Boston Tea Party".

BrinleyEdit

Brinley Family of Boston, Newport, Rhode Island, and Shelter Island, New York:

  • Francis Brinley, Esq. (1632–1719), arrived from England in 1651 after the English Civil War, with his two sisters, children of Thomas Brinley, auditor to King Charles I&II, his original home became Newport's White Horse Tavern, Judge, book collector, land-owner (RI, MA, NJ), Governor's assistant, m: Hannah Carr (niece of RI Gov. Caleb Carr). Boston estate at Hanover and Elm, current site of Government Center.
    • William Brinley, Esq. (1656–1704), first son of Francis, Judge in Newport, co-founder of Trinity Church, Newport, first Anglican church in RI, disinherited by father after marriage.
      • William Brinley, Esq. (1677–1753), only child of Wm. Brinley, Judge in Monmouth, NJ, passed over for younger cousin Francis Brinley.
        • John Brinley (1713–1775), Brinley grist mill owner in Oakhurst, NJ.
          • William Brinley (1754–1840), Major in Revolutionary War.
            • Sylvester C. Brinley (1816–1905), founded Brinley, Ohio (a.k.a. Brinley Station) in 1855.
    • Thomas Brinley (1661–1693), second son of Francis, Boston/London merchant, co-founder of King's Chapel, Boston, first Anglican church in colonial New England.
      • Eliakim Hutchinson (1711–1775), Judge, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk County, and one of Boston's richest men, owner of Shirley Place (now Shirley-Eustis House) m:Elizabeth Shirley (daughter of MA Gov William Shirley).
      • Colonel Francis Brinley<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (1690–1765): Colonel in Ancient & Honorable Artillery Company, merchant, land-owner (Datchet House/Brinley Place-Roxbury, Brinley Place-Framingham), one of the richest Bostonians of the 18th century, grandfather's heir, m: Deborah Lyde, granddaughter of Judge Nathaniel Byfield.

BuckinghamEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Originally from Boston and Britain:

CabotEdit

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Chaffee/ChafeeEdit

Template:Further Originally of Hingham, Massachusetts:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

  • Thomas Chaffee (1610–1683), businessman and land-owner.
  • Jonathon Chaffee (1678–1766), businessman and land-owner.
  • Matthew Chaffee (1657–1723), Boston land-owner.
  • Adna Romanza Chaffee (1842–1914), U.S. general.
  • Adna R. Chaffee Jr. (1884–1941), U.S. general:
  • Zechariah Chafee (1885–1957), philosopher, civil libertarian.
  • John Chafee (1922–1999), U.S. senator.
  • Lincoln Chafee (born 1953), former U.S. senator, former Rhode Island governor, 2016 U.S. presidential candidate for the Democratic party.

ChoateEdit

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CoffinEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Originally of Newbury and Nantucket:

CoolidgeEdit

CooperEdit

CrowninshieldEdit

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Descendants by marriage:

CushingEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Originally of Hingham, Massachusetts:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Descendant by marriage:

DanaEdit

Dana Family

DelanoEdit

Delano Family

DudleyEdit

Dudley Family

DwightEdit

Dwight Family

EliotEdit

Eliot Family

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EmersonEdit

Emerson Family

EndicottEdit

Endicott Family Salem:

Dedham:

EverettEdit

Everett Family

Descendants through the marriage of Sarah Preston Everett (1796–1866) and noted journalist Nathan Hale (1784–1863):

FabensEdit

Of Marblehead and Salem:<ref name="gaperkins">Template:Cite book</ref>

  • William Fabens (1810–1883), lawyer, member of Assembly, Senate.<ref name="gaperkins" />
    • William Chandler Fabens (1843–1903), Lynn attorney,<ref>Perkins</ref> namesake of Fabens Building.
  • Samuel Augustus Fabens (1813–1899), master mariner in the East India and California trade.<ref name="gaperkins" />
  • Francis Alfred Fabens (1814–1872), mercantile businessman, San Francisco judge, attorney.<ref name="gaperkins" />
  • Joseph Warren Fabens (1821–1875), U.S. Consul at Cayenne, businessman, Envoy Extraordinary of the Dominican Republic.<ref name="gaperkins" />
  • George Wilson Fabens (1857–1939), attorney, land commissioner and superintendent of Southern Pacific Railroad, namesake of Fabens, Texas.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

ForbesEdit

Forbes Family

GardnerEdit

Gardner Family Originally of Essex county:

GillettEdit

  • Jonathan Gillett (1609–1677), colonist
  • Edward Bates Gillett (1817–1899), attorney
    • Frederick Huntington Gillett (1851–1935), 37th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
    • Arthur Lincoln Gillett (1859–1938), clergyman
  • Ezra Hall Gillett (1823–1875), clergyman and author
    • Charles Ripley Gillett (1855–1948), clergyman

HallowellEdit

Hallowell Family

Healey/DallEdit

  • Mark Healey (1791–1872), originally of New Hampshire, merchant and first president of the Merchant's Bank<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

HolmesEdit

Holmes Family

JacksonEdit

Jackson Family

  • Edward Jackson (1708–1757), colonist; m. Dorothy Quincy Jackson
    • Jonathan Jackson (1743–1810), merchant, revolutionary; m. Hannah Tracy Jackson
      • Charles Jackson (1775–1855), Massachusetts Supreme Court justice
      • James Jackson (1777–1867), Physician m. Elizabeth Cabot
        • Francis Henry Jackson (1815–1873), m. Sarah Ann Boott
          • James Tracy Jackson (1843–1900), m. Rebecca Nelson Borland
            • James Tracy Jackson Jr. (1881–1952), m. Rachel Brooks
              • Francis Gardner Jackson (1914–1970), m. Jane Matthews
                • Francis Gardner Jackson Jr. (born 1943), m. Pamela Graves Hardee
                  • Patrick Graves Jackson (born 1969), Surgeon, husband to Ketanji Brown Jackson<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}.</ref> and related to Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

KnowlesEdit

Knowles Family

LawrenceEdit

Lawrence Family

Descendant by marriage: Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1856–1943), president of Harvard University

LodgeEdit

Lodge Family

LowellEdit

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LymanEdit

  • Theodore Lyman (1753–1839), China trade merchant, commissioned Samuel McIntire to build one of New England's finest country houses, The Vale
  • Theodore Lyman II (1792–1849), brigadier general of militia, Massachusetts state representative, mayor of Boston
  • Theodore Lyman III (1833–1897), natural scientist, aide-de-camp to Major General Meade during the American Civil War, and United States congressman from Massachusetts
  • Theodore Lyman IV (1874–1954), director of Jefferson Physics Lab, Harvard. The Lyman series of spectral lines, the crater Lyman on the far side of the Moon, and the Lyman Physics Building at Harvard are named after him.

MinotEdit

Minot Family

NorcrossEdit

Norcross family Original from Watertown, Massachusetts

OakesEdit

Oakes family

OtisEdit

Otis family

PaineEdit

Paine Family

PalfreyEdit

Palfrey Family

  • Peter Palfrey (1611–1663), one of the founders of Salem, Salem representative to the first General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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  • John G. Palfrey I (1796–1881), played a leading role in the creation of Harvard Divinity School, first Dean of Harvard Divinity School, U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts, Unitarian minister, historian<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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  • John G. "Sean" Palfrey VI (born 1945), pediatrician and advocate, Harvard Faculty Dean of Adams House with Judy Palfrey<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ParkmanEdit

Parkman Family

PeabodyEdit

Peabody Family

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the Peabody Institute

PerkinsEdit

Perkins Family

PhillipsEdit

Phillips Family

Other notable relatives:

PutnamEdit

Putnam Family

QuincyEdit

Quincy Family

RiceEdit

Rice Family Originally of Sudbury, Massachusetts:

SaltonstallEdit

Saltonstall Family

Template:Cite book</ref>

SargentEdit

SearsEdit

Sears Family

SedgwickEdit

Sedgwick Family

ShattuckEdit

ShawEdit

StorrowEdit

SturgisEdit

  • James Perkins Sturgis (1791 - 1851), wealthy merchant
  • Nathaniel Russell Sturgis (1779 - 1856), merchant and socialite m. Susannah Thomsen Parkman, daughter of Samuel Parkman, an influential merchant

ThayerEdit

Thayer Family

  • Brevet Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer (1785–1872), U.S. general (Army), Father of West Point
  • Nathaniel Thayer (1769–1840), Unitarian minister; father of
    • Nathaniel Thayer Jr. (1808–1883), financier, philanthropist; partner in John E. Thayer and brother firm which he left to clerks Kidder and Peabody after his retirement. One of the most generous citizens of Boston donating Thayer Hall to Harvard University; an overseer of Harvard, 1866–1868, and a fellow, 1868–1875; father of
  • Bayard Thayer (1862–1916), millionaire sportsman, horticulturist
  • Eugene Van Rensselaer Thayer (1855–1907), financier, capitalist; father of
    • Eugene Van Rensselaer Thayer Jr. (1881–1937), Harvard class of 1904; President of Merchants and Chase National Banks; Chairman of Stutz motorcars
  • James Bradley Thayer (1831–1902), American legal writer, educationist
  • Ernest Thayer (1863–1940), American poet, author of "Casey at the Bat", and uncle of Scofield Thayer
  • Scofield Thayer (1889–1982), American poet, publisher
  • Eli Thayer (1819–1899), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts
  • John A. Thayer (1857–1917), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts
  • John R. Thayer (1845–1916), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts
  • Brevet Major General John Milton Thayer (1820–1906), U.S. senator, U.S. Civil War general (Union Army); governor of Nebraska
  • Webster Thayer (1857–1933), judge at the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti
  • William Greenough Thayer (1863–1934), American educator; father of
  • Tommy Thayer (born 1960), lead guitarist for the rock band Kiss

ThorndikeEdit

Thorndike Family

TudorEdit

Tudor Family

WarrenEdit

WeldEdit

Weld Family

WhitneyEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

WigglesworthEdit

Wigglesworth Family

WinthropEdit

Winthrop Family

Patrilineal descendants:

Other descendants:

BibliographyEdit

  • Cleveland Amory, The Proper Bostonians, 1947

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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