Ohio History Journal

OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL

SOCIETY

 

REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS

BY THE EDITOR

 

SARGENT GENEALOGY

Epes Sargent of Gloucester and His Descendants,

by Emma Worcester Sargent and Charles Sprague Sar-

gent. Houghton Mifflin Company, publishers, Boston

and New York, 1923.

One of the most valuable and finely wrought books

that has been added to the library of the Society is the

sumptuous volume entitled Epes Sargent of Gloucester

and His Descendants arranged by Emma Worcester

Sargent with biographical notes by Charles Sprague

Sargent. It is published by Houghton Mifflin Company

on paper of a superior quality. Steel engravings of

exquisite workmanship, some of them from paintings

by famous artists, abound in this work.

One is impressed in looking through the volume by

the wonderful contribution that this famous family has

made to American history. Prominent members of the

family have filled places of trust and honor since the

days of Epes Sargent, who was born in Gloucester, July

12, 1690, and died in Salem, Massachusetts, December

6, 1762. His descendants have been administrators,

soldiers, artists, historians, scientists, poets, ministers,

doctors, lawyers and contributors to almost every de-

partment of literature. A bibliography of their writ-

(318)

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Reviews, Notes and Comments       319

ings covers sixty-eight closely printed quarto pages of

the volume and constitutes a most interesting and valu-

able feature.

Ohioans of course will be especially interested in the

biographical sketch of Winthrop Sargent IV, who was

Secretary of the Northwest Territory from 1788 to

1798, a full decade. In this evolutionary period of the

Ohio Country from a wilderness almost to the period

of qualification for statehood Colonel Sargent was

an important and commanding figure. In the fre-

quent absence of Governor St. Clair he was acting gov-

ernor of the Territory. A graduate of Harvard and a

soldier of the Revolution with an excellent military rec-

ord, he had been interested in the western country even

before the enactment of the Ordinance of 1787 by the

Continental Congress. He was actively interested in

the adoption of the Ordinance and was very properly

chosen the first Secretary of the Territory. We need

not dwell upon the character of that extended service.

It is somewhat fully presented in this issue of the QUAR-

TERLY. Winthrop Sargent has not yet received in our

state history the attention that he deserves. This has

not been the fault of those who have written the history.

Until very recently the details for a satisfactory presen-

tation of even a brief biography have not been available.

Fortunately the work here briefly reviewed now makes

possible such a sketch of his life and presents interest-

ing materials relating to his kindred and descendants.

He had two children, William Fitz Winthrop who

was graduated from Harvard and died unmarried Oc-

tober 22, 1822, in the twenty-third year of his age.

George Washington, his second son, had six children.

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320      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications Their descendants are found in a number of different states.

Professor Charles Sprague Sargent is spoken of as the "most eminent of living dendrologists," while Professor William Lyon Phelps pays the following tribute to John Singer Sargent: Sargent belongs among the great painters of all time, his pictures revealing the mysterious but unmistakable stamp of genius. In fact, everything he does shows this quality which makes his painting the envy of competitors and the pride and glory of American art. He has no successful living rival, but is a class by himself. So true is this that if I were asked to name the greatest living American I should unhesitatingly name John Singer Sargent. Charles Sprague Sargent, who contributed the bi- ographical sketches, now lives in Brookline, Massachu-

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Reviews, Notes and Comments          321

setts. He has a national and international reputation

for his contributions to botany and horticulture. From

1888 to 1897 he was editor of Garden and Forest. He

has contributed extensively to publications of the Smith-

sonian Institution and is author of numerous mono-

graphs.

Winthrop Sargent VII is complimented on page 91

of the volume as follows:

Winthrop Sargent, of the seventh generation, the eleventh

of that name, will always be remembered with gratitude by the

descendants of Epes Sargent, for it is largely to his imagination,

industry and generosity that they are indebted for this genealogy

and for the preservation as a family memorial of the house built

in Gloucester by another Winthrop Sargent for his daughter

Judith. Mr. Sargent has printed for private circulation an

account of Paul Dudley Sargent and of the "Early New England

Sargents." Mr. and Mrs. Sargent live at Haverford, Pennsyl-

vania, and in summer at Bass Rocks, Gloucester.

We are under special obligations to Mr. Sargent for

copies of the publications referred to as well as for the

special interest that he has manifested in our work by

becoming a life member of the Ohio State Archaeolog-

ical and Historical Society.

 

SIDELIGHTS ON THE LAST DAYS OF GENERAL

U. S. GRANT

There has recently been added to the library of the

Society a very interesting volume entitled Life of Al-

phonso Taft, by Lewis Alexander Leonard. In one of

the chapters near the conclusion of the work there is an

account of the relation of Judge Taft to General Grant

and his consideration for the distinguished warrior in

his last illness at Mount McGregor. Mr. Charles P.

Taft, son of Judge Taft, "in obedience to the wishes of

Vol. XXXIII--21.

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