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John Tidd, of Charlestown, and Woburn, Massachusetts, died at Woburn, April 24, 1657; his first wife, Margaret, died at Woburn in 1651; he married (second), date unknown, Alice _____, who married at Cambridge, June 11, 1657, William Mann. He was sergeant of the military contingent of Woburn in 1646, the first citizen of Woburn named by military title in the records. After careful consideration the compilers of this sketch have come to the conclusion that it is difficult for them to decide what is true or what if false in much that has been stated by different writers concerning the early history of the first John Tidd who came an immigrant undoubtedly from England and settled in this country after 1630. The difficulty seems to arise from the different spellings of this short name of four letters. For example, there is Tead, Teed, Tedd, and Todd, items concerning different individuals of these names being easily confounded with Tidd or with names of similar lengths or likeness. We are willing to accept the fact that this John Tidd came to Charlestown where he was an inhabitant in 1637, admitted to the church there 1639, and soon afterwards a resident of Woburn. This appears to be so from the fact that he was allowed to buy Thomas Moulton's old house, and had liberty to sell the house to Nathaniel Hadlock, 1638. He owned eight lots in Charlestown limits, according to Book of Possessions, 1638, the sixth of which was twenty-five acres at Waterfield, or in the part now Woburn. He also owned twenty acres in West Rockfield, also present Woburn. In his will he styles himself a tailor. "John Dane's Relation" (a sort of tract giving an account of Dane's spiritual and temporal experience during his lifetime) mentions incidentally a John Tidd, a tailor from Hartford, Old England, who may be the same. In Woburn there was a lot near the common called the Tidd lot, which received its name from him. On this lot now stands the edifice of the First Congregational Church. The quotation from "Dane's Narrative" is, in part, as follows: " I now being at Hartford (Hertford, Hartford?) I then wrought with Mr. Tead that (now) lives at Charlestowne (Charlestown, Massachusetts). He was a young man then. He and I was going," etc. Dane died at Ipswich, September 29, 1684, and wrote his "Narrative' in 1682. This leaves it still uncertain whether the John Tidd then of Charlestown was the John Tidd who settled in Woburn and died there in 1657. Children: 1. John, see forward; 2. Samuel, died 1651, married Sarah _______; had daughter, Eliza, born May, 1642. 3. Elizabeth, married June 13, 1642, Thomas Fuller, of Woburn. 4. Mary, married December 24, 1644, Francis Kendall, of Woburn. 5. Hannah, married William Savell, of Braintree. (II) John Tidd, son of John Tidd, (I) died at Cambridge Farms, now Lexington, April 13, 1703, aged seventy-eight years; married at Woburn, April 14, 1650, Rebecca Wood, of Woburn; she died at Lexington, January 10, 1717, aged ninety-two years. This John Tidd after his marriage resided for a time in Woburn, and in 1686, moved to Cambridge Farms, or the present town of Lexington where by gift from the proprietors of Cambridge and by purchase of several individuals he acquired a large amount of real estate. His homestead there was probably bought of David Fiske on June 1, 1686, and the property remained in the hands of his descendants almost to (if not to) the present day. It was a lot of forty acres. Children: 1. Hannah, born September 21, 1652; married
December 1, 1674, Joseph Smith, of Watertown. 2. John, born
February 26, 1654-5; see forward. 3. Mary, born November 13, 1656;
married March 7, 1680-1; Joseph Simonds, of Lexington. 4. Samuel,
born January 16, 1658-9; died at Lexington, May 9, 1699,
unmarried. (III) John Tidd, son of John Tidd (2), born at Woburn, February 26, 1645-5, died there August 3, 1743; married June 12, 1678, Elizabeth Fifield, born September 7, 1657, died at Woburn, October 6, 1732, daughter of William and Mary Fifield, of Hampton, New Hampshire. John Tidd served in King Philip's war, 1675 and 1676, first in the garrison at Groton; second under Lt. Edward Oakes, in Capt. Thomas Prentice's troop, June 1676. It was he who was sergeant in the Woburn militia from 1694 to 1737. Children: 1. Elizabeth, born September 19, 1679; married September 24, 1701, Joseph Stephens. 2. John, born November 2, 1981; married November 6, 1729, Abigail Gould, of Stoneham. 3. Joseph, born March 8, 1684, married November 22, 1732, Martha Pierce, of Woburn. 4. Rebecca, born August 4, 1687, died May 21, 1738. 5. Mary, born April 25, 1690. 6. Ebenezer, born August 31, 1693, see forward. (IV) Ebenezer Tidd, son of John Tidd (3), born at Woburn, August 31, 1693, died there, August 18, 1725; married Martha Wyman, born October 13, 1695, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Richardson) Wyman, of Woburn; she married (second) March 23, 1731, Major Joseph Richardson, of Woburn. On August 30, 1717, Ebenezer Tidd and Edward Winn were chosen guagers; the notice of which appointment is preserved in the Woburn Public Library, (Wyman Coll. Mss. 1:59). Children: 1. Samuel, born August 20, 1716, married (first), September 14, 1738, Phebe Sawyer, of Woburn, who died November 18, 1765; married (second), December 28, 1769, Lucy (Fowle) Gardner, of Woburn. 2. Ebenezer, born September 24, 1718, married (first), May 8, 1744, Elizabeth Faulkner, of Medford, who died May 19, 1752; and married (second), January 1, 1755, Lucy Polly, of Medford. 3. Jonathan, born November 7, 1724, see forward. (V) Lt. Jonathan Tidd, son of Ebenezer Tidd (4), born at Woburn, November 7, 1724, died there August 16, 1785; married at Boston, January 29, 1747, Serviah Baker, daughter of Samuel and Mary Baker, of Woburn; she died his widow, May 8, 1791, aged sixty-four years. In 1750, Samuel Baker, Sr., in his will of that date, has a paragraph to this effect: "Item. To my grandson-in-law, Jonathan Tidd that now liveth in my house * * * , I give and bequeath all and singular my housing and lands * * * with my movable estate." Previously on December 12, 1748, Samuel Baker, yeoman, sold for £ 700 one-half of his lands in Wilmington and Woburn to the said Jonathan Tidd of Woburn, currier. This is the earliest mention that the compilers have found of the of the occupation of this first most important currier or leather dresser known in the annals of Woburn. There had been others like the first members of the Wyman family who had been previously engaged on a smaller scale in this business in Woburn, but to Jonathan Tidd belongs the honor of starting the trade which has had such an extensive vogue in Woburn, as to give the city a national as well as a world-wide reputation. He was a man of such account that he early became a lieutenant in the militia company located in that part of Woburn known as the second parish of the town, now belonging territorially to the town of Burlington, to which the district the estate of Jonathan Tidd was attached. He was therefore during the period of the Revolutionary war, First Lieut. of Walker's company of the Second Precinct, and as such was present with that command in the battle of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775, and rendered service of ten days at that time. The members of this company being largely called into service in other commands at the front, we find, perhaps from his age or the manufacture of leather or for some other cause now unknown, that on May 13, 1775, he was listed on a roll as lieutenant of the third foot company in Woburn under the command of Capt. Timothy Winn. In March and also again in July, 1776, his name was entered in the alarm list of Walker's Company, in which officers who had already rendered active service previously were enrolled. His militia service did not end then, for he was Lieutenant still of Walker's company in 1780, actively so, and again on the alarm list in 1781. He was drafted in August, 1777, for the service in the northward army against Burgoyne and provided a substitute. The above was his most important military service, but previously to the revolution we ought to remark that he held the office of ensign or color bearer of infantry, ranking equivalently with that of second lieutenant, from the year 1762 to 1773, and as lieutenant, ranking as at present as first lieutenant, in the same army, in 1774. His funeral occured August 17, 1785, the day following his death. Among his real estate he left there was listed at late as October 1, 1793, a tan house, currier's shop and an old chaise house. This property was located on the corner of Ward and Pearl street, in present North Woburn. Children: 1. Serviah, born February 10, 1748; married April 18, 1769, Jonathan Fox, of Woburn. 2. Hannah, born February 17, 1749; married November 6, 1769, John Flagg, of Woburn. 3. Lucy, born April 18, 1751; married May 12, 1779; Benjamin Tidd, of Woburn. 4. Azubah, born June 27, 1753; married March 18, 1773; John Eames, Jr., of Wilmington. 5. Mary, born August or March 9, 1755; married March 9, 1773; Asahel Simonds, of Woburn. 6. Jonathan, born August 3, 1757; see forward. 7. Samuel, born December 7, 1759; married May 24, 1781; Ruhannah Richardson, of Woburn. 8. Martha, born January 7, 1762; married March 22, 1780, Josiah Converse, of Woburn. 9. Ebenezer, born January 17, 1764; married April 27, 1807; Hannah Thompson, of Woburn; resided at Charlestown, New Hampshire. 10. Comfort, born April 3, 1766; married (first), August 18, 1791, Jesse Tay, of Woburn; married (second), November 5, 1809; Benjamin Nichols, of Bedford, New Hampshire. 11. Jacob, born January 10, 1768; married November 16, 1795; Deborah Wright. 12. Susanna, born October 6, 1770; married, February 3, 1791; Jesse Barnard, resided at Harvard, Massachusetts. |
(IV) Jonathan Tidd, son of Lt. Jonathan Tidd (5), born at Woburn, August 3, 1757, died there, February 17, 1842, aged eighty-four years; married October 19, 1780, Rhoda Thompson, born November 5, 1763, died January 15, 1836, aged seventy-two years, two months and ten days, daughter of Abijah and Abigail (Wyman) Thompson, of Woburn. This Jonathan Tidd was a pensioner for revolutionary and military service in 1840, at that time aged eighty-four and residing with his son, William Tidd. With his father, he was also a member of Walker's company in 1775, and his name appears on the roll of the same company as late as 1780 and 1782. He was a private for nine days at the time of the battle of Lexington, in the same company; a private in Capt. Timothy Winn's (third foot company) May 13, 1775; a private (enlisted May 7, 1775) in Capt. John Wood's (Woburn) company, Col. Loammi Baldwin's regiment, in active service on August 1, 1775. He was drafted for Canada from Walker's company, July 5, 1776, and was reported as servicing in the present expedition to Canada, five months July 26, 1776. He was elected fourth corporal of Walker's company when at home, February 12, 1777, and was detailed from Walker's company for two months guarding stores at Cambridge under Lt. Joseph Johnson, of Woburn, from September 1, 1777. He appears at times to be sickly, and the records show that he was sick and sent from his company and probably at home on August 10, 1775, and again on December 31, 1776, when Marrett, the second precinct minister, placed in his almanac the entry: "visited Jonathan Tidd, Jr., being sick." He was lieutenant of the militia in Woburn between the years 1792 and 1816. He was for a long period called Jonathan Tidd, Junior. He was engaged like his father in the tanning and currying business at North Woburn, and his estate there is scheduled in the famous list of Woburn estates in the year 1798. He was one of the last survivors of the revolutionary soldiers of Woburn. Children: 1. Jonathan, born December 15, 1781, see
forward. 2. Nabby (or Abigail), born June 16, 1787, died December
16, 1854, aged sixty-seven years and six months; married September 1,
1807, Stephen Nichols, of Woburn. 3. Child, buried January 11,
1790. 4. William, born April 12, 1792, died February 13, 1874, aged
eighty-one years and ten months; married (first) May 13, 1813, Rosanna
Buckman, who died May 19, 1816, aged twenty-one years, married (second)
Luthera Bond, who died May 21, 1876, aged eighty-one years, eight months
and six days. 5. Franklin, died December 26, 1798, aged three years. (VII) Jonathan Tidd, son of Jonathan Tidd (6), born at Woburn, December 15, 1781, died there, April 19, 1830; married January 29, 1806, Cynthia Eames, born at Woburn, October 7, 1782, died there August 25, 1872, aged eighty-nine years and eleven months, daughter of John and Abigail (Thompson) Eames. He resided at North Woburn on the estate of his ancestors. He was a man of unique and unusual ability, and an odd literary composition of his on a political subject in the form of two letters to Colonel John Wade, a noted leader afterwards of the Jacksonian Democratic party, under dates of February 19, and March 30, 1829, is extant. But his powers of locomotion were sadly impaired by an accident which made him famous, for on July 14, 1807, in the fall of the house frame of Major Clapp, in Woburn, in which four persons were killed and thirty or forty severely injured. He sustained a severe injury of the spine and also a fractured rib. He survived, to the wonder of everybody at that time, though he was never able to walk readily afterwards. Children: 1. Cynthia, born May 17, 1807, died July 26, 1834; married October 27, 1833, Joseph P. Howard, who died July 8, 1876, aged seventy-four years. 2. Jonathan, born October 18, 1808, see forward. 3. Lydia, born May 1, 1810, died August 21, 1878; married October, 1831, Charles Bond, who died November 21, 1878. 4. Franklin, born October 6, 1813, died January 2, 1837. 5. Alfred, born December 11, 1815, died May 27, 1821. 6. Daniel, born December 29, 1817, died November 1, 1867, aged forty-nine year and eleven months. 7. Marshall, born January 14, 1820, died May 11, 1904, aged eighty-four years, three months and twenty-eight days; married June 16, 1846, Sarah B. Hitchcock, daughter of Samuel and Sallie (Bond) Hitchcock, of Claremont, New Hampshire. She died May 7, 1895, aged seventy-two years, nine months and twenty-four days. 8. Rhoda, born March 14, 1822, died August 14, 1898; married (first), December 5, 1844, William P. Reed, who died February 10, 1865, aged forty-six years and eight months; married (second), October 31, 1872, Charles W. Greeley. 9. Alfred, born October 26, 1825, died February 7, 1907, aged eighty-three years, three months and twelve days. (VIII) Jonathan Tidd, son of Jonathan Tidd (7), born at Woburn, October 18, 1808, died there June 27, 1892, aged eighty-three years, eight months and nine days; married June, 1836, Sally Johnson Tay, born June 25, 1814, died December 17, 1841, aged twenty-seven years and six months, daughter of Josiah and Susanna (Johnson) Tay. Married (second), at Claremont, New Hampshire, October 4, 1842, Harriet De Forest Hitchcock, born at Claremont, August 9, 1818, died at Woburn, January 10, 1870, aged fifty-one years, five months and one day, daughter of Samuel and Sally (Bond) Hitchcock. Jonathan Tidd was educated in the common schools of Woburn, and when old enough entered the trade of his father and grandfather and followed it with success throughout his life. He was a man of more than usual intelligence, possessed of great natural shrewdness, and, with an iron constitution and an indomitable will, was enabled fortunately to carry out any undertaking which he attempted to accomplish. Unfortunately, as a boy he was thrown on his own resources by his father's having been crippled for life in the terrible accident which we have described in this sketch under his name, and without any favorable opportunities for education such as his mental equipment and natural endowments deserved, was forced to begin life at the bottom of the ladder. He fought his way upward, became one of the most prominent and wealthiest citizens in that part of Woburn in which he was born. The house in which he lived all his life was his birthplace, and is still preserved in excellent condition. In company with his neighbor and brother-in-law Charles Bond, under the firm name of Bond & Tidd, he did business for many years as one of the best known leather manufacturers of Woburn, and in the financial panic of 1857 this concern was regarded as one of the strongest in the town, keeping a regular deposit of $20,000 in the Woburn Bank. Mr. Tidd continued business after the death of Mr. Bond in 1878, and retired from the active part a few years before his death. In the administration of municipal affairs he was never prominent, and the only office he ever held was that of assessor in 1859. In many traits of character Mr. Tidd was considered by many as a through Yankee. He was a fine mechanic, of an inquiring turn of mind, which he turned to account as an inventor of many curious and useful contrivances. In fact, had he given his attention to the subject of patents and taken proper steps to put on the market some of the machines he originated, he might have amassed a large fortune. Interested in his younger days in sporting, and familiar with the use of rod and gun, his inventive mind was led to originate improvements in the construction of firearms. The "Choate bore" and the gain-twist of rifle barrels were among his creations. The mill now used by curriers was his invention, and the first leather splitting machine ever made was built in his factory by himself and Seth Parker. He was a kindhearted and genial gentleman; fair and honorable in his social and business relations; kind and faithful husband; a fond father; a good citizen. Children: 1. Charles Augustus, born May 22, 1837; died
young. 2. Sally Augusta, born October 29, 1838, married June 19,
1878, Nathan H. Marion, of Burlington; children: i. Henry Seward (Marion),
born at Burlington, died at Woburn, March 19, 1880. ii. Horace
Humphrey (Marion), born at Woburn, July 27, 1879, died June 15,
1880. iii. Jonathan Tidd (Marion), born at Woburn, April 27, 1881,
died August 10, 1881. Children: (by second wife) 4. Samuel Hitchcock Tidd, born October 25, 1846, died August 30, 1873; married, December 17, 1871, Lucretia K. Clark. Children: i. Arthur Warren, born December 9, 1872, married August 1906, Ida Smith, of Kendall, New York. 5. Abby Winn, born October 12, 1855; married (first) February 1, 1877, Louis L. Smith, of Boston; he died September 23, 1879, aged thirty-one years, five months and nine days; married (second), April 27, 1882, Nathaniel S. Watson. Child by first marriage: i. Gertrude De Forest (Smith), born February 18, 1878, legally adopted by her stepfather, Nathaniel S. Watson, and name changed to Gertrude Smith Watson, married January 1, 1900, Arthur Hall Linscott, of Woburn, and have: Mildred (Linscott), born November 16, 1900; and Mary Ryder (Linscott), born January 8, 1902.
Source: Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - W.R. Cutter -pp. 607-611. |
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