Mehitable Story

Mehitable Story (Pedrick)

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/195492443/mehitable-story

She was christened 4 June 1758 in Marblehead, Essex County, Massachusetts; the daughter of John Pedrick and Mehitable Stacey.

OBITUARY Died at her residence in East Boston, on Monday last, Mrs. Mehitable Story, widow of the late Dr Elisha Story, of Marblehead, and mother of the late Mr. Justice [Joseph] Story, aged 89.

Venerable in character, as in years, this remarkable lady, the centre of a large circle of devoted friends and descendants, connected the present with what is to each existing generation, the remote and historical past. Born while Massachusetts was a province, the daughter of a prosperous merchant of Marblehead, she was grown to womanhood on the breaking out of the Revolution.

Of a naturally ardent and sympathetic temperament, she became, at that exciting period, almost in a practical sense, a patriot; and during her long and active life, she retained the public spirit and patriotic feeling derived from the scenes of her early youth. The qualities of character developed in the days of the Revolution formed the theme of her admiration, and to this high standard she referred all modern actions upon which her judgment was called to act. But her life, even in extreme old age, was not given up to the past.

Fond as she was of historical reminiscenses, and ample as were her stores of anecdote, she lived, long after she had passed the usual bounds of human life, among and for the living generations. Retaining every faculty of a vigorous intellect and the use of every sense unimpaired, her attention to the occurrences of the passing hour, public or private, was constant; and while her mind was thus kept active, her devoted and careful industry for her friends kept her heart in the perpetual exercise of affections as young as if she had not passed her teens. Gaiety, cheerfulness, activity and kindness adorned a length of days which would otherwise have been a burthen, while many remarkable traits of intellect stamped her character with an originality and freshness, which age could not dim or diminish.

The chief part of the intellectual and moral characters of eminent men is often inherited from the maternal parent. No one could know this lady and her late distinguished son, without perceiving how many of his most striking qualities were derived from her. The same energy, industry and disinterestedness characterized both.

The same clear and vigorous intellect shone in her, as in him; and the same ardent, forcible and affluent conversation flowing often in the same tones and modes of expression, marked them both. It was undoubtedly to her that he owed a large part of his intellectual nature, and to her also must be attributed the formation of a character, which made his distinguished life a life of surpassing usefulness. She witnessed the whole of that life, in which so much was done, comprehended entirely his position, gloried in his fame, and finally saw the close of his career, after she had passed the age of eighty five years, without a murmur. The same '_lap of earth' receives their mortal remains. Requiescat in Pace. [Boston Daily] Advertiser Aug 11, 1847.

Essex Institute Historical Collections, Salem, Mass, 1935, Vol. 71, p. 48

• Marriage to Elisha Story: (29 Nov 1778 — Age: 20) Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
• Marriage to Elisha Story: (29 Nov 1778 — Age: 20) Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
  • Updated from Ancestry Genealogy via father John Pedrick 4 Capt Major by SmartCopy: Sep 10 2015, 20:18:26 UTC
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/195492443/mehitable-story