Nelly Alden Hassam

Title Batchelder, Batcheller Genealogy: Descendants of Rev. Stephen Bachiler, of England, a Leading Non-conformist, who Settled the Town of New Hampton, N.H., and Joseph, Henry, Joshua, and John Batcheller of Essex Co., Massachusetts Author Frederick Clifton Pierce Edition reprint Publisher Higginson Book Company, 1898 Original from the University of Wisconsin - Madison Digitized Apr 21, 2007 Length 623 pages

2323. v. NELLY ALDEN.b. June 23, 1849: m. John Tyler Hassam of 178 Huntington Ave., Boston,Mass., Feb. 14, 1877. H e was b. Sept. 20,1841. Ch.; Eleanor, b. March 20, 1870. John Tyler Hassam, son of John and Abby (Hilton) Hassam, was born in Boston, Sept. 20, 1841. He fitted for college at the Boston Public Latin School. From Dec. 8, 1863, to Aug. 1, 1864, he was in the army as first lieutenant of the Seventy-fifth United States Colored Infantry. He took part in the Red River campaign.

In February, 1005, he entered the law office of A. A. Ranney, Boston. He was admitted to the bar Dec. 13, 1867, and began practicing law at No. 35 Court St. He sailed for Europe April 12, 1873, and, having traveled extensively, returned home April 22, 1874. He removed, Feb. 1, 1878, from No. 35 to No. 47 Court St.. Boston, where he is still engaged in practicing law, devoting himself principally to conveyancing.

He was elected, Feb. 6,1867, a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, was for six years chairman of the Committee on the Library ot that Society, and is one of its directors. He was one of the original members, and one of the first Executive Council, of the Boston Antiquarian Club, which was organized in 1879, and which was merged in the Bostonian Society. Dec. 27, 1881. He was one of the corporate members of the latter society, which was incorporated Dec. 2, 1881, and is one of its directors. He was elected a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Nov. 10, 1881, a corresponding member of the Weymouth Historical Society, Jan. 4, 1882. a member of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, June 18, 1883, and of the American Historical Association. Nov. 12, 1884.

Besides writing many book notices, reviews and occasional articles, chiefly for the newspapers, he is a frequent contributor to the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register." Of these "Antiquarian and Genealogical Papers," the following have been reprinted in separate form: "The Hassam Family," 187a "Some of the Descendants of William Hilton," 1877. "Ezekiel Cheever and Some of His Descendants," 1879. "Boston Taverns, with Some Suggestions on the Proper Mode of Indexing the Public Records," 1880. "Notes and Queries Concerning the Hassam and Hilton Families." 1880.. "Early Suffolk Deeds." 1881. 'The Dover Settlement and the Hiltons." 1882. "Bartholomew and Richard Cheever and Some of Their Descendants," 1882. "The Facilities for Genealogical Research in the Registries of Probate in Boston and London." 1884. "Ezekiel Cheever and Some of his Descendants. Part Second," 1884. "Ezekiel Cheever. Additional Notes," 1887. The exhaustive researches in England, undertaken bv the New England Historic Genealogical Society, through Mr. Henry Fitz-Gilbert Waters (Harv. 1855), were first set on foot by Hassam. Indeed, the plan originated with him, and he is chairman of the committee under whose direction the work has been carried on and by whom the funds necessary for its prosecution are provided. These searches have resulted in the accumulation of a vast amount of material concerning the family history of the earlv settlers of this country, and particularly in the remarkable discovery of the parentage and ancestry of John Harvard—a problem which had baffled the skill of all investigators for nearly half a century.

He has especially exerted himself to preserve and make accessible the ancient records, files, papers, and documents, whether state, county, or municipal. The printing of the early volumes of Suffolk Deeds is due solely to him. The elaborate indices to these printed volumes were devised by htm and were made under his personal supervision. Indeed, nearly all of the recent improvements in the Suffolk Registry of Deeds were first suggested and strongly urged by him.

He was appointed. April 5. 188.4, by the Superior Court for the County of Suffolk, one of the commissioners under whose authority the indices in that Registry of Deeds,are made. The re-indexing of the entire mass of the records there, upon the present admirable plan—a great work now rapidly being pushed forward to completion—is the result of his efforts. It will save an incalculable amount of toil and drudgery. Those who come after us will hardly be able to picture to themselves the state in which our public offices were at the time when the present generation of conveyancers first entered upon the active work of life. After repeated attempts and many discouragements he succeeded in rescuing from threatened destruction a large part of the original Court files of Suffolk County, including the files of the Superior Court of Judicature and the Court of Assistants, and in obtaining the large appropriations necessary for their preservation and proper arrangement. The work is now being carefully done under the direction of the Clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court, by Mr. William P. Upham (Harv. 1856).

More than 200,000 documents, extending in date from the first settlement of the country to about the time of the Revolution, are now for the first time being made accessible to historical investigators. The original plans for the new court-house for the County of Suffolk made no provision for the Registry of Deeds and Probate Court. It was largely owing to his active exertions that the changes in these plans were made, and the Act of 1886 passed, enlarging the authority of the Court House Commissioners, and authorizing the taking of additional land -1 for the accommodation of these two departments. He prepared, and in spite of considerable opposition secured the passage of, Resolve Chapter 6b of the Legislature of 1884, providing for an examination and report as to the condition of the records, files, papers and documents in the State Department, preliminary to the adoption of a plan for making their contents more accessible for reference. Chapter 249 of the Acts of that year, providing for the publication of a list of persons whose names have been changed in this Commonwealth from 1780 to 1883. inclusive, was drafted and carried through the Legislature by him. This list of persons, nearly 10,000 in number, is of the greatest assistance to the conveyancer as well as to other investigators.

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