Hampton Falls, August.
Dear Mr. Wingate:
I have only time and strength to write a single verse expressive of my love and admiration of my dear old friend, Dr. Holmes.
John G. Whittier.
[1] "The History of Haverhill, Mass.; from its first settlement in 1640 to the year 1860. By George Wingate Chase, Haverhill. Published by the author, 1861."
[2] The foregoing statements are taken from the Whittier genealogy. But the author finds that there are a few slight discrepancies of date between this book and the inscriptions on the family tombstones in Amesbury. The tombstones say that John Whittier died "11th of 6 mo., 1831," and that Mary died "1st mo. 7, 1861."
[3] Whittier has thus alluded to this surmise:—
"The name the Gallic exile bore,
St. Malo! from thy ancient mart,
Became upon our Western shore
Greenleaf for Feuillevert."
[4] It may be added that the ancestral home of the Longfellows is still standing in Byfield, about five miles distant from the Whittier homestead in Haverhill. (See the author's Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, p. 15.)
[5] The name of Daniel Webster's paternal grandmother was Susannah Bachelor, or Batchelder.
[6] See histories of Lynn and Newbury, passim.
[7] For many items of information concerning this strange woman we are indebted to the sketch of her published by Miss Rebecca I. Davis, of East Haverhill.