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HILDRETH, HOSEA - A published letter from an affectionate father

He was a minister and a teacher, born in Chelmsford, MA in 1782; died in Sterling, VT 1835. You may have already obtained his biographical information--if you haven't try Famous Americans. Here's something a bit different for your files: a letter to you, his child, which was published in his book, A Book For Massachusetts Children, Boston 1829:

"Dear Child:

From the letters I have written concerning the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you have learned, that the people of this state are highly favored.  The principal things that make Massachusetts a good land to live in, are these: We have the Bible, which teaches the will of God, and the way of salvation by Jesus Christ; we have the Sabbath, or Lord's Day, which affords the people an opportunity for meeting together to worship God, and to hear the Gospel preached; we have schools of various kinds, at which our sons and daughters may acquire so much good learning as to be fitted for useful employment; we have Sabbath Schools for the instruction of children and young persons in the Bible, and in all their duty to God and mankind; we have a free and good government, which the people have established by their own authority and will; and we have good laws for the preservation of order, uprightness, and peace. Now, if the children of Massachusetts were all good, and behaved toward God, toward their parents, toward one another, and toward all persons, as children ought to behave, then we should have the happiest Commonwealth on the face of the earth.

I suppose you are satisfied that a Commonwealth made up of good people must be happy and prosperous; but then you are old enough to know that there are many wicked people in Massachusetts, and that there are many children who are naughty, and who are very likely to be wicked persons when they are grown up. This is true, but it is no good reason why you should be naughty and wicked. Some children are naughty from want of instruction, but you must remember that you have had instruction and if you behave ill, it will not be for want of knowing your duty. Ill conduct in you will be the more sinful on account of the good instruction you have had.

(Signed)

AN AFFECTIONATE FATHER"

This letter was quoted, as above, in the book Yankee Folk by Edwin Valentine Mitchell. Yankee Folk was written in 1948 and is out of print, but is much easier to find from the used and rare book vendors than the Book For Massachusetts Children described above.

Here is a description of Hosea Hildreth, written to the New England Historic and Genealogical Society in 1856, by Hosea's son Richard (be sure to look him up to, as he also had a remarkable career and wrote History of the United States):

"My father, Hozea, was one of a family of ten children, and the third son. An accident to one of his arms, which incapacitated him for farm labor, caused him to turn his attention to study. He was for many years connected as an instructor with Phillips Academy in Exeter, NH, preaching, however, occasionally, which was his favorite employment, and finally he became the minister of the old Congregational Society in Gloucester, MA. He is the only clergyman of the name that I have heard of."

 

Ancestors of Hosea Hildreth:

Children of Hosea Hildreth and Sarah Mc Leod:

Sources:

Mitchell, Edwin Valentine Yankee Folk New York: The Vanguard Press, 1948. Available used from abebooks.com. 

NEHGS Register, vol. 11: Origin and Genealogy of the American Hildreths, letter written by Richard Hildreth. Boston: 1857 more information

NEHGS Register, vol. 20: Death of Richard Hildreth. Boston: 1866 more information

Massachusetts Vital Records to the Year 1850, online at NEHGS

Worldconnect at rootsweb.

The Compendium of American Genealogy, vol. VII, pg. 602, online at genealogy.com

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