Person:Joseph Lord (14)

The following is from Athol, Massachusetts, Past and Present:

Joseph Lord, who was one of the first five settlers of Athol, was graduated at Harvard College in 1726, and practiced medicine for a time in Sunderland, Mass., being the first physician of that town. In September, 1735, with four others, he came to Pequoig, and commenced the first settlement of this town; his dwelling was located on the " Street," on the place known for a long time as the Humphrey place. He appears to have been the principal man among the company of settlers, both in education and influence, and was the first clerk of the Proprietors, which office he continued to hold up to Oct. 18, 1758. He was during all these years the leading spirit in ancient Pequoig, being the first doctor, the first preacher, the first magistrate, the first treasurer, the first tax gatherer, the first surveyor, in fact, as an old manuscript has it, he was "Boss and all hands." At length a misunderstanding arose between Mr. Lord and the proprietors, the particular cause for which it is impossible for us to satisfactorily determine. For some reason he refused to give up the records, and an action was commenced against him for the recovery of the books, records, plans etc. The court rendered judgment against Mr. Lord in November, 1759, for one thousand pounds. The result was that Mr. Lord left Pequoig and went to Putney, Vt., then New Hampshire, where he lived for thirty years, holding high and responsible positions. By commissions dated the 16th of July, 1766, he was appointed second judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and a justice of the peace for Cumberland County. These commissions were renewed on two subsequent occasions, and he was continued in office until the commencement of the Revolution. He was also appointed by a writ of dedimus potestatem, a commissioner to "swear all officers" chosen in that county, and held the office until the 14th of April, 1772. A few months previous to the time for appointing judges, in the year 1772, Mr. Lord was desirous of withdrawing from the service of the province. In his letter to Governor Tyron, dated the 29th of January, he declared his reasons for wishing to retire, in these words: "I being now arrived at the sixty-eighth year of my age, and attended with the infirmities common to advancing years, such as great deafness, loss of memory, dimness of sight, and at times, a paralytic tremor in my hands, etc., which disqualifies me for the full, free, and perfect discharge of the offices of second judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and justice of the peace, which I have sustained in the county for several years last past, and having a desire to retire from public business and spend the remainder of my days in a calm retirement therefrom, and concern myself in nothing else, but doing good to my numerous family and neighbors, and praying for the King, your Excellency, and all others, the King's officers, and prepare for a glorious Immortality — therefore humbly entreat your Excellency to appoint some other person to said offices in my room and stead."
Having been informed that his colleague had tendered his resignation, Judge Chandler wrote to Governor Tryon, begging him to continue Judge Lord in office in the next commission, and suggesting the propriety of rewarding him for his past services — especially for his efforts in quelling a disturbance, in which the inhabitants of Windsor had been engaged. Previous to this time the court had been constituted with three judges. A fourth was added at the next commission, and Judge Lord was continued, but with the understanding that he was to take only "as little share of the burden of the office" upon himself as should be agreeable to him. Governor Tyron wrote him in a letter dated the 3d of April, 1772: "His Excellency desirous of retaining in office the most respectable persons in the county, could not think of appointing any person in your stead." Hall, the historian of Vermont, says of him: "Respecting his abilities, there are no means of deciding; but of his uprightness and candor as a man and as a judicial officer, there can be no doubt. The little that is known of this worthy magistrate is so favorable, that a natural regret arises at the absence of the data which might supply the details of his life, character and services."
He died at Westmoreland, N. H., Dec. 7, 1788, in the 85th year of his age, having moved to that place from Putney, some time before.
Dr. Joseph Lord had seven children, viz: Joseph, born April 17, 1730, William, born May 3, 1732, Mary, born May 2, 1733, Thomas, born Jan. 17, 1736. the first winter after the settlers arrived in Athol, Stephen, Nathaniel and Sarah, who married Judge Thomas Chandler of Vermont. Thomas Lord, the third son of Dr. Joseph Lord, married Leonard Smith, Oct. 18, 1760. He was one of the Athol minutemen who marched to Lexington, being sergeant of the company, and was afterwards captain of a company that went to Bennington.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Caswell, Lilley Brewer. Athol, Massachusetts, past and present. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1985)
   p. 210-213.

   [Joseph Lord] married Abigail , daughter of Governor Thomas Hinckley, (by his first wife) on the third of June, 1698. ...
   He had eight children, of whom Joseph and Abigail were born Sept. 27, 1704.
   [the remainder is quoted in full, q.v.]

2. ↑ Dr. Joseph Lord, in Find A Grave.

   Inscription: "Here lies Doc. Joseph Lord who died Dec. 7, 1788 in his 86th year"

3.   Smith, John Montague; Abbie Talitha Montague; and Henry Walbridge Taft. History (1673-1899) of the town of Sunderland, Massachusetts: which originally embraced within its limits the present towns of Montagu e and Leverett ; with genealogies prepared by Henry W. Taft and Abbie T. Montague. (Greenfield, Massachusetts: Press of E.A. Hall, 1899)
   p. 437.

   LORD, JOSEPH, was a physician; settled in Sunderland ab. 1728, and the town made him some grants of land. He was a justice of the peace, the first in town; m. Apr. 22, 1728, Sarah Rand, perhaps sister of Rev. William Rand; rem. from town as early as 1734, perhaps to Brookfield.