The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for biographies. (December 2012) |
William Gordon Weld (1775–1825) was an American shipmaster and ship owner. He is notable as an ancestor of several famous Welds.
Ancestry and early life edit
Weld was a descendant of Joseph Weld, who came to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 17th century and was involved in the Pequot War and subsequent negotiations. He was born on 8 May 1775 at Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts.
Weld lived his early life in Weld Hall, the family home on Weld Hill in the Forest Hills section of what is now Jamaica Plain. Named after the prominent local revolutionary sympathizer and historian Reverend Dr. William Gordon, Weld was the fifth son[1] of Colonel Eleazer Weld, one of seven Weld family American Revolutionary War veterans.[2]
Like many family members, William Gordon Weld graduated from Harvard, a university with Weld ties from the 17th to the 21st centuries.
He practiced law in Mr. Quincy's law office in Roxbury, Massachusetts.[3] Later at the age of nineteen "he was master of a packet-ship sailing between London and Boston, and at twenty-seven was attacked off Tunis by Algerine pirates, not only beating them back in fair fight, but recapturing two American vessels which had been seized."[4]
Maritime industry edit
Weld turned his attention away from agriculture and concentrated on maritime shipping. He created a fleet of "China clippers" and profited from trade between Asia and the New World.
His fortune suffered a notable setback during the War of 1812. A British frigate cruising off Boston Harbor captured one Weld's ships carrying a valuable cargo of wine and Spanish silver dollars. Weld himself was captured and may have paid a ransom to be released.
Legacy edit
In 1798, Weld married Hannah Minot (1780–1860), a member of a Massachusetts family represented by such notables as George Minot and Henry Davis Minot.[3] They had one daughter and eight sons. (see chart).
The home William and Hannah built was in the Minot family's possession by the mid 19th century and later became the home of Andrew James Peters, Mayor of Boston, (and James Michael Curley rival) after he married a Minot.
Among those descended from William Gordon Weld and Hannah Minot are:
- Son William Fletcher Weld — shipping, railroad and real estate magnate
- Son Stephen Minot Weld — politician, namesake of Weld Hall at Harvard University
- Grandson George Walker Weld — financier of the Weld Boathouse
- Grandson Stephen Minot Weld Jr. — American Civil War general
- Great-grandson Philip Saltonstall Weld — World War II commando, publisher, environmentalist
- Great-granddaughter Isabel Weld Perkins — socialite philanthropist
- Great-great-great-grandson William Weld — former Governor of Massachusetts
Notes edit
- ^ "Weld Family".
- ^ A Volume of Records Relating To The Early History of Boston Containing Boston Marriages From 1752 to 1809 (Boston, Municipal Printing Office, 1903) lists a March 31, 1761 marriage intention notice re: Eleazer Weld and Mary Hatch. The dates involved make it probable that Mary Hatch was William Gordon Weld's mother.
- ^ a b Anderson, Isabel. (1925). Under the black horse flag : annals of the Weld Family and some of its branches. Mifflin. p. 15. OCLC 246118252.
- ^ State Street Trust Company (1919). Other merchants and sea captains of old Boston; being more information about the merchants and sea captains of old Boston who played such an important part in building up the commerce of New England, together with some quaint and curious stories of the sea. Boston: Printed for the State street trust Co. p. 60. OCLC 983054.
References edit
- "The Weld Family", Jamaica Plain Historical Society
- "The Welds of Harvard Yard" by Craig A. Lambert, associate editor of Harvard Magazine"
- Larz Anderson and Isabel Weld Larz bio, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
- "Revolutionary War Burial Site Near Arboretum", Jamaica Plain Historical Society
- "The Andersons", Larz Anderson Auto Museum