DERBY ACADEMY. 



Sarah Langlee (the name being the same as Langle, Langley, 

 Longly, and Longle, on our records), the daughter of John 

 Langlee and Hannah, his wife, was born April 18, 1714. 



She is described as being possessed of great beauty, and with- 

 out the advantages of early education. She was doubtless illiter- 

 ate, but her lack of education has been exaggerated. It has been 

 said that she could not write her own name. This is not true, 

 for she wrote many letters and signed her own name to them. 

 Her signature may be seen on her will and other papers in the 

 Suffolk County Registry of Probate. Many amusing anecdotes 

 are told to illustrate her peculiarities, but they are founded upon 

 no stronger evidence than tradition and ought not to be related 

 as facts in history. It seems sufficiently evident, however, that 

 it was her beauty which attracted the attention of Dr. Ezekiel 

 Hersey, — ■ a graduate of Harvard College in 1728, and an eminent 

 physician in his native town of Hingham, where he practised his 

 profession for many years, — for she was married to him July 30, 

 1738. Dr. Hersey died Dec. 9, 1770, and his wife survived him. 

 We can well believe that she. was comely, for, although she had 

 reached the age of fifty-seven, another admirer presented himself, 

 and she was married to Richard Derby, of Salem, Oct. 16, 1771. 

 Mr. Derby died Nov. 9, 1783, his wife surviving him. Mrs. Derby 

 died in Hingham June 17, 1790, aged seventy-sis, and was buried 

 in Dr. Gay's tomb in the cemetery back of the meeting-house of 

 the First Parish. 



Dr. Ezekiel Hersey was a man of means and charitable. It 

 has been said that the Derby Academy was first established by 

 him and placed on a firm foundation by Madam Derby at her 

 death. There is no evidence of such a fact. It is undoubtedly 

 true that the property which enabled Madam Derby to establish 

 the institution was derived from Dr. Hersey, and it would have 

 been a delicate acknowledgment of the fact had she given it the 

 name of " Hersey School ; " but there is no substantial evidence to 

 show that the idea originated in any mind but her own. It is 

 fair to presume that the charitable character and education of 

 Dr. Hersey would have led him to suggest to his wife such a dis- 

 position of his property after she was done with it. It is quite 

 as probable that Madam Derby, sensible of her own lack of early 

 education, with a worthy motive to relieve others from an experi- 



