FACTS RELATING TO GROTON, 

 MASSACHUSETTS. 



GEORGE SEWALL BOUTWELL. 



George Sewall Boutwell was a native of Brookline, 

 Massachusetts, where he was born on January 28, 1818. He 

 first saw the Hght on a farm then under the charge of his 

 father, and owned by Dr. John PhilHps Spooner, which now 

 forms a part of the extensive grounds of the Country Club in 

 that town. He was the second child of Sewall and Rebecca 

 (Marshall) Boutwell, another son of the same name having 

 been born on January i, 1816, who died on September 27, 

 1817. When he was two years old his parents removed to 

 Lunenburg, the former home of his mother, where he was 

 brought up on a farm. In after-life he filled more dis- 

 tinguished public positions than ever fell to the lot of any 

 other citizen of Groton ; and his neighbors always took a just 

 pride in his poHtical promotions. He was easily accessible 

 to all classes of people, and his counsels on the every-day 

 affairs of life were often sought and freely given. He was a 

 man of great shrewdness of mind with a temperament de- 

 cidedly judicial, and his advice was highly valued by those 

 seeking it. At the time of his election as Governor of the 

 Commonwealth Mr. Boutwell was the youngest person who 

 had ever held the office. 



Three years after Governor Boutwell's death, some of his 

 friends and admirers caused a tablet of white marble to be 

 placed over his grave in the Groton Cemetery; and the occa- 

 sion was followed by appropriate exercises on May 15, 1908. 



