122 FACTS RELATING TO GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 



speaker of the house of representatives, the Hon. Timothy 

 Bigelow, Dr. Bancroft removed to Groton. Here he divided 

 his attention between medicine and agriculture, in both of 

 which he acquired reputation. The sustaining corn and the 

 rescued from the grave both did sound his praise. As a 

 physician his characteristic was discrimination, decision, 

 and unflinching fidelity to his patient. He enjoyed ex- 

 tensively the friendship of his professional brethren. His 

 youngest son he educated to the profession to inherit his 

 reputation. 



As a gentleman he was courteous, as a citizen patriotic, as 

 a neighbor obliging, as a friend given to hospitality, as a 

 husband kind and faithful, and as a father he instructed his 

 children to prepare for independence by wholesome lessons 

 of self dependence. His infirmities were those familiar to 

 his profession and to old age. He often deferred claims for 

 compensation until his services ceased to be sufficiently re- 

 membered, and then enforced payment. He was sometimes 

 offensively tenacious of the rights of property, especially 

 where boundaries in land title were involved. 



He left a widow and six children, three sons and three 

 daughters, the latter of whom were all married to educated 

 men ; the oldest daughter Abigail to the Reverend Ephraim 

 Abbot, of Harvard, Massachusetts; the second, Lucy Mi- 

 randa, to George Thacher, Esq., of Monroe, county of Waldo, 

 Maine ; and the third, Sarah Savage, to the Hon. Asa F. 

 Lawrence, Esq., Counsellor at Law, of Pepperell, county of 

 Middlesex, Massachusetts. He lost a few years ago an ac- 

 complished daughter, Mary Ann, who died of consumption. 

 The oldest son Charles is a farmer on the homestead, the 

 second is in commerce in the city of New York, and the 

 third, the youngest child, is a physician in Groton, his native 

 place. 



There is a thrilling interest in the account of the last day 

 of his life and the incident of his death [on July 12, 1848]. 

 At ten o'clock in the forenoon, he called on a beloved sister 

 of a departed wife at the house of the Chief Justice of this 

 Commonwealth, and at half-past ten he went to State Street, 



