10 THOMAS HUTCHINSON 



left twelve children, the Hutchinson family in New 

 England was getting to be a large one ; and we find 

 many of them in places of distinction and trust. 

 Elisha's eldest son, Thomas, became a wealthy mer- 

 chant and ship-owner. For twenty-six years he was a 

 member of the council of assistants, and was noted for 

 his resolute integrity and the fearlessness with which 

 he spoke his mind without regard to the effect upon 

 his popularity. He was also noted for a public-spirited 

 generosity so lavish as to have made serious inroads 

 upon his princely fortune. He has been called 1 " one 

 of Boston's greatest benefactors." At his death, in 

 1739, though still a very rich man, he lamented his 

 inability to provide for his children on a scale com- 

 mensurate with his wishes. One can readily believe 

 that such families as these men had must have heavily 

 taxed their resources. This Thomas Hutchinson's 

 children were twelve in number, which seems to have 

 been the normal rate of multiplication in that family. 

 His wife, Sarah Foster, a lady of sterling character 

 and sense, was daughter of Colonel John Foster, who 

 took an active part in the insurrection which overthrew 

 the government of Andros. Their fourth child and 

 eldest surviving son, Thomas, most illustrious and in 

 some respects most unhappy of this remarkable family, 

 was born on the Qth of September, 171 1, in that stately 

 house in the old north end of Boston to which our 

 attention will by and by again be directed. At five 

 years of age the little Thomas began to con his multi- 

 plication table and spelling-book in the North gram- 

 mar school on Bennet Street, which his father had 

 lately founded, and over the lintel of which were en- 



1 E. G. Porter, " Rambles in Old Boston," p. 205. 



