THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 171 



was a man of a large and generous heart, warm in his im- 

 pulses but of quiet and unostentatious benevolence. He 

 enjoyed to an eminent degree the confidence and esteem of 

 all with whom he had business or social relations. Ad- 

 mitted to membership, Feb. 4, 1867. 



BENJAMIN C. PUTNAM, a well-known resident of Dan- 

 vers, died at his home in that town on Monday, Feb. 20, 

 1888. He was born in Plaistow, N. H., Feb. 6, 1820, 

 whither his father had moved from Danvers, having form- 

 erly owned the farm on North Street now in the posses- 

 sion of Stephen Day. He was a son of Benjamin and Nancy 

 (Peaslee) Putnam and descended from John 1 Putnam 

 (through Nathaniel, 2 born 1621, died Feb. 23, 1700; a 

 Eepres. Mass. Legis., 1690, 1691 ; Benjamin, 3 Benjamin, 4 

 Benjamin, 8 Benjamin, 6 Benjamin 7 , the father of the subject 

 of this sketch) who came from Buckinghamshire in Eng- 

 land and settled in Salem, Mass., 1634 ; had grant of land 

 in Salem village, now Danvers in 1640; admitted a free- 

 man, 1647, and died 1663. 



When about the age of seventeen he came to Danvers 

 and was in the grocery business with A. P. Perley & Co., 

 for several years. He then engaged in that business in 

 Wenham, Mass., for twenty-five years. During his resi- 

 dence in- that town he represented it in the Legislature in 

 1853 and the district (including Wenham and Beverly) 

 in 1862, and was the town clerk from March, 1857, to 

 March, 1862. In 1860 he bought a farm in Tunbridge, 

 Vt., which he sold in 1864 and then went to Boston and 

 engaged in the hat and fur business as one of the firm of 

 Osgood, Putnam & Wing; he afterwards engaged in an 

 extensive real estate business, residing in Chelsea, Mass. 

 In June, 1886, he bought the estate of H. C. Nye of Dan- 

 vers and moved thereon, disposing of his property in Bos- 



