2 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
a line of ancestors among whom one after another was con- 
spicuous for effective and interesting traits. The first of her 
father’s family to emigrate from England to America was 
James Cary, who in 1639 left Bristol, where his father and 
great-grandfather each in his day and generation had been 
first Sheriff and then Mayor, and came to Charlestown, 
Massachusetts. Here he spent the rest of his life, a person 
of sufficient importance to be made Clerk of the Writs, 
Recorder, and Tithingman. In Charlestown and its vicin- 
ity his descendants continued to live for generations and 
by marriage became connected with some of the families 
who were well known among the early settlers of Massa- 
chusetts. His great-grandson, Samuel Cary, for example, in 
1741 married Margaret Graves of Charlestown, a descend- 
ant of John Winslow, the brother of Governor Winslow, 
and Mary Chilton, the daughter of James Chilton, one 
of the founders of Plymouth Colony. Through Margaret 
Graves there came into the possession of the Cary family 
an extensive piece of property in Chelsea, originally part 
of a royal grant to Governor Bellingham, which was be- 
queathed to her by her stepmother, who had inherited it 
from her sister, the daughter-in-law of Governor Belling- 
ham. In this way Chelsea became the centre of the fam- 
ily life, and the ‘‘Retreat,” as the Bellingham estate was 
called, remained the Cary homestead until 1911. 
For Mrs. Agassiz the interest and attractions of the 
“Retreat” were enhanced by its immediate associations as 
her father’s birthplace and early home. His father, Samuel 
Cary, the eldest child of Samuel and Margaret Cary, had a 
chequered career, which for a time led him far away from 
the seclusion of Chelsea. Handsome, gay, and fond of so- 
