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owning considerable estates in fee-simple, and blessed beyond the usual measure with large families of children.
The Jacob or Jacobs family,—the maternal ancestors of Charles Sumner,—begins with Nicholas Jacob, who came to this country from Hingham, England, in 1633, settled in Watertown, and removed two years later to Hingham.1 His son John was the father of David, the grandfather of Joshua, and the great-grandfather of David, Sr., who was born in Scituate in 1729, and died in 1808.
David Jacob, Sr., the grandfather of Relief Jacob, who became the wife of Charles Pinckney Sumner, owned ample estates, held public offices, and served on the Committee of Public Safety in the Revolution.
The house, which he built and used for an inn, is now the residence of Rev. Robert L. Killam.
It is situated in the part of Hanover known as Assinippi.
His son David, Jr., who was born in Hanover in 1763, married Hannah Hersey,2 of Hingham, and died in 1799, at the age of thirty-six.
His home was but a short distance from his father's, and its site is now occupied by the residence of Perez Simmons.
The first child of David, Jr., and Hannah (Hersey) Jacob was Hannah R., who died in 1877.
Their second was Relief, who was born, Feb. 29, 1785, and became the mother of Charles Sumner.
The Jacob family were generally farmers, residing in Hingham, Scituate, South Scituate, and Hanover.
They were marked by good sense and steady habits, and some of them discharged important civic trusts.
1 For the genealogy of the Jacob family, see ‘History of Hanover,’ by J. S. Barry, pp. 319-335; and for that of the Simmons family, pp. 371-374.
2 She was a descendant of William Hersey, an emigrant from England, who was in Hingham as early as 1635. To him a numerous family, largely still resident in that town, trace their lineage. His great-grandson, Joshua, married a descendant of Governor William Bradford, from whom Charles Sumner is thus descended. Martha Hersey, a sister of Mrs. Relief Sumner's mother, married Elisha Simmons, of Hanover, who died, in 1825, at the age of eighty. The site of his residence is near that of Perez Simmons, but on the opposite side of the way. One of his sons was William Simmons, a graduate of Harvard College, of the class of 1804, a judge of the police court of Boston, and the father of William H. Simmons, a graduate of Harvard College, of the class of 1831, and of Rev. George F. Simmons, of the class of 1832. Judge Simmons and Charles Pinckney Sumner were faithful friends, and their families maintained an intimacy. Joshua Hersey, a brother of Mrs. Relief Sumner's mother, lived on Prospect Street in South Hingham, under Prospect Hill, a well-known landmark. Upon this estate now live his children.
Cambridge, MA. Press of John Wilson and Son. 1877.
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