Boston Brahmins
As a Boston Brahmin ( "Brahmins of Boston"), the most distinguished families of Boston called. They trace their ancestry back to the Puritan founders of the Massachusetts colony and form a kind of New England nobility . A few families like the Emersons also managed to rise to the First Families of Boston through financial success and strategic marriages .
The term Brahmin describes the highest caste in the Indian caste system . Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. transferred it to the New England "top ten thousand" in an article in Atlantic Monthly in 1860 .
The Brahmins of Boston are distinguished to this day by a decidedly elegant dialect that is more reminiscent of British than American English . Their eloquence also comes from their upbringing; they traditionally attend Harvard University . Even Yale University , which is at least as elite , has long been considered to be second class. In the past centuries they preferred to marry each other, so that many distinguished Bostonians can call themselves members of several clans at the same time.
The following families are considered Brahmins of Boston , here with some of their known members:
A.
Adams
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Abigail Adams | (1744-1818) | Wife of John Adams |
Charles Francis Adams, Sr. | (1807-1886) | Politician |
Charles Francis Adams, Jr. | (1835-1915) | officer |
Charles Francis Adams III | (1866–1954) | Naval Minister |
Henry Adams | (1838-1918) | Historian and cultural philosopher |
John Adams | (1735-1826) | 2nd President of the USA |
John Quincy Adams | (1767-1848) | 6th President of the USA |
Samuel Adams | (1722–1803) | Founding Father of the United States |
Amory
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Cleveland Amory | (1917–1998) | writer |
Ernest Amory Codman | (1869–1940) | surgeon |
Appleton
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Frances Appleton | († 1861) | Wife of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
Jane Pierce | (1806–1863) | Wife of Franklin Pierce |
John Appleton | (1815–1864) | Politician |
John F. Apleton | (1838-1870) | Lawyer and officer |
Nathan Appleton | (1779–1861) | Politician |
William Appleton | (1786–1862) | Politician |
B.
Bacon
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Gaspar G. Bacon | (1886–1947) | Politician and officer |
Robert Bacon | (1860-1919) | Politician and diplomat |
Robert L. Bacon | (1884–1938) | Politician and officer |
Bates
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Edward Bates | (1793–1869) | Lawyer and politician |
Frederick Bates | (1777-1825) | Politician |
James Woodson Bates | (1788-1846) | Politician |
Boylston
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Zabdiel Boylston | (1679–1766) | doctor |
Bradlee
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Ben Bradlee | (1921-2014) | journalist |
Sarah Bradlee Fulton | (1740-1835) | Co-initiator of the Boston Tea Party |
C.
Cabot
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
George Cabot | (1752-1823) | Politician |
Godfrey Lowell Cabot | (1861–1962) | Entrepreneur |
John Moors Cabot | (1901-1981) | diplomat |
Lilla Cabot Perry | (1848–1933) | painter |
Thomas Dudley Cabot | (1897-1995) | Businessman and philanthropist |
Chaffee or Chafee
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Adna Chaffee | (1842-1914) | officer |
Adna R. Chaffee, Jr. | (1884–1941) | officer |
John Chafee | (1922–1999) | Politician |
Lincoln Chafee | (* 1953) | Politician |
Choate
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Joseph Choate | (1832-1917) | Lawyer and diplomat |
Rufus Choate | (1799-1859) | Lawyer and politician |
Sarah Choate Sears | (1858-1935) | artist |
Coffin
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Charles Edward Coffin | (1841-1912) | Politician |
Coolidge
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Archibald Cary Coolidge | (1866–1928) | Historian and diplomat |
Joseph Adams | (* 1947) | composer |
cooper
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Priscilla Tyler | (1816-1889) | actress |
Crowninshield
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Arent S. Crowninshield | (1843-1908) | officer |
Benjamin Williams Crowninshield | (1772-1851) | Politician |
Frederic Crowninshield | (1845–1938) | Painter and writer |
Jacob Crowninshield | (1770–1808) | Politician |
William Crowninshield Endicott | (1826–1900) | Politician |
Cushing
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Albert Cushing Read | (1887–1967) | officer |
Caleb Cushing | (1800–1879) | Lawyer and politician |
Harvey Cushing | (1869–1939) | Mediciners |
Thomas Cushing | (1725–1788) | Politician |
William Cushing | (1732-1810) | jurist |
Richard Cushing | (1895–1970) | Archbishop of Boston |
D.
Dana
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Francis Dana | (1743-1811) | Lawyer and politician |
Richard Henry Dana, Sr. | (1787–1879) | Lawyer and writer |
Richard Henry Dana, Jr. | (1815-1882) | Lawyer and politician |
Delano
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Columbus Delano | (1809-1896) | Politician |
Franklin Delano Roosevelt | (1882–1945) | 32nd President of the USA |
Jane Delano | (1862-1919) | Nurse |
Paul Delano | (1775-1842) | officer |
E.
Eliot
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Charles Eliot | (1859-1897) | Landscape architect |
Charles Eliot Norton | (1827–1908) | Writer and social critic |
Charles William Eliot | (1834-1926) | scientist |
Samuel Eliot | (1739-1820) | Businessman |
TS Eliot | (1888-1965) | writer |
William Greenleaf Eliot | (1811-1887) | Preacher and educator |
Emerson
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Ralph Waldo Emerson | (1803-1882) | writer |
Endicott
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
William Crowninshield Endicott | (1826–1900) | Politician |
F.
Forbes
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
John Forbes Kerry | (* 1943) | Politician |
John Murray Forbes | (1813-1898) | Industrialist and Philanthropist |
H
Holmes
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Abiel Holmes | (1763-1837) | Preacher and historian |
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. | (1809-1894) | Doctor and writer |
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. | (1841-1935) | jurist |
J
Jackson
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Charles Jackson | (1797–1876) | Politician |
Lydia Jackson | (1802-1892) | Wife of Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Jonathan Jackson | (1743-1810) | Politician |
Patrick Tracy Jackson | (1780-1847) | Industrialist |
L.
Lawrence
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Abbott Lawrence | (1792–1855) | Politician |
Amos Lawrence | (1786-1852) | Businessman and philanthropist |
Amos Adams Lawrence | (1814-1886) | Entrepreneur / patron |
Samuel Lawrence | (1754-1827) | revolutionary |
William Lawrence | (1850-1941) | bishop |
Lodge
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Henry Cabot Lodge | (1850-1924) | Politician |
Henry Cabot Lodge junior | (1902–1985) | Politician and diplomat |
Lowell
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Amy Lowell | (1874–1925) | Suffragette |
Francis Cabot Lowell | (1775-1817) | Entrepreneur |
Francis Cabot Lowell | (1855-1911) | jurist |
James Russell Lowell | (1819-1891) | Publicist and Diplomat |
Percival Lowell | (1855-1916) | astronomer |
Robert Lowell | (1917–1977) | Lyric poet |
P
Peabody
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody | (1804-1894) | Educator and writer |
Endicott Peabody | (1920–1997) | Politician |
George Peabody | (1795–1869) | Businessman and philanthropist |
George Foster Peabody | (1852-1938) | Banker and philanthropist |
Nathaniel Peabody | (1741-1823) | Politician |
Phillips
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Samuel Phillips Junior | (1752–1802) | Politician |
Putnam
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Israel Putnam | (1718–1790) | officer |
Q
Quincy
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Josiah Quincy II | (1744–1775) | jurist |
Josiah Quincy III | (1772–1864) | Politician |
S.
Salton stable
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
Leverett Saltonstall | (1892–1979) | Politician |
Sturgis
W.
Winthrop
Surname | Life dates | job |
---|---|---|
John Winthrop | (1588–1649) | Politician |
Robert Charles Winthrop | (1809-1894) | Politician |
Thomas L. Winthrop | (1760-1841) | Politician |
Wait Winthrop | (1642-1717) | Officer and politician |
literature
- Anthony Brendan Mann: The Brahmins and Britain. The significance of British models in the forming of the upper-class of Boston, Massachusetts, 1780-1840. University of Keele, Newcastle-under-Lyme 1999 (dissertation).
Web links
- "The Brahmin Caste of New England," Original text of the eponymous article by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (English)
- "The Truth About the Cabot and the Lowell and That Sort of Thing" by Judson D. Hale, Yankee Magazine, September 2003 (English)
- Slate.com: "What's a Boston Brahmin?" (English)
- Let's Go Boston - Boston Brahmin, a history (English)