Re: Early Twitchell Bio's (Part 2)
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In reply to:
Early Twitchell Bio's in Maine and Mass.
2/17/99
(IV) Captain Joseph (4) son of Joseph (3) and Elizabeth (Holbrook) Twitchell, was born in Sherborn, February 13, 1719, and died there March 12, 1792. His home in Sherborn was on the east side of a place still known as "Dirty Meadow", on the south side of a steep, rocky hill. Among the trusts imposed on him was the guardianship of the Natick Indians, in settling their estates. Long after these estates were settled and he was deceased, the Indians were in the habit of coming to the old homestead, then occupied by his son Peter, to see if there was not still something due to them. He was a man of good judgement and common sense, and the following ancedote illistrates his practicality. He had been on a business trip to Halifax, and while returning the vessel in which he sailed encountered a violent storm, lost their rudder, and became unmanageable. The captain was in utter despair and considered his ship as good as lost. Captain Twitchell examined the nature of the accident, and at once suggested a remedy: a man was suspended head downward over the stern of the ship, being held by his ankles, and in that position, with an ax, cut a hole through the ship into the cabin, and through this hole he fastened a temporary tiller by means of which the vessel was steered safely into Boston Harbor. The historian of Sherborn says of him: "Tradition has brought down a high character for this man, and the record confirms it. He was captain of the militia, commissary for the army in the war if 1776, town clerk, represenative and negotiate, and the leading man of town until succeeded by his halh-brother Hon. Daniel Whitney."