Babson Profiles

Isabel Babson and her two sons were the first Babsons to arrive in America, sailing from Weymouth, England and arriving in Salem in 1637.  The sea continued to play a major part in the lives of generations of Babsons.   Many sailed the world for trade in far lands, while others fished or participated in the fight for American independence.  Some were crewmen, while other built and mastered their own ships. They sailed out of the ports of Gloucester, Rockport and Newburyport in Massachusetts and Wiscasset and Deer Isle in Maine.  They have been variously described as “seaman, fisherman, coaster, purser, privateer, ship owner, merchant, sea captain and sailor”.   While many of these Babsons survived, many did not.  They have been described as being “lost at sea, captured by pirates, washed overboard, and drowned while fishing in a storm.”

The list below of the BABSONS LOST AT SEA is based on research by Jean Allen Babson for the 1997 Babson Family reunion and edited and expanded by Babson Historical Association trustee, Katherine Babson, working from the two volume 1606-1997 Babson Genealogy by Alicia Crane Williams. (The genealogy continues to be available for sale here.)

NOTE:  The reference to generation and number are keyed to The Babson Genealogy 1606-2017, Descendants of Thomas and Isabel Babson by Alicia Crane Williams, FASG.

ISABEL BABSON (first generation #1)) is the forebear of all those who listed here.  Although Isabel had experience on the seas, having survived the trip from Weymouth, England to Salem, Massachusetts in 1637, the son of her daughter, Joan Collins, died at sea.

JAMES COLLINS (third generation #1iii.5) died in 1685 on a voyage to the Barbadoes. He was 42.

THOMAS BABSON (third generation #6), who had served in King Philip’s War,  apparently died at sea between January 1677/78 and May 23, 1679 at age 21.

EBENEZER BABSON (third generation #9), famous for killing the bear in Rockport, was presumably lost at sea before 1696, approximately 30 years old.  For the story of Ebenezer killing the bear, see here.

JOHN BABSON  (third generation #7), whose boat carried cords of wood to Boston, lost three of his sons, presumably to the sea, over a three week period  in 1720:

• • ELIAS BABSON (fourth generation #7i) at age 32
  • JOHN BABSON (fourth generation #11) at age 29, leaving a widow and two children
  • JOSIAH BABSON (fourth generation #7x) at age 17

The Fisherman’s Memorial, known as “Man at the Wheel”, located on the waterfront in Gloucester is a memorial to Gloucester fishermen lost at sea.

The first Babson names engraved on the granite tablets beside the statue are brothers Elias, John and Josiah who died in 1720:

ISAAC BABSON (fifth generation #13), died at Point Petre,  Gaudeloupe, West Indies, of small pox, while a mate on a vessel in 1760, at age 33, survived by his wife and five children.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM BABSON (fifth generation #15), washed overboard on a voyage to the Grand Banks after May 27, 1749, at approximately age 30, leaving behind a pregnant wife and four children.

SOLOMON BABSON (fifth generation #17 **), perhaps lost at sea as he was a mariner. He died shortly before 4/13/1763 at age 48. He left a widow and nine children. Solomon and others with a double asterisk are descendants of Richard Babson (third generation #8) who was one of Isabel Babson’s grandsons. There are number of Babsons in this descendant’s line who were lost at sea.

JAMES BABSON  (sixth generation #21) sailed from Salem, Massachusetts for Wilmington, North Carolina and he took on a load of naval stores for the West Indies.  Six days out, he was taken by an English privateer and carried to Liverpool.  From there he took passage for New York and died of smallpox en route on  7/13/1777 at age 29. He left a widow and three young children.

CAPTAIN JAMES BABSON (sixth generation #23), a privateer during the Revolutionary War, had a daughter, Mary Jackson Babson Babbitt, whose son died at sea:

• • FITZ HENRY BABBITT (eighth generation #23ii.2) died aboard the frigate, the President, on 1/6/1815, during the War of 1812.  He was buried in Bermuda. His mother received a letter of condolence from Stephen Decatur.  Fitz Henry was 25.

JOHN BABSON III (sixth generation #27**) had been a gunner’s mate in the Revolutionary War.   He probably died at sea about 1791, as his name disappears from the records, including from the ship registers at that time.  He was approximately 45 years old. He left a wife and possibly one child.

CAPTAIN SOLOMON BABSON  (sixth generation #30**) was a privateer during the Revolutionary War and  owned and commanded several vessels in his lifetime.  He was lost at sea as his ship was said “to have floundered on his passage from the West Indies.” His brothers, Captains John (sixth generation #31**) and Zebulon (sixth generation #32**) co-owned several vessels with him. Captain Solomon died before 4/6/1796 at age 56 with a wife and perhaps as many as nine children surviving him.

CAPTAIN JOHN BABSON (sixth generation #31) was a ship’s captain and active in privateering during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.  He and his brothers, Captains Solomon (sixth generation #30**) and Zebulon (sixth generation 32**), co-owned several vessels with him.  Although Captain John  was not lost at sea, two of his sons were:

• • GEORGE BABSON (seventh generation #31vii**) lost at sea, age unknown.
  • SOLOMON BABSON(seventh generation #31x**) lost at sea, age unknown.

CAPTAIN ZEBULON BABSON (sixth generation #32**) was captured during the Revolutionary War and was exchanged for a British prisoner of war.  He commanded a privateer and co-owned vessels with his brothers, Captains Solomon (sixth generation #30**) and John (sixth generation #31**).  He had sailed from Newburyport in 1784 in command of the privateer Diamond owned by his brother, Captain John.   He was “washed overboard on the third day out”. He was 34. He left a widow and four children.

WILLIAM BABSON (sixth generation #33**), left from Gloucester about 7/1/1777 on a new vessel, the privateer, Gloucester.  She had captured the brig Two Friends off the banks of Newfoundland which had a cargo or wine and salt. She also took a fishing brig Spark which also was carrying a fare of fish and salt. No further communications were ever received, so it is assumed that William, along with a crew of 130 other men, was lost at sea sometime in 1777.  William was age 28 and left a wife and five young children.

CAPTAIN NATHANIEL BABSON (seventh generation #46) was a sea captain who made voyages to places such as Scotland, Gibraltar and Russia. He also owned various vessels. His oldest daughter, Ann Rogers Babson, was married to Stephen Low Davis.  Their oldest child was lost at sea:

• • CHARLES E. DAVIS (ninth generation #46iii.1.) was lost at sea in 1856.  He was 18.

CAPTAIN CHARLES BABSON JR. (seventh generation #47) died suddenly at Guadeloupe, West Indies, while skipper of the 101 ton schooner Equity on 8/24/1816 at age 28. He left a pregnant wife and infant child.

CAPTAIN CHARLES BABSON (seventh generation #50**) possibly was shipwrecked off the coast of North Carolina where he remained.  He remarried and had 7 more children.   The first of his 12 children died at sea:

• • CHARLES BABSON (eighth generation #50.i** )died aboard the brig New Packet in Miragoane on the coast of Haiti sometime before 1823.  He was a twin and 20 years old.

WILLIAM BABSON (seventh generation #54**), like his father, William Babson (sixth generation #33**), before him, was lost at sea.  He died as a mate aboard the Franklin on a voyage to India sometime  before July 1800. He had not yet turned age 30.

JAMES BABSON (seventh generation #59**) drowned on the homeward passage from St. Michaels, Newfoundland on 4/6/1815.  He was a seaman on the 45 ton schooner Marion which was skippered by his first cousin, Captain Charles Babson, Jr. (seventh generation #47). He was 31 years old and left a pregnant wife and three year old son.

HENRY BABSON (seventh generation #61**) died in Calcutta, India in 1820, age 41, leaving his wife, Lucy Bray Babson, and two young children.  Henry was the earliest Babson to be mentioned in a Boston City Directory.  Lucy died in 1864, age 74, in the Boston Insane Asylum, “the stress of worrying about her missing seaman husband as well as making her own living may have been too much for her”.

HENRY S. BABSON (eighth generation #67(iv)**), a twin, grew up on the sea at Eggemoggin Reach in Brooklin, Maine. He was lost at sea in October 1886, age 43.

WILLIAM ROGERS BABSON (eighth generation #80) was a merchant in Boston and Brooklyn, New York.  Two of his three sons were lost at sea:

• • WILLIAM EDWIN BABSON (ninth generation #80ii) of San Francisco, was a purser on the Pacific Mail line on the mail steamer, Constitution.  He died at sea in 1870 at age 32.  He was buried near Acapulco, Mexico.  His nephew, Stanley Mason Babson, came upon the grave marker in 1970.
  • MASON GREENWOOD BABSON (ninth generation #142) enlisted on a merchant vessel bound for the Orient, despite parental objections.  He wrote his parents saying he was “completely disillusioned about the sea” and was returning home via Liverpool.  Mason was among the passengers of the packet ship,Ocean Queen, all on board lost at sea on passage from London to New York sometime after 2/15/1856. He was 19.

EDWIN BABSON (eighth generation #87) was captain of a full-rigged barque, the Lizzie H, which made voyages to the Orient and around the Cape of Good Hope.  On a voyage to Calcutta, he took his wife and two of their children.  He died on the voyage in 1879 at age 47 and was buried in Cardiff, Wales.  The ship was brought back by the mate and the family returned to Newburyport, their home port, by passenger ship. Their son, Edwin Merrill Babson (eighth generation #87iii), had predeceased his parents as result of a drowning in a river in Newburyport in 1873, age 6.

REBECCA INGERSOLL FOSTER NELSON (ninth generation #57(ii i)(2)), the granddaughter of Captain Joseph Babson (seventh generation #57**), was lost at sea somewhere between Hong Kong and San Francisco, with her husband, Captain Charles Nelson, and their son sometime after 11/30/1862.  They were wrecked 11/30/1862 in the bark, Lucky Star, and taken prisoner by the Chinese.  They were ransomed and were taken to Hong Kong where they took passage on the ship, Romance of the Seas, and never heard from again. Rebecca was 33.

WILLIAM EDWIN BABSON (ninth generation #80(ii)) was a purser for the old Pacific Mail Line.  He died at sea on board the Pacific mail steamer, the Constitution, on 1/19/1870, age 32.  He was buried near Acapulco, Mexico.

JOSEPH W. BABSON (ninth generation #106(iii)**) was mackerel fishing and lost with the schooner, Levi Woodbury, near Boon Island off the coast of Maine with 9 others on 10/6/1849.  He was 18.

ALPHONSO M. BABSON (ninth generation #169) was a dory fisherman.  He was coming in with a load of fish when his dory was swamped by heavy seas off Folly Cove in Gloucester.  He was drowned on 3/13/1877, age 37, leaving a wife and a young child.

JAMES BABSON Jr. (ninth generation #183**) was drowned, along with 7 other crewmen, on the schooner, Rolla, while fishing on 5/23/1861.  He was 33 and left a wife and six children, one of whom, James (tenth generation #269**), apparently died at sea.

JAMES BABSON (tenth generation #269**), a son of James Jr. (ninth generation #183**) who also died at sea, was a mariner and died “perhaps at sea, apparently before 20 March 1875”, leaving a wife and infant child.

Life for the male Babson on the sea and for his wife left at home to raise children, run the household and worry about the return of her husband have been memorialized in an extraordinary permanent exhibit, Strong Breezes & Passing Clouds, at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester.  The exhibit is based on excerpts from the 1838 ship’s log of Captain Edward Babson (eighth generation #78) on the brig Cadet and the 1838 diary of his wife, Amanda Babson.  See more here.

The poignant lives of the many women who were left widows  by the ravages of the sea have been depicted in this hauntingly beautiful statue also located on the Gloucester waterfront:

By Katherine L. Babson, Jr., Trustee

Babsons have fought in wars in America since the end of the seventeenth century until current times.  They have fought in King Philip’s War, the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War (with Babsons fighting for the North and other Babsons, for the South), World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the current conflagrations.  They have fought in the infantry and the calvary and on the sea, both in the Navy and as privateers.

This section will be expanded as time goes on.  For now, it covers the Babsons who fought in King Philip’s War, the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, World War I, Korean War and the Vietnam War.  

NOTE:  The reference to generation and number are keyed to The Babson Genealogy 1606-2017, Descendants of Thomas and Isabel Babson by Alicia Crane Williams, FASG.

KING PHILIP’S WAR
(1675-1676 in Southern New England)

 King Philip’s War, also known as the First Indian War, the Great Narragansett War or Metacom’s Rebellion, took place in southern New England from 1675 to 1676. It was the Native Americans’ last-ditch effort to avoid recognizing English authority and stop English settlement on their native lands. It left several hundred colonists dead and dozens of English settlements destroyed or heavily damaged. Thousands of Indians were killed, wounded or captured and sold into slavery or indentured servitude. The war mostly ended Indian resistance in southern New England, paving the way for additional English settlements.

There was only one Babson who fought in this war:

THOMAS BABSON (third generation #6) born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1658 and was lost at sea between 1677/8 and 1679. During King Philip’s War, he served as a soldier in the Massachusetts Militia led by Capt. William Turner’s Company at Hadley, Massachusetts and Hampton, New Hampshire.  Rights to the land granted to Thomas in Kettle Cove on Cape Ann for his service in the war was given to his brother, John, in 1696/97.

AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR
(1776-1783)

There were six Babsons who fought in the American Revolutionary War, two of whom died in the conflict, and another who died from wounds afflicted on him. They, and other Babsons, also played significant roles as Privateers, which is a section “in progress”.

WILLIAM BABSON (1721-1775) (fifth generation #19) was born in Gloucester and was the son of John and Hannah (Hodgkins) Babson.  He was apparently the unfortunate soul who led the Royal Navy Captain into Gloucester Harbor soon after the declaration of war with England in the American Revolutionary War. William’s death in 1775 was “occasioned or hastened” by the Battle of Gloucester. He and his wife had 6 children. He was 54.

See more on William and the Battle of Gloucester.

ISAAC BABSON (1759-1800) (sixth generation #22), born in Wenham, Massachusetts, was the first Babson to graduate from Harvard College, Class of 1779.  While he was still a student, Isaac enlisted in Capt. George Minot’s company of Col. Eleazer Brooks’ regiment and served from March 4-9, 1776 during the occupation of Dorchester Heights, Massachusetts. With cannon procured by Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain boys in the battle of Fort Ticonderoga the previous spring, the victory at Dorchester Heights led to the evacuation of the British from Boston on March 17, 1776 (now locally celebrated as “Evacuation Day”). After graduation, Isaac became a steward on the privateer ship, Buccaneer.  At his death in 1800, he left a wife and four children.,

CAPTAIN SAMUEL BABSON (1740/1-1805) (sixth generation #26), born in Gloucester, was one of 16 men from Gloucester to serve in the war.  Capt. Samuel served as a mariner on the ship Vengeance as part of the 44-ship naval armada on the expedition to Penobscot in August 1779. The Expedition’s goal was to reclaim control of mid-coast Maine from the British who had captured it a month earlier, naming it New Ireland.  It was the largest American naval expedition of the war and the United States’ worst naval defeat until Pearl Harbor in 1941.

In 1780-81, Capt. Samuel commanded two privateers, the brig Ranger, and the brig Ruby, both with crews of 20 men.  After the war, he owned two schooners, one of which, Sally, was captured by the French in 1797.  His descendants filed claims under French Spoliation law. More than 100 years later, in 1907, Congress made an award for the claimed losses.

Capt. Samuel died in 1805 at age 65.  He and his wife had 5 children.

JOHN BABSON 3^rd (1746/47-about 1791) (sixth generation #27), probably served as matross (i.e., gunner’s mate) in Capt. William Ellery’s 1^st company in Gloucester in 1776. He joined his brother, Capt. Samuel above, on the brig, Vengeance, in the disastrous Penobscot expedition in 1779 to rid the Maine coast of the British. It is presumed he was lost at sea in 1791 at about age 54. He had married and had one son.

NATHANIEL STEVENS BABSON (1749-died after 1775) (sixth generation #28), like his brothers, Capt. Samuel and John (above), Nathaniel served in the Revolutionary War.  In May 1775, he enlisted in Capt. Ezra Lunt’s Company of Col. Moses Little’s Regiment. He served at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, a failed attempt to end the British siege of Boston.

Nathaniel re-enlisted in Capt. Samuel Ward’s Company for Benedict Arnold’s expedition to Quebec with the intention of capturing Quebec City from the British.  The Continental Army troops arrived, exhausted and hungry, and began a siege of the City in December 1775. They finally launched an assault on December 31.  It was a devastating loss and Nathaniel was one of 350 men who were captured. No further record exists for him. He was about age 26 at that time.

ABRAHAM BABSON (1761-1839) (sixth generation #37) was born in Gloucester and moved with his family to Babson’s Ridge in Sedgwick, now Brooklin, Maine, in 1773.  They were the first of many Babsons who ultimately lived in the area.

Abraham enlisted in 1779 and served as a private in Capt. Nathaniel Fales’ Company.  The Company was under the command of General Solomon Lovell who led the land forces of the failed Penobscot Expedition to dislodge the British from the mid-Maine coast around Castine.

Abraham and his wife had 14 children, only one of whom died in infancy. He died at age 78.

WAR OF 1812
(June 1812-February 1815)

The War of 1812 was a conflict fought between the United States and Great Britain over British violations of U.S. maritime rights. It was ended with the Treaty of Ghent that restored pre-War boundaries. Britain recognized international immunity for US citizens and provided freedom of the seas for US merchant ships. Although there are only five Babsons who fought in this war, other Babsons played significant roles as privateers.

NOTE:  The reference to generation and number are keyed to The Babson Genealogy 1606-2017, Descendants of Thomas and Isabel Babson by Alicia Crane Williams, FASG.  

JOHN BABSON (1781-1825) (seventh generation #45) was born in Gloucester. He and his wife moved to Wiscasset, Maine, where he was the editor of the local paper, a merchant and ship owner. He served as a private in Capt. H. Whitney’s Company of Lt. Col. E. Cutter’s Regiment at Wiscasset for two short periods from June 20 to 24 and September 10 to 28, 1814. The British had succeeded in obtaining control of the mid-Maine coast. John joined others from Wiscasset and saw service there.

John died in 1825 at age 44. He and his wife, Abigail Hughes (Hues) Babson, had 12 children, 5 of whom died in infancy and the twelfth child of whom was born posthumously.

JAMES BABSON (1795-1844) (seventh generation #48), brother of John Babson (above), was born in Gloucester.

He is probably the James who served as a private in Capt. Dudley Sargent’s Company in Lt. Col. John Appleton’s Regiment in the Massachusetts Militia. He may have given service in Gloucester on September 19, 1814 “at the battle with the barges of the enemy”.

James died in Amesbury, Massachusetts, in 1844 at age 49. He was survived by his wife and their four children.

JOHN BABSON (1786-c.1825) (seventh generation #51) was born in Gloucester.  He probably was the “John Babson” who served in Capt. A Potter’s Company in Lt. Col. E. Cutter’s Regiment from July 12-13, 1814 at Wiscasset, Maine.  He died around 1825, at age 39, probably leaving a wife and a son who was born after the war.

EBEN BABSON (1792-1841) (seventh generation #52), brother of John (#51), was born in Gloucester and moved with his family to Maine in 1798.   He served in Capt. J.O. Hotchkiss’ Company in the Massachusetts Militia. He received a pension.

Eben was the 8^th of the 11 children of Capt. John (#31) and Susannah (Rogers) Babson. Capt. John was a privateer in both the American Revolutionary War and in the War of 1812. Capt. John moved his family to Somesville, the earliest European settlement on Mount Desert Island, Maine.

Eben died in Somesville, survived by his wife and 5 children, all of whom were born after the war.

JOSEPH BABSON (1794-1881) (seventh generation #64) was born and died at Babson’s Ridge in Sedgwick on Penobscot Bay, Maine. He served as a member of Phineas Emerson’s Company in Col. Andrew Grant’s Battalion of the Massachusetts Militia. 

Joseph saw action at the Battle of Hampden on September 3, 1814. It was a British victory, Hampden was sacked and many prisoners were taken. It was the last serious battle on land in Maine and represented the end of two centuries of conflict over the sovereignty of district of Maine. Britain removed its expeditionary force from its base in nearby Castine, thus ensuring that eastern Maine would remain a part of the United States, whose boundary was settled by the Treaty of Ghent. The lack of support by Massachusetts was a factor in the subsequent movement for Maine statehood.

Joseph married Emma (Freethy) after the war. She and their four children survived  him.

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
(1861-1865)

Babsons fought for both sides in the Civil War.  There are records of 16 Babsons who fought for the Union and 5 for the Confederacy.  Father/sons/brothers/cousins enlisted together and cousins found themselves on opposite sides of the War. Of the 21 Babsons who saw service, 6 died, 5 were wounded and 3 were taken as prisoners of war.

NOTE:  The reference to generation and number are keyed to The Babson Genealogy 1606-2017, Descendants of Thomas and Isabel Babson by Alicia Crane Williams, FASG.

FOR THE NORTH / Union

SIMEON ELLIS ALLEN (1843-1864) (eighth generation #38iv.6) was born in Sedgwick (now Brooklin, Maine), one of eight children of Louisa Babson and her husband, Simeon Allen, a state representative.  Simeon died in the Army on July 31, 1864.  Presumably he had enlisted in the Maine Infantry and may have participated in the Richmond-Petersburg Virginia campaign—often known as the Siege of Petersburg, a series of battles around Petersburg from June 15, 1864-April 2, 1865.

EDWIN BABSON (1831-1879) (eighth generation #87) was born in West Newbury, Massachusetts. He served in the U.S. Navy in the eastern and western Gulf, first aboard the Sagamore and later, on the R.R. Cuyler. He was appointed acting master’s mate on November 11, 1861, then in June 1862 named as acting master until his discharge on November 1, 1865.  Both vessels were wooden screw steamers, steam ships that were powered by steam engines.  The Union Navy played an important role in winning the Civil War with its blockade of 3,500 miles of Confederate coastline.   When Edwin joined the U.S. Navy in 1861, he was one of only 9,000 seamen and when he was discharged 4 years later, there were about 59,000 sailors.

Edwin married before the war and had two children born before the war, and two after the war.  Edwin was the captain of a full-rigged barque, the Lizzie, which made voyages to the Orient and around the Cape of Good Hope. On a trip to Calcutta in 1879, with his wife and two of their children, Edwin died and was buried in Cardiff, Wales.

WASHINGTON BABSON (1824-1896) (eighth generation #97) was born in Portland, Maine. President Lincoln’s first call for volunteers for the Union Army was in April 1861 and it required the State of Maine to raise one regiment of infantry for three months of Federal service.  Washington enlisted in Company D, 1^st Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry on April 27, 1861.  The regiment of 779 soldiers was transferred to Washington, D.C. where it encamped on Meridian Hill, a strategic location overlooking the capital.  The regiment saw no combat.

Although the required federal service was three months, all of the soldiers, including Washington, had enlisted for 2 or 3 years.  At the end of the three months, he joined Company E, 25^th Regiment, Maine Infantry in September 1862 for 9 months of Federal service. This Regiment served garrison duty in the defense of the capital.  He was mustered out with an honorable discharge in Portland on July 10, 1863 due to “nervous and physical prostration and heart disease”.

Washington was married and had three children before the war, two of whom died in infancy. He divorced after the war and remarried. He was admitted to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Veterans in Milwaukee in 1887 at the age of 63.  He was widowed by that time.

Lt. JOSEPH B. BABSON (1839-1915) (eighth generation #117) was born in Sedgwick (now Brooklin), Maine. He enlisted on October 22, 1861 in Company H, 4^th Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry for three years. He was promoted to corporal on March 1, 1862 and was detailed as Division Provost Guard from March 7 to April 24, 1862.  His regiment participated in all the important battles in the Army of the Potomac (e.g., Battles of Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse). The regiment was involved in Malvern Hill, the last of the Seven Days Battles that took place outside of Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital in July 1962. It is assumed Lt. Joseph was wounded there because he was in a hospital at Harrison’s Landing and Point Lookout, Maryland in August 1862.  He was promoted to first sergeant and then suffered a gunshot wound to the thigh on November 27, 1863.

 He was in MacDougall Army Hospital in Fort Schuyler, New York in July 1864 at the end of his three years of Federal service at which time he was transferred to the Army Hospital in Augusta, Maine. Lt. Joseph was declared “fit for duty” on October 29, 1864 at a camp near Petersburg, Virginia. He mustered in again and the Veteran Volunteers were transferred to Company F, 19^th Regiment, Maine Infantry. He no doubt participated in the Richmond-Petersburg Virginia campaign—often known as the Siege of Petersburg, a series of battles around Petersburg from June 15, 1864-April 2, 1865.  He was promoted to second lieutenant and mustered out as lieutenant in Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia on May 31, 1865 following the Union victory.

Lt. Joseph married after the war and had two children, one of whom died in infancy.  He was a widower and married again. He served as a Selectman in his native town of Brooklin from 1880-1883 and again from 1888-1891.

CHARLES LEROY BABSON (1841-1922) (eighth generation #120) was born in Sedgwick (now Brooklin), Maine.  He enlisted on July 28, 1862 for a three year tour of duty in Company K, 16^th Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry.  He received a gunshot wound to his left leg at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862.  Gangrene set in which ultimately led to the amputation of his leg just below his hip.  Charles was first sent to the General Hospital in Washington, D.C. and then received his disability discharge from Lovell General Hospital in Rhode Island.

 On learning of a message from Army Headquarters that Charles had died, his brother, William, travelled to Rhode Island to bring home his body.  Meanwhile, the nurse noticed movement in Charles’ finger and Charles was “brought back to life”.  On brother William’s trip home alone, he caught pneumonia and died a few weeks later.

Charles became engaged just before he entered the Infantry and he married at the end of the war.  They had three children, the youngest of whom was born while Charles was the Keeper of the Pumpkin Island Lighthouse in Penobscot Bay in Maine, where he was Keeper for more than 30 years. See here to read a profile on Charles.

JAMES EDWARD BABSON (1835-1903) (ninth generation #126) was born in Rhode Island and married in Wisconsin before the Civil War.  He enlisted in Company B, 31^st Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry on August 15, 1862. His regiment was involved in The Atlanta Campaign, a series of battles fought in southwest Georgia and around Atlanta in the summer of 1864.  The Regiment also saw action in the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina from March 19-21, 1865.

James was honorably discharged on June 20, 1865, at the end of the Civil War, near Lewiston, Louisiana.  He suffered from deafness and severe liver trouble after the war and received a pension in 1891 after Congress broadened the categories for qualification for Civil War pensions in 1890. 

James’ brother, Henry Pierce Babson (#127), also enlisted in the Union Army but with a regiment from Pennsylvania.

James and his wife had a child in 1861 who died in infancy.  They had three more children after the war, one of whom died in infancy.

 After the war, James was a member of the County Board of Supervisors in Blockton, Iowa, where he and his family had settled and where he died. He was active in the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), a fraternal organization of Union Army veterans.

HENRY PIERCE BABSON (1840-1913) (ninth generation #127) was born in Rhode Island.  He served as a sergeant in Company F, 9^th Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, from May 26 to September 2, 1862.  His regiment saw garrison duty outside of Washington, D.C. for the 3 month enlistment period.

Henry’s brother, James Edward Babson (#126), also enlisted in the Union Army but with a regiment from Wisconsin.

Henry married in 1861 before the beginning of the Civil War.  He was divorced after the war, remarried and divorced again.  He married for the third time in 1885.  He had no children

Henry was a proprietor of general stores in Coventry Centre and Hope Village, Rhode Island.

ERASTUS WALCOTT BABSON (1828-1884) (ninth generation #128) was born in Coventry, Rhode Island. He enlisted in Company A, Rhode Island 12^th Infantry on October 13, 1862 for a 9 month muster.  He was in one of the 12 infantry regiments in the Civil War from Rhode Island. His regiment saw action in the disastrous Union defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia in December 1862 and then in the abortive offensive, the Mud March, from January 20-24, 1863, an attempt to cross the Rappahannock River to reach Richmond, the Confederate capital. He mustered out in July 1863.  He applied for a pension in 1880 which was denied but an application for a  pension was approved for his widow in 1885.

Erastus was married, divorced and remarried.  He had no children. He was described as a “machinist” in the 1850 census.

HENRY WHITMAN BABSON (1843-1935) (ninth generation #132) was born in Woodstock, Connecticut.  He enlisted in Company K, 18^th Connecticut Volunteers on August 9, 1862.  He was taken prisoner in June 1863 in the Second Battle of Winchester (Virginia).  The Confederates captured Winchester and took many Union prisoners, including most of troops in his regiment.  Henry was a prisoner-in-war in Libby, a confederate military prison, in Richmond, Virginia, for officer prisoners-of-war.  Henry was then moved to Belle Isle prison, a confederate prison in the James River, for non-commissioned officers and privates.  It was a tented prison, subject to harsh winters and excessive summer heat, and subject to disease. Henry was paroled and sent home. He had had typhoid fever and malaria.  He was returned to his regiment and saw two engagements in the Shenandoah Valley that was the location of operations and battles from May to October, 1864.  Henry was discharged at Harpers Ferry on June 27, 1865 at the end of the war. 

Henry married on the day he enlisted in the infantry in August 1862 and divorced soon after the war. He did not remarry and had no children. He was active in veterans’ organizations in Connecticut throughout his lifetime.

Congress broadened the qualifications for Civil War pensions in 1890.  He applied for a pension in 1892.

JOHN WARNER BABSON (1834-1911) (ninth generation #133) was born in Hopkinton, Rhode Island.  He enlisted in Company M, Pennsylvania 4^th Calvary Regiment on August 13, 1861.  He served as a quartermaster sergeant.  The 4^th participated in battles at Antietam, Fredericksburg and Mud March before he mustered out on March 26, 1863 at Potomac Creek, Virginia.  He received a pension.

John married in 1872 and had two step-children.  He and his wife divorced about 10 years later and had no children.   He was listed as a “wagon maker” in the 1880 census.

FRANCIS H. (FRANK) BABSON (1843-1904) (ninth generation #141) was born in Gloucester and was the son of Captain Edward and Amanda Babson.  For more on his parents, see Captain Edward and Amanda Babson.

Frank enlisted as a private in Company G, 8^th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.  The 8^th Regiment of infantry was activated for federal service in the Union Army for three separate tours.  The regiment consisted almost entirely of companies from Essex County, Massachusetts.  Frank and his second cousin, Osman (#146), also from Gloucester, joined on September 15, 1862, for the second tour of the Regiment for a term of 9 months. The regiment was stationed in New Bern, North Carolina and participated in several expeditions and saw minor skirmishing. He mustered out on August 7, 1862.

 By 1900, Frank was in San Diego, California. He did not marry and had no children.

OSMAN BABSON (1842-1908) (ninth generation #146) was born in Gloucester.  Osman enlisted as a private in Company G, 8^th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.  The 8^th Regiment of infantry was activated for federal service in the Union Army for three separate tours.  The regiment consisted almost entirely of companies from Essex County, Massachusetts.  Osman and his second cousin, Frank (#141), also from Gloucester, joined on September 15, 1862, for the second tour of the Regiment for a term of 9 months. The regiment was stationed in New Bern, North Carolina and participated in several expeditions and saw minor skirmishing. He mustered out on August 7, 1862.

Osman married in 1864 and had three sons.  He was the city carpenter for Gloucester and in 1882 he began operating a farm in the Riverdale section of Gloucester that he eventually developed into a truck gardening, apple orchard and diary business, later taken on by his veterinarian son, Dr. Elmer Warren Babson (#220).

SYLVANUS BROWN BABSON (1840-1864) (ninth generation #176) was born in Rockport, Massachusetts. He enlisted for three years in Company D, 32^nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on November 22, 1861.  He was promoted to corporal in January 1863 and sergeant four months later. He re-enlisted as a Veteran Volunteer on January 5, 1864.  He was killed at Laurel Hill on May 10, 1864, as part of the battles at Spotsylvania Courthouse that took place from May 8 to May 21, 1864 commanded by Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Potomac and General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

 Sylvanus’ third cousin, George Washington Babson (#94), fought for the South at Spotsylvania Courthouse where he was captured and taken as a prisoner-of-war to a Union prison camp.

Sylvanus was married during his month long veterans furlough in January 1864.  His daughter, Sylvania Brown Babson, was born 5 months after his death.  His widow received a pension until her remarriage in 1869.

PHILIP A. BABSON (1837-died after 1875) (ninth generation #184) was born in Gloucester and enlisted for 1 year in June 1861 as an ordinary seaman in the U.S. Navy.  He re-enlisted in November 1864 for 3 years.  Philip was not married and did not have children.  He had a long record of trouble with the law.

NICHOLAS POOR BABSON (1846-1913) (ninth generation #186) was born in Gloucester and enlisted on November 17, 1862 in Company C, 23^rd Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, claiming he was 18, but he was only 16.  He was discharged on December 1, 1863 and re-enlisted that day as a Veteran Volunteer in the same Company.  He saw action at Cold Harbor, near Mechanicsville, Virginia, which was one of the final battles of General Grant’s Overland Campaign.   The battle was fought from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant action occurring on June 3, the date Nicholas was wounded in the hand.  It was lopsided battle with many more Union troops who lost in a frontal assault on General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

After Nicholas was wounded, he was sent to DeCamp Army Hospital on David’s Island in New York Harbor.  He was then on detached service at New Bern, North Carolina from September to June 25, 1865, when he was mustered out and the war was over. 

Nicholas married after the war and had three children, one of whom died in infancy.  He was listed in the censuses variously as a mariner, clerk and farm laborer.

Nicholas spent time in the National Home for Disabled Soldiers in Augusta, Maine in 1910.

EDWIN H. BABSON (1843-1863) (ninth generation #192) was born in Methuen, Massachusetts. He enlisted in the 9^th Massachusetts Light Artillery Battery on July 27, 1862 for a three year tour of duty which was cut short by his death on June 11, 1863 in Centreville, Virginia.  His Battery was on duty in defense of Washington, D.C. from September 1862 to June 1863 and then moved out through Centreville and on to the Battle at Gettysburg on July 1, shortly after his death.

Edwin was not married nor did he have any children.

FOR THE SOUTH / Confederacy

NOTE:  All five of the Babsons who fought for the South were the descendants of Capt. Charles Babson (#50), who was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and shipwrecked off the North Carolina coast.  He started a second family there. Two of his sons were wounded and one son and two grandsons died from their service in the Confederate Army.  See more on Capt. Charles Babson.

HENRY H. BABSON (1817-sometime after 1866) (eighth generation #92) was born near Boardman, North Carolina to Capt. Charles and his second wife, Smitha Babson. Two of Henry’s sons, Benjamin Asbury (#92i.) and Samuel J.(#92ii), also fought for the South and died as a result of their service.  Two of Henry’s other brothers, Horatio (#93) and George Washington, (#94) also served.

Henry enlisted as a private in Company K, 20^th North Carolina Infantry on April 24, 1861, at the age of 45,  along with his sons, Berry (#93i) and Samuel (93ii). His brother, George Washington Babson (#94) also served in Company K.

 Henry was wounded at the Battle of Malvern Hill, near Richmond, Virginia, on July 1, 1862.  It was the final battle of the Seven Days Battles between the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. It was the Union’s thwarted attempt to take Richmond, the Confederate capital.  Henry was discharged from the Confederate Army on September 21, 1863 by reason of “disability and wounds”. 

Henry and his first wife had 8 children. His wife died sometime before Henry’s second marriage in 1866.

BENJAMIN ASHBURY “BERRY” Babson (1841-1863) (ninth generation #92i) was born in Columbus County, North Carolina as the eldest of the 8 children of Henry H. and Irene Babson.  Berry enlisted on April 24, 1861, the same day that his brother (Samuel J. #92ii) and his father (#92) also enlisted. Like his father, he was wounded at the Battle of Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862, in an attempt to take Richmond, the Confederate capital. Berry was later captured at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 1, 1863 and died a prisoner- of- war at Fort Delaware, a Confederate prison on Pea Patch island in the Delaware River on October 3, 1863.  Berry was buried in Finn’s Point National Cemetery in Salem, New Jersey, a then burial ground for Confederate prisoners-of-war.

SAMUEL J. BABSON (about 1842-1862) (ninth generation #92ii) was born in Columbus County, North Carolina as the second eldest of the 8 children of Henry H. and Irene Babson. Samuel enlisted on April 24, 1861, the same day that his brother (Berry, #92ii) and his father (Henry H. #92) also enlisted. Like his father and his uncle (George Washington #94), Samuel was in Company K, 20^th North Carolina Infantry. Samuel was killed at Gaines Mill, Virginia on June 27, 1862.  The Battle of Gaines Mill was the third of the Seven Days Battles, the Union’s attempt to take Richmond, the Confederate capital.  The Confederates broke through the Union line and drove them back. 

HORATIO BABSON (1820-1862) (eighth generation #93) was born in Columbus County, North Carolina North Carolina to Capt. Charles and his second wife, Smitha Babson. Two of Horatio’s brothers (Henry H. #92 and George Washington #94) and two of his nephews also fought in the Confederate Army.   Horatio enlisted at the age of 41 on March 4, 1862 as a private in Company E, 36^th Regiment, 2^nd North Carolina Light Artillery, also known as the Cape Fear Regiment, responsible for defense of the coastal areas around Wilmington, North Carolina. He mustered out at Fort St. Philip in Brunswick, North Carolina, on the date of his death on October 26, 1862.

Horatio was married and they had 6 children, the youngest of whom was born posthumously.  He left 3 other children under the age of 10 at his death.

GEORGE WASHINGTON BABSON (1842-1913) (eighth generation #94) was born in Columbus County, North Carolina to Capt. Charles and his second wife, Smitha Babson.   George, along with his brother (Henry #92)  and his nephew (Berry #92i),was a private in Company K, 20^th North Carolina Infantry. George was wounded in the leg and captured in Gettysburg on July 5, 1863.  He was captured again on May 12, 1864 at Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia, where a series of battles took place from May 8 to May 21, 1864.  Both sides declared victory:  the South because they held their defenses and the North because the Union offensive continued. 

George was imprisoned at Elmira, New York until his release on July 30, 1865 at the end of the war.  The prison had been a Union training camp but was converted to a military prison in the summer of 1864. It held the largest number of Confederate prisoners-of-war.  It was dubbed “Hellmira” and was infamous for its staggering death rate, living conditions and lack of medical care.  The prison was closed shortly after George’s release.

George’s third cousin, Sylvanus Brown Babson (#176), fought in the Union Army and was killed at Laurel Hill in the Spotsylvania Courthouse battles.

George returned to North Carolina where he married and had five children. He was a farmer.

WORLD WAR I
(April 1917-November 1918)

NOTE: The reference to generation and number are keyed to The Babson Genealogy 1606-2017, Descendants of Thomas and Isabel Babson by Alicia Crane Williams, FASG.

NINTH GENERATION

HORACE PERKINS BABSON (1889-1961) (ninth generation #199) was born in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine. He was a member of Company 16, 20^th Engineers. After the war, Horace married and they had one child. He was a lawyer.

TENTH GENERATION

GEORGE VALENTINE BABSON (1897-1918) (tenth generation #158 vii) was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He enlisted in Boston in April 1917 and served on the U.S.S. Albany as a second classman, U.S. Navy. He died of pneumonia in the U.S. Naval Hospital on Long Island in January 1918.

CHARLES BRADFORD BABSON (1869-1928) (tenth generation #205) was born in Killingly, Connecticut. He was a career Navy officer, having enlisted in June 1890. In WWI, he was Chief Gunner on the U.S.S. Owl, a minesweeper. He was stationed in California, Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines during his career.

Charles died in the U.S. Naval Hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts, survived by his wife and their two children.

REA EDWIN BABSON (1885-1959) (tenth generation #214) was born in Brooklyn, New York. He joined the YMCA to serve in France during the war.

Rea married after the war. He died at Montclair, New Jersey and was survived by his wife and two children. Read more about Rea in the profile of his brother, Sydney Gorham Babson, here. 

DUDLEY BABSON (1888-1976) (tenth generation #221) was born in Gloucester. He served with Company E,76^th Division and in the 37^th Division of the Ohio National Guard in France and Belgium during the war. His brother, Richard Cedric Babson (#222) also served in WW I.

Dudley was survived by his wife and their son, Robert Thurston Babson. He died in Grand Rapids, Michigan, near the home of his son.

RICHARD CEDRIC BABSON (1890-1970) (tenth generation #222), brother to Dudley Babson (#221), was born in Gloucester and died in Quincy, Massachusetts. He enlisted as a private in February 1918 and was discharged as a 2^nd lieutenant in the Infantry in January 1919. He served with Company A, 45^th Machine Gun Battalion at Camp Logan, Texas.

Richard had the distinction of pitching in the first ballgame ever played at Fenway Park in Boston in a game between the Boston Red Sox and Harvard College, where he was a student. He married late in life and had two children when he was in his fifties. He was survived by them and his wife.

PAUL TALBOT BABSON (1894-1972) (tenth generation #229) was born in Seward, Nebraska and died in Sarasota, Florida. He served in WW I as pilot with the Army Air Corps.

Paul was a successful entrepreneur and a committed philanthropist. At his death, he was survived by his wife and son.

FREDERICK “FRED” THOMAS BABSON (1893-1965) (tenth generation #242) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and died in Napa, California. He served in the U.S. Navy during WW I. He enlisted in October 1915 and was released in May 1922. He was a quartermaster.

Fred was an accountant and at his death, he was survived by his second wife.

EDWARD BABSON (1887-1936) (tenth generation #265) was born in Rockport, Massachusetts. During WW I, he served in the U.S. Navy. At his death, he was a well-known deputy state game warden. He died at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts, survived by his wife and three children.

JOSEPH EDWARD BABSON (1893-1969) (tenth generation #285) was born at Little Deer Isle, Maine. He was inducted in the Army in July 1918 as a private and was promoted to private 1^st Class in December of that year. He was in Company K of the 74^th Infantry when he was discharged in January 1919. He had no overseas service.

Joseph was involved in the fishing industry and later worked as an inspector for a utility company. He died in Stoneham, Massachusetts, survived by his second wife and three children. His first child was born while he was in the service.

ELEVENTH GENERATION

CLIFFORD BATES BABSON (1889-1971) (eleventh generation #447) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Clifford was an electric welder in the U.S. Army. He continued as an electric welder after his military service. He died in Jacksonville, North Carolina, survived by his second wife.

HOWARD ABBOTT BABSON (1896-1972) (eleventh generation #450) was born in Berlin, New Hampshire. He served in WW I. He worked in the paper and pulp industries and retired to North Carolina in 1967. He died in Jacksonville, North Carolina, survived by his second wife and 4 step-children.

DAVID FREDERICK BABSON (1896-1971) (eleventh generation #455) was born in Rockport, Massachusetts. He evidently enlisted as a young man as he finished secondary school when he returned. He was a private in the 104^th U.S. Infantry (the Yankee Division) in France. He earned the Silver Star.

David was an executive with the Boy Scouts. He was survived by his wife and three children. His family correspondence, photographs and other such papers between David and his sister, Helen Hatch Babson, during the war were donated to the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

KOREAN WAR
(June 1950-July 1953)

NOTE: The reference to generation and number are keyed to The Babson Genealogy 1606-2017, Descendants of Thomas and Isabel Babson by Alicia Crane Williams, FASG.

ELEVENTH GENERATION

DAVID PRATT BABSON, JR. (1924-2005) (eleventh generation #382) was born in Manning, South Carolina. He served in the U.S. Army and was severely injured during the Korean War. He spent many years in a Veterans Administration Hospital. He was buried in the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida.

David’s two brothers, Dallas Sylvester Babson (#381) and John Everett Babson (#383), served in World War II and his younger brother, Roger Wade Babson (#385), also served in the U.S. Army.

VERNON BABSON (1931-1993) (eleventh generation #423) was born in Bladenboro, North Carolina. He was a corporal in the U.S. Army and served as a Combat Construction Specialist. He was seriously wounded in action by a missile on November 26, 1950 but returned to duty in January.

Vernon was a farmer and involved in the construction industry. He died in his home in Columbus County, North Carolina, survived by his wife and three children.

TWELFTH GENERATION

JOHN LOW “JACK” BABSON V (1929-1952) (twelfth generation #528) was born in Orono, Maine and died during the Korean War.He was a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and was awarded the Silver Star posthumously.He was the Platoon Commander of Co. A, First Battalion, Seventh Marines, First Maine Division and was killed in action of October 26, 1952 as a result of being wounded twice that day. Jack was “largely instrumental in preventing the enemy attack on the main line of resistance”.

WENDALL ARCHER BABSON (1929- ) (twelfth generation #756) was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He served in the U.S. Army in 1951-1952. He has worked in the insurance industry. His wife, Harriet (Hagans) Babson, died in 2014. They had four children.

VIETNAM WAR
(March 1965-April 1975)

NOTE: The reference to generation and number are keyed to The Babson Genealogy 1606-2017, Descendants of Thomas and Isabel Babson by Alicia Crane Williams, FASG.

ELEVENTH GENERATION

CARL VERNON BABSON, JR. (1944- )(eleventh generation #436) was born in Wilmington, North Carolina. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in June 1967 and later attended flight training at Pensacola, Florida, where he became a helicopter pilot. He served in Vietnam in 1971-1972, flying the H-1 helicopter with Squadron HAL-3.

Carl had a subsequent tour of duty at NAS Imperial Beach in California and in 1977 he became a helicopter instructor at Pensacola. He and his wife bought an executive search franchise in 1988 located in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Carl’s brother, Michael Keels Babson (#437) also served in the Vietnam War. Carl and his wife, Lelia (Carter) Babson, have two children.

MICHAEL KEELS BABSON (1945- )(eleventh generation #437) was born in Wilmington, North Carolina. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1966 to 1970. After his service, he graduated from the University of North Carolina. He has been a banker, married and has two children.

Michael’s brother, Carl Vernon Babson, Jr. (#436) also served in the Vietnam War.

TWELFTH GENERATION

SANFORD GARY BABSON (1940- ) (twelfth generation #549) was born in Glendale, California. He served in the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant J.G. from 1962-1965. He met his wife while in the service. She worked for 15 months in Korea with the American Red Cross.

Sanford was involved in the business equipment industry.and he and his wife have one child. They are retired.

Sanford’s brother, Robert Gustavus Babson, Jr. (#550) also served in the Vietnam War.

WILLIAM WARREN “Jack” BABSON (1939-)(twelfth generation #535) was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

After his internship at the Medical College of Virginia, Jack served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Vietnam in 1966-67. He was stationed in support of the 101^st Airborne “Screaming Eagles” and was awarded the Bronze Star. His next tour of duty was at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds of Maryland and then he finished his general surgery residency.

Jack met his wife, Annie Laurie Stuart, at Kirk Army Hospital in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, where she was in the Army as a dietitian.

Jack retired from his surgical profession in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Annie Laurie Stuart, have two children. Jack’s brothers, David Elmer Babson (#537) and Thomas W. Babson (#538) also served in the Vietnam War.

DAVID ELMER BABSON (1943-2020) (twelfth generation #537) was born and died in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

David served as a First Lieutenant with the U.S. Army Signal Corps from October 1966 to June 1969. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal while on duty in Vietnam.

David returned to Gloucester where he had a legal practice. His wife, Mary Lavilla Cogswell Babson, predeceased him by several months. They had three children. David’s brothers, Warren (#536) and Thomas (#538) also served in the Vietnam War.-

THOMAS WILBON BABSON (1945- )(twelfth generation #538) served in the Army. Both his brothers, Warren (#536) and David (#537) served in the war.

Thomas eventually retired to his family home in Annisquam, Massachusetts, after a career in theater and television and as a training coach for the gold medal women’s Olympic hockey team in 1998 and head coach of the Boston College Women’s Hockey program from 1999-2003. He is married to Kelly Ann (Dunn) Babson and they have one son.

ROBERT GUSTAVUS BABSON, JR. (1943- ) (twelfth generation #550) served in the U.S. Army from 1965-1968. His brother, Sanford Gary Babson (#549), also served in the U.S. Navy.

Robert was an accountant, a realtor and also operated a bed and breakfast in Hawaii. He and his wife are now retired.

NICHOLAS CARL “Nick” BABSON (1946-)(twelfth generation #559) was born in Chicago. He served with the U.S. Army from 1968-1971.

Nick was CEO of Babson Bros. Company in Oak Park, Illinois and CEO and President of Babson Holdings, Inc. He has had a long career of philanthropic service in Chicago. He married Mary Burrus in 1989, and he has one son.

DICKIE DERYLE “BIBBLE” BABSON (1947-2014) (twelfth generation #588) was born and died in Whiteville, North Carolina.

Dickie served in the U.S. Navy for two tours of duty in Vietnam and a tour in Iraq in 2003. He retired as a Master Sergeant in the National Guard with more than thirty years of service.

Dickie married a distant cousin, Patricia Gail Ward, also a descendant of Capt. Charles Babson (seventh generation #50), who was shipwrecked off the coast of North Carolina. At Dickie’s death, he was survived by his wife and their two children.

DALLAS SYLVESTER BABSON, JR. (1948-1999) (twelfth generation #661) entered the U.S. Air Force after high school. He served for ten years from 1966 to 1977, including service in Vietnam, rising to the rank of sergeant. After his service, he worked as a sulfur burner operator and as an instrument operator.

Dallas Jr. came from a very large family. His grandfather, David Pratt Babson (#237), had twelve children and his father, Dallas Sylvester Babson (#381), had eleven children. Dallas Jr. and his wife, Kathleen Seymour, had ten children.

The following is a list of male Babsons who had 10 or more children and is based on The Babson Genealogy 1606-2017, Descendants of Thomas and Isabel Babson by Alicia Crane Williams, FASG. The reference to generation and number are keyed to that genealogy.  (The genealogy continues to be available for sale here.)  The genealogy does not provide separate sketches for Babson women until the tenth generation. No Babson woman is listed with 10 or more children.

Large families were typical in those early generations.  Children would help around the farm or the household.  The high incidence of early childhood deaths was also common.

Roger Ward Babson, the founder and funder of the Babson Historical Association, recognized the essential role that the forebear of the Babson family in America played.  Isabel Babson, the first Babson in America, herself a mother of 9 children, was a midwife.  Roger established the Isabel Babson Memorial Library in Gloucester in her memory.  The Library has books and materials for expectant mothers and for mothers raising children.

Second Generation

JAMES BABSON (1622-1683) (#3) was born in Wookey Parish, Somersetshire, England. He married Elinor Hill and they had 10 children, apparently all of whom lived to maturity.

James was the son of the first Babson in this country, Isabel Babson.  James was the first male Babson from England to permanently reside in America. He was the younger son of Isabel who with her older son, Richard, arrived in Salem in 1637, before relocating to Cape Ann. Following the grant of land given to Isabel in 1658, James started a cooperage, a barrel making operation, on the current site of the Babson Museum.  His barrels were filled with fish and shipped to England, the West Indies and other ports.

James died in Gloucester.

Third Generation

JOHN BABSON (1660-1737) (#7), born and died in Gloucester, and married Dorcas Elwell. Their marriage was the first to be solemnized by a minister that was entered as such in the Gloucester town records.   They had 10 children, 5 of whom survived to adulthood.

John’s land purchase in 1695 led to the settlement at Sandy Point, now part of Rockport, Massachusetts.

RICHARD BABSON (1663-1737) (#8) was born in Gloucester and died in Falmouth, Maine.  He married Mary Dolliver and they had 11 children, 8 of whom reached adulthood.  He remarried upon the death of Mary.

Richard was described as a “seaman, tailor, fisherman and coaster”.  (A “coaster” is one who sails a shallow-hulled trading vessel.)

Fourth Generation

JOHN BABSON (1687-1742) (#12) was born and died in Gloucester. He was a coaster and a fisherman.  (A “coaster” is one who sails a shallow-hulled trading vessel.)

John married Hannah Hodgkins and they had 10 children.  The first four children were two sets of male twins, of which one twin in each set survived infancy.  Of the other 6 children,  5 survived to adulthood.

Fifth Generation

CAPT. JAMES BABSON (1717-1759) (#14) was born and died in Gloucester.  He was a mariner and master of the schooner, Industry, that traveled to/from Lisbon.

Capt. James married Hannah Smith.  They had 10 children, only 5 of whom survived to adulthood.  Hannah died two years after James, at which time only one  of their children was over the age of 15.

Sixth Generation

CAPT. WILLIAM BABSON (1749-1831) (#25) was born in Gloucester and died in Charlestown, Massachusetts.  He was a privateer during the American Revolutionary War and owned various schooners.

Capt. William married Anna/Nancy Rogers and they had 10 children, all of whom achieved adulthood.

CAPT. JOHN BABSON (1746-1825) (#31) was born in Gloucester and died on Mount Desert Island, Maine. He was a privateer during the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. He owned various schooners and brigs.

Capt. John married Susannah Rogers.  They had 11 children, 10 of whom survived to adulthood and two of whom were lost at sea.  See Babson family members lost at sea.

ABRAHAM BABSON (1761-1839) (#37) was born in Gloucester.  He moved with his parents to Babson’s Ridge in Sedgwick (now Brooklin), Maine in 1789 and died there.  He served in the American Revolutionary War.

Abraham married Ruth Lufkin.  They had 14 children, more than any other male Babson descendant.  Of the 14 children, only one of them died in infancy and most of whom enjoyed relatively long lives.

Seventh Generation

JAMES BABSON (1773-1847) (#41) was born in Beverly, Massachusetts and died in Central Falls, Rhode Island. He was an ensign in a Rhode Island militia and was described in a census as a “cotton weaver”.

Lt. James had 5 children by his first wife, Betsey Burton.  Three of them survived to adulthood.  Betsey may have died from complications of childbirth.   Lt. James then married Thankful (maiden name unknown) and they had 7 children, all of whom survived to adulthood.

WILLIAM BABSON (1779-1848) (#44) was born and died in Gloucester.  He was part owner of a number of ships, in many cases with his father and with his two brothers.  He was part-owner of the brig Cadet with his brother, Edward, whose ship’s log was the subject of Strong Winds & Passing Clouds at the Cape Ann Museum. He owned a “mansion”, a store and other real estate in Gloucester.

William married Mary Griffin and they had 10 children, 3 of whom died in infancy.  After Mary’s death, William married Polly Edgar Littlehale, who may have died of complications of childbirth since she died 4 months after the birth of their son who died at birth . William married a third time to Sarah (Davis) Williams.  They had no children.

JOHN BABSON (1781-1825) (#45) was born in Gloucester and died in Wiscasset, Maine.  He served in the War of 1812.  He was the editor of a newspaper in Wiscasset, a merchant and a ship owner.

John married Abigail Hughes (Hues) and they had 12 children, 5 of whom died in infancy.  At John’s death in 1825, he left 6 minor children and one who was born posthumously.

CAPT. CHARLES BABSON (1777-1859) (#50) was born in Gloucester and died in North Carolina.

Capt. Charles was shipwrecked off the coast of North Carolina and never returned to New England. He was the first Babson to settle in North Carolina and is the ancestor of the dozens of Babsons who live in Columbus and Brunswick Counties in southeastern North Carolina. Twelve children are attributed to him.

Capt. Charles married Susanna Howell of Gloucester and they had 5 children, all of whom survived to adulthood.  He was apparently declared legally dead as he never returned to Gloucester from the sea.  He did marry again, however, to Smitha Kinney in North Carolina.  They had 3 children, one of whom died in infancy.  Capt. Charles had 3 more children attributed to his union with Smitha but they may be children of a different mother or they may be  his grandchildren by an unknown son.

See more on Capt. Charles.

CAPT. JOSEPH BABSON (1777-1839) (#57) was born and died in Gloucester.  He was a merchant and sea captain.

Capt. Joseph married his first cousin, Mary Babson.  They had 10 children, all of whom survived infancy.

Eighth Generation

JAMES BABSON, JR. (1803-1870) (#73) was born in Pomfret, Connecticut and died in West Gloucester, Rhode Island.  He was a spinner.  (A “spinner” spins yarn to make cloth.)  James and his family moved several times in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

James married Almeda Greenleaf Slafter.  They had 12 children, 2 of whom died in infancy.

JOSEPH BABSON (1809-1878) (#101) was born in Gloucester and died in Rockport, Massachusetts.  He was a fisherman and stone cutter.

Joseph was married twice and had 13 children.  He and his first wife, Maria Woodbury, had 12 children, 3 of whom died in infancy.  After Maria’s death, he married Mary (McRea) McDonald.  She was 41 and Joseph was 65 when their daughter was born.

Tenth Generation

WADE WHITTON “WHIT” BABSON (1897-1976) (#235) was born in Ash, North Carolina and died in Whiteville, North Carolina.  He was a farmer.

Whit and his wife, Amanda Stella Smith, had 12 children, the first of whom died as an infant.

DAVID PRATT BABSON (1880-1957) (#237) was born in Ash, North Carolina and died in Laurinburg, North Carolina.  He worked in a sawmill and later in a cotton mill.  He had 12 children.

David married Cora Dell Smith, and they had two children, the older of whom died in infancy.  After Cora’s death, he married Bessie Ella Carlisle.  They had 10 children, all of whom survived to adulthood.  After the death of Bessie, he married Frances Ambrose (Smith) Evans.  She had had 7 children by her first husband.

Eleventh Generation

JAMES BRYANT BABSON (1910-1978) (#352) was born in Ash, North Carolina and died in Whiteville, North Carolina.  He served in World War II.  He was a farmer and later worked at the Singer Sewing Machine Company. He had 13 children.

James was married to Clovis Fontella Ward and they had 4 children.  Clovis died a month after the death of their fourth child.  James then married Magdoline/Madelin/Magelene Griffin and they had 9 children, one of whom died in infancy.

GEORGE SAMUEL “CARNIE DELL” BABSON (1903-1957) (#375) was born in Ash, North Carolina and died in Bladenboro, North Carolina. The U.S. Census lists Carnie Dell variously as a farmer and in the sawmill industry and in the textile business.

Carnie Dell married Lanta Elizabeth Anderson.  They had 12 children, 3 of whom died in infancy.  After Lanta’s death, he married Lillie Bell Russ. They had no children.

DALLAS SYLVESTER BABSON (1920-1994) (#381) was born in Branchville, South Carolina and died in Clifton Park, New York.  He was one of 12 children.

Dallas served in World War II from 1942-1946 and again in the Korean War.  He owned and operated Babson’s Auto Repair and Sales in Hudson Falls, New York.

Dallas married Pauline Josephine Skovira, who had also served in World War II in the China-Burma-India Theatre of Operations. They had 11 children, all of whom lived to adulthood.  Their second child, Dallas Sylvester Babson, Jr., had 10 children.  After Pauline’s death in 1986, he married Francine (Mead) Bolster. They had no children.

Twelfth Generation

DALLAS SYLVESTER BABSON, JR. (1948-1999) (#661) was born and died in Rutland, Vermont.  His line of Babsons was prolific. He is a direct descendant of Capt. Charles Babson, the first Babson in North Carolina.   Dallas’  great- grandfather had 8 children;  his grandfather had 12 children; and his father had 11 children.  Dallas Jr. then had 10 children of his own.

Dallas, Jr. served in the U.S. Air Force for 10 years, including time in Vietnam.  He was a sulfur burner operator and later, an instrument technician.

Dallas married Kathleen M. Seymour.  They had 10 children, 5 of whom were minors at his death.