Descendants of Danyell Broadley of Bingley, Yorkshire - tobg42.htm

Descendants of Danyell Broadley de West Morton

Sixth Generation

(Continued)

1443. Mehetable Bradley (Peter Bradley , Daniel Bradley , Joseph Bradley , Daniell , Danyell ) was born^{1, 2} on 9 Apr 1774 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA. She died³ on 5 Nov 1807 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA.

Mehetable married¹ Hon. Moses Wingate [image] son of William Wingate and Mehetable Bradley on 30 May 1793 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA. Moses was born² on 25 Oct 1769 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA. He died³ on 15 Jun 1870 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA.

Sketch of Hon. Moses Wingate, written by his son, Rev. Charles Wingate

Hon. Moses Wingate was born October 25, 1769, and he was the son of William and the grandson of the rev. Paine Wingate of Amesbury. His mother was Mehetable Bradley, a descendant of one of the earliest English settlers in Haverhill. He departed this life June 15, 1870 at the advanced age of 100 years, 7 months and 20 days, during all of which long life his place of residence was Haverhill. In his early manhood he kept a country store on Merrimack Street, and was postmaster for twenty years, commencing about 1793, when stage coaches first begun to run to Boston. In 1816 he retired from active business, and purchased the present Wingate homestead in Haverhill, it being the place on which his maternal grandfather lived, and where his mother was born. It was known as the "Bradley estate."
Mr. Wingate was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1820-21-22 and of the Senate in 1823-24-25, and was again elected to the House in 1826-27. He was also a delegate to the constitutional convention which begun its sessions November 15, 1820, and closed Jany. 9, 1821. Among his associates in this convention were Daniel Webster, John Adams, Chief Justice Parker, Robert Rantoul, Leverett Saltonstall, Samuel Hoar and Joseph Story. He held the office of Justice of the Peace for nearly half a century, and at a time when a successful administration of that office was quite as difficult and delicate a manner, as is the office of Judge in the higher courts at this time. Indeed there were few severer tests of sound judgement, sterling integrity, ready tact, and freedom from prejudice than the exercise of the office in a rural population. A near relative as he was of the Hon. Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State, whose mother was a sister of the Rev. Paine Wingate, like him he took a warm interest in the political life of the nation, and was earnest in the support of what he deemed to be right. He cast a vote at every Presidential election from Washington to Grant, and prepared himself to go and vote for our renowned hero and chieftain, but his family fearing the excitement and fatigue might be too great for him, he was persuaded to forego the pleasure.
A short time before his birthday some thoughtful citizens of Haverhill proposed to have Mr. Wingate's portrait painted, and a skillful artist was employed to do the work. The painting was finished in time to be presented on his one hundreth anniversary. James H. Carlton, Esq., in behalf of the donors, made a brief address, and Mr. Wingate responded in a few words expressive of his gratitude. The portrait has been permanently placed in the Public Library. The old gentleman was an honored member of the Masonic Fraternity. He was admitted into the Merrimack Lodge in 1803, and afterwards served in all its offices. The anniversary was consequently a day of unusual interest for the members of the order. A special communication of the Lodge was arranged for the day, and, at the appointed hour, a procession was formed, and, with Masonic escort, he was conveyed from his residence to the hall. Business was suspended, and the schools closed for an hour, and, at one point, the street was lined with children, who stood with their heads uncovered as the old gentleman passed by. Arriving at the hall and putting on the badge of a Past Master, he was seated "in the East," and, after the usual ceremonies, his son, the Rev. Charles Wingate, fifty-four years old, was introduced, and in the presence of his father took his first degree of Masonry. The chimes of Trinity Church merrilly rung out "Old Hundred" as the procession passed near the Church.
During no century since the creation had history been so full of wonders as during the life-time of this venerable man. He was born in the same year as three of the most remarkable of men, Napoleon, Wellington and Humboldt. The first had closed his almost fabulous career nearly half a century before the death of Mr. Wingate. The "Iron Duke" was laid seventeen years before, beneath the dome of St. Paul's, and Humboldt died ten years before. Most of the prominent men of the Revolution were comparatively unknown at the time of his birth. Washington was quietly engaged on his farm at Mt. Vernon, and Franklin was almost the only American of English reputation. Webster, Clay and Calhoun were unborn. George III was King of England. The younger Pitt was a boy of ten, and Fox but just at his majority. Louis XV ruled in France. Frederick the Great was repossing in Prussia, after the Seven Years' War. Catherine the II, a wicked and licencious, but able woman was ruling Russia wisely, and Austria was governed by the celebrated Maria Theresa. In Europe occurred, in his life-time, the French Revolution, with its wonderful actors and important results, and in our own land a Republic was founded, whose history has been unparalleled; and railroads, telegraphs and steamships have opened the whole world to trade, civilazation and Christianity.
In the last decade of his life Mr. Wingate had, as the oldest inhabitant, that respectful, even reverent affection which men so gladly pay to extreme old age, when accompanied by a genial, gentle spirit, as from early manhood to its close he had commanded in full measure the confidence and good will of all who knew him. A life sufficiently employed in business cares, and in the various offices which his fellow citizens or the government confided to his administration, and yet eminently free from anxiety ripened into a calm and lovely old age. His closing years were especially marked by a quiet unobtrusive, but devout and reverent piety. A short time before his death he received the Holy Communion at the hands of his son, and with confiding trust and childlike faith, and mind unclouded he closed a life scarcely more ripe in years than in simmetry of character, and enter into the rest of Paradise.

[as reprinted in History of the Wingate Family in England and in America, 91-93]