William Gordon Weld
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William Gordon Weld (1775-1825), scion of the Weld Family of Boston, was a shipmaster and ship owner. He is most notable as the ancestor of several famous Welds.
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[edit] Ancestry and early life
Weld is a descendant of Joseph Weld who came to Massachusetts Bay Colony during the 1600s and was involved in the Pequot War and subsequent negotiations.
William Gordon Weld lived his early life in Weld Hall, his family home on Weld Hill in the Forest Hills section of what is now Jamaica Plain. His father, Colonel Eleazer Weld, was one of seven Weld family members who fought in the American Revolutionary War.[1]
Like many family members before and after him, William Gordon Weld graduated from Harvard, a school with Weld ties from the 17th-21st centuries.
[edit] Maritime industry
Like many wealthy New Englanders in the newly-formed United States, Weld turned his attention away from agriculture and other ventures and concentrated on maritime shipping. He founded a fleet of "China clippers" and profited from trade between Asia and the New World.
His fortune suffered a notable setback during the War of 1812. A British frigate cruising off Boston Harbor captured one Weld's ships carrying a valuable cargo of wine and Spanish silver dollars. Weld was captured and may have paid a ransom.
[edit] Legacy
Weld married Hannah Minot (1780-1860), the product of a noted a Massachusetts family represented by such notables as George Minot and Henry David Minot. Together they had one daughter and eight sons. One son was killed in Mexico, but the remaining sons sired 813 descendants (see chart).
The home William and Hannah built together was in the Minot family's possession by the mid 19th century and later became the home of Andrew James Peters, Mayor of Boston (and James Michael Curley rival) after he married a Minot.
Among those descended from William Gordon Weld and Hannah Minot are:
- Son William Fletcher Weld - shipping, railroad and real estate magnate
- Son Stephen Minot Weld - politician, namesake of Weld Hall at Harvard University
- Son George Walker Weld - financier of the Weld Boathouse
- Grandon Stephen Minot Weld Jr. - American Civil War general
- Great-grandon Philip Saltonstall Weld - World War II commando, publisher, environmentalist
- Great-granddughter Isabel Weld Perkins - socialite philanthropist
- Great-great-great-grandson William Weld - former Governor of Massachusetts
[edit] Notes
- ^ A Volume of Records Relating To The Early History of Boston Containing Boston Marriages From 1752 to 1809 (Boston, Municipal Printing Office, 1903) lists a March 31, 1761 marriage intention notice re: Eleazer Weld and Mary Hatch. The dates involved make it probable that Mary Hatch was William Gordon Weld's mother.
[edit] References
- "The Weld Family", Jamaica Plain Historical Society
- "The Welds of Harvard Yard" by Craig A. Lambert, associate editor of Harvard Magazine"
- Larz Anderson and Isabel Weld Larz bio, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
- "Revolutionary War Burial Site Near Arboretum", Jamaica Plain Historical Society
- "The Andersons", Larz Anderson Auto Museum
