PUTNAM
PUTNAM
PUTNAM, Alfred Porter, clergyman and
autlior, wiis born at Danvers, Mass., Jan. 10,
1827; son of the Hon. Elias and Eunice (Ross)
Putnam; grandson of Israel and Anna (Endicott)
Putnam, and of Adam Ross of Ipswich, a Bunker
Hill and Revolutionary soldier; great-grandson
of Capt. Edmuml Putnam, who commanded one
of the Danvers-Lexington companies, April 19,
1775, and a descendant of John Putnam, John
Porter, Gov, John Endicott, Maj. William Ha-
thorne. and other leading settlers of Salem Vil-
lage, now Danvers. He was a bank clerk in
Danvers; a book-keeper in a Boston mercantile
house; attended the Pembroke. N.H., Andover,
Mass., and Springfield. Vt., academies; matricu-
lated at Dartmouth in 1849, but changed to Brown
in 1850, and was graduated there A.B., 1852, and
from the Harvard Divinity school in 1855,
being sent while a student as delegate from Dan-
vers to the first Republican convention in Massa-
chusetts, held at Worcester in 1854. He was
appointed to preach b}' the Boston Association
of Ministers, and was pastor of the Mount Pleas-
ant church (Unitarian), Roxbury, 1855-64; being
also elected president of the Unitarian Sunday-
school society in 1863. In 1862-63 he traveled
abroad with the Rev. Frederick Frothingham,
visiting the principal European countries, ascend-
ing the Nile for a tliousand miles, journeying by
caravan to Mount Sinai, Petra. Mount Hor and
Jerusalem, and sailing from Joppa to Constanti-
nople. He was twice married; first, Jan. 10,
1856. to Louise P., daughter of Samuel and
Lydia (Proctor) Preston of Danvers, who died
June 12. 1860; and secondly, Dec. 27, 1865, to
Eliza King, daughter of Ephraim and Mary
(King) Buttrick of Cambridge. He was minister
of the First Unitarian church (Church of the
Saviour). Brooklyn, N.Y., 1864-86, and while
there started its flourishing mission school, and
also a third Unitarian church in the city. He
was one of the founders of the Brooklyn Union
for Christian Workers; one of the editors of the
Liberal Christian, a Unitarian weekly; director,
chairman of the executive committee, correspond-
ing seorftary, and a life member of the Long
Island Historical society, and after 1886 honorary
meml>er of the Brooklyn New England society.
He visited Europe in 1883 for the benefit of his
health, and in 1886 resigned his pastorate to seek
recovery in the country, soon settling in Con-
cord, Mass. A year later, he began to preach
in many places and to lecture before various
historical societies, at the Meadville Theological
school and at Tufts college, on subjects relating
to history and hymnology. the Bible, ethnic reli-
gions and archseology. In 1889 he established
the Danvers Historical society, of which he was
chosen president. In 1895 he removed to Danvers,
and in 1897 to Salem, Mass. He was made an
honorary member of the Peabody and Lexington
historical societies, a member of the American
Historical association, and of several patriotic
and kindred organizations. Brown conferred
upon him the honorary degree of D.D. in 1871.
His bibliography, embracing about fifty titles,
and comprising books, pamphlets, and discourses,
includes the following: Memorial discourses on
Edward Everett (1865), William Lloyd Garrison
(1879), and Abiel Abbot Low (1893); Unitarian-
ism ill Brooklyn (1869); 7he Unitarian Denomi-
nation, Past and Present (1870); Singers and
Songs of the Liberal Faith (1874); Christianity
the Laic of the Land (1876); Proceedings of the
Brooklyn Celebration of the Hundredth Birthday
of Dr. Charming (edited, 1880); A Unitarian
Oberlin (1888); Rebecca Ntwse and Her Friends
(1892); Old Anti-Slavery Do ys (1893); and Gen.
Israel Piitnamand Bunker Hill (1901). He is also
the author of many contributions to periodicals,
notablj' the Danvers Mirror, for which he wrote
(1876-1902) more than one hundred articles, his-
torical, biographical, genealogical, and descrip-
tive.
PUTNAM, Eben, genealogist, was born in Salem, Mass.. Oct. 10, 1868; son of Frederic Ward and Adelaide Martha (Edmands) Putnam; grandson of Eben and Elizabeth (Appleton) Put- nam and of William and Martha Adams (Tapley) Edmands. He was prepared for college at Cam- bridge high school, but did not matriculate, and in 1885 entered business life. He was married, Aug. 17, 1890. to Florence, daughter of Frank and Elizabeth Tucker of Boston, Mass. He was manager of the Salem Press, and editor of the Salem Press Historical Genealogical Record, and its .successors. Putnayn's Historical Magazine and Genealogical Quarterly Magazine. He was busi- ness manager of The International Monthly, 1899-1902, resigning in July, 1902, when he became president and manager of the Research Publication company of Boston. He was elected a member of the Essex Institute and of the New England Historic Genealogical society, in both of which societies he was a member of the library committee; and of the New Brunswick Histori- cal society. He was a founder, secretary and registrar, and member of the council of the Old Planters' society; member, secretary, and lieu- tenant-governor of the Society of Colonial Wars in Vermont, and delegate to its general assembly, 1902; librarian of the Vermont Antiquarian society, 1901-02. chairman of the executive com- mittee, and one of the editors of the Vermont Antiquarian. He is the author of: History of the Putnam Family in England and America (1892- 1901); Military and Naval Annals of Danvers (1895); editor and part author of Osgood Gene-
