The Humphreys family in America - citizen hylbom blog

Where and how he received his education, which was excellent for that day, with whom
he lived during his minority (for he was but seven years old when his father died), must remain
chiefly matters of conjecture; in fact, the record of his life, not official, must be gathered mainly
from incidental mention and statements collected from various outside and private sources. The
man must be known by his public life and not from the record of social affection.
The fact that his life extended through a long series of years, during one of the most
eventful periods of our national history, and that he was personally a prominent actor therein,
cannot fail to render any record of his life, however brief and incomplete, of much importance
and interest. Born in the midst of the colonial rule, and enjoying a position enough elevated to
give him an extended view of its practical workings, he was well able to judge whether or not
that system of government was suited to the genius of our people, and was best fitted to sustain
their mterests. His intimate participation m local and colonial politics for so many years, had
thoroughly prepared him for the duties that were intrusted to his care, which were to aid in the
preparation of a new system of government, when the old had become unfitted for further useful-
ness, and to assist in its establishment.
The results of his labor served to confirm the favorable judgment of his constituents, who
had chosen him to responsible positions and continued him m them for a much longer period
than falls to the lot of the average public servant. In those days it was the custom to select the
wisest and most substantial men to fill the offices of trust and responsibility, and young men,
before marriage, were not often found among the fathers of the town. If he were a member of
the church, by so much was his standing and influence enhanced. In the subject of this sketch
was found a rare combination of favorable circumstances, both personal and external, that made
him a desirable candidate for public favor.
He came of good stock. There was no better blood in all the town than that which flowed
in his veins, from both father and mother, which in those days was a matter of no small conse-
quence. He was a man of property, and a property qualification for an officer was a necessity at
that time. He was well educated, another important requisite for a ruler in church or State, for
our fathers were not wont to entrust their important interests to the hands of the ignorant. He
was also a religious man. Upon the records of the old North Church, in Weymouth, among the
earliest of those preserved to us of that venerable institution, it is noted that James Humphrey
and his wife became members, and the date is 6 April, 1735, when he was but twenty-four years
of age. He was, too, a man of family, for upon the same record, in the handwriting of Parson
Smith, then a young man just beginning his ministry, there is the entry of the marriage of James
Humphrey and Ann Torrey, under date of 5 September, 1734.
It is no wonder then, that the town, at its annual meeting, held in March, 1734-5, chose
him to the then important position of constable, a very responsible office; and that with a sense
of its importance, and of the personal duty he owed to the community in connection with it, he
did not refuse to serve. It may be necessary, in explanation of this expression, to say that in
consequence of the often arduous and disagreeable duties attending the service of this office at
times, it had become difficult to find the proper persons who would consent to accept it, and often
several were elected before the office could be filled, those chosen preferring to pay the legal fine
for refusing rather than to accept the position, and such had been the case in the present instance.
As far as the records show, this was his earliest service as a town officer, and we may
judge whether or not it was performed in a satisfactory manner, from the succeeding reconls. He
was now twenty-four years old, and the public service thus voluntarily assumed was continued, by
the suflfrages of his constituents, almost without interruption until 1791, when we find him for the
last time acting as moderator of the annual town meeting, at the age of eighty years, the interval
embracing a period of fifty-six years. On the 6th of March, 1737-8, he was chosen selectman and
assessor of his native town, and from that time, with the single exception of the year 1749-50, he
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