Eagle Feathers #231 – The Governors

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

History tells us that the first European venture which explored Somerville soil in 1621 was a nine-man patrol of Plymouth soldiers, three Native American scouts, and Captain Myles Standish, the Pilgrims’ protector. Under Governor William Bradford, Standish was Plymouth Colony’s military leader and its first Lieutenant Governor.

Through the years, the Somerville land that Captain Standish explored has been held in esteem by governors, their relatives and their affiliates. Most notable is the Winthrop Estate which extended from our Ten Hills to Medford’s Royall House. It was owned at different times by:
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• John Winthrop – First Governor of Massachusetts for 16 years
• John Winthrop, Jr. – Governor of Connecticut
• Elizabeth Usher – Wife of New Hampshire’s Lieutenant Governor John Usher
• Sir Robert Temple – Son of the Governor of Nova Scotia
• Robert Temple Jr. – His wife was the daughter of Governor Shirley
• Isaac Royall and Richard Russell – Both on the “Governors’ Council”
• Heirs of Governor Oliver Ames (1887-1890)

At the beginning of the Revolution, King George appointed British General Thomas Gage as Commander and Chief of all British forces in North America and as military “Governor” of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. After the disastrous battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, he was forced to resign.

The following Massachusetts governors also had a Somerville connection:
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• Edward Everett, a former Broadway, Winter Hill resident, was a pastor, educator, orator, politician, ambassador, and the 15th Governor of Massachusetts.
• James Sullivan, who Sullivan Square was named after, was the major moving force in building the Middlesex Canal from Boston to Lowell through Somerville and beyond. This enabled the historic Concord River to flow through this city for over fifty years. He was the founding President of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the fifth Governor of Massachusetts.
• Robert Luce was a Somerville native, a journalist, a statesman, and a writer. He presided over the city’s little-remembered Somerville Golf Course which was located near Powder House Circle. Today’s Tufts students call the location, Tufts Beach. He served the State of Massachusetts for many years and in many ways. He was its 42nd Lieutenant Governor.
• Harry Ellis Dickson rose from Somerville High School’s orchestra to be the Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. The Center of Fine Arts and Humanities Room at the Winter Hill Community School is dedicated to him. Today his daughter, author Kitty Dukakis, and his son-in-law, former Massachusetts Governor and 1988 presidential candidate, Michael Dukakis are spearheading the Somerville Museum’s capital campaign, “Access for All & More: Campaign for the Future.” To move forward, the historic museum must become ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant in its new entrance and elevator project. Please help give the Somerville Museum and our history a “lift.”

The Somerville Museum, One Westwood Road, Somerville, MA 02143.
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