Joseph West Green, Sr (2 Mar 1822 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts - 1880 in Rainier, Columbia, Oregon).

Joseph West Green, Sr's father was Major Joseph West Green (13 Dec 1793 Marblehead, Essex, Mass - 21 Jul 1874 Boston, Suffolk, Mass) who fought in the war of 1812, was a wholesale fish merchant and exporter in Marblehead and Boston, founded National Grand Bank at Marblehead and was a member of MA State Legislature. He was the son of Mishael Green (1765 – 1795) and Mary Pedrick (1765 – 1792). (Note Mary Pedrick first married Jonathan Thompson).

The Greens used to own all of Marblehead Neck and at one time owned 90 Clipper ships and the Chadbourne family inherited many of artifacts from the Green family including a grandfather clock, a portrait and several pieces of furniture and even glass from a lighthouse. Joseph Humphrey Chadbourne Jr's house had a brass doorknob from the Pedrick house and a Pedrick chair.

Joseph West Green, Sr's second cousin William "Will" Beltran de las Casas (3 Mar 1857 Malden, MA) son of Francisco Beltran de las Casas (1803 Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain – 1887 Malden) and Elizabeth Carder Pedrick (1810 –). William "Will" Beltran de las Casas designed the whole Boston Metropolitan Park system. His father, Francisco Beltran de las Casas, was a Spanish privateer who fought in the Cuban war for Independence. His family claimed to descend from Spanish Huguenots and fled Spain at the time of the Inquisition.

Joseph West Green, Sr's niece was Stacy Katherine Courtis daughter of Hannah Katharine Green and Stacy Courtis who married James Henry Crocker Richmond and her descendants are the Howland Heirs (see The Howland heirs; being the story of a family and a fortune and the inheritance of a trust established for Mrs. Hetty H. R. Green (1919)). She later married Joseph West Green, Sr's son Joseph West Green, Jr.

He is also a descendant of Susanna Goody North Martin who was executed by hanging for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials on July 19th 1692.

Joseph West Green, Sr's mother was Hannah (Hermiah) Goss (31 Jul 1793 Marblehead, Essex, Mass - 19 Nov 1865 Marblehead, Essex, Mass) daughter of John Goss (1741 – 1795) and Catherine Thayer (1768 – 1822) of Marblehead.


7 December 1813 - 2 May 1815 during the war of 1812 Joseph West Green kept a regular diary (Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00498.01) written while aboard the privateer Alfred and as a prisoner of war in Melville Island Prison, Halifax, and Dartmoor Prison. Records many sightings and occasional capturing of ships. Entry on 22 February 1814 records the capture of Green’s privateer by the British and being brought to Melville Island Prison at Halifax. Records writing to family and the arrival of new prisoners. Notable entries include mention of a prisoners’ petition to General John Mason on 28 April 1814, the reduction of rations on 1 May 1814, the release of 90 prisoners on 23 July 1814. There are also undated verse and aphorisms, much of it dealing with religion, war, and women. Filling 16 pages is ”A Comic Poem” by Thomas Sturtevant and written down by Green on 1 March 1814, along with numerous other patriotic poems. An entry from 22 February 1815 notes the passing of his brother’s birthday. A long entry on 18 August 1814 records the grueling transport to Dartmoor Prison in Devon England, at the end of which he discloses learning of his Uncle’s death. An entry from Dartmoor on 26 February 1815 indicates his expectations of ”the Peace arriving from the States. He recorded his final entry on the day he was to leave Dartmoor: ”...the happiest day to me that I ever experienced. my heart is alive when I think I am to leave the place that so many of my unfortunate countryman has breathed there [sic] last in.”

In the early 1840's Joseph West Green, Sr Studied at Mablehead and Academy of Andover and qualified as teacher.

On 10 Oct 1844 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts, Joseph West Green, Sr married Abigail Turner Girdler (18 Feb 1825 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts - 26 Dec 1901 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts) the daughter of Lewis Girdler, Jr (1793 – 1825) and Hannah Devereaux TURNER (1797 – 1856).

Joseph West Green, Sr and Abigail Turner Girdler had three children in Marblehead:

1) Lewis Girdler Green (16 Feb 1845 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts - 13 Aug 1873 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts). Note Lewis was first buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his aunt Sarah Lydia Green. However he was disinterred on Oct 2, 1873 and was reburied with his mother and siblings at the Waterfront Cemetery in Marblehead, Massachusetts where he now lies with a second monument (according to Mt Auburn Records). He never married. He was an accountant.

2) Ellen Turner Green (18 Sep 1846 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts - 5 Jun 1911 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts,) never married. She was a school teacher and made a small fortune selling off the family real estate on Marblehead Neck. She lived with her mother and later moved in with her friends the Girdlers / Coffin family. She has a monument with his mother and siblings at Waterfront Cemetery in Marblehead.

3) Joseph West Green Jr (23 Aug 1848 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts - 28 Aug 1905 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts) was a successful entrepreneur and belonged to several social groups and civil projects in the greater Boston area. He was critical of his father's move West. He was treasurer and manager of the Glendale Elastic Fabric Company. Later in life he married his first cousin Hannah Catherine Courtis (1839 - 1916) who was a Howland Heir. They had no children. He has a monument with his mother and siblings at Waterfront Cemetery in Marblehead. He was actually buried at Fresh Pond Crematory and Columbarium,
Middle Village, Queens County, New York.

After having children in Marblehead, Joseph West Green, Sr divorced about 1850 and moved out West during the Gold Rush along with his brother Benjamin Porter Green. While Benjamin set roots down in San Francisco, California, Joseph West Green, Sr set his roots in Rainier, Columbia, Oregon eventually finding work as a teacher and a wood chopper. He is last seen in the 1880 census in Rainer and later that year his ex-wife is listed as a widow so we know he died some time in 1880 in Rainier, Columbia, Oregon. We as yet are unsure in which Rainier cemetery he lies but only a few date back to this era and this is a probably the best location to search. There is also a William Green buried in this same cemetery of about the same age. I am uncertain if William was some sort of cousin.