George W. Bliss

BLISS, CAPT. GEORGE WILLIAMS⁷(of Asaph,⁶of Jacob,⁵ of Daniel,⁴of Jonathan,3 etc.), was the son of Capt. Asaph Bliss of Rehoboth, and Abigail, daughter of George and Mercy Williams. He was born Sept. 3, 1810, on the Bliss homestead, one of five children who lived to grow up (Abby Williams, Asaph Leonard, George Williams, Nelson Smith, Rosina). He attended the district school of his neighborhood, supplemented by a course at the Pawtucket Academy. As he grew up he worked summers on the farm and taught school in the winter. This continued ten years, during which time he gained a high reputation as a teacher, and ever after manifested a genuine interest in the Rehoboth schools. At the age of twenty-nine he left his native state and went to Florida, where he engaged in the lumber business, building a saw-mill in co-operation with his brother-in-law, Caleb Bowen. After Mr. Bowen’s death, Mr. Bliss sold out his business and returned to Rehoboth, after which he spent several winters in the forests of North Carolina, cutting and working up pine timber into shingles for the northern market. Buying out the other heirs to his father’s estate, he continued on the farm, with the exception of five years when he conducted a meat-market in Pawtucket. He was upright in his dealings, genial in temperament and successful in business. He was a militiaman of the old school, and at the age of twenty-two was chosen captain, and after six years was promoted to major in the First Massachusetts Regiment. The title of Captain always clung to him, as in the case of his father, Capt. Asaph. For eight years he was one of the selectmen of the town, and for forty years justice of the peace. He married (1) Betsey, daughter of Uriah and Sally (Carpenter) Bowen of Attleborough. She was born July 30, 1812, and died Jan. 23, 1853. Their children were:

George Williams, born Oct. 18, 1835. He married, Sept. 8, 1859, Mary K., daughter of Jefferson and Hannah Daggett of Pawtucket. Children: Susie P., Eva W., George Edwin, and Mary Williams.

Wheaton Leonard, born Dec. 22, 1837, married April 21, 1867, Laura A. P., daughter of Noah and Olive (Medbury) Bliss of Rehoboth. Served two years in the Civil War, Co. A, 17th Mass. Infantry. A farmer in Attleborough. Died November, 1910.

Warren Smith, 1st, born June 9, 1840. Died in childhood.

Warren Smith, 2d, born Jan. 1, 1845, married in Nantucket, July, 1872, Mary F., daughter of George W. and Mary Jenks. Died at Gainesville, Fla., Aug. 1, 1876. Two children, one who died in infancy, and Mabel Warren.

James Walter, horn Jan. 27, 1847. Married April 19, 1883, Cleora M. Perry, daughter of Ira and Emily (Read) Perry. Children: Richard Perry, Mildred E., and Warren Edgar.

Henry Winslow, born Oct. 29, 1849. Married Oct. 10, 1873, Annie Goff of Providence.

Capt. Bliss married (2) Julia Ann Carpenter of Rehoboth, Oct. 20, 1853. She was born March 30, 1808, and died Dec. 15, 1865. They had one child, Betsey Ann, born March 20, 1856. Married, Feb. 20, 1879, William B. Colwell of Johnston, R.I. Three children: Elmer Warren, Ernest, Raymond Carpenter.

Capt. Bliss married (3) Julia Ann Tiffany of Attleborough, June 4, 1867. She was born April 16, 1825, and died Feb. 21, 1917, in her 92d year. Capt. Bliss died Nov. 20, 1892, in his eighty-third year.