The Wife - Jerusha Bradford Weston

Jerusha Bradford was born to Colonel Gamaliel and Sarah Bradford on January 30, 1770. She was almost two years older than Ezra Weston II. Colonel Bradford, having served in the French and Indian War, was a greatly respected man. As a colonial magistrate before the outbreak of the Revolution, he found himself in a difficult position. Duxbury citizens, for the most part, favored the patriot cause. Bradford was one of the few in Duxbury who took a loyalist position being loath to spite the British crown officials who had appointed him. This standpoint soon became uncomfortable, and Bradford, along with fellow magistrate Briggs Alden, offered a public recantation of their position and an apology on September 14, 1774. Fully espousing the patriot cause, Bradford later became Colonel of the 14th Massachusetts Regiment in the Continental Army.

The Colonel owned a large, 90 acre farm that straddled Tremont Street. It would one day be divided between three of his sons, Jerusha’s brothers Gamaliel, Jr., Daniel, and Gershom. All three were successful master mariners. Two of them worked for Ezra Weston I—Daniel in charge of the brig Rising Sun in 1797, Weston’s first square-rigged vessel, and Gershom as master of the schooner Flora in 1810. The three brothers built houses on their father’s farm simultaneously in 1808. The King Caesar House was constructed at the same time. The four houses exhibit certain identical features and details, mostly in the interior and exterior moulding, indicating that all four may have been constructed by the same craftsmen.

The marriage of Ezra Weston II and Jerusha Bradford took place on June 2, 1793. To commemorate the occasion, Ezra I commissioned artist Rufus Hathaway, an itinerant painter from Taunton who would one day settle in Duxbury, to paint portraits of his son and daughter-in-law. Hathaway, not a trained artist, painted in a rough, primitive style. The portraits were nonetheless a fine symbol of status. Very few in post-Revolutionary Duxbury could afford such an extravagance (the Winsors and Westons were the only Duxbury families who employed Hathaway). The portraits were likely a point of pride, but they provide only a vague impression of what the Westons actually looked like. Jerusha, about 24 is shown in a stylish silk gown, holding a small bouquet. Ezra II, about 22, sits with letter in hand, a quill next to him indicating the clerical nature of his duties.

Jerusha had to wait 16 years after her marriage for the construction of a house of her own. From 1793 until the completion of the King Caesar House in 1809, she resided in her father-in-law’s house on Powder Point. With only Ezra I and his wife Salumith living there, there was room enough for the young couple, and eventually their family too.

Jerusha gave birth to five children in the old house. Three of them would be lost before the new house was built, Maria at age 9, Ezra III at age 8 and Jerusha at 19 months. The two daughters died within a month of each other, and so it has been suggested that a contagious illness was to blame. The surviving sons, Gershom Bradford Weston (born in 1799) and Alden Bradford Weston (born in 1805) were soon joined by Ezra Weston IV who was their only child born in the King Caesar House in 1809. These three were raised by Jerusha on the Weston estate.

Of Jerusha’s life and personality, very little is known. It seems none of her letters have survived. The only scrap of her handwriting in evidence is her signature on a receipt. Her role in managing the Weston household and the complexities she undoubtedly experienced in being the wife of King Caesar must have been challenging. Unfortunately, this facet of the story cannot be explored in depth.
According to notes jotted by her son Alden for a family genealogy, she was

...lively and sociable. In youth she had red hair which changed to brown. Was good natured and obliged, was in fact such as a woman ought to be. Was fond of the society of young persons, was a good housekeeper, latter part of her life suffered much from sickness, liver complaint, was neighborly and charitable.

Her portrait by Rufus Hathaway, Alden added, was “not very good.” According to tradition, Jerusha was fond of flowers. One of the few shreds of idyllic ornamentation on the industrial property was a large, oval-shaped garden. It was inharmoniously situated on the west side of the house with the tarhouse and ropewalk as its backdrop. Jerusha took pains to have rare perennials imported from afar. One of these immigrants survived until the late 19th century, though the garden was long derelict by that time. The Knapp family discovered the curious flower when they occupied the estate in 1886. It was found to be a rare iris reticulata, probably brought to Mrs. Weston from the shores of Turkey.

Sadly, one of the better documented details of her life is the prolonged illness leading to her death on October 11, 1833. She was cared for, in large part, by her niece Elizabeth Bradford, daughter of her younger brother Gershom. The Bradford daughters (there were four of them) and the Weston sons would always be close. Elizabeth wrote to her sisters, two of them in Ohio at the time, about their aunt’s worsening condition. "I am sorry Aunt Jerusha is so sick.” Lucia Bradford wrote back, “She must be very sorrowful, I should think. She always liked to go out so much."

As to his emotions during the ordeal, King Caesar is silent, save one line. Wrapping up a letter to the master of the brig Minerva on September 6, 1833, King Caesar writes, “…You no doubt will be on the lookout for something [a cargo] for the ship. There is nothing a doing in Boston. My wife is very sick. Yours, E. Weston.” A perfunctory remark? Not so when considered in context. This line is the only mention, in all of Weston’s letters, of his personal life. It is significant that his wife’s illness is even mentioned. A few months after Jerusha’s death, Ezra II purchased a small black book for scribbling notations. Folded in the back is a small piece of embroidery, probably by Jerusha, which he carried with him for years.