The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 6, June, 1884Various
History
The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 6, June, 1884
Various
Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
Colonel Ansart married Catherine Wimble, an American lady, of Boston,
and reared a large family in Dracut--in that portion of the town which
was annexed to Lowell in 1874. Atis Ansart, who still resides there, in
the eighty-seventh year of his age, is a son of Colonel Ansart; also
Felix Ansart, late of New London, Connecticut, and for twenty-four years
an officer of the regular army, at one time stationed at Fort Moultrie,
South Carolina, and afterwards at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he
remained eight years, and died in January, 1874.
There were five boys and seven girls. The boys were those above named,
and Robert, Abel, and Louis. The girls were Julia Ann, who married
Bradley Varnum; Fanny, who died in childhood; Betsey, who married
Jonathan Hildreth, moved to Ohio, and died in Dayton, in that State;
Sophia, who married Peter Hazelton, who died some twenty years ago,
after which she married a Mr. Spaulding; Harriet, who married Samuel N.
Wood, late of Lowell; Catherine, who married Mr. Layton; and Aline, who
died at the age of eighteen years.
Colonel Ansart was trained in that profession and in those times which
had a tendency to develop the sterner qualities, and was what would be
termed in these times a man of stern, rigid, and imperious nature. It is
said he never retired at night without first loading his pistols and
swinging them over the headboard of his bed.
After settling in Dracut,--and in his best days he lived in excellent
style for the times, kept a span of fine horses, rode in a sulky, and
"lived like a nabob,"--he always received a pension from the government;
but his habits were such that he never acquired a fortune, but spent his
money freely and enjoyed it as he went along.
Before he came to America he had traveled in different countries. On one
occasion, in Italy, he was waylaid and robbed of all he had, and
narrowly escaped with his life. He had been playing and had been very
successful, winning money, gold watches, and diamonds. As he was riding
back to his hôtel his postilion was shot. He immediately seized his
pistols to defend himself, when he was struck on the back of the head
with a bludgeon and rendered insensible. He did not return to
consciousness until the next morning, when he found himself by the side
of the road, bleeding from a terrible wound in his side from a
dirk-knife. He had strength to attract the attention of a man passing
with a team, and was taken to his hôtel. A surgeon was called, who
pronounced the wound mortal. Mr. Ansart objected to that view of the
case, and sent for another, and with skilful treatment he finally
recovered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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