Boston Brahmin


The Boston Brahmins are members of Boston's historic upper class. From the late 19th century through the mid-20th century, they were often associated with a cultivated New England accent, Harvard University, Congregationalism and Unitarianism and to a lesser extent Episcopalianism, and traditional British-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English colonists are typically considered to be the most representative of the Boston Brahmins. They are considered White Anglo-Saxon Protestants.

Etymology

The phrase "Brahmin Caste of New England" was first coined by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., a physician and writer, in a January 1860 article in The Atlantic Monthly. The term is derived from the brahmin, the chief priestly caste in the Hindu caste system. The appropriated term became a shorthand to refer to the old, wealthy, and elite New England families of traditionally English Protestant origin that became influential in the development of American institutions and culture. The influence of the old American gentry has been reduced in modern times, but some vestiges remain, primarily in the institutions and the ideals that they championed in their heyday.

Characteristics

The nature of the Brahmins is referenced in the doggerel "Boston Toast" by Holy Cross alumnus John Collins Bossidy:
Many 19th-century Brahmin families of large fortune were of common origin; fewer were of an aristocratic origin. The new families were often the first to seek, in typically British fashion, suitable marriage alliances with those old aristocratic New England families descended from landowners in England to elevate and cement their social standing. The Winthrops, Dudleys, Saltonstalls, Winslows, and Lymans were, by and large, happy with this arrangement. All of Boston's "Brahmin elite", therefore, maintained the received culture of the old English gentry, including cultivating the personal excellence that they imagined maintained the distinction between gentlemen and freemen, and between ladies and women. They saw it as their duty to maintain what they defined as high standards of excellence, duty, and restraint. Cultivated, urbane, and dignified, a Boston Brahmin was supposed to be the very essence of enlightened aristocracy. The ideal Brahmin was not only wealthy, but displayed what was considered suitable personal virtues and character traits.
The Brahmin were expected to maintain the customary English reserve in dress, manner, and deportment, cultivate the arts, support charities such as hospitals and colleges, and assume the role of community leaders. Although the ideal called on them to transcend commonplace business values, in practice, many found the thrill of economic success quite attractive. The Brahmins warned each other against avarice and insisted upon personal responsibility. Scandal and divorce were unacceptable. This culture was buttressed by the strong extended family ties present in Boston society. Young men attended the same prep schools, colleges, and private clubs, and heirs married heiresses. Family not only served as an economic asset, but also as a means of moral restraint.
Most belonged to the Unitarian or Episcopal churches, although some were Congregationalists or Methodists. Politically, they were successively Federalists, Whigs, and Republicans. They were marked by their manners and once-distinctive elocution. Their distinctive Anglo-American manner of dress has been much imitated and is the foundation of the style now informally known as preppy. Many of the Brahmin families trace their ancestry back to the original 17th- and 18th-century colonial ruling class consisting of Massachusetts governors and magistrates, Harvard presidents, distinguished clergy, and fellows of the Royal Society of London, a leading scientific body, while others entered New England aristocratic society during the 19th century with their profits from commerce and trade, often marrying into established Brahmin families.

List of Boston Brahmin families

Adams

Patrilineal line:
Other notable relatives:
Originally from Boston and Britain:
Boylston Family
Bradlee Family
Direct line:
  • Nathan Bradley I, earliest known member born in America, in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1631.
  • Samuel Bradlee, constable of Dorchester, Massachusetts.
  • * Nathaniel Bradlee, Boston Tea Party participant, member of Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association.
  • * Josiah Bradlee I, Boston Tea Party participant; m. Hannah Putnam.
  • ** Josiah Bradlee III, m. Alice Crowninshield.
  • ** Frederick Josiah Bradlee I, Director of the Boston Bank.
  • *** Frederick Josiah Bradlee Jr., on the first All-American football team at Harvard; m. Josephine de Gersdorff.
  • **** Frederick Josiah Bradlee III, Broadway actor, author.
  • **** Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee , Chief Executive Editor of The Washington Post.
  • ***** Ben Bradlee Jr., journalist and writer.
  • * Joseph Putnam Bradlee, Commander of the New England Guards, chairman of the State Central Committee, Director and then President of the Boston City Council.
  • * Samuel Bradlee Jr., lieutenant colonel during the American Revolutionary War.
  • * Thomas Bradlee, Boston Tea Party participant; member of Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association; Member of the St. Andrews Lodge of Freemasons.
  • * David Bradlee, Boston Tea Party participant; Captain in the Continental Army, member of the St. Andrews Lodge of Freemasons.
  • * Sarah Bradlee, "Mother of the Boston Tea Party".

    Brinley

Brinley Family of Boston, Newport, Rhode Island, and Shelter Island, New York:
  • Francis Brinley, Esq., arrived from England in 1651 after the English Civil War, with his two sisters, children of Thomas Brinley, auditor to King Charles I&II, his original home became Newport's White Horse Tavern, Judge, book collector, land-owner, Governor's assistant, m: Hannah Carr. Boston estate at Hanover and Elm, current site of Government Center.
  • * William Brinley, Esq., first son of Francis, Judge in Newport, co-founder of Trinity Church, Newport, first Anglican church in RI, disinherited by father after marriage.
  • ** William Brinley, Esq., only child of Wm. Brinley, Judge in Monmouth, NJ, passed over for younger cousin Francis Brinley.
  • *** John Brinley, Brinley grist mill owner in Oakhurst, NJ.
  • **** William Brinley, Major in Revolutionary War.
  • ***** Sylvester C. Brinley, founded Brinley, Ohio in 1855.
  • * Thomas Brinley, second son of Francis, Boston/London merchant, co-founder of King's Chapel, Boston, first Anglican church in colonial New England.
  • ** Eliakim Hutchinson, Judge, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk County, and one of Boston's richest men, owner of Shirley Place m:Elizabeth Shirley.
  • ** Colonel Francis Brinley : Colonel in Ancient & Honorable Artillery Company, merchant, land-owner, one of the richest Bostonians of the 18th century, grandfather's heir, m: Deborah Lyde, granddaughter of Judge Nathaniel Byfield.
  • *** Francis Brinley Fogg Sr. Esq., m. Mary Middleton Rutledge of Middleton Place, TN state senator, started Nashville public schools, school board president, namesake Fogg School opened in 1875, a founder of Sewanee University of the South. and Christ Church Cathedral Nashville.
  • *** Catherine Grace Frances Moody Nevinson Gore, English writer.
  • *** Francis William Brinley, merchant, mayor of Perth Amboy, NJ, Surveyor of NJ state.
  • *** Francis Brinley Jr., Esq., Harvard 1818-Porcellian Club, President of Boston Common Council, MA state legislator, clerk to Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, delegate to state constitutional convention, commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company.
  • *** Edward Brinley, Importer for Edward Brinley & Co., Old Faneuil Hall, Boston.
  • *** George Brinley, noted book collector, pioneer of the Americanist movement.
  • *** Emily Malbone Morgan, founder of the Colonel Daniel Putnam Association and the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross.
  • *** Godfrey Malbone Brinley, top 10 US tennis pro, later master at St. Paul's school.
  • *** Edward Brinley Faneuil Adams, Harvard 1892/Law 1897, Harvard Law librarian.
  • *** Daniel Putnam Brinley, artist.
  • *** Charles Henry Brinley Esq, Judge in AZ, involved in early CA/AZ politics, int'l merchant, appointed Vice Consul to Mexico by Pres Theo. Roosevelt.
  • **** Charles Brinley, silent actor.
  • ** Emily Borie Ryerson, Titanic survivor, suffragette, philanthropist.
  • Anne Brinley Coddington, third wife of Governor William Coddington, who arrived with the Winthrop fleet in 1630 and became an early MA magistrate, the first Governor of Rhode Island/founder of Portsmouth and Newport, RI, and mother and grandmother of subsequent Governors.
  • * William Coddington Jr., colonial Governor of Rhode Island.
  • * Mary Coddington, wife of Gov. Peleg Sanford of RI.
  • * William Coddington III, colonial Governor of Rhode Island, merchant, judge, m: Content Arnold.
  • * Margaret Sanford Hutchinson, wife of Thomas Hutchinson, last loyalist Gov. of MA.
  • * Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, First Lady, wife of 20th U.S. President James A. Garfield.
  • * Ted Danson, actor, activist.
  • Grisell Brinley Sylvester, wife of Nathaniel Sylvester, together they became the first white settlers and owners of all of Shelter Island, NY. She is credited with bringing boxwoods to the colonies.
  • * Brinley Sylvester, built Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island, which was made a non-profit educational farm by the 11th generation heir.
  • * Charles Ward Apthorp Jr., owner of Manhattan's Apthorp Farm, merchant, NY Governor's Council 1763–83
  • * Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton, poet, wife of Perez Morton, MA Speaker and AG.
  • * Charles Bulfinch, Harvard 1781/4, architect in Boston and of the US Capitol building.
  • * Sen. James Lloyd, Harvard 1787/90, US Senator from MA, merchant, businessman.
  • * Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harvard 1904, 32nd and longest serving President of the United States.
  • * Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee, Harvard 1942, Executive Editor of The Washington Post.