Ralph Waldo Emerson : his Maternal Ancestors. By David Greene
Haskins, D.D. (G. P. Putnam's Sons.)—Dr. Haskins quotes on his title-page an appropriate sentence, "Every man in a bundle of his ancestors," and proceeds to give us some interesting information about one side of Emerson's parentage. His mother was by birth
a Haskins. The first known ancestor of the name (it is not known whether he came from Virginia or from England) died very young, in 1730; his son, John Haskins, was a man of some note in Boston,— a Royalist during the War of Independence, and a firm though per- fectly tolerant adherent of the Episcopal Church. John Haskins's wife was of a New England family, the ancestor of whom emigrated from England in 1635, probably for conscience' sake. Ruth, the daughter of this couple, coming exactly in the middle of a family of thirteen children, was the mother of Emerson. His portrait is drawn in a very simple, unpretentious way by the writer of this volume, and certainly furnishes an interesting and suggestive illustration of the great thinker's life and habits of thought. Dr. Haskins adds a few reminiscences of his own, chiefly relating to Emerson's religious views.
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