Misc. Notes
The sketch of James Hosmer’s life by Anderson
222 is now the most authoritative and it supersedes all previous accounts, providing additional details of Hosmer’s estate. “Savage gives this immigrant a son John born in 1639 [Savage 2: 466], but this conflicts with the known baptism of daughter Mary, and there is no other evidence that James Hosmer had a son of this name [Hosmer Gen 13-14].”
890Hotten
891 records the passage of James Hosmer and family in the “Elizabeth” from London under William Stagg.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem “Hamatreya” (1846) begins with a recitation of James Hosmer’s name among the names of the other founders of Concord:
Bulkeley, Hunt, Willard, Hosmer, Meriam, Flint,
Possessed the land which rendered to their toil
Hay, corn, roots, hemp, flax, apples, wool and wood.
Each of these landlords walked amidst his farm,
Saying “’T is mine, my children’s and my name’s.
How sweet the west wind sounds in my own trees!
How graceful climb those shadows on my hill!
I fancy these pure waters and the flags
Know me, as does my dog: we sympathize;
And I affirm, my actions smack of the soil.”
Where are these men? Asleep beneath their ground:
And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough.
Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys
Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs;
Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet
Clear of the grave.