Boston Brahmin

Boston Brahmins, also called the First Families of Boston, are the blue-blooded class of New Englanders who claim hereditary and cultural descent from the Anglo-Saxon Protestants who founded the city of Boston, Massachusetts and settled New England. They are part of the historic core of the East Coast establishment, along with the wealthy families of New York City and Philadelphia.

Characteristics

The term Brahmin comes from the Indian caste system, of which the Brahmins are the highest caste. The assertion that they are "Brahmin" is not just a claim of high social class, but also of cultural, intellectual, and spiritual leadership; these roles were performed by the namesake caste that exists in India. The American phrase was likely coined by writer Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., as part of a January 1860 article in the Atlantic Monthly called "The Professor's Story."

The nature of the Brahmins is summarized in the doggerel "Boston Toast" by John Collins Bossidy.

"And this is good old Boston,

The home of the bean and the cod,

Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots,

And the Cabots talk only to God."

Today, Brahmin families often refer to themselves as Yankees. Members of these families are generally known for being financially conservative, socially liberal, and well educated. These families often have deeply established traditions in the Episcopalian or Unitarian faiths. According to Yankee magazine, many Brahmin families intermarried and were perceived as marked by their distinctive elocution, the Boston Brahmin accent.

Brahmin families

Many of the Brahmin families trace their ancestry back to the original founders of Boston while others bought their way into society during the nineteenth century with their profits from commerce and trade or by marrying into established Brahmin families like the Emersons and Winthrops. Some prominent families are listed here.

The Adamses

Adams family

Samuel Adams (1722–1803)
John Adams (1735–1826) & Abigail Smith Adams (1744–1818)
- John Quincy Adams (1767–1848)
  - Charles Francis Adams, Sr. (1807–1886)
    - Charles Francis Adams, Jr. (1835–1915)
      - Charles Francis Adams III (1866–1954)
        Charles Francis Adams IV (1910–1999)
    - John Quincy Adams (1833–1894)
    - Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
    - Brooks Adams (1848–1927)

The Cabots

Cabot family

Susanna Cabot (1754–1777)
Godfrey Lowell Cabot (1861–1962)
- Thomas Dudley Cabot (1897–1995)

Descendant by marriage:

Francis Cabot Lowell (1775–1817)
Lilla Cabot Perry (1848–1933)
Henry Cabot Lodge (1850–1924)
- Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (1902–1985)

The Choates

Choate family

Rufus Choate

The Cushings

Cushing family

Descendant by marriage:

Albert Cushing Read

The Crowninshields

Crowninshield family

Jacob Crowninshield (1770–1808)
- Arent S. Crowninshield (1843–1908)
Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1772–1851)
George Crowninshield
Frank Crowninshield (1872–1947)

Descendant by marriage:

William Crowninshield Endicott (1826–1900)

The Delanos

Delano family

Descendant by marriage:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The Eliots

Eliot family

Charles William Eliot (1834–1926)
- Charles Eliot (1859–1897)

Descendant by marriage:

Charles Eliot Norton (1827–1908)

Descendant by marriage:

John Forbes Kerry

The Holmeses

Holmes family

Abiel Holmes
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935)

The Jacksons

Jackson family

Edward Jackson (1708–1757) & Dorothy Quincy Jackson
- Jonathan Jackson (1743–1810) & Hannah Tracy Jackson
  - Charles Jackson
  - Patrick Tracy Jackson (1780–1847)
  - Hannah Jackson
Greling Jackson
Lydia Jackson

Descendant by marriage:

John Lowell, Jr. (1799–1836)
- Augustus Lowell (1830–1901) & Katherine Bigelow Lowell (b. 1830)
  - Percival Lowell (1855–1916)
  - Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1856–1943)
  - Elizabeth Lowell (d. 1935)
  - Amy Lowell (1874–1925)
- Edward Jackson Lowell (1845–1894)
  - Guy Lowell (1870–1927)

The Lawrences

Lawrence family

Samuel Lawrence (Revolutionary, d. 1839)
- Amos Lawrence (1786–1852)
  - Amos Adams Lawrence (1814–1886)
    - William A. Lawrence (1850–1941)
      - William Appleton Lawrence
      - Frederic C. Lawrence (1899–1989)
- Abbott Lawrence (1792–1855)
- William Lawrence
- Luther Lawrence (d. 1839)

Descendant by marriage: Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1856–1943)

The Lodges

Henry Cabot Lodge (1850–1924)
- Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (1902–1985)

The Lowells

Lowell family

John Lowell (1743–1802)
- Charles Russell Lowell, Sr. (1782–1861)
  - Charles Russell Lowell (1835–1864)
  - James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)
    - Robert Spence Traill Lowell, Sr. & Charlotte Winslow Lowell
      - Robert Spence Traill Lowell, Jr. (1917–1977)
- Francis Cabot Lowell (1775–1817) & Hannah Jackson Lowell
  - John Lowell, Jr. (1799–1836)
    - Augustus Lowell (1830–1901) & Katherine Bigelow Lowell (b. 1830)
      - Percival Lowell (1855–1916)
      - Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1856–1943)
      - Elizabeth Lowell (d. 1935)
      - Amy Lowell (1874–1925)
    - Edward Jackson Lowell (1845–1894)
      - Guy Lowell (1870–1927)
  - John Amory Lowell (1798–1881)

Descendant by marriage:

Godfrey Lowell Cabot (1861–1962)
William Lowell Putnam (1861–1924)

The Peabodys

Peabody family

Nathaniel Peabody (1774–1855)
George Peabody (1795–1897)
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1804–1894)
Endicott Peabody (educator) (1857–1944)
- Endicott Peabody (1920–1997)

The Phillipses

Phillips family

The Putnams

Putnam family

James Putnam
William Lowell Putnam (1861–1924) & Elizabeth Lowell Putnam

The Quincys

Quincy family

Edmund Quincy (settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1633)
Josiah Quincy I (1709–1784)
- Josiah Quincy II (1744–1775)
  - Josiah Quincy III (1772–1864)
Colonel John Quincy

Decent by marriage: