One can imagine something of the sensation this event must have produced in this thinly settled town the loss of so prominent a citizen, the search for the body, - the military procession, for he was buried under arms, - the long funeral sermon, probably in the little church then only ten years built, - the vacant seat in the square pew, "in the northwest corner," - the muffled drums, and the volley fired over the grave.Īnd how it was doubtless the topic of conversation among neighbors when they met for weeks after, and with what superstitious awe they looked upon the fore-runner or "warning" as they probably considered it, that he. In 1727, at the age of sixty-five, the Captain was drowned in Charles River, not far from his farm. The sons of this marriage were outlived by their father, who died in 1841, the last male member of this ancient family." Hyslop gave her a great wedding, which was a grand event in the town for those times, and was not only a theme for tea-table chat, but was remembered, talked of, and written about, long after. His son William, the third of the name, married the adopted daughter of Mr William Hyslop. William Ackers died in 1794, at a good old age. In the Revolutionary times it was occupied as barracks for the colonial troops, but the family did not leave it, as many families left their houses but divided with the soldiers and bore the inconvenience.
In 1744 the Ackers built a fine large house on the corner of Brighton and Boylston Streets, which was quite imposing for a farm-house in those days.
"The names of John and William Ackers, and that of their father, appeared on the petition for the separation of Muddy River from Boston in 1704.