Josiah Quincy

Josiah Quincy III (February 4, 1772 - July 1, 1864) was a U.S. educator and political figure. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1805-1813), Mayor of Boston (1823-1828), and President of Harvard University (1829-1845). The historic Quincy Market in downtown Boston is named in his honor. Quincy, the son of Josiah Quincy II and Abigail Phillips, was born in Boston, on that part of Washington Street that was then known as Marlborough Street. He was a descendant of the Rev. George Phillips of Watertown, the progenitor of the New England Phillips family in America. Quincy's father had traveled to England in 1774, partly for his health but mainly as an agent of the patriot cause to with the friends of the colonists in London. Josiah Quincy II died off the coast of Gloucester on April 26, 1775. His son, young Josiah, was not yet three years old. He entered Phillips Academy, Andover, when it opened in 1778, and graduated from Harvard in 1790. After his graduation from Harvard he studied law for three years under the tutorship of William Tudor. Quincy was admitted to the bar in 1793, but was never a prominent advocate. In 1797 Quincy married Eliza Susan Morton of New York, younger sister of Jacob Morton. They had seven children: Eliza Susan Quincy, Josiah Quincy, Jr., Abigail Phillips Quincy, Maria Sophia Quincy, Margaret Morton Quincy, Edmund Quincy, and Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy.