Theophilus  Capen  was  son  of  Dea.  Jonathan,
Jr.,  and  Jerusha  (Talbot)  Capen,  and  a  descendant
in  the  fifth  generation  from  Barnard  and  Jane.  His
father  was  born  in  Dorchester,  in  a  house  lately
standing  at  the  corner  of  Washington  and  Bowdoin
Streets.  Removing  early  to  Stoughton,  he  there  be-
came a  large  land-owner ;  and,  before  the  Revolution,
was  agent,  under  the  Colonial  government,  for  the  care
of  the  Punkapoag  tribe  of  Indians.  Theophilus
was  born  in  Stoughton,  June  5th,  1760,  graduated
at  Harvard  College  in  1782,  and  married  Rachel
Ltmbert  in  1784.     Soon  after  his  graduation,  he


HISTORY    OF    DORCHESTER.  637

taught  the  school  in  Dorchester,  but  the  time  thus
spent  by  him  is  uncertain.  It  was  not  long,  how-
ever, as  we  find  him  in  Bath,  Me.,  for  a  while
previous  to  1787,  and  in  that  year  preceptor,  also,  of
a  school  in  Sharon.  It  was  his  father's  intention
to  educate  him  for  the  ministry;  and  accordingly
he  began  to  study  divinity  with  Rev.  Mr.  Adams,
of  Stoughton,  and  spent  much  time  in  the  compo-
sition of  sermons,  &c.  This  plan  was  finally  relin-
quished, however,  on  account  of  the  weakness  of
his  voice.  He  again  went  to  Bath,  settled  there,
and  was  many  years  engaged  in  trading  in  that  place ;
also  in  Vassalborough  and  Augusta.  He  removed
to  Pittsford,  Vt,  in  1811,  and  resumed  his  former
profession  as  teacher,  which  was  continued  for  sev-
eral years.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  Mr.  C.  was
chiefly  engaged  in  farming.  He  died  in  1842,  aged
82,  at  Chittenden,  Rutland  County,  Vt.,  his  wife
having  died  six  weeks  previously,  in  her  76th  year.
