Benjamin Nye and Katherine Tupper Memorial

While exploring Sandwich, I came across this large stone memorial to Benjamin Nye and his wife, Katherine Tupper. I had already visited the Benjamin Nye Homestead in East Sandwich, so finding their names again in another part of town helped connect the house I had seen with the larger story of the family.

Benjamin Nye came to Massachusetts from England in 1635 aboard the Abigail. Katherine was the daughter of Thomas Tupper, another early Sandwich settler. Benjamin and Katherine married in Sandwich in 1640, linking two families whose names became deeply rooted in the town’s early history. 

Benjamin became a farmer and miller. As we saw at the homestead, he eventually established his mill in East Sandwich and built the house that generations of his descendants would occupy. Katherine’s family was important. Her father, Thomas Tupper, was a substantial Sandwich landowner, and the Tupper name remains visible around town today.

But what interests me most about this monument is when it was erected. More than 250 years after Benjamin and Katherine began their life together in Sandwich, their descendants came back in 1908 and deliberately created a memorial to them. They chose words that explain exactly why: “We best serve the interests of posterity by treasuring the memory of our ancestors.” 

That seems particularly appropriate here. I had seen the house where the Nyes lived, the landscape where their family operated mills, and buildings associated with later generations. Then, in another part of Sandwich, I found this monument erected by their descendants specifically so that Benjamin and Katherine would continue to be remembered.