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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.

Today, Brahmin families often refer to themselves as Yankee s. 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 .

The nature of the Brahmins is summarized in the Doggerel poem, ''"Boston Toast,"'' by John Collins Bossidy .
:"So this is good old Boston,
:The home of the bean and the cod,
:Where the Lowells talk only to the Cabots ,
:And the Cabots talk only to God."

The term ''Brahmin'' comes from the Indian Caste System , of which the Brahmin s 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."


BRAHMIN FAMILIES



The Adams

Adams Family


The Cabots

Cabot Family


Choate Family

Cushing Family


Crowninshield Family


Delano Family


Eliot Family


Emerson Family

Endicott Family

Forbes Family


Holmes Family

Jackson Family


Lawrence Family

Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1856–1943)

The Lodges


Lowell Family



The Peabodys

Peabody Family

Phillips Family

Putnam Family

Quincy Family


Saltonstall Family

Winthrop Family


SEE ALSO



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